Otavalo

Today we rode the bus for the first time.  We walked to the square and it was easy to find the bus to Otavalo.  When we got off the bus there was a taxi dispatcher and we simply told him that we wanted to go to the Panguche Falls.  Quick as a wink a taxi was there.  We hopped in and in about 5 minutes we arrived at the falls area.  It was a lovely spot, the smell of eucalyptus in the air, and the soothing sound of the stream running just off the path.  The falls were quite nice-not as impressive as Glacier, but can there be a lousy waterfall?

We made the mistake of agreeing to let the driver wait for us. We thought it was really nice of him to offer; we would pay for it later.  After we saw the falls the driver took us into Panguche, a community known for its weavers.  He stopped in front of this little shop and we stepped into a shop filled with beautiful wall hangings, sweaters, scarves, tablecloths, wallets, socks, tons of stuff.  Downstairs were 5 looms and other equipment.  I will post a video on Facebook of the young man weaving.  I bought a tablecloth and two wallets.

After the weavers shop we had the driver take us to Otavalo for lunch.  He stopped at the square, The Plaza of Ponchos, in front of a restaurant.  Bill and Ron asked him how much we owed him, and he said $30!  We were not prepared for that.  Next time we will know better.  Got to learn, I guess. We had a good lunch - shrimp for Ron, and rice with vegetables for me, Bill and Verda shared a "tipica" plate with steak, pork, chicken, potatoes, and some sort of corn.  Afterwards we went shopping in the market.  Ron bought an alpaca sweater, I bought an alpaca poncho, Verda bought a zip front sweater and a beautiful alpaca blanket.  Oh, and I also bought a pair of slippers for these cold tile floors. Finally, we headed for the bus station and found a bus going back to Otavalo.  By the time we got home we were all ready for a drink and some tv time.

New Shoes and a Haircut

Today Ron and I walked down Leather Street to see if we could find a wallet for me and sandals for him.  A few blocks from our square Ron found a shop selling huaraches which he liked better than the other leather sandals.  The guy told him they were $42, so he came outside to find me.  I was in another shop looking at wallets.  I found a green one for me and a purple one for Sylvia.  Ron wanted me to go back to look at the shoes and see what I thought.  I told him he should buy them, so he made the guy an offer of (he thought) $35.  The guy grabbed his calculator and typed in $25!  So Ron snapped them up. When we got home, Bill and Verda were about to go out shopping, too.  So Ron and I both took naps. For dinner Verda made eggplant parm, and we finished up the salad from the night before. We went to bed early, so we could get up at 6 for our trip to the coast. Our plan is to go to Puerto Lopez and go to the "poor man's Galapagos."

Going to Ibarra

July 11, 2011

We started out in the morning to go to Ibarra to go to the big supermarket, the Supermaxi.  But we decided to stop at the travel agency on Bolivar street to see about tickets to Manta, so we can get to Puerto Lopez, where we can go to the "poor mans Galapagos" Isla de la Plata, or go whale watching.    

Well, the travel agency was not like the ones we are used to.  We were there for at least an hour and a half.  Some other Americans that are staying in our same complex were there trying to buy tickets for his sister and her boyfriend and having a hard time with the language barrier.  But finally we got our tickets and the girls were very nice.  

I was surprised to see them pull out a piece of carbon paper to copy the numbers on our credit card!  I haven't seen carbon paper since the late '60's. We took the bus to Ibarra, about 45 minutes away, for $.45 each.  Ibarra is a pretty big city, with more to offer.  But since we got there kind of late we didn't do anything but eat lunch and shop at the market.  We bought diapers, detergent, and bar soap for the pre-school, as well as some things we couldn't find in Cotacachi. 

Verda had bought a chicken at the Supermaxi, so she roasted the chicken, we cooked the little fingerling potatoes Ron and I had found at the produce market, I made a salad, and we had fresh peas.  What a good dinner!  Except that the potatoes tasted like dirt.  I didn't care for them.  We will try another variety. No plans for Tuesday.  Wednesday we are off to the beach!

First Day in Cotacachi

July, 2011

Yesterday we went with  Micky, Yolanda, Pamela, and Darla to the Morales Chupa pre-school.  The kids were, as someone put it, Ecuadorable, and I was in charge of taking pictures.  I took shots of the parts of the school that have been repaired and shots of the classroom and of the deplorable state of some of the equipment they have to use.  Wish we could donate a crib - the one they have is awful.  We are going to go shopping and buy diapers, a garbage can, soap, and scissors.  Maybe we can find something for them to play with.

 Later, there was a gathering of ex-pats at the Remax office for 4th of July.  We met a lot of people, all of whom were very friendly and had nothing but good things to say about Ecuador.  Then, Verda and I were invited to go to the shaman and have a cleansing.  It was a very interesting experience.  He used some very sweet-smelling plants, various liquids, sacred stones, and candles.  We didn't learn anything about ourselves; he wasn't a healer per se, but he just worked balancing our energy.  He did different things to each of us, and it seemed he spent the least time with me, but that may just be my impression.  Anyway, it was a "cultural experience." Pam is definitely a woo-woo people.  She told me that they had definitely proven that the first stone laid on the pyramid was the topmost stone, leading one to assume that it was built upside-down and then turned over??? Today we are going to Panguche to see the waterfall.  Panguche is also famous for its weavings.  I am going to buy a tablecloth for home.  And maybe a poncho if they have them there.

Sunday Market

July 11, 2011 

Today we went to the fruit and veggie market here in Cotacachi.  It was fabulous.  We were offered 3 pineapples for $1.00.  We bought 4 bananas for $.25. We ended up with tomatoes, potatoes, a pineapple, strawberries, bananas, and an avocado, and we might have spent $5.00.   They also had a lot of food being cooked that was for sale, but we didn't try any of that.  

We are preparing most of our food at home, or eating at Serendipity, a great restaurant run by Nancy, an ex-pat from Naples, Florida. I actually had a nap today.  Had to pause the Wimbledon final til I woke up. Then we went to dinner at Nancy's and I had a delicious chicken pot pie, and Ron and I shared a piece of apple pie. My dinner cost $3.50, and the pie was $2.00. Tomorrow we are going to Ibarra.

Quito

My first impression of Ecuador, and of Quito, was the demeanor of the two taxi drivers that we hired to take us to our hotel, "Casa Arbolitta." They were extremely helpful and kind, and worked together to determine where this place was. We ended up having the taxi driver call the hotel and find out for sure if we had the right place, especially since there was nothing to indicate that it was a hotel - no sign, no lights, no impressive building. He was assured that we were in the right place, and we were greeted by Patricio, a young man who spoke good English, and his mother, Jenny, who, with her husband, runs the place. 

It was a lovely home, with bright colors and interesting art pieces displayed. We were warmly welcomed and shown to our rooms. Ours was bright red, extremely clean, and had a nice bathroom. Jenny made breakfast for us and we were introduced to Lauren, a student at the University of Nebraska, who is in Quito for the summer. She is an architecture student and had come to Quito to work on a project there, was offered a chance to stay for the summer and she said she loved Ecuador so much that she decided to stay. She was renting a room from Jenny and said that Jenny was like her Mom away from home. She was delightful and we felt confident after talking to her that we would enjoy our stay in the country. 

Jenny hooked us up with a guy who had a van and would drive us to Cotacachi. We hired him for the day for $120 and he gave us a guided tour of Quito. We saw the cathedral, the main square, and the statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of the hill. I got some shots of the entire city. Then he took us to the "middle of the world" where the latitude is 00.00.00. There were so many amazing demonstrations of the coriolis effect. Will post photos sometime in the future. I have found that I can easily write notes on my iPad. My problem is that I don't have time! Tomorrow, a report about Cotacachi.

Off to Ecuador!

Sunday morning we heard the alarm on my phone jangle at 4:45 am. We hurried to get dressed, gather our luggage and grab a cup of coffee. Mike quickly spread cream cheese on two bagels for me and we threw the other snacks into a plastic bag, tossed it in my carry-on and hopped in the car for the 30 minute ride to the airport. The countdown was over; we were on our way to Sud America! 

The first leg was routine. Just Phoenix to Houston. Once we landed in Houston, we had a few hours to kill, so we had lunch at Ruby's Diner where Ron was able to get a real chocolate malt! I had some delicious fried zucchini which probably wiped out all my work on the treadmill for the past month. 

The next leg was Houston to Panama City, Panama. You think the airports in the U.S. are inefficient, wait til you see Panama City. We waited for about 20 minutes for a gate to open up so the plane could park. Then it took another 20 minutes before anyone could get off the plane - never found out why. Fortunately, the gate for our Copa Airlines flight to Quito was not too far away. Ron bought some scotch at the duty free shop so that he would have some on the final leg of the flight. We were tired by this time, but the flight to Quito was only two hours and by the time they served our sandwich and drinks, it was almost time to land. Ron complained from the time the wheels touched down til we arrived at our hotel, so I won't go into how long it took us to get through immigration, get our luggage, get through customs, etc. But finally, there was Bill's face and arms waving at us. Whew! He had already arranged for taxis to take us to Casa Arbolitta where we would spend the night. Details of our stay at Jenny's place and our first day of our trip coming tomorrow. Had two glasses of wine at dinner and ready to fall asleep.

A Month in Ecuador

July, 2011

We leave for Ecuador two weeks from Father's Day.  I am getting excited to see the place that we may end up living for at least 6 months out of the year.  Ecuador is the cheapest place in the world to retire, so we have heard.  Property is very affordable, rents are less than $500/month, and living expenses are laughably cheap.  

We are planning to spend a month in Cotacachi, in a condo we rented for $650 for the entire month and that includes utilities and internet access.  Our friends Bill and Verda are joining us, so our share is just $325.  Can you beat that anywhere?

We have been trying to figure out how we are going to live with a limited income once Charlie and Katie are in school.  We have researched places to retire and it appears you can live quite well on $800/month in Ecuador.  So we would have enough spare cash to still travel a bit.  We'll check it out and see.  I'm worried about missing the NBA playoffs, the Masters, the French Open, and the NCAA March Madness - but they have Direct TV, so maybe we can still have access to all those events that I'm addicted to.

Health care is reported to be excellent and a visit to the doctor costs $10.00.  A beer is $1.00, and you can have an excellent meal in a nice restaurant for about $8.00.  Sounds too good to be true.

Watch for a report when we return.

Summer Trip, 2010

We had a great trip to the midwest. I want to go back! We flew into Cincinnati, rented a car, drove to Bethel, Ohio, to Bill and Verda's house, and left the next morning on a ramble up to Lake Michigan. We started out with a delicious brunch prepared by Verda's cousin, Gary, at his beautiful home outside Cincinnati. Then we departed for French Lick and to see the resort at West Baden Springs. We stopped that first night at Salem, Indiana, and stayed at a lovely Bed and Breakfast named Laning House. Mrs. Hart was our gracious hostess, and we had the entire annex to ourselves for $65 per couple! Living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and two baths! We highly recommend the Laning House if you are ever in Salem. The next morning we saw the amazing West Baden Springs resort and played the slots at French Lick.That night we stayed in Bloomington, Indiana. What a neat college town that is! Verda and I went into Buffalouie's for wings, and while we were there we were talking to the owner. During our conversation, he stopped to welcome George Taliaferro, the first African-American to be drafted into the NFL. George played for the 1945 IU football team. I had the pleasure of talking with George for several minutes and he told me the story of how he used to peer through the window of that restaurant at his picture on the wall, but wasn't allowed to come in because he was black. Now that same picture resides in a place of honor in Assembly Hall. We toured the campus the next morning and went to the library to use their computers. In the afternoon we headed north for the southern shore of Lake Michigan and stayed in Chesterton. The following pictures are of this first part of our trip.

Chicago Architecture

Of course, everyone knows that Chicago is famous for its architecture. But, until you go visit, you really can't appreciate what a spectacular city has evolved from a myriad of architectural schools and styles and individual artists. It truly is art on a grand scale. And smack dab in the middle of these skyscrapers and futuristic monoliths is a beautiful river and parks that bring fun and whimsy into the serious business of a modern city. Here are photos showing some of the diversity of Chicago's downtown. All were taken from the boat that is part of the architectural tour of the Chicago River.
One of the richest men in Chicago is the guy who owns a window-washing business!

Marina City - A multiuse complex of residences, parking, marina, restaurant, theatre, shops, and hotel. These are the condos, and just below them is the parking garage.

Such a simple design, but what a stunning effect!

And, in contrast, there is the Gothic style.

Aqua at Lakeshore East
With wave-like balconies, Aqua was designed by Jeanne Gang's firm
Studio Gang. At 82 stories it is the tallest building in the U.S.
designed by an architectural firm headed by a woman. Go Jeanne!

333 West Wacker Drive
The curved green-tinted facade is in perfect harmony
with the hue of the Chicago river.

The Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower,
was the world's tallest building for 24 years.

330 N. Wabash
Miles van der Rohe's austere, minimalist glass-and-steel building
exemplifies Moderism with which van der Rohe is always associated.

This last photo is the house that gum built (the Wrigley building!)

Triporati

Wow! Another photograph chosen for the internet! I am so excited - my photo of the windmills of Mykonos was chosen for the blog post about Greece that appears on the Triporati web site. Here is the link: http://www.triporati.com/blog/2010/06/21/greek-diary-mykonos/

I am happy to know about this site, since we are in the process of planning a trip to Italy next fall.

Happy Trails!