"And Then Along Comes Mary"

Once upon a time, there were blogs about Ecuador. If you were interested, you'd have to check each one for new posts, which, back in the day, wasn't too difficult, because there were not so many of us. "And then, along comes Mary" and our lives were simplified. She checked all the blogs, did a synopsis of each, of course adding her own humor to it; additionally, she saved us time.

Mary's dream of visiting Ecuador finally came true last week when she arrived in Guayaquil. She's the guest of Chuck and Nancy and is on cloud nine. Although we don't usually blog on dinners at our house, but since it was MARY, I thought I would. The Watson's and Mary came for dinner last night, along with Dale and Joan.
Friday, Mary is going to be at the California Kitchen from 1-5PM. She is looking forward to meeting as many people as possible. So if you're in town and available, come by and say "hello".

Mary, as a blogger, thank you for all that you do.

Dreams do come true.

Until next time,
Mick and Kathy

A Girls' Night Out

Periodically the weavers get together for coffee. The most recent night out for the girls was last week at Gourmand Cafe. Sylvia did a great job accommodating all of us. There were 21 in attendance. Here are a few pictures; of course, the batteries were dying in the camera. So they're limited.

Last weekend, there were still lots of parades, in addition to the large festival at the stadium honoring El Presidente. It was quite a feat to get home. Here are some of the pictures taken at the Coffee Tree while waiting for one of the parades to begin.

Until next time,
Mick and Kathy

And They're Back!

After a number of weeks back in Connecticut, Dale and Joan returned to Cuenca on Wednesday. We picked them up at the van service office.

We're very happy to have them back. Dale has recovered from the heart problem and is doing well.
They brought us a few goodies. One of the few things that I miss from the US is Lance cheese crackers.

Mick's list is a little more extensive and includes one of his favorites, Beefaroni. He indulged in it for lunch today.

Yesterday, we realized after over a year that Lina did not own a television. Mick remembered seeing one listed on Gringo Tree. We surprised her with it today. Here she is with a couple of boys from her building helping her unloaded it. I called this evening and she said that the boys were thrilled.
Yesterday, we had to run by Supermaxi at El Vergel. As we turned in, I noticed all the wires. This should be some sort of code violation. Oh, well.

All is well in Cuenca.

Until next time,

Mick and Kathy

Mick and Kathy

Where's Bob?

The Cerwins have been back in Cuenca for more than a month, having moved into their apartment just in time for Elaine's birthday. With this being Elaine's first celebration in Cuenca, Bob wanted to make it memorable. El Jardin was filled with their friends on Monday evening. The hat has made it full circle and is now back with its originators. Here's the Birthday Girl sporting the hat.

George and Carol

Hank and Sherry

Mary and Ron

Kat and Alex

Kathleen and Val

The Arias Family: Blanca (Madre), Fabian, Nico (Padre), Carlos and Bertha

Will, Gary, and Alberto

Reshma, Nick, and Rick

Mick

Miguel and Ruth Fabian and SoniaMilton and Ruthie
Luis and Robert brought the cake.
It was a great party! There was lot's of mingling and conversation. I was extremely intent on getting everyone's picture. When I downloaded the pictures and viewed them, "where's Bob?" I had pictures of everyone, EXCEPT BOB! The plan was to get a great picture of Bob and Elaine together; however, they were usually across the room from each other. To Bob, my sincere apologies. I hope someone else has a photo of the two of you together.

Anyway, to jog everyone's memory, here's a picture of Bob and he WAS at the party.

Many more happy birthdays to you Elaine!

Until next time,

Mick and Kathy

Feliz Año!

For days there have been parades and fireworks. In attempting to go to el centro on New Year's Eve, multiple detours had to be made in order to get to San Sebastian, where there was another parade gearing up. Here's Mick, Linda, and the other Larry with ringside seats.

San Sebas is a new eatery in town located at San Sebastian.
The parades are usually led by an angel and the wise men.

The child had to be prepared for the Nativity.

There were musicians of all ages.

This float included the domes of the Cathedral.

Roman soldiers

This one must have been sponsored by NBC.

Nikolas has been tormented for days with the fireworks. The traditional fireworks,
los cohetes, which means "rockets", are most disturbing. The result is an extremely loud "BOOM". He's usually with us, but at this time of year, that's little consolation. As night approaches, the noise increases.

For New Year's Eve, we attended the Schunk's party. Greeting guests was Año Viejo.

The hostess, Karen

Deborah and Rhonda

Mick, Linda, Nikolas, and me

In that we're not late night people, we were home before midnight. We watched the spectactular fireworks display that lit up the city from our apartment. The booms finally subsided around 1AM, only to begin again at daybreak.

In addition to the New Year, January 1 is also our wedding anniversary. Today is number 29. Despite his brilliance, Mick has yet to figure out how to get rid of me. This is for the duration.

Happy 2012!

Until next time,

Mick and Kathy