A New Home!

This will be our new home.  Yes, we signed a lease today that's starts Jan 1,2012.  It's a nice home on the outskirts of Cotacachi, the owner says about 1700 square feet, plenty of room for visitors. :-)  In fact it is much nicer than we ever expected to rent.  It is quiet and has great views of the volcanoes.  It's interesting the home is fully furnished right down to dishes, pots & pans, towels, and includes in the rent the following: maintenance, a gardener, weekly maid service, laundry service, high speed Internet, Direct TV,  cell phone and unlimited water supply.  The only thing not included is gas; a propane gas tank for stove and hot water is about $3 per month, and electricity of about $20 per month (Remember there are no furnaces or air conditioning because of the climate). Would you pay $800 per month for a deal like that? 

God lead us to this house through a number of interesting events.  One of the young couples we met forwarded our information on to a gentleman that has a network of people that he keeps informed on the goings on in Cotacachi through email.  This gentleman put out an all-call that we were looking for a rental and our new landlord, and several others, contacted us with housing possibilities.  This home wasn't going to be available until 3/1/2012, but while we were sending him an email letting him know we wanted something sooner, his renter was talking to him about wanting to move sooner and of course those dates just happened to be the same...Jan 1st.  We also believe that God has lead us to Michael for some reason we have yet to discover, and the caretaker of the property is a very well connected member of the Indigenous population which we are anxious to get to know.

Our new landlord is quite an interesting man. He hails from Hollywood.  He was a movie producer for TV mini series' and made-for TV movies.  Knowing what movie lovers we are you can only imagine how much fun we had talking with him.  He co-produced and cast Jesus of Nazareth, Marco Polo, and A.D. He is full of interesting stories and knows so many people in the Cotacachi area.  He also is part of a group who are trying to rescue the many stray dogs on the streets.  For years the stray dogs have wondered the streets and grown in numbers until the locals, who think of them only as animals not pets, have poisoned them to reduce the numbers.  The rescue group has secured some land and will be be building a structure to start a rescue and rehabilitation program for the dogs.  Then they will be adopted out to people.  They also just sent 20 dogs to Germany where they are being given homes by people in Germany who also want to take part in the rescue efforts.

We met some new people from the States at a coffee shop this afternoon.  They had been in Cuenca and three of them had decided to settle in Cotacachi while the other two who are from Brooklyn have decided the size of Cuenca fits them better.  It's always fun to compare stories and see what brings the people to this peaceful place.

In an earlier blog we mentioned the people who work at the Inn where we are staying.  This morning we were talking with Consuelo  about her family.  She is married with two children, 2 & 4yrs old.  Her husband is an artisan who makes jewelry and she walks 40 min each way to work every day from her home in the mountains.  Some days she has to be here at 7:00am and leaves at 3:30pm and other days she stays till 7:00pm. We have so much to learn from these people and there gentle ways.

It has been a great day of blessings, for sure..