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I’ve been in Ecuador one week today, however, it’s my 5th day in Cuenca after spending the first 48 hours in Aduana Hell. Rather than go into that today, to keep my sanity I did indeed spew in more detail than anyone needs to know. I write because I have to. Writing is my therapy which means not everything is or should be for public consumption, however, moving past the indulgence of release, there is a lot of info packed into my spews that might just save someone else a lot of headache (and money), particularly if you’re bringing a dog to Ecuador. So don’t say you haven’t been warned, but if you’re still interested, click here for those spews.

What has occurred to me is that Cuenca is a world unto its own and I indeed seem to have a history of preferring such a place. I mean NYC is certainly a world of its own as was Asheville, NC and Casco Viejo in Panama for awhile. You know you are in a place that is defined by its own standards, not anything from anywhere outside. You are in a place that is special, that is unique that has soul and character and magic. That’s Cuenca, too. I came for a visit awhile back with every intention of visiting other areas in Ecuador, but once in Cuenca, I just didn’t want to leave. So I didn’t. I knew I had no desire to live in Quito as I’m just not someone interested in living 7 miles from an active volcano. Guayquil is just too hot and weird. Maybe after living in cities, I’m just done with large cities. Quito has 2 million, Guayaquil 3 million and Cuenca is the 3rd largest city with a nice 450,000 which means no high rises, lots of red tiled roofs all surrounded by mountains.

Though I loved a whole lot about Asheville, NC and found Boquete stunning, at the end of the day, both were too small for me. Cuenca is the perfect size! It’s not a huge city, but it’s big enough to buy whatever you could possibly need. I even found my pricey Phytologie French shampoo here at a price lower than I used to pay in NYC. Cuenca is isolated in the southern Andes and yet I continually feel like I’m in Europe, not Latin America. It’s colonial beauty has earned it UNESCO World Heritage status and for me, that charm is compelling.

So as of 48 hours ago, I was able to move into a furnished apartment across the street from a large park on the Yanuncay River. It’s not ideal, but for short term, it will do. It has a large kitchen and that’s important to me as it is certainly not convenient to walk to any restaurant from here and with the dog, I have limited free time due to leaving her in her kennel every time I leave. At least she likes the kennel and usually chooses to be in there even when I’m at home, surprising after spending being held captive in it for 32 hours.

I think that as of today, we have developed some semblance of routine, at least in the morning. I wake up, have my two cups of coffee and she just gets to wait to go out. She can and does. I’m done trying to accommodate her needs rather than the other way around.

Since exploration right now is on foot, she is great company on long walks that are not a burden to me as I would do it with or without her. I’m convinced she’s a great deterrent to would be n’er do wells, however, everyone here has a dog and I don’t know if it’s because most are kept in such tiny outdoor spaces that their pent up frustration is what causes them to be so aggressive or if the dog culture here is just aggressive and they learn it from each other. In any event, I also have to walk carrying a stick as not all are behind fences. I’m not worried about her defending herself, but I am worried about a brawl ending up in traffic or her getting bitten by something with something. Me, too, for that matter. So, my alpha position with a stick and an attitude that says, “I mean it” has thus far kept those interested in no good away.

The greens along the rivers here are just beautiful. I’m out near a boulevard called Don Bosco which on this end is laden with lumber yards. I see lots of eucalyptus trees laying in wait for cutting and I will stop in at some point to see what other tropical woods exist here. I spoke with a taxi driver about it last night and he began telling me some familiar names like caoba, cedro, laurel, and when I asked about Guayacan he told me it was here, too. He also said there are very hard woods and that due to a concerted effort to treat wood, polillas and comehen (sp? but what equals Spanish for insects that eat wood ala termites and others) are rarely found here. I’m sure the cool mountain air and the lack of humidity relative to, for example, tropical Panama makes a big difference, too. I love that you can have wood without rot and iron without rust here. After the humidity of Panama destroyed so much and left mildew in everything else, it feels like a piece of home to be able to live without constantly battling that humidity.

Up there, my Miele vacuum rusted inside and died. My Tannoy studio monitors succumbed to the humidity as did my good headphones. Whatever that filmy rubber is that surrounds speakers, that seems to suspend them to their cases and that covers the spongy part of my headphones just crumbles in humidity. Not a problem here. Salt pours and so would sugar if I weren’t buying inexpensive, organic brown sugar which naturally clumps. I can leave that out in a bowl as there are NO SUGAR ANTS to plague my life. On the other hand, once again, I have to use body lotion, something that was non-existent in the humidity. Complexion was the only thing that was a plus about that humidity for me. Humidity plumps and moisturizes the skin in its wonderful exclusive way. You know, when someone who needs to quit drinking finally does so, one of the first recognizable perks usually comes in the form of “I don’t miss hangovers.” Using that analogy, I don’t miss ants both of the sugar variety and biting variety that were so abundant in Panama that my dog couldn’t even lay on the ground outside and had to seek concrete where there were at least fewer that would bite and sting. I don’t miss gecko droppings everywhere and I don’t miss mosquitoes nor those may fly type things that were so annoying when watching tv or writing on a computer at night. I don’t miss kamikazi beetles indoors nor any number of creatures in the insect world one must learn to live with anywhere in Panama. They’re all pretty non-existent here in Cuenca. I spoke to someone who said they had found 1 flea and 1 tick on their dog in the last year. Nice.

Maybe it’s a reaction to the heat and humidity of Panama…though I will forever believe summers in NYC are as bad as anywhere in the world due to heat trapped in concrete blowing warm air on you (if there is any semblance of a breeze) as you walk through hot city streets reeking of urine or worse on a 99 degree July day, especially during those streaks when the temp didn’t drop below 92 for a couple of weeks. I’ve said Cuenca evenings are like October nights in NYC. Daytime can be quite warm, especially under the intense equatorial sun. Remaining in shadows keeps it nice and moderate, but there are afternoons where shorts and flip flops are perfectly appropriate. Then again, there are some rainy afternoons where a thick sweater is in order given the lack of sunshine.

Speaking of rain and seasons, I was surprised to learn that the summer is 8-9 months of the year here with the winter/rainy season lasting only 2-3 months. The transitional times are some rain and mostly sun. This can make for quite the arid coastline, but up here at 8,000 feet, it equals perfect weather for me. I am loving wearing sweaters and shoes that don’t have open toes. I love not perspiring due simply to heat and humidity. I love sleeping under a comforter at night. I love water so cold it will help wake you up in the morning as you slap some on your face while waiting for the coffee.

I also love walking in town and am sorry I can’t live there due to no outdoor space for the dog. Town is a city of about 450,000 people, but the Center is the historic center with beautiful colonial architecture and cobblestone streets that appear to be large uneven slabs of rock cut to form roughly 12″ x 6″ ’tiles’. Cuenca is a very clean city from a garbage perspective, however, the exhaust fumes from the abundant traffic does leave it’s black imprint visible in puddles when it rains and the bottom of your shoes after walking. Every block seems to have at least one bakery with tempting aromas wafting out as you pass. It seems every block has a vitamin shop, a shoe and/or leather store, a jewelry store, a boutique, some sort of artisan shop or gallery and at least 2 restaurants, especially almuerzos…lunch. It’s reminds me of walking around the Village or London or Edinburgh or Amsterdam without the canals.

Lunch is huge here. Shops close for an hour/hour and one half and the almuerzo offerings are everywhere. And lunch over $2 is rare. It’s almost always $1.50-$1.75. Portions are small, but always begin with popcorn or hominy followed by your entree accompanied by rice and some token spot of vegie and then a tiny dessert. Yesterday, I had rice and chicken with marinaded green peppers and carrots, a ball of something akin to polenta and the most delicious little banana pudding topped with toasted coconut. A fresh juice or herbed water (eg. lemon and mint and sugar) is always served. So far, my favorite spot for almuerzo is a place called El Rincon Viejo at Presidente Cordova. They prepare food a bit finer than others I have tried. My hands down favorite juice has become what they call simply tomato juice which is tree tomato and doesn’t taste like the tomato we know. And of course, I can’t start a morning without a great dark roast coffee.

Leaving NY left me concerned about finding a decent expresso. Up there, I used to pay $8-$10 a pound. In Panama, there was the good Kotowa dark roast at $5.95 for 12 ounces. Here, I have found a dark roast I love called Cafe Lojano. It’s $2.00 a pound and there are two stands inside doorways in El Centro where you can buy it. One is just behind the cathedral at 10-20 Sucre y Padre Aguirre and the other is at 7-42 Bolivar y Borrero. In every travel report I had ever read about Ecuador, that you couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee was echoed over and over again. Indeed, on the coast and in Guayaquil, it was pretty bad. They ask if you want your Nescafe in water or milk. Need I say more? So I consider it fortunate that on my first visit to Cuenca I stayed in a hostal that serves Lojano. It’s a find.

Acclimating to this altitude has been no problem. I understand it’s best to take it easy the first few days as, for those who aren’t inclined to altitude sickness (which has absolutely nothing to do with one’s physical condition but rather seems a genetic predisposition), the worst you’ll experience is being tired for awhile. I’ve been walking hours each day from day one and am a smoker though I’ve tried to quit 3 times this year alone and hope that I am finally successful before this year is out. Smoking is big here. So, I have been tired, but who knows if that was due to the altitude or due to the cumulative effect of all that slow packing due to the incredible detail one must put on an inventory or suffer the consequences at Aduana in Ecuador combined with all the incredible bureaucratic details of importing a pet and then running down to Panama City with a dog and roughly 250 pounds of luggage in tow, trying to wrap up all the details necessary to conclude when leaving one country for another. Then to arrive and unexpectedly find your dog is in Aduana jail and be unprepared for that level of frustration only to finally arrive and be unable to get into your apartment because it’s the weekend so to check all of that into a hostal and then lug it all up a steep flight of steps in order to move it all again…well, I have plenty of reasons to be exhausted. So I’m indulging in early bedtimes and a rest in the afternoon.

With this move, I decided to dump about 150 cd’s and before doing so, I did download whatever I wanted from all of those onto my computer. So now, this is my stereo system down here. Right now, I sit at this table and listen to some of the 1200 or so songs I put on this hard drive. It’s pretty good about covering up the traffic noise outside. I’m on a busy street, so if you want air inside, it’s loud. If I had taken a back apartment, it wouldn’t have the lovely river view and I would have the noise of a sawmill until about 6 pm every day. No thank you. I’ll take the traffic. While I can never tune it out completely, somehow it does become something you get used to…not prefer nor even wish to continue to tolerate, but when something is temporary, that equals liveable as you know you intend for there to be an end to it.

I’m someone who has always had lots of music on hand, yet only listened to a certain few that I love passionately. Well, after about 3 years of not adding any to that short list (Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse, The Twilight Singers for the most part), I have now added Cat Power. Yeah, yeah…she’s old news and indeed, the cd I copied to my hard drive was given to me in 2003 or 2004. And now, I can’t hear enough of her. As soon as I have internet again, I need more. I only have 19 tracks. CAT POWER folks!! Listen up.

So I just got up from the computer to walk over to get a cigarette…not keeping them within reach helps cut down a bit. I looked at this beautiful bowl of fruit I bought in the market yesterday. (PHOTO) I love the market here. Granted, the sellers are a bit pushy in trying to reel you in to buy from their stall which reminds me a bit of Kunas trying to aggressively push molas on you, but I can just ignore them and keep moving without allowing them to engage me, so it’s not too much of a problem. And wow, What a selection! When compared to Panama both in availability and prices, I must say the selection here is FAR greater and the prices FAR lower.

You can get green apples for about .15 each instead of .35 each. Bananas come in all sizes and are delicious and cheap. Ecuador is the largest single exporter of bananas in the world and the province south of Guayaquil is even named after them, Oro Verde…Green Gold. I had learned to live with a lame selection (what 2 or 3 times in Panama and the better tasting imported are crazy expensive) of potatoes, but I’m thrilled with the huge variety available in the market here at about .15 cents a pound. They have potatoes I’ve never even seen, little speckled fingerlings in various marbled colors. Still no sweet potatoes, but cheap camote is pretty much the same thing. I am loving the large mandarines, 4 for $1 and really a treat refrigerated.

The market is also laid out well. Signs above, like grocery store isles, tell you what’s where. And here, markets have huge meat sections which are much cheaper than the North American nice grocery store, SuperMaxi. I like buying my fruit and veggies there, but I wouldn’t buy my meat there, only for my dog. I have had her on an exclusively raw diet for quite some time and the benefits are visible. That was growing to be quite expensive in Panama as prices rose, so this market is a true gift. I can find things for her there inexpensive and things that just did not seem to exist in Panama, green tripe for example. Now, she is picky and if something isn’t right, she simply won’t eat it even if she is hungry. That she gulfs down everything I’ve bought at the market is telling. For me, it is a bit weird to see goat heads, whole sides of beef, legs of lamb, etc just hanging there. Woman cut what you order, sometimes with an axe. For me, this temporary apartment has what is considered the best meat store in Cuenca, Bocatti, and the best seafood market, Jo-Mar, both within a block just across a bridge in an area called Tres Puentes where the major street, Solano, crosses the Yanuncay.

And surrounding the markets are stalls with whatever dry goods anyone might need: salt, pepper, beans, rice, grains, flours, spices and all in bulk displayed in the same type of large, wooden barrels I was accustomed to in NYC. A block away is the colorful outdoor flower market Cuenca is famous for with a beautiful selection of cut flowers at incredibly low prices. A dozen roses is $2. Ecuador is also one of the largest exporters of cut flowers to the US. The other large export item here is cocoa. In Supermaxi, you won’t find expensive baker’s chocolate bars, but you will find local brands of incredibly high quality at less than half the price. A couple of blocks away from the flower market, on the other side of the Cathedral next to Cuenca’s Central Plaza, Parque Calderon, there is a small stand that sells my favorite coffee, Lojano, at $2 a pound. To me, this compares well to the $5.95 12 oz bags of Kotowa Expresso or other specialty expresso beans I could buy in NYC. I like dark roast, so I’m in hog heaven with such a delicious coffee at less than half the price I’ve ever been able to buy it for before.

I also need milk in my coffee and am someone who really likes to drink milk. I only found one brand in Panama that I could drink as I don’t particularly like the taste of very rich milk, ala the UK and apparently, Latin America. I’m guessing that Nestle has plants in Ecuador as the brand is huge here and thanks to a friend, I actually have already discovered a milk I can drink that shockingly comes in a box. I never thought I would ever find a long shelf life milk that was drinkable. Back in the US, I always preferred drinking 2%. Down here, the Nestle brand boxed milk that I like for drinking is Semidescrimado, aka 2%. Oh and huge bottles of water cost .50 cents. Cuenca is one of the few places in Ecuador where tap water is drinkable.

Yes, the eating is good here and I haven’t even gone into the many great restaurants…another time for that. Last night, I got back late after visiting a friend who is moving. I had purchased a fat and tasty roasted chicken at Supermaxi and planned to have that with a salad and goat cheese mashed potatoes, but realized I did not have a hand mixer for the mashing and was too tired to cook anyway. So I had a cold plate of roast chicken, crackers with goat cheese, sliced pear and avocado drizzled with balsamic vinegar followed by a nice cup of hot Earl Gray tea. Not bad for zero effort and indicative of how the eats are here. The entire roast chicken was about $4.00 and today, I’ll be making chicken salad with sliced almonds and grapes with the 3/4 of it left over. The avocado was maybe .10 cents and perfect. The crackers are Club Socials and come in a 9 pack for around a dollar. The pear was .15 cents, goat cheese is the small soft round package of the French President brand I have eaten for years for $3.50. I also also have the President brand of French butter in my fridge.

What does cost more than Panama? Cars. It’s illegal to import used cars into Ecuador, so the market is very restricted. It’s my understanding that it costs 45-65% duty if you import a new car. So, the market here stays here. As a result, used cars are exhorbitant. Chevrolet has local factories (local as in Ecuador, not Cuenca) so are huge here. And, as usual, so is Toyota. Surprisingly, so is Ford. Gas is running around $2 a gallon with diesel about $1.10 a gallon. Insurance is not expensive, however, the real catch here is that you cannot register a car in your own name, get it insured nor get a license before you have your cedula.

For that matter, you can’t get a cell phone account, a cable TV account, nor an internet account before having your cedula either. So Ecuador will never need to address the perpetual tourist issue as you’re fairly crippled here until you have a Visa and get your cedula. Combined with the fact that on a tourist Visa, you are only allowed to be here six months a year and so cannot simply renew after being here for six months. Apparently, it’s pretty simple to renew your 90 day tourist Visa for another 90 days and during that time, getting your Visa is possible in country. And there are ways of doing that at prices that you could not believe, Visas that will give you every benefit a national enjoys including the right to legally work…for less than 6 months rent in most Panama City apartments.
Email me with your contact info, phone included, if you want more info on that.

There are also ways to get accounts set up locally before you get your cedula. Everyone needs a cell phone and most here have Porta though both Movistar and Alegro are also large local providers. However, cell companies charge you more for calls outside their network, so having a Porta phone and calling a Movistar phone can get very expensive. I understand some bids are up next year, so prices may come down, but in the meantime, a plan costs a lot less here than prepaid. One way around the cedula obstacle is to prepay a year in advance. You can get your lawyer to put it in his name and even a Porta employee offered to do it for me. Along with plans, like in the US, you get a free phone. Phones here are very expensive to purchase for the prepaid option, so if you can and are more interested in the prepaid plan, bring an unlocked 850 mhz phone with you. Most Motorolas will qualify. Then, you simply take that to a store and for a few dollars, they will install a local SIM card that usually comes with the amount of time or more that it costs you for the SIM card installation. Still, plans are the better deal. EG. 192 minutes a month will run about $31 a month and that does include a new phone. Contracts are for 1 year. With the prepaid options you may be charged .39 cents per minute so your prepaid cards empty quickly and promotions run only about twice a month and then only 50% more than you pay for…like buy $10 and get $15.

Though I can’t say I’ve done any comparison shopping, I was warned that sheets here are crazy expensive and not necessarily of the right size or quality relative to the price. I took experience at its word and brought new packages of sheets with me as that is one thing you can buy in Panama quite inexpensively relative to the quality. (Go to Collins on Via Espana if you’re in Panama City!!) The same could be true of towels, but I’ve waited anyway as the price is only a couple of dollars more here and my luggage space was more valuable to me. I have found local mattresses tend to run about $120-$150 for a queen size that is pretty comfy.

For household accuetrement and definitely for any household plastic needs, go to huge Coral in the Mall del Rio. This is about as close as you’ll get to a Walmart in Cuenca. They also have a huge grocery store on the first floor that is quite good for many things. Supermaxi is the more expensive, though ironically, I found some nice bath towels in Supermaxi for less than I could find them in Coral. Kitchen towels are less in Coral for the same quality. Anyway, their selection of plastic storage items, garbage cans, etc is massive and they also have quite a nice selection of various stainless steel items for the kitchen or table. I’m still looking around for plates, glasses and cookware. Near Parque Calderon in El Centro is an amazing ceramics store, another huge item around here with both low prices and incredible workmanship is ceramics. Cuenca is known for it’s ceramics and works in iron.

Cuenca is also known as the cultural center of Ecuador and while I have visited a few museums before, I’m yet to make it to the Museum of Modern Art. So, I’ll save the cultural fun for later as right now, I still need to get a few things for the ‘house’ to be comfortable. I’ll share my process with you as it unfolds and first things first, I need a broom, some Lysol Spray, batteries, etc…boring

Find and LISTEN TO CAT POWER! Have a nice meal. Thank the Universe for something in your life you are grateful for. Smile at a stranger. Learn a new word in Spanish. If a doubt or fear arises, change the channel. Let go of something ugly and old. Don’t let what you know shortchange what you can learn.