We had to get up early this morning to be at the bookshop by 8.30 to go on a little trip out of Cuenca. Sonya, who is one of the spanish teachers at the place we go to, arranged a day trip to a few of the surrounding towns that lie about 45 minutes away from Cuenca to the south east. There were about 15 of us on a little bus and then three more in a car driven by Sonyas husband who is Croatian but sounds like he just stepped out of the US of A. Everyone was on time which by all accounts is a miracle; maybe its because everyone was a gringo. Cuencans are notorious for being late and as it happened Sonya was the last one to arrive.
There was a shorter road to take along the highway, but so that we could see some of the outlying areas we took the scenic route which took a little longer. The drive was lovely and Sonya explained about the different regions and how the people live there as we went along. Our first stop was at San Bartolome and before we got down into the town itself we stopped at an overlook for some splendid views. I kinda wish we had just bypassed the actual town itself as while we were there we visited the cuy lady; thankfully they were all still alive but I know what fate was waiting for them. We stopped at the house of a lady who raises guinea pigs that she then kills and cooks to sell; she keeps a bunch of them in an outhouse in her garden. When we got there another lady was washing out a bunch of butchered chickens in an outside sink while a bunch of live chickens wandered around. We checked out the guinea pigs which were almost all white and were making quite a bit of noise, then we had a look around her garden; I think the log fire is where she roasts the cuy, yuck. Afterwards she made all of us some lovely herb tea, made from flowers, mint and camomile, and served it to us with nice homemade biscuits; we spent a while sitting in a room in her house chatting.












We all piled back into the bus for a short ride to the community of San Bartolome (different to the town of San Bartolome from where we had just left. The only difference I could figure out though was that the roads were no longer paved. We pulled up along side a hut with a little Ecuadorian man sat outside at a workbench. He might have been working on the side of the road but what he was producing was fantastic. His name was Senor Uyaguari and he is a master guitar maker who is known throughout Ecuador and the world. He is known mostly for the decorative detail that goes onto his guitars. He makes all his own 'wood details' and each piece is laid on by hand. The finished instruments are one of a kind and can take months to finish. The prices vary depending on the wood used and the time involved to complete it. A guy in our group bought one that was already made, it was made from an Ecuadorian wood that grows nowhere else, the detail work was fantastic, and it cost him $250. The weird thing about the guy is that he learned the craft of guitar making from his father and neither one of them could or can play the guitar. His son can play the guitar and apparently once the guitars are finished making his son plays them and tells him what needs to be done to make it sound better; the son is also learning how to make guitars.






The next stop along our route was at Gualaceo which is a lovely clean well kept town that is know for producing beautiful gold and silver filigree jewellery. We spent a while here wandering around the square and in and out of the stores, although we didn't buy any jewellery, there was just too much to choose from. I think we'll have to go back sometime when we are not on a timeframe and spend a day wandering around by ourselves.





After doing some shopping everyone was hungry so we went to a park alongside the San Francisco river just outside of Gualaceo and had a picnic lunch while we watched the kids playing in the river and the women washing their clothes. While we were there I saw my first giant beetle that was actually alive. Apparently they live in the trees and it's lucky if they fall out and land on you. If one of those bloody things landed on me I'd have a heart attack, lucky or not.




After lunch we travelled a short distance to the next city of Chordeleg where I got to see the guinea pigs after their visit to the slaughter house. We first walked around the fruit and veg market. It was very similar to the one in Cuenca but having Sonya with us meant she could tell us the names of the exotic fruits and veg and explain how to eat and cook them. then we visited the indoor market where they have all the prepared foods, and just outside on sticks over an open fire were the cuy, poor little buggers! They are supposed to be very good, and according to Sonyas husband the head is the best part (probably why they leave it attached), and it's an honour to get to eat the brains - what a weird country. I passed on the cuy but I did try for the first time xxxxxx which is a kind of corn pancakes/tortilla cross; it wasn't bad, kind of sweet and savoury all in one.







After walking the street of shoes we headed out of the city and to an orchid farm. The place was very cool, they grow orchids from seeds to full flower and ship them all over the world. They have thousands of varieties of orchid and we learned the process they go through to get them from seeds or cuttings to market. They had some beautiful species, and they have won all kinds of awards for the plants and also for the creation of hybrid species. We didn't buy a plant at the store since neither Mike nor I have a very good track record with growing things.





The last stop on our tour was at another place on the side of the road where they created some amazing products using the Ikat weaving technique. We got an explanation from the owners son about how the process works, from how they separate the wool to how it is dyed. They use all kinds of fruits, vegetables and such to dye the wool, as well as crushed up worms; then to stop it running the wool is soaked in water and ash to set the dye. the woman dye the wool and create the patterns on it, and then as it is very labour intensive the men usually do the actual weaving. We got a demonstration and it's easy to see why the men do it, there's a lot of pulling and tugging to be done to get to the finished product which were all beautiful and so colourful.




We headed back to Cuenca after all this and got back around 5ish, then we walked home.

Mike: I wish I played the guitar, it would have given me a reason to buy one. They were magnificient! Also, I'm still glad I'm a vegetarian!!!!!!!!!!!!!!