Improvements

The last few days have been spent running around, but we are slowing down a bit. I am noticing a change in myself.  I have had to talk myself through it everyday and I still have a long way to go, but I have noticed that the urgency to get things done has started to lessen.  When I feel myself starting to get anxious throughout the day I just tell myself that if we don't get it done today there is always manana.  One of the anxiety building things about this culture is that most stores close everyday from 12:00p.m. until 3:00p.m.  Since we are late risers in the "summer" we don't usually get out of the house until 11.  That leaves very little time to get things done in the morning and I don't want to be out past 4 or 5 since I can now cook dinner at home.  So, we either have to get up early and get our butts in gear or face the reality that things will not get done as fast as we want them to.

On Tuesday we went to Coral Centro as promised to Finn and he got his Legos.  They had a terrible selection, but he got something that he wanted.  Tali decided to spend her birthday money and got some more Littlest Pet Shop people and animals. 

Yesterday was kind of a lazy day.  We didn't get any goals done, but we did walk around the neighborhood and start to familiarize ourselves with the streets and shops.  We walked to the Milennium Mall, which was a short 10 min. walk around the stadium.  We weren't that impressed.  It is very small, but it does have a movie theatre.  We also pinpointed the SuperMaxi in our neighborhood that we can also walk to.  Then we got Scout and wandered the streets close to our house in the drizzle.  We found a little tienda around the corner that has just about anything you need on short notice...milk, toilet paper, deoderant, eggs, yogurt, etc...   Mark made us stop at an antique shop and I talked him into letting me get a cabinet for the kitchen.  He wanted to have one made, but that would take another 3 weeks and I am really at my wits end in this kitchen.  I have literally 2 square feet to prepare and plate the food.  It gets on my nerves everytime I have to work in there.  So, being able to get something already made sooner rather than later will have a huge impact on my psyche.  He wanted me to think about it, so I told him I would, but...

We headed back to the antique store this morning and bought the cabinet.  :) Then back to Mogab Muebles to order a dining room table that I am still unsure of, but they were closed since we didn't get there until 12:30.  :)  We headed to the appliance store to pay off our bill.  Next week we are going to pick up our t.v.  I want it in time for the Olympics.  Then it was off to Mall de Rio to find a battery for Scout's bark collar, a power strip for my computer and a yoga mat.  No go on the yoga mat, but we got everything else.  The cabinet was delivered at 4:30 and I am SO happy with it.  We placed the microwave, toaster and fruit on it and that gave me all the room in the world to work.  Space!  It does a body good.  And it looks pretty too.  I bought the flowers today for $1.16.  Can't beat that with a stick!

That white, pulpy stuff in the bowl is a new fruit that we tried this week.  Guanabana or Sour Sop.  It is a large fruit and when you cut it open it has all of these milky, white pods with large, black seeds in each pod.  You can cut it like a watermelon and then suck out the juices and spit out the seeds.  We did that last night.  Or, most people juice it since it is quite fibrous.  The only problem is that removing the seeds is really time-consuming.  I worked on it for about 20 min. last night and had only seeded about a quarter of it.  It has a slighty sour, slightly sweet rich flavor.  I really like it, but it is a lot of work. 

Here is a picture of our laundyroom with appliances. Thank you, Tali.  I love having everything all on one floor.  It makes doing laundry so nice.  Oh, and last night Mark set up my "computer station".  I am enjoying working on my desktop again, but sitting on these footlockers hurts my back.  It was freezing last night, so I bundled up while we watched So You Think You Can Dance on the computer.  Loving technology!

 And here is a picture of Finn and Tali eating dinner on one of the footlockers.  Painful. 

 We found out today that Samurai died.  Lee doesn't know why.  They found him in the back pasture.  That news really depressed me.  He was such a pretty boy with such a nice, laid-back personality.  And the other day Raisin's doeling died plus another one of Linda's doelings.  They found out it was due to the fact that the drought and heat has caused some of the plants to release poison into their leaves.  Cyanide and nitrates.  I wonder if that happened to Samurai as well.  So sad to hear of all of these goatie deaths.  I don't like it. 

Coopera

Our number one goal today was to make it to Coopera, and we finally did.  It has been on our list for these past two weeks, but the trip kept on getting pushed to the side against more pressing issues.  Coopera is Cuenca's organic market.  It isn't big, but what they do have is lush and gorgeous.  Mark was able to sneak a few pictures before he was yelled at by the security guard. 

                                                                                          

                                                                                 



















We bought:

1 liter of sugar free plain vanilla yogurt
2 liters of milk
organic local honey
apple butter
aji (hot) salsa
mint tea
Ecuadorian coffee
quinoa
30 organic eggs
6 large chicken breasts
@1 lb. steak
1 whole chicken
8 hamburgers
8 avocados
2 large green peppers
2 white onions
2 broccoli heads
1 head of spinach
4 beets
2 cucumbers
@ 1 lb. of grapes
1 pineapple
2 heads of garlic
3 tomato de arbol
3 tomatoes
4 peaches (when we got home we realized these were from California)
8 carrots
2 very large exotic fruits - I think one is a guanabana, but I don't know what the other one is.
2 ginormous mangos
5 granadillas
3 pears
2 bunches of oritos - A type of banana, but they are smaller and sweeter.

As we were unloading the cart Mark said to me that he hoped he had brought enough money because we had A LOT. 

Bill total:  $73  

Unbelievable.  With the organic meat and organic fruits and vegetables this bill would have been at least $250 in the states if not more.  Happy Campers here.

We had promised Finn and Tali that we would allow them to spend $100 each at the toy store, so after coming home and putting away our groceries we headed to Jugueton.  They also have a Home Depot like store called Kywi there.  We picked up a couple of things from Kywi first:  a scale (I got on it when we got home and it was not a pretty picture),  laundry basket, dustpan and a saw.  The kid's bedframes were delivered yesterday but the boards that they included to go under the mattresses were too long.  Instead of loading them up into the taxi and hustling them back across town for them to cut, Mark opted to buy a saw and do it himself.  Only the saw he would need to buy was $100, so he opted for a handsaw and right now he is in the laundryroom sawing the boards for the beds. 

We were disappointed that Jugueton only had 2 lego sets.  They will get more in September.  Along with trampolines, I guess.  So, Finn picked out a Yoda watch and he is pleased as punch.  We will hit Coral tomorrow because I'm pretty sure they have more of a Lego selection there.  Coral is like our Wal-Mart.  Tali picked out a Barbie and two Littlest Pet Shop sets.  She is on Cloud Nine.  Hopefully these toys will help to offset a little of the boredom that sets in during the week.  This weekend they were so busy they didn't have time to be bored. 

Yesterday they played all day with the downstairs kids.  They played volleyball, went out for ice cream with Belen and then had a bonfire.  Finn said that he wants to play volleyball for his sport.  He really liked it.  Gotta see if they have classes or lessons here. 

This morning I got through to both STRS and Great American Life, my annuity.  GAL cut my check on Friday, so it should be in the bank by the end of the week or early next week.  STRS is making a note to release the money ASAP, so it looks like we will be okay as far as having enough time to apply for our visa.  It was a relief to hear that news, but I'll believe it when I see it. 


Here is a picture of the granadilla that I mentioned yesterday.  It looks slimy and gross, but it is really sweet and delicious.  You swallow the slimy stuff and the seeds whole.

Well, it looks like the sky is clearing up.   This afternoon it rained quite heavily for the first time since we've been here.  Maybe we can still hit Sukasa before dinner.  Sukasa is a higher end home supply store.  Kind of like a Bed, Bath and Beyond, I guess.  The kid's need sheets for their beds.  I would like to have their bedroom put together soon.  They both picked out reading lights, now we just need a table to put them on.  :)

July 15th

The kids are outside playing with the grandkids of our neighbor's downstairs.  They are the nicest, kindest, most helpful people and landlords.  I thought it would annoy me a bit to have them downstairs, but it has really been a blessing.  They are only here on the weekends, but I like having them here.  It just feels more comfortable knowing there are people downstairs.  Their grandchildren are fantastic.  There is Estephanie, Maria Paz, little three year old, Mario, the older red-headed grandson and Belen.  Belen is almost done with her studies to become a dr., but she acts like a kid and plays with them all the time.  They are playing volleyball right now, and yesterday they got a mean soccer game together.  Belen brought granajillas, or is it granadillas, for the kids to try last weekend.  They look like an orange, but the rind is very brittle and breaks open very easily with your nails.  You rip open a hole at the top to form a little bowl.  The inside looks like snot with little black seeds.  Then you take a spoon or your fingers and scoop out the snot.  You swallow it whole.  You do not chew the seeds.  Despite the look and texture they are very sweet and really good.  We bought a couple of new fruit yesterday, chirimoya.  I need to google how to eat them.  They are supposed to be the fruit of the gods.  The neighbors also sent up homemade empanadas today for lunch.  They had meat, eggs, celery and raisins in them.  Really good!!!  Culturally we are now supposed to return the favor and give them something as a gift, but I don't know what to give them!  Can I just say how nice it is to have neighbors that actually care about you and don't look at you and treat you like scum???  Very nice!

As you can see we finally have internet.  Really not a bad timeframe, one week, but we were going crazy not being connected.  Every day we had to find and walk to a restaurant that had wifi.  We ate at Pizza Hut 4 nights in a row.  It was beginning to be embarrassing.  We also have a fridge, stove, and a washer and dryer.  Progress!  We ordered a couch, loveseat and chair for the tv room, and we ordered our king-size bedframe and the queen-size frame for one of the guest rooms.  Along with that we ordered a computer desk, nightstands and a tv console.  All of the pieces of furniture are handmade and take three weeks to make.  So, we are sleeping on mattresses on the floor and sitting on our footlockers.  I'm already sick of it and can't wait until we have furniture.  Everything is echoey and that is annoying.  Luckily our mattresses were delivered the day we moved.  That is one thing that is funny about Ecuador, but pretty cool.  We walked into the store and ordered the mattresses.  They said, okay and loaded them and us up into the truck and away we drove to our apartment.  We walked into the appliance store and ordered the appliances.  We could only pay for the fridge and stove that week and asked that the washer and dryer be delivered the next week when we could pay for them.  They delivered them altogether and said to pay whenever.  Nice!

Today we went to the market called Rotary Plaza to find bed frames for Tali and Finn.  Mark really wants them off the floor, but they don't seem to mind.  We found frames for $65 each and they are being delivered at 3:00p.m. today.  Another box checked.  After that we are headed to the toy store to buy some toys for Finn and Tali.  They are starting to get bored and don't have much to play with.  We tried to find them a trampoline, but the only store that sells them won't have any until September.  Bummer!  And, they are $800 to boot!  Worth it though, I think.  It will get a lot of use, both by Finn and Tali and by the kids on the weekends.

On Friday Mark and I went out for our 10 year anniversary dinner.  Caroline and James Drummond were nice enough to take the kids for the night.  They had a blast and Mark and I had a great time.  We went to Mansion Alcazar.  It was a beautiful dinner and so quiet.  I really needed to be quiet for awhile.  The kids are driving me crazy with all of their questions that I have no answer for.  For example, we are sitting on the curb waiting for our taxi driver and Tali asks me what direction Freddy will be coming from.  I don't know!!!!  And that was like the 2,000th question I had been asked THAT DAY that had no answer.  Mark is standing right there.  Why can't they ask him some of these questions that have no answer?   Hmmmm?  They must think I have a crystal ball!

Now that we have internet I will try to backtrack and catch up on the trip from Ohio to Cuenca.

These are pictures from today walking along the river and of the Rotary Plaza.

 This is a small hardware store.  We are trying to get copies made of our keys.

 Keeping the city clean.  There are three colors and they are each responsible for different services.

 Rotary Plaza.

 A stuffed goat.  :(      For real.

 Indigenous women selling fruit.

 An indigenous women with an empty load buying bread.

 This stand is selling garden tools and decorations.

 Lots of knick knacks and quirky things.

 What shall we buy?

 A ceramic bunny and puppy, that's what.

 Two abuelas in indigenous clothing and a granddaughter in "modern" clothing.

 Indigenous women with their baskets of wares trying to keep out of the sun. It was brutal today. 

 Teenage boys kicking back and enjoying a Sunday afternoon.

 Lots of baskets.  We bought a woven grass rug for $8 and it is really made well.  We will probably go back for more. 

 Cutest little nino. 

He wanted a popsicle very badly.  He finally got his wish from the man in the background.

CUENCA!!!

We finally arrived in Cuenca on Friday, June 29th. I haven't bloggd in over a week because we have just been going nonstop.  From parties, to lunches, breakfasts and dinners with friends, to running around, it has been a whirlwind landing. I am going to blog about the last few days and then backtrack to when we left Ohio for Ecuador.

On Monday we were invited over to Chelsea and Brian's for the afternoon.  We ended up staying through dinner.  Finn and Tali played with Yonggi and Anaya while the adults talked downstairs.  We picked their brains and had some good conversations.  Chelsea made a great dinner, but I was feeling a bit under the weather and spent a lot of time in the bathroom.  It was embarrassing.  I don't know if it was the pitacuya (dragon fruit) or the yogurt I ate for lunch, but it did a number on me.  Brian had three leads on some rentals and we decided to go see them on Tuesday afternoon.

We hired another expat, Dano, to take us around the city on Tuesday morning.  We were focused on seeing family-friendly neighborhoods.  We saw everything from compact city neighborhoods, to a little more green space neighborhoods, to farm land about 20 min. outside the city.  It was 3 hours of money and time well-spent.  We were able to get a great lay of the city and Dano was very helpful with information about this and that.  There were two neighborhoods that I was drawn to...the Primero de Mayo neighborhood around the Yanuncay River and the Rio Sol neighborhood, also by the Yanuncay, but much farther from El Centro (the historic city center).  We didn't end up in either one!

We met Brian at the Oro Verde at 3:30 that afternoon.  The Oro Verde is an apartment building in what a lot of expats and Cuencanos refer to as Gringolandia.  Lots and lots of expats live in this area.  Mark and I really wanted to avoid neighborhoods with a lot of gringos (foreigners), but it was worth a look since we would only be there for a year and it is close to a lot of the shopping and grocery stores.  The Oro Verde apartment was okay, but not what we were looking for.  It was furnished, and while nice, it was still a little shabby and the building smelled a bit.  Next stop was The Palermo, THE highrise in Cuenca.  It is the tallest building in the city and I remember reading that the city will allow no other buildings to go any higher in order to keep the feel of the city the same throughout.  I'm glad for that.  The Palermo was a bit nicer than the Oro Verde, but again it is an apartment building and we are NOT used to living that way.  The apartment was on the 5th floor and having Scout with us makes that an unpleasant prospect.  It was also a lot smaller than the Oro Verde for the same money.  Finn and Tali were not impressed. 

Next stop was an unfurnished house.  We had not even been considering an unfurnished house because we wanted to wait until next year when Mark's pension started to invest that kind of money.  But, we were beginning to realize that nice furnished rentals are hard to find, so we opened the window to looking at unfurnished properties.  When we first drove up to the house we immediately had a great response to it.  The house has great curb appeal and the yard is nicely landscaped.  When we saw the backyard we were almost completely sold.  It is huge compared to most Cuencano yards.  The kids could have a trampoline back there and the owner said we could also have chickens!  We hoped that the interior of the house equaled the exterior.  It has a lot of positives, but here are the negatives...I was disappointed that it was only half the house and that the flat is upstairs on the 2nd floor, but the house is huge and the flat has almost everything we need.  Another negative is the small kitchen.  I am hoping that the owner will allow us to remove the doors to the kitchen in order to allow for more space.  That's it for the negatives really.  What the flat does have is a huge living room and an attached tv room area.  Nice dining room space and three fairly big bedrooms with beautiful flooring and built-in wardrobes.  One bedroom does not have a wardrobe so that will be the kid's playroom.  It also has a very large and  bright office space in the front of the house.  Like I said before, the kitchen is small, but everything has been newly remodeled and updated.  Off of the kitchen is a little terrace overlooking the backyard where the washing machine and dryer will go. It has a tiny slice of the mountains to look at. There is space for a table and chair as well.  Off of the laundry area is the empleada's (maid) room and a small bathroom with shower.  We will use that as our guest quarters and for Patrick and Amanda when they arrive.  It seemed like a great fit for us so we said we would take it!

All in all a great day.  We went home happy campers with a price of $600 including electric and water.  We were ready to sign the lease the next day.  However, the next morning I was looking at some craigslist ads for houses that I had saved and I realized that one of my saved houses was the one we had looked at, AND it was priced on craigslist for $100 less!  Now we were NOT happy campers.  Were we being "gringoed"?  We contacted Brian and talked to Priscilla, the agent, who had shown us around yesterday.  She is super sweet, kind and very helpful like most of the Ecuadorians that we have met.  She said not to worry and that she would talk to the owner.  Priscilla picked us up Wednesday morning and we went to meet the owner.  She wanted us to meet her at her house.  Wow!  Very nice Ecuadorian home.  Her husband is an ENT and while doctor's here don't make a lot of money, they still have a very nice lifestyle.  The owner is very nice as well.  We were able to renegotiate after telling her that we had seen the ad.  We came out of the deal happy.  A great addition to living there is going to be the presence of the people downstairs.  They are the owner's parents and she said that they love children.  I was worried that we would cause too much noise being on the second floor.  The floorboards are creaky and we are not the quietest people.  But, the grandparents will be there only on the weekends and she said they would not mind us at all.  I am hoping that they will teach us and the kids some Spanish.  There are also smaller children in the family, 9 and 11 years old, and I'm hoping they will be over to play with Finn and Tali.  One thing that I have heard over and over again is that many Ecuadorians will open their hearts to you as family in the truest sense.  I hope we are able to be graced with that acceptance.


So, now we have an unfurnished apartment that needs to be furnished. :) Its kind of exciting to start all over again. The furniture here is handmade. You can bring in a picture of what you like and they will make it for you to that standard. We have been looking at Ethan Allen beds and dining room tables with clean lines. We need to buy a printer so that we can print out the pictures and take them to the furniture makers. We are going today to just look around.

Our new house.  Great neighborhood.

Front yard.

Side yard looking across the street.

 "T.V." room in orange, living room/dining room in blue.

 My office and kid's workroom.

 Looking from dining room towards living room and stairs.

 View from our laundry room/terrace.

 Maid's quarters, but will be our guest room.

 Laundry room/terrace.

 Maid's/guest bathroom.

 Teeny, tiny kitchen with NO counter space.  Mark is going to have to get some built for me.

 Bathroom.

 Our room with lots of natural light and built-in wardrobes.  Finn and Tali's room is almost identical, just a bit smaller.

 The view from our bedroom.

View from living room.