Thanksgiving 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I haven’t written for quite some time, but that is mostly because there hasn’t been a lot to tell.  Things are quiet right now.  We are trying to figure out what our next step should be.  

We have tried and tested the private mail system, Club Correos, and it seems to work fine.   Steve needed new shoes and a size 13 is not going to be found here.  It took 2 weeks, but they got here.   We have just sent off for some art supplies to keep us out of trouble.  We want to take a few days and go to see Loja to our South, but the dog care facility I was planning on using, Barkingham Palace, is closing and its owners heading off to other adventures.  I am searching for another, and have my eye on one, but need to go check it out yet.   

Last night as we were out walking the dogs, we saw a rat crossing the road that was almost as big as a house cat.  Steve tossed some pebbles at it but it was totally unfazed.  It wasn’t concerned about us at all, but Ginger really wanted to go check it out!  That is why Cuenca allows all the loose dogs.  Quite some time ago, the city was overrun with rats.  Hungry dogs eat rats.  So once a year they round up all the dogs, give them shots and neuter any that aren’t already, and then they set them free once again.  At least that’s what I read somewhere…

Anyway, all four of us are fine and healthy.   I am looking forward to the Spanish classes starting in January for the chance to meet some other ex-pats and to try to make what Spanish we know usable.  I admit to backing off on the course we have been working with.  Just can’t seem to get through the verb conjugations.   

Ginger has always been real excitable around other dogs.  Not fearful or aggressive – she wants to play!  I contacted a well recommended dog trainer, and HE was able to get her to behave just fine with just a tug or two on a choke chain.  It worked pretty well for me too as long as he was with me.  Some days she would do real well, and then she would go nuts again.  Our trainer wanted me to get a dog backpack and make her “work”.  We still haven’t been able to locate one, but that may be our next Club Correo shipment.  He said that if that didn’t do the trick, he suggested a shock or UHF collar.  We thought about that, and have decided to try something else.  I found a guy on-line who uses the gentler approach.  I’ve read some of his first lessons, and tried them on Ginger.  She seems to be responding.  Not fast, but maybe better.

When we first moved in, we had an issue with another tenant who doesn’t like dogs.  She complained to the manager that our dogs scared her so we should be required to pick them up whenever another tenant is in the same area as the dogs.  We got a bit of a chuckle out of that as Pepper weighs almost 90 lbs., and Ginger is about 50.  Then she said that the dogs smelled up the common areas.  I asked the manager to come by our unit and tell us if she could smell anything.  She could not.  We haven’t heard any more, but it created an unfriendly situation.  Not with manager – but we don’t know (but suspect) which tenant is trying to get us kicked out.  Most are very friendly.  These are pet-friendly units and there are other dogs here, so it shouldn’t bother us, but it does.

So, we may move again in the near future.  This condo is nice, but we would really be more comfortable in a house, so we have Brandon searching for something that may work.  It will take time.  He says he sees homes that would work for us – just not very often.  We are content to stay here until he finds our more-perfect home.  One with a yard.  Steve is getting tired of taking Pepper out at midnight or 3 am to go potty.  He has ODB - Old dog bladder.

Cuenca as home

We made it to Cuenca on Friday, the 4^th with very few glitches.  The young men we hired to wrap and pack our furniture and appliances showed up almost on schedule on Thursday and did a pretty good job.  Nothing got broken or lost.  The driver was at the house right at 7:30am on Friday.  They loaded the truck and we were on our way by 9.  We arrived in Cuenca safe and sound 5 hours later and only had to wait an hour for the truck.  They unloaded and hauled all our goods up three stories, then left to go home around 5pm.

Leaving Sucua was kind of sad.  I did like it there and the house was nice.  I’ll miss the foliage, the people (especially Sonia, our landlady who came by on Thursday and sat with me for about an hour almost in tears.   We communicated with my awful Spanish and Google translate.  She had not seen that before and was having a great time “talking” with it) and the warm climate.  I won’t miss the almost constant rain, the bugs, or the long treks into town for everything – if it was available.

Our internet is supposed to be turned on Tuesday, the 15th.  J  In the meantime, the coffee shop convenience store on the first floor has free Wi-Fi, so I’ll be able to check email and publish this.

It is so handy having a small market right down on the street level.  They carry just about anything we would need in an average week – although likely cheaper at the larger stores, Super Maxi and Coral.  Anything other than food-stuffs though, we will call a cab and head for the bigger stores or malls. 

The dogs are starting to settle in.   Ginger likes to look over the balcony at the goings on to our North – the cabbage patches.  After closer inspection, it turns out the cabbage patches are not only cabbage, but chamomile, something that I think is broccoli, some I cannot figure out and a few plots that are just starting to come up. They rotate the crops so that something is almost always ready for market.  We watched a couple ladies come out to the patches with large baskets on Friday night and picked part of one of the patches.  Then they hauled all those baskets off to the market.   The next night more folks showed up with even bigger baskets, and picked more of the plot, then covered the baskets and left.  I’m not sure when they took them away, but they were gone by morning.  This has been going on every night since we arrived.  They bring in a couple of young bulls to clean up after they are done picking.  The bulls got Ginger’s attention.   I noticed last night they were cutting the chamomile.

This condo has more space than we know what to do with.  For now, we are going with the minimalist look.  Eventually we need to buy another bed/mattress, and furniture for the guest bedroom, and a bookcase/entertainment center for the living room.  No hurry – still don’t have a TV.   We will soon start our doctor and veterinarian hunt.  I have some recommendations from “Gringo Tree” that I will check out. 

1 week 'till Cuenca

We are one week away from our move to Cuenca.  Our landlady was sad, but understood our need to move on.  She asked us if we knew any other Americans that want to rent her house.  

This last week has been interesting as three days of it have been powerless.  That makes working on the computer, reading our Kindles, re-charging my scooter and seeing at night all a challenge.  We have candles, and a gas stove, so no worries, we won't starve.  I think there is a lot of infrastructure upgrading being done for future expansions.   Plus we have had three full days, and three partial days, of rain - downpour type rain.  The type where we wait for it to get down to a trickle to take the dogs out (Pepper refuses to go out in the rain unless he is at the end of a leash) and by the time we are at the end of the road to our South and start to turn back - we get hit with a deluge.  We get totally soaked - all four of us - by the time we get home.  We expect the rain here - but it hasn't helped us feel badly about our choice to move on.

I asked Brandon if he had any pictures of the condo we rented – and he did!

Here are some pics of our future home:

Front door/living room.  Door to left is Kitchen

Balcony off living room - that's a cabbage patch

Kitchen 1

Kitchen 2

Balcony off Master Bed

Another bedroom

Showers could prove interesting.

Lot's of built-in closets - now what do we do with the one we bought?

 There is a convenience store on the first floor along with a beauty saloon (Yea!) and a couple other businesses.  Parking in a garage in the basement for when/if we get a car or someone coming to visit has one. All entrances are security type.  There are several farmacias and a huge open air mercado/flea market nearby, and two supermarkets - one north, one south, about 6 blocks, a mall about 1 1/2 miles away and a large Home Depot type hardware store in the same area.  Cuenca is bustling with a ton of different things to see and do, so we should not have to worry about being bored. 

Cuenca

We are moving – and have a real address!

We just got back from a four day trip to Cuenca with our friend/driver/guide Jorge.   It was intended as a chance to get acquainted with and pay for a search team to look for a new home in that city.  Never having actually been to Cuenca, just relying on a couple years of research, we  made the quantum leap of deciding to move from small town Ecuador to the City.  We stayed at the only hotel that cleared both of our hurdles of allowing dogs and being handicap accessible right in the heart of the historic district.  That had its benefits and drawbacks.  Downtown historic area of Cuenca is very busy, very noisy and a lot of fun.  Poor Ginger had to learn quickly about walking on crowded sidewalks with lots of people wanting to pet her as she walked by.  Pepper was fine.  Not much bothers the old boy.

We started out with a meeting with of a couple from the states who feel that what is happening in Cuenca was just wrong for the native Cuencanos and non-wealthy ex-pats as housing prices are becoming out of range for many of these people.   Americans and others have come in, bought up land and homes, and are now renting at highly inflated prices.  So this family felt they had an obligation to help and started working with owners (shaming?) to get them to reduce their pricing to fair market so that the average person can afford to live there.   It turned into a marathon of looking at any homes that came even close to our needs.   The few places we had seen on-line were already rented.   We ended up working with their son, Brandon, who was personable and sweet and as gung-ho as anyone we have run across.  

Our parameters were the same as the hotel, plus a home on all one floor or at least one bedroom (or office) on the main floor with a bathroom that was accessible – even sort of - and a shower.   I already knew that was a long shot.  Most homes here are living space on the main floor – sleeping on the second.  We looked at a couple homes with an office, but they were either not something I could enter or the bath was a simple sink and toilet.  Jorge – being Jorge - found all kinds of ways to counter these obstacles but that would have been an additional expenditure by either us or the landlord. 

We had already talked about a condominium.  Not quite as nice for the dogs, though we already take them out for two walks a day just because they like that.  So we looked at several condos.  One was too uppity and dark.  A lot of dark wood.   The price was good, but I felt as if we should have to wear a three piece suit at all times and hire a butler, and they wanted us to confine the dogs to the kitchen.  Then we saw one that was bright and light and huge and dang near perfect.  Two great balconies, green area near-by for the dogs, three bedrooms (for those thinking of a visit) 2 baths – one of which I could get totally into, nice kitchen, good price - well you get the idea.  We took it.   So we had to stay an extra day to sign a contract which had the scrutiny of both Brandon AND Jorge, so it is good.

So now, we have to deal with the telling our current landlady that we must leave.  Jorge (bless his heart) is going to help us through that, too.   I have started the process of locating a moving company, so we should be moved by October 5.  I will send the address once I am sure I have it correct. 

Frogs and Toads and Lizards, oh my!

Frogs, Toads and Lizards come to call from time to time.  

 

This cute little guy joined us last night.  We have a 3/4 to 1" opening under our outside doors, and these critters find their way in.  We hustle to capture them and get them back outside for fear that Ginger will hassle them.  We have tried to find what we called "door sweeps" in the states, but nobody knows what we are talking about.  It was suggested that we take an old inner tube and cut it into strips, but we don't happen to have any inner tubes around here.  It is one of those things we need to talk to the Land Lady about. 

As promised, Steve finally got some pictures of the flowers and foliage around our house: