Iluman

Iluman is a village that lies at the base of Imbabura along the Pan Am highway between Otavalo and Quiroga.  We have some new friends there, Alfonso and Maria Rosa, an absolutely delightful couple.  Don't let the Ralph Lauren t shirt fool you.  Alfonso still knows how to weave an alpaca blanket the old fashioned way.

He's not afraid to demonstrate his ancient trade with a blonde haired gringo boy either!

 Rachel will be taking some hand-made merchandise back to the US with her and some of it will be from Alfonso and Rosa.  Alfonso and Rosa weave and market alpaca blend blankets, ponchos and scarves.  All you need to do is spend one night under one of their blankets and you will be sold!  Rachel and I keep them on our love seat for those chilly Andean nights watching movies.  We get so cozy we often miss the closing credits.  I hope the customs agents don't get too picky about her suitcase full of alpaca blankets.

Alfonso met a few of us in Cotacachi with his pickup and played taxi driver to take us up the mountain to Iluman.  It was well worth it for us as buyers and Alfonso had a banner day.  It makes you feel good when you see this young couple succeed at making and selling a quality product at a value price.  Whatever they do, they must have the formula.  They are building a new house! 

While hundreds of artisans compete with each other at the huge market in Otavalo, Alfonso and Rosa open up their house to a focus group of buyers on appointment.  Oh yes, they sell at the market too, but clearly they have discovered a marketing venue that can't be beat.   They treat you like royalty in their home and even try a little English while you fumble around with Spanish.  Then when you are done shopping, they take you to your front door with your bag full of goods.  At the end of the day everyone was delighted.

Bus Drivers in the Imbabura

Meet hermanos (brothers) Fausto and Jorge.  They are a bus driver team that have been pretty special to us as we travel back and forth between Otavalo and Cotacachi.  When Fausto is driving, Jorge is collecting the fares from the passengers.  Likewise the roles are reversed when Jorge is the conductor (driver).  They are warm, friendly, and forgiving of our malo (bad) Spanish.  They are cordial and courteous to passengers and drive with great care.   After writing some less than complimentary reviews of the bus drivers in Cuenca I really felt a need to express our great relief and happiness that the drivers here in the Imbabura are almost the opposite of their city counterparts in Cuenca.  There are typically two passenger seats up front by the driver and Rachel and I are quick to grab them when possible.  You get to see everything along the route and learn a little Spanish from Fausto and Jorge. 

Our First Anniversary

We met when we were 12.  Forty seven years later we got married.  A lot happened in between for both of us but our life is together now, perhaps the way it was supposed to be.  This past year in matrimony with my lovely Rachel has given me more personal growth than the previous 59.  I think growth happens when you love someone that much.  There are challenges to be sure, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger right?

A year ago today we were roaring about in Rachel's Miata through Mark Twain National Forest on our honeymoon.  We had been married earlier that day in a civil ceremony in Tennessee by a minister who was 'on duty' at the courthouse.  After our simple ceremony we lunched at a Kentucky Fried Chicken and laughed to tears by our approach to our new life together.  It was good preparation for Ecuador.



We were going to go to Lago Cuicocha today for a romantic four hour walk around the serene and mystical lake.  As fate would have it the sun just didn't want to come out today so we spent a little more time being cozy this morning.  Then it occurred to us that we should best celebrate our first year together the way we started it, at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  So we hopped on the bus to Ibarra.

I love you Rachel.

Tumbabiro

Sometimes a unique and wonderful lifestyle is waiting for you in a place no one has even talked about.  Phil and Sandy have taken that path less travelled.  It takes some real courage and faith to create your own heaven on earth where few gringos have even trod.  Tumbabiro is such a place.

Rachel and I were honored to be among the invitees to Phil and Sandy's fiesta.  We're pretty sure the auspices for the fiesta were some birthdays among the guests, somewhere in the past six months or perhaps the next 6 months range.  You see fiestas in Ecuador don't have to be real specific in intent.  They are just fiestas.  Actually Fernando's daughter was turning 13 and was festively attired for the occassion.  Fernando is Phil and Sandy's personal botanist extraordinaire.  Some people might be too quick to call Fernando the gardener until they see his work, or should I say his art.

Fernando has personally travelled all over Ecuador in search of unique and sometimes endangered plant life.  Sometimes that rare species is on a mountain top and sometimes it's along a snake infested stream in the jungle.  But no matter where it might come from it will be happy and healthy under Fernando's tender care and Tumbabiro's idyllic climate.

I'm pretty sure Adam and Eve didn't have this kind of comfort in Eden, but Phil and Sandy manage pretty well in their German engineered home.  With internet access and Direct TV on the big screen, the quiet solitude of the tropical paradise can be broken when you've had your fill of nature's splendor.  The man who lived here before had to return to his native Germany but left a legacy for Phil and Sandy to enjoy the rest of their life.   Thanks for inviting us to your Ecuadorian Eden!

Ecuador Residency

There would be a danger in taking our blog as the final word on achieving Ecuadorian residency.  With that said, I will attempt to tell our story.

A residency visa allows you to live in Ecuador permanently based on your type of application.  If you just come for a visit you get 90 days in one year.   Most norteamericanos seek either an investment visa or a retirement visa.  Because the requirements seem to change monthly it is important to discuss in detail with your Ecuadorian attorney about which process is better for you.  Since Rachel and I are not yet eligible for Social Security our only option was an investment visa.  You currently can attain this qualification with the purchase of either a financial instrument or a real property in Ecuador.  Our investment in the condo qualified us.  When we get the deed to our new property in Cotacachi, we will have to go through another process to exchange our qualifying investment, but hopefully it will less stressful and time consuming than the first go around.  The process for retirees is much easier from what we've heard and observed, but there are little traps waiting for you if you are not fully prepared.  Unfortunately the abogados (attorneys) tend to get blamed for the slow process and errors.  In most cases, the attorneys are not to be blamed.  The government agencies that do the processing are less than efficient.   Patience is always a virtue,  Hopefully you are much more virtuous than this type A blogger.  We began our process over ten months ago!

You might wonder why this could be such an enormous undertaking.  We only hear rumors, but it is pretty well documented that the minister that heads up this operation has been replaced 3 times since our application.  Each time the minister has been replaced, his entire staff has been fired as well.  I'm not sure how deep this corruption goes, but apparently pretty deep.  In the USA our corruption is usually in the millions and includes lavish vacations, private jets, jewelry, and enormous cash trails. It is usually perpetrated by people in powerful positions.   In Ecuador the corruption is a few dollars here and there and spread widely, but it's corruption none the less.   Anyway, imagine starting completely over with an entire administrative staff.....3 times in a year!  Actually, it is amazing we are getting our residency at all.

We were notified in early August that our passports had been 'stamped' in Quito with the investment residency visa.  Of course it took them two weeks to notify us.  The window of opportunity for completing the process was already closing.  You have 60 days to complete your censo and cedula processes once your visa is stamped.  We had already been waiting 9 months so we decided to wait till our move to Otavalo at the end of August to claim our residency.  Quito is only a two hour bus ride from Otavalo.

We arrived in Quito Monday so that we could get in line early Tuesday at the Officinas del Registro Civil.  Our Cuenca attorney arranged for his Quito participating attorney to meet us there at 8:30 when they were opening up.  At first things seemed to be going extremely well.  Our abogado, Cynthia, got right to the front of the line as we observed while seated thirty feet behind her.  After a short discussion I saw his finger motion the death wave which literally means in Espanol 'you're screwed'.  Cynthia's face was at first stunned, then sunk.  They didn't have the paperwork!!!

Cynthia is fresh out of law school.  They get assigned these nasty tasks when they join the law firms here.  Credit her tenacity however.  She double and triple questioned the bureaucrat.  Ten months of waiting, a special trip to Quito and in an instant....'We don't have your paperwork'. 

As she broke the news to us we were likewise crestfallen.  There is a standard phrase from Latinos to impatient gringos when the impatient gringo has lost his luggage or some other monumental setback.  "Don't worry" is the phrase.  Literally translated it means  'I don't have a clue how we will resolve this issue'.   Credit Cynthia.  She didn't say "Don't worry".  I give her much credit.  She told us she would have to go to the extranajero (or something like that) and have a trace put on the document that was critical for us to go forward.  She wasn't specific about a timetable on this matter.  Her unspoken words meant hours, days, weeks, or..... She said we could wait there and gather moss or go down to McDonalds for WiFi and lattes and wait there.  Guess which one we chose.  I finished two blogs while we were there.

We left the Registro Civil about 10:00 and immediately started to imbibe volumes of caffeine at Macs to maintain a certain level of attention and agitation.  Honestly we really enjoyed ourselves.  We sat in cushy leather couches with our lattes.  We caught up with emails, the current state of world chaos, and really enjoyed the passersby in this obviously westernized and affluent area of Quito.  The Big Macs tasted just like in the states too.

About 2:30 we got a call from Alexis, Cynthia's boss.  Cynthia had located the document!  It turns out that it was just where it was supposed to be but the bureaucrats are notorious for never finding things the first time around unless you leap over the counter and pull it out for them.  It's frustrating to have what you want in the hands of such incompetence.  I digress.  Remember, I'm type A.

So again we head over to the Registry Civil.  By now the place is crowded and noisy like the Chicago Board of Trade and even the usually patient Ecuadorians are showing some signs hypertension.  This time we have to battle and jockey for a place to sit and wait.  We get a waiting turno card which gives us the magic permission to go before the bureaucrat once again.  The flat screen above shows the evolving turnos.  I look for Cynthia and she's no where to be seen!  She has the document and without it we go nowhere.  After calling several times I finally reach her.  She's upstairs having the document stamped.  She's in line too.  Now I'm thinking our turn will come up and she's not here.  Another two hour wait for nothing!

My angst (as usual) was for naught.  Cynthia shows up before our turno with a stamped document.  Another short sigh of relief.  Cynthia somehow has some pull and gets to the front of the line without a turno card.  Go Cynthia!  She motions Rachel forward and with her stamped passport and censo in hand Rachel dutifully advanced with the reverence of communion.  I followed with slighly less reverence.  Another process complete.  On to stage 27.  The next level of bureaucracy was to be even more formidable.

I'm not sure what you call this phase of the cedula but it is where they reverify your documentation and get your information logged into the registry.  They pour over your passport, censo, and your application for cedula.  Our attorney had tried to 'anticipate' an issue we were surely going to encounter.  He knew that my birthplace, an obscure town in South Dakota (Canton) would not be on the system in Quito.  He suggested that we enter a nearby well known city, so I chose Sioux Falls as my birthplace.  Big mistake.  After much questioning I finally caved and said this was just on the application because my attorney knew that Canton wasn't on their system which was true.  They went back on the system to see if Canton was there.  Indeed it was! (I'm pretty sure my birthplace is now Canton Ohio).  Rachel wasn't so lucky.  Her birthplace, Lawton, Oklahoma was also not on the sytem so it was going to be another day while they loaded another city onto their system.  We left the registro with our tails between our legs and our dappers down.

We were exhausted from a day of waiting in line and questions about our names, birthplaces, lost applications, and one too many Big Macs.  We had no place to stay overnight.  We were hungry and crabby and disappointed that our process was still in limbo.  We were still unsure whether another day of bureaucracy and waiting would bring results.  We found a hostel and it was ok.

The next day we arrived early again with fresh hope.  This day they just didn't like Rachel's name.  Her legal name is Rachel Treeman Roland.  Treeman was her maiden name you see.  What they just couldn't understand is that her middle name was the same as her parent's name.  Apparently they don't like parent's last name in the middle.  They were talking to us about Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis.  We weren't sure of the relevancy. They could understand if Rachel was a widow and kept her deceased husband's last name, but this thing about having a maiden name in there...well, it's just unacceptable.  After some rather lengthy discussion they capitulated and accepted her legal name. 

Next week we go back to Quito to pick up our actual cedulas.  Wish us luck.

Moving Day

Rachel and I have been anticipating our move to the Imbabura for some time.  Like every other special 'event' in Ecuador living, it is an adventure.  You see there is no Mayflower,  North American Van Lines, or other such corporate 'cookie cutter' household mover here.  It's all about doing the best you can with what you've got.  We hired Transportantes Espinoza who specializes in moves between Guayaquil, Cuenca, and Quito.  I don't think they have much competition.  It's not like the yellow pages are full of movers.  When people move here it's usually across town. They call their uncle Pedro who has a pickup and start loading.  That kind of a move from Cuenca to Otavalo just isn't practical!

Our friend Noshy got us in touch with Juan who owns and manages Transportantes Espinoza.  He's a friendly, warm man who exudes confidence in what he's doing.  We reserved our judgement on whether to recommend them until our move was complete.  To be honest, there were some huge misunderstandings.  For example, we were assured that we would have a 20' truck.  When the 15' truck showed up my heart sank.  I knew it would not be big enough!  It wasn't.

We did however have a contract.  The contract said they would pack our things and move us from Edificio Palermo in Cuenca to Calle Pedro Perez in Otavalo for $1583.  They did.  Nothing was broken.  There were plenty of things that could have broken.  They packed things like the professionals they are.  I've never seen furniture packed so meticulously.  First they wrapped each individual piece in a styrofoam material and then again with heavy cardboard and then tightly shrink wrapped.  Our only concerns were that boxes and items that were clearly marked with up arrows would remain in that position.  Apparently that was just a suggestion.  In the end that 15' truck did not have breathing space for an Ecuadorian mouse when they were done loading.  The really bad news was that the refrigerator, the bicycles, and a few odd ball boxes didn't get on board! 

With the refrigerator and bicycles on the sidewalk and the truck packed to the gills like a Thanksgiving diner's stomach, I was concerned that the overflow would be strapped to the top of the truck.  I had visions of the Beverly Hillbillies racing through my mind.  Much to my relief another van showed up and whisked away our precious LG side by side and our Mongoose bicicletas.  A deal was a deal.  We paid no extra for the second truck.  That was Juan's mistake, not ours.

Rachel and I claim thrift as a virtue and necessity in an early retirement without social security.  We could have taken the one hour flight from Cuenca to Quito and might have been waiting for our household in Otavalo many hours before the arrival.  That's not the way we do things.  Instead we rode in the truck with Fernando.  It was wonderful.  We've ridden on the bus from Cuenca to Quito before (see earlier post) and it can be tiring and a real stress on a 60 year old male bladder.  (Rachel claims a nurses's bladder that can go 24 hours without relief).   Tires blow and the bus is typically crushed to overcapacity in certain stretches of the trip.  This was different.  We knew there would be no additional passengers.  We could actually stop for nature's banos.  We could look out the expansive windshield and see stretches of the Pan Am Highway in a way that we'd never seen it before.  It was beautiful!

Our 12 hour odyssey through the Andes in the moving van was wonderful but we were pretty spent by the time we arrived in Otavalo.   When I say spent,  I mean we were a bit frayed.  We just left beautiful Cuenca and the safe and convenient confines of Palermo some five hundred mountainous kilometers behind and we had no idea about our new digs.  We had never seen it before.  We only knew we would be in a house in a compound with two other houses in Otavalo.  We figured we could live most anywhere for 8 months while our house was completed.  Let's just say we were a bit disappointed.

There are certain adjustments that have to be made when you are in a purgatory move.  A purgatory  move is when you have all your stuff with you while you're waiting for what you think will be heaven.  We're hoping that our heaven will be in Yanapamba.  Purgatory may strengthen our character and help us appreciate what we've had in Cuenca and what we hope to have in our next move to Cotacachi.   We're used to being able to use our own washer and dryer.  We are used to having robust internet in our house.  We are used to hot showers as long as we want.  Privacy was never an issue in Palermo. Having a Super Maxi minutes away from home was wonderful.  Anything you wanted was a hop, skip and a bicicleta ride away.  Welcome to the other Ecuador.  Thank you God for this growth opportunity.



  

Friends

Just a word about friends.  True friends are a treasure, God's gift.  Rachel and I each had friends before we got married but the friends we've shared here in Ecuador transcend our prior experiences because of need.  I truly believe it is about sharing a unique life experience that you couldn't describe to anyone who hasn't lived here.  There are just certain knowings that become part of your everyday venacular that could not be understood unless you have struggled to communicate in another language (let alone another culture)  walked the streets, eaten at the local cafes, shopped for corvina at Feria Libre, looked for a three prong electrical adapter at a ferreteria, or jumped on the wrong bus.  It's not like we've been to war together, but we became a brother/sisterhood.  Together, we've learned to deal with things and adapt.  We remind each other why we came here when the homesick bug hits or when we've had one too many mananas.  For those we left behind in Cuenca, just know we cherished the time we had with you and look forward to your visit to the Imbabura.  Mi casa su casa.

For our special Ecuadorian friends that helped out when you didn't need to, we thank you.  You are surely angels sent from God.  Thank you Xavier, Galo, Francisco,  Jose,  Juan, Noshy, Eduardo, Paul, Wilson, Nellie and all the rest of you that reached out with humanity to us gringos.  We love you.