Cuenca architecture

We do a lot of walking here. We are about a 15-20 minute to "el Centro", which is the historic part of Cuenca. As we mentioned before, pedestrians have NO rights here and pedestrian crossings with lights are few and far between. We have to wait and wait and then make a mad dash across the street.

Cuenca is called the Athens of Ecuador because of its cobblestone streets, beautiful architecture and colonial homes with ironwork balconies. Here are a few of the buildings in Cuenca. You can really see the European influence.

There is also a lot of new construction, from high rises to town houses. You can buy a brand new townhouse for $50,000. An apt like ours with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths goes for around $80,000 but you can rent it for around $300 per month, but you have to buy your appliances and of course furnish it.

When this church was built in the 1880s, 9,000 of the 10,000 Cuenca residents could fit inside.

Lluvia - Rain!!

Well, we can't complain about the weather in Cuenca. Usually, the mornings are high teens and it reaches a high in the afternoon around 23 but feels hotter because the sun is very strong. But, the other day there was a huge storm, it rained buckets, caused flooding in the streets and it even hailed. I was caught out in it and couldn't get a cab or bus home from downtown, so I had to walk about 10 blocks in ankle deep water at times. I bought a $2 umbrella but it didn't do much good, as you can see.

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Bethel in Ecuador

After the grueling experience at the Registry office, we were on our way to Bethel. We took a taxi there. They drive crazy in this city, any lane goes, just use your horn. Surprisingly, there seem to be very few accidents.

The Guayaquil area is very hot and humid. We received a warm welcome from the receptionist, Toni, who has been serving in Ecuador for 35 years with her husband. It was a relief to get out of the sun and into air conditioning. They have a water treatment plant here so you can drink the water right out of the tap. We watched a video about the preaching work in Ecuador while we were waiting for our room to be ready.


Our living/dining room at Bethel. We had a bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette as well. Lisa is sitting in front of the air conditioner, ha ha.

After we settled in we went to the dining hall for supper. They had pizza on the menu and it was muy bien. We met a few more brothers and sisters but most take their food back to their rooms and relax after a long day's work. For those who still have energy, there is a game of football after supper.


Bethelites playing football after work.


Bethel grounds.



Some of the beautiful plants and gardens.


Tropical smile.


The next morning we got up early for breakfast which started at 6:40. Then we got a tour of Bethel to see the different departments. Our tour guide was from Italy and he spoke English very well.


Number of foreigners serving in Ecuador.


Progress of work in Ecuador. Total publishers 68,569. Memorial attendance 232,128!!!






Laundry.


Kitchen.


Pool at Bethel. Too bad we didn't bring our swimsuits.

There are 160 people living at Bethel and they had the dedication last fall. They are reducing the number down to 130 because the three year expansion project has finished and they are asking some Bethelites to become Special Pioneers in Quichuan. After our tour a brother took us to the bus station in Guayaquil. He and his wife have been serving at Bethel for 17 years and they will be leaving the end of February to take on their new assignment as Special Pioneers in Quichuan.

from Cuenca to Guayaquil

Cheri shot this from the bus on Wednesday morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKmfKoI4lpY

The Amazing Censo Race

Our trip to Guayaquil began Wed morning. We got a cab at 5:30 to the bus station. Bus departure at 6:30. Through the mountains to over 14,000 feet and down again to a hot, humid climate.

Andes mountains, Ecuador.

Arrived in Guayaquil at 10:40 and took a cab to the Registry office.

First visit: What a zoo! How to get through all those people and how long will it take?? ... thankfully we saw a sign that said "Extranjeros" (foreigners) pointing downstairs - what a relief! We went down and there was hardly any line-up!! We presented our passports and visitor visas to the registry guy. Is this okay, can we get it stamped? No, we need a letter written ... but we live in Cuenca we explain. He writes the letter for us on his computer. Relief!! Are we finished now? No.

Road block:

You need to get photocopies of visa and certain pages of your passport, plus buy a #5 envelope for each person. Where can we get this done? Go to the corner outside and down the block. Off we go. We found the photocopy place and got our copies but they did not sell envelopes. Go down another block and they sell envelopes. We found the place, bought envelopes and back to the Registry office.

Second visit: Here are the copies, envelope. Everything okay? No. There is a $10 fee per person and they gave us each a bill to pay at a specific bank which I can't remember the name of. You must go to this bank and make a deposit. And we also need to buy legal file folders for each of us. Off to the bank. Greg got in the line-up with all of our bills. The security guard came up to Greg and said you need a deposit slip and gave him one ... thanks! Greg fills it out, gets up to the teller and it is wrong. Bank tellers do not help you here, if you get it wrong you go to the back of the line and start over. We needed to do a deposit slip for each person, fill it out properly and put the passport # on each deposit slip. The security guard helped us and all three of us went in the line-up. Stamp, stamp, stamp x 3. We thanked the guard and off we went to buy the folders to the same place we bought the envelopes. Back to the registry office.

Third visit: The registry guy assembles all of our documents in the file folders we provide, clipping them to the envelopes and taking our passports. Come back in one hour.

Pit stop:

McDonalds. Big Mac never tasted so good (Greg), a taste of home. And air conditioning. Heat unbearable.

Fourth visit: We have to sign the registry book and collect our passports which have been stamped as well. Now, we are told we have to go to the Cuenca office and get our Censo cards. It's not over yet. Back to Cuenca Immigration office.

Pit stop:

Ecuador Bethel for one night. (Post about this later).

Thursday morning - back to Cuenca after four hours through the mountains. So, now to get the 2nd part of this process done, the Censo card. Friday morning, off we go to the Immigration office in Cuenca... again.

First visit: Thankfully, it is only about a 10 minute walk to the office. We go in and of course there is a line up. We just stand there, learning our lesson from last time and do not sit and wait. We tell one of the 3 employees there that we want a censo card.

Road block:

We are told we need a photo, photocopies and of course, the very important legal envelope to hold it all. Off we go to get photos. Of course we only need one photo but the least you can get is 8. That will be $3.50 per person. On to get photocopies. We decide to photocopy everything we have just to be on the safe side. And we bought the envelopes.

Second visit: We get back to the Immigration office with all documents in hand. There is a big line up. It is 10 o'clock. We are given a number, #17. We wait. They close at 1 p.m. for two hours for lunch. We wait some more. At 10 minutes to 1 our number comes up and they process our censo cards, that will be $4 each please (they do this amazingly quickly because they want to go for lunch). By the way, only 1 of the 3 employees there is able to do the actual processing of cards. The other two just answer questions, stand guard with a gun and staple forms. We met a guy in the line up who spoke English because he lived in New York for 10 years. He helped us with all the confusion going on and Greg placed a Family book with him because he was getting a censo card for his future wife who was from Venezuela.

We finally got out of there about 1:10 with the coveted Censo Card. Now we can stay the extra 30 days!!! Was it worth it?? Vale la pena? Well it took 3 full days plus a pound of flesh/stress off each of us so the answer would be NO. We would have come for 90 days if we had known. But they tell you nothing at the Ecuadorian embassy in Canada. Live and learn. Well at least it is behind us. And we were told that if you don't have the card when you leave you pay a $200 fine each.

The prize - Censo Card.

Red tape

Well, tomorrow we are off to Guayaquil (4.5 to 5 hour bus ride) to get our visitor visas registered. We found out last week when we went to the immigration office here in Cuenca that we can't get it done here (this was after waiting more than hour in the waiting room). We phoned the branch office and they confirmed that yes, we do have to go to either Guayaquil or Quito. What a pain! We are not looking forward to it. We have to have our visas registered within 30 days of entering the country or there is a $200 fine each. After all the red tape we went through in Canada getting our visas and now this! If we had known we would have stayed for only 90 days and saved all the hassle. Oh well, the good news is that we can stay at Bethel for 2 nights.

We don't know what to expect at the immigration office but are hoping for the best. Apparently it is a two step process so we might have to go back a second day. This is a complicated world we live in and travelling can be stressful, especially with the language barrier. All government offices have been closed for two business days because of the Carnival so we are hoping there won't be too much of a line-up. Will let you know how it goes....update on Friday, hopefully.

Carnaval in Gualaceo

Today we went to Gualaceo, a town about 45 minutes from Cuenca. We took a taxi to the bus station. It cost 10 cents to get through the gate and then 60 cents for the bus ride, strange way of doing things but then again that is Ecuador.

First we walked around the town. We went to the market and then found out where the real action was - down by the river. Hundreds of people having a fun time. We tried to stay clear of water, spray cans of soapy liquid and boxes of dust that looked like icing sugar. We did okay until the end when we got sprayed with suds. There were cooking tents everywhere with every kind of meat and veg. The national dish here is cuy which is guinea pig roasted on a stick. There were people selling it and families doing their own barbecues all along the park. They even had a ferris wheel and other rides for the kids. It was a day to remember!

Then we headed back to Cuenca and had a late lunch at 3 p.m. The city is practically a ghost town but the people who stayed behind very much in the party mood and we kept a lookout for water balloons being hurled from roofs and balconies. I got hit in the hand and Greg got one in the leg. Lisa was carrying her umbrella so that saved her a couple of times. All in all it was a fun day.



Market in Gualaceo


Huge gathering down by the river. Hundreds of people showed up for el Carnival.


We tried to stay dry but as you can see, it wasn't easy.


Playing with her grandchild.


Dios es amor - "God is love" -- this sign was on our bus.

Carnaval in Cuenca

It is carnaval time in Cuenca and a totally different atmosphere. A lot of the people have left the city to go to their hometowns. The traffic is practically nonexistent compared to the way it usually is. Pedestrians definitely do not have the right of way here (or any rights). Drivers actually speed up if they see pedestrians coming. It took awhile but now we are used to it, sometimes we have to wait several minutes to cross the road. One thing that is hard to get used to is the pollution from the vehicles, especially the buses - black smoke pours out - no emission controls here.

There are no service groups for four days due to the Carnaval. It is understandable because anyone walking down the road is a target for water balloons, water guns or soap suds. Kids are in back of pick up trucks with their ammunition. We managed to only get a few splashes on us today.

Today we hopped on a city bus, the first one we saw, to see where it would take us. We went to a part of town quite a bit higher than we are. After about 20 minutes it was the end of the line end of the line and we had to get off. We crossed the road and waited for the next bus going back towards downtown. The bus system is very good here. You never have to wait long and it is only 25 cents. Now we just have to figure out which bus goes where but there are no bus schedules/routes that we could find.

For lunch we went to a restaurant called Cafe Austria, which caters to tourists. The daily special was bruchetta, filet minion with potatoes and veg, glass of red wine and fruit and chocolate fondue for dessert - $7.50. It was really good. We wonder sometimes if it is worth going to the trouble of cooking here. But of course, we do cook and every morning Lisa makes us a smoothie will all local fruit - pineapple, mango, strawberry, papaya, blackberries. You can buy all different kinds of frozen fruit concentrate which we put it as well. Delicious and nutritious!! And of course, inexpensive. Another favorite we make for lunch is guacamole. You can get 4-6 avocados for $1. Same thing for fresh tomatoes.

Well, we wish we could post a few pictures but the we still do not have good internet service. The Banos post took probably 2 hours to post 3 pictures. Maybe later.... manana as they say. Very frustrating though!!!

The Baños territory

On Friday we went out with the Baño's congregation which is where the Haines' family (our friends from Nova Scotia) live. A sister bought this buseta to help the brothers get around in service. She has only been in the truth for only 3 years and has 22 bible studies!



With the Baño's brothers and sisters.

.
Their territory.


Front seat view.

This little piggy went to market, should have stayed home

"They told me it was a teeth whitening and tanning salon"

Quichua - the people and their language

The indigenous people of Ecuador are called Quichua. As with many other indigenous people around the world, they have been mistreated. You see many Quichuan people here in Cuenca. The women wear full skirts and often wear their hair in long braids.

We went out with the Quichuan group on Sunday. They tell us the Quichuan language is easier to learn than Spanish, but we have our doubts, especially looking at the length of the words! We met a brother from Germany who has been in the Quichuan group for 4 years. His wife is from France. They speak 5 languages and he works as a translator.

Lisa's blog: I worked with Ericka, a pioneer from Chicago. She has been here for 2 1/2 years and speaks Spanish and Quichuan (and English of course). She supports herself teaching English for a couple hours a day. Her life is very simple, basic apt., furniture, no frills whatsoever, plus she has a roommate so her expenses are low. Her parents were worried about her coming here. They aren't Witnesses, but after visiting and seeing the brotherhood they don't worry as long as she is with them. Many of the Quichuan people live around the marketplace where they sell their wares. We did some RVs and I was able to see another world. We went to one family's apartment which was basically one room about 8 x 10 for a family of 3. The bed took up most of the floor. The wife was beginning to prepare lunch on a small side table. They had no running water, just a few buckets of dirty water. A small ledge on the wall held a few carrots and some eggs. Seeing this really makes you want to share the truth with people to give them a hope of something better.

We also went on a study with a little girl about 7 years old. Her whole family had been studying but one by one they discontinued. It was here that I had to read in yet another language - Quichuan!! Very strange and difficult. It seems that every other word has about 8 syllables. Ericka said I did okay. Apparently, there is a great need for kingdom proclaimers as the ratio is 1:20,000. Anyone interested? I can give you the contact name. Bye for now - Lisa.


Quichua language.



Patricia studying the Bible with young Quichuan woman.



Sunday at the market.

A land of contrasts ...

New sombreros.


Lisa draws a crowd with her "finger knitting" skills.




Laundry day.


Girls selling potatoes at the market.


Lisa and Greg - "bomba" agua (water bombed)


Selection of creams and lotions in the grocery store. Just don't get caught taking a picture! You can buy just about everything here - from high end cappuccino machines to front load washers.


What is this man doing? Hint, we got the full "cheek" view.

Settling into our new home

We have accomplished quite a bit in the last couple of days:

- Bank: we just use our debit card to withdraw cash, no problem.

- Groceries: 10 minute walk from our apt and a modern grocery store. However, you cannot take pictures of items in the store as I found out. A security guy with a gun in his holster came over and told me not to, ha ha.

- Kingdom hall: About 15 min walk. Went to meeting last night, Laguna congregation. There are 97 pubs. Greg met two brothers with the first name Segundo (which means second).

- Internet: Still a problem. We only have a dial up stick so it is very slow. They keep telling us it is going to be installed "mañana" (tomorrow) but that could mean ... well, who knows how long? There is a real problem uploading pictures so we won't be able to post any for awhile unless we get the new service.

- Cell phone: Got one but it is very complicated to use because there are 3 different providers down here and they don't make it easy to call the competition (costs more). One brother came up with his own solution - he carries 3 cell phones.

-Our apt has a washer and dryer. Bonus!


Today we went in service. Lisa worked with a Beverly who is from Australia. She and her husband have been missionaries in Ecuador for 27 years. Greg and I worked with a couple (Patricia and Fernando) and their two daughters who are joining the Quichua (indigenous) group. There is a total of 18 pubs in the whole of Cuenca and there is a big need. They invited us to go in service with them on Sunday in Quichua so that will be a real experience!!

After service we took a bus with the same family downtown and went for lunch - $20 for 7 people, not bad eh?. Patricia bought some yarn at a store to make scarves for Lisa and me. She made Lisa's scarves by using just her fingers and then she showed Lisa how to do it and Lisa made one for me. It was so funny because all these Ecuadorian people were standing and watching as Lisa was making this scarf while Patrica was unravelling the ball of yarn. They took us to the market and we all bought sombreros. The sun is very strong here and we Gringos need protection.

A strange thing happened today. We were walking down the road and all of a sudden Greg was "bombed" from a passing car with a balloon full of water. Lisa got wet too. Apparently it is close to "carnival" time and this is what they do here during carnival - pelt people with water balloons, so they must be practicing for that. We think carnival is next week so we will have to mantenganse alerta (keep awake) for this, ha ha.

Guess that is all for now. I will try to post a few pics later.

Cuenca!

This is our 3rd day in Cuenca, so a bit of catching up to do.

We left Tuesday morning via taxi to Guayaquil. Our taxi driver was from Gana and spoke English. We met up with Dave and Linda Haines and Cheree Butt at the Mena's house and all went together in his van to Cuenca.


On our way to Cuenca.




Las montanas.


We had a late lunch at Bryan and Dena's. They have a fabulous view from every window!

Then took a taxi to our apt. It is very nice, no roughing it here! Three bedrooms, 3 baths, beautiful view.


Our kitchen. Que bueno!

Last day in Playas

Today is our last day in Playas. It was a good day, went in service in the morning. We went for a drive about 8 km outside of Playas with Nelson, the brother who lived next door to where we are staying.

In the afternoon Deanney and her daughter Andrea had us over for almuerzo. Deanney makes her living by making cookies on Friday afternoon and selling them in the market on Saturday and Sunday. She makes about $70 a week. She and her Andrea, age 16, are both pioneers. Andrea has one more year of school left and school is in the afternoon but it is summer vacation now and they get 3 months off. We had a great time, laughs trying to communicate but with our limited spanish and sign language we did okay.

In the afternoon we went for a swim ... the water is like bath water ... another day. Tomorrow the mountains!

Scenery outside of Playas.

Lunch with Deanney and Andrea

Scene from Alfred Hitchcock movie?



Sunset in Playas.