A NEW SHUTTLE SERVICE: ELMOCTOUR
http://touroffers.wordpress.com/category/sierra-andes/
The phone numbers and location of this new tour company is on the above site. They come highly recommended.
A LONG-STANDING PRIVATE SHUTTLE SERVICE:
This is the phone contact number for the Private Shuttle Service driver that drove my wife and I to Cuenca. Raul lives in Cuenca. His cell phone number is: 011-593-9-543-0927.
Raul only speaks Spanish. When you contact Raul, tell him you were referred by Larry Marler, whom he picked up at La Glorieta Condominiums on 10 January 2009 and drove to Casa Alianza in Guayaquil. I also used his services on 23 April 2009 when he picked me up at Casa Alianza and drove me to Cuenca. I don't receive a referral fee.
Raul's rate is now $120 for reserving the van as your private shuttle with no other passengers. This is another reason that I suggest that you contact Raul directly to avoid any problems. You may possibly be able to negotiate a better rate of (i.e., say $100). If you have a friend that speaks Spanish, it would be best to use that friend to speak in your behalf, as I do.
For me, this service has been useful, because I have had heavy baggage. Not only can I be picked up at my hotel in Guayaquil, but I can be delivered directly to my Cuenca condo. The rate is $20 more than if you fly, but the convenience has been worth the additional cost to me.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Physical Therapist: Maria del Carmen Montezuma
This young lady, Maria, is a real find in Cuenca. She was trained in Cuenca and is a Cuencano. Maria did something for my wife that many different types of therapists of many different modalities could not do over a time period of 20 years.
My wife, Linda, did her 3rd International Triathlon in 1989. During the first 4 miles of her 112 mile bike ride in the mountains of Penticton, Canada, she hit some loose gravel and fell going 25 miles an hour. Her left hip and leg were badly bruised and her top layer of skin was scraped off from the fall. However, she got up after 5 minutes and completed the remaining 108 miles of the bike ride and completed the last leg, which is a complete marathon. The next day she could barely walk, but the worse was to come later. She began to develop arthritis in her hip. She had access to many different therapists, because she was a well known Acupuncturist in Denver, Colorado, but none could ever really eliminate the problem of her not being able to raise her leg straight away from her other leg at a full extension. Her leg had limited movement.
Fast forward to Cuenca: Linda was referred to Maria by Carolina of Carolina's Bookstore last June, 2009. After 2 treatments by Maria and some special exercises given to her by Maria, she was able to actually lift her leg straight away from her other leg to a full extension. That was amazing and never before attained from any other treatment modalities to which she had access. She now gets a regular monthly tuneup and has felt no pain since gaining access to Maria.
Therefore, we heartily recommend Maria for her knowledge and talents as a Physical Therapist.
Maria del Carmen Montezuma C.
FISIOTERAPISTA
Av. 12 de Abril y Guayas
Cuenca, Ecuador
Office: 07 288 2788
Cell: 09 401 9989
Email: mariacmontezuma@yahoo.com
My wife, Linda, did her 3rd International Triathlon in 1989. During the first 4 miles of her 112 mile bike ride in the mountains of Penticton, Canada, she hit some loose gravel and fell going 25 miles an hour. Her left hip and leg were badly bruised and her top layer of skin was scraped off from the fall. However, she got up after 5 minutes and completed the remaining 108 miles of the bike ride and completed the last leg, which is a complete marathon. The next day she could barely walk, but the worse was to come later. She began to develop arthritis in her hip. She had access to many different therapists, because she was a well known Acupuncturist in Denver, Colorado, but none could ever really eliminate the problem of her not being able to raise her leg straight away from her other leg at a full extension. Her leg had limited movement.
Fast forward to Cuenca: Linda was referred to Maria by Carolina of Carolina's Bookstore last June, 2009. After 2 treatments by Maria and some special exercises given to her by Maria, she was able to actually lift her leg straight away from her other leg to a full extension. That was amazing and never before attained from any other treatment modalities to which she had access. She now gets a regular monthly tuneup and has felt no pain since gaining access to Maria.
Therefore, we heartily recommend Maria for her knowledge and talents as a Physical Therapist.
Maria del Carmen Montezuma C.
FISIOTERAPISTA
Av. 12 de Abril y Guayas
Cuenca, Ecuador
Office: 07 288 2788
Cell: 09 401 9989
Email: mariacmontezuma@yahoo.com
Gabriela Espinosa: Quito Immigration Attorney
After 4 + years of talking with Gabriela, my wife and I finally met face-to-face with her to make application for our Residency Visas and also to apply for our Temporary "12 (10) visa," which is only $60 per person, rather than the "12 (9) visa" which is $230. The beginning of the process was on 16 June 2009.
On 17 July, Gabriela called to advise me that residency visas were approved. Now comes the bureaucracy into play. Gabriela sent me 2 letters to be delivered to Registro de la Propiedad del Canton Cuenca at Gran Colombia 16-14 y Miguel Velez, Cuenca. Get this: The 2 letters are identical; however, only one can be legalized by this entity initially, then a copy of the property deed must be delivered to them so that they can legalize the second letter. Both then must be returned to Gabriela with our passports so that Gabriela can have the residency visas stamped in each of our passports. She will then return the passports with the papers necessary to get our Cedulas.
On Friday, July 31, I received our passports back from Gabriela. Due to long lines at the Cedula office due to students getting Cedulas so they can get their bus passes for the new school year, we went to get our Censos for the time being. That was accomplished with no problems and cost $4 each. We have 60 days to get our Cedulas, so we will wait until September 1st to get the Cedulas.
On 07 September 2009, my wife and I obtained our Cedulas without any problems or delays. Once I obtained my Cedula, on 17 September 2009, I was able to obtain my (old geezer) bus pass, which authorizes me to pay only $0.12 per bus ride anywhere in Cuenca where a bus route is located.
Finally, you can call Gabriela direct from the United States and Canada on her Magicjack internet phone at the following number: 859-408-0527. If you fail to reach her at the above Magicjack number, her cell number is: 011-593-9-164-5924 (when dialing from the USA). Her email is: gabrielaespinosa@migrationecuador.com.
Gabriela is an honest, hard working attorney, mother of 3. I submitted all the required documents for our residency visa to her on June 16th.
A Valuable Resource For Processing Documents: Linda Gonzalez
If residing in Cuenca and you desire to get all your documents processed quickly and efficiently, once you have received your approved documents from Gabriela Espinosa in Quito, or from the services of some other attorney you may have selected, I highly recommend that you use the services of this lady who is a native Cuencano:
Linda Gonzalez
Cell Phone: 09 409 0936
Home Phone: 07 280 9899.
For some, you may not realize that once you receive your approved documents from your attorney and the Quito Immigration Department, there are still many things yet to be done in order to get your Permanent Visa stamped in your passport, obtain your Cedula(s), etc. That is where the value of a "Linda Gonzalez" comes to the forefront.
Linda pre-determines all requirements from all the agencies involved, so that you will know all the required documents for any particular agency, number of pictures required, number of copies of documents required and whether they need to be notarized, etc. Linda will pick you up by car and transport you to all agencies involved. She speaks fluent English and Spanish and will assist you with all necessary communication if you do not speak Spanish fluently. Linda is a very kind, intelligent lady who sincerely enjoys helping others in resolving their needs in short order.
Her fees are $15 per hour for her services. There are some who seem to object to paying fees for services rendered; however, in my opinion, the efficiency of services performed by Linda, far outweigh the costs involved for those services. If we had attempted to accomplish the many things that she assisted us with, my wife and I could never have accomplished these necessary tasks, not to mention the difficulty in locating where the agency offices were located and overcoming the frustrations involved, in some cases.
Linda Gonzalez
Cell Phone: 09 409 0936
Home Phone: 07 280 9899.
For some, you may not realize that once you receive your approved documents from your attorney and the Quito Immigration Department, there are still many things yet to be done in order to get your Permanent Visa stamped in your passport, obtain your Cedula(s), etc. That is where the value of a "Linda Gonzalez" comes to the forefront.
Linda pre-determines all requirements from all the agencies involved, so that you will know all the required documents for any particular agency, number of pictures required, number of copies of documents required and whether they need to be notarized, etc. Linda will pick you up by car and transport you to all agencies involved. She speaks fluent English and Spanish and will assist you with all necessary communication if you do not speak Spanish fluently. Linda is a very kind, intelligent lady who sincerely enjoys helping others in resolving their needs in short order.
Her fees are $15 per hour for her services. There are some who seem to object to paying fees for services rendered; however, in my opinion, the efficiency of services performed by Linda, far outweigh the costs involved for those services. If we had attempted to accomplish the many things that she assisted us with, my wife and I could never have accomplished these necessary tasks, not to mention the difficulty in locating where the agency offices were located and overcoming the frustrations involved, in some cases.
A New Bar Opening Soon on 3 de Noviembre in Cuenca
My friends have been working diligently for the past 7 months to get their bar completed for the 2009 Cuenca Fiesta. The owner's are Mike and Shannon. They are in the process of finalizing all license requirements, but they are unofficially allowing friends (say Larry Marler referred you).
The location of the bar is located on 3 de Noviembre, just upstream from the steps at the end of Av. Solano. Instead of going up the steps to Benigno Malo, walk across the small plaza away from Solano instead of going up the steps, go down the steps to 3 de Noviembre and walk about 100 feet. On your left, you will see tables on a patio, plus steps leading up to the second floor, where you will find a full-service bar with more tables and chairs. Mike and Shannon are open on Friday (around 4pm) for Happy Hour and also have the NFL football package with Direct TV and and will be showing NFL football every Sunday all day long.
The location of the bar is located on 3 de Noviembre, just upstream from the steps at the end of Av. Solano. Instead of going up the steps to Benigno Malo, walk across the small plaza away from Solano instead of going up the steps, go down the steps to 3 de Noviembre and walk about 100 feet. On your left, you will see tables on a patio, plus steps leading up to the second floor, where you will find a full-service bar with more tables and chairs. Mike and Shannon are open on Friday (around 4pm) for Happy Hour and also have the NFL football package with Direct TV and and will be showing NFL football every Sunday all day long.
Custom Made Furniture By "Pepe"
I want to let all my reader's know about a young man in Cuenca who, with his brother, makes beautiful, custom-made furniture. His name is "Pepe" and he has a furniture store consisting of 3 floors of ready-made furniture. However, the really exciting thing is that if you furnish Pepe with a detailed picture of what you would like, he will design it for you and he and his brother will build your quality furniture at unbelievable prices.
Pepe lived in New York for 10 years and worked in a factory that built furniture for wealthy people that lived and worked in Manhattan.
Pepe took 3 pictures of oriental style furniture I had copied from the internet, then created designs in which all the pieces would match each other. The pieces consisted of a 40 inch double door 2-shelve liquor cabinet with an additional drawer on the bottom; an entertainment center with 2-drawers (side by side on top), plus 2 glass doors with 2 shelves. It has enough room to place a DVD player, the Direct TV modem, and an FM/AM radio with CD player. In addition, he made me a coffee table. All of that for a total of $770.00.
His store is located in Cuenca at: Calle Larga 9-48 y Benigno Malo. The number at the store is 07 284 1082. Pepe's personal cell phone number is: 09 808 9112. The numbers listed are dialed as shown when calling from within Cuenca. If calling from the USA, you would dial 011 593 7 284 1082. The cell number would be dialed as 011 593 9 808 9112.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Men's Shoes in Cuenca, Ecuador
I have discovered 2 sources for new shoes in Cuenca, in which you can possibly find larger size shoes for men. In one case, the shoes already are made in larger sizes for men, while in the other case, you can have shoes custom-made for your foot. Both locations offer quality shoes.
First, I will give you the name and address of the store where you can have shoes custom-made for your foot. The manager's name is Henry. The store name is Artesanias en Cuero y Gamuza located at Gran Columbia 8-62 entre Luis Cordero y Benigno Malo. The phone numbers are: 072840362, 072808056, and Cellular: 098091754. Henry says that all his shoes that are custom-made are made in Ecuador; therefore, there is no extra cost added on for import tax.
The second store I found is named "Buestan." There is one also located in the SuperMaxi shopping area near the Melinium Shopping Center; however the location that I am speaking of is at "Buestan" located in the Kywi Shopping Center near the Cuenca Airport. The owner is Ruben Yanez. All of his shoes are made in Ecuador and he has a large selection to pick from. This store address is: Elia Liut S-N y Gil Ramirez Davalos. The Phone number for this store is: 072808823. This location has a number of shoes for men that are in the larger sizes. I do not know if they will make custom-made sizes, or not.
MEN'S RUNNING SHOES
I just located a new store for purchasing running shoes for men and women. The owner is Julio Pesantez P. The store is located at Tarqui 8-45 entre Sucre y Bolivar in Cuenca central. Telephone numbers are: 07 284 3480 / 07 284 1216.
First, I will give you the name and address of the store where you can have shoes custom-made for your foot. The manager's name is Henry. The store name is Artesanias en Cuero y Gamuza located at Gran Columbia 8-62 entre Luis Cordero y Benigno Malo. The phone numbers are: 072840362, 072808056, and Cellular: 098091754. Henry says that all his shoes that are custom-made are made in Ecuador; therefore, there is no extra cost added on for import tax.
The second store I found is named "Buestan." There is one also located in the SuperMaxi shopping area near the Melinium Shopping Center; however the location that I am speaking of is at "Buestan" located in the Kywi Shopping Center near the Cuenca Airport. The owner is Ruben Yanez. All of his shoes are made in Ecuador and he has a large selection to pick from. This store address is: Elia Liut S-N y Gil Ramirez Davalos. The Phone number for this store is: 072808823. This location has a number of shoes for men that are in the larger sizes. I do not know if they will make custom-made sizes, or not.
MEN'S RUNNING SHOES
I just located a new store for purchasing running shoes for men and women. The owner is Julio Pesantez P. The store is located at Tarqui 8-45 entre Sucre y Bolivar in Cuenca central. Telephone numbers are: 07 284 3480 / 07 284 1216.
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