A Change Of Scenery

I guess it didn't really hit me until I saw this picture...this handsome man standing in front of the home we brought him home to 33 years ago. He arrived snuggled inside a Christmas stocking on a snowy winter day. We gently laid him in the crib in his new bedroom, in the home that was just 9 months old. It also took 9 months for his Dad to build this house and just like a pregnancy it took lots of hard work, emotion, aches, pains and anticipation!
As I looked at this picture I realized it was the last time this man would visit the home of his childhood. He has his own family now and lives in Europe and the next time he visits the States we will be long gone...

Hubs has had an interest in Ecuador for quite sometime now. It seemed pretty random to me and I never paid much attention when he'd mention it. A year or so ago I discovered I had a long lost cousin living in Ecuador. Boy, did that ever spark some excitement and get his eyes to light up!
Cousin Linda started emailing us on a regular basis and always provided us with huge amounts of information and links to all things amazing in this South American country.
Late last winter we agreed it was time to make a visit to Ecuador. It was time to add it to the list of places to retire, or to cross it off completely...(I was leaning towards "cross it off completely").
We packed our backpacks and headed to the airport last March. We were off to a country we'd never been to, in a hemisphere we weren't very familiar with. It was time to check it all out and hook up with a cousin I hadn't seen or talked to in 45 years.
It's fairly easy to get to Ecuador and there is no jet-lag as they are in the same time zone. That seemed like a plus! We arrived in Quito late in the evening and spent the night in an airport hotel. I was surprised at the efficient new airport and how kind and accommodating everyone was. There was even a driver waiting to whisk us off to the beautiful hotel literally just minutes away. Early the next morning we headed back to the airport and boarded for a short flight to Cuenca, Ecuador.
What happened next is all a bit of a blur! We were greeted at the airport by cousin Linda and I recognized her immediately. Still as hip and pretty as I remembered her from when I was a teenager. I was intrigued and fascinated that she had "walked" to the airport to meet us. We did catch a cab and headed toward her beautiful inner city apartment and fabulous roof garden! We all hit it off immediately and were treated to a short walking tour of her neighborhood and a local market.

The local market was HUGE and colorful and full of everything imaginable and things I'd never seen or heard of before. We ate lunch here and enjoyed some of this guy (or one of his relatives)...

These baskets adorned several of the street corners. Guinea pig is a traditional meal here. It may take some time before I get up the courage to give it a shot...

I was surprised how much I liked this city. It is a World Heritage Site. It was very easy to navigate and wander and I was amazed at the variety of restaurants we passed. Mexican food, Thai food, traditional Ecuadorian cuisine, French and Belgian options as well.
Cousin Linda has lived here for 7 years and is well versed in everything regarding this city and Ecuador.

The variety of colorful plants on the roof garden of Linda's apartment were crazy and beautiful. After our lunch at the local market we sat and visited here for a time before making our way to our hotel.
It all seems a bit surreal at this point and things moved quickly. It seems that THIS was going to be "the retirement" destination after all! I could barely catch my breath some days.
On our second day in Cuenca we hooked up with a realtor. Hubs had been doing his research and lined up some properties he was interested in seeing. He had been telling me about these places he had found on the "Internet". I barely humored him and told him they probably didn't even exist. I guess I was wrong...
So, on day two, we met with this complete stranger in the lobby of our hotel. Linda accompanied us to keep us in line and up to date on the intricacies of buying property in a foreign land. The realtor was "car-less" and so a cab was hired to drive us to our first destination...about 25 minutes outside of Cuenca in a lush green countryside. It really was beautiful there and again I was surprised how much I liked it and how much it resonated with us.
It must seem pretty crazy to end up purchasing the first home we looked at...even more insane that we made an offer that very day...and completely certifiable that a mere 6 months later we are deep in preparations to make the move.
Here I was stumbling around this property and wondering the $&?% we were doing! The house was about 75% complete and really quite stunning. While I was standing there getting my picture taken some Ecuadorian insect chewed up my ankles pretty good...

Ya, but this view...right?!

This adventure had a life of its own! I lost complete control over sanity and woke up several nights in a cold sweat and freaking out! I couldn't believe we were doing this and doing it so quickly...
It's kind of amazing all we accomplished in the 2 weeks we were there. Linda tried to help us mix business with pleasure and I think we did a pretty good job of it! We visited attorneys and notaries and contractors and banks. But we also toured a beautiful little city in South American and ate really great food and soaked in mud and mineral water and walked in and out of little streets.
The house is almost finished now and our home of 34 years has been sold. It isn't easy going through 34 years of memories and mementos. It's exciting and fun and overwhelming and emotional all at the same time.
We don't have an exact date of departure just yet...but, I have a feeling it won't be long now. It feels like a pretty big adventure...but we can hardly wait!