Sketches

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I Met Some New Friends — and I went on a bus!

OK, yesterday I took the plunge and tried out the Buenos Aires transportation system. I figure if I keep taking taxis all the time I’ll never get to know the city, so I bought a pass and I was ready.

I asked Cecilia to help me understand it so that I wouldn’t get lost on my first expedition. She showed me a site online where I can put in the “to and from” information (kind of like the TTC Trip Planner) and find out which bus, train or subway to use. The thing is, there are a gazillion buses in this city, all buzzing around in different directions, so it’s a little scary. Anyway, we went to a great barrio called Palermo, which I’ve been to several times and which I love, and that was quite easy. I’m pretty sure I could get back there on my own.

But then, I had planned to go to The English Group of Buenos Aires at night, and I invited Cecilia to come with me. So we took two more buses and went straight there from Palermo — which totally messed me up! I think I’ll be OK next week if I just go straight from here though. But it was great, as I already saw areas of the city that were new to me.

TEGOBA was great fun. The people there are a mix of locals, expats and visitors, and the objective is to help locals practise their English. There were people there from several different countries as well as several porteños (Buenos Aires natives), and they were all ages including a wee boy of about nine. He was with his parents, porteños, and he spoke fluent English and had beautiful manners. What a great start for him, eh?

The event finished about 10 pm — and then I had to get the bus home! It was quite near where Cecilia lives, so it seemed silly for her to come all the way back here with me — it was about 45 minutes. I have to admit I was very nervous, but Lady Luck was on my side as a young couple heard Cecilia speak to the driver and it turned out they were getting off at my stop. It’s a good thing they were, because I might have had a problem recognizing it. I then had to walk a couple of blocks to get home from the bus stop, but it was fine. I wasn’t nervous at all because I recognized my own neighbourhood right away so it was easy from there. But I feel like the world is my oyster now that I know how to ride the bus!

Screen Shot 2016-01-09 at 9.55.48 AMScreen Shot 2016-01-09 at 9.56.38 AMHere are a couple of sketches I’ve done here. Cecilia greeted me at the airport with this enormous bouquet of flowers to welcome me back — nice, eh? The other is a cafe right on my corner, which might be a regular haunt for me. I might gradually built up a collection of cafe sketches over my time here, as there are so many of them, each with its own personality.

 

OK, I’ll sign off now. It’s Saturday morning and I’m off to find some adventure!

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Some of My Cuenca Sketches

I’ve managed to fit in some sketching amongst all the other activities. Since there are 52 churches in Cuenca, I could spend weeks just on them — and their ornate styles definitely challenge my skills!

Santo Domingochurch at night

 

The Church of Santo Domingo is the largest church in Cuenca, aside from the Cathedral, and it is right across the square from Susan and Michael’s apartment. There’s always something going on here and I’ve spent a lot of time on the balcony just watching it unfold. Here’s the church at night, and my sketch of the top of the towers lit up at night, done from our balcony. When you look up from here, the towers seem to be appearing out of the tops of the trees.

Here are some more church sketches — San Francisco, the Old Cathedral, and the door of the New Cathedral.

san franciscoold cathedraldoor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the street running from our place down the square, and the Flower Market, which is right outside yet another church.

streetflowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night we went to a jazz club to see a guest performance by Sue Terry, who is a friend of Susan and Michael and had been at the party on Christmas Day. She is a well known jazz performer who travels the world playing, so it was great to have a chance to hear her live in such an intimate setting.

quincenarioquincenario 2When we came out, we came upon a Latin American tradition — the Quincenario. Young girls have a big party when they are fifteen with formal dress and the whole nine yards. The girl looked beautiful in all her finery, but what made us laugh was that she and her friends, all in formal dress, were all gathered round a vendor eating street food!

Today is our last day in Cuenca, as we leave for the coast tomorrow — at 5 am! Next post will come from the beach!