Paute

We decided to walk to Mocha Cafe in order to meet the family that owns it. I have been exchanging emails with Susan because she has a 21 year old son and a 28 year old daughter who will be moving to Cuenca. Susan wasn't there, but her husband Steve was. We ate breakfast and talked to Steve. We got a lot more information about how Cuencanos think and some business opportunities for Patrick. Some good news is that there are plans already in the works to create a light-rail system in Cuenca. Supposedly there is supposed to be an outer ring and an inner ring connected with spokes. That will do wonders for the breathing here.

After breakfast we walked to El Centro to check out a silver handmade jewelry store I had read about. I wasn't that impressed and the owner was not very friendly, so I'll take my business elsewhere.

We took a taxi to the bus station and spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out how to get on the right bus. We finally got on and it was crowded again, but we all got a seat except for Finn who sat on Mark's lap. It wouldn't have been that bad of a ride if the Ecuadorians would open just one teeny tiny window. I don't understand how they can sit on a bus for over an hour and cook. I was miserable. And then we hit construction and it made the trip all that longer. Riding that bus made me lean towards buying a car here. After an hour and 15 min. we finally arrived in Paute.

One good thing about the bus ride is that Patrick sat next to a very nice girl who was coming home from University. A lot of the people on the bus where young people coming home from school. That is a long ride to take twice a day! Anyway, Normis can write very good English, and understand it, but doesn't speak it well. Despite that, they were able to communicate quite well. When we got off the bus Normis showed us a good restaurant to eat at and we had lunch. The owner spoke great English. He had lived in New York for five years and saved money to come back and open the restaurant. We had a nice chat with him. He recommended us going to the Claro store in town to get our phone fixed. We had bought one the day before, but it wasn't working. It took awhile and a couple of people, but it was finally fixed and I was able to get a call from both Chelsea and Jemma.

Normis met us on the sidewalk and took us on a tour of the town. Paute is very, very small compared to Cuenca. Only about 20,000 people. Crime is low and there are actually some gringos living there. Supposedly, according to Erin, her doctor friend is building a 2 bedroom 2 bath home with all the upgrades for $35,000 on the hill. She said she would put us in contact with him and we could go see it. The mountainsides are a little close for me, but if we were to live up higher it might be better. Paute looks like it might be a possibility. We'll see.

We decided to take a taxi hom3e since I didn't want to deal with the bus again. $15 for a 45 min. trip. The driver lived in South Carolina for 3 years and he spoke acceptable English as well. It was great talking to him. He was very nice and offered to show us more of Paute when we come back.

We met Erin on the stairs and we went to Magnolia for burgers and fries. Erin was feeling down and started to cry when she saw us because she was told that her lawyer had made mistakes on her paperwork and the earliest she would be leaving would be the 18th. We felt very bad for her. She is already going stir crazy with Adriana.

I went with Pat to the pharmacy to see if we could get some meds for his shoulder. It was another experience to figure out how the pharmacy works, but a nice lady and the guard at the door helped us. We explained to the pharmacist what was wrong and he prescribed three days of meds for Pat. $3.33