2014
We survived Christmas and New Year’s. We are doing well, and looking forward to
another year in Ecuador.
We are now taking Spanish classes 2 times a week which we feel
really good about so far. Our instructor
is a native Ecuadoran, so we are learning Ecuadorian Spanish - even Cuencano
Spanish. We are finally learning to use
all the words we have accumulated to actually speak, and part of her training
is teaching us to “hear” the spoken language as it is used. That makes a big difference. The lessons on CD tend to talk in clearly
enunciated slow speech, but when in the real world, that is not how the people
talk. We read, we talk, we discuss –
and we are learning! Maybe in 6 months
we will be able to carry on a decent conversation.
I took a tumble out of my wheelchair. That in itself is nothing new – I have tumbled
many times. This time I was trying to
turn around in a too-tight space and trying to move a large heavy bulk (Pepper)
out of my way at the same time. Once
Pepper plops down – he stay down unless there is a treat or going for a walk in
the offing. Anyway, I gave Pep a push,
the chair skidded back out from under me, but not far enough as the wall was in
the way, and I hit the back of my leg, hard, on the struts in the front that
hold the foot plate. It hurt – but like
I said, I have fallen out before and didn’t think too much about it at
first. Then the pain wouldn’t go
away. And my upper leg started
swelling. I think it is just two or
three large – make that huge – bruises, but I am definitely having more
difficulties than normal getting around.
I can stand and put weight on it without much pain. The pain is when I try to get up off of or down onto
my chair or scooter. None of this would
have happened, if I had been using my scooter, but the charge cord for it fried
about a week ago, possibly from all the power outages and power surges – not sure. I need to get a surge protector. I had a friend of ours scour the city and Guayaquil,
and Quito for something similar – no luck. He might be able to manufacture one, but I
worry as this has three wires and most DC wirings have two and I am not certain
what the function of the third wire is.
So I ordered another. It might
get here in the next week. Hope, hope,
hope.
We are having a bit of a problem with customs. Steve and I agreed to give each other a new
Kindle for Christmas, and there were a few other things we needed and are not
available here, so I sent off the orders.
Orders have to be less than $400 value and less than 4 kg. So I split up the orders. Apparently, customs doesn’t like it if you
buy two of the same thing – especially electronics, even if they are in separate
orders. So, they have stopped any and
all deliveries to me until they can decide if I am trafficking. It appears as though this may also hold up my
charge cord even though it was sent through a different carrier. I have no idea how to get help. My many attempts to contact the carrier have
met with shrugs. I was told to call the
Customs, but which one? Apparently there
are many in Guayaquil. I have no idea
where to start. I am told to expect to
have to pay business taxes as they now assume everything I order is to
resell. This will likely all work out, but we now know
why a lot expats prefer to pay to fly home to buy things they need.
On a more positive note, we are moving again. No more elevators. No more feeling like we are trapped when the
power goes down. No more worrying about
running into a neighbor who is deathly afraid of dogs. This time we are heading a bit North and
West, but still in the Cuenca area. We
found a nice “house” (actually a townhouse) that is too big for us, but is
brand new, very nicely laid out, and has the master bedroom and bath on the
first floor. There are three more
bedrooms on the second floor. There is a small yard – though it is gravel –
for the dogs, and a good sized courtyard in the middle of the townhouses that is all fenced in, which will be good for exercising Ginger. I will
send pictures when we actually move which will probably be in two weeks. They are still doing some finishing touches
on it now. It is higher in the
mountains, so may be a bit cooler, has a country feel to it, yet there is a
brand new mall going in ½ mile away that is supposed to open in 2 months. But this is Ecuador. A more likely open date is 6 to 8
months. In the meantime it is only
about 10 minutes by car to another major shopping center and there are lots of
smaller tiendas, farmacias and restaurantes within easy walking distance.
