How many times I have missed my camera on this trip.  I should have commented on the many things I would have taken a picture of earlier, but I guess better late than never.  It’s not the usual famous and historic sites I would have tried to capture, but the little things, like the cafe where I just enjoyed lunch.  Located in a little plaza dominated (as always) by a church, the cafe boasts a collection of “owl” figurines.  They reminded me of a special kayaking trip to Florida to see the manatees.

And then there are the wall murals on the upstairs walls of my current lodgings.  Located in the historic city center, it’s a little noisy, but that’s part of being in the city center.  Having spent the last few days deep in Gringolandia (yes, that’s what the locals call it), I am going to fully appreciate being here.  Anyway, the murals can be seen from my little studio apartment.  I’ve often marveled at the relative inexpensiveness of hotels here.  I call them hotels, but many are apartments rented out on airbnb, or hostels catering to backpackers or just folks like me who can’t and don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on an expensive hotel

Anyway, back to things I’d like to have photographed:  The look on the taxi driver’s face the other day when I said (in my mind in flawless Spanish) “Senor, I have no wish to die today”.  We both had a huge laugh over that, but he still didn’t slow down.  I guess his laughter was confirmation that while it may not have been perfect Spanish, it was good enough to communicate.

Back to my current lodgings.  Electricity is very expensive in Ecuador, and most bedside tables have only a very tiny lamp with about 25 watts – hard to read by.  This little gem has actual reading lamps over the bed!  I cannot wait to try them.  (If you had told me when I was in my twenties that I’d be excited about reading lights over the bed I would not have believed you.)

I found out today what the problem has been in taxi drivers finding my hotel when I asked the driver who picked me up at the apartment to bring me downtown if he’d had any problem finding it.  He said no, and I told him that I’d had many problems with taxi drivers being unable to find it.  He answered that “Es necesario hablar demon”.  Well, that’s what I heard.   He repeated it for me and I realized he was telling me that I should tell the drivers I was going to the Diamond Restaurant.  Well, my bad for not thinking about that.  I was instead telling them it was across the street from the Laboratorio Biomolecular, and if you think that isn’t a mouthful, think again.  It’s a horse of a different color when you try it in Spanish.  Next time I’ll know.  He did say that it’s a bit of a problem navigating Cuenca.

Oh, and I just want to tell a story about a wonderful family I met to illustrate the kind of people who live in Ecuador.  The other day I’d had an invitation to visit the home of an expat couple I met a few weeks ago when I was here.  They told me just to tell the driver to go to the (don’t remember the name) market, continue on about a mile and a half and Jean-Claude would be standing in the street waiting for me at 3:00.

Did I mention that it was pouring down rain?  So I’m leaving the apartment, and as I enter the lobby, I see a gentleman trying to get into the building.  Well, I have no idea who he is, obviously, so I didn’t want to open the door to just anybody.  So I stopped and attempted to look like I was looking in my purse for the keys.  Sheesh.  By this time he had gotten the door open, and the young man with him spoke.  I answered back and apologized, saying I hadn’t known whether I should open the door or not.

Turns out that the gentleman is the owner of the building!  So we’re chatting and I told them I was going to find a taxi to take me to my friend’s house.  They offered to call a taxi for me, which was lovely, since it’s about a two-block walk to the main street where I might find one.  No luck – no answer at whatever number they were calling.

What do they say?  Oh, let us take you to the main street.  We’ll find a taxi.  So we pile in the car – me in the front seat with the dad, the mom and two sons in the back seat.  One of the sons had been an exchange student in Oregon, so he had some English, and you all know I have some Spanish because I’ve beat you over the head with that information.  So we get to the main street and they weren’t about to let me out on the street in the pouring rain.  Oh, no, we’ll take you to your friend’s house.

I explained how far it was, and they said it was Sunday, so no problem, they didn’t have to be any place special.  Now, when I say it was far, it was a loooooooong way away, with the last couple of miles on a dirt road lined with shanties.  I realized we had gone too far when we passed a church I had never seen before, so we doubled back.  Meanwhile, Juan, the oldest son, was asking all kinds of questions about my friend, how did I know him, how long had I known him, etc., etc.  Turns out he was a little concerned that I was going to some guy’s house when I had just met him.  (Never mind that I jumped in a car with people I had met five minutes before, but they were obviously a lovely family.)

On our return down the hill, I saw my friend Jean-Claude, waiting with an umbrella.  The family seemed to be a little reluctant to leave me there, but I assured them it was all right, that JC’s girlfriend would be there.  (She wasn’t, and isn’t his girlfriend, but that’s another story for another time.)

Something else to explain about Ecuador is that you never know what is behind the walls of the I guess you’d call them security fences, except they aren’t fences; they’re like garage doors in front of everything.  As I said, the road had been lined with what I can only describe as shanties.  Well, the walls to Jean-Claude’s place hide a knock your socks off beautiful house with incredible gardens.  He rents it from a man who has three houses in this little enclave, who takes care of all the grounds.  When I say the gardens are incredible, I mean it.  Absolutely beautiful splashes of color and grass of a quality that’s usually not seen off a golf course.

But I’m getting off the subject.  This is but one example of the unfailing kindness I’ve been met with on this entire journey, from the wonderful friends I made at Ecela (Spanish school) and then at Peruwayna school to random conversations to acts of generosity like this one that just astonished me.

Here I thought I didn’t have anything to say because nothing exciting has happened in the last few days.  Hard to believe that I’ll be back in Atlanta in just a few days. Don’t think I am returning to any kind of normalcy.  I have no place to go home to beyond the first night, and by that I just mean I have no physical apartment.  My friends may be putting up with me on a rotating basis for a little while, at least until I have my driver’s license and some inkling of what I’m going to do in the next few months.