ZIPITY DO DAH ZIPITY DAY IN CUENCA

Today we had a very full and fun day starting with a really nice breakfast at the California Kitchen, at 8:30 a.m.  We were meeting Chuck & Nancy and Clarke & Brennie and "kids". I say kids because they are all under 27 yrs old! As you can see we were having a great time and as usual the food was delicious.

After breakfast we rode a bus to Ricuarte, then we all loaded into a Mixto (pickup truck) and we were ferried up the hill to the mountian where our destination for the day was Cuenca Canopies. A company who meets the needs of thrill seekers. There were Zip line rides, Tree walks, and something that involved climbing inside a huge blown up clear ball and rolling down a hill.. luckily it was not available.

After arriving the brave ones of our group harnessed up for the upcoming thrill ride.

Some had more trouble than others.........

But eventually they were all ready to go......

Here are a few photos, but as I was not one of the brave ones I was not very close during all the hair raising action. This one is Randy at his post to get some video.

Here they are getting their last rites.. ugh I mean instructions....

And off they went! There were a series of 6 zip lines that worked their way from "the bunny slope" to the "black diamond" (in Ski speak). I thought as I saw them take off that it really wasnt that scary. Until I saw the ones that came later... they were definately a thrill. None of these photos really show the depth of the canyons they were going over, but lets just say that they got their $8 worth!

After awhile we could not really see them any more unless we hiked way down a hill so Nancy, Randy and I retreated into the wonderful chalet style waiting area.

Every one agreed it was a great time, and that they would return with friends. Cuenca Canopies called a Mixto, and we all got in for the ride back to Cuenca. It was a nice day, lots of laughs and the adrenaline junkies were ready to rest up abit before they are off to their Salsa lessons tonite!

FIFTEEN DAYS AND COUNTING

If any of you have been following our blog you know that right off we knew that Patience was going to be something that we needed to have in excess. We have been getting daily doses of "reminders" in the form of; lines, traffic, busses and even our Cedulas.

When you move to this country you can only legally stay 90 days on a tourist stamp, then you have to leave the country. We had all our paperwork in hand and met with our attorney the day after we arrived, July 2nd. We were assured that there would be no problems getting all of our paperwork done and approved within the 90 days. We are down to 30 days left. On August 22 we received and email from our attorney stating that in 15 days our Cedula paperwork would be ready. So that puts us half way into our last 30 days... legally in this country. Needless to say Randy and I think this is cutting it a bit close, and our faith that the 15 days is going to be a reality is really not that firm. We have a back up plan, and it involves our good friend Clarke... he says no matter what he will hide us in a closet... so our future in Cuenca is assured!

Randy and Clarke did get their motorcycles and both seem to be very pleased with them. Randy has requested that he ride a bit and get more used to the traffic here before I leap on the back, of which, I heartily agree. As I may have mentioned before, the drivers here have a very basic idea about driving... that they are the only ones who matter.

We have been trying to meet more Spanish speaking folks so we can vary our Spanish from Buenos dias and Cuantas cuesta? Randy felt that speaking for 4 hrs with the motorcycle folks was over the top and I found that when I was invited to a baby shower I was a bit overwhelmed with the speed an variation of words. I failed miserably with simple questions and thankfully Becca was sweet enough to quickly interpert for me so that I didnt have to as them to repeat it again. I have received my comeuppance and have renewed my vow to seriously try to learn to speak better. I think our Spanish teacher will be pleased as well.

I have to relate a story about what happened after the baby shower. Becca (her blog  http://youngexpatlife.blogspot.com/), enlisted the help of her two friends to drive me home so I wouldn't have to take a taxi. As we were going home these young ladies ( who speak English!) were enquiring what I did... hmmm, what do you mean... Well, do you take classes, exercise, or belong to any clubs? hmm, well we walk alot, ride buses, do out daily stuff....  I think they were pretty amused, but were quick to suggest a new bridge group starting as well as a weekly luncheon for Spanish and English speaking women, to encourage language development. I was  touched that they were trying to be so helpful in making me enjoy my life here. I have been finding that the "locals" who I have made friends with are very open and warm; hoping to make our life here just a bit easier.

If you have been reading Clarke and Brendas blog http://clarkeandbrenda.blogspot.com/ , you will know that they have a horde of young adults visiting from the U. S., two of which are their own. We got to go out to lunch with them and had a wonderful time as you can see from this picture.

We enjoyed a great local almuerza lunch at a Columbian restaurant. We all picked carne, of two types; poor Katie was stricken when she realized that the fried carne was liver. Randy and I were thrilled, and Randy was doubly thrilled because he got to eat Katies. This photo is of the "unfried carne", just plain old beef of some sort..

Lunch for 9... $12.50

Tomorrow we are off to our cooking lessons at the El Nomad headquarters, with Becca and Chela showing us all the great ways you can use the tomate de arbol (tree tomato). I will take photos, because this is a cool fruit that is nothing like a tomato!

MISH MASH AND MOTORCYCLES

We have been moving along with our daily chores of getting here and there, meeting with friends, finding our favorite movies "in English" and discovering new ways to say the same things we know in Spanish. During this time we have found out that Randys "secrect cigar lady" does not have real Cuban cigars. Darn.

Our landlord invited a couple of soon to be expats over for dinner and also invited Randy and I. We had a wonderful dinner of BBQ hamburgers from a local Ecuadorian restaurant... we are sold. They were very very good. And the prices start at 1.50! Anyway, our new aquaintence is a Cigar shop owner in the states. He accompanied Randy and our landlord to the cigar shop... The landlord knew of the "secret place" too! They were all dissaponted when they were shown that only real Cubans would have a date on the bottom of the box, as well as some other specific details on the bands.

Later in the week I caught up with Brennie and she took me back to the San Francisco Market and we met with her favorite vendor of sweaters. I was getting a bit depressed when I would try one on and then have to say,No... mas grande por favor... Our lady was a trooper, her has walls made of piles of sweaters, and she would look and look and then point to one she thought I would like the color before she would struggle to pull this sweater out to see if it was "mas grande". She finally decided she needed to go explore the wares of a neighbor and indicated she would be right back. Brennie not to be denied the glory kept at it and pointed to a few that were up high on the walls hanging on hangers. We found the stick used to unhook the hangers and were delighted to find a Mas Grande sweater in brown! Now there are no mirrors in these stalls so you are totally dependent on your eye and your friend to be honest about how you look. Remember there is also no return policy... our lady came back with another sweater but was delighted to see that we had found on that was perfect. Because Brennie had brought a customer to her she just said the price would be the same, $14. A beautiful wool handknitted sweater. I am so snuggly warm now... Thanks Brennie!

Notice the missing detail on the left pocket... oh well..

Earlier in the week we had tried to find these sweaters but due to holidays the store was closed. We did find a warm blanket. Alpaca with lovely alpaca designs on it. It now resides on our bed, but I got a photo of it before we put in on. We were happy to pay $22 for this blanket.

Our great landlord had our furniture restuffed! So our couches and chairs are very comfy now, but Randy has been missing his foot stools. We have been looking and with our limited Spanish and arm waving we have been striking out. As we went to Supermaxi we noticed foot stools in a store and thought we would try again. These were the perfect color and size. Randy valiently strode up to the fellow and spoke in very precise Spanish, Hola, Buenos Tardes and the fellow responded with HELLO... oh thank goodness!

This fellow spoke enough to understand that we were interested in the footstool and he said "Poof?" We pointed again and he said "Poof?" Oh huh... ok so I said in my cro-magnun Spanish. Comprar solomente Poof... oh the joys of communication! He understood! He then turned and enlisted his girlfriend who had stopped by to have lunch with him until these two silly Gringos invaded. Luckily the girlfriend knew more English and we were off to the races! As a very good friend of ours says... Long story short.. we got the one "Poof", all wrapped in saran wrap type stuff. They went so far as to run down the road and grab a taxi and negotiate the fare for us. I told Randy on the way home I think the girl just wanted us gone so they could eat lunch. But she was so sweet about it you couldnt help but want to squeeze her in thanks for all her help. Here is our "Poof" in its place of honor!

We have been adding a few homey touches to our apartment and its starting to feel more like home. Here is one that Randy found to add... imagine that...

 

Randy has been busy ordering a hand made humidor, stereo stand and speaker stands. I have been a bit disgruntled by it all as I have not gotten anything for me... well except the coat...so Randy listened to my list of wants and we went and purchased a printer for our computer. Hooray... it scans prints and copies!

We were happy to hear that our friends Clarke and Breenie will have their Visas and soon will travel to Quito to get their Cedulas. Of course this has sent Clarke into a fit to go get his Motorcycle. Randy is overwhelmed with desire as well and has decided to get one too. Friday they took, (dragged) both Brennie and I along to witness this great event... it took all day...At our first stop after about an hour Clarkes guy found two bikes of the color that they were interested in, on the other side of town. So off we went on the bus to go talk to them. Once we get there we have to wait for the specific person who was contacted from the other guy at the first place.  At this point Brennie and I head off to Corral to see if we can find a steamer for Randy. After a unfruitful search we return just about the time Clarke leaps to his feet shaking his Spanish translator saying some in a very upset tone. Brennie and I decide they really dont want us there so we head off to eat as we are both starving. They seem to think its all worked out and will be along soon.. Brennie and I eat, and wait and wait and call...nope not done yet.. so we get ice cream... and wait. Well they do finally show up and say that all was well in the world. They were able to come to terms without blows and deposits were made and receipts were given. So now they are assured that their motorycycle will be ready by Wednesday.

What Wednesday is yet to be determined.

I have gotten behind in some of the fun photos that I have taken so I will take the liberty to show you them now. Our favorite popcorn is the Organics brand found in the local Safeway in Washington. I was shocked and amazed to find it on the shelves of our local Supermaxi. It was quickly scooped up and placed in our basket.

Randy has had some problems with the stairs here in Cuenca due to his knee issues. We are happy to report that he is getting much better and has even taken the dreaded Escalante steps. This photo is not of the Escalante, but just as steep!

 And what is a blog with out some art? I thought this was a very thought provoking piece. As our daughter says, its a picture that no one understands.

New Friends in Cuenca

I have mentioned several times before that our life right now consists of finding our way to and from where ever we have decided to go. We have patted our selves on the back several times for our prowess with the bus system, even though we are still amatures at calling a cab. We are determined to make ourselves understood and cause less stress at the local cab company when we call. I think our friends who visit us will be happy too, because if their Spanish is any better than ours we dump that burden on them.

Yesterday was a great day, we never needed a taxi and we had a full day. We started our by meeting our housekeeper Monica at our friends house in downtown Cuenca. This was a 8 am. A big deal for us who like to sleep in (me). Our friends Clarke & Brenda took pity on us and invited us to breakfast. Afterwards we met our new friends Rebecca & Arturo at the California Kitchen. Rebecca is going to have a baby next month and curiously enough they had just been in Ellensburg, Wa! We had a great time visiting them and hopefully we will meet again soon.

We were off to meet Chuck after that to go with him motorcycle hunting again. They say that women are hard to shop with because they have to see every store to be sure that there isn't something better in the next. Well I think I have found 3 men here in Cuenca who personafy that sterotype. We have been to more shops than I can count, and if we have missed one, Clarke or Chuck have found another that they all must investigate to be sure that this one is not priced better or have a better deal. So far, most are exactly the same in price and colors.  Clarke and Randy are holding firm to wait for their Cedulas, but Chuck is not held back by that problem and he is forging ahead and buying a Moto1 200cc classic. I am sure they will post it in their blog when he does get it.

After the indepth motorcycle study we rode the bus back to Clarke and Brendas to solve Clarkes open bottle of wine problem. The guys smoked cigars and Brenda and I enjoyed our "girl time". While we were out on the deck, Fluffy came to watch us talk. I couldn't resist this face... could you?

Fluffy is a Pekinese, she has a little buddy, Corky, but he was hiding when the camera came out.

While on the way home I took this picture of some local renovations down by the river. I think they are very brave to be pounding on the rocks that are right under their feet. Its a long way down. And no they are not tied off anywhere.

We saw them today and they are almost all done chopping all the rocks off. There is a metal bracing that runs up the middle so they did have something to hold onto after they got that top part broken off.

We had a earthquake this morning. It was located over 100 miles away, and very deep, so we only had a bit of a rolling wake up this morning.  We are in a very solid contructed home so we feel very safe here.
Our landlord called us right after it happened to check on us and reassure us. He lives downstairs and he designed the contructions, so I feel pretty safe, he wouldnt want us landing on them!

NEW DISCOVERIES SINCE MOVING TO CUENCA

Since we have come to Cuenca, we have been surrounded by changes and differences all around us so the title on this blog might not seem so startling. But I thought a few of the differences could be a bit fun to show. But I will start with things that are the same... if just in a different place... for one... Randy.
He has found a spot out front to smoke is cigars and enjoy the sun..

Randy is still cooking those wonderful soups. Here is one he is cooking up today, lentil, peas, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, onions and of course his "secret" spices... Secret because he just throws it in and never remembers what it was our how much he added!

 He does all this in his wonderful kitchen. He is so happy that its much bigger than the last rental.

 

And of course, we have had to investigate the wine situation here...coming from Washington wine country. As you can see we have not made a huge stab at the local offerings but we are working on it.

 

 One of the things that we have discovered is the packaging or lack thereof here in Ecuador. We are in a country that is big on recycling. If your local neighborhood does not have a recycling program then there are folks who go through your garbage and separate it for you and are paid for doing so. I bought a small milk at the store the other day because we dont drink much milk. Alot of folks by these by the case.

 

Just a little plastic bag, with a cute box holder, snip the top and you have your milk. We can buy some namebrand items such as Kraft Mayonaise, but why pay $5-6, when you can buy Maggi for alot less..

We have been told that the Axiom brand of dish soap is the way to go. We have been told that you just scrub with the soap, let sit and rinse... all in cold water... it will be fine. I dont subscribe to cold water, so we use hot but otherwise we are going with the local method.

 We were told that we are to wash our fruit and vegetables here with a antibactieral soap. Its found in the Fruit and Veggie section of the grocery store. 1 cap to 3 liters of water, soak 5 minutes, wahla... well the bottle says wahla... I rinse with water again... but this way we are avoiding anykind of amoeba, or other kind of critters as the process of getting our fruit and veggies is alittle less sanitary here.

We went grocery shopping the other day at the local Coopertiva... Co-op. Its all Organic and they even have a orange juicer! They just throw in the oranges and it separates the peels from the juice. Its real cute cause the people here are pretty short and the top is very tall... so they have to toss them up in the air to get them in! All prices are per kilo, so 1 kilo is about 2.2 lbs. Here is our shopping receipt.

Here is the total...

Here is the food laid out.

We got a 6+ lb chicken (head and feet included) for about 1.62 a lb. Thats rangefree, no hormones total organic..some Sandwich ham for .68 a kilo! You do the math... two avacados for .68, fresh peas, a ton of cabbage... mushrooms, chiramoya, and more. Do your spanish and translate the list!

Some of the other changes have been in a more of a change of conditions situation.. hot water, yes we have hot water, our hot water does not reside in a hot water tank. We have on demand hot water.

 Well almost demand... you let the water run in the sink until its hot, then turn it off and turn on the shower... adjust with cold as necessary. The amount of water coming though is not a ton, a fine spray, through these cool shower heads...

Speaking of washing, I want to say here and now that I appreciate my mother and all the mothers out there who did without washing machines and dryers and irons and all the modern conviences we take for granted... I have had a bit of a comeupance in this area..

As you can see we have a washing machine (thankgoodness) but 220 is usually only in the real "ritzy" condos. So we hang our clothes. What I am thankful for is that we have a space in the loft bedroom for drying as well, its nice an warm up there. I have been trying to figure out a way to keep my clothes from wrinkling so much, and fabric softner in the washing maching does not seem to be doing it..I guess I will just have to get better at ironing. Wrinkled clothes have never bothered Randy so he just wears his as they come out...

STREET MAPS AND BUS ROUTES IN CUENCA

I am sorry to say, this will be another blog without photos. I am very reluctant to wander with my camera, and also I am very forgetful to bring it... so between the two, I have no photos of the following events.

We have been struggling with trying to find out way around from our new apartment. We are just enough in the "burbs" and just enough off the beaten path that a bus stop is not right out the door like it is in the center of town. The other day we hiked up Premiro De Mayo to the Avenida De Las Americas and finally caught a bus heading we hoped in the direction of the Super Maxi that we were familliar with... well the bus did a pretty good job but then it turned off and started down a highway off  ramp. We leaped to our feet and smashed the little red button... the drivers are supposed to only stop at the designated stops but thankfully most will stop on a dime if they can, and he did, right at the entrance to the highway... I dont think the other bus behind him appreciated it, but we were all smiles and I am sure the other passengers were shaking their heads at us silly gringos.

We finally made it to the market and did some major shopping, but took a taxi back. We still dont know the correct bus to take to make it all the way up Avenidas Las Americas... I dont think it was that bus 17 or was it 22... see.. I never have a pen to write the information down, and between Randys memory and mine we are probably lucky we even can make it back home! Oh thats right, we have a card with our address on it, so we wont get lost!

Randy and his new BFF Clarke went on an motorcycle expedition. Both have the bug, but Randy has agreed that he will not get one until he is SURE that he does not have to have his CEDULA yet... We should have them soon, as our attorney has assured us she has submitted the paperwork and it is in "the works"..I will leave that to your imagination on a time frame.

When Randy and Clarke returned from their trip, Randy had a wonderful little city street map. It shows all the musuems, cathedrals and tells a bit about the city and its history... all in English... bonus! As a side bar here. I am totally trying to learn Spanish, I am determined to nail it down... but sometimes its so nice to catch a break.

Today we were determined to find a great bus that would take us to El Centro. We had seen a bus yesterday that stopped just up the street so we headed for that area, plopped ourselves on a concrete wall and proceded to wait... not long a bus #7 came by that said Fiera Libre and Mall Del Rio on it...those are two areas we are familliar with so we hopped on. We were happy to note during the rided that the bus also would stop right across the street from our Bank, and a easy walk to our friends house up on Luis Cordero.  As the bus continued we got the whole city tour. We were in the industrial part of town all the way up into the hills.  At one point the driver told us Final... or in English "the bus stops here..." He pointed to another bus and we got on it..another #7. The drivers were finishing up a snack at the local lunch (almuerza) stand but soon our driver arrived. It was very interesting that he would not let us swipe our cards until he got to his first stop, a short ways down the hill...(so we kinda got a free ride..?) We enjoyed the ride back down the way we came, but I think this one did less of the industrial area of town. I dont think all #7 buses are the same...When the bus got to Mall Del Rio we decided a quick lunch was in order so we hopped off, ate lunch and shopped a bit at the Corral. So now we know that if we cross the street going the other direction and pick up a #7 that says Mall Del Rio on it, we can get there much quicker than the two hour bus tour we took for .50.

I have to tell you that our shopping experience was rather interesting. We looked at TV's, DVD players, and food steamers. The steamers we have seen seem to be very expensive and hard to find, so we continue to hunt. As we came up to the cashier she rattled off something in Spanish, Randy smiled and says... No Entinendo... "I dont understand", she smiled and then asked for "numero" We determined that she wanted our passport number. I am not sure if you have to have this because of the taxes, but most of the time we have to show this when we purchase items. We carry color copies of the ID page of the passport with us and this is always sufficient. We ended up only buying two bottles of  pump hand soap, fabric softer for the washer, 2 bottles of wine, 2 bottles of rum and 2 test size packages of crackers. We decided we had eaten enough at lunch that a big shopping spree was not in order. We will wait for another day.  We decided a taxi ride home was in order, and 1.50 later we were at our door. Home Sweet Home.

CATCHING UP ON LIFE IN CUENCA

I have not been able to add photos of our journey to Cuenca due to my computer issues. I still have computer issues but Randy has relented and is letting me use his computer. Lets hope I don't mess his up too!

We arrived in Quito on the 1st of July, and after meeting with our attorney decided to pack up and head down to Cuenca... home. Here is our driver trying to get all the bags in and on the car, and still leave room for his two weary passengers

He was very determined to be somewhat of a tourguide as well so he made sure to stop at the oldest church in Ecuador. He took this as we were walking in. Its the only one that actually shows the church!

After arriving in Cuenca we spent the next 16 days in a hotel. Read previous blogs about this experience, but here are some photos. Being the spoiled Norte Americans that we are there were some adjustments to be made.

Closet space was at a minimum as well as the room size, but I did think they did a clever job with the painting on the ceiling., I had fond recollections of our time spent at the wonderful hotel McMennamins in Portland, Ore.

We were rescued by our good friend Chuck & Nancy and we moved into their Condo for 4 days before we moved to our apartment. We were wined and dined and introduced to a bunch of other expats.
One of our new friends invited us over for breakfast, This is a photo of Clarke and Brenda, Nancy and Randy.

 They have some wonderful views off their balcon as it is called here in Ecuador.  You can see major church steeples and the cool mountains all around.

We got a call from Charlie and Susi, our landlords on Friday that we could move in earlier than expected! Oh, we were so happy. Chuck and Nancy were great in giving a space, but we were sooo ready to be in our own! So at 5 pm we loaded up two taxis with 7 suitcases and two backpacks and in our best spanglish told the drivers where we were going. We were so happy to get to our place. Charlie helped us haul our bags upstairs and we agreed to get settled and then at 8  we would meet up to head out to dinner. Here are some photos of our moving in. We unpacked everything in two hours! Now that is downsizing!

 

The photo to the left is our bedroom as we started to unload, the one on the right is the suitcases lined up to be unloaded. Oh yes, that is a double bed..we are adjusting, but Randys feet hang off most of the time!

Randy's first task was to set up his music. He was disappointed to find out that when the security went through our luggage they did not repack his speakers as well as he did. So they survived, but they are not quite as handsome the speaker covers snapped off and their are now little chips on the edges in the back, but the sound is still very nice, so that was a big relief! He is now designing a stand for the new big screen TV and his stereo. The workmanship here is wonderful and we can get a great setup made to our specifications for a very resonable price. Randy has enjoyed his first day, so far he has moved furniture, drank a fifth of brandy and listened to music, hmmm I think he is having a great day!

We have been on some great walks around town, and we have met some very famous personalities.  Here is one you should all recognize! I stood out in traffic to get his photo! Poor Randy, all the drivers were just smiling at him.  We were also excited to see that you CAN get a Vespa Scooter in Ecuador!

We were treated to a wonderful breakfast this morning, then they hauled us to the grocery store so we could stock up. We managed to only forget sugar and butter so I think we did good. Monday we go Veggie and Fruit Shopping at the Organic Co-op. I will try to report on the prices, you will be so jealous!

WEATHER, WATER AND WELCOME WAGON

When we came to Cuenca in 2008 it was in February. The weather was warm and a sweater was only needed in the evening after dark. I have become very attached to my new purple windwall jacket by Northface. I am cold! Its not that is so cold here on a temperature scale, its that I am not climatized yet. Let me back up a bit. When we left Richland WA we had just started to get our nice "warm" temps. of 80-90 degrees F so coming her and it being 60 or less with rain tends to send me into a coat and socks and heavy shoes. I am remembering Randy shaking his head as I laid out my coats and tried to decide which to bring. We are both coat fanantics so this really was a big decision. I ended up with 4 coats. two rain type coast one heavy and hits mid thigh, one is just a rain jacket very light weight. The other two are my windwalls one has a hood, my purple one does not have a hood. So I am happy, I brought my coats, Randy has mumbled that he wishes he had brought warmer coats... I feel very santimonious that I dont poke fun and remind him about his attitude when I brought my coats.

Today was a very important day in our life here in Cuenca and our stay at the hotel. We had HOT water! Oh man, I was all ready to bail on the shower all together today and Randy stuck his head out with a huge smile and said, HURRY its HOT! And it was, I was so thrilled I was able to take some time and not just splash here and there. And to add to the delight we were not up at the crack of dawn either! Its was 9:30! So maybe they fixed whatever the problem was. I did see new propane tanks being delivered so maybe that is why we had nice hot water.. hmmm maybe I will go back and try for an afternoon shower!

Writing this blog and talking with folks on other social networks regarding our wishes to move to Ecuador has led us to 'meet' alot of people on line. Our friend Chuck who lives here in Cuenca had taken us on a trip to see motorcycles... So we were ending out trip by walking Chuck to his appointment upstairs above the California Kitchen when I hear... "KAREN!" So as I look to see who called my name I see this lady who I dont know waving and waving at me... Her name is Patty McNabb, she had written to me on FB I believe and she wanted to say hello!  We quickly exchanged our experiences as we had to move on to another appointment, but it was so nice to have someone reach out and say hi, like that! It felt like a Welcome Wagon of the old days!

CUENCA UPDATE

We are adapting to our new routine here in Cuenca. We sleep until we decide to wake up, or if we want a warmish shower we get up early.. I must say here before I am thought to be whining, that we have been offered a hot shower by Chuck and Nancy anytime we want, so the note here is only as a infomercial about the quality of the showers in our current residence. We have chosen to stay here as we are too lazy to move our 5 bags and look for other accomodations until the 14th when we move in with Nancy while Chuck is on travel for business.

Last night we were sitting in our lobby enjoying the rainstorm and thundershowers. The glass roof over the courtyard is wonderful to hear the rain, and feel the breeze that comes under the glass. This glass roof is not water tight over the tiled roof, so all around the inside roof line of the courtyard is a marvelous gutter system that catches the rain pouring off the roof . There was a massive flash and then boom, a huge clap of thunder immediately followed, with torrential downpour  and I lost my internet. So I am continuing this today, Saturday.

We had a nice walk this morning to the Fybecca for more medicine for Randy, Our favorite English speaking assistant was there. She has such a nice smile, and offered information about where the best pork could be found. She warned us that it would be a whole pig with the head and feet on a pole, all roasted and people cutting hunks off of it. We assured her we had seen that. She said we should try it because the meat was very very good. We have not ventured in that direction as yet.

After Fybecca we continued walking and because it is Saturday the stores open at a later time. So even though it was about 9:30 the streets were not too busy and stores had not all opened up. We sat on "our" bench at Parque Calderon, this park is in front of the famous church with the blue domes. While sitting there a very sweet old lady came up and asked us how we were doing ... in Spanish, shook our hands, and as I responded in my limited Spanish she began to talk very fast and smiled and smiled. I tried to tell her I could not understand, but she did not seem to mind. She continued and shook our hands, pleased that she had welcomed the "gringos".  This really touched me, she knew I did not know what she was saying but she really went out of her way with her smiles and tone to let me know she was saying something very welcoming, and I think it kind of made her day too, because she had a bigger smile as she walked away.

Our phone delimma has been fixed. My phone was somehow back to spanish and had a security code on it. We had arranged to meet with our landlord to have him go with us on Friday to be our translator. Between dead phones and phones not working we ended up just heading out to the Mall Del Rio to see if we could find a English speaking assistant at the Porta store. We were able to find one, and he helped us understand what code to put in and he had them set up the English for me. We also discovered that our charger was not working so that is why Randy's phone did not charge. After buying a new charger we were very happy to know we had our communcation issues finally fixed.

We grabbed a taxi and headed over to our bank for the final step in accessing our bank account. Omar was very helpful and took us down stairs to a machine like a cash machine. This one is inside and has an assistant standing by to help. Omar stayed with us to translate. Randy had to put in his passport number and then his debit card password, This went on through several screens and after about the 5th time there were smiles and he showed Randy how to access his account online. At this point Randy is looking over his should at me with a look that is saying ..."are you getting this?" Thankfully they wrote the website down, but the page is all in Spanish, so unless we can get Google Translor to turn it to English I think we may have to wait until our Spanish is abit better.

After the bank we decided to head up the stairs to Benigo Malo and Calle Larga and back to our hotel. We stopped at a furniture store that is known for being able to custom make furniture. I was more interested in the pictures and knic knacks.. being that I got rid of all the ones at home, I am looking forward to replenishing them! Randy paitiently waited by the door, and noted that now we were running from the rain... did I bring my raincoat or umbrella? Nope. So we did the Ecuadorian thing and slipped like theives along the edges of the buildings that have overhangs avoiding the downpour. We did real well, stopping to plan our route when there were gaps in the overhang. I had my birkenstocks on and Randy had his tennis shoes.  The sidewalks here are either concrete or beautiful tile. Unfortunately the tile is not textured. So when it rains us poor gringos have to really watch our step or we take off sliding when we are trying to hurry along dodging rain..So far neither of us has slid in the rain, but I did get caught gawking up in the air today. The sidwalk had a slope for a car to drive up, and it as tiled.... oops! Randy had my hand or I think I would have launched into the street! Yes, I did get the lecture about watching where I am going, but how can you look up and down at the same time? Isnt that why I was holding his hand so he could guide me along? Now that I think of it I think its his fault...

Later today we may take another walk and see if we can find the famous Carolina's Bookstore. We hear it is quite the Gringo hangout, and they have all kinds of new and used books there.

CUENCA-INCA REAL-PARQUE CALDERON

We left Quito on Saturday morning. I have photos of the car, but I cant load them onto this net book I am using so you will have to imagine it. A Tuscon, with two suitcases in the back and 3 tied, covered and netted for safety! Off we went across the country side. If you look at a map of Ecuador and measure from Quito to Cuenca you can see the miles are long, what you cant see is the extreme highs and lows, and round and round mountains you will go!

The variety of towns, people and homes was really interesting to me, as we were interesting to the people we saw. Our driver Luis was very nice, and patient, as he spoke NO english except OK! We did some incredible pantomime and arm waving, most of the time when we came through with good enough spanish he really seemed proud of us. Luis stopped at a town know for its Helado... Icecream.. Oh yeah, so we pulled up to a stalled he yelled through the window what he wanted and she handed it to us. Oh joy, hard fruta icecream on a stick.. .very good.

I was very proud that I remembered to take my tissues with me when we stopped at a gas station. There was a place for the TP but it was empty. So yeah for me, I am learning to be prepared. Also I have no forgotten to throw the tissues in the garbage and not the toilet yet... I know, that is one thing that is an adjustment, but not really an inconvinence!

We pulled into a town to eat almuerzo (lunch) and they were having a fiesta. Streets were closed and traffic was blocked, Luis was getting more and more tangled in the city as he asked people how to get out of town. Then a huge truck stopped in the middle of the one lane road..four cars piled up behind us, all honking their horns and Luis pleading with the driver to move, pointing to the cars behind us. When they finally did move they were all smiles and no one seemed upset. Randy says he loved this part. Neither of us got upset, we were just having fun! So finally we were off to the next town.

The almuerza was really good. $2.00 ~ Huge bowl of soup with potatoes, beef. Then a nice oblong plate filled to overflowing with rice, beans, cooked veggies and a chicken thigh and fresh juice. We each had the same. So $6 for it all.

We arrived in Cuenca about 4 oclock. Traffic was horrendous, and our driver much to our dismay asked us where to go! OH no! I had asked at the hotel if the driver knew of the hotel and he assured me that he did.
So we began using our memory, calls to our friends Chuck & Nancy Watson, locals info and the blue church to get us into the approxomate area. When we did finally find it we had to make 3 trips around the block so the hotel staff could run out and hold a space open for us to park. They were awesome, they hauled all those heavy suitcases up to our room on the second floor. wheew! Glad I didnt have to!. Our driver Luis was happy to say goodby as he had to turn around and drive back to Quito, Sunday he had a tour to Otovollo scheduled for his trusty Tucson.!

We took a taxi to Nancy & Chucks, and then after awhile we taxied back to our hotel for a late (by US standards..7:30) dinner. It was a successful Saturday.

This is Sunday, we walked to the Parque Calderdon and did some people watching. Randy found that his leg tattoos and Cigar smoking were too much of an oddity, and he did not like being watched, so out went the Cigar. I think they are just going to have to get used to his tattoos, he does like his shorts!

We had a pleasant surprise when several "gringos" came up and introduced themselves. I guess our friend has posted that we are here with our photos. So we now have met 3 couples, and a dutch gentleman.

We are so happy to be here, tomorrow is our banking day and hopefully with catch up with our future landlords, as they offered to give us a tour. I love the hospitality of this place!

WE HAVE LANDED!

We arrived in Quito on July 1st. Our flights were good, and we had great luck with our extra baggage. Our 5th bag was overweight besides being extra. The airline attendant was flustered and said he didnt think he could check a overweight bag to Quito. Well he called someone, slapped a ticket on it and when we questioned him he just shrugged, and said no charge, I already put it on the listing...cool. Our luck held and we were never questioned or charged in Quito either!

We were not inpressed with United, We flew from Pasco, Wa to Denver, then to LA. where we switched to COPA. United charged for everything other than juice and water. COPA fed us and free poured alcohol! As anyone knowing Randys flight phobia, he was please with that service!

When we landed in Panama we were slapped in the face with heat and humidity...ugh. both of which we were not happy about, luckily we only had to deal with it from the plane to the airport. Inside was nice AC, sitll a bit muggy though.

Our hotel in Quito is a very cute hotel and close to our attorneys office so thats a big help. We had lunch downtown today and I had a tamal. It was very yummy cooked two huge banana leaves! $2.25.

We found that our US phones that we bought, unlocked had too high of bandwidth so we had to have them worked on. The Porta people were very helpful and even got all of our phone issues resolved so we didnt have to try to figure out what button to push in spanish! My spanish was enough to let them know we appreciate their great service. A big smile assured me I was succesful.. I hope, unless I said something inappropriate!

We found a really fun restaurant called CafeLibro.  I believe the spanish by line was something about the essential bohemian. Randy had steak, 5.50. I had Nuggets Pollo. oh yum, Micky D's got nuthin on  this place... oh man they were good. We had a very nice bottle of wine and were on our way in an hour. The place was going to hop later, it was definately a dancing bar!

Tomorrow we leave for Cuenca, we thought we would stay longer in Quito, but have decided since out needs are met with the attorney we can go on home to Cuenca. We have decided to rent a van and drive this time. It will be a long drive but we hope to be able to see the countryside. Our driver does not speak alot of english... ugh well maybe none, but he knows where we are going and we will have our spanish cheat sheets ready for the trip.

Now to get on with all the new beginnings in Cuenca!