We Are Now Ecuador Residents!

Casa Alonso, Mansion Alcazar
Cuenca, Ecuador

Today we picked up our cedulas, the final step in our move to Ecuador. We now are official residents of this beautiful country. To celebrate, we took ourselves to Casa Alonso, the restaurant in Mansion Alcazar, a lovely historic hotel. The setting is adjacent to the garden and was a perfect place for a special lunch. The food and service were stellar. We will definitely return when treats are called for.

We definitely want to thank our attorney, Gabriella Espinosa, who counseled us before we arrived on the residency procedures and necessary documents; Linda Gonzalez, Dr. Espinosa's Cuenca contact, who helped us with translations and our initial paperwork (so we didn't have to journey to Quito, which was where we needed to file when we arrived -- no Cuenca office in April 2012); and Noshy Pinos, an extraordinarily helpful Cuenca facilitator, who helped us through the cedula process (surprisingly more complicated than the visa process).

We are thrilled!

(More details are coming about our Ecuador adventure just as soon as the dust settles.)