Friday November 9, 2012

Friday November 9/12  update #280

I had to be up early as I volunteered to sell the Xmas Gala tickets this morning.   The girls went out to get some manicures and pedicures, some shoe repairs, and then take a city bus ride to the northwest corner of the city.   I understand they had a chicken dinner at Segundo’s restaurant on Paseo de Los Canaris.

We had some fun with the gate at Hearts Of Gold refusing to close but I somehow managed to coax it shut, twice.   We had lots of visitors for various things today so the time passed quickly.

Walking up Avenida Solano I saw a futbol game going on, on the boulevard, with cars and buses zipping by on both sides.   I held my breath when the ball ended up in the traffic.

I then scooted up the hill to El Centro and went to the software place, only to find it closed.  I had seen Jay and his friend Steve at the Coffee Tree so I asked them to join me for almuerzo at Long Street, so they did.  While we were discussing this we saw two policemen rousting up 3 teens and checking through all their clothes for drugs presumably.     

Steve wasn’t hungry but Jay certainly was, so we enjoyed a wonderful meal from our favorite Ecuadorian cook.  The soup and the meal were superlative as always and had Jay raving about them.

I went back to the software store and exchanged the Adobe PhotoShop CS6, Apple versions, for Windows versions that the fellow copied while I waited.   I also picked up a copy of Lightroom 4 for $3.

Next I decided to go to that video store again and gave the lady my old wish list.   She actually found a few of the titles I wanted and we did some negotiating.   I made her check every single DVD I was buying to be certain they were in English, and that the lips matched the sound.   Even though she was certain that they were all in English, we found about 10 that weren’t!  Some of them showed that it was supposed to have an English track, but they didn’t, so it was very strange.   In short, I came out with 28 titles on 22 discs for $22.

I noticed Raoul’s new place is closed in and looking good.   I’ll have to stop by tomorrow and have a closer look, if I get the chance.

I came home to find that Bella and Mavis had already returned so Mavis and I tried to download both new discs of the Photoshop CS6 to no avail.   We kept getting the errors that the disc couldn’t set up some required files.  So I guess I will be going back for refunds in the morning.

Mavis helped me catalogue my movies which saved me a lot of time.

Bella cooked me a separate supper of the smoked sausages that I had purchased at SuperMaxi.   I was hoping to find something that was very close to the Smokies at home and thankfully these fit the bill nicely.

I then helped Mavis download photos from her phone, adjust them all in PS, then upload them to her DropBox folder for family and friends to enjoy.

Now, while concentrating on my own photos I decided to take an extremely long shot of the amusement park a mile away at night.   The shots are somewhat interesting, but certainly not what I had hoped for.

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

Thursday November 8, 2012

Thursday November 8/12  update #279

Bella and Mavis went to the weaving store this morning to get reacquainted with all the crafts people.  They get busy and crochet and knit stuff for cancer patients, etc.  Bella is always very popular with the ladies because of her extensive knowledge in those crafts.

I spent my morning uploading to my photo sites and it is always gratifying to see my work featured in many groups and favoured by many other artists.

After the ladies got home and had lunch, we hopped on the #15 to go to the top of El Valle and explore.  We walked the road above the church and came across this cute family and really giggled when this pantless boy was searching the laundry for something dry to wear.  They were quite happy to pose for us, except the matriarch always dropped her head and did not smile because she had very few teeth, and those weren’t going to last long either.

I still love the extreme quiet and feel so at home up there compared to the city.

We saw many animals and also many folks working in their large gardens, most of which seem to be freshly hoed for planting soon.   We even saw a man unhooking two bulls from a single blade wooden plow.   I later got their silhouette travelling on the ridge.

The house I had been eyeing up there appears to have been sold, or at least the For Sale sign is down.  It was reportedly 1820 sq ft but we had a pretty good look at and the house appeared to be maybe 900 sq ft on the main floor with only a ½ second floor.   They were also asking $135,000, way over the usual asking price around $50 a sq ft.  Oh, well, I can still dream.

The house across the street is progressing very slowly but they have begun bricking in the outside walls now.

Mmmmmm Lomo Fino (Filet Mignon) for supper….   So-o-o-o-o good!

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

Wednesday November 7, 2012

Wednesday November 7/12  update #278

We coordinated jumping on the # 16 bus with Paul Wolf this morning to see his photos, and those of Christine Magee on display above the Kadaffa Café on Avenida Solano.   We were too slow getting to our bus stop so we caught the #15 and actually got ahead of them by a block!  The exhibit is quickly throw together, poorly advertised, and there are no signs outside, so the show is bad for the artists.   Paul and Christine’s work is superlative, but there is just nobody finding it in this remote spot.   It is really too bad.

Bella had to cash a cheque drawn on a particular Credit Union and did so with no problem.   She had tried to deposit a US cheque at Banco Pichincha yesterday by showing her Bank Debit Card and was refused by the minions on the ground floor.  Today we went up to the “Private Banking” folks we know and asked what the problem was???   We talked to Diana and she said they would handle it for us up there as long as we endorsed the cheque and showed our account number.  No problemo.

Next we went up the stairs to El Centro and checked out The Remigio Crespo museum which had all kinds of old artifacts before stopping at Sabor Latino on Calle Larga for lunch (almuerzo).   We noticed a new lady behind the counter but were hoping it would be the same great menu, just a replacement cook…  Actually the meal was less money, only $1.50, but the soup was pasty potato soup, not to my liking at all.    As we departed there, we saw another new lunch place opened up just 2 doors away called Long Street Café Bar, at 6-60 Calle Larga.  We were pleasantly surprised to see the former lady from Sabor Latino now running that place, so we promised her we would be back to have lunch with her another time.

We stopped at a premier software shop, not far from the Coffee Tree (which is mysteriously closed) and Mavis and I each bought a Photoshop CS6 disk for a whole $5.

It was threatening rain but we headed for the San Francisco market anyway.   Mavis was looking for Christmas gifts for many of her extended family so we had many, many bags to cart home upon completion.   We did some shopping at one booth, then went and had juice, coffee, and a beer, respectively at a nearby lunch place.  Then we returned to a different booth, bought more stuff, then went back to the original booth and bought more.  The fellow at the original booth gave Mavis a “yapa”, free gift of a shawl, for spending so much with him.

We caught a cab home and I tried to load the CS6 on my computer with Mavis watching.   I felt pretty stupid when nothing would load and the instructions made little sense to me.  I even “phoned a friend” for help but we were none the wiser after that.   I had noticed many references to Apple in the instructions but kept hoping there were some dual instructions because we had specifically told the man we wanted the Windows versions several times.  When Mavis showed me the Apple logo on the packaging I was a tad upset at these guys so they will be seeing me tomorrow!

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

Tuesday November 6, 2012

Tuesday November 6/12  update #277

Today the three of us caught a bus over to Joe’s Secret Garden for a special luncheon with the Bridge group put on by our good friend Bettye Petersen.   The meal was a shrimp pasta dish that was absolutely superb!!   Thank you Bettye for allowing us to come!   We ate outside in the BBQ area and the weather brightened up.

I was a seatmate with Chris Petersen and a lovely lady named Joanna, and we were occasionally joined by Manon Stephenson.   Joanna is the nice lady who is going to help us get the Poor Man’s Galapagos on Isla de La Plata in about 10 days.   Bella has the trip all planned.

We abandoned Bella to play bridge while I went to the Las Americas interchange to meet Jay Shink as well as Dan and Chona Pamenter.   I showed them where the Visa office was then took them for a quick tour of Joe’s. 

We were joined outside by Chris with his new responsibility, a cute Papillon dog named Jedi who actually belongs to Brad and Cindy.  

From there we went to Feria Libre for a quick tour.  Some of the female market sellers were having fun with us when we were taking their photos.  Mavis felt very sorry for all the animals for sale there, especially the puppies.

We then caught the #11 bus to Banos which unexpectedly stopped short of our destination at the church.   Luckily it was a short uphill walk.  We tried to find a banos (bathroom) but found that is pretty difficult in a spa town of the same name!   They kept giving us maps to the various hot springs.

We managed to get some nice photos of the church against some very dramatic skies that soon opened up into a ½ hour downpour.   Unfortunately Dan had a breakdown of his camera mirrors so he was unable to see what he was shooting through the lens.  It abated enough for us to begin our descent down the mountain. 

Time was running out on us so when we saw the #11 waiting at the stop we just hopped on and headed back.  Jay got off at Feria Libre while the rest of continued downtown.  We stopped at the Fuji store to get their recommendation for a repair shop.   Oddly enough they recommended another Fuji store 5.5 blocks away.  We left Dan & Chona at Parque Calderon and proceeded to Ristorante La Vina to meet Bella for supper.    I never get tired of their wonderful pizza!

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

Monday November 5, 2012

Monday November 5/12  update #276

I had my first good night’s sleep in ages, purely from exhaustion, and I slept in until almost 9:30.   The girls decided they were doing outside chores all day today so I was on my own.    I tried to arrange meeting Jay today but I guess our timing was bad as I didn’t hear back from him.

I emailed veronica Maldonado with the Chamber Of Commerce to see why we haven’t heard anything about Expat Appreciation night this year.  The “fist Annual” was last year on November 10^th.

I started to upload my photos to two sites and I noticed the weather was turning sour pretty early and it started to rain.   I just went back to bed for 2 more hours.   I know I will pay for that tonight unfortunately.

At 4:00 it was still raining when the girls returned with their haul from shopping.

We had a lovely supper and then we all sat down and watched two movies.

That was today’s excitement.   No photos today, Recharging our batteries.   Hugs to all.   

Sunday November 4, 2012

Sunday November 4/12  update #275

Today I was up at 4:20 to finish off my photo duties because we were all rising early to go to 9am mass at Immaculate Conception Cathedral in El Centro.  It turned out the mass was at 9:30 so we took a quick trip to the Cathedral crypt for Mavis’ benefit.  When we came out we discovered we had been locked in and a hapless priest was frantic until he found the right nun to free us.

We went to the Diez De Agosto Mercado for a hornado lunch of pork.   That is a nice treat.  Then we headed to show Mavis the view from Laura’s Antique Shop’s roof, then descended to go to that wonderful maypole sculpture.  We heard the story behind the sculpture as follows:  When a large family gathering occurs, there are always multiple children to keep occupied, so they will hoist up “presents” to the top of this “maypole”, grease it well, then sit back and laugh as the kids try to shimmy up the pole to reach their prize.  Naturally they can’t do it without a lot of help, so the kids are kept busy for a long time while they provide the adults with much amusement.

Bella was headed to play bridge at Joe’s so Mavis and I were left to go shopping at the artisan fair lining the banks of the Rio Tomebamba.  Mavis has 16 grandchildren to get Christmas gifts for so we found many beautiful items this day.  We kept making our way east and stopped at the Broken Bridge for a while to view the many artworks.   I noted they still had not sold my favorite 3D painting of Jesus.

While taking a few shots I noted another photographer with many lenses shooting from above before descending to the riverbank.  I went over to chat with him and we got along well.  Dan from Wisconsin and his lovely Philipino wife, Chona, joined Mavis and me as we headed east to El Vergel, the Pumapungo Inca ruins, then the Metals fair.  

I was trying to time everything so we could meet Bella at Big Kabuda’s for supper around 5:30.   It started to rain while we were in the metals fair so we had to dig out the jackets and umbrellas for the few blocks to have our supper.  Dan and Chona joined us and really enjoyed the burgers that Jesus and family serves up.   Jesus served us a Venezuelan dessert with some fruit that tasted somewhat like apples with nutmeg.   Not bad….

We caught a taxi home with all five of us cramming in and had some lovely conversation.   Meeting new people is always fun and I got to compare notes with Dan and hear about his exploits and the different companies he operates.  They are seriously thinking of moving here but have many companies and properties to divest themselves of, as well as trying to arrange for the immigration of about a dozen family members.

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

Saturday November 3, 2012

Saturday November 3/12  update #274

Today was one busy day!!  I was awake at 4:30 and up at 6am to do multiple photo uploads, etc, until the gals woke up to.   Bella put me to work hanging on the walls 3 more items she brought from home.  They look pretty darn good in those spots.   Thanks again to Emily Berberich for the lovely hand-made quilted cat wall hanging.

Bella even brought the Boys’ little tent which we have set up on the tabletop on the terrace and they are sure enjoying the shelter from the gorgeous sun we have been having.

I updated Bella’s new computer to include Skype with the same old information and tested it out.  It works.  She is under bbourassa50.

The two military jets that were flying yesterday brought 3 more buddies today and buzzed us a few times, of course always when I had no camera at my fingertips.  There is only about a 5 second window to catch those guys.

Bella and Mavis went to Coral for a few supplies while I was working and then I got a surprise call from Paola and Julio (the nice Ecuadorians who rescued us at the zoo months ago when we got caught in a downpour) inviting us to lunch at 1:30.   We readily said yes!

They arrived right on time and all the children were with them, Carolina, Rafaela, Juliano.  But a huge surprise was when Jan, their mentor from Holland, jumped out of the vehicle!  What a great reunion!! 

All the boys piled in one vehicle and all the ladies in the other for a trip to the Cajas for lunch.  We went to Dos Chorreras which serves excellent trout.   However, since we were having Trout Almondine at Joe’s later, Bella and I opted for the beef and Mavis had the pork.   We were also joined by Julio’s brother, Juan Carlos, his wife Wilma and their 3 boys..

We had a delightful afternoon solving the world’s problems and enjoying the ambiance.  It was so nice to see everyone again, and the added surprise of seeing Jan again was very special.  Jan is a world traveler and a very interesting and well- read man, as most Dutch people are.  Paola said she would call me to go to a soccer match, as Julio doesn’t care for soccer but she loves it.

Dos Chorreras is a monster place with trout ponds, Horn Billed white geese, and a black swan.

They drove us to Joe’s Secret Garden by 5:30 and we brought them in for a look.   They were very impressed with the garden and the huge palm tree.  We have made plans to meet with them all again shortly.

Joe’s was sold out again tonight and we got to sit in the library tonight which is so much quieter than the main room.  Somehow we managed to eat another whole meal and rolled out of there.

Today is the Anniversary of Cuenca’s Independence so we caught a cab to Los Sauces, hoping to replicate the fun we had in that community last year on our second day in Cuenca.  We were so disappointed that there was absolutely nothing going on there, so we sadly continued on home.   Actually we were secretly relieved because we had already had a very full day, and I had lots of chores to complete with the photos.

Our eyelids felt like some lead weights have been added, but we struggled to get all the photos processed tonight.  We finally collapsed in bed at midnight and got up at 4:20am to finish the upload of Joseph’s photos and to do these two blogs.

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