One man welcome committee in Quito; meet Brian!

Our first new friend in Ecuador was one of the Brian's (we now know 2). Brian (of Brian and Holly) had been in touch with Bob and Rox and knew we were coming... but we didn't know he knew and certainly didn't know he was staying in the very same hotel... Brian works out of Quito (with family in Cuenca).

We were exhausted from the long slog of getting here, and not in the best of moods when we finally got to the hotel...

Picture this: Brian, in his very nice and gentle way, is asking us if we are 'The Hedges' (as we're struggling with the bags off the shuttle, about midnight Quito-time, and we're just a teeney bit crabby)... and Nancy flips over to the dark side and probably said something like: So who's asking??? (Yikes!)

Well, we finally got it all straight, apologizing profusely! and ended up having a great visit. Such a nice guy!

Here's a pic of Brian...

100 days in Ecuador!

We have a counter on the computer that tells us we've been in this wonderful country now for 100 days!





That's 98 days in Cuenca, since we started in Quito for a couple days to get our barings. But, still, that IS a chunk of time, isn't it?!





So happy we decided to arrive with a 6 mo visa... we're having a ball!





Thanks to all our friends and family for checking on us off-blog and sorry we haven't been updating the blog very regularly...First, it was internet probs... then we just got busy 'doing' instead of 'reporting'!





We have pics to share and lots to 'report'... let's see if I can get some pics to load at this time of day... if not, one of us will have to get up in the middle of the night for access!





Here's an arial shot of Cuenca we took from the plane... 98 days ago...






And, for new readers, you can always check out Bob and Rox's blog for more up to date news... They are Rich's bro and wife, living on the coast here in-country and come to Cuenca often...

http://bobnrox.squarespace.com/journal

The index will get you to the stories of our visits (check out our arrival in Cuenca and all the luggage!). Lots of other good posts and pics, too.

More pics from here later... too slow.

==N

Scenes of downtown Cuenca

Views from new porch

Condo pics

Outside porch is glassed in. Windows slide open.

Came with TWO ficus trees and lots of potted plants, huge umbrella and a BBQ...AND, hummingbirds who enjoy the window boxes!

Master bedroom... came with king-size water bed, linens and more spectacular views.

(Jim H: waterbed is same style as yours in Oregon!)

Living room with sellers' furniture; now empty,

but will give an idea of colors and space.

(Light fixture also went with sellers.)

Guest bedroom, queen bed...

We moved!

Well, we've been in the new apt/condo a little over a week now and we're loving it!


Bob and Rox helped us move over, right before they headed back to the coast last weekend.


We're still pretty close to their place (where we were staying)... I'd say about a 5-10 min taxi ride or so. We, or course, didn't have too much too move, just luggage we arrived with, but it still took 2 trips since we moved clothes on hangers and not shrink-wrapped inside the bags.


Thanks again, B and R, for the help!


We've spent the last week perusing furniture shops (for the now-empty living room), Lots of choices out there and some really good deals, too. Everything from traditional to ultra-modern.
There's a good shop near the 'other' Super Maxi and a couple good ones downtown, too. We'd like to visit a couple more,, then make a decision!


Right now the living room is a pale gray/pale blue color, with white ceiling... walls go nicely with the gray marble floor and the light sage drapes. Depending on the furniture, we may or may not change the wall color. We will have to paint at some point, in any case. (You know how grubby a place can look after sellers' movers have come and gone).

The Sellers left us lots of household goodies, but we headed out one of the days to do other shopping to help fill in the holes... clothes hamper, laundry basket, a few dishes, food, hand towels...

We've also met the guards in the building and some of the neighbors. Nice folks. And, the new construction nearby has provided endless entertainment from the porch!

Pictures next... if our connectivity decides to work (still awaiting a tech to come out to stabilize)

==N

Moving this weekend!

Our Sellers are in the process of moving back to the USA this week.......so, what that means is...

we'll be able to move in by the weekend!!

We don't have a lot to move, except for the luggage we came with. We did buy some of the Sellers' furniture and kitchen stuff (and they also gave us some goodies), so we'll have the basics to start.

We're excited!

We'll be on the top floor of a 10 story building. Funny...... the building is called 'Los Pinos', but we don't remember seeing any 'pines' in the area! The river shot is about 1/2 block away...

Well, loading pics is taking forever, so I'll add more later.

==N