Successful move!

It's done! We managed to get moved with a minimum of trouble, thanks to Sebastian Espinoza Moving. This is our 4th or 5th exposure to him, a couple moves of things we bought from others and our two major moves. Highly recommended!

We sold our refrigerator and bought another (bigger) used one from friends and we also sold a lot of smaller stuff that we couldn't use (painted bench, rug, heater, dishes, etc). Now we have a bunch of little things left to sell.

Moving on....

Well, sort of. As much as we love our current apartment (and our neverending views), we ran across another very nice but smaller (and cheaper) brand new (never lived in) apartment in our old neighborhood.

Since our lease is up the end of this month, we figured we had nothing to lose by looking at it. Well, we rented it and the next three weeks are going to be hectic. Packing, moving, showing our current apartment, selling furniture that won't fit in the new place.

Eeek!! Glad we only have two more weeks of Spanish classes!

Here are some photos from the original ad:

We still get a kitchen peninsula. The laundry room is the paneled door on the right. 

Dining room to the left and the 2nd bath. Long living room.

Brand new and BOTH showers are big! Stu is happy. 

Master bedroom - going back to queen bed (already sold our king size)

YES! We have our own balcony. So excited!!

We are heading to the apartment today for floor planning measurements. Some of our furniture will need to be sold, just need to figure out what!

We are two blocks from the Yanuncay river and still a little over a mile from Popacuchu, one of our favorite places to eat. I'll be close enough to walk to Romy's, my mani-pedi spot and Stu can ride his bicycle on the river trail.

Ahhh, life is good...just don't be surprised if we're not posting much until July!

Ciao for now!

An average day....retired in Cuenca

Blogging can be tiring, after the newness has worn off, what do you blog about? When we were full-time RVers, we had the same issue. We didn't travel every day, we didn't sightsee every day, we still had the same errands, chores, duties that we had in our previous (housebound) life.

Now that we have settled here in Cuenca, after 17 months many days fall into a routine. For example, here is what Sunday was like for us.

• Get up and enjoy french toast and bacon, lovingly prepared by Stu
• Strip the bed, put on clean sheets
• Gather all the laundry, sort and start the first load
• Make shopping list for Stu, need veggies for soup fixings
• Stu cuts up frozen chicken breast for soup
• Gather other soup fixings and discover "almost empties"
• Fill the salt, pepper and various spice containers
• Start the soup (broth, tomatoes, chicken
• Stu back home, put away the groceries while he cleans the gum off the floor that came in on his shoe
• Clean all the fresh veggies (vinegar water)
• Cut up veggies and toss in soup, add seasoning
• Time to check emails and Facebook
• Continue doing laundry
• Write three blog posts
• Stu napping in front of the TV
• Finish laundry
• Finish soup, dish out for dinner and freeze the rest
• Another email, Facebook check and then play some games on my iPad mini while Stu watches some of his car or woodworking shows

I walked over 5000 steps without ever leaving the apartment!

So not every day is exciting, not every day is different, not every day is something you want to read about (but if you got this far, you just did). 

Yes, we are living our Grand Adventure, but life does go on!

Ciao for now!

Two Year Anniversary

Two years ago today we arrived in Cuenca for our month long exploratory visit. What an adventure that was...you can read some of our early posts listed below.

• We're in Cuenca, Ecuador!!!
• Sleep is good!
• Has it been four days?
• Meeting new friends....
• In honor of Earth Day - the gardens at Otorongo Ap...
• One week gone, three left to enjoy!
• Meeting & Greeting plus initial discoveries
• Adventures of the day....
• Four days of sunshine - the river is running low
• What day is it?
• Interim Lists
• A few links of interest and where our plans are he...
• Oh no! It can't be time to leave already....
• Feliz día de la madre
• Cuenca, Ecuador: Preconceptions, Misconceptions an...

Ciao for now!

CAUTION! Handyman at work.

Stu loves to play handyman and fortunately, he's very good at it. Recently, he had two major projects to tackle.

The first was mounting the lamp we bought at Rotary Market last week. We needed more light over the kitchen sink and thought this would help.

He got it hung, after testing how much it blinded me in various spots, ran wiremold for the cord, installed a small push-button on/off switch and voila! We now have a great over the sink light that is soft and yet works. I love it (and I love the color).

The other was a little bigger. In their infinite wisdom, when they pre-wired the apartments for Directv and Etapa Internet, they used two different walls. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but since we use a Roku 3 for streaming most of our TV, this meant we were connecting the Roku wirelessly to the router. In our old apartment, they were direct connected.

So in an effort to improve the speed of the service, Stu opted to use wiremold and a 50 ft telephone extension cord ($6.78 at our local hardware store) to accomplish this feat. Now the corner by my chair is much neater (no UPS taking up lots of floor space - it is now in the under TV cabinet), the signal is much better and the cords behind the TV are no longer a snarling mass of wires.

Here are some before, in progress, and completed photos of my wonderful hubby getting it done!

BEFORE - next to my chair:

DURING:

LOOK CLOSE: wiremold run along baseboard, up wall, across ceiling:

ALL DONE:

Ciao for now!

Galapagos bound!

We got offered a deal we couldn't refuse. We leave next Tuesday, the 10th, taking the intercity bus to Guayaquil. We'll spend the night at the Marriott Courtyard with friends, Chad & George, and Bo & Linda. We will fly out on Wednesday and this is our itinerary.

Santa Cruz Island+ Full Day

(2 Islands)

4 Nights 5 Days

Día 1: Welcome in Baltra Airport
Visit to the Top of Santa Cruz Island (Ranch First Fruits + Lava Tunnel+ The Twins)

Día 2: Full Day tour to Isabela & Concha Perla, or Full Day to Floreana Island, or Santa Fe

Día 3: Charles Darwin Research Station + The German Beach+ Las Grietas

Día 4: Tortuga Bay Beach. City Tour

Día 5: Departure to the airport

Includes:

• Airline Ticket from Guayaquil
• Land and Water Transportation
• Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
• Excursions
• Professional Tour Guide
• Assistance at the airport

Not included:

• Tourism Card INGALA $10.00
• Entrance to Galapagos National
• Park ($10.00) Residents
• Dock Fee (Isabela Island) ($2.00)

Yes, we will take LOTS of photos (hopefully none of me melting, this is the warmest month of the year in the Galapagos).

Ciao for now!

The rest of February....

I know, late again. But really, it's been an extraordinarily BUSY month. Honest! Here is a bit of a photo journey to prove it...

Stu went to Florida for his retired Firefighter reunion.

Stu stopped in to see my brother & his wife before heading to Key Largo for some scuba diving.

While he was gone, I got sick but was finally well enough to attend a Newcomer luncheon at Don Colon's Restaurant.

I had to visit Mall del Rio to pay our Internet, Telephone & Health Insurance. While there I finally got a good photo of this tag on a sweatshirt.

Valentine's Day brought flowers to almost every street corner.

Stu arrived home on Valentine's Day with this beautiful bouquet.

We met up with some motorcycle friends as well as a local, great lunch at Don Colon's.

Our favorite 2-story artisan shop is closed for renovations so many of them have set up shop alongside the cathedral, opposite Don Colon's.

More artisans....

Another meet 'n greet with Moe and her mom, Winnie. Moe plans to move to Ecuador and Winnie will visit during the frigid Boston winters.

A little excitement at the end of our street...glad I have a camera with a good zoom!

The flowers lasted almost two weeks, blooming beautifully!

A new print magazine was launched in town, you might recognize the name at the bottom?

The launch party for the magazine...over 500 people attended. It was a nice mix of locals and expats with several news media folks as well.

So yes, it's been a busy month. Oh, and I've gone to yoga almost every Monday and Friday, written a short story for an anthology to benefit a friend, helped 4-5 friends look for a new apartment, attended a steering committee meeting for a writing conference, started my own writing group, "Writing Our World (in Cuenca)", created a newsletter and website for that AND created the start of a website for our good friend, Simon Cordero, for his restaurant and jewelry business at Magnolia Caffe.

I think it's time for a nap!

Where in the world is...?

I know, I should have blogged before now but it's been a bit hectic. Stu headed to the states on Feb 2nd and I've been swamped with meet 'n greets! Oh, and of course the day to day stuff - doing laundry, paying bills, answering emails, starting a writers group, getting a haircut, trying to get a mani-pedi.

Hey, I even started a short story for another benefit anthology. Still another 8k or so words but at least I'm writing!

Stu did have a great time at his annual Florida Retired Firefighter reunion, then spent some time with my brother and his wife and is now in Key Largo scuba diving. Life is tough...LOL!

Here are a few photos of the past two weeks....

Selfie taken in taxicab of new haircut


Stu snapped a great shot of our big hummingbird visitor


My brother, Kendall, Stu and Kendall's wife, Marie
Enjoying drinks and burgers at Burp's in Florida


Selfie taken in taxicab while trying to get a photo of tiendas selling foam and stuff for Carnaval


Warning label in sweatshirt at Mall del Rio (read the fine print)


BIG meet 'n greet at Don Colon's, over 75 people came!!
Some were visitors, some here on an exploratory visit, some new to the area and,
 of course, those of us who have been here for a while. Great event!

So now it's time to head off to a steering committe meeting to discuss a writing retreat we want to hold next October. Oh yeah, I will be in the states then but two different people asked me to join and help.

Stu will be home Saturday afternoon, ready to relax and do nothing. Me? Three lunches next week...eeep! Not booking anything after that for a while, other than my twice a week yoga class.

Ciao!

Cuenca, Ecuador: Perceptions, Misconceptions and a Third Look

During our exploratory visit to Cuenca, we wrote a post about "Preconceptions, Misconceptions and New Viewpoints". In January 2014 we updated our thoughts in this post, "Perceptions, Misconceptions and Living Here". I thought it was time for another review so here is "Perceptions, Misconceptions and a Third Look".

1. Noise, pollution and traffic
   We notice the noise less and less all the time, I guess we have adapted to city life. The sporadic building alarm behind our new apartment bothers us the most (well, it bothers Stu).
   
   The traffic hasn't changed much, we still walk a lot as well as take the bus.
   
   Pollution is worse due to the construction for the Tranvia and our new location close to it. We expect 2015 to be the worst since construction will expand into El Centro.
    
2. Conservative dress
   I now feel quite comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt when going out but I have also added more solid color shirts (not blouses) and a couple pairs of Duluth Trading pants. Stu has done the same. We still wear athletic shoes most of the time although I love my Ariat slip-ons for days when I'm not walking a lot.
   
   We are seeing more and more casual dress in the teens, even shorts, so I anticipate the continuing trend towards this as those teens grow up.
    
3. Bad Coffee
   Very rarely do we get served bad coffee here. We love the coffee in the restaurants and love the dark roast beans we get at a local shop, Nucallacta.
    
4. Weather
   We still love the weather here and in our new apartment with almost wall-to-wall windows, even an overcast day doesn't seem gloomy. But we know the weather isn't for everyone. It can be a bit cool at times and of course the temperature FEELS warmer or cooler at times due to the altitude.
    
5. Stray Dogs
   Not much has changed here although there are several more rescue groups for dogs. Cats aren't seen as much...mostly with expats. We have seen more locals treating dogs as pets rather than an alarm system. We sometimes wonder if these are part of the influx of Ecuadorians returning from the US and Spain.
    
6. Finding our way around
   We're doing much better, the addresses make sense to us now and we can finally pronounce most of the street names. Of course, we still never remember the address of places we see...thank goodness we have friends that do!
    
7. Language Barrier
   This will be a continual learning process. Our two weeks of Spanish class helped and we both plan to keep working from our notes and workbooks (as well as using the online resources). I get compliments on my pronounciation, even when I'm not sure what I'm saying. So I guess that's a good thing.
    
8. Safety/Security
   We really don't worry about this, as we've stated before, we use common sense when we are out and about. Since we are now in an 8 floor building, we have security at the entrance 24/7. We still don't go out a lot in the evenings, but then we didn't do that in the US either.
    
9. Graffiti vs Street Murals
   We continue to see new murals around town and enjoy snapping photos of them. They are constantly changing. The tagging type graffiti continues but it also moves. Some of it has an artisitic quality, others, not so much. Part of city life...sigh.
    
10. Street/Road Condition & Pedestrians (Walking)
    Nothing has changed here, it's still dangerous to be a pedestrian and you have to continually watch where you walk as well as watch the traffic. But we have had several folks motion us to cross in front of their cars and we even had a bus driver do so. We thank them gratefully!

What we love about Ecuador...this list hasn't changed from our first post other than the addition of #10. Oh, and the list is in no particular order, that would be hard to do. There is something for everyone here in Ecuador whether you plan to vacation or retire. Give it a try!

1. The People 
2. The Greenery
3. The Climate 
4. The Fresh Fruits & Vegetables 
5. The Lack of Stress 
6. The Little Shops  & Markets
7. The Artisans 
8. The Family 
9. The Country 
10. The Diversity

Needless to say, we still love living here. This year we plan to take a mini-trip every month, out to a surrounding town or tourist attraction. We will continue to expand our Spanish vocabulary (grammar and tense are at the bottom of our list). We see something new and interesting daily, whether from our apartment window or traveling around town. Life is good! C'mon on down for a visit...