Coming to the end of the month of April! I was planned to go to Lima Peru with my friend Mario, but he has been down with influenza. I have a bit of cold myself. Need to be in Peru by November 9th in any case. 2013/04/24 00:36

Toady while at an internet cafe I met an Italian musical group from the Puglie Region of Southern Italy, the town of Salento. They are on a tour of Ecuador. I got invited to their performance on April 24th in nearby Loja. Got my picture taken with three of the guys. Young and energetic

Kalàscima: Original Sound From South Of Italy! Their performances are full of energy and rhythm from the ancient traditional dance and music of taranta (Salento, southern Italy). With traditional and original songs, in dialect, Southern Italy’s hottest band revitalises the ancient ritual of pizzica tarantata, said to cure the deadly spider’s bite with frenzied trance dances and a very powerful modern sound mixed with original composition. Kalàscima’s show comprises of many fascinating instruments such as the mandolin, Irish bouzouki and Calabrian double flutes, along with a vast arrangement of percussion and thrilling vocals.

http://www.kalascima.it/en

From their program:

• Teatro Universitario Bolivar
• College Theater in Loja
• Address
• Rocafuerte (Bernardo Valdivieso)
• Loja, Ecuador ➔

• Workshop sulla pizzica pizzica e le tradizioni salentine presso Universidad Nacional de Loja
• http://www.unl.edu.ec/
• 24/04/2013 ore 19.30

Concerto presso il Teatro dell’Università di Loja

Concert at the Teatro Universitario Bolivar Loja

The Teatro Universitario Bolivar - Loja

End of the show

youtube.com Kalascima videos Loja 2013

2013/04/15 23:50

Pulled a muscle in my right calf today - hope it is short duration - I need to keep going!

At Piccola Italia: Having late lunch for $2 - met Rick a man I would guess in his sixties. Came up with his Yamasaki single cylynder cruiser - having put about 50,000 miles. Started his trip in his native New Hampshire - travelled down through Mexico and Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and all the way to Assuncion Paraguai. Near there in a small town with a German name and folks of German origin - found a family of dentist - got a new set on implanted teeth at a price impossible in the US. Then went down Argentina to Salas and no farther South - returning to Vilcabamba via Peru. Has photos and videos of the amazing journey and we should hear more about this adventure. Wants to sell his motorcyle for $2,500 and settle down preferably in Ecuador. If he can't sell it he wil ride it North to Cartagena Colombia for shipment to the US. I don't know where people get such courage. Only one bad fall on the gravel roads of Peru.

Also at Terrazza eating place met a Canadian who bought 32 hectares of land near here, because his son wants to start multi-cultural farming - don't know what that means. I asked the group about the absence of planes visible in our skies. Two of the men say they learned to fly in the States. One points out that becuase of the altitudes it would take very long runways to fly small planes here. Besides with a runway at 8,500 feet there is not much more altitude one could achieve on a small plane. I never thougth of that.

2013/04/07 19:14

Mall Del Rio is the largest shopping mall in Cuenca - at least as shopping malls go. There are local markets here that are quite huge; such as El Arenal, where you could meet all your real needs and at lower prices. The walk was estimated at 2.6 miles.

2013/04/06 22:48

In Cuenca since April 4th on a fool's errand to extend my visa. Found out what no one seemed to know that because of large volume of visa applications in Cuenca ( I assume they mean by gringos) - extensions for people from the Loja area will be issued in the town of Machala. Grin and bear it - is the moto here - when it comes to bureacracy - not much worse than Italy though! What remains is to enjoy and explore this city and recover my kindle reader that I forgot at Gaia Sagrada back in late December 2012.

This is one of the main gringo hang-outs. I stopped to get some late lunch on Friday. A middle aged gringo lady came to buy something to go, and sat next to me. It is a strange thing. The more I ignore people in such places the more likely that they will start talking to me. She tells me that at the Arab place just around the corner you can get a chicken wrap for about $2.00. At a table in front of me are two middle ages Americans sitted with an Ecuadorian woman , whose face I cannot see. She is telling them of fun things to do in Cuenca, and seems to be inviting them to something, that will require they stay around one more night. The more engaged of the two men tries to explain to the Ecuadorian about Red Indians where he comes from. To get it across he does the thing of the hand to the mouth, which some Indian tribes are supposed to do in their dances. That sets the the chicken wrap lady off, who turns to express to me how crude and improper that was. I joined in some degree of agreement. Later I hoped the two men did not hear us. But by now felt she had my ear. Her name was Sheila and she came from Florida about 8 months ago. She spent some time in Vilcabamba, but says she was harassed away from there by some individuals who posted negative things about her on some web page- to the effect that she was a phony psychic or sensitive. Sheila described herself as a sensitive - someone that can read and heal people. She says she had a transfer of psychic energy experience with a guy named Justin in Vilcabamba. I am not sure in which direction the energy was flowing! I think I know Justin: a tall blonde American with his hair up in a curl on top of his head; always dressed in white. I think he is part of the Hare Krishna group. He has a number of small children that come down to the plaza with him on Sundays. but at the moment Sheila tells me she is in some kind of heightened psychic or emotional state. She explains that she can smelll things that people can only hear - or some such cross-wiring of impressions. I pointed out that the McKenna brothers: pioneers of the psychedelic realm have mentioned such a phenomenon. But she says her experience is not from psychedelics as theirs must have been. On a more mundane level Sheila will soon marry an Ecuadorian man. She has not yet qualified for retirement benefits, so her only chance at residency is to marry an Ecuadorian, He of course will get the benefit of an American entry visa - which I am sure he will appreciate very much. For some reason unknown to me Ecuadorians have a very difficult time getting visas into the US.

The story continued the next morning when I showed up for lunch at Cafe Austria, another favorite of gringos, with wifi and all. My lunch had not arrived yet when the two Americans of the evening before walk in and get seated next to me. I think we both pretended to ignore the other, as polite people do. Another thing I learned about coffee places is that people try to find a hook to give them a grapple point into a conversation with someone that seems to be minding his/her business. And the more proactive of the two soon found it on my cell phone I had sitting on the table. “Excuse sir, do you speak English ?” Come on dude! You heard me talking to Sheila for a good 15 minutes right next to your table yesterday- I think to myself. He wants to ask me a question about his iPhone, but then notes that mine is not an iPhone and politely retreats to his table - but the hook is in for further conversation.

I spent the lunch talking to Doug and Steven two brothers from Oklahoma; Doug retired from working as a buyer for a mineral mining company. Steven was quieter and more private, but being younger may not yet be retired. The day before I overhead that Doug has done much traveling in several continents. In two months he will head to France. He seems sets to return to Ecuador as his choice to settle down and buy some property He tried to buy propery in Mexico but found that he could buy twice the property here. He is thinking of a an apartment in Cuenca and another by the sea. They next day they will be going to Salinas on the Ecuadorian Pacific coast, and will travel up some distance along the coast looking for a spot they like. I think there is a very good chance I shall see these two men again in Cuenca. By the way they did follow the Ecuadorian woman's invitation and found themselves in a night club at the top of a tall building which had a fantastic 360 degree view of the city; and got down to goods times with the locals in spite of their lack of Spanish. Like Doug said: a language barrier will not stop a man and a woman comunicating their desires.

After lunch invigorated by food and conversation I decided to go to Artesa, an arts and ceramics place where my friend Susan and Mario bought a water container some time ago. They must replace the special ceramic filter that works with it, and think Artesa my carry it. Now a smart man would call ahead right? My cellular GPS shows me anothe route and says it woudl be a 45 minute walk.

The blue line shows the past suggested by Google. I followed the red line suggested by the GPS on my cellular phone. Artesa is found where the red line meets the yellow line. The estimated 45 minute walk ballooned into an hour and half, partly becuase my GPS did not work without a wifi connection- there were some wrong detours. And finally there was the anticlimax of finding the place closed on Saturday. As I said: I should have called ahead. I started to walk back along the yellow line which follows the Avenida De Las Americas. I walked all the way up to Supermaxi a local supermarket located wher he yellow line ends. After some black coffee and pastry and inquiries about filters at Supermaxi and Sukasa, I decided my feet hurt enough that a cab home was in order. The green light traces the last track home to the Hostal Orquidea.

Bottom line: I have sore feet and a chafing soreness between my legs from the blue jeans. I hoped I am well enough for some more walking tomorrow. The objective was farther out than I imagined. From the center of Hstorical Cuenca I walked to within a couple of long blocks from the western edge of town. I saw many residential neighborhoods. Along the lines there are very nice parts of town, with some beautiful villas and new apartment and office buildings. I noted that the buildings that looked likely occupied by expats were mostly found along the two rivers that cut horizontaly East to West.