Month 2...

This is summer and this month seemed to have passed slowly.
Looks like lots of people take their vacation during this month (they don't have much of vacation here, something like one week!)...
So our most important project took time to start: the gardening!
We finally got someone who came to help us to make terraces on August 13th, it was a nice day!
They worked hard and in a week we had 35 trees, 47 shrubs and 26 herbs planted, including, citrus, mango, banana, strawberries, pomegranate, pineapple, and more...

My husband also did a pretty herb spiral garden.

and few days ago they started to build the greenhouse.

We also received the rest of our furniture (night tables, dining table with chairs , the last desk, and some outdoor furniture that we keep inside while they are doing work outside).
We are very please by the quality and workmanship.

We installed some blinds in the bathroom (for more privacy!) and glass panel in the showers!

My husband is studying to take the test for the Ecuadorian driver license (in Spanish), and then we will be able to buy a car...(maybe next month).

We opened a bank account (that will be useful for certain transaction here);
Most of contractor accept only cash.

We also experience what are 'Fiesta' here! and that's a big deal! As we do not enjoy them that much it's not something that we are looking forward to hear again! The whole Valley can hear the loud music and we cannot sleep until they are done (can be till 2 to 6 am!).

The last news is a surprise from life! if you are curious or interested, just visit my new blog: Surprise from life.

All in a month!

Already one month that we arrived in Ecuador!
Time is going fast too here! :)

So here is what we've done in a month and some differences we've experienced:

- Houses are made of concrete, steel, stucco, plaster and the wood is used as decorative pillars, the roof are made out of tiles and wood, very durable and well built!
There is no heating or cooling system as the temperatures are like spring all year long.
Propane is used to heat the water and drying machine.

- To start over we needed a minimum of kitchenware and furniture/appliances to live in our new house.
So we went to the nearest big city (Loja, 45 min drive) and bought some mattresses, kitchenware, plates... and a washing machine (what is unbelievable is that this is the best I have even had! it's extra large, it weights your clothes and choose the right program! plus it makes a cool ice cream truck music when it's done! but no, it doesn't deliver any ice cream!).

Shops here are pretty small and over stock for their size (except for the large retail store like furniture, appliance, grocery store ...); They are usually specialized in one thing or few and they don't look very inviting! but you need to go over that judgment if you need certain things!.

- We've hired several contractors that are helping us with the garden, furniture making and the development of our third bedroom that is almost done.
Actually all our furniture will be custom made in quality wood by a local artisan here in Ecuador.
Ecuadorian are really good manual workers.
Furniture are made of real quality wood like red cedar.
Here is the bed that we custom ordered (the same bed in Canada would have cost 7 times more!).

We also asked for a double jetted tub in our bathroom! It takes time to fill it up but it's pretty nice!
Now I am waiting for our container to decorate en embellish all around...

- We've got  a hammock installed; It's a good relaxing place when there is no wind with a beautiful view.

- We went to Machala to registered our 180 days visa; It's a 5 hours drive (one way) and it took 30 min to process the paperwork for the 4 of us. So we had a 10 hours drive in a day in the mountains where the roads are practically turns after turns after turns! It's worse than a roller coaster ride! It took us a day to recover from it!
Machala is the Banana capital of Ecuador, they export directly from their harbor. We saw fields after fields of Banana trees. The climate is warmer and humid over there since it's closer to the coast.
The sad thing is that we saw some planes that spray the fields! :(

-For the past month the temperatures were a bit chilly in the morning and night but nice during the day.
I would say a bit colder than spring.
The vegetation is beautiful and abundant.

Down the hill near the house, there is a river and some wild orange trees; Once in the river we saw 2 giant otter screaming at us!

As the house is also near a natural reserve, we also saw a little fox and a antelope/deer and many nice birds (but I couldn't manage to take any pictures yet!), they are really noisy sometimes, they make a sound comparable to a light saber!
Just few days ago a hummingbird knocked himself out by bumping onto the window, I picked him up, gave him some Reiki and a little bit of water and in few minutes he was flying again, stayed few seconds in front of me and flew away.

- We visited some farmers markets on Sunday morning where the fruits are really cheap (15 bananas for $1; Pineapple for $1, 20 lemons for $1, 25 oranges for $1, same as carrots and so on).
But if you are looking for process food here, it can be expensive!.

and fresh coconuts ($1.25 each)

We do not own a car; there is a large Taxi service that cost about $1 per km, most of the Taxi are pick up truck and they used the back to transport workers! (they know car pooling!).

The road are not all paved, only the main one; they are a mixed of gravel and sand (can be pretty dusty!).

If you are a pedestrian you better watch for your life! 

So this is all in a month!... Next month I will show you more furniture and more about our little life story!...

Feel free to leave your comments, questions and more...

We've made it!

Yes! We've made it.
A lot of paper work, veterinary visit, packed all the stuff we wanted to keep, clean the house and give away what was left...
After a day trip to Vancouver to get administrative papers stamps (apostille), we flew to Houston, then Quito and finally Loja in Ecuador; then one more and a half hour drive to get to the hotel, where we stayed 4 days.
We received the keys of our new house the day after we arrived (tomorrow will be already a week!)
And we were so impatient to enter it that we went back to Loja (45 min drive) to order some mattresses, that all furniture we have for now! 3 mattresses on the floor! But we are very happy with the house and the views.
Of course we also set up the Internet to keep in touch with family and friends and to share our adventure...
Here is some pictures of our new house...

It's a bungalow type with 2 bedrooms (we are building a third one on the left)

with extra large windows to enjoy the views!

There is pretty hibiscus in the front

Large open living room with vaulted ceiling

Fantastic view from the window

Pretty porch awaiting for outside furniture!

I hope you liked the tour!

June month of craziness!

This is a month of craziness with tons to do!

- More to sale (well, there is not much left but still!)
- Preparing all the papers for the Visa, the sale of the house...
- Planning a lot of things (Bank, mail, ...)
- Planning the trip with the cats (was challenging as there is an embargo in this period!)
- The storage and moving itself (60+ boxes)

and the most important: Keeping our everyday life Balanced!

Ready for the trip!

We sold our house! :)

So, few months have passed and here what we did :
In our current house we have...
Renovated the family room (Painting and new carpet)
Developing the basement (included electrical and developing permit), drywall, paint and carpet.
Then stage all the rooms (we hire a professional for the dining, living and family room as we sold most of our furniture) and I did the bedrooms and bathroom.

Here are some pictures:

We are pretty happy with what we had accomplish!

It actually took us 2 years to renovate every room.

The house went on the market on April 26 - we had 9 visits in 2 days and 2 offers.

Sold in 3 days!

Love to see this sign!

Now up for some paper work, planning and more!

To be continued!....

Just a little update!: Starting packing!

Now that's the Holidays are over, I started to pack the Christmas decorations, and dinnerware and listed them as recommended! (Detail list of what contain each boxes, in English, Spanish and their value)...

and Today I stumble upon a very interesting Video that is kind where we are at!:

I hope you will all find the definition to this Question and Start living the life you really want!

What to do?

Well, at this point we are still working on selling everything we don't need anymore and renovating the house (painting, changing the floor etc...)
We have 2 rooms left but one is the room that we live in most of the time and it will be a big job to empty all the desks and computers but it will happen!
and the other room is the basement that we need to un'build! as we didn't know we needed a permit to develop it, we've made a home theater/playroom room that we need to brake down!
and clean that all...
After that another trip in Ecuador to buy a land and make the visa will be the next step...
It's a question of months... too long but things happen when it's the good time!

So hopefully this is the last time we have to live in this pretty winter wonderland, but not fertile!