Moving2Ecuador

Cuenca has a small town feel, with many of its inhabitants out on the street all day and evening. Perhaps because it is Independence Day weekend, there is more activity and celebration than usual. We were invited last night to join friends for dinner at their hotel on the other side of the river, so we hailed a taxi and gave him La Casona as our destination. On his way to the restaurant by that name, we passed an outdoor market with crowds of people milling about. The traffic was heavy, and when we redirected our taxiste to the hotel rather than the restaurant, we discovered that most roads in the direction of the hotel were closed off to traffic, with police monitoring access. It turned out that there was a soccer game at the stadium( I believe it was Cuenca against Quito, the later being up in the standings) and that the hotel in question was close to the stadium, so it took far too long to reach our destination. Our dinner started late and continued at a leisurely pace, so that we m...

Monday is the Day of the Dead and Tuesday is the celebration of Independence Day for Cuenca, so the whole country is taking a long weekend, and we are making it even longer. We flew to Cuenca this morning, which is a 45 minute flight over the Andes past Chimborazo peeking out above the clouds. It was difficult to find a hotel room in the city ahead of time because of the celebrations, so we took what was available which was a very basic, dark, and dingy room in the hardly majestic Hotel Majestic. We were obliged to pay the whole bill for the five nights in cash through a bank in Quito, so despite being rather horrified at the condition of the room, there was little recourse other than to pay more for a better room and that was not a good option for us. I resolved to spend as little time as possible in the hotel and to enjoy Cuenca as much as possible. We left our bags in the room and found our way to the parade passing by the Parque Calderon, which is the central plaza. The route was p...

I decided to look at another school possibility for Maya and visited 'Academia Cotopaxi' on Tuesday, which is the choice of Embassy employees and diplomats, from the United States and from many other countries. When I initially looked at schools for Maya last January, I never considered any English instruction schools. I was convinced that if we were to live in a Spanish speaking environment, immersing Maya in the language would ensure quick and easy language acquisition. I never imagined that Maya would not simply adjust quickly, make friends, find her place here. I resisted looking at alternatives until now. I learned that Cotopaxi was having an open house, and was able to show up at the end of the day without an appointment. I was warmly received and given a tour. The school was up on one side of the valley with a lovely view, extensive grounds, and the children looked happy and well taken care of. When I talked to the admissions officer, I was assured that the school was ac...

Ecuadorians like to engage in protest. They have had a democratic form of government for only forty or so years, so they like to exercise the right to express themselves. There have been huge demonstrations quite regularly since we have arrived. The US government sends an email each time a large organized protest is planned, telling us to stay away from the action, that violence is often an outcome of the demonstrations, that police will be out in force and use teargas to manage the crowds, that transportation will be disrupted and to try to avoid the protest. Which is exactly what I done with each 'manifestacion'. Last Wednesday and today, we were warned about university students protesting at the President's palace. There is a new higher education law which the students disagree with, and they are out in force each week. When I arrived at the Plaza Grande today, as part of a 'Quito at Night' outing with my school, I was expecting some evidence of the protests, but...

I am obliged to learn a new skill this year; how to look at money and detect fakes. In Ecuador, there is a thriving industry in counterfeiting, and it is not unusual to receive a fake five or twenty dollar bill. I have watched everyone who receives a bill of more than one dollar look closely at the bill through the light and mark it with a special marker to ensure it is not a fake. Until today, I have not looked too closely at the money I use, but a taxi driver passed his counterfeited five dollar bill to me today. I did not pay attention until he was long gone, and I don't know if he did it knowingly or not, but I am quite sure there is no recourse (buyer beware!). I did not feel comfortable using it again (I could have simply passed it on), so I held on to it and when I came home I sat under the light and examined it closely. I realized that it did look different, that it was not a perfect copy of an American dollar bill, but on the other hand, it is close enough to survive in ...

Bright Pichincha Morning Pichincha Changing an Hour Later In certain wonderful ways, experiencing Ecuador is like stepping back ten or twenty years, sometimes decades. Trying to make travel arrangements via internet (which is the only way I have planned trips for more than ten years) is impossible. After several failed efforts online, I stepped into a travel agency near my Spanish school, and asked 'Fanny' to find a flight to and from Cuenca. This coming weekend is a long weekend, with Monday November 2nd being the 'Day of the Dead' and Tuesday being Independence Day for Cuenca, a city in southern Ecuador. Schools and businesses are closed for both days to celebrate both occasions. Eric and I have been planning to travel to Cuenca for the holiday and to participate in the festivities. It felt wonderful to have someone else take care of the details. Even after I agreed on dates and paid with a credit card, I realized I had mixed up the return date (I thought Tuesday wa...