The unofficial web page of the greater Cuenca expat community
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|I decided to switch milk brands last week. If you previously followed my non-blog you may have noticed I was drinking Nutri Leche. However, I decided to drop them because unlike many of their competition, they don´t appear to add vitamin D which I think helps the bones absorb calcium.
Here is my new brand: RayLeche
As you will note, they promote the fact that it has Vitamins A&D. Nutri Leche may have Vitamin A, but their nutritional information is inconsistent, so I haven´t highlighted that as a difference.
Also, at the top of the bag it says "P.V.P. $0.70". P.V.P. stands for "precio de venta al público"(retail price). While I didn´t keep the receipt, I am pretty sure I paid more than that at "The Popular" store. This could have something to do with the recent law passed in Ecuador that establishes price controls for certain food prices. I need to ask next time.
Since the peeps are learning the metric system I placed a red arrow next to the contents specification and did the convesion:
900 ml = 0.951019388 US quarts
One thing odd about this brand of milk is there is only a one month period between the elaboration date and the expiration date. Nutri leche on the other hand has either 2 months or 3 months depending on the style of bag you get.
I will have to reach out to the Reyleche spokesman (my counterpart) for comment.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-bYo7 … an0002.jpg
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Speaking of food, this post was enlightening to me because I always see that condiment on the tables at restaurants around town, and wondered how it was made. I knew they called it "aji" (chili peppar), but it didn´t taste like anything I have tried before.
I made a special trip to "El Popular" to buy some "tomatillos" specified in the recipe. However, they called them something different: tomate arbol.
I then boiled those suckers:
Then I peeled them suckers:
Then I ran them through the blender with the other ingredients and poured it on my rice:
I think the sauce will grow on me over time.
|Here is a photo of him:
It was sort of weird seeing this gringo on television speaking Spanish with a heavy gringo accent.
In the past few weeks while channel flipping I realized that channel 25 rebroadcasts his sermons.
In any case, while I am not religious, I find myself watching because it is entertaining to listen to him, because he is relatively easy to understand and because he has problems with pronunciation, that makes me feel better about my Spanish.
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I am referring to the bike racks. Not a common site. I read the Parque de la Madre will also have them once renovation is completed soon.
I wonder what those stores in the background are going to be? I am betting one of them will be a bike rental shop.
And here is a little culture for you. Some new artwork constructed near the staircase that leads to Benigo Malo.
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Something is going on with Club Corroes.
Lo nuevo de Clubcorreos
Reciba un cordial saludo de quienes conformamos la Empresa Pública Correos del Ecuador CDE E.P., Operadora del Servicio Postal. En nuestro proceso de modernización hemos realizado cambios integrales importantes que nos han permitido demostrar a la ciudadanía y al mundo que la transformación de las empresas públicas no solo es posible sino necesaria.
They sent me an email to the address I used to use with Transexpress, telling me I have a new box number, a new shipping address and that Paypal will be used as the new form of payment.
The shipping address is the one for Econcargo. It appears to me that Transexpress is getting the boot.
Bye Bye Transexpress
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|A spinner bike made in China which I bought at Coral in the Mall del Rio for $240. Since the seat was uncomfortable, I order a seat cover off of Paypal for 7 bucks and had it mailed here direct from China.
Also from Coral, a set of 5kg and 8kg dumbells. I paid $30+ for the 5kg set and 40+ for the 8kg.
That is as heavy as they go with that style of dumbell. Otherwise, I need to go with steel plates, which I don´t want to bother with.
At that sporting goods store which I featured on my non-blog, they have spinning biks starting at around $1,000. Better quality I am sure, but more than I want to pay. They sell similar dumbbell sets as well, but for twice the cost.
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On Tuesday Cuenca Higlife reported the following:
Parque de la Madre to open Friday, officials say
After several false starts, the city of Cuenca says that a renovated Parque de la Madre will finally open on Friday. The city had originally said the park would open in Janauary, and then in March. One of the citys most popular public areas, the park is on Av. 12 de Abril, across Rio Tomebamba from the Hermano Miguel escalinata.
My initial reaction was Wow! That was some scoop Cuenca Highlife had uncovered, considering that none of the local papers or nightly newscasts had mentioned it yet. My assumption was that Cuencahighlife mostly reports on what it reads from the local newspapers, but apparently they have contacts in city hall.
Well as it turns out, it is next Friday when it opens.
|I read one of them and was disappointed that they didn´t have names distinguishing one escalinata from the other.
P.S.
Effective today, I am giving myself a new title: virtual ambassador for the Cuenca expat community.
|||The newscast showed the Taj Mahal which is an Indian Restaurant that I have dined at--it is owned by a Pakastani--but apart from that, I didn´t hear or see any others I recognized.
Today, on my way to have lunch atNectars, a vegan vegetarian restaurant, I was walking along the river Tomebamaba whenI spotted another restaurant that had been "clausurado"--closed:
According to El Tiempo, the closure remain in effect for 7 days if it is a first offense or 10 days if it is a recurrence.
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|||Mistymeaner wrote:I frankly cannot imagine placing the milk in an open container in the fridge. But hey that's just me!!!!
Canadians are welcome to post here as well. I had a snit once with a Candadian blogger here in Cuenca over what their lawyer had posted and the way they took the side of their lawyer, but I won´t hold that against you.
As for containers, my pitcher does have a lid. However, since I was worried that it needed to be sealed lid, I googled the topic and read this excellent article on the milk bag on Wikipedia. It does mention their prevalence in Canada.
Pitcher from Wikpedia article:
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|||||I started out the day by going to the post office and mailing filing Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) to the Internal Revenue Service. To mail this letter to the United States with tracking cost me $4.00. That seemed higher than in the past, so maybe prices have gone up.
Next, I went to El Cafetal Loja on Mariscal Sucre and slugged down a cup of Joe and ate two humitas.
Then, I went to the public library located on Benigno Malo near Mariscal Sucre to work on my Spanish using an app on my IPOD Touch.
There are no books in this library. Just tables for sitting. You can pay 40 cents an hour for internet if you wish. I didn´t, so I can´t tell you if the bandwidth is any good.
I took some photos of the signs telling you to shut up in Spanish.
After the library I went home, said goodbye to the maid, and I am now warming up my home made lentil soup.
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|||I didn´t buy a spaceheater last year and I am not sure I will this year. In my current apartment I get more sun in the mornings, so maybe that will help.
My next door neighbor has a few of these in his apartment, if you can believe it.
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|This is the prefecto for the province of Azuay, with Cuenca as its capital. He has held this job since January of 2005. Apparently it is an elected position and is similar to what a state governor would be in the U.S.
I think he works in this building which is located at the NE corner of Parque Calderon (central park). Another way to say it is he works for the Prefectura of Azuay.
He has a weekly television called "AJI" (pepper) that appears on channel 25 on Unison. The purpose of the show is to talk about government initiatives and such in the Azuay province. I am sure Unison is required to put it on the air it for free.
The man loves the milk bag, as do his constituents. Look at the smiles on their facesÑ
Part II, coming up at later date.
|It doesn´t seem to smart to flee the scene when you are driving a public bus and you leave the bus behind:
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