Retire to Ecuador? Why not!

Although cool in the mornings (running in low 40's right now), the days here quickly warm up into the 70's and maybe even low 80's at times. This is the 4th day of all sunshine and it was truly a gorgeous day. We decided to keep it low key with a walk into El Centro for lunch and then back home. As we passed the river we noticed it was running lower than previous days and the water was quite clear. During the downpours on two days last week (and showers on most other days), it was higher and much muddier. We've been told that if we see the locals doing laundry in the river that it won't rain that day. So far, that has proven true. I took photos on the way into town and more on the way home of the washing. As we approached our foot bridge over the river, we noticed a little celebration on the other side of the road and crossed over to see what it was all about. It turned out to be a group of high school students displaying their projects either on technology

No meetings were planned today but I wanted to get up early and take a taxi to Artesa , a local pottery store that has some amazing things. On Friday's they open up their discount/seconds area and if you're careful you can find some great stuff at low prices. We easily grabbed a taxi and arrived by 9am. We walk in the store and immediately spot two expats that we know. They told us the main store opened at 9 but the discount store opened at 8 and things were disappearing quickly. We enjoyed browsing and picked up two pretty coffee mugs that we will use now and bring home. I also found two little knick-knacks for our eventual cabin. One is a little vase and the other is a Panama hat. The photos aren't the best quality since I took them at night here in the apartment. We thought we'd grab a taxi and head to Mall del Rio to grab something to eat but a gentleman overheard us and mentioned that it was maybe 15-20 blocks away. We've been walking that easily,

The weekly meet and greets continue and we are slowly finding our way around better and better. We've now eaten at Cafe Austria and Fabiano's (where we had some wonderful pizza). We've visited The Coffee Tree (bit overpriced but nice outdoor seating) and Carolina Bookstore (run by a retiree from NC). Today we met two folks who have a Royal Enfield motorcycle with a Ural sidecar. We met at San Sebas and before we were done, at least 5 or 6 others that we knew came in. After our late breakfast/early lunch, we walked up to SuperMaxi and Sukasa. Sukasa is a more upper end department store and we picked up a French Press for our coffee. Bit pricey but we miss our morning cuppa joe. ;-) We then got a few necessities from SuperMaxi and took a taxi back. Nice to realize we can walk one way there and if our packages had been lighter we could have walked back. Few things we have discovered: Trademark protection is not really enforced here (see photo below) The noise and poll

We have been here a week now and are enjoying the charm of Ecuador in so many ways. Since we are concentrating our trip to the Cuenca area, we won't get to see some of the other parts of this beautiful country. The first week (and this week) have been heavy with meet and greets with other expats. We've met some really nice folks and will be meeting up with more. We attended a great party and have another (a pizza party) on May 4th. We had lunch with new folks today that took us around the the biggest market in the area. Stu got some delicious strawberries and we also FINALLY got our passports copied in color. (Our originals are now tucked away safely).We have both late breakfast/early lunch and late lunch/early dinner meet and greets tomorrow and another on Thursday. We've met authors, retired doctors/chiropractors, young couples with children (homeschooling), retirees and more. What an interesting blend. We continue to meet and chat with locals, even the taxi drivers e