Lawrence, Kansas

WOW, What a difference!

So, I am taking a long walk this AM. And,I notice two big differences between Kansas and Cuenca.
1. Nobody walks here. Nobody. I already knew that. But the sidewalks are great ..... and you get them all to yourself. But it is a boring thing.
2. You know those little flags they stick in the ground on wires to show where the burried utilities are before digging? You know the ones. Each type of utility flag is a different color ...... And about 3 inches square.
Well, some of them said "Sanitary Sewer". That is just stupid! We ALL know what flows in a sewer ..... And it sure isn't sanitary!

Life is sweet,
Clarke

GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR

The Brennie and I are in Guayaquil right now.

Guayaquil is the largest city in Ecuador. It is a seaport and industrial city.

Some people would say it is a hot, humid, sticky, crowded, teeming mass of humanity in the most dangerous city in Ecuador.

I would say ....."Cool, the ugly decrepit busses don't spew diesel fumes!"

See how sweet I am? (A hot sticky sweaty sweetness.)

Can't wait for breakfast here at the hotel. It is only $16 ..... each. I wonder what they are serving on the plane.

Life is sweet,
Clarke

Don't be Fooled

False sense of security?

Getting suckered in?

Don't get taken in by these signs. They do not mean what you might think.

There are a lot of these red octagonal signs.

Some drivers stop, some slow down, some neither. They are even at the end of the on-ramps to the Autopista (highway / freeway kind of thing with no cute little painted lines marking the lanes). Anyway if you actually stop at one of these on the on-ramp ..... you will probably be rear ended.

There are a lot of these too.

Anyone crossing the street on the strength of one of these is a total idiot. They seem to have little significance to the cars and busses. It is true that sometimes you will have the little green walking figure at the same time that traffic has a green light to cross over the walk-way.

This is the most dangerous of all.

This is on the corner of 12 de Abril and Solano. The traffic is such that it can cross this cross-walk from 3 different (almost one-way) streets. At all times, at least one of those auto approaches has the green light to go through this cross-walk. So if you are crossing, you look in all possible directions and then ........ proceed to scamper across the street muy rapido.

NEW FITNESS ROUTINE:

The elevator at our building has been out of commission for 2 weeks. We live n the top floor. It is called the fourth floor. It is actually the 6th. Go figure.

THE STREET DOGS ARE VERY TRAFFIC SAVY:

The dumb ones are all dead.

Life is Sweet,

Clarke

20,000 Gringos? And Odds and Ends.

20,000 MORE GRINGOS IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS?

I have heard that 20,000 gringos are expected to flock to Cuenca in the next 5 years. I have no idea if that is correct or not ........ clueless........ so DON'T say that "Clarke said....." It seems to me that most of the gringos coming here are retired, so the ages of most are 60+. That is an observation of mine, so I will stand by it. But, 20,000? Maybe, maybe not. But here is something I do know ........... when I was at the store the other day, there seemed to be a HUGE section of adult diapers. So maybe 20,000 is correct. (I don't believe the 20,000 number at all. That is my personal opinion ...... like all my opinions, based on bias, prejudice and ignorance.)

SOMETHING CHEERFUL

Cuenca is at 8,000+ foot elevation. So this is a cheery place to visit on the web. CLICK HERE for skin cancer facts.

FABULOUS NEWS

I got an email from Manon yesterday. It seems that she has put a CASE of JIF Creamy for me on Rod’s container. A case of LARGE jars. I don’t know Rod, but I think that I love him.

A WORD ABOUT CARNAVAL

Brennie and I are keeping a low profile during Carnaval. The custom here is water balloons, squirt guns and shaving cream. Yeah I have gotten wet a couple times. People also throw water (and balloons) from moving vehicles. (A pick-up truck with kids in the back only has one agenda during carnival.)

We went out for Cappuccino today at an outdoor cafe. Across the street was a house with a 2nd story balcony. The guys on the balcony were throwing water balloons and buckets of water. The were concentrating on the pick-up trucks full of kids that were also players. It was a hoot to watch. At one point they must have gotten bored because they emptied a bucket on some poor gal that was just walking down the street.

Below are a few pics.

Life is Sweet,

Clarke