Monday August 5, 2013

Monday August 5, 2013  update #534

Bella went to the Doctor this morning and got the vote of confidence to keep doing what she is doing.  She is healing well but must keep up the bed rest for a couple of weeks more.

Bella stopped for groceries on the way home with the proviso that I was waiting at the door when she arrived by taxi to haul in the groceries.

After my chores were done I set up the tripod and tried to get a few more shots of Tom Thumb.  I haven’t got the definitive shot yet, but I’ll keep trying.   There was also an interloper that was soon chased away by Tom.

Yesterday we had notice of a meeting the Ecuadorian Coopera recovery group at 4pm and we were asked to attend, so I went.   People were still filing in at 5pm but we were lucky the meeting commenced at 4:30.  I had this Ecuadorian couple next to me who have lived in Toronto for many years and the husband was returning there next week. 

The meeting was held at the #3 level of Government, the Prefecture of the Province which also has several thousand dollars in Coopera so we have an ally here, certainly with more power than we possess.  I was impressed with the orderliness of the meeting and with the basic solidarity of the group.   Anyone was allowed to speak, they just had to come to the front and grab the microphone.  And several impassioned folks did just that.  They even had a great translator for us English folks.  I say he was great because he didn’t try to repeat everything line by line, he waited until the speaker was done and then gave us a synopsis in 5 sentences or less.

At least 3 courses of action were underway.   1. They gave us a “letter to the editor” they intend to give to the press.  2. President Correa is supposed to be in Cuenca tomorrow and they are trying very hard to have a meeting with him, even though he wants no involvement.   They hope they can get 2,000 people in support.  The Ecuadorians will need to get every family member to help out because there were only about 200 folks at this meeting, packing the joint.   3. They got everyone to march up the street to the #2 level of power here, the Provincial Governor’s office on the corner of Parque Calderon.  The Governor was supposed to be there at 6pm but, if he was, he didn’t want to show his face, at least not while I was there.   I didn’t want to miss the chance to catch a bus home.   Anyway that was my first ever participation in a demonstration and it has happened in a foreign country…   I didn’t see any news cameras rolling anywhere but there might have been a reporter on the scene.

So now we are waiting for an email to see if we can, or should, try to see the President tomorrow.   That would be kinda neat in itself.

That was the day's excitement,   Cheers, Al   Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/