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Visa Emotional Rollercoaster

9/10/2023

Cuenca Street Scenes

We spend two weeks on an emotional rollercoaster related to our Ecuador Professional Visa’s.  William’s degree still not been accepted by Senescyt.  In the first rollercoaster week we receive information on Wednesday from our attorney that the Immigration Office does not have any appointments available until November, and that perhaps our appointments will not be until the end of November.  Also, we should not leave Ecuador until the visas are issued or we will need to almost fully restart the documentation from the US.  No way we should go to our niece Lydia’s wedding in October in the US.  Oh noooo!  We decide to postpone signing the lease on our next condo until we better understand our situation.

We send an email with questions/concerns and set an appointment to see our attorney late Thursday.  We inform friends of what sounds like our bad news.  As a result our friend JJ sends a personal note to our attorney.  Thursday at our appointment our attorney says she is going to the immigration office in-person on Friday and will plead for us to receive September appointments.  We agree that since Anne’s degree has been approved by Senescyt I will move forward with the Professional Visa and William will become my dependent.  Friday afternoon I receive an email from the attorney’s office that I have an appointment Monday morning and a list of documents I must provide.  Yay!  Next week sounds like it is going to be a lot better.

Monday I ride with Maria Elaina, an assistant to the attorney, and Janice, another expat, to the immigration office in Azogues, a 40 minute drive.  Maria Elaina has assembled all of my necessary paperwork and I provide my passport.  After a 45 minute wait I am called to a desk.  I sign a form in two places, receive back my passport and I’m done for the day.  On the drive Maria Elaina tells me that I will be informed of my next visa appointment via email, but it will be on Friday.  I receive an email that afternoon that I am approved and must reappear on Friday to receive my Professional Visa.

In the interim William must extend his tourist visa, as his processing will not be completed before his standard 90 day tourist visa expires.  He waits for instructions from our attorney on Tuesday, but nothing arrives by late afternoon so we send her an email and a WhatsApp message.  Wednesday morning William receives an email to go to meet Evan (another of the attorney’s assistants) on the second floor of the Cuenca airport at 2:30 pm and to bring his passport and $151.  The second floor of the airport is half food services and half government offices, an interesting arrangement. Some forms are filled out, Evan takes the $151 to a bank 20 minutes away, receives a receipt and returns to the airport.  He and William turn in the paperwork and the receipt, hand over William’s passport for a few minutes and when it is returned William is told that he has a 90 day extension.  If he leaves the country within the 90 days he may not return until next year.  No issue - he is planning to have his Professional Visa in the next few weeks.

Friday afternoon Maria Elaina again drives me to Azogues.  She takes my passport to a desk along with the confirmation of my 2:45 pm appointment.  After a 30 minute stop in the waiting room I am again called to a desk where I sign a form in two places and collect my passport.  I am told that the actual visa is now electronic and I will receive it via e-mail.  Nothing is physically placed in the passport, though it’s advisable to print a copy and take it along when traveling.  The visa pdf is in my in-box before we are back in Cuenca.  I need my visa before William can apply for his visa as a dependent and Maria Elaina tells me that William’s appointment will be next Wednesday.  He will receive instructions from her next week.  One down, one to go!

The two weeks finds us meeting up with old and new friends. We celebrate our visa progress with David and JJ. We meet up for coffee with Heather, our upstairs neighbor at the Airbnb. We also have breakfast at Las Nomads Bistro with Nikki (who will be our upstairs neighbor at Casas del Nogal) before we go off to sign our six month lease. Her breakfast “toast” looks amazing.

I decide that it may be time to try out an exercise class both to help me get in shape and to meet new people. I do some research on Pilates and Qi Gong studios in the area, but am drawn to a new fitness gym that is just opening in El Centro. The owner is bi-lingual and claims that he will have classes aimed at gently building strength for expats and Ecuadorians. It’s his diplomatic way of saying he’ll have classes appropriate us old people. He offers four free classes and after that it’s $5 a class. The first class is just myself and Judy, another expat. By the fourth class we have five expats and one local women. I am sore after the Tuesday and Thursday classes, but I am enjoying them so will continue.

Making Chicken Nuggets

The rest of the two weeks is filled with walks enjoying the local activities and watching college football, the Rugby World Cup, NFL games and some shows/movies on TV. We finish out all 20 seasons of Midsomer Murders! For fun William tries out several carnivore recipes thanks to the loan of a food processor from our friend Burt’s kitchen. They’re a success.😀

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Tummy Troubles and Pleasant Walks

8/27/2023

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On Sunday William comes down with a stomach bug. Happily, David, JJ and I do not develop any issues. William starts by handling it with standard flu treatments, sipping liquids and minimizing his food intake, but moves on to medicines after a couple of days. I do some shopping at Supermaxi for soup, and I’m successful in finding one can of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup. It’s imported and costs $3.50, oh well, when you’re sick you want comfort food).

While William is house-bound I go out and about for daily walks. One day I run into a street performer near the central plaza (Parque Calderon) whose “performance” is posing as a business man rushing to his appointment. The fun part for me is that it is not culturally appropriate in Cuenca, I don’t think I have ever seen a “rushing” business man. On rainy mornings the city’s cobblestone plazas take on a glisten under the grey skies while tourists linger a little longer in the cafe’s but those who venture out are awarded with great photos.

By Thursday William is feeling well enough to try his first restaurant meal. It helps that Sunrise Cafe has it’s steak and eggs special on Thursday’s. In the late afternoon Casa Yangoe has a musical performance by Flute and Pepper, talented artists from Venezuela and Colombia. Since we haven’t eaten since breakfast we order a charcuterie board to snack on during their performance. It works out okay - William enjoys the carnivore-friendly meats and cheeses while I love the olives and nuts with bites of cheese. After a bit one of our neighbors at the Airbnb comes into the venue and joins our table. We have a good visit during a break in the music.

By Sunday William is feeling 95%, good enough for an adventure on a beautiful day. We take a taxi to Jardin Botanico de Cuenca, our first visit to the park. It’s a newer park and we can see how it will be very lovely as the plants mature in a few years. William is up for the walk home, 2.6 km (1.6 mi), including going up the steps and hill to El Centro. A cheeseburger that looks like it is in an advertisement at Restaurante Barranico rounds out the week. As a carnivore it’s a pity that William is not able to eat the bun and fries (but I can 😁).

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Friends, Bureaucracy & Celebrations

8/20/2023

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On Sunday we are invited to our friends David and JJ’s for dinner.  They live just a block away from our Airbnb so it’s a very easy stroll.   JJ prepares a delicious meal and we have great fun talking and laughing.  David has a renewed interest in playing cribbage so after dinner he and William sneak in a couple of games.  Perhaps David will join us at Tuesday cribbage in one of the upcoming weeks.

Tuesday’s cribbage game has six players and is very enjoyable.  It helps that I win my first game and that we change players for each of the three games.  Between hands we talk about life in Cuenca.

Wednesday’s morning is very full.  At 9 am the building maintenance man arrives to fix our master shower door, which literally has a screw coming loose.  Also at 9 am Cecilia, the maid arrives.  Something I didn’t realize when I booked the Airbnb was that weekly maid service is included. 😊 Last week she spent 3 1/2 hours here.  Soon after their arrivals we head out the door.   Today we walk a block or so to Kolo Restaurant for breakfast.  It’s on the first story (one floor up) of a lovely old colonial building which has been converted to a hostel on the ground floor.  The waiter explains that today’s special is cinnamon roll french toast with two eggs.  I can’t resist.  William is good and sticks to his carnivore eggs and bacon.  The food and service is very good.

A property manager has told us of an available three bedroom townhouse in the new town. Our plan is to walk to the neighborhood to see if it’s within an acceptable range. The day is sunny and the temperatures are warming up. Although Google Maps says it’s an 18 minute walk, we conclude that the distance and route from El Centro would mean that we would likely take more taxis rather than walk. Oh well, we’ll pass on this townhome.

We do some other errands, including a haircut for William. He stops in a barbershop he used years ago during one of our previous visits to Cuenca. The cut looks good and only costs $4, $5 with tip.

Our major activity for Wednesday is the meeting with our attorney to discuss next steps for our visas.  We are disappointed to learn that William’s education documents are not yet approved by Senescyt (National Secretary Of Superior Education, Science, Technology and Innovation).  We are further disappointed to learn that we do not yet have an appointment to actually submit all the paperwork for Anne’s Professional Visa.  No appointments are available in August and the appointment calendar for September will not be be released for weeks.  In addition we will need to apply for an extension to our tourist visas if we do not submit the paperwork for the Professional Visas by September 5th.  Oy!  This causes lots of potential issues with our plan to travel to the US for our niece’s wedding in October, as once we leave the country on the extension Visa we cannot return until our Professional Visas are approved or until January, 2024.  Oy! Oy!  Sara, our attorney, attempts to make us feels good saying it is still possible all will work out, but we leave the office a little depressed.

Thursday we decide to just proceed believing all will work out with the visas.  We meet an acquaintance who lives in the condo building where we first saw a unit (Casas del Nogal).  Over a light breakfast we get further acquainted and she provides her perspective of the condo building and neighbors.  All sounds good.  An hour later JJ texts that she and David are going to have breakfast at Sunrise Cafe, where the Thursday special is steak and eggs.  William says it’s a perfect opportunity for second breakfast!

Given the positive information about Casas del Nogal we re-look at the available condo on Friday afternoon.  We find some things we would like changed or repaired and agree that we will rent the condo for six months beginning October 2nd.

The other big activity of the week is the celebration of our wedding anniversary.  It seems impossible that it has been 45 years, especially since some days I still think of myself as 37 years old!  David and JJ are invited for dinner on Saturday.  William wants to make his spaghetti sauce from scratch, and he takes several days to prepare and then cook the sauce.  We buy 36 Roma tomatoes at the Mercado which he blanches and processes into juice and pulp.  We can’t find decent mild Italian sausage, so I buy ground pork and various spices which William makes into sausage.  It’s not the same as in the US, but will do.  Thursday is sauce day, where William makes meatballs as well as sausage torpedos which are floated in the seasoned tomato juice and pulp and slowly boiled for 3 hours.

Our meal on Saturday includes penne pasta in sauce, meatballs and sausages, roasted pork loin and broccoli. Everything is made from scratch. David and JJ are very generous and bring a beautiful strawberry cake for dessert. We enjoy good conversation, good wine and good food. A wonderful celebration with friends.

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Sadness, Easing into Life in Ecuador

8/13/2023

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This is a period of sadness for the country of Ecuador, when it should be fun and happiness for Independence Day. On Wednesday Fernando Villavicencio, one of the candidates for President, is assassinated in the city of Quito. He was outspoken about battling gangs and corruption, and unfortunately it looks like it cost him his life. In addition to a period of mourning the current President declares a state of emergency in some areas of the country and cancels the Independence Day celebrations planned for the weekend throughout the country.

For us in Cuenca, life goes on as we ease into a new rhythm and search for long term housing. Sunday is turning into one of my favorite days. I am greeted by smiling runners, walkers and bicyclists along the Tomebamba riverside path during my morning walk. Supermaxi is fully stocked with a wide variety fruits, vegetables and meats awaiting the families who will shop in the afternoon. The afternoons are a pleasure sitting in Parque Calderon or grabbing a snack in one of the restaurants in the courtyard next to the New Cathedral, its impressive domes soaring into the sky and providing inspiration.

Our search for long-term housing starts with a lovely condo in a relatively new building a few blocks from our Airbnb. It’s very nice, but we would love a little bit of private outdoor space. The next day a realtor drives us around to look at four properties. They include a house in need of work, a house with a circular staircase without handrails (but a good backyard area) and two apartments in a newly completed building outside of El Centro. This helps us to start to narrow our desired area within the city. We will continue looking. Ecuador does not have the equivalent of a MLS - each realtor or rental agent only represents the properties their company has listed/managed. We use the network of expat friends and acquaintances to get the word out on what we are looking for in a rental.

The cribbage group should still be meeting at a cafe on Tuesday afternoons at 2 pm. It’s always a bit of a pick-up group, people show up when they can. William and I arrive 15 minutes early and there’s no one there. We sip our coffees and wonder if the group has disbanded or if this is just a week when people are busy. A little after 2 Robert strolls into the cafe, cribbage board and deck in hand. The three of us play three games. We chuckle through the first game - paced 15 pegs apart.

Cathedral Domes at Night

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Return to Ecuador

8/6/2023

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Cuenca's Cathedral with it's Iconic Blue Domes welcome us back again

On Tuesday at 4:30 am our limo driver Everett pulls up in front of our Knoxville home. He loads our five suitcases and us into the car and sprints us off to Mc-Gee Tyson airport to begin our journey to Ecuador. After clearing security we grab some seats at the gate and then go for coffee. William comes prepared with his own coffee mug! Three flights and 13 hours later we land in Guayaquil. William has been really dreading the day, but aside for some frustration in checking our bags (United was having system problems) the flights and connections go very well.

After deplaning in Guayaquil we join a queue of easily 500 people awaiting immigration control. Ouch! The line is moving, but slowly. A uniformed man is walking through the crowd and he seems to be directing some people to a faster path. In English I finally ask the group around me what he is saying and a woman says “elderly and children.” In Ecuador elderly is anyone 65 or older. Woo hoo! I guess that there are some advantages to getting old. William and I join the fast track line of old people.

We spend Tuesday night at the Marriott Courtyard and on Wednesday Klever picks us up in his new dual-cab pickup. The three and one-half hour drive to Cuenca takes us along fields of bananas, cocoa, coffee and rice. Then we climb the Andes going through twists, turns, grand vistas, fog and some stretches of road recently repaired from landslides. The Cajas National Park is beautiful, but there are few places to pull over to snap a photo.

The Airbnb condo we have rented for 10 weeks is in a lovely new building located in the center of Cuenca’s UNESCO old city “El Centro”. The new living room furniture is cushioned, but has the typical Ecuadorian 90 degree angle where the seat and back join. Some back pillows make it closer to what our North American bodies prefer. We love having a courtyard right outside our door and private patio area, complete with a humming bird feeder. The condo includes modern conveniences such as an oven and dishwasher, but like the vast majority of homes in Cuenca it does not have heat or air conditioning. It is the winter here now, and temperatures range from 45F at night to 72F during the day. A small space heater takes the nip out of the air before bed and we snuggle under blankets. As we snuggle in for a good nights sleep we are delighted that we do not hear any of the cars, busses or nightclubs that are omni-present in El Centro. It is a very, very nice condo.

We spend the next few days unpacking, buying groceries and generally gearing back into life in Cuenca. On Wednesday we invite friends David and JJ for some wine at the Airbnb before going to dinner. As we leave we pause to enjoy the music in the courtyard of our condo building. Thursday we have a leisurely start to the day then walk around the corner to Sunrise Cafe for their steak and eggs breakfast special. $6.50 for 2 eggs, steak, potatoes or fruit and coffee or tea. The steak is consistently one of the best we’ve had in Cuenca. Can’t beat it!

The Cuenca Symphony Orchestra offers concerts several times a month. Friday’s performance is at Casa de la Cultura, just 3 blocks from our Airbnb. We enjoy the concert, but the seats in the theater are old and uncomfortable. We look forward to future performances at Teatro Pumapungo.

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Birthdays and Ecuador Prep

3/26/2023

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Fischer Emmett

On March 15th our son and daughter-in-law become proud parents of their second son.  He comes into this world at 5 pounds 13 ounces and he is so precious in the photos!  We will be able hold him in a few weeks when we are scheduled to spend nine days in Charlotte.

March 26th is William’s birthday. To celebrate I make a reservation at Brazeiros, a Brazilian restaurant complete with gauchos and all-you-can eat meats. There’s also a nice salad bar, but William chooses only some cheese and salmon before flipping his marker over to green to tell the gauchos to bring on the meat!  Oh my - they rotate the choices between 15 different cuts of beef, pork, lamb and chicken.  We leave stuffed, and spend more than a few hours reclining on the couch and living room chair digesting all that food.

Alongside the birthdays we tackle some tasks needed for our Ecuador visas and preparation for living ~ two years primarily in Ecuador.  While we were still in Cuenca we pursued two avenues to obtain the letters needed to accompany our diplomas and transcripts.  The advisory office at UW-Milwaukee is very disappointing - William receives a field of study letter which doesn’t address the requirements, we’re sure it is because the head of office is tired of William contacting her.  After strategizing he appeals to the Dean of the Architecture school.  She is very helpful and sends a letter which our attorney says should work.

My experience with Northwestern is fantastic.  The Registrars Office is very helpful both in e-mail and on the phone and process my transcripts and diploma as needed.  My request for the mode of study letter and field of study letter is forwarded to my masters program.  The current director of the program responds the same day letting me know when she can complete the letters.  When she ran into issues finding a notary for the letters on campus she made visits to bank and had them notarized there.  Definitely a huge attitude difference from William’s advisory office!

With the aid of William’s sister all the needed documentation is packaged and sent to the two different Secretary of State offices to be apostilled.

We also research and find a mail handling/forwarding service, iPostal1.  They have 2,500+ service centers they contract with in the US, four in the greater Knoxville area.  We visit the Postal Annex service center and we're comfortable with what we see, so we sign up for their 30 pieces of mail/month plan to try it out.  We receive a Knoxville address for us to use and fill out a form to tell the US Post Office that iPostal1/Postal Annex is allowed to receive our mail.  I send four pieces of test mail to our “new address”.   I’m notified by iPostal1 when the mail is received, and each envelope is scanned and uploaded to our portal for us to decide how to handle.  I instruct them to discard three of the letters and to open and scan the contents of the fourth.  We are able to download the scanned contents in pdf format and then instruct them to discard the envelope and contents.  I could have chosen to have them shred for an additional fee.  So far so good!  We will use the service more while we are in the US to further test it out.

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Back in Knoxville

3/13/2023

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We settle back into the Knoxville house. Amanda and her cleaning crew once again have the house spotless and ready for us after our Airbnb guests vacate the home. The first few days seem filled with acquiring provisions from our favorite stores. On Saturday we go over to Market Square and the Farmer’s market to put in a good supply of local eggs, beef and pork. The temperature is cooler than Cuenca, with a crispness in the air.

While we are at Market Square we decide to have a late breakfast at Cafe 4. We have tried at least four times to dine at this restaurant and each time the wait has been too long. This morning we are seated immediately. William orders his carnivore breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage and coffee. I am not that hungry so I just order a bowl of tomato bisque soup and some tea. The food is decent, but not amazing. What is amazing is the difference in the cost of the meal from our experience in Cuenca, Ecuador. In Cuenca we each would have steak and eggs (mine with a biscuit and fresh fruit) and coffee/tea and the bill with tax and an appropriate tip is $16. Cafe 4 with all included is $39. I remind myself that I don’t want to become one of those old people who complains about the cost of things “these days”.

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Concluding Days & Return to US

3/12/2023

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We enjoy the concluding days of this Cuenca trip.

On Sunday we relax in the Airbnb with some coffee and tea then take a taxi to Cafe San Sebas on Parque San Sebastián. During our 10 minute ride it begins pouring rain the drops off to a pleasant shower. We dash from the taxi to the restaurant and are pleased to find a table for two on the second floor. The breakfast is very good and during our meal the rain slows to a light sputter.

We leave Cafe San Sebas, setting the Mercado de Artesianes Rotary as our destination. It’s a 21 minute walk according to Google Maps. The streets are glistening due to the rain and are quiet due to the timing, a late Sunday morning. It’s a perfect time for a stroll.

Mercado de Artesianes Rotary is a local crafts and home goods market, with perhaps 40 outdoor booths and a dozen or so storefronts on the perimeter. Local women are selling fruits and vegetables on the sidewalk. The assortment of baskets, kitchen and outdoor tools, and ironwork are seemingly hand-made. There’s some booths with clothing of various quality and origin. We spot several grills designed for preparing cuy, a popular festive entree of guinea pig.

Monday afternoon we think we’ll enjoy Museo Pumapungo. The sky is threatening rain, but that is very common during our visit in the rainy season. I check Google for the hours of operation - yes, it’s open. However, when we arrive at the museum we are told that it is closed on Monday’s. Bummer. We talk about options and agree to just return to our Airbnb, a 20-30 minute walk. Less than three minutes into our return the sky opens up in a downpour. William has a compact umbrella and I have a hip-length rain jacket. Needless to say when we arrive at the Airbnb we are mostly soaked. We change and throw our clothes and running shoes into the dryer. For dinner we stay nearby, trying out a very local restaurant, La Casona Del Puente Roto. It has mixed reviews on Google, but it is open on a Monday at 5:30 pm and is less than 3 minutes away. The owner is delighted that he has customers and we find that the service is great (we are the only people in a restaurant that holds 100) and the food is decent. A good option for a wet night.

Tuesday we pack and then have dinner with friends David and JJ at Capitan’s restaurant. We order a bottle of good white wine as a bit of celebration and each of us has an entree. The food is generous, beautifully presented, delicious, and the company of our friends is even better. William laughs out loud when the bill arrives. It is only $105. He knows the check would be almost double if we were in the US. The owner presents JJ and myself with chocolates and flowers in honor of International Women’s Day.

Wednesday and Thursday are travel days. Javier picks us up on Wednesday at 9 am in his taxi. We discuss the mudslides that have been occurring on the highway through the Cajas and agree to take the longer route to the north, which makes it a 4.5-5 hour drive to Guayaquil. We spend the night at the Courtyard hotel and the next morning the hotel transports us to the airport. We arrive back at our US home at midnight after connecting through Miami. A long day.

Our bed feels soooo good!

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Good Friends and New Experiences

3/5/2023

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We start the week wishing Lois, our very good friend, a happy birthday on Sunday.  Although she is thousands of miles away her voice and laugh brings us together.

The expat newsletters have been advertising a Newcomers luncheon on Monday at a restaurant in the neighborhood nicknamed “Gringolandia”.  We decide to see what it’s all about and grab a taxi for a 10 minute, $2 ride.

There are 50-60 people in attendance, with a few familiar faces in the group.  We grab two seats at a table and the wait staff takes our order. We soon learn that this is the first Newcomers gathering in over a year and that prior to Covid the meetings were held quarterly.   Short presentations are made by approximately 25 people selling products/services or representing service organizations ranging from soup kitchens to pet adoption agencies.  Two-thirds of the presenters are English-speaking expats.  The other third are Cuencano’s who either speak English or have someone speaking for them.  As a result of the presentations and the accompanying handouts we learn of a few items of interest.  The whole meeting (including lunch) is concluded in less than two hours.

Tuesday afternoon is cribbage time!  It is more of a pick-up group, and there are only five of us this afternoon.  We break into groups of two to a game and three to a game.  As we finish games we rotate players.  William and I each win one of our games during the three hours of play (and talking), a 25% individual success rate.

Wednesday our friends David and JJ have invited us to their condo to make Chinese dumplings from scratch.  We are joined by their friends Ron and Sharon.  We know it could be an interesting afternoon when David starts us out with one of his signature mojitos.  JJ has pre-made the pork filling for us as well as mixed up a large batch dough.  In the background she is whipping up a pot of egg drop soup.

After cocktails we get to work. David, Ron and William tackle further kneading the dough and rolling out the wrappers. JJ teaches Sharon and I how to fill the wrappers and ensure that the seams are fully closed. It becomes clear we won’t keep up and William comes over to help us. When we’ve completed enough JJ cooks the dumplings - a couple of batches are fried and then she switches over to boiling. As the batches are completed we take breaks to enjoy the products of our work - delicious! Between all the cooking and eating we exchange life stories and personal perspectives - interesting!

Friday evening there is another concert of the Cuenca Symphony at Teatro Pumapungo. We meet up with expat friends who are also in the audience. This evening we have Patricio Jaramillo as guest conductor and a guest pianist, Cosié Aguirre. The Symphony starts with a piece from Mozart. Cosié joins for the second piece, Hayden’s Piano Concert No. 11 in D Major. She plays with confidence and vigor, receiving a standing ovation at the completion of the piece. The final piece for the evening is Beethoven’s Symphony Number 8 in F Major. Once again a very enjoyable evening of good music.

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Our Fourth Week in Cuenca

2/26/2023

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The last days of Carnival (Monday, Tuesday) leading up to Ash Wednesday are pretty quiet. They are holidays with government offices, most banks and many businesses closed. And while there are still people spraying foam for fun, the big partying is over. We see families out taking walks or hanging around the parks and riverfront. The traffic has mostly disappeared and the city takes on a very relaxed feel.

I take advantage of the quieter city to take photos of the street art I see on my daily walks.  Cuenca is arts-focused and the quality of much of the street art is a degree above what I’ve seen in many other cities.

We also use some of the quiet time to continue pressing our university for William’s letter describing his ISCED field of study.  No response to calls and e-mails. Silence.  Not a good sign.  Anne has a Master of Science degree from another university.  We begin the process of obtaining documentation on that degree as a fall-back.

Friday is a very busy day.  We start by meeting our Ecuadorian attorney to discuss visa options and our status in obtaining necessary paperwork.  She is very informative and we map out next steps.

Museo Remigio Crespo Toral is less than two blocks away, so off we go!  We have been in the museum many years ago, but it has been restored further and the collection expanded.  It only takes 30 minutes to leisurely walk through the museum - it’s enjoyable as a “bite” of history.

It’s close to lunch time and we’re hungry. Capitan restaurant is six blocks away, which we visited it in 2016, enjoyed, and heard that it is even better now.  The doors to the restaurant are closed, but after I pull on the right door the chef’s wife comes and explains that they are cash only.  Fine with us; we anticipate that 50% or more of the businesses in Cuenca operate solely on a cash basis.  We order our beverages and entrees and sit back.  Some delicious garlic bread is delivered and a while later our beverages.  We sit and talk, we sit some more and talk, we smile as we overhear the conversation of a young family who recently relocated to Cuenca from the US with a two-year old.  We talk yet some more, eventually quietly discussing the necessary time commitment of dining out in Ecuador.  Our meals arrive and are beautifully presented.  They taste even better.  William has about a pound of shrimp with a modest amount of linguine and mushrooms in a light sauce.  I have at least eight ounces of Corvina with garlic and six shrimp accompanied by a dollop of mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley.  The food is worth the wait.  Total bill with two glasses of wine and sparkling water is less than $50 - wonderful!  We will return in the future.

Around 5pm our friend JJ messages us that she and David are about to go into the Indian restaurant we’ve been hoping to try. The restaurant is a 15 minute walk from our Airbnb. We immediately put on our shoes and head out the door to meet them at the Indian restaurant Barbecue Palace. I order the butter chicken and William has the chicken tikka masala. Both come with garlic naan. Mmmm! Another restaurant to return to!

The Cuenca Symphony plays Friday night.  The evening features the winners of a young artists competition.  There are three violinists, a pianist, a trombonist and a young man who plays the clarinet.  The ages of the winners appear to be between 10 and 19.  Each one plays a solo with the full orchestra.  While the 10 year-old is playing the piano I whisper to William that at his age I was playing very simple pieces and dreading recitals while this boy is playing with a full orchestra in front of hundreds of people.  Amazing!

Saturday we spend the late morning and afternoon meandering around the city.  We start with a taxi ride up into El Centro.  We enjoy Parque San Sebastián where William discusses purchasing and trading 1/10th ounce gold coins with a fellow expat.  I start to get a little hungry, so we walk toward Parque Calderòn and stop at Le Bistro Café for a crepe and some coffee. After the leisurely snack we stop at a cheese shop and then start the walk toward our Airbnb.  Along the way we pause at a bench to enjoy the Tomebamba river.  There are families and friends dotting the park along the riverbank, and everyone seems to be enjoying the beautiful day.

On Sunday afternoon William decides that it is time for him to attempt an uphill walk into El Centro.  He maps out a path that takes us up a ~30 step staircase and then an uphill street for four to five blocks.  He stops and rests a few times along the way but feels okay.  At the top we stop at Cafe de Museo for a coffee and a glass of wine, then we go downhill out the “back door” to the park along the river for our walk home.  Yay! - such a big difference from four weeks ago when we arrived in Cuenca.

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<<Previous

Visa Emotional Rollercoaster

Tummy Troubles and Pleasant Walks

Friends, Bureaucracy & Celebrations

Sadness, Easing into Life in Ecuador

Return to Ecuador

Birthdays and Ecuador Prep

Back in Knoxville

Concluding Days & Return to US

Good Friends and New Experiences

Our Fourth Week in Cuenca

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