Today was mostly dedicated to interviewing Spanish Schools for taking lessons when we come back.  But first, we had breakfast at San Sebas, as we had promised the owners yesterday.

We struck up a conversation with a man sitting at the next table, and then moved our meals over to join him.  Jim Becker is a retired 3-star Lt General in the US Marines, who moved to Cuenca a little over a year ago.  We spent the next hour regaled by his stories, and the reasons he chose Ecuador to live (primary was the use of the US Dollar, so no “up front loss of 30% like with the EU”).

He is a member of the local Rotary Club, and we spent a great deal of time talking about that, and the good works they do in the region.  He told us that most of the local chapter are doctors and lawyers, with very little English and that Jim is the only retired member at the moment.  By the time we split up, he had offered to sponsor me into the local chapter, which I might seriously consider if we ever decide to move here for a longer term.

We visited and interviewed three Spanish schools — Si Centro, Amauto and Simon Bolivar.  All three had essentially the same pitch and the same price.  Simon Bolivar was the most polished in the presentation, and had their own books (rather than the apparent rip-off xerox of Si Centro and “each instructor has his own book” of Amauto).  We haven’t really made a decision yet, but it appears that Simon Bolivar may be our choice to learn Spanish.

Everywhere you look there is construction going on.  Mostly the streets are being ripped up and replaced with nice walkways, and with the old water piped replaced with modern.  This latter is particularly good, since the Cuenca water is good, but the ancient pipes are often the source of sickness.  It really seems the current president is putting the oil revenue to good use in providing construction employment and improving the overall infrastructure.

We had head that you could fish from the Tomebamba river just outside our apartment.  Today we saw it in action.  A middle-aged local was throwing a small net, of maybe 2 meters diameter into the edge of the river, then pulling it out immediately.  About every 3rd toss resulted in a fish. Some small (which he gave to a couple kids that had joined to watch), and some larger which he kept for himself.  Every time he would pull out a fish, he would throw it against a rock to kill the fish, then put it into a small bag.