May 12-14

Tuesday May 12

I went to Quito today to finish my banking business. I got the money out with no problem.
Then I went to San Luis to the mall. I found out the Internet cafe didn’t have connection. You see, there always a problem in Ecuador. Then I did some food shopping and went home.

Wednesday May 13

I went to the Internet, this time in San Rafael. Then I went to the mall to have my suite (the one I got married in) dry cleaned. I want to take this with me. The jacket had mildew in it because of the poor building of the house. All the clothes in the closest have mildew on it. Previously Jayne had to wash all the clothes in there.

At the dry cleaners I was told that it would be ready tomorrow at 7pm.

I called Maria to see if my P.A. is ready. She said that it was. I’ll be seeing her tomorrow at 10am.

Then we did some work around the house to prepare for our trip of leaving.

Thursday May 14

I went to Quito again to pick up the P.A. from Maria. I told her I have a few things I’d like to give her if she needs them. She said she’d try to stop by Sunday morning. Later her mother walked in. I guess she had some business to do, too. I wonder if her whole family will be at our house on Sunday.

From there I went to the Explorer’s Club to see if there was any mail. There was one from my bank (junk mail). I also bought a book there (something to read on the plane back). Then I went to the Magic Bean for breakfast.

I saw a book that I had just bought at the bookstore the other day, which cost me $12. The title is Culture Shock! Ecuador. So, I thought that I will exchange this book, which cost $4, for this one, take it back to the bookstore. The bookstore is right around the corner, and I should get another book. By doing this it would cost me less.

Going to the bookstore i talked to the woman that was there and told her I just bought this book from Mark (the owner) and asked what she would give me. I told her that it cost me $12. Well, she said that she could only give me $2.50 in trade.

What a rip-off! Here is a book that I paid $12 for and I will get only $2.50 on another book, which by the way, is at retail price. So, I figured that on this purchase and trade the guy would make 1,000% mark-up!

I see how these foreigners who have bookstores (like the guy at the Confederate Book Shop) only to sell a couple of books a day to can pay all their bills.

I wonder if the owner knows this. Maybe he does that this is his huge mark-up.