Chuck's Twin Has Been Found!!

Dear Family and Friends,

I have heard that somewhere in the world everyone has a twin. We think we have found Chuck's twin.

Holly, is a friend we have in Cuenca. She and her husband, Brian live here with their daughter. They moved to Ecuador from Canada.

Holly emailed us this picture a couple of weeks ago. She was looking at some old pictures and came across this one. It is a picture of her daughter and mother and in the background she spotted Chuck. She emailed the picture to us and told us when and where it was taken to verify if it was him.

This picture was taken in Vancouver, Canada in 2007. The funny thing is that Chuck and I have been to Vancouver several times. In fact we are sure that he has stood in that same location. The problem is we were not in Vancouver in 2007.

Chuck swears it is not him. I know for sure that is not me with him. I think it looks just like him. What I want to know is where did he go on that scooter trip he took a couple of years ago? Who is that woman with him?

(Click on the picture to make it larger for a better view of Chuck's twin)


What is your opinion? Should I be hitting him over the head with a cast iron frying pan or acknowledge that he indeed has a twin?


Nancy

Saraguro, Ecuador

Dear Family and Friends,

We headed back from Loja last weekend on Sunday, June 21st. Chuck saw where there were celebrations going to take place in Saraguro, a village about 2 hours by bus north of Loja. The celebration was because of the soltice. The shortest day of the year in this hemisphere.

We left Loja early so we could stay in Saraguro for a few hours and see what was happening. We read that in Saraguro this celebration is held four times a year. At the two solstices (either of the two times a year when the sun is at its greatest distance from the equator) and equinoxes (when the sun crosses the earth's equator, making night and day of approximately equal length) . This custom is very old going back to pre-Columbian times.

Originally from the Lake Titicaca region in Bolivia, the Saraguros were moved to their present location by the Incas. As a result, the Saraguros have maintained their age-old traditions and have become leaders in the indigenous movement, both in Ecuador and internationally.

One of the things that makes Saraguro a favorite tourist spot is how the people dress. They dress in black wool. Some people say this is because they are in mourning for the death of the Inca Atahualpa. Others say it is because they are mourning their relocation from Bolivia. Most of the clothes are handspun and handwoven. Most striking is the women's jewelry. They wear large nickel or silver shawl pins (called tupus) to hold their wraps together. They also wear beautiful, colorful beaded necklaces. The necklaces are made of tiny beads and the color of the beads and number of rows indicates their community.

This lady was happy to pose for me. She was beautifully dressed. You will notice her right cupped hand. She was indicating to me that I should pay her for her generosity to pose. This picture was well worth the $1.00 I gave her. We were both very pleased.

Most of the men in Saraguro wear black short calf-length pants and black ponchos.




Chuck went to visit the market while I stayed in the central plaza. I was not surprised to see a procession come from the church carrying a statue of Jesus around the plaza. It was quite common that the Catholic religious calendar came to overlay the traditional sowing and harvest celebrations of the Saraguro.


Today, the Saraguro people have intergrated their pre-Columbian celebrations with Christian relegious celebrations.

While the statue of Jesus was being paraded around, there were sky rockets going off in the square and a band playing traditional music.

Chuck and I were glad we took the time to stop and enjoy this interesting place.

Now we are now back in Cuenca. Hugo came last week with some workers to start our patio cover. We are hoping that it will be completed before we leave for China.

Love,
Nancy

Vilcambamba

Dear Family and Friends,

Last Saturday while we were in Loja we decided to go to Vilcambamba. Vilcambamba is only a forty minute bus ride away. The story we have heard is that people live well into their hundreds in this particular part of Ecuador. The climate is milder and the water is very pure. I do not know if this is true or not, but many people are moving to Vilcambamba from the U.S. and other places. I would say that ex-pat to Ecuadorian citizen ratio in Vilcambamba is the highest in the country.

It was our observation that the people who decide to retire in Vilcambamba tend to be people who are health and environment concious. They tend to be people who eat mostly organic food. We met several people while we were there who had moved to Vilcambamba.

Vilcambamba is a very lovely place....much smaller than Cuenca. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains. It is much lower than Cuenca so altitude is not as much of a problem. I can certainly see why many people are immigrating to Vilcambamba.

This is the main plaza. The town has an American southwest feeling....like a very small Santa Fe. The white trucks in the picture are the taxis. They are called "mixtos".


Horses and burros are a very common sight in the center of the town.



We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. It was part of a hostal. It is located just a block off the main plaza. The lunch was very good. They lady that served us spoke English and when we asked if we could have a tour of the hostel she was very happy to show us around.

Here is Chuck in a common area. It is outside under a protective roof. The weather is so mild there that it works year around.



The gardens there were so nice.
The sleeping rooms were nicely decorated and the price was very reasonable. We will probably go a spend a week in Vilcambamba sometime and stay at this hostal. We really liked what we saw. Here is Chuck standing in the doorway. The name is Jardin Escondido Hostal.

We went up into the surrounding mountains and walked around looking at the beautiful views.

This is a view of the small town of Vilcambamba. It is in a very lovely setting.

We left by bus around 3:00 pm and went back to Loja for dinner with friends.

Nancy

Loja Weekend

Dear Family and Friends,

Last Thursday Chuck and I caught the bus to Loja. This is about a 5 or 6 hour journey. It is less than 200 miles from Cuenca but Loja is in the Andes also. The roads are twisty and in some places in ill repair. This is being remedied as I post this....a nice concrete highway is being constructed but for our trip it mean't long construction delays. The bus also had a flat tire so we had to wait for that to be repaired. Needless to say it was a long bus ride.

We stayed in probably the nicest hotel in Loja - The Grand Victoria. We were having a delayed anniversary celebration since I poisioned us on our real anniversary. The hotel was very nice with all the amminities you could want. The reduced price was $85 per night...down from the $100 per night we thought we were going to be paying.

We spent Friday walking Loja. Loja has less than 200,000 people and it is very walkable. Like Cuenca, there are several rivers that run through Loja. One river has nice walking paths and we walked the entire distance to the edge of town.

The first picture is of the church on the main plaza.


Here is Chuck trying on hats. He did not buy one, but it was fun shopping.

We went to the university where they have a pottery factory. Chuck loved the ceramics and pottery. If we had not been traveling by bus this pot would be on our patio today. Chuck says he is going to rent a car and go to Loja on a pottery shopping adventure.


As we were taking our long river walk we came upon the market. Here is Chuck enjoying all the plants. They have many plants that we cannot grow well in Cuenca. The temperature is warmer in Loja.


We also explored the "gateway" to Loja. It is very interesting. It looks like it should be in Europe. You can climb up inside for some great views. They also had an art exhibit inside.

At the edge of town we went to a wonderful park called "Unidad Parque Recreacional Jipiro" The park had small replicas of famous international structures. They had an Effiel Tower, a mosque, an African hut and many others.

Here are some I photographed:



The lake had many beautiful swans. We rented a paddle boat and had a swan follow us all around the lake.


Here is Chuck with some of our Ecuadorian friends:


We spent Saturday in Vilcambamba and stopped in Saraguro on Sunday. I will share our experiences in these places next time.

Nancy

Corpus Christi in Cuenca - Fireworks Castle

Dear Family and Friends,

One of the most popular activities during Corpus Christi is the lighting of fireworks, especially the fireworks castle. The fireworks castle structure is made out of bamboo poles. The people build the castle in stages and assemble it on the spot. The castles we witnessed had religious artifacts on them, I assume because it is Corpus Christi (a religious holiday).

Here are some pictures I took a couple of years ago for a different celebration. The castle comes in stages. The different stages are then stacked on top of each other and secured.


Here is a picture of the fireworks castle we saw ignited at the other night being assembled. You can see an angel on it.


I took a video of the actual fireworks display. In the beginning of this video you will see a globo going off and then a moment later the fireworks begin. I panned the camera some to show the band playing in the bandstand and some of the crowd. We were standing on the back side of the castle which turned out to be a real good thing. Towards the end of the video you will see fireworks shooting off into the crowd.

I will warn you, this is a seven minute video. I put it on You Tube to make it easier to use in this blog. Depending on the speed of your computer, you may want to click on the link and walk away from you computer awhile and let it download. I videoed the action from beginning to end.

If you want to see the video click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkNsejo42Fs

This morning Chuck and I are taking a bus to Loja for the weekend. We are having a postponed anniversary celebration since we were both sick last week on our special day. We have never been to Loja and are looking forward to the trip.

I'll share photos with you when we return.

Have a nice weekend.

Nancy