Category: cuenca, ecuador
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Motown comes to town
Our first visitor was our dear friend Mo. Mo and I met through a mutual friend Joy originally in 2008, and then solidified our friendship through the Basic and Intermediate Climbing classes with the Tacoma Mountaineers. We’ve had so many adventures together in the mountains, rock climbs, glacier climbs, alpine climbs. And after having kids,…
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Años viejos
In Ecuador New Years is more important than Christmas. Here the Ecuadorians celebrate New Years by burning effigies in the streets at midnight, to symbolize that the past is the past, the old year is gone, and to welcome the new year. The effigies are clothes stuffed with newspaper, or more expensive paper maché characters…
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Jade turns 3
With Jacob & Favio, our kids’ closest friends here So, it was difficult to plan Jade’s birthday because I had to wait until the Thursday before the weekend to find out when Tomu’s soccer game would be. We have no soccer schedule for the year, we always find out 1-3 days before a game when…
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Parties Cuenca style
In December Tomu’s soccer team had a party for the end of the year. It was hosted by one of the parents on the team, a bit outside of town. We were supposed to meet at 2:30 pm at a church, “don’t be late”, admonished the text message. Our family of 5 arrived via taxi…
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Cajas National Park
When we first arrived in Cuenca we passed through the Cajas National Park. Stunning vistas of high alpine lakes, misty peaks, stark vegetation, with the road crossing the pass at 13,550 feet. Since then, we have wanted to get back there to hike, but we now have established routines with the kids’ activities that keep…
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Cuenca Transportation
Walk, bike, bus, run, taxi…ok, maybe not run. One constant is that there is no driving, parking, insurance, maintenance nor fueling of a vehicle on our part and it is refreshing. Our first 3 weeks here were at a temporary AirBnB on the west end of town and we mostly took the bus and some…
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The visa saga, part I
The process of procuring our visas has been a roller coaster of emotions: feeling hope that we might actually get our visas, and then valleys of disappointment when it seems the obstacles are too great to overcome… We moved to Ecuador on a 90 day tourist visa (which expires December 9th), because the LA Ecuadorian…
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Maladies
Within the first 6 weeks or so of moving here we had some medical issues. Nothing serious. I had diarrhea about every other day for 3 weeks, and found myself biking across town to drop off a stool sample. Which came back fine, no parasites, and the diarrhea cleared up. I guess just adjusting to…
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Luz Goose
Luz turned 6 months old a week ago. Her 6 month shots involved me going to the public health center, and waiting in a the waiting room for 2 hours. You got the shots on a first-come, first-served basis, but there were no numbers to be taken; when you arrive you ask who the last…
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Cuenca’s Independence Day
Tomu, Jade, and their classmates donned traditional Cuencan indigenous dress last Saturday for the party (fundraiser) at their school in honor of Cuenca’s Independence Day. We all had a lot of fun.
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