Well, we finally have our own place. You can see it in the photo below.
Oops. This is actually an abandoned house we saw while out witnessing near a river a few weeks ago. Just across the (dirt) road from it are new houses. We still can’t get over the mix of old and new in the one area.
Below are photos of people washing clothes etc. in the river.
The photo below was taken a little further along the river from the mud brick house.
From what we could see and were told, large quantities of garlic are soaked in tubs of river water and then people tread in the tubs of water and garlic, and the garlic skins loosen. Then as you can see from the photo, women skin the garlic cloves and pick out reject cloves and discard them. Apparently the skinned garlic cloves are sold to restaurants and markets. You can also buy them in the supermarket, skinned, in little plastic bags. But they don’t keep as long as if you buy them dry as a whole bulb.
The woman in the photo with one child on her back and one nearby is pretty typical here of women who work in such jobs or in the markets. There are child care centres here in Cuenca but I suspect they are for the wealthy. You often see women who work in menial jobs with their children on their backs or sitting or playing nearby. Apparently, the minimum wage here is $1.50 per hour, which is pretty mind-boggling. Even though things cost less here than in Aus, (someone worked out that on average things here cost around one-third to one-quarter of what they would in Aus), being able to survive on that sort of wage is still pretty hard to comprehend. But there are those university educated people at the other end of the scale (doctors, lawyers, etc.) who apparently earn around $20-$30 per hour, which is rather a lot compared to $1.50 per hour. There is a vast difference between the wealthy and the poor – I think it’s more noticeable here than in Aus. Possibly one reason is that the wealthy and the poor here just about live and work side by side, whereas due to zoning restrictions etc. in Aus, there is likely to be more difference geographically in where people can afford or choose to live.
Even though on average things work out to around one-third to one-quarter of their cost in Aus, to break things down: housing (renting) is probably a quarter of the cost in Aus, vegies etc. would be around a quarter, “gringo” groceries (e.g. condensed milk, Marie biscuits, tin foil, paper towel, tissues) are probably about the same as Aus, clothes probably similar to Aus, plastic goods and kitchen wares (e.g. cutlery, plates, plastic chairs) similar to Aus (we know, we just bought a heap of it). Cars: Petrol is cheaper here than Aus ($1.49 a gallon or $0.39 a litre), although not having car, I haven’t taken much notice. Tyres are around $80 each. But you can go on a bus right across town for 25c. Some things are a lot cheaper, but other things are the same as Aus. I guess the more you can live like a local, the cheaper it will be.
A few weeks ago I mentioned to a sister in the congregation that we were starting to house-hunt, and that all I wanted was a place with some grass and a tree. Now, as Cuenca is a city of joined-together houses and lots of concrete, and very little in the way of private green space, she said “good luck with that!” It took them a year or so of searching to find their place, which does actually have a reasonable yard (by Cuenca standards) with grass.
Often, in order to get a little bit of private green space (unless you have a ton of money to be able to afford one of the pricier areas of Cuenca where there are medium-sized gardens and some trees), you end up on the outskirts of town. Which is fine if you have a car, but if you rely on buses or taxis, it’s not so convenient. The further out you go, the less choice of buses you have and the taxis are less likely to prowl around there. But I guess it all depends on what matters most to you, and where you are prepared to compromise.
We have ended up with a quite new house (only a couple of years old – on Google Earth there is a paddock where our house is now), which is lovely and light and sunny and all the windows (except one bathroom) look out onto the great outdoors. Which is quite an achievement here, where light-wells and skylights are common ways to get light into a house. I actually got my grass and tree – we have a little grassy backyard which is 2.5 metres deep by about 7 metres long (I wanted to run a few head of guinea pigs to keep the grass down, then we can eat them when they get fat!! No not really, although guinea pigs “cuyes” are considered a delicacy here. But Brendy is not keen on the idea). And we have two little lemon trees in the front yard, which is all tiled, except for a 1.5metre square of real dirt where the lemon trees are. The front yard is big enough to park a couple of cars, but that’s it. It’s big enough for bbqs and to sit outside in the sun, so that’s nice. And we have an upstairs terrace and can see all around us. So, we think we are in a pretty good spot, really.
This is looking down our road – our house is on the left further along
This is our place – the sides of the houses here don’t tend to be finished neatly as it is assumed that at some future time someone else will build right up next to it (but the shapes of the houses don’t generally match so it can still look untidy)
The house is on a dirt road, and we have a giant mud puddle out the front. And chooks run up and down the road. Again, it’s a mix of newish well-finished houses along with paddocks and half-finished roughly built houses. But we have good bus access within a 10 minute walk and all the small shops you could want as well as a very big market nearby. We catch a bus now to get to the supermarket (we could walk there from our previous place), but I guess you can’t be close to everything.
This is the pretty view of our house!
Looking from entrance (lounge room on right) towards dining room and kitchen.
Strangely enough here, the prices of items in the small shops is less than you’d pay in the supermarkets. I guess the supermarkets here don’t hold the monopoly over suppliers like they do in Aus. So if you run out of something, from where we are, there are about five small shops within a couple of minutes’ walk. And then I get to practice my bad Spanish on them and make them panic when I come in!! But then they practice their bad English on me and make me panic! So, I guess it works out even in the end.
Panoramic view from upstairs
View of the Cajas (mountains) – they are higher in real life than they look in the photo – going up to 4,000 metres. Cuenca is at 2,500 metres
View over our back wall – shows the socio-economic mix (big word supplied by Brendy)
We have our District Convention next week, so are catching a little bus with some others from our congregation down to Guayaquil. It’s at sea level, so will be quite a bit warmer than here, although it’s supposed to be less humid at this time of year (the dry season).
So, until next time, Adios.
That looks great! Sounds like you guys are really settling in well. Keep the blogs coming!
ReplyDeleteClay.