On a Rainy Day in Cuenca

I’ve been laying low for the past two days (my relatives left Monday morning). I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m an introvert, which in my case means that while I absolutely love being out and about and spending time with people, I also have to spend quite a bit of time alone to balance things out. The amount of time I need to spend alone is proportionate to the time spent with people and/or the amount of “busyness” that has transpired. So even though I promised myself that two days alone, just puttering about, were enough and that I would most definitely venture out today, that hasn’t come to pass. The fact that it has been raining on and off all day today (mostly on) wasn’t exactly promoting the idea.

So instead, I once again spend the day reading, watching movies, rearranging the furniture, emailing friends in the States and just generally re-energizing myself. I have to admit that I love rainy days because I find them soothing and non-demanding. Sunny days seem to challenge me to go out and accomplish worldly things! So here are two photos I took recently, while I was out there enjoying the world.


These parrots live in Ecuagenera, of which I posted on March 15. They seemed very happy and social and while we were watching them, appeared to have a minor scuffle but they soon made up and continued chattering away.


Doesn’t this look like a charming cottage on a country lane? And yet, it is actually on a side street off Solano, a major urban avenue. Walking down Solano, I wouldn’t imagine that I would see this image just by turning a corner. Knowing that I will soon be living here I am happy to get to know this city slowly, certain that there is an opportunity to find something interesting around practically any corner.

What Remains

This family visit really got me thinking about family history and about my Mom, who died this last December. She was always curious about the world, near and far, and about 15 years ago we visited France and Italy together, she for the first time. It was the longest amount of time we had ever spent alone together and that trip solidified a strong adult friendship for which I’m very grateful.

My most powerful memory of that trip is of the two of us having dinner, seated in a private corner of a small restaurant in Siena. We were having coffee at the end of the meal when she began to tell me the history of her family. She told me that my great-grandmother, at the age of 15, had married a very wealthy 91-year-old man. My grandmother had been born a year later and my great-grandfather had died within a few months, leaving my great-grandmother an extremely wealthy 16-year old widow, owner of coffee and banana plantations and responsible for the dozens of families in her employ. And that was the beginning of a convoluted family history, of which I had known nothing.

Years later, when we were visiting Ecuador, we were again having coffee, this time with her sisters, when she mentioned an incident that had taken place when her mother died. She was 17 at the time and her sisters were 13 and 8. Her grandmother, Doña Goya, who had grown into a fairly miserable person, did something so cruel that even I, 50 years later, could not imagine forgiveness. My mother actually had tears running down her cheeks as she recounted the experience and this was perhaps the third time I had ever seen her weep in my entire life, she was that stoic a person. She told us that she had never told that story to anyone, not even to my father.

This incident was so significant that I was able to understand my mother in a way I had never been able to in the past—it explained so much about her emotional structure. And I had to imagine the whole of my great-grandmother’s life to put into context the level of pain she had been capable of inflicting on her young grief-stricken grandchildren.


The picture above, taken when my great-grandmother was 71--50 years ago, at my aunt’s wedding and accompanied by my mother's stepfather (my Mom's father died when she was 7)--is the only one left of her. I’ve been told that she was formidable and I guess she had to be--a woman who, over 100 years ago, was capable of running a fairly extensive business in Ecuador. It must have been pretty hard.

A Family Affair

My mother’s entire family, with whom I reconnected 3 years ago, lives in Machala, a town on the coast, within blocks of one another. I’ve been staying at one of my aunt’s apartment in Cuenca, which she keeps as a holiday home for her children. My other aunt keeps an apartment in the same building for her children’s use on holidays as well. When my aunt called me to let me know she was coming, I knew that it went without saying that an assortment of family members and friends were coming as well. It is not unusual in Ecuador for extended families to regularly vacation together and for friends and their children to join them, here and there. All in all, within the course of Wed-Sun, with varying arrivals and departures, 9 adults and 7 children were around laughing, talking, and playing, going from one apartment to another.

I did not grow up this way and I think how much fun it must be, especially as I was watching the kids interact, to grow up with this kind of day-to-day contact with the extended family. My cousins recount with great pleasure, and often with much laughter, tales of their adventures growing up together. I get a little jealous and then I realize, given how much I need and enjoy time alone, that it might have been difficult for me to have that number of people around. I grew up in a large family (6 siblings) so I wasn’t lacking for company, and that actually felt like too many people to contend with. I learned to tune them out by reading all the time, so maybe having oodles of kids and adults around would not have been an ideal situation for me! In any case, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

We went off to Azogues, about an hour northeast of Cuenca but before I continue, I want to point out another Ecuadorean custom. One way to accommodate varying numbers of children at any given moment is to bundle them up on the cargo area of the vehicle. Here you see an assortment of nephews and their friends, who were riding in the back and one niece, who happened to be sitting there while we were waiting for something (we were traveling on two vehicles). The kids seem to have a blast riding al fresco. Is this safe? Possibly not, but they haven’t lost any kids this way so far.

On the way we stopped for lunch at one of the many small roadside restaurants, which dot all roads in Ecuador. This one served roast pig and something I’d not seen before.

Cesina is aged pork or beef (salted and air dried for at least a week), which is then grilled to order. I didn’t try it this time as I had a hankering for crispy pork skin but I’m keeping it in mind for the future.

The kids were getting antsy so we stopped at a park, where the adults immediately joined in the fun (see the top picture as well).

We then went to the town center, where the contest for Miss Azogues was taking place. We didn’t stay for long but here are a couple of pictures of the entertainment. I would venture to guess that these are little Miss Azogues in training.

And here is a performer in native dress waiting to go onstage.

We ended the day with an ice cream, which was so good I didn’t get a chance to take a photo before they were all gobbled up. As I’m writing this in my room, I’m listening to the family continue to socialize, the adults laughing as hard as the kids. I, on the other hand, being the introvert that I am, will hide out until I recover from this very full and social day. As much as I enjoyed today, I think it really might have been a good thing that I didn’t grow up with an extended family!

Galeria-Taller Eduardo Vegas

As promised, here’s some of the work of Eduardo Vegas, one of Ecuador’s most renowned artists. He is known for his pottery as well as for his murals and public sculpture. His pieces are shown and sold at his gallery/workshop located at Via Turi 201. Given their quality and beauty I’d say they’re quite affordable and it’s worth spending some time in the gallery and finding a couple of special pieces for your home. Here are a few that I’m thinking about acquiring in the future—I already bought the vase above, which I couldn’t resist. As you can see, I’m partial to the color orange.



However, I’m always open to adding color combinations I’d never cared for, such as in the dinnerware below, when they are presented so delightfully.

And, of course, there are quite a few tile designs, ranging from abstracts to indigenous scenes, which would add a great touch as accents in a kitchen backsplash, a bathroom, or on a tile floor. Because I love birds, here are some with a bird motif.


I can’t wait to start working on my home!

Artesa Ceramica

One of the great things about starting from scratch is that I’ll get to carefully choose every single thing that will go into my home and so, I’ve been holding back from buying anything for the home until I actually have a place for it. But today we went on a pottery outing and I just couldn’t stop myself from buying some gifts and then once I take out the wallet, I might as well buy something for myself, right?

First we went to Artesa (Av. Isabel La Catolica y Av. de Las Americas) and then to Eduardo Vega’s atelier in Turi (I’ll write about that tomorrow). The damage was minimal at Artesa as their stuff is primarily utilitarian—mostly tabletop items like serving pieces, dinnerware, and vases.



What I found most impressive at Artesa was the amount of actual hands on labor in the making of the pieces, in spite of the volume of production. We did a tour of their factory and it appeared extremely clean, orderly, and efficient. The items are completely handmade and the prices are quite reasonable. Here’s a craftsperson drawing the design on a piece.

Then it goes to another craftsperson, who’ll carefully apply the color before it goes into the kiln. There are several steps before and after this part of the process--it’s worth taking a look backstage if you go to the showroom store.

However, what really excited me was the gallery in the back of the showroom, where pieces from past collections are displayed. I don't know when the change in design direction took place but the pieces here are spectacular collector items.




I’d love to get my hands on any these—truly gorgeous.