Hello everyone..... sorry for the long delay in keeping in touch. It's just that there has been so much going on, and when we do have time, it's time to refresh the brain not drain it ... more. And the thing is, there is just not the same brain matter that there used to be, so it needs to be conserved for writing about the unusual that happens, when it happens. That being said this experience is worth writing about.
As you may know from the last blog in ..... June? No, it cant be that long ago can it. Anyway as you know we started the process for the residency in June and the friends that were helping us, were able to get the paperwork in, just under the gun.... divine intervention for sure.... more of that was to come.
Last week we decided to go to Quito to finish the process of getting the residency. The 1st time you get the approval for the residency, to obtain your "Cedula" it's a must, to go to Quito for the process to be completed. That was the final step, after getting some of the paperwork completed here in Cuenca and receiving the "Censo" ..... (yes it's a "tramite" like everything here). That being said we decided to get some pages added to our passport while there and look for a car. Yes we finally got a car after almost being in 2 accidents while in taxis, in 1 week, we had enough! So we got something big, that way if we are hit we should have a bit more protection then the other guy.... :-)
While in Quito we decided to go and try to see the vehicle we went there for, and of course it was out at the shop and would not be back for several days .... we checked day after day and finally when the car came back it was not in good condition, so we decided to look elsewhere. More on that later.
Next stop ... US Embassy for the Passport paperwork, as it turned out they couldn't attend to us that day, so we decided to call it a day and head for the main street to catch a taxi ..... one passed, then another and another and another, none of them with passengers.... finally one stopped. And as is our custom we struck up a conversation with the driver... finally he asked what was our purpose of being in Ecuador ... we explained the why, letting him know that we are Jehovah's Witnesses and there is a great need here, due to the tremendous growth taking place. He says "you are Jehovahs Witnesses"? Yes we are JW's.... "you two are JW's"? .... Si somos, "you and your wife are testigos de Jehová"? ..... yes, yes we are JW's ..... then he reaches down and grabs a Watchtower magazine.... at that point I think he is someone that has some contact with the Witnesses .... ok so I'm a bit dense. But finally after asking him about 2 times, he said he was a brother..... in fact an elder in the congregation he attends. Nice, as he turned out to be our taxista for the rest of our stay. After getting all the paperworks done (passport and cedula) we were ready to buy a car! 2 things done in two days we are on a roll baby!!!!!!
Friday we are off to Sangolqui to buy a car ..... Where's that?.... somewhere in Ecuador and somewhere near Quito .... well relatively .... when we arrive the car seems to be a cream puff .... turns out to be a vehicle that a military officer was the owner of, and he maintained it per the schedule from the manufacturer..... We let the owner of the used car lot know we are interested and struck a deal and let him know that we are planning on driving back to Cuenca "tomorrow".... of course we are in Ecuador, so that means we are probably not going home the next day.... in fact he says the process can't be competed until Tuesday ...... "Tuesday .... why so long"? No reason, just the way it is..... GREAT we think ... finally the taxista (hermano) says even if we go to all the places that need to be gone to, to get the process completed ..... "Oh if that's the case then probably we can get it done" the car lot owner says ..... 5 hours later.... we are the owners of a 07 Hyundai Terracan ..... Not available it the USA ..... needless to say we are so exhausted from 3 days of running around, we decide to head back to the hotel... and by 7PM are in bed and asleep, ready for the "6 hour" trip tomorrow (saturday)....
In the morning we get off like a heard of turtles .... google map shows the most direct route, but also the slowest as it turns out, because it takes you through the city and alllllllll the traffic. 1 1/2 hours later we are just leaving the city, onto the Pan American highway.... which has parts that are like freeways in the US, but then other parts that are two lanes and there is traffic ..... a few other desvias (wrong turns) and we land in Riobamba about 5 hours after we leave Quito ..... we should have been there 2 hours ago..... We stop to go the bathroom and eat and we are off again..... about 2 hours up the road Carol goes to look for her purse to get something, and she says to me that she left her purse behind ..... no problem I say we will call the hotel and they can send it to us.... no I left it in the bathroom, in Riobamba ..... oooooooh that's not good.... No point in turning back after driving for 2 hours, as here you know it not going to be there ..... it's gone and we will never see it again.... all her stuff, all the stuff we just finished getting completed is gone. She oviously is in tears and there is no consoling her... telling her that all is fine and we will just start the process all over again ..... that did not help .... finally we got home after 10 1/2 hours of travel, ...... as we hit 125 miles of THICK fog on a two way mountain highway, and not able to see more then 25 feet ahead at times, we could drive no more the 20 miles an hour. There where semi trucks and they of course would not pull to the side of the highway so you could pass safely... of course that didn't stop the crazy Ecuadorians. they passed like there was no fog .... as a result the was a head on and it looked like a fatality as we passed, and then down the road, there was a bus that decided to pass and it almost collided with another bus... the innocent bus driver was visibly mad when he passed us. Finally we got out of the fog and got home, safe and TIRED. Needless to say Carol did not have a good night as all she could think about was that she lost everything we had work so hard to get.
Next day I decided to try and see if anyone at the food court maybe had found it and turned it in... Yeah I know it was a pipe dream, but nothing ventured nothing gained, it was worth a shot..... So I started with the ice cream chain, that had a location at the food court .... I look up on the internet the phone number and find one for the owners ... NICE, immediate help!... When I call, a 3 year old answers the phone and of course I ask for her Dad and she tells me he's not there and that he's out of the house playing futbol ....... "how about your mom'? ..... and then she asks me who is calling and then proceeds to tell me all kinds of kid stuff.... anyway 3 minutes later mom gets on the phone and of course she tells me it's Sunday and her day off and that she can't help me until tomorrow, maybe ..... she had no compassion even for another woman who lost her purse .... go figure!
Next I get this crazy idea to check the JW web site for downloads and find a congregation in Riobamba, a sister answers the phone and of course Im sure she hears my gringito accent and warms right up to me... (sometimes it works in our favor).... finally I explain to her what has happened and she tells me she will go down to the food court and investigate and call me back in 20 minutes...... 20 minutes later she calls and lets me know she didnt find anyone who knows anything ... but she will return on Monday and take time off work, to go and talk to the administradora of the building, then will call me back at 9:30 am.
Monday 9:35 no call... so I call her, as we have to start what is called a "denucia" to start to recover all of Carols stuff, seeing that it wont be found (me of little faith).... I call the sister and her husband answers, he says she could not get off work, but he would be going to see if the purse was found, sometime during the morning..... AGAIN FAT CHANCE of finding it .... or so I thought.
We take off toward town, and on the way, one of our neighbors (Americano) we have talked many times, asks us a question about why JW's where thrown into concentration camps in Germany in WW II .... so we explain, and then he proceeds to ask one question after another and all the time we are thinking we need to file the denuncia .... but at the same time, we are thinking that is why we are here, to share the truth, and when someone asks about what the bible teaches, we have to speak.... whether we think it's a good time or not.... Well after an hour he says to us, that we probably need to get going to file the denuncia ... so off we go and about 30 minutes later we find the place to file... only thing is, this is just the first stop of the 'Process" to file the stupid thing..... About 15 minutes into the 1st step ... my cell rings and it's the sister.... "I have the purse hermano" ... "really"? ..... (what an idiot) "and everything is in it brother" .... everything? ...."everything"! Carol starts to cry and I follow her lead.... It's just that these things dont happen here ..... On our street, since moving to our apartment I have found remnants of 3 purses and scraps of ID and assorted stuff from what has been stolen.... 99.99999 % of the time here, when you loose it, you can kiss it gooooooood bye.
Interestingly Carol had been praying to Jehovah, and mentioned many times that she knew he could recover it, but was not obligated to do so, but if he would, somehow help us to recover it how grateful she would be.... Well, he answered her prayers..... we are so grateful, as the process to start everything over again is to start from the beginning as the new passport meant a new passport number and a whole new process to get everything from the Ecuadorian government.
Interesting thing .... had the americano not stopped to talk to us we would have by that time have filed the denuncia, and even the fact that we found the purse, would have had to start the whole process over... looks like Jehovah even put the person in our way, to delay our arrival to the office to file the denuncia. You think Jehovah is looking after us? WE DO!
Next process? Get the car registered in our name and title put into our name...... Don harding sent me a list of the steps to get this fiasco completed ..... 6-8 steps, at 4 different places. Well I can kiss this week goodbye. Thank goodness we dont have the other stuff to do.
Our love to you all.
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