What a week!!!!

Time to get caught up.  This is a collection of five days worth of posts.  It has been a busy week with little time or energy left for doing the blog.   Here we go.

Got our new bed

Monday, October 11

This morning we went to the police station in a taxi so Di could file her complaint.  No go.  The person we needed to see was not there.  We took a taxi to Sukasa at Mall Los Americas.

While at Sukasa we bought a kitchen knife set, every kitchen utensil imaginable, a dish drainer, drinking glasses and we checked sizes and prices for bedding and appliances.  Juan called and said he would pick us up at the condo at 1 PM.  Went to the condo by taxi and put things away while we waited for Juan.

Juan picked us up and took us back to the police station to see if we could do this report Di needed to do and still no go, they told us they needed more paperwork from the court.  Juan took us to Almacen De Plasticos.  It is, along with many other things, a bedding store.  We went there to buy a box spring and mattress.  As is normal, it was not open because it was lunch and family time and would not be opened till 3PM.  Welcome to South America.  We decided since all of us were hungry we would take Juan to lunch at a place he wanted to introduced to us.  We went to Grill Camperam at Av Doce De Octubre near the Rio Yanuncay.  Di and I had the best pork ribs we had ever had.  Juan had chicken soup that I could swear had chicken feet floating around in it.  I didn’t ask.  He had a chicken dinner that looked very good.  What a meal.  We fed all three of us including drinks for $17 and I had to bring half of my ribs home.  I couldn’t eat it all.  We went back to the bedding store and bought our bed.  The cost for a pillow top firm mattress and box spring was a bit less than we would have expected to pay in the states.

Juan brought us back to the condo and dropped us off.  The bed was delivered within an hour.  We set it up.  Then we went back to Ortorongo apartments and crashed for the evening.  And so ends another day in our adventure.

Appliances and the Internet

Tuesday, October 12

We went to Mall del Rio by bus and bought our bedding for the new bed.  We bought a set of sheets, blanket, two pillows and a comforter.  We took a taxi back to the new condo.  When we made the bed the comforter was too small.  We decided to deal with it later since Juan was picking us up to go buy appliances.

Juan picked us up at 1 PM at the condo.  We went to Supermaxi at El Vergel to get our Supermaxi discount card because the Supermaxi card would save us hundreds of dollars on our appliance purchases at Sukasa.  Without Juan we could have never filled out the paperwork necessary to get this card in a timely manner.  Then we went to Sukasa and bought a GE side by side refrigerator with ice maker, a Mabe gas range with all the bells and whistles including an in oven rotisserie and a center burner with griddle and we bought a Frigidaire gas laundry center.  The prices were right at what they would be in the U.S.  We could have bought much cheaper and smaller appliances but I guess we just haven’t gotten rid of that U.S. entitlement mentality yet.  We wanted the best we could put into the space we had and Di had a plan.  The delivery was set for Thursday.

Juan then took us to PuntONet.  There we signed up for and paid in advance our internet service.  We got 1,100 kbps service for about $39 per month.  They have to install it and that is scheduled for Saturday or Monday depending on how much “posible manana”  time is thrown in.

Juan dropped us off at our Ortorongo apartment and we crashed.  And so ended another day in our adventure.

Floors and more floors

Wednesday, October 13

We went to Mall del Rio to buy groceries and exchange the comforter that was too small for our bed.  We also had to buy more cleaning supplies especially for the floors.  While we were there I bought a y-fitting to put on the washer cold water faucet so that we could hook up the refrigerator ice maker and the washer cold water.  We took a taxi back to our Ortorango apartment.

Di was so wore out when we got back that she decided to take a siesta.

While she slept I walked over to the condo with the new comforter and the y-adapter.  I made the bed and the new comforter fit perfect.

Now it was time to do the floors.  I waxed the hall floor and while it dried I put the first coat of wax on the kitchen tile floors.  Once everything was dry I waxed all the floors in the condo for the second time.  During all this I determined that we had approximately 3,000 sq feet of floors.  No wonder I was so tired.

I went back to our Ortorongo apartment and crashed.  And so ended another day in our adventure.

Appliance delivery

Thursday, October 14

Juan called us in the morning and told us that the appliances would be delivered at 10AM.  We went to the condo about 9:30.  What a zoo that turned out to be.  Juan sent his wife and a young neighbor to help.  Juan was busy with another customer.  If not for Juan’s wife and neighbor we still would not have appliances delivered.  Sukasa sent two delivery men who managed to get the refrigerator up five flights of stairs with a lot of help from Juan’s wife and neighbor and the building guard.  That in itself was a monster task. 

The refrigerator would not fit in the elevator and the delivery people had no idea how to follow instructions on the proper removal of the doors so that it would fit in the elevator.  I don’t speak the language so I was no help at all.  To make things even worse the elevator was broke and was being repaired.  It was down for two hours.  So the Sukasa delivery men simply dropped the laundry center and stove in the lobby and disappeared after they got the refrigerator up the stairs.  When the elevator was working again, Juan’s wife and the neighbor brought them up in the elevator.  We unboxed everything and put them in place.

Now the big problem was to get them hooked up.  If you want the warranty to be good you have to have them hooked up by a “professional technician”.  Right!  We thought that Sukasa would hook them up when they were delivered but obviously not.  Then we discover that we have to pay a contractor supplied by Sukasa to hook them up and we have to pay for any materials that will be required.  I researched the dryer and found out that it takes an LP gas converter kit to use it on LP gas here.  What a pain.  I sure hope that the installers know that but I doubt it.  Di made a major decision to change the position of the laundry center.  It will be more difficult to plumb but the location is so much better than I had planned.  I was going to do it myself but I had no tools.

I went to Mall Del Rio and bought tools.  Juan called me and he picked me up at the mall.  He and I came back here to discuss the need for Sukasa to get back here asap to get these appliances hooked up.  We decided it wasn’t a good idea for me to do it.  So much for needing the new tools I bought.  Well maybe I will use them sometime later.  Juan called Sukasa and made the arrangements.  Maybe by Monday if we are lucky we will get them hooked up.  We are in the “posible manana” mode again.

Juan dropped me back at our Ortorongo apartment and I crashed.  And so ended another day in our adventure.

Catch up on the Blog

Friday, October 15, 2010

We went to the condo this morning for nothing but being here because of the view and the condo is warmer and less damp than the apartment at Ortorongo and it is home.  We spent some time planning for the future furniture in the great room.  I spent most of my time typing in the computer to get caught up on the blog.  That way when we went back to our Ortorongo apartment I could jump on the internet and post the new blog entries.

We went back to Ortorongo and I posted a couple of blog entries.  Then we decided to go to dinner at California Kitchen for their weekend special.  What a meal.  George, Carol, Jim and Susie outdid themselves again.  I repeat.  What a meal.  This was their advertisement sent out by e-mail.

SURF & TURF - SHRIMP SCAMPI & MEDALLIONS OF BEEF (Lomo Fino) WITH A BERNAISE SAUCE.  WHIPPED GARLIC POTATOES & SPINACH GRATIN.  CHOICE OF A CUP OF SOUP (Fresh Green Pea Soup - "VEGETARIAN") OR A DINNER SALAD (Homemade Roquefort Dressing Available).  CHOICE OF DESSERT (NY Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse Walnut Pie, Mora Cobbler a la mode, Apple Cobbler a la mode).  CHOICE OF NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE FOR $9.95 


This is a great description of what they served and it got our attention.  The only problem with this e-mail is it didn't do the actual dining experience any favors.  The food was ten times better than the description.  This is five star restaurant food and those in Cuenca who missed it missed a good one.

We got George to take these photos.

And so ends another day in our adventure.