Howard's Blog: Founder's Day & Palm Sunday

Cuenca's Founder's Day Celebrations and Palm Sunday coincided this weekend. We had lots of fun. Saturday started with a traditional lunch of Fanesca. We joined our friend Dea, and a bunch of her friends, at a local restaurant for the traditional meal. If you are Catholic then you know what it is. It is basically at 12 bean soup, representing the 12 apostles of Jesus. What is added to the soup is at the discretion of the cook. This version had salted cod, among other ingredients. Needless to say, I had Coconut Shrimp!

Afterwards, we spent several hours walking along the Tomebama River looking at the local Arts & Crafts. It reminded me a lot of Atlanta's Dogwood Festival, also this weekend, without the baby strollers.

Last night we enjoyed listening to traditional music and watching traditional dancing at Santo Domingo Church. The church, iglesia, is right around the corner from our apartment.

Today, our friend Juan, treated us to pizza for lunch. Afterwards, we walked through the vendor booths again. Look at this precious little girl we saw with meringue on her face!

Ecuador takes Palm Sunday very seriously. Lots of parades and celebrations all over the city. Most of the locals, men and women alike, were walking around today with palm leaves, flowers, and herbs. I enjoyed seeing people expressing their beliefs so openly and without shame. Large crowds gathered in local parks to enjoy time with family and friends.