Retire to Ecuador? Why not!

We have been busy packing, okay, so Stu did the majority (thank you sweetie, love you!). The walls are patched and painted, we pick up our keys on Wednesday, we move on Thursday and hopefully get our new DirecTV service installed that day and our Internet on Thursday (Friday at the latest). This will probably be my last post until next weekend while we unpack and try to make some sense out of the chaos. But I can promise you we'll be enjoying our rooftop terrace every chance we get (when the weather cooperates). Keep your fingers crossed that all goes as planned!

Everyone is an art critic...

We even spent $14 (total) for two shirts to show our support for Ecuador in the World Cup. Who'd ever think we'd be watching Fútbol! Ecuador held their own against one of the giants, France, for a tie but it wasn't enough to keep them in the game. Now we can root for the US. Many folks were at the malls and other areas with big screen televisions...this was the mall we use, Mall del Rio, shortly before the game began. They have a HUGE big screen in the food court area. Oh, the President also let all government employees off at 2:30 to enjoy the game and many businesses followed suit.

A hot topic is crime in Latin America, for us in Ecuador and specifically, Cuenca. We've all seen the grisly headlines about drug cartels and homicides. We've read about date rape drugs and other used in robberies. But what is the reality of living here in Cuenca? We have met over 100 expats and are online friends with many more. Have any of them experienced crime personally? The truth and sad fact is, yes, some of them have. Most of these have been crimes of opportunity - pockets picked, cell phones left sitting on the edge of a table, backpacks not secured on a packed bus. There are a few stories of face-to-face robberies, many of them at night with the victim a bit inebriated or unaware of their surroundings. Cuenca is not a small town even though it may feel that way at times. We have learned to not carry a lot of cash, use the ATMs inside the banks or the bigger malls, keep our wallets where we can feel them, never carry original copies of our passports (not needed

Yesterday we went to see our actual apartment after the previous tenant moved out this past weekend. These first photos are from the landlord's father's apartment with the exact same layout. This apartment is two floors directly above ours, same layout/size. And no, there is NO diswasher in our unit...we supply all appliances. LOL! Oh, as always, click any photo to see a larger image. These photos are from the recently vacated apartment that will be ours, currently being painted, cleaned and any needed repairs done. Can't believe I forgot to take a photo of the master bedroom and bath. Cheated and used the master bath photo from the above apt. The master has a nice room darkening roman style window cover that we bought from the previous tenant. The other windows will eventually get sheers. We will have a huge open living - dining - kitchen great room area. The three bedrooms are a bit smaller but we are pretty sure we can fit our king bed i

They start young...