Making Progress

Hello to all.  I have not posted for a few months as we had little to say but we do have an update now.  We have sold our property in Kingston and the deal will close on June 15th.  Our current plan is to fly to Cuenca sometime between June 20th and the end of the month.  We are getting pretty excited about establishing our home in Cuenca.

In my last post, I shared the early part of our Visa application process.  You may be interested to know that because of some rule changes within the Ecuadorian Ministry of Migration we were required to return to the Ecuadorian embassy in Ottawa.  This time instead of a stamp to "legalize" our documents, the new policy required that the embassy prepare a letter on Consular office letterhead indicating that they had "legalized" our documents.  The gentleman at the consular office was very friendly and helpful in doing what was need to allow our applications to proceed.  In addition, our lawyer (Dr. Galo Cardenas Rodas) and his staff in Cuenca have been terrific.



Linda and I are eagerly following the many expat blogs for advice.  A special thanks goes to Mary at South of Zero.  Although we haven't had the pleasure of meeting Mary yet, her daily posts summarizing the expat activity in Ecuador have been invaluable.  We are looking forward to the e-release of Connie's 101 Questions and Answers.


We have been trying to spend time with the many members of our spread out families and will be doing more of that in the next two months before we leave Canada.  We already have many commitments from family and friends to visit Cuenca within our first year and we are thrilled by the prospect of sharing our adopted home.  We have also made the commitment to return to Canada 2-3 times per year and to remain connected.


We have decided to make the move without furnishings and with only the minimum of personal belongings.  Linda has been amazing in her new found marketing skills and has been very successful in selling many of our belongings on Kijiji.  I am not sure whether Kijiji (an on-line personal sales site), is available in the US but it is a great way of selling all sorts of things within a community.  Most of our things have now been sold or are spoken for by our four adult children. 

Several people have asked us whether we will be bringing our six year old black labrador retriever "Java".  The answer is an unequivocal yes.  Java is a very important part of our lives and we think he will enjoy being able to be out for walks all year round.  Today, April 3rd, was the first day since late October that we have been able to take a long walk outside without freezing.


I just found out on Friday that the International Health Certificate for Dogs that is required for entry into Ecuador must also be "legalized" by the Ecuadorian consulate.  We have the veterinary appointment this week and will be on the road to Ottawa again to visit our new friend in the consular office for the official "Okey-Dokey".


We follow the many posts on "Gringo Tree" and look forward to sharing our lives with the many enthusiastic expatriates living in Cuenca.  See you in Cuenca in about 2.5 months.


Best regards, Linda and David.