THREE WHOLE YEARS

 YEP----- today marks exactly three years ago we ventured beyond the safe confines of our home in Tucson and risked starting our new life in the foreign country of Ecuador. Looking back I can now wonder " Why did we not do this sooner. " I could not be happier. I could not have, at the time, foreseen the positive changes that awaited us in this beautiful, friendly , welcoming country.
Now , I must digress into why I have not been blogging for awhile.
Last summer, we had a wonderful experience of travelling to a near-by beach resort with our new found friends, an Ecuadorian family. We planned a week long stay on the beach about a 4 hour bus ride from Cuenca. Upon arrival at the bus terminal in Machala I was rudely introduced to the seamy side of life here.
As we exited the bus and rounded up our suitcases, I became uncomfortable wearing my jacket as it was very humid and hot. I removed my back pack and stripped off my jacket and placed it in my back pack. I then placed my back pack on top of all our suitcases. There were 4 of us standing around, "guarding " our belongings. Just then a man said" Are these your keys" pointing to a set on the ground. As we all shifted our attention to the keys, his accomplice reached in and took my back pack. I lost my high end binoculars, my expensive camera with extra zoom lens, my e-book for downloading books to read, and to me, my valuable bird books with all my notes about bird sightings. I was devastated to say the least.However, since we were just beginning our trip and not wanting to spoil anyone's vacation, I sucked it up and bravely went on. It wasn't until I returned home did I really acknowledge my loss and feel the pain.
I am over it now.  I have replaced my binoculars and camera and have usurped Sharyl's e-book as mine. The loss of my irreplaceable bird books is still a painful reminder of this shocking and devastating event.
That is the big reason for this long hiatus from new posts. I was for a long time not able to take any pictures to illustrate any of my posts until I replaced my camera. I needed my binoculars first.
So that sad story is now well in the past. I do not harbor any hard feeling about Ecuador because of this difficult situation. It could have happened anywhere, and has. Now I just want to celebrate my new and continuing life in Ecuador. Stay tuned---

OUR NEWEST ENDEAVOR

Sharyl and I have ventured into the B&B business, joining AirBNB as hosts. Sharyl has always wanted to open our home as a B&B, and now that dream has come true.
We did some redecorating, and proceeded to go through the licensing process, still pending, and started advertising

 These are the three rooms we offer. All with queen beds  Come visit!!

 I thought we would attract mostly gringos, however so far most have been Ecuadorians, We have had 4 groups so far and each group has been so special. What a perfectly wonderful way to interact with folks here. The most interesting has been two young couples from Columbia, arriving on motorcycles.The first night, they did venture out to sightsee and eat, but the following evenings they just wanted to sit and converse with us for several hours. We learned so much about their lives in Columbia. Very interesting.
Other couples have been from Holland, another from the US travelling throughout South America. This couple stayed for 5 days to go hiking with Stan, AND they did most of the cooking while they were here. How special was that. We liked them the moment we opened our door to greet them.
Then a gentleman, has arrived for two weeks while he finds a permanent place to live. We have been helping him find the resources he needs to locate and settle into his new country.
We also have a young woman, who is a professional musician  staying with us for 6 months as she has been offered a teaching job at the close-by University.
So , we have now found another very special way to become more involved with the people here, and enhance our enjoyment of ECUADOR. How did we get so lucky!!!!!