Tuesday September 3, 2013 Moving to souvenircuenca.blogspot.com

Tuesday September 3, 2013  update #561

This is the last Blog under this title.  I will continue under the souvenircuenca.blogspot.com Blog from now on.

Cheers, Al

Monday September 2, 2013

Monday September 2, 2013  update #560

Today was banking day now that our new Bank Manager at the Banco Del Austro on Gonzales Suarez is back from holidays.  We got there about 10am and luckily it was relatively slow at that time.   The Manager, Diana, was able to get our new Bank Debit cards and get them linked to internet banking, then she showed us how to use the bank machine.   However it would take them over an hour to get our accounts set up for a second signature, in case of whatever, so we decided to come back after she, and her second-in-command, were back from lunch at 3.

Bella went grocery shopping while I completed my chores and uploaded 3 more works for sale.  Before we knew it, it was time to go again and we got the rest of the documentation completed at the Bank.

It is a bright sunny day today and lots of beautiful sights in the neighborhood…   I came across a neighbourhood Don Juan, flowers in hand, so cute.

That was the day’s excitement.  Cheers, Al   

We hope you enjoy all the new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Sunday September 1, 2013

Sunday September 1, 2013  update #559
Happy Birthday Joseph, and also our son-in-law Ash.
I was awake again at 3am and had a tough time getting back to sleep.  When I decided again to look at the clock I fully expected it to say about 6:30 but it was almost 9am, and time to get up so I was thankful for the extra sleep.  I managed a half pot of coffee before Bella and I went out to catch the #15 to head west.  Like usual, waiting for Bella to get going meant we missed the bus by 15 seconds so had to stand around for the next one which put us 10 minutes late.

We arrived at Jim & Cindy’s new house just off Avenida Loja and were impressed with the great deal they got.  The house is very large and needs mostly cosmetic work only and has tons of possibilities which shouldn’t cost a whole lot of money.   The kitchen is small and closed off but will look great with a clever pass-through to the front dining room.  

The major work will be in the lavanderia off the kitchen which is ½ open to the elements in a wide shaft at the back of the home.  We were discussing how they could easily install a lovely terrace on the 3^rd floor, or better yet, the flat roof at the back, which would afford them a dynamite view north to downtown and the Cajas.  I am so excited about those possibilities that I want to do the work myself.

Bella had to head off to play Bridge so I walked with her down Avenida Loja, which is part of the Inca Trail and points right at the Immaculate Conception cathedral.  Most of this one street has the underground electrical, surprise, surprise, so it affords a nice, clean, spectacular view.

I caught the #16 east, while Bella caught one west, to go our respective directions.  I got off at the Coopera just to check out what kind of food, etc they have these days and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they have lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat for sale.  We will continue to support them as best we can.    Our nemesis, SEPS, fired 386 employees 2 days ago to streamline operations and make them more attractive for sale.  That was part of the dirty work they attempted to pass off to the remaining unpaid investors, the bastards!

I also have not received any further communications from anyone regarding our proposed unity meeting for Wednesday so I am not hopeful that we will have any influence on future events.

I then wandered over to one of my favourite video stores and easily picked out 4 movies so I hunted until I found 8 movies.  One was not in English so I filled that slot with a movie I had seen and enjoyed previously.   Then while I sat and waited while he put together my movies, cases, fillers, DVD’s, and made sure they played well, I spotted another one called Goon that looked a lot like the famous Slapshot movie, so I laughingly asked him for a “yappa” or gift of that movie, and he didn’t bat an eye, he said “Sure” and added it to the pile.  That meant I got 9 movies for $10.   Such a deal… and only one duplicate….  Spanish titles and different covers still fool me once in a while.    My collection is now up to 333 movies.

On the last trek home I took a shot of one of the families on the riverbank just enjoying a simple romp with the kids on the grass.  No toys, no video games, no balls, just the family enjoying each others company.  This is a most common sight here on Sundays and it is one of the things that continues to endear us to the Ecuadorians.  It is such a throwback to the simpler days of our childhood and it is something that we would never want to change with all out technology and materialism.

That was the day’s excitement.  Cheers, Al   

We hope you enjoy all the new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/