Tuesday February 5, 2013

Tuesday February 5/13  update #359

I managed to reach Oswaldo this morning and made an appointment to meet him at the OperAzuay offices to resolve the missing ride issue from Sunday night.  I would never have attempted to do this discussion on my own and Oswaldo was brilliant cutting through their BS.   Their driver tried to claim that he waited for an hour which is absurd.  Our plane landed at 11:23pm.   I told them to pick me up at 11:59pm.  I cleared customs and was outside with my bags at 12:20am.  There was nobody holding a card with either my name or the name of the Tour company.  They will have a record of my phone message to their office at 12:30 and I have my bus receipt at 12:47am to catch the 1am bus.     They finally admitted fault and were going to refund my money.  Instead I chose to use them again to pick us up at 5:30am on Sunday, right from our home, and take us to the airport in Guayaquil, just the two of us, in comfort and in style. 

Our plans for the Galapagos are taking shape and we are soliciting advice from prior visitors so we know what to bring (other than pocketfuls of cash), what to see, etc. 

Bella also got busy and found a show in Reno for me to do in mid-June and we are hunting for another one if possible.   This means I will be able to return to Canada in May to see my new great-grand-daughter, attend my niece Bryna’s wedding, and attend my Mom’s 97^th birthday!  I am a happy camper again!

I walked from Feria Libre over to Avenida Solano (part of my new get slim program) and ran into my buddy Dallas whom I haven’t seen in many months.   He sure was looking great.

I stopped at the hotdog kiosk outside the Ital Deli and ordered a large hotdog, see the photo.  It came with coconut juice for $1.50.  I don’t know why they added the chopped up chorizo sausage, but it was tasty anyway, and it was great to get back to the land of inexpensive food.

I continued on to the Hearts Of Gold office for a meeting to set the framework for a spring fundraiser.  We are hoping for an early April date at a local eatery with some participation from some of the people HOG have supported.   More to follow on this at a later date.

We have had to renew our subscriptions to Fine Art America for our photos, and to NetTalk for our international phone.  Our NetTalk number is 587-887-4821 and it is just like calling Calgary.   We can call anywhere in the USA and Canada for free (except the Yukon, oddly enough).

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   

$1.50 hotdog with cocnut juice