Friday September 7, 2012

Friday September 7/12 update

I got up early and did the chores before drafting another letter to the Commercial Manager at Etapa Internet.  I told him that we were very disappointed that he thought a service call every month to repair daily interruptions of our connection was OK when they never did solve the problem over 5 months.  I asked him to return the $44.80 installation fee charge to our account by Sept 28^th or my blogs would be fully noted of our experience.  It only takes one person to avoid Etapa to give us the satisfaction that they have lost money on the exchange.

I then caught the bus downtown to deliver the letter to the main Etapa office and enjoyed going by San Blas, Parque Calderon, the flower market, San Francisco.

I kept snapping shots going through El Centro and all the way down to Avenida Solano.  The Solano area was very busy with College and University students getting out for the day.  The new Chinese Restaurant seems to be very close to their opening day.   I wouldn’t doubt if it was this weekend as they were washing the windows as I went by.  

I walked to the Papeleria Monsalves near the soccer stadium to get a new stapler (broke our little one this morning) and a sleeve for carrying documents.

Outside they were selling soccer shirts for team Ecuador which is battling for a spot in the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.  I again managed to get a large size for a whole $5.  It was requested that everyone wear an Ecuador shirt today as they have an important game this afternoon.  There certainly were many yellow jerseys visible everywhere, and I always get thumbs up for wearing one too.  I was also thankful to switch from the hoodie to the jersey because the sun was getting very warm.   I will give Brownie points to the first person who can tell me what is wrong with the two jersey photos….

Next I checked out the big Farmacia near the Mount Sinai hospital to see if they had any humidifiers for Bella, which they didn’t.   So I walked all the way back to Pichincha Bank for some cash then went across the street to catch the #7 to the airport area.

I waited at Kiwi for 20 minutes until their English-speaking employee, Jonathan, returned from lunch.  I then had him hunt to see if they had another new humidifier like the one I had bought previously.  I was actually shocked that they did have one in a box so I grabbed it, and some light bulbs, and caught a cab home.

Tomorrow I have a very busy day planned with three appointments so there probably won’t be any blogs until Sunday.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.

Thursday September 6, 2012

Thursday September 6/12 update

I was hoping to get out today just to do some photography, maybe with the bike, but the weather seemed too iffy.   I have now made arrangements to go out Saturday morning, weather permitting, with Paul Wolf who has moved a mile or so east of us, so maybe we will check out things further east?

I had a visit this morning from the ServiCable servicemen because I had called about an outage yesterday that had lasted several hours.   They checked my computer to be sure but confirmed the problem had come from their transmission.   One of them was Javier who lives down the block.

So, I decided to tackle the Etapa problem instead today and caught the #16 over to their office and asked to speak to David who was raised in Ottawa and is their fellow who translates for the expats.  I hated to have to bother him as he is such a nice man and he really hates being the middle man but he knows he has no choice.  I showed him the letter we had received from the GM at Etapa and he translated essentially that they had fixed the problem 6 times in 6 months so the GM thought our service was good.  WRONG!  I guess another, more strongly worded, letter is in order.   It will cost them a lot more than $44.80 if I get mad and use my blogs against them.

Yet Etapa is a good corporate citizen who supplies free Internet to the schools and many non-profit groups.  David promised to email me right away the requirements to apply, and he did, as it seems ridiculous that the Amigos Activity Center can’t get Internet service donated.   I am passing this information to Miguel and company.

I walked back and stopped in at the Quinta Bolivar to see if they had any new art exhibits.  They had a lot of patriotic stuff today dealing with their independence, including the actual signed independence documents from 1830 and 2006..  They had many sketches of Bolivar and, I believe Sucre, as well as two magnificent velvet flags with brocade and all.   I love stopping in there.

I continued walking home and went to deal with the ServiCable issue of overcharging us $26.80 when the promised price is $23.19, in black and white.  I went to the Monay Coral kiosk and waited for the manager, Klever to return in 5 minutes.  We had Jorge from Coral to interpret and Klever promised to have it looked after this afternoon. 

I felt sorry for Jorge who was sporting a huge bandage on one thumb.  He showed me photo of the damage he had done with a machine, slicing off ½ of his thumbnail.   That is going to hurt for a long time.

Crossing the river again I noted the level was again very low but noticed water coming out of the side wall of the bridge abutment.  It appeared to be gushing from the roots of an agave plant, very pretty!  This was new, and at first I wasn’t sure if a new spring had opened up or what, but then I noted several other pipe holes built into the wall, mostly plugged with debris, so this must be a planned expulsion of water from somewhere.   It actually looks beautiful to this waterfall lover.

I spotted a new lunch place on the street behind us, with almuerzo and dessert for $2.50 and I was dearly tempted to try it, but instead decided to return to the gals next door.  I ordered the almuerzo lunch with juice, without soup, just to see how they would react.  We had not returned there since they charged us first $1.50, then $1.75, then $3.00 for the same meal over 2 days…   I think they got the message because the meal was $1.50 again. 

I grabbed the local newspaper and one of the headlines was about 270 aftershocks of the second largest earthquake to hit yesterday near San Jose, Costa Rica, where we visited 2 years ago.  It was so expensive there I doubt I would ever return.  Here is some info on it  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usc000cfsd#summary  The article mentions a stronger quake on the west coast in 1991 that killed 48 people.

While Cuenca is far from perfect and the weather hasn’t been very warm for a spell, it certainly beats anywhere else as a place to live year-round. 

As I was unlocking my door, the neighbor, Nilo, came over to say Hi.  It is amazing that I am getting more confident at conversing in Spanish as long as we keep it short and simple.  He asked if I like futbol and basketball so I think he is intending to invite me along some day when they play as a family.

We get to see many odd sights here as they are entrepreneurs extraordinaire.  On our street right now are 3 guys with a truckload of mattresses and a megaphone trying to drum up business.  Gotta love the Cuencanos.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.

Wednesday September 5, 2012

Wednesday September 5/12 update

I was awake again at 3am, with the mind churning and making preparations for the Amigos School meeting.  I tried to get back to bed at 5 but the Boys joined me so I only managed to toss and turn until 6:30 when I got up to get busy again.

I met Nancee (a Spanish class alumni, and an English teacher) south of Feria Libre and showed her where the school was.  Many people came late but we had a great turnout, even three new volunteers (including Yoshi’s daughter Lynn).  

Nancee and Victoria, our bilingual teacher met for 3 hours yesterday to hash out some issues and to coordinate on a curriculum for teaching English as a small portion of each class.

Miguel again chaired the meeting and Linda appointed herself as chairperson to follow the agenda she had drawn up.   Considering the circumstances, the meeting went quite well however we all had to gang up on Miguel to reduce his grandiose expectations to those realistically manageable at this time.   Many good suggestions were put forward and it appears that everyone is on the same page now.

The decision was made to expand the class time from 3pm to 4:30 to allow 3 segments of Art, English and Activities to be interwoven.  Everyone signed up to help in the various areas, and we will be accepting new volunteers as they come forward.

The decision was also made to change the name to Amigos Activity Center, in English and Spanish as we are much more than a school.

The Hearts of Gold people, Emilie and Melinda, joined us to impart the good news that they will fund us for a new locking cabinet for supplies for now, and they will probably fund more things later. 

I am to put in a GringoTree ad to see if we can get donations of a large screen monitor, maybe a projector, and a laminating machine.   It appears that Miguel was not successful in getting Etapa to donate Internet service and yet nobody seemed interested in contacting the many other cable companies….  I bit my lip on that one.

Chris is to make laminated ID cards for all kids and I am to supply him with the photos I have.  

Nancee volunteered to coordinate the staffing for each class.   It is all coming together slowly but it is certainly helping to have some qualified people in the right positions.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.

Tuesday September 4, 2012

Tuesday September 4/12 update

Today is another dreary day (for here) and I wish I had just stayed in bed.   I am having the day from hell with all kinds of problems, starting with the Amigos English School.  It is so strange that nobody else wants to take the reins and guide this worthy enterprise, but yet they don’t want anybody else to do it either.  This is ceasing to be fun or challenging, so it is probably time to move on.

I got up and went to the book/movie exchange just to get out of the house and exchange 4 movies, 2 of which are the ones I bought around the corner, that were supposed to be checked and be in English but weren’t.  I took the camera along, hoping to brighten the day but somehow things just continued downhill all day.

I rushed home to be here before Rosa showed up for cleaning at 12:30 but she did not show up so I called her.  She said she tried to call yesterday but probably only had Bella’s phone number which is dead.  She asked to come next week instead so I will probably go to 3 weeks again for the next visit just to get back on rotation.  

Then Bella emailed me that Etapa did indeed withdraw the installation fee for cancelling our Internet account and that ServiCable is now charging us more than they promised.  In the foul mood that I am in today I certainly don't want to deal with friggin' Etapa again.   Later in the week I will deal with it and ServiCable as well.

Then I finally got an email contact with that Jovani guy from NetTalk and then he was too busy so he passed me on to a fellow named John so I had to start all over again.   All we are asking for is fairness and an extension of the expiry date of our service since they only got one of our two NetTalks Duos operational on March 12^th.  He has gone to his supervisors and promised to get back to us today.    (Naturally he didn’t).

I took a bus to our old neighborhood as I badly needed a haircut and I went to my little indigenous barber.  I splurged and had the haircut and manicure for $5.  That felt good and refreshed me somewhat into a better mood.

Today I have shots of a fisherman and some school kids downtown where they seem to be finishing up the cobblestone street north of the Tomebamba.  I also managed to get some neat building accents, and shots of the Broken Bridge below Todos Santos.     Further along we shot the Inca ruins and some clothes drying at Pumapungo.   Closer to home I found the house on the northwest corner has been repainted, while the open lot next door has been cleaned up and fenced  The monster house opposite them to the west has just been painted too so the two corner houses are now without graffiti.  It is really heartening to see the neighbors taking pride in their homes and keeping pace with the Joneses.

Across the road at the house under construction they have been unloading hollow tiles by hand since this morning.  It is amazing how they have no other methods to avoid tying up such a big delivery truck at one site for a whole day.

The Boys seem to be scrapping every day and I think it is just for my benefit to show that they are getting some exercise.  The other 99% of the time they are doing what cats do, mostly sleeping.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.

Monday September 3, 2012 Anniversary

Monday September 3/12 update

Happy 7^th Anniversary to my Love who is slaving away in Okotoks while I pine away in Cuenca.  It has been a great ride for 7 years and we still have a few miles left on this odometer.  XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Just spoke to Bella and she is working on crochet hooks while I am doing laundry.  Aren’t we ever exciting today…..????

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.

Sunday September 2, 2012

Sunday September 2/12 update

Good day.  Today was grocery day because I am running out of a few staples   I had to call my sweetheart to see which store was the best for a “one-stop-shopping” experience.  She advised me that Coral beats SuperMaxi by a long shot so that saved me some traveling money since Coral is just a short walk. 

Sunday is actually a bad day to go shopping because it seems every family for miles around come to shop, and with four kids in tow.  If this was the situation in North America, we would avoid the place like the plague!   But here the kids are so darn cute and well-behaved that it is not that great a hardship.  The place was packed today as I probably caught the folks doing their shopping after church.  I even had to pack most of my groceries, which I managed to get for under $60.  I am probably good for 2 weeks now, at least.

Other than eating at Joe’s Secret Garden once a week, I have only eaten out twice in the past month, preferring to eat at home (not counting the 2 days on the trip).

Last night I received a slideshow made by Linda on a Mac of the Amigos English School.  Many of the photos are from the first two classes when the boys thought it was funny to swap names, so the names on the photos aren't necessarily right.   Unfortunately I have since found out that I can’t forward it or give a link as it seems to be “invitation only”.  That is too bad because the video is very enjoyable.

I watched two movies back-to-back with the Boys tonight. 

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.

Saturday September 1, 2012

Saturday September 1/12 update

Boy!   I had a solid 8 hour sleep for a change!   And I’m still tired!  That’s what exhaustion does to a person.  I should have the next few days to recuperate. 

Today was an afternoon BBQ at Joe’s Secret Garden.  I take their photos and put them in Joseph’s DropBox account, so there is no more running back and forth with memory sticks.  My only problem with that is that the download is SO slow….  I love the afternoon meals at Joe's because I get to take most shots outside in natural light which was wonderfully overcast today, so no harsh shadows.  The bar room also has nice ambient light so I can avoid having to use my flash.  Today I decided to use the big Sony and it did a good job.

Today’s meal was Grilled Beef Tenderloin and Barbequed Pork, with Banana Pudding.  Everybody was raving about it afterwards.   It was my only meal of the day and I was so full I could hardly walk.   It was a good thing that I had taken the majority of my pictures already.

They even had 2 people plus a photographer doing an article on Joe’s for the magazine Vistazo and I believe Chris and Bettye got interviewed for it too.   I hope somebody sends me an electronic copy when that comes out.

Afterwards Chris and Bettye asked if I wanted to see this new art they were having delivered so I popped over to their apartment.  Two artists came up with a bunch of art, in addition to the one they had already purchased.  The painter’s name was Holger Zavala and the sculptor was Miguel Illescas.  They had one realist painting and about 6 abstracts.   I hated to admit it but I was not fond of the realist painting which was way too busy, but I liked the abstracts because of the iridescent materials used.  The effect of the art changed as you moved around the room and caught different light angles.  Once Bettye and Chris had decided on what they wanted, they also discussed other pieces of sculpture they wanted to complete their living room.  Art is such a personal thing but Bettye certainly has good taste and good ideas.  (They did not buy the big busy green picture.)

Then we all went over to Brad & Cindy’s to try out 3 pieces on their walls and everybody quickly came to the same agreements once we saw certain pieces in the right configurations.    

Then I had to wander back to Joe’s to retrieve my backpack, which I had forgotten there, before heading across the river to try to catch the #50 home.   After waiting a ½ hour and not seeing one going either direction I decided to walk to Feria Libre to see if I might snag a #15.   However it was already past 7pm and after another 20 minutes I broke down and hailed a cab.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.