The unofficial web page of the greater Cuenca expat community

They had a pretty good run here, six years by my count, 2009-2015.

I agree with the implicit assertion that it does not serve a purpose to question why Dena decided she couldn't get the health care she'll need going forward, in Ecuador.

cccmedia in Quito

I am in quito to greet my mule and receive my merchandise that he brought back for me. His wife went to a farmacia and tried to buy the sleeping pills she usually buys in Cuenca without problems. They told her she needed a prescription!!!

What is up with that?

Nards Barley wrote:

I am in quito to greet my mule and receive my merchandise that he brought back for me. His wife went to a farmacia and tried to buy the sleeping pills she usually buys in Cuenca without problems. They told her she needed a prescription!!!

What is up with that?

I know you know the answer Nards.  Laws are "flexible" and subject to interpretation! 

SawMan wrote:

I know you know the answer Nards.  Laws are "flexible" and subject to interpretation! 

SawMan is correct, of course.  The Cuenca farmacia was apparently disregarding the rules.

Under the law, estupefacientes y psicotrópicos -- narcotics and psychotropic drugs -- should not be issued by pharmacists unless the patient submits a receta especial.  This special-prescription document is typically provided by a specialist physician who may charge $20 more for an office visit than a general practitioner.

Anyone who needs access to such a specialist in Quito can find one at Hospital Metropolitano, or send me a PM for my doc's contact info.

cccmedia in Quito

cccmedia wrote:

SawMan wrote:

I know you know the answer Nards.  Laws are "flexible" and subject to interpretation! 

SawMan is correct, of course.  The Cuenca farmacia was apparently disregarding the rules.

Under the law, estupefacientes y psicotrópicos -- narcotics and psychotropic drugs -- should not be issued by pharmacists unless the patient submits a receta especial.  This special-prescription document is typically provided by a specialist physician who may charge $20 more for an office visit than a general practitioner.

Anyone who needs access to such a specialist in Quito can find one at Hospital Metropolitano, or send me a PM for my doc's contact info.

cccmedia in Quito

My mule's wife went to another farmacia in quito that was not a chain store and was able to get her drug (without a prescription).

My observation is that most of cuenca´s expats spend part of their day drugged on something whether it is alcohol,  medicinal bon bons, or pharmaceuticals.

The following sleeping pills are my preferred pharamceuticals.   I get a box of 30 for about $9.  I only take a half of a pill, so they last about two months.

I don't doubt that this so-called hypnótico medication is effective.

As someone who spent a week in a detox center (Connecticut, 2006) after self-medicating on Xanax for sleep -- followed by months in rehab -- I know this...

Even if they're selling meds at some farmacias such as the box pictured without  requiring a receta especial from a specialist, one should take pills for sleep only with a doctor's supervision.

cccmedia in Quito

Looks like we are losing another expat from Cuenca, and right in the time frame when expats usually go back (3.5 years)

Here is what I had to say.............

Good luck with the hip surgery and your future world travels. Hopefully the expat community will give you the benefit of the doubt, and NOT assume your departure from Cuenca is because you couldn´t adapt to the culture or learn the language. Not likely..............

Good luck to him.  I hope his aging body will hold up for many, long years and travels.  There is still much I want to see.  Nothing is forever.

The clownish editors over at CuencaHighLife committed a big Faux paw--they edited my comment from this:

Good luck with the hip surgery and your future world travels. Hopefully the expat community will give you the benefit of the doubt, and NOT assume your departure from Cuenca is because you couldn´t adapt to the culture or learn the language. Not likely..............

to this:

Good luck with the hip surgery and your future world travels.

It is one thing to delete a comment; it is another thing entirely to edit someone´s comment and post it. That is way out of bounds and outside the norms of comment sections of respected publications.

I find it highly hypcritical that these editors can post an early April Fool´s joke that scared and/or seriously pissed off a large percentage of the Cuenca expat community,  but I can´t write a comment that sort of addresses a theme of that article, which is that we either need to adapt to the culture and learn the language, or we will all be going home within 3.5 years more or less.

It is bullsh*t....................

Nards:

I've read previously that 3.5 years is the average time expats actually stay in their new residence, perhaps it came from you. Is there study "data" to support or is it more anecdotal?

SawMan wrote:

Nards:

I've read previously that 3.5 years is the average time expats actually stay in their new residence, perhaps it came from you. Is there study "data" to support or is it more anecdotal?

It is anectdotal, and came from an article on CuencaHighlife. It seems like a reasonable figure, so I am rolling with it.

One must keep in mind that just an average doesn't tell you much about small samples - "average income" is $100K if one person earns $198K and another just $2K...or average income is $50K if 2 people earn $10K, 3 earn $15K, and 1 earns $235K...

You need to know the standard deviation ( if a bell curve applies) and/or median.  I will not be pedantic (any more than I already am), google it...

So saying the "average" stay is 3.5 years could mean that many stay only 1-2 years but relatively fewer stay 7-10 years or more.  Or just about any mix could give a 3.5 year average.

But if 3.5 years sounds about right, we'll go with it!  I hope when I finally become an expat I'll drive the average upward, but we'll have to wait and see...

As you can see below, I have thrown in the towell on adapting to the culture and learning the language, instead electing to participate on day excursions with common Cuenca expats (glorified tourists).



This particular excursion was a day trip to Sarguro, with a couple stops to other towns.

The first stop was to the town of Oña, with the express purpose ofbuying aguardiente de agave. Here is the central park of Oña.



While we got lost for a little while, we eventually found the house with the tasting room:



On the premises they also raise rodent for your dinner table:



About 3 hours or so from Cuenca is Saraguro on the way to Loja. Here is its central park.



The main reason for going to Saraguro is to eat at the restaurant Shamuico Espai Gastronomic.



On the way back we stopped in Nabon, which we were told by a local has the best Tequila in Ecuador. Certainly the local Cuenca paper talks more about the tequila in Nabón than it does the tequila in Oña.   

Here is the central park in Nabon:

There are a lot of expats in Ecuador trying to cash in on their expat experience writing self-published ebooks on Amazon.com.  It is mostly a reflection of how bored they are in retirement and their inability to adapt to the culture and learn the language.  I can relate, and it is why I have this web page.

While perusing the titles of books on Ecuador, I stumbled upon a bookwhich has a little different angle than most:



In case you can´t read the cover, it says "Our Ecuador Retirement...Part 2: The Second Year and Why We Didn't Stay"

While I would be curious to know why he split for Mexico, I doubt it is worth the four dollars to find out.

Nards Barley wrote:

While I would be curious to know why he split for Mexico, I doubt it is worth the four dollars to find out.

You should be able to read all about it, Nards, without 'ponying up' the four dolaritos.  Just go back to the Amazon listing you visited and read the no-cost book sample via the free Kindle reader available at that listing. 

In that sample, Don Murray discusses the Murrays' reasons for leaving the EC coast for Mexico.  Don has some serious heart issues, and in his mid-60's became certain that the hospitals in his coastal town were not up to handling a heart emergency.  He ruled out moving to Quito, Cuenca or other EC highlands cities due to the altitudes.

cccmedia in Quito

He lived somewhere on the coast. He had heart problems and was worried when he saw how poor the medical facilities were. He published a free online newsletter

I have been checking out the revamped GringoTree website today.   I configured my profile for Spanish since they are offering content in both English and Spanish. So I get over to this articlediscussing the recent murder of an expat, and here is the introductory paragraph:

Held sospechoso en la muerte de expatriado estadounidense
Según la policía, Daniel V. fue acusado y acusado del asesinato de Henry bebedor Riley; La Fiscalía ha pedido para que el sospechoso que se celebrará durante 30 días. Agentes de la policía encontró una maleta que pertenecía a la víctima en la casa del sospechoso.

Now, I underlined the name of the victim.  The word bebedor in Spanish means "heavy drinker" and rumor has it he was a heavy drinker, although I doubted it was reported as such in the local papers.

In any case, I seriously doubt he had a nickname of "drunk" or something similar, although this article indicates that he did.

P.S. I thought about posting a comment below that of my buddy "ZenSpike" at GringoTree suggesting a correction. However, my page is widely read by the GringoTree staff and I suspect it will be corrected in short order, assuming his middle name really isn´t actually "bebedor"

Well I will be damned..........

The El Tiempo says his middle name is "Drinker"

Las investigaciones en torno a la muerte del ciudadano estadounidense Henry Drinker Riley de 64 años, vinculan a Daniel Matías V., de 36 años, como el presunto autor del crimen que causó conmoción ciudadana.

Okay,Cuencahighlife sayshis name was "Henry Dricker Riley"

Daniel V. fue acusado....La Fiscalía ha pedido para que el sospechoso que se celebrará durante 30 días.

What do we make of this last sentence, apparently meaning that "The district attorney's office has requested that the suspect be celebrated for 30 days." 

This is from the article in El Tiempo:  ...La audiencia de formulación de cargos se cumplió a las 18:00 del mismo día, en la que el juez de la Unidad Judicial Penal de Cuenca acogió el pedido de la Fiscalía y dictó orden de prisión preventiva y concedió 30 días para la etapa de instrucción fiscal.

[The preliminary hearing and reading of the charge took place the same day at 18h00 (6:00 pm).  The judge of the Criminal Justice Unit of Cuenca accepted the motion of the persecutor  and  denied bail.  The judge also granted 30 days for further investigation by the prosecutor.]  In civil law the prosecutor has 30 days after the prelim to order the police to find this or that evidence needed for the case.  Unlike in the US where the police can and do initiate investigations, under civil law the police are agents of the judiciary.  The police can not begin a a legal investigation until a persecutor has signed off and  granted an indagación previa.  Which is why a prosecutor went to the scene of the murder with the police...to start the investigation.

Not sure where that other Spanish quote came from, but it does not make sense to me.

Nards Barley wrote:

As you can see below, I have thrown in the towell on adapting to the culture and learning the language, instead electing to participate on day excursions with common Cuenca expats (glorified tourists).

Aren't we all tourists briefly on this earth?
If the average expat lasts 3.5 years, then I agree the average expat is a tourist.
Tourist sounds so negative, but I want to always be a tourist.
The day I stop wanting to see new things, go to new places, meet people from all over the world, that is the day I gave up and am ready to die.
Just last night we went to seafood restaurant and my wife picked out her lobster.
Hard for me to imagine going out to eat and picking out my rodent.
At least it sounds like you are enjoying being a tourist, Nards, hope that never stops

Don Murray and his wife have a delightful blog that you can catch and read about their adventures and insight.

good deal. I paid $13 for the same box near Plaza Foch. Break them in half as well.

Very true. These are absolutely addictive. I have been taking these on and off for awhile now. Unfortunately I am taking 1/2 pill nightly. Once you try to stop you will go about 4 days with minimal sleep so the easy answer is to start up again and the cycle continues.

I can send you Part 1 if you really are bored!

mugtech wrote:

Nards Barley wrote:

As you can see below, I have thrown in the towell on adapting to the culture and learning the language, instead electing to participate on day excursions with common Cuenca expats (glorified tourists).

Aren't we all tourists briefly on this earth?
If the average expat lasts 3.5 years, then I agree the average expat is a tourist.
Tourist sounds so negative, but I want to always be a tourist.
The day I stop wanting to see new things, go to new places, meet people from all over the world, that is the day I gave up and am ready to die.
Just last night we went to seafood restaurant and my wife picked out her lobster.
Hard for me to imagine going out to eat and picking out my rodent.
At least it sounds like you are enjoying being a tourist, Nards, hope that never stops

Yes, and a tourist usually has a camera around his neck. Picture worth a thousand words and it's great that Nards shares so many here.

Comments are often more entertaining than the articles over GringoTree.

In this case, I got a chuckle from this smack down on newbie know-it-alls.  I actually think 5 years is a good time frame that you have to live in Ecuador or Latin America before you can start claiming to be an authority on the culture in comment sections.

Now, lest you newbies that have been here for less than 5 years decry my assertions because you are still in the honeymoon phase of your expat adventure, allow me to tell you that I have been here for nearly 25 years and my comments are not based on observations culled from casual, short term observance. There is lots to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture, but few have the guts to talk about it.

Nards Barley wrote:

Comments are often more entertaining than the articles over GringoTree.

In this case, I got a chuckle from this smack down on newbie know-it-alls.  I actually think 5 years is a good time frame that you have to live in Ecuador or Latin America before you can start claiming to be an authority on the culture in comment sections.

Now, lest you newbies that have been here for less than 5 years decry my assertions because you are still in the honeymoon phase of your expat adventure, allow me to tell you that I have been here for nearly 25 years and my comments are not based on observations culled from casual, short term observance. There is lots to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture, but few have the guts to talk about it.

What is there to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture?  Did he have the guts to talk about it?

mugtech wrote:

What is there to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture?  Did he have the guts to talk about it?

I think he said something about there is a supposed culture acceptance for cheating on one´s spouse etc.  I wasn´t especially tuned into the substance of the comment.

Nards Barley wrote:

mugtech wrote:

What is there to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture?  Did he have the guts to talk about it?

I think he said something about there is a supposed culture acceptance for cheating on one´s spouse etc.  I wasn´t especially tuned into the substance of the comment.

Sounds about right, in tune with the idea that it is a male-dominated culture.

Yeah Latin lover men!!!  Is that good or not for single 60 year old women? Some nice single 30 something lawyer. What do they call them here "boy toys". Hmmmmmmmmmm.......Maybe I should get my Latin American Spanish book out again and give EC another think. Don't have to worry about a new set of kids to raise anymore

Looks like the following comment over at CuencaHighlife  wasn´t considered politically correct.  That is okay, because it is why I have my own web page.

Your comment is awaiting moderation.
I don´t think it is necessary to defend the U.S. from the tin-foil hat wearing, conspiracy-propagating, U.S. hating crowd. They are as irrelevant in Ecuador as they are in the U.S

I wonder if it is ever possible to understand another culture.  Depending on one's ability to observer, analyze and practice critical thinking the observation may be more accurate, but we are all influenced by our own culture.

To me, for example, a lot of what is termed family values is really no more than a subterfuge for control over spouses, children etc.  Some of that comes from observations and some from what people tell me and my own questions about family life here.  But the accuracy of this observation is heavily influenced (and perhaps prejudiced) by my history/culture as well as the accuracy of my observations and limitations of my ability to critically analyze what I observe.

A frequent talking point made around Cuenca is that expats need to adapt to the culture and learn the language (well) or they will return to their home country in short order.  I think that is crap and there are plenty of case studies to prove that.  What is important is they build an environment (i.e. their home and daily routine) that makes them feel comfortable.  This often means that they have reliable internet,  English television via Direct TV  or Netflix, Magic Jack for communicating back to the states and/or with other expats, food that is familiar to them, and a certain amount of social interaction with English speakers which may only be their spouse.  Obviously they need to have a certain amount of patience and persistence to figure out how to get things done.  There is a robust gringo subculture in Cuenca and that is why so many expats have little problem in adjusting to living here, even if they don't like to admit it.

This seems true for the economic refugees who want to live similar to the USA for less money.  Many are faulted for doing this, but why must they learn more Spanish than required to survive?  Retirees do not have to earn money, so they can interact with society when and how they like within the laws and norms of said society.  One would think it would be a fuller, richer experience to become part of the Spanish-speaking culture, but for many retired expats it is probably an unfulfillable goal, so why frustrate yourself?  It would seem many leave because they become bored with the situation, like the Texan who said he spent every day just walking around town.  I would think the vibrant gringo subculture keeps more expats in Cuenca than it drives away, helps most to learn the ways of the city.

Mugtech, why spend time, of which - for most of us here - is a limited and precious commodity, worrying about how well person A speaks Spanish or person B is inserted into the larger community?

quito0819 wrote:

Mugtech, why spend time, of which - for most of us here - is a limited and precious commodity, worrying about how well person A speaks Spanish or person B is inserted into the larger community?

I am not worried about any of that, just saying the people should do what they want when they want and not be made to feel that their expat life is inferior to others.  The smart ones just ignore the "experts".

mugtech wrote:

quito0819 wrote:

Mugtech, why spend time, of which - for most of us here - is a limited and precious commodity, worrying about how well person A speaks Spanish or person B is inserted into the larger community?

I am not worried about any of that, just saying the people should do what they want when they want and not be made to feel that their expat life is inferior to others.  The smart ones just ignore the "experts".

There is a lot of browbeating by the culture sensitivity warriors engaging in political correctness.

Nards Barley wrote:

Looks like the following comment over at CuencaHighlife  wasn´t considered politically correct.  That is okay, because it is why I have my own web page.

Your comment is awaiting moderation.
I don´t think it is necessary to defend the U.S. from the tin-foil hat wearing, conspiracy-propagating, U.S. hating crowd. They are as irrelevant in Ecuador as they are in the U.S

I stand corrected. My comment was finally posted.  Maybe there is a hierarchical structure over at CuencaHighlife and the higher-ups decided to approve it after worker-bees flagged it for review.