so thursday was my last day of classes and i was actually sad to say goodbye to my students. tomorrow i will be sad to say goodbye to the cats, and eventually i will be sad to say goodbye to all the things i have liked in cuenca. however, i am a bit too excited about going to argentina to to get too sad at the moment.
one ironic thing is that anna and i decided to go back to the first restaurant that we ever went to in cuenca when we came here in july. this is a typical food spot (for food, typical means traditional here in ecuador) that we found wandering around last summer. so, we went there as a sort of cheesey full circle kind of thing, but the ironic thing is that the food there was quite good. well, thats not the ironic thing. the ironic thing, i guess would be that we stopped going there after our first week because the food wasnt as interesting as we would have liked and we went on a search for more interesting food (whatever that means) until today and once we went back to the place we set off on our journey for more interesting food from, we realized that their food is more interesting and tasty than most. thats the ironic thing. also ironic has been our quest, during the past couple of weeks, for non-widely available typical foods such as sancocho, that culminated last week with a 3 hour walk around the outskirts of the city, and was accidentally achieved at this restaurant, our first ever, squarely in the center of town. i had some very good sancocho there today, and a nice, cheap empanada, and even a maracuya juice, which i thought was out of season based on the non-availability of it in other places. so, the irony is in the whole things you are looking for being right under your nose aspect.
so, sitting in that restaurant today, i was thinking about how certain aspects of everyday life in cuenca are vastly different than what im used to. simple things, like the grunginess of the floor in the restaurant, the aprons the ladies who cook and serve wear, the fuzziness of the television that is blasting. basic things. like the fact that there are songs here that i hear everyday that i dont even like all that much, but when i hear them i will forever think of cuenca, but i dont like them enough to buy them, and theres a good chance that i will probably never hear them again. but of course there will be new songs...
so, we are off to argentina and it wont be easy to get there, for those who are counting:
tonight, after a night of packing and carousing, at 3 in the morning, we are getting on a bus to guyaquil. we will get there around 730 - 8 at the latest. we are supposed to be at the ormeño station (our next bus company) at around 1030 in order to leave at 1130, but if we get there at 11 im sure nobody will decapitate us, defenestrate us, or care. the decision process that went into this was as follows:
we have a monster bus ride ahead of us. we could get an ok nights sleep (not good) in our apartment, wake up at the crack of dawn and then take the bus to guayaquil only to rush to the ormaño bus and start bussing all over again. or, party until 230, get on the bus at 3, sleep a little bit on the bus, then have time to stretch the legs and eat a good breakfast (probably at the place we passed by with my parents after we had already eaten breakfast, but noticed that the papayas and pineapples were the size of young elephants) and recharge the damned digipod that only has 4 hours of battery life. plus by the time we do get abck onto the bus, we will be tired enough to sleep. the ormeño bus that has been being referenced will be a 27 hour long affair, taking us to lima. as you may know, anna and i have been expert busriders throughout our illustrious relationship. but, this stil engenders feelings of fear and why-the-hell-did-we-decide-to-do-this. heres why: flights to buenos aires from guayaquil are about $530, while flights to buenos aires from lima are about $280. of course, flights to buenos aires from buenos aires are even cheaper, but of course there must always be a limit to the amount of pain and suffering that you want to inflict upon yourself. somehow, we determined that 27 hours on a bus combined with the cheaper airfare was well worth it. the good news is that we will have peruvian style bus seats that fold back into beds, a laptop/dvd player with a fully charged battery, and a season of the sopranos on dvd that we havent watched yet (season 1).
once we arrive in lima at about 3pm on sunday, we will go to the airport and put our baggage away, then get out to miraflores (fancy neighborhood with things like starbucks, burger king, and other worthwhile things) and hang around until we get tired, at which point we will get back to the airport and sleep a bit. yes, the airport. why? because our flight is at 7am monday, which means that we have to get to the airport at 4 or 5am anyway. and, since we will at that point be on a roll of being uncomfortable and dirty, why ruin all that with the conveniences of a hotel? however, if everything goes as planned, we wont even get on that flight. we have heard that lan (the airline) has been very lenient with some people about bumping them. we have friends who when they flew out of lima, got bumped from 2 different flights just because they asked to. so, they got to where they were going 2 days later, but they also got $1000 worth of airline credit. thats cool. so, all day sunday, as we are walking around miraflores without a shower, and without a place to stay, anna and i will be pumping each other up. keeping each other thinking positively and head strong about how we shouldnt get weak when the moment comes. of course it will be inviting to just get on the flight and get the trip over with, but no. we must remain strong and ask to get bumped! of course if we do get bumped, we will then get a hotel - we arent crazy!
once we arrive in buenos aires, we will shower and go looking for jobs. what kind of jobs? who knows. is that important? yes. teaching english is cool, and it may be what we get as soon as we get there just because we are good and have recommendations. but in the long run, no, its not what we want to do. why? because we have been doing that here in cuenca and despite the manner in which we travel, we do want this next step to be a step up in life.
in related news, both my students and annas, yesterday, decided to take us out for food. my class took me to pizza hut, which is the height of class here in cuenca. they have a garden, indoor palm trees and waitress service. annas class took her (us because i came) to cafe austria - an overpriced, but nice cafe. i would have settled for sancocho and morocho...
so, we are off to argentina and it wont be easy to get there, for those who are counting:
tonight, after a night of packing and carousing, at 3 in the morning, we are getting on a bus to guyaquil. we will get there around 730 - 8 at the latest. we are supposed to be at the ormeño station (our next bus company) at around 1030 in order to leave at 1130, but if we get there at 11 im sure nobody will decapitate us, defenestrate us, or care. the decision process that went into this was as follows:
we have a monster bus ride ahead of us. we could get an ok nights sleep (not good) in our apartment, wake up at the crack of dawn and then take the bus to guayaquil only to rush to the ormaño bus and start bussing all over again. or, party until 230, get on the bus at 3, sleep a little bit on the bus, then have time to stretch the legs and eat a good breakfast (probably at the place we passed by with my parents after we had already eaten breakfast, but noticed that the papayas and pineapples were the size of young elephants) and recharge the damned digipod that only has 4 hours of battery life. plus by the time we do get abck onto the bus, we will be tired enough to sleep. the ormeño bus that has been being referenced will be a 27 hour long affair, taking us to lima. as you may know, anna and i have been expert busriders throughout our illustrious relationship. but, this stil engenders feelings of fear and why-the-hell-did-we-decide-to-do-this. heres why: flights to buenos aires from guayaquil are about $530, while flights to buenos aires from lima are about $280. of course, flights to buenos aires from buenos aires are even cheaper, but of course there must always be a limit to the amount of pain and suffering that you want to inflict upon yourself. somehow, we determined that 27 hours on a bus combined with the cheaper airfare was well worth it. the good news is that we will have peruvian style bus seats that fold back into beds, a laptop/dvd player with a fully charged battery, and a season of the sopranos on dvd that we havent watched yet (season 1).
once we arrive in lima at about 3pm on sunday, we will go to the airport and put our baggage away, then get out to miraflores (fancy neighborhood with things like starbucks, burger king, and other worthwhile things) and hang around until we get tired, at which point we will get back to the airport and sleep a bit. yes, the airport. why? because our flight is at 7am monday, which means that we have to get to the airport at 4 or 5am anyway. and, since we will at that point be on a roll of being uncomfortable and dirty, why ruin all that with the conveniences of a hotel? however, if everything goes as planned, we wont even get on that flight. we have heard that lan (the airline) has been very lenient with some people about bumping them. we have friends who when they flew out of lima, got bumped from 2 different flights just because they asked to. so, they got to where they were going 2 days later, but they also got $1000 worth of airline credit. thats cool. so, all day sunday, as we are walking around miraflores without a shower, and without a place to stay, anna and i will be pumping each other up. keeping each other thinking positively and head strong about how we shouldnt get weak when the moment comes. of course it will be inviting to just get on the flight and get the trip over with, but no. we must remain strong and ask to get bumped! of course if we do get bumped, we will then get a hotel - we arent crazy!
once we arrive in buenos aires, we will shower and go looking for jobs. what kind of jobs? who knows. is that important? yes. teaching english is cool, and it may be what we get as soon as we get there just because we are good and have recommendations. but in the long run, no, its not what we want to do. why? because we have been doing that here in cuenca and despite the manner in which we travel, we do want this next step to be a step up in life.
in related news, both my students and annas, yesterday, decided to take us out for food. my class took me to pizza hut, which is the height of class here in cuenca. they have a garden, indoor palm trees and waitress service. annas class took her (us because i came) to cafe austria - an overpriced, but nice cafe. i would have settled for sancocho and morocho...
1 comment:
hey anthony, how've you been? how do I email you?
mihajlo
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