Wednesday, September 15, 2010

From Chaos there rises -- chaos!

We have been working hard trying to get everything ready for our eagerly anticipated return to Cuenca. So far, we have given away probably 75% of our stuff to Salvation Army. It's not so easy to sell things these days.

We do have a couple of wonderful friends who are buying the piano and the 52" big screen TV. Thank you wonderful friends! You won't be sorry. Both have been wonderful additions to our family entertainment, and we hope they will be so for you.

The place looks like a typhoon has hit it. There are boxes everywhere. Closets are half empty. Cabinets in the kitchen are sparsely populated. The bookshelves are all empty, and we've bought kindles. What a great invention. We will no longer have to collect books and then someday need to figure out how to dispose of them.

We have gone back and forth on shipping. First, we are going to do it. Then we are not. Then we are again. The uncertainty has been very stressful. But finally, we have found a great person in Cuenca who is shipping his household goods from Palm Springs. We are going to tag along in his container. We don't have much, especially since we discovered the TV won't work in Ecuador -- set up for the wrong digital signals -- it's complicated, but trust us, it won't work there. Neither will the DVD players, unless we play only DVDs we bought in the US. But, we Netflix, we don't buy. So, our friend Maria who is buying the TV, is getting the DVD & Blue Ray players in the deal.

Anyway, Joe, in Cuenca is a very interesting person, and we are not only thrilled to be working with him on getting our little bit of stuff shipped (my sewing machine, some books, the valued already seasoned cast iron frying pans, our artwork, and a few other items), but we are really looking forward to meeting him.

We are truly hoping that the chaos that now rules, and has been ruling for at least a month, will eventually turn into order.