Cuenca, Santa Catalina and nuestro barrio

Buenos Días!
It has been another exciting couple of weeks here in Ecuador. We enjoyed another National Holiday to celebrate the independence of the city of Cuenca on Nov. 3. It was especially nice, because we had a 4 day weekend to celebrate el Dia de Difuntos (All Souls Day), in conjunction with the independence day. We took a trip to see the festivities in Cuenca and stayed with the sisters in nearby Zumbahuayco. They run a retreat house about 30 min. from the city, so it was very peaceful, beautiful to be in the country and I loved waking up to see llamas out my window! We had a 2 km trek down a windy dirt road to catch the bus into town, but it was well worth it! We enjoyed the sights in the city: the few museum that were open (during the weekends and feriados most things are closed), seeing the Inca ruins from a distance (also closed haha), many mercados where venders sell art, jewelry, blankets and toys, live music and traditional dancing in the parks and many beautiful churches. We went to mass in the Huge Cathedral on the actual Dia de Difuntos and got to see many people buying flowers and other ornaments to put on the graves of their families and friends. In general, they have a great reverence for the dead and we were excited to get to see the crypt of the Cathedral all decorated with the gifts of the families. It was incredible! We got in on some fireworks to celebrate also, we were about 5 feet from them watching a live dance performance when they set them off! haha A little different from home …
We went to Azogues, a nearby town on our way home to see a few of the sites there and got stuck on the other side of a parade. We tried to cross the street in about 5 different places before people finally let us through, it was a bit of an inconvenience with our huge backpacks … but we made it and got to see another Cathedral and plaza on the other side.
At school we had a small celebration with the kids, which mainly consisted of eating! haha The tradition here is to have Colada Morada (a fruity cider) with Guaguas (bread made in the shape of a child) the colada celebrates the life of the deceased and the guaguas represent new life. The kids loved the treat and I enjoyed learning about the customs.
I started teaching English a few weeks ago to my Kindergartners. It’s a challenge because they can’t read, so we just are working on pronunciation. Which they are actually picking up rather quickly. Thank goodness I don’t have them all at once (we split them for a half hour each group of 14). A few kids have moved up into our level and now we have 28 kids. As you can imagine at 4-5 years old, they don’t have a very long attention span. We are just working on really simple vocabulary for now, sort of following the curriculum they are working on in class. I’m impressed by how well they retain it for the amount of time we spend and how much attention they pay. haha :) Little sponges!
We are diligently trying to see all we can in Quito as it seems every time we go into the city our select museum or place of interest is closed. The weekends are not the best time for tourist activities. We did get to see the Monastery of Santa Catalina (St. Catherine of Sienna) which was incredible. We took the guided tour of the art museum, saw the church from above, climbed the bell tower to see the old city, AND got to see the nuns during the one hour they get to speak a day (they are cloistered so they never leave the convent and actually spend the whole day in silence except 1 hr.). It was really beautiful to witness the simplicity of the life they live and how they choose to serve in this closed community. Next we went to a few more churches because they were open, we feel like when they’re open we have to go because we don’t know if we’ll get another chance! There are so many beautiful, historic churches here, its crazy. In San Sebastian there were many paintings of the founding of the city and historic national events and in the background of each was the Virgin Mary. It was really fascinating to see how intertwined their history and faith is.
Sunday I decided to try to get to know the community a little better so I went with Alex (one of the young sisters who’s a Postulant, just starting the process) to her class for 15-17 year olds. The high schoolers were a nice change and super friendly. Then we walked a few of them home and met their families. In the afternoon I went with another sister, Ale to a college group. These girls were awesome and I was really excited to finally meet some people closer to my age. It’s hard for them to meet with classes and homework, but I’m hoping to get to know them better as the year goes on.
This week I started teaching Ale English, she’s really funny and it’s actually helping me probably more than she knows. Its going better with her than the kids, you know the motivation and being able to read and write helps a little! :) I’m excited to finally be able to feel like I’m using the training I have as a teacher.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Un abrazo grande,
April

P.S. I´m not sure what´s exactly going on, but we keep getting the electricity shut off in the p.m. ... it´s led to some candlelit Masses, some adventures in our house with my rechargable flashlight etc. I know I´m strange but its sort of fun ... except when I plan to use the internet and the electricity is out!