Friends, Food, Pastries and Popacuchu

As most of you already know, I'm pretty open here on the Internet and that especially applies to Facebook. I rarely turn down a friend request unless we have no obvious mutual interests or friends.

This means I have a lot of "friends" on Facebook that are researching Ecuador. Some come for a visit, others take the leap and move here. One of our favorite meeting spots is Popacuchu since we get to show off their amazing pastries with the added bonus of it being close to the house (a one mile walk).

Our latest meet 'n greet were with new expats, George and Chad, who relocated here from California. I've been online friends with George for over a year, having connected via his fabulous website - EcuadorGeorge.com

We arrived at 11 am and it turned out that Stu was the only one who had eaten breakfast. Stu and I ordered a cup of the soup of the day, Chad got the soup in their trademark bread bowl and George ordered the cup of soup and half sandwich.

Not sure how we managed to keep talking through the delicious food. Soon we decided it was time for desert with Stu being the abstainer. I got my usual apple strudel, George got a decadent chocolate cake (he asked for the richest, sweetest thing they had in the case) and Chad got something that we never learned the name for but everyone fell in love with. Here's a photo of George getting ready for his bite of Chad's desert.

We continued to chat until well after 4 pm - what a delightful day, both the food and the company. Our topics ranged from writing to pets to apartments to weather to back in the US to food to exercise to movies to The Church Lady to computers/printers to...well, you get the idea! LOL!

Tomorrow I'll post the photos I took on the way to meet up with new friends, George and Chad. We know we'll be seeing them again!

Where is your favorite spot to meet new folks here in Cuenca?

Perspectives from another traveling expat

I've followed Talon and Tigger's adventures for over a year now. I always enjoy their posts but this one, The culture shock of living in Australia , really hit me. So many comparisons that are familiar - us in Ecuador versus us in the USA. I hope you will enjoy it and maybe follow along on their world travels.

1 Dad, 1 Kid, 1 Crazy Adventure
Giving My Son the World. Inspiring Others.

You also might like -

Not a Moment to Waste

 
Getting Personal

 
What Deaught Me About How to Live

 
How I fund our family travel

Moving to Ecuador - Part Two

Part Two of the blog post, Moving to Ecuador, posted today. I was particularly struck by this paragraph:

Are Ecuadorians friendly? They are among the friendliest of people anywhere in the world. However, we are seeing some conflicts between locals and a growing number of arrogant, ignorant, and loud expats who do not approve of life in Ecuador. One long-time expat resident used a bit of hyperbole to describe the situation in a couple of Ecuadorian towns as “war zones.” That is exaggerated, of course, but Ecuadorians do have a limit to their tolerance. As increasing numbers of expats seek to isolate themselves in walled communities and high rises – whether for security or to stick with fellow expats — locals feel offended and even make fun of certain areas by referring to them as “Gringolandia,” a term that foreign residents often repeat without realizing it is local sarcasm. Foreigners who yell at government officials, bank tellers, and waiters because they are too slow or because they do not speak English are fomenting a gradual backlash that has been seen in some areas. We hope Ecuadorians will not paint us all with the same brush.

Great article and helps portray a realistic view of moving and adapting to life in Ecuador. Yes, we're still excited!

High Expectations - False Expectations - Realistic Expectations

[morguefile.com]

We feel we are being realistic in our expectations about life in Ecuador. In fact Stu is trying to have no expectations. ;-) But many do not do the research or talk to the locals before making the leap. I have already chatted with several who made the move without ever having visited the country.

Today one of the Ecuador blogs I follow posted an excellent article that everyone who is considering a move to another country should read. Moving to Ecuador Part One

Stu has started playing around with the Spanish Lesson DVDs and I've downloaded a dictionary app to my phone. I'm behind in starting to learn and will tackle it head on once I've finally gotten my latest book published. Early reviews have been good and that's gotten me excited about starting the sequel but know I have other things that have been neglected.

I'm still following several blogs and forums where I'm learning more about daily life in Cuenca and still think it is the best area for us. We love the idea of walking to local restaurants and stores. Being in town will help keep us active. We just have to see how well we tolerate the noise. The downside of being out of town a couple of miles is transportation and isolation. I've also read some horror stories about landlords but we can encounter that anywhere. ;-)

Ecuador Locals: Lessons Learned

I read this blog post and it touched my heart so much that I wanted to post it here. I think I will go back and read it often. We are spoiled Americans here in the USA- there is no comparison.

We plan to do all we can to NOT be Ugly Americans (rich gringos) in Ecuador. We do plan to use local labor whenever we can but we need to remember to help keep the balance. If we are willing to pay 'anything' for what we want/need, we are helping price things out of the reach of the locals. We don't want to do that.