...you get what you need

Here I am, one week later. How can it possibly be that I've only been here for ten days?

In answer to a previous question, yes, I've been drinking the water and I've so far suffered no ill effects. The water does taste good, better than the bottled water I was drinking in Quito. I remember one of the bottles tasted sightly sweet, as if I'd taken an empty glass that had a residue of a sweet cola and refilled it with water. The bottle had been sealed but what I was drinking was purified water, not spring water. Enough about the water. It's safe to drink in Cuenca but rely on filtered or bottled water anywhere else in Ecuador.

The Fulbright program provides a stipend to cover living expenses but participants are responsible for finding their own place to live. Some of us get more help than others; we all have "tutors" or program advisers in our placement cities who are able or willing to provide assistance at varying levels. I was worried about where I'd live so I decided to be proactive. I looked at a few apartments (departamentos) last Sunday and they were all fine. Each was furnished and inexpensive by North American (I can't say "American" because Ecuadorians are Americans too, don't forget) standards but I would have been responsible for getting internet hooked up, buying and cooking my own food and washing my laundry. The guy who showed me the apartments said it's inexpensive (by US standards) to have a laundry service pick up dirty laundry and return it washed and folded but it all seemed very lonely.

Cuenca has a Fulbright student named Emilie who arrived in January. She returns home in October. She told me about the boarding house where she has been living. All meals are provided by the owner of the house and there's high speed wireless internet and a washing machine available for use by residents. When I read her email telling me about the place when I was back in the US, I was thinking that I'd prefer more privacy and was not interested in sharing a bathroom. However, shortly after arriving I realized that sharing a bathroom is not a big deal and that privacy is overrated when you don't know anyone.

I moved into the boarding house on Tuesday. I have a cozy little attic bedroom. The owner of the house, Rosita, jokingly calls it the penthouse. Rosita rents out nine rooms and currently I believe five are occupied. With classes starting soon, the other four will be rented within the next week or so. Rosita is an excellent cook, she attended culinary school. I was advised by Emilie to be careful about finishing everything on my plate because the next time I will find my plate even fuller.

Thanks to articles like this one or that one, Ecuador has been identified to North Americans as one of the best places in the world to retire. I have already met or seen several Canadians and US citizens who have taken the leap and moved here. There's a cafe in the center of town that I found on my first morning exploration. I've been there a few times already because it seems that the only place to get a nice cup of strong black coffee or an espresso based drink is in one of these places run by foreigners for foreigners, not that Ecuadorians are not welcome but the prices they charge are steep by the local standards ($1.75 for a cappuccino!). Otherwise, Ecuadorians seem perfectly content with instant coffee. I would do just about anything for a french press. I found one in Quito for $12 but silly me, didn't buy it. Oh, had I only known!

I visited the cafe this morning for a cup of coffee. It was nice to get out of the house. There are always English-speaking people there to chat with. Today was no different. I found out that on Thursdays the cafe hosts a knitting group! I was a little disappointed that I found out about it on a Friday, I was really bored yesterday afternoon. I will go next week.

The internet went down halfway through writing this post. It happened during the afternoon, which is the time of day when I feel most lost. I think it's always easy to stay busy in the morning - doing laundry, tidying my room or listening to the radio. It's just more difficult for me to fill up the morning. I ate lunch with the group and then after they all set out for whatever plans they had for the day I had to think about what I'd do. I decided to write and then the internet connection was lost. I ended up taking a long walk until the healing blisters on my toes started bothering me again. Upon my return the internet was back up and I felt better - like the connection I have to my friends and family was turned back on.