Visa update

Before explaining where we're at now, here's a quick re-list of what it takes to get our residency in Ecuador:

• Run all over the United States (in our case) to get our birth certificates, marriage license and FBI background reports and get them apostilled by the respective Secretaries of States.  (Done!)
• Get to Ecuador and meet with our visa facilitator.  (Done!)
• Obtain a certificate of deposit from a local bank to meet our financial commitment requirement.  (Done!)
• Have our documents translated and get the translations notarized.
• Submit our visa application.
• Once approved, use the residency visa to get a cedula (our "green card", essentially).

This past week we've added a couple more (Done!)'s to our list.

Last Friday, July 26th, the translations were completed and we went with the facilitator to the World Trade Center to get them notarized.  We dropped them off at 9:00a and were told that they would be ready in about five hours.

While we were waiting, our facilitator told us that we needed additional passport-type photos.  There was a small office behind the Gobierno Zonal de Guayaquil (the local government office) where Emily and I each got six pictures for $7.00.

We then had to get a "special" folder for our application.  It was just a manila folder with a two-hole punch fastener on the side (30 cents), but apparently it creates a good impression with the registrar.

Back to the notary after lunch.  The documents were done at 2:30p as promised.  Twenty pages: $40.

Yesterday, we went back to Gobierno Zonal to apply for the visa.  We got our number and waited.  This is the view waiting for our number to be called:

(I have no idea who the woman with glasses is.)  After about a half hour, our number was called and we went behind the "Ecuador" signs to talk with the registrar at #17.  She reviewed our documents, two-hole punched everything to fit in the new folder and gave us a receipt to return on the August 15th.  We had been preliminarily approved!  We went to the cashier and paid our $60 for the application fee.

(Our facilitator told us that the registrar we met with was the toughest one there.  Most registrars are recent college grads and those applications have to be reviewed by the countries attorneys.  Our registrar looked like the veteran, battle-axe type, and the applications that she accepts are pretty much rubber-stamped by the attorneys.)

The application also stops the expiration clock on our documents.  Regardless of how long it takes to get the visa, our documents have been submitted as of July 30th and are within the time frame required.

Now we wait...

Feliz cumpleaños (o semanas), Guayaquil

July 25th, 2013, marks the 475th anniversary of the founding of Guayaquil (official name: Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil).  Yes - that's 69 years before Jamestown, VA was founded in the present-day United States.  How do Ecuadorians recognize a holiday like this?  Like they do with everything else: a party and a ton of parades!

The celebration actually concludes on the 25th.  Prior to that, there are a number of other spontaneous (to me) celebrations and parades.  This link is to a police/fire truck "parade" that ran in front of our apartment a couple of nights ago (poor quality, but it's all I've got):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q8Zq09TM2w

We had been inside eating dinner when we heard the first sirens go by, thinking that it was just an emergency call.  After hearing them for over a minute, however, we went out to our balcony and watched the last 45 seconds or so as it went by.

Today we went down to the Malecon to watch the festivities.  Many of the downtown streets were closed to accommodate a parade that lasted about three hours.  First, all of the military groups went by:

As the groups turned the corner, all of the teams carrying the flag of Guayaquil (the blue and white striped one) were redirected on to the Malecon and organized:

We were hearing rumors that Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, would be making an appearance.  He frequently does make an appearance at large civil events.  Here he is at the opening of a new pier in Puerto Lopez (we were not there):  http://www.flickr.com/photos/presidenciaecuador/sets/72157634397392497/.  It turns out, however, that it was the city mayor instead:

Definitely a crowd favorite and a man of the people.  After singing along with (what I think was) the national anthem, he said a few words before rejoining the parade.  Here he is leaving (he's the one in the tan suit):

(Side note: I'm just over 6'0" and it is a definite advantage over the locals when it comes to taking pictures!)

I like this picture of three of the flag carriers as they were leaving.  I believe they are junior military training, like ROTC cadets:

After the military, every school in the city (it seemed that way, at least) had they're own procession:

After standing on the concrete for four hours, it was time to call it a day.  On the way back to the apartment, we walked through the restored Barrio Santa Ana.  Years ago, it was a blight to the city and a dangerous place to be, even in the daytime.  Now, though, it's been cleaned up and contains many galleries and art studios:

Many of the art pieces are well designed and look very nice:

Even if they aren't politically correct!

Shopping - man style.

This blog post might not appeal to the ladies.  It's about tools and building supplies.  Man stuff.

(Side note: Emily was there, too, but she's always been a tolerant "one of the guys" when it comes to this kind of thing.  Fifteen years of house remodeling has rubbed off on her.)

Tuesday, we went in search of a Spanish school that we had heard good things about ("Telerama" on the map), but couldn't find it.  We double-checked the address and went again today to the Telerama building, but twice we were turned away by security guards who said that this wasn't the place.

To make the most of the walk back, we went to Ferrisariato.  Ecuador doesn't have Lowe's or Home Depot, but they do have an Ace Hardware franchise where a person can buy most tools and supplies.  There is no dimensional lumber, brick or concrete block available here, though, so we'll have to look for other sources for that.

As I've mentioned earlier, items that are imported are expensive; items that can be harvested locally are reasonably priced or better. 

Enough talk - onto the pictures!

vs.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Arrow-Fastener-Heavy-Duty-Staple-Gun-T50/100021099#.UeiREm04jQI



The first item for your consideration (TZ-style): an Arrow T50 stapler.  I knew I could make a direct price comparison with this item, so it's first on the list.  $34.99 in Ecuador; $17.76 at Home Depot.  Prices for imported goods are basically double what the product would cost in the States.  This is true for tools, electronics, food and everything else.

(I apologize here for the extra white space you might see between pictures and text.  It doesn't show up in the blog editor.)

Here are some other tools and their prices:

Stanley is about the highest quality that they carry.  $110 for a socket set, and they're not even SK's?  Unbelievable (as Mike Krukow would say).

This one really caught my eye.  It's a 10" saw; I paid about $300 for my 12" saw back in the States.  This one is $219 at Home Dumpster.

Rubber galoshes aren't too bad, though, at $9 a pair.  I didn't check the sizes at the time, however.  At another shoe store that we had gone to, the largest size they carried for men's shoes was a size 10 - right at the edge of what I can fit into.

I did think that oil would be cheaper here - Texaco drills for it in the northern half of the country.  (They also are trying to drill in the Amazon, but that's a rant for a different day.)   These are the prices for imported brands:

Sheet goods were very interesting.  Plywood is available in standard 4x8' sheets.  MDF and melamine, however, are a little different:

They come in 6x8' sheets!  (It's available in either 3/8" or 1/2".)  I wish this would have been available in the States!  There is a price to pay for this, however:

Want a pine, pre-hung interior door?

A simple slab closet door isn't too bad, however:

Here are some other fixtures and their prices.  It's good to know that these items are available, but I might have to container-ship them from the States if we build from scratch and want higher quality.

Hunter is the only brand name that I recognized; faucets by Moen, Delta or even Kohler are a pipe-dream (at least at this store).

And, of course, the obligatory do-it-yourself suicide shower:

I did find one import that was a bit of a bargain.  The Ikea Poang chair is $70 in the States:

www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S79825193/

In Ecuador, it's $20 cheaper:

This one is cloth, not leather, however.  We had two of these in San Mateo, and they are very comfortable chairs.

The ubiquitous plastic patio chair, which can cost anywhere from $4 to $9 in the States, is more expensive here ($14):

Full extension drawer glide, while not 100 lb. rated-AccuGlides, are reasonably priced:

Some ex-pats complain about how expensive paint is; I don't know why.  While it's not Benjamin-Moore Super-Spec (my personal favorite), it's still okay:

Ladders, on the other hand, are outrageous!  Here are the prices for a 4' Ace stepladder and a 22' Werner fiberglass extension ladder (the yellow one):

Some relief: as I said at the top, locally produced materials are cheaper.  Most home interiors are lath-and-plaster, not drywall.  Interior finish plaster (20 kilos/44 pounds):

Build like the locals do and it's pretty economical.  I've already started to change the way that I'm thinking about building our house; this trip to the hardware store reinforced it!

Maps!

I realized that I've been posting news about different places that Emily and I have been going, but I hadn't been providing any context about where things are.  All of that will change today!

Before I get to some Ecuador maps, I want to post the route of leaving our old house in San Mateo and arriving at the airport in Miami.  I've mentioned previously the different events along the way; this map should provide a better overview of how fun and arduous the trip was.

(All maps courtesy of Google Maps, just in case there is any kind of copyright disclosure required.)

This is what 7000 miles and two months provides:

• (A) San Mateo.  April 13th, 2013.  Goodbye, old friend!
• (B) Wendover, NV.  Waiting for winter storm Xerxes to clear; got tired of waiting and went south around it.
• (E) Minneapolis, MN.  A month at Mom's house, getting our documents from the states of MN and WI.
• (D) Madison, SD.  Our new "home"!  The location of our official US residence and mail forwarding address.
• (F) Toronto, ONT.  Needed to get to DC, so why not visit our friends to the nort, eh?
• (G) Cooperstown, NY.  Baseball Hall of Fame.  It was on the way and we've both always wanted to see it.
• (H) Washington, DC.  Thought we'd have our FBI background checks by now and could visit the SoS; fail.  Had fun touring the Mall and seeing the sights.
• (I) Estero, FL.  Spent almost a month here with Tasha, Dane and the two grandkids waiting for the FBI docs to arrive.
• (J) Miami, FL.  June 19th, 2013.  Goodbye, US (for now); hello, Ecuador!

I'm sure that anyone reading this blog knows where Ecuador is, but here it is in relation to the United States:

Even though this projection isn't entirely accurate (Ecuador is east of New York), it gives a pretty good idea where it is.  There are currently four cities in the US from which you can fly non-stop to Ecuador (that I'm aware of): Houston, Atlanta, Miami and New York City.  That was one reason why we made Miami our final destination (Natasha and family being the other, of course!).

These are the major cities in Ecuador:

We want to live on the western coast, but we are currently living in Guayaquil where the government offices are located.  Many ex-pats prefer Quito or Cuenca where the weather is more moderate; we want the beach!

This map doesn't quite show it, but the Andes mountains run through the center of Ecuador; Quito and Cuenca are at an elevation of about 8000 feet.  East of the Andes is the "Oriente" or the originating basin for the Amazon River and Amazon rain forest.

This is Guayaquil.  The map that follows is roughly the area surrounded by the red box:

and "downtown":

To give some perspective, it's about a mile from the consulate to our original hotel (Hostel Manso) and about two miles from the Hostel to center of our neighborhood.

Finally, here's the neighborhood around our apartment:

(For security purposes, I'm not putting the location of our apartment.)

Did I mention that we're near the airport?

Next up: more shopping - man style!