First long vacation is under our belt. A lot of planning and thought went into our return to the EU. Andy made all the flight, accomodation, and travel arrangements – it’s something he’s really good at doing. Our trip included stops in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, and a final quick visit in NJ.
There is no way around a long flight or flights. Started in Cuenca on the 17th at 6:30 am and arrived on the 18th around 12:30 pm. Thankfully, the flights were okay, no hiccups but we were one of the very few wearing masks!
First Stop – Prague!
Getting from the airport in Prague to our accomodations was relatively easy – Andy found this super helpful video on youtube and because we arrived prior to authorized check in time, we sauntered through the neighborhood. It was great to walk after all those hours sitting on planes. There is an interesting “tower” near the apartment so we ventured over and found a small park and these artwork towers.
Once settled, we started an explore. Prague is an interesting, exciting city. So much to see – the old town, clocktower (it gets crowded when the hour is changing) – lots of English speakers here. Even though it is “off season” there are a lot of people. Walked across the Charles Bridge – beautiful view of the old town and water. Up to the castle and gardens, back down to our airbnb. Next day to the Klementium (library) where we had a tour up a narrow, winding, metal staircase to see the library and then up further to the tower for a city view.
Walked through the neighborhood of our airbnb and into a huge, interesting cemetary. Very overgrown in parts, but beautiful. On our way back, we came across a gentleman who spotted Andy’s Ecuador pickleball shirt; it turned out that he was visiting his family in Prague but he is from Quito. It’s a small world.
Christopher arrived! The condo felt full. The cats handled having “new” people well – not scared because they met Christopher before. Very curious about his stuff, but otherwise no biggie for them.
“Am I blue…”
Christopher has gotten into the Cuenca groove. He has had his hair dyed blue twice and now has a short “normal colored” hair. He has a two bedroom, furnished apartment and a dog named “Miel” (Honey in Espanol).
Brady settled into Rioquinto Senior Facility. We visit with her once a week and, until recently, she stayed with us once a month for a long weekend. Never much of an exerciser, she has not done much to strengthen herself. The staff at Rioquinto are extremely attentive and spend a great deal of time visiting with her, trying to get her to do light exercises, attempting to get her to go out and spend time with others and in the fresh air, etc.
In August she was hospitalized for diverticulitis and a UTI. We visited with her a couple times a day, and Dra. Dupreeuw came several times. She spent a week on an IV and antibiotic drip which cleared the two infections. Because Brady did not like the food and wasn’t eating enough, the hospital staff arranged for the cook to meet with her to see what they could make that she would like. Imagine having the hospital cook come to you and offer to specially make food you like!
She was discharged with instructions that she needed to try to exercise to get her strength back. I would love to say that Brady is doing her best to help herself regain even a little of her strength, but I cannot. The nurses try coaxing her to sit up, do exercises (they help her stretch), go outside (two nurses are needed to move her as she does not offer any assistance to them), etc. She does virtually nothing to help herself and chooses only to stay in bed watching Netflix and napping. As a result, she is getting weaker and has been hallucinating. She does not want to eat or do anything.
We have been in contact with the nursing staff, the facility director, and Dra. Dupreeuw regularly and we will visit with her this Tuesday. Hopefully she will be alert enough to plan her next steps. 🤞🏼Fingers crossed.
To end on some positive notes…
Keri Plaza San Francisco, Cuenca August 2023
Keri was able to spend three weeks with us and we showed her as much as she felt like exploring. There will be more next visit. We’ve recieved our permanent Visa and Cedula (ID) and so has Christopher. I am taking una clase de espanol again and enjoying it. Andy is still very active in the Pickleball community and weekly Trivia. Christopher is taking online courses in counseling, a dance class, as well as regularly walking Miel. I found a used Pfaff sewing machine and can now “make” stuff! etc. So lots of good and a few hiccups.
My next post will cover the many places and things we have seen so far this year!
Lot’s of interesting twists happen when you least expect them. Got your attention?? Here’s what I mean…
Andy & I were settled into a pretty comfortable groove and enjoying our daily life when there was a hiccup at the end of July. We have been in touch regularly with the kids and with friends/other family. We found out that Brady, Andy’s step-mom had been hospitalized after healing from her eye surgery. Apparently she developed water in her lungs – congestive heart failure. After dealing with that, she developed sepsis and was again hospitalized.
We called her to check in and see how she was doing. She felt deflated/defeated and was “done”. Living on her own, with no one to share the day-to-day stuff, and limited social capability (Covid didn’t help alleviate that), she felt like giving up. Andy asked if she wanted him to come to help her, and she replied “yes”. When asked when “now” was the answer.
Ironically, it was also close to Christopher’s birthday so Andy arranged to fly in to celebrate with him and then fly up to help/deal with what Brady needed. He left on the 8th and spent two days with Christopher before flying on to Sacramento and Brady.
We were lucky to be able to have Christopher, our son, visit us here in Cuenca. This was his first time out of the country and we knew he would be not only tired from a long day of flying, but also a bit nervous seeing as he doesn’t speak much Spanish so Andy flew up to meet him for his arrival in Quito. A couple of hours later they took the short flight (45 minutes) into Cuenca and arrived “home” (our apartment) early evening.
I waited at home with the gatos and experienced another small, rolling earthquake – centered in Peru. It made me a bit anxious (seemed long!) so I got under our computer table! After Christopher got settled in, we spent an easy evening in getting caught up and letting him adjust a bit.
Note: Christopher is a foodie and much of his time here was spent exploring many of the wonderful options available, some of which were new for us too. This is meant to be a warning that what follows involves a lot of eating. 😁
Our first day together we walked over to our local Mercado (farmers type market), the 27th of Febrero. This is one of the smaller mercados in the city, but still has a large selection of fresh veggies and fruits, meats, small shops selling pots, clothes, sneakers, hairdressers, etc. plus a dozen or so hot food vendors. We introduced him to pernil (pork) sandwiches and fresh juices (he chose coconut and it was yummy). The vendor was super friendly and he enjoyed speaking with her and eating the delicious food.
At the Bus Stop on Solano
Our next foray was a nice walk through the downtown “el Centro” area. Lunch was patacones and arepas at a small cafe we had tried just once before. The owner is very nice food is good, and portions are large – prices are, of course, very inexpensive.
Patacones
We are pretty used to walking a lot, but being conscious that he doesn’t walk much in Vegas plus the altitude (Cuenca sits at 8400 feet and requires time for your body to adjust), we chose to have dinner at a place called La Chicheria which is only a few blocks from the apartment. This was our first time there and we were pleasantly surprised – the food was very good and beautifully presented, and reasonable. BTW, the restaurant takes its name from a corn drink called Chicha. An interesting flavor which can be alcoholic or non.
La Chicheria
Roasted vegetablesLa Chicheria
C’s feet were bothering him and his shoe inserts were worn out so we took him to a place in el centro that makes custom inserts (Andy had some made a few months back and they are serving him well). Since we were in El Centro again we took him to another, larger, mercado the 9th of October where we introduced him to one of our favorites, hornado – roast pig. A $5 plate of hornado usually includes a mound of meat, some mote (corn), avocado, pickled onions and lettuce, and a couple of llapingachos (potato with cheese formed into rounds and fried). CB really enjoyed this simple dish, especially the llapingachos.
Hornado, Mote, Llapingachos – YUMMIE
For dinner we ate at Lamian a Chinese where they make their own noodles and dumplings. Lamian is one of the better Chinese restaurants in Cuenca, but not up to par for places in the states. So, good but not great.
Las Herrerias
Christopher was a good sport for the amount of walking we subjected him to, a lot for him, not so much for us. And we did take the bus or taxis when the distances were fairly far. Our next food stop was a walk to the Ironworkers street/area (Las Herrerias), a walk of about 2 kilometers from the apartment. This area is known for its many local food restaurants – humitas, tamales, quimbolitos, bolones, and a variety of other comfort foods. So naturally we stopped at a popular vendor and tried one of each: a tamale, a humita, and a quimbolito. Yummy and cheap – 60¢ for each. And boy was our timing good, no line when we arrived, but a long line just after we got our food.
We also tried a number of different types of foods for lunch. We had an Almuerzo at the Majestic [almuerzos usually include soup, main dish (with rice and salad), dessert, and jugo) for only $2-3). Ceviche at El Autentico Sabor Costeno (it self-advertises that it is the best in Cuenca – and it was pretty damn good!). Yanuncay Cafe for Tigrillo (normally a breakfast food made from green plantains, it was served “savory” with carne and became a delicious lunch; they had also just made fresh tamales which were delicious so we took some extras home for later. We arrived for a late lunch at a popular place called called Reine de Cisne that offers roast pig, cuy, and chicken. They were sold out of everything but chicken so that was what we had. The portions were huge and delicious and, of course, inexpensive, thankfully I brought containers because we each got 1/4 of a HUGE chicken). Bocatti – which is just down the street from our apartment (we hadn’t tried it because of the stigma that it seems to appeal to gringos only BUT we were wrong and the food was delicious and plentiful).
A trip on Valentine’s Day to Fabiano’s for wood-fired pizza. It was surprisingly busy and we were luckily able to be seated quickly. Their pizza is very good and we had enough left over for munchies for the next day.
We had been waiting to try cuy (an Ecuadorian and Peruvian delicacy) until Christopher arrived. We made reservations at Tres Estrellas a place well known for the best cuy. Cuy is guinea pig and this restaurant was recommended by my profesora as being the best for cuy. The inside of the restaurant is a mishmosh of items on the walls/ceiling. There is a very small “bar” (more like a small wet-bar in a house) and the atmosphere is very subdued. Our waiter was very pleasant and (since they ask when you make your reservation, how many cuy do you want) explained the other offerings. There was a lovely and very filling soup, a potato dish (also filling), and salad. Andy ordered a meat platter as well as the cuy just in case. Cuy needs to be eaten right away as it is crispy and sightly greasy. If allowed to “cool” it becomes too greasy, so we all tried it. It was very good, tastes similar to suckling pig. It’s a little challenging to eat as you get the whole animal and the plate arrives with its little face looking at you 😲. The legs are very thin and I could picture Munchie running through the house with it in his mouth! All told, worth the try but it will be a while before we eat it again, also pretty expensive for something that is just a big rat.
Cuy at Tres Estrellas
Our final eating foray was at an Argentinian restaurant called El Gaucho. It was a meat-a-thon with a platter for three (all different types of meats), macaroni salad, baked potatoes, and salad. The meats were delicious but very salty. The macaroni salad, which I normally wouldn’t eat, was a good counterbalance to the salty meat. There were plenty of pieces of meat leftover (I again brought a container 😉) to use in meals made at home – no need to season anything.
On the last day, we needed to get Christopher’s covid test for the flight home. We took a taxi to a small one-person lab where the service was great, the test was inexpensive ($10) and we had the results in just over an hour. Then back to the pernil place at the local mercado for lunch and some extras for him to take for later snack. I had baked oatmeal cookies so he had something for dessert too. As with most trips CB had a lot of hurry up and wait. His flight from Cuenca to Quito arrived at 9:30 and his flight to Miami wasn’t until 2 AM so he had a bit of a wait. That flight and the next were a little delayed so a long journey home. We empathize as we have done a lot of the same (hurry up and wait, then get packed into a sardine can) over the last couple of years. But he is home now and had a good trip.
The rest of our time together was spent playing cards, playing on his PlayStation, watching the Mandalorian, and chatting. We enjoyed walks, bus rides, buildings, the people and Helados.
Had a wonderful adventure exploring the “Oriente” with friends from Loja before joining up with a small group of five others for a biking trip down three volcanos.
The trip started with taking what I call the “suicide vans” to Loja from Cuenca a trip of about 3½ hours. These vans are technically supposed to be tour operators and aren’t licensed to transport people to other locations because they compete with the buses. So the first thing they tell you when you get in the vehicle is that if they get stopped we are supposed to say we are part of a group and they designate one person to be the responsible party who paid $100 or so for the trip. In reality, it costs $12 per person. Then they drive like a bat out of hell around curvy and not well-maintained roads passing everyone they can on scary blind curves in mountains with 1000 foot drops. If we don’t die we save an hour or two to our destination.
I hooked up with friends, we left Loja and headed mostly east and some south to Zamora, a route with more than 65 waterfalls that are seen from the road. Once you get to Zamora the road (Highway E45) turns and heads mostly north, scenery along the way is pretty spectacular – waterfalls, heavy vegetation, rivers, mountains, and small towns. First stop was a small town called Gualaquiza, cute, small, but not much to see. Somewhat more north we stopped to visit a well-marked dirt road to find a waterfall called Casacada Coloradas. It was a tough and long road (12 kilometers) to get there. Turns out that the place has 4 small cabins, a restaurant, dressing rooms, a narrow metal bridge you can cross, and a series of waterfalls with small pools you can swim (get wet) in.
Well a couple of things to share. First is that we have both gotten our Covid booster shots. I got the AstraZeneca and Andy got the Pfizer (anyone with Pfizer or Moderna [me] could only receive AZ and if you had J&J you got Pfizer). My vaccine was given on Saturday morning and I had quite the reaction. Was feverish on Saturday evening and had a rough night’s rest. Managed to sleep all day Sunday and feel back to normal now. Andy just got his booster this morning (Monday) and we’ll see if he too has a reaction. Both boosters were no charge 😊. We’ll be checking into Flu Shots and our second Shingrex (we have go to the hospitals to see if they have it).
The second is that I have begun my clase de español and am enjoying them. My class is the beginning level and there are three other students (all expats) and the instructor, who is very amable! The class is held on the Universite de Cuenca campus. Masks are mandatory and the glass windows (really sliding glass doors) are maintained opened so that there is a lot of airflow. We’re learning basics to “get along” in daily life – work on pronunciation, verbs, formal and informal, is done each class.
Decided that I would do a little ditty on my thoughts on becoming an “American Living Abroad”, adjusting to a different way of life, communication, etc. – in case you were curious what the heck I’ve been thinking.
We have been “living/travelling” since August 2019 and have (if you have read our blog along the way) had some interesting and unusual times due to local and global happenings. Our original plan was to travel for about a year to find a potential place to settle for a longer stretch. During this time we narrowed the locale but needed more knowledge of the legal/monetary issues that would apply to us.
I was a little nervous about living abroad because learning another language (which is paramount to being able to function day to day) is NOT an easy task for me. My mouth has a hard time making some of the sounds (rolling “r’s” are NOT happening!) and being a bit of a perfectionist, this makes me feel a little uncomfortable speaking. I do try, make a point of greeting people, thanking them, and have been able to ask for prices (don’t always understand what they reply, but it’s a good start 😉).
⚠WARNING – This post will be all over the place; kind of like the way I talk 😁 so be prepared! I will put a dotted break between so you are prepared for the next jump.
I have been doing the “Duo-Lingo” program, in fact trying to learn/refresh four languages. One for my Halau (Hawaiian), one to refresh my HS language (French), one to be able to potentially communicate/read in Japan (hopeful future visit); and finally, the one that is most applicable to our current life, Spanish. It will take time but I am determined.
Well, we have moved into our new apartment in an area called La Isla – because it is a small area between two Rios (the Yanuncay and the Tarqui) which eventually merge into one. We are located below Turi Cathedral in a newer “highrise” called La Atlantida. Lots of space, new fixtures, tastefully appointed, we are it’s first official occupants.
We also decided, since it was allowed, to get a pet – cat. After finding him and getting him altered and checked out at the vet, we brought him home. The search for a name began. We couldn’t decide and spent about a week+ working on options. One thing we noticed is that he loves to eat and he has a fascination with digging in the cat box. It sounds like he is digging to the center of the earth! With those two traits we came up with a spin on an Artemis Fowl character…Munch Diggums – Munch for short. It suits him and we both like it.
We are settling into the area slowly but surely. Andy has found a group of people that meet three times a week to play pickleball at the Coliseum. He also frequents the gym in our building. There is a basketball court and volleyball/tennis court as well as an outdoor playground for children and a large barbeque area. Andy plans to attach the basketball net (he already purchased a BB) so he can practice.
I have managed to find (there are a lot so it wasn’t really a search 😉) yarn and needles and have already knitted a pair of socks (which fit me!). Unfortunately I forgot about the type of yarn I purchased and my sock is now more of a banana cozy – they shrunk in the wash (I did NOT put them in the dryer) and could not be stretched back. Pictures below:
Sock Into Banana Cozy
I have already purchased nonshrinkable yarn to try again! Also looking into a pottery class so keeping artistically active.
We’re back! Arrived in Quito on our 38th anniversary, we do seem to travel during “special occasions”! The ride into the city is about 25 minutes (airport to door front) and is very reasonable ($25!). The cab driver wanted to wait until we were let into the building (it was late and dark); which was very kind.
Our temporary stay is in a highrise building a couple of blocks from the local mercado. We planned to get some supplies and this is super convenient. Thankfully the same hornado vendor that we loved was there and we enjoyed our lunch along with the freshly squeezed guanabana juice (the BEST). We did try fresh papaya juice, and although it was good, it was not as amazing as the guanabana ☺.
There are Asian markets in the mercado as well as a couple nearby. Picked up items for us and got a request to pick up some supplies for our friends in Loja.
Managed to walk through the Parque Carolina a few times. It’s really a wonderful park, lots of activites for athletes, families, friends, etc. And also rewalked the areas we explored the last time we were here. We did not revisit the old town but will have other opportunites in the future.
We made our way home to Bellingham via Amsterdam and Chicago. Long but comfortable flight – plenty of room as the planes were not packed full. Due to scheduling changes before we left; we stayed the night in Amsterdam prior to our return home, and then stayged the night in the Chicago/O’Hare area before our early morning flight to WA. This way we were able to get some “rest” before landing in Bellingham where our personal Uber driver (daughter) picked us up.
Staying in an apartment in Fairhaven (friend of a friend) and trying to walk everywhere. We have the use of our daughter, Keri’s vehicle (we drop off & pick up for her work) so that is a much appreciated convenience! Thankfully she has been available to get together with us often.
We’ve managed to take care of some paperwork issues and have set up doctor check-ups and Covid vaccination. Andy is done – J&J shot; I have my last Moderna at the end of the month, so will visit with family after I am finally “baked”.
Have been pleasantly surprised to see that almost everyone is masking up and socially distancing (we’ve been told that Bellingham has been following guidleines). Also, during our walks if we see others they are friendly and say hello – something we experienced when we first moved to Bellingham 25+ years ago.
brauner abroad 