Official News From Cotacachi

Thanks to Dan Delgado of the Communications Committee for English-Speaking Residents of Cotacachi, I have lots of information for all of you who currently live here and those considering the move. Things here are definitely changing and it's good for all of us to stay abreast of those changes.

IESS (pronounced YYess) I must thank everyone who came out to the IESS workshop last time. IESS officials were unable to make it to that meeting saying that they were called to other functions. I am sorry about that. Thank you for your patience and understanding and also for your support. Mr. Ivan Andrade, the regional director at the office of IESS in Otavalo would like to come into Cotacachi to meet with us all this coming Friday at two in the afternoon. Mr Andrade's office has direct jurisdiction for IESS in the Cotacachi area and he will be here to answer as much as possible on the following issues for people who would like to try to understand the process for hiring helpers themselves. After this meeting, you are welcome to join the senior citizens who come to this center for their afternoon program. Fridays is a musical event - chorus, I believe. Mondays at three is Bingo.

Bits and Pieces

When I was on my way home from the Parade of Horses, I saw this woman going into an unfinished building.  I wasn't sure what she was doing until she had gone back into her house and I passed the place she had been.  She had food in that container and had put it down in there for the dog to eat.

I recently splurged and bought an electric juicer.  This isn't the kind where you peel the fruit and run it through and it pulverizes everything and separates the pulp from the juice.  No, this is just one of those things like the manual citrus juicer we're all familiar with but it's electric.  I juiced about a quart of juice in less than half an hour and the cost of the oranges was only about 30 cents.  I would have gotten more juice out of them if I hadn't had them hanging around for so long.  I was having a terrible time juicing them by hand and the older they get, the more the juice dries up or evaporates or something.  Now I can take advantage of sales on juice oranges and have fresh juice whenever I want it.  Some days it's the little things.

Have you noticed the Cluster Map at the top of the right column?  I've been fascinated by it.  Sure, it tells me where people live who are reading my blog (and I'm shocked, amazed, and very pleased that they are from such diverse locations) but it also breaks things down by state in the US.  In addition to that, it shows me where the last 10 people who have viewed the blog live.  It's fun for me.  I have no idea if it might be of any interest at all to anyone else but, you know me, it struck me as interesting so I shared it with you.

After writing about what to pack when you come here, it occurred to me that I had left something rather important out.  Bring your hand sanitizer.  I suspect you can buy it here but I haven't noticed it and you'll want both a little portable one and probably one to refill it.  Bathroom sinks here do not have hot water and there are many places where the public restrooms won't have any soap.  (Of course many of them don't have toilet paper, either.)  If you have germ issues, the hand sanitizer is a good idea. Quick update on what's happening in my life these days. My computer still awaits its new hard drive which has either already been sent to me from the States or will be in the next few days. I'm cat sitting at two separate home. It's a wee bit more challenging than it originally would have been but, well, life happened. One of the kitties managed to escape and was on the run for pretty close to two weeks -- she came home yesterday -- hurray! I've gotten a tiny job doing administrative work for a friend of mine. I've spent lots of time with new friends who have been avid blog readers. We have a new restaurant in town. In other words, lots is going on here and there's a ton to write about as soon as I can blog with a bit more ease. Thanks for hanging in there with me.