Experiences

So we are getting settled and thought I'd share a few exciting experiences with you.

This first one was about 3 weeks ago. We were in Quito and doing some survey work looking for English speaking people on Saturday morning before our meeting. As we were walking down the street and meet 5 taxi drivers one who turned out that they spoke English. After speaking to him for a bit we left him with an invite to the meeting and he showed up. Not only that but he has come every Saturday since.

A few days ago Heidi was out and they went into a garage. Upon entry they were told that no one spoke English but upon looking at one gentleman he then actually said he spoke English. They sat down with him and he proceed to tell them that he was just talking on Facebook with his sister and was having issues with is ex-wife. His sister told him he needed to look into God and find religion. He then looks at the girls and tells them that they then just walked in. They proceed to demonstrate a study and he accepted an invite and said he would be there Sunday.

This one happened yesterday. We are house sitting for a few days in a high rise building with a security guard. As we got the keys to our new home 2 blocks away I started to move yesterday. The guard was curious and I explained we were house sitting but now have our apt and would be moving in. He asked a few question and realizing that my going out every morning I must be studying the bible with people. he asked where we were doing this and I explained it was in home. He then asked if I could study with him so I said yes of course and brought him the book as well as an invite to the meeting.

We will keep you posted on more.

A Drive Through the Andes

The dilemma get from Quito to Cuenca with 2 kids and 8 bags. The choices. Overnight bus, airplane, taxi/busetta, or rent and a car and drive. After trying for several days to locate a busetta we started to think about the plane as the trip would have cost for all 4 of us under 200$ problem being, bring all the bags and loading and unloading. More pain then it was worth. So we decided to rent a car and drive ourselves. Those who know me know I will drive almost anywhere and anytime. I mean after Mexico how bad can Ecuador be. We decided to go with Avis rent a car. Probably paid more then we should have but I felt with a national name we should be good. We got a a 4 door Mazda BT-50 pick up truck. All I can say is gut less.

Rolling Hills

Land Slide

We left Quito at 7am and arrived in Cuenca at 2pm so basically 7 hrs. The drive is something special in so many ways. To drive through the country side and see the beauty all around it really makes one marvel in awe at creation. Rolling hills that only to see can explain. Homes on the side of beautiful picturesque mountains. And people cultivating the grounds with donkeys and there hands. Upon seeing that you can only imagine what paradis would be like. Although living and driving in the mountains does pose its problems. As we headed out we ran into a closed portion of highway due to a landslide. And then not to mention crazy drivers. At one point we were following a trailer that was pulling a airplane and as he felt that the bus in front of him was going to slow he decided to pull out and pass into oncoming traffic. Of course realizing he couldn't he pulled right back in. Finally he managed to pass into on coming traffic of course but this time the traffic was slower and moved over for him and me. Yes as much as the road is good it is only 2 lanes all the way. Since the up and down is really steep at some points some cars are only going 20km/hr so people get inpatient. Not to forget the trucks or cars with 10-15 people in them. And here's where my gut less pick up comes in, 3rd gear doing 70km/hr going up the mountains. All said and done it was quite worth the $230 we paid for the rental.

Airplane

So here we are in Cuenca where we will spend the next 8 months. We are housing for a week and then get our new apartment which us literally 1 block away from where we are house sitting in fact we can see our new home from the bedroom window. Tomorrow we start our new schedule. And already our new friends have put us to work.

Internet Frustrations

The good old internet, who can live without. When we have cell phones, tablets, wifi, cable connection, to come here and balance internet use is tough. A prepaid cell phone gets you for $10 about 300mg. If carefully it can last you the 30 or so days, just turn off the network when not in use and only check emails when necessary.

But home internet is the catch. So the lesson of the day is, IF possible rent a home with working internet. This home has working internet But - the wifi computer was to far from our unit to be able to pick up. We ended up buying a rocket stick from Movistar. For a $110 we got the stick with 500mg a month as long as we buy a $3 refill every month. Yes the stick is prepaid. I have so far put $26 on the stick and once again have nothing left. In fact I'm fortunate I downloaded the Blogger app on my tablet so I can write this and then when I go to the store later I will get another $10 or $20 refill. Hopefully that will last us till we get our new home in Cuenca that has unlimited internet included (yeah). I guess if your not a big internet user then the prepaid will work for you but for a family of 4 who want to keep in touch with friends, family and clients then you need more.

Now the prepaid phone is something else. Here's a trick for all, watch for a 2 X 1 day sticker or cardboard on the doors of stores. These come every month it seems for both Claro and Movistar. I have both. What this will do is on a $3 refill you will get $6. The bonus $3 is valid for 15 days and only on calls within the circle. So that means Movistar to Movistar or Claro to Claro. Also as it is only valid for 15 days they will use your principal before using the bonus time so let your phone run out. This is okay because incoming calls are always free. I have put $16 on my Movistar phone this month and with it have been able to send and receive emails with caution and use it for calls.

Another thing with phones to consider before coming is buying a dual chip phone. It seems that everyone here carries 2 phones one for Claro and one for Movistar. This is because calling within a company is cheaper than calling another company. Apparently legislation is passing that will change that I will wait and see what happens before going down to 1 phone company.

A successful trip

It was an easy decision. The apartment was right. The price was right. And we will be able to help the way we wanted. It quite amazing how things can happen. We were worried about finding the right place. So we saw the apartment and it was perfect. The area was nice and felt good being there. A kind American couple showed us the apartment and we got a good feeling from them right away. We left them with an offer on the apartment and met our friends on Sunday. Only to find out that the couple who showed us the apartment were friends of our friends. And they were worried about renting the unit to the right person as well since they were only managing the apartment for a gentleman in the US.

Sunday we met new friends who we hit it off with almost immediately. After spending some time together we headed out for lunch at a little seafood place. Another lesson learned if eating with friends in a group make sure the waiter/waitress knows in advance that there is going to be more than one bill. This is the second time we go out in a group and end up having to split the bill manually. From lunch we walked down to a little ice cream shop on the edge of center town. Actually there are about 5 ice cream shops in the little square. The one we went to had 80 different flavors of ice cream.

A Panoramic View of our New Home Town

On Monday we had a full day to kill so we went on a double Decker bus ride to check out the scenes. Very nice town Cuenca. And its a good size too. Not to big and not to small. Has everything you need and then some. We walked every where. Even to the bus stop at 8pm which was about a 20 min walk from downtown. Not to mention that everyone speaks or understands English. Good for teaching not good for learning. We will have to make sure we carry more English literature with us.

The bus ride home was definitely the most exciting part of our trip. It all started right at the bus terminal.  They had over sold the bus to standing room only. And in Ecuador kids are not entitled to a seat they sit on their mothers lap but they don't pay for kids either. Of course a older native lady comes over and tries to sit on aidan to get him to move over and sit on me. Difference is I did pay for my seats even Aidans. She finally found something at the back. The adventure continues at the next stop in the next town where the police boarded and checked everyone's cedula. Its an ID card all Ecuadorians must carry. Thankfully before we left the ticket guy said something to me back in quito about having ID with us, as I have been using my drivers license as my cedula and it has been working, that being said I brought our Visas with us and it went well. The police here are really nice so no problems so far. After that unlike our ride up the bus stopped in every town on the way home so the lights kept coming on and people kept getting on and off so sleep was impossible. We got home at 5:30 in the morning just beat. I hadn't had the chance to work much on Monday so I had about 2hrs of work to do first then I finished painting this apartment for our landlord. Today I think we will try and rest. Keefe has an English reading tonight so we will work on that with him.

Here we are in cuenca

So we took the overnight bus from quito to cuenca. We left on the 9:45 bus from Flota Imbabura which is basically a grey hound with washrooms and reclining seats so we can rest. We arrived in Cuenca at 6:30 in the morning. We took a 2$ taxi ride from the bus station to the downtown area.  Now the only problem with arriving so early is that it was next to impossible to find a coffee shop that was open at that time. Finally after much walking we found one. Coffee was good but the pastries were better.  From there we walked up and down to the streets to find a descent hostel. We found the going rate to be between 60 and 80 a night for a family of 4. But we finally found a cozy little place called hostel Chordeleg on the corner of Gran Columbian and General Torres. The owner gave us a room with private bath and 3 beds for 45$ a night. The going rate for the room was 60$ a night, really gave us a good price and no Gringo tax. The rooms are built around a center court or patio where you enjoy the complimentary breakfast and wifi was included. Really for the price what more could you ask for. The owner allowed us to check our bags early and we got access to the room at 9 am after it was cleaned. So you could say early check in.

Inside the Hostel

After dropping our bags it was time to tour the city. We made our way around the downtown and found a nice market and lots of scenic areas, a change from what we've seen in quito. We also made our way over to the Rio mall. A full service mall where we enjoyed a Mega meal lunch at a chicken and burger shack for $10 which gave us 2 burgers, fries, chicken nuggets, 2 pieces of chicken and an ice cream dessert. From there we looked at an apartment another $2 taxi ride. Arriving in the area we found a park for the kids and quite the nice homes. The apartment is quite new perhaps 3 years at most and has 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms along with everything we need including a washer and dryer, something not all units have. The owner wants $400 a month and will include hydro, water and unlimited internet. I would say sold. So all goes well we will be moving here Sept 1.

Now that we found an apartment time to explore the town. I found a little coffee roaster in town who grinds and bags his coffee at 3.50 a lbs. Might have to see about exporting some of that. It was a good coffee and I brought a bag home. We also found a nice pizza joint where we had lunch. Three slices of pizza, 2 burgers and a Pint and I mean a pint of beer all for $8.50. So yes there are good prices for food here you just have to look. Its very easy to spend money without paying attention. Supper last night was 25$ but here's the difference. Basically for a keg type meal you pay a Montana's price for a Montana's type meal you pay a Mc Donald's price and then if you want look a little harder and you can find the local flavor for below 10$ for the family. All three are good choices it just depends on what you want and how far you need your money to go.
Tomorrow we meet new friends here again before we head back to quito for our final few days. We have a decision to make this week. Stay in quito in one of the valleys, move to Otovalo which was really nice or move to Cuenca. We'll keep you posted.

In the crater of a volcano

Well its been a few days and eventful it was. Where to start.
Friday we had the pleasure of meeting some friends who were our first contact in Ecuador from Canada. They have had the pleasure of traveling the country and in the 12 months they have been here the have seen everything from the amazon to the coast and everything in between. It was nice to hit it off right away with them. all this thanks to to friends who had spent 6 months in costa rica and met a and a in Panama. As I mentioned they have had the pleasure of traveling all over.

Thursday and Tuesday we had the opportunity to work with Spanish friends in the area doing survey work searching for English speaking people. As we were placed 1 English speaking with 1 Spanish speaking it forced us to practice and learn our Spanish even more. What a pleasure that was.

Saturday after our meeting we went for dinner at a mall and enjoyed some good American food - burger and fries. Boy the jungle is hard. Funny story I decided to take a picture of the pizza hut and I had a guy staring at me thinking I was from the jungle and had never seen a pizza hut before. After that we went to a fair which was great as it was free entree and rides were 0.35$ each for kids and $1.50 for adults. After which we went go carting for $6.50. Of course I won.

Sunday we made our up north to a town called otovalo were we went to the market. Wow. Spent to much and by too much I mean maybe $100 for alpaca scarves, hats, blanket, and a shale. So that being said I would like to see about setting up distribution if interested. Its almost a better deal than my Chinese silk ties for those who know about that. In otovalo we met up with our friends a and a again who had scouted the area on Saturday for the big market. Almost double the size of the rest of the week. We went for pizza in a little non Italian Italian restaurant. Again we met a gentleman there from Montreal who was scouting the land. Had an interesting conversation with him. After which we headed back to the hostel for the night. Nice place just very hard beds. That being said it looked like they were slowly replacing the beds in the rooms.

Monday brought more travels. We went up to Cotacachi and had the opportunity to go to the JW leather goods store. I have yet to see the online prices but apparently we got our items at a third the regular price. Picked up book bags for me and heidi. We also went up to a crater of a volcano. It is now a beautiful lake the is protected and the colour is amazing. In the middle of the lake is 2 islands that are pretty much untouched by man - kinda reminds me of the Jurassic park movie. We took a boat ride around the lake and met a couple of Jewish guys who were on a 7 month tour of south America and gave them a ride back to Cotacachi from the volcano. Poor them stuck with the 11 of us and having to listen to us about the bible. It was a good time. They even seemed to enjoy it.

We finished our day a nice restaurant on the side of the water. I would say kinda like a keg just better. And the pricing was good. After which it was a long drive home but well worth the drive. So much so we are considering moving out there as our new home. Just waiting on a few call backs.

We are now legal

It's official, we are now legal for the next 6 months. If you are Canadian and want to make your way down here this is my recommendation. When in Canada make your way to the Ecuadorian Consulate and apply for the 6 month 12-IX. This will make things much faster. All we ended having to do is go to the immigration office on Friday which took about 2 hrs. We needed our approved VISAS from the consulate in Canada, our Passports, full color copies of our passports of both the picture pages and the entry stamps all three of them, and we also had to fill out the Direccion General de Extranjeria. From there we waited and got pictures taken and had to pay a 4$ fee. We then had to return on Tuesday to pick up our Certficado de Empadronamiento which was about another 1.5hr wait. But this time all that was needed was to confirm the info and sign for. Interesting enough here you need ID for everything from getting a rewards card to using your credit card at a store.

Speaking of reward cards we went to the movies on Monday to see Madagascar 3 in Spanish and it was great. the cost was 4.25 each but because of the reward card we paid 2.99, so 12$ for the whole family that's the cost of 1 person back home. Then we got a 6$ combo of 1 Popcorn, 1 soft drink, 1 hot dog and a 3$ phone card which I needed for my phone as my time had run out.

Yesterday we went out again and met a English speaking Ecuadorian who owns a restaurant. He was very pleasant to speak with and even accepted a study. So as much as we have to search for those who speak English when we do they are always kind and want to talk about the bible.

I will say that after yesterday there are 2 things back home I will not complain about anymore. 1) The traffic, it took us 1.5hrs to get from the South end of the city to the North in the morning and that was on a bus. 2) I will not complain about Ottawa bus. The bus here at traffic time make the 95 look like a walk in the park. None the less, it was fun just makes for long days.

And as per my last Blog, we got a TV. The landlord here knocked on our door a few nights ago and said she had a gift for us and gave us a TV to use. We get 4 local channels but they are good to a tune our ears to the language.

Next week we will begin to see the rest of the country side. We have a trip Otavalo and hopefully Cuanca as well.

Asta Luego