Monday, April 22, 2013
In honor of Earth Day - the gardens at Otorongo Apartments in Cuenca
Since it's Earth Day, I thought I would share some of the photos I have taken in the gardens where we are staying. Not unique to here, there are gardens and flowering bushes and trees everywhere - all year round!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Meeting new friends....
We took a different route, again, for our walk yesterday. We were only going to the Magnolia Cafe for lunch, I woke with a bit of a hitch in my back due to too much standing at the mall on Friday. Here are a few photos I snapped with my phone while walking.
This is the back view of the apartments where we are staying.
We snapped a pic of our lunch - someday we'll remember to share a meal. I took half my hamburger home. LOL!
On our way back I tried to snap a picture of this pretty tree but the lighting wasn't the best. On the ground were some type of nut. Hoping someone will be able identify it for us.
Around 3pm we went out to the sidewalk and managed to fairly quickly hail for a taxi. He frowned a little at the address but took off. After a short round-about at the end, we finally found the right place. It's actually quite close to the area we liked around Mall del Rio.
This was our first meeting with Ron and Tamra who relocated from Oregon. Ron came first, found them a gorgeous apartment, Tamra followed soon afterwards. They have one of the two major rivers running behind their property (the other is behind where we are staying). We loved the setting and their spacious apartment. They are slowly buying their own furniture and other furnishing, replacing the ones there.
They had printed directions for their taxi driver and he managed to get us to the party in plenty of time. In fact, we were the first arrivals. Suzanne and Terry have rented on the outskirts of town, a HUGE palatial house with a wonderful view of the city (they are higher up - interesting road...giggle)
We met so many wonderful people, expats and Ecuadorians both. Great food, good music, wonderful conversation, ping-pong, pool(billiards) and dancing. Two friends were unable to contact their taxi driver and since they lived close to Ron & Tamra, we took new friends Mark & Sherry up on their invite for a ride home. They're brave - have a car here and drive all the time. Gulp! ;-)
Today is lunch with a new couple of online friends. We'll take the short walk to their house where we'll catch a taxi to a new to us spot for lunch. Tonight is chill time...tomorrow....who knows?
This is the back view of the apartments where we are staying.
We snapped a pic of our lunch - someday we'll remember to share a meal. I took half my hamburger home. LOL!
On our way back I tried to snap a picture of this pretty tree but the lighting wasn't the best. On the ground were some type of nut. Hoping someone will be able identify it for us.
Around 3pm we went out to the sidewalk and managed to fairly quickly hail for a taxi. He frowned a little at the address but took off. After a short round-about at the end, we finally found the right place. It's actually quite close to the area we liked around Mall del Rio.
This was our first meeting with Ron and Tamra who relocated from Oregon. Ron came first, found them a gorgeous apartment, Tamra followed soon afterwards. They have one of the two major rivers running behind their property (the other is behind where we are staying). We loved the setting and their spacious apartment. They are slowly buying their own furniture and other furnishing, replacing the ones there.
We met so many wonderful people, expats and Ecuadorians both. Great food, good music, wonderful conversation, ping-pong, pool(billiards) and dancing. Two friends were unable to contact their taxi driver and since they lived close to Ron & Tamra, we took new friends Mark & Sherry up on their invite for a ride home. They're brave - have a car here and drive all the time. Gulp! ;-)
Today is lunch with a new couple of online friends. We'll take the short walk to their house where we'll catch a taxi to a new to us spot for lunch. Tonight is chill time...tomorrow....who knows?
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Has it been four days?
The days have been busy, fun and yet somehow relaxing. That's not to say that we aren't both in bed by 10, oh, and we have yet to watch any TV other than the first 10 minutes Stu had it on the first night we were here. We're loving our new bed pillows, still waiting to get pillowcases though. LOL!
So let's see...where did we leave off. Oh, our evening with new friends, Sharon and Len. They sent their favorite taxi driver, Manuel, over to pick us up. He speaks a fair amount of English. We quickly arrived at their home...if we lived here, we would probably have walked it but we're so disoriented as to streets and directions.
They have a gorgeous 3 bedroom, 3 bath home with an outside entrance maid's quarters that they use for a guest room. They rented it unfurnished and have done a great job of selecting furniture here (which can be a challenge). We spent the most pleasant evening chatting and then a young friend of theirs arrived with her six year old son. She spent 6 months in New Jersey and her English was amazing. Soon it was time to depart and we look forward to seeing them again.
Our routine has been to get up, eat a light breakfast, catch up on the computer and then sit outside in the garden area to read before we walk into El Centro. Yesterday was no different, it was even sunny when we first went out. As is the norm, clouds came and went so we brought our rain jackets with us as well as an umbrella.
We took a slightly different route this time, walking up a steep sidewalk rather than the steps. This took us past the university and I snapped a few photos of it and the buildings around us. Also, yesterday was a celebratory day for bicyclists and to encourage more riders they staged a big event. The end count was over 8,000 cyclists. We were at the tail end and I snapped a quick photo of where they were set up. (Note: all of today's photos were taken with my phone, thus the less than terrific quality)
We wandered through some new to us streets in El Centro and found the main Mercado where we walked through and looked at all the fruits and vegetables for sale. I opted to not go down the meat aisle, yes, I'm a wimp. I'll save that for a braver day.
As we left the Mercado the rains came, as heavy as yesterday but a bit warmer. We avoided the leaning wall so we didn't have to walk in the street but still managed to finally find our final destination, San Sebas restaurant. We were dripping wet so we shook dry in the foyer and entered. Since it was close to 1pm, the lunch crowd was there, about 50-50 Ecuadorians and Gringos. Downside was no available table. We told the waitress we expected seven and she directed us upstairs. Well, due to some miscommunications, we ended up with three. LOL! But it was a great lunch and nice to meet another person visiting from the USA. Laura, her husband and their 11 year old son are visiting multiple cities. They plan to relocate to Ecuador next March but have yet to determine their final destination.
We eventually wandered back downstairs and ran into two other ladies that we know from the expats forum. Cheryl has been here two years and Andrea just moved here with her seven children and elderly father (now that's an adventure). We sat down and chatted until San Sebas closed (3pm). We'll see Andrea at tonight's party.
From there we took a taxi to Mall del Rio. (We did learn to hail a taxi by extending an arm to the side, NOT by waving it in the air. That is considered a rude insult.) $3 to the mall which is quite good sized with a movie theater, bowling alley, food court, stores of all types and kinds. We saw the little train that you can ride (for $), same as in Arundel Mills in Maryland. We saw the bouncy-bungee jump thingee that we had seen in a Florida mall. We saw Payless Shoes, KFC and even a Bass Pro/Cabella's kiosk.
Our first destination was the department store, Coral. Sort of a SuperMaxi on steroids. We had a few things we still needed to get and made the rounds of the store. We bought a light bulb (fluorescent 13W for under $3) for a bedroom lamp, a small pair of scissors, a big bottle of vinegar (used to wash fruit and vegetables that you can't/don't peel), a papaya, some Bartlett pears, a night light for the bathroom, an umbrella for Stu (which she opened to look for hole or anything broken and got the okay from Stu before folding it back) and spent $12.04.
It would have been cheaper but we didn't get their discount card because we ran into an interesting expat couple. He's a retired chiropractor and she's from Australia. We stood and talked to them for well over an hour (and my back is paying for it today - the standing, that is). We gave them our card and he emailed us last night. We plan to meet up for lunch or coffee some time soon. He offered to take us to the Mercado and and introduce us to his vendor so we don't pay Gringo prices. ;-)
From there we walked next door to Claro, the biggest cell phone carrier in the area, and attempted to get their SIM card for my iPhone. The gal was wonderful, spoke English, and did the best she could to help us. Unfortunately the phone was still locked and she couldn't get around it. (NOTE: Stu redid everything AGAIN when we got home and this time it said UNLOCKED so we'll go there again in Monday, That will give us cell service with prepaid minutes while here.)
Interesting sights and notes of the day:
Tonight we'll take a taxi to Ron & Tamra's house where we will all go together in the taxi to a party on the outskirts of town. We'll meet a lot more folks that we've met online. Should be interesting!
So let's see...where did we leave off. Oh, our evening with new friends, Sharon and Len. They sent their favorite taxi driver, Manuel, over to pick us up. He speaks a fair amount of English. We quickly arrived at their home...if we lived here, we would probably have walked it but we're so disoriented as to streets and directions.
They have a gorgeous 3 bedroom, 3 bath home with an outside entrance maid's quarters that they use for a guest room. They rented it unfurnished and have done a great job of selecting furniture here (which can be a challenge). We spent the most pleasant evening chatting and then a young friend of theirs arrived with her six year old son. She spent 6 months in New Jersey and her English was amazing. Soon it was time to depart and we look forward to seeing them again.
Our routine has been to get up, eat a light breakfast, catch up on the computer and then sit outside in the garden area to read before we walk into El Centro. Yesterday was no different, it was even sunny when we first went out. As is the norm, clouds came and went so we brought our rain jackets with us as well as an umbrella.
We took a slightly different route this time, walking up a steep sidewalk rather than the steps. This took us past the university and I snapped a few photos of it and the buildings around us. Also, yesterday was a celebratory day for bicyclists and to encourage more riders they staged a big event. The end count was over 8,000 cyclists. We were at the tail end and I snapped a quick photo of where they were set up. (Note: all of today's photos were taken with my phone, thus the less than terrific quality)
We wandered through some new to us streets in El Centro and found the main Mercado where we walked through and looked at all the fruits and vegetables for sale. I opted to not go down the meat aisle, yes, I'm a wimp. I'll save that for a braver day.
As we left the Mercado the rains came, as heavy as yesterday but a bit warmer. We avoided the leaning wall so we didn't have to walk in the street but still managed to finally find our final destination, San Sebas restaurant. We were dripping wet so we shook dry in the foyer and entered. Since it was close to 1pm, the lunch crowd was there, about 50-50 Ecuadorians and Gringos. Downside was no available table. We told the waitress we expected seven and she directed us upstairs. Well, due to some miscommunications, we ended up with three. LOL! But it was a great lunch and nice to meet another person visiting from the USA. Laura, her husband and their 11 year old son are visiting multiple cities. They plan to relocate to Ecuador next March but have yet to determine their final destination.
We eventually wandered back downstairs and ran into two other ladies that we know from the expats forum. Cheryl has been here two years and Andrea just moved here with her seven children and elderly father (now that's an adventure). We sat down and chatted until San Sebas closed (3pm). We'll see Andrea at tonight's party.
From there we took a taxi to Mall del Rio. (We did learn to hail a taxi by extending an arm to the side, NOT by waving it in the air. That is considered a rude insult.) $3 to the mall which is quite good sized with a movie theater, bowling alley, food court, stores of all types and kinds. We saw the little train that you can ride (for $), same as in Arundel Mills in Maryland. We saw the bouncy-bungee jump thingee that we had seen in a Florida mall. We saw Payless Shoes, KFC and even a Bass Pro/Cabella's kiosk.
Our first destination was the department store, Coral. Sort of a SuperMaxi on steroids. We had a few things we still needed to get and made the rounds of the store. We bought a light bulb (fluorescent 13W for under $3) for a bedroom lamp, a small pair of scissors, a big bottle of vinegar (used to wash fruit and vegetables that you can't/don't peel), a papaya, some Bartlett pears, a night light for the bathroom, an umbrella for Stu (which she opened to look for hole or anything broken and got the okay from Stu before folding it back) and spent $12.04.
It would have been cheaper but we didn't get their discount card because we ran into an interesting expat couple. He's a retired chiropractor and she's from Australia. We stood and talked to them for well over an hour (and my back is paying for it today - the standing, that is). We gave them our card and he emailed us last night. We plan to meet up for lunch or coffee some time soon. He offered to take us to the Mercado and and introduce us to his vendor so we don't pay Gringo prices. ;-)
From there we walked next door to Claro, the biggest cell phone carrier in the area, and attempted to get their SIM card for my iPhone. The gal was wonderful, spoke English, and did the best she could to help us. Unfortunately the phone was still locked and she couldn't get around it. (NOTE: Stu redid everything AGAIN when we got home and this time it said UNLOCKED so we'll go there again in Monday, That will give us cell service with prepaid minutes while here.)
Interesting sights and notes of the day:
- Coral employees herding shopping carts up the escalator to the second floor of their store
- A lady walking her goat down the sidewalk, dog following behind
- In rush hour traffic, a young man working the crowd for tips by juggling and wearing a red clown nose
- Finding out after the fact that I should have grabbed toilet paper at the entrance to the bathroom, thank goodness I always carry tissues with me
Tonight we'll take a taxi to Ron & Tamra's house where we will all go together in the taxi to a party on the outskirts of town. We'll meet a lot more folks that we've met online. Should be interesting!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Sleep is good!
Sleep IS good and sleep we did. Stu hit the sack around 8 PM after watching 5 minutes of TV. I wasn't far behind at 9:30 PM. We both slept till after 7 AM. No coffee, no breakfast foods as yet so we piddled on the computers for a bit. Around 8:30 we headed back to San Sebas to try their breakfast. They didn't disappoint.
Stu had the banana nut pancakes - huge plateful. I had a plain bagel with butter with a side of fruit. We both had coffee (and it was VERY good, nice and strong, just the way we like it). The bill came to $9, $11 with tip. While there we saw Kent and Susie again, nice to see friendly faces.
We spent several hours enjoying our coffee and chatting. Eventually we got out and started to walk around El Centro. Some interesting stores with products we recognized and a few we didn't. The best was the bakery - hard to resist....but we did. We only saw one street vendor selling grapes. We didn't get any, maybe next time.
After we circled back to the park where we started, we flagged a taxi and asked him to take us to SuperMaxi. $2 for the ride and we were there. Ah, one Spanish phrase down - a gazillion more to go. SuperMaxi is in a small mall so we walked past all the stores first. The most interesting was the electronics store. No problem with prices for most small kitchen appliances but the televisions? Oh my...a little maybe 22" TV was over $400. Yikes!! No wonder we heard that folks that move here bring TVs with them.
Then on to SuperMaxi which is a grocery store with a few extras (more kitchen stuff, pillows and towels). We noticed that the US brands were 2 or 3 times the price of the same product made locally. We opted for all local products. Here is what we bought:
We put the refrigerator stuff away, took our salads that we bought last night and headed out to the garden area for lunch. Nice atmosphere, great company (each other). We sat and chatted before heading back inside where we put things away and I started some sun tea (okay, shade tea) in our new pitcher.
Stu worked on getting my old AT&T IPhone unlocked. We hope to get a sim card here and buy minutes so we can use it for local calls (getting a taxi for the most part or calling new friends). The air is so fresh and clean we often leave the door open along with the windows - no real flying insects except for an occasional fly (rare).
So we had everything open and heard our neighbors come back. Two couples and a third gentleman who was introducing them to each other. Time to stick our heads out and meet them. I remember a few names but no matter. LOL!
By 5:00 we wanted to go for a walk and since we were both hungry we decided to try the closest place: Magnolia. We both got chicken salad sandwiches on flat bread which came with fries. VERY good, especially for $5.50. I got coffee and Stu got a local amber beer. Our waiter was excellent at helping us pronounce the names and learn what things were. We'll definitely go back.
Tomorrow afternoon we meet up with two expats we've come to know online. They invited us over for coffee and are sending their favorite taxi driver to pick us up. $2 ride each way. Saturday we have a party to go to and some time in the next few days I'll try to deliver all the goodies we picked up for folks.
Next week we hope to go to the mercado (open market) where food and other goods are much cheaper. Fruit and veggies are on the list as well as anything else that strikes our interest.We don't plan on doing much cooking, we want to experience what is here.
Thoughts so far? Well, it's obvious that we aren't in Kansas anymore. But the traffic, honking and smelly diesel buses aren't near as bad as we'd been told (at least for us). Nor are the barking dogs. They are all here, just not so bad that we hate it.
Dogs here aren't so much pets as they are alarms or security guards. Some let theirs roam free, but most are kept in tightly fenced yards. Oh, and houses are mostly enclaves with gated entrances. The hardest thing to see is the street dogs. Many have bad hips from being hit by vehicles. You see all breeds, or at least a mix of all breeds. There are organizations that come around and collect the strays from time to time, spay/neuter them, vaccinate them and try to find a home for them.
Most people have been extremely accommodating when they realize how limited we are in speaking Spanish. Words are first, then a few key phrases. Pronunciation is the toughest part - I can't roll the pronunciations like others can. LOL! Thank goodness for our little phrase book and our phone translator (even though mine is single words only).
Okay, enough rambling - here come the few photos I've taken. Hope you enjoy!
The view from our room in Guayaquil the morning of the 16th:
Apartamentos Otorongo in Cuenca:
Around Cuenca:
Stu had the banana nut pancakes - huge plateful. I had a plain bagel with butter with a side of fruit. We both had coffee (and it was VERY good, nice and strong, just the way we like it). The bill came to $9, $11 with tip. While there we saw Kent and Susie again, nice to see friendly faces.
We spent several hours enjoying our coffee and chatting. Eventually we got out and started to walk around El Centro. Some interesting stores with products we recognized and a few we didn't. The best was the bakery - hard to resist....but we did. We only saw one street vendor selling grapes. We didn't get any, maybe next time.
After we circled back to the park where we started, we flagged a taxi and asked him to take us to SuperMaxi. $2 for the ride and we were there. Ah, one Spanish phrase down - a gazillion more to go. SuperMaxi is in a small mall so we walked past all the stores first. The most interesting was the electronics store. No problem with prices for most small kitchen appliances but the televisions? Oh my...a little maybe 22" TV was over $400. Yikes!! No wonder we heard that folks that move here bring TVs with them.
Then on to SuperMaxi which is a grocery store with a few extras (more kitchen stuff, pillows and towels). We noticed that the US brands were 2 or 3 times the price of the same product made locally. We opted for all local products. Here is what we bought:
- Mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise
- 2 pillows, plastic pitcher, 10pk plastic hangers
- Hand soap (pump), dish soap
- Box of 100 tea bags for iced tea
- Small box of Earl Grey tea bags
- 4 pack of Parmalat milk, (1 liter each)
- Peanut butter (the REAL stuff), jelly, butter
- Bimbo whole wheat bread (don't you love the name - saw that in Mexico, too)
- 4 rolls toilet paper, 1 roll paper towels (short and squat - kind of cute)
- 6 pack of local beer
- 3 pack of purse-sized tissues
- small bunch of bananas, 4 apples, package of strawberries
- 2 boxes of cereal, small package of rolled oats
- 6 pack of yogurt
We put the refrigerator stuff away, took our salads that we bought last night and headed out to the garden area for lunch. Nice atmosphere, great company (each other). We sat and chatted before heading back inside where we put things away and I started some sun tea (okay, shade tea) in our new pitcher.
Stu worked on getting my old AT&T IPhone unlocked. We hope to get a sim card here and buy minutes so we can use it for local calls (getting a taxi for the most part or calling new friends). The air is so fresh and clean we often leave the door open along with the windows - no real flying insects except for an occasional fly (rare).
So we had everything open and heard our neighbors come back. Two couples and a third gentleman who was introducing them to each other. Time to stick our heads out and meet them. I remember a few names but no matter. LOL!
By 5:00 we wanted to go for a walk and since we were both hungry we decided to try the closest place: Magnolia. We both got chicken salad sandwiches on flat bread which came with fries. VERY good, especially for $5.50. I got coffee and Stu got a local amber beer. Our waiter was excellent at helping us pronounce the names and learn what things were. We'll definitely go back.
Tomorrow afternoon we meet up with two expats we've come to know online. They invited us over for coffee and are sending their favorite taxi driver to pick us up. $2 ride each way. Saturday we have a party to go to and some time in the next few days I'll try to deliver all the goodies we picked up for folks.
Next week we hope to go to the mercado (open market) where food and other goods are much cheaper. Fruit and veggies are on the list as well as anything else that strikes our interest.We don't plan on doing much cooking, we want to experience what is here.
Thoughts so far? Well, it's obvious that we aren't in Kansas anymore. But the traffic, honking and smelly diesel buses aren't near as bad as we'd been told (at least for us). Nor are the barking dogs. They are all here, just not so bad that we hate it.
Dogs here aren't so much pets as they are alarms or security guards. Some let theirs roam free, but most are kept in tightly fenced yards. Oh, and houses are mostly enclaves with gated entrances. The hardest thing to see is the street dogs. Many have bad hips from being hit by vehicles. You see all breeds, or at least a mix of all breeds. There are organizations that come around and collect the strays from time to time, spay/neuter them, vaccinate them and try to find a home for them.
Most people have been extremely accommodating when they realize how limited we are in speaking Spanish. Words are first, then a few key phrases. Pronunciation is the toughest part - I can't roll the pronunciations like others can. LOL! Thank goodness for our little phrase book and our phone translator (even though mine is single words only).
Okay, enough rambling - here come the few photos I've taken. Hope you enjoy!
The view from our room in Guayaquil the morning of the 16th:
Apartamentos Otorongo in Cuenca:
Around Cuenca:
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