Our 1 Month Anniversary in Cuenca!

On Wednesday, November 12th, we celebrated our 1 month anniversary of living here in Cuenca, Ecuador.  In that short amount of time, we have learned a lot.  We now know the area where we live and no longer get lost when we leave our apartment.  Grocery shopping takes much less time, because we recognize some of the brands, and know where to look for certain items that we use on a regular basis.  We have visited many restaurants, and met many nice, friendly people that we enjoy spending time with.  Our Spanish isn't great, but we certainly know more than when we came, and we really like our teacher...she is kind and very encouraging.   On Monday we will get our passport back with our Residency Visa stamp on it, and then will apply for our cedula.  Overall, everything is progressing smoothly...and we are having a great time.

Saturday was another fun, adventure day.  Lance and I took the bus with Roz and Ken to a rustic looking Mexican restaurant named Agave, which is located near the town of Giron, for lunch.  We arrived at Terminal Terrestre at 11:00 on Saturday morning where we planned to meet Roz and Ken, then board the bus.  We've never been there before.  Inside the terminal were all kinds of shops selling lots of candy and snacks, as well as books, magazines, etc.

Outside the terminal there were 2 fountains and a nice area where you could sit outside.  We waited there for Roz and Ken to arrive.

Once they arrived we went inside and bought a ticket for 10 cents to go through the turn-style.  Then, we boarded the bus.  If you've never been on an out of town bus in Ecuador, it is quite an experience.  They play lively music, and all kinds of venders hop on and off the bus with items they want to sell you.  They offer all kinds of things, including fruit, candy, baked goods, etc.  A polite, "No, Gracias," will send them on their way to the next person on the bus. 

At one stop, this young man got on and gave a short speech about how he sells candy on the bus to help pay for his college education.  He plans to be an English teacher.  First he spoke in Spanish, and then English for the benefit of us Gringos.  Roz bought 3 candy bars from him to share with us.  Yum!

We settled back for the ride, visited with each other, and watched the scenery.  As we approached our stop, we got ready to hop off.  You pay as you leave the bus.  It was suppose to be $1.00 for each of us...but for some reason, when Lance and I offered the money, the bus driver wouldn't take the payment.  We're not sure why...but $2.00 for the four of us for a 45 minute ride sure was a good deal.

  

Here's a peek at the scenery across the road from the restaurant.  There appear to be many dairy farms in the area.

 Above is a picture of the bar, and below is a photo of the fireplace.

Behind the restaurant is the owners house.  They are a young couple with teenage children.  All the family members speak English because they spent time in upstate New York.  The house is huge, and I believe there might be plans to turn it into a B&B someday.  

This is the outside bar-b-que where they cook the meat.  Lance and I ordered fajitas and they were delicious.  

We enjoyed a wonderful meal, and had fun visiting with Roz and Ken for the better part of the afternoon.  Finally, it was time to go.  To return to Cuenca, we had to stand out on the road and flag down a bus.  It wasn't very long before one showed up.  We hopped on, and settled down for the ride home.  

Along the way, a young family got on the bus with an adorable baby.  The father was holding her, and looked like such a proud Papa.  Ken struck up a friendly conversation with him and found out that he had spent time in New Mexico, but was now living here in Ecuador.   

What a great time we had.  I want to thank Roz and Ken for the invitation and for the opportunity to see another part of this fascinating country.

In other news, we are finally getting around to looking for a more permanent residence.  Last week we saw several apartments, and are hoping to see more in the near future.  No definite decisions have been made yet, but we are considering one of the condos that we saw.  We are hoping for an unfurnished place with a terrace or balcony so Lance can have outdoor plants.

Last week we also went to a meeting at the Cuenca Chamber of Commerce.  Any ex-pats that were interested in doing volunteer work were invited to come.  They had representatives from 4 universities and some government officials there to kick off this new program.  They spoke about some upcoming projects and encouraged us all to fill out forms telling about our skills and talents.  Then, they are hoping to build a data base to match talents with community needs.  I hope to work with small children in some capacity.  In fact, I was approached by someone who runs an after school program, and was asked if I would be willing to help out.  I told her I would be interested in stopping by to check it out.  Lance and I found the school where she works and plan to go there this week.

We are also attending the 4th annual film festival in Cuenca, which runs from November 14th to the 21st.  We have looked over the schedule and found 6 films that are in English or have English subtitles.  The venues are in several different areas, with 4 of them being within walking distance to El Centro, where we currently live.  The best part is that all of the films are free!  We saw our first movie last night and plan to attend another tonight at the university.

I also got my first haircut here.  I went to a salon that Carolina, one of our receptionist at the front desk, goes to.  She works the afternoon hours, after EnZo leaves for the day.  Like EnZo, she is actually trained to be a chef.  Carolina recently was in a contest to be Ms. Cuenca.  She didn't win...but EnZo told us she looked beautiful.  Carolina is very nice and we enjoy having her here at the Gran Colombia Suites.

Speaking of EnZo...we are sad to report that he will be leaving us shortly.  He has a new job at one of the top hotels and restaurants in Cuenca...Mansion Alcazar.  We will be very sad to see him go, but are very happy for his promotion.  He deserves all the best.

Lance and I are becoming quite the cooks here...mostly out of necessity.  We've had trouble finding a spaghetti sauce that tastes good, so we finally decided to make one from scratch.  We bought tomatoes from the market - 8 for $1.00.  We placed them in boiling water for a few seconds then ice water to remove the skins.  After that we threw in garlic, onions and a few spices and cooked them for about an hour.  The result was a tasty homemade spaghetti sauce that we really enjoyed.  Who knew we had such talent?!?

Well...that about does it.  To all my family and friends back in Wisconsin, I would like to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!  I will be thinking about you and wishing you were here with me.  Please write when you find the time.