Celebrating the Founding of Cuenca

Cuenca was founded on April 12, 1557.  In honor of this event, the city celebrated this past weekend with not 1, but 2 parades, and a concert which took place at Parque Calderon.  The first parade was on Friday, April 10th.  It included many of the children from the surrounding schools.  I always enjoy seeing how well dressed the students look in their school uniforms.  

Check out the hairstyles on these boys.  Almost all young men here have a similar hair style...shaved on the sides, and full on the top.

On Saturday, April 11th, there was a second parade that featured people from many of the surrounding areas.  This parade had colorful outfits and lots of dancing. 

These first four pictures were taken by a fellow expat, Barley D'Alfonso.  We ran into him after the parade, and he offered to send me a few of the photos that he took.  I love the one of the fire breathing boys.  

On Saturday night there was a big concert in the park.  We left before the end, but it must have lasted late into the night, because the fireworks weren't set off until after midnight.  

In other news, I continue to do my volunteer work at the Cuban school.  Last week we read the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in English and Spanish.  Each student was assigned a body part of the giant to draw and then we assembled it.  Below are the results.

I also did my last stint for David at the after school program in Chilcapamba.   

I'm going to miss this little guy.  

I thought perhaps my family and friends back home might enjoy seeing a picture of my Spanish teacher, Tatiana, and my class mate, Carol. Tatiana works hard at helping us learn Spanish every Tuesday and Thursday.  We appreciate all of her hard work.