Travel With Peggy: Waking up to beauty

You just can not have a bad day when you wake up to views like this....

Taken this morning at 9am

We had a list of things that needed to be done today. The first item was a visit to the Immigration Office. We had to present our papers to them to see if everything is in order.

The weather was dry and a few clouds in the blue sky. We walked the three blocks to the Immigration Office.

This is the 'sidewalk' from our condo to Immigration Office and Super Maxi

A guard gave us a number and told us to sit. It was about 15 minutes and she called our number. We had a charming lady who spoke very good English. This helped us know exactly what we needed to do. The document that we had so much trouble with in Miami and then Ed ended up flying to Washington D.C. and to the Ecuadorian Consul there. We were told today that it was in 'perfect order'.... thank you Marco (the very kind gentleman that helped Ed in DC). We do have 3 documents that must be translated and then notarized, but we expected that and was ready. Everything else looks good to go....! We were told it will be about an eight week process, and we should not leave the country until we have our resident visa.

From the Immigrations Office we took a taxi to the old part of town. Ed was given the name of a store where we could buy cell phones. A comfortable $2.00 taxi ride and we were there. Ed walked up to a gentleman behind a desk to ask him how we get cell phones and he took over. It was kinda of funny that we ended up moving to three different desks for him to find a computer to work on. The whole process was about 45 minutes. First, we didn't needed an expensive phone and the gentleman selected one for us. Then, he had to take all our information and enter that into the computer. When, that was done, he installed the new SIM cards for us. We had to pay next at a different window. We returned to our gentleman and he then set up the phones. When the phones were up and working we had to return to the pay window and buy minutes for each new phone. We had been told that only put $3.00 on a cell phone at a time. It is very easy to add minutes so we each now have a cell phone.

Ed asked a young lady in the cell store about a nice restaurant for us to have lunch. She gave us directions and started following them. We were only a block from the Old City Square. It is just beautiful and has two old churches there and a charming park in the center.

Door to above church

Above the door at the church

I loved all the fancy iron work on the balconies

We didn't make it to the restaurant the lady suggested but came upon one on the Old Square that had several locals eating in it and went inside. They had a daily special that included soup, main dish and flan price $3.00. You had a selection of chicken or beef for the main dish it also came with potatoes and rice. I opted for a chicken and mushroom dish with french fries and rice. They do like their carbs. My dish was off the regular menu and the price was $7.00. Ed tried their local beer, a Pilsner at $1.34. It turned out that I liked it and would drink it. I went with a Bud ($2.65) and was happy. So, our total bill with tip was $17.00 but most enjoyable.

Then, we needed to do a little walking so we strolled down a side street off the main square. We stopped and bought 4 oranges from a lady sitting on the sidewalk for 35 cents. We had to cross the street for a bakery to a couple of fresh rolls.

The bakery with fresh rolls

It was time to catch a taxi and head back to the condo. I have noticed that I do get tired and need to rest in the afternoons.

As I write this our new Chaide Y Chaide pillow top king mattress and box spring is being walked up the 13 flights of stairs. I'm so sorry for the guys lugging it up here but I will give them a nice tip for their efforts. Can you even think about some American delivery guys walking up 13 flights of stairs to deliver a king mattress? Oh heavens, these two young men are maybe 5'4" and weigh less than 120 pounds. The box spring came in two parts so they were able to use the elevator to bring those up...

They have to take down the queen bed in the master bedroom and move it to the office. Then, set it back up. This will give us two guest bedrooms and each will have their own full private bathroom.