Monday, November 14, 2011

Where do we go from here?

So it's the Sunday following my returning from my 4ish days in Cuenca. While I expected this past week to be a small piece of hell as I was exhausted after the adventure of the nite bus last Saturday night, it has turned out to be much better than expected. I got a decent amount of sleep before starting class on Monday and woke up excited to get back to class and my students. BELIEVE ME, they were the furthest thing from my mind when I woke up from my nap from 730am-230pm on Sunday afternoon, realizing I had no materials prepared for class that week minus a rough outline of my lesson plans.

On Monday, all the professors (actual teachers and staff) were curious to know my reaction to Cuenca. Really, if you visit it, it's a hard place to hate...beautiful architecture, a smaller city so easily navigable, less climbing up hills than in Quito, delicious food, friendly people (may have been due to the fiesta-ing!!), a bit of history, and plenty to do. In all, I was more impressed than I thought I was going to be. Not that I had low expectations, but really, it was my first trip outside of the relatively rough streets of Quito. I've been too much exposed to European cities so I'm happy to see how other parts of the world preserve their past, function in the present, and plan for the future. My favorite professor in colegio, Luis, who is this crazy old man and always greets me with a hug and a friendly kiss on the cheek, along with the inspector who I still can't remember his name even though I talk to him everyday..oops! were teasing me about my fiesta-ing and asked me how many hearts I brought back from Cuenca. I told them every single one, and of course they got a kick outa it. They also told me it was an Ecuadorian tradition to take off your clothes (mardi gras??) during the Fiestas of any city for their independence. They were teasing each other in good humor (making me a bit uncomfortable!) and of course teasing me as well. One of the other volunteers walked in mid conversation and I think was a bit confused. In general, these boundries are a bit blured here...maybe because it's a private institution, but probably because it's Latin America and I'm a pretty conservative American (at least when it comes to fiesta-ing!). I’m reminded of my Americanness every day in the way I react to people here--coworkers, other teachers, my Ecua-friends, etc. In Europe, I didn't feel quite the same separate way of living and looking at the world than I do here. Sure, its drastically different in Europe (they can't fathom gun control or the death penalty or not having universal social programs), but there’s something much more simple here that people understand about life. Maybe it’s just people at the Center, but there’s not so much clutter of stuff getting in the way. Again, might just be the amazing people I have the privilege to work with and serve as, quite honestly they don’t have the means to have the clutter, but I’ve met several people outside the center who’ve challenged my narrow way of looking at my life and the things I want to accomplish in life, which brings me to much deeper more complex questions that have been boggling my mind, particularly this past weekend.

I seem to come in and out of these little bouts of really trying to find what I want to do after this year. It may have something to do with the constant chatter around me of plans for jobs, grad schools, a second year, etc., but really I think it is because I feel better when I know things are planned so I know exactly what I need to do to get there. Perhaps I am this way because I lived day to day for a time in my life, never really knowing what a day would bring and only having the energy to take one task off my list at a time. Perhaps I am afraid I will disappoint my parents if I don’t find this passion I so actively seek. They have put so much faith in my grand dreams and given me so much love I can’t even explain it. Perhaps I am afraid I will disappoint myself, come shattering to pieces, and my fierce exterior will be revealed. Perhaps I am afraid I will never feel fulfilled after this year, want to stay forever, and miss out on everything in my family and friend’s lives back at home. Perhaps I am too afraid to commit to something selfish after this, realize ten years from now that it was the wrong decision, and live in regret. Am I overthinking this? Absolutely. Do I know how NOT to overthink anything? Absolutely not. All I know is that this year is changing me faster than I can even try to keep up with. My head, my heart, everything I believed about myself and about the world has shifted…for now, this change is slight, but it’s only November. I still have 8 months or so left. I’m terrified and excited to see what the next 8 months will bring out in me and the world.

I’ve also started having these crazy ideas in my head about God. I said it, GOD. I think I started ignoring organized religion and things I understood with perfect clarity in during my years in youth group my senior year of high school. Why this did not distract me from 4 years at the Catholic University of America is beyond me, but by that point, I needed to fulfill a yearning for a cosmopolitan and sophisticated way of living in Washington (plus a greater need to run as far as I could from Buffalo), so the terrifying angry Jesus or the chapels, crosses, nuns, priests, and God-Squad campus ministry didn’t deter me too much in this regard. Anyway, I guess I’m starting to reconsider, but hear me out. I’m starting to realize that living for myself the way I have been since that time is illogical, selfish, and unfulfilling. Perhaps this has a tie into this impossible dig I find myself pursuing, but I think that not living for myself as I am doing here (at least til the end of July 2012) is the first step in finding whatever answer I need that is haunting my waking moments.

I hope that clarity comes in the form of my dreams as this is the last thing I will think about before I close my eyes for the night. I always try to find a positive thought or feeling to dwell on before I fall asleep as I don’t like to go to bed angry or frustrated. To this, I will try to take to heart this terribly cheesy song I found on iTunes by Randy Houser…It’s called “In God’s Time.”

In God’s time a million years might only be a single day, and everything he does gets done in his own way, in God’s time;

In God’s time you’ll find that certain someone you’ve been praying for, and they’ll be everything you prayed for and a little more, In God’s time

Oh but no one knows not you or me, it might be tomorrow it might never be, oh but don’t lose faith, put it in his hands, cause it might be that he has a bigger plan that you had in mind, miracles happen In God’s time

In God’s time, you go to sleep and wake up with wings and learn to fly, and you’ll finally meet your loved ones on the other side, in God’s time.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Guess who's back, back again.....

First of all, I must apologize for really being awful at this. I was much better in Germany when I had my personal journal and my online blog. I think I will go back to that. My favorite thing I brought home from my time in Europe (besides my case of wine from various counties which miraculously made it) was my journal, which I still periodically read. Why I thought an online journal would satisfy my need to record my thoughts is beyond me. I’m too old fashioned for all this technology. I’ll backtrack and then bring you (and me!) up to date.
Week Ending 28 October 2011:
This week was riddled with funny/strange/sad/disgusting stories. Let me see what I can remember:
1.)    Christopher (age 7) lost his front tooth this week. Alexis, the volunteer who works directly with him in special ed, told him to keep the tooth so the Tooth Fairy (aka Ligia, the useless head of this classroom) would give him a gift. He proudly paraded it around the comedor showing everyone. So apparently as the story goes, he put this tooth under his bed that night as carefully instructed by Alexis. The next day, Alexis asked him where his tooth was. He said that he didn’t have it because “Raton Perez” took it. Alexis assumed that “Raton Perez” was like the Ecuadorian Tooth Fairy and she asked him if it was similar to what Americans tell their children when they loose their teeth, specifically if Raton Perez visits all children. Cristofer replied no, that Raton Perez only visits him. Confused as most would be, she pressed on to find an answer as to who this Raton Perez is. Cristofer replied that he had a lot of Raton Perez’ at his house, that they were all black, and that he stole his tooth……the kid named the rats that live in his house….hysterical, sad, and disgusting.
2.)    My “special ed” student Alex was being an absolute pain in the butt the other morning. As he always does, he was testing my patience, but that day I couldn’t take it, so I left him corner of the room, told him I wouldn’t teach him, and went to go work with other students. I sat down with Maggie, one of the assistants to Ligia (ecua) as she was explaining how some movies are for adults, some are for young people, and some are for children to about 6 kids all under the age of 11. I’m not sure how all of this started as I came in mid-conversation, but all of a sudden, Maggie was asking the students (mostly boys) if their dads had porn in the house and if they had seen it before. She seemed to get through to some of them, that the things they do in porns are for adults (I think she used the word fun…sweet god!), and that they shouldn’t treat women like objects…. I hope this is never an issue for my future children when they are under the age of 10….sad/strage.
3.)    Alex was wearing this NYC shirt today that I know I had when I was little…you know the kind, the 5 shirts for 20 bones on the street. The shirt had an icon of the Trade Centers on it, so I asked Alex if they still existed (this is of course in process, I know as they are rebuilding) but he knew absolutely nothing about 9/11. I guess why would he? He’s 13 and lives in Ecuador, isn’t constantly connected to the internet like people in the states, and has little regard for anyone beside himself in general. Still, it’s strange to me.
4.)    Thursday I was feeling particularly tired and apathetic. Thus I played basketball with Alex as I made him answer math facts (valid lol), and then later in my colegio English girls class, we played soccer against another class. Both were pretty funny….and I still have my side shot skills for basketball….my soccer skills are improving, but as we played with 30 girls on the field, there was little action for any one person haha. I had to eventually stop the game of soccer with 30 teenage girls running and screaming around as they had class and the ball was mine, so I grabbed it in the middle of a play since they wouldn’t give it to me. I was then MAULED to the ground by ten of them as all the colegio boys watched from above. So much for respect!
5.)    Rosario, one of my adult ed students, also mother to Roberto (my special special ed student who is no longer under my eye, thank GOD!) came up to me when I was at baths. We started chatting about normal things. She and I had both been sick that week, so I asked her how she was feeling. She seemed better, and before I could ask another question, she pulled out this small box covered with a piece of cloth that had 4 teeny tiny gray kittens in it. She offered to sell me a cat for $1.00. Well, not only do I not like cats and can’t have one in the house, the poor things looked like they were on the Sarah Mcglauchline (sp) commercial for the ASPCA. It was so sad. I was immediately reminded of my good friend, Christina Lyons, who is the biggest animal lover I know. She would have pulled out 4 bucks, nursed them back to full health, and immediately found a vet to get the proper vaccines. She would also be quite sad to see all the stray dogs here literally running up and down the streets. I saw one that had been hit by a car. A man was cleaning it off the street. So sad.
6.)    Sunday we went to another barrio (neighborhood) to see one of the volunteers here perform for a Dia de los Muertos celebration, along with a few other people who work at the Center. It was a decent barrio and a ton of people who stayed for the festival after morning mass. There were literally people standing outside church for mass because it was so packed. You don’t even get that for the Xmas-Easter crowd in the states. The festival included a number of different bands, dance groups, some traditional with ethnic dress and dance, others dancing to Don Omar (reggaton/club music) which was also really funny as it was right outside church. Anyway, they had colada morada (delicious drink that includes a lot of different fruits and is quite thick), and pan de guaguas (baby bread) as these are 2 typical Ecuadorian treats for Dia de los Muertos). I got really burnt as I thought we were going to be inside, but it was really interesting to see a real Ecuadorian celebration. The church was started by a father who will be living with us for a few months. He goes back and forth between here and his parish in boston. Seems like a good guy, let’s just hope he’s not a sox fan. Funny part about this day is that as we were going there, all of the volunteers who went up to see Julia perform (about 8) got off the bus, but Kristen, who is known  for sleeping all the time (sometimes in special ed when working one on one with a student, sometimes in cabs or during meetings haha). We didn’t know what to do as she didn’t have a phone. She apparently woke up about 10 minutes after and spent a half hour walking down a hill back to the church.


Alright, let’s move on a bit. (week ending 4 Nov. 2011)
This week was a good one, particularly because I only had class Monday and Tuesday, didn’t have English or adult ed, so really only had to prepare for Religion, tho the short week had a rough spot as well.

Monday I was feeling pretty good in the morning before class. I was excited for my trip to Cuenca Tuesday night, and knew that I had very little to get thru before I got there. As usual when I walked into special education, Ligia was MIA. I came up with a few activities for Alex to keep him entertained and going until I could find Ligia. She waltzed in a half hour later, and so as I usually had been doing, I asked her for activities for Alex for the day. Now, before I go on, let me say that when Corry and John (2 special ed teachers in the states who spent the first 6 weeks with us) were here, they had NUMEROUS meetings with Ligia to outline OUR responsibilities in the class and hers. Things were alright when they were here as we didn’t have to fight with this very lazy woman, along with Madre Cindy who has little idea what goes down in the class. This was a good and bad thing as the volunteers were in the class all the time and Corry and John were only there sometimes. Anywho, so at the end of all their meetings, it was decided that it was Ligia’s job to evaluate the students, create objectives for them once a month, and give the volunteers activities, worksheets, etc for the students along with teaching new material. So basically we were to act as aids as none of us have any sort of education background. Let’s continue. So when I asked her for things to do with Alex that day, she went off on me about how it wasn’t her job to come up with activities and that the other volunteers were doing their own activities for their students. This is a complete lie as Alexis gets activities from Corry who is in charge of Cristofer from Canindaigua, NY, and Joe gets materials from Maggie, who also works with the kid that Joe works with. This leaves Kristen and I to do busy work that we come up with because Ligia isn’t there which is not fair at all. So Ligia started yelling at me about this and of course, I got upset. I told her I would talk to her in the hall. She continued about how it wasn’t her job and that I was there to make activities for Alex. This was all bold face lies and really really upset me. After I cut her off from whatever she was mumbling to me in Spanish which I wasn’t paying attention to anyway, I walked into the office to use the bathroom to get a tissue and splash my face with some cold water to get over it and move on. Of course, I see Cristina, who is one of my favorite students in English and also helps me with baths.  I felt so stupid. I’ve cried here more than I have in the past 5 years, I’m pretty certain of this. But this job is incredibly emotional and not something you can really leave once you are out of class. It’s a 24/7 gig. Anyway, I got thru the rest of the morning with this nightmare of a lazy woman and tried to focus on Cuenca. Later that night at baths, Cristina and Estefanie (another English student) asked me why I had been crying. They pressed me and pressed me to tell me what was wrong (I didn’t want to tell them I was having a problem with a teacher), but Estefanie knew I was in special ed with Ligia, and figured it out. She gave me a mini pep talk about how awful Ligia is once I admitted it was her, and told me that Ligia was “el diablo” or the devil and that a lot of people have problems with her. She asked me if I liked to be at the center in general, and reminded me that one bad apple does not spoil the bushel. I told her that some days were really really hard, but that there was also a lot to “sonreir” or smile, about at the Center and that every day I am happier than I had ever been. She gave me a hug, and of course I had to smile after that.

Tuesday was better. Our special ed class did a little presentation for the escuela (grammar school) kids about Dia de los Muertos, which was really cute. I was still annoyed at Ligia, but we had a little party with colada morada and pan de guaguas with the kids after the presentation which was cute.

After getting through the day, I finished packing for Cuenca, and we ran out the door to catch a cab for the bus terminal downtown. Our bus was at about 1030 at night and was PACKED with people leaving the city for various places as the entire country was on vaccacion from Wed-Sunday for Dia de los Muertos and the Fiestas of Cuenca which honor 191 years of Cuencan independence. How cool is that? Just randomly giving everyone in the country (thanks correa!) off for ONE city’s independence.—the US govt is too concerned with other things to recognize religious and civic holidays together. This would never happen! Anyway, despite the fact that numerous professors and admin had told me that week that night buses were dangerous, we already had our tickets, so I was hoping that my faith in humanity not to hijack, rob, or kidnap me (all these things were things that I was told that happens to people sometimes), would not fail me. It turned out fine and I was much less nervous than I should have been. Sleeping was impossible and I was incredibly restless, thus I was exhausted for the next 2 days, but that’s fine.  Apparently the 2 guys in front of us on the bus were smoking weed, but with my cold and complete ignorance to these things, I didn’t notice. I just thought they were obnoxious haha. One snafoo was that our bus clipped the side of a cement wall when we pulled into a bus station to get gas. That certainly jolted me from my sleep!!!

We got into Cuenca Wednesday and to our hostel which was right near the river, around 715 or so, and for whatever reason, thought we’d get right to doing things. With the Fiestas going on, there were people in the streets and up and moving. We stopped at a coffee place where I got a much needed cappuccino (the coffee at the center is instant, and I miss good coffee and thus jump at any chance to get it lol) and then walked down by the river, which is more like a babbling brook, where there were already vendors setting up. There was a market where you could find a lot of typical Ecuadorian things (hats, scarves, shawls, some instruments, llama products, etc) much of which was a repeat from Otovalo (a city about an hr from Quito which is a HUGE market for these things at a good price), but it was fun to see that lining the river. There was also a “art in the park” exhibit across the street. I started chatting with one of the artists and he asked my name. I told him Juliana as this is my name here and started singing the song “Juliana” by DLG. To give you an idea, the chorus goes, “Juliana que mala eres, que mala eres Juliana..” So OBVIOUSLY, I am not a mala, or bad Juliana, so had to tell him I was not like the song. Some of the special ed kids I don’t work with will sing this song to me as I walk past them on the playground. Little brats! We walked all over the city and to a few of the indoor markets where they had huge fruit, veggie, meat, fish selections. Later in the morning, we stumbled upon an agriculture show. We walked thru it and I saw the largest heads of lettuce ever, along with whole pigs, roasted, smoked black that people were just hacking into and eating on the spot. It made me nauseous. There was also cui (guinea pig) galore. I haven’t brought myself to eating this Ecuadorian delicacy, but I have til July-Aug 2012 to eat what I once kept in a cage as a pet. So fowl. What else? We saw 2 parades, went to the Cathedral Nuevo (really beautiful, but outside was more impressive than inside), walked more by the river, went to another artisans show which was more my speed and more locally done (also more expensive) but really beautiful things. I had to walk away from a beautiful leather bag…it was hard! But I don’t have 70 bones for a bag. Boo-hiss. We took a nap in the afternoon, and then went out for some food, a few drinks, and to find some live music, etc. We turned in pretty early as we had plans to go to Ingapirca the next day.

Thursday:
We got on a bus to Ingapirca, Incan ruins about 2 hours outside the city, at 9am. It was really beautiful as it was on the side of a mountain and was sunny and pleasant outside. There were even brown llamas walking around the ruins! There were remains of aquaducts and a large rock surrounded by smaller rocks with holes in them which they used as a calendar. So crazy! When we got back to the city around 3 or so, we took a nap as we were still recovering from the silly nite bus, got dinner at this Mexican joint which was kinda gross, and then went out again to hear some music, and do some dancing. Alexis, one of the girls who came, had this dance off at one of the clubs we went to. It was really funny and pretty awesome. I had this milky-vodkay drink which was a bad mistake as it made me feel aweful the next morning. I have also lost all tolerance for alcohol. My friends who survived my crazy summer 2010 would not believe me. One margarita and I’m down for the count! One thing I like about Ecuador is that their house wine is almost always Malbac because its so much cheaper. Luckily for me, its one of my favorite wines! Tho it is still more expensive than beer. Another complete side note, the 30th, I went with a few others to this irish pub which shows American football. Cost of a Guinness IN A CAN: 15.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was outraged and appauled that they didn’t have it on tap at an irish pub, or that it was so expensive. I could buy a case for that!! The Irish would demand they change the name of the pub. ANYWHO, back to Cuenca! We went to this one Cuban owned place for a little dancing. I was given a salsa dancing lesson from a friendly guy who I think just wanted to practice his English ahah, but it was fun. There was also a girl there from Catholic. She looked so familiar and started talking to some of the other volunteers. She told them she was from DC, so they told me. I asked her if she want to Catholic and well, what do you know? She graduated in 2011 from the Social Work school. THE WORLD IS FAR TOO SMALL!!!

Friday:
Another relatively early morning for us. We tried taking a bus to Cajas Nacional Park, not too far outside the city to the south. Well, the buses were filled, so we tried going to another station in the south to get tickets. We waited about 25 minutes for a bus to come by, and asked some other people waiting at the terminal for advice on how to get there. They suggested we take a cab, which we did. We found the nicest cab driver who took all five of us. It was also hard to find cabs to take 5 as most cap it at 4, but he drove us up to the higher part of the park, gave us advice and commentary on things to do in the park and in Cuenca. The park didn’t have a great info center, just this little resort thing. He walked us into the hotel/resort and got us information for activities they offered and whatnot. He also gave us his house and cell # incase we needed to get back and couldn’t get a bus. Just SO NICE. Reminded me of when Ann and I were in Ireland and the man we named Liam drove us back from the park to Dublin and disappeared before we could even give him a few euros. People in Cuenca were very nice…it was like the south in the states. Maybe it was the festivities and all the fiesta-ing, but everyone was nice when we asked for directions, advice, or for food. Anyway, we had a great day. We went horseback riding a bit, and then went hiking, attempting to find one of the 236 lagoons in the park. Well, not everyone was as energenic about the hike, but we made it a few hours, got some awesome views, found 2 random horse roaming the mountains (they weren’t wild and had shoes), and found a pretty large skull. It was a lot of fun. Some people also decided to go swimming in the river. I refrained as I didn’t want to be colder than I was, but stuck my feet in. It was a refreshing day to be up in the mountains and breathe the fresh air instead of the smog from Quito’s buses. We got back, took a nap (see a pattern??), and later went out. I cut my nap short to go back to the artisans tent to see if I could get a few gifts. I ended up buying a mobile (sounds weird but is really pretty!) and a table runner which may or may not be gifted..haha. I’m selfish and have a shopping issue! This is my downfall in life. Anyway, we were told of a good Mexican restaurant to try, so we walked further into the city center for this. There were tons of people and bands in the streets. The restaurant was quite good, a little pricy, but good. There was live music and the guy played Blackbird, my favorite Beatles song! He did it justice in his Spanish accent. Also made me think of Christina Lyons…I have to tell her about this! We went out dancing a bit again (ive danced more here in the past 3 months than in the entirety of college!), and went to bed around 1am or so.
Saturday was a bit more free. We slept in a bit, and Joe, Alexis and I went to Chordeleg, a town about an hr from the city that is famous for its inexpensive silver. I started talking to this guy on the bus who lived in NYC for 2.5 years and just came back. He was lamenting his loss of life in Queens. At one point, I looked out at the breathtaking mountains and exclaimed how beautiful it was in Ecuador. He told me that he thought the concrete buildings of NYC were more beautiful—literally, his words! I found it hard to believe, but I guess it’s true…it’s easier to find the beauty in something unfamiliar to you. I walked past concrete everyday in DC and got sick of most of what is actually beautiful architecture and government buildings (minus the FBI building, that is a disaster) but could stare at the Andes all day and be more than happy. We always want what we can’t have…how true it is. Chordeleg is a cool little place. It’s higher up and offered amazing vistas. There’s a little church in the town center which is this awkward shade of green, and has a regular face clock on it in the center that you would find in a highschool cafeteria, but also had a beautiful stained glass rose above the doors. The town square is entirely lined with jewelry shops. Literally, every single one. It was more than overwhelming. Some of them were really really cheap, some moderate, and of course, I would find the expensive ones, as is my other not so hidden talent (spending money!) I ended up finding a beautiful pair of 18kt gold studs shaped like flowers that have a coral center (im a sucker for coral and studs!) that were a little pricy. I had this flashback as I was trying to decide whether or not I should buy it to Italy with Ms. Luhr in highschool. I was deciding if I should buy these pretty little gold hoops. She told me that I would have them forever and I should get them. She was right…they are still some of my favorite earrings! So despite the fact I was in a town famous for cheap silver, I went with the expensive gold. Story of my life. I did find something pretty for one of my dear friend in London…now I just have to see her in the next year to give them to her!!
We got back into Cuenca about 5pm, relaxed at the hostel (tho we had checked out), and went to get some dinner with CeCe and Andy who had stayed behind to explore Cuenca some more. We found a sandwich place called Chiplote, not to be confused with Chipotle, which was excellent. I wasn’t too hungry as we had a late lunch, so saved half of my chicken sandwich for the ride home at 1040. The place was owned by an American and was absolutely delicious…when in Cuenca, eat American food haha. Eh, whatcha gona do. CeCe and I decided that we were going to split one of the deals they had (2 for 1 margaritas), however, the man misunderstood all of us, and brought us out 8 margaritas (Alexis and Andy were going to split the deal too). Needless to say, it was a whole lota marg! We had time to kill, so went  back to the hostle and watched a movie. My stomach was starting to bother me (probably from the greasy sandwich) so I was trying to drink some water and relax before the bus. The pains went away, so I decided to eat the rest of my sandwich before we left for the bus. It seemed fine, but then about 2 hours into the bus ride (1230am) my stomach had the worst cramps. I was having flashbacks to my colitis days. I tried to relax, stretch out, and drink some water, but nothing was working. On top of that, I was so cold because the window next to me had a draft. At about 230am, I decided I could take it no more. I climbed over the man next to me who was sleeping, and asked the bus driver for a key to the bathroom in the back. He informed me that it was broken and that they don’t usually stop during the nite route. I must have had a pretty pained look on my face because when I told him it was an emergency, he told me to wait in the front and that he’d stop ahead. He pulled into a closed gas station that had bathrooms that were still open on the side. They were the most rancid bathrooms I’d ever seen, but luckily there was one relatively clean and I travel with toilet paper (rule #2 of ecua-travel  right after #1, don’t drink the water).  I wasn’t the only one who needed to go, as the geriatric ward came in right behind me to use the bathroom. I relate to the pains of old people haha. So after that for the rest of the 4 hours back to quito, I slept relatively well.

Before I knew it, I was waking up to a cold Quito morning. The city seemed a little grimier than I remembered…maybe because I was in Cuenca, a city still very much influenced and preserved with Spanish architecture, so much so it reminded me of Granada, Spain, but maybe because I was outside it and could see the city a little better, even despite my exhaustion.  Okay, wow, this is a lot of information and I need some sleep (still getting over the cold). I’ll have to pull this all apart another day.