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.

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.  

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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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.

This week we return to Cribbage and the Symphony, William does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for the first time and we watch the Carnival parade and check out the Azuay Community Theater.

Tuesday afternoon we return to the Coffee Shop Cribbage group for a couple of hours of fun.  The pairings of players are mixed up from our first visit two weeks ago, and we are able to learn more about the lives of the different players.   The conversations often turn to why people first came to Cuenca, where they’ve lived in Cuenca, and where else has been “home”.   The majority of the group rents their apartments/condo’s here, and I find it interesting to learn how often they switch to new places and what drives their decisions to move.  There’s a story or two of acquaintances who made significant improvements in their rental (in one case $18,000) only to have the owner dramatically increase the rent or refuse to renew the lease.  The consensus around the cribbage tables is to try to get the owner to do the improvements before starting a lease or only make small improvements yourself.  Seems like common sense to us.

One of the primary goals for our trip to Cuenca is to see if William can breathe and feel well at the high altitude (2,560 m, 8,400 ft).  He has had trouble in the past with altitude, and after his month in the hospital with Covid in early 2022 we are concerned.

During our first few days we learned that walking uphill is very tiring for William.  We develop a strategy to taxi up into El Centro and then walk downhill to our Airbnb.  This works well, and we continue it during the second week of our stay.  William’s strength is improving - that is until he comes down with a stomach bug.  After a week of over-the-counter medicines, he breaks out the antibiotic we always bring on our trips.  It’s just been two days on the antibiotic, but he is feels much, much better. 

The down-time while William suffers with the stomach bug gives us time to focus on the documentation needed to obtain an Ecuador Professional Visa.  This visa would allow us to come and go as we choose (the tourist visa allows only 90 days) and if we only leave Ecuador for less than 90 days in the first two years after the visa is issued, we can obtain residency.  

A first step in the Professional Visa is documentation from our schools regarding our degrees.  We both graduated with bachelor’s degrees from the same university, so we have obtained official copies of our transcripts, diplomas, and letters explaining that we took classes in-person from the Office of the Registrar.  This year Ecuador instituted an additional requirement of an official letter from the school certifying our studies relate to an international standard (classification) of fields of study.  This proves to be a stumbling block which the Office of the Registrar is not willing to provide.  We’re directed to our school advisory offices.  Anne’s advisory office basically says that they can’t help because the university uses a U.S. classification and not the international standard.  The head advisor for William’s school is more understanding and indicates she will try to help, recognizing that the Office of the Registrar has abandoned his request.  We’ll need to wait until early next week to see if she comes through with a letter.

In early Spring of 2020, we returned to the US from almost three months in Southeast Asia.  Our plan was to spend about six weeks seeing our families and friends, then fly down to Ecuador.  The idea was to have fun in Cuenca and also to see if we were ready to make a base residence in the near future.  There was this new virus called Covid that was starting to cause issues in the world, but we thought it would be all taken care of before our flight to Ecuador in late April.  Oy!  As we all know, Covid had a huge impact on the world and our lives.

We spend this trip’s last few days in Nashville primarily revisiting spots we have enjoyed.  

On Monday we go to The Row for the bbq and the music. They have a rotating group of performers who do a 50 minute set working for tips. The music is from 6-10pm every night. The food is decent and the entertainment is usually pretty good.

Each morning I take one of my favorite routes for my walk. One takes me past Barcelona restaurant where we had a good meal of tapas and paella a few weeks ago. Another slips through Vanderbilt University, and a third routes through The Gulch and back up Broadway.

A new destination for a walk is Belmont University, a mile from the Airbnb apartment. Belmont is a private Christian college and the site of the Belmont Mansion. It housed the first radio station in Nashville in 1922 and will be the site of the third presidential debate of 2020. I walk through part of the campus and catch some photos near the mansion.

Friday afternoon after doing the laundry and completing most of our packing we walk back to Casa de Montecristo. Unfortunately William twists his foot on an uneven spot in the road and takes a rolling fall. Fortunately he doesn’t break anything. Faced with the choice of continuing on to the cigar lounge or returning to the apartment he decides to press on. We have a relaxing, enjoyable time then summon an Uber to take us back. A dramatic finish to a nice month in Nashville.

Cheekwood is a historical estate with large gardens located in Nashville. In non-Covid times the estate is a venue for concerts and many group activities. Sigh. Happily the estate is at least open to visitors with pre-purchased admission. The timed tickets provide access to the 55 acres including gardens and entry to the mansion. An added bonus is the Chihuly glass which is on display in the mansion and on the grounds.

The mansion was completed in 1932 and occupied by Leslie and Mable Cheek and subsequently members of their family until 1957 when it was proposed to become a public garden and fine arts center. Fun fact: Leslie was born into a wealthy business family, but he made most of his money from his stock in Maxwell House Coffee when it was bought by Postum Company (later renamed General Mills).

We spend an hour meandering through the 36 room, eleven bedroom, twelve bathroom mansion. Several rooms have been converted into galleries of artwork, notably Chihuly glass at this time. We particularly like the Loggia room with it’s wide doors and windows leading to the Swan Lawn.

​The gardens are very beautiful and the Chihuly glass is very interesting. The Estate has a separate evening program with the glass illuminated, something that could be quite fun. For today we walk through some of the gardens and enjoy a beautiful afternoon.

Our Airbnb apartment is just a few blocks from Vanderbilt University. So in addition to the small number of tourists in the area we are provided with plenty of students for our people-watching activities.

Vanderbilt was founded in 1873 by the Methodist Church using an initial $1 million endowment from Cornelius Vanderbilt, the shipping and rail tycoon.

​There’s evidence that on-campus activities are very different due to Covid-19. A mask is required everywhere, indoors and out. Students are allowed to remove them in their dorm rooms. 😁 Even the statue of Vanderbilt wears a mask. Huge tents have been setup in the Commons for students to social distance while eating their meals or studying. It may be the time of day that I normally walk through, but I rarely see them used. Mostly I see students with cafeteria take-out meals headed back to their dorm room. A bellwether of the times is a sign encouraging try-outs for an a cappella group - which will be conducted virtually. Let’s hope that the school doesn’t have an outbreak which causes administrators to require all classes to go virtual.

It’s a pleasant morning as I pack a picnic lunch for our outing to Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage. Like many tourist locations in these Covid-days, tickets must be purchased in advance online, so I also take care of that detail and around noon we jump into the car for the short 14 mile drive.

Beginning in 1804 Hermitage was the home of Andrew Jackson, who became the 7th President of the United States. From 1804 - 1821 he and his wife Rachel and their family lived in a log cabin on the estate. There were also log cabins for their slaves and work buildings such as a smokehouse and barns. We walk through this section of the property listening to a self-tour while we wait for our 1:30 pm tour of the mansion.

Following the tour we stroll through the garden and visit the tombs of Andrew and Rachel as well as the small family cemetery.

​We’re getting hungry and it is easy to find a table under a nice shade tree. We pull out our picnic and enjoy the lovely estate on a pleasant day.