After months of waiting (and fretting just to prove that we haven't shed our U.S. skins yet), our visas arrived today (Hoy). What a relief. We can now leave Ecuador and legally return because we actually belong here. More importantly, we are no longer 'irregular'. We are legal and welcome citizens.
Here is a pic of the visa seals on our passports. All that hubbub for those seals. Anyhow, yohoo!

Life just keeps getting tougher here in Cuenca. We just returned from one of Lu very favorite restaurants. Jackie had chicken piccatta and I had a perfectly medium rare t-bone steak. The steak was the best that I've had in centuries, and Jack enjoyed her polloi. We had a vodka cran and a grande pilsner (more than two regular bottles of cervesa) with dinner. We topped it all off with passion fruit cheesecake and a bowl of ice cream.
Total bill was $35.35. Don't know that I can afford this. The steak was easily a $60 item in the states.
Here are some pics from a going away party that we had in the building a couple o's nights ago. Good neighbors Carlos and Cinzia sold their unit and they are moving to Southern Washington state to be close to their new twin niejtos (grandchildren). They will be missed. Folks are always coming or going in Cuenca.