Diane and Tom are Celebrities in Cuenca

Diane: Tom and I are now officially part of the local scene; today our pictures were in "El Tiempo", one of Cuenca's daily newspapers. We can be seen on the font page as small color blurs in an off-register photo. And for those who think their eyes might be playing tricks on them, there is an enlarged black-and-white version on the third page of the front section. It can be clearly seen that Tom is sitting at the head of a long table with his right-hand-woman, appropriately, just to his right. The presenters and organizers are off to Tom's left in significantly less prominent positions.

Although there are about 15 people in the photograph, only 6 are listed in the caption, including us. Each of our names has only one misspelling. I think the newspaper felt that their spelling was better than ours or at least a solid compromise. Thomas in Spanish is Tomás; the newspaper opted for Tomas.

Now as we walk down the street, people stare at us as we pass. Of course, TM with his ski-goggles and blond hair has gotten stares and head-turns since the moment we arrived. Calliope has consistently complained about the large number of male strangers that approach her and in their best English comment "Bee-you-tee-fool Lay-dee". So, there is an outside chance that it has nothing to do with the blurry front-page picture of us and everything to do with the color of our skin, the tourist hats we wear to protect said skin.

So why were we in the paper? If you have to ask, then you've missed the whole point ;-), but I'll explain anyway. On the weekends I like to go someplace where I can listen to uninterrupted Spanish for an hour or two. This is primarily so that I can impress my Spanish teacher at the Abraham Lincoln Center, Raúl. When I speak and listen to a solid, weekend-block of English, I am inarticulate by Monday. On Mondays, Raúl must generally sit through my first-person, present-tense Spanish blubberings, punctuated by long pauses.

On the last few Sundays, I went to Mass. Not only wasn't I raised Catholic, but I am not religious. I have never regularly attended any religious services, so this has been quite the unexpected turn of events. However, the New Cathedral is a gorgeous building inside. The finished marble and towering ceilings and domes have a very calming effect on me. And to top it all off, there's a priest who spends about an hour speaking Spanish intending that every one of his constituents will understand what he is saying. Last Sunday, a bishop led a special service honoring the birth of the revered Catholic academician and educator, Hermano Miguel. Although I got a lot out of the 2 masses I attended, I was having trouble bringing myself to attend another one.

So, this past weekend, I chose a different alternative. Upon exiting the theatre Friday night, after a particularly fun film at the Film Festival, a young woman handed me a small piece of paper, the likes of which are usually reserved for advertising strip clubs or live music. In this instance, the small piece of paper was promoting a community event with clowns, video, and music to increase the local understanding of free trade issues and other topics which I could not translate. Those two factors - that piece of paper and a desire to avoid another mass - led Tom and I to seats at a long table under a beautiful, yet broken, stone bridge under the all-seeing eye of an "El Tiempo" photographer.

As a footnote, we listened to at least two hours of Spanish, almost all of which I understood. I liked the subject matter and the political slant as well. To top it all off, yesterday my Spanish blubberings were significantly improved over previous Mondays.