Our internet was connected today so we are back to being available through email, Skype and magic jak. Also we will get back regular blog posts.
We have been busy shopping for our new digs, eating at new and interesting places, and meeting new folks.
More to come.

We have been i for the past few days because our new place does not have internet yet We should be up and running by the middle of next week.
We will post some pics soon.

Hola amigos.
We rented an apartment today. Unit 6C in the River Side building. It will cost us $850 per/month plus cable, internet and electricity. All tolled it will be less than $950 a month. The apartment is very nice. It has three bedrooms, three baths. A small terrace, nine foot ceilings, furnished with some linens and basic kitchen stuff.
We will do a video and post it once we are settled. We move in at once maniana (11:00 tomorrow). you can only move in between 8-12 on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It has something to do with the security guard. I didn't really understand. Ignorant gringo.
We spent most of Sunday in a penthouse extraordinaire not far from where we are staying. It has a terrace that is 12-15 feet wide and wraps around the entire building. In other words the deck is larger than our house was. It was a three and three with enormous rooms. The place is fairly spectacular. It is owned by a Canadian couple who are selling it ($550,000) and returning to Canada. The furnishings are very beautiful also. We had a good time eating hot dogs, pickled jalapenos and sundried snacks while we gabbed
Hasta luego.

Hola from Cuenca.
The sun returned yesterday and today has been wonderful. It is still Winter. Brrr.
We looked at a brand new apartment building yesterday. No tenants yet it is that new. The units are three bedroom/two bath, fully furnished with dishes and linens, washer/dryer, utilities, building fees, cable and internet for $750. Problem was the rooms were very small. In fact, so small the flat screen TV was on top of the fridge because there was not even a wall to hang it or empty space to set it. That's small.
The building and apartments did feature some spectacular marble, granite and tile work. We found in the course of conversation that the Ecuadorian gentleman who built and owned the building, owned a tile company.
We learned about the units from a cab driver who was coming down our street as we were headed to the corner to hail a cab and go to dinner. In the cab we were discussing our day of wandering around looking at condo and apartment buildings gathering phone numbers to investigate the nature and price of available units. We had no idea that the driver spoke English until he piped up and asked if we were looking for a rental. The rest is history.
Yesterday I got a guitar. It feels good to play again. The guitar was also necessary because while we were at dinner the night before, the chef/owner of the Italian joint we were at was telling us about his special memorial day fiesta that he was having at his establishment, and Barbie (our landlady) volunteered me to provide the live music. My first gig in South America.
Today we are just chilling pretty much although we are having a big cookout to celebrate someone's birthday.
More to follow I'm sure.

yesterdays sun remained hidden behind a layer of thick clouds all day, reminidng us that it is stilll Winter in Ecuador.
We had another productive day looking at rentals (nothing great but they were furnished for $600 and $700 with really nice bathrooms and a great rooftop deck that overlooks the Tomybamba river).  We also spent some time at the notary completing limited power of attorney docs for the Gringovisa group to use on our behalf. We also got a local cell phone (Samsung galaxy s3 mini for $185 with case and minutes). And we got our Supermaxi (the local Safeway) cards and used them shopping. Good day that.
Now from the 'Things I Never Wudda Thunk To Ask About' column, we flew one way from Seattle to Denver to begin this leg of our trek. There were two classes of travel offered on this flight, first class and the bleachers. We chose the latter attempting to save money. Checking in for our flight with five bags to check, we discover that being in the cheap seats entitles us to one free bag each and the others will cost us denaro. As it turned out $270 far more than we paid for our air fare. Now flying from Denver-Huston-Quito, we went premiere class (all first class amenities including no lines for check in or boarding, food, drink and cozy seats). The best part was our checked bags were included in the fare.
None of our tales would be complete without a hitch though so here it is. During the 'hot months' many of the larger cities in South America have a baggage embargo. No more than two checked bags per person. Quito of course is one of these cities. So the nice lady at the premiere check-in counter says "no problem, you just take the smallest bag with you to the gate and they will tell you it is too big to carry on and they will gate check it into the regular baggage). And so indeed did it go.
Flying from Quito to Cuenca with the same bags, we were charged for 46.5 extra kilos and had to fork over a grand total of $60.
The end.

Yesterday we looked at our first potential rental a 3bdr/3bth unit in a fairly new building. The bedrooms are large, airy and comfortable. Living, dining and kitchen are open concept and modern. The building also has a heated pool, hot tub, sauna and fenced sun deck. Also a very large party room with complete kitchen. It is furnished renting for $860. We have more to view today.

We also began the process of applying for our pension visas. There are a few ways to do this; A. swim through the quagmire on your own, B. swim with the assistance of an interpreter, C. swim with the assistance of an attorney, and D. employ a visa service. All of these options will cost money (government fees, background check fees, notary fees, sundried fees, travel and incidentals

We chose to employ a service. The one we selected is owned and operated by an Ecuadorian who went the US for university, married and lived for 12 years before returning to Ecuador only to find that she was considered a foreigner and would have to apply for papers like all the other foreigners. She is a nice, experienced advocate. She has staff in the US who obtain all of the background checks, earnings statements, etc. and ensure that they are all notarized and stamped by the Ecuadorian consulate in the States.to

She also has staff in Cuenca, Quito and Guayaquil who do the bulk of the legwork in those locations and deal with all of the various government agencies.

She also suggested that we begin the process by registering our marriage in Ecuador. We would need a notarized current copy of marriage certificate from the States anyway. She says that this will cut through a good deal of local crap and also give Jackie access to all of our shared and individual assets in case of my demise.

We are also obtaining cedulas. These are government identification cards similar to a US driver’s license. They will allow us folks over the age of 65 to receive a refund of up to $214 per month in paid taxes and free and discounted services in Ecuador. They do take care of the older folks down here.

Anyway, we are off to view more rentals and do some paperwork for our visas

 

We arrived in Cuenca yesterday afternoon after a short, no hustle flight from Quito. Barbie and John, our hosts extrodenaiare, had an English speaking taxi waiting for us.

We arrived in Quito Saturday afternoon to find three of our five checked bags missing in action. We weren’t too worried however because many people from the same flight had missing luggage. This flight had passengers from three canceled flights on it so a few lost bafs (delayed luggae in airline speak)  was inconvenient but understandable. The bags arrived at our hotel Sunday.

We had a very relaxing stay in Quito at the hotel Dann Carlton.  The name is not misspelled. One of their eateries is the Eiropa Café and it features wonderful lattes, deserts plus regular breakfast, lunch and dinner items. We had very tastey selections from all particularly desert. We highly recommend this hotel if you are staying in Quito.

We have much to do in a short time frame now that we are in Cuenca including providing this update.

The weather is nice considering this Winter in Ecuador. A bit chilly at night, probably low to mmod 50s.

Hasta luego.

My apologies beforehand for diverting from the chronology of our trek, but we need to report the following.
Our flight from Huston to Quito was scheduled to depart Huston at 11:59 PM last night.  Of course the flight was delayed because of the Cotapxi earthquake. The last major eruption on Cotapxi was in 1877, just prior to my birth year.
The other reason the flight was delayed is because they named the airport after George Bush and what else could be expected of such a location other than catastrophe.
Anyhow, we are now scheduled to depart at 6:00 AM this morning.
Much more to follow in future posts.
Buen dia

Newly armed with freshly minted American passports, hot off some printing press in Washington DC and complete with true-to-life likenesses of Jackie and myself, we prepared elaborate plans to travel to Cuenca and dispel first-hand the retirement myths that ran rampant on the internet and in the newsletters, blogs and ebooks that we had consumed.

Again relying on our vast travel experience (ha), I heartily assumed the task of developing our travel itinerary. I began with the proposition ‘I hate airports, lines and waiting in general’. So the least amount of time doing any and all of the above, the better.

Priority number one (numero uno in Cuenca can’t wait to get there) is get there as fast as possible.

Now understand this; at this particular time the most direct (thusly shortest) round trip passage from Seattle-Tacoma international airport to Quito, Ecuador (and then onto Cuenca) was with American airlines and looked like this.

Seattle to LA, La to Miami, Miami to Quito, layover overnight, Quito to Cuenca.

Cuenca to Quito, layover overnight, Quito to Miami, Miami to LA, LA to Seattle.

How could it be any easier? We won’t get lost. It is the same route coming and going (familiarity breeds confidence. Right?). And best of all, this is the fastest route available. Yippee! I am a genius. Congrts to me. Success!

Now on to booking a hotel in Quito for our restful overnight layover coming and going. Having done such a stellar job of booking our flights, I researched Quito hotels as any experienced travel agent would. I didn’t settle on the first search engine choices. Patience prevails, research yields best results, close to airport, mid-range, one night stay, local charm, don’t need a spa, restaurant, boutique or hair stylist. A lot to consider for sure but, proven genius that I am, I found it.

The hotel To-Remain-Annonymous-Because-It-Might-Not-Have-Lived-Up-To-It’s-Hype in Quito, Ecuador. Fifteen minutes from the airport, old world charm, European owned, speak six languages, great pics on the net, and best of all right in the old budget ballpark. Perfect. I may just have a future career in this travel agent stuff.

So I book it coming and going.

Itinerary complete.

Ecuador here we come.
Am I good or what?

So if you are reading this blog, you know or you should know that Jackie (my adoring wife of two or more weeks) and I have recently retired. This blog will immortalize that trek.

True to our well established behavioral patterns, we began to map out our future 13 days before we quit our jobs.

The first choice for our retirement estate was a gated beach location in Monte Carlo, complete with eight staff and a convertible Bentley. Sadly, we found that French is a difficult language to master and we were short on funds for this option.

On to plan B.  Cuenca, Ecuador.  “Why Cuenca, Ecuador?” you ask. Well, look on the internet or we can suggest some insightful books written by folks who have made the move. I may post on this another time.

For current purposes though, we retired and decided to relocate to Ecuador. Cuenca here we come.

Being the experienced world travelers that we are (not) and having relocated to new countries several times (also not), we acquired passports (an interesting process in itself because the postal clerk receiving our applications was having a bad day or week or career or life or some combination of the above and after waiting in line for almost as long as we were previously employed (we are retired right?)) she had us fill out a bunch of new documents and then told us that our pictures were not acceptable for passports so we left and had them retaken and returned only to find that it was now closed so after researching new places to complete our applications we showed up back at the post office bright and early the next morning hoping for a new clerk no luck there and after again standing in line we were told by our friendly USPS clerk that we were twenty ((count ‘em twenty)) minutes early for passport applications and would have to return which we did and were met by yet another line but we watched the clerk processing someone else’s passport application and guess what she led the gentleman over to a blank wall in the lobby and took his picture yup! She takes passport pictures a service that was not offered to  us anyway we were finally called up front and she  cheerfully completed our apps took our money and bid u adieu).

Whew, that’s about enough for today.

Hasta luego