Not to alarm anybody...but here's a story we had to tell!

The overwhelming majority of Expadorians we've met love living here.  However, almost everyone can relate an experience or two that would probably plant seeds of doubt in the average newcomer.

Here's a recent example from the Yazells:

We had been making steady progress in our new house despite being without 90 % of our furnishings (our container won't be here until May!)
Our bed is set up and we have appliances to cook on.  Meals were being taken in the stairwell, on the front stoop or utilizing an inverted appliance box as a table.   Phase I of our alarm system had been installed after two days of work but was causing some flickering in our lights.

The alarm company was due back on a Thursday for two more days of work installing our electric security fence on top of our wall.   It turned out that our deed was finally recorded and we had a bilingual facilitator available, so we also needed to transfer our utilities on that same day. Roger told Mark, our aide de camp in that project, to come to the house at ten so he could be there when the alarm guys arrived. He would then undertake the gauntlet of standing in the various lines for the utilities while Suzanne stayed at the house with the alarm installation crew.

Mark called at 10:20.....his car broke down, but not to worry. He had it towed and he was in a cab on his way.  We told him the alarm guys were late anyway.  When Mark arrived, they still weren't here so we gave Mark the number of our non-English speaking service rep at the empressa de alarmas.   It seemed some of the material wasn't ready yet so no hombres de alarma today....look for them manana....flickering lights?...  No problema...that's normal!!
O.K.  Nothing to be done about the alarm issues today....Suzanne decides to join Roger and Mark in the cab and we're off to insure we maintain water and power at Casa Yazell.   At ETAPA, the lady informs us one page of papers is missing something...so we detour to the attorney's office, then back to ETAPA,   Mark goes in one line to get the lady's dominus wobis cum on our corrections and we go in another with a copy of the last bill to get the account current before it's transferred to our name.

We're making progress!

Off to get a number that will be called by an account rep who can transfer our account to our name.  OOOPS, Roger's cell phone is ringing.....this results in Roger being ejected from the office.  When he returns, he informs Mark the number showed it was our Ecuadorian friend Mario and he'll return the call when we get the task at hand done.  A short time later, receipts and transfer papers in hand, we head outside to return Mario's call.
Mario got a call from our architect Marcello asking him to call us because the alarm company had called him.  They had a crew at Casa Yazell wanting to start our fence installation and wondered why we weren't there...could we get there immediately???
We recruited Mario to call all concerned and explain the events of earlier today.  We hadn't returned the calls promptly because our phones had to be shut off while we were in line. 
No, we can't be there soon....so how about manana???

After these events, the electric company was rather uneventful (except for the guy who erroneously told Roger that the electricity was in danger of being shut off the next day because of several months non-payment...we think he put in a wrong meter number or something). Our task there mostly just took time and eventually our transfer was made.

Thank goodness all we had to do the next day was to wait for the alarm company.  Well, we did lots of that...we waited...we waited...and then we waited some more.  At 3:30 we called and got answering machine messages in rapid fire Espanol with some sort of instructions that Roger couldn't interpret.   Another call to friend Mario for help.  He called later to explain he finally got a secretary who promised to get ahold of our rep and have him call Mario back. (In case you lost track of time here, this is Friday afternoon)

Time to make a long story shorter here. (presuming that's possible).  Mario got his return call the following Thursday morning at 8:00am.  The message was that the crew would at Casa Yazell by 10:00.   By 11:15, the crew actually arrived and began to unload wiring, piping, insulators hardware, tools, ladders, power saws and all the implements of installation (and/or destruction) needed to begin our project.  A few things were missing so one of the guys headed back with the truck driver to retrieve those items. They must of had a good twenty minutes of work accomplished when it was time to break for almuerzo!

Promptly at 1:00, both crew members were back at it...one running the metal saw and one running the arc welder.   By 1:10 it was sprinkling...by 1:30 it was raining buckets!   We had fun watching the sparks fly as the guys attempted to run a power saw and an arc welder in the rain but finally suggested they and their equipment might be safer on some cardboard we had spread out on our empty living room floor.

There were at least three more attempts at installation work as the rain clouds broke and returned multiple times.   By four, everything was piled up the in the front room and the hombres de alarma were  headed back on the company truck after a promise to return manana. 

We have high hopes.  After all, we're holding their arc welder hostage in our living room!

As we said, nearly everyone has a similar story....as unbelievable as they sound, they are all probably true....you can't really make these things up!

They are not, however, as horrible as they sound and if you love Ecuador as we do, they become part of the fabric of legends you'll weave to entertain and awe your friends who come to visit.

We are blessed to be here as we continue our life's journey, "juntos en el camino de la vida!"