Cuenca Art and Sig Sig

I wanted to write a blog about teaching at CEDEI, but I haven't gotten the pictures that I wanted.  So due to requests from abroad, here is more about living in Cuenca.  We had the opportunity to meet a family who work for the American Consulate in Guayaquil when we went to the beach in Montanita.  Mike Kreis is in Ecuador with his two daughters Lauren and Jordan.  Lizzie liked Lauren's bathing suit at the beach and decided she wanted to meet her.  We hit it off with this family and a month after our first meeting, they came to Cuenca for an extended weekend.  Mike is a baseball player and he plays on one of the few teams in Ecuador.  Baseball is pretty much not known at all here.  Which is why there was only one other person in the sports bar watching the World Series.  Fortunately he was a Phillies Fan(?), well he said he has been following the red teams for years.

Any way, Mike and his family came up from Guyaquil because even though he lives the cushy government life, he loves Cuenca.  He also loves art and there is quite a bit of good art here, as you can see from the pictures.   The artists display their work underneath a bridge near the river on Saturdays.  We were fortunate enough to be introduced to one of the best artists here. His name is Miguel Ilesco and he does sculptures of Galapagos animals.  He invited all of us to his family home in Sig Sig, which is about 1 1/2 hours up into the mountains from here.  We met some of his family and the kids had a wonderful time fishing and playing soccer together.  We went fishing at a trout farm, which is akin to fishing in a bucket, and yet Norm was the only one to catch a fish.  It was a beautiful weekend and we made some good friends.

Next post should contain more about our teaching and also about an event at the kids school where Lizzie and Julian have been elected Madrina and Padrina de Deportiva.  I don't know what it is exactly, but needless to say, Lizzie NEEDED a frilly pink dress.

Just wanted to make sure that everyone knows how and when to contact us. Since you guys just got out of daylight savings time, we are now have the exact same time as the east coast, believe it or not.

Here is our address: McFadden/Roessler

     Edificio "La Cuadra" Dept. 7E

                             Eduardo Crespo Y Mariscal LaMar

             Cuenca

     Ecuador

Our phone number is a local Philadelphia call:  215-765-3301 (Yes it is true, no long distance charges)

We miss and love everyone.