The paradox comes to life

Thursday, June 27th, was going to be a day of action!

We had three items on our agenda for the day: register with the US consulate, open a savings account to facilitate our investor's visa, and open an account at Club Correos.  We had a good breakfast (eggs and fruit) and prepared clothes for the day.  We don't have an iron, so a steam shower was the best we could do to get the wrinkles out of Emily's dress, a pair of khakis and a shirt.  Not the best results, but good enough for government work (especially in this case), so off we went!

Narcissa, the housekeeper at the hotel, called a taxi for us.  After waiting thirty minutes to arrive, the driver showed up and we were off - first destination: the US Consulate.  I knew where the consulate was and I've been getting familiar with the streets in Guayaquil, so I was little nervous when we started going off the beaten track.  Emily and I were both ready to jump from the taxi if needed.  Shortly enough, however, the driver pointed straight ahead to a building with a garish motif on the front (sorry, no picture) and the Consulate was the building after it.

We walked up to the point of entry where there were three soldiers manning the entrance, quite possibly the only people in Ecuador that don't smile.  (I know that they have a difficult and stressful job, and I fully support and respect everything that our service members do; it was just different from the expressions that I've seen on most of the locals.)  We explained the purpose of our visit (to register) and were directed to another staging area where we were told that registration occurred between 8:00a and 11:00a, Monday through Thursday.  It was 11:30a, so we will have to go back next week.

Oh well - on to the bank!  On our way there, we had the opportunity to walk through Parque Centenario.  It was founded in 1920 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the independence of Guayaquil:

We have had three banks recommended to us.  At the first bank, Banco de Guayaquil, we asked the lady at the information desk (via Google Translate - awesome product!) if someone could assist us with opening a savings account.  She Translated back that the bank was not currently allowing "foreigns" to open accounts.

We were on our way to the second bank, Banco Bolivariano, when we had a realization.  We're not trying to open a savings account; we're trying to open an investment account for the purpose of obtaining a visa.  We met with a representative of the bank who presented us with a list of requirements for opening the account.  In addition to identification, we needed the following:

• First requirement: an endorsement from our place of work.  Emily said that we are not working, but that did not compute with the bank rep.
• Second requirement: an endorsement from our current bank in the US.  We had a bank statement showing account balances, but it wasn't the official "endorsement" that the rep was looking for.
• Third requirement: an endorsement from another Ecuadorian bank.  Since this is our first bank account, it's hard to get such a thing.

The bank rep also said that might be able to get accepted if we have a reference from someone who already has an account at the bank.  We are going to have to work with our visa facilitator on this.  Since she already has accounts with one or more of the banks, she might be able to provide the reference that we need.

The third bank, Produbanco, delivered the hammer; this is the paradox that we've heard about.  When we talked to the (very cheerful!) rep there, she said that she would open the account for us but that we had to provide our visa number.  When I said that couldn't obtain the visa without the account, she deferred and said that once we had the visa we would be able to open the account.  Emily and I went in circles with this charming lady (smiles all around!) until we realized that nothing was going to happen.  We thanked her for time and left.

(Emily mentioned later that she had heard of situations like that.  In that case, we should have asked to speak to a manager or someone higher up the the food chain.  That person is authorized to open the account for us and list the visa number as "pending".  We will have to try that next week.)

On our way to our next stop, Club Correos, we saw some excitement!  I'm not sure what was happening, but the fire department was called out to resolve a situation in a parking garage.  Here's the scene and the cherry picker in action:

Across the street was something that we hadn't noticed before.  The CFN building has a number of framed murals painted on the side:

But I digress...


"Club Correos" (Correos del Ecuador CDE) is a service that will receive packages sent from out of the country and hold them for pick up.  We don't have an urgent need to get this done, but we thought we might as well while we were downtown.

Our impression was that a person signed up for an account with notification information, and that Correos would contact them when a package had arrived.  We would need to tell them when we were receiving packages and what they would contain.  Unfortunately, our Spanish/their English was not good enough to be able to understand the process, much less to be able to create an account.

Strike three.  Although we weren't able to accomplish any of our objectives, we did learn some valuable information:

1. We need to improve our Spanish.  We are spending about two hours a day on DuoLingo.com and it's helping immensely!  However, the bank doesn't need to know that "mi gato bebe leche" (my cat drinks milk) or any of the other language elements that I've learned so far, so it's going to require more work for both of us to be able to communicate effectively.
2. It's Ecuador, it's their country and their environment.  For us to live hear, we need to improve our Spanish.
3. Learn The Language, Idiot!  Maybe that's too strong, but see points one and two.

This is our tenth day of living in Ecuador.  I've learned a lot but also realize how much more there is to learn.  It's a great ride - I'm not getting off now!

Just browsing...

While we're waiting for our translations to be finished, Emily and I decided to explore the neighborhood.

We've visited both shopping malls, Policentro and San Marino.  We don't need much besides groceries, but it's interesting to compare prices.  Flat screen TVs, for example, cost 3-4 times what they cost in the states.  Many of the items that are sold in the stores are made in China: those items and things that are produced locally are cheaper than items sold in the states, but the quality is noticeably lower.

When we leave Guayaquil, we'll need a vehicle.  Yesterday, we visited a Chevrolet dealership and browsed the yard.  There were many used cars, but we didn't go into the showroom.  With our Spanish still lacking, it's hard to have a conversation with the sales people.

Today, however, we were a little more uninhibited.  We walked to an Ambacar dealership (www.ambacar.com) about a mile away to look at the "Great Wall" of vehicles they offer.  I've never heard of Ambacar before; they offer a pickup truck called a Wingle, so I was a little suspicious, but we looked around anyway.

They have a SUV, the H5, that retails for $28,000.  In the states, this vehicle would probably sell for around $19-20k, so this seems to be a reasonable deal.  I know, I know, that seems like too much, but remember that vehicles here are expensive - import tariffs are very high.  Even used vehicles are expensive; we have friends that bought a 1992 Pathfinder for $18,000 with almost 100,000 km on it.

We struggled to communicate with Julio, our salesman, but eventually got all of the information we needed.  We're not going to purchase a vehicle until we're ready to leave Guayaquil, but it's fun to look.  We'll go back to the Chevy dealer in the next few days to see what they have to offer.

Note: many of the websites that I reference are in Spanish.  If your Spanish language skills are as poor as mine, use Google Chrome to view the site.  It will automatically translate the page into your language.

Apartment hunting

The mission for this week was to find an apartment to stay in while our visa/cedula application runs its course.  To do this, we needed help.

On Sunday (6/23), we purchased a local paper ("El Universo") and went through the apartment listings trying to find a furnished apartment in a good neighborhood.  We had been told that the Urdesa neighborhood was a safe place and that many other expats lived there, so that was our target.  We found three apartments that were listed as furnished for around $300/mo, so those were our targets.

On Monday, we met up with Sierra and Daniel.  Sierra is our facilitator's daughter and Daniel is a taxi driver.  Since Daniel speaks little English (and our Spanish is pretty poor still), Sierra was along to act as an interpreter.  Daniel, being a native Ecuadorian, would handle all of the negotiations and make sure that we got a fair price if we found a suitable apartment.  Daniel also made all of the phone calls and talked to the lessors for us.

We drove to the first Urdesa apartment and quickly found out what $300/mo will get.  The apartment was on a quiet street, but that's where the positives end.  It had no kitchen appliances, furnishings meant a bed and chair, and very few of the lights even had light bulbs.  It did have a suicide shower, however, that looked like it might live up to it's name!  We thanked the lady for her time and moved on.

After a couple of swing-and-miss chances, Sierra found us the ideal place!  (Shameless plug: http://elpatiosuites.com)  Not only is it in a good neighborhood (La Fae), it came complete with all of the household goods and appliances we would need:

Number nine, number nine...

Living area/kitchen

Bedroom and our constant companions (the lockers)

This place is perfect for the two of us.  It costs $600/mo plus electric (about $25/mo) and includes high-speed wifi.  Security deposit is $200.

It's also in a great location.  There are many tiendas (small shops) nearby as well as a local bakery and a shop that roasts chickens.  (One of the tiendas has bananas for five cents a piece!)  There are also two shopping malls that are a $3 cab ride away.  One (Policentro) is an ordinary middle-class mall with a SuperMaxi grocery store and many electronics shops.  The other (San Marino) is more upscale with a movie theater and many jewelry shops (even a Rolex store!).

Moving from the hotel to the apartment was a bit of a challenge.  Emily and Sierra stayed at the apartment while Daniel and I went back to the hotel.  Daniel parked (illegally) in front of the hotel while I carried the lockers down.  After bringing down the first three lockers, Daniel was getting a little nervous.  The transit police kept telling him to move, but he kept explaining that I was bringing more items.  As I brought down the next locker, he asked, "No mas?".  No, I said, "Tres mas".  (We repeated that conversation with every item.)  By the time I brought the last suitcase down, he was very relieved to be able to move away from the glare of the Policia Transito.

Once the taxi was full with the first load, Daniel drove it over to the apartment to unload while I finished packing up the rest of the hotel room.  (Yes, we had complete trust that he wouldn't drive off with our things.  I kept the laptops and paperwork with me at all times, however.  Clothes can be replaced.)

Daniel returned for the second (last) pick up, this time requiring only two trips from the hotel room to the taxi.  I thanked the reception staff at the Manso hotel for a wonderful stay; this is a genuinely great place to stay.  With the last bags in the cab, Daniel and I returned to the apartment.

Emily, Sierra and the housekeeper Narcissa had already carried all of the heavy stuff up to the room, so the rest of the items (backpacks, cooler, etc.) were a piece of cake.

After a trip to SuperMaxi to buy some groceries, Emily and I settled in for the night.  We'll be more than happy to spend the next six weeks here while our applications are being processed.

Ecuador - day two

No, I will not be chronicling every day that Emily and I live in Ecuador; at least I don't expect to.

Today was about running errands.  After a simple meal of toast, potato cakes and tea at the hotel (price included), we headed to Mall del Sol, the largest shopping mall in Ecuador.  It's next to the airport, a $4 ride from our hotel on the Malecon.

Note: I'm trying to include prices where appropriate.  One of the reasons that US expats move to Ecuador is for the lower cost of living, and I want to try to give an appreciation of that here.  I won't divulge all prices - many things that people want to obtain are subjective, such as cars and houses - but I will try to indicate the items that are directly comparable to prices in the United States.

Another note: I refer to people as US expats and my former country of residence as the United States; I don't use the terms "American's" or "America".  The people of Ecuador and South America also rightfully consider themselves Americans.

Enough rant.  First mission at the mall: update the Garmin SIM card to include Ecuadorian mapping.  The guy working at Super Paco didn't speak English, but when I showed him our Garmin and said, "por Ecuador", he got out his folder and showed us where we needed to go.  That's a mission for another day.

Second mission: get a cell phone.  The primary cell phone provider in Ecuador is Claro, and (unlike the US) sells phones with prepaid minutes, not plans.  We went to the Claro store and paid $60 for this beauty:

It doesn't do useless things like surf the internet or take pictures.  Instead, it makes phone calls, stores contact information, has a color display and even has an FM Radio built in!  I should have place a quarter next to it in the picture - it's smaller than a deck of cards!

I'm making a joke, of course.  Emily and I are keeping our old Android phone and cancelling the Sprint account.  Those phones will function as wifi data terminals and application devices, but the Samsung Android doesn't have a replaceable SIM card to work on networks down here.  Without data and phone service available for the Android, they're unplugged from any pre-defined service provider.

To buy minutes for the Claro phone, it's as easy as going to a kiosk.  The kiosks are located all over the city, and allow you to buy a dollar amount of phone time.  (We're not sure, but we're guessing that minutes cost different if they are used locally vs. calling a different cell zone.)  We bought $20 worth of minutes, which we think is worth about 400 minutes in our local calling zone.  More information on this as we use the phone.

Final mission: grocery shopping and household goods pricing.  Eventually most of our living will be beach-side and involve tile floors, so we priced melamine dishes and serving ware.  This was a price that we found at Target in the states:

The prices are slightly lower than $2.49 a plate at Mega Maxi in the Mall del Sol, so it's more cost effective to buy them here than to ship them or check them as luggage.  The variety is also much greater.

We also came across a really cool collapsible Coleman cooler that we had to have ($47):

We have no refrigerator or other way to keep water and drinks cold, but we can buy ice and this baby works perfectly.

After that, back to the hotel.  Empanadas for two again (different place) and a pint-sized fruit cup for less than $4 total.  We're closing out the night with Tim Lincecum pitching for the Giants and a hopeful win against the Marlins.

Ecuador - day one

Emily and I woke to the realization that our plans had finally entered the last step.  After the long day traveling, we slept in until 8:00a and awoke to the sounds of traffic on the Malecon (view from our room):

 

For our first day here, we decided that we would get to know a little more of Guayaquil.  We got ready for our adventure with a suicide shower:

Most homes and hotels do not have direct hot water; water is heated at the point of delivery with a heating device.  In the case of our hotel (and very common throughout Ecuador), a shower head is installed with a heating element built in.  Since this heating element is powered by electricity (and water and electricity don't mix for most mammals), a poorly installed shower head can get your day off to a very bad start.  The one in our hotel, however, was installed properly; the electrical connections on the top of the shower head are water-tight.  (Note the exposed junction at the end of the water stem.)

After that, it was an omelet for breakfast at the hotel ($2):

Venturing out, we learned that we were near Iguana Park - a small preserve area in the center of the city.  Here's the reason that it's called Iguana Park:

Most of them are between two and three feet long and very passive.  They wander through the park in the trees (lookout below!) and walkways with no fear of people; young kids are feeding them from their hands.

Iguana Park is located in front of a beautiful cathedral, the official Catedral de Guayaquil:

Our highlight of the day was to be to meet with our Visa Facilitator.  She understands the behind-the-scenes processes involved in submitting our documentation for a residency visa and cedula and how to move forward to opening a bank account in Ecuador.  Unfortunately for us, she had to reschedule to assist an elderly lady who's visa was expiring on the same day.  I completely understood and am willing to wait a couple of days when a high priority issue arises.  We found a small restaurant to have chicken and rice (pollo con arroz) for lunch ($3.80) and spent the rest of the afternoon located the various government offices we will be visiting.

The evening was pretty simple: empanadas for dinner ($3 for both) and baseball over the internet.

Departure!

Wednesday, June 19th, has finally arrived!  It's time to head for Ecuador.

Our time in Florida was fantastic.  We spent two weeks with Tasha, Dane and the grandkids - golf or tennis in the morning, swimming in the afternoon.  We were also able to see the new house that they're trying to by.  We toured it during the inspections and were pleased to find that the house is in very good shape.  It might need some updating paint wise, but that's an easy fix.  The hardest part of leaving for Ecuador  was leaving them.

My apostilled FBI background check finally arrived the day before we left.  Having that last piece of documentation in my hands was a huge relief.

Also the day before we left, someone had posted in an Ecuadorian Facebook group that there had been a change in luggage on the part of American Airlines (our airline).  The foot lockers that we had purchased were being embargoed!  I called AA, however, and (after waiting on hold for 30 minutes) was told that there was no such embargo.  It was still a concern until we checked in.

Last day details included going to AAA to get an international drivers license and pick up an SUV to drive from Estero to Miami.  Dane is going to babysit the truck until we come back at the end of August for my brother's wedding.  We loaded the SUV and were on our way!

One concern that we had was keeping the foot lockers closed for the duration of the trip.  There is a service in Miami (and other airports) where they will "shrink-wrap" your luggage.  If it fails inspection, the TSA is required to re-wrap it.  The process basically involves putting the piece of luggage on a spindle and wrapping it with blue cling wrap.

Because we were flying business class, we had the extra allowances for number of bags and weight.  We would have paid a ton of fees if we hadn't upgraded, plus the seats on a 767 are much nicer.  Finally, it was time for take off!

We landed in Guayaquil at about 10:30p.  Immigration was a breeze, and customs didn't ask a single question about our luggage.  We had arranged for taxi from the hotel to meet us, and Pablo was there waiting.  The only issue that we had was that there was no way that the luggage and passengers would all fit in one taxi.  "No problemo", said Pablo.  He called his brother who also drives a taxi, and we loaded everything except our carry-on in his brother's taxi and followed behind him in Pablo's taxi.  Yes, there was a concern that the lead car might shoot off track and our things would never be seen again, but our trust was in the right place. The honesty and openness of Ecuadorians and their culture is one of the reasons that we're so attracted to living here.

Escape from Limbo (part two)

Once we knew Emily and I knew that we were going to have to wait for our CJIS checks and the apostille process, we hit the road.  We left Minnesota on May 22nd, headed for southwestern Florida.  Our daughter, Natasha, and her husband Dane had decided to move from Minnesota to Florida, so our destination became Estero, FL.

Natasha and Dane are staying in Dane's folk's snowbird townhouse in Estero while they look for a place of their own.  Next door to Dane's folks (Tom and Jayne) place is their friends the Younger's townhouse.  They graciously allowed us to stay there while we wait for the background checks and apostilles to occur.

Since Emily and I knew that we had a couple of weeks to wait (sigh!) for CJIS to complete their process, we took the scenic route.  We traveled through Chicago from Minneapolis before turning north for Toronto. Emily had been to Canada once in her life (a brief trip to Kakabeka Falls and Thunder Bay), so this was a chance to expand on that.  We went to Toronto and spent a couple of nights there.

In Toronto, we (as baseball fans) went to a Jays game at the Rogers Center.  The roof was open for the game and the Jays won, so the people of Toronto was in a festive mood.  We also walked past City Hall where I had done some consulting work in 1991.  That was fun to relive.

From Toronto, we drove passed Niagara Falls.  I'd been there before, and I suggested to Emily that seeing Niagara would be like seeing the Grand Canyon after seeing all of the other canyons that we'd seen driving west in 1994.  That truth held out; Niagara Falls is beautiful, but for us, all that it required was stopping on the side of road so that Emily could snap a couple of pictures.

From there, it was on to Cooperstown, NY.  We both wanted to see the Baseball Hall of Fame, and it did not disappoint.  Cooperstown is a very small town, and finding the HOF was not easy.  It's an unassuming building on Main Street, but the displays inside are amazing.  Any baseball fan could spend an entire day there as we did.

Emily had never been to Washington, DC.  I was there when I was ten years old, but I didn't recall many of the details.  We stayed in College Park, MD and took the Metro into DC.  From there we walked the Mall, going through the Capital, past the White House and seeing the memorials to the wars and presidents.  If you've never been to our Nation's capital, I highly recommend it.  We wore casual sandals during our tour of the mall, so we spent the next day sitting by the pool relaxing our feet.  DC is a destination vacation.

After a couple of weather delays (of course), we arrived in Estero, FL.  We are very fortunate enough to stay in the Younger's townhouse while we are here, so our staging is in place.  We are repacking our lockers for the move to EC, and having their place to stay is really a blessing.  We get to spend our days with Tasha, Dane and the grandkids Justin and Lexi; tennis in the morning, pool time in the afternoon.

It's Father's Day today, so we'll be grilling steaks and fillets once Dane gets home from work.  Tasha made me a home-made Salted Nut Roll (a Midwest specialty!) and nailed the recipe.  Quite a treat!

The rest of the day will be spent repacking lockers and getting ready for our departure flight on Wednesday.

Escape from Limbo (part one)

I'm sorry for the gap in updating this blog.  In the last post, Emily and I had sent our requests for background checks to the FBI, and they promised a four-to-six week turnaround.  They couldn't have been truer to their word.

Delay number one.  After two weeks, Emily called to check on the update.  The person that she talked to said, "Don't even bother calling until four weeks have passed."

We had mailed our requests FedEx overnight, so they arrived at the CJIS (Criminal Justice Information System) on May first.  She called again on May 29th and was told that they were opening mail from April 25th.  (No comment here about the efficiency about a government office!).  We decided to wait a week to call again.

On June fifth, Emily used a bit of savvy.  When she called, she didn't ask about our particular returns; she asked what day's mail they were opening.  Once she heard that they were opening mail from April 29th, she knew we would have to wait a couple of days.

She called again on Friday, May 31st.  The person she talked to said that they had received our request.  She had to go through a series of questions after that; the person that answered the phone said that he had never had someone call and ask that question.  That proceeded into a long conversation about which return was ours (we do have multiple mailing addresses and destinations), but she and the CJIS person were finally able to determine where our request was.  It was in process and should be completed soon.

Delay number two.  We had enclosed a FedEx envelope and prepaid billing ticket for it to be sent back, but since the label was handwritten, CJIS discarded it and sent it through regular USPS.  That cost us a couple of days.  Once it was sent, however, it went to my Mother's house in Minnesota, and she sent it overnight unopened to where we could receive it.  (More on that later.)

Both of our background checks arrived on the same day, June tenth.  We were both excited to see what our "FBI file" would look like.  It's primarily a physical description of each of us and background information. Somehow, I had an alternate birthdate (which was the accurate one).  I hope that doesn't pose problems in EC.  Neither one of were criminals or accused of crimes, so we should be good to go.

We sent them off to the US Secretary of State.  They promised a one-to-three day turnaround, so we were optimistic about their return.  This time, we created a FexEd account so that we didn't have to prepay with a credit card; the return envelopes could be returned with a simple billing account number.

Delay number three.  On Thursday, June 13th, I was up early and checked my phone for FedEx deliveries. I looked up Emily's tracking number first, not being overly optimistic.  Instead, the web site said, "Delivered"!  I ran next door (more on that later) and found a Fedex envelope on the front step.  I brought it back to our place, and Emily opened it.  Her CJIS check had been apostilled and returned!  Unfortunately, mine was not there.  We are hoping that it shows up early next week.