Since our last entry we have been busy with work around the house we rent. A patio was built behind our house. It connects our house with the small covered area that houses our wood and Bar-B-Q. The patio was built with terracotta bricks. It took the workers about 4 days to peal up the grass, level the ground and lay the bricks. We continue to marvel at the craftsmanship and attention to detail they display. Every time a brick was laid the ground under it was carefully leveled and the proper brick selected. When all the brick were laid the entire patio was covered with a fine sand. As the rains have come...the sand has packed between the bricks and formed a hard bond between the bricks.
The next project was new flower beds and a hedge. The flower beds are approximately 20' long and 2' wide and are raised about 1'. The border for the beds was created with split logs buried in the ground on end. Then came our part. We got to go to the nursery and "negotiate" for flowers. It was quite a fun day. We went with our neighbors in their Ford Explorer. We all intended to get just a few things and of course try out our negotiating skills with our limited Spanish knowledge. Well we started seeing all kinds of things that looked interesting and as we continued to negotiate the number of plants grew until it looked like it may take 3 trips in the Explorer to get everything home. Fortunately our neighbors new a man that had a truck and for $15 dollars everything was delivered. One of the best deals of the day was the plants for the hedge. We bought 25 Hibiscus (3' high) for $1 apiece and 14 Tupirosa for 50 cents apiece. The entire hedge cost $32! One thing we find interesting in the area where we live there is quite a bit of sand in the soil so much watering has to be done even in the rainy season. Wonder what dry season will be like?
Our new neighbors from Panama arrived with their dog Duke. He is quite a large addition to our neighborhood.. He's still a puppy at 2 years..only weighs 100lbs but looks much bigger because of all his hair. He comes over to say high every day and patrol our yard. Jim and Char come from California originally but lived in Panama for six and a half years. They moved here for a better climate and they have friends here.
We had our first experience with doctors down here. PTL for our Spanish teacher and his family. His daughter Jenny does interpreting and sets up and goes on every appointment with us. Claudia had what she thought was a sinus infection so an appointment with an ENT was set up. The Doctor was very thorough and decided on a CT scan of the sinuses. The doctors appt in the hospital was at 1:00, he sent us to imaging for the scan which was done immediately. We were given the films and returned to the doctor at 3:00. He read the films, explained and showed us that everything was clear. That was the good news. The bad news was he felt it was a tooth problem. The doctors appointment was $25 total and the CT scan was $60.
Next stop was the dentist. Jenny set up an appointment with their family dentist. Dr Espinoza, his brother and sister-in-law are all in practice together. Very kind and gentle people. Something we have learned down here. The doctor does everything. He has no hygienist, dental assistant or receptionist. Helps explain why the cost of care is so much less here. We have made several trips to the dentist resulting in Claudia having so far one root canal and a new crown. Another tooth may also result in a root canal stemming from some work that was done incorrectly in the States last fall. Even though this is not the kind of experience you want to have...at least it has been a positive one because of the people.
In an earlier blog we mentioned the baking going on at our house. Well we got quite a treat last week. Our landlord had a cousin of his come from the States and they brought us chocolate chips and baking chocolate. It was a great surprise and we have enjoyed our fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. We find it interesting that you can't get chocolate chips here, especially when Nestle has a company here. Guess it's just not something the Ecuadorian people use.
Spanish lessons are going well. They are every Tues and Thurs. It started out to be a couple of hours, but now tends to take more like 5 hours. We study for a couple of hours, then eat, then study for a couple more. Some days a pretty intense for old folks like us but our teacher has such a passion for the language and the country that it makes it enjoyable.
Better close for now...Adios amigos!
