Questions from readers

This morning I will answer some questions I've received from readers. Many questions refer to other Americans or Expats; An expatriate (sometimes shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than that of the person's upbringing. The word comes from the Latin terms ex ("out of") and patria ("country, fatherland"). Here in South America they call us Gringos, and because the locals know we have more money than they do, sometimes will charge us more, they call this "gringo tax". When one becomes aware of this, they know to haggle price BEFORE services are rendered, such as for a taxi or labor. It doesn't happen so much for food, not at restaurants, but maybe at the street vendors. You just need to remember from one to the next how much you paid, and if the price seems high, tell them " it's too much" and apparently they'll come down. When I'm walking we will get to do more of this, so far all our eating out has been with our guides.

Speaking of guides, our Quito driver, Jose called last night to check on us, that was nice. And Wolf is making me a doctor appointment, someone he went to when he had broken bones, said the price would be $30-50, including X-rays. Wolf also said the house across the street from him on the hill is for rent, we'll go see it, and find out how much. Just from the little we've seen of Crucita, we've decided we'd like to stay after our rental contract here is up. Which reminds me, I'll post a map, it's been awhile.

Ecuador has Provinces, instead of States. We are in Manabi province, Esmeraldes is the Northern coastal province, and Guayas is the coastal province just to the south of us. But we think with the proximity of Manta (192,000 pop) and Porto Viejo (300,000 pop) this is a pretty good place to be, now it just depends on the weather, but so far it's been glorious! Crucita has approx 15,000 population, of course that doesn't count chickens or dogs.

When in Quito, fellow travelers at breakfast said they had just come from Cuenca (600,000 pop) the third largest city, and said it was full of expats. (Guayaquil 2.2 million pop and Quito 1.6 million pop) I think the reason they gravitate to the larger cities is for the similarities to the States. They probably are not waking up to roosters like we are, or having the milk man walk down the road selling out of his 5 gallon bucket. The roads are all paved, or at least cobble stone, and the choices for eating and shopping are huge in comparison. But that is one of the reasons we chose this place, was how different from the States it is. We were looking for a different life, and boy have we found it! 

The peritos, or doggies (as Wolf calls them) are enjoying themselves. Shadrach loves a nap in the hammock, and Veronica is enjoying the warm weather. 

One last item, (this post has gotten long) we are on the west coast, but in the Eastern time zone. Of course they are not on Daylight saving time, so it's one hour different this time of year. So, there you have it. I'm posting some links to some blogs you might enjoy, because of our young age, We won't encounter all the things that are important to some of you, but I will post my medical experiences as they happen with the broken ankle. 

http://johnandmarylivingitupinecuador.wordpress.com/author/johnandmarylivingitupinecuador/

http://clarkeandbrenda.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00:00:00-06:00&max-results=50

http://nanlevin.wordpress.com/2014/06/03/cafe-de-pacoche/

Hope these work, I'm such a novice at cut/pasting. Buenos Dias!