Nothing really big going on here, but wanted to share some photos.
One interesting thing I’ve learned recently is that Latin America also uses the style manual of the American Psychological Association for many academic papers. A lot of the APA manual has to do with how to use English, which obviously doesn’t apply for Spanish-language academic papers. But the parts about typography and about how to cite references transcend languages. Shown here is how editors advertise their services; note the “Normas APA” at the bottom of this poster.
This week I went to the Mercado 9 de Octubre, a traditional market in Cuenca. It’s quite similar to Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market, but has a number of differences. For one, it has a date for its name, which is a reference to Guayaquil Independence Day, an 1820 victory over Spain. Naming things after dates is pretty common in Latin America, but not something we do much in the United States. My hometown has Independence Avenue, not July 4th Avenue; it has Constitution Avenue, not September 17th Avenue. Maybe if it were called September 17th Avenue, I wouldn’t have had to look up the date of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
More substantively, the market is three stories tall, with a ground floor for the sale of produce, a basement for the sale of meats, and an upper floor for the sale of prepared foods. This seems like a great way to do things, since it’s a better way to do comparison shopping, plus it means that the meat is kept away from people who don’t want to see it.
Last night (Wednesday, Feb. 9), I went with my host family to a restaurant that specializes in cuy. That’s Spanish for “guinea pig,” which in South America is normally considered a food source rather than a pet. This was my first time eating cuy prepared on a spit. I had previously had deep-fried cuy in Peru a few days after my first attempt to order cuy was foiled.
Back in 2004, I was in Peru as part of a five-week trip covering four countries (Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina). My mom joined me for the Peru part of the trip. In the town next to the Machu Picchu ruins, we went to dinner and I ordered “cuy al horno,” or baked cuy. We waited an unusually long time before the waiter came to the table and was clearly embarrassed to explain what was wrong. At first I thought they were out of cuy, but no. They had live guinea pigs in the backyard, but they were elusive and despite the efforts of three people, they couldn’t catch one. I think the waiter was relieved that we started laughing instead of getting angry. I ordered something else.
After we went to dinner last night, we saw a dance exercise class in Parque La Libertad. It turns out that the city offers these events nightly for the health and recreation of the people. There’s no charge to participate.
Today, I took care of getting a haircut for the first time in a month. I think it turned out pretty well. Remarkably, it only cost $2 ($2.50 with tip). Turns out this is cheap even by Ecuadoran standards.
