Thursday December 11

I woke up at 6.15am. By 7am we were ready to meet Amparo, who was already in the kitchen. Jayne and I just had coffee and juice, but she also had a bowl of fresh fruit.

At 8am Mathieu starts lessons with the children and goes to 10am. He teaches them what they would learn in school. We also heard him given violin lessons to his son – who is 6 years old. It seems like Mathieu is learning from his son’s lessons, as we heard him say, “slower and longer (pulling the bow down).” Later he showed us a picture of Juan-Carlos in the city newspaper. It was a full picture of him with his violin. Matt has the whole page in a frame.

I’m sure he’s proud of that!

During a break in the lessons, Mathieu came down to chat a bit more. We discussed more about what happened last night and how the apartment manager could make it better.

About 8.30am we left to go home by taxi. I asked the driver how much it would cost and he said $8. Why there’s a big difference I don’t know. Most of the time I pay $11-$12. If I do pay $10 I would also have to pay the road toll. This driver didn’t ask for the toll – so, I’m not complaining.

At 10am Gonzales came over.

Jayne and I went to the local internet café, as she had to write an email to her lawyer.

I got an email from Matt saying that the manager called him to say that my water is on but he still has to see if individual meters can be installed.

This is good news.

At home Jayne had to write a letter and make a check out for the final bill she has to pay to the lawyer. Then she asked me to post it.

Later I went to the mall to post the letter. They have no post office there but there is one store (Hallmark Cards) where you can buy stamps and put it in the mail box. They said they didn’t have any stamps and said to come back tomorrow.

I have to go to Quito to get money from my bank, so I’ll go in the morning then go to the mall and hopefully they’ll have stamps.