Sunday 24 June 2012

Smiles.............

Today has been another delightful day.

We slept in till 8:30 and then my 2 friends , Kris and Gina, and I walked up town and had breakfast together. yummy banana Pancakes at the San Sebas cafe.
then a leisurely stroll that took us thru a lovely neighbourhood that I haven't been in yet. I am going to have to break down and replace my camera..............

I was just looking at the calender and was shocked to see that we have only been here here for 9 weeks. It feels so natural to call Cuenca home.

I am taking Spanish classes. OMG! My brain is so rusty...........but, I am surprised that I am starting to get an "ear" for the language and can actually pick out some words in conversations that I hear.
The classes we have chosen to take are being taught by instructors that are English speakers with Spanish as a second language. I think this was a good choice for us to start with.
I have 2 more weeks in the class I am taking, and then Doug and I are going to take a Spanish immersion class, taught by local instructors.

We have found a dentist that we like a lot.
His office is very modern and I feel very confident in his abilities.
On Monday, in less than 10 days from his first visit, Doug will have new dentures. The cost was 1/3 of what we would have paid in Canada.
.............................................and, I am going to get the smile that I have been waiting 30 years for
 It is going to be a bit of a drawn out process, but I am so looking forward to the final results.
I am getting 4 implants, 9 crowns, and 7 veneers...........but, first, I have to wear a torture device for the next three months to realign the joints in my jaw and open up my profile. I was born without many of my permanent teeth, and have been working with baby teeth and missing teeth  all my life. I guess a year to correct what has been  going wrong for 40 years, isn't to bad........
This entire process is going to cost less then what the 4 implants would have cost in Canada.

We continue our daily explorations of the city.
We have our favorite markets and grocery stores.
We found a local supermarket called Mega Tienda de Sur that is very much an Ecuadorian supermarket.
You definately save money buying local.
The Super Maxi grocery stores offer more imported items and are more like the stores at home.
There are a few items we splurge on just because they are familiar to us............Kraft mayonaise...Hunts ketchup.....Heinze BBQ......
There are a few things I miss, sweet pickles and cottage cheese, to name a couple.
The availabilty of fresh food kind of makes up for the things we can't find, but I am compiling a list of things that I want from home.
I am getting antsy to start trying to bake with local products, using a propane stove, but that will have to wait untill we get moved into our new apartment. The place we are in now is adequate, but the kitchen is not stocked for baking or cooking more then basic meals. We have two trunks packed and waiting for shipment to us from Canada, and I am glad that I packed the kitchen stuff I did.
We came here with four suitcases, and if I had it to do over, I would have come with less clothes and more kitchen items..........

The internet connection in the place we are in continues to be a pain. It spends more time down then up and running. It is a very basic connection, and you get what you pay for.
We have been investigating the different options available to us when we move into the new place. We will spend more then we thought we would have to, but the internet is our connection to family and friends back home, so it is important to have a good connection.

The climate continues to be quite agreeable. We have had  a bit of overcast skies, but the sun comes out everyday. Locals find it cold, but we find it very agreeable. We have had temps as low as 60, but most days we are in short sleeves.

I am staring to ramble............. it must be siesta time.

Adios para ahora.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz





















3 comments:

  1. So I need implants, too. How much for them alone?

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  2. So great to you you are feeling settlled in. I read your whole blog about a month ago. My husband and I toured from Guayaquil to Manta a few weeks ago. Cuenca sounds like a great city but we are from Seattle and are looking for sun and the beach so it looks like Manta may be the place for us.
    Lori Baker

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  3. We're in the process of sorting and packing in preparation for our August move. Am very interested in the items you wished you would have packed. I was thinking of bringing a blender/food processor--maybe the Ninja brand and an electric blanket. What do you recommend? Thanks so much for posting such a wonderful blog. We really enjoy the news!
    Shannon

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