Monday October 22, 2012

Monday October 22/12 update #262

Last night I went to brush my teeth and there was no water.    And the boys had taken over my bed so I spent an uncomfortable night on the couch.   This morning we have tap water but it full of sediment so I had to use the bottled water for my coffee.

I turned on the TV to watch some Spanish news while I ate some granola for breakfast and now we don’t catch a single channel.    No news, movies, music or sports.  I sent another email to Jorge Vidal stressing the situation and he responded that they hope to resolve this quickly.

Rommie and Charles are returning in early December and are looking for a 2 bedroom furnished place near El Centro with no stairs.   If anyone knows of anything, please let us know.

The water from the tap got even worse later on, really brown and ugly, so that I didn’t even want to rinse dishes with it.

I was off to Coopera for banking and to pick up eggs, vegetables and fruit.   I brought home 3 bags of stuff for just over $12.   It is so refreshing to see fruit right off the trees, fresh, and without fancy packaging to drive up costs.

Did I ever mention how much I love palm trees??   Only a few times??   What a glorious morning to be out and about in the fresh air.

On the way back I spoke to Raoul whose home is now almost closed in.  He says the construction is going well.  I seem to recall he hoped to have occupancy in September.

Once I unpacked that stuff, I headed to Coral for a few more items, carrying our wheelie basket.  It was nice to see the river back to normal level.    I crossed the road and then decided to cross back to be sure the metal guy was going to have my shelf for tomorrow.  I looked both ways like usual and started across.  In the corner of my left eye I caught movement and reared back and held my breath while this grey car missed me by half an inch!  If he had had an aerial he would have taken half my face off!   I don’t know how I didn’t see him initially.   All I can think of is that he roared around the corner without stopping.  Whoever it was didn’t brake, or swerve, or anything.   Maybe they didn’t even see me at all??  My life flashed before my eyes as one of my greatest fears almost came to fruition.  One little slip and end up in hospital, or dead, with nobody here to back me up.   That is a trifle scary.

Oh, the metal shop boss wasn’t there but one of his helpers was assuring me there would be no problem.

I filled the basket with another $18 worth of sundries from Coral and rolled home with the basket.  I unpacked the groceries and noted the Coral “guaranteed fresh” cabbage was dripping water.   I was going to chop it up anyway but decided to pierce it to the center first.  Water poured out of it for 20 seconds!   It appears they are learning North American tricks here.   I called my buddy Jorge from Coral, who I has seen earlier, and advised him of the situation.   He is the grocery manager so I wanted to be sure he was aware of this.

The water from the tap has begun to run really clear again at 11:30 but at about half pressure.   At 2pm the water is basically shut off again.

The weather patterns here have returned to normal with bright beautiful mornings then a short rain in mid-afternoon.

There was a beautiful yellow bird nearby today.  He wasn’t in a banana tree, just in case you were wondering….   I can hopefully count on Betty M. to identify it..??..

I hopped in bed for a nap and awoke almost 3 hours later.  Still no water… just a trickle from the kitchen tap, not enough to replenish a toilet flush upstairs.

That made cooking supper interesting so I was thankful we have some bottled water.  I made some tilapia in white wine, butter, lemon and onions.  Mmmmmmmm Good!!  I heated some of my frozen mashed potatoes and only used ½ of that so those 30 potatoes I peeled are good for 10 meals.  Then I boiled up a package of Ecuadorian veggies and beans that I had bought this morning at Coopera for 76c.  I had my doubts but they were absolutely wonderful and the package was also enough for 2 meals!   Bonus!!

I just got an email from a fellow from Montreal that had been corresponding with me over my blog.   Jay arrived 5 days ago and is going to Joe’s on Saturday and wanted to know if I was going…   Heck YES, it is Fried Chicken Saturday and I am not missing that!!  And Jay has actually brought us some cat food from Canada, can you believe that??   Some people are so thoughtful.

It is now after 9:30 and still no water....  I thought they would have it back on at suppertime but that didn't happen.   I sure hope it is on in the morning so I can shower, do the litter, etc.

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