It is hard to decide just where to begin. For starters, we traveled to Columbia on Wednesday of this week. Words cannot possibility describe the beauty of God's creation that we enjoyed the entire trip of 2.5 hours. We traveled through sugar cane fields, potato fields and many small towns. We were amazed at the farming that was done on such steep mountain sides...many easily at a 45 degree angle. Contour farming is a must and or course it is done by hand. We were amazed they could even stand up to work because of the angle of the fields.. Also all the fields are bordered with trees or hedges. It was a beautiful patchwork of shades of green against the rich black volcanic soil . It was of course also an experience to pass through the two military check points as we got closer to the Colombian border. We were asked to get out of the car both times so they could thoroughly check the vehicle. It's our understanding they were looking for guns. They were very nice but all business. Most everything is cheaper in Columbia, if you can believe it... especially electronics. Many Ecuador residents close to the border shop in Columbia regularly. And you can also get a better quality of chocolate there. It was a great day and another new adventure.
This week we completed our sixth Spanish lesson. Our teacher is a gringo, came here with the Peace Corp 35 years ago, loved the country and stayed.. We have so enjoyed his teaching. He studied Spanish in Spain years ago, has a beautiful Ecuadorian family, owns/operates a clothing (sweater/shirt) factory, and is focused on our becoming fluent in Spanish. He went with us to Columbia and gave a great narrative as we traveled. He is quite colorful and has many stories to tell of his adventures while living here.
We live in a peaceful neighborhood. Our neighbors are all great.. If you remember, there are six homes within our walls. New residents are moving into the home across the street this next week. Oh, yes, there are five dogs in our neighborhood AND the new residents we hear have a Great Pyrenees. At one time or another during the day, all the dogs come over to see what we are up to. We are enjoying their visits.
The couple around the corner from us moved here from the Teton Valley just before Christmas. They have a car and love to travel the area and have invited us on many of their day trips, nice folks. They are taking Spanish lessons with us so we can compare notes and practice.
We continue a Bible Study of John with another couple in the church we attend.. We are hoping that the group will grow. The first Sunday we attended the only church in Cotacachi that speaks English, there were 12 gringos in attendance.. A couple of weeks ago, we had 33.. PTL.
We enjoy a fire in our fireplace nearly every night.. The weather continues to be unbelievable - shirt sleeve during the day; light jacket at night, just right for our fire.
It has been interesting to watch the construction of the street a few blocks from our home.. After tearing up the existing street, hauling in loads of dirt and compacting the ground, they lay concrete pavers BY HAND. When complete, the street will look like a huge patio. They use the pavers so if a problem develops below the street (water or sewer), all they need to do is to remove a few pavers and fix the problem. What a concept. The street has been under construction since November of last year. Every time we take a taxi we must use that street so it has been a challenge each time for the taxi driver to find a "path" to use through the construction. What is amazing is how accommodating the workers are. One day when coming back home in the taxi we got to the entrance to the street and there was a drop off of about 2 feet from the side street we were on. Our taxi driver said "uno momento" got out of the taxi, walked down the street, came back, got in and here came a payloader with a load of dirt. He dumped the dirt, smoothed it out and made a nice ramp for our taxi driver to travel over.. They exchanged a wave, thank you and we were on our way.
We would like to tell you that with all the fresh fruits and veggies, we are losing weight, however, there has been much baking at our house - great breads, cookies etc - so the weight loss I guess is on hold for now. :-)
We have been able to Skype with many friends and family.. It is great to be able to see and talk with folks back in the US.
In defense of our lack of blogging we have had significant technical issues. Our internet service had been erratic since we arrived so we started with a new service that one of the Ecuadorians in our Spanish speaking church has offered.. So far so good. Then our brand new laptop we brought with us crashed and burned. God again blessed us with a gentleman staying here for a couple months, from the states, who had brought some computers with him. He was able to provide us with a new laptop and fix some other electronic and technical issues for us AND as a bonus he has downloaded around 200 movies for us that he brought along. Now how's that for a blessing!!
Adious,
Bruce & Claudia
More pictures coming soon!
window....
Imbabura volcano from our rear living room
window......
Great photos. Did you happen to run into Juan Valdez in Columbia? You have to go back a few years to remember him. Of course, if you saw any Valdezbuck coffee shops in Columbia, that's a sure sign he's still around. Always enjoy your blog entries.
ReplyDelete