Cargo - Part two

                                          Shipped !!

                                                      (part II)                                          8 June 2011 AD

Yes, cargo container…where was I? … We were enjoying, or rather using, an indeterminate delay to complete the condo remodeling. Contractors must be the same everywhere - just like another one of Dione Warwick's songs: "Promises, promises, all I get are promises, promises now - I don't know how..."  Delays, delays.  But that’s another story.

                              "Ding Dong, Cargo Calling!"

                              "Where's all this stuff gonna go?"

                                 "What a mess!"

             Guayaquil port indicated the reason for the delay was our container gained weight during shipment.  They allow for a 10% variance, but ours was 12%.   Sounds like they do not trust their scales.    Humm,  how can a sealed container gain 1000 pounds on the ocean voyage?

We had been warned multiple times about the port of G.  Never ship there, except as intermediate port of entry. Never allow the container to be opened in G.  Rumor was they enjoy misplacing items, adding daily storage charges, etc.   So, the “weight error” caused our 40 foot container to be opened.

After a week of unreturned emails, we mentioned using our attorney to unravel things.  Now, the container will arrive in Cuenca the next day, Saturday. Our two week time limit before extra charges ends Sunday. Yes, we received a review now. The previous Friday closed for Saturday voting (!?), no one works weekends, paper work, weighing twice, etc. So we hoped for an arrival on Monday at our condo.

 We needed to hire a translator for all meetings (usually to translate three sentences) and 5 strong young men to carry Sue’s piano and our furniture up two and a half flights of stairs. Next, a trip near the airport for customs. After a wait we were told to go to another office and wait for paperwork. The papers?  A  copy of each page of our passports to sign, perhaps because the shipper never asked for my Cedula number. The previous week we went to the Notary office, waited during his four hour lunch to sign a document stating I am the same person on my passport and on my Cedula.   Seems a bit redundant to me.

 We are getting closer.  Our late morning entertainment was watching our container contents being inspected and compared with our shipping inventory.  Five men patiently removed items from the middle to allow access to every item. Randomly, they opened a couple dozen boxes while we prayed. Our 39 page excel spreadsheet had been reworked several times due to lack of communication and changing rules, creating possible errors in details. The first two boxes had Bibles on top for our classes and study! The third caused smiles as they photographed Emily’s large creative Halloween pumpkin.     Ahh … all is well.

Our cargo will be trucked 4 miles, a 15 minute trip, to us at three pm. We can unload during the allowed two hours in time for the truck to return to G.  Let’s not incur another day of fees.

A t 3:20 we began cell calls. Our shipping rep was  “leading the trucker to our condo”.   At 3:40 they will “arrive in 15 minutes”.  At 4:00 “very close”. Then we saw the large trailer stuck a block away negotiating a tight turn from a small side street. Why not use the wider streets?  Then it slowly backed up for a detour around to a larger street. Next, we saw it heading for us and a row of neighborhood jacaranda trees. Two of our new Columbian friends ran down the street and climbed like monkeys on top of the cargo. They bent limbs and deftly lifted overhead cables unmindful of the risks incurred. Quite a show!

"There's some light at the end of the cargo..."

Our flurry of boxes and furniture, while the resting driver insisted he needed to leave by six pm, resulted in the complete loss of our planned strategy for proper placement of 200 boxes. But it’s all here. We’ll sort the mess after a good night’s sleep.

We hope to receive a refund of most of our $800 container deposit within a month.

                              What we would do differently?

·         Do everything in writing/email in both languages.

·         Obtain US trucker’s name and cell phone number. Verify every step, schedule.

·         Ask even more questions (even when they resist).

·         Obtain recent gringo referrals.  Shop more shippers for quotes and services.

·         Ask about route for final delivery, inspect for trees, wires, parking ,etc.

·         Allow more time for packing, listing contents of each box.

·         Verify every step. Who is accountable and how among all parties including, Cuenca shipping company, US port contact/scheduler, US trucker, “steamship line”, G port contacts, trucker. Each party may be independent of others!

·         Ask for list of all local and national holidays (this may surprise you!)

There were a number of other issues and problems I prefer not to put in writing. In defense of all parties, understand that the rules are constantly changing without notice.

May our readers gain insight from all our mistakes and omissions!

Cuenca Suite

Cuenca Suite

Hello Friends!

In a recent post, we shared that Sue wrote a piece of music entitled, “Cuenca Suite.”  She recorded it at Big Crowd Music owned by Pablo Lozano, recording engineer. 

Pablo sent Sue an MP3 file of the song via email.  It’s not the “final” quality so to speak, but will give you a sneak preview of the song.

Imagine running through green pastures with glorious sunlight, or up the “Cajas” of this beautiful city, Cuenca – OR perhaps listening to the rushing waters of the four rivers. 

Whatever – just hope you simply enjoy!

Return from Carolina!

                                                                Oh …. Ship!

There’s an old Dionne Warwick song entitled, “What do you get when you fall in love?  You only get lies and pain and sorrow – so for at least until tomorrow, I’ll never fall in love again! ” And don’t forget the chorus:  “Don’t tell me what it’s all about, “cause” I’ve been there and I’m glad I’m out…”

Well now…in a way we felt that way about shipping a container.  What do you get when you ship a container?  You only get … so for at least until tomorrow, we’ll never ship again!   And … don’t tell us what it’s all about, “cause” we’ve been there and we’re glad it’s HERE!?!

We left for the USA towards the end of March after a long season of visa/cedula problems.  For an entire season of expats, we all enjoyed an extended, suspenseful anticipation of censos and cedulas due to administration difficulties in Quito.  However, we are so grateful for the Cuencanos who assisted in the lengthy process.  Our cedula was issued the day we flew out of Quito for NC.

So what about the container?  If it were not for friends in Asheville, we would still be wandering about the warehouse.   Although we had our household items in tubs and boxes stored in two storage units, we still had to open every one and inventory each item.   It required repacking over two hundred boxes and furnishings to be able to make the shipment.

At one dear friend’s insistence, we were able to ship our furniture in boxes made for chairs.  My sister-in-law works for Ethan Allen, so we received many boxes to pack our furniture adequately.

Friends came to the storage unit and helped us pack and repack.  So on the big day for our container to ship, ten of us staged boxes on the dock.  We waited to pack the container.

Finally, our moment for container arrival at 2 pm … 2:30 we started making phone calls to Miami … 3:00 more calls ... then at 3:45 the answer. The truck with the container was not coming for at least a week.  We were all shocked and confused.  So, we had to reload everything back into the storage units.  Our four hour task for friends lasted until 7pm.

Here we go… new decisions to make now.  We already had our tickets to fly back to Cuenca.  Our friend said she’d be happy to be in charge of packing the newly scheduled container.

We finally concluded Gary would return to Cuenca to begin condo remodeling; Sue would stay behind to handle the container dilemma.  As it turned out, she stayed for nine more days, handling all the details of the container.

On the day the truck arrived, we had the same dear friends volunteer to pack the container. Our friend, Diana was in charge of the arranging of the items.  She is an interior decorator, drew a design, and managed the packing.  What a friend!

There were other issues we had to straighten out with the container inventory sheets, but
one by one, they were solved. On April 25^th, the container shipped from Asheville, North
Carolina to Charleston, SC to Guayaquil, for a final truck ride up the Andes to our new “departmento” in Cuenca.

We received news a week after Sue’s arrival in Cuenca that our container was to be in Guayaquil on Sunday, May 8^th – Mother’s Day! Only two weeks in transit. Now after a
couple of days in customs, the container should arrive in Cuenca, safe and sound.

Now it’s Wednesday, May 18^th and no container!  No explanation. No timetable. 

During the time we’ve waited for our container, we’ve been renovating our newly purchased apartment located 10 minutes walking distance from historic downtown “Centro” Cuenca.   The former owners were kind enough to lend us a sleeper sofa with sheets.  However, it was somewhat difficult for us both to sleep on a single bed for 10 days!

From old

                                                                              To new
Another well-timed miracle!  Although we are very sad our friends, Mike and Patty Grimm had to return to Arizona for Mike to have back surgery, they were kind enough to offer for us to stay in their apartment during their absence.  Fortunately, they live about 5 blocks from us – an easy walk.  We did not know what a huge blessing this was going to be until we started spending our nights there.

It has been wonderful to get away from the paint fumes, the empty abode with a small apartment refrigerator (our friends Jack & Claudia also lent us with a table and two chairs).  We’ve been able to get good rest at night and eat well by cooking in Patty’s great kitchen!

Realistically speaking, no move is ever easy – even moving within your home country.  Make it an
international move and you have stresses and decisions beyond the “norm.”

You have to “weigh” the pros and cons of having your own things or buying them here in Cuenca. 
We tallied it up and decided we would come out “cheaper” to ship the container.  The plus of shipping the container is that Sue will have her piano – a  40-year old upright William Knabe special.   It belonged to her mother and Sue acquired it over a decade ago. 

So the end result of our decision had to do with bringing things that were “us” to make our apartment “Home Sweet Home!”

                                   To be continued ………………….

Announcing Great Leads for Services and BREAD!

ANNOUNCING...

SOURDOUGH BREAD

      ….for all you bread lovers!

Sue has been used to making sourdough bread back in the United States for a number of years.  So we made a mad dash to purchase some of this bread, when we found out who made it and where you could get it.

Branden and Sandra Lenz, owners and operators of a catering center, Villa San Carlos, located
at Remigio Tamariz y Ave Solano (1-85) right across the street from the gas station and next door to the church (in between the construction with huge parking lot)
Phone nos. are:  281 1903       09 847 7668

branden.lenz@gmail.com

They make the bread each week.  You can order the bread by email on Tuesdays and pick it up there at the center on Thursdays after 12:30 p.m.  

Be sure to try this delicious bread.  Oh, they have other wonderful items such as vinegar, sea salt, strawberries, lettuces, all of which you will want to try.

Mejores Servicios Médicos

We have had several massages since we have been here but one we feel is unforgettable was with Thom Golden, a registered nurse who performs "foot massages," or better known as reflexology.  We both made an appointment and found it very relaxing, informative, and helpful.  You might want to give Thom a call and ask him about this.    His cellular is:  09 664 9970

We delighted (is this possible?) to experience an incredible trip to the dentist.  If you haven't found a dentist and are a little concerned about getting a good one, we feel we have a "top notch" gal.  She was referred to us by Thom Golden, who kept saying she was just a delight and a "painless dentist!"

Her name is Paula Dominguer and she is located off Solano on Daniel Cordova Toral 1-115 - not hard to find.  We had an appointment last week and found her not only to be of the highest quality professionally, but absolute fun to be with as she worked on our mouths! Gary was in the chair for a comprehensive cleaning and it was only $25.00!   So…if you want a superior and AFFORDABLE dental cleaning and check-up, see Dr. Paula.      09 786 8908

Amazing Crazy Day

Amazing Crazy Day

Time flies when you are having fun - even when you're not always having fun.  Since our last posting, activities have been flurrying with us of every sort.

“Hang on" if you haven't received your stamped passports from Quito.  Overjoyed, we  received  the long-awaited phone call last week declaring our passports had arrived and were in hand at our attorney’s office.  On Friday, we were escorted by Nelson to the Cuenca Censo office.

Surprise! A truck hit a pole earlier that morning and knocked out internet connections in the vicinity.  A small crowd of curious Censo seekers nervously watched computers go up and down while waiting.  Midway in our turn, the computers went down again with half our process completed. So, “ya’ll come back now,” in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, you would have thought going to the Censo office was "old home week."  We actually saw several people we knew.  So while visiting, Gary left his bag unattended in a chair (okay now, everyone in unison “Shame on you, Gary!”).  What happened?  Well, while at the "policia," it was "lifted" into thin air.  Sue's main bag was and is always GLUED TO HER, but we lost our camera, Sue's daytimer, DVD’s and other things.  Fortunately, no money or detrimental information was in the bag.  Good news:  Sue gets a new camera!

Moral of the story: No matter where you are, do not leave anything unattended, even at the Police Station!

Amazingly, we not only obtained our Censos that afternoon, but our lengthy negotiations on the purchase of an apartment were completed.  Then, the cozy casa we have been renting the past 4 months was rented to another Carolina couple.  We had just met Bobby and Terri, before leaving that morning.  They wanted a quick occupancy…so we will be roommates for a few days.

Now…to fly home to Atlanta, Fyffe, and Asheville in a week. Yes, a month with family, friends and the IRS.               Oh, the Joy.

Cuenca Suite

Cuenca Suite

For years, Sue has experienced recording studios in the US, yet never expected to enjoy her first recording session in Cuenca, Ecuador.  Young Pablo Lorenzo, an intimate, powerful musician and composer, also leads worship for Bill McDonald's new “unchurch” called "6:08". It meets Saturday evenings at Mall de Rio, convention room Yanacuay I.  Bill McDonald is Unsion Television’s CEO and Cuenca’s longtime missionary and friend.

We met Pablo after one of their first services. With our common interest in music, and his excellent English, we began a friendship.

One Friday evening, after dinner in our “casa,” Sue & Pablo enjoyed some music as he played the guitar and Sue was on the flute and keyboard.  Recently, Sue and Gary visited his recording studio where she recorded her first Ecuador composition, an instrumental entitled, "Cuenca Suite."

Sue has also "cooked up" a surprise song for Mother's Day in hopes to have it completed upon their return from the States. It may air on Unsion Television, as a gift for mothers in Cuenca.

Pablo has all the "state of the art" equipment for recording, even though he is stationed in a modest studio which he calls "BIG CROWD MUSIC."   He certainly has a wonderful talent for guitar, writing, singing and as a studio engineer.  It's his love!  You cannot help but love Pablo!

If you would like more information on Pablo, you can find him on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pablolozano.music

Routine Legal Drama

                                                       

Routine  Legal  Drama

After looking at 50+ homes and apartments we are having real drama attempting to purchase a condo/appt (3rd floor with great views and a quiet neighborhood).  Things like unpaid SS taxes on staff for many years, fumes from gas heaters, recent burglary, and undisclosed issues are part of the culture. No wonder it took us six requests to obtain the annual condo meeting minutes!   We modified our offer to immediate all cash in order to gain a simultaneous closing to 1. pay off existing mortgage, 2. obtain clear title and 3. pay realtor. Closings in stages are common here.  Otherwise, we might have had to wait weeks after paying mortgage to obtain clear title.   Price negotiation requires patience and the help of an unhurried realtor – a rare item here and in the states!    Due diligence is very important.   Things like title insurance and home inspectors are rare items. There is no MLS and anyone can be a ‘realtor’. 

It's an adventure learning business here.   Law is not like US Common Law, but European - statutory only, no court rulings, legal precedents, etc.  Traffic laws and driving culture is like maritime law - the small must give way to larger difficult-to-steer craft, and pedestrians are very small craft. We have learned not to rely on green lights or ‘walk' signals.  City traffic moves quickly, sometimes ignoring things like red lights, especially the famed taxis (and buses!)

  I was impressed when the government caught the Director of Immigration falsifying documents …and immediately fired him and his entire staff.  After two months they recently resumed the process of issuing residency cards or Cedulas (think US green card). Of course our 90 day tourist card has expired. We are still in limbo over residency issues, but yesterday we met with local Director of Foreign Affairs and Immigration. She is going to try to expedite us. Another helpful Cuencana.