A Potpourri of Activities

The biggest celebration for me the past week was the completion of my son, Chris’ second tour of duty in Iraq, and his safe return to Hawaii to his wife of one year of which the two of them had the opportunity to spend a total of five weeks of their first year together. Now, they will have the opportunity to spend the second year of their marriage together before Chris may be faced with another combat deployment. Let the fun and games of married life begin.

I have been very pleased to receive the major part of my furniture this past week, and on time, I might add. These were the pieces of furniture, which were hand-made. The master and guest bedroom sets, the computer desk, the television furniture encasement, and the dining set. I did not mention by name the master craftsmen, who were responsible for their excellent and exceptional work in my last post, because I needed to talk to them first for their approval to mention their business by name, since much of their work also is done for retail furniture stores.

Once again, the beauty of custom-made, handcrafted furniture created at a high level of quality at a fraction of retail costs, and delivered by young workmen, who worked efficiently to put everything in place and then re-setup my television, cable box, and DVD player and their wires into the appropriate slots was much appreciated. As always, the men worked with that Cuencano attitude of respect both toward their work, with one another, and with me.

The name of the business is SOLMUEBLE. The business proprietors are Guilermo Solis and Johnny W. Solis. Transportation will be needed, since their business establishment is on the outskirts of Cuenca. The address is Cruce del Carmen via Sinincay KM 4 junto al PAI # 15. The business or factory is on the right side of the road. One has to watch very carefully once one enters the vicinity for SOLMUEBLE, which if I remember correctly is located on a curve.

There are three possible telephone numbers available by which contact can be made:

4032734 2877298 081139031

Needless to say, SOLMUEBLE comes highly recommended by me, and I thank Lourdes Isernaque, both for her friendship in making her artistic background, perspectives, and talents available to me at a busy time in her schedule when she was preparing for her trip back to the states, and for Lourdes bringing SOLMUEBLE to my attention.

I finally pulled out my Nikon camera, and began to use it a week ago. I still have much to learn and review in its use of the more complex features. However, I very much like and prefer it, over the Fuji Film Camera I had last summer. Once I get some décor items together, then I’ll share photos of my condo with family and friends. I also need to pull out my Kindle between now and the weekend and learn how to use it. There is a book I need to read within the next three weeks. I may have more to say about this particular book at a later date.

I’ve been quite busy lately, and the Spanish lessons are not succeeding as I had hoped. I hate to take a set pattern of classes, because my schedule is so erratic from day to day, and I hate to be locked into particular days and time slots. Just when I thought I had that problem resolved, things did not work out as I had hoped. Thank God for taxi drivers. They have been my biggest contributors to my interacting in Espanol.

I have been in Cuenca three months already. The time has gone tremendously fast for me. I find that I have a difficult time not only remembering what day or date of the week it is, but sometimes what month it is as well. One season is pretty much like the next with little variation. The students are just beginning to be released from school for their extended vacation period, and yet some of the trees particularly along the rivers are losing their leaves. Yet there is never a time in Cuenca when all the trees change to autumnal colors or when all the trees will be bare at the same time, as would be found with the Northern United States winters. The difference between day and night never varies more than a half an hour the year round in Cuenca. Therefore, some of the old benchmarks that designated the passing of the seasons and time back home have little relevance here.

Finally, I am still waiting to get my residency, which supposedly was to be resolved two months ago. Government bureaucracy and changes have been the big impediment to making progress on my residency status. Who knows when this impediment will be resolved--hopefully soon. My visa has expired, and I will have to go through the entire process again, if I need to leave Ecuador for an emergency back home. I also plan to return to the states for a visit in the next four to eight weeks, so I need my residency and passport.

My love affair with Cuenca continues to grow with each passing day. There is always much to observe and much to learn. What a fascinating city and marvelous people. What can I say, “VIVA CUENCA!”