Ecuador Trip

2011-03-14T18:56:00.002-06:00

Wow. It's been almost a month since I last posted anything here. It's not that I haven't done anything interesting, but rather that we are settling in and life is much more of a routine. Saturday go to the market for tuna, vegetables, and fruit. Sunday go to church. Monday through Friday do pretty much the same routine from week to week.

One note of interest is that our lawyer submitted our application for a permanent visa, with all the necessary paperwork, last Thursday, and she was told to check back with them in a month, as they expected that it would be ready by that time. I hope that it is, as that is a pre-requisite to being able to bring down our household goods without having to pay any duty on them.

People here have told me that it is unseasonably cold right now. Given that we are about three degrees south of the equator, the sun is almost perfectly straight overhead at noon right now. Then as the year progresses it will move on north, such that by June 21 it will be about 26 degrees north of vertical at noon. It will then reverse this course and pass back straight overhead about the first week in October en route to the winter solstice when it will be about 20 degrees south of straight overhead.

In this discussion I have used the reference of the northern hemisphere, even though we are technically in the southern hemisphere, as that is what is familiar to most of my readers. It is also worth noting that if you live north of the Tropic of Capricorn, which is 23 degrees north latitude, you will never see the sun straight overhead at noon. It is always offset somewhat to the south, even on the first day of summer.

It is also worth noting that on the equator the length of the day never changes. It is always twelve hours with the sun up and twelve with it down. Here it actually does vary slightly, but it is on the order of twenty minutes difference between the longest and shortest days of the year. So there is no reason to mess around with Daylight Savings Time, and they don't. So nyah-nyah-nyah to all you folks who have to set your clocks forward and backward each spring and fall, and who did so just this last weekend.

2011-02-19T08:50:00.003-07:00

I just returned from the large open market, plus a quick trip to the local "tienda" for a few things that I couldn't bring from the market. Total I spent $19.95, and the total weight of all my purchases was 50 lb. 3 oz.

The itemized list is as follows:

A pound of fresh tuna - $2.50
A large round squash - $2.00
A large bag of carrots - $1.00
25+ bananas - $1.00
4 pounds of grapes - $4.00
4 large turnips - $0.50
one bunch of swiss chard - $0.25
two pounds of fresh green beans - $1.00
two pounds of fresh shelled beans, - $2.00
A small watermelon, 9 lb. - $2.50
A large pineapple, 5.25 lb. - $1.00
A dozen eggs - $1.20
Four large avocados, 2.75 lb. - $1.00

Here is a picture of most of this, except for the tuna and the eggs. The watermelon is in the middle, while the squash is at the back left. The shelled beans are in the sack in the middle, between the carrots and the green beans. The chard is in the plastic tub that Susan is holding, as she had already stripped it from the stems before I thought to take the picture.

The tuna is brought up fresh from the coast on Wednesdays and Saturdays, so I always pick up a pound fresh for our Sunday dinner. Most of the rest of this is local produce, except the grapes which come from Chile. As this picture should indicate, we eat well, with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Retired again, or at least unemployed

2011-02-13T16:12:00.003-07:00

Well, I am no longer teaching at the Escuela Madrid. I told them last week, after 3-4 days of teaching, that it was evident to me that I was wearing down, and that they should look for another English teacher. I would not leave them in the lurch, but I didn't think I could keep up the pace for three months, especially with the other things that I need to take care of.

So, on Friday I saw Alexa (who first took me out there) and her husband in the office when I arrived at the school. They came out of the office a moment later, and she told me that she would be taking over as English teacher, but wanted to go with me to each of my classes that day to meet them and see how it went.

Of course, in the first class I was planning to give a test, but a little over half the class was out for a soccer match, which pretty well blew away any idea of giving a test, or of starting on a new section in the book. So instead I improvised, asking the class if they knew what the English word "ant" meant, and then telling them about my experience with the ants on Monday morning. I also told them that that was my last day to teach, and that Alexa would be taking over on Monday.

The other classes went more according to plan, except the seventh graders, which were involved in a different project, and we just had to skip. I did volunteer to come back as a substitute for a day or two if Alexa had a conflict, or was otherwise unable to be there. I really do enjoy teaching the students, but every day was too much.

On another note, one day during break I saw the boys playing a soccer variant that I had never seen before. They have a very small field, about 18 yards long, cut into the hillside so that both goals have a good backstop. The goals themselves are about 9 feet wide by 6 feet high, and the fronts of the goals are about 16 yards apart (as I paced them off). There is a line drawn on the ground halfway in between, or 8 yards from each goal, and two players stay on their half of the field, meaning they are not allowed to cross the center stripe.

The one in front tries to get in position and kick the ball into the opposing goal, without losing control of the ball and letting it roll across the center line, while the other one hangs back in the goalie position to try to block any shots that come his way. The first score that I saw here came when one of the players gave a powerful kick, which the front player across the line blocked such that it bounced directly into the goal behind the player who kicked it.

When a goal is scored, the team that was scored against sits down and a waiting team rotates in. And if I understood right, it is also the duty of the last team to rotate out to chase the ball should it head off down the hill, which is not uncommon.

Updates on school and ants

2011-02-08T19:48:00.002-07:00

I have now completed three days of teaching, and I have yet to meet with all five classes in a single day. Although tomorrow looks likely to change that string. The kids are wonderful, and I enjoy my time in the classroom, but I really don't enjoy the chunk that this cuts out of each day.

One interesting aspect is that they are giving me a ride home in a school bus (minivan) along with a bunch of the students. Rank hath its privileges, so at least I get to ride in the front seat. As a consequence, I have seen parts of Cuenca that I had not seen before. Although it is not surprising, there are places in Cuenca that I would not be willing to live. I have not taken any pictures of them yet, but they are there.

On another note, when I got up yesterday morning and went in the kitchen, I noticed what at first glance appeared to be a streak of dirt on the floor about an inch wide. As I looked more closely, I realized that it was moving, and that realization was quickly followed by recognition: ANTS

They are tiny, not much more than 3 mm long, and perhaps half a mm wide, but there were thousands, TENS of thousands of them. They had formed three highways, two minor ones, perhaps 4-6 lanes wide, that followed the baseboard along the edges of the living room, and the multi-lane interstate that cut right through the middle. They weren't actually following lanes, but if they had been, I would guess that the one through the middle would have been at least 12 lanes wide. The source was outside the front door in the dirt, and the destination was our trash can in the kitchen. The can was touching the wall, and the combined highways met and traveled up the wall and into the trash. The total distance from their apparent den to our trash was about 25 feet by the shortest path.

I quickly realized that routine tactics were pointless, so I went next door and borrowed their vacuum cleaner. Not worrying about occasional wanderers, I plugged it in and started on the superhighway, followed by the smaller tracks along the walls. I then moved the trash can and sucked up all the ants on the wall and sealed up the garbage sack and took it out for disposal. I then came back and used the vacuum again to mop up the backup squad that hadn't heard that the party was over.

We still have a dozen or two ants roaming our kitchen at any given time, but the trash is no longer an attraction to them, or at least not an accessible one. We are careful not to leave it touching the wall, and apparently the plastic trash can is difficult to climb, to say nothing of the plastic bag that lines the inside. I have read that most small ants like this that infest homes on occasion seek either sugar or protein. Given that these were apparently after our left-over chicken scraps, plus the fact that occasional small bits of sugar don't appear to interest them greatly, I assume that these crave protein. They do not sting, but still, finding masses of them in our kitchen was a shock. We will be more careful hereafter with our scraps.

Given the shock of the moment, I did not take any pictures, and I hope that I don't have any occasion hereafter to do so. So I hope that my verbal description will take the place of pictures this time.

First day of school

2011-02-04T20:12:00.003-07:00

I'm sure glad that I started teaching on a Friday. It gives me the weekend to recuperate from my first day, which wasn't all that bad. Mostly I am tired because I didn't sleep well last night, in anticipation. I got to Escuela Madrid a little early, and was pointed to my first class, which were the fifth graders. Other than one girl who had lived for a while in Canada, their English was not very strong, but that is not surprising.

I began by introducing myself and telling them a little about me. Then I took pictures of each of them, in groups of three or so, with their names written on the white board so I could begin to try to learn their names. Here are four of the kids from the fifth grade.Then I went to the seventh grade and went through the same routine. Here are three of the boys from that class.And finally I went to the ninth grade, and here are three of the girls from that class.

Normally I will be teaching two other classes as well, but today they were gone on a field trip, so this is where my first day ended. I also picked up textbooks and teacher manuals for each of these classes, but not for those that I did not meet, so I have plenty to keep me busy this weekend. However, I think I am going to enjoy this.

Back, due to reader demand

2011-02-03T18:02:00.003-07:00

It has been too long (again) since I last posted. But I have faithful readers who have suggested that it is time to post again, so here goes.

The latest news I will put first. We'll see if I get to any more. I am employed again. The pay is trivial, but I will be teaching English part-time at a private, bi-lingual school in the outskirts of Cuenca. I learned about the need on Wednesday morning, when the mother of one of Susan's piano students arrived and asked me to please consider helping out. Apparently the English teacher at the school, or at least the one who taught the older students, had left without prior notice, and they were without a teacher.

She took me out to the school in a taxi and introduced me to the principal and a few of the teachers, as well as a couple of the classes that were currently teacherless. I was very favorably impressed, both by the location of the school [with a stunning view of Cuenca], and the students themselves. They appear to be friendly and eager to learn, and are well-behaved.

This is a view of the school. It is configured as small pods built into the hillside, and includes a couple of small playing fields for soccer and such. Just going up and down the stairs will help keep me in shape.

Susan and I went back today to make sure that I knew the way and could find the school, since I will be traveling there and back by city bus. It takes almost an hour to get there, depending on the connections and how long I have to wait, although they have promised me that most days I can get a ride home in the school bus, which should be somewhat faster.

I will try to post again after I actually start teaching. Tomorrow is my first day.

Too much to cover

2011-01-21T19:26:00.003-07:00

It has been too long since I last posted, and there is no way I will cover everything, so I won't even try. Instead, I will talk about a few specific things that I find interesting.

First, when I was out at the Mall del Rio several days ago, I saw the setup in the picture below. It consisted of a wading pool perhaps 12'x20', with about a foot of water in it, and two large inflatable balls of clear plastic. The balls are ~5' in diameter, with a zip-lock kind of opening perhaps 30" long. They would open the seal, let a kid climb in, zip it almost closed, and then stick in the exhaust of a vacuum cleaner and inflate the ball with the kid inside. When inflated, they would finish closing the seal and then the kid would have 3-5 minutes to run, stand up, fall, and otherwise play. Watching them, it was evident that they were getting intense exercise and having a blast. I don't know if such would be allowed in the US. I can think of half a dozen or more issues that might get them shut down, but it looked like a blast.

It was obviously very difficult to maintain your footing inside, but that was part of the fun, as it also looked like it would be very difficult to hurt yourself when falling. And given that it was apparently limited to kids less than 4 feet tall, who can generally fall with impunity anyway, it looked safe to me.
Then yesterday I got invited to go out to a piece of land that is on the market to see if the water looked usable. When we got there, it was socked in with fog, and my GPS showed that it was at about 11,200 feet of elevation. The guy who currently owns the land took me down into a gully to show me where the spring water first surfaces, and then on down to where we hit the road again. He said the forest in the picture was primary forest, and had never been cut. I could feel the organic debris under my feet was probably several feet thick.
He also has a garden, where he raises potatoes and radishes, among other things. He told me that these radishes had been planted as seeds only 28 days earlier.
When I got back, I was hungry, so I went to a place a few blocks away where I had seen a sign advertising roasted chicken. The two skewers on the grill are mine, along with a couple of the potatoes and some mote [it would be posole in New Mexico, or hominy in other places]. Anyhow, the coals had died down some, so the woman preparing my chicken grabbed a blow-dryer to fan the coals and generate more heat. I thought that was very creative. Everything together cost me $3. Next time I will just get one skewer, as I really ate more than I should have.

Parque Valladolid

2011-01-13T21:05:00.003-07:00

Our apartment is at the end of a small gated cul-de-sac just across the street from the Parque Valladolid, or Valladolid Park. Here is a view standing on the street near our apartment looking through the gate and at the park.
This is the corner of the park nearest our apartment. I like the plants and the way the rocks are used to create different sections of the park. It is worth noting here that apparently there are no provisions to water the park. It is watered by rain, or not at all. I have been told that Cuenca gets about 40 inches of rain per year, and the park seems to be doing just fine.
It also has playground equipment in three different places. It may not be obvious at first glance, but one of the items included here is a zip line. Not very steep, and not very high off the ground, but a zip line nonetheless. Some day when no one is looking, I'm going to try it out.
Then this is looking back from the park into our cul-de-sac. Our apartment is at the far end on the left.Then, just because I probably won't get this picture in if I don't include it now, this is a man that was selling rockets in one of the markets. These are slightly larger than the bottle rockets that I grew up on. I asked the price, and he said "$12 per dozen" which even I can figure out is a dollar each. I didn't get any, but I may go back.
We had a beautiful day today, probably the nicest we have had since arriving. The temperature was up in the upper 70s, with lots of sunshine.

Samuel and Ben are back

2011-01-12T20:06:00.002-07:00

Yesterday we saw Samuel and Ben off at the bus station, where they were going to ride through the night to Quito, to catch a flight this morning back to Albuquerque via Houston. Just a little while ago we got a chat message from Ben that he had safely reached White Rock, so we expect that in another couple of hours we should hear from Samuel as well. It is always a relief to hear from them that they made it back fine.

Ben did note that they arrived in Quito at about 1:00 a.m., which was a couple of hours earlier than we expected. The bus evidently made very good time. Then the plane didn't leave until 7:45, rather than the 6:45 that was originally scheduled. Thus, they had a rather long wait at the airport, but that sure beats missing a flight.

Susan is starting to teach piano lessons, which is a real challenge as she is probably learning more Spanish than her students are playing the piano, but as long as everyone is making progress, it should turn out OK. We have borrowed an electronic keyboard so that they actually have something to take lessons on.

I should also note here that Samuel is writing science fiction in his spare time, and he has posted a few of his short stories at

underfallingskies.blogspot.com

if anyone reading this cares to take a look. He says that his site doesn't get much traffic, so any visitors are welcome.

Bananas and pineapple

2011-01-09T19:20:00.003-07:00

I happen to like bananas and pineapple mixed together in bite-sized pieces. Both fruits are available here, fresh and inexpensive, so I try to eat them every morning for breakfast. Here is a picture of the pineapple that I bought yesterday at a nearby fruitstand. I weighed it after I got home, and it tipped the scales at 6 lb. 10 oz. I paid $1.50 for it. Although they are not in the picture, I also like their little bananas, locally called oritos, which are likewise very inexpensive.
And here is a shot of the pineapple on the breakfast bar, with Susan at the sink in our little kitchen. It really is small, but we are getting settled in, and generally are able to find what we are looking for with a minimum of searching.
Today was mostly overcast and cool, with intermittent rain. It was the wettest and coolest day we have had since arriving here. We'll hope for more sun tomorrow.

We are doing well, and despite the cool day, Susan and I went for a walk for nearly an hour this afternoon, just exploring the area around our apartment here. It is interesting to see the variety of homes, ranging from beautiful modern homes, to old buildings, apparently made of unplastered adobe, that look like they are close to falling down.

One difference here is that nearly all homes are built without any offset on the sides, much like what we would consider town homes in the US. This has a lot of ramifications, but it is late, so I may address some of these another time.

Busy, busy

2011-01-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Today is January 6 and the last time I posted was on New Year's Day. I am behind, but I have several excuses, some of which will undoubtedly come out in the course of this blog, although I will try not to be obvious about them.

We are living in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment that has about 550 square feet of floor space. It is really quite adequate for us now, and will be plenty large when Samuel and Ben leave next week, but it will NOT be large enough to accommodate the stuff that we will be shipping down here in a few months. I am starting to think about how we will deal with that, but there are other things that are more urgent.

For example, I just got back from the Coral Central, which is kind of like a WalMart, where I bought a mop, a funnel, and a few grocery items. On the way there I dropped off a bag of dirty clothes at a lavanderia (laundry). It will cost me $3.10 to pick them up, and no other work required on our part.

I made a list the other day of things that I need to get done, and I checked it again today and found that I have done most of what I can for now, regarding those particular items. We got new glasses for Samuel, I called the credit union and got my internet log-in reset, I got my cell phone working again, and we picked up some things for Ben to bring back to friends in White Rock. I still need to get a post office box here, but I did visit the post office, and I know where it is and what I need to bring them in order to rent the box. I visited a bank about opening an account, and it will be a couple of months before I can actually open the account, because I have to bring them my most recent two months of utility bills of some sort - telephone, electricity, etc.

This evening Samuel, Ben, and I went out to eat. We had seen the sign for a buffet about three blocks away, but when we arrived, around 6:45 p.m. there were no people seated, and the buffet had almost no food in it, so we turned around and left. Instead we went to a pizza place across the street and had a very good pizza, family size, probably 18" across, and all that the three of us wanted to eat.

Yesterday Susan and I stopped in to visit a friend that Susan met when we were here last year in her crafts store. While we were there, we heard a commotion outside, and saw that there was a small parade/procession passing by. Here are four pictures that I took.

These riders were leading the parade.
Like the Fourth of July parade in White Rock, passers-by appear to feel free to join in.
These girls were really decked out.
At the end of the parade was this float, commemorating Moses leading the children of Israel through the Red sea.
And with that, I think I'll close for tonight.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T17:45:00.003-07:00

New Year's Day was beautiful here, with temperatures in the low 70s, and bright sunshine. Most stores were closed, but I did buy some fruit and vegetables at the little store around the corner, so we will have enough to last until Monday.

This afternoon Juan took us around to help us get oriented, and then we stopped at a park that sits along the Rio Yanucay. I don't know how large it is, but there were people out there playing and picnicking, and it still was not close to crowded. Here is a picture of everyone else in our party sitting on the grass and enjoying the day. After taking the picture, I also lay down on the grass and almost fell asleep.
We also had difficulty with the internet connection last night and earlier today, but I think we now have it resolved. I hope so, anyway.

Last night Samuel went to a New Year's Eve party with the Cabreras, but the rest of us stayed home. Ben and I went out about 11:30 and watched the fireworks, and then came home and were in bed before 1:00. They were not as impressive as last year, but still a lot of fun. The difference may have had more to do with location than anything else, but this time we are living in a very quiet location, and that is just the way we like it.

2010-12-31T14:31:00.002-07:00

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

2010-02-25T21:01:00.002-07:00

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

2010-02-24T22:32:00.001-07:00

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

2010-02-23T18:26:00.002-07:00

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

2010-02-22T16:16:00.004-07:00

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?

2010-02-21T19:25:00.002-07:00

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

2010-02-20T19:51:00.002-07:00

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

2010-02-18T19:43:00.007-07:00

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

2010-02-17T20:51:00.003-07:00

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

2010-02-16T19:28:00.005-07:00

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

2010-02-15T19:03:00.004-07:00

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

2010-02-14T19:24:00.003-07:00

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

2010-02-13T19:18:00.007-07:00

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

2010-02-12T19:41:00.005-07:00

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

2010-02-11T20:29:00.003-07:00

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

2010-02-10T21:18:00.005-07:00

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

2010-02-09T20:35:00.002-07:00

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

2010-02-08T19:45:00.002-07:00

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

2010-02-07T17:24:00.005-07:00

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

2010-02-06T19:42:00.003-07:00

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

2010-02-05T19:54:00.004-07:00

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

2010-02-04T18:27:00.002-07:00

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

2010-02-03T19:32:00.005-07:00

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

2010-02-02T19:54:00.006-07:00

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

2010-02-01T20:26:00.003-07:00

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

2010-01-31T18:32:00.005-07:00

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

2010-01-30T17:30:00.007-07:00

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

2010-01-29T20:35:00.007-07:00

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.

2010-01-28T19:59:00.002-07:00

This evening we went back to the church, where Susan practiced on the piano while waiting for a student who didn't show up, and I went with a couple of other men to look for a couple of families that they hadn't seen in a while. My presence was not essential, but I was available, and I enjoyed going with them. We didn't find anyone we were looking for, but I still had a good time.

My Spanish has improved a lot, but when they were talking to each other, I could understand from 50-80% of the words, and yet not have any idea what they were talking about. It is amazing how much our understanding depends on catching the general flow of ideas, and how hard that can be in another language. I am getting better, but I still have a long way to go.

Water balloon

2010-01-27T20:26:00.002-07:00

Susan taught a piano lesson at the church this evening, and just after we left, as we were walking down the street, a pickup with a couple of kids in the back of it went by and they threw a water balloon that hit Susan in the back of the head, with a generous amount left over to soak the back of my head as well. They were gone before we even realized what had happened, and we had to admit that it was an amazingly accurate shot. Anyhow, we have dried out.

People warn us though that it may happen again. The season from now to Mardi Gras is full of fireworks, water balloons, and other practical jokes and fun. More fun for some than others, I suppose, although we were able to quickly laugh off our incident this evening.

Almuerzo

2010-01-26T20:29:00.002-07:00

We didn't do a lot today. I went to the grocery store for a few things that were not available at the market, and had a typical Ecuadorian almuerzo lunch, for the typical price of $2. Here is a picture of my lunch, after I had consumed the soup. The glass contains jugo de naranjillo, or naranjillo juice. Naranjillo is a fruit that is grown here, but not generally known in the US. The chunk that's left in the soup bowl is a bone. The rice comes with beans and meat, and a couple of slices of cooked banana.Then Susan and I went to the church this evening so she could teach some piano lessons, and I worked with a young man who is trying to improve his English. Actually his English is very good, except that he needs help with learning correct pronunciation. I am so glad that I learned English first.

Oh, and I am not going to say anything more about power outages. After my comment yesterday that we appear to be past them, we had another one today, with power going off about 3:00 p.m. I used the time to sweep the apartment out, and to mop the kitchen, both of which needed doing.

A bowl of cherries

2010-01-25T18:54:00.004-07:00

We were out of a lot of things this morning, so I went to the market. If you are not clear on the distinction yet, the "store" is the grocery store, much like a grocery store in the US, while the market is the open market about a mile up Remigio Crespo, the main street that our apartment is just off of. It covers several acres with a mixture of fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, clothes, barbershops, and a miscellany of other things.

One of the things that can be hard to get there is change, that is, if you offer someone a $20 bill, they will just shrug and send you on your way. However, there is a change machine in the walkway under the Avenida de las Americas [yes, a continuation of I-25, all the way down here in Ecuador, except that here it has become highway 35], where I was able to put in a $20 bill and get a whole pocket-full of change. 15 Sacajawea $1 coins, and a bunch of quarters, dimes, and nickels. Anyhow, with these, I was ready to shop.

One of my first stops was for onions and carrots. Then I picked up two pineapples, and on an impulse I bought a pound of beautiful Bing cherries for $1.50. Half of them disappeared this evening, and the other half will go tomorrow. A month ago a pound of cherries was $4, but now we are apparently into the glut part of the season, and prices are way down. The cherries are better too, but I don't know how much longer they will last [in the market that is - the ones I have will not see another sunset.]I then added a large head of broccoli, a large bunch of Swiss chard, a dozen eggs, and four large avocados, and called it a day. I had at least 20 pounds of groceries in my bag, and I had spent a total of $7.45, not counting 25 cents each way for bus fare.

Also, since I did not post last night, I want to include this picture of the sunset that we saw here. This is taken at the park just a block or so from our apartment, where Sunday evening is a favorite time to get out and enjoy the park. This evening we had a thunderstorm that gave a little rain, and quite a bit of lightening and thunder.

2010-01-23T18:49:00.006-07:00

Before I say anything about today's activities, I need to mention that I may not have internet access tomorrow evening, so if I don't post tomorrow, don't worry. I'll be back on Monday.

This afternoon Susan and I took another bus exploration tour, this time on the #18 bus. I had ridden this bus once before, but I wanted to show her the sights along the way. It goes past the market where we usually buy our produce, and there were these women out front by the bus stop selling fruit out of wheelbarrows. The fruits were cherries, grapes, mangoes, and another fruit like small cherries that is grown here. They are all locally grown.Shortly after passing the market, we crossed the Rio Yanucay, the second largest of the rivers that run through Cuenca. There are a total of four rivers, so there is a lot of riverfront property. However, this is not entirely a plus, as we have been told that it is not uncommon for the rivers to flood, and there are some houses that can become islands. Although it is too small to really see in this picture, there was woman washing clothes in the edge of the river.Here is another thing you don't see in the US. This looks like a funeral home, but actually all they do is sell coffins. I am not sure, but I don't think that funeral regulations here are anything like we have in the US. I suspect that most people are buried without being embalmed. When someone passes away, the family goes to a store like this, buys a casket, and arranges for a funeral at a church, and a burial plot or crypt at a cemetery. Regardless, I have seen several stores around Cuenca selling coffins. Also, when we were here last March, we saw a group of people carrying a body out of an apartment building, which leads me to believe that there is much less involvement of the professional medical and funeral people here.Then this evening, after we returned, I went out to buy a little bread, and the whole street was already Party Central. Lots of young adults, in small groups all up and down the street, with music and beer. This was almost four hours ago, and we can hear music non-stop, and it will probably go on until 1:00 a.m. or so.And here is a picture of a Toyota Land Cruiser, probably close to 30 years old, but in almost new condition. It has obviously been well cared for.

Expat gathering

2010-01-22T20:14:00.002-07:00

Every Friday evening here in Cuenca there are a couple of locations where expats, mostly American, get together to visit and keep in contact. Susan and I went to one of these the first Friday we were here, and that is how we made contact to find the apartment that we are renting. However, when the boys arrived, we spent our time with them on Fridays [and every other evening] rather than attending the expat get-together.

However, now that Samuel and Ben have returned to NMSU, I decided to go back. Last week I went, but I arrived after most people had left. I thought that it started at 7:00 p.m., but actually it is scheduled to run from 5-7 p.m., upstairs in a bar named Zoe's. Susan decided not to attend, since some people there smoke, and the noise level is such that it can make it difficult to converse at a distance of more than 2-3 feet.

Tonight there were 40-50 people there, but I only wound up visiting with half a dozen or so. Some I knew from previous visits, or other contacts, and I met a few others for the first time. Conversational topics range all over the place, but always start with what brings one to Cuenca, and how long you have been here, and how long you plan to stay. There is also a lot of information exchange about things to do, or things you can find in Cuenca, as well as a lot of rumors and such. I take what I hear there with a grain [or more] of salt, but I will probably continue to attend, unless I have a conflict.

Dentist visit

2010-01-21T19:10:00.002-07:00

This morning, as I was eating my bowl of pineapple and banana, I felt a hard piece of something that certainly wasn't pineapple or banana. When I got it out of my mouth, I could see that it was a piece of tooth, and a quick exploration of my tongue verified that a cusp on one of my upper right molars was missing, leaving a sharp edge. It didn't hurt, so I finished eating my fruit, but then after breakfast, and reading my e-mail, I walked over to the same dentist office where Samuel got his teeth cleaned.

When I walked in, the dentist [female] was talking to the receptionist. I explained my problem, they filled out a patient visit card, and before I could ask for an appointment, I was seated in the chair with my mouth open. I asked the dentist if she spoke English, and with a wry smile she said, "Poco", so our conversation was entirely in Spanish. Of course, with drills, picks, cotton wadding, a vacuum tube, and fingers in my mouth, I wasn't exactly talking a mile a minute.

She got busy with the drill first, and cleaned out all the decay. Apparently the cusp fractured where a previous filling had weakened the tooth, and there was a time or two as she cleaned the tooth that I could tell that it was about to hurt, but it never got any worse than that, although my jaw did get awfully tired from being open so wide for so long.

Once she had it cleaned out, she applied some sort of ceramic filling that she cured with a UV light, and after about 45 minutes she was done. It still feels a little rough to me, and I may go back just to get it smoothed off a bit, but it sure feels better than it did this morning.

She cautioned me not to eat for at least an hour, and to be careful about eating anything that was very hard, and we went back out in the front office. I asked what the bill was, and the receptionist said that it was $21. I thought I had misunderstood, so I asked again. She wrote it down and handed it to me. $21. OK. I got out my wallet, gave her $21, got a receipt and left. Dental insurance doesn't seem to be very common down here, but with prices like that, I can see why.

For some reason, I forgot to take pictures while all this was going on, so I don't have any to add to the blog today. However, one other thing happened that amused me. As I was leaving the building, there was a woman, kind of a receptionist for the whole building, who I had greeted as I arrived, and once again I greeted her, in Spanish, as I was leaving, and she replied with, "Buenas Dias," and then added, "Auf Wiedersehen." I'm not sure what my accent sounds like to the natives here, but apparently I don't sound like the standard North American Gringo.

Mountain property

2010-01-20T20:21:00.009-07:00

I spoke too soon yesterday about an end to power outages. The power went off again this morning at about 7:25, but came on again about 8:10. Since almost all previous outages started just after an even hour, and ran for either two or three hours, this was an anomaly, and we hope that future outages are rare, but we can deal with whatever comes, we hope.

In any case, late this morning I received a call from Perry, who has his office on the first floor of our apartment building. He is an American from Ohio, living here with his wife and five-year-old son, McKay. I had offered some time back to go with him out to a property he has out in the boonies, to look into setting up a slow-rate sand filter for use as potable water there.

He finally was ready to head out, as he had purchased a backhoe, and it was ready to go. The folks he got it from had it loaded on a truck, and we met them where he turns off of the highway to go to his property. Here is the backhoe being unloaded from the truck.Perry drove the backhoe from here up to his property, and here are some pictures from along the way. It is an area with spectacular scenery.

These horses ran along side our car at one point as we headed higher into the mountains.Here is the pond on Perry's property. It is at an elevation of about 9500 feet, and at the very end of the road. We plan to head back out in a few days with a level and rod so I can get some elevation measurements to help with planning the filter.As we left, we passed these three girls on horseback. It looks like a very patient and sturdy horse.Here is another shot of the mountains and valleys looking back in the direction of Cuenca. I was absolutely blown away by the beauty of the area. In many ways it looks like the mountains of Colorado, but here the weather is always summer.

Updates

2010-01-19T20:12:00.002-07:00

This morning Susan and I went to meet with the lawyer about extending our visas, and after a bit of confusion, it appears to be in process. We were told that it should be complete by Friday, so if we do not hear from them by Friday, I will be calling for a status report.

One interesting note was that we had to go get two passport photos each for our applications, and they referred us to a Fuji store about a block away. At the store we told them that we needed two passport photos, and they took them, telling us that the cost would be $3 for each of us. And when we picked up the pictures 20 minutes later, they did indeed charge us $3 each, but they gave us 8 photos each, so if we need other passport photos, we are now set.

The only other thing I will mention tonight is that we have not had any power outages yet this week. We hope that this continues, as it is really annoying to cope with them. We have had some bit of rain recently, so maybe we are out of outages for a while, so to speak.

Plans

2010-01-18T19:53:00.002-07:00

This morning I called American Airlines to find out what it would cost to change the date on our return tickets, and the answer was $246 per ticket. Then I called a lawyer here in Cuenca who specializes in visas, and he said that it would cost about $160 to get a 90-day extension on our visas, so this is now our plan. We have an appointment to meet with him tomorrow morning, so we should learn more then. If this works out as planned, we will come home on February 24 as originally planned.

I also went to the market today to pick up more groceries, onions, broccoli, chard, squash, carrots, etc., but I didn't take any pictures. Then this afternoon, our friend, Cumundá Cabrera, came over and gave Susan another lesson in Spanish. These lessons are intense and exhausting, but they really do help her improve her Spanish.

Yesterday at church the bishop's wife invited us to come over this evening for Family Home Evening, so they picked us up about seven this evening. It was really enjoyable to visit their home and family. They have three sons, Sebastian, Nicolás, and Matias, ages [my estimate, I forgot to ask for the older two] 12, 7, and 16 months. We had a lot of fun, and both of us had a real workout on our Spanish. They each speak a little English, but not as much as we speak Spanish, plus we feel more necessity to work on our Spanish. I don't know how long we would need to be here before an evening of speaking Spanish would not be noteworthy, but we are not there yet. I am worn out, and will head for bed shortly.

Not much

2010-01-17T18:55:00.002-07:00

This morning we went to church, for the first time in several weeks without the boys. Then this afternoon Gordon went over to the Mall del Rio because his Internet modem had quit working. It turned out that when he bought 15 days of prepaid service, they only activated it for seven. So today they activated it for the rest of the days [we hope!]. It is not great service, but it sure beats doing without, and being here for only a short time, it is not worth the hassle of trying to get a DSL line set up, or something of that nature.

While at the mall, to make sure that the modem is now working, Gordon sent out yesterday's blog posting, which he had already prepared, so there really isn't a lot more to say this evening. We are doing great, and hope that the same is true for everyone following us here.

Azogues

2010-01-17T14:06:00.009-07:00

I don’t know if I’m going to be able to post this tonight, but I will get it written off-line, and then if my connection starts working, it won’t take long to post it. [As it turns out, I couldn't post last night, but I now have my connection working again, so read this understanding that it was written yesterday.]

Today Susan and I went to Azogues, a town about twenty miles from Cuenca, and one that we have been wanting to visit. When we arrived there, we saw a tourist information office, so we went in and found them very helpful. There was a young woman who told us about enough things to do to keep us going for several days, but then recommended that we ride the bus up to the St. Francis Cathedral, as all the other sights she recommended were downhill from there. We liked that idea.

She also gave us a map with various attractions on it, most of which we did not see. I also took the opportunity to ask her what the population of Azogues is, and she estimated 30-35,000, which seems reasonable after our tour there today.

The first place we stopped was at a park that is dedicated to the Cañari creation myth. The Cañari were the inhabitants of this area for a thousand years or more before they were conquered by the Incas, which were then conquered by the Spaniards. Most of the people here are descendants of the Cañari, and are proud of that. Their creation myth appears to be related to the Quetzacoatl [sp? Without the Internet, I can’t even check] myth of Central America, as the two following pictures show.

After the park, we hopped on a different bus [#2, instead of #6], and made a complete loop on that bus route. There are a lot of the indigenous people here, as noted by how they dress. Here is a family of them in the park, with some of their children playing outside of the picture.Then when we reached the end of the route, we had to change buses. We started talking with our bus driver before the next bus left, and he told us about a scenic attraction less than five minutes walk up the road. We decided that we weren’t in any hurry, so we walked up to check it out. We were told that there was a place where we could see the little stream flowing out of the mountainside, but we did not find that. However, the trail alongside the stream was beautiful and peaceful.

It was not pristine, however. Here is a picture of a corn patch growing on the hillside above the trail. The steps are not there for decoration. It was steeper than it looks in this picture.
And here is the stream itself, with a little footbridge to make crossing it easier. It was sturdier than it looks.
Here is something strange. This tree had fallen across the stream, and I could see on the right side the roots and dirt where they were torn up as it toppled, but there were also a dozen or more branches growing out of the trunk that had obviously sprouted after it fell, and were now 10-15 feet high.Back almost to the bus stop, I looked inside this house. It is beautiful construction, but still unfinished. It has a few windows installed in the front, but no doors, and no windows on the sides. Inside, it is rough concrete. I was able to see that it is designed with three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms upstairs, with a kitchen and a very large living room downstairs.I took this last picture as we headed back down the mountain. The crops in the foreground are corn and a variety of other things that I could not identify at a distance. It is a beautiful area, and we are very glad that we made the effort to visit Azogues.

Employment

2010-01-15T19:57:00.002-07:00

Today I went to a nearby hardware store and bought some plastic and duct tape. I used them to enclose the gate and bars that separate our apartment from the stairwell. As it was, any smoke or fumes that got into the stairwell came right up into our apartment, since the wrought-iron grillwork did nothing to slow it down.

I got a piece of black plastic, just like I have used several times at home, that was about 3 x 4 meters [10x13 feet] and a roll of local duct tape, and brought them back to the apartment. I then cut a piece to cover the side bars and taped it in place, then I cut another piece to cover the door, and taped it in place. It is not airtight, but it reduces airflow up the stairs and into our apartment by at least 99% I figure, and Susan is feeling much better.

And when I was at the hardware store, I noticed something again that I have seen over and over here. Stores here employ a lot more people than a similar store would at home. This was a large store by standards here, a few thousand square feet, plus the storage yards out back for rebar, pipe, tiles, and other such items. And when I went in, there was a greeter, young, probably mid-20s, just to direct people to the clerks who could help them.

And outside the store, they have two armed guards, even though the likelihood of anyone trying to rob a hardware store seems pretty remote. There are quite a few armed guards around, but there seems to be little rhyme or reason to which stores have them. Banks always have one, but so does the grocery store where we often shop, and a cell-phone outlet that I pass on the way to the grocery store, and a random assortment of other places. These men [and all that I have seen have been male] also help with traffic control and answer questions, but wearing bulletproof vests and uniforms, and carrying night-sticks and guns, there is no question that they are primarily guards.

I don't know what guard duty pays, but it looks like a very boring occupation.

I have concluded that this is just one more way that employment is provided for more people, just as all the service stations are full-service. You pull in, and they pump your gas, wash your windshield, and check your oil if you want. I don't know what the unemployment rate is here, but in the US a lot of these people would be unemployed.

Building for expansion

2010-01-14T19:09:00.011-07:00

This afternoon Susan and I went for a bus ride, just exploring, although it was a bus route that I had already followed, so I had some idea where we were going. Anyhow, as we watched houses go by, I started thinking about how they go about building houses here, and thus, the theme of my posting today.

Ecuadorians appear to be raging optimists, at least judging by how they build their houses. Many, and possibly even the majority of houses built here are apparently built with the expectation that they will be enlarged someday. Some of them expect to build upwards, as in this picture, where the rebar is left pointing skyward so columns for another floor will be easy to add.However, today we saw more houses that apparently expect to expand sideways someday. This looks like a nice house, but incomplete, like it was built, and then someone neatly sawed it off from top to bottom and bricked up the opening.
These are common in this area, but here is something uncommon - these folks are actually building an addition on to the side of their house. Of course, if someone has already built and finished an addition, it might be hard to tell at a glance, but in this case it is obvious.Then there are those that start construction, and then run out of money. [That's just my guess, but why else invest this much, and then leave it sitting?] Most real estate here is still sold for cash, and construction is the same way. The idea of getting a mortgage to build a house is not widespread, nor are mortgages for construction easy to get.Here is one that is somewhat farther along, with the roof finished, the walls plastered, but no doors or windows installed. I didn't get a look inside, but I would guess that the interior walls are still completely unfinished. I don't know how long it has been sitting, but there is no evidence of current on-going construction.And here is another, between the last two in terms of completion. These are not small houses, again leading me to contemplate the optimism of the builders, who probably wish now that they had a finished house half the size of these shells. We have been told that most of these homes are built by Ecuadorians who are working in either the US or in Spain, and sending the money back to Ecuador. However, they don't trust the banks to safely hold large sums of money, so they invest their savings in homes instead.Despite what I have showed today, there are some very nice homes here. I took the following picture as Susan and I walked down the street. This is a shot of the garage of a house here in Cuenca. How many garages do you know of that have tile floors? I'm not sure that I would consider this preferable to a finished concrete floor, but still, you have to admit that it looks nice!Given the economic conditions in the US and Spain, I suspect that it will be a long time, if ever, before the owners get these houses finished up, speaking of those that are truly unfinished. Come to think of it, a half-house that is finished might look pretty good to someone right now!

And I should note that only the first and last pictures today were taken in Cuenca itself. The rest of them were taken in the semi-rural areas around Cuenca, which actually look more appealing to me than the city itself. But of course, I am not really a city person. And now I am wondering what kind of a deal I might get at some point if I made an offer on an unfinished house, and then finished it to suit our tastes. Oh well, it's fun to dream!

Boys are home!

2010-01-14T06:24:00.003-07:00

I realized as I was waking up this morning that I had not posted to my blog last night. No reason in particular, except I just forgot. Anyhow, yesterday morning when I got up, I had an e-mail from Ben saying that he and Samuel were back in Las Cruces. Later, I talked to Samuel over Google voice chat, and he said that the trip was largely uneventful. They were the last ones to board the plane in Miami, but then had a long layover in DFW.

Susan and I went to the market, took in some more laundry, and bought her another notebook for her notes in studying Spanish. Not much else to report.

Here is a cute picture. Seats like this are found in nearly all barbershops here. In addition to Tigger, I have seen horses, Donald Duck, and a number of other cartoon characters. Perhaps it helps kids look forward to their haircuts.

Adjusting

2010-01-12T20:26:00.002-07:00

The apartment sure seems quiet without the boys here, but we are adjusting. We got an e-mail from Ben, sent this morning at 6:40 a.m., as he and Samuel were sitting in the Quito airport waiting to board their flight that was to leave at 7:30. They expect to get back to Las Cruces tonight, but long after I plan to be in bed.

Today was kind of a catch-up day, as we took the sheets off the boys' beds and took them to the laundry, and made a trip to the market to pick up some things that we needed. We went ahead and rode the bus the long way around to get back home, just to see more of the city. We got home just ahead of a thunderstorm, on top of the rain last night.

Oh, I didn't mention that, did I? It rained most of the night, quite heavily at times, enough to leave water on the kitchen floor this morning, and then more this afternoon. Not enough yet to declare an end to the drought, but our power outages are now down to two hours per day, rather than three, and still only on week-day, non-holidays.

This evening Susan and I went to the church so that she could teach piano lessons. She is now up to seven students, and I don't think she can fit in very many more, given that we don't have a piano in our apartment, but must go to the church for lessons.

We are doing well, but no pictures for today.

Fun and sadness

2010-01-11T19:21:00.007-07:00

The apartment feels empty this evening. Samuel and Ben left this evening, and are on the bus heading for Quito as I write. They pulled out about 6:00 p.m. this evening, and should arrive in Quito at about 3:00 a.m., where they will take a taxi straight to the airport to catch a 7:30 flight. They could probably have caught a bus an hour or so later and still made it fine, but we decided that it was better to have the extra slack in their schedule, in case the bus had a delay of some sort.

They should be back in Albuquerque tomorrow evening, and are planning to head back to Las Cruces to sleep in their own beds tomorrow night. We hope that all goes well. I have been reading accounts of security checkpoints on international flights into the US, so it will be interesting to hear what their experiences are.

Anyhow, a couple of the young single women from church decided that they needed a proper send-off, and so took us out for lunch today, where we ate cuy, or as they are called in English, guinea pig. Indira and Karina are sisters, and their English is somewhat better than my Spanish, so we talked more in English than Spanish, but Susan and I also asked a lot of questions about Spanish words and phrases.

Here is a picture of roast cuy on a plate.And here is a picture of me taking a bite of cuy. It is quite good, but there is not a lot of meat on a single cuy. Fortunately, they also served it with lemonade, potatoes, boiled eggs, hominy, and a couple of other side dishes, and we ordered trout for Susan, as we agreed that cuy would probably not be good for her.Here are Indira [left] and Karina [right].And finally, here are Samuel and Ben just about to board the bus. We are so glad that they could come and stay with us for this time, and they agreed that they had a really good time, but the downside is that they have to leave. I am sure that in a couple of days we will be back in our routine, and things will be fine, but it sure seems quiet tonight.

Houses

2010-01-10T19:02:00.007-07:00

Late this afternoon, while Samuel and Ben were over with some other young single adults for kind of a farewell party, Susan and I went for a walk. We just looked around some of the back streets near where we live, and we spent time looking at some of the houses. This is a nice section of town, or at least a mixed section with some very nice houses.

Here is a bench and front door on a nice house. Notice the ornate woodwork on the door as well as the bench, and the tile on the porch. Also notice the bars inside the windows. There doesn't seem to be a lot of crime around here, but at the same time, people appear to be concerned about it.And here is a house that also serves as a local store. There are houses on just about every block that incorporate a small store into the ground floor. Zoning ordinances would usually prohibit such in the US, but here it allows people, including children, to run down to the store without leaving the neighborhood.Here is an A-frame house. Typically I expect these to be built in areas with heavy snowfall, such that the snow slides off, but here snow is never a problem. I can only imagine that it was built this way because that is how the owner wanted it.And finally, here is a nice house on the corner just a block away from where we live. There are nicer ones around, but a lot of them are not designed to be obvious, and many of them are behind fences and landscaping that make them hard to see.There are a fair number of houses here that are for sale or rent, but I don't have a good feel for prices and such. I do know that most houses for rent are not furnished, and that furnished apartments cost somewhat more, simply because they are less common. And of course, because they are worth more.

Internet problems

2010-01-09T19:38:00.002-07:00

I apologize for not posting last night, but I had no Internet. I have a wireless [cell phone] modem on a prepaid basis, and the first 30 days that came with the modem expired on Friday. I was over to their office on Wednesday, so I went ahead and paid for another 15 days, and they promised to activate it on Friday, but they didn't, so I didn't have internet last night.

Actually, I don't know why they couldn't just add the 15 days onto the two days remaining, but apparently that is not how it works. Anyhow, I went back over there today and they got me up and running again.

The only event worth noting over the last two days is that I volunteered at church to give a presentation on the Book of Mormon, and they asked me to do it tonight. I prepared extensively, and made liberal use of Google Translator, which is very impressive. After writing it in English and running it through Google Translator, Samuel and I went through it and cleaned up several things that GT didn't do very well, but still, it reduced the labor involved [Samuel's as translator, not mine] by at least 95%.

The talk was on names in the Book of Mormon that recent research [1950s to the present] has demonstrated to be authentic mid-eastern names from the 600 BC time frame. I have given such presentations in the past, and attended others, but the books and other articles describing this research have mostly not been translated into Spanish, so it was all new to the people there tonight, and they really seemed to enjoy it. I would guess that there were 25-30 people present, which is better than I really expected.

Regardless of other aspects, it also helped me to work on my Spanish. I am still far from fluent, but I am approaching competent. I was able to conduct the discussion regarding my internet access in Spanish, and I am able to visit with taxi drivers and other such individuals and understand most of what they say, although with gaps. However, the gaps are almost never with regard to things that matter, destinations and such. Usually they have to do with conversation questions that they ask me as a visiting citizen of the US, and often it has to do with "have you eaten cuye yet?" Cuye is guinea pig, and is a local delicacy. I have not yet tried it, but I probably will before we return. I tell them that I have eaten rabbit, and they tell me that it is much better than rabbit.

Anyhow, I haven't taken any pictures for the last couple of days, so I will try to do better. The boys leave on Monday evening, so we are trying to do as much together as we can.

Bus schedule

2010-01-07T19:56:00.003-07:00

Our plans are that when Samuel and Ben need to head back to Quito to catch their flight back to the US, they will take the bus from Cuenca to Quito, but last night during the night I began to worry that the bus might not leave Cuenca in time to assure that they could make their flight. So, today Samuel and I went over to the bus station to ask about a schedule. It turns out that the buses start leaving Cuenca at about 6:00 p.m., and leave every hour or so until midnight.

A six o'clock departure will put them into Quito about 3:00 a.m., which is probably about right for a 7:30 a.m. flight. It will take the better part of an hour to get from the bus station to the airport, and probably another hour to get through all the airport formalities in Quito, putting them in the boarding lounge by about 5:00 a.m. However this also allows them a couple of hours for the unexpected, and we all feel that is important. Especially as we have been reading about the "enhanced security" now being imposed on travelers to the US from international destinations.

Then late this afternoon we all walked over to the Carolina Bookstore, which is run by an American expat living here in Cuenca, so that the boys could get some new reading material to keep them occupied on the way home. On the way over we saw the kids in the picture below zooming down Remigio Crespo, the major street outside our apartment. I would guess that they were about 12 years old, and the fact that they are slightly blurred, while the background is not, is no accident. I would guess that they were moving at close to 40 mph. I don't know if a policeman would have done anything if he had seen them, but I would guess not. The drivers around them didn't seem to concerned either.

Quiet day

2010-01-06T18:36:00.003-07:00

After the things we have done the last two days, today was rather quiet. Susan and I went with a friend we met here at church out to look at a house that is for sale, but we are not in a position to buy a house, and it was not situated where we would want, although the view was beautiful, as shown below.And the house itself was not bad looking either. It is a two-bedroom, one-bath home, with a nice kitchen/living room area, and a covered patio with nice cooking area. The owner is asking $57,000, although we were told that a lower offer would likely be accepted. We didn't make an offer, but it was fun to look.

The Cajas

2010-01-05T20:49:00.015-07:00

Before I begin describing our trip up to the Cajas National Park today, let me update you on anther item. Samuel and Ben will be leaving here next Monday to return to Quito, where they will fly out on Tuesday morning to return to the USA and school. Susan and I will be here for about three weeks after that, returning the first week in February. We had originally planned to stay until Feb. 24, but either the rules changed or I misread them, as our current tourist visas expire on Feb. 8, and extending them costs more than the extra time would be worth.

Anyhow, after the boys leave, Susan and I will be alone here in an apartment with three bedrooms and two baths. If there are any of you reading this who would like to visit Ecuador, we would be glad to host you here if you can get here before we leave. Last time I checked, round-trip tickets from Albuquerque to Quito were about $700, and from Quito to Cuenca another $140 or so. Anyhow, if you need a break from winter, and can make the trip, send me an e-mail at gpforeman@gmail.com, and I can help you plan the details.

And now for today's trip. The Cajas National Park is upstream from Cuenca, and consists of about 235 lakes that catch the rain over the high Andes. This counts only lakes that are larger than 200 acres in surface area.

Our guide, Braulio Prado, who took Susan and me to Ingapirca last March, picked us up this morning and drove us up to the Cajas. We stopped right on the Continental Divide and hiked up to a lookout point above the highway. The elevation was about 13,775, but we all did fine, even though we stopped to take pictures a few times. Here is one of a lake off on the Pacific side of the divide, which also shows the clouds that floated overhead nearly all day.
The next stop was a ranger station where we looked at some of the local life. Here is a picture of a branch of the paper tree, which is the only tree native to these elevations. It is called the paper tree because of its bark, which serves to shed moss and other parasites along with the outer layer of the bark, which sheds frequently.Then on to another ranger station by a lake. This lake is about 150 feet deep and, like most of the lakes up here, has trout in it. The catfish that used to live up here were wiped out when trout were introduced.Here we went for another hike, this time over to what we called the enchanted forest. Along the way I took these pictures of lakes on the Atlantic side of the divide.
And here is the entrance to the Enchanted Forest. Part of the reason it felt that way was because of the shape of the trees, but part was also that it was so quiet.
And here are a couple of pictures from within the forest.

As we left the forest, I looked back and took this picture of the mountain above the forest. It looks even more ominous in the picture than it did when I looked at it in person.
There were many different plants growing here, with tremendous biodiversity, but a common one looked much like a yucca with spikes along its leaves.Then I looked down on one and saw the wonderfully symmetric pattern.
Finally, this is a picture of the valley leading from the Cajas back to Cuenca. Our guide says that it was shaped by glaciers from the last ice age, and it really looks that way.We are all tired, and I suspect that I may be sore tomorrow, but in any case I was very grateful for the stairs to our apartment, as they helped me be in better shape than I would have been otherwise. And Susan had no trouble keeping up, which impressed her as much as anyone.

Oh, and after we got back this afternoon, I reminded Samuel that he wanted to get his teeth cleaned and checked while here, so we went to a dentist office that we saw when they first arrived. We went in, and asked when he could get an appointment, and how much it would cost. They said that it would be $10 for the checkup, and $18 for the cleaning, and as for an appointment, how about right now? So he got his cleaning and checkup, with no cavities, and he is set for a while longer.

Pumapungo Museum

2010-01-04T19:28:00.002-07:00

[Sorry for the delay. I tried to post this last night, but my Internet connection was down.]

Today Samuel, Ben, and I went to the Pumapungo Museum. Susan and I visited it last March, so she decided to stay home today. On the way over, we took Ben's laptop in for repair. Last week one of the hinges between the keyboard and screen broke, and he was worried that the wires that went through it might get broken or otherwise damaged. So we noticed an authorized IBM service center, and took his laptop for repair.

When we got there, they looked and found an old laptop in the back that used an identical hinge, so they agreed to take the hinge out of the old one and put it in Ben's. They said that it would be ready by 5:00 today, so we headed on over to the museum. Samuel and Ben got in for half price, since they are students, and we looked through the inside this morning.

We then took a break for lunch, which was a traditional Ecuadorian almuerzo where you just go in and sit down, and they serve lunch for the day. It is not a case of ordering what you want, but rather you just take what they have fixed for the day. In this case today, we started with good-size bowls of potato and pea soup, followed by a plate of chicken and rice, with a slice of watermelon for dessert. We were also given a glass of fruit juice. The cost for all this was $2 apiece, and it was excellent.

Fortified with all this, we headed back to visit the Pumapungo ruins, built by the Cañari and Incan peoples centuries ago. Here is a view of the garden area, as authentic as they know how to make it today.They also have an aviary, where a number of Ecuadorian birds are kept, and which we enjoyed. Here are a few that we especially enjoyed.

We were not in any hurry, as we couldn't pick up Ben's laptop until around 5:00 this afternoon, so we had a very enjoyable afternoon. We also saw this odd sculpture on the hillside, apparently of a man tackling a dinosaur.We also saw this llama and alpaca. The alpaca has a shorter nose and more wool, and the wool makes very warm and soft blankets and scarves.

We then messed around in the old part of Cuenca for an hour or so, while Samuel looked for T-shirts to take back [he didn't find any he liked], and we each had excellent milkshakes. We then got back to the computer service center a little before 5:00, and found that they had just finished fixing Ben's laptop. They charged $50 for parts and labor, which Ben considers to be a great deal, assuming it has no more problems.

Then on the way home we stopped and got bread, including this loaf of Zupfa bread [Swiss spelling] at a bakery. Susan was excited to see it because it is much like what her mother and grandmother used to make.
Tomorrow we are scheduled to visit the Cajas. More after we get back.

Flowers and a walk

2010-01-03T19:40:00.003-07:00

Today, being Sunday, we went to church, and afterward they divided up a bouquet of flowers. Susan was given these three, which are now sitting on our kitchen table.Late this afternoon she and I went for a walk, and saw this Christmas decoration. The chances of it being fulfilled here are minimal, which is just the way I want it.Otherwise, we just enjoyed the beautiful day and each others' company.

Not much

2010-01-02T19:10:00.002-07:00

This morning Susan and I went up to the market where I had spotted a small shop that sells yarn and similar stuff, and she bought some yarn and a small crochet hook. One of the women at church had showed her a crocheted hair band that she wanted to try to copy, so this was to provide the materials.

Then Samuel, Ben, and I walked over to the museum that Susan and I visited last March, but when we arrived around noon, we found that it closed at 1:00, so we decided to wait and come back next week. We also stopped at the Carolina Bookstore, which is run by an American woman named Caroline, and which deals primarily with English-language books.

Otherwise, it was a relatively quiet day. The weather was beautiful, and we probably should have done something else, but the city is very quiet, as if recovering from the festivities, and I would guess that quite a few are gone for the long weekend. I did use the time this afternoon to sweep and mop the floor again, as it needed it, but not a lot else.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T18:36:00.002-07:00

After I posted last night we walked down to the church for the New Year's Eve party. It was louder than Susan and I liked, and Ben had a headache, so the three of us came home about 10:30. Samuel got home about an hour later, and we watched fireworks.

I did not take any pictures, although I did record a video clip, more to record the sounds than for the video itself. By 11:30, rockets and explosions were all around us, and the intervals of relative silence became quite small. Of course, even those intervals were relative, because we could still hear the fireworks from a little farther away. At midnight there was a sort of crescendo, but fireworks continued hot and heavy for at least the next 40 minutes, and it was only around 1:00 a.m. that they finally began to taper off. Some of them were sufficiently loud and close to set off car alarms, some of which did not time out for an hour or more.

We enjoyed the fireworks, but we were discussing the best approach to silencing a very loud and persistent alarm, and decided that a sledgehammer would be effective, but that with all the fireworks, either a stick of dynamite or an anti-tank rocket would be the way to go. Despite the car alarms, it was a magnificent experience, and our apartment was a beautiful place to watch from.

Today was rather laid back. Samuel and I went for a walk this afternoon, and bought ice cream cones. There were quite a few stores open, but they were all the little family stores, where the family lives right on the premises. Then this evening I watched the Rose Bowl in Spanish. I picked up a little vocabulary ["flag" is "pañuelo" which is what they call a scarf here in Ecuador]. On the other hand, you really don't need to understand what is said to keep up with a football game on TV.

Anyhow, we are doing great, and hope you are all doing the same.

New Year's Eve

2009-12-31T17:53:00.008-07:00

Cuenca is supposed to be a fun place to spend New Year's Eve. There are effigies all over the city that will burn tonight, and we have heard that most of them will have fireworks inserted into them before they are ignited. Here are several pictures of them for sale, or prepared for ignition.

Here are a few masks for applying to effigies. Note also the fireworks for sale on the right.Action and cartoon figures are apparently popular.
These are just a tiny fraction of what was for sale. The idea is to add masks of someone you don't like, and send them up in smoke.Sonic the Hedgehog was being loaded on the car for ignition elsewhere.This one was just across the street from our apartment.Also, fireworks have been going off on a more frequent basis, and are expected to accelerate as midnight approaches. We have a party at church this evening, but we plan to be home before midnight, as our apartment is high enough to see all around, and we expect to have a great view of the fireworks from here. And then we can go straight to bed, rather than having to navigate our way home through streets filled with smoke and revelry.

Earlier today Samuel and I went to the market. As we were leaving, the bar on the corner was stocking up. Looks like they expect to do some business tonight.Samuel wanted to find some good Ecuadorian T-shirts to take home, but we didn't find any. However, we did see this girl who had just picked up her baby brother, who was crying. I asked if I could take her picture, and she seemed glad for me to.

A hot plate

2009-12-30T18:33:00.002-07:00

Susan caught a cold ten days or so ago, and was mostly recovered, except for a persistent cough. It was not typical, in that she has been sleeping fine, but during the day it would just not go away. She decided that it was similar to the cough she had ten years ago or so, which we finally traced to our gas stove, and here again, we are using a gas stove.

So, today about noon, I set out to find a hot plate on which we could at least do some of our cooking to minimize the use of the gas stove. I first checked a couple of stores close by, without success, and then went to the Coral Ipermercado at the Mall del Rio, and they had several. In particular, I had a choice between one burner or two, so I bought the two-burner model.

We have been using it since early afternoon, [and have not used the gas stove at all since noon] and Susan is already coughing a lot less. It seems strange to me that the combustion products on a gas stove could have this effect, but it does. I can only assume that the odorants used in the gas [different here than at home, but still present], combust to form byproducts that annoy her lungs. Propane itself combusts to form water and carbon dioxide, and I refuse to believe that either of those is the culprit.

Anyhow, the only other thing of note for today is that it rained again late this afternoon and evening. I don't know how widespread these rains are, but it would seem that if they are as widespread as they appear, then the drought should be fading fast. We did not have a power outage today, and with tomorrow being New Year's Eve, we should not have one then, nor again until Monday at the earliest. If we don't have an outage on Monday, then I will hope that we are past them, at least if we keep getting some rain.

No pictures for today.

More bus exploration

2009-12-29T19:21:00.004-07:00

Today I went on a bus exploration trip riding Bus #27, which took me to Baños. I had been wanting to visit Baños for some time, expecting there to be hot springs there, but other than a hand-lettered sign pointing to a "piscina", I saw nothing. However, it is a beautiful area above Cuenca, as can be seen from a couple of pictures below.

Here is a more panoramic shot showing what the area looks like.Here is a scene from the community of Baños, with a variety of housing visible, along with lots of gardens or farmland. Given that a lot of farming is done by hand here [if you look closely, you can see several people out working the land], it is not always clear to me which is which.And here is a street in Cuenca as we came back, partly showing the houses, partly showing the profusion of wire and cables, and partly showing the approaching thundercloud. I made it back to the apartment only a moment before the storm hit, and I was very glad to be here.
It rained very hard for about half an hour, with a lot of lightning and thunder. One lightning strike was a good mile away, yet the thunder was so loud that I thought it might break windows, and it did set off a lot of car alarms.

After almost three hours, the cloud finally moved on, just in time for us to walk to church where Susan had an appointment to teach a piano lesson. Her student is Fernanda, who is probably 11 years old, and just adorable. And just about as extroverted and friendly as a person can be. The lesson went well, although Susan was frustrated by the language challenges. Fernanda didn't seem bothered by the mixture of English and Spanish at all, though.

Rules of the road

2009-12-28T18:02:00.001-07:00

Today we went out to the “Mall del Rio”, which is a moderate-size modern mall here in Cuenca. We didn’t do much there except look around, although we did get some more toothpaste and some sugarless gum for Ben to use to keep his braces from hurting his lips.

However, we took a taxi to the mall, and once again I had cause to think about how they drive here. At first glance, people accustomed to driving in the US would say that drivers here are crazy, but that is not true. We have not seen any accidents since we arrived, even though we have seen lots of situations that looked like they were close calls.

One comment that Ben made the same day that he and Samuel arrived is that pedestrians here move fast and stay alert, and it is true. The drivers will try to avoid pedestrians, but they also count on the pedestrians to not do dumb things. For example, as Ben further noted, in the US when the light turns green and pedestrians start crossing in the crosswalk, a driver turning left must wait for them to clear the crosswalk, no matter how slowly they move. And if the driver were to give a brief beep on his horn to ask them to hurry up, they might well [some of them anyway] just stop in the middle of the crosswalk and leave the driver stuck in the middle of the intersection until the light goes red. The concept seems to be, “I’ve got the right-of-way, and how DARE you ask me to hurry?!”

Here if you tried that, the driver would probably make his left turn anyway, and would try to avoid a direct hit on the pedestrian, but if he were to get hit, we doubt that either the police or the judge would have much sympathy. He was acting stupid and not trying to protect himself, and does not deserve any sympathy, much less the protection of the law.

At the same time, pedestrians often cross the street away from crosswalks, or even on red lights, as long as there is room. I have seen them cross on a red light right in front of a policeman, with no concern whatsoever. It appears to be up to the individual to assess his options, and act in his own interest, and suffer the consequences if he does something stupid.

From what I can tell, much the same attitude applies to drivers. I have seen them make left turns on a red light when no one was coming on the street with the green light. And since stop signs are considered to be optional, as a driver approaches an intersection through which he has the right-of-way [i.e., the crossing drivers have stop signs], he will nearly always give a brief beep of his horn to alert crossing drivers that it is not safe to enter the intersection without stopping first.

In fact, horns are used a lot here, mostly for communication, rather than in anger. Drivers will often give a brief beep or two just to make sure that other drivers or pedestrians are aware of their presence. Taxi drivers will often give just a tiny beep to announce their availability to individuals beside the road. And occasionally you will hear a longer beep where a driver basically says, “You’re being stupid! Shape up!” On the other hand, I have not seen any road rage here. I’m sure it happens sometimes, but I haven’t seen it.

I feel like I am coming to better understand the rules of the road, but I am a long way from feeling like I could drive here. The knowledge may be in my head, but it is a long way from being incorporated into my reflexes.

Sorry, no pictures worth posting today.

Sunday

2009-12-27T17:22:00.002-07:00

We went to church this morning, and Susan was again asked to play the piano. Afterward, two of the girls in the ward, probably 10-11 years old, came up separately and asked if she would teach them piano lessons while we are here. She worries about whether she can manage to teach in Spanish, but I told her that since the girls are really motivated to learn, it will work out. She is scheduled to teach them at the same time this Tuesday evening. One problem will be that they don't have access to a piano except at church, so it will be difficult for them to practice.

Then this evening we went for another walk. We had a good rain this afternoon, one that covered a fairly large area, and had some bit of lightning and thunder in it. Thus, it was cool and pleasant for a walk around 5:30. Just before we left the apartment I was able to take this picture looking east and a little north. The sun was shining on the cathedral in the distance, with shadow in the foreground, and the dark clouds of the retreating storm in the background.
Otherwise, it was a quiet day. We cleaned up the remaining leftovers from the Christmas dinner, so we will need to go shopping again tomorrow.

On Christmas Eve, the folks across the street butchered a couple of small pigs and then cooked them in a big pot in their courtyard. Then today they got this pig, which is much larger than the first ones. We don't know for sure what is planned, but we suspect another celebration for New Years.

Laid back

2009-12-26T20:06:00.002-07:00

We didn't do a lot today. Susan is recovering from a cold, which is now to the cough stage, and Ben and I walked down to the grocery store for a few items. Other than that, we just stayed around the apartment and read, washed hair [Susan], and worked on short stories [Samuel]. Ben has been working on a programming project.

We are doing fine, we just took a day of downtime, for the most part.

Christmas visit

2009-12-25T17:26:00.004-07:00

The blog is really annoying me this evening. I typed my entry, but then it wouldn't let me add a picture. Finally, I decided to just post it, and add a picture later, but instead it failed to post, and lost all the text I had entered. So, I will try again, but I will save it before I post next time.

Anyhow, we had a great Christmas day, and hope that all of you did as well. We invited a couple that we met here, Ken and Carole Ann Rand, to join us for Christmas dinner this afternoon, and they showed up about 1:00. Here is a picture of them.

We visited for a while, then moved into the kitchen so that Susan and I could take care of finishing details as we visited. We nibbled on this and that, and then about 2:30, two hours after I put it in, I checked the chicken, but it was not nearly done.

The oven is calibrated in degrees Celsius, of course, so I calculated that 350 F is a little less than 180 C, and that is where I set the oven. Apparently the calibration was not very good, so I cranked it up to 210 C and left it for another hour. At that time the chicken was done, but not overdone. We ate it, along with potatoes, carrots, and broccoli. We had already been nibbling on Pan de Pascua, technically an Easter bread, but also popular at Christmas, shrimp, fruit, etc., so after the main course, we decided to wait for dessert.

The Rands brought dessert, a couple of pastries from a bakery here, and we waited until about 6:00 to sample them. They were great. They finally decided it was time to leave about 7:00 this evening, and Samuel and I walked them down the street to show them the grocery store where we buy the chocolate bars that they want to stock up on before heading home.

Through all this time they told us about their trip down along the coast and up to Cotacachi. And we told them about what we have done and learned here, and then the conversations devolved to all sorts of other topics, all of which we enjoyed. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day. They are here from Atlanta, and plan to return in a few months to rent and apartment and just live here for a while, just as we are doing now.

There. It looks like it is now working as it should. I will save it before posting, just in case.

Christmas visit

2009-12-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

We hope that all of you had a very merry Christmas. Ours was great. We invited a couple that we met here when we first arrived, Ken and Carole Ann Rand, over for Christmas dinner this afternoon, and they stayed until almost 7:00 this evening, having showed up at 1:00.

Here is their picture, taken in our kitchen just before they left. [Hmm... The blog doesn't seem to be accepting pictures right now. I click on the button, but nothing happens. Maybe I'll try to add it later, so I can go ahead and post now.]

They told us of their trip down to the coast of Ecuador, stopping in various places, and then up to Cotacachi, north of Quito, before coming back here for their last week of their trip. They are here from Atlanta, and plan to return for a three-month visit, much as Susan and I are doing, a few months from now.

We also shared some of our experiences, and then the conversation veered to a number of other topics, all of which we enjoyed. We baked a chicken and a fish for dinner, and discovered that our oven doesn't bake as hot as the dial would indicate. Of course, it is calibrated in Celsius, rather than Fahrenheit, but I calculated that 350 F is equivalent to about 177 C, so I set the oven to about 180. However, two hours after I put the chicken in, I took it out and tested it, and it wasn't even close to done. So I put it back, turned up the oven to about 210 C, and cooked it for another hour. At that point I checked it again, and it was done, although not overdone. So we finally ate at about 3:30.

The Rands brought dessert, a couple of pastries from a bakery here in Cuenca, so we saved them until about 6:00, when we felt like eating again, and they were really wonderful. It really worked out well for all of us. The Rands said that it was the first home-cooked meal they had had in the last month, since they arrived in Cuenca, and for all of us it was a wonderful opportunity to visit and enjoy each others' company. Certainly, if they had not come, it would have been a less interesting day for us, and they apparently felt the same.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T16:49:00.004-07:00

Today was Christmas Eve, and there was a lot going on around here. One good thing is that there was no power outage, and we do not expect any for the next three days. They normally only impose the outages on business/work days, and not on weekends or holidays. Also, we have had some bit of rain recently, so maybe they feel like they have a little more capacity in the system.

Late this morning Susan and I went back to the market to get supplies for our Christmas dinner tomorrow. We were able to take a bus to the market, although it had to detour around to avoid elements of the Christmas parade. Here are a couple of pictures of people and horses on their way to the parade. I have no idea what the goose in the cage is there for, nor the huge teddy bear facing backward on the horse.

And the blankets on the horses look really fancy, but they can't have been comfortable. The temperature was in the mid-70s, and neither a coat nor a blanket was called for.
At the market we bought a chicken, a fish, a pound and a half of large shrimp still in the shell, and a variety of fruits and vegetables. The bag with all of our stuff was really heavy, and as we walked several hundred yards around the market and to the bus stop, it got heavier. At the bus stop we were looking for a #16 bus, and after several others came and went we spotted a #16. However, instead of pulling over and stopping, it just sailed on past. We weren't the only one who were annoyed by this, but being upset didn't help. After waiting for at least another ten minutes [with our chicken, fish, and shrimp getting warmer and warmer], we finally decided to go back toward the market and catch a taxi instead.

It was about another 200 yards back to where the taxis were waiting, but we got one and came home. It cost us $2.00 rather than the $0.50 bus fare, but it was probably a wise move at that.

Then late this afternoon Ben and I went to the grocery store to get some spices [bulk quantities and quality in the open market didn't inspire confidence], and a few other things.

Susan has been suffering for 2-3 days with a sore throat, which now seems to have migrated into a head cold. She is getting better, but not as fast as she would like. So far the rest of us have not caught it, and we hope to keep it that way. The boys went out for Chinese food this evening, and said that it was very good.

Christmas program

2009-12-23T20:58:00.003-07:00

This evening was the Christmas program at church. Susan and Ben had been invited to help by playing the piano, so we arrived about 25 minutes early so they could practice. It was scheduled to start at 7:00, or so we were told, but it finally got underway at 7:40, and ran for a little over an hour. It all went very well.

I then brought Susan home so she could fix something to eat, while the boys stayed for refreshments and whatever other activities might happen. They are not home yet as I write, at 11:00 p.m. here.

I should also note that there are a lot of fireworks going off this evening, in various different places around the city. We stopped to watch some in the distance as we walked home from the church, and I have seen others through the window as I sat here catching up on e-mail and writing this blog. Apparently Christmas is a big season for fireworks here, but far from the only one.

Earlier today I went for another bus exploration tour, this time on the #15 bus, and again it took me outside the city. Here is a picture of the semi-rural countryside that we traveled through. Given that this is only a few minutes from downtown Cuenca, it looks very appealing to me.

Then on the way home, I stopped at the store to pick up a few things, and decided to bring Susan some flowers. I got a dozen long-stemmed roses, as you can see in this picture. Lest you think that I am being unduly extravagant, I will mention that the price was only $3. They are still beautiful, and will be on our table for Christmas dinner.

Shopping at the mercado

2009-12-22T20:13:00.004-07:00

Today Susan and I went to the market that is just a mile or so up the street from here. Here is a picture of some of the stuff we bought, and everything in the picture cost us $6.30. The two pineapples were about half of that, at $1.50 each, four avocados for a dollar, chard for 20 cents, and the two heads of broccoli for 40 cents each. I got all the bananas for a dollar. I picked up the larger bunch, and asked how much. The lady said a dollar, which I thought was great, but then she picked up the smaller bunch and added them in, still for a dollar. Although you can't count them in the picture, there are 31 of them. The two garlic bulbs were 30 cents, and I am sure I got ripped off, but I decided not to lose too much sleep over it. And just in case you were wondering, we are eating well, and enjoying it. At the same time, I am gradually losing weight here, probably as much due to my increased physical activity as to the food.
Yesterday Susan and I bought a cell phone. We have been feeling the need for one here, both because everyone expects you to have a cell phone so they can reach you, and also so that we can communicate between the apartment and anyone who happens to be away from the apartment. Anyhow, we went to a store where they had all these models to choose from, but when we explained to our representative what we really wanted - as cheap as would meet our needs - he recommended that we go a block down the street and buy a used phone. We did, and picked one up for about half the price of a new one, and it works great! We have to buy a card with more minutes if and when we use up our $3.00 that comes with the phone, but I doubt that we spend a lot more on it.

This evening we went back to the church and Susan and Ben spent about 1.5 hours practicing on the piano. They feel deprived not having one in the apartment, but it's just not practical. Also, they have been asked to provide accompaniment for the Christmas program tomorrow evening, so it really was important for them to go practice.

More rain and exploration

2009-12-21T20:57:00.002-07:00

It rained last night, and again this afternoon. Samuel and I were especially aware of the rain this afternoon as we were returning from another bus exploration trip, when it started to rain just a couple of blocks before we reached home. We didn't get too wet, but if we had been just a minute or two slower, we would have. And it is raining again now. We need the rain here, as the reservoirs are still low, and we have a blackout for three hours every day on weekdays, just to conserve power. Thus, we are not complaining about the rain, just trying to cope with it.

Susan and I then went back to the grocery story this evening to pick up a few things for her that had run low, and then we went over to see the Cabrera family, from which we have just returned. We really enjoyed our visit, but we didn't get home until after 10:30, so I am just posting briefly for now, and then heading for bed. I'll try to post more pictures tomorrow.

Ben's Birthday

2009-12-20T18:41:00.002-07:00

Today is Ben's birthday, and he turned 22. This morning we went to church, where we are feeling more and more at home. After church, Ben took the opportunity to play the piano for a while, and very much impressed a couple of the kids with some of his pieces. He and Susan have been asked to perform the accompaniment for the ward Christmas program on Wednesday evening, so we will be going back on Tuesday evening for them to practice again.

After coming home from church, we spent the rest of the day here, sleeping, reading, doing e-mail and such, and then playing a game of 99 [don't ask] this evening. Ben finally won as the last person standing. He also received a chocolate bar for a birthday present, and ate the whole thing. We have discovered that they have chocolate bars here that are really good, and we are already planning to take a bunch of them home. Of course, we are consuming some here as we go along, just to verify quality control.

It has been a very quiet, pleasant day, with a lot more sunshine than yesterday.

Pizza

2009-12-19T19:29:00.002-07:00

Tomorrow is Ben's birthday [22], so this evening I took Ben and Samuel out for pizza at the place across the street from the Hostal Macondo where Susan and I stayed when we first arrived here. The pizza is very good, and about a mile each way. Since we walked both ways, I don't feel too guilty, even though we stopped for ice cream cones on the way home.

Actually, Ben got ice cream twice, because at the pizza place I told them that it was his birthday tomorrow, so when we finished the pizza, our server brought him a cup of ice cream with a piece of strawberry on top. He said it was very good, but I will have to take his word for that. I didn't get a taste to verify for myself.

Susan and I went on a bus exploration tour this afternoon, on bus #18, which took us by the bus station and the airport. As we try more and more buses, we are getting a feel for which ones go where. On the other hand, we have only ridden a few so far - 3, 16, 18, - and there are many more to go.

Another market

2009-12-18T18:04:00.001-07:00

Today Susan and I went to a market about 3/4 of a mile west of our apartment. Samuel and I looked it over briefly yesterday, but today Susan and I bought two full grocery bags of fruit and vegetables, as well as a fish and a pound of shrimp. All told we spent $14, plus a dollar for bus fare there and back. At one point, a woman came up to us and offered five heads of broccoli and a head of cauliflower for a dollar, so we bought them.

This market is much larger than the one we have been shopping at, even though we thought it was big. The new one probably covers 4-5 acres, and maybe more. This picture shows a fairly large stall, but it was not even a tenth of a percent of the whole thing. I will try to take more pictures there, but there is no way that pictures can really give an idea of its magnitude. Nor the odors, either, some of which were attractive, and some of which were not.

And these eggs came from a variety of birds. I'm not sure which birds, except the big one appears to be from an ostrich.
This evening Samuel and I went to a Christmas program at the church, and enjoyed it. It would have been even more enjoyable with less amplification, but I took earplugs, so that was OK. There was a lot of enthusiasm, and people there certainly had a good time.

Another water treatment plant

2009-12-17T17:36:00.007-07:00

This morning Samuel and I got an early start because we had an appointment at 8:00 a.m. to meet Monica Marca, another engineer with the Cuenca water department. She and Pedro took us out of Cuenca to a slow-rate sand filter that they operate that serves about a thousand people. I'm not sure how the district boundaries are set, but these customers are WAY out of town. On the other hand, because they are in the district, they get clean water at a subsidized rate, which is probably the only way many of them could afford it.

Given that my research project for my Master's Degree was on slow-rate sand filtration, I was very excited to have an opportunity to see one in operation here. It turns out that in addition to the three main plants that provide water to Cuenca, the water department also operates fifteen small plants for rural areas around Cuenca, four of which are slow-rate sand filters.

They took us in their 4x4 SUV, which was necessary, as the road to the plant was not passable for a lesser vehicle. On the way we had to wait for a school parade to clear the road, then they waited a moment for me to take pictures, as shown here. The traditional outfits worn by the girls are so colorful and cute, and the variety indicates that they probably come from different tribes.
In this one, the little boy looking at the camera would be expelled from most schools in the US, as those are real, pearl-handled, toy pistols he has on, and the way he walked, he was sure that he was the best-dressed kid at school today.Shortly after that we arrived at the plant, and I was very impressed. There are two filters, each about 5 m in diameter, and they treat about 6 liters per second, or about 95 gallons per minute. The water arrives by pipe from a source about 22 km away, and it is a gravity flow, with the plant at almost 3000 m of elevation. There is a banana tree growing right next to the treated water storage tank. They said that it was somewhat colder at the plant than in Cuenca, but it turns out that that means highs in the 60s and lows in the upper 40s.

Here is a picture of the filters with the valley in the background.
And here is a picture of Luis, the man who lives at the plant and takes care of maintenance, Monica, the supervising engineer, and Pedro, who drove for us, and whose other duties I am not clear about.
This afternoon, while the power was out, Samuel and I went out exploring Cuenca by bus. Almost four hours of riding around cost us 75 cents apiece, and we saw a good bit of the city. It turns out that they do not have a map of the bus routes here, or at least not one available for distribution to users. Therefore, we have decided to ride some of the buses just to see where they go.

The price is 25 cents per person for as far as the bus goes, and that can be as much as an hour from end to end. I thought sure that when the bus reached the end of its course and turned around they would want us to pay another 25 cents, but they did not. In the process we found another market of fruit, vegetables, and many other things even a little closer than the one we have been patronizing, and which can be reached with a simple direct bus ride. Susan and I plan to go shopping there tomorrow.

Norton problems

2009-12-16T21:19:00.002-07:00

It is late, and I have been fighting problems with Norton Internet Security. It offered a free upgrade, and then after it installed, said that I wasn't qualified for it. I chatted on-line with a tech and finally got it resolved, but the issue shouldn't have happened in the first place.

We are doing fine, went to the market again, picked up laundry, and cleaned the apartment, among other things. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Laundry

2009-12-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

Today we spent quite a bit of time walking the streets and asking where there might be a laundromat, or something equivalent. Lots of people told us that there was one "down that way", but as we got closer, no one ever knew about it. I began to feel like the early Spanish conquistadors looking for the Seven Cities of Cibola. However, we finally found one [our landlord took Samuel to it about four blocks away] this afternoon, and we went back over there with a load of clothes around 5:00 p.m. This is not a self-serve laundromat like we have in the US, but rather the owners are also the operators, and they took our clothes, along with payment - $3.36 - and told us that they would be ready by 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.

While we were out looking, Samuel got a haircut, and I may go back there in a week or two and get one for myself as well.

One of the interesting things we notice are some of the signs. Here is one translated into English that we thought interesting.
And there are flowers all over. Here is a bush in the corner of a park that we saw late this afternoon.

Water Treatment plant

2009-12-14T20:33:00.002-07:00

This morning Samuel and I set out to see if we could get an appointment to visit a water treatment plant here in Cuenca. We talked to people in three different places before we found the right one, where the woman referred us to an actual plant. We took a taxi out there, and met with Hernan Cabrera, who is the engineer in charge of the plant. We visited at first, and I asked about the plant and related details, then he took us for a tour. It is just like similar plants in the US, and in fact, the whole system and how it operates could be taken directly from the USA. Based on what I learned there today, plus what I have read elsewhere, I have no reservations about drinking water out of the tap here in Cuenca. I wouldn't necessarily do it elsewhere in Ecuador or Latin America, but I now trust the water in Cuenca.

We also left with an appointment to see another smaller plant on Thursday morning, and Hernan told me as we were leaving that this was only the second time in ten years that he had been able to show off his plant to visitors from outside of Ecuador. Despite the lack of practice, he was an excellent guide, and is obviously very proud of his plant.

Sunday

2009-12-13T17:57:00.004-07:00

The chapel where we go to church is less than a 15-minute walk from our apartment, and we got there a little early. Susan played the piano, as the regular pianist was late. We got to know more people today, and have been invited to visit another family tomorrow evening. Having Samuel there with us is a real help, as it is all the time. He is very patient with all our questions about how to say this or that, but it really is wonderful to have the live help.

Then late this afternoon we went for another walk, this time farther to the south to explore along another of the rivers in Cuenca, the Yanucay. It is perhaps a half a mile away, and strangely, the walk to the river was almost all uphill. Up, up, up, and then over a little rise, and there was the river. It is about the same size as the one to the north of us [the Tomebamba] that we have crossed numerous times, and they run together about 2-3 miles to the east of here.

The Yanucay has a park that runs along the river that is quite attractive, but there are a few things there that you would not expect to see in the USA. For example, there was the bull staked out grazing next to a playground with lots of families and children.
Here is a picture of the river Yanucay itself. It is quite a pretty river.

And here is a picture of the late afternoon sun shining on the mountains to the west of us. We really do enjoy our walks around here, and there is so much to see. That is Samuel with his back to the camera. He ran over to check out a bridge in a playground to see if there was any purpose for it other than a place for children to play.

Neighborhood

2009-12-12T16:34:00.005-07:00

We went for a walk as a family today, over past the University of Cuenca, and then around by the chapel where we will attend church tomorrow, and probably the whole time we are in Cuenca, and then back to the apartment. I didn't take any pictures on that trip, but Samuel and I went out this evening and I did take a few.

First, it is interesting how they handle garbage in Cuenca. They have garbage pickup three times per week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. People take their garbage and put the sacks against trees or power poles along the sidewalk, and in the evening trucks come along with laborers who pick it up and haul it away. Here is a pile of sacks in the foreground, with the street leading past our apartment in the background.
Here is another picture looking back down our street, with our apartment in view. We are on the top floor of the building in the foreground, with the entrance gate just to the right of the car. It looks like they built our apartment with the intention of extending it to the south, but then never got around to it. It looks a lot nicer inside than outside, which seems to be a common feature of houses in this area. We do not have an elevator in our building, and I counted the steps from the front gate to our apartment: 60 of them, and I climb them 5-6 times per day most days. When we were getting moved in our landlord asked if we wanted directions to a nearby gymnasium or health club, and I said, "No. We have stairs to keep us in shape." He laughed, but so far they seem to be doing a good job.
As Samuel and I walked around this evening, we also saw lots of people out partying and drinking along the streets. Hundreds of them, but always in small groups and not especially rowdy, but trying to have a good time. The noise will probably last until close to midnight, and seems to be there every night. It has not kept us awake yet.

We hear buses, sirens, honking horns [lots of these], and occasional explosions, which I think are rockets launched by the exuberant. Such are certainly available here, and don't seem to be regulated. Of course, there are LOTS of things here that are not regulated the way we are accustomed to in the US, but on the whole I like it that way.

Exploring

2009-12-11T19:43:00.005-07:00

Samuel and Gordon spent a 2-3 hours today exploring and shopping. Ben is trying to finish up a programming final exam that is due tonight, so we got out of the apartment and let him focus on it.

When out for our exploratory trip, our first stop was at an ATM, where Gordon withdrew $100, just to make sure that his ATM card works. It did, and that is a relief. This is very much a cash economy, so we need to make sure that we can get the cash to keep operating.

Shortly after, we came across a parade and fiesta, where there were these little girls dressed up as angels.
And right around the corner was a horse-drawn carriage with a driver to match.

And we sometimes run into things that we just don't expect. We were looking for a grater to grate cheese or potatoes, and ran across a shop that sells ....

HORSESHOES!

And these are not horseshoes for playing games, but the ones that are applied to the hooves of horses. I asked if I could take a picture, and they were thrilled to have me take it. In fact, after the first one, they insisted that I take a second one [this one] where they posed for it.

Finished or not, Ben has to turn in his exam tonight at midnight Mountain time, so he will be free to explore with us tomorrow and after. He had a nap this afternoon during our power outage, so he may push that deadline to its limit.

Samuel and Ben are here!!

2009-12-10T19:06:00.003-07:00

Susan and I were quite worried last night because we had not heard from the boys since they left Las Cruces on Tuesday afternoon. During that time they were supposed to have arrived in Albuquerque [where we had reports of icy roads], gone to a hotel [with wi-fi], and then flown from Albuquerque to Quito, via Dallas and Miami. Then today they were supposed to travel on to Cuenca where we are.

Along the way there should have been several places where they could have sent an e-mail via Ben’s laptop, but we received no messages whatsoever. Finally, this morning I went to a commercial phone place and called the Quality Inn in Albuquerque to see if the boys had checked in there on Tuesday. They said that they had checked in, and then checked out the next morning. This made me feel a lot better, because I felt that the trip from Las Cruces to Albuquerque was the riskiest part of the trip, at least as far as safety goes.

Still, they should have been able to e-mail us from the hotel in Quito where I had made reservations for them, and we didn’t receive anything this morning. Finally, about 1:00 p.m. today the phone rang, and it was Samuel, in a taxi with Ben, looking for our apartment. I waited on the corner, and a few minutes later they showed up. It turned out that they made all their flights, but had never gotten to the hotel in Quito. Samuel had written down all the information for the trip, then left it in the pickup in Albuquerque. Fortunately he had our phone number and address in more than one place [in an e-mail, which he was barely able to access this morning], and they were able to find our apartment.

It was such a relief to us for them to arrive, especially after so much uncertainty. Thanks to Samuel’s Spanish skills, they found a different hotel last night and then flew on down to Cuenca today. I should note here that Samuel and Ben were also very relieved to find US. They felt that last night in Quito was a lot more risky than the drive to Albuquerque, but we are glad that we had no clue what problems they were dealing with there. Samuel talked to several cab drivers and was taken to a hotel that met their needs, although the beds were not comfortable, and a dog started screaming about 4:30 this morning. Samuel said that it was several minutes before he was sure that it was a dog and not a person. I hope that they are tired enough to go to bed early and adjust quickly to this time zone.

On a different note, here are a couple more pictures from our apartment. This one is looking east and a little south from our apartment.

And this one is looking to the west, up into the mountains where our water comes from.

Although we are at 8400 feet of elevation here, Cuenca is the local low spot, with mountains most of the way around us.

Power outages

2009-12-09T17:39:00.005-07:00

I briefly noted on my first message after arriving in Ecuador that we had a power outage, but I should say more about them. Power outages have been happening here several times per week, on a scheduled basis. Most of Ecuador's electricity comes from hydroelectric plants [no surprise there, with lots of precipitation and lots of elevation difference, it really makes sense], but they have had less rain than usual over the last year or so, so to conserve power, they have been shutting down power to different areas of Ecuador for about 3 hours at a time, 3-4 times per week. Apparently most people are aware ahead of time when these outages are going to occur, but we are not in the loop, so it is always a surprise to us when the power goes off.

Yesterday afternoon we had an outage from about 2-5, and then we had one from 4-7 this afternoon/evening. The problem with that was that it gets dark here by about 6:20, so we really had nothing to do until the power came back on. Actually, we have a gas stove, so Susan fixed dinner by the light of a flashlight, so it was almost like camping out. It was also irritating because we could see that some other parts of the city had power. Oh well, we have been told that they are planning to end the scheduled outages on December 15, as the reservoirs have been filling up somewhat.

The weather here is much like it is in Los Alamos in July and August - mostly clear in the morning, but with thunderheads and sometimes rain in the afternoon and evening. We had a nice rain last night, and I saw it raining a few miles away late this afternoon. However, we get much less lightning and thunder than in New Mexico. I have heard some thunder, but only a few times.

And as promised, here are a few pictures. This is a picture of our kitchen. It is probably twice the size of our kitchen and dining room at home, and is nicely laid out. The window faces north, which provides very nice light, and there is a large skylight over the dining area so it is very well-lit during the day.

And speaking of kitchens and eating, here is an avocado that we bought in the market. At this size, they only sell two of them for a dollar.
Samuel and Ben should be arriving in Quito in a couple of hours. I told them to e-mail me on Ben's laptop if they didn't make their flight, and I haven't heard anything, so I assume that they made it. They should have an Internet connection when they reach their hotel in Quito, so we should hear from them then. They will be on down here tomorrow, but I don't know yet whether they will take the bus or fly.

New home, and much else

2009-12-08T19:30:00.003-07:00

We spent last night in our new apartment, and it was quite nice, at least after I figured out how to light the pilot light on our hot water heater. Our bed is comfortable [very important] and the area is not too noisy, at least until about 6:00 a.m., when the traffic picks up.

As best we can guess from the newspapers that we found in the apartment, it has not been inhabited since about May, and although it looked clean when we walked through before renting, we have discovered that there is a fine layer of dust nearly everywhere. I swept all the floors today, and mopped under the kitchen table while we had it moved. Tomorrow we should get most of the rest mopped as well, just so we have a clean start. We have marble floors throughout, so sweeping and mopping goes very well, but it still takes work.

I also counted, and there are 60 steps from the front gate to our apartment. I climbed them at least 6 or 7 times today, as well as doing some bit of walking around, so I am certainly getting more exercise here. Combined with the great fruit and vegetables, I think I am doing quite well. And Susan appears to be doing likewise.

This afternoon we had our first guests. There is another American couple, Ken and Carol Ann Rand, from Atlanta, that we met at the Hostal Macondo, and they were very interested in our search for an apartment. So when we told them last night [when we went to pick up our laundry that had not come back when we checked out] that we found one and were moved in, they wanted to come see it. They came over this afternoon, and were suitably impressed.

Also this afternoon, Susan and I took a taxi out to Mall del Rio [except for Spanish language signs, indistinguishable from any new mall in the US] where I bought a wireless [cellular] modem for my laptop. The apartment did not come with internet, and internet cafes are a very poor substitute. With this modem I have high-speed internet anywhere in Ecuador that I have a cell-phone signal. Actually, the "anywhere in Ecuador" part shouldn't really matter, as I don't expect to be taking my laptop anywhere now, but if the need arises, it will be nice.

Samuel and Ben are on their way to Albuquerque as I write, and should be flying out tomorrow morning to join us down here for their winter break. I hope that the weather and roads do not cause them any problems, either with getting to the airport or flying out. I understand that the weather back in New Mexico has not been as pleasant as what we have down here.

And I got a real ego-boost today. When I showed up at the mall to buy my modem, I told the girl that I didn't speak Spanish very well, so she called over a man there to speak English to me. After a couple of moments of conversation, mostly in Spanish, he left, and when she called him back, he said that there was no point, as my Spanish was better than his English! I'm not sure that that was true, but I was/am certainly less inhibited about making mistakes as I attempt to communicate. And it is true that our Spanish is improving. There is just so MUCH improvement that we need to make.

I really wish that there was a way to record how well we are doing now, so that we could compare in a month or two and see clearly our progress. I know that we still won't be fluent, but often it is difficult to appreciate how much progress we are really making.

Tomorrow I'll try to include a few pictures in my posting, but tonight I am going to bed. I am worn out.

We are renters!

2009-12-07T16:37:00.002-07:00

What a wild day. We called a rental agent this morning, and looked at two apartments. We then wound up renting the first one, even though it was a little more expensive, because it is much closer to the center of town, and easier to get to and from.

It has three bedrooms, and is on the fourth (and top) floor of the building. We have the entire top floor, and the view is great. It also has two bathrooms, a large kitchen and dining area, and a nice living room, all fully furnished. We will get our exercise climbing the stairs and taking care of shopping and such. We don´t have internet there, but will probably get it via a celular connection, which is an extra cost, but a service that I would have a hard time doing without.

Anyhow, it is now after dark, and we need to get back to our new home and unpack our stuff. I will try to take some pictures and post them, although this may not happen until after I get a direct connection to my laptop. Internet cafes are not the best for doing such.

The other apartment we looked at was a little less - $385 vs. $440 - but it had only two bedrooms and one bath, and was at least a 20-min taxi ride from the center of Cuenca. It had some nice features, and probably would have also been OK, but we figured that we would have spent the difference in taxis and bus fares, not to mention the extra time involved.

We are tired, but excited and doing well. Our Spanish is improving with all the practice, and we are looking forward to the arrival of Samuel and Ben this Thursday.

Sunday

2009-12-06T19:14:00.002-07:00

We went to church this morning and were made very welcome. I don't know how long it may take to learn most of their names, but we'll do what we can. Of course, depending on where we find an apartment, we may be attending a different ward next week, but I have no doubt that we will be made welcome wherever we go.

After church, we walked back to the Hostel, and then stayed here the rest of the afternoon. We had food in the refrigerator, and just didn't feel like going out anywhere. Tomorrow is going to be spent trying to rent a suitable apartment, so I'll give an update tomorrow evening. We really want to have a place rented and be moved in before Samuel and Ben arrive next Thursday.

Walked to church

2009-12-05T17:48:00.002-07:00

I know that tomorrow is Sunday, but this morning Susan and I walked from our hotel to the LDS chapel here in Cuenca, just to make sure that we can find it OK tomorrow. If the weather is bad or we are running late, we may still take a taxi, but it is about a 20-minute walk from here, not pushing too hard, and so we are planning to walk.

The weather today was great, with a good thundershower this afternoon to add some nice moisture and cool things down. This morning it was quite warm, probably again in the upper 70s, enough that we both perspired during our walk. We came back by the open market and picked up some more fruit and vegetables, which Susan then spent quite a bit of time preparing. She is eating well, but it does take some bit of effort. We are very glad to have access to kitchen facilities here.

We did learn something surprising today. Apparently the cell phones and land lines here are on different systems, and to call from a land line to a cell phone costs 25 cents per minute or so. This compares to 10-20 cents per minute to call from Ecuador to the United States. I don't know why this is, but I will be asking questions. I don't know what it costs to make calls from cell phones to land lines, or from cell phone to cell phone, but apparently it is more than for most of us in the USA. On the other hand, you see lots of people talking on cell phones all over the place...

We are well, happy, making good progress in learning Spanish. The people who work here in the Hostal Macondo are very friendly and willing to answer questions and help us with our Spanish. When we move into an apartment we will miss them, but having more space at a much lower cost will be worth the difference.

Apartment hunting

2009-12-04T19:14:00.002-07:00

Today was mostly spent in apartment hunting, and we have some promising leads, but no apartment yet. For our first day, that's not too bad, and if we don't find one tomorrow, we will ask around at church on Sunday.

This evening we went to a gathering of expats here in Cuenca, where there were probably 20-25 people there total, although not all at once. We spent most of our time talking to just a few of them, and have some possible leads to an apartment from that, as well as others we talked to earlier in the day. The one we talked to longest is named Perry, and he has lived here in Cuenca for 17 months. He explored several other places in Central and South America, and decided that this was the one he likes the best. It is also possible that we may rent an apartment through him, but we can't follow up on that one until Monday, so we may not be in the market by then.

We also had a thunderstorm this afternoon that kept us in for a while, but which delivered welcome moisture. There are several individuals and/or families here who are leaving tomorrow, so it is likely that more will be arriving.

In Cuenca, settling in

2009-12-03T19:30:00.003-07:00

We did not buy plane tickets for the trip from Quito to Cuenca before arriving in Ecuador because I was concerned that our checked bags might miss a connection, and I wanted them in my hands before boarding yet another plane. As it turned out, they did keep up, even though we had a very tight connection in Miami, so this morning I set out to arrange for our flight to Cuenca.

I did not have very far to go, as there was a travel agency on the corner less than a hundred feet from the front door of our hotel, but there was a power outage so I had to wait for the power to come back on, and thus their computers. However, we had no trouble booking our flight, and as it turned out, the flight was probably only about a third full.

When we arrived in Cuenca and entered the terminal, we were met by women handing out long-stemmed roses to all the passengers [Susan and I each got one], and live music in the form of a guitarist/singer. I don't know what the occasion was, but it was nice. The temperature here this afternoon was in the upper 70s and mostly sunny.

After we arrived at the hotel and got settled, we walked down to the market and bought some fruits and vegetables, and then came back and cooked them here this evening. We also took a few minutes to call both Gordon's and Susan's Dads, just to let them know that we arrived here and all was fine. Several of the people working here at the hotel are still here from our previous stay, and remember us, which is quite nice.

Finally, this evening we have met several people here with whom we have quite a lot in common. We just spent over an hour visiting with a couple from Atlanta who are here looking around much like we are. We are now planning to go with them tomorrow evening to a gathering of other expats [short for expatriates, people who are living outside their home country] who meet every Friday evening. Our main interest in going is to seek other information about rental units that we might be able to lease while we are here, but also to learn whatever else seems interesting. I'll write more about that if there is anything else to write.

Anyhow, we are now in Cuenca, and plan to stay in this area for most of our visit. We are well, and are enjoying the climate, the people, and the food. Our Spanish, while not great by any means, is greatly improved from our previous visit, and it is really improving the quality of our interactions with the people here. Not a surprise, but it really is nice.

We're here!

2009-12-02T21:12:00.002-07:00

I won't be long tonight, as we are tired, but I just wanted to let everyone know that we have arrived safely. We are at our hotel in Quito, and plan to fly on down to Cuenca tomorrow.

We had a tight connection in Miami, arriving at the boarding gate just as they called out "Last call for boarding passengers to Quito", but we made it, and so did our luggage. It is very noisy here tonight, as Ecuador apparently just beat Brazil in soccer, and lots of people are driving around honking their horns. However, I don't think we'll have too much trouble sleeping.

Last night in Albuquerque we didn't sleep very well, anticipating the trip today, and then we rushed through the Miami airport and barely caught our plane, so we are worn out, and are mostly adjusted to the local time already, I think.

The adventure begins again

2009-11-30T20:42:00.003-07:00

For quite a while I thought that this blog was just an archive, but it looks like it is time to arouse it from its slumber and resume the tale. We have not yet actually left the USA, but we have reservations on American Airlines to leave Albuquerque at 9:25 a.m. on December 2, arriving in Quito [via DFW and Miami] at 9:40 local time [EST] that evening. We will spend that night in Quito, and then fly on down to Cuenca the next day, where we will initially stay in the same hostel as before while looking for an apartment where we can stay until our return on February 24.

Samuel and Ben have reservations to follow us a week later, as soon as they finish their finals at NM State University, and they will then return to the US on Jan. 12, just in time to resume classes on Jan. 14. Thus, we will have our family Christmas in Ecuador this year, and you can read about it here. I don't know what we will be doing, but we won't be shoveling snow!

Hasta luego! [For those who don't know, this literally means "Until later".]

We're Home

2009-03-26T11:06:00.002-06:00

We arrived home yesterday afternoon, and immediately, we were swamped with all this stuff to do that had accumulated while we were gone. And it is far from over. I still need to go pick up our mail and go through that, the living room looks like a bomb hit it [not all our fault - Samuel and Ben are also home for spring break], etc.

However, all things considered, it was a wonderful trip. Despite the 7.5 hour flight from Bogota, Columbia to LAX, and two more hours on Southwest to Albuquerque yesterday, there was only an hour of time zone difference for us, from Ecuador to home, now that we are on Daylight time, so jet lag is really not an issue. However, last night at home in our own bed, we really slept well. On the other hand, some things about being home are not so fun. I only realized this morning that while in Ecuador, I sneezed no more than once a day, on average. I have already sneezed more times since I got home than I did all our time in Ecuador.

And while I think of it, let me mention that, annoying as airport security is in the US, it is worse in Columbia, where we had a connecting flight. It went like this: We arrived in Bogota on the flight from Quito, walk down a long concourse, where we have no contact with the outside world whatever, and immediately we are faced with a security checkpoint. Shed anything with metal in it, and then reassemble yourself on the far side, belts, shoes, pockets, etc. Then up the stairs or escalator, and there is another checkpoint, this time for drugs, I guess, where people in army uniforms paw through your bags and you are frisked down in a rather intimate fashion. Then hurry on down the concourse, where, when you arrive at the boarding gate, you have to go through another security checkpoint, where once again you have to shed shoes, belt, and all other metal, and then reassemble yourself on the far side. And we could see that as we went through this checkpoint that they were already boarding the plane for our flight to LAX. The logic of taking airline passengers who had to clear security to get on the arriving plane, and then running them through all these additional screenings escapes me, although the drug screening may be prudent, given Columbia's issues with the cocaine trade, but regardless, I will avoid the Bogota airport in the future, if possible.

I will probably not add more to this blog, now that we are home, although if reflections or recollections from the trip float to the surface, I may add them. I hope that all who have followed our adventures have enjoyed this account. I surely enjoyed writing it, and I am very glad to have it as a record of the trip. If you have questions, please e-mail me at gpforeman@gmail.com and I will try to answer them.

Quito airport

2009-03-24T09:35:00.002-06:00

We are in the Quito airport, and I am amazed that they have FREE wireless internet here. The will probably call for us to start boarding our plane soon, but we have made it this far. We will be on the ground in Bogota, Columbia for 1.5 hours, then on to Los Angeles.

I better post this and get the laptop shut down.