Cuenca is a city of arts and really shows it during the festival season which kicked off on October 22nd, builds to a crescendo on November 3rd (Cuenca's Independence Day) and continues through November 5th.
The city symphony, youth chorus and several professional singing groups are providing free concerts Thursday and Friday evenings, but advance tickets are required. The tickets go very fast and we think we have missed out. But, Evelyn learns that a concert has been added at 10 am Friday. The daughter of Evelyn's Spanish teacher is in the youth chorus. As with many things in Ecuador, word-of-mouth is the best information vehicle.
The city symphony, youth chorus and several professional singing groups are providing free concerts Thursday and Friday evenings, but advance tickets are required. The tickets go very fast and we think we have missed out. But, Evelyn learns that a concert has been added at 10 am Friday. The daughter of Evelyn's Spanish teacher is in the youth chorus. As with many things in Ecuador, word-of-mouth is the best information vehicle.
We walk to the theater early and score some good center seats. It turns out that this is a more informal concert, but the same content as the evening performance. The music is rich and high quality. The performance lasts almost two hours.
Friday evening we attend Miguel Illescas' Art Gallery. Miguel has one of his sculptures predominantly displayed on the outside of his gallery and was recently featured in a local magazine. In addition to his creations, five other artists display their paintings, weavings and sculptures. We meander through the gallery for about an hour enjoying the pieces and chatting with others in attendance.
On our way back to the apartment we encounter a parade, no doubt a part of the Viva Cuenca festivities. There's community groups, floats with people demonstrating hat weaving and pottery, dancing groups and bands. One band and "dance group" features two men holding wooden models of cows. As they approach the grandstand they light bottle rockets and fire crackers which are affixed to the cows and continue to dance just a few feet from the crowd. Crazy! The people watching the parade are diverse and just as interesting.
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