Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
Week 3 - Back to Quito
In order to stay legal with the Ecuadorian gummint and register our visa, we decided to fly back to Quito on Monday and stay until Friday--if that is what it takes. We flew into Quito on an early flight Monday AM although it ended up being delayed by impresssive morning fog. Nothing came or left for about an hour, until the fog lifted a bit. We got into Quito and were met by the owner of the B & B we stayed at - Bonanza Hostel, located north of Quito in LaPampa. The proprietors, Patrick and Nora Minga have a nice location in a quiet valley and have experience helping people with their visas. We booked the week with them and agreed to hire them to do our paper work. What a strange journey it was. Patrick is a gringo and Nora an Ecuadoriean citizen. They met and wed in California before coming to Quito. Patrick was in the armed services and had his own collection agency in the states. They got out just as the US economy was turning sour a few years ago.
Monday was a blur as we got accustomed to our new surroundings. Quito is a large city spread out over a large area. Being in LaPampa was a bit remote but our hosts helped us get around whenever we felt the need. Nora undertook to take our papers to the various gummint offices. They were impressed with the level of preparedness Diane demonstrated and said they had never seen such a complete package. I would talk about the process but frankly I never really understood it. We have heard and read so many accounts of what to do and what not to do, it became obvious that there was no preparing to meet the gummint, you just had to jump in and be ready to mix it up. Thankfully Nora, fully bilingual, stood between us and the officiales. She worked hard for five days and when the dust settled on the week, we had an Ecuadorian ID card [don't ask me what it is called] and we believe that paperwork had been submitted to begin the process for a retiree visa, good for as long as we care to stay.
Staying at Bonanza Hostel was a treat. Nora has a great cooking skill in that she is good with spices, was willing to forego cilantro for a few days, and mixed things up so that each day was a real treat. When she was out and about, Patrick stepped in and served up perfectly acceptable fare. We made it to Mitad del Mundo - Middle of the earth - just a few more miles north of LaPampa. It is where the equator passes within a few miles of Quito. We took some pix standing in both the northern and southern hemispheres, balancing on the equator, etc. It was fun and we took another Bonanza guest with us - Cherie who was visiting from S California. She was a kick and we enjoyed the afternoon scrounging around in the shops around the Mitad. She bought a couple of sweaters as the temps were on the cool side the whole week. Diane got a sweater and we got Mitad del Mundo t-shirts too. The shopkeepers were all fun to interact with, speaking as little English as possible and us battering them with our newfound Spanish skills [may be too strong a word for its intended purpose here]. They were good natured and there were so few tourists around this time of year they had all the time in the world to be kind and negotiable with their prices.
Toward the end of the week - Thursday - we intended to take a bus trip up to Cotacachi and maybe see Otavalo and Ibarra as well. They are further north in Ecuador and each has its own strengths with different indigenous groups. Cotacachi is known for its leather workers, Otavalo has a world famous Quichua indian market that draws customers from around the world, and Ibarra, a larger city another 30 minutes north of Otavalo also offers city living away from the pollution of Quito. Well, we never made the trip north but got waylaid by our paperwork. Nora took us with her on Thursday and Friday as we weaved our way through the red tape. I have nothing good or bad to say about Ecuadors government, let's just say that its immigration policies and procedures are very fluid, constantly changing with the preferences of its officiales. By the end of the day on Thursday we had the ID cards which allow us residency in Ecuador through November 10. On Friday we expected to be able to follow our papers' journey into the gummintal jungle. But got a surprise. The building that handled the paperwork for residency visas was closed unexpectedly on Friday. We had gotten as close as across the street on Thursday and the building was a beehive of activity as people came and went in droves. But on Friday a new commissioner of some sort closed the doors. On his/her first day, the first official act was to close the building and allow the workers to clear out the paper work of the prior commissioner and staff. Nora got in the door and spoke to a friend. It seemed the procedures were changing and God only knows how. Nora will follow up on Monday and let us know the upshot of it all.
Monday was a blur as we got accustomed to our new surroundings. Quito is a large city spread out over a large area. Being in LaPampa was a bit remote but our hosts helped us get around whenever we felt the need. Nora undertook to take our papers to the various gummint offices. They were impressed with the level of preparedness Diane demonstrated and said they had never seen such a complete package. I would talk about the process but frankly I never really understood it. We have heard and read so many accounts of what to do and what not to do, it became obvious that there was no preparing to meet the gummint, you just had to jump in and be ready to mix it up. Thankfully Nora, fully bilingual, stood between us and the officiales. She worked hard for five days and when the dust settled on the week, we had an Ecuadorian ID card [don't ask me what it is called] and we believe that paperwork had been submitted to begin the process for a retiree visa, good for as long as we care to stay.
Staying at Bonanza Hostel was a treat. Nora has a great cooking skill in that she is good with spices, was willing to forego cilantro for a few days, and mixed things up so that each day was a real treat. When she was out and about, Patrick stepped in and served up perfectly acceptable fare. We made it to Mitad del Mundo - Middle of the earth - just a few more miles north of LaPampa. It is where the equator passes within a few miles of Quito. We took some pix standing in both the northern and southern hemispheres, balancing on the equator, etc. It was fun and we took another Bonanza guest with us - Cherie who was visiting from S California. She was a kick and we enjoyed the afternoon scrounging around in the shops around the Mitad. She bought a couple of sweaters as the temps were on the cool side the whole week. Diane got a sweater and we got Mitad del Mundo t-shirts too. The shopkeepers were all fun to interact with, speaking as little English as possible and us battering them with our newfound Spanish skills [may be too strong a word for its intended purpose here]. They were good natured and there were so few tourists around this time of year they had all the time in the world to be kind and negotiable with their prices.
Toward the end of the week - Thursday - we intended to take a bus trip up to Cotacachi and maybe see Otavalo and Ibarra as well. They are further north in Ecuador and each has its own strengths with different indigenous groups. Cotacachi is known for its leather workers, Otavalo has a world famous Quichua indian market that draws customers from around the world, and Ibarra, a larger city another 30 minutes north of Otavalo also offers city living away from the pollution of Quito. Well, we never made the trip north but got waylaid by our paperwork. Nora took us with her on Thursday and Friday as we weaved our way through the red tape. I have nothing good or bad to say about Ecuadors government, let's just say that its immigration policies and procedures are very fluid, constantly changing with the preferences of its officiales. By the end of the day on Thursday we had the ID cards which allow us residency in Ecuador through November 10. On Friday we expected to be able to follow our papers' journey into the gummintal jungle. But got a surprise. The building that handled the paperwork for residency visas was closed unexpectedly on Friday. We had gotten as close as across the street on Thursday and the building was a beehive of activity as people came and went in droves. But on Friday a new commissioner of some sort closed the doors. On his/her first day, the first official act was to close the building and allow the workers to clear out the paper work of the prior commissioner and staff. Nora got in the door and spoke to a friend. It seemed the procedures were changing and God only knows how. Nora will follow up on Monday and let us know the upshot of it all.
So Friday evening we put Quito in the rear view mirror, flying AeroGal back to Cuenca. We were very thankful to be back in the apartment, and pulled a pizza out of the freezer and enjoyed a glass of wine. Although cable had been installed in our absence, it is mostly the wasteland we remember but with English or Spanish subtitles. Lots of soccer, no baseball. Being in Quito for just five days made us appreciate Cuenca so much more. We are becoming more and more acquainted with the city and meeting people every day.
This week we are looking for a new apartment/condo to move into July 1st. Our lease on our current apartment is up on June 30th. We are looking for something furnished, which is a bit of an effort. Wish us luck!
Blessings to all.
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