Mixed Bag

We had planned on going zip lining yesterday and then found out a Christmas concert was going to be held at the Old Cathedral in the evening, so we decided we'd do both, with dinner in between. It made for quite a mixed bag of activities, all enjoyable but appealing to very different parts of the brain!

Other bloggers have already written about Cuenca Canopy and I don't have much to add other than while it was fun, I felt I wanted more height! more speed! more zip! The most exciting part of the zip turned out to be the braking at the end. Since I felt it was a bit slow going I wasn't using the brake at all and as I neared the end of every line I would end up way too close to the tires hanging to prevent what I imagine would have been quite spectacular crashes into the trees. It made for quite a nice shot of adrenalin at the end of every line!

We then moved on to dinner at Raymipampa, where I have found the best fried chicken wings in Cuenca. They are the biggest wings I have ever seen and are always freshly cooked. Crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside--really, really good.

Then it was on to the concert.

Apparently there were over 100 performers with the combined local and national choruses and orchestras. First, the Children's Choir lined up along the center aisle and walked up to the stage where they sang some traditional Christmas songs, including a Hispanic one which I actually remembered from when I was a very, very young child. It reminded me of my mother and, as tomorrow is the first year anniversary of her death, it was particularly moving for me.

When that section of the event was over, the children walked back down the aisle, with huge proud grins on their faces. Here is a little girl's father waiting with open arms for his daughter.

Then as the adult choir members walked up the aisle, the women wearing black cocktail dresses, I noticed this lone indigenous woman in her beautiful pristine outfit complete with embellished hat.

The music selection was quite eclectic. There were both popular Anglo Christmas songs as well as Hispanic ones, classic sacred music in Latin, a fast and edgy number reminiscent of a James Bond (or Pink Panther!) theme and toward the end a very jazzy Mambo number that had the choir swaying and our heads bopping. It was an excellent performance all around.

Quite the mixed bag--my favorite kind of day.