Out With the Old, In With the New

     It is hard to believe another year is coming to an end. On New Year's Eve last year when John gave me my kiss at midnight, he said "we are going to have a very exciting year".  And was it ever.  We seem to be writing our story as we go along.  The adventures and experiences we have had were not always planned, but definitely welcome.  I would be lying if I said I didn't feel any apprehension about moving to Ecuador.  It was definitely outside our comfort zone, but I have to say we have no regrets. 
     Ecuador has a New Year's tradition of burning effigies. It symbolizes putting the year behind you, be it good or bad, and welcoming in the new year.  We plan on participating in this ritual, as I think the meaning is very important. 
     This year we also started our own Christmas Eve tradition. The initial plan was to stay home with the puppies and just enjoy each other's company.  But, we had this awesome Santa suit here and Christmas just wouldn't be the same without somehow using it.  We had talked to our guardian family, Jimmy and Mirian, and asked them if their family would like a visit from Papa Noel (Ecuadorian Santa Claus). They said yes, and also that there were many children in the neighborhood where their family lives.  So the idea just snowballed from there.  John and I headed down by the mercado where there are many little shops and bought a load of candy and cute little Christmas bags to put it in. Our plan was to met Jimmy on a corner near their neighborhood and he would take us in from there.  So we are standing out on the road in front of our house waiting for a taxi to take us.  We weren't having any luck and getting to the point of running late.  People were honking and waving at Papa Noel as they went by.  One very nice couple pulled over and asked if we would take a picture for them with Papa Noel. We obliged.  They knew we were waiting for a taxi and asked where we were going.  When we told them, they said, we will take you there.  They got such a big kick out of having Papa Noel ride in their vehicle.  Thank you to Geovonni and Martha,they saved us from being late. We hope we meet them again one day. 
     Our 100 bags of candy did not last long, as Mirian and Jimmy did not exaggerate about there being a lot of kids in the neighborhood.  Within 20 minutes we had given away all the candy and hopped in a taxi to head home.  Next year we will plan on having much more. The experience was priceless to us and are happy to have started a Christmas Eve tradition here in Ecuador.
     Our house rennovating is moving along.  Our kitchen is about 80% done.  The front gates were finished and installed this week.  The tile is almost done except for our room, which we will be moving out of so that can be completed, hopefully soon.  The bathrooms are coming along as well. the next big project is having all the doors and windows replaced.  Everything we get put in new, makes everything old look... well, older (hence the continued additions to the rennovation). 
     The puppies are growing like crazy, adding so much fun and enjoyment to our lives.  We can't imagine our lives without them, even though they are in their terrible twos right now.  It is very fortunate that we have the time to devote to giving them lots of attention and training them.  We will be building a nice gated area for them in the front side so they have a place to go if things get too hectic.  They already like laying over in that area, so it should be a great place for them.
     I was walking on the beach this morning and I met a lady.  We exchanged greetings and she walked past me.  A few seconds later, I heard her call to me and I turned around.  She walked back to me and started speaking in Spanish something about my feet.  It was obvious to her I wasn't quite getting what she was trying to tell me.  She bent down and took off my flip flops and handed them to me. Then she said "mucho mejor" (much better).  The moral of the story is (my moral anyway), is to take the time, feel what is around you, be it the sand squishing between your toes, or the water lapping over our feet.  May you all have the opportunity in this next year to feel the sand under your feet (or whatever it is that makes you happy). Happy New Year, and may 2013 be the best year ever!

Counting the days...

     We are counting the days for our kitchen to be done.  Not that I mind cooking with a George Foreman Grill, toaster oven and electric fry pan.  But the options are somewhat limited, especially without adequate counter space to prepare anything.  Our cabinets are here and will be installed tomorrow.  Then the granite, stove, dishwasher and refrigerator will be ready to be brought in.  The renovating is actually moving along quite well, if only we would quit adding projects.  The bathrooms were demo'd this week and the new tile purchased.  One of the bathrooms even has some new tile installed in it already.  There was amazingly beautiful tile underneath the old tile they removed (not really).

Victor, one of our not camera shy workers (note the beautiful tile)

New tile being installed already in one bathroom

 

          We learn something new for sure every week and maybe every day.  One thing we learned this week is if there is something at the store that you like and don't want to be without, you must buy it when they have it and buy a LOT!  I have a granola that I have become quite fond of and am very disappointed when I am unable to get it.  The other day we hit the jackpot and were at the store right after they stocked it.  I bought 8 bags of it (I wish I would have bought more!).  We have heard of other items that you must stock up on when you see it (coffee filters, dog treats, etc...).   Why do I have a feeling I could end up on an episode of hoarders one day?

 

      Note the ingredients on my favorite granola (or should I say lack of).  No preservatives, chemicals or anything else nasty.  I feel pretty good about eating it, not to mention it tastes awesome!

 

     The puppies are growing like weeds and bringing us endless joy every day.  We are so thankful they came into our lives when the did.  They are a bright spot of sunshine amidst all the dirt and dust. And so much fun!  They are pretty much poop trained and the pee puddles diminish every day.

Josie whispering toAnnabel, "what kind of trouble should we get in now?"

 

     So we end another week here in Ecuador.  We look forward to the progression of this next week and hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of our new kitchen very soon!

 

 

 



 

 



     

Making Progress

     We are continuing to see our house come together with the new tile.  The first floor (which is the biggest area because it included the large front veranda) is completely tiled and about 75% done with the grout.  The upstairs is about 60% tiled with no grout yet.  The bad news is as we put in the new floor, we see what else needs to be done.  We have now made the decision to redo all the bathrooms as well (that would be 5 bathrooms). Our project now seems to have no end.  Patience, must have much patience.  The good news is it is going to look awesome when it is all finished.
     The kitchen is still being prepped for the cabinets which are scheduled to be coming on Wednesday.  We learned very quickly not to hold to much hope on dates since it only leads to disappointment.  They will get here when they get here.  Meanwhile, we have been opening some of the boxes from our container (even though we have nowhere to put anything yet) and found our electric fry pan.  We were able to have scrambled eggs for dinner tonight.  That may not sound like a big deal, but let me tell you, after sandwiches, granola, etc... for 7 weeks, it was awesome!   We have also been able to make pizza in our toaster oven.  They sell these great little personal cheese pizzas at Hyper Market for $1.84.  And we have been splurging on chocolate filled croissants (which are to die for when heated up in the toaster oven  They are so good, we have limited ourselves to one a week just to make sure we don't get carried away.  We also make sure to hit the mercado up at least once a week to get our fresh fruit and vegetables  The mangos are absolutely awesome.  The large ones run about 4-5 mangos for a dollar and boy are they sweet!  They are very messy and juicy, so I justify eating two of them at once since I already have juice dripping all over my face.  The bananas we got this week were 8 for $.50.  Strawberries are about $1.50 a pound, but they make an awesome treat as well.  We are also fortunate because every once in a while our caretakers, Jimmy and Mirian, bring us over a delicious lunch or dinner.  Mirian's mother must have really been a good teacher, because Mirian is a great cook.  And her presentation is awesome.  I did have to tell her I didn't like pescado, though (fish). John said her ceviche was awesome, too (something else I had to pass on ).
     Meanwhile, our puppies, Annabel and Josie, are doing absolutely awesome.  They are a bright spot in our day, for sure.  They had their first vet visit on Friday and got their first set of vaccines, along with a vitiman shot and an anti-parisite medication (total vet bill was $20).  Neither one was happy about getting their shots.  I hope they have a short memory, because they have to go back again in a month.  They are always playing and cuddling with each other, which just reinforces why we took both of them.
     On Tuesday, our friends Will and Janis had to go to Guayaquil to take care of some business and they asked me to go with.  It was a great opportunity to get a little more shopping done.  We went to a huge mall, which was very modern and a lot of fun to look around in.  Our grocery store here in Salinas is called Super Maxi.  Well, in the mall in Guayaquil they have a Mega Maxi!  It is like Super Maxi on steroids.  We had Pizza Hut pizza for lunch in their foodcourt.  And guess what? It tasted just like Pizza Hut in the U.S.  It was really good!  Nothing like good old American junk food to clog up the arteries. A big thanks to Will and Janis for taking me with.  It was a lot of fun. We stopped and bought some honey at a roadside stand on the way home, too.  The mixture I got is supposed to prevent and cure just about everything- lol!
     As we end this week, I now have a operable washing machine. The dryer, well, not so much.  Something shorted out on it and if we can't get it repaired, we are going to replace it with a gas dryer, as gas is much cheaper than electricity here.  Slowly, but surely, we are getting back to normal (which I have always said is a setting on a dryer- just hopefully not my broken one).  Looking forward to seeing what this week will bring us.

New Arrivals

     This was definitely a week of arrivals.  We had been thinking about getting a Golden Retriever and a Beagle puppy.  I had looked at the ads in the Guayaquil newspaper and even emailed a couple of ads for a Golden Retriever that was advertised. Late Monday afternoon John got a call from someone regarding the Golden Retriever puppies. He said he was going to come to Punta Carnero (a 2 hour drive) that evening and would be bring some puppies for us to see.  We told him we were interested in one female.  Well, they ended up bringing two females, and within about 2 minutes of holding them, John and I decided to take them both.  There was no way we could choose and they were so young we did not want to separate them as they were already being separated from their mother.  They were only 4 1/2 weeks old, which is too young, but apparently that is very common here.  I have to say taking both of the puppies was the best decision we ever made.  We will not be getting a beagle pup, but that is ok.  They have slept through the night every night since we have had them and have not whined at all.  Josie and Annabel are very playful, happy, hungry little puppies. We are very lucky to have them.  They will have their first vet visit on Friday for their 6 week vaccines. 

                                               Josie and Annabel, sisters forever
                                                        

Josie

Annabel in her favorite spot under the cocktail table

 

     The second arrival of the week was our container.  After more red tape and jumping through a few more hoops, the container was scheduled to arrive between 9-10am on Wednesday morning.  John had woke up with a high fever and body aches that morning, so we were ok with the container being late.  Unfortunately it ended up being really late and didn't show up until 7:30pm.  John was not any better, in fact he was much worse, unable to even get out of bed.  Our neighbors, Will and Janis came down so Will could communciate with the drivers and unloaders so we could get started.  I am forever grateful for their help because I felt so lost by myself.   Our caretakers, Jimmy and Mirian helped the unloaders and myself and by midnight we had it all off the truck.  Unloading in the dark with no liftgate, no pallet jack, no dolly (you get the picture) was very interesting.  We did have a four wheel cart and a couple dollies that we had brought along.  Trying to teach them how to use it was proving fruitless, so I finally gave up and just let them carry everything.  The semi truck left and the little truck that the unloaders (also the unpackers) pulled in our driveway and all five of them jumped in the covered back to sleep.  They were up the next morning by 7am ready to start unpacking and unwrapping what we could.  Since our new tile floor is still being installed we were really limited as to where we could go with things. Thank goodness we have the workshop in the back where we were able to put a lot of it.  It may be a few weeks before we are able to really get organized.  Once our kitchen is in that will really help (another 3 weeks or so). 

     Right now, we are just taking one day at a time and getting done what we can. The best part is we are now able to sleep in our own bed (big smile : ).  After six weeks on an air mattress (it was a pillowtop air mattress which I would highly recommend if you ever have to sleep on one), it was pure heaven to sleep on the real thing.  It's the small things. We are enjoying our puppies, the beach, the beautiful sunsets and our lives here in Ecuador.





 

 

 



Another Great Week in Ecuador

     I just realized my blog post title could get rather redundant.  Another great week in Ecuador is just ending for us.  We both feel like someone is going to pinch us and we will wake up from this wonderful dream.
     On Monday, the new workers started chipping our old tile to get it ready for the new tile to be laid over it.  This is all done by hand with a metal tool that is continuously hit upon the tile.  It is very tedious, but it gets the job done.  We are so excited for the new tile, that the noise and dust doesn't bother us at all.  The granite for the kitchen was also delivered on Tuesday.  We are slowly making progress.  On Saturday, they actually laid the very first pieces of tile. 
     Tuesday night, our friends Gary and Kathryn invited us over for enchiladas.  Oh my, what a treat. There was also homemade salsa and guacamole.  Kathryn can rival any Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, and that is the truth.  Needless to say, we are very spoiled. 
     Thanksgiving Day is obviously not celebrated here by the general Ecuadorian population, but the gringos here in Punta Carnero from the U.S. got together to celebrate at Bob and Freida's home.  In traditional American style, there was way more food than we could possibly eat.  I think the local Punta Carnero policia could smell it, because they stopped by to eat as well.  We had a very enjoyable day as we also got to Skype with many family members in the U.S. 
     There was no Black Friday shopping here. Just another day in paradise, walking the beach and picking up shells.  I can honestly say I don't miss it at all.  We are very happily adjusting to the much slower pace of life.  We did take the bus (for $.25) into La Libertad on Friday.  We had Almuerzo (lunch) at this awesome little restaurant called Restaurante El meson del Coronel.  Almuerzo consisted of a choice of sopa (soup) which was either de habas con queso (cheese soup) or sanccho de carne (a meat and potato soup).  There was two different choices for entrees.  One had pescado (fish) and the other had pollo (chicken).  We had the chicken which came with rice and fideo with jamon (pasta with ham). On top of that we got a large glass of this most wonderful tasting juice. All which cost us $2.00 each.  Not too shabby.  We then walked to towards the La Libertad mercado.  On the way, we found a place for John to get his hair cut.  Total cost was $3.00 (including the tip).  From there we picked up some strawberries from a street vendor for $1.50 and five very large cucumbers for $1.00.  For $1.00 we took a taxi to El Paseo, the shopping mall and then another $.25 for the bus ride back home.  Total spent on our outing = $11.00.  Cost of experiencing the Ecuadorian culture = priceless.
     On Saturday, we went to see a movie at El Paseo. They have several movies showing, but there is usually only a couple that are in English.  We were fortunate enough to be able to see El Cuervo (The Raven) with John Cusack which was a story about Edgar Allen Poe.  It was very good (as was the popcorn!)  Our next door neighbors had invited us over later that evening for drinks and homemade empanadas.  Alvaro and Yvonne are from Chile originally, but now live in Guayaquil. Their home here in Punta Carnero is their weekend and holiday beach house.  Our friends Will and Janis were invted as well and Alvaro served us a Chilean drink called Pisco Sour.  It was awesome. And then the plates of empanadas were brought out.  There was shrimp and salmon, seafood, mushroom with corn and sausage and cheese.  Definitely the best empanadas we have ever had.  We were very thankful at the end of the night (after finishing a bottle of red wine on top of all the Pisco Sours), that we only had to walk next door.  We are so fortunate to have such wonderful neighbors as Alvaro, Yvonne, their 11 year old son Nico and their beagle puppy, Bruno.
     So, as I stated at the beginning of this post, another great week in Ecuador.

Yummy empanadas!

Our next door neighbors, Alvaro, Yvonne and their son Nico.

Janis, John and Will enjoying Pisco Sours and empanadas

I love their Beagle, Bruno : )

 

 

 

 

Learning and Adjusting

    This last week has been interesting, to say the least.  We have made some positive changes regarding our house remodel, which has become a huge relief.  It finally feels like we will be moving forward instead of running in place.  And as Forest Gump said, "that's all I got to say about that".
   After five weeks here, we can honestly say that it feels like home here.  I cannot say enough how friendly and wonderful the people here have been to us.  It will feel awesome when we are in the position to give back to all that have helped us along the way.  This week we met some more neighbors who had been out of the country, Will and Janis.  They walk their beautiful husky, Kai, several times a day so we have seen them quite a bit.  Will is a native Ecuadorian so he has helped us with translating as well. They are a great couple, and we are lucky to know them (along with everyone else). 
   The weather has been absolutely amazing.  The temperature year round here averages at 82 degrees for a high and 65 for a low.  It has been in the mid to high 70's every day.  As we are approaching summer here, it will be warming up into the 80's. A major reason why we chose this area to live. Also the fact that the average rainfall per year is about 4 inches.  We had a blast yesterday afternoon watching the surfers out on our beach (ok, not really OUR beach, but it is right in front of our house). One young surfer saw has watching him as he was riding a big wave in and he decided to ham it up just for us with a little hip wiggle and some other fancy moves. I think he enjoyed our ovation and thumbs up.
   The things that shocked us initially have now just become, well, I guess you could say, less shocking. To elaborate, it is very common, any place, anywhere, anytime, to see a mother breast feeding her child.  With no attempt to cover anything up.  To be honest, it doesn't bother us at all, but it is just something you don't see in the U.S. (usually).  Also, men take full advantage of their ability to pee anywhere, anytime and pretty much any place.  Probably the funniest one was seeing a guy who had pulled over on his motorcycle (on a very busy street) and relieved himself, right there on the edge of the road. I guess when you gotta go, you gotta go!  That one is definitely more disturbing than the former : ).   Another thing we got used to very quickly was the fact that you do not flush toilet paper down the toilet.  It is deposited in a trash can (hopefully covered).  This is true in all of Ecuador  It really is not a big deal as one might think it would be.  Another fact in Ecuador- pedestrians do not have the right of way.  I don't think this is a written law or anything, but it truly is your own responsibility for getting yourself across a street safely.  They will beep at you to let you know you are in the way, but that does not mean they will stop.  We did adjust to that very quickly as well.  
    John and I are both very happy and look forward to each day and what it might bring.  We are both very adaptable, so that has helped a lot.  We are truly grateful for all the people in our lives (in WI, AZ and Ecuador) that have been so supportive and understanding of our choices.  Just because there is distant in between us doesn't mean we love you all any less. 

Why Did We Move to Ecuador?

     Many people have asked why did you move to Ecuador, or how did you choose Ecuador?  Some days that feels like a really good question, and other days, we know exactly why.  I would definitely say we have to give most of the credit to John Curran, who graduated with me from Waupaca High School back in 1981.  When I got on Facebook and became friends with John, I was really enjoying following his posts about living in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, a small mountain village.  We soon started corresponding, and John very patiently answered my endless questions.  Soon, my John was interested and before we knew it, we scheduled a scouting trip to the coast of Ecuador.  Through many, many hours of internet searching on climate and everything else, we zeroed in on the Salinas area.  We rented a condo for a month on the malecon in Salinas in June.  Fortunately we hooked up with the best real estate agent in Ecuador (Kimberly Quintana), and if you have seen the Salinas, Ecuador International House Hunters episode, you will see Kimberly as the client looking for a condo. She not only was a great real estate agent, but has become a friend as well.  When she first showed us the house we bought, we saw all kinds of potential.  It was  a couple hours after we saw it that it came to John that it would make an awesome Bed and Breakfast.  Afterall, it had four good sized bedrooms all with private baths.  And enough other rooms to make everyone comfortable.  Not to mention that it is right on the ocean with a beautiful beach right in front.  We knew the house would take a lot of work, so before we left Ecuador, we met with a contractor to get an estimate on what it would cost to rennovate the house.  Before we even got back to Phoenix, we had the estimate and had decided to purchase the house.  Unfortunately, the day after we got back, John had a heart attack (not related to the cost of the rennovations or anything : ), but everything was caught in time and a stint repaired his 90% blocked LAD (widowmaker) artery.  After that, John was even more excited about making our Ecuador move a reality.  I guess having flirted with death, you realize how short life is and you need to make the most of it.   So here we are, living in the bedroom of our house while all the remodeling is going on.  I am pretty sure our contractor believes it is a blessing and a curse to have us here, because we see everything.  It has been an adventure, nonetheless.  Ecuador is a third world country, and I would never sell it as anything other than that.  But it is beautiful, has a wonderful charm and great people.  John Curran had been very honest with us and we had no expectations that we didn't fulfill. 
    Another question we have gotten a lot, is when will your Bed and Breakfast be up and running?  That is a great question and I wish I had a great answer. A few months?  We have added quite a few things to our list of rennovations since we have gotten here.  One of the biggest things we changed was replacing all the tile in the whole house. (one of the curses of staying here is we got really sick of it really fast). It is outdated and a touch busy :).  We will also be added a swimming pool in the back yard along with a Bocce ball court.  It previously had a basketball court back there (not in good condition) and we really had no use for that.  Our 40 foot container is already here in Ecuador and we are hoping it takes a few weeks to be processed through customs because we are not ready for it. 
While we were still in Arizona, we decided to name our Bed and Breakfast "Las Palmas del Mar" (The Palms by the Sea), since it had some large palm trees in the yard.  Unfortunately, when we arrived here in October, the palms had taken a turn for the worse (simply due to neglect).  Well, we already had our logo, t-shirts printed, cups printed, etc... so we weren't changing the name! So we ended up planting ten new palm trees in our front yard.  It looks great and we can legimately keep our name.  I do have to give a shout out to my dear friend Trina, who so patiently designed our logo for us. After many tweaks we finally got it just the way we wanted it.

    So here we are, after 4 1/2 weeks.  We have met so many wonderful people.  Ecuadorian and Expats from the U.S. and Canada.  We look forward to meeting many more and enjoying our adventure here in Ecuador.

The South American Way

   Every day we continue to learn new things, new ways and a new language.  We don't expect the Ecuadorians to know English, so we are working very hard on learning as much Spanish as we can. Fortunately they are really patient with us as we try to explain what we are trying to say. Google translator is great if you have internet and a computer nearby.  Once we get settled more, we hope to take some Spanish classes to help us along.  Watching tv with the Spanish subtitles has been a great way to pick up new words as well. Even the dirty ones : ). 
   Living on the coast we do not have the shopping available to us that the larger cities do. We travelled to Guayaquil this week to try to find some things that we couldn't find in Salinas or La Libertad or to find more choices (such as light fixtures). Hiper Market only has so many items available.  We hired a bilingual driver (Juan) along with his pick up truck to make the trip to Guayaquil. One of the big stores there is Boyaca, which has many household items.  Juan also took us to another area, where we were able to find a new couch (which is actually comfortable and fits us). Most of the Ecuadorian furniture is very hard with not much padding. It also doesn't fit us larger gringos very well.  Juan was an expert in maneuvering around the crazy city of Guayaquil.  I have never seen people drive so crazily. 
   Since last weekend was a holiday weekend here, there was more people around and some of the homes were filled with famlies visiting from out of town.  We met our other next door neighbors for the first time. They are very nice and also live in Guayaquil.  They don't speak English but we were able to introduce ourselves and them to us. Then they brought us over lunch the next day.  We are so fortunate have such kind neighbors.  Our caretakers, Jimmy and Mirian cooked us lunch on Sunday. We are definitely enjoying the Ecuadorian cuisine. I have no idea what is in most of what we eat, but I can tell you it tastes awesome!  Our friends, Gary and Kathryn have had us over every Sunday since we have been here for dinner.  It is always delicious since Kathryn is a great cook. This week we had Gumbo with sausage and shrimp. It was so yummy! And her desserts, over the top good.
   Kathryn had 3 very small kittens at her house this week that she was trying to find homes for.  I was very tempted, but the timing is just not right for us.  With all the construction and noise going on, together with the fact that the kittens weren't much more than 4 weeks old and needed a lot of attention, we just couldn't justify it.  John really wants a dog, so that may be what we get eventually.
   John and I continue to walk as much as we can.  Walking along the beach is my favorite of course, but I get very distracted with all the shells and things there are to pick up .  I am still running at least three times a week, just to try to keep in shape.   There is a very heavy police presence here in Punta Carnero. The police are always driving up and down the road.  We have gotten to know a couple of them and I know they watch out for me while I am out walking or running.  They always honk or toot their siren when they see us.  I guess we kind of stand out a little...  John and I really saw how much taller we were than the average Ecuadorian when we were riding the bus to Guayaquil and we were the only ones whose heads stuck over the seats.  It was pretty funny. 
    Construction on the house is slow right now as we have decided to re-tile the entire house.  The tile won't be in until next week.  Then we can finish up some of the other things.  Hopefully the kitchen construction will start soon as well, since that has been the most challenging to be without.  Thank goodness to our friends, Bob and Freda for loaning us a George Foreman grill so we can have some hot food now and then : ).  When we get going on the tile and the kitchen, I will start posting more pictures.
   

Every Day is a New Adventure

     We have just finished our second week in Ecuador.  I think I speak for both John and I when I say, this country is growing on us.  On Tuesday, we headed to Cuenca to meet with our attorneys to get our visas registered here in Ecuador so we can apply for our Cedulas (Ecuadorian identification card). We hopped on the local bus in front of our house which took us into La Libertad which is about 10-15 minutes away ($.25/per person).  From the bus terminal in La Libertad we took a bus to Guayaquil which took about 2 1/2 hours ($3.30/per person).  We watched a movie on the bus which was in Spanish and subtitled in Spanish, but we were able to get the general idea.  The bus station in Guayaquil was awesome.  It was like a huge shopping mall with multiple floors, lots of shops and restaurants. We didn't have much time to spend there as we were soon boarding the bus to head to Cuenca ($8.00/per person). This would be the longest leg of our trip. Also our most interesting.  We travelled through the mountains with absolutely gorgeous scenery and many switchbacks.  The trip was going great and then our bus driver and his helper decided to switch places.  I think the helper was just learning how to drive or something.  They stopped right in the middle of a hill, in the middle of the road to switch. Then we heard the gears grinding. Several times.  It took the new driver about half an hour to get the hang on how to shift.  We made it safely to Cuenca where we met up with Roger and Suzanne Yazell.  Roger and I became Facebook friends through my friend, Debbie in Phoenix.  The Yazells took us around Cuenca, showing us some of the beautiful architecture and local merchants.  We met with our attorneys the following morning and quickly found out we were going to have to stay in Cuenca an additional night.  Our passports were going to be held overnight so they could check everything out before we were registered.  We made use of our time by visiting a store to pick out the tile for our house (they have the same store in Guayaquil so we knew our contractor could get it there).  Since I had purchased two beautiful table clothes from an Ecuadorian merchant the night before, I was excited to have time to purchase a couple more.  Our trip back to Punta Carnero was pretty uneventful and went pretty quick. So quick that we didn't have time to use the restroom in Guayaquil and when we got on the bus we noticed there was no bathroom this time (every other bus we were on had one).  It got a little uncomfortable towards the end of our trip.
Slowly but surely, we are starting to figure things out here.  We have so much to learn, but that is what makes each day a new adventure for us.  (And an additional note, the total round trip cost per person for our bus trip was $23.10).

Our First Week in Ecuador

After many months of preparation, we arrived in Ecuador on Thursday, October 11.  Or it was supposed to be on Thursday.  We actually landed around 1:30am Friday morning after a few hours of sitting in the plane in Miami waiting to take off.  Just when we thought we were clear to go, we got delayed again for Airforce One to take off with the President.  We spent the night in Guayaquil at a Howard Johnson's which was very nice.  Friday morning we got picked up by a private van to take us and our 9 suitcases and 2 carry ons to our new home in Punta Carnero.  Our van driver was trying extremely hard to give us a crash course in Spanish on the way.  When we arrived at our house, our contractor, Christopher and our real estate agent, Kimberly were there waiting to greet us. That was awesome. Christopher had picked up some snacks and drinks for us, since we had nothing at the house. Fortunately the people who owned the house previously had lefts some pieces of furniture there. It wasn't the best, but since we had nothing, it worked.  We had brought a pillow top air mattress along to sleep on while we wait for our container to arrive (which should be sometime in the first part of November).  There was a platform bed frame that worked great for putting that on. We soon set up a functional studio apartment in our bedroom (to keep out of the way of the construction workers as much as possible).  When we tried to take our first shower, we found out we had no hot water.  Upon further investigation we found that the gas tank was not hooked up to the water heater and we needed a new regulator. That would actually get hooked up the following Saturday.  We met some awesome neighbors about a kilometer down the road, Gary and Kathryn. They immediately took us under their wing and started showing us the ropes.  They have certainly made our transition much easier.  On Sunday, they invited us over dinner for smoked ribs, shrimp, sausages and swordfish, along with homemade baked beans, roasted vegetables and chocolate cheesecake for dessert.  It was quite the feast.  The night before, our next door neighbor, Alvaro brought us over dinner which was sauteed shrimp and rice.  It was delicious! Alvaro is originally from Chile, but lives in Guayaquil now.  His home in Punta Carnero is a weekend beach house.  I have also fallen in love with his 2 month old beagle puppy, Bruno.   Monday morning, I took my first run along the beach. It was very enjoyable and peaceful.  I was the only one out there. 
    John and I have worked on finding our way around using the bus and taxis. The bus is $.25 and the taxi ride is $3.00.  So far we haven't gotten lost.  We have made several trips to El Paseo, which is the shopping mall. There is a Hiper Markert there which has pretty much everything we need, from hardware to food.  We signed up for our Hiper Market card right away which saves us about 10-15% or so every time we shop.  We are also regulars at the food court there, too.   It will be so nice to have our stove and refrigerator here.  We did end up buying a small refrigerator, which has been great, because we were able to at least buy some meat and cheese to make sandwiches (and ice cream!).
    Another thing we accomplished this week was to hire our caretakers.  We have a young couple, Jimmy and Marian and their 6 year old son, Kevin.  They moved in Friday.  So far, it is going very well.  It is a hard concept for us to get use to having help, but I think in the long run it will be a very good thing. 
    All in all, it has been a very good week.  We have enjoyed swimming in the ocean and taking long walks along the beach at least once a day.  I am getting quite the shell collection.  I will continue to post as we move towards our goal of opening our bed and breakfast, Las Palmas Del Mar (hopefully in a few months).