Happy 25th Anniversary Week!

It's been a week of celebrating and many other events.  On our anniversary (Tuesday) we got the call from our attorney that our passports with the permanent residence visas applied were back from Quito!  The process has taken since November 30th but at last we officially have permission to live here as retirees, sort of like a Green Card in the USA.  The next step is to get our censo, which is a national ID card, and essential for re-entry when traveling out of the country.  We get the censo on Tuesday and then the following week we fly to Quito for the cedula.  That number is used for ID for all purchases and also for seniors, like Jack, to receive a refund of the some of the tax charged on purchases. There is a 12% sales tax on many items here.

Our Anniversary dinner was wonderful.  We dined almost by ourselves at the Mansion Alcazar in the Casa Alonso a gourmet restaurant. 



Fountain in the center of the hotel portion of Mansion Alcazar

 

Claudia at dinner



Jack at dinner






Wonderful Pork Tenderloin



Complimentary dessert from the Chef for our Anniversary

Celebrations continued today with Noshy, Alfredo, and kids over for dinner and they brought a fabulous fruit arrangement which we all enjoyed.

Celebrations will continue next week with dinner invitations for other friends, but I guess you only celebrate 25 years once!  One thing Jack promised me when we got married was it would never be dull, and he has kept that promise!

In case you noticed the background is changed.  I just got bored with the other one.  One of these days I will get a great Cuenca picture and use it.

A little too much excitement this week included Iggy jumping off an exam table and spraining his hind right-leg.  He was told he is 10 pounds overweight and to get the weight off now.  So he is on a strict diet and hobbling around on three legs, but he should be better soon and I will start taking him on some of my walking travels to help expedite the weight loss.

Tomorrow begins Holy Week which is very special here.  There were already parades today, one in front of our house, but we were busy trying to get a humming bird out of our garage before it wore its self out and I did not get a picture.  Poor thing was bumping into the opaque skylight, so Jack had to prop it open with a board so the little guy could get out as he did not want to fly low enough to go out the garage door.

We think the 3rd International Cuenca Marathon will pass our house tomorrow.  This is a very big marathon with competitors from all over the world coming.  The altitude provides an added challenge for competitors. 

Well, take care.  Have a blessed Easter!