"If It´s Gray Don´t Eat It"

It´s not always rainy in Cuenca. I guess for 3 weeks before I got here it rained almost constantly, but its been pretty sunny thusfar. It basically rains in the morning, clears up, gets pretty warm, then clouds over, cools down, starts raining and gets cold at night. It´s almost like having 4 seasons in one day. Not bad.

Last night we stayed at a hostel called Cafecito. It was less than $9 for me to stay with two new friends, and it was louder than a bunch of monkeys. The hostel is also a bar, and our room opened to an enclosed garden. It was beautiful and if I weren´t at an internet cafe I´d post a picture. I´ll try to do that tomorrow or perhaps tonight. On the other side of the garden is a discotheque. It was bumpin till 2:30 probably but I managed to fall asleep. Tonight we´re moving into a house where we´re paying less. We´ll be there for a week, or until we can find a suitable permanent place. The guy who runs the show is probably my age, and he asked me if I want to play basketball and soccer with them. I said yes. He doesn´t even know I´ve got mad ballin skillz. Steve, you know what I´m talkin´about.

We´ve spent the last few days tromping around the city in search of the perfect apartment. No place seems to fit that criteria, most likely because Dan and Libby, a wicked-cool couple from Colorado, has already found the perfect apartment. Their balcony --complete with a multi-colored hammock-- overlooks the south side of the city, the mountains, and a roaring river. This is a beautiful river, although people like to throw trash into it. This I don´t understand. The way this city functions, you place your trash outside and someone comes to get it. It doesn´t seem to matter what day it is. The city of Cuenca prides itself on being clean, and for the most part it is. Why people feel better driving a truck to the bridge, throwing trash into the river and driving away is beyond me. I´ll post a picture soon of Dan and I on his balcony. I don´t think there is any trash in the photo. Also, the sunsets here are for real. Sunrises are blocked by clouds but hopefully that will change when the rainy season ends.

One more observation. There are no stray cats here. There are plenty of stray dogs running around, and I haven´t pet any of them. People here don´t treat their dogs like those in the US do, and needless to say the dogs don´t treat them as well either. I miss my dog and canine affection in general, but I don´t want to get rabies. At least not until I´ve been here longer. Anyway, there are no stray cats. I thought they were everywhere but no. Maybe the dogs have eaten them all, or maybe they´ve taken to the deadly poinsettia trees, which are beautiful, plentiful and a feline favorite. I´m on top of this and I´ll have an explanation soon.

Oh yeah, and one last thing. The title of this page. We went on a walk as a group and I was talking with a girl from England, Claire, as we ventured through an open market. We found ourselves in the meat section and I wasn´t quite prepared. I´m not sure I can eat meat anymore until I´ve looked a pig head square in the eye and dealt with the reality of it all. Yesterday I wasn´t so brave. There were piles of organs, heads of strange creatures, gizzards, and livers as big as my head (I have a big head). I told Claire I wasn´t sure what to make of it all and she said, "My rule is: if it´s gray don´t eat it." I agreed completely. I feel we can apply that anywhere, not just the meat market.

The juice here is amazing. Seriously, its fantastic. Thanks for reading.