Saturday April 13, 2013

Saturday April 13, 2013  update #421

I honestly didn't think I would get a Blog done today but here we are.

Today’s the big day for the Hearts Of Gold Foundation “Pay It Forward” Silent Auction and Sale.   I was at California Kitchen by 8:45 to be ready for the arrival of the 13 tables from the rental company.  Once they arrived we had to set them up and put on the tablecloths.    Outside the room we had to set up a Cash Desk and a sale desk for our partner organization to flog some great purses.

At 10:30 the Auction and Sale items arrived and everybody got to work.  The items had to be set up in such an order that we could squeeze in all 108 Auction items around the outside (I was notified of another Gift Certificate at 11pm, nothing like last minute aggravations, but it is for a good cause so we bite our lip a lot).   God must have been watching over us because it worked out with about 2 inches to spare, I kid you not!    What an enormous load off my shoulders!  

We were done the set-up by 11:30, much sooner than I expected and the place looks fabulous!   There is even more walking room than I had envisioned, which is good, because we expect it to be wall-to-wall people tonight.  We have lots of volunteers assigned specific duties so hopefully we can all be unobtrusive and helpful at the same time.   I have some “before and after” photos so you can see the amazing transformation.

I headed home for lunch and a much-needed few minutes of shuteye on the terrace.

Then we got cleaned up again and took a bus back to El Centro.  Bella wanted to check if grand-daughter Kiki’s letter had arrived but the Post Office was closed.

We continued on to California Kitchen and went over many duties with the different volunteers and the MC’s.  People were there at 4pm waiting to get in to be the first to get a crack at our Buy-It-Now  option on the Auction items at 80% of the retail value.   By 5pm the place was packed and when we opened the doors it was like a feeding frenzy.   Organized chaos is the best way to describe the rest of the evening.   Very few people left but the bidding slowed to a crawl so we speeded everything up by ½ hour.   All in all, it was a good decision to let the people go.   I didn’t see who won the $310 in the 50-50 draw, or the gold or silver coins.   Congratulations to all the winners.   I would say that I knew 80% of the crowd, having met most of them at Joe’s Secret Garden.   There were many disappointing absences but I am sure they had good reasons.

The main MC managed to show up from his sick bed and did a masterful job.  None of the Ecuadorian musicians showed up although Rich the magician did show up and entertained the kids.   Bella bought one of the purses on sale.

It appears that we had a couple of items disappear on us without payment but they were very minor in the big scheme of things.   All in all it was very successful and I am hoping Hearts Of Gold realized their goal of about $3,000 tonight.   California Kitchen was very happy, saying we could bring in this business for them every weekend!

All mine and Jay’s items sold, although I have to reimburse some good friends who bought my photo package just so I wouldn’t feel bad.   I am grateful to them for that.

People were most gracious despite the many misunderstandings of procedures and paid us all the kindest of compliments.  It was a great event that they all seemed to have enjoyed, a room full of folks with big hearts.  THANK YOU to everyone who participated.

Sorry but I was so busy dodging bullets all night that I hardly took any pictures.  

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Doce De Abril, 2013

Friday April 12, 2013  update #420

Doce De Abril is a big holiday, Cuenca was founded by the Spanish 456 years ago today.  There are huge parties and festivals all over town but I apologize, I am not going to make it to nay of them.

I was awake at 4:30 rolling over many more ideas in my poor head and I finally just got up at 5:30 and started to act on them.  We had two more ‘missed the deadline by a mile’ Gift Certificates brought in that creates havoc with all the paperwork we were supposed to have been finished with.   It took me a while to cool down and process them because the ultimate beneficiary will be the underprivileged of Ecuador.  I think I crawled back into bed around 8:30 and just laid there, after grabbing a pain killer, until 10:30.

Bella was off to do her charity knitting and crocheting.   That giraffe she made is so darn popular that one of the Ecuadorian ladies simply insisted that the giraffe was what she was going to make today, and she was not taking No for an answer.   It didn’t matter that she didn’t have the right wool, or pattern, or stuffing….  Of course this took away from Bella’s teaching a class which did not please her too much.   Bella will have to finish a proper pattern and translate it into Spanish soon.

My next order of business was to map out everyone’s duties and responsibilities for tomorrow, to the minute.  We have a ‘Time Coordinator” assigned to keep everyone on time or we could have a shambles.   This included a breakdown for the MC’s so they know when they have to initiate things.

I finished off all the other paperwork too and decided to do a quick total of the retail value of just the Auction items.   I was more than a little surprised when that total alone came to $8,886!!  Once we add in the direct sales items we would be around the $10,000 mark!   Kudos to our volunteers who have worked so hard.

When Bella returned she wanted to go donate blood for a local lady.   She had received a note from some neighbor and then there was a posting on GringoTree or GringoPost about it too.  Since the lady is in the hospital 2.5 blocks away at the Hospital IESS I decided to go along too.  However, this being the Doce De Abril holiday, the Blood Bank was closed until Monday.

We both came home and hit the sack for another hour or so.

I never thought I would feel so much relief as when I closed the binders on all the paperwork for the Auction.  I feel in my heart that I have done everything humanly possible to manage this Auction so I hope we get a huge crowd with fat wallets tomorrow and become the talk of the town. 

There won’t be any Blog tomorrow because I will be out all day dealing with the Auction.   I will have to put it up on Sunday.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Thursday April 11, 2013

Thursday April 11, 2013 update #419

I awoke at 5:30 and tried to sleep some more but gave up and got to work at 6:30.   I did what I hoped would be the final paperwork before the auction.   The laugh was on me.

Bella was up half the night in the bathroom so she stayed home and tried to play online bridge but apparently the Internet was down most of the afternoon.

I headed downtown before lunch to get magnetic bracelet.   She did the same loose work on it so I doubt it will stay together much longer than last time.  She only asked for $1 again but I gave her $2 as it must be a fair amount of work.

As I headed to Hearts Of Gold for yet another meeting I caught a couple of interesting shots along the way.   I also stopped at a video store to pick up some great movies to throw in our Door Prize basket.  

I also took a chance and stopped at Tiesto’s, the expensive meal place in Cuenca to straighten out a glitch on their 2 Gift Certificates.   I was surprised to catch them open but I was so very thankful that I wouldn’t have to return later in the evening.   The owner/chef is a very nice person but he placed some very stringent time restrictions on his Certificates that are upsetting.   We will have to make sure that the winning bidder is well aware that they have to be used during specific days in May.

Before the others came we received more donations, including a small Kindle for a Door Prize!!   Door Prize winners will be able to choose their prize from what is remaining in the basket.

We received some paintings made by the kids at El Arenal to raise some funds.   We had supplied the canvasses and the paints for them.   The work they have done is mighty impressive.  I was asked to take photos of them so they could post them prior to the Auction to raise more interest.  The paintings will probably sell between $35 and $45.

Our final Auction tally is 105 items, totaling somewhere around $6,000 retail value.   I had done a suggested blurb about our little wrinkle of Buy-It-Now prices at 80% of retail on all our Auction items and they have posted that on GringoPost and GringoTree.   If we got 80% on everything we would be ecstatic.   We are getting great advertising so we expect a packed house.

On top of that we have a lot of direct sale items to add to our pot.   If someone can’t find anything they like at this Auction they won’t be in this country long.

Our MC’s, Michel Blanchard (Canadian) and Ashley Rogers do a weekly radio show and are experienced with stages and microphones so we are thrilled they agreed to help us.  They came by at 2pm to get a feel of what we were proposing and to get an idea of their duties.   I had a sample list ready for them and helped put them at ease with the knowledge that we will have a “Time Coordinator” to keep track of  when things are to happen, announcements, etc.  They were given a quick outline of our partner organizations and some of the stories that tug at the heartstrings.  Emilie and Melinda will be supplying them with lots of material to occupy their stage time.   They will get to talk in amongst the proposed musicians and a magic show.   Where we are going to fit everybody I don’t know.

Our meeting was for ironing out a few more details, delineate more of the responsibilities, etc.   Naturally there were some changes to a few of the Auction items which entailed a lot of document reprinting tonight.   Maybe I will get most of tomorrow to rest and relax before the huge day on Saturday.   That is going to be one long day so don’t expect any Blog Saturday.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Wednesday April 10, 2013

Wednesday April 10, 2013  update #418

 I was up at 7:30 and hard at work on Hearts Of Gold paperwork.   I didn’t stop until 4pm, even for lunch, and got a lot accomplished but still much to go.   That will have to wait until morning because the volunteers keep changing and adding more stuff.   It is hard to get mad at dedicated volunteers who didn’t grasp our deadline of last Friday.   Tonight I am still working on changes resulting from emails just received.

Bella was off to her Wednesday Bridge Club this afternoon.

I met Bella, Mark & Karen, Mike & Jing down at Otorongo Plaza after trying to make contact with a donor that gave us an expired Gift Certificate.   I won’t get into details but the volunteer who got the Certificate is petrified to go back because I stroked out the expiration date….   The owner isn’t there until 7pm so guess where I will be tomorrow night or Friday night….??   Walking along the river I took a few shots.

We walked through the market that was just setting up in Otorongo even though it was supposed to have been running since yesterday.  Then we climbed the steep escalinata and walked past San Sebastian to get to Mangiare Bene Italian Restaurant where we enjoyed a delightful meal.  We finished just as a party of 14 were coming in and the volume level was about to explode.

Walking to Parque Calderon we heard a beautiful male voice and we found this man singing in the gazebo backed by a small orchestra.   I was thankful to catch a cab home as I am just exhausted.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Tuesday April 9, 2013 update #417

Tuesday April 9, 2013  update #417

Bella was off to the book exchange early this morning then to complete her many other chores.

I was up early to fine-tune more paperwork for a Hearts Of Gold meeting in the afternoon.   I then caught a bus downtown to go to the jewelry market to retrieve my magnetic bracelet, which I had left with the lady for a week.  She spent 10 minutes hunting it down then she was pulling out the fishing line to start work on it.   I told her I would be back in 2 days because I don’t want a rush job like last time that did not last.

As I meandered my way to the Hearts of Gold office, wishing to arrive before they close for lunch, I snapped a few photos along Solano on the way.   I won’t have much time to myself this week to do photos.

I was surprised to find our maid Rosa at the office but it seems she is the liaison with some destitute families in the country that we support.   Our world is getting much more close-knit here.

At the office I busied myself with organizing the auction physical items and tagging them with their position numbers.  Then Denton Verkley came in to photograph all of them for posting on the Hearts Of Gold website.  We have about 45 physical items and about 55 Gift Certificates so we have a great assortment of items to bid on.  We hope the citizens and gringos of Cuenca will support us heavily.

The meeting was productive as we get down to the final items to process.  I picked up about 15 more today that I will have to arrange all the paperwork on.  There were many changes desired that I need to incorporate on the sheets.  We discussed who should handle which positions on Auction night and we have a few outsiders that have volunteered to help as well.   Our preparations are nearing completion.

There were some heated discussions about major donors wanting to pitch their wares physically at the Auction and we had to put the Kybosh on that.  We simply don’t have the room and we don’t want to take away from the charitable spirit of the Auction.  We have no problems with them supplying business cards and brochures but that is where it must end.   The only exception we are allowing is a partner organization with charitable intentions as well.

Remember I posted the warning about Banco Territorial yesterday on this Blog, and I also sent it to GringoTree and GringoPost so we could warn as many folks as possible about the deadline.    You can imagine my shock to discover that GringoTree did not post the notice.   I honestly cannot figure those guys out.   They normally do such good stuff but lately are more interested in pestering us with an annoying pop-up every day.   I have now complained to the owners to see what can be done.

Relaxation is the ticket tonight as I will tackle the paperwork in the morning when I am fresh.   I am too cranky tonight to do it any justice.

Happy Birthday Patsy.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Monday April 8, 2013

Monday April 8, 2013  update #416

By the way, Bella is elated at the good times they are having at the new Bridge Club.  They had 12 people there yesterday and everyone is raving about it.  That is what she needs to get it rolling into something substantial.

Today was a most interesting day.   I woke up worrying about the liquidation of Banco Territorial and the procedures to cash in our CD before their 30 day time limit was up, and we had no idea when that was.  

We would not have known anything about this if one of my Blog readers hadn’t emailed me because I had mentioned that we had dealings with them.   We don’t get newspapers or listen to radio or watch TV.  Getting any news or sports is really hit and miss and we normally don’t think much about it.  It seemed that GringoTree or GringoPost let us know of any major happenings which we can then check out on the Internet.   This kind of event could have cost us $28,000 had we not been alerted.

We had emailed the Bank Superintendent and he had responded with a name, phone number, and email of a Carolina Pesantez that we had to contact.    My email of Friday had been unanswered so I composed a detailed list of questions in a new email that I fired off at 8:19.

We had nightmares of being forced to go to Quito, hoping at worst to go to Guayaquil, and were making preparations to go on Thursday, our only free day.

At 11am I tried calling the phone number with a Cuenca prefix and it just rang and rang.  I then called Oswaldo and emailed him my list of questions and all the information.   He also tried the Cuenca prefix and also got no response.   Then he tried a Quito prefix and managed to talk to this Carolina.   He asked us to meet him at Banco Del Pacifico at 2pm with all our paperwork and he would explain then.

We arrived and he explained that Banco Del Pacifico is partly Government-owned and they would handle the transaction.  He said that Carolina told him the deadline was this Saturday!!  We asked one of the counter reps where to go and they said simply to go to a teller, so we got in the short lineup.

This teller, another cousin, according to Oswaldo, lmao, gave us $16 back from our small savings account and everything was going smoothly with cashing the CD until they compared my passport number with the information they had on file.  When we had begun the process from Canada in 2009 I still had my old passport so this account had that information.  Since the number changes with every renewal, nothing seems to match.  So Oswaldo and I roared back home where I still kept my old passport (Bella had told me I’d never need it again), then stopped to get 2 colour copies, and we were back there in an hour.

Again everything was going fine until they now asked for a passport history document…  Oswaldo blew up at his cousin and the supervisor telling them they have to stop asking for silly documents that don’t exist!  Everyone in the lineup was listening intently by now.  Anyway, they relented and we not only got our full principal amount but also our full interest to date!

We then went to Coopera to deposit the money there for now and had a long chat with the Manager, Juan, about their situation now that they have a new Superintendent for Credit Unions.  They are going through an audit stage run by a bunch of former bankers who are not kind to Credit Unions so it could be an ordeal yet.  Juan figures they will be forced eventually to reduce their interest rates a bit to appease the Banking Gods.

Upon arrival at home I fired off the following information to my informant and GringoTree and GringoPost:

Banco Territorial is under liquidation by the Bank Superintendent of Ecuador.  You have only until Saturday April 13th to recover your money, guaranteed up to $31,000.  Do not delay!

The Superintendent's website claims that you have to go to the Guayaquil or Quito branches but this is not necessary.  You are able to get your money on-the-spot in Cuenca at any branch of Banco Del Pacifico, which is partly Government-owned.

There are two Banco Del Pacifico branches in Cuenca, the first is just east of Las Americas on Gran Colombia, and the second is just south east of the main stadium.

Bring any original documents, CD's, Bank books, etc as well as the identity documents used to obtain the documents, ie. old passport, new passport, or Cedula, along with 2 color copies of each.  You just get in line to see a teller and they will handle the transaction easily.

Hopefully this will save a few souls a lot money as well.  We are so thankful to everyone, Trudy, Carolina, and Oswaldo for simplifying things and saving us a lot of worry and needless travel.

Sorry, no time for photos today...

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/

Sunday April 7, 2013

Sunday April 7, 2013  update #415

Bella apparently was up ½ the night retching for reasons unknown.   However she felt well enough by lunchtime to go meet with her Bridge Club, so off she went.

I spent most of the morning preparing our documents to go to either Guayaquil or Quito to cash in our CD from Banco Territorial.   We want to wait to talk to the person we  were referred to by the Banking Superintendent so we do things just once, and in one day,   We are both too darn busy at this particular time to waste our time needlessly.   Bella will get confirmation on how to fill in our claims forms in Spanish while I have made colour copies of the other necessary documents.    We should be ready to fly or bus at a moment’s notice.

The afternoon I spent redoing half the paperwork for the Hearts Of Gold Silent Auction and Sale happening in a scant 6 days.   We already have 79 confirmed items for the tables, not counting sale items, and I expect a flood of late items in the next 2 days from some volunteers that have missed the last meeting.

The Auction should go off well, we are as organized as we can be.  My only fear is that I will get stuck lugging heavy tables, etc, up and down those stairs.   Saturday will be one loooooong day.

Sorry no photos today, never got out of the house, but there were 2 uploads yesterday….

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.  Please see all new photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/