Saturday, Jul 23, 2016

Heidi and I went to Casa Flores to get sheets for the bed. The owner of Casa Flores speaks English and is a very helpful guy. He has linens and towels at a reasonable price…for Ecuador, and if he doesn’t have what you need in stock, he can make what you want.

Today we met his daughter. I started speaking Spanish to her asking about sheets, and when she saw I was struggling said, “I can speak English if you like”. Heidi immediately said “Yes, thank you!” We found out her name is Dani and she goes to Film school in Atlanta, Georgia. She is home for the summer.

We got our sheets, thanked Dani, and headed out. As we were walking down the street we found a little cafe serving lunch and stopped in. We ordered their almuerzo which was the standard fare of rice, beans, meat, soup, and juice.

The waiter was a young guy who spoke English. His name was Luis and he seemed anxious to have a conversation with us and practice his English. His family owned the cafe. We asked him where he learned to speak English and he said in school. Heidi asked him if he wanted to visit the US and he said not so much. He was more interested in Europe and the Bahamas.

He asked us why we came to Ecuador, what were are plans for staying here, if we were retired, etc etc etc. He was a cool kid, still had braces on his teeth, and I appreciated his curiosity. And as much as I enjoyed talking to him, my soup was getting cold and I was starving. I’m not much of a conversationalist when I’m hungry.

After our lunch we thanked Luis and said chau. Heidi and I walked further down the road and stopped at Supermaxi for some groceries. Before we got into the store, there was a woman dressed in indigenous clothing sitting with her wheelbarrow filled with chirimoyas, naranjas (oranges), and fresas (strawberries). She asked us if we wanted any of her fruit.

She had a cute smile and handed us a strawberry to try. I asked her how much they were and she said $1.50 a pound or $3 a kilo. This is the standard price offered. We really didn’t need any strawberries but she was persistent. I told her that in the market the strawberries are only a dollar a pound. She just ignored me, kept her cute smile on her face and started filling a sack up.

I thought what the heck, I guess a pound of strawberries is ok. She weighed the sack and the needle hovered at the 1 mark. I gave her a $5 bill and she gave me two bucks back. I guess I had just purchased one kilo of strawberries instead of a pound.

I have to give her credit for not letting my lack of interest, request for a better price, or desire for a smaller quantity get in her way. Without realizing it I purchased something I didn’t need, in a higher quantity than I asked for, and paid more than I bargained for. This lady is going places. 🙂

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turned into this

…turned into this

Our day started out sunny but by early afternoon the clouds had rolled back in. It is winter in Cuenca and this is a typical pattern for this time of year. Heidi and I headed back home with our sheets, our groceries…and our strawberries.

Chau.