NEWS FROM CUENCA, ECUADOR DECEMBER 2024

 

December 21, 2024

Season's Greetings to Family and Friends alike,

Another Christmas Season rows around, and the years seem to go faster than ever. I hope all of you had a good year, or at least overcome your challenges with which we all deal with in life. Nothing terribly exciting took place this year in my life, but I enjoyed it. I was sick for two months from mid-July until almost September after having a fun and active June, which I wrote about in my previous blog post. I had one of those infamous colds or what some people here call the grip, which after days of coughs and endless sneezing that keeps the tissue industry in business, I was sapped of all energy and motivation and just wanted to sleep around the clock. When I did feel cured, and I rested two or three days more to be on the safe side; As soon as I went out into the world, my cold would immediately start all over again just from any physical activity that raised my body temperature. I finally saw a doctor, and on the last day of the ten days of an antibiotic, I returned to a healthy state. Otherwise, I am still walking, not as far as I used to, but I usually get my two to five miles in on most days. Since I am a restless soul, two months almost entirely confined to my apartment would have had me climbing the walls, but when one is sick and lacks energy, it was relaxing.    

Some of you who keep in touch with me on a regular basis are probably wearing me writing about the drought, but it has been our big story for the year. Today is the 21st of December, which makes it the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and its shortest daytime, and the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere and its longest day of daylight. We have opposite climate patterns. You guys in the north have had lots of rain, and depending upon your location hurricanes and major flooding, while we would have appreciated some of that rain.  

The drought has now run well over 130 days, although the last month has finally brought some appreciable rain. However, just when we think the drought may be over, we hit another long stretch of days without rain. Supposedly, the drought is over in Cuenca, but not in all parts of Ecuador. We reached the point of the government initiating blackouts about three months ago. Those of us who live in condo buildings that have generators haven't really been inconvenienced. Many small businesses and restaurants have purchased generators at $500 to $600, which is a great deal of money for many of these businesses. Unfortunately, a number of these businesses have gone under, including those who could not afford a generator. If it were not for the rain this December, the government was ready to initiate water rationing. The generators in these smaller businesses are usually just outside the businesses and are extremely noisy. I understand that the manufacturers will be producing more silent generators for next year, which won't be much help to all the people and businesses who purchased them this year. Hopefully, we won't need them next year. Instead, we will most likely go back into heavy rains and need an ark.

I very much enjoyed the heat and dry spells the El Nino had brought. I flourish on sunshine, and we have had more than our share this year, and without dealing with excessive heat or humidity. It makes for an ideal climate and was an improvement from last year and going back into 2022 when the LaNina rainfall seemed like it would never end, and highways in the mountains led to landslides that decimated cars and their occupants, and some areas had entire neighborhoods washed out or buried under mounds of mud. However, people do need to eat, and I have no idea how much agriculture has been hurt to the degree that the reservoirs and irrigations are operable. What next year will bring in our weather patterns in Cuenca is anybody's guess. We will just have to take it one day at a time, and to date be thankful we have not had any major earthquakes.

It has been a quiet year. I can't believe it has already been six years since I have done any international traveling, excluding visits to the United States. If I get the chance to visit home this year, I most likely will visit in the summer. My last two visits in October to Chicago and Wisconsin and Iowa were colder than I can handle anymore, especially when those winds whip though the areas.

On a personal level. My two Ecuadorian young men, Mathias, who loves wall-climbing and riding his bike 40 miles most mornings no longer lives with me, but I always enjoy when he stops by to visit. He will be 22 in February. Esteban's birthday was December 6th, and he turned 18. Poor fellow was sicker than a dog on his big day. We took him to the hospital that night and again the next day. He was diagnosed with food poisoning and had no idea what caused it. I hope I never get food poisoning like he had it. He was sick with an intense pain in the middle of his stomach. The medication given the first night didn't seem to improve his condition, so back the family went to the hospital the next day and Esteban was given a larger dose of medication. After which he improved, but it still took a few more days before he was well enough to return to school.

Since my birthday is on the 12th of December, and we had our birthdays the same week, we celebrated both birthdays that weekend.

Speaking of Esteban, in my last post, I mentioned that he wanted to be an airline pilot. That isn't happening at this juncture. However, he miraculously was accepted into a university under unusual circumstances. His mother, Maria Rosa, said she went to church two days before classes started. As she was praying, a priest entered whom she knew. He came over to her while she was in prayer, and asked her how she was doing, and she explained that the one university Estan had applied to did not accept any of the graduates from the private high school from which he graduated. The public university was accepting students from indigenous and low-income backgrounds. Graduating from a private high school was a stigma. It appears the incident was treated as if a student could graduate from a private high school, then he most likely has sources of income to finance his university training despite what the application forms showed. The university, if accepted, offered free tuition to all students.

When Maria Rosa spoke there in the church with the priest, and as the priest knew what an excellent student Esteban was, the priest who was associated as an administrator in a private Catholic university had Esteban immediately enrolled and offered him a 2/3rd paid scholarship . My Ecuadorian son began classes the next day. I could not believe what had transpired at the blink of an eye, so Esteban is majoring in business administration, and still intends to be an airline pilot. Both he and Mathias are straight A students.  

Last year in my Christmas message, I stated that if you thought 2023 was something, wait until you see what 2024 has in store for us. I don't think anyone would disagree with me when I wrote that statement. I give you the same forecast for 2025, which will be even more memorable. The first half of the year will be especially chaotic, but after that I think the rest of the year will begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  

The election results brought a huge smile to my face. God is looking after his David, and as His Trump sounds, he will achieve great results in the name of the Lord. Not since are Founding Fathers has such an incredible group of wisdom, intelligence, experience, common sense, and integrity been brought together in American leadership positions as what is coalescing in the Trump administration. This will be an epoch of cultural, political, social, spiritual, and technological revolution; the likes of which the world has yet to see, which will obviously transcend the Trump administration. As the American people are increasingly awakening, they will realize that freedom is not just doing your own thing, that living narcissistic, debaucherous lives apart from God leaves a soul empty, and that materialism and avariousness, envy and jealously and a world of corruption leaves behind many empty and lost souls. Many people around the world are waking up to the fact that they must move out of their comfort zones and take responsibility for moving the changes in the right direction and fighting the globalist crime cabals and their national government toadies out of all power centers. So, behold the evil doers who will fall throughout the new year, and the increasing numbers of people who will return to a spiritual center in what will be the greatest spiritual revival in history. These are exciting times to be alive in world history.

So Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone, especially family. I hope things will transpire so I can see all of you this summer, especially Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Bonnie. In the lyrics of an old soul song by Sam and Dave, “Hold on I'm Coming!” So, God willing, everybody just hang in there.