Dry My Onion

July 7, 2012

Pic I took of one of my
favorite murals in Cuenca.

About 3-weeks/month ago, I started to notice rapidly diminishing vision problems in my left eye – there was no particular specific trauma to that eyeball (unless you count looking directly at the sun – for about five-seconds – during Venus’ transverse across the bright sun one Cuenca late-afternoon.   But I had already noticed the vision problems shortly before then.  

And I will admit I was scared, because my left eye vision had been noticeably deteriorating daily. We talked to several friends of ours, and a (free and well-spoken of) clinic in Ballenita was referred to us by several folks.

However, because we were in already in Cuenca and time clearly was of essence, we opted with an ophthalmologist there that was recommended to us by three reliable different sources (Dr. Carpio, who speaks ingles better than we speak español, which is especially appreciated when speaking “medical talk”).

Another picture of a
mural in Cuenca

Dr. Carpio was able to schedule a same day consultation when we called ($40). He diagnosed a rapidly growing tear on the top of my eye (i.e. – a retina beginning to detach). He scheduled an early appointment the very next day for laser surgery first to try and seal the wound (and a follow-up check-up the day after that). That procedure cost $250…..I’m curious to know what the same technique would cost in the United States, and I’m damn sure I would have waited weeks before insurance companies there would approve (after I went blind in the eye). I may still need surgery; I have another follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks, but for now, the laser surgery seems to have halted the progression.

We also had extra dental work appointments scheduled that week, and needed to stay in Cuenca longer than planned, but in the meantime, we had a great time.

We met Karen and Randy Kimbler (“Kimbler’s Exit to Ecuador") and Nancy and Chuck Watson (“Nancy and Chuck - Retirement in Ecuador”) for dinner one night at one of our new favorite restaurants – the Italian “Mangiare Bene”, located at the “Hostel Posada Del Angel” on Bolivar y Estévez de Toral. It was fun getting together with these interesting and entertaining friends again – we had a great time together (!), always fun to be with them, and Todd and I are particularly grateful to Karen for bringing back my new February-delivered computer (and straight-from-the-box broken, which took a return trip back to the States a few months ago) after her a recent trip to the U.S.A.

At Hotel Inca Real, there is a great bar and restaurant called “Akelarre” which is owned and run by a wonderful Spaniard call Inigo, who we’ve gotten to know pretty well after all our stays there. Inigo was understandingly excited about the final soccer game between Spain and Italy, and totally decked out the bar with los colores de espana for the Sunday game. 

We helped him blow up some balloons beforehand, and the game day was a lot of fun…..Needless to say, Inigo was beyond excited when Spain won the match.

Inigo

  

There are a number of words that sound very similar to me in Spanish, and I have a tendency to get them mixed up at times. In particular:

•  “cabello”  = “hair”
• “caballo”  = “horse”
• “cebolla”  = “onion”

 As I was in a rush one morning between appointments, I asked the maid to give me about ten more minutes to get ready because I was drying and doing my hair….except I realized after she left that I had just asked her to wait because I was “drying my onion”…..She was nice about it, but pretty sure she thought I was an utter idiot.

Though our language skills have improved, my Spanish still sucks and leaves a lot to be desired.