Sunday April 1, 2012

Sunday Apr 1/12 update
I met my language partner Juan at The Immaculate Conception Cathedral at 8am.  After asking around, we determined that there would be a procession from the adjacent Santuario Mariano around 9, so we went over there first.  Apparently this church is actually called “El Carmen de la Asuncion” but there are no signs saying that.
Before long the small church was soon standing room only as a bishop addressed the crowd then began the procession over to the cathedral.  We should have grabbed the first open seats we saw but we wanted to get closer so we ended up eventually sitting near a side altar with no direct view.  The cathedral was wall to wall people, probably 3500 to 4000 in attendance.  This was quite a spectacle indeed.
http://youtu.be/njSZQqb-cfA
http://youtu.be/Gf50C7SEuKw
http://youtu.be/U0nV4i4EKNc
http://youtu.be/C4RClAUCCdY
http://youtu.be/4oeOZfrIzVU
http://youtu.be/kV2uQwioyqA
Most had some kind of plant in their hand, some had palms included.  Juan says it is now illegal to sell palms because they are an endangered plant but that didn’t seem to stop the indigenous people all along the front and side of the cathedral and most churches.
I did a little research on the Cathedral which was actually started in 1885 and is still not completed.  It is said that it could hold up to 9,000 people, so my estimate is no doubt way too low, because the place was jammed! The two front towers have never been finished and there is a long crack, almost dead center coming down from under the statue.  It is still an imposing structure and it is in dire need of some upkeep.  There is obvious damage to tiles on the domes and very evident water damage on the ceilings.
I was intending to go to see the local soccer team in action at noon but I must have read something from a prior year because there was no game today.  Oh well I got some good walks today.
Enjoy the pics and movies.    That was today’s excitement.  Hugs to all.

120401 Arches in Immaculate Conception

120401 Indigenous selling plants and palms

120401 Indigenous selling plants and palms

120401 Following Archbishop into the Cathedral

120401 Mass inside El Carmen

120401 Statue of Ecuador hero

120401Immaculate Conception

120401 This is where daisies come from

120401 Old Cathedral's bell

120401 Procession into cathedral

120401 Dad showing braiding of palms

120401 Panorama of the monster crowd inside Immaculate Conception for Palm Sunday

Friday-Saturday March 30-21, 2012

Friday Mar 30/12 update
Boy, we didn’t accomplish much today.  We are having a severe problem with our upload speed which is only .05Mps and that is just awful.  I am trying to communicate with Etapa via email because trying to talk on the phone is just plain frustrating.  It is at least 3 days now and makes my uploads of photos to my work sites an exercise in patience.  What used to take 90 seconds now takes about 40 minutes!
I finally talked myself into getting out for a walk about 3pm but the heavens opened which scotched that idea.
That was today’s non-excitement.  Hugs to all.


Saturday March 31/12 update
We walked up the hill this morning to catch the #3 downtown, across from the Monay Mall.  There was some dancers/exercise group putting on a performance in front.
At noon we met Bettye & Chris Petersen, friends of Jim & Cindy Wilkins, from Atlanta whom we had met before when they were checking out Cuenca.  They had just returned from Atlanta where they had liquidated everything but their house hasn’t sold yet, so they have rented it to the new defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons Football team.  They flew first class so they were allowed five suitcases and one backpack each.  They said one suitcase and one backpack were very close to 90 pounds each so I have no idea how they ever made it, but obviously the plane got off the ground.  Bella had arranged for Bettye to bring back some spices with her so they had brought about ½ of that shipment to the lunch, because they knew we had plans to hang around El Centro for the afternoon and we wouldn’t want to drag around all that weight.  They would not accept any payment for this but Bella had made up a copy of the Cooking In The Andes cookbook for Bettye so she was very pleased.  They are renting an apartment in GringoLand for now until they decide what they want to do, buy or rent.  They are really a nice couple and very keen to learn from our experiences.  Bettye even seems to want to join Bella at her bridge games too.
After lunch at the San Sebas café we walked down to El Centro and the area of the San Francisco market, the Immaculate Conception cathedral, and Parque Calderon, where we showed them the Tourist office and the various theatres and concert halls in the area.  Then we walked over to the Rotary Market to show them the wonderful wooden furniture and crafts available there.
Bettye and Chris took a cab home while we wound our way over to San Blas Square to have an ice cream at Mixx to kill some time.  This young lad next to us wanted his picture taken ad then insisted we also shoot his sister.   Who am I to refuse??
We slowly walked back towards IC and PQ where we saw a new act along the side of the cathedral.  This fellow was covered in black shoe polish and doing the mime/statue act on a precarious stool.  His performance was very different than any other we had seen as he provided mechanical sound effects to his movements.  Every time you put a coin into his cup he went into motion to thank you for your generosity.
http://youtu.be/AU5-eibUQpU  and  http://youtu.be/OXhhdvwpLNg
We had to kill some more time until 6pm so we went back west to DiBacco’s Italian Restaurant for a pasta supper.  On one corner I took a video of the street vendors with what was left of their wheelbarrows loaded with fruit, along with the typical pedestrian and vehicular traffic.  
http://youtu.be/HhYZDeA_-f0
We finished our meal just in time to head back to Parque Calderon where a couple of dance troupes were putting on a performance in the gazebo.  We stayed, in the rain, under the umbrellas, taking some one-handed videos.  The one group doing modern dance was from the USA.
http://youtu.be/qatpkQOl20A
The other group comprised of local ethnic dancers whose ladies also performed a “bottle dance”, dancing with a small-based bottle balanced on their heads.  They must have learned this in Deportment 101 or some such class by Emily Post!
http://youtu.be/t4Fjff7_4Bk   and  http://youtu.be/Sf3jbji_qQk
The typical costumed ethnic dance is always a pleasure to behold.
http://youtu.be/kIWn_JDgEOs
After an hour of juggling umbrellas and cameras, and standing stationary on the concrete sidewalk, we decided we would skedaddle, beat the rush, and catch a cab home.
I managed to get a couple of night shots of the old cathedral through the cab window as it is beautifully lit at night, and it is bright white with beautiful brass bells.
This blog is published very late because the uploads to YouTube took all night and morning…  We will probably be changing Internet providers this week!
Enjoy the pics and movies.    That was today’s excitement.  Hugs to all.

120331 Bettye & Chris Petersen

120331 Street Mime

120331 Immaculate Conception 1

120331 Immaculate Conception 2

120331 Immaculate Conception 3

120331 Ice Cream Boy

120331 Ice Cream Sister

120331 Old Cathedral 1

120331 Old Cathedral 2

120331 Police Band at San Blas Square

120331 Statue near Rotary Market

120331 San Blas

120331 San Sebastian Square 2

120331 San Sebastian Square 1

120331 Sleepy Hollow?

Thursday March 29, 2012

Thursday Mar 29/12 update

Bella left to meet Michael Berger at the lawyer’s office to get the final deed for the house and then to go get the utilities, water and power in to our names, and get automatic payments arranged through the bank.

I struggled from another bad night to get outside and look to the sky which was threatening in every quadrant.  After starting east along the other side of the river, directly into a dark cloud, I thought better of that move and doubled back.  Ignoring a slight charley-horse, I then proceeded to head south towards El Valle and a patch of blue sky.

As I was trying to get my camera going to catch a hummingbird my phone went off, but I missed the call.  I also missed the hummingbird as a result. The phone rang again.  It was Bella asking if I was still at home because she wanted the numbers off the meters.  Nope, sorry, I’m not at home.

I was about to catch the bus to the top of the mountain when the phone rang a third time and it was Bella again informing me that the lawyers had put everything in my name (we are all male chauvinists here) and that meant I had to come and join them, so there went my jaunt for the day.

I thought I was being clever by slipping past home and getting the meter readings before catching a bus right away to meet them at the Empressa Electrical building.  Who would have guessed they wanted the serial number of the meter, not the reading??  It turns out it wasn’t that important as they already had all those details.

Things go much smoother now that we have our Cedula residency papers for this kind of stuff.

Once we did the electrical, it was a cab ride downtown to the Etapa office for the water.  Then another cab ride to the bank.  It is a good thing we have Michael to interpret for us to make things go very smoothly.

The bottom line is that we are now officially, officially, officially owners of our castle.  YaHoo!!

We stopped at Papa John’s for a quick nooner pizza before heading home again.

I made a very quick side trip to the Rotary Market to get a small carved wooden knick-knack box with a lock to keep our grocery money in.  The box was a whole $5.

Once home, I was disappointed I had never got one photograph today so I figured I would check out the flowering trees in front and I might get lucky and catch a hummer.

As I was looking along our block I was struck by the different varieties of trees just in our block alone, so I decided to take a shot of each one and see if there is a horticulturalist out there who wants to take a guess at the types of trees/plants they are….  Anyone??   Oh,… and I got lucky and saw this little green hummer too.

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

120329 Hummer on the left

120329 Hummer at the bottom

120329 Hummer in the middle

120329 Tree on our street #1

120329 Tree on our street #2

120329 Tree on our street #3

120329 Tree on our street #4

120329 Tree on our street #5

120329 Tree on our street #6 - Guava

120329 Tree on our street #7 - Hibiscus

120329 Tree on our street #7a - Hibiscus

120329 Tree on our street #7b - Hibiscus

120329 Tree on our street #8 (Baby Bottle Brush?)

120329 Tree on our street #9

120329 Stationary Hummer

120329 Tree on our street #10

Wednesday March 28, 2012

Wednesday Mar 28/12 update

As I walked to my rendezvous last night I noticed the Tomebamba was running very high since I could not see my “measuring rock” at all so I took a photo with a flash.  I hope it does not get much higher or there could be flooding problems across the river.

Last night I met with the young economist, Juan Bernardo Matute Pacheco, and we traded stories and helped each other with our different languages.  He is a very bright and pleasant young fellow.  He was forced to re-take an English class because he had written the Spanish translation of two English words in his textbook.  That sure sounded pretty harsh.   Our next meeting is actually going to begin with 8am Mass on Sunday at Immaculate Conception, then we will walk around El Centro and practice our (poor) language skills.

Really sad news was received from our good cousin Maurice Jalbert.  His wife, Marilyn, has lost her fight with cancer on the 26^th.  We sincerely hope a cure is found soon.

More sad news arrived that our expected first visitor has been felled by pneumonia and is not able to make the trip.  Get well quickly Mavis and book those flights again.  We tried to get the Pope to stop by, since he is in the area, but his plans were already set in stone, sorry.

I stayed in all day fighting with the internet, which crashed about 4 times, trying to still find a better way to access some North American programming.  I did find some interesting sites but I don’t think I can watch too many live shows, events or sports.

Bella was busy binding her new cookbook which has already given her many new insights.

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

120327 Can't see my measuring boulder....

120327 My language buddy, Juan

120327 Night shot of a tree

Tuesday March 27, 2012

Tuesday Mar 27/12 update
Insomnia is a crazy creature to handle.  To bed at 1, awake at 3, up at 5, back to bed at 7:30…..
Bella was off to weaving to get a rug backed with latex, then to the book/movie exchange, then to get some copies made, then to SuperMaxi for some groceries.  We were lent a copy of “Cooking In The Andes”, made by a group of church ladies in Quito, which is in both Spanish and English, so Bella will really enjoy trying their recipes and using more of the local vegetables.
I was up very early putting the finishing touches on our street address sign.  I though I was being so clever, thinking things out so carefully, but having enormous problems with silicone continuously bubbling up and then with the initial anchors I had put in the wall.  I finally kept tamping down the silicone so it shows very little but hopefully will at least seal the top of the numbers and keep most of the moisture out.  I then also installed some spacers on the back to allow some breathing area and allow a little flexibility.  Once I put in some new, decent anchors the installation was a breeze.  The sign isn’t exactly as I had initially envisioned, but for about $3.08 I am not about to complain about the results, it should do the intended job.
Trying to download the recap from Dancing With The Stars is always challenging, as it takes about 4 times the 1 hour and 25 minutes to download the silly thing.  Even then, the quality of the runback leaves a lot to be desired.  We really have to find a good way to watch the actual shows live, whether on the computer or on TV.
Poor Martina Navratilova is certain to be the first casualty.  On one site the vote was 60%.  Isn’t that Welsh bombshell Kathryn exciting to watch?   And the women will continue to drool over Mr Levi….. go figure…
My sister gave me heck for not showing my delightfully crooked photos, so here you are Yvette….
Tonight I am meeting with a young 25-year-old young fellow named Juan who has an Economics degree.  We are going to be trading conversational English for Spanish.  He had an ad on GringoTree and I responded that I would like to give a try.  I initially thought that Bella was going to join in but apparently I will be doing this solo.
Enjoy the pics.    That was today’s excitement.  Hugs to all.

120327 New address sign $3.08 and a lot of work

120327 Crooked 1

120327 Crooked 2

120327 Crooked 3

120327 House is pretty much complete now

120327 House with street address sign in place

Sunday-Monday March 25-26, 2012

Sunday Mar 25/12 update
We have now news that our stepdad Lucien is on the decline and having trouble communicating.  Mom and Leonie visited him again Friday and he was only partly lucid at that time.  This is so sad and it must be hardest on his three children who are maintaining a constant vigil. 
Well the right buses weren’t showing up and the lightning show was becoming more persuasive so I never made it to any soccer game last night.  The subsequent rain storm would have chased most fans home before ½ time anyway.   I finished off the Rambo series of movies while Bella was happily Skyping with family and friends.
Sunday was another lazy day of rest.  It was a beautiful day until about 2:45 when we got a rain and hail storm for an hour and a half.  The rain quit for a short while then it continued to sprinkle as we went to the Monay Mall for KFC.  We stopped at Coral and picked up 3 more picture frames and also a clock, temperature, humidity combination for $6.85.  Again, between the time we went, and the time we returned, the river rose about a foot. 
That was today’s excitement.  Hugs to all.
PS. Don’t forget the informative blog cuencaresidency.blogspot.com that is updated regularly.


Monday March 26/12 update
Today Bella sent me to the nearest Coopera to get some cash for the week then she was headed to Coral for a few things.  I intended to walk a direct route to that Graiman store by the airport again but actually found a huge ceramic store just up the hill east of Coral.  It cost me a whole $1 to get a yellow tile that will look good on the house once I mount our house numbers on it.
I am learning to take my time and think things through but things don’t always go the way we want.  I have always been envious of those folks that can run a bead of silicone in seconds and have it perfect.  Not me….
It will take me another day to get that sign sorted out.
I also did up four more photographs for our stairway.  They all insist on hanging at a slant, mind you it is all the same slant, so I am leaving them like that to see if we will get accustomed to it or not.   So far it offends my sense of level horizon.
We waited for a bus for ½ hour tonight, actually one of 2 buses would have worked but we have no luck at all after 6pm.  We finally hailed a cab and made it to the Sucre Theatre just off Parque Calderon to hear an American bluegrass band called the Ajusco Mountain Boys.    The crowd was 80% expat English-speakers, yet the band spoke only in Spanish, but performed in English.  Here is their rendition of Rocky Top Tennessee.
http://youtu.be/QX-87G2DVkQ   That was the liveliest they got….  It seemed like all the songs sounded the same, and they didn’t do something fun like “Men Of Constant Sorrow”, I think it is called.  That should have been in their repertoire.   And they basically just stood there and played and sang.  The bass fiddle got rotated only once…  They really didn’t do much to get the crowd’s attention.  It was a night out, and it was free, and we did get to see a lot of Canadians we hadn’t seen in a while.
Enjoy the pics.    That was today’s excitement.  Hugs to all.

120326 Our local church, St Teresa de Jesus

120326 Part of the Sucre Theatre