Well, it has been over two months since a Blog update.  Shame on us..  We will try to do better in the future.

We just returned from a four week visit to the United States. After many months of waiting, and changing our travel plans three times, we did get our Permanent Resident Visas, which enabled us to make this trip.  We are now Permanent Residents of Ecuador.

Claudia's mother celebrated her 90th birthday on June 12, and most of our family surprised her with a party.  We held an open house which many of her friends and extended family were able to attend.  It was a good time of celebration and memories. Amanda did the organizing for the weekend and  open house as well as the decorating. Dan took all the pictures.  They both did a great job!

From Left, Sage, Dexter the dog, Kara & Matt,Bruce & Claudia, Matthew, Moose & Debbie, Tracey & Alan, Mom, Amanda & Dan

We spent time with Bruce's brother and family in Oak Grove, Missouri - enjoying 100' heat almost every day.  We traveled with them, in their new motor coach, to Iowa for the party and enjoyed camping out at Spring Lake Park outside of Jefferson.

Then on to Seattle to complete some business and visit more family and friends..  It was a great trip, seemed to be on the move all the time, now back home for some R and R.

We also took our first trip on an Ecuadorian bus from Cotacachi to Quito, about a two hour ride for only $2.   Riding the bus is quite an experience including cushy seats, a movie shown while riding and venders that come on board to sell you everything from food to  toothbrushes. After a great experience on the bus, we plan to do it again real soon.

Last week we visited the Condor Park, just minutes from our home.  The park is close to the top of one of the mountains so the views were spectacular. the condor is quite a  fascinating bird, and soooooo big.  In the park, there were hawks, owls, eagles, and yes condors in all their glory.

Not an especially attractive bird being a member of the vulture family.

This is Cyambe Volcano...reminds us a bit of Mt Rainier.

Here is a picture of a condor next to one of the indigenous people.  This gives you a better idea of the size.

Our neighbors and us hosted our first BBQ this past weekend.. We had sixteen guests, enjoyed fresh shrimp, fresh salad, great T-Bone steaks with baked potatoes.  It was a chance to enjoy our patio area behind our home.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.

We continue to enjoy this place so much.  Every morning, it is coffee on the front porch with a beautiful view of Cotacachi Volcano, OR the back patio with a  beautiful view of Imbabura Volcano.
Fresh fruit for breakfast; lunch of with fresh veggies, and maybe popcorn and a good movie in the evening.  Life is good! 

Rainy Season Ends

Another month has passed, and yes, we are still loving this country and our home of five months.
We are still attending Spanish class two days a week. Nosotros estudiamos espanol todos los dias.
A few highlights this past month: we were given a tour of our Spanish teacher's sweater factory; a trip to the weavers of Paguchi, and Bruce celebrated his 70th birthday...  You will enjoy pictures of all within this update.

The sweater factory: Don Miguel imports raw wool  or alpaca from Peru. (FYI: he imports wool from Peru because the quality is much better than Ecuadorian wool.)   It comes in 800 pound bundles to his factory.  He takes it to another local factory where it is stretched, dyed, and spun into skeins of yarn. The process is fascinating. As the wool is stretched into barrels it is then pulled from the barrels and  spun into yarn, skeins of yarn are then dipped into a dye, then dried on the lawn outside the factory.  Much of the machinery used in this process is over 100 years old and still working every day to produce this fine product.

Ecuadorian wool which is never used in Don Miguel's factory.  This was wool from another customer.

Peruvian wool

The stretching machine

the small dying vats are used to make multicolor yarn.  The skeins are loaded and one end is dipped in the vat.  After soaking it drys and is turned on the hanger and dipped in the vat again for a new color and the process continued untill all the colors are added.

Spinning the yarn

The large dying vat for one color yarn

Drying the yarn

The skeins are then returned to Don Miguel's factory, where he delivers the skeins  to his "knitters", these are women living in the mountain villages surrounding Ibarra.  There are literally hundreds of knitters.  These women hand knit each sweater to the design they are given; the completed
sweater is returned to the factory, where the buttons, zippers, labels, etc. are attached.   Then, they are
packaged, boxed, and shipped to Don Miguel's clients.. Except for the zippers almost all of these things are done by hand including packing and sealing of boxes..  At present, all his buyers are in European countries, France, England, etc.  This week a container of sweaters, scarves and hats was sent to France.  Before a container is shipped there is usually a big push to complete the order.  Because of this Claudia had an opportunity to help a couple of days in the factory with  sewing fleece bands in stocking caps.  It has given us a new appreciation for all the details and workmanship  that goes into a handmade article of clothing.   Most of these beautiful hand knit sweaters sell in Europe for $200.00+. 

Scarves and sweaters.

Completing belts for sweaters.

Sewing on buttons.

Knitting sweaters

Many of the sweaters have zippers and then a placket that buttons over the zippers.

Boxes ready to be filled

Now, about this birthday.  Bruce turned 70 years old on May 17th.  Who woulda' thunk he would be retired, living in Cotacachi, Ecuador, on his 70th birthday.. His birthday actually lasted four days.  It
began with dinner at the Hacienda with Claudia, a very special meal in a very special place;  then
a BBQ with neighbors, beef filet and all the trimmings. It pays to have a gourmet cook in the neighborhood. We have great neighbors, who have become great friends.  As a test of our mail service, Bruce also received one birthday card from the US, took 10 days to get it here  :-) but good to know the possibilities.

Finally we went to El Condor in Paguchi.  This area is known for there hand woven items.  On a quiet ride  through this part of the country, with your windows down you can hear the sound of the looms in the homes as they work away creating these beautiful items.  The patterns and techniques have been handed down through generations.  We were in awe of the brilliant colors and intricate patterns, let alone the time involved in creating these intricate pieces of art.  They take the wool after shearing and cleaning and card it by hand.  Then it is spun into yarn and wound onto spools.  During this process they also dye the wool themselves, creating the dyes from plants and even insects.  The items are woven on Spanish looms or Inca looms.  After watching the demonstrations we couldn't believe the time it takes and physical endurance to bring there creations from the raw wool to finished product.

Carding (combing and stretching) the wool

Spinning the wool

Loading onto spools

The Inca loom.  Notice the loom is held taught by a strap around her back and bracing her feet.

This table runner took 15 long days to make on the Inca loom

Notice the intricacy of the pattern

The Spanish loom

This is an Inca calendar created on the Spanish loom.

Another Inca design created on the Spanish loom

It has been a good month of learning and discovery and we have barely scratched the surface...more to come. 

April the Month of a 1000 Rains!

April in Ecuador is known as the Month of a Thousand Rains..  And, that is a very true statement.  We have enjoyed several thunder storms, some lightning, and lots of rain.  The days of rain are a bit different from Seattle rains in that we have morning sun almost every day.  The rain keeps everything green and the flowers looking beautiful.

A couple of weeks ago we observed the way cement is mixed in Ecuador. Our neighbors had a fence installed for their dog, Duke.  The workers dug huge holes and filled them with cement to support the fence posts.  They mixed the cement by hand in the middle of the road as you see in the picture below.  Quite a process and the finished product was very professional.  Duke now enjoys his private fenced in back yard.

As we have shared before, every Friday, the "flower man" delivers fresh flowers to our neighborhood.  He has a selection of roses and lilies.  He has started bringing 'orderless lilies' for those of us who are allergic to the smell.  The pictures tell the story.  The colors are amazing and we get these fresh flowers every week - $3.00 for two dozen roses.

We were honored this past weekend to be invited to the birthday party for our taxi driver's one year old daughter.  Manuel, our driver, and his wife Marie Carmen, have two children - Naria, age one, and John Emerson, age eight.  They are a very sweet Indigenous family. Manuel's wife and children often ride along with us in his taxi.  Being included, as gringos, in this family celebration is a great honor.  Manuel has become more than our taxi driver, he had become a friend (Amigo).  Naria was quite the center of attention, playing with her balloons and posing for photos..

Naria was loving all the attention.

These are all family members.  The 2 women primarily in black are the Grandmothers.  Maria Carmen, the mother, is in the dark pink top. 

This is Naria with the elephant we gave her.  Manuel, the proud papa, is holding her & her brother John Emerson is on the left.

We met with our attorney this week, as we continue our Visa process.  It is amazing the hoops you must jump through to become a permanent resident in Ecuador.. Patience is the key through this process.  The government is constantly changing the rules and the people in office.  A good attorney is the key to make all this happen.

Our new neighbors from Panama invited us to travel to Quito with them last Friday..  Manuel was our driver and spent the entire day with us, a two hour ride both directions, and a day of shopping and enjoying the sights of the city.  Quito is the capital, a city of 2.000,000+, a very modern city.  The day included a visit to the local open air market - fresh fruit, vegetables, meat,, etc.  We were able to purchase bulk nuts, raisins, and spices, along with Ecuadorian chocolate for baking.  We then went to a modern, first class, shopping center where we were able to purchase products that are not available in Cotacachi.  The drive to Quito was a visual wonder of mountains, deep crevasses, green fields, rose plantations, and many small villages.  Quito is 10,000' elevation; we are at 8.000' elevation.

The ride to Quito is two hours of continuous mountains.  You can see some of the long white buildings in the background that are flower greenhouses.

The displays of vegetables are beautiful.

The eggs are always priced individually so you can buy one or thirty.

Here is a display not only of the vegetables but also the herbs available.

 We continue to enjoy every day in our new home.. Life is good and Ecuador is a JOY!

More from Ecuador

More fun in Ecuador.

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!

ABOUT TIME!

oK, oK, I know - it is time to update our Blog, actually way past due..  So here goes!

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.

                                                          "Pepper" is very sweet...
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!

                                              Cotacachi volcano from our front living room
                                                window....


                                     

                                              Imbabura volcano from our rear living room
                                                 window......