Running Race Last Weekend

         Central plaza in Azogues before 10 km race to nearby mountain village, San Miguel de Porotos.

Fany, Jenny’s sister-in-law, caught breaking into a nearby car

Patricia warming up before the race, waving to her fans.

Marco with his support vehicle following closely behind,

followed by Erich.

Race finish area in San Miguel de Porotos:  Hans, Jenny’s brother Marco, his daughter Michelle, Annalise, daughter Karina, Patricia, Marco’s wife Fany.

In the feed line—best post-race food ever! BBQ pork, refried beans, rice, and chicha (fermented corn drink).  I finished the race right behind the lady in the purple skirt!



The following day at the Cuenca hot springs area, Banos. 

Jenny’s mother, Mari, on the left; our landlady, Bertha, on the right.

Ahhhh!

Up valley from Cuenca

Azogues reminds me a little of Butte, MT—a blue collar city, set in a beautiful high mountain valley.   Many of the buildings and homes are non-descript 1960’s constructions, but there are also many colonial buildings made of adobe with grass-thatched or tile roofs.  There are the expected exhaust-filled, very noisy streets downtown, but the character of the people walking the streets softens the blow—everyone is invariably friendly, always stopping to chat when they run into someone they know.

While there is a palpable industrial feel to the center of this small bustling city, there are many farmers from the countryside dressed in their traditional hats, skirts or farm clothes, that recall an earlier life.  Despite living downtown, we wake up to relative quiet, roosters crowing in the distance, the Chihuahua puppy racing across the floor in the apartment upstairs, then later comes the din of early-morning traffic.  When we walk to school in the morning, the number of kids on the street far out-number adults, all in their trademark uniforms that are unique to their respective schools.  I never thought of myself as a uniform guy, but the kids sure are cute when they’re all dressed up that way.

Because Azogues is a little like Butte (not quite as quaint as the nearby town of Cuenca which is more comparable to Bozeman as a picturesque town that tourists enjoy), we rarely see other gringos on the streets.   But that doesn’t mean no one speaks any English here—we occasionally here someone answer back to us in a few words of US street-lingo, with a Brooklyn accent.  It seems like every other person has spent a few years living in Queens, NY, (not sure which person from Azogues many years back might have started the migration pattern to that specific place), making a go at the American dream for a while, then returning to live the more relaxed life back home with their family.

Some Early Photos

          First day of school.  Yikes!



Classmates after school—and out of uniform!

Some scenes around town.

Visit to Cuenca



Baking cake with Mari, Jenny Cosgrove's mother.

Card game before dinner at Jenny’s aunt’s house

Aye Chihuahua!

We've arrived!

It's been a couple of weeks now since we've been settling in here in Azogues, the town of 30,000, just north of Cuenca in Southern Ecuador.  Hans and Annalise are in their Mon-Fri school routine, including daily homework.  Today was the first day of Hans' soccer program, Annalise starts next week. 

Patricia's sister-in-law's (Jenny Cosgrove) family here has been incredibly loving and helpful.  We've been staying with Jenny's mom since we arrived, while wandering around the valley looking for a place of our own.  We have frequent dinners with various relatives throughout the valley, consult cousins on homework assignments, and get lots of advice on things such as which panaderias have the best bread and who's the best barber in town.

Patricia and I have met with Dr. Rodas from Cuenca who runs a mobile surgical project in the area.  We hope to do weekly work days, occasional multi-day trips with his group, beginning in the next couple of weeks.

Jenny's brother, Marco, is an avid runner, so I have been trying to get back into shape to run a 10 km road/trail race with him this coming weekend.  So far, I'm finding that running hills at 10,000ft. is fairly slow going though.