Loja Beckons…October 2013

Having known 32 places as "home" during my 61 years of life (in Kansas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Zambia, New Mexico, Virginia, and Ecuador), I was now looking for home number 33.  After six September days in Loja we were drawn to the place and decided it was a good time to make a move, before our roots went any deeper in Cuenca.  The city of Loja, one of Ecuador's oldest,

Loja's central plaza and cathedral

founded in 1548, had many of Cuenca's charms.  But it also had fewer people, very few extranjeros (foreigners), warmer temperatures, and an inviting spiritual atmosphere.  The dozen apartments we'd looked at, however, were depressing enough to reduce me to hopeless tears one rainy afternoon.  I stopped by a chapel to meditate, and upon exiting met a sweet old woman named Angelica.  She held my hands and said she would pray for my needs.

Chapel where I met Angelica

The next morning the friendly owner of a small coffee shop said, "My American friend is moving out of his three-bedroom apartment in a few weeks.  It's very nice and near the city center, convenient to everything."  By God's grace and with the help of our Ecuadorean friend Marco, who found movers, that apartment became our home the last week in October.  We were blessed to have not just central hot water, but a sunny terrace facing nearby mountains…with a negotiated rent (we were learning!) half the price of our first apartment in Cuenca.

Loja's Gates to the City (replica of those in Loja, Spain)

Our apartment building (we're on second floor)

Goodbye to Marco and the movers

Our final weeks in Cuenca were rich in times with new friends.
Women at the Episcopal fellowship took

Pastora (far right) with Episcopal women

interest in the spiritual order Daughters of the King, and friend Pastora offered to lead them through a study period.  We got to know American/Australian abstract artist Charles Reddington and carried his first painting done in Ecuador with us to Loja.  And in "It's a small world!" mode, we met--for the first time--several people from Pueblo, Colorado, where we'd lived for two decades:  author Donna Mack (Whispered Secrets, Whispered Prayers), her husband Robert, and their close friend, artist Sally Lincoln (sallylincoln.com), who had recently bought a home and set up a studio in Cuenca.

Charles and Rommie Gerber Reddington with "New Beginning"

Donna and Robert Mack with her new book

Sally Lincoln in her Cuenca studio

 Avenida 24 de Mayo borders Loja's historic city center

Journal entry:  October 31, 2013

Loja Beginning

Our living room window overlooks
Avenida 24 de Mayo where 7 am
bus-riders and dog-walkers greet the
day.  Purple jacarandas frame school
where youngsters, hand-in-hand
with siblings or parents, enter
carrying backpacks and hope.

Noises, at first overwhelming to
late country-dwelling ears, now
signify Life in this city we embrace.
Yesterday, strolling in El Centro,
came "bienvenidos" and a burst of
joy.  More joy at home, sheltered,
dancing together in new adventure.