Celebrating one week in Cuenca!

No regrets, not a single one, after my first week of life in Cuenca. A week of high altitude, walking 3+ miles a day, and racking my brain for Spanish vocabulary has left me a little tired and achy, though.

Plus I got a good sunburn from sitting on the roof terrace with Reby yesterday. A little exposure goes a long way here - the sun is very strong because we're on the equator, or close to it.

I figured out how to take photos on my iPad, and here are a couple of my little pad. Love that luxury kitchen, eh?!

Looked at one apartment this morning - location was good, but apartment was too small.

Yesterday when I was at the SuperMaxi (that's the modern grocery store - I know, it sounds like a feminine hygiene product!) I saw a couple of things to share with you.

The yellow envelope with the screw off top is pineapple jam. Notice the brand name - for snobs only!
And what is that cereal on the plate? In the shape of bananas, watermelons, grapes and some other unknown fruits? Trix, you silly rabbits!

Vamos a have a conversation en Espanol

With some trepidation, I presented myself this morning to a Spanish school for 3 hours of Spanish conversation with Rebecca, or Reby, for short. Every twenty minutes or so, my brain totally turned to mush and I couldn't say anything at all in either Spanish or English, but we managed pretty well.

At the end of the session, I knew that she and I had a lot in common and that I had found my first amiga cuencana (Cuencan friend). For the last fifteen minutes or so, we sat in the sun on the roof terrace - a beautiful day with almost no clouds in the sky. Reby said this meant it would be cold tonight, which means about 40 degrees.

On Friday, we will resume and she is going to start showing me the city, with an eye to finding an apartment. This is muy bueno, because there are two kinds of rents here - one for gringos (higher) and one for locals (lower). I'm going for the lower rate, with Reby's help.

Most shops close from 1-3 pm here, which is a good excuse for a long lunch and a nap. I had an appointment at 3 pm to look at a couple of apartments, and the realtor emailed me to meet her at Banco Pinchinca y Solano. I wasn't sure what this meant, so I walked to Banco Pinchincha, which is a high rise building on Solano. I figured she would see me, the conspicious gringa, but after moving from corner to corner and waiting on the steps of the bank for about 45 minutes, I gave up.

Next I wanted to find a cutting board for my little kitchen. I walked to the supermercado and found one, and also checked out some puppies in a local pet store window. There was a white miniature schnauzer! I had to sternly steer myself away from her, but not until asking whether she was a he or a she and how much she cost!

Just as an aside, the length of day here is twelve hours, all year long. It gets dark about 6:30 pm. Both the nights and the days feel long to me. After all, how many days in the year are like that in Vermont?

Blog Resurrected - from Cuenca, Ecuador

After spending my first five days in Cuenca, I've decided it's time to resurrect my blog, albeit with a slightly different look. There's so much to share about the experience of moving from Vermont and this beautiful city - and some of you might want to know.

Since my last blog, a lifetime ago in February, I have sold my house, sold my car, found homes for all my cats, put together a small shipment of things I couldn't part with, quit my job, and started the legal process of becoming a resident of Ecuador.

The list fits into one paragraph, but the experience was alternately heart-rending and exhilarating, terrifying and liberating. You gotta want it, and you gotta keep moving forward, no matter what.

Here in Cuenca, I have rented a small efficiency apartment for a month, while I look for a permanent place. It's so small that I have to step outside the bathroom to towel myself off after a shower! And while I'm doing that, if I'm not careful, I'll hit my head on the TV!

But it has WiFi, cable TV, a propane stovetop and a microwave, dishes and linens. It is just a block or so from a local mercado, and the town square is a ten-minute walk. Right across the street is one of Cuenca's four rivers, with green space on either side with benches every so often.

Cuenca is a city of 500,00 in the Andes, at an altitude of 8,300 ft. I'm keenly aware of the altitude every time I go out walking - any uphill stretch or set of stairs sets my heart racing. But that should be gone soon.

Families rule here. They stroll around together, mother holding the newest baby, father watching the toddler running in front. They are not in a hurry, but clearly enjoying each others' company. There are no strollers here - babies are held or carried on their mother's back. They are held close in loving arms, not separated from their parent by a stroller or car seat. Think it might make a difference in how a kid turns out?

Another striking thing here is the tight pants syndrome. Young girls and women alike wear the tightest pants I have ever seen! Spray painted on.

It goes without saying that I stick out like a sore thumb here, with my gringa looks. But people are polite, friendly, helpful and very patient with my attempts to communicate in Spanish.

I'll start taking some conversational Spanish lessons tomorrow, but so far I have managed to buy a cell phone (Thank God the instruction book was in English and Spanish), do some grocery shopping, and take the bus around town.

This afternoon I'll start looking at apartments, which is turning out to be a tad frustrating. All the fantastic places that are posted on the Internet turn out to be non-existent. Some people advise using a real estate agent, others say keep away from those real estate agents. It's going to be an adventure!

World's Worst Blogger: Me

Ok, I think we can all agree that I am the world's worst blogger. I just can't seem to make it to the site and put my fingers to the keys. I'll try harder.

Wow, a whole month has passed and I'm getting closer and closer to my April trip to Cuenca. I have my plane tickets and hotel reservations in Quito and Cuenca.

I booked a tour for people thinking of moving to Cuenca through Dixie's Davey's excellent blog, http://www.retire-in-ecuador.com/.

All that's left is finding a secure parking lot for my car near the Boston airport. This is actually the worst part of the whole trip! Once I almost missed a flight because I got lost in the maze around the airport and couldn't find the park/fly lot.

Waiting is hard. I'd like to be whisked through time to April now so I can start my adventure. Notice that I don't have any hesitation about the fact that I am going to have an adventure. The idea of moving to Cuenca has become so much a part of my everyday life, that it is comfortable now...inevitable. Yaay!

In the meantime, we have a couple of feet of snow on the ground here in Vermont, and last night had thundersnow - snow with thunder and lightning! I'm not liking it, but shoveling snow is good exercise, at least.

Saturday, I had a real estate agent to the house, to talk about prices and listing. This is exciting!! I only had a couple of hours notice, but I was able to go through the house like a cleaning tornado before she arrived. Although I do have someone already interested in buying the house, I feel more comfortable with a professional helping me through it.

I am still clearing stuff out of closets and knee wall cupboards, and finally, there's empty space in the house.

I've thought a lot about what to bring with me. Do I really want to drag all my past life stuff with me, or do I want to make a clean break? Making a clean break means getting rid of everything, all the little mementos that I have from all the places I've been. There's a lot of it.

Right now I'm going with the premise that I'll put together a small shipment, not a whole shipping container. I've been wandering around the house, looking at pictures on the wall, pottery on the shelves, and saying "that goes, that stays, that goes...." I don't mind buying new dishes, but my vegetable peeler that my mother gave me when I moved out at 17 has to come.

I still have four cats that I need to find homes for. Soon would be good.
I'll put together little kitty kits for them to take to their new homes: a blankie, their food bowl, a toy, and some food. Their new people will only have to add love and kitty litter. 

Since I can now go out and look at where the dogs are buried with loving remembrance, I know I can shuck whatever I need to to get where I'm headed now.

Finally, ta da, I am making some money online! In fact that's one reason why I haven't been posting - I've been doing jobs and getting paid!

It's all working. I'm actually doing the things I told myself I had to do in order for my plans to work. It feels good. I'm outta here!

El Tiempo Cuenca

I was very happy to usher in the start of 2011, because this is the year that I make my move! Well, I’m making it every day, a little bit at a time, but now that the calendar has turned over to the new  year, moving to Ecuador seems a little more solid, more real.  I mean, I can actually look at the 2011 calendar, point to a month and say, this is the month that I am going!

That little bit at a time part – trying every day to do something that will get me closer to Cuenca – is fantastic. Thinking this way keeps me focused on what I’m trying to do, and even if all I do one day is check my Cuenca blogs and read El Tiempo Cuenca, one of Cuenca’s daily newspapers, I’ve made a connection.

I’m actually feeling a little schizophrenic these days; some of me already in Cuenca, some of me here, filling a cardboard box with stuff to get rid of. Over Christmas, when I read an account of El dia del Nino, when people from all over Ecuador come to celebrate the Christmas Child, I really wanted to be there.

Thanks to the Internet, I could read about it and see photos in El Tiempo Cuenca. Very nice.

The Christmas that I did have here was wonderful, spent with dear friends and filled with good food and good conversation. But I could feel the pull of another Christmas to come.

Progress report: I’ve finished my first online job, and got a 5.0 review from the client – the highest rating possible. Very nice.  Looks great on my profile.

Took advantage of the three-day New Year’s weekend to plow through more stuff and resign it to the trash. How I ever managed to accumulate all this stuff is beyond me.

The energy is flowing in the right direction now

Now that I’ve gotten rid of all that stuff that was hindering my progress (in the last blog), I can move down the path a little further. Just kidding, the stuff is still all here, and no one contacted me and offered to buy it, either. Never mind, the process has begun.

There’s no way that I’m not going, and just to prove that, I booked a reconnaissance trip to Cuenca for April. Watching the fare drop on Kayak.com for three straight weeks convinced me that it had gotten about as low as it was going to get, so I bought. And was totally vindicated, when the next alert came in with a mucho big price increase.  

So now I have a confirmed itinerary in hand, and I’ll fill in the spaces, like hotel nights, as I go along. I’ve found a couple of fantastic websites that will help with that information, and a lot of other information that I’ll want to have for my trip, like a map of the city. Also connected with the official website for Cuenca, which has a great promotional video. The more I see of the city, the more I feel like I’m going to the right place.

One of the websites, www.cuencahighlife.com, is for people who live in Cuenca,  and emails notices for upcoming happenings; art exhibits, concerts, Christmas events. The restaurant review section is fantastic.

Right on the heels of buying my ticket, I started bidding for jobs online, preparing myself for a long period of proposing jobs and being ignored, until I finally got a small one. Incredibly, I got the first one I bid on, and suddenly my whole plan is actually looking like it’s going to happen!  I have a long way to go before I’ll be making what I need to support my Cuenca life, but I feel as though the energy is all flowing in the right direction now.

Wahoo – one day before the Solstice, typically the lowest time of the year for me, and I’m full of energy and looking forward to a 2011 full of changes! And happy holidays to you!!

For Sale: One Past Life

For Sale:

- Service for 12/Blue and White Rice pattern china with dragon design. Bought one dish at a time every time I went to the grocery store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and lovingly used for over twenty years as everyday china. Service includes dinner plates, salad plates, cake plates, cups and saucers (one small set/one large set), serving platters, three sizes of bowls, teapot, condiment dishes.  

- One rattan chest with black lacquered insets, used as a Christmas tree stand for Christmases spent in Southeast Asia. Then used as a coffee table in New Hampshire and Vermont.

- One collection of the works of Thoreau, including my own journal kept the first winter I lived by myself in New Hampshire, in the style of Thoreau.

- One three-piece set of Makkum porcelain – one ginger jar with lid and two vases, flower and bird design, bought on a day trip to the northern provinces of the Netherlands, where we drove across the sea causeway and marveled at the frozen waves of the North Sea.

- One collection of museum guides, all bought on site: The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia; The Pushkin Art Museum, Moscow, Russia; The Louvre, Paris, France; The Musee d’Orsay, Paris, France; Monet’s Gardens, Giverny, France; The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;  Kroller-Muller Museum, The Netherlands; and more.

- One batik representation of Ganesh, the Elephant Headed God, Overcomer of Obstacles, purchased in the main marketplace in Kathmandu, Nepal.

- One white cotton hand woven blanket, bought at a roadside store in the mountains of Greece, at the top of a winding road on the way to the Ancient City of Troy.

- Two small etchings of the Old City of Prague, purchased at a local artist’s stand on the bridge in Prague.

- One framed papyrus depicting geese and ducks feeding, bought at a souvenir shop near the Great Pyramid in Cairo.

These are possessions that reflect my life lived so far - so hard to let go, but impossible to keep if I want to move forward.