Cluster Map

Just a quick note to say how sad I am that someone hacked the Cluster Map people. It was always so much fun to go look at the places people lived who had come to visit my little blog. Now all of that is gone. They seem to be working on getting it back. I hope it's possible.

Seniors in Ecuador

Something came up very recently that started lots of us thinking and I thought I'd share it with you and see what you think.

We have a man here in Cotacachi who is very, very ill.  In fact, he is likely in his last days.  He has no family we know of either here or in the States, is one a very low income, and (this is the very hardest) can't remember his PIN for his bank account so someone else could take his money out to get care for him.

People here, both friends of his and other concerned people, are cooking food for him and visiting with him for several hours a day, making sure he gets the correct meds, cleaning his sores, and helping him bathe.  We took up a collection for his rent for May.  Now what happens?  People will help care for him for quite a while but it's a difficult thing to do for any length of time, especially for people who have other things they do in their lives.  I can't help right now because I'm going to a pet sitting assignment tomorrow that is out of town and it would cost me money to get to and from and that's not in my budget--not to mention I would have to leave my little charges to their own devices while I was in town.

A friend who is very interested in this from the standpoint of being a nurse and thinking in the longer-range terms of what about the rest of us talked to me yesterday about what my plans are and whether or not I had considered these issues before coming here.  She told me she has talked to quite a few people who came here with the understanding that health care is free here.  Uh, sort of.

OK, first, here's my plan, part of it figured out before I got here and part of it as I have discovered more about what is and isn't available here.

The Quito Adventure Begins

It's been a while since you've heard from me and there's a reason--I've been exhausted!  It's true, I totally wore out and have taken almost two weeks "off." That's in quotes because I haven't exactly been lying about but I sure haven't been doing what I've become accustomed to.  Here's what's been happening.

A dear friend invited a Cotacachi friend and I to spend Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Quito with she and her family.  We took her up on it and headed down there on Monday, March 25th.  Monday was a pretty quiet day.  We took a bus from Cotacachi to Otavalo and then another one to Quito.  Our friend met us at the bus terminal and took us to Las Palmeras for lunch.  It was fabulous and I didn't even remember to take my camera out of my purse.  Trust me, though, if you ever get to Quito, it's the best!  OK, I have no idea where it is but I can tell you that the food they serve is typical of the Esmeraldas area.  I highly recommend it.

After a kind of late lunch we ran a couple of errands and then went to Sarah's for dinner and a quiet evening at home (there was a DVD involved--what fun).

Tuesday we started out in earnest on our grand tour of Quito.

We started the day at the Grand Plaza which is surrounded by history and culture all over the place.  One one side of the plaza is the Presidential Palace.  I have to tell you, I was surprised at how relatively modest it is in comparison to some I've seen in photos.  Don't get me wrong, it's lovely and definitely large, but not garish or overdone.   

Just below the main floor of the actual palace there is a series of doors, each of them a shop of some kind.

This one is a barber shop.  I wonder if the President gets his hair cut here.

I think this may be one of my favorite parts about the Presidential Palace.  This plaque announces that the President of the republic was assassinated at this spot on August 6, 1875.  The carving above it says, "God does not die." Here's the part I like about it. The plaque is there to remind the current president, whoever might be in office at the time, that if he doesn't behave himself, this could happen to him. I wonder if it keeps them on their toes.

Walking down a side street I saw this stained glass window on the side of the Presidential Palace.  I'd love to be able to see it at night with the lights on inside.

We had hoped to tour the Presidential Palace but we discovered that Tuesday is school tour day.  These are just a few of the dozen or so classes of children we saw waiting their turn for a tour. I guess I'll just have to go back another time for that.

Across the plaza is one of seven huge Catholic churches in Old Town.  This place is huge!  See the door in the center?  Look below to see just how big it really is.

It was pretty darned impressive.

There are more pictures of the church, the plaza, and then the museums we went to see later that day but I have to confess that I'm totally beat and I'm going to head for bed.  I won't be writing tomorrow for sure because I'm going to be gone all day but I'll do my best to write something Friday and definitely something over the weekend.  Actually, it's not the writing that takes the time, it's editing the photos.  When I'm all done showing off the parts of Quito I got to see, I'll confess to how many photos I took in my five days there--want to take a guess?

Microfiber and Such

Something it never would have occurred to me to do is bring things here to sell to expats.  Fortunately for us, Judi thought about it and brought her H2O at Home products when she came to have dental work done here.

(The salt bowl isn't part of what she brought but it adds a nice touch of color, don't you think?)

Cooking Class with Dan

I suspect I've told you this recently but here it is again.  My life is so busy I hardly have time to take a deep breath.  That's lovely but I find that my blogging tends to suffer.  I love blogging and miss it when I don't make time to do it (or to edit the photos I've taken to put into posts).  So, here goes--let's see if I can be a little more consistent.

Earlier this month friends and I took another of Dan Delgado's cooking classes.  We primarily focused on dishes with a slightly spicy, somewhat Mexican flavor but with a few interesting touches.  Well, of course there were interesting touches--Dan taught the class.

We started working with purple potatoes.  Aren't they lovely?  The skins are so dark they almost look black but I absolutely love the way they look inside.

What's Happening In Cotacachi

Once again, Dan Delgado has provided us with information that's helpful for all of us living in Cotacachi and I hope it is informative to those who either plan to move here or just want to know more about what's happening here and how things are the same or different than where you currently live.  Enjoy--

Adorable Puppies

I know this isn't a blog about finding homes for dogs but I'm making an exception because I just fell in love with these little girls.

I got this email from a friend of mine a week ago and fully intended to post it the very next day.  Obviously that didn't happen.  They are now nine weeks old and still adorable.  Here's the email she sent me, along with photos of the pups:

Behind Closed Doors

I remember when I first showed you photos of my first apartment in Cotacachi, you were amazed at how huge the back yard was.  So was I when I first saw it.  Since then I've had comments from people that centered around the size of various spaces, especially those things you find behind all the tiendas and even the apartments.  I recently took a few photos of some examples of how it sometimes works here.

First, a few of my original photos from my first home.

Presidential Election and Rent Law

Each month Dan Delgado brings all the big news from the Spanish speaking Ecuadorian community.  It may have to do specifically with things happening in Cotacachi and the immediate surrounding areas or, as in this case, more of a national view.  Whatever he reports on, it's always interesting and informative.  This one, in particular, seemed of interest to all of us who live here and those who are contemplating moving here.

I hope you find it as helpful as I did.

What I Wish I'd Brought With Me

I was reminded just the other day that I said I would write a blog post about what I wish I had brought with me.

Well, of course each of us is going to be different and I brought quite a bit with me when I came but here are some of the things I miss or wish I'd brought.

The big things:

Expat Attitudes

I generally try to portray those things I experience here in Cotacachi and in my travels, limited as they may be.  Sometimes I talk about the realities of life that some find negative, especially when I am giving people the information I think might be helpful if they're attempting to make the decision as to whether or not they should move here.

Today I'd like to suggest you read a blog post by Lee Dubs that was on the Cuenca High Life blog last year.  It's entitled, "The Ugly American revisited: arrogance plus ignorance is a recipe for trouble as more N. American's move to Ecuador."  This is totally different than anything I've ever written but I think Lee says something that many of us recognize as a growing truth here and it's something I hope you'll read with the understanding that there are very few of us who are like that down here.  If you read this and feel that you can strongly relate to the people Lee is talking about, you might want to do a little more research before you consider making Ecuador your home.

For the rest of us, it's an interesting and, I feel, insightful article that speaks to so much more than the problems facing some expats here.

Helpful Hints

This post has absolutely nothing to do about Ecuador but it's something I got in my email this morning and I really wanted to share it with my friends, so here are some of the best little hints I've seen in a long time.  Several of them will find their way into my world.

Ecuador Tour Anyone?

I know I've told you about the times when I've had the opportunity to work with my favorite tour group when they come to Cotacachi but I've never really told you about the tour company itself and I really want to do that.  I'm so blown away but what they do that I can't imagine everyone who wants to come down here to check out Ecuador (or who's already here but wants to see more of it) going to anyone else!

So, here we go, Ecuador Expat Journeys! (If you don't want to wade through the rest of this post to get to the bottom line, when you get to the site, click on Crash Course and Tour to get the skinny on their top offering.)

Meet the team, well, part of it anyway:
    
On the left we have Jonathan, Sarah, and Suzie and on the right is Roger.  All of them are amazing at what they do and part of that is because they love it!  You can read all about them on the site but it's so easy to read what is on there and say, "Oh, right, that's their website, they have to say good things about themselves." Yes, it would be silly to say negative things about themselves but having gotten to know them, it's also all true.  They love what they do and they are completely enthusiastic about Ecuador.

Mindo -- Birds of Los Bancos

And here we are, at the end of the Mindo photos.  It was a fabulous trip and one that I hope to make again.  Our tour guide has gone close to a dozen times and never tires of photographing the birds and butterflies (particularly the birds).  I think it could definitely be that way for me.

On Wednesday we made a little trek up to Los Bancos, a small town near Mindo, to have lunch, watch birds, and go to an ATM if anyone needed to do that.  Mindo doesn't have one--Los Bancos does.

The restaurant was also a small hostal.  The rooms are on the left, the restaurant in the back.

Mindo -- Butterflies, Part 2

Yesterday's butterflies were all hanging out on the netting, patio, stones, or people.  Today I wanted to share the shots I got of them looking like they're out in nature.  I think these are my favorites--well, they are until I look at the others.  They're really all my favorites.

Mindo -- Butterflies, Part 1

We went to a butterfly preserve where they help certain butterflies survive the predators in the wild.  It was fabulous to be able to view them in a relatively natural looking setting before they were released back into the wild.

The first thing we got to see was where they put the pupae they have collected so they can hatch.  These are the pupae of butterflies that hatch at the waters edge.  They really are as sparkly as they look.  It mimics the look of sun glinting off water and helps camouflage them.

Mindo -- Birds of Mindo, Part 2

I went out to the same bird watching location a second day, this time in the rain.  The photos may not be quite as clear but I think the birds are still just as lovely as ever.

This first photo may be my favorite from the trip.  There's this little fellow sitting on the sign for his feeding station looking exactly like the bird painted there.  Was he posing for me, do you think?  Probably not.

Our tour guide, Euni, captured this picture on our last morning there.  It was raining again and I decided I didn't think I wanted to go one more time.  Darn!  Well, I'm just glad she got the shot.

A toucan in all his glory!

Mindo -- Birds of Mindo, Part 1

There's just nothing quite like the butterflies and birds of Mindo.  I'm sure there are many other places where there are as many and possibly even more but I haven't been there and so I'm just thrilled to be able to share these with you.

Enjoy.

Our first outing to see the birds was to a nearby hostal/restaurant that had a bird viewing area in the back.  If you ate there, the admission was free--if not, it was $2.  Either way it was a great deal.  The people have a variety of feeding stations set up to attract the local birds and they succeed beautifully!

Mindo -- Chocolate, Flowers, and Miscellaneous

Our first day in Mindo we took a tour of a chocolate factory.  The tour was fun and the tasting afterwards was even more fun.

Our tour guide, Jorge, is describing the process of drying the cocoa beans.  (Isn't he cute?)

The view from the balcony at the factory.

My Trip to Mindo--The Journey Begins

This past week I was able to go down to Mindo for four days and I had the most magnificent time! I have tons of photos to share of course and much to tell you about this lovely, little tourist town in the Cloud Forest.

We traveled in style:

Our bus was a school bus and, as such, made for somewhat smaller people than most of us but it was still very comfortable and it was lovely to have such a delightful driver, Rolando.  We were on our way from sunny Cotacachi at 8:30 Monday morning.