Clacker Balls

December 10, 2014

Courtesy of internet.
Photo-taking is discouraged at
this museo

I can’t believe I’ve lived here this long, and only recently heard about the Museo los “Amantes de Sumpa” (the “Lovers of Sumpa”) in nearby Santa Elena.

A new friend, Nelson Sears and I went to visit it a few weeks ago. (Nelson was in Olón for around a month, staying in the guest house of my friends, Annette and Dan.  Nelson is a Vermonter, has traveled Ecuador extensively, and is here again for a few months to see more).

It’s an easy half-day trip to do from Olón.  Nelson and I caught a morning Ruta del Sol southbound chicken bus to the Santa Elena bus terminal (either blue “CITUP” or the green “Manglaralto” buses go there - $1.50/pp).  The taxi ride to the museum from the bus station took less than 5 minutes and cost us a little over a buck.

The museum is free and very well done. The museum focuses on artifacts and remains that date back to 7000 BC, and were excavated from a southern Ecuadorian coastal archaeological site named Las Vegas/Las Vegas civilization.  The highlight is a man and woman from that era buried together entwined in an eternal embrace.

Well worth the trip.

Another day, we took a chicken bus north to walk a stretch of beach that’s known to have interesting shell-finds and artifacts that wash in from some ancient pueblos that are now under sea.  I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, ever since a local friend (who knows more about treasure hunting than I do) mentioned that beachcombing in this area sometimes yields some amazing finds, especially during low tide after a “churned-up” high tide.

In particular, we were looking for small, flat, colorful, round & smoothed disks with man-made holes in the center, made out of Spondylus shells (which come in a variety of colors – I think red/orange most common) .

In more ancient times along this coast, these were used as currency, and my treasure-hunting friend has an impressive necklace he wears of the ones he has found.

We met this local who did hit
the jackpot for octupus food.

We didn’t find any, but we had a delightful time and we still found some pretty neat stuff.

We had the bus drop us off in La Rinconada, and walked the beach south from there to Las Nuñez.

Ummm… the beach part around Rinconada is a little treacherous during low tide because of the exposed, mossy boulders that can be slippery.  I think when I do this again, I will go only a little further north of La Entrada and walk the beach south from there.   That is where we found our best finds.

My brother Jack came for a two-week visit this month. He arrived in Ecuador on the Monday before Thanksgiving, and we rendezvoused in Cuenca during his first week.  We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving at Doug and Pam’s house in Cuenca with amusing friends, and spent the last week on the coast.

It is always so fun to hang with him (I’m not a proud big sister or anything).

While I was in Cuenca, I also attended the Celebration of Life for Steve Beckman at the Museo de las Culturas Aborigenes.  It was a lovely, intimate, and joyful service, concluding in “globos del fuego” balloons launched.  Steve shined with warmth, genuine kindness, and friendly curiosity every time I was around him.  

His wife, Mary (South of Zero) says it more succinctly:

“On November 3rd he suffered a burst aneurism and passed away two days later. He was the happiest he’s ever been in his life and told me how grateful he was that we moved to Cuenca. He wanted to live in Ecuador for the rest of his life”.

And he did.

Here are how these globos are sent off.
From ground level in Cuenca.

The whole town of Olón is gearing up now for our annual town party.  It is a combination of Olón’s birthday and a saint holiday, which generally starts around December 10, lasts loud and 4-days long.

A LOT OF FUN (see "I Love Lucia" link).

It is also the time when the Ecuadorians love to display outdoor Christmas lights and/or interior lit-up trees that can be seen from the outside.  I think there might be a little competition going on in my local barrio, and grateful that the 8-function outside lights I hung last year (which I never took down) still work this year.

The school drummers and tinkle-triangles have been diligently practicing for the last month or so, and as an added noise bonus, this year …some vendor/politician must have come through town a couple of weeks ago, because I SWEAR EVERY – EVERY kid around the block between here and Montanita now has those annoying “clacker balls” and practicing with them.

Said with a smile.

The weather is absolutely glorious now.