SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT

29 de Mayo

OK so it’s been what...five days since my last Blog? 

Well the reason for that was because …nothing of any reportable consequence had happened.

OK...almost as the other day yours truly “finally” purchased the “three-in-one” printer that I was planning on buying for sooo long. This by the way…was due to Gustavo (landlord) driving me to his friends store and getting me a very good price. To give you an idea…I probably saved ”minimum” twenty bucks” and probably less than buying in the states. This by the way is highly unusual as... electronics and other such items tend to cost more here in Ecuador do to shipping and importation taxes.

Then came the start of the weekend…as in last night…Friday.

Now...”NO”…I don’t want to send any false images. It was nothing earth shaking…but I did get out for awhile.

Once again…I ended up going to Zoe’s Bar for the Expat “gathering”. At least I had another chance of interacting with mostly Americano Norte’s along with a few Cuencanos. It was nothing special but…hey I was inter-mingling with like-minded people and got a chance to be out of the house…even if it was for just a few hours.

Of course…once I left Zoe’s it was…”hello”…once again “raining”!

It seems that it never rains except when I go to Zoe’s and then I need to find a taxi home.

Cuenca…like any other city when it rains…becomes an adventure unto itself when it means finding a cab. The “flip-side” of this…is when one “does indeed” find a cab it  usually includes “inflated prices” [because of the weather]. Anyway...after about five or so minutes luckily I found “El Taxi” and…yes...once again I got lucky as the fare was the same as usual…Un  Dolar Cincuenta ($1.50).

So...that was my Friday night (exciting yes?). However…the other day Gustavo [my landlord and fast become a true friend] asked me if I wanted to join him and…go with him to his Tennis practice.

Now for those of you who know me…you know how big a sports fan I truly am (LOL).

Anyway I decided to take Gustavo up on his offer (as in…it’s better than having “nothing” to do). Come today (Saturday) and at 9:30 am …we were on our way to “who knows where”!  

Well…”who knows where” turned out to be a Real First Class Sports center someplace (but still considered the city) west of Cuenca City proper and…took us about 20 minutes by car to get there. The unexpected residual of this trip was that I was able to experience some beautiful mountainous scenery along with crisp fresh air. J 

OK…back to the “sports and/or escapade” report…

Now originally Gustavo said we would most likely be back at 1 pm.

However...I sort of forgot about the typical Ecuadorian sense of time…

as like it’s a “very vague kind of suggestion”. J

Now please be aware of the time frame here! It’s morning!

With this in mind…like many sports type camaraderie…after the game it’s time for the losers to buy beer. Gustavo and his partner were “not” the losers. So off we all went to “collect”! Now this wasn’t bad as it was (I’m guessing here) sort of near or around noontime. Anyway… after a suitable time Gustavo was off to yet another game…this time with a paraplegic. FYI…I later found out this gentleman is considered a Professional Handicapped Tennis Star.

As this whole mornings’ events were new too me…it was to say the least…entertaining and enjoyable. But…guess what…it wasn’t over just yet. You guessed it…time for more beer! Anyway...I’m making it sound worse than it was. It was just unexpected. Actually I had a really nice time and got to meet many of Gustavos’ friends…along with one…Javier…who as it turned out spoke English very well. Apparently… Javier lived in and around Miami for twenty years. And get this…in the town he lives in (about a half hours drive from Cuenca)…the town’s folk call him “Gringo” J

So… now I’m back home and doing laundry. 

Can you stand the excitement? J

Now I had planned on going out later this afternoon (like for dinner) to the new previously mentioned restaurant "California Kitchen"…as they are having a Memorial Day Dinner special.

However…as of now that plan is entangled in a mental “quagmire”…

that is all mine. 

This is do to the fact that at this point in time (it’s just about 4:45pm) and…

[a] I have ZERO appetite….[b] don’t know if I want to make the trek into town plus… 

I’m being lazy in general (perhaps it’s all the beers I forced to drink ) ;)

What happens next? 

Time will tell and I will keep you all abreast of this headline breaking news :)

So for now Me Amigo's...Hasta Luego ;)