The Children's Christmas Parade - Nino Viajero

El Pase del Nino en Cuenca

The 24th of December is very special in Ecuador because of the Children's Parade is held on that date every year.  It does not matter if you are in a large city, small town and a tiny village, they all celebrate this special event.  Here in Cuenca it was "scheduled" to started at 10:30AM.  The process of "getting in line" starts much earlier than that.  I heard from a friend that she had walked down to the staging area at 7:30 and there was about a mile of "floats" already in line.

Loved this "float" with all the hats as decorations

 

 

There were beautiful horses decorated for the parade 

Ed and I took a taxi down past our Super Maxi Grocery store to the traffic circel at 11:30 and walked up and down the street to see all the floats and kids.  The parade had not started at that time and we later learned it didn't even start until 2:30PM - that is what we mean by the "slow process" here and that means for everything.

It was the children that stole my heart.  Their costumes were darling and many have meanings: Joseph (wearing a curly blond wig), the three Wise Men, angels or in their many types of native dress.

 

These two boys were not together but their dress was the same

 

 

On the back of this float, a lady was roasting Cuy or Guinea Pig, which is a very local dish in Ecuador and Peru.

 

This beauty posed for me and enjoyed seeing her picture afterwards...

 

Here is the blond wigged Joseph - so cute.  I saw many wearing this same costume

There was just lots of waiting for the parade to start, these kids were on the back of a float.

 

Something to eat makes the time pass faster

We saw lots of children being fed to help keep them happy 

 

This float has music playing and this little guy was singing along

 

 

 

 

This little girl with the lolipop in her mouth reminded me of my granddaughter, Adrienne.

 

 

 

Looking down the closed street where they were staging for the start of the parade

Now this brings back some good memories - we owned a 1980 Busser and drove it across the U.S a couple of times....

 

I had walked down about a half of mile to see the floats and kids.  My foot was starting to cause me pain and that was a lot of walking for me.  We needed to stop and have pizza for lunch before heading back to the condo to allow me to ice my foot.

 

Loving our life in Cuenca... all is good,

Peggy

 

 

 

 

Day of Celebrations = Cedula

December 19, 2012

Today is Tuesday and Kelly, our cleaning lady, comes this morning, Ed and I usually make plans to get out of the condo.  Today we have an afternoon appointment to pick-up our Cedulas.  They are like a Green Card for the United States, shows that we are legal residents of Ecuador.  This whole process has taken about 11 weeks to file since our arrival in Cuenca.  It took months to gather all the legal documents while we were in the U.S.

It isn't a difficult process just time consuming and making sure to dot all i's and cross all t's.  Ecuador does have a system that can change without any notice.  I encountered that when I was originally told that since my birth certificate states that my mother was born in New Hampshire and my father in Texas, I would not need a sworn statement of their citizenship (America).  Well, that changed and I didn't find out until I went to apply for my Cedula and was told that I would have to go to a local notary and swear the citizenship of my parents. 

Ed and I decided that we never can tell what will happen in this country, so we went to our celebration lunch before we went to pick-up our Cedulas (just in case).  Ed had seen a review about an Italian restaurant only about half way from our condo to town.  We tried Sabor E Arte Italian Restaurant and Sandwich Shop located at 20-87 Gran Colombia.  The restaurant is located on the second floor while the sub shop in on the first.  You can just walk in and select a sub to go, much like a Subway.  A couple of the ones on their board was "Vegetarian" $4.10 and the "Italian Classic" Sub $4.20.  The most expensive sub on their menu was $5.95 with beef and lots of other meats.

The upstairs restaurant we tried

 

The Restaurant is cooking three different options for a catered dinner for Christmas or New Years.  The 3 main dishes are Turkey or Pork Medallions or Roasted Pork and each comes with side dishes, dessert and a glass of wine.  The complete dinner is $22. per person and they will deliver - orders must be made 6 days in advance..... How easy is that !  They speak excellent English and their phone is 2822284

Yes, we were very early and the only people in there

 

This is their daily lunch specials for only $4.75 plus tax

 

They started us off with fresh bread and a dipping sauce of olive oil, balsamic vinegar with herbs

 

Ed tried a salad that had fresh orange and apple slices, walnuts, and raisins & topped off with a lovely Caesar dressing.  The portion was large enough for us to share

 

Ed selected their Chicken Marsala - large portion and excellent

 

He tried a glass of the Merlot to go with his meal and really liked the wine.  We'll look for it in the grocery store

 

I selected their Chicken Picata with perfectly cooked fresh veggies - some of the best I've had

 

 

Now, you never know what you will see in Cuenca.  While we were eating our lunch, I noticed two different vendors walking across the street.

 

It was very warm outside and this lady was walking down the sidewalk selling purses.

This guy was selling mops and brooms

 

 

So, after our celebration lunch, it was time to go to the Civilian Registar to pick up our Cedulas, at least that was our goal.  We had a wild taxi driver and wasn't sure where to drop us off and it was further from the building and I ended up walking about a 1/2 of block.

 

We were told what window to go to for picking  up our Cedulas.  We present our passports to the lady behind the glass booth.  She then handed them to a guy and he disappeared out of the booth.  A few minutes later he returned.  The lady then returned Ed's passport and told him to look over his Cedula to make sure all the information was correct.  Everything was in perfect order.  The lady handed me my passport and told me to return to Desk #2 and the guy who filled out my application.  He had typed my last name incorrectly and everything had to be redone.

 

The guy had to retype my application, finger print me again and also take another picture.  They required me to remove my earrings, and glasses and then push all my hair away from my face and tuck the sides behind my ears....it was the worst picture and I look like a felon and this is my "Wanted" Picture.  After, all the was completed, I was told to go wait my the Cedula Booth again. 

 

It was only about 15 minutes and the lady called my name.  She gave me my Cedula card and took me to read over all the information and make sure it was all correct.  Everything was perfect and now we are both legal residents of Ecuador.

 





Well, I think both of our pictures are prison like and I will hate to show this to anyone. 

 

So, we truly had something to celebrate are thankful that we have jumped through all the rings presented by becoming a resident.  It was worth it now that's done....

 

Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas & a Joyous New Year,

Peggy

Move to new condo & getting settled

We didn't plan on moving this quickly after arriving.  We had rented our fully furnished condo for 90 days and had plans on extending that IF we liked the condo and the location.  We liked both very much but the owner made plans to return and use his condo for December through March.  So, that made our extension not possible and we starting looking for a new place to live.

We even used two different Realtors to look around the city.  There wasn't a lot of furnished condos or houses available so we were getting concerned.  We had to be out of our rental not later then the 14th of December.  Then, a friend (an Expat) that I had met at lunch and who has lived in South America for over 10 years asked the front desk about units in our building.  Well, it just so happened a unit by an owner was coming available.  We received the phone number of a local lady and Ed talked with her.  It turned out that her sister & brother-in-law own the condo and live in Orlando. 

We made an appointment to view the condo with the lady here in Cuenca (she was helping her sister rent the place).  The condo was located on the 8th floor in our building and on the east side of the building, overlooking the city center.  It was further in the back of the building off the main street.  Ed and I both liked what we saw and was able to get a 6th month lease.  The unit is smaller then our first unit but we liked being off the main street.

We started moving our stuff from the 13th floor down to the 8th floor and getting settled.  The building has several shopping carts available for use in the garage area.  You can drive down and park your car or have your taxi drop you off in the garage to carry your groceries up in the carts on the elevators, really makes life easy.  We have a device to open the garage security gates to allow us to have a taxi drop us off in the garage.

Anyway, we started taking loads down and putting the stuff away.  Right in the middle of the move, Ed & I went on a two day tour with a local travel company.  It was what we needed and really had a great time and made new Gringo friends.

The only hitch in the whole move was getting our Internet hooked up.  We had to have someone come to us and we signed a contract for the service we wanted then waited..... It took a week before they arrived for a 5 minute installation job.  But, now we have Internet and all settled.

Taken at the front door - looking into the living room and dining area.  The kitchen is off to the right of the dining room.  We just bought the new 52 inch TV and stand for our new home.

Looking back into the living room and the front door.  Ed is enjoying one of our new recliners we bought for our comfort.  The majority of furniture is low to the floor and not built with comfort for a western in mind.

The dining room with a beautiful Eastern view of the city

Our view of down town Cuenca with the beautiful blue dome of the church in the Central part of the old city.

Our office with a large eastern facing window that provided lots of light for Ed while he is writing.  We also had to use part of this room for the extra part of the sofa we didn't want in the living room

 

Guest Bathroom just off from the family room

Our guest bedroom isn't ready yet for guests.  I have to wash all the bedding and put my clothes away.  Also, there is more extra furniture in this room until I can store it in our storage unit in the basement.

 

Master bedroom

Master bedroom with built in closets - Ed claimed them and I have my clothes in another room

Master bathroom

 

Well, we are settled again and now can go about exploring our new city.  We have so much to learn about this country and enjoy each and every day.  We are now excited about taking another tour within Ecuador to the Rain Forest area in January.

 

We have already planned our three week visit to the States to visit family & friends in late February & March.  I have already bought our airline tickets for a three week trip to southern Spain in early September.  We have visited Spain five times before but have not been there for ages and are excited about visiting one of our favorite parts again. 

 

 

Love & best wishes for making your dreams come true,

Peggy