My internet connection is not very reliable, but I will try to get this posted while it is working. We arrived in Cuenca yesterday afternoon and came straight to our apartment. They were still working on it when we arrived, but we were able to move in and spend the night here.

Our landlords are the Cabreras. They are a family that we met when we were here last winter, and they have built a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment that we are renting.

Today we went with Juan Cabrera, the dad, and bought a new refrigerator, as well as a variety of small items that we need. Our Spanish is getting a lot of work, and improving rapidly, although it doesn't feel nearly as rapid as we would like.

The weather here was sunny and warm this morning, but a thunderstorm came up this afternoon and it rained off and on for a couple of hours. Everything is green and beautiful.

I will write more when I have a chance, but I want to post this while the connection is working, and I still have other things that I need to get done.

We are home

It is cold. Not a surprise, really, but we have been spoiled. Now we just have to get things sorted out, put away, and organized again. I don't think I'm ever going to catch up on all the mail. I'll probably just go through it quickly and toss most of it as "overcome by events."

This will probably be the last post for a while on this blog. I have really enjoyed writing it, and I hope that all of you have enjoyed reading it. If you have any follow-up questions, please ask.

We're back

Susan and I landed in Albuquerque this evening, and will be on home tomorrow. It was a long day, but really not too bad, for a day spent on airplanes and in airports.

In Quito

We finished up cleaning out the apartment and packing our bags this morning. We wouldn't have made it except that we left a box of stuff that we certainly don't need back in the US. We made it to the airport in plenty of time, and had a short, pleasant flight to Quito.

We are now planning to get to bed early so we can get up and head to the airport a little after 7:00 tomorrow morning to catch a 9:40 flight. I really don't have a lot more to say this time, except that it has been almost a year now since we first arrived in Quito on our previous trip, and when we got to the hotel, there was Daniela who helped us make our in-country reservations last March. She recognized me at once, and we started talking, and then after 30 seconds or so, she said, [in Spanish] "Oh! Your Spanish is really good!"

Compared to a year ago, I guess it is. Certainly it has improved dramatically, but rather than "muy bueno", I would describe it as "muy mejorado". [...rather than "very good", I would describe it as "very improved."]

Regardless, a year ago I could say very little. I remember asking Daniela how to say "I want" in Spanish, while today I am able to get along in most instances without too much problem, at least as long as people are friendly and patient. Now I just need to keep studying and practicing.

I plan to post tomorrow evening from Albuquerque.

Nature's sendoff

We are in the middle of a tremendous thunderstorm, or more likely now, approaching the end of it, I hope. It is, without question, the fiercest thunderstorm I have seen here, and there have been only a few more fierce that I ever experienced in the US. And we actually have naturally occurring ice on the ground here, as there was a lot of small hail in the storm, enough to make the street in front of our apartment partly white, as you can see in the following picture.
It started around 4:30, and now, at 6:20, it is still raining pretty hard, although nothing like it was earlier. I would guess that we have had at least a couple of inches, and maybe somewhat more. Depending on how widespread this storm is, it may make a real difference to the water reservoirs here.

We spent the day mostly cleaning, although I did make a quick run to the market for some more broccoli, avocados, six eggs, five small bananas, and some green beans. While there I took this picture of goats for sale out front. I have seen goats there previously, but today I took the picture.Tomorrow morning we pack our things, including some that we are leaving here, and tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 we fly to Quito, where we will spend Tuesday night and catch our flight back to the US on Wednesday morning. We expect to be back in WR on Thursday afternoon, and I think we now have all our reservations and such to get us home.

We are sad to be leaving Cuenca, but plan to return. It is difficult to write this, as we know that many of you want us to stay in the US, but we really feel that Ecuador is likely to be our home for a while, at least after we get our affairs settled in the US. We will still plan to return for visits to family and friends in the US at least once a year, but Ecuador will be our base.

At the same time, it is unlikely that we can get things arranged and get back here in less than 6-8 months, and possibly longer, so our departure is not imminent.

Where does the time go?

It's a question as old as humanity, but endlessly new. It was really hard to get away after church today, as everyone wanted to wish us well, and then some of them invited themselves over this evening for a farewell party. It was really fun, and we were glad to have them, but they showed up at 5:00, and the last ones didn't leave until after 8:00, and after straightening up and such, here it is almost 9:30 and I don't have time to write all that I wanted. Perhaps tomorrow night, although not likely, as we have been invited to another home for the evening. So maybe Tuesday evening, as we are in the hotel in Quito, preparing to fly back on Wednesday. Or maybe it will just be after we get back and can begin to do our "show and tell" in person.

One comparison that I realized during the night that I will share, comparing Cuenca, where we have been staying, and Guayaquil, where we were on Saturday. The climate in Cuenca is like Aspen in July, while the climate in Guayaquil is like Houston in July. It is really amazing to me that more people don't move to Cuenca.

Back in Cuenca

Susan and I are back in Cuenca. It turns out that it's not that far to Guayaquil, perhaps 250 miles, but coming home this afternoon/evening took almost six hours. The reason, besides all the twisty roads, is that we started out essentially at sea level, and crossed over a pass that tops out at 13,620, according to my GPS, which is about 450 feet higher than the top of Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico. That poor bus just climbed and climbed and climbed.

I would also recommend, based on experience, that you NOT make that trip with a head cold. My ears were not adjusting well yesterday as we traveled to Guayaquil, and although they eventually adjusted, it was not pleasant. Today I am better, and my ears kept popping as we climbed, which is a WONDERFUL feeling. However, we are both tired, so I will close here for tonight, and try to write a longer one, even with some pictures, tomorrow night.

Shoeshine and more

Before I start, I need to mention that I will probably not post here tomorrow night. Susan and I are planning to go on a ward temple trip to the Guayaquil Ecuador Temple, leaving Cuenca about 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, and returning on Saturday evening. Depending on what time we get home on Saturday, I will plan to post something, but if it is late, I may be brief.

Today we did a lot. First, we went by to see the woman who teaches piano, to ask about a piano tuner. She said that there is one, an American actually, and gave us his phone number. It turns out that he lives in Vilcabamba, several hours by bus south of here, but he comes to Cuenca several times per year to tune pianos, and his fee for tuning a piano is $25. He said that if he charged any more than that, most people just wouldn't have it done.

Then we bought our plane tickets to go back to Quito next Tuesday. We will fly from Cuenca to Quito on Tuesday afternoon, so that we are ready to fly out as scheduled from Quito on Wednesday morning.

We then came home, where I dropped off Susan, and then I got a haircut. The place I went just after getting to Cuenca was closed, so I walked a block to another barbershop I had seen, and the elderly barber there just about talked my ear off after he figured out that I could understand much of what he said. It sure was good practice for me, and he gave me a great haircut.

Then this afternoon, we took two bags of laundry over to the laundromat, and Susan and I headed on over to her needlework class. I left her there and went to get my shoes shined. I had seen a place nearby with several men set up to shine shoes, so I found one who was not busy, and agreed on a price of $1, which is the going price there, and he got to work. This is the best these shoes have EVER been shined! I kept thinking that he was about done, and he would start another process or layer. Here is a picture as he is getting started.He did such a good job that I asked him to shine my belt as well. I have been wearing it for several years, and it looked like it. But he put a shine on it that makes it look almost like new, except that you can still see where I have lost weight as several different holes show wear.After he was done, I asked if I could take his picture, and his buddy jumped in the picture as well. The shoeshine master is on the right. I paid him $2 for the whole job, and I don't know which of us was happier.I then walked around a while, waiting for Susan's class to end, and found this shot of a pair of streets that just barely diverge. The cobblestone streets are typical of the old part of town.

Mercado once again

Today I went back to the mercado as we keep running out of food. The list today included tuna [fresh], swiss chard, avocados, onions, carrots, haba beans, green beans, eggs, bananas, and pineapple. I got everything but the pineapple, as I could not find a good one. I finally got one later at the grocery store, but even it was somewhat over-ripe. It is edible, but would have been better sooner. It is like they are waiting for another truck load of them to arrive.

Anyhow, while at the market today, I took a picture of this woman and her tomatoes. One of these buckets of tomatoes is a dollar, and I love how they stack them with one on top.I also got a picture of this woman after I bought dried fava beans from her. Susan really likes them, and we plan to bring most of these back with us. This stand has lots of stuff around the edges, including canned tuna, eggs, and such, but mostly she has these big bags of corn, beans, grains, etc.I also went by a place we found earlier where they have a sign advertising piano lessons. Susan wanted to know if there is anyone in Cuenca who tunes pianos, and if so, how good are they and what do they charge. If we bring her piano down here, she certainly needs to be able to get it tuned after we arrive. I talked to a young woman who works there, and we have an appointment to return tomorrow at eleven or a little after to meet with the "Profesora".

Water project

Today Susan and I went out to Perry's farm for the last time, at least for this trip. Originally I had planned to get a slow-rate sand filter up and running for him, but we have run out of time, at least on our part. However, I think I have him off to a good start, and I hope that he can finish it up based on the plans I have given him.

And since Susan had never been out to his property, I was able to bring her along today. We went by an alternate route, and saw more of the beautiful countryside that seems to be so common here. This is a picture of the valley just to the south of Cuenca, perhaps 4-5 miles from the edge of town.Today we built a small dam to back up water and run it into a pipe that will carry it down to the filter. We mixed concrete to fill in a narrow gap, with a pipe embedded in the concrete. We ran out of sand, so we mixed the last part with dirt instead. I know that it won't be as strong, but in a situation like this, it should still be strong enough. You can see the color of the "dirt-crete" as the brown part of the dam. Also, the colander is there to keep larger pieces of debris from blocking the inlet on the pipe. And of course, there is Mikael playing in the water. He is Perry and Mindy's son, and all boy. Susan and Mindy visited the whole time this was going on, and had a great time.
On the way back, I took this picture of some horses. There are a lot of horses out in this area, as well as milk cows, but these, with the mare and colt on the right, were really beautiful.Just as we got back to Cuenca it started to rain, and has rained most of the evening. It was a good thing that we didn't have anywhere else to go, because I am tired!

Dog clipping

For breakfast this morning, as with nearly every morning, I started with my mixture of pineapple and bananas. We don't have a juicer here, and the commercially available fruit juices in the stores are not very satisfactory to me, so I decided that fresh fruit was just as good - and it sure is available.

I don't usually eat it out of the mixing bowl, but I was about to finish off the rest of the pineapple, so I just used the bowl it was stored in, and sliced the bananas in to match. The bananas are a small variety, but very good, and I eat 4-5 of them every morning, depending on how many bruises they have. And after the fruit, I usually have fried eggs, but sometimes just a roll with some honey.
It has been a while since I have mentioned the mystery across the street, and I don't have any further clues, but today I did see them trimming their poodles, as shown in this picture.
Otherwise, it was a very quiet day, with as little traffic noise as I have ever heard here. Carnival goes through tomorrow, so we'll see how that works out.

Quiet Sunday

Susan and I went to church this morning, and we have only one more Sunday here in Cuenca. I suspect that there will be a lot of tears there next Sunday, as we have really grown close to the people here. They will especially miss Susan playing the piano.

Here is a group picture that was taken after church today. One of the young men there asked if he could get my picture, and within seconds it morphed into this.
Susan is not in the picture as she was already walking home with another friend. They don't walk very fast, as they are too busy talking, so she said that I shouldn't have any trouble catching up, and I didn't.

We stayed home for the rest of the day, as we don't want to get soaked. The traffic is much quieter than usual, but we have heard a lot of squealing and yelling as water fights break out.

27 years

Today I went to the market to stock up on a few things, since a lot of places will be closed for the next three days, and while I was there, I bought some roses for Susan. Today marks 27 years since we got engaged, and with tomorrow being Valentines, and with such a deal on roses, how could I not get some?

My intention was to get a dozen long-stemmed red roses, and after buying the groceries I approached a flower vendor and asked her how much the long-stemmed red roses were. She said $5, and then added that there were 25 roses in a bundle. Wow! All I did was ask if she had change for a $20, which she did, and then she added in a couple of fronds to enhance the whole thing. Here is Susan holding the whole bouquet, followed by another picture of the flowers sitting on our divider where they are a little easier to see, although you still can't count them all.

Most years I don't get roses for Valentines, but this year, how could I pass up a deal like this?

Carnival does not officially begin until tomorrow, but the water balloon squadrons were out in force today. I was not targeted, except by a girl with a water gun sitting in a parked car as I walked by, but I held up the flowers as a shield, so all she did was water them a bit. I doubt that I make it through the next three days without getting hit at least once, though.

Here is a picture, taken at full telephoto, of a truck with water-balloon warriors in the back. They drive up and down the main streets, flinging water balloons at other groups of young men on the sidewalks, who are equally armed and return fire with enthusiasm. I tried to be cautious about taking photos, since some might see that as an invitation for a return shot, and I don't want my camera getting doused.

Walking

One of the reasons that I am in better shape here is that I walk a lot. Today I walked well over three miles, and perhaps four. There is a copy shop that we like to use that is not too far away, but today I took some things over to copy, and then three hours later, when I went back to pick up the copies, I counted my steps on the way over, and it is almost a mile, round-trip. The grocery store is about the same distance down the street in the other direction, and I also went there today.

Then this evening I went again to the Friday evening gathering of expats, and took a bus, but I had to walk 300 yards or so to the bus stop, and then half a mile or more back to a point to catch a bus to come home. It is not extreme, but the exercise is good.

Almost to the printer I saw these kids having a water fight. Carnival starts this Sunday and runs for three days, but lots of people are already celebrating. This is the equivalent of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but celebrated according to Ecuador traditions. I have heard a lot of stories and warnings, but I will form my own opinion based on what I see. In any case, the girl at the upper left corner of the picture has a hose, and the boy with his back to me is soaked and shivering, but keeping his distance. There were other boys out of sight to the right, also wet.I may just stay home most of those three days, since most stores and such will be closed. Apparently this is as big a holiday here as Christmas, although the traditions are quite different. I'll share more as I see it.

Also, as I was leaving the expat gathering this evening, I passed a store that sells DVDs, and behind the counter was this boy holding a very cute puppy. I stopped to look at the puppy and asked if I could take his picture. The boy gladly agreed, and held him up for a better shot.And finally, just before I got home I stopped in at the bakery where I buy fresh bread, but tonight I just got an ice cream cone. They have home-made ice cream, very much like what they have in Italy, and it is wonderful. This is coconut ice cream, and a single scoop cone like this costs 50 cents. I have one more days than not.

Eye Doctor

A little over two years ago Susan experienced a small tear on the retina of her right eye, and the eye doctor in Santa Fe told her that if she ever experienced "floaters" or other symptoms similar to what she had at that time, that she should get checked out ASAP. So last week she had some things in her field of view, and although she thought it probably wasn't serious, we decided that we needed to get it checked before heading home.

We asked around and found an eye doctor, Dr. Rene Cabrera, who speaks good English. My Spanish is getting a lot better, but when it comes to the specialized vocabulary that goes into something like eye examinations, I get lost quickly. Anyhow, we traveled over to his office just after noon, and explained why Susan needed an exam. He said to come back at 6:00 this evening, and he would check her out.

So at 6:00 this evening we were back in his office, and his assistant put Susan through her paces, checking her visual acuity and taking a brief medical history. Of course, all this was in Spanish, but we could cope OK at this point. Then we went in to see Dr. Cabrera, and visited while Susan's eyes finished dilating. He asked where we were from, and when I said "New Mexico" he replied that he had been to New Mexico as an exchange student when in high school. I asked what part of New Mexico, and he said "Espanola."

Our collective jaws nearly hit the floor, and we explained that we are from Los Alamos. He stayed with a family named Martinez for the 74-75 school year, and said that they now run an office supply store there. I will try to look them up after we return.

Anyhow, he then examined Susan's eyes and said that there was a tiny hemorrhage where a single capillary had ruptured, but that otherwise she was in great shape. He also said that the tiny hemorrhage was nothing to worry about, and that it should clear up fine on its own. We thanked him profusely, and I picked up several of his business cards to share with others here who are interested in finding an English-speaking eye doctor.

We then went out and asked the receptionist what the bill was for all this, and she said $30. I paid cash, and we went on our way. The whole visit, from arrival to paying the bill, lasted about half an hour, and that included several minutes of just visiting. We were treated royally.

Then on the way home, we saw this horse and carriage parked beside the street. I don't know what they were waiting for, but I asked if I could take a picture, and the driver smiled and said, "Certainly!"

100th posting

I noticed as I started to write this entry that to date I have posted to this blog 99 times, so with this one this evening, I am posting my 100th entry to this blog.

Today I went back out with Perry, planning to work on a small dam 18 inches high or so, to divert water to the planned filter. However, we also left a big trench in the road the last time we were there, in order to let water drain from a small spring or seep under the road, and in the interim it rained a lot, probably well over an inch. We had left the trench so that it drained out to the side, but with the rain some of the trench sides had collapsed into the trench, so we had to clean it out before adding gravel and plastic sheeting to form a permanent drain. This wound up being all that we worked on there today.

Here is a picture of Perry watching as our two workers shoveled gravel out of the bucket of the backhoe into the trench.
Also, here is a picture of one of the locals who came by on horseback and stayed a while to watch and visit. I should remember his name, but I don't. Nor did I get the name of the horse, but it sure is pretty.
And finally, as Perry was scooping up dirt to put back in the trench, at one point he dug into the turf a little bit, and I found this worm [part of a worm, actually] that I thought was impressive. If they have fish here to match their worms, I am looking forward to going fishing!
We are now planning to return next week, probably on Tuesday, to do what we meant to do today.

Preparations

Tomorrow I am planning to go back out with Perry to work on the sand filter at his ranch. However, today I spent a good part of the day looking for some of the things we will need, particularly, some hose or pipe to carry the water from the stream to the filter. I visited several stores, and finally found some suitable hose late this afternoon.

Not a whole lot else to write about this evening, so I'm going to leave it at this for now.

Busy day

Today we started out by visiting our immigration lawyer to pick up our passports with the visa extensions that we need. He had told us that the extensions were approved, but today we actually went to the immigration office and were able to pick them up. It feels good to know that we are not going to be fined for overstaying our visas, and it also helps that this was the least expensive option for resolving our quandary.

This quandary came about because of a change in the visa rules here in Ecuador. Before we came here last March I read that Ecuador allowed foreign visitors to have two 90-day visas any any 365-day period, but you had to leave Ecuador for at least a few days between visits. However, about the time of our visit, they changed the rules such that visitors are only allowed 90 days in Ecuador in any 365-day period, unless they obtain an extension. So when I booked tickets for this visit I thought I had a 90-day window without risk of overstaying, when actually, the three weeks we were here last March counted against our 90 days. Thus, we needed an extension on our visas, or we would face a fine at the airport when we left.

Then this afternoon I took Susan over to her class again, during which I visited the lawyer's office to pay for their services and get our passports. Then after I got home with Susan, I had to go back to the Mall del Rio to get another 15 days of service added to my internet modem, and I didn't get home until almost 8:00 p.m. I didn't take any pictures today, but it now feels good just to be home. Tomorrow I have a long list of things we need from the market, so I'll be going there again. I think I walked at least 3-4 miles today, and I am tired.

Rain

Last night it started raining, and it rained all night. We were reminded just after it started that we have a leak in our kitchen, right in front of our sink, so we put a bowl under it to catch the water. After a bit, I noticed that we were getting a lot of splash on the floor around the bowl, so I contrived the funnel and jug arrangement shown below, with the bowl along side to catch the drops that didn't hit the funnel. I cut holes in the lids of both jugs, and taped them together.This morning the lower jug was almost full, and it holds five liters, or about 1.3 gallons. The rain stopped so that we were able to go to church and come home again when it was not raining, but then it rained again hard this afternoon. Finally it stopped about 5:00, so Susan and I went for a walk. Here is how the Rio Tomebamba usually looks as it passes through Cuenca.
And here is how it looked today.
We badly need the water here to refill the reservoir that generates our electricity, and today's rain won't be enough to correct the shortage, but it will help, and we will hope for more rain in the coming days and weeks.

Now that I am posting this, I will turn on the TV and see if I can watch a little of the Super Bowl. It will almost certainly be in Spanish, but that can be fun too.

Guests for lunch

Today I invited a young man from church here to meet me for lunch. His name is Reuben, he is 13 years old, and he lived the first eleven years of his life in New York, so he speaks fluent English. He also speaks fluent Spanish, and appears to fit into his peers here pretty well.

Walking home from church last Sunday, he asked me if it was normal for a boy his age to be "beastly hungry" all the time. I reassured him that it was, and invited him to meet me for lunch today at a Chinese restaurant down the street from here at 1:30. Well, 1:30 came and went, and I called his mother, who did not know where he was, so about 2:00 I went on to eat by myself. Then, just as I was finishing up, here came Reuben, with a couple of his friends that he met as he was walking there. I invited them all to sit down and order, as I figured that Reuben wasn't the only hungry one, and they did. Here they all are, eating like this was the first food they had seen in at least 2-3 hours.Reuben is on the right, while Luis [Lucho] is in the middle and Juan [Juancho] is on the left. I asked if either of them spoke English, and they said very little. Most of our conversation was in Spanish, except when Reuben and I spoke in English. They are all well-mannered young men, although I think that they don't have much experience interacting with adults in a social setting. This may have been compounded by language issues. At the same time, at the end of the meal they all thanked me and seemed to have had a good time. I know I did.

It has now been raining for at least 4-5 hours, and we are glad to have it. This is the first real rain we have had in about a month, and we need it badly. On the other hand, there is a leak in the ceiling in the kitchen, just in front of the sink. I will report it to the landlord, but in the meanwhile, a large bowl on the floor contains the water, and we are not troubled by the sound of the drip. And the rain has cut way down on the party noise for tonight.

Digging in the dirt

Today I went with Perry, and his wife Mindy and his five-year-old son, McHale, back out to his property where we are going to build a slow-rate sand filter so that he will have potable water when he builds a house there. His property is at the very end of the road, and there is no chance of getting city water, nor is there a good place to drill a well. However, he has a small stream that is still flowing, even though it has been very dry here. [This is supposed to be the rainy season here, but it has been a month since we have had a good rain.]

I tried to measure the rate of flow in the stream today, timing how long it takes to fill a 5-liter water jug, and I estimate the flow rate to be about 4 gallons per minute. Given that the filter needs only 1-2 gallons per minute, we should be good to go.

However, when we took his backhoe up there today, we discovered [by almost getting it stuck], that there was a small water seep under the road near where we want to put the filter. So we dug a trench in the road to let the water drain, and let the ground dry out. We plan to go back next week with a truck load of gravel so that the water can drain without saturating all the dirt under the road. We will also begin constructing the water line leading to the filter. Here is a picture of Perry digging the trench, with his son McHale beside him on the backhoe.
Before we left this morning, I took a load of laundry over to the laundromat [not self-serve], and on the way back I took this picture of a poodle. I think that poodles are the most common type of dog in Ecuador, or at least in Cuenca.

Susan's sewing circle

Susan has found a group of women that gather in a craft shop every afternoon to work on various crafts. She enjoys their company, although it is frustrating to not be able to talk to or understand them as well as she would like, but it is still fun. This afternoon I took her over for the class, then I went and sat in the Parque Calderon [Calderon Park] in front of the cathedral of Cuenca. When I came back to pick her up, I took this picture of her with the other women.While I was sitting in the park, an elderly gentleman, probably in his 70s, but maybe older, came up and sat down beside me. He asked what country I was from, and then what state. He said that he had a brother in New York, but that he himself had lived in Ecuador all his life. It turns out that he is a retired college professor [I didn't learn what he taught], but we talked for at least half an hour. His Spanish was clear and easy to understand, and I was able to understand almost all that he said. I still feel overwhelmed sometimes by all that I am still not able to say, but then I have an experience like this and realize that my Spanish has really improved a lot. And is still improving.

Painting a busy street

Today I went to the market again, since we were running low on food, a situation that requires urgent attention, as running OUT of food is not a good thing. Anyhow, I loaded up on the essentials, cherries, avocados, pineapples, green beans, carrots, broccoli, bananas, lemons, and toilet paper. Yes, I know that the last one is different than all the others, but we still didn't want to run out.

After buying all this stuff, I still had a little money left, so I stopped for lunch at a place I had noticed on the way into the market. For only $1.50, they gave me all the food in this picture, although the soup was considerably depleted before I took the picture.
After eating lunch, I waited at the bus stop, and watched a crew from the city who blocked off a lane of traffic on each side of the street so they could repaint the crosswalks. I don't know why they bother - the pedestrians never pay attention to them, and the drivers don't either. The drivers will try to avoid hitting pedestrians, and the pedestrians try to avoid being hit, but the location of crosswalks is irrelevant to the whole equation.

In any case, the crew blocked off a lane each way using empty 5-gallon paint buckets, painted bright yellow. This caused considerable congestion, but most of the drivers were coping fairly well. However, one man in an SUV made a left turn while checking to his right to avoid a collision, and ran right over one of the buckets. It got jammed under his engine, and made an awful racket, throwing off sparks as he headed on down the street. From inside, I suspect it sounded like his engine had fallen out, so he pulled over about a hundred yards down to see what the problem was. As soon as he saw what it was, he pulled up on the curb with his right tires, lifting his SUV off of the bucket and letting him drive away. Here is a partial view of the can as a helpful bystander brought it back.
In the meanwhile, a passing bus ran over another can, and just flattened it, such that a couple of other drivers that I observed ran over the flattened can, wincing visibly as they heard the clatter-bump under their vehicle. In the meanwhile, the workers seemed almost oblivious to the fact that their traffic-control cans were suffering some attrition. Here is a picture of the one that was flattened.
At this point, my bus arrived, so I left this happy scene.

On another note, I can add another detail to the mystery across the street. Apparently the residents of the houses across the street are also the ones who blocked off the gates. I say this because the pickup that was used to bring the bricks for blocking off the gates was being used today to load up some of the stuff in the bay on the far left. I have no idea where they are taking stuff, but apparently they are preparing for the day that they move out.

I need to go cut up a pineapple so it will be ready for breakfast, so I'll sign off for now.

Sliding on the grass

Yesterday Susan found out about a class that is offered in a craft shop across the Rio Tomebamba. They do not charge anything for the class, but of course, you have to buy materials...

Anyhow, I walked over there with her this afternoon, and on the way, we saw these two kids sliding down a steep grassy bank on pieces of what appear to be cardboard. We never saw them overshoot and fall in the river, but they would stop right at the edge.

Here they are carrying their cardboard pieces up the slope.And then the girl came sliding down first. Just after I took this picture, she slid off of her cardboard and went rolling.But as you can see here, she is already heading back up the slope to do it again, as her brother [?] comes down behind her. It looked like they were having a lot of fun.
Then a few yards later, we came across this darling little girl. When I first saw her, her mother looked like she was really upset about something, but I couldn't resist, so I asked if I could take a picture of her daughter, and her face lit up, as her little girl looked at me as if she thought I might be dangerous. I took the picture, gave the mother a big smile and a "Gracias!" and we went on our way. I hope I brightened up her day a little bit.Susan's class went really well, as there was a lady working there who speaks just about as much English as Susan does Spanish. However, most of what they were doing involved more show and imitate than it did deep philosophical discussions, so she wants to go back tomorrow.

Walking

First, I will say that there are no real developments across the street. There are still people living there, but if they are coming or going, I haven't seen it. Our landlord warned us when we moved in that we shouldn't get involved with them, as there was a woman there who was "muy loco". And there hasn't been any reason for us to get involved, except that now we are curious about what is going on.

Anyhow, I spent a good part of the day trying to find some place in Cuenca that might stock large-diameter [say 24", or here 600 mm] plastic pipe, such as might be used for a main sewer line, but without luck. I wanted to use pieces about six feet long as individual tanks for a slow-rate sand filter, but since I have not been able to find any, I have decided that the most practical option is to build the tanks out of concrete blocks and paint them with a waterproof paint. Without the paint, the blocks would leak like a sieve.

So this evening I sat down and sketched up a plan for the filter. I think I have it fairly well laid out, but I don't know whether or not we will be able to get it built before we have to come back. If not, I will have to be a lot more specific about how to put together all the parts, and then how to get it up and running and maintain it. I still have three weeks, so we shall see.

I probably walked 3-4 miles this morning, checking out a few places that were not practical to visit by bus. It was mostly cloudy, with the temperature in the sixties, which made it ideal for walking. Tonight I am tired, which is a good feeling. In the course of my walk, I saw this cactus in blossom along the edge of a corn patch.Another thing that is common here, but different from the US, is that there are a LOT of concrete manhole covers. There are also some of iron, but the concrete ones outnumber the iron ones by at least 20:1. Iron mostly seems to be used in high-traffic areas where the concrete would not last as well.

The mystery deepens

Today I noticed that the pedestrian gate is also bricked up. Thus, these homes and courtyards now apparently have no simple access to the outside world. They could put up a ladder and climb over the fence, but that is hardly practical. My theory is that the gates were bricked up by the new owner, as a means of driving out the folks who refused to give up possession. If they were locking their gates and refusing to come out, this is a way of saying, "Fine, two can play this game."

However, a weak spot in my theory is that Susan says that the pickup that was used to haul the bricks is the same one that used to be parked in the courtyard that is now bricked off. This would tend to indicate that the folks living inside bricked up their only means of leaving. As I said, the mystery deepens, but I will continue to observe and see if I can figure it out.

On another note, Susan and I had tuna steaks for dinner today. I bought a piece of tuna at the market yesterday, since I learned that fresh seafood is brought up on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Tuna costs $2.50 per pound and we really like it. I cut the piece in half to make two steaks, as shown in the picture below. Unlike every other fish I have ever eaten, the only bone in this piece was the big piece of spine in the center.We cooked them on the hotplate, with a little oregano. It turned out really well.It came apart when I took it out of the pan, but that didn't hurt the flavor at all.After eating this, Susan suggested that we eat tuna every Sunday until we go home. I think that is a really good idea.

And as I wrote this, I realized that there is something else that I have noted that is worth mentioning. Ecuador is officially a metric nation, but there are still a lot of things that are measured in English units. For example, if you go in a supermarket, anything sold by weight will be priced in dollars&cents per kilogram. However, for the same items in the open market, all the prices are per pound.

Distances are always in metric, and water, soda pop, etc., are always in liters or fractions thereof, but gasoline is priced in dollars per gallon [$1.48 per gallon, everywhere, all the time]. And the other day I saw a set of scales at the market where the owner was charging people ten cents to weigh themselves, and the scale was calibrated in pounds.

I'm not sure why things are mixed up as they are, but it is interesting, and I am glad that I am comfortable in both sets of units.

A Mystery

When we look our our kitchen or living room windows we overlook a house [houses?] and courtyards to the west. The people who live there work on buses usually, and trucks occasionally, in the courtyard farthest to the left, but they often park other vehicles in the other two courtyards. Apparently no more, however. This morning I glanced out the window and saw people at work bricking up one of the gates.
Note that the gates behind the bricks still appear to work just fine, except that now they open onto a blank wall.After they finished one of them, they started on the second one.And finished it as well.We are baffled as to what is going on. We talked to our neighbors, Kevin and Kathy, who live two floors below us, and they were speculating as well. They told us that about a month before we arrived there was some sort of confrontation across the street, and as they understood it, the Honda dealer to the right had bought or foreclosed on the place, but the people refused to vacate, and a bunch of police showed up in riot gear. However, when the police left, the folks were still in possession, and are still there.

It is not like the bricks blocking the gates are a serious obstacle. They have no reinforcement, and I think a good solid push would collapse either one, unless they did something to them that I don't know about. However, as long as they are in place, the courtyards are not as useful. The one to the right has a pedestrian gate, but the middle courtyard now has no access at all, except for stairs down into it at the back. Or, I guess you could just drop things over the edge. Getting them out again could be fun, however.

This is part of the fun of living in a foreign country, and staying in one place long enough to begin to fit into the local rhythm of life. We will be watching to see if we can gain any further insights as to what is going on.

And here's another strange thing I saw today. There was a beautiful carriage being towed down the street by a truck, with a horse in the back of the truck. I don't know if it was used for a wedding or what, but it was quite a sight. I barely got my camera out in time to get this shot.

Inca Trail

Today I went back to the mountains with Perry. He has land out there where he is planning to build a house, but to build a house, he needs a potable water supply, so I am trying to get a slow-rate sand filter built there before I leave. I don't know whether I can get it all done before I leave or not, but I'll do my best. Anyhow, I was concerned about whether we could get gravity flow of water into the top of the filter, so we went back out with a level and I found that I have plenty of elevation. Now I need to draw up detailed plans and find the tanks, pipe, etc., that we will need for the actual construction.

Right on the border of Perry's land is a right-of-way that dates back to the time of the Incas. It was a foot-path at that time, and has continued in use to the present. It is a legal public right-of-way and people travel on it on foot, on bicycle, on horse, and possibly on ATVs. It is not really of a size that a regular 4-wheel vehicle could travel it. Here are a couple of shots, one looking north and the other south, along the trail.

As we were looking around up there, a young woman came galloping up on horseback, and I got the following picture of her after she dismounted. There are a number of cattle grazing up here, as Perry invited the locals to graze their livestock there to keep the grass down. He plans to get some cattle of his own eventually, but in the meanwhile this works.
And not just cattle. This mare and colt were also staked out on his property. The mare doesn't look in very good shape, but I thought that was just due to the colt being so hungry. However, Perry said that they had just recently been brought in from elsewhere, where the grazing had not been so good. We'll see how the mare does up here.Also, I found this walking stick in the grass. There are a lot of them here, but in the grass they are almost impossible to see. This one shows up better on a hand.