Our Ebay and Craig's List Work

Dear Family and Friends,

Just a short note to let you know we are back home in Richland selling more of our worldly processions on eBay and Craig's List. If you would like to see how things are going log into eBay and search for items by seller: Nancy-carol. On Craig's List we are in Washington State in Kennewick, Pasco, Richland area. All my items on Craig's List begin with MTE which stands for moving to Ecuador.

We are going to the Health Department today for HIV and TB tests. These are required for our visa to Ecuador.

Nancy and Chuck

Back to Cuenca

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck and I are in Cuenca for two weeks. We used our skymiles to come and get started on furnishing our condo, visit with our lawyer and to bring some things from home. Since we are only bringing to Cuenca what we can carry in our luggage we figured a quick trip down would help in our move.

We had to fly from Portland, Oregon (about 300 miles from Richland) because that is the only starting point that we could redeem our miles from. Last Thursday, October 2, we drove to Portland. The motel we stayed in Thursday night not only provided us transportation to the airport, but they also will keep our car for the two weeks we are away.

Our trip to Cuenca began at 3:00am. Our flight out of Portland was at 6:00am and we had to be at the airport at 4:00am. We flew Continental Airlines to Houston, Texas, then on to Panama City, Panama and from there we flew COPA to Guayaquil, Ecuador. We arrived in Ecuador about 10:30pm.

Since we arrived in Guayaquil so late we had to spend the night there. We stayed in a nice little bed and breakfast outside the city.

Here is Chuck at breakfast. You can tell by looking at him that we had had a long and rough day before.


We decided to hire a van to take us to Cuenca. It is about a 3 hour drive and on a clear day it is a beautiful drive through the Caja mountains. It was not a clear day for us however, for some of the way we were driving through dense fog. But we arrived safely and were delivered to our condo by 2:00pm.

This is our luggage lined up and waiting for the van to arrive. Four check-ins and two carry ons. We were limited to 35 lbs. in each check-in suitcase.


We were glad to be in our condo, but had forgotten how empty it is. When we left Cuenca last April, Chuck put some potted plants on our patio. It was an experiment to see if they would live until we returned. With the help of our neighbor, David, who saw that they received water, they survived.


Chuck brought his laptop down and we are using David's internet since he has wi-fi. But, we can only get his signal at our front door. We loose it if we go any place else in our condo.

Here is Chuck at his improvised desk. A cardboard box proped on top of a plastic stool.


He went to the indigenous market the other day and bought a table for $6 to use temporarily. We feel as though we are really uptown now.


This is the Mall del Rio in Cuenca. We started our shopping there. We bought a safe. a set of flatware and an espresso machine at the Coral Hypermacardo.


Our main shopping has been to find a rug for our living room. Except for the bedrooms our condo is completely tiled. I think if we can find a rug that we like, then we can choose the furnishings and wall colors to blend.

We have been shopping, but so far have not found the right one for us.


This one is at the Super Stock store and we are leaning toward it, if we cannot find one we like better.


We are going to shop some more this morning and hope that we can settle on a rug and get it delivered before we leave.

We have ordered a breakfast table and chairs. They are being made and will be delivered after we leave. Also, we have ordered a bottom to our bed that will have drawers on each side. We Americans seem to have more "stuff" than the condo is are designed to hold. This also will be delivered after we leave. Again, our wonderful neighbor, David, will handle the delivery in our absence.

The Friday night "Gringo Night" has changed locations. We went last night and were amazed at the new faces there. All were newcomers to Cuenca. So we aren't the only ones discovering this little paradise.

Here is Chuck chatting with our new friend, Patricia.


We are getting things done, but not a quickly as we hoped. In Cuenca, patience is a good thing to have. Everything goes at a slower pace. But when we stop and consider this we remember that is one of the main reasons we chose to move here.

Cleaning Out in Preparation for the Big Move

Giving away and selling most of our worldly goods has been sometimes quite stressful and at other times so rewarding. Since we are moving to Ecuador with just what we can carry in our luggage, we are truly unloading.

True confession time...Chuck and I both have a pack rat tendency. Through the years we have traveled a lot, on each trip buying treasures and storing them away. After our children grew up and left home we had more and more space to "store things." This was never a problem because we rarely went into the basement to see our "treasures." Out of sight - out of mind.

We have done real well so far. We have put back special items for our children. We have given family and friends some things. We have sold and are selling some smaller items on eBay and larger items on Craig's List.

One thing that makes it difficult for me is that we are not completely emptying the house. We are leaving it furnished because we think it will show better when we put our house on the market next spring.


As I am writing this blog, Chuck is downstairs turning what was his shop into a bedroom.


Our clock is starting to run out of time because our calendar is getting full. We are leaving on October 2 to return to Cuenca for a couple of weeks to get our paperwork started for our residency visa. We will take our first load of belongings in our luggage. (70 lbs. each) We return about October 18 and will have a couple of more weeks.

In November, we will meet our Brazilian friends, Vanessa and Ricardo, in Las Vegas and spend a week touring that part of the country including the Grand Canyon. We will return home mid November. The last ten days of November our daughter and grandson are coming from Puerto Rico to spend "Thanksmas" with our family here. (We are combining Christmas and Thanksgiving since we will be in Ecuador for Christmas.)

Kylie and Bryce leave for home on December 5 and Chuck and I head out for Ecuador on December 6.

It is our intention to leave the house ready to put on the market when we return in April.

In the meantime, we are enjoying family and friends.

Here is Heidi (our granddaughter) at her gymnastics class.


Here is our friend Glenda and Chuck. We are squeezing out as much use as we can of our backyard before the weather turns too cold.


In the midst of this I am selling on eBay. Here is a Russian hand painted Lacquer Khokhloma bowl that is ending it's auction today.


I just discovered Craig's List this month and we have sold some larger items on it. Here is Chuck and his brother helping a lady, who bought our roll top desk, get it into the back of her pickup truck.


We have special items that are not easy to let go. This is our Chrysler Masariti TC convertible that we bought when I refused to ride my scooter across country. We toured the USA in it a couple of years ago. Maybe today we will take pictures of it with the hard top on so we can list it on Craig's List.


If you are interested and would like, you can follow along with us as we sell on eBay and Craig's List. To see our "stuff" on eBay my seller name is Nancy-Carol. On Craig's list we are located in Washington state in the Kennewick, Pasco, Richland area. I list all my items in Craig's List beginning with MTE which stands for (Move to Ecuador). So if you put MTE in the search line everything I have for sell will appear.

I still have two lists to make. One is to prioritize what we are going to take to Ecuador and get the most important there in this first load. The other is to make a list of all the things we need to get accomplished on this two week trip.

We are very busy and very excited.

Visiting Family in Puerto Rico

After we left Georgia, Chuck and I flew down to Puerto Rico to visit our daughter and grandson, Kylie and Bryce. Kylie is in the Coast Guard and lives near San Juan.


Kylie and Bryce were excellent tour guides. One of the first things we did was visit the San Cristobal Fort . Construction was begun in 1765 and completed in 1783. It was the largest fortification built by Spain in the new world.

Here is Chuck in the main plaza.

Kylie and Bryce enjoying the view from a window overlooking the city.

From one side you could see the ocean view.


From the other side we saw one of three cruise ships docked there.


We also toured "Old San Juan." It is a fun place for strolling and sightseeing. There were many vendors selling the usual tourist items, but since Chuck and I are busy downsizing, it was hard to get enthusiastic about buying souvenirs to bring back home.

We went to a place that claims to be where the Pina Calada was invented in 1963.


We had no trouble there doing what all tourists must do......taste testing the "original."


In the town plaza, Poppi advised Bryce on how to get pigeons to eat from your hand.


Of course, it was to inviting not to get into the action. Here Poppi has a bird in each hand and Bryce is quite impressed.


Parking in old town can be a nightmare. But since Kylie could park at the Coast Guard station, we were able to be parked right in the thick of things.


While in Puerto Rico, we visited El Yunque National Forest, a rain forest.


Here is Kylie and Bryce standing in front of Coca waterfall.


This is the Yokahu tower located in the rain forest. It was built by the CCC during the depression. Chuck, Kylie and Bryce climbed to the top while I kept guard at the base.


While we were visiting Byrce had his four year birthday party. It was a "cowboy" party.


The kids were all costumed in cowboy hats, marshal badges and bandannas. Kylie gave Bryce a well planned party. The children, dug for gold (gold spray painted rocks) and made "dirt heads" by filling a stocking with grass seed, then dirt. They glued eyes, nose and mouth on their little dirt heads.


Here is a finished "dirt head" after a few weeks growth.


Bryce enjoyed opening his gifts...



and I enjoyed watching the adult supervision of "whacking the piñata.



Before leaving Puerto Rico, Kylie took us for a tour of the Bacardi distillery.



Thanks Kylie and Bryce. We had a wonderful visit.

Family Get Together at Ezell's Catfish Cabin

Since Chuck and I were only in Columbus, Georgia for three days we decided to call a family meeting at Ezell's Catfish Cabin. Ezell's is a catfish restaurant. Catfish is very popular with our family and most other Columbus folks.


For this post I had help with the photographs from my cousin, Larry Day


and from his granddaughter, Shannon Day.

We were able to visit with each other while we waited for the restaurant staff to get us a nice big table.
Once we were seated, our orders were taking right away.


Here is a picture of family at the other end of the table.


For those of you who have never been to a catfish restaurant, (Fish Camp), I am sharing some pictures of what we enjoyed.

These are hushpuppies. As soon as you are seated at Ezell's, they bring the hushpuppies and coleslaw. These hushpuppies are little balls of deep fried corn meal dough. They have chopped onion and bits of jalapeño peppers inside.


Almost everything at this restaurant is deep fried. Here is some corn meal battered fried okra.


The main course, corn meal battered catfish and some cheese grits. Baked potatoes or fries are a popular side dish also.


This is just one of many catfish bone yards left on the table after we had finished eating..


We visited some more after eating and had a wonderful time. We posed for a group shot before leaving.



This is only a small fraction of the family I grew up with in Columbus. Now we are spread out all over the country. I guess the last time we were all together was when my grandmother, Mama Jessie, passed away.

When we left Ezell's they were closing for the night.


Sometimes it seems a little sad that we will never all be together again at once. I am fortunate to have many treasured memories of Christmas, summertime on the river or swimming at Aunt Opal's house with my cousins. These people are part of me and of who I am...and although Chuck and I are moving to Ecuador, we will be visiting as often as we can. We also hoping our family comes to come to Ecuador to visit us.