Living Abroad: Happy Anniversary to Us!

Edd:  Wow, 14 years ago, on May 17, 2010, we got off the plane here in Cuenca to begin our expat life. As the Grateful Dead sang, “What a long strange trip it’s been.”

Cynthia:  Well, with who knows how many flights back to the States to visit family and friends, full-time globetrotting for 2½ years, and all the other travel we’ve done, we haven’t really lived here the entire time. But, yeah, it has been quite a journey.

E:  Maybe this expat anniversary feels more meaningful because we are actually back in Cuenca to celebrate it. I vividly remember my first encounter with the local culture shortly after we checked into the hotel all those years ago.

C:  Ha! Me too. We were pooped, and I mentioned how much I would love a cappuccino. You gallantly offered to go get one for us both.

E:  So I stride into a coffee shop nearby and in my best pathetic Spanish say, “Dos cappuccinos to go, por favor.” I pay, wait, and soon the waitress brings out my order—in porcelain cups. That “to go” part didn’t come through to ears that understood zero English.

C:  I wish I could have been there to see what you described happened next. Undaunted, you exaggerate pointing to the cups, then pointing at the door over and over like you’re playing Charades.

E:  She offers, “Para llevar?,” the Spanish phrase for “to go” that then was far beyond my pay grade. Clueless to what she said, I innocently respond, “Si,” the beverages are transferred to the proper cups and I leave with my tail tucked between my legs. And so it began…

C:  “Innocently” is a great way to describe those early days. As you mentioned, our Spanish skills were borderline nonexistent. We barely knew anyone, or anything about our new home. But we charged ahead with boundless energy, determined to make this adventure work. And guess what—it did!

E:  I think the key was our “¿Por qué no?” (which means, Why not?) attitude. We pretty much said “yes” to everything back then, and that opened so many doors for us. Our social network exploded. We were meeting new friends for lunch, then going to parties that lasted late into the night. This went on for several years until I said, “We’re acting like we’re in our 20s, and we didn’t do this when we were in our 20s!”

C:  We had a lot of fun, but that pace was unsustainable. For those interested, we share many more crazy tales of our early misadventures in our series of books. Being open to whatever came our way led to many opportunities.

E:  The popularity of the blog I was writing caught the eye of folks at International Living magazine. It was an honor to become their Cuenca correspondent, and for more than five years we represented Ecuador and spoke at their conferences.

C:  Some of which were in the States, allowing us to offset travel expenses to visit family. By then the grandchildren had come along, and we wanted to see them as often as we could.

E:  To me most of the best memories are from the early days when so much was going on. One of my favorites is when the Chamber of Commerce organized a trip for expats to visit the local San Miguel rum factory. We boarded the bus around nine o’clock in the morning, took a tour of the place, then were invited into the tasting room.

C:  Tasting? It was more like guzzling. Empty water bottles were being filled with rum. The trip back to town was quite a party. When we departed some of the people were literally stumbling down the sidewalk. And it wasn’t even lunchtime!

E:  You know I’ve never been bashful about using my fractured Spanish, but when I was on my own before Google Translate I sure messed up sometimes.

C:  Like at that party when the guy thought you were hitting on his wife and they stormed out of the house? Not one of your stellar moments.

E:  That was so embarrassing. How about when I told our landlord I was looking forward to a hot trout when I meant shower. And the episode when I asked a sales clerk for a prostitute instead of a shopping bag. Geez…

C:  The last time we took a trip down memory lane was four years ago in the middle of the pandemic. Of course, with the lockdowns then no one was traveling anywhere. Living in a foreign country during that ordeal was an interesting experience to say the least.

E:  It gave us plenty of time to start reimagining our retirement once again. Boy, did we ever. That’s when we decided to leave Ecuador and explore top expat destinations in other parts of the world.

C:  I’m so happy we have been able to share our unforgettable adventures through this blog. Who knows what direction life will take us next, but for now we’re enjoying our new home back in Cuenca. Happy expat anniversary, Edd!

E:  Happy anniversary, sweetheart. Wherever "home" is, I’m glad to be sharing it with you.