Nate
is a friend of ours... he is a financial markets drop-out from the
Chicago Board of Trade... where he had a career. He is now a
bartender at De Baco's... a bar we go to occasionally for Gringo Nights.
I direct you
to his site,
because he took pictures of the President's speech last night in
Orotongo Square.... from Ricardo's (another Gringo from Seattle)
apartment window. This is the same apartment that has the
one-Sunday per month concerts... a clip that I sent several of you
earlier. Nate has some other interesting pictures of his travels
around Ecuador, as well.
The
interesting thing is that I played chess with both Nate and Ricardo at
a coffee shop, directly below Ricardo's apartment, yesterday morning in
Orotongo Plaza, as they were setting up the stage, hanging banners,
etc... for this event.
President
Correa is widely popular here, some of that popularity comes from his
ability to speak Quichua..the major language spoken by the indigenous
in the Andes.. He is a Socialist... was educated at the
University of Illinois (Masters in Economics) and Belgium, where he got
his PhD. He is not a big fan of the U.S., but encourages Gringo
emigration because of the relative wealth they inject into the local
economy (Cuenca is the most prosperous city in Ecuador, with less than
1% Gringo).
With
Correa has come stability to Ecuador (in the 4 years prior to his
election 5 years ago, there were six presidents). He is teflon
coated, and (like most third world Socialists) is able to blame any
problems or woes that the Country has, on the Western Industrialized
countries. In a real leap of logic, since Ecuador in conjunction
with the Chinese, is drilling for oil in the country's eastern
provinces (in the Amazon), he has somehow managed to convince the
population (including some Gringos that should know better) that it is
because the U.S. and Europe failed to pay a $16 Billion hostage /
ransom fee that would have only postponed exploration and drilling for
a few years. The area of the Amazon affected relatively accounts
for an area as large as a postage laying on a football field.
Nonetheless,
here in Cuenca, the stability and prosperity is obvious. Modern,
high-rise buildings are going up all over the place. Construction
has started on a light rail system. There are new,
Western-oriented restaurants and bars popping up all over town (many
started by Ecuadorians that have spent decades abroad.....usually the
U.S. or Europe..... that have prospered and come home). Locals,
whose family units average $600 per month income, complain that Cuenca
is the most expensive city in Ecuador.
Examples
of the repatriated Ecuadorians: Our Ecuadorian friends, here in
the Palermo building (Pepe and Cathy) lived in New York for almost 20
years, and still have a house in Flatbush. He was a waiter at
Peter Lugar's for 10 years, then started his own Italian restaurant,
which he sold about 8 years ago. They took their money, bought a
beautiful apartment (similar to our apartment but he is on the 12th
floor, we are on the 9th), and dabbles in real estate, usually as the
middle man between Spanish-speaking Ecuadorian owners, and Gringos.
Another example: The guy that owns the apartment we are in,
is a long-time bartender at Bemelman's Bar in New York (inside the
Carlyle Hotel......a very old, well known, power-meeting spot).
So...
we are alive and well in Cuenca.... and enjoying it. Kitty is
having lunch with some Gringo girlfriends this afternoon.
Tonight, dinner downtown, tomorrow is BBQ night at Roux's
(catering almost exclusively to the Gringo community...their BBQ nights
are always booked to capacity), Friday: dinner at the apartment
of some friends of ours who are from Sacramento by way of Phoenix.
Sunday is the traditional "Game Day" at the INCA bar, where a
core group of Gringos gather to watch football.
Like I
said.... there is no shortage of things to do here.
Our
open invitation to come visit stands......but if you start looking at
the calendar, please keep in mind that Kitty and I are going to
Mancora, Peru (a beach town in norther Peru) for a week, in
mid-February. We return to the States for our West-Coast trip
(San Diego to Vancouver, over a 2 month period) in late May.
Come
see us! We will pay for your airfare.
cuzzin ricky
AMERICAN IDYLL