Wedding Anniversry

Today's posting has nothing to do with Ecuador, but we like the story.

Michael and I went to the same high school, but we lived in different "neighborhoods", so we didn't hang with the same crowds.  I was a lowly sophmore when I first saw Michael in the hallways of John F. Kennedy High School, he was a senior.  I would see him walk down the hall, but my Mom would not allow dating until I was 16, so I "worshiped" him from afar, he didn't even know I existed.  Eventually our crowds of friends ran into each other and we all became friends.  We had a lot of fun nights hanging out on the corner by McDonald's or Hale Park,  we weren't troublemakers, just harmless kids sitting around thinking we were cool smoking our cigarettes.  Some weekends we would pile into cars and go to the Sheridan Drive-In on Harlem Avenue.   It was AMAZING how many people would fit in the trunk.   It was all good clean fun, we would bring lawn chairs and grab as many speakers as we could and sit around and watch the movies, just a bunch of noisy kids hanging out.

During the summer of 1976 my Mom allowed my brother to have a party in the backyard, it was a nice warm summer night and my Mom was home to supervise.  I kinda thought, that maybe Michael liked me, so I brought him into the house to introduce him to my Mom, he passed her seal of approval and we were allowed to date.  We were an item through my Junior year, homecoming, prom, picnics,and parties. 

John F. Kennedy Homecoming, 1976.   I was 16, Michael was 18.

Photo taken at the Sabre Room, Palos Park, 1976.  Observe the groovy techniques utilized, our faces in a wine glass, we weren't even old enough to drink!!!

In November of my senior year Michael joined the US Army for a three year stint, I thought my world had come to an end.  We remained a "couple" for a while, but three years, at the young ages we were, caused us to drift.  When Michael came back, we picked up where we left off. 

We would spend some afternoons just going out and taking photographs, I took this picture of Michael in Lincoln Park Zoo after he returned from his time in the US Army.

A photo Michael took of me, probably the same day.  He kept his pictures of me, and I kept my pictures of him for all those years we were apart.  I guess that says it all.

Life was good, but as  time passed we began to have different interests, no fights or harsh words, just different people and our relationship came to an end. 

12 years went by, during that time Michael always held a special place in my heart.  As a result of coincidences we contacted each other in March of 94.  I was living in Detroit at the time and went Chicago to see Michael.  We went to a movie, "In the Name of the Father" and afterwards we sat in Denny's and talked  until they kicked us out at closing time.  I remember driving home that night thinking - I still love this guy, he will think I am nuts if I tell him, but it turned out that he felt the same way.  We were teenagers all over again, phone calls, cards, thoughts drifitng away from my work.  The thrill of being in love again.

Our first date in 12 years was April 2, 1994, by July 1st, I had gotten a new job, packed my apartment up and returned to Chicago.  Michael and I had a wonderful summer, and sometime during the first week of October we thought it would be a great idea to get married.  Michael wanted to know what my ring size was so he could buy me an engagement ring, we talked about that for a while and decided that due to the fact we were going to be "engaged" for about two weeks, the money would be better spent on taking a cool trip, forget a diamond!!

We went to City Hall in downtown Chicago on October 21, 1994,  a beautiful sunny, warm Autumn afternoon, our families joined us for the Civil ceremony and we got married. 

Our Wedding Day, October 21, 1994

We went to Ireland the following month, it was a much better way to spend $$$ than on a ring.  I guess that started our travel bug. 

Michael on our first trip to Ireland together

Anne on our first trip to Ireland, in the background is the Poulnabrone Dolmen in County Clare.


We don't usually  make a big fuss out of our anniversay, we would rather save our money throughout the year and go on a trip as our gift to each other.  This year we did buy gifts.  I decided to have rings made to commemorate our special day.  I picked a design that is found on the entrance stone to Newgrange in the Boyne Valley in Ireland.  Michael and I have been there and it is a place filled with mystery, wonder and history, so it reminded me of us.    I brought a picture to a local Jeweler, language was a barrier, but for an Ecuadorain working from a picture, and not knowing what the symbol even meant, he did a great job!!

Newgrange in the Boyne Valley, it pre-dates Stonehenge.

This is the "Entrance Stone" to Newgrange, these carvings are called the "Triple Spirals".

This is the photograph that the Jeweler worked from

These are the rings to celebrate our 17th Wedding anniversary.

Michael knows how much I like to play with making jewelry so he scoured the Cuenca  antique shops and found three beautiful pieces he thought I could use to make something, when he gave them to me I was overwhelmed, but after really looking at them I thought  they are too special,  we decided we will have them framed, they will be a rememberance of our first anniversary spent in Ecuador.

My anniversary gifts from Michael, pieces of Ecuadorian history.

It is 17 years later, we have had a few down times, but far more ups, lots of laughter, love and joy.  We wouldn't change a day of it.  

Michael and Anne, 35 years after our first date.

The New Cedula's Are Here !!!!!!!!!!

Remember the move "The Jerk" with Steve Martin?

Well, watch this clip an you will know exactly how we felt when we got our Cedula's this week, well except for the last ten seconds anyway. (You need to double click and a little blue bar will show up on the screen, click where it says to go to youtube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOTDn2A7hcY&feature=youtube_gdata_


Our trip to Quito was GREAT!!! The contact that our attorney gave was wonderful. Our appointment was at 8:00 am on Tuesday, so we left Monday night, Joseph, our contact, met us at our hotel at 7:30 and took us to the building we had to go to, the place was already packed with people by 7:45.  Joseph, took charge of everything, he went and got us a number, and somehow, we were sitting at the desk within ten minutes, we were taken before aoo these other people that were there before us.  The"Government guy" could not find Michael's paperwork, I am here on his retirement Visa so it was essential for both of us that Michael's paperwork be located.   Joseph just kept talking and laughing with "the guy" and lo an behold he finally it.   He processed our paperwork, then Joseph went and paid the $4.00 for our two Cedulas, another line,  and he got us another number for another line to get our photos and fingerprints. When we got to the next area, again there were a TON of people waiting, and somehow, we only had three people in front of us!!!!  Joseph explained that he "knew" the woman at the desk where you pay for the Cedulas, and that was the reason we got such a great number. We were in and out within less than an hour!!!   Unbelievable, we had heard such horror stories, and our experience was simple. The Cedulas were supposed to be ready late afternoon on Wednesday, so we stayed until Thursday to pick them up.   

Since we were finished so early in the morning on Tuesday, we did a few tourist things in Quito, we went to Mercado Artesanal La Mariscal, an indigenous market for everything from ashtrays that say "Ecuador" to really nice textiles and jewelry.

Nice Smile

If you talk with these ladies and smile they will usually let you take their picture

The little paintings are very intricate

Some scarves in the market

Wild flower growing in the market

After strolling around  the market we decided to go to Plaza De La Independencia in "Old Town", it is a plaza in front of the Palacio Presidential.  It is a great place to sit and people watch, you are constantly pestered by shoe shine boys which cracks us up, you can be wearing sandals and they want to shine them, they give you the big sad eyes when you say No Gracias. 

The first time we came to Ecuador in 2007 we had read all the saftey precautions and we used our common sense learned by growing up on the South Side of Chicago, we were aware of our surroundings and kept our valuables in zipped pockets.  We were approached by an older gentleman that wanted us to go back to his shop with him and buy Panama hats.  He was quite insistent that he would give us a "good deal" on ponchos, blankets, whatever we wanted.  We thought to ourselves "Yeah, right, you are going to walk us into an alley where you have a few guys waiting to donk us on the head".  We kept politely saying we were not interested.  He would laugh and keep requesting we come with him, he eventually gave up, smiled, waved and walked away.

When we visited Ecuador with my mom in 2009, we spent some time in the plaza, and our buddy was there again.  He went through his sales pitch, we laughed and asked if he remembered us and he simply said no, he stated that "All you Gringos look alike to me".  Too, too funny.  When he realized we weren't going to buy anything, the four of us stood around and just talked about politics, life, whatever, we exchanged names, his was John Henry.  It was a nice conversation.

The next time we met John Henry was in May of 2011, in the same plaza, this time he claimed to remember us.  Here we go again, "No John Henry, we don't need a Panama Hat".  He explained how bad tourism was, all the hotels were empty, and his business was doing really poorly.  We thought to ourselves, no wonder you don't have any customers, you are NEVER in your shop, you are always strolling around in the park! 

As we got in the taxi Tuesday afternoon, to go to the plaza, Michael laughed and wondered if we would run into John Henry.  I kid you not, we stepped out of the cab, walked two feet and there was John Henry with his hand out to shake ours.  LOL!!  We talked about the worldwide economy, President Obama, and lastly he started his sales pitch about the great deals he would give us.  This time he gave us his phone number to call when we or anyone we know is in Quito.  Small, small world.

Just a few pics of Quito:

Church on one side of the Main Plaza

Some architecual detail

The gargoyles on this church are Animals that are only found in Ecuador, these are the Galapagos Tortoises.

Church interior, beautiful natural lighting.

On Wednesday we hired a private driver and went to Otavalo, it is an "important" market town, the best day to go is on Saturdays when people come from  surrounding villages to sell their wares.  We have been there twice before, this day, a Wednesday, it was smaller, quieter and lots less tourists.  We had a nice day.

A few pics on the road to Otavalo:



A few pics in the Otavalo Market

Traditional white pants and shoes worn by the Men of this region.

On Thursday Joseph met us at 10:00 am, the place was insane with people and he just walked right up to a window, it was kind of embarrassing, he muscled his way up there and we had our Cedulas in hand within 3-4 minutes, that was it!!!

We know a woman and another couple that were in Quito at the same time frame as us, the single woman had problems over paperwork for her husband, who passed away 13 years ago, and the couple we know were able to get the wife's Cedula, but had problems with the husbands. The have to go back in two weeks which means another airfare, I feel so bad for them.

There was a charity Poker event starting at 7:00 pm the night we got back from Quito, we landed around 6:30 and had our luggage by about 6:40. Michael wanted to go to the event , so we stood at the curb and dug around in our bags exchanging cell phones (Michaels was dead) and money and paperwork, etc. I hopped in a cab to go home, and Michael hopped in a cab for the tournament. As the driver was approaching our house, I started digging around for the $1.50 fare from the aiport, I realized I didn't have the passports or Cedulas, Michael had given them to me to bring home rather than take them to the Poker Game. OMG, panic, rapid breathing, verge of tears, the WHOLE BIT!!!! 

THANKFULLY, the cab driver spoke English, and understood the gravity of the situation, (he had congratulated me on the way home for getting through this complicated process), he whipped me back to the airport and helped search on the sidewalk, unbelievably, the passports were still laying on the curb. 

I guess someone was looking out for us.

I will update the blog with info from our trip to Botanic Garden back on the 20th, and pics from the Halloween party we went to on the 28th.  We were just thrilled to have our Cedulas and thought we would share that story today.

Visa's, Censo's and Cedula's

When we finally decided that Ecuador was the place we wanted to move to, we began the paperwork process.  There were tons of  documentation that were required, Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, proof of income, yadda, yadda.  We had to have all the documents translated into Spanish, Notarized, Apostolized (something we had NEVER heard of before), then the documents had to be taken to the Ecuadorian Consulate, the originl  documents as well as the Spanish translation ones, to be given the big gold seal (seriously) of approval.  Michael took care of all this, having a consulate in Chicago was a huge convenience.    Apparently we did everything right, our documents were recieved and accepted in Quito in early March.  So anticipating the Visa's would be ready at the end of April, I gave notice at my job that I would be leaving. 

Well this is where it turns into a really long story, I was getting bored writing it, and assumed anyone reading it would be even more bored, so I won't go into all the details.  Simple version, it turns out the Dude in charge of Immigration was fired for taking bribes and his replacement quit after two weeks, the Immigration office was closed from May 1st to August 2nd.

In March we were told 6 weeks, and it took 6 months.  Our Visa's were issued September 20th. 

Apparently we are lucky, lots of people we have met have had much longer struggles due to incorrect paperwork or cruddy lawyers.  Something as minor as the wrong spelling of a  mother's hometown will throw things into a tailspin.  We know - crazy, but that is a part of the paperwork, they require the info about where our mom's were born.  Who knows why.

So, we have finally got  our Visa's, after that we had to get our Censo's ( a card required by the Immigration Police, all non-Ecuadorian residents are required to have these),  then we had to wait for an appointment in Quito to get our Cedula's, this is a National ID card, everyone is required to have one, once we have that, all of our documents will be complete.    We got the call on Friday that we have to be in Quito at 8:00 am on Tuesday.  So, we are off to Quito today, getting the Cedula's is a big deal, people have actually congratulated us on having an appointment, and are asking us to let them know how it goes and what to expect!!

By the way, the amount of paperwork to get Oscar, our dog, into Ecuador  was also ridiculously complicated.  Everything we had to do for us, had to be done for Oscar, even the big gold seal from the consulate,  plus, the paperwork had to be completed and dated within no longer than ten days of our entry into Ecuador...when we got to Guayaquil, no one asked for a single piece of paper for Oscar.  Go figure.  LOL!!

We have more updates on our travels, we went to a beautiful Botanic Garden this past week, it is about an hour outside of Cuenca, and celebrated our 17th Wedding Anniversary on the 21st.  We cannot believe how the time has flown by.

For today I will just include some pics of a flower bouquet that we got at the local SuperMaxi  (grocery store chain), we paid a whopping $4.00 for it, there are a few beautiful flowers in the bunch that I have never seen before, and pics of a stroll in the largest park in Cuenca.

What are these????

What are these also???

Like little upside pine cones that bloom, very cool.

Tha Yancunay River in Parque Paradiso

Oscar Enjoying a day in the Park

We love the way these  vines crawl over things

This is a beautiful park.

This "viney" covered things reminded me of something out of The Hobbit

I just threw these up to show you how infants are carried around.  This woman was landscaping the yard, a process that takes an enitre day, so she just wrapped the baby up and threw him on her back.  You see this everywhere, strollers are a rarity, infants are carried, and most often if it is a couple strolling together, the man is the one carrying the child.

She spent her day raking, pulling weeds, edging the lawn with this little baby on her back all day.