Cuenca Updates: Monday-Tuesday March 12-13, 2012

Monday Mar 12/12 update

Let us cross our fingers…. After 5.5 months of absolute frustration with NetTalk, we finally had contact with a smart support technician this morning. It took four hours of testing amidst computer glitches but in the end he got it to work. He said it was a firmware problem all along.

So, write this number down – 587-887-4821 which is a Calgary number so it should be exactly the same as calling us at home in Okotoks. I had sent out an email so thank you to those friends who called to say hello and give us some home news.

So it appears everyone else is on daylight saving time but we aren’t so we are only one hour earlier than Calgary and must be one hour later than Ontario. Does that mean we are the same time as Saskatchewan?

That was today’s excitement. Hugs to all.

Tuesday Mar 13/12 update

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.html says the sun is directly overhead today. Yesterday was mostly gloomy with showers but today got beautifully sunny so we could enjoy it.

We had to go the Coopera Credit Union to rearrange some Certificates Of Deposit this morning and then caught a bus towards Banco Pichincha and walked up the stairs to El Centro. There was some recommended antique and art store near the top of Calle Larga and we breezed through it. It had just a lot of old stuff that we used to own 30 to 40 years ago. Actually, that made us feel like antiques, so we continued on.

I had seen some tapestries that I thought would look good in the house but they were much too long, when we needed width instead. Their wide versions were not very nice and I would have had to figure out a nice way to hang such a thing on a concrete wall. That is a big consideration when buying anything. Concrete is not forgiving like wood or drywall where a person can most often use a straight pin to hang almost anything with no visible damage. Concrete damage is very visible so we try to choose our placement very carefully and use concrete anchors.

We tried to find the artist of the painting that we still owed $5 to, but he was gone for a long lunch so we decided catch him later. We both admit that we don’t like that painting in the living room (I have put it in my bedroom). We have to return there anyway, probably tomorrow to pick up a piece of art that we both liked at another booth which will take the place of the painting.

Bella had previously spotted some interesting carved art on lower Calle Larga but he was gone for lunch too. While waiting, we found two gorgeous vases at a ceramic shop run by a handicapped woman to cover the window of the social bathroom next to the dining room. Her work was superb and her painting meticulous, head and shoulders above most of the other stuff we had seen. We also picked up a couple of tiny ceramic paintings for the entryway and stairway.

At 3pm the fellow was back at his art shop so Bella showed me her find, smaller than she recollected, of a couple of natives that appeared to be dancing. He wanted $25 each. First we talked him down to $40, then we decided they were too small to have much impact. But then we spotted two other male carvings that would compliment them nicely as it appears as though all 4 are dancing. We got all 4 for $75 and that is our new art on the main wall in the living room, understated, but definitely fun and Ecuadorian. They look much better in real life than in my photos.

On arrival at home I finally received an email response from a mural artist stating they would indeed do a simple mural for $200 for us. I emailed them back telling them they took too long so we had made other art arrangements this very afternoon. You snooze, you lose. We put that money to better use.

So, out came the concrete drill to install this art. The house is coming together nicely.

We called Michael Berger to invite him and his wife and baby for supper along with Jorge Beltran, the architect, his wife and two teens. We told them any day from Friday on would be fine. They will pick a day when both are available. I remembered later that we have a luncheon date on Monday out in San Joaquin so I hope they don’t choose Monday.

That was today’s excitement. Enjoy the pics. Hugs to all.