Strategic Planning

Cuenca Partners spent time this past Saturday working on a strategic growth plan for the next four years. During a retreat in Yunguilla, ten members of the leadership team reviewed the ministry's vision and mission before delving into a debate of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunites and threats for Cuenca Partners. Over the next 3 months, they hope to complete the plan and begin putting it into action.

In the meantime, the weekend retreat resulted in an immediate commitment to more frequent team meetings and a renewed focus on mentoring for training graduates.

César Borja leads a discussion of Cuenca Partners' organizational strengths

A Conference in Cuenca

What would happen if business and church leaders met together to delve deeper into the issues of poverty in their community? What would happen if they went beyond that to consider how to work together on long-term solutions to poverty?

That is the premise of a conference being planned for April by Cuenca Partners in conjunction with Partners Worldwide and PovertyCure.

During the October Marketplace Revolution Conference, Boris Ordonez and Felix Hernandez, the respective leaders of the Ecuadorian and North American sides of the Partners Worldwide partnership in Cuenca, caught the vision of engaging not only their church in their city, but the entire ecumenical Church in Ecuador in this question.

Boris is a leader in the Verbo Church of Cuenca, with two thousand members, several ministries, and different organizations from an orphanage to a medical clinic to a radio that meet various needs in the community. However, he says that, "I think our ministry here lacks an understanding of why and how [we can] help people overcome poverty. We do a lot of charity but nothing with the vision of Business as Mission." His hope is to invite leaders from over 30 Verbo churches in Ecuador, as well as leaders from the Catholic church, other evangelical churches, government ministries, and business people to engage with PovertyCure and Partners Worldwide in a 2-day conference.

Over that time, PovertyCure would help Christians develop an awareness of the church's responsibility in addressing poverty. Through Partners Worldwide, they would take the next step and consider how churches and businesses can develop sustainable programs to create jobs and increase the ability of entrepreneurs to successfully go from poverty to having an income and even being able to employ others.

We still have four months and a lot of planning to make this a reality, but the enthusiasm for this event is tangible!

MR14 Workshop on the "Call to Business and the end of Poverty"
Cuenca Partners was inspired by this workshop to plan a similar
conference for April of 2015

Marketplace Revolution 2014

Today marked the end of an amazing experience with 10 Ecuadorian visitors. While many of them have hosted me at times over the past 4 years while I visited their city and worked with them in the cities of Cuenca, El Guabo, and Guamote, this week was my chance to play host.

During the last two days, over 500 attendees descended on Grand Rapids, Michigan for the biannual Marketplace Revolution Conference hosted by Partners Worldwide. Some highlights of that time have been:

• Dinner together with 22 members of our 3 Ecuadorian partnerships on Thursday night
• Connecting leaders from our Latin American agricultural partnerships with Justin, a Zambian expert on bringing farmers from subsistence to sustainable production to reaching the level of agribusiness.
• Three Ecuadorians presented on our church-based model, mentoring program, and agricultural work in breakout sessions.
• Cesar Luzuriaga, one of our Cuenca Partners leaders, participated in the closing ceremony and delivered part of the commissioning.

Tomorrow I will head to Hudsonville and New Era, Michigan with attendees from Guamote, Michigan to meet with donors and visit a dairy processing facility.

Newsworthy

Our local partnership is making an impact in the city of Cuenca and is receiving increasing attention for its work. Through the coordination of one of our local team leaders, Gabriela Granda, and her publicity firm KreActiva, we've been able to share the story of Cuenca Partners in both of the major local newspapers. Here is a sample of the stories that were run back in April. (Yes, I'm a little behind on posting stories!)

Practice your Spanish by reading the print screen copies of the articles or scroll down for links to the English translation!

Cuenca Partners ayuda a iniciar emprendimientos from diario El Mercurio.
Read this article in English.

Se desarrolla seminario para microempresarios from diario El Tiempo.
Read this article in English.

Training Public Servants in Leadership

One of the amazing things I have witnessed in the past year is the way projects and plans have grown beyond any one person's power. When I first arrived in Cuenca, I was consulted whenever anything new started. That meant I had a lot of input, but it also meant a heavy responsibility to ensure everything came together. The leadership team of Cuenca Partners, our Partners Worldwide affiliate, has since taken the lead and given the impetus to start new projects and bring in the people necessary to make sure everything runs smoothly. I get to take a back seat and watch with a smile as responsibility is delegated into the hands of volunteers and new people step up into leadership. The training with ETAPA, detailed below, was one of those situations in which we saw that no single person could cover everything. However, through teamwork we were able to have a broad impact, and now the municipal government is asking us to bring the same training to their work force.

Since December 2013, Cuenca Partners has been collaborating with the public enterprise for telecommunication, water works, and sewers in its city, ETAPA EP, to offer training in leadership and topics of family unity to the public servants who work in the company. Although ETAPA can give employment and a dignified salary to over a thousand people who work in the various divisions of the company, it is the responsibility of each employee to use wisely the money they bring home each month. For that reason, the training seeks to motivate the employees to be responsible leaders in their daily work and also wise leaders in their homes.

Translated Report from ETAPA EP News:

The Family, Fundamental Pillar in Job Performance

ETAPA EP in coordination with the Submanagement of Human Resources is hosting a series of lectures focused on seeking the wellbeing of our coworkers and generating a stronger sense of ownership in the Company. For this reason, the Department of Social Wellness, Industrial Safety, and Occupational Health is executing motivational workshops for the personnel of the company as well as their families.

In topics relating to the company and its workers, the workshops seek to integrate the workers so that they value the importance of team work and meting one of the primary strategic objectives of ETAPA EP, “Improve Customer Satisfaction.”

[Photo: Boris Ordóñez of “Cuenca Partners” during a leadership seminar in the SIAPA building]

Passion for Making Pizza Leads to Success

CUENCA, Ecuador --- Though he sells pizza in his Spanish-speaking country, Ecuadorian Patricio Hurtado retains a slice of Italy in his restaurant’s name: Pizza Nostra, which translates as “Our Pizza” in Italian. The name fits, because Patricio’s pride and joy belongs not only to him as the owner, but to the community, his growing number of employees, and to the God who led the restaurateur down this entrepreneurial path.

“Ever since I was about 16 or 17 years old, I have been involved in business,” said Patricio, the father of two grown sons. His wife, Emma, is a tradeswoman who sells clothing in an open air market. “As a teenager, I bought shoes in Gualaceo (a town famous for shoes) and sold them elsewhere." Decades later, his creative capacity for business prompted Patricio to pursue a new venture, one that would provide delicious fast food in a neighborhood with a shortage of restaurants (only one other eatery, a rotisserie chicken restaurant, existed). But first Patricio had to overcome fear of failure. “The doors opened and I could see my [pizzeria idea] was really from God,” he said. “Then I had confidence, faith, and peace.”

Linking arms with him on this journey are Carlos Serrano and Boris Ordóñez, both of Cuenca Partners, the local affiliate of Partners Worldwide, based in this city of half a million located in the highlands of Ecuador. Patricio took the Cuenca Partners business training course, and Carlos and Boris mentored him in everything from restaurant management to testing various dough and sauce recipes to achieve pizza perfection. After 6-7 months of planning, Pizza Nostra was born.

“[Opening a restaurant] was always something I found attractive,” Patricio said. “I like to work with my hands, being in the kitchen and cooking at my house. And I knew a pizza place could work well, according to people’s ability to pay. Food is a very practical business, not based on seller financing and credit; people pay immediately.”

Since opening a little over a year ago, Patricio has been able to create jobs for three employees―Juan, Nina, and Edward. Juan, whom Patricio knew from the Bible study group hosted in his home, works evenings, delivering pizzas on his motorcycle. Nina, a student, also works evenings. Edward, on the other hand, was the first employee, working shoulder to shoulder with Patricio from the start. They met by chance after Edward's previous employer closed his business and sold Patricio an industrial cheese shredder. While closing the sale, 
the former boss recommended Edward as an excellent worker. Unemployed at the time, Edward had valuable experience running three pizzerias in Ecuador and Columbia. Investing his passion in his work, Edward beams with joy as he kneads pizza crust, only a year after being unemployed with few prospects. In September, Edward will have saved enough money to open his own pizzeria once more, this time armed with what he’s learned about successful business management through Patricio. Edward’s goal? “To be able to open more businesses that can help other people and me as well.”

Though Patricio will lose a hardworking employee in Edward, it’s gratifying that the worker he’s taken under his wing now plans to open his own business. Patricio believes God is blessing his enterprise in a way that no other business venture of his has been blessed. While he worked in various industries in the past—selling fabric, producing powdered drinks and candy, and promoting good eye care—this is the first time Patricio has had a vision for growth. These prior attempts struggled within a changing Ecuadorian marketplace, but in God’s redemptive economy led to Patricio’s salvation years ago. Now, Pizza Nostra is different. Patricio plans to open a second location of his successful business in the coming year.

“Many people have said, ‘There is something special about the owner of this business,’” Patricio said. “By giving good customer service with a smile, people notice a difference, and in this way we have been able to sow seeds for Christ.”

Read this story on the Partners Worldwide website here. Original story appeared in the Partners Worldwide August eNews.

Well-Nurtured Business Cares for Babies

AZOGUES, Ecuador --- Inspired by the birth of his son Mateo―and the realization that running out of diapers is not an option―Pedro opened a baby supply store three-and-a-half years ago in the town of Azogues. With a vision to serve clients well, Pedro’s business has expanded from his original store to a second store in a close-by community. Like a well fed, well cared-for baby, his business is growing and thriving.

“I’ve learned that my business belongs to God, that everything is his and I am a steward,” Pedro said.  “God is showing me that he is the true owner of everything and I am seeing his blessing.”

Born in a city near the Peruvian border, Pedro moved to Azogues and met his wife, Anita, a school teacher. Though the town of 34,000, located in an Andean valley northeast of Cuenca, has an economy based in agriculture, flour milling, and Panama hat weaving, unemployment is high, and Pedro found it very difficult to find a job. “People didn’t want to hire me because I’m not from here,” he said. “I had many ideas of starting different businesses.  But there was always this fear that the businesses wouldn't go well.  What if the people didn't like my products?”

After Mateo’s birth, Pedro and Anita realized there was a product they could sell that would always be in demand: diapers, not to mention wipes, formula, teething rings, and other baby essentials. Yet Pedro lacked solid training and access to the wider circles of exchange that would allow him to develop his strengths and talents. His business floundered at first, and he contemplated giving up and moving someplace with more jobs.
 
The turning point for Pedro was taking a business training course through Cuenca Partners, the local affiliate of Partners Worldwide in nearby Cuenca. The course “was a huge help for me because I didn't know anything about business,” said Pedro.  “I was taught how to manage the store, take it to the next level, do bookkeeping—all of it. There was an 80% transformation of the business after I took the course.”

One thing he learned was the principle of inventory control. “When we get down to three (items) of a product, we need to start ordering more,” he said. By quickly replenishing dwindling supplies, Pedro runs the kind of store his clients can rely on.

“Pedro has products in stock that at any point his competitors might not have,” said Carlos Serrano, who currently works part-time for Cuenca Partners and part-time for Verbo Church.  “His clients come to him because of that dependability.”

Along with dependability, there’s integrity and the desire “to be faithful to God in everything.” This means resisting the temptation to buy cheaper but stolen goods for his store. “I know it’s not right,” Pedro said. “I only buy things with receipts so that everything goes well.”

Today, the store is bustling; it’s not unusual for Pedro to serve ten customers in ten minutes. The demand is so high that Pedro opened a second location eight blocks away and hired an employee to run it. Both baby stores are flourishing, as Pedro works hard and dreams of building his business, providing for his family and meeting the needs of his community.

“Time will tell what else we can do in the business,” Pedro said. “God has great plans for my life—I am convinced.  Now my goal is to stay faithful to Him.”

Read the story on the Partners Worldwide website here. Original story appeared In Partners Worldwide's August eNews.

Six Months in Cuenca

Tomorrow marks six months in Cuenca, a reality that I find a little difficult to believe.  In some ways it seems like just yesterday that I arrived in the city, uncertain of which roads to take from my house to work at the church and confused by all the regional terms for everything from money to being broke to...well, whatever else they talk about with Kichwa slang thrown in.

"Modern Cuenca," where I work and live

At the same time, it is remarkable everything that has happened in those 180+ days. I've visited downtown Cuenca often enough to almost know the names of every street and the 20-some churches that seem to be on every corner.  I've spent hours hiking in Cajas National Park, a gorgeous high-altitude mountainous landscape dotted by thousands of lakes and lagoons.

Lagoon in Cajas National Park

I'm getting to know new people--my coworkers at the Verbo Church, my neighbors and their extended family that own the entire block around my apartment, friends that recently moved to Cuenca from New York, and others that form part of the large and growing gringo community in the city.  While Cuenca is definitely very distinct from Quito, there are always amazing, interesting people to meet.

Business training graduates with their mentor

In the realm of work, which was the motivation for my move to this city, things have multiplied and are bursting at the seams with more potential. Two weeks after I arrived in Cuenca, we held our first business training course with about 30 participants.  Two months later, we had to turn people away when we closed the course at 44 people and still had an additional 4 people attend. The local partnership, Cuenca Partners, signed an agreement with a local lending partner, and we have over 25 people receiving ongoing mentoring support from members of our team.  Additionally, Lauren from the Partners Worldwide office in the US came for two weeks to help collect stories, photographs and videos that we will use in the future for marketing and publicity, both here in Ecuador and in the United States.

A training graduate learns about Jardin Azuayo, our local lending partner

That's the short update, if I can call it short, and I hope to share more stories and details in the future. These past few months have been quite busy, not allowing much time for updates, so I hope to resume a more regular posting schedule from here on out.

Cuenca Partners in the News

Last Saturday marked the end of a three-week training seminar for Ecuador affiliate Cuenca Partners.  The following story was published in local newspaper El Tiempo on Monday, March 4:

Business Course Dedicated to Local Businesspeople

Gabriela Granda leads part of the seminar taught to businesspeople.

Cuenca Partners is an international movement of businesspeople and professionals who create and give continuing support to sources of employment using the business knowledge and resources of its members on a local and international level.  The 24-hour training organized within the seminar “The Business Plan for PYMES” concluded yesterday.  The course was oriented toward businesspeople who wish to improve the administration of their businesses or entrepreneurs who are beginning a business, helping them to learn to create a holistic business plan.  Ten instructors participated, developing twelve topics such as marketing, SWOT analysis, Business as Mission, Setting goals, pricing, bookkeeping, paying taxes, and other services.

Susana Calle, who hopes to start a business in the food industry, comments that the learning acquired is very clarifying for entrepreneurs, helping them to understand the necessary immediate actions and mid-term actions to make their ideas a reality.  At the end of the training, the participants have the possibility of receiving mentoring to implement the business plan, as indicated by Carissa De Young, Cuenca Partners coordinator.

A Quiet Revolution

The following was a story that my supervisor, Bob Vryhof, shared in a newsletter last month.  It tells a little about our new partnership in Cuenca, Ecuador, the city where I will be moving in just over a week.

Our bi-annual global gathering is called Marketplace Revolution, which refers to the transformative movement we are pursuing. This is not a loud and violent revolution.  It’s a collection of personal commitments from Christian business people to live out their calling to business, dig deeper into God’s desire for how they should do that, and connect with other leaders to figure out how to help other business people do the same. While this ‘revolution’ isn’t normally front page news, it’s most definitely captivating and the impact is  remarkable.
In one of my last letters I highlighted some key puzzle pieces the Lord seemed to be knitting together in Cuenca, Ecuador to promote exactly this type of impact.  Since that time, those pieces have come together, begun to bear fruit, and are driving us on to exciting new possibilities.
Our Ecuador affiliate is now formally partnered with Cuenca Partners – a group of local business people committed to helping small businesses in their Church and community thrive. Not only that, but they are adamant about holding one another accountable to doing business in a way that glorifies God by bearing witness to His love and purpose.
Recently this partnership recruited and trained a group of 52 local business mentors. As business people, all of them are committed  to using who they are and what they have  in service to their community. A result of this offering of service is the planned launch of a second business course in January. Cuenca Partners expects 60 people to attend. Mentors will be paired with  participants that request guidance in implementing course principles. 
Originally, this partnership focused exclusively on small businesses.  However, in the last few weeks via meetings with the local Chamber of Commerce, Cuenca Partners identified the need for high level mentoring and training for medium and large businesses in the community. As a result, we are working to design a strategy to engage and serve those people as well.
Our shared desire through these activities is to raise up a community of business people committed to seeking and living out God’s full callingfor their lives. This begins through training and mentoring, but it reaches further. As this network grows, our prayer is that barriers between large and small, rich and poor, connected and isolated would dissolve and vanish forming a community rooted in Christ-like service. By nature, that will be a community characterized by jobs that truly afford opportunity, growth, and dignity – a community that is increasingly able to meet its own basic needs and help others do the same.
That’s a revolution I’m glad to be part of…..
Please join me in prayer for these business people as they pursue God’s calling for them, their businesses, and their communities.

Pizza Nostra

After years working in a nonprofit organization, Patricio took a step of faith toward his dream of running his own business.  With constant guidance and mentoring from Carlos, a leader in the Cuenca affiliate of Partners Worldwide, Patricio learned business skills, evaluated the market for pizzerias, tried countless sauces, dough recipes, and ingredients, and finally open the doors of a pizzeria in a residential area that lacked restaurant options.  He had invested over five months of planning, and his business was already growing when we visited Pizza Nostra a mere two months after the restaurant's grand opening.

When we arrived, Carlos went back behind the counter to help Patricio, his wife, and their two workers finishing up appetizers of veggies and buffalo wings.  Pizza and lasagna soon followed, the latter being a new option Patricio is adding to the menu.  While the restaurant is still in its initial stages, Patricio has large plans for its growth.  Eventually he would like to make Pizza Nostra a franchise with locations all over Cuenca and beyond.  He is already training a nephew who hopes to eventually run a restaurant, and Patricio is taking steps to differentiate his product, such as offering a seafood pizza with shrimp, crab, and fish.  From talking with customers, Patricio knows that there are small improvements to make, but he is on the right track.  He already has many repeat customers, and with Carlos' continued mentoring he looks forward to implementing daily improvements in the business.

Moving to Cuenca

Over the past six months, I have spent an increasing amount of time traveling to one specific location--Cuenca Ecuador.  Located about 265 miles south of Quito in the same mountain chain, Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador and the home to colonial architecture, artisan crafts, the production of Panama hats, and countless ornate Catholic churches.

At the same time, the Verbo Christian Church of Cuenca has been at work, following the Spirit's leading to grow from one small congregation in the 1980s to three vibrant churches that today support a radio, English language school, hospital, dental clinic, orphanage, K-12 school, ministry institute and much more.  One of their newer ministries is growing out of a connection with Partners Worldwide and the strong desire to affirm businesspeople in their calling and help them to see their work as their mission field.

To better support the Verbo Church and our joint ministry--Cuenca Partners, I will be moving to Cuenca at end of January to be involved in the ministry full time.  This is very much a new development, so I look forward to the challenges, joys, and adventures of spending the next three months getting to know the city, exploring apartment options, and figuring out how to move my "stuff" over an 8-hour drive through winding mountain roads.  God has truly been leading and preparing me up to this point for this move, so I trust in him and his providence as I begin developing new connections and putting down roots in this city to which I have been called.

A New Partnership

Introducing the newest Partners Worldwide partnership--Cuenca Partners.

Last Tuesday, during the visit from North American members of the Partners Worldwide team, we signed a partnership agreement to begin actively working together with Cuenca Partners to bring business development under the vision of Business as Mission to the city of Cuenca.

As a volunteer-led group of businesspeople from the Verbo Christian Church of Cuenca, this local partner seeks to engage Christian businesspeople in service while supporting small businesspeople and entrepreneurs through business training, mentoring, and access to capital.  While there is still much work to be done, we hope to host a mentor's training day on October 20 in order to prepare mentors to connect with small business owners who need that extra support of a knowledgeable business profession with expertise in a certain area such as marketing or bookkeeping.  We will be offering a 3-day business training course in January to officially launch this ministry.

Partners Worldwide Visit Begins

Tomorrow I will be joined by four other members of the US-based Partners Worldwide team to travel to 3 cities and 5 provinces in the course of the following five days.  All four team members fly in tomorrow evening so that we can get an early start on Monday with a flight out to Cuenca.  There we will spend 2 full days meeting with church leaders, visiting businesses, and getting to know the city.  On Wednesday, we plan to return to Quito for two meetings before catching another flight, this time to the jungle city of Coca.  We will spend two days there in order to visit communities along the Napo River and below the Sumaco Volcano before returning to Quito for one last meeting before team members catch their flights on Friday evening and early Saturday morning.

Sound like a whirlwind?  Maybe, but it's full of anticipation for great things.  We are looking forward to signing a partnership agreement to begin formally working together with the Cuenca Partners group based at the Verbo Church there, and the trip to the jungle will be the start of a potential connection with Kaya Foundation, which works in rainforest conservation through business innovation with jungle farming communities.  I look forward to giving updates on the highlights from this trip.

Visitors Coming!

A group of North American businesspeople who support us in the work of Partners Worldwide in Ecuador confirmed today that they will be coming to visit at the end of August.  It has been just over a year since the last visit, so we are excited to welcome them again to meet with business people, help develop new connections, and see the beauty of God's creation in Ecuador.  I will be traveling with those who come to Cuenca to meet with local leaders.  From there we will also make our first visit to communities in the Amazon jungle  in order to consider how we can support them as they develop sustainable agricultural businesses and simultaneously work to conserve the rainforest.  We pray for the God's blessing in this visit and that he will open doors for service and to walk alongside even more Ecuadorian businesspeople.

Connections in Cuenca

Two years ago during the visit of the Global Business Affiliate to Ecuador, a team member from New Jersey took the opportunity to connect with his wife’s cousin, Boris Ordoñez.  Through the experience, Boris accompanied the local Quito leaders and the North American team members to visit a bakery owner and strawberry growers, all the while learning more about Partners Worldwide’s vision of working through business as ministry to alleviate poverty in communities. 

As a leader of his church in Cuenca, Boris was already involved in a number of ministries in addition to being the successful owner of four businesses.  Over the years, Verbo Church of Cuenca had established orphanages, a hospital, a radio station, a school, a language institute and many other ministries.  However, a ministry that could connect Christian business leaders and empower them to have an impact in their community for Christ was missing.  Boris saw the potential to develop a ministry for businesspeople and began conversing about the possibility with Partners Worldwide.

Through subsequent visits and conversations, the Verbo Church led a business training course for 40 people, developed a group of businesspeople in the church willing to serve as consultants, and formed a team dedicated to launching the ministry.  At the beginning of April, I met with the Verbo leadership team to formalize plans for a partnership in the city of Cuenca.  By formalizing this partnership, the group in Cuenca plans to offer more frequent business training, establish a mentoring program, and eventually provide access to small loans through an independent lender.  While there is still much work to do, this is a concrete step toward providing Christian business development support for businesses in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Ecuador Cities

When I was looking up a details about Cuenca for my last post, I came to a realization about how ridiculously long the official names of Ecuadorian cities are.
In truth, Cuenca is just a "short version" of the city's name.  Full name: Santa Ana de los cuatro rios de Cuenca.  Translation: Santa Ana of the Four Rivers of Cuenca.  Most cities in Ecuador are similar in keeping very long names.  For example, I live in San Juan de Cumbaya, right outside of San Francisco de Quito, and I helped on a medical brigade in Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas.  Notice the trend of including the name of the Catholic patron saints in the name of each city.  If that's not enough, most of the original city names had "Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de..." before their titles.  I find that ironic because "Very noble and loyal city" doesn't really fit with the whole revolution and independence from Spain part that happened a few years later.

Speaking of independence, Ecuador does have an independence day (August 10), but the real celebrations are on  the independence days of the three main cities of Ecuador (Guayaquil - October 9, Quito - May 24, and you already know Cuenca's).

As if Ecuador doesn't have enough holidays with its 4 official independence days, the days on which the principle cities were founded by the Spanish are often celebrated as well, albeit on a regional level.  Personally, I'm looking forward to Quito's founding on December 6, but there are also celebrations in Guayaquil on July 25, in Cuenca on April 12, and probably in some other cities on other dates as well.

This trend toward regionalism is important for understanding Ecuadorian culture.  You can tell just by the way a person talks whether they are from the coast (Guayaquil), Quito, Cuenca, or an indigenous group.  Quiteños call people from Guayaquil monos (monkeys), and the monos respond with something like "potato eaters."  Diet, agriculture, and industry change dramatically when one moves east from the Pacific Coast to the Andean mountain highlands to the Amazon jungle.  While Ecuador might be about the size of Colorado, the regional diversity noted in the distinctions between cities goes far beyond that which is noted in any one US state.

Happy [Cuencan] Independence Day

This last week Quito was dead.  As in, no traffic jams, very rare honking, and the street outside my apartment was eerily silent.  That was all thanks to a 5-day weekend in honor of Dia de los Difuntos (All Soul's Day on Nov. 2) and the Independence day of Cuenca, Ecuador on November 3, 1820.  While I decided to take the time to relax here in Quito and stay away from the huge crowds, I figure this is a good time to share some pictures from my trip to Cuenca last year for the celebration. Since my now apartment mate is from Cuenca, she invited me to visit her city and her family for the holiday.

Cristina and me at the Turi church above Cuenca

Turi Church

The highlight of my time in Cuenca was the burning of the castillos or "castles," which can best be described as 2-story towers of metal and paper machete riddled with firecrackers and other dangerous pyrotechnics.  This celebration happens in the evening in the central park, which was packed to the gills when I was there.

I think from those images you can get the picture--sparks flying everywhere.  The fun thing is that they set up the castillos all around the central park, and you never know which one they will light next.  So everyone crowds around one only to be part of the crowd running to the other when a different one is chosen.

Everyday in Cuenca during the holiday there were fairs, parades, and other celebrations.  I went to two fairs with Cristina and her family.  The first reminded me much of of a typical county fair, and the second was a lot like an arts and crafts show. 

This aint your typical Midwestern fair--llamas and alpaca are a prominent fixture.

As are guinea pigs

Mariachi band at the arts & crafts fair

 Cuenca is a World Heritage Site because of its well-preserved colonial architecture.  A few evenings while we were waiting for events to start or driving around town, I captured these pictures:

Next time I get to visit Cuenca I hope to see more of these buildings, and maybe not just from the outside.  Another goal for the future is to go hiking in the Cajas National Park, which has hundreds of lagoons.  The closest I got was fishing along the roadside on the outskirts of Cajas, but even what I could see of the park from a distance was beautiful.