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Energy Drinks Not Needed

I ‘discovered’ energy drinks in 2012, and started using them frequently when I became tired.  Nodding off on a long drive? Energy drink to the rescue!  Tired in the office after lunch? Energy drink let me focus on the software to be developed.

I expected these would be hard to find in Ecuador, so I bought a case of them before leaving.  Brought several in our suitcase, and a full case is in the container that we expect to arrive next month.

However, I discovered an interesting truth in the last couple months.  Now that I am retired, if I am sleepy, I just take a nap! ☺

I had to wait in a rather long line at the butcher yesterday.  While there I struck up a conversation with a gringo who has been retired a few years, and living here in Cuenca for two years. She commented that whenever she gets stressed over waiting now, she reminds herself that she is retired and is no longer in a hurry.  That helps her calm down and accept the slower pace of life here.

Now if I can just find someone that wants to keep going at high speed and can use a case of energy drinks… ☺

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Subdued New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve day was warm with just enough clouds to add character to the sky

New Year’s Eve this year was rather subdued, when compared to last year.  All the same activities were there, but fewer of each.  Fewer effigies in doorways and on car tops.  Fewer neighborhood competition displays. Fewer firecrackers. Fewer fires. Fewer people roaming the streets.

We have no idea why things were so much smaller this year.  The weather was fine and there hasn’t been any noticeable rain since the Christmas Eve parade.  We haven’t heard of any new restrictions since last year (when gobos and castles were first banned).  We had gone into the evening expecting a full repeat of last year, and felt somewhat let down when all the first display areas we visited were completely empty. We finally did find a couple of major displays, but that was down from a dozen last year.

 

Some folks put their effigies on their car roofs. Others were still building them.

Masks were sold in many locations, and were worn by adults more often than kids

We only found three major neighborhood theme presentations (and one did not photograph well…)

About 11:30, a truckload of clowns unloaded and joined the crowd

Fireworks were for sale everywhere, but most people seemed content with sparklers

Shish kabob stands provided a quick meal whenever you were hungry

The audience waited the midnight countdown — some more active than others…

At midnight the fires were started, while the audience took photos to remember the moment

Fires were burning everywhere, with new effigies thrown in — sometimes within a couple feet of cars

Jumping over a burning effigy is supposed to bring good luck — unless you get burned of course…

New Year’s Eve gets us to walk a lot, if nothing else (of course, Evelyn’s shorter legs lets her cheat and get more steps!)

Happy 2014 Everyone!

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Sleeping Is Not An Option

Boom!… Boom, Boom, Boom!

That is the sound of bottle rockets going off starting around 6AM this morning and continuing several times an hour for the rest of the day.

They are often followed by the sound of car alarms being triggered, so the noise continues long past the initial explosions.

These rockets and fireworks can be purchased at tiny stands throughout the city, which seem to be mostly frequented by teenagers.  Kind of reminds me of that year in High School when I…  well, that’s another story, isn’t it? ☺

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Dummy!

This effigy head is about 4 feet high, and will sit upon a huge dummy on New Year’s Eve

Ecuador has an exciting way of celebrating New Year’s Eve, unlike anything seen in North America. (see here for last year’s report on it) Each family creates or buys an effigy, or dummy, for the celebration.  The family then writes short statements of things they want to leave behind in the new year.  For some it is “too much alcohol” or “unable to find a job” or something related to their family health, or whatever they want to forget or wish did not happen.  These slips of paper are either stuffed in the effigy or pinned to it, and at the stroke of midnight the effigy is set afire.

The streets are littered with fires, reminding me of the Berkeley streets during the riots of the 1960’s and early 1970’s (when we were both students there).  The difference though, is that people are dancing in the streets besides the bonfires, and the adventurous ones are jumping over the fires, which is supposed to bring added luck in the new year.  Since many of the effigies are also stuffed with firecrackers or fireworks, such jumping also is the leading cause of hospital visits each New Year’s Eve… ☺

Those that do not want to make their own effigies can buy them on the street during the week leading up to the celebration.  Some people buy generic dolls, costing $4 for child sized ones or $5 to $6 for adult sized dolls.  Others go for more identifiable effigies looking like cartoon figures, or the occasional obscene gesture — presumably sold to teenagers…

 

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Jupiter!

We have tried to get into the local planetarium several times, but were always turned away because it was either closed or the tickets were sold out.  We decided to try again today.

We walked to the planetarium (it is only a 10 minute walk from our condo), and had lunch at one of our favorite hamburger places — Chill & Grill.  Afterwards we went next door and picked up our free tickets to the show.  Yes, like the symphony and much of the music in town, the planetarium is free.

Kids arrived with several volunteers in tow.  And yes, that is a McDonalds across the street…

We were the first in line for the tickets at 2:30, for the 3:00 showing. A few minutes later 20 kids got off a school bus, and one of the teachers got their tickets. Since this is primarily an educational service, the school kids got first seating.  There was plenty of seating for all though, and there really isn’t a bad seat in the place.

The presentation opened with a docent talking about the solar system in Spanish, so I only caught the general gist of the talk.  At one point, he asked the audience “lo que es el planeta más grande?” (what is the largest planet?).  One kid down front yelled “Jupiter!” and an image of Jupiter zoomed on the ceiling, to the gasps of many of the children.

The opening scene showed the Hubble, so I had expected some deep galaxy images from that telescope. As it turned out, the actual recorded part of the show only lasted 15 minutes, and we never left the solar system.  It was a bit of a letdown.

The price is right though (free)! ☺

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Feliz Navidad

Happy Holidays to all. For our annual holiday greeting, we thought you might enjoy Evelyn’s copycat of a painting by Guayasamin shown above, one of Ecuador’s most famous artists.

The art scene in Cuenca is just starting to emerge, and Evelyn has been attending artist’s receptions and art exhibits at least once a week since we arrived 2 months ago.  Cuenca enjoys the role as Ecuador’s arts capital, and is home to several artists with international reputations. There is an incredible amount of talent in Cuenca, both local and expat artists as well as photographers, such as Michael Hamilton.

Art Cuenca is an organization that helps promote some of the local artists from Cuenca, setting up studio tours, gallery exhibitions and events, which you can find on their website. In addition, there are artists promoted at the First Friday art event each month, as well as other artists who have their own studios including world-renown ceramist, Eduardo Segovia, Klever Moscoso, Ariel Dawi, sculptor Miguel Illescas, and others. And, there are exhibits by visiting Ecuadorean artists including Fausto Bravo, a world-renown ceramists from Quito.

Evelyn has been enjoying sketching and painting almost every day, as the city is rich with inspiration.

 

 

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Massive Pase del Niños Viajero Parade

Niños Viajero statue is center of attention

Every Christmas Eve, Cuenca puts on a massive parade that goes all day, from 8AM till around 6PM, and consists of some 60,000 participants (in a city of only 400,000 residents!). We first saw this last year, and you can read that post and see those photographs here.

The parade is officially called the “Pase del Niño Viajero” parade, which translates as “passing of the traveling child.”  It celebrates a small statue of Jesus that was taken to Rome and blessed by the pope in the 1960’s. This statue overlooks the parade during the day, and then at is brought along the parade route at the end of the day.

Between the two of us, we shot almost 2,000 photographs today.  It was hard to distill a parade this massive into a rational number of images, but here is an attempt to bring the feel of the event to you.

 

Kids were a key part of the parade, and the girls always take cute photos

Boys certainly enjoy their day in the parade too

These women prove you are never too old to enjoy a parade!

Ecuadorian men are not afraid to dress up and parade either

Women often travel in groups together in the parade

Parade dancing is mostly done by women

Santa was everywhere, as was the occasional clown

Parents were often found with the younger kids, and they enjoyed the day too

Most walked, some rode horses, and these people rode bicycles

Music was everywhere

Many groups were led by a sign identifying them or the parade itself

Many groups had their own baby Jesus statues too

A fire truck stood by to let people cool off, since it was such a warm day

Pig, chicken and cuy (guinea pig) were available on sidewalk stands

The balconies along the parade route were packed with watchers

While Evelyn kept her camera clicking in amongst the marchers

We attended a morning party before the parade, and another in the afternoon when the parade was done

As soon as the last marcher was done, the city cleanup crew made the area spotless again

Rooftop views of the neighboring churches from our afternoon party’s home

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Music Everywhere

Brian Gary performing at LaParola

We have always enjoyed live music in small intimate surroundings, but we really have rarely gone to them.  In Berkeley there were plenty of venues, but they required us getting into a car, driving to a specific destination, finding a parking place, listening to (usually expensive) music, then reversing the process to get home.  It was always enough of a hassle that we only went through it once a year or so, and sometimes not even that.

Life sure is different here in Cuenca, Ecuador! We now eat lunch out almost every day, and eat dinner out five nights a week.  There are so many good restaurants within a couple blocks radius of us, and the food is so inexpensive, that it seems like a shame to cook at home.  Many of these venues have free live music every Wednesday to Saturday too.

Tonight was a fairly typical example.  We decided to go see the new Hobbit sequel at Millenium Plaza, so walked to the theater.  Upon getting there, we discovered that they had changed the 3D viewings and only had the Spanish version showing, rather than the English (with Spanish subtitles) that was scheduled as of yesterday.  Our Spanish is not good enough to enjoy a movie yet, so we decided to walk to a bar we had passed along the way from which we had heard some pleasant singing.

We then walked to LaParola, a bar about two blocks from our condo, and walked in to hear Brian Gary performing.  He is a keyboard player / singer originating from Alameda, California in the 1970’s to 1990’s.  He has a very pleasant voice and knows pretty much every classic rock song from that era.  His set included music from the Beatles, Elvis, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Eagles and many others you would recognize if you grew up in that period. (The drinks at LaParola were not very good, but the dinner was excellent!)

When we got home, we began tallying the music venues we have been to in the last month.  Within a three block radius, we have heard live music at:

  • la Vina (The Jazz Society plays there every weekend)
  • California Kitchen
  • Wunderbar
  • LaParola (where we heard Brian Gary tonight)
  • il Chiaro de Luna
  • el Cafeteria
  • Eucalyptus Cafe
  • Teatro de la Cultura (where we saw the magic show, among others)

In addition, there is San Sebas (a dozen blocks away) and the symphony & opera (both about half a mile). That doesn’t even count the literally dozens of discos and karaoke bars within two or three blocks of us.  Of course, those latter tend to be filled with a much younger generation, though we will eventually get around to those too.  The churches are also filled with Christmas music this time of year, often from children’s choruses.  Those are fun to drop in on, but aren’t quite up to the level of the professional musicians we see in the evenings…

While I was writing this blog entry, Evelyn looked at what Frommer’s said about nightlife in Cuenca.  Interestingly, half the places they mention are venues we have never been to. There is still a lot left to be explored!

Moving to Cuenca has changed us from enjoying live music maybe once a year to doing so multiple times a week. Gotta love this place! ☺

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Visa is Approved !

Cuenca Immigration Office

Our Ecuadorian resident visa has been approved!

As with all things government, there are still some paperwork steps before we have it in our hands, but we received an approval email two days ago, and were told to go to the immigration office today to get the next phase of papers to sign.  Turns out this set of papers is just a document to file with another department that will tie the condo we own to our visa.  Normally this takes about 10 days, but we were told to expect 15 days — probably because of the holidays.

At this point though, there is no longer any doubt that we will be accepted.  The steps we took while still in California to get extra documentation, and double up when in doubt, paid off. 

The email we received was:

“NOTIFICACION DE VISA

Estimado Señor JOHNSON BURT LOUIS Y ESPOSA

Por medio del presente, cúmpleme informarle que su solicitud de visa 9-II Y 9-VI han sido aprobadas, por lo que solicito acuda a las oficinas del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores ubicada en la Manuel J Calle 2-100 el día  viernes 20  de diciembre de 2013 a las 09h00, con la finalidad de:

1ero: a las 09h00 retirar su certificado de custodia de bien, para llevarlo a la Registraduria de la Propiedad.

2do: al entregar todos los documentos al encargado, emitirá un certificado de custodia sustento de la visa que ha sido aprobada.

3ero: cuando usted tenga este documento, por favor acercarse inmediatamente a nuestras oficinas para ingresar el documento en su expediente, dado que será necesario agendar una cita con el departamento de extranjería Y poder emitir para usted la visa 9-II Y 9-VI, para lo cual deberá traer su pasaporte y $320 por persona para el respectivo pago del arancel.”

I have gotten so I can actually figure out the meaning of most Spanish writing if I have a context in which to work.  To be sure, I put this one into Google Translate though, and read the following glowing report:

“Dear Sir BURT JOHNSON LOUIS AND WIFE

Hereby, I wish to inform you that your visa application 9-9-II and VI have been approved, so I apply go to the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs located at 2-100 Manuel J Street on Friday 20 December 2013 at 09h00, in order to:

1st: 09h00 to withdraw its certificate of custody as well, to put it into Registraduria Property.

2do: to deliver all documents to the manager, issue a certificate of custody support the visa is approved.

3rd: when you have this document, please immediately come to our offices to sign the document in his file, as it will be necessary to schedule an appointment with the department of immigration and to deliver to you the visa 9-II and 9-VI, for which you must bring your passport and $ 320 per person for the payment of the respective tariff.”

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Lawsuit!

Lawsuits are not as common in Ecuador as they are in the US, but we just got a first-hand experience to show they are do exist.  We have read recently that labor suits are becoming a hot item, with several expats telling stories (sometimes second or third hand) about household help (maids, cooks, gardeners) going to the equivalent of the Labor Department and complaining that they were not paid fairly, or that their Social Security (their equivalent anyway) was not paid, etc.

Yesterday, we were handed the above notice by our building security guard.  I was able to read most of it, and then used Google Translate to confirm that I was on the right track.  Basically, it said that there would be a meeting of the Condo Owners Association today (what we call HOA in the US) to discuss “paying the salary of the ex-concierge Luis Suarez Sarmiento.”

This seemed odd to us, since we were told that Mr Sarmiento had retired this past Spring.  We now have a security guard (aka ‘consierge’) named Edison, whom we are very happy with.  Since Mr Sarmiento is gone, wouldn’t his salary have already been paid?

Since this would be our first HOA meeting, and we are the only non Spanish speaking occupants of the building, we decided to hire a translator (Sarah). The meeting was to start at 3:00 according to the notice, so we had her arrive then.  We all went down and found where the ‘mezzanine’ was (not at all obvious), but found it totally empty??  The president of the HOA (Dr Culcay) wandered through a few minutes later, and Sarah asked him about the meeting.  The translation we got back was “We set it to start at 3:00 to give people time to arrive. We will actually start talking at about 4:00.”

Say What???  Yes, you read that right. They set the start of the meeting at a time to give everyone an hour to arrive.  I think it may take me a long time to get the hang of some Ecuadorian practices… ☺

We went back to our condo and talked for the next hour, then returned to the meeting room at 4:00.  Sure enough, people were just starting to arrive, and the meeting started a little after 4:00.

It turns out the prior security guard sued the HOA for $30,000, saying he was not treated fairly.  A settlement was made for $10,900 plus $800 lawyer fees. It was not clear to me whether this was the result of a court settlement or out of court, but they seemed happy with the settlement. Since we have only been here a couple months, we did not really want to raise a ruckus.  I did make a point of asking how we can sure this won’t happen again with our current guard.  Dr Culcay assured us that our current arrangement was different, and that we have an iron-clad contract with Edison.  Since we are in a building mostly comprised of lawyer offices, and Dr Culcay is a lawyer himself, I decided to take his word for it.

After some grumbling from the other half-dozen attendees (in Spanish), the meeting was adjourned.  Our bill will turn out to be a little under $1,100.  Totally unexpected, out of the blue, and relating to a legal issue that occurred before we arrived. However, this amount equates to roughly one month of property taxes back in California, while our property taxes here are less than $100 per year.  Basically, we lick our wounds, smile and go outside to continue to enjoy the fabulous city we have adopted! ☺

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