Mood: happy
Topic: Population Explosion
The purpose of this Blog is to record our
experiences in retiring in Quito, Ecuador. We are
at Longitude - 78.4333, Latitude - 0.2000, Altitude
7,595 feet (2,314 meters). About 15 miles below
the Equator our temperature in the shade at this
altitude varies between 50 and 75 degrees
fahrenheight. In the sun it can get to over 100
degrees in seconds and burn your skin in 15
minutes if you are light complected. The first
longitudinal line on the map below is the Equator.
Below it on the left side you can see Quito's
location. We actually live outside the town of
Cumbaya in the Tumbaco Valley, about 1,700 feet
below Quito.
Population Explosion at Q3
Well things began to get more crowded at Quinta
Quivilla in Quito (Q3), especially during the middle
and latter part of the year 2007. Earlier two
beautiful new Chihuahua pups were born to Cinchi
Roca and Coya (Cinchi Roca was the
second Inca and Coya means the spouse
of the Inca in
Quechua). Lea named the pups
Chimu and Mochica for two pre-
Inca civilizations in Peru.
Then we had a new litter of rabbits born to Chasqui
and Chasquina, our giant rabbits (Chasqui means
messenger of the Inca. That's him below, the big
white one. Beside him, inside the fence, the gray
one is Chasquina. Watching from upper left is
Chimu and on the right one of our Persian cats,
Mishkti).
Lea quickly gave seven of them away for
obvious reasons.
Meanwhile our chickens were rapidly
multiplying, especially Lea’s favorite Polish
chickens that are very small and
look like snow balls made of white
fur rather than feathers. We are up to about 50
or so chickens now with more eggs than we can
eat (more chickens too!). A friend gave us two
canaries and a few days later Lea found a lost
parakeet in a tree. She quickly bought him a
mate so now we have continuous bird music all
day long.
But, of course, the biggest news of all was the
birth of little Perry Andrew Wesberry to
our son Perry and his wife Lorena. He was
born by the new
water birthing
method at our local
brand new Hospital
de los Valles (Hospital of the Valleys), one of
the most modern hospitals in Latin America. It
is only about a mile or so from our home and
Perry never touched the ground with the car as
he drove Lorena to the hospital. Water births,
where the mother is immersed and the baby is
born under the warm water, originated in
Europe and are little known or used in the USA.
This method is much less stressful to both
mother and child. After the drive to the
hospital we all needed something less stressful.
After getting all the papers filed for the new
overseas born American, Perry had to go back
to Alexandria to work to support his small, but
growing family.
Lorena and Perry Andrew will stay with us until
all the papers and Lorena’s immigration are
approved. Perry, needless to say, is very lonely
on the USA. We, needless to say, are very
happy to have our daughter-in-law and our new
grandson here with us for a while.
Lorena was in her senior year of college and
hoped to postpone the birth until she finished
classes. As fate would have it, Perry Andrew
arrived three weeks early on the Monday of her
final exam week so she missed all her exams.
Now she is trying to make up what she missed
so as to graduate with her class very soon. This
involves several trips to the university in
Ambato carrying the baby all the way. We are
getting used to the drive that passes through
the beautiful mountains of the northern part of
“Volcano Alley”. The most impressive is
Cotopaxi, the world’s highest active volcano
that lies about halfway between Quito and
Ambato.
Packed up the Alpacas
The saddest thing that has happened to us was
the departure of our two Alpacas, Illimani and
Huascaran (named for the two tallest
mountains in Bolivia and Peru, respectively).
We simply did not have sufficient land on our
less than an acre property to produce enough
grass to feed them properly. Lea was rushing
out every other
morning to buy alfalfa
or corn shucks to
feed them and as the
dry season approached we concluded that
even so they were not going to be able to eat
properly. Lea made a deal with our
veterinarian (we are her best customers with
all our animals) to send them to her hacienda
much higher up in the Andes abot 50 miles from
us. They will be much happier there with much
land to roam and grass to munch. They are
wonderful pets and beautiful to watch as they
graze in the yard. Lea has already visited them
once to be sure they are OK. We miss them.
Birthday!
Lea coaxed three of Jim's friends into
calling a purposeless meeting to get him
out of the house on the morning of
September 22, his 73rd birthday. The
trick worked like a charm on the
unsuspecting victim and when they
dropped him off at home he entered to a
Mariachi group playing birthday music. It
was like being back in Mexico again.
Lea invited about 15 of Jim's closest
friends and the luncheon, in true
Ecuadorian fashion went on from 1:00PM
to 7:00PM (Of course, in the old days
when we were young such affairs lasted
at least 24 hours). Our daughter-in-law,
niece and three household servants
thought up the idea and chipped in for
the Mariachis. Here they are with Lea in
the photo below.
See more photos from our AOL Public Gallery