El oso perezoso
The remnants of old Santa Cruz
The Landscape between Santa Cruz and SucreLa Llegada
Friday, June 1
I‘m tired and have a headache. It’s the middle of the afternoon, almost a day after my arrival in Sucre. I climbed a spiral stair in the tower of la Glorieta, the late 19th Century country palace that my friend Darío is restoring outside of the city. I took it slow but now I’m feeling the altitude consequences.
Last night I finally got to sleep soundly. The overnight flight from Miami was a test of patience and endurance. American Airlines provides minimal coach passenger comforts and my knees were killing me.
But these are minor complaints. I spent several hours in Santa Cruz, revisiting what is left of the center of the town of 40,000 that I knew 40 years ago. Now, the city has over a million. It was cool and breezy. A policeman, was carrying a tree sloth facing outwards - was protecting himself from the long claws. He placed the sloth on the trunk of a nearby tree and slowly and carefully the curious bearlike animal began to climb. Apparently, the poor fellow had wandered into the street.
I got to Sucre at 3:30 in the afternoon. An hour before I told my friends I would be arriving. AeroSur had changed their schedule. Fortunately, I took an early taxi back to the airport from Santa Cruz. I checked in to my hotel and Dario came by and we had a nice walk around Sucre’s wonderful plaza, full of the kind of urban life most planners dream of. Then, a shower and a good night’s sleep.
Sunday, June 3
Sunset comes early approaching the equinox. It’s 5pm and I am sitting in the courtyard of my hotel. There is no direct sunlight and it is getting cool but this is so much more pleasant to write here than in my dark room.
This morning, I woke up too late for the hotel’s breakfast and walked to the market where I bought an adapter. Now I can recharge the battery of my computer. I went for breakfast at the Joy Ride Café, a bar and restaurant owned by two Dutchmen who have been here for years. I discovered that they have WiFi and now I will be able to conduct Internet business much more easily.
Yesterday was Valeria’s birthday. She is the two-year old daughter of my friends Dario and Carmen Julia. It was a gathering of more than 35 relatives and friends. Dario’s family is so large – he’s one of 6 siblings with their children – that there are almost always birthday parties or other festivities. I’ve known his family now for many years and they pretend to look forward to our next Karaoke encounter.
I’ve been taking advantage of the video-clip capacity of my digital camera. I managed a short clip of 2-year old Valeria playing basketball. Dario’s father-in-law was, in his youth a teammate of a Peace Corps Volunteer and always coached basketball teams. He has quite a few granddaughters and was putting them through their paces and little Valeria couldn’t’ be left out. I wonder if it is possible to post video clips within my blog.
Tomorrow, I will go to the architecture school. The Archivo Nacional is two blocks form my hotel and I registered there as a scholar and will have faciities for reading and writing. I plan to spend time with the substantial collection of colonial documents looking for illustrated manuscripts – grazing for material for my dissertation.
It’s gotten too cold to stay out in the courtyard so I will sign off.
I‘m tired and have a headache. It’s the middle of the afternoon, almost a day after my arrival in Sucre. I climbed a spiral stair in the tower of la Glorieta, the late 19th Century country palace that my friend Darío is restoring outside of the city. I took it slow but now I’m feeling the altitude consequences.
Last night I finally got to sleep soundly. The overnight flight from Miami was a test of patience and endurance. American Airlines provides minimal coach passenger comforts and my knees were killing me.
But these are minor complaints. I spent several hours in Santa Cruz, revisiting what is left of the center of the town of 40,000 that I knew 40 years ago. Now, the city has over a million. It was cool and breezy. A policeman, was carrying a tree sloth facing outwards - was protecting himself from the long claws. He placed the sloth on the trunk of a nearby tree and slowly and carefully the curious bearlike animal began to climb. Apparently, the poor fellow had wandered into the street.
I got to Sucre at 3:30 in the afternoon. An hour before I told my friends I would be arriving. AeroSur had changed their schedule. Fortunately, I took an early taxi back to the airport from Santa Cruz. I checked in to my hotel and Dario came by and we had a nice walk around Sucre’s wonderful plaza, full of the kind of urban life most planners dream of. Then, a shower and a good night’s sleep.
Sunday, June 3
Sunset comes early approaching the equinox. It’s 5pm and I am sitting in the courtyard of my hotel. There is no direct sunlight and it is getting cool but this is so much more pleasant to write here than in my dark room.
This morning, I woke up too late for the hotel’s breakfast and walked to the market where I bought an adapter. Now I can recharge the battery of my computer. I went for breakfast at the Joy Ride Café, a bar and restaurant owned by two Dutchmen who have been here for years. I discovered that they have WiFi and now I will be able to conduct Internet business much more easily.
Yesterday was Valeria’s birthday. She is the two-year old daughter of my friends Dario and Carmen Julia. It was a gathering of more than 35 relatives and friends. Dario’s family is so large – he’s one of 6 siblings with their children – that there are almost always birthday parties or other festivities. I’ve known his family now for many years and they pretend to look forward to our next Karaoke encounter.
I’ve been taking advantage of the video-clip capacity of my digital camera. I managed a short clip of 2-year old Valeria playing basketball. Dario’s father-in-law was, in his youth a teammate of a Peace Corps Volunteer and always coached basketball teams. He has quite a few granddaughters and was putting them through their paces and little Valeria couldn’t’ be left out. I wonder if it is possible to post video clips within my blog.
Tomorrow, I will go to the architecture school. The Archivo Nacional is two blocks form my hotel and I registered there as a scholar and will have faciities for reading and writing. I plan to spend time with the substantial collection of colonial documents looking for illustrated manuscripts – grazing for material for my dissertation.
It’s gotten too cold to stay out in the courtyard so I will sign off.
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