Cuenca, Sweet Cuenca

Friday, May 20, 2011

Neither Diane nor I can believe it has been a week since our last post. Much has happened and much has changed. Over the weekend we continued to get a sense of Cuenca. We got lazy at Casa Ordonez, getting up for breakfast [served 7:30 to 9:00am], but not getting out until after noon. Sunday, Alberto took us and another U.S. couple on a tour of the city, showing us some of the outlying areas and 'Gringoland' where many of the ex-pats live. We used the weekend to look for an apartment. We saw a few that were unsuitable, but on Sunday we found one [actually Diane first found it on CraigsList - Ecuador] that would suit our gringo needs - large living area with separate living and dining rooms, 3 bedrooms [more than we were looking for, but the extra closets are always welcome], 2 baths. A newer apartment. It is set back from the street a bit which helps keep the noise down. Alberto helped by interacting with the owner, keeping the price in line and helping with details. We agreed that the move-in would be Monday morning and that the rental would run through June 30. Apparently the place had already been rented for July. If we want, we can return August 1.

We moved out of Casa Ordonez last Monday morning. Alberto, his sister Ines, his brother-in-law Thorvaldt, Mother Ordonez and the staff were very gracious and most helpful. They feel like family. Alberto left yesterday for Norway to visit his wife who is finishing up her Masters in Communications and graduating...we miss him already. Alberto is considered by friends as the "Don" of Cuenca--in a good way! I recommend Casa Ordonez as a great starting point in Cuenca for anyone - gringo or otherwise. Alberto and Edwin (staff person) helped load our considerable number of suitcases, carry-ons and backpacks into his Hyundai SUV and carted us off to our new home at Gaspar Sangurima 13-75 because that is the kind of host he is. He even helped schlepp the luggage up the 18 steps [not that I am counting] to the second floor. Schlepping is a young man's sport at 2,450 meters [the SUV reports altitude on the screen]. It took a while for me to catch my breath. It felt wonderful to finally unpack and not to live out of our suitcases.

Monday afternoon, we went to a local supermercado for cleaning supplies and other small stuff. Later, Alberto dropped us off at a Super Maxi Grocery Store and we got serious--food-wise. It is a big US-style market with bakery and deli, lots of merchandise and wide aisles. The produce looked good and so we got a bunch of provisions. We were so far from the apartment that we took a $2 taxi back home.

On Tuesday, we were awakened by the local rooster at a very early hour. What's with the roosters and morning? Note to self: Close bedroom windows before retiring. That morning, we went took care of some personal business, with Alberto's help. Then we went off looking for the best Cuban sandwich in Cuenca [did I say that everything the Ecuadorians cook for local consumption is rife with cilantro so I am content to eat food cooked for foreigners] armed with directions from Thorvaldt. We missed finding the Eucalyptus Restaurant but stumbled on a Greek Cafe[!]. We had lunch, coffee and dessert, bought four large, fresh croissants and still got change back from a ten-spot. Afterwards, we ventured over to the large fruit/veggie market to get salad fixings for dinner. We bought papaya, beautiful, large tomatoes, small bag of peeled garlic, potatoes, some "tree" tomatoes that the lady told us were not for salads [still need to figure out what to do with them], chocolate for hot chocolate [not to eat], homemade pasta and a head of lettuce--all for less than $10. Diane started cooking that evening and it was a good thing because Wednesday would be a strange day.

On Wednesday morning, we were awakened early by the local, annoying dog barking. Ok--who forgot to close the bedroom window last night? As we sat at the dining table Wednesday morning, around 10:00am, the lights went out in the apartment. Inasmuch as we had heard workers in the stairwell, neither of us gave it much thought, at first. After 15 minutes or so, I poked my head out the door and noted lights in the stairwell. It did not take long to figure out that we had been singled out for special treatment. We emailed the landlord, Martha [fluent in enspanol] and her sister, Flor [who lives in Canada and is fluent in English] to tell our tale of woe. We went over to Casa Ordonez and Ines called Martha. She thought that it must have something to do with the breaker and that she would meet us at 3pm at the apartment. 3pm came and went--no Martha. So, I traipsed back over to the Casa Ordonez to have Ines call Martha. Martha still believes that denial is a river in Egypt, telling us that she thought she had paid the Empresa bill. Diane waited at the apartment for a visit from whoever might be interested in leading us through the dilemma. While I was away, Martha came and told Diane tht she would go to the electric company and "be right back." I returned and went down to check for the manager. We spoke and the manager [fluent in espanol, no ingles] managed to point out that four apartments had been "CORTADO" [cut off] for non-pmt. Ours was one of the four. He showed me the sticker on the panel of meters, noting with great relish the two word: cut-off and non-payment. Flor had sent a 'best of luck' email. Well, Martha did return, not with receipt in hand but armed with candles and matches. She said it was too late to pay at the electric company and expressed the thought that perhaps she might have forgotten to pay the Empresa bill. She wished us a romantic evening and promised to get on the task manana temprano which we took to mean first thing tomorrow. We went for a walk to find Alberto's coffee store. We found it and purchased a whole pound of freshly ground Loja, Ecuadorian coffee for $3.00. The coffee here is amazing. Then we passed a romantic evening at the dining room table eating dinner and playing ColorMatrix while burning three candles to the end. It was a play on romantic.

Thursday morning we were awaken early by the sound of loud sonic booms - fireworks set off by the local churches to honor the saints. It sounded like shotguns fired from the next room. Didn't matter that the windows were shut! The lights were not yet back on. We enjoyed a Cuenca breakfast of tuna salad because we weren't sure how long we could safely leave it in a powerless frig. It was tasty and satisfying albeit a bit oniony for breakfast. Nonetheless, we were overjoyed when the lights came back on at about 10:00am. God, Martha, and Empresa had turned our world back rightside up. Later that morning, we were sitting at the table when there was a knock at the door. A man who introduced himself as Fabian, Martha's brother, entered with a big bag. He brought us a toaster [long story], light bulbs, a liter box of wine [Concha y Tora, our favorite Chilean vineyard], and wine glasses -- a peace offering from Martha, or she was still working on that romantic evening. Nonetheless, we were suitably grateful and thanked Fabian profusely and continued the thankfulness into emails to Martha and Flor as well. We ventured out in the afternoon to the Greek Cafe for a cafe and piece of cake ($1.50 total). Afterwards, we stopped in the Simon Bolivar Language Academy to sign up for classes. We start private 2-hour lessons on Monday, everyday for a week. They are one-on-one. Both of us took Spanish in school but have not used it much since. We will see how this goes now that our needs are more immediate. If anything, it might help us to communicate with out landlord.

Friday was a comparatively quiet day. Between Diane and me, we spent a couple hours trying to program a universal remote to control the DVD player. It was ugly but eventually Diane outlasted it and came to some peace. The landlord had stocked some movies and we had watched an Adam Sandler/Jennifer Aniston movie Tuesday night. Remarkably it was in ingles. We found out most were in espanol. Part of problem is that movies in Ecuador, while inexpensive [$1], are invariably unprofessional copies. Alberto had instructed us that 'there are no pirates in Ecuador. We're pretty sure he was talking about illegal movie copies. So our two significant accomplishments for Friday were: Getting the remote to work for the DVD and figuring out why our internet wouldn't connect. We ventured out in the afternoon to go see Mark, a gringo we met at Casa Ordonez. He is an IT security guy and has bought a condo in a building not far from us. It may be a possibility for us to rent July 1st. He determined it was our internet service, not our Verizon Manager. We came back to the apartment and the manager said his was out too and had called. In about an hour, he knocked on our door to inform us all was well and the internet service was fixed. That was really nice of him--typical of the Ecuadorians--considerate and friendly. Friday evening we were able to watch 'The Tourist', in ingles. It is a Angelina Jolie/ Johnny Depp romantic drama. Life is good.

So, we close for now. We are enjoying our new life here in Cuenca. It hasn't been without some frustrations here and there but for the most part is leveling out and quite pleasant. We have two extra bedrooms and would love to play host to our friends and family anytime--just pack your earplugs if you want to sleep in.