Discount Cards

I had to fill a prescription yesterday at the pharmacy at Mount Sinai hospital (Farmashop) and discovered that you can buy a discount card for an annual cost of $5. This card gives you 12% off the cost of prescriptions (and free home delivery), lab tests, radiology, and doctor charges. I think it's a great deal for those of us whose have monthly prescription costs, which are not covered by medical insurance. (Farmashop prescription costs are normally 5% off the maximum cost, so in actuality you get an additional 7% off.)

I also noticed that you can use your SuperMaxi discount card for 10% off prescription charges at Farmashop (but not for other medical costs at Mount Sinai). So if you already have a SuperMaxi discount card check out again what other benefits it provides, besides discounts at SuperMaxi and Sukasa.

The discounts are only available when paying cash. When paying by credit card the discount with the Mount Sinai card is 6% and the usual 5% with the Supermaxi card.

Mystery Solved

Ha, remember the giant artwork I posted about a little while back? I got the scoop! Apparently, Mario Sarmiento Merchan, owner of a clothing design studio, decided to go for the Guinness World record for largest dress ever made. It took 21 square meters of fabric, 20 people, and 3 weeks to drape the 21-meter high garment over one hundred 6-meter long tubes of galvanized steel. The workers climbed up an internal staircase within the cylindrical structure in order to shape the dress.

The artwork is titled “Fantasia” and represents the apocalypse, illustrated through artwork in two parts, on the front and the back of the dress. The front of the dress is decorated with illustrations of large native flowers, visible from a distance of 200 meters, painted by Cuencano artists Cristina Quinde and Edgar Leon. The back and train of the dress are covered with a painting of an erupting volcano. The refuse at the foot of the dress symbolizes the devastation of the world.

Mystery solved. One question remains--what’s the connection between the construction of the world’s largest dress and the apocalypse? I still say hmmm...

Burn Baby Burn

It all started innocently enough at the local New Year's celebration, which was taking place on the square right next to my home.

However, walking around the neighborhood, things started to feel a little ominous. Not sure what this signifies "I'm obedient not belligerent". It was puzzling and a little...inauspicious.

Seeing a clown riding around with a baby on his lap in the middle of the night also felt somehow sinister but that might just be me and my dislike of clowns.

There were a few political tableaux which were critical and fairly dark. Interesting that the new year festivities are the time to address these issues.

Then watching young men vigorously whaling on a bunch of effigies, the better to have them burn into nonexistence, was alarming in the degree of effort and enthusiasm with which they were going at it.

People were setting fire to the humanoids all over the place.

It was serious business--nothing lighthearted about it.

Then there is the ritual of jumping over fires as tall as the jumper--maybe not such a great idea? Apparently there are quite a few burnt crotches at the emergency room every year!

Countdown

It's my first New Year's celebration in Cuenca and I'm kind of excited! So I went to Feria Libre to take a look at the hand painted masks that are on sale for the celebrations tomorrow.

There were all sorts of characters, some of whom were recognizable. Above are some of the many faces of Michael Jackson

and I think this may be Elvis?

I'm imagining this would be a good mask to put on a burning effigy for a New Year's resolution to quit smoking!

There's a tradition of men dressing as women on New Year's Eve (I'll explain why on my New Year's Day post). Here are some of the necessary accessories, since for a more realistic look a man might need some additional "padding" on his posterior

and on his prow.

Another tradition is to wear yellow underwear for good luck in the new year. Maybe I should get a pair? I'm looking forward to the burning and purging--I might even find something myself to burn as the last couple of months deserve to go up in smoke.

Chordeleg and Sigsig

A few of us had not been to Sigsig yet so we decided to go as a group and stop at Chordeleg for the one friend who had not yet been there. She was interested in taking a look at the jewelry for which the town is best known. We chartered a van but it’s very easy to get there by bus from the Terminal Terrestre as well. We first stopped at the central plaza where we saw this colorful sculpture.

A couple of us went off to walk the streets, as is our custom. Chordeleg is also known for its shoe making and we saw these cobblers working on what appeared to be their own small assembly line.

Walking up the hillside we had a better view of the town, including the church in the central plaza.

This lady’s ensemble, as well as her bearing, caught my eye as we were walking back into town.

Off we went to Sigsig, which is known for its hat making. We again stopped at the central plaza where we saw two of these gigantic metal sculptures. They must have been two stories high at least. I don’t know what they signified but they were quite creepy.

Across the way there is a small amusement park, which seemed to be closed at the moment. I asked our driver if it was actually still operating as the Ferris wheel looked to be quite old and rather decrepit looking, he said “of course”. I replied “but isn’t it dangerous?” and he matter-of–factly answered “of course”.

He told me that this covered wagon is also still in service for rides around the park.

We had heard that there is a “beach” by the river in the town so that was our next stop. It looked like it might have once been a sand beach but it takes constant maintenance to keep sand grass-free so the sand was fairly scruffy. However, it was very clean and the day was wonderfully warm and I could have spent more time there! This little boy has the right idea.

Some teens, on the other shore, had ridden their bicycles and were happily playing in the water.

One of us noticed this newborn lamb, sheltering behind some vegetation with its mother. Its coat still looked damp!

On our way out of town and back to Cuenca we saw the fibers that are used for making hats, hung out to dry and swaying in the wind.