CUENCA 3. .. 7AM – THE WORK DAY BEGINS

CUENCA THROUGH AN AUSSIE GRINGO’S EYES

To recap, the reluctant traveller and I have arrived in Cuenca to visit family.  We plan to stay 3 months, but already I have fallen head over heels in lust with Cuenca.  I can’t get enough of it, join me as I kaleidoscope our visit into one single day.

The building our children, Jen and Chris, have purchased is in the process of extensive renovation and at 7 am every morning excepting Sunday the workers, Hector, Patricio, Edwin and others who changed as  weeks turn into months, arrive to start their day.  Without exception they turn up spick and span attired for a social event rather than a back breaking nine hours of hard yakka, hanging their town clothes carefully on nails in various corners of the work site before changing into the more practical bits and pieces they  will  wear while working on a multitude of messy jobs.

At days end a scrub under the tap, back in their good gear and you could never guess only moments before these handsome young men had been immersed in mud and debris.

   

It is still early morning and street cleaners are out meticulously sweeping their patch, a chore they will repeat again in the afternoon.  Cuenca is a clean city, the most debris you might see is the occasional fruit peal or the even rarer cigarette butt, and these would no doubt have been carelessly tossed away by a thoughtless tourist.   I don’t recall seeing a native Cuencan lighting up a cigarette.

 

At breakneck speed  buses from outlying areas bring workers into town.

 At this early hour district produce markets throughout the city are opening for business, fruit and vegetables arriving fresh from outlying districts; smells of freshly baked rolls and pastry filling the air.

In the same Mercado the meat and poultry vendors are stocking their counters, fish has arrived from Guayaquil on the coast while in the small Almuerzo cafes that dot the city, meals for as little as US$2 are being prepared, some to be eaten for breakfast.

 

The flower market squeezed into tiny El Carmen Square between Plaza San Francisco and the Cathedral across from Parque Calderon gradually turns into a riot of colour.

Cuenca is stirring and I’m anxious to get out and about.

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Next

 CUENCA 4 - TIME TO EXPLORE

CUENCA PART 2 – BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN

CUENCA THROUGH AN AUSSIE GRINGO’S EYES

The plan is to condense three months into one day, I’m aiming for six chapters, that’s four hours a pop, should be a breeze!

Home is in the centre of town, on busy Calle Larga or Long Street, not far from the Tomebamba River... 

The building is traditional adobe and very old.  It has two storeys and two central courtyards, and over a period of months will require a great deal of restoration.  It is a daunting project I would never attempt, but luckily Jen and Chris can see beyond the neglect, the mud and the grime, for them the grand old building and its address, right in the heart of the old city, has great merit.

Formerly a furniture outlet facade hiding an old colonial hacienda, the shop itself  and the original building behind will be repaired and restored  over a frustrating long period to re emerge as a tasteful and elegant addition to Cuenca’s historical centre.

THREE STAGES TO PERFECTION

 Across the road live the coconut sellers, an extended family  including many children who peddle their wares through the streets of Cuenca; coconut juice straight from the shell and slices of pineapple.  

Far from being a noisy intrusion, the arrival of a delivery truck usually just before midnight signals for us an excited rush to the first floor windows.  A frantic unloading of produce has begun,  each coconut tossed to a chain of family members, eventually  ending out of sight inside the darkened building.  The entire transaction is  accompanied by a combined buyer seller reckoning of quantity,  uno, dos, tres, cuatro up to and beyond the hundreds...the tally repeated in turn by vendor and buyer. The tally must match.

Once the accounting and no doubt the paying has been accomplished and all the coconuts stored behind the shuttered doors, peace and quiet  is restored to the street.  The coconuts will emerge again next morning , neatly stacked on the tricycles ready for sale.

With the coconuts out of the way we settle down to sleep.  I snuggle under the blankets, outside its not cold and its not hot.  Like ‘baby bear’ in the three bears nursery rhyme the weather is just right.  But I do smile when I think of friends back home whose first thought was South America, Ecuador, equator, hot as Hades!

Of course they all forgot about the Andes, those incredibly beautiful mountains stretching from the tip of Chile way north to Ecuador and beyond.  The high altitude that guarantees an equable climate and no nasty little bities or creepy crawlies to mar your day.

And so begins and ends our first night in Cuenca.

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Next – Part 3.

7am  - THE WORK DAY BEGINS