BUYING FURNITURE AND APPLIANCES IN CUENCA - Apartment #5 Update - AND MORE!!

It's been two weeks since we found our small unfurnished Ecuadorian apartment, moved in, shopped and bought furnishings , and we continue now in what will be a long and carefully and frugally planned out process of making our Ecuadorian flat "our home."  During this move I came down with a flu/bronchial infection, and the timing for that was not helpful.  Because I couldn't just lounge in a place with furniture and appliances and sip hot tea and chicken soup for a few days, all the necessary activity and stress to move and get out of apartment #4 seemed to delay my healing process.  Not good!!  After two long weeks of no energy, today I feel my energetic self, and for this I am grateful.  I am sitting in our partially furnished and comfortable living room listening to the buses zooming by, car alarms going off, taxis and cars honking, market and vendor activity noise along the street below, while admiring the beautiful white majestic clouds and blue skies this warm and beautiful morning.  We have much to be thankful for.  All our needs are being met, we continue to meet wonderful people every day, and we both are enjoying being in a flat that has WINDOWS all around us.

Okay, so here's the update:
1 - CLEANING DEPOSIT - When we moved into Apartment #4, we had to pay a $500 deposit which we were told was refundable, providing we left things in the condition in which we received it.  That was not going to be difficult to accomplish since our landlady did not have the apartment cleaned when we moved in, promising she would send her hired cleaner later that afternoon.  She wanted us out of apartment #3 (in the same building) because she had quickly rented it and now wanted to get that one cleaned for the soon-to-arrive new renters.  Well, to make a long story short (oh how long these stories can be), her cleaner never showed up for us.  So, we transferred into a dirty apartment with no clean bedding or towels, and guess who cleaned for two days?  Bo and I just did what we had to do and graciously moved on.  So, fast forward!  Here we were, ready to move out end of March to Apartment #5, and we thoughtfully gave our landlady written notice reminding her we needed our $500 deposit back before we exited.  A couple days later I received a phone call from our landlady ordering us to be out of our paid for apartment two days early on the 29th because it would take that much time to get it cleaned and ready for the next tenants coming in on April 1st.  I informed her that we would not be doing that because we were paid up through midnight of March 31st and we also needed our deposit back before we left.  She lit up on me and began to scream in Spanish (these are times I wish I didn't speak or understand the language) telling me we had to leave now because she had someone coming in and it was the law!  I finally had to tell her to stop screaming at me and to be quiet so I could talk.  Of course I knew she was trying to bully me, so I firmly stated, "We will not be leaving until March 31st, and if we do not receive our deposit back, we will be staying another month (which would have worked out just fine for us because it would give us a month to get our new place painted, furnished, and move-in ready), and then I hung up on her when she began screaming again.   Bo ended up e-mailing her son (who speaks English) and told him that from now on we would not be communicating with his mother because of her bullying tactics, and if they wanted us out by the end of the month he had to bring us the refundable deposit.  In the end, we did receive our deposit back on Sunday the 31st, by the son, and we were out by 4 pm, giving them enough time to get it ready for the new renters.  We were both surprised that our landlady turned on us the way she did since we consider ourselves excellent renters to have, but we are thankful that we did not buckle under her bullying and lies.

The apartment we are now in did not require a cleaning deposit.  Friends of ours who are also renting told us that they were required to pay a $250 cleaning deposit, but they negotiated that down to $100.  Other friends rented an apartment that required a $750 deposit, and they received back $430 of it several months later, after many e-mails back and forth trying to reason with their former landlord that the things he told them were not left in the condition in which they received the apartment were already not working.  All this to say, renting is a new journey for us.  I have owned a home since I was 20 years young.  Renting in another country where everything is different, including the language and communication barrier, makes things even more complicated.  We are thankful to be in a different apartment with a different landlord and no cleaning deposit to fight for.

2 - APPLIANCES - When we purchased our appliances, we were promised by Mr. Salesman-Of-My-Word that our appliances would be delivered that evening.  I reiterated three different times and ways what he was promising us, and he assured me he was a man of my word," and I believed him (which is why Bo calls me Polly - short for Pollyanna).  Well, by 8 pm that evening we received a phone call from a woman informing us that they were not going to be able to deliver the appliances because of some confusion.  No longer "Polly," I told her this was not acceptable since we were promised an evening delivery and if the appliances did not arrive tonight we would be expecting a complete refund the following day when we visited their store.  She quickly told me she would see what she could do.  At 9:30 pm, Mr. Salesman-Of-My-Word showed up with one of the store honchos and our stove, but no refrigerator and lots of excuses.  I proceeded to tell them that I would not be recommending their store to any of the many ex-pats I already knew or continue to meet because they did not keep their word to me.  They continued to explain that there was a mix-up and they could bring the refrigerator the following day - what time?  They also told us that they would bring the stove's propane tank hook up and install it free of charge as their way of making things right.  I told them they had to come at 8:30 am because we had other appointments throughout the day (assuming they would be at least 2 hours later).  The next day, at 8:00 am, they promptly arrived with our refrigerator and also hooked up our stove to working order.  Mr. Salesman-Of-My-Word apologized for all the inconvenience and we shook hands and they parted ways.  Though I will not be recommending this appliance store to anyone, I do feel they did their best to make things right - and in the end, we love these quality appliances we purchased from them.

3 - FURNITURE - Bo and I visited every furniture store in El Centro looking for comfortable and inexpensive furniture, but to no avail.  We took a bus and went out to the industrial area of Cuenca after hearing that we could surely find something there, but still nothing.  We were both of the mindset that we would find something eventually that we would both see and say, "This is it!"  Since we have always had the same taste in home decor, I figured this would be an easy task.  Yes, we could have designed what we wanted and had it custom made, but this wasn't a route we wanted to take.  For us, it's keeping it simple:  finding what we like, purchasing it, and having it delivered now!  In the end, we couldn't find anything that we liked or would work in our rectangular-shaped living room, so we finally gave up looking just to take a break.  I never thought I would dislike shopping so much or say, "I'm done looking!"  Feeling ill, having to walk everywhere or ride the bus, and not being able to relate to the Ecuadorian style of furniture left us both drained and discouraged.  There are ex-pats who have plenty of money in their pockets to go out and buy whatever they want.  Then, there are ex-pats like us, a couple purposing to live here budget-conscious, frugally, and buying things to meet our needs not our wants.  We've already lived the lifestyle of "wants" for years - having everything we want.  When we left the USA to live in Ecuador, it was to simplify our lives and not live the same.  Well, after a few days of NO SHOPPING rest, we got together with an ex-pat couple who have become special friends of ours.  They, too, had recently rented an unfurnished place, and because they cannot speak any Spanish, they asked me if I would go with them to look for bedding and furniture and help them communicate with the shop people.  After they made their bedding purchase, they took Bo and me to a 5 story furniture store in El Centro where we spent several hours together looking at EVERYTHING!  It was here that Bo and I both decided on our living room set.  Is it something I would have bought in Oregon?  No!  But, when we saw it, we knew it was right for our Ecuadorian flat.  We also found a fabulous wardrobe for our bedroom, since none of the bedrooms in our apartment have closets. Our friends also found their living room set.  Our salesman was a delight, and he was also delighted to have a double sale.  He brought us chocolates and wine while we sat and made our deals.  It truly was a wonderful memory for all of us.  That evening, just as promised, our furniture was delivered.  When two delivery people arrived in a mini-truck with a 5 piece living room set and a three piece huge wardrobe tied to the bed, Bo and I were laughing and in awe as we looked over our terrace below.  This was enough furniture to fill a moving truck - but not here in Ecuador.  Nothing was scratched or damaged, and our salesman who never does deliveries) was one of the two delivery guys because they only had one delivery person available and he said "I gave you my word I'd have it here tonight."  These two guys humped this furniture in 7 or 8 trips up four flights of stairs, and they were sweating and got a real workout.  Our salesman's integrity and promptness to deliver our goods was a nice ending to a long and discouraging furniture hunt.  We love our living room set and are now enjoying the simple comforts of home that so many people take for granted.  I would recommend this salesman and furniture store to anyone in a heartbeat, and Bo and I plan to return to this store when we're ready to buy more furniture. 

4 - PAINTING - We paid our Apartment #5 rent on the 26th of March so we would have time to get it painted before moving in.  We do not do white walls, and every wall in this apartment was WHITE!!  El Maestro painter met with us and told us he and his helper could come that Saturday at 7 am and have most of the rooms painted that day.  On Saturday, Bo was at the apartment at 7 am, and El Maestro painter arrived alone at 8 am to meet with Bo (after Bo called me on my sickbed and told me to call him), then said he was stepping out first for a cup of coffee and never returned.  Who does this?  Because I was so ill and in bed both Friday and Saturday, my Bo had to take on the task of painting all alone since we would be moving in Sunday.  He painted over 12 hours on Saturday and made a small dent in our 3 bedroom apartment (oh, how he hurt the next day).  On Sunday,  I crawled out of bed and began to pack our suitcases, and only by the grace of God and help from our neighbor friends did we get everything moved into our partially painted flat with only a bed to sleep in.  El Maestro painter did show up during the week to do some other work on the apartment for our landlord, but never a word was spoken as to why he disappeared.  Some things are best left alone!  To date, our apartment is two-thirds painted.  The colors are vibrant, rich, and earthy.  Bo and I never looked for another painter.  We continued the project ourselves, and on Sunday, five of our Ecuadorian friends stopped in at different times - three of them taking on the task of helping us paint.  So, once again, with a lot of help from our friends, we continue to accomplish the things that need to get done.

Patience certainly is our lesson as we continue to live in Cuenca.  Patience for things to happen - little things.  Like having one of the damaged bedroom floors finished which was promised before we moved in, or having some personal articles that belonged to the previous renter removed before we moved in, or the ancient stove that our landlord promised to have taken out before we took possession of the apartment.  I have been promised kitchen shelves and cabinets in our sparse Ecuadorian kitchen.  There's an ugly window between our kitchen and hallway entrance that was also going to be taken out.  Our landlord was sending someone to re-clean our many glass doors and windows after more work was done to make them slide more efficiently.  Still, to date none of these things have been done.  It's as though everything has stopped this week, yet Bo and I continue on.  SLOWLY but surely, we know these tasks will finally be done.  When?  When our landlord gets it handled or when we get it handled ourselves?  That's going to be another story......

For now, life is sweet, slow-paced, and once again we are a bit settled in.  I'm now looking for a reliable handyperson who can install curtain rod tubing along our ceiling so I can have curtains made and we can have a sense of privacy.  One task at a time, one day at a time.  Always hoping for reliable and efficient help. This is how we are learning to live our new life in Cuenca.

Yes, We still love Living in Cuenca!

A SNEAK PREVIEW OF APT #5 BEFORE PICTURES....

White walls have got to go!

Bedroom walls are slowly being transformed....

So much to paint, and the task has become ours....

We love the wall-to-wall windows and the view.....

More color and work ahead to transform our modest Ecuadorian kitchen.....

Living room before we painted and furnished - Now our Living Room has colorful walls and comfortable Ecuadorian furniture.  Next project - sheer curtains.  More photos and updates to come.....