#2985, Monday, February 27, 2023: Thoughts become things, Cuenca edition

Post 2985

- 13 years and 57 days since I started this blog -

February 24, 2023 - on my balcony overlooking Calle Simón Bolívar, Centro, Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador.

Journal

(written February 25-27, 2023)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 12 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for food shots when I've eaten something interesting or pretty. And that's where we find ourselves now.

I believe that thoughts become things.

I woke up last week with a rare thought - about something I lacked. Usually, I wake up and all my thoughts are of gratitude, including for the pleasantly mild surprise of waking up in the first place.

It wasn't a big thought, but I realized that so far on this trip to Cuenca, except for the couple of days that my friend Bela was in town, I lacked someone to get high with. It was just a passing thought, but unusual in context.

Once noted, I put it aside, did my usual morning stuff, then went to breakfast. At the Sunrise Café, I recognized an expat I'd met the year before (with the aforementioned Bela, actually) at a Bistro Yaku open mic. Her name is Claudia. I'd heard her sing and play blues harp. And, I'd kept up with her on Facebook, as we were FB friends.

Claudia is leading her own band now, Blues Enigma. 

She didn't remember meeting me, but I did look familiar, so she was friendly, and I joined her for breakfast (she hadn't ordered yet). 

We quickly got past the logistical formalities, and in easy conversation found out we had a lot in common. Over the next days, I would be amazed by how much we had in common, given very different personal histories. 

Once she had placed me, she kindly asked me to sit in with her band on March 4th. I needed no persuasion.

I got around to asking if she was 'four-twenty friendly.' She responded enthusiastically. 

And just like that, the 'somebody-to-get-high-with' aspect of the trip was taken care of. Thoughts become things.

We walked and talked after breakfast.

Claudia and I out for a walk.

Next time we got together, it was 'museum day'. After brunch, we hit the right-there Museum of Modern Art.

I don't know what this surreal installation was called. I thought of it as the Rocks Have Eyes. Forced perspective turned out to be a common theme at the museum. Having Claudia for company helped me get into the picture.

This forced-perspective, walk-through installation was really interesting. Very hard to get angles that convey the same feeling and view of walking through...

This interactive exhibit was fun. I'm no artist, I just signed in on someone else's rather intense chalk drawing.

What was interesting about this pic was that you don't see that everything is hanging in a 3-dimensional space about ten feet deep. Everything's different sizes, but with no reference, it looks like everything's in a plane.

Behind the museum, there is a field containing a single sculpture, and murals on the walls.

Next, a visit to Pumapungo Museum, built on a site where an Incan temple of sorts was. After a brief walk through an exhibit on the first floor, we spent our time at the archeological park, which also contains botanical gardens and an aviary.

A very impressive collection of traditional and ceremonial masks, ornaments, and costumes, beautifully displayed.

I went to a jazz brunch at La Guarida, and it was, again, food and music, fabulous. Such a wonderful place.

Top photo: La Guarida is beautiiful. It is also a cultural center, where international first-run films are screened, artists' work is displayed, gallery-style, and, my main interest, musicians are given performance space. Everything I have ever seen there, art, movies, music, has been of high quality, and appreciated. And the kitchen is consistent with that, presenting consistently excellent and creative food. Bottom photo: The Esteban Encala Quartet were just brilliant.

Amazingly, it was almost three weeks before I (finally) went to the Jazz Society Café. It was great to see Jim, the heart and soul (and founder) of the Jazz Society, and Debbie, who runs the café, again. Claudia and Anthony came as well. Jim's a keyboard player, and his trio, with new-to-the trio Josep (a brilliant bass player I knew from Bistro Yaku), and Freddie, long-time drummer, and conservatory professor, were fantastic. The trio never sounded better. And Alma, aka Mariangel, has matured wonderfully as guest vocalist. I've been watching her since her debut three years ago, and in the year since I saw her last, her development has been extraordinary. A lot of potential has been realized. 

I have no photos of the band in action, just these:

Claudia and Mariangel

Me, Debbie, Anthony, Mariangel, Freddy

Finally, walking-around pics:

From Anthony, me waving from my balcony over C. Simón Bolívar,

Felipe, with monument to greased-pole climbing. Felipe was surprised to find this was not only a local tradition, but existed in the US (although it's been decades since I last encountered even a mention of it).

The entire wall of the building on the left, exclusive of the 2nd-story windows, is a mural. The two women are 3-dimensional, in that they are in relief from the wall. And the mural on the building to the left, across the street, bends perspective no matter where you view it from.

The entrance to the beautiful University of Cuenca campus.

Food Comment

From Sofy Gocal, a non-traditional Thai chicken curry.

Two from La Guarida: Top, French toast and fruit. Bottom, mushroom omelette

Filet mignon with bacon on mushroom risotto, at the elegant San Juan Hotel restaurant (right across the street from me).

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