Gratitude - It's all perspective

It's hard to believe, but a year has passed since I was suffering so terribly from a torn muscle and ligament. It's the type of pain that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy and I'm glad that chapter of my life is in the past. 

A llamingo - half llama/half alpaca...bad breath, but
he loved me (which makes me happy)
Photo by Linda Sorrento

The process was so impactful that, to this day, being able to do things without pain is something for which I'm grateful. I tied my shoe the other day, sitting on a chair, like a normal person; foot across my knee and it was a moment of pure joy. Something so simple. Walking down the street, rolling over in bed, even touching my toes or being able to go to the gym without worrying (overly) about being sore or unable is so freeing. 

Ron and I in Peru, heading towards Machu Picchu
(Happiness!)

All this "ableness" was lost on me before my injury. I was happy (in a general sort of way) to be able to do things that others obviously couldn't, but it wasn't really meaningful. I think this is why there is suffering; so that we can better appreciate the good things. Now, I'm going to go completely off the reservation (that's probably not PC, so my apologies) and apply this to privilege, be it financial, racial, gender or cultural. You don't know how good ya' got it, until you lose it. So when someone is talking from their own perspective, I cannot judge. I am not them, I haven't had their experiences and am in no place to condemn.

Flowers make me happy, too

I'm going to apply this principle as I move forward, trying to remember that everything is influenced by perspective. One person's disaster is another's best case scenario. It's a thought that I need to get through these wild and woolly times. What I do know, is that we're all human and there is no "us" or "them", just "we". 

What's Goin' on in Ecuador?

As much fun as it is to travel, sometimes it's just interesting to make note of what's happening in my temporary home. It's almost never a dull moment, considering our peaceful existences.

Cuenca is supposed to be the proud home to a light rail system, but general issues like contract disputes, budget shortages etc have delayed the project which was supposed to be completed over three years ago. Recently, a new contract was signed and Tranvia is supposed to be completed by the end of September. The mayor has just updated us and said that even this isn't going to happen and that it likely won't be until 2019. This isn't surprising. The good news is that affected businesses will receive some financial compensation. (I mean, really, where else does that happen?) Once it's completed, the buses running through the city will be reduced and that's a good thing.

Less of this would be good.

We've also had some legal excitement with the existing government. The Vice-President was removed from office for being caught up in a bribery scandal. A South American company (Odebrecht) regularly used bribery to win large  contracts both private and public. Sr. Jorge Glas, was found guilty and is serving 6 years in prison in Quito. The conviction wasn't exactly surprising. The reach of Odebrecht was huge and many countries have been affected. Politicians, CEOs and other people of import have fallen because of their greed. Sr. Glas has been replaced by Maria Alejandra Vicuña. (Yes, the country is going to hell, we have a President in a wheelchair and a woman (gasp!) as second in command. We've come a long way, baby!)

"Damn, I'm caught."

The current President (Lenin Moreno) is on a mission to clear out corruption, even though many Ecuadorians feared that he would only be a puppet of Rafael Correa, the previous leader. This has not been the case and Correa (who seems to share a lot in common with the big sensitive baby from the USA) has gone on the offensive, as Moreno goes about fixing many things that were wrong and addressing the concerns of various groups. Correa would be amusing if he wasn't trying to undermine a very popular and effective President.

Ex-President Correa, likely whining about something

The whole health insurance thing is still up in the air and the new fees for the universal health care are being challenged in court, but I suspect that the requirement for coverage will stand. There is going to be a special meeting with the President and a special auditor to discuss Correa's handling of health care costs during his tenure. I'm pretty sure that there's been a whole pile of mismanagement, false filings by doctors and other little scams that have drained the system and created financial chaos. It's rumoured that Correa told the head of IESS (the medical system) to not bill the government for outstanding costs, as they didn't have the money and that it had happened for several years, basically bankrupting the system.

Like I said, never a dull moment. Who knows what other dirty little secrets will come out during the various investigations. Perhaps we should start a pool to predict when Tranvia will be complete or who will be brought to trial next.

Happy Birthday to Me

Hard to believe that I started this little blog just over seven years ago. Time truly does fly. 
I'm cruising up to 80,000 hits, have been seen in 113 countries and posted 310 instalments, including this one. (I often think to myself, aren't these people tired of me yet? Probably, and yet I post this little vanity piece!)

My (animal hating) inspiration of how to live life.
Photo by Linda Sorrento

This morning, I awoke to sunshine and, despite being one step closer to 50, I realised, yet again, that life is pretty darned good. I'm retired (yup, already...yay me!), live life on my own schedule, (that means I can take as long as I want to drink my coffee in the morning and that is undeniably priceless) and am getting ready to head off to another new adventure in a few weeks.

Pink is starting to be a theme...don't know why

So, I say to Life: bring it on. Sure I'm a bit more wrinkly, have a few more gray hairs, am a bit thicker through the middle, but I'm determined to slide into the grave with a smile on my face and a body that shows all the marks of a life well lived. (I do live with someone very inspiring, so that makes it easier!)

Standard confused look - "sometimers" is hard!
Photo by Linda Sorrento
(I'm talking to a dog, btw, note puppies at my feet.)

Did I mention that Ron swears he doesn't like animals?

Renewing Our Passport Whilst Abroad

First of all...yes, yes I did use the word "whilst". Call me old fashioned, but it has a certain panache and is actually the correct usage, as opposed to "while". Sure, "while" is widely accepted now, but this is just how I roll.

We have been invited on an adventure with friends, which has waylaid certain plans and made it necessary to renew our passports early. (I think our 5 year passports have never truly been more than 4 and half year passports in reality.) But we're here and Canada is...well...there! Enter the Canadian Consulate in Guayaquil. "Of course you can renew your passports here!" "Yay", says I! We don't have to make the 7 hour journey to Canadian Embassy in Quito. Happy day.

We dutifully filled out the paperwork, got our photos and hopped on a ridiculously early bus to Guayaquil (a 5 am one, to be precise) so that we could arrive bright and early for the 9am office opening. Most of you know that morning is not my time to shine, much less the 3:30 wake up call, but I persevered. Because of the time of day, the 4 hour trip only took 3 hours and we found ourselves outside the consulate with 40 minutes to spare. A quick coffee and "continental" breakfast filled up the time and we were whisked up to the 6th floor of the Blue Tower to submit our paperwork. We were met by the very helpful Paola. We managed to catch the 9:55am bus back to Cuenca and found ourselves back at home a little before 2pm.

We'll ignore the fact that as Paola looked over our paperwork and asked us a few questions, she very happily told us that we could have couriered in the paperwork, we needn't have come ourselves. (!!!) Considering the hour at which we started our day, we took the news fairly well, but it was something that we really would have been happy to know through one of our email conversations with her. She softened the blow by saying they would courier our passports to us FOR FREE. No need for a second trip.

So, lesson learned and you're welcome, other Canadians, who might be put in the same position! 

As one of our friends signs off on his email "this is the life we chose".