Wednesday 24 September 2014

Cedula - Ecuador's Identity Card


I obtained my Cedula (Ecuador's Identity Card) on September 1st, 2014.


From what I have heard, it is not necessary to ever obtain a Cedula; however, there are some advantages:
  1. You can enter the Galapagos for $6 (as if you were a Nacional); instead of the $100 that tourists pay.
  2. You can get refunds on all the taxes you pay after you turn 65.
  3. You can get 50% discounts on airfare in Ecuador (and possibly outside Ecuador).
  4. You can apply for Social Medical Insurance at a cost of $70 per month.
There may be other advantages I am not aware of.

To obtain my Cedula, I had to first obtain my permanent Visa (which I have talked about in an earlier post). After the permanent Visa is obtained you need to apply for the Certificado de Empadronamiento. You obtain this document at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores (the same place you apply for your permanent Visa). Incidentally, they speak very good English so there is no necessity to hire a facilitator or a lawyer.

You need the following paperwork to obtain the Certificado de Empadronamiento:
  1. A notarized color copy of your Birth Certificate (long form).
  2. The application for the Cedula (you can fill this in English or Spanish)
  3. A color copy of your passport
  4. A color copy of the permanent Visa stamp in your passport
  5. Marriage certificate (if you have been or are married)
** The Cedula application form can be obtained from the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores website which was http://cancilleria.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/formulario-cedula-julio2013.pdf at the time of my application.

I was told by a person at the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores that I would need the following documents to present to the Oficina del Registro Civil in Parque Louis Cardero (Cuenca):
  1. A notarized copy of your Cedula application
  2. The Certificado de Empadronamiento
It turned out that the Oficina del Registro Civil only wanted the Certificado de Empadronamiento and to look at my passport (and nothing more). So, I spent $11 for the notary that I did not have to spend.

I went to the Oficina del Registro Civil, handed in my Certificado de Empadronamiento and waited for my number to be called (roughly 3 hours). I took some stats and it takes them .7 minutes to process one applicant. This involves taking your photo and taking your fingerprints (both hands) and to enter some information into their system.

In my case it took a bit longer because when the person went to enter my information they could not enter North Battleford, Saskatchewan because that data was not available for them to select. So, they had to send an email to Quito (where this data could be input) and I had to wait an additional half-hour for this to occur.

Then I waited another half-hour for them to call my name to receive my Cedula. They get you to look it over to make sure the information is correct. Then you give it back to them and they put the official stamp on it and you are done.

Some people say you need to prove that you are single by obtaining a notarized statement that you are single. If this used to be required it is no longer necessary.

Also I would suggest that in your Cedula application form you state that all you have is a basic education. Otherwise, you may have to produce an authenticated document of your education. Why bother complicating the process? There is no advantage that I am aware of in stating anything but a basic education.

Saturday 20 September 2014

First Experience With A Dentist


Before I came to Ecuador I had noticed some minor discomfort in my teeth. So, I thought I would take advantage of the cheaper costs, that I had read about, once I arrived.

As I was busy with a lot of other activities I just never managed to find the time until the pain started to get a lot worse.

Nieve recommended a dentist that her family had been using and whom they all thought highly of and that he spoke english.

The first visit involved an x-ray which cost $15. On the second visit, the dentist told me he could not see anything wrong in the x-ray.  So at his suggestion he added a coating to three of my teeth as I was experiencing hot and cold sensitivity. This cost was $45. This seemed to help. But there was still this overall dull pain. 

So in the next week and I went back to see him again. He took another x-ray and still could not see anything. I told him there was pain in the gum below the tooth. So he hummed and hawed as if he did not know what to do next. Then suggested it might require a root canal or tooth removal. Since he could not determine what to do he did not charge me anything for this visit. As I had heard of another dentist via the gringo Internet I decided to get a second opinion. I was able to get an appointment the same day.

Her name is Dr. Grace Ordoñez. As soon as I had described the symptoms, Grace immediately prescribed a pain killer (800mg tablets of Ibuprofin), a course of antibiotics (Ciproflaxin) and made an appointment for the next day with a dentist who specializes in root canals. She said these things can get very painful. Grace charged me $10 for the consultation.

The next day at 9:30am, I had my first session with Dr. Jorge Espinosa which would be the first of three sessions. I wanted him to give me gas as I hate needles but apparently they do not use gas in Ecuador.

The first session went with very little problem. However, the second session, two days later, involved a fair amount of pain despite the Novicaine. He then prescribed a heavy duty pain killer (called Ketoralac Trometamina) which I read about on the Internet. Apparently this drug has some severe side-effects and has been banned in a number of countries. Despite this I gave it a try but fortunately observed no negative symptoms.

Now it is two days after the second session and I no longer have to take any pain killers and no longer feel any pain.

I do not know what he has in mind for the last session. Perhaps all he needs to do is install a more permanent filling. My next appointment is next Wednesday (Sept 24th). I will add an update when that session is complete.

The total cost of the three sessions on the one molar will be $330. As I have never had a root canal before I do not know what the cost would have been in Canada.

I was visiting a couple of Canadians who are in the process of moving here and one of them had been to visit the same dentist. He has two teeth that need to be cut down and then capped. Apparently this is going to cost him $800 per tooth.

If I had been able to acquire the Social Security Hospital insurance soon enough this would not have cost me anything more than my monthly medical insurance cost of $70 per month. Unfortunately, it takes three months after you acquire your Cedula (National Identification card) before you can take advantage of the system or so I have been told.

UPDATE: The root canal is finished and the pain is all gone. For some reason the Orthodontist that did the root canal does not do fillings so I had to go back to the other dentist (Ruth Ordoñez). Upon visiting her she stated that since the molar has 3 fractures and not a lot of structure (which I can confirm from feeling it) that I need to return to the Orthodontist and have him put in a "base" which then Grace can install a post and crown. The estimate was $320.

The "base" has now been put in and feels just like a filling. However, two days after getting the "base" installed, part of it fell out.

My next visit to Grace is scheduled for this Monday (Oct 6th) and I am sure she is going to say that it is not good enough for the crown and I will have to return to the Orthodontist to get the problem corrected. I will post the next part of this commentary as "Update 2".

UPDATE 2:  Even though some of the "base" had fallen out Grace said that it would be OK for the addition of the "post". However, upon starting to work on the tooth, Grace mentioned that it smelled bad. I also have noticed a small amount of pain when applying pressure to the tooth. So, Grace made another appointment for me to go back to Jorge Espinoza.

Jorge examined the tooth and determined that the tissue was just inflamed. He prescribed a 5-day course of an anti-inflammatory called "Arcoxia" (120mg) to be taken once every 24 hours. He gave me 2 free tablets and did not charge me anything for the visit. The other 3 tablets cost $11.43 including tax.

I am to complete the course of anti-inflammatory and then make another appointment with Grace to have the "post" and crown installed.

In addition to the work Grace was doing she examined my other teeth and reported that there were two molars on the left upper side of my mouth where the fillings needed to be replaced. I hadn't had any dental work done in about 25 years so I guess it was due. She replaced the fillings for $125. There were 5 fillings in 2 teeth. It took roughly 3/4 of an hour.

Stay tuned for UPDATE 3!

UPDATE 3:   I re-visited Grace and she mentioned that the smell is still present. I am not surprised as an anti-inflammatory drug is hardly going to get rid of a problem like this. She thinks that the tooth has a fracture which is allowing blood to come up into the tooth where bacteria can get at it thus causing the smell. She showed me some black material she extracted from my tooth which could have been blood. Given that this is the case she says the tooth needs to be removed. So, unfortunately, all the money I have spent on this tooth has been wasted.

Since the bad taste and smell have only been present for the last 4 or 5 days, I suspect that during the root canal Jorge may have created the fracture. But, there is no way to prove this.

Grace also said that when the tooth is removed that a bridge should be installed to prevent the bottom tooth from growing up into the hole where the old tooth had been. The bridge would cost roughly $800. Hmmm!!!

Nieve's daughter says that the cost of installing a bridge is way overpriced. She is going to ask her dentist what the cost would be.

UPDATE 4:   I had the tooth removed today - Oct 28th ($42.80) and I am now taking antibiotics (Amoxicilinia 500mg - $3.24 for 21 caps) and a pain killer (Motrin 600mg - $7.49 for 14 tablets).

The tooth definitely had a fracture. You could see it once it had been removed. You could also see black spots along the fracture area.

Grace also said that because the fracture was vertical in orientation that is why it did not show up in the X-rays.




Thursday 11 September 2014

Galapagos Adventure



We just returned from a great adventure in the Galapagos. Just for your reference the Galapagos is a small group of islands 1.426km from the coast of Ecuador and that is part of Ecuador.

There are two airports in the Galapagos. One is on the island of San Cristobal and the other is on the island of Baltra.

We started our adventure at the airport in Baltra.

Baltra is a small island that is rough and dry with low-lying brush and cactus's. There isn't anything else on the island other than for the airport and a small port on the south of the island where the water taxis wait to take you across to the main island of Santa Cruz.




Leaving Baltra
After a short crossing between Baltra and Santa Cruz we boarded a bus and then experienced an extremely rough ride over a road that was being worked on. We found our way to our accommodations and had a leisurely day exploring the town of Puerto Ayora. This is the largest town on the island and is where most of the tourists stay.

Early in the day we came across these marine iguanas having a siesta.



That night we went walking and came across a restaurant/bar that had some very lively Ecuadorian music and dancers in traditional dress.




The music had a very inspirational effect on Nieve. She loves her countries music and so do I.

Our accommodations were through a friend of Nieve's who runs a small boarding house along with her profession as a lawyer.

The cost was $50 per day. The room was very nice, not hotel quality, but very nice and clean. However, there were a couple of problems.

On our first night we discovered ants crawling on the floor in our apartment and some even managed to get into our bed. I killed around 15 to 20 and there were still more. The next day we pointed this out to Nieve's lawyer friend and she had the problem resolved that day. Another issue was the shower. There was no way to set the shower so that it was a constant temperature so you had to keep adjusting it during the shower session.

Another annoyance was that you had to use the air conditioner as there wasn't much air movement to keep the humidity at bay. The air conditioner created a cold draft which did not make for a great sleep.

We did check on the prices of some other accommodations and found that the hotels facing the ocean could cost as much as $328/day. But there are accommodations that are less. We found one hotel that looked good for $150/day. Everything is overpriced in Galapagos, including meals, cruises (even day cruises), taxis, and clothing. There is no doubt this is a tourist town.

There are three large islands and a fair number of small islands. We visited all three of the largest islands and a few of the small ones.

On the second day we went on a scuba dive off two different islands (Bartolome & Santiago) just north of Santa Cruz. Once again we had to traverse the extremely rough road going from Puerto Ayora to the north of Santa Cruz so that we could take the dive boat to our dive location. This time the ride was not so rough as the truck we road in had much better shock absorbers. 

The boat ride took approximately one hour and some of the other divers were not doing so well from the bouncing of the boat through the rough waves. Nieve wasn't sure whether she would get sea-sick or not so she took an anti-sickness pill which one of the other divers were kind enough to give her.


Rocky Bartolome Island Where We Had Our First Dive
Nieve had never dove before and as it happened did not get a chance to dive because she had difficulty breathing through the restrictive regulator that is required when diving. It regulates the air between the scuba tank (where it is stored) and your mouth. Some regulators draw air easier than others. These particular regulators had an adjustment on them, but I am not sure they remembered to help her with that as I was off diving with another group.


Nieve

They held her secure by the boat while trying to get her comfortable but it was just too much for her so she spent the rest of the day snorkeling which said she enjoyed very much. She is still adamant about learning how to dive and in a more controlled environment like a swimming pool I think she will do much better.

My dive was very good. We saw many white-tipped sharks and one hammer-head. The white-tipped sharks were only about 4 meters away from us. They were very casual just cruising around the reefs looking for the next meal I guess. There is an abundance of food for them on the reefs so there is no danger of an attack on a human unless you managed to cut yourself and were loosing blood into the water.

The cost of the scuba diving trip was $330 for the two of us. They did not offer to refund any money because Nieve was unable to dive.

The next day (Aug 9th), we hired a taxi for the day and had him take us to various spots on Santa Cruz at a cost of $150. 

The tortoise population was considerably threatened for many years and as a result there are various facilities that have been built to increase their numbers by raising them in protected environments. The following photo is from one of these facilities on Santa Cruz.
 

The Spanish word for tortoise is tortuga. This tortuga is approximately 150 years old.

Next we visited a very beautiful beach where we went swimming. The water was a bit cool to start with but once accustomed to it it was fine. We found that as we moved around in the water we could feel warmer and cooler spots. This effect could be the waters of the Humbolt current (coming from the Antarctic) and the warmer currents coming from the north intermingling.

On the way to the swimming beach we encountered this marine iguana and many others.



Once back into Puerto Ayorta we looked into the possibility of a 3 or 4 day cruise. There were many different prices, different locations that were visited, different levels of luxury on the boats, and different types of boats.

Because I was concerned about Nieve's ability to cope with the a rocking boat, we were mostly looking at a catamaran-style boat. Catamarans have two hulls and this adds to the stability (i.e., they do not roll around as much). However, Catamarans are rated in the 3rd class (called Luxury) and 4th class (called First Class) and as a result are more expensive. The only price I can remember was $1200/person for the 2nd class (called Mid-range) for a 3 day cruise. Prices like this can only be obtained if you ar already in the Galapagos. If you book before arriving you will be looking at a much higher figure.


Example of one of the many catamarans available
We could not find a cruise that was going to the islands that we wanted to go to so opted not to do this on this Galapagos visit. Instead we arranged for a day trip to Isabela (the largest island). This cost was $130 for both of us and included lunch. We left at about 9am and returned at about 4pm. It takes one hour to reach Isabela from Santa Cruz.

After reaching Isabela we were taken ashore and had a chance to do some snorkeling before boarding a tour truck which shuttled us to various sites on the south part of the island.

Our snorkel equipment, unfortunately, was less than adequate (equipment supplied by the day cruise agency). One point of delight was Nieve's experience swimming in the ocean with a couple of sea lions. That experience wasn't new for me.

The tour truck was OK except that in wearing my hat I did not see the low wooden cover over where we were to sit and waked my head a considerable blow resulting in a bit of a gash. I guess these trucks are not made for tall people.

We were transported to various locations where we saw pink flamingos and another sanctuary for land tortoises (in various stages of growth).


After seeing much of Santa Cruz, Isabela proved not much different and was not that interesting to me. Most of the wildlife that exists on this island looks very much the same as other islands, but in fact is quite different genetically and I would imagine if you observed them closely you would see the differences.

The next day (Tuesday) we took a leisurely day part of which we used going to a beach close to Puerto Ayorta. The beach was long and beautiful and the day was sunny and enjoyable.


Wednesday, we looked into the possibility of another day trip to an island called Floreana (an island southeast of Santa Cruz). Unfortunately, none of the tour boats were going to Floreana until Aug 14th (today being Aug 12th). We had already spent a fair amount of time on Santa Cruz and seen most everything it offers so rather than try and find something to do for another day while we waited for the boat cruise we decided to go to San Cristobal: An island we had not seen yet and the island we had to get to catch our flight back to the mainland.

So, on Aug 13th (Wednesday) we made a very rough, 2.5 hour boat trip to San Cristobal ($60 for both of us).

ASIDE:  One thing I should say about these boat trips is that the best place to sit is near the back end of the boat. You will experience far less roughness than if you are near the bow of the boat. Don't sit at the very back of the boat either as you may get wet if the boat has no splash curtain (which some boats do not have).

After arriving on San Cristobal we strolled around the town and found an art store with some very beautiful artwork.



We soon discovered that San Cristobal was a very boring island to spend any time on as there was very little to do and there are very few good restaurants. In retrospect we should have stayed on Santa Cruz. I had done some research before coming to the Galapagos, but had not seen any mention of San Cristobal as being a dull island to visit. Anyway we were here and had to make the best of it.

We found another place to stay for $50 per night. As with our apartment on Santa Cruz, this place was not on the malecon. It was a few streets back from the ocean. They originally wanted $60 per night, but when they noticed I was interested in going to check the hotel across the street they lowered the rate to $50 per night.

The place was small but clean and had a much better shower than we had on Santa Cruz.

The next day (Aug 14th) we rented a couple bikes for half a day ($20 for both of us) and rode around the town (Puerto Baquerizo Moreno) and made our way to another beach (La Loberia).




Near the beach there was a place where we got very close to one blue-footed boobie and took a few photos but the best one turned out a bit blurry. Nonetheless here it is and if you look real close you can see it's blue feet.



We also visited a facility called the "Interpretation Center" that contained lots of information about the early inhabitants of the islands, as well as, information on the wildlife.

On the 15th we managed to find a boat cruise to go on: The only one they seem to have on the island. There seems to be some kind of licensing issue where all the cruises must leave from Santa Cruz. In any case, this boat trip turned out to be the highlight of our stay on San Cristobal.

The boat took us to another part of the San Cristobal where we did some snorkeling but did not really see anything other than many fish.

Then we were taken to a place called Kicker Rock which is well known for the presence of sharks, sting rays, and sea turtles. This snorkeling experience proved to be very worthwhile.

Nieve was the only one to see a hammerhead shark ('tiburón martillo' in spanish - 'tiburón' means 'shark'). It was approximately 6 meters away from her and slowly swam away.


The channel behind us is where Nieve saw the hammerhead shark
We all saw many white-tipped sharks, a sting-ray and a few sea turtles. 

Some people had these small underwater cameras which I wish I had as well.

Since we had one more day before our departure we hired a taxi to show us around the rest of the island ($130). We went to another beach but did not do any swimming. We were going to see the largest fresh water lake in the Galapagos but it was very overcast in the center of the island so we decided not to bother.

August 17th was the day of our departure.


Two happy adventurers!!

And salud to you all!!