Cuenca Updates: Wednesday July 11, 2012

Wednesday July 11/12 update

What a MAGNIFICENT DAY!!!! The sun is blazing and it feels great to be alive in Ecuador.

Bella was off to play bridge again while I was off to Spanish class. Bella said Joe recounted hearing Joseph in another room exclaiming “wow” and “fantastic”, so he went to check, and Joseph showed him that he was looking at my pictures from Wednesday’s July 4 party. I was proud of those….

One of the fellows in our Spanish class actually got his travel documents yesterday, the Censo, so that put to rest any silliness about them being scrapped. Bella heard that possibly they are scrapped for people here on visas, and not applying for residency. That, at least, makes some sense.

I had one bite early this morning for the photography tour so I sent him the information hoping that he could meet me at the cathedral to pay at 1pm. Luckily he did show up so we are up to 9 people.

I wandered into the San Francisco market for two things. My backpack was slowly shredding itself after 7 months of hard use so I found a more sturdy canvas one with 4 pockets for $10. Then I located a wool toque for $4, and boy, is that sucker warm. That will be my “block heater” when we are on the mountaintops.

I then wandered back to Calle Larga to have almuerzo at the Sabor Latino. The meal was delicious as usual, with fabulous soup, juice and dessert, plus I ordered double meat so she charged me a whole $2.25. I saw some Spanish guys looking at the menu so I told them it was the best lunch in town and they came in too. It turns out they were the Boys From Brazil and they let me take their picture. Then this nicely dressed young lady came in and she agreed as well. While we were eating our main course the cook slipped out for a few minutes and I saw her come back with a couple of 25c ice cream bars (Revellos to us) so I knew I was going to get ½ of one for dessert. I am so psychic!

Outside I saw this armored car that looks like an armored personnel carrier. It was funny to watch the guys inside pose and wave. Regular Ecuadorians seem to like the camera’s attention.

I continued down Calle Larga, and stopped at the doorway to this magnificent courtyard. Courtyards are very common in El Centro but they generally are behind closed doors. It is such a treat to see all the greenery. I went past Todos Santos, to the Banco Central Inca ruins. I slipped down to the aviary to see if the big peacock was still loose with his great plumage as I was hoping to make this a stop on our photography tour. Unfortunately they have new pens and the poor fellow was in a cage, so there went that idea.

I then walked up Huayna Capac and spotted a bored pharmacist standing in his doorway so I stopped in to get some 30 Acetaminophen and 50 Ibuprophen. They rarely will sell a whole package, they just sell you what you require, so he charged me a dime apiece.

I crossed the street just in time to catch the #15 but got off two stops earlier at the seamstress’ place. I asked her to sew the straps near the buckle so that they can’t slide off or ever come loose. I never adjust them anyway.

Then I walked up to Coral to get some hair gel. They had a bottle of 200ml for as low as 53c! I got some better looking stuff, 250 ml for $1.39. Our little Jorge the interpreter was at the customer counter so he enquired how I liked the Internet that I got through the booth in Coral. I told him I didn’t find it 70% faster but I did find it was completely reliable so far. He was interested because he is looking to get a new Internet provider himself.

I arrived home to a phone message from some idiot female at Canadian Direct about our car insurance. Those people must be brainwashed to idiocy as they cannot follow the simplest instructions and they don’t have a clue about a car insurance policy. I just see red and have trouble keeping my cool when they try to tell me complete falsehoods about how they can deny coverage if someone drives my car and they are not listed on my policy. After a ½ hour on the phone we finally got them to understand who is who and when we needed the driving coverage back on the Buick. Having it spelled out clearly and succinctly in black and white in an email wasn’t transparent enough for the mental midgets they hire. Ugh.

I had 3 more bites on the photo tour so I emailed all the details to these folks so we may be up to 12 participants, plus us 3 guides, so we’ll probably be using 2 vehicles. Everything is within ½ hour distance so it is no big deal.

Before I knew it it was 5:30 and I had to catch the #15 back to Huayna Capac to meet Bella at Big Kabuda’s. The bus was so jammed I almost got off before it made it up our hill, but I persevered and made it, so great is the pull of the Porky’s burger!

Bella had made a pumpkin pie (without pumpkins) and it was the best I have ever tasted, and I don’t normally care much for pumpkin pie. That will be a late dessert when we watch our nightly movie.

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