The Paute Canton Is Now (Mellow) Yellow

As of yesterday, our Canton (Paute Canton) turned from red to yellow.  Now our curfew is 9 pm to 5am.  Most of Ecuador's curfew is from 2 pm to 5 am.  People who live where it's red can drive one day a week depending on the last number on their license plates.  Rodrigo Saca and I had an uneventful drive to and from Cuenca today.  Rodrigo, our friend, and taxi driver drove me to Supermaxi Don Bosco in Cuenca.  We were able to enter Supermaxi almost immediately.  As usual, we were sprayed with industrial-strength rubbing alcohol, had to wear masks and gloves, and had to use hand sanitizer upon entering the store.  The store was well-stocked and a little on the crowded side.  The direction arrows were still on the floor.  Some people went the wrong way in the store but no one cared.  Social distancing was practiced but no one was scared when a person got too close to them by accident.   I was able to purchase groceries and have Rodrigo pay for the groceries I bought with my money (cash), Cedula (National ID Card), and Supermaxi discount card.  When I returned home I put away our groceries.

Randy made breakfast for Kobe and cooked steaks with all of the trimmings for us.  All three of us enjoyed our meals.  Everyone took a nap afterward.  We are doing a great job of riding out this crisis.  I received a message in my WhatsApp saying that an upscale department store in Cuenca (Sukasa) will be open beginning Wednesday, May 20th, from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm.  I assume Sukasa will be closed on Sundays.   I will get to Sukasa as soon as I can.  Our friends and employees (who help maintain our house and property), Jaime Tamay (Maestro), and Alexander Parra (Alex), are able to work for us again five to six days a week.  Even though their Canton (Guachapala) is red, they have special permission to work for us again.  This is because they work for us (Gringos).  I have been doing a lot of studying, too.

Studying to be a Data Scientist is going well on the Codeacademy website.  I am learning how to create tables.  A table is a collection of data organized into rows and columns.  Relations is another word for table.  The SQL (Sequel) computer program creates tables.  SQL stands for Structured Query Language.  This computer program language is designed to manage data stored in relational (table) databases.  It stores an entire database (a set of data {information}) stored in a single file).  I began studying on Friday, May 1st.  What I like about data science is it involves demographics (particular section of a population) and statistics (the science of collecting and analyzing {to study or examine something carefully} numerical data in large quantities.  Also, it is possible to work remotely.  Living in a rural area is wonderful.  Lots of fresh air.  We are fortunate.

Our 18-year-old son, Kobe.  He hasn't had a haircut since February 2020.  Kobe now wants to keep his hair like in this picture.  No more asking to get all of his curls cut off.

Here I am photobombing Randy and two out of four of our dogs.  The dogs are Lucy (left; girl) and Cookie (left, girl).  We are on the old road that leads to our house.

Our driveway is getting a makeover.  Our employees and friends are Jaime Tamay (Maestro) (underneath the driveway entrance) and Alexander Parra (Alex) (on the side of the driveway painting).

The beautiful Paute River.  It has been raining often and the river is flowing nicely.  A riverbank is in the background in front of the cascade.

                                      
Here is Kobe's breakfast.  Made by Randy.  He has scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, potatoes (left), and bacon (right).

This is the steak with all the trimmings lunch Randy made for me.  With the steak are potatoes (left), salad with avocado (right), broccoli (steamed) next to the salad with avocado (above), and peach yogurt in a cup (top).