Saturday, February 25, 2012

Friday-Saturday February 24-25, 2012


Friday Feb 24/12 update
Bella was heading out for bridge today so I decided to go walking to again try to find a way to cover the piping in the dining room and to put a wider shelf on the terrace for the boys.
I stopped so many places, eliminating many different ideas, and probably coming up with the dining room solution at a drapery shop.  This was at a store very near to our old place but there were many more shops above that I kept walking and didn’t stop until I was past the airport at the Kywi store.  At that point I felt like I had a charleyhorse and walking was not fun so I caught a bus downtown near the Rotary Market.  I poked around a bit, caught a bit of lunch (BBQ pig) and toyed with the idea of hanging around for Bella but my legs said no.
So I caught a bus home and, lo and behold, I got a call from the Etapa internet technician.  They were at the house at 4:30 and fiddled for an hour, changed my router password and figured they had it solved.   So far, so good.
Bella came home with the news that our immigration lawyer from Quito, Gabriela, is saying we need to get a letter from the Immigration Police Censo guys because we apparently have to apply for our Cedula papers (in Quito) before March 6th or we may have to start the process over again.  Bella was livid that we may have to spend another $40 changing our airline tickets again.  We had been told by the Immigration Police that we had an amnesty on dates because this was all their fault, not ours.  Gabriela said she was going to the Minister’s office today and would let us know the outcome, but hasn’t called yet.
Next week could be very busy as we try to deal with finalizing our home purchase and dealing with Immigration.


Saturday Feb 25/12 update
We bused downtown to meet Jim and Cindy Wilkins for a chauffeured trip to the Caja Mountains with a pleasant driver named Juan.  It was nice and sunny as we left Cuenca and we were hoping for a nice day but it got cooler and cloudier as we climbed to 4,167 meters and the Tres Cruches viewpoint.
Tres Cruches (Three Crosses) is so named for the crosses placed there to mark where they found three bodies a few years ago.  At night it can get quite cold there so people who get lost on mountain trails often do not survive.
The Cajas are one of the ranges of the Andes Mountains that stretch through South America and it would have been better to have seen them on a sunny day when we would have hiked to some of the many waterfalls.  Also 3 of us have colds and my charleyhorse was acting up so hiking was not on anyone’s agenda today anyway.
We were however treated to a couple of gaggles of llamas and alpacas (the white ones) on the roadside.  But we did not see much else in the way of animals or birds until we stopped for lunch at this lovely valley resort surrounded by the mountains and waterfalls.
We came back home before 3.  Juan lives just south of us, over the hill we look at every day.  Five years ago he bought a large piece of land and a huge house for $40,000.  He raises dogs, looks after several properties, and has his tourist tour service.
At 5:30 we caught a bus to Joe’s Secret Garden for a fried chicken supper that everyone had been raving about.  The chicken was good, not spicy enough for me (bring on the KFC), followed by a superb strawberry pie.
Oh, and the Internet hasn't dropped on us once yet today so, knock on wood (usually my head), we may have reliable service finally.
That was today’s excitement.     Enjoy the pics.   Hugs to all.

















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