The unofficial web page of the greater Cuenca expat community

Nards Barley wrote:

I am in quito to greet my mule and receive my merchandise that he brought back for me. His wife went to a farmacia and tried to buy the sleeping pills she usually buys in Cuenca without problems. They told her she needed a prescription!!!

What is up with that?

I know you know the answer Nards.  Laws are "flexible" and subject to interpretation! 

SawMan wrote:

I know you know the answer Nards.  Laws are "flexible" and subject to interpretation! 

SawMan is correct, of course.  The Cuenca farmacia was apparently disregarding the rules.

Under the law, estupefacientes y psicotrópicos -- narcotics and psychotropic drugs -- should not be issued by pharmacists unless the patient submits a receta especial.  This special-prescription document is typically provided by a specialist physician who may charge $20 more for an office visit than a general practitioner.

Anyone who needs access to such a specialist in Quito can find one at Hospital Metropolitano, or send me a PM for my doc's contact info.

cccmedia in Quito

cccmedia wrote:

SawMan wrote:

I know you know the answer Nards.  Laws are "flexible" and subject to interpretation! 

SawMan is correct, of course.  The Cuenca farmacia was apparently disregarding the rules.

Under the law, estupefacientes y psicotrópicos -- narcotics and psychotropic drugs -- should not be issued by pharmacists unless the patient submits a receta especial.  This special-prescription document is typically provided by a specialist physician who may charge $20 more for an office visit than a general practitioner.

Anyone who needs access to such a specialist in Quito can find one at Hospital Metropolitano, or send me a PM for my doc's contact info.

cccmedia in Quito

My mule's wife went to another farmacia in quito that was not a chain store and was able to get her drug (without a prescription).

Good luck with the hip surgery and your future world travels. Hopefully the expat community will give you the benefit of the doubt, and NOT assume your departure from Cuenca is because you couldn´t adapt to the culture or learn the language. Not likely..............

Good luck with the hip surgery and your future world travels. Hopefully the expat community will give you the benefit of the doubt, and NOT assume your departure from Cuenca is because you couldn´t adapt to the culture or learn the language. Not likely..............

to this:

Good luck with the hip surgery and your future world travels.

It is one thing to delete a comment; it is another thing entirely to edit someone´s comment and post it. That is way out of bounds and outside the norms of comment sections of respected publications.

I find it highly hypcritical that these editors can post an early April Fool´s joke that scared and/or seriously pissed off a large percentage of the Cuenca expat community,  but I can´t write a comment that sort of addresses a theme of that article, which is that we either need to adapt to the culture and learn the language, or we will all be going home within 3.5 years more or less.

It is bullsh*t....................

SawMan wrote:

Nards:

I've read previously that 3.5 years is the average time expats actually stay in their new residence, perhaps it came from you. Is there study "data" to support or is it more anecdotal?

It is anectdotal, and came from an article on CuencaHighlife. It seems like a reasonable figure, so I am rolling with it.

Nards Barley wrote:

While I would be curious to know why he split for Mexico, I doubt it is worth the four dollars to find out.

You should be able to read all about it, Nards, without 'ponying up' the four dolaritos.  Just go back to the Amazon listing you visited and read the no-cost book sample via the free Kindle reader available at that listing. 

In that sample, Don Murray discusses the Murrays' reasons for leaving the EC coast for Mexico.  Don has some serious heart issues, and in his mid-60's became certain that the hospitals in his coastal town were not up to handling a heart emergency.  He ruled out moving to Quito, Cuenca or other EC highlands cities due to the altitudes.

cccmedia in Quito

Held sospechoso en la muerte de expatriado estadounidense
Según la policía, Daniel V. fue acusado y acusado del asesinato de Henry bebedor Riley; La Fiscalía ha pedido para que el sospechoso que se celebrará durante 30 días. Agentes de la policía encontró una maleta que pertenecía a la víctima en la casa del sospechoso.

Now, I underlined the name of the victim.  The word bebedor in Spanish means "heavy drinker" and rumor has it he was a heavy drinker, although I doubted it was reported as such in the local papers.

In any case, I seriously doubt he had a nickname of "drunk" or something similar, although this article indicates that he did.

P.S. I thought about posting a comment below that of my buddy "ZenSpike" at GringoTree suggesting a correction. However, my page is widely read by the GringoTree staff and I suspect it will be corrected in short order, assuming his middle name really isn´t actually "bebedor"

Las investigaciones en torno a la muerte del ciudadano estadounidense Henry Drinker Riley de 64 años, vinculan a Daniel Matías V., de 36 años, como el presunto autor del crimen que causó conmoción ciudadana.

Okay,Cuencahighlife sayshis name was "Henry Dricker Riley"

Daniel V. fue acusado....La Fiscalía ha pedido para que el sospechoso que se celebrará durante 30 días.

What do we make of this last sentence, apparently meaning that "The district attorney's office has requested that the suspect be celebrated for 30 days." 

Nards Barley wrote:

As you can see below, I have thrown in the towell on adapting to the culture and learning the language, instead electing to participate on day excursions with common Cuenca expats (glorified tourists).

Aren't we all tourists briefly on this earth?
If the average expat lasts 3.5 years, then I agree the average expat is a tourist.
Tourist sounds so negative, but I want to always be a tourist.
The day I stop wanting to see new things, go to new places, meet people from all over the world, that is the day I gave up and am ready to die.
Just last night we went to seafood restaurant and my wife picked out her lobster.
Hard for me to imagine going out to eat and picking out my rodent.
At least it sounds like you are enjoying being a tourist, Nards, hope that never stops

mugtech wrote:

Nards Barley wrote:

As you can see below, I have thrown in the towell on adapting to the culture and learning the language, instead electing to participate on day excursions with common Cuenca expats (glorified tourists).

Aren't we all tourists briefly on this earth?
If the average expat lasts 3.5 years, then I agree the average expat is a tourist.
Tourist sounds so negative, but I want to always be a tourist.
The day I stop wanting to see new things, go to new places, meet people from all over the world, that is the day I gave up and am ready to die.
Just last night we went to seafood restaurant and my wife picked out her lobster.
Hard for me to imagine going out to eat and picking out my rodent.
At least it sounds like you are enjoying being a tourist, Nards, hope that never stops

Yes, and a tourist usually has a camera around his neck. Picture worth a thousand words and it's great that Nards shares so many here.

Now, lest you newbies that have been here for less than 5 years decry my assertions because you are still in the honeymoon phase of your expat adventure, allow me to tell you that I have been here for nearly 25 years and my comments are not based on observations culled from casual, short term observance. There is lots to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture, but few have the guts to talk about it.

Nards Barley wrote:

Comments are often more entertaining than the articles over GringoTree.

In this case, I got a chuckle from this smack down on newbie know-it-alls.  I actually think 5 years is a good time frame that you have to live in Ecuador or Latin America before you can start claiming to be an authority on the culture in comment sections.

Now, lest you newbies that have been here for less than 5 years decry my assertions because you are still in the honeymoon phase of your expat adventure, allow me to tell you that I have been here for nearly 25 years and my comments are not based on observations culled from casual, short term observance. There is lots to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture, but few have the guts to talk about it.

What is there to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture?  Did he have the guts to talk about it?

mugtech wrote:

What is there to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture?  Did he have the guts to talk about it?

I think he said something about there is a supposed culture acceptance for cheating on one´s spouse etc.  I wasn´t especially tuned into the substance of the comment.

Nards Barley wrote:

mugtech wrote:

What is there to be ashamed about in Ecuadorian culture?  Did he have the guts to talk about it?

I think he said something about there is a supposed culture acceptance for cheating on one´s spouse etc.  I wasn´t especially tuned into the substance of the comment.

Sounds about right, in tune with the idea that it is a male-dominated culture.

Your comment is awaiting moderation.
I don´t think it is necessary to defend the U.S. from the tin-foil hat wearing, conspiracy-propagating, U.S. hating crowd. They are as irrelevant in Ecuador as they are in the U.S

quito0819 wrote:

Mugtech, why spend time, of which - for most of us here - is a limited and precious commodity, worrying about how well person A speaks Spanish or person B is inserted into the larger community?

I am not worried about any of that, just saying the people should do what they want when they want and not be made to feel that their expat life is inferior to others.  The smart ones just ignore the "experts".

mugtech wrote:

quito0819 wrote:

Mugtech, why spend time, of which - for most of us here - is a limited and precious commodity, worrying about how well person A speaks Spanish or person B is inserted into the larger community?

I am not worried about any of that, just saying the people should do what they want when they want and not be made to feel that their expat life is inferior to others.  The smart ones just ignore the "experts".

There is a lot of browbeating by the culture sensitivity warriors engaging in political correctness.

Nards Barley wrote:

Looks like the following comment over at CuencaHighlife  wasn´t considered politically correct.  That is okay, because it is why I have my own web page.

Your comment is awaiting moderation.
I don´t think it is necessary to defend the U.S. from the tin-foil hat wearing, conspiracy-propagating, U.S. hating crowd. They are as irrelevant in Ecuador as they are in the U.S

I stand corrected. My comment was finally posted.  Maybe there is a hierarchical structure over at CuencaHighlife and the higher-ups decided to approve it after worker-bees flagged it for review.