recent building pics

Various views around house.





These bricks of sugar are melted and then added when mixing the cement for the fire place. Old school. I thought this was pretty cool. The sugar makes the cement able to take the heat without breaking up or cracking.



The wiring is roughed in, the floor tile is on site and will start soon, water and drainage went in long ago. Almost time to get light fixtures and the rest of the water system stuff. We are still awed and amazed.

I cannot wait to start the landscape.........stay tuned

hot springs.........

Wow, just got back from a geothermal spring fed pool and it was great! A couple of hours and you are ready for anything. I highly recommend visiting one of the places near by and get your batteries recharged.

Stay tuned..........

infermo

As anyone here who owns a pet knows vets are really hit or miss. Our cat Florin (the red one) has been in the hospital for a couple days and we hope she can come home today. She was not eating and had a high fever. She recently had her teeth cleaned and there was a tooth they should have pulled, know after she recovers from her illness she will soon have to go in again for the extraction. We hope she will pull through ok but animals and anesthesia are not a good mix.

We will once again switch vets as the previous one seemed good but I am disappointed he did not pull a tooth that obviously should be out. This just highlights it is a crap shoot at them all.

the buddy system

Many days of April were spent like this huddled, in the cave.

stay tuned

El Chorro

short video near the falls.

El Chorro

Located maybe 30 minutes away just outside Giron are the falls at El Chorro.

Very nice to visit but be careful as the trail is very rustic and muddy in places. Near the falls it is very damp and slippery but there is a dry viewing area before the final bit to the falls.

If your in the area I recommend a visit.

street legal

I finally have my Ecuadorian drivers license. I was quite worried about the test at the "DMV" as reading spanish for me is not easy. I was sure I would fail.

Well paranoia aside I passed, of course the system crashed and it took 3 days to finally get the official license.

I have to say the test was really pretty easy. As long as you review the questions on the test prior you should be fine. (you can by a copy of the questions and answers outside the DMV for a buck or so)

Oh yea, bring a book when you go as you will be there for a while.

updated pics

skylight frame

Its like....

Cuenca, a small town of 500,00 is a really cool place. I say small town because Cuenca sits in a bowl surrounded by the mountains, and has that town feel. It is also a modern city and a big working farm.

Every place you go where there is a patch of grass you will see several chickens running around and of course the cow or cows, tethered or not, grazing among the happenings of the world around them. Goats, pigs, llamas, horses, donkeys, you see it all.

Part of living on a farm are the smells and the real life things that happen on the farm.

I am sure it is country wide but since we live in Cuenca you really see it, we live right in the middle of a very agricultural society. Food does not travel thousands of miles, in some cases it comes from across the river.

My point is you will see things you wish you had not, smell things you do not like, and maybe say things you shouldn't. Life on the farm is rough, real life. Animals are food, transport, cheap alarms or guards, there are few pets in the North American sense here. Yes there are some but not a ton.

For us we love it, yes I have certainly seen things I wish I had not but you know what, life is not always cup cakes and butterflies.

If you can adjust to country living and the sustaining lifestyle of rural life you'll be just fine.

So if someone was to ask "What's it like" My answer would be "It's like living near a farm".

If reincarnation is a real thing just prey you do not come back as a pig, chicken, cuy or cow here in the Cuenca area.

stay tuned..............