Has it really been one year?

We really promised our readers an update on our resident visa process and a follow up on our thoughts as to whether or not the services of a lawyer should be obtained.

However, we are going to defer that subject for a few days. Reason number one is we really needed a few days to decompress after our four day ordeal of dealing with the various bureaucracies in Quito (it DOES have a happy ending though. Suzanne has her cedula in hand and Roger's was approved. His cedula will come to Cuenca this week via courier.)

Reason number two is that as we write this, it is Monday, April 16th (2012) and that happens to mark the one year anniversary of our first posting on "Juntos en el Camino de la Vida". It's a good time to sit back, pause and reflect, and yes, to celebrate!

At the time we wrote "A New Beginning", we had done lots of reading and research but had not yet visited Ecuador. We were unsure as to whether Ecuador or Central Mexico would be our new home. A lot has happened. We even took time out in the middle of the intervening year to explore a third option: Thailand.

Of course, one of the most amazing things about the past year was the people. The people we met, the new friends we made and, of course, you guys. We are amazed at the number of people that have logged on to our blog and have followed our adventures as we traveled down the road of life.

During the past year, there were more than 9,000 visits to our blog. We began with a little under 400 visits in our first month and are now averaging 1,000 per month. About 55% of our visits came from "South of Zero".

(A big thank you to Mary and Steve for the wonderful job they do and the great service they provide. South of Zero made our homework and research so much easier when we first began to explore Ecuador and we still log on there almost daily to stay in touch with friends and the bloggers we enjoy so much!)

78% of our readership comes from the U.S. and Ecuador. Canada and Germany together account for another 10% of readers and in about equal portions (Cuenca is very popular with the Germans and Germany maintains a consular office here!). Panama and Mexico accounts for another almost 2% of readership and then the remaining 10% is scattered among an amazing diversity of worldwide sources. Thailand, Russia, Spain and Australia rounds out our top ten.

We also spent some some time looking at what you, our readers, were enjoying. Some of our old blogs continue to get visited so we are glad we included the archive listing on the side for your reference. We also decided to add a favorites list which will constantly update the top ten most read blogs for the convenience of new readers wishing to learn about some of the more interesting processes we went through in becoming "Expadorians" . Based on the comments and emails we received at the time, it was no surprise that "The Paperwork Seems Never Ending" came in at numero uno!

Thank you all for your interest, comments and support. There may come a day when this all seems routine but it doesn't appear that that will be anytime soon. As we wrote one year ago today on this blog:

"We are in awe of the options we have before us and we feel truly blessed."

We still feel that way today as we continue our journey, juntos en el camino de la vida!