It's been a year already !!!!!

  The 15^th of June will mark our one year anniversary of arriving in Cuenca. We have lived a very different life than the one we lived before becoming expats. Of course the biggest change is that we are retired and can do what we want when we want for the most part. We have gone through the residency process and are now officially residents of Ecuador. We have found an apartment with a view of the Caja’s, the mountains surrounding Cuenca. We have opened bank accounts and bought furniture and have done all the things we needed to do to settle in our new home..

The View

The Building

We go out to dinner and socialize a lot more than we did in the past. Our eating habits are somewhat different than they were. We have eaten more rice in one year than we did in the entire rest of our lives. We are walking a lot more and we know a little more Spanish than we did before we got here, but not bi-lingual by any stretch of the imagination. A trip to the bank this morning really brought that point home since no one there spoke English and I couldn’t read the withdrawal slip to fill it out correctly. I know it has been a year and I should know by now.

  We have been swimming in the Pacific ocean and eaten foods we never knew existed. We have seen people get really excited about soccer (futbol), we still will say from time to time “Can you believe we are living in the Andes mountains? Joan has taken up weaving and is enjoying it immensely.

  We have met a lot of people in the past year, both Ecuadorians and expats. We now know people who have traveled all over the world and have lived in different countries. Some (most) are really nice and some we can do without. There are good and bad everywhere and Ecuador is not an exception to that rule.

The Pacific Ocean at Salinas Ecuador

Local fare

  As I have written before Cuenca is not paradise and as I meet more people I am hearing others have not found that place yet either. We are enjoying our new life and I would suggest that others might want to consider the expat route. There are people here who are retired and then there are others who are here to work whether they are of retirement age or not. We recently met a man who has been an expat for 25 years and has lived in several countries over that time.   

  From as far back as I can remember the U.S. was always the best place in the world and there was no where else that was anywhere near as good. While I still believe the United States is a great place I no longer believe it is the only place. I will concede that it might be the only place for a lot of people though. We have met some of them here and they didn’t fit in or stay long. They were the ones who thought everyone should speak English and “that’s not how we do it in the states” were the first words out of their mouths for any situation they found uncomfortable or different.

We are planning to see a lot more of Ecuador in the near future. We have yet to spend any time in the Quito area and while we have been to the coast we haven’t seen all of it or really taken the time to explore life there. There is the jungle to see as well. So we expect the adventure to continue and we will report about the interesting stuff as best we can.

No Gracias, Kid, I think we'll walk.

Hasta Pronto, 

Dale and Joan

hats in Cuenca

We have been seeing lots of different hats in Cuenca. Some are silly and I think they probably want to be. Some hats I don't think the  wearer realizes they are silly, and some are just hats that anybody would look good in. But, then again, it is only one man's opinion and maybe I look silly and don't realize it when I'm out and about. This is not a call for people to tell me one way or the other I would rather not know. Ignorance is bliss right????

So go ahead and form your own opinions

 Hasta Pronto and happy Memorial day
Dale and Joan

We have been keeping busy with a lot of very serious stuff, such as keeping the search going for good restaurants and taking care of the very serious errands that I have written about before.

  We have gotten into walking again and when it is not raining we get in some exercise. It is good to get out and see the different parts of the city. We always seem to find something new. I have never lived in a city as large as Cuenca so I don’t know if that is the way it is in other places or not.

We went to the movies the other night at the Millenium Plaza. Wednesday is half price day and the movies are cheap (by US standards) to begin with. After the movie we went to the food court and found that the new Subway shop has opened. It was doing a pretty good business that night. We later found there will be a Subway shop at Mall Del Rio, too. We don’t find that too exciting because we weren’t big fans of Subway when we were in the states even though they started in our hometown.

Mick and Kathy wanted to know if it was the same as in the states. They said it was pretty much the same

One Sunday morning walk we saw this group of bike riders. We have trouble crossing the streets when we walk especially when we come to the round abouts. The cars never stop for pedestrians but  the lead rider just held up  his hand as he rode into the round about and the traffic stopped and waited for every bike to go by. 

    We went with Mick and Kathy, this past Saturday, to a nursery outside of town. The plants are not expensive and Joan has promised to do all she can not to kill them so we bought a few and they are now in the living room.

We went back to the store "Artecto Muebles", which is on Gran Columbia, where we had our dining room table and our living room tables made and had them make the table for the plants in the picture below. We also had them make an end table for the living room. We showed them a picture from the internet of what we wanted and they made it for us in just 2 weeks.

We have begun going to a dentist that was recommended by several of our friends. His name is Ricardo Rodriguez and his office is at Salano Av and Miguel Cordero. The office is very modern and his english, while not perfect, is more than good enough  I haven't compared his prices with others but from what I am told he is comparable to what others are charging here. After talking to him about his prices for caps, crowns and bridges I think it is very likely a person could come to Cuenca on vacation and have dental work done and still spend less than the cost of the dental work at U.S. prices. A cleaning is $35 and a cap is $200. We know of one person who is selling medical tours for plastic surgery here and I would think dental would not be any different. 

The picture below is of the Tomebamba River

These people were outside of the Coffee Tree. I think they were posing for pictures. The camera club is housed in the building behind the bus.

Some flower arrangements in a store we walked by in El Centro

  We are enjoying everyday and wishing the rain would give us a break. Unfortunately, the weather is getting cooler as we are getting into our winter (if you can have a winter in the land of eternal spring) but to paraphrase the t-shirt philosophy A day in Cuenca is better than a day at work.

  Hasta pronto and Happy Mother's Day to all

Dale and Joan