Pink Zhumir Ice Cream

After two weeks of my no carb diet and ten pounds lighter, I decided to celebrate with some Pink Zhumir ice cream at Mixx Gourmet Ice Cream. To tell you the truth, I don't even like Pink Zhumir, but in the form of "gelato" it's absolutely delicious!

I think I ate my way through grief while Dad Pombo was in the hospital and then going to the States, I realized that everyone tries to feed you before, during and after a funeral. When people don't know what to say or do, they offer food as an alternative. And then there was that box of See's Candy that just happened to disappear over the course of ten days. When I arrived back in Cuenca (a little heavier), I vowed to get back on track. My first stop was to buy a bathroom scale at Sukasa ($17). When I stepped on it for the first time, I almost took it back to get a refund, but then I realized there was nothing wrong with it. It was only doing its job!

After weighing in, my plan was simple: stay away from "pan" (bread), no sugar, and only eat fresh fruits and vegetables (and lean protein). I'm not sure why I didn't think of that before! The next "few" pounds should shed more easily now that I've found out what works. Oh, and lots and lots of water with fresh lemon and ginger in it. I don't even miss coffee anymore.

Most expats lose at least 20-30 pounds during their first few months in Ecuador, but unfortunately I ate my way through Cuenca and fell in love with bread. I'm an unusual case and almost everyone I know has stayed on the lean side (just don't forget to pack your bathroom scale!).

Combined with my new "diet," I've incorporated some water aerobics and at least two hours of walking every  day (not leisurely walking, but at a fast clip with weights). Non-food rewards work for me as well, like a manicure or pedicure which was absolutely delightful this week. I was at Monte Sinai getting "stuck" by the dermatologist and rewarded myself afterwards with a manicure at Studio Morena which is on the first floor of the Consultorios Monte Sinai (Torre 2).

The pleasant staff placed a warming pack around my shoulders while they worked on my "uñas"--making them bright and cheerful (total cost: $5.00). At the Hotel Hershey in Pennsylvania where I used to go for some pampering, I walked out with a bill about ten times that amount.

Pink Zhumir ice cream is my new favorite, but will be reserved for special occasions (like today!).

Until next time...hasta luego!

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Cold Snap!

Mark and I have been hunkered down in the house for the past week—waiting for the bad weather to pass! It did not.

The newspaper (El Tiempo) dedicated the entire front page to the 15 days of 5 degrees Celsius weather (41 degrees at night) and promised 10 more days of the same. It’s called paradise with a cold snap!

We don’t have heating in our condo, so we’ve been opening up the oven door to take the chill out of the air which works perfectly for us. At night we cuddle up with four down comforters and I place the heating pad under the covers to warm up the mattress. I call it the poor man’s electric blanket!

But today, it was back to 70 degrees which put a big smile on my face. I was so afraid I would have to delete the word “paradise” out of the book! But Cuenca made a comeback and made me realize once again why we moved here.

To celebrate, Mocha and I took a two-hour walk around the neighborhood to visit all of Mocha’s friends, including Pepe (his friends just call him “Pep”!).

While Mocha and Pepe “talked,” I took in the sounds of the Tomebamba River, the smell of the eucalyptus trees, and the brilliant blue sky—dotted with a few fluffy clouds. It brought back memories of this time last year.

On June 3, 2010, I was jumping for joy because we had finally landed in Quito, after a whirlwind three months of sorting, sifting and packing. It seemed like a “fuzzy”” dream -- at the time -- until we got on the plane and buckled our seatbelts. Nothing will ever compare to that moment when the plane touched ground in Ecuador—to the applause of everyone on board. It was worth all the sacrifice that we went through to get here.

Meeting with folks this week—who have made the journey—brought back a lot of memories of our trip. They too, have done the tornado move as I like to call it. "Hurry up and get out of Dodge before something else happens!" So many folks are looking to retire in Cuenca because of the affordable health care that is available here and I will have to agree; there’s nothing like it in the States (nada!).

We feel fortunate to have the privilege of retiring at age 55—not many are able to do that. And if we make it until we’re 62, we can give our Social Security checks to our kids so they can use it for a down payment on a house. If we were in the States, we would be wondering how we would be able to pay for our health insurance premiums which were $1,400 a month with a $10,000 deductible!

Life is good in paradise—despite the cold snap!








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Health Care in Cuenca

Today my hubby and I had our physicals by Dr. Pablo Parra at Hospital Monte Sinai. Although not as much fun as shopping, eating ice cream at Tutto Freddo, or riding the bus at rush hour, it was definitely an experience.

Dr. Parra is an internal medicine specialist with another discipline in pneumonology (lung specialist) and he also speaks perfect English, which is nice at this point in our Spanish studies. We brought all our medical records from the States (at a cost—of course!). Dr. Parra met with us and thoroughly reviewed our records, made notes and recommendations (that was a week ago). Today we had our physicals and he reviewed his findings with us.

Medicine in Ecuador is more “holistic”—by that I mean, doctors take into consideration your whole person (body, soul and spirit). The other big difference is price. An average visit is $20 to $25 and that was for over an hour—both times! We also had lab work done, which included a full work-up. Total cost: $79 per person. On Friday, Dr. Parra will review the results of our lab work and make further recommendations.

When is the last time a doctor spent an hour with you; gave you his personal cell phone number (to call at any time), or told you that he makes house calls? I worked in the medical field for 20 years and if I ever gave out the personal cell phone number of one of the doctors I worked for, I would be fired on the spot!

You may be in shock the first time you visit a doctor in Cuenca because you will look at your watch and wonder when your 10 minutes are up. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal, but you’ll get used to it (I promise).

Here’s another difference that will take some getting used to. In the States, you don’t own your medical records…the doctors do. You can request your records (copies of them), but the original belongs to the doctor. In Ecuador when you have a test done, you receive the results (they are yours to keep!).

All of this means that you are receiving personalized attention which will take some getting used to (at first). You are no longer a number on a chart…you are a person. And that’s the difference with health care in Cuenca!

Until next time…hasta luego!


Consuelo y Marco

Dr. Pablo Parra can be reached at Monte Sinai Hospital, Miguel Cordero 6-111 y Av. Solano, Cuenca, Ecuador. Phone: 07-2885-595 (Ext. 2511) Email: parra5432@yahoo.com



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