Saturday October 6, 2012

Saturday October 6/12 update

I was in the shower around 9am and heard the doorbell ring.  It was a short ring so I was hoping it wasn’t Jorge.  I continued my shower as it did not ring again.  Although I had barely toweled off and I stuck my head out the window and, sure enough, there was Jorge’s red Mazda pickup.  I was surprised that he had waited, although not much time had elapsed.  I hollered down that I would be two minutes and hurriedly threw on my awful “home” clothes.

Jorge apologized profusely and said he had rang before hearing the noise from the water heater by the door which told him I was in the shower, so he waited.  Very intelligent man!  I gave him the DVD of Gabriela’s graduation and again he was very effusive in his thanks.   

I then asked Jorge if he would do me a favor and drive me to Paseo De Los Caneris so I could bring in that huge fan for repair.  He readily agreed.  On the drive there he told me about the projects he had under way, one of them 15 minutes out of town, and he also practiced some of his English.   For a fellow that hardly ever uses English, his pronunciation is darn good.    He showed me where his family plays volleyball every Sunday at 3pm near the Electrica Impresa traffic circle, a stone’s throw from their house.    He also told me of a celebration tonight with singing and dancing, etc about 3 blocks south of our police station.

He also said the family liked the Gringo who could dance so well at the graduation.  I was a little surprised at that because I think I only dance 2 long songs with the one relative that asked me to dance.  I am glad he wasn’t upset that I slipped out early because I couldn’t sit there any longer watching everyone else have all the fun.  I am really glad that he has become such a good friend.

We dropped off the fan and the electrician said it could possibly be done by Monday.   I think I will give him a week, Ecuador time.    I then went 2 doors over to Segundo’s place which was closed, but one of the rollshutters was open, so I shouted.   One of the daughters, Carmen, came out to tell me that he would be away until tomorrow.  Then Jorge drove me back home so I could finish my toilette and my chores.

I had a short nap before getting dressed to go to Joe’s.  The day had been threatening rain all day but I never did see any at all.

Joseph said they had booked in 67 people for their BBQ so they were going at their limit for giving proper service.   It was nice to see some folks like Lenny and Marcia that we had not seen in a while and feared the worst, but Lenny said they had been away for 5 weeks, that was all.   There were two more new French-Canadian gals that had come with Deborah March too but we didn’t get much chance to talk.

I was seated with my friends Chris and Bettye, and Brad and Cindy, in the wine room, along with John and Cathy and Robert.  This is a great group of people with differing, but awesome, senses of humour.  Everyone brought their appetites too and the food just kept coming, and coming, and coming.   And we kept eating, and eating, and eating.  I think I kept up to Chris this night in shoveling back the grub, but it was impossible not to enjoy the Beef Tenderloin, and the BBQ’d Pork, and the Beans, and the cubed potatoes, topped off by Banana Pudding (2 of those).  I am writing these words at 3:15am and I am still a hurting unit, definitely not helped by the over-consumption of beans.

I got home and changed jackets and went in search of a fiesta that Jorge said would be happening about 3 blocks south of the police station.  At intervals it seemed like I could hear people on a microphone and some loud music, but as soon as I would head in that direction the sound would go away.  I criss-crossed the whole neighborhood many times, to no avail, before heading back.  I stopped to watch a local feisty soccer match and the neighboring volleyball game before calling it a night.   I didn’t even bother to download any photos, we just piled into the sack at 11:30 but didn’t get much sleep with our protesting tummy tooting.

Checking my photos has been a nightmare.   I used my small camera for people shots and had left the flash operational even for the outside shots because it was so grey.  Big mistake.  The shots are all washed out and I have to do major corrections.  I can see I am working for about 50c an hour now.

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