BUT LUCKILY

As I sit here in isolation, along with everyone else on the planet, I can't help but think how lucky we have been. I know that sounds counter intuitive but traveling to Ecuador could have been disastrous. We arrived here on Jan. 19th with five huge overweight suitcases, a dog, a diabetic cat, and sundry other bits and pieces. When we got passed through customs and immigration in Quito we discovered that our onward flight to Loja wouldn't take us, because there was no pressurized luggage compartment for the dog, even though we had booked and paid and they had confirmed the dog on our reservation! BUT LUCKILY there was a cab driver outside the terminal who said he could get a van the next day, pick us up at our hotel, and drive us to Loja. And he did! Mind you it was a twelve hour wild ride through the mountains, in the rain, and required a overnight stop in the middle of nowhere when I insisted on not going any further that night. BUT LUCKILY part of the trip was through Banos, a resort town with waterfalls and jungle tours that was fascinating.

Dylan did NOT ride on the roof!!

Then we arrived at our Air B&B which could have been less than ideal BUT LUCKILY turned out to be even better than expected. I had booked for a month so we could spend time looking for a long term rental. In Ecuador there are only a few centralized places that have rental listings online. Apartments come as furnished, semi-furnished and unfurnished. Furnished is as you would expect, in some case including linens and all. Semi-furnished comes with a fridge and stove and not much else. Unfurnished comes with...nothing !!! One place we saw, the landlord took us to the "kitchen". It was and empty room! No cupboards, no counters, no plumbing, no sinks....nothing. Mind you, for a 1200 sq ft, two bedroom apt, blocks from the center of town, in a good neighborhood, the rent was $200/mo. All you had to do was build a collapsible kitchen so you could take it with you when you left.
The usual way to look for apartments here is to go to a neighborhood you think you might like and start walking around looking up at buildings for signs in windows advertising apartments for rent. Then you take down the phone number and call. Easy Peasy when your Spanish is limited to "Hello", "Goodbye" and "How much?" So we set out to look knowing we had a month to find something.
BUT LUCKILY, on the second day, we were walking by a brand new empty building with Se Vende
(For Sale) signs in the apartment windows. There was a man coming out of the building and I said to him in barely intelligible Spanish, "Too bad they are for sale, we're looking for something to rent."
He looked us over and then beckoned us inside and the short story is we are the proud renters of a lovely, new, slightly better than semi-furnished, three bed, three bath apartment. We had to buy a few things like cutlery, flatware, a bigger bed and a washing machine, BUT LUCKILY the landlord threw in a new big screen TV and microwave, all for $350 a month including water, electric, high-speed internet and cable TV.
So now we had to buy stuff for the apartment, sign up for phone, get a bank account etc.  BUT LUCKILY Sharon had signed up at a gym near our Air B&B and it was run by Mr Ecuador, a body builder who had lived in New York for years and spoke English. He took a shine to Sharon (who doesn't) and drove us around showing us where the best places were to buy things. Finally the day came to move out of our Air B&B and into our new apartment which is three floors up with no elevator. I'm still in pretty good shape for seventy six but I wasn't looking forward to this. BUT LUCKILY  Juan (Mr Ecuador) showed up with his uncle who owns a truck and four other muscle bound dudes who drove around, picked up our new stuff, humped it up three floors, and put it all together for the price of lunch. A little over two weeks later Covid19 hit.
BUT LUCKILY, here we sit in a comfortable apartment in a country that has taken the whole pandemic seriously. Social distancing, curfews, transit and bus stoppages, masks and gloves to get into stores etc. All done almost instantly. As a result the number of new cases is flattening and starting to go down. I'm in the vulnerable age group BUT LUCKILY all I'm being asked to do is stay at home, lie on my sofa and binge watch "Breaking Bad". Something I have been rehearsing for almost all my life!!!
So there you have it. How much luckier could we have been? Unfortunately for this blog the next few posts will be:
Mon.  Stared out the window, watched TV
Tues.  Watched TV, read a book, don't remember which one.
Wed.   Stared at the TV, watched the dog lick .......

Maybe check back later this month!

Ken



COVID 19  IN  LOJA

Greetings from locked down Loja. Virus cases going down and things are looking up but on the early morning dog walk the streets are still strangely quiet. I am reminded of the old movie "On The Beach".

click picture to enlarge

 We were late buying face masks and by the time we realized they were required in order to get into a grocery store they were all sold out. Sharon needed to get creative. This is the result.
Sharon wearing her boxers on her head.

The first thing to understand is that all the gyms in Loja are closed because of Covid19. That means no facilities and no weights and exercising at home. Once again, Sharon's creativity comes to the fore. After numerous trips to the grocery store, wearing her boxers on her head, Sharon brings home enough bags of cat litter to start her own gym. She's got cat litter in the bag. There's only one trouble with this piece of exercise equipment. The cat uses part of your weights everyday.