Souvenir Photo Studio, by Al Bourassa: Tuesday August 14, 2018 Andalucia

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Tuesday August 14, 2018

I was walking Princesa, Buddy and Turi this morning around the lake like usual when a movement caught my eye. There was an injured Peregrine Falcon that looked in really bad shape. It moved very little because it seemed to have badly injured wings, and it must have had trouble with its feet as well. Because I had the 3 dogs, who were behaving surprisingly well under the circumstances, I could not get close enough to nudge the bird at least to a less vulnerable spot. I picked up a small stone and tried to toss it close to the hawk to make it move away from danger but it did not move. I moved away and met two women walking around the lake in the opposite direction and I asked them to look after it.

As I came to the end of my walk I met the ladies again and they just said that the hawk is too injured to be helped so they did not touch it. I continued home, told Cristina about it, got NeNe and Mariposa leashed up and I went out again. As I got to the spot I could not see the hawk anywhere. I would have been elated if I had thought that it had actually flown away but that was highly unlikely. It was more likely to have been breakfast for one of the unleashed dogs that are allowed out at that time of the morning by their lazy owners. The two dogs did their business at the top of my walk so we backtracked again to be certain. Cristina was walking up to check the spot and the two ladies happened along at the same time again. So all of us scoured the area again, to no avail. We sincerely hope the hawk was able to find safe refuge in some fashion.

Since I had not slept well, primarily because I had NeNe snuggled up on my shoulder which restricted my movement, we went back to bed for a bit. The ringing of my phone got me up again. My friend Gustavo was calling to say that he had a good laugh about the photo of the Cordero sandwich that I sent him yesterday. He spent a good month on the coast to get rid of a respiratory problem he was having during the cool weather in Cuenca. It was good news to hear that he is feeling much better. He now plans to spend about 3 months renovating that magnificent patrimonial home in El Centro then take a nice vacation. He happens to know a nice young lady who lives about 40 minutes from here.

My phone was beeping while talking to Gustavo and it turned out to be Adiela. I called back and let her talk directly to Cristina. They talk in such rapid-fire Spanish that I miss a lot but I did catch that it is good news, that Miguel is having surgery in Palmira, a town outside of Cali (where the airport is), so Adiela is headed there today on the bus and we will be looking after Mom, Julia, and their dogs until she returns.

So we went to Andalucia to finally sign the last papers for the house… NOT!! Now their excuse is that they have a new Notary so they are installing a new system and need a new password to access what they need. I am fit to be tied at all this wasted time, effort, and gas. Now they say to return Thursday…

So I drove by the new house and then around back to see what is behind that 10-foot wall… It appears to be a small house also behind high walls. I would be interested in buying it just to get more parking and access to the back yard without having to tramp through the whole house.

We made a quick stop to drop off the final 5 live flowering plants at the ex’s house for him to plant. His sister runs a daycare in the garage area and I was impressed with some of the signage used to instill values in the young children. We stopped briefly ourselves at the cemetery. The mausoleum construction continues in the most rudimentary fashion, with wire, string, lumber, nails, bricks, and cement. Such slow, uneven and unscientific work would not be tolerated in Canada or the USA for sure, but it is nonetheless fascinating.

We stopped at La Herradura for lunch and intended to actually try the Cordero sandwich but the place was not opening for another 20 minutes so we ate at the fish place next door. I am amazed at the really poor marketing of most places with prices that force people to break large bills… When we were selling our crochet hooks at international fairs, we sold them for $20 even, which was great, because pulling out a single bill to buy a great product at a good price is just easy on everyone’s brain and pocketbook, and they sold like hotcakes.

Overall, I have to say the service, and attempts to get your business, are head and shoulders above Ecuador. Many businesses have hucksters at the doorways trying to call in the customers here. While you are usually completely ignored at most places in Ecuador, salespeople are keen to follow you (even if they try to handle 2-3 clients at once).

However......., we tried to pay our Internet bill at ServiEntrega but they were closed for lunch for another hour… Another example of idiotic, lousy customer service… Don’t they realize that most of their customers are there, free, on their lunch hour??? I just shake my head..

I hope you enjoy the pictures. That was the day’s excitement.

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