Rants About Ecuador

Caution:  Really long rants ahead!

Yesterday really sucked.  I mean, it was one of those days that made me wonder why I live here and how terrible working here could be.  Two events occurred while dealing with vendors that made me wonder if they had ever heard the phrase "customer service" or understood the concept of "don't lie to your customers".  I'll start with the photographer.

In our contract with the wedding photographer it stated that we would receive 200 prints a CD with digital copies of those two weeks after the wedding.  Well, two weeks after the wedding, nothing.  Three weeks, nothing. Finally, a month after the wedding he finally asks us to come to his studio to show us the photos.

Perfect Sunday

Lounging in the hammock while Carlos does the dishes (Sunday is my day off).

Our Garden

After living in our apartment for almost eight months, we finally planted a little garden.  Not that it was barren before, we have some sizable trees and plants, including an enormous rosemary bush.  But we finally got around to planting a herb garden.

Freaking Friday

After the civil ceremony the day once again got crazy.  I spent most of the day being pissed off at people, especially our wedding coordinator.  I know there are lots of last minute things to be taken care of (which is why one hires a wedding coordinator in the first place), but four days earlier he told us that the baker will drop of the cake at the ceremony site the morning of the wedding, but now he says we need to pick up the cake ourselves the day before.

Making it Legal

The plan for Friday morning was to get married early.  A civil ceremony is compulsory in Ecuador.  My parents, sister, nephew, Jones and Jon, met Carlos and I around 8AM to walk to the ministry where that occurs.  The building looks like an elementary school that was built in the US in the 1960's.

How to Ring a Doorbell

On my list of pet peeves here in Cuenca is the fact that people do not seem to know how to ring a doorbell.  Some people ring twice, or ring once then wait maybe 5 seconds and ring again, and some people don't even use the doorbell, but just bang on the gate.  Sometimes I arrive at the door and the person who was laying on the buzzer or pounding on the gate is gone.

So please, ring once and wait around for a moment or two.  Gracias.

Waiting for Pho-to (Pronounced like Godot)

I crack myself up sometimes with the post titles :)

The next installment of the wedding saga has been delayed, due to the fact that I still do not have many photos.  I have some thumbnails taken off of facebook, but they are really tiny.  I am hoping that I can get the full size versions soon.

One of my father's friends, Tony, did give us the files already.  They are slowly being uploaded to flickr (I say slowly because we are still having two hours of power cuts a day).

So while you are waiting to read the next installment (the civil ceremony), you can view some photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlosjudithwedding/ (if you want to see them in order, click on the album marked "Judith").

Influx

Thursday was Carlos's first day of vacation. But he didn't get to do anything relaxing, like sleep in. At 9AM we had an appointment with the musicians to practice the pace of our tango (which wasn't looking too bad by then) and review the Jewish songs. The band had heard of the Hava Nagila, but hadn't ever played it and had no idea of how long to go on. I had to explain, just keep on repeating the same thing until someone tells you to stop.

After only two dance lessons, we decided that this would be a perfect time to practice a bit more.

Breaking news! We have uncovered rare footage of this rehearsal!

First Guests

I arrived back in Cuenca around 2PM on Wednesday.  I met Carlos in town.  We were going to get some lunch, but ended up at the hotel that we had reserved for most of our guests, Casa Ordoñez, coordinating rooms.  We were there for longer than we had thought and Carlos had to return to work (it was his last day before vacation), so I headed to the other hotel, Hostal Macondo, to find Amanda Jones.  She had arrived, along with her husband Jon, the night before (while I was in Guayaquil).  I was so excited to see them, because the last time we had seen each other was at their wedding, about three and a half years before.

Officially Single

About two weeks before the wedding, I found out that the certificate that I had gotten last year that stated that I was single was invalid.  I mean, every time we went to check the requirements for getting married in Cuenca, a different women would tell us a different thing.  One said, well the one you have is fine, another said that the document needs to be less than 45 days old, no, actually less than 30 days old, oh, well 90 days is fine.

Carlos and I decided that it would be safer just to get a new copy of the document, easy right? 

The Music is Finished the Party is Over

The past three weeks have been hectic, but things have finally calmed down.  We had a lovely wedding and were really happy to spend time with all of our friends and family who were here.  Then there was Christmas.  Then Carlos's birthday.  And finally a brief honeymoon.

So, over the next few weeks I'll be writing about the wedding and other celebrations and posting photos as well.

Don't expect too much too soon, but it will all be posted eventually.