The Roving Retiree - Blog

March 05th, 2015

3/5/2015

Weather in Cuenca, Ecuador

2/16/2015

What to wear is a whole new game in Cuenca. When we were in Texas watching the weather here, we kept getting numbers that made no sense. Here's a little clue: there are two Cuencas, one in Spain and one in Ecuador, viva la difference! Spain is much warmer.

Here you are well advised to dress in layers and pack a small umbrella. We Texans take pride in the changeability of our weather. Well, we ain't seen nuthin'! They don't even forecast the weather here! Apparently, near the top of the Andes, perched between the steamy Amazon and the currents of the Pacific, in Cuenca we are literally in a vortex of air currents. We may start the day with brilliant sunshine, which could give way to cloud cover by 11am. We can have heavy rain at 3pm and be back to glorious sunshine at 4pm, rounding out the day with clear, golden light kissing our colonial Spanish buildings and drawing us out of our houses to linger in the mellow light, as it recedes over the mountains after 5 o'clock.

The evening chill settles into our high valley and we gather our shawls about us. Yes, we have several seasons in one day, but none of them is really winter. Some call this the city of eternal spring. I say those folks must be from the north! We southern folk think it gets pretty chilly here in July and August. I, for one, would not be comfortable without my dear friend the electric blanket. Men on the whole, tend to like the chill better than the women. But after August, it is mostly delightful.

And better than the temperature is the utility bill! We have no air conditioning, only one space heater that uses propane ($2.50 a tank). Our electric bill is less than $50 a month. As a gardener I used to dig deep to keep my yard green in Texas, over $250 in the summer for water. Here a high bill is $16 and I don't even water the grass, just the flower beds! Muy bien!!

Gardening in Cuenca, Ecuador

Gardening in Cuenca, Ecuador

How User Friendly is Weebly?

2/16/2015

This is the third time I have attempted to post this blog. The subject has morphed from "Weather in Cuenca" to a review of website platforms, to this, my complaint about Weebly. After coming this far, having committed to and paid for this liaison with Weebly, I'm finding that, like many former relationships, it is faulty. Weebly promised to fulfill my needs, answer my questions, save my changes, but the last two posts have gone into the ether and my questions can only be sent to some vast, yawning box, never to be answered in a timely fashion. How does that help? Will I have to get a divorce? How hard will that be? What will the cost be in time and money and just plain PAIN? I'm bummed!! Weebly, I'm so disappointed!

Welcome to my blog About Life in Cuenca, Ecuador

2/14/2015

Happy Valentines! This is our third Valentines in Cuenca and we are going to Noe, which is an upscale sushi restaurant that opened last year. It is expensive, so we save it for more special occasions, but it is really a beautiful place. Not only that, but the Cuencano clientele look straight out of a Miss Universe contest (the women, that is). It is the young, gorgeous, and rich. We do have good plastic surgeons here and I have to think all these women wouldn't look so uniformly incredible without SOME help!

As always, flowers are part of our celebration. I bought Les a mixed bouquet on the way home from Pilates yesterday ($8). He hit our regular flower shop today, across the river, and came home with a stunning bouquet of red and white roses that would have cost over $100 at home. Here, about $20. Flowers here are a delight that are affordable. Regular roses typically sell for $2.50 a dozen. When we first got here we spent about $20 a week and had our apartment filled with extravagant, huge bouquets with exotic blooms. We've started gardening since then and curbed our cut flower habit!