Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Tuesday November 1, 2016 Mariposa

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Tuesday November 1, 2016

Firstly we want to reiterate how much we appreciate all our faithful followers.

For a month or so, our Tripod website has been down because of a cyber attack on the host's server. So we found another free hosting site and uploaded the same information, did a few tweaks, and we now have our new site at http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/

And today, being November 1st means that I have been in Ecuador for 5 yrs!! Happy Anniversary to me.

We had a very scary event this morning involving Mariposa. The girls were having their morning run at the park and Mariposa took off after a dog across the street. The other two followed rapidly and I managed to get them back fairly quickly. When Mariposa finally came back she was bleeding profusely from the nose, really profusely! We all jogged home and I got Cristina and we hopped on Toxic to get to the vet ASAP. I was so afraid that Mariposa was going to bleed to death before we got there. We had blood all over the house, Toxic, our clothes, and the blanket we wrapped her in.
The vet was calm and said Mariposa had a hemorrhage in her nose, which was subsiding, and he hooked her up to an IV of coagulant and whatever. We had to go pick her up this evening. I honestly thought that we had lost the poor girl...
Our plan for the day was to go to see some of the artesanal displays that were supposed to be at San Blas park and also at Santo Domingo Plaza. After the Mariposa scare we had lunch and then Cristina did not want to leave just yet because it looked like it might rain. Finally at 2pm I told her to get ready and I was already in my t-shirt and jeans and runners. She comes down the stairs in this elegant minidress and high shoes! She said it was the quickest thing to wear and it only took her 45 minutes.. I didn't change, and had fun the rest of the day with all the looks we were getting, beauty and the beast kind of thing...
We get to San Blas square and there is zero happening... nothing! A little further up, we hear a commotion beside the Azuay Prefectura building and we go into the center of the block and there are many booths and some sort of Queen/Princess contest going on. I bought another Ecuadorian shirt for $10 and we kept on going. At the Governor's building there were a few artisans on the balcony and we bought a cute $10 owl lamp made at the CRATI center for troubled adolescents. Cristina bought another owl artwork for a gift for someone. There were some really gorgeous artworks on display inside the building too.
I spotted some nice rings in the window of a jewelry store and enquired about some of them. $38 later I was the proud owner of a gaudy gold-plated silver ring with a huge center "something" rock. It is just something flashy to wear on special occasions. I wouldn't wear it all the time and maybe attract thieves...
We continued on to Santo Domingo square and again nothing, zero, was happening! Both these events are clearly shown in the Events book for today.
Oh well, we crossed back across the Cathedral and I saw a new coffee store grinding beans. I asked if he could grind a little coarser for me and he said Yes! I want to reduce the amount of sludge in the bottom of my coffee pot in spite of my superb fine mesh stainless steel filter. $4 for a pound of pure Zamora Ecuadorian coffee, such a deal!
So we catch the bus back home, take the other 2 girls for a quick walk, then jump on Toxic to retrieve Mariposa. They had quoted us around $80 but the bill was $89. Mariposa thanked the vet by leaving a huge puddle on his office floor, lol. We have trained her well....
The vet gave us a prescription for an obscure drug that he said was available at most pharmacies. Well it wasn't available at the pharmacy next door, nor at the 3 pharmacies near our home. Since most places close by 8pm I was in a panic to find this so I stopped in at the vet up the hill. He wrote down a different name for the drug and I was able to get that at the Fybeca further down the road. We asked for tablets and they gave us capsules, but they will work just as well. Mariposa is resting comfortably beside me and all is well.

All today's photos are taken with the Lumix.

I hope you enjoy the photos. That was the day's excitement, Cheers, Al