Friday August 31, 2012

Friday August 31/12 update

I was awake at 3am with my mind churning over ideas for a big meeting at 10 at the Kookaburra Café to determine the vision and focus of the Amigos English School moving forward.   We were supposed to have received ideas from everyone via email, etc but I never received a thing.   It bothered me that this meeting was to include all volunteers, teachers, Community reps, City reps, new volunteers, and especially the Hearts Of Gold Foundation where we are looking for funding.

I emailed everyone at 3:47 hoping for some response and offering to chair the meeting if necessary as first impressions were crucial.  I spent hours fine-tuning a detailed agenda in case I chaired the meeting, and finally at 8:34am I sent everyone a simplified proposed Agenda outline since I was leaving to connect with an earlier appointment.

I caught the #3 and was at the Kookaburra by 9:30 so I got all prepared and met the owners, Rick and Carol Smith, formerly of the Parkland area in Calgary.  Rick and Carol are looking to donate some old laptops to us but they haven’t got their residency yet so their container would be at least 2 months away.  Rick is also interested in helping out.

10am rolled around and I was still the only person in the room.  I found out that our group had been having a meeting outside on the sidewalk.  When they came in, I asked who was going to chair the meeting and they said Miguel, so I just put away all my hard work and let them have their way.

The five founding members, Miguel, Chris, myself, Tom and Linda were joined by two Community members, both named Patricio.  Melinda from Hearts Of Gold was there as well as two new volunteers, a Cuencano named Ivan and an Englishwoman named Christine.  Conspicuous by their absence were our teachers but we were told that Victoria had advised us that she had a conflicting appointment.

Linda had put together a package for everyone including the material I had provided and it was well received. They had made changes to one page of mine that made no sense to me, changing the name of the Founder to the name of the neighborhood,.. and then causing a spelling error on the Mission Statement.   Oh well….

Miguel spoke of many grandiose plans, including opening the school all day which caught all of us by surprise as that would be WAY down the road requiring many, many volunteers and loads of coordination. 

Christine was a fountain of great suggestions and I could easily see her taking the reins of the school and making it run well.   There was talk of changing the name of our organization to include neither English nor School which is fine with me.

Many of the ideas I wanted to discuss just went by the wayside because I was not interested in hijacking the meeting.  The good thing is that Melinda indicated that she would recommend that we qualify for funding from the Hearts Of Gold (started by Calgarians Richard & Sheryle Verkely) http://ecuazon.com/heartsofgold/.

We made a short list of immediate needs, being a storage cabinet, a large screen monitor, and supplies and snacks.  Then we need to get cracking to get someone to donate us some high speed Internet.

The meeting ended up with many conversations going on at once so we finally exchanged emails and set a date to meet at the school on Wednesday at 10am to narrow down some direction for activities, such as a long term goal of making a float for the Christmas Eve parade.

As we were leaving, I noted two ladies in the restaurant that I knew, one of them being Nancee, an English teacher from our Spanish class so we got talking.  Nancee has taught English in China and says she has many useful materials so she will join us Wednesday too.   Today was a success, just for picking up four new volunteers.

I decided to walk through El Centro as I had not been there in weeks and I wanted to see where they had had the fire next to the Cathedral.  The building maybe didn’t seem as white today, but I really couldn’t see any outward evidence of that major fire.  I guess it helps when the building is concrete.

Upon arrival at home I was dismayed to get an email from Christopher, our other teacher, saying that his MS had deteriorated so badly here that he and Pamela were making an emergency return to the US.  Their enthusiasm and expertise will certainly be missed, and we wish them well.

I had also stopped to see how Raoul is doing with his building construction and it is really progressing.  He hopes to have the first two floors ready for occupancy by the end of September.

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

Thursday August 30, 2012

Thursday August 30/12 update

The Boys are doing good and gobbling up everything I put in their sight.   Today I will be spending most of my day getting this blog prepared as there are many photos involved.

There are many things I didn’t have time to mention yesterday.   Tuesday, on the way up we stopped in Alausi, (yeah I know it’s a lousy name), which has a great statue to San Pedro (St Peter) dominating the town, and it is the hub for the train ride up the Devil’s Nose Mountain.  It was $20 for the train ride which zigs and zags, backwards and forwards, up the mountain at an incredible grade that defied most predictions.  Many people used to ride atop the train but we believe that practice was stopped after a few people got killed.   We opted to just tour the town instead.

The hotel in Riobamba was pretty neat with a few great decorations and lovely cacti growing in the restaurant window.  There was a bakery next door where I bought a huge banana loaf for $3 to take with us on the trip to see the volcano.

There is a military base in Riobamba with a couple of really old tanks at the entrance.  Miguel explained that there is a lottery now for military service between the ages of 17 and 19.  If chosen, you have to serve a year at no pay, and you get menial duties of guarding things like new sewer pipes waiting to be installed.

Miguel enlisted the aid of a local friend, Bolivar, to help guide us to the local sights and to the best view of Tungurahua erupting.  The trip was complicated, so we were glad to have his expertise.

On the way we stopped at this town called Guano, which loosely translated means Manure, or colloquially, Shit.  So now I can honestly say I have been to Hell (in the Cayman Islands) and I have in Shit (in Ecuador).  Actually this was a decent town with many craft stores, apparently known for leather goods, and a beautiful central park.  Another point of interest was a small museum behind the church which held an actual Mummy that was just incredible to view.

Beside these buildings were the ruins of an old monastery, built between 1550 and 1560, and destroyed in an earthquake in 1797.   We just don’t have that kind of history in our country.  These ruins were guarded by a young llama that didn’t look real, and a big sheep.

I am including a few links to these following mountains so you can familiarize yourselves with them.

On Wednesday, we were up early and waited on the others.   Anne and Michael came down at 7:30 and Miguel at 8, so we had a nice $3 breakfast, packed up and headed out at 9:30.  On the return to El Altar we took more shots of the area and its people.   Crossing the one large river we discovered another “broken bridge” that is now abandoned as a tourist attraction, just like the one in Cuenca.  In the town of Penipe at the base of El Altar Michael paid an indigenous man in a yellow hat and poncho 50c to take his photo and asked him a question.  Then the man began reciting information non-stop until we drove away.   As we rose up the mountain it was odd that the lower part was just a dirt track, dangerous in the rain, while the upper part was oiled or paved.  We could see patches of blue sky for a while but the higher we rose we just encountered more cloud, fog and drizzle or rain. 

We had no view of Tungurahua which had had quietened down over the last few days but there was no independent confirmation of visible activity due to the cloud cover.   We hung around for a while, hoping again that the wind would magically blow this cloud away but the weather got progressively worse.  Like I mentioned yesterday, we amused ourselves photographing the locals going up and down the road with their soggy animals delivering milk to some depots.  It seems that we do not have people living high up in our Rocky Mountains like they do in the Andes, with fields right to the summits.  The differences in climate and composition of the mountains are the difference.   Volcanic mountains are incredibly fertile, so that is why the locals risk their lives to farm in this danger zone.

It was a little frustrating to see the weather again get clearer as we descended.  I took many shots of the high Andes through the van window while in motion and also many shots of the mountains covered with patchworks of farm fields and some of the greenhouses.  The indigenous people are always doing something along the highway and carrying loads on their backs so we get a few shots of them always.   I am amazed how many shots turned out.   There are so many I won’t post them all, otherwise there would be over 100 of them.

We stopped at one town that normally has a clear view of Chimborazo but again today we are out of luck.  We picked up some snacks and kept on motoring.

One of the features we did not like seeing were all the blue “death hearts” painted on the highways to show where people had died, mostly after a long downslope to a hairpin turn.  One location had many, many hearts and that was very sad.  I didn’t even realize until I was processing the photos that I managed to catch some indigenous ladies putting flowers at one of the markers.
We are unhappy that our mission was not fulfilled, but we are certainly happy with some of the other photographs that we managed to obtain, especially in the rain on El Altar.

Today I received an email from NetTalk wanting us to pay to renew our NetTalk in a month.  Here is my second (third?) response to these bozos today:

Further to the email below I decided to call your support phone and was on hold for 90 minutes.   I just started relating my tale to Giovanni about all our prior problems with the two NetTalk Duos and suddenly I am talking to a busy signal.   Since I was not being rude or abusive in any way, just giving the background of our odyssey with NetTalk, I really doubt that he hung up on me but I am flabbergasted that he has not had the courtesy to call me back to finish our conversation!!!!    I'll be damned if I am going to wait another 90 minutes on hold just to have the same thing happen again.

We have nicely requested a fair extension on our expiry date for this unit that was not properly activated until March 12, per the emails below.

We have been nice about this and have had absolutely no response from you folks.

So now you should give us ONE good reason why we should renew???????  

Needless to say, I do not recommend that anyone get involved with NetTalk.   Spread the word.

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

Wednesday August 29, 2012

Wednesday August 29/12 update

Well we have made it back safe and sound with not too many hairy moments.   About 30 miles from home a truck carrying loose tires lost a couple right in front of us but Miguel skillfully avoided them both.

Our attempts to get to Banos were stopped by the military due to the evacuation order.   They were only allowing locals in for a few hours every day to tend to business and their animals.

Unfortunately we got shut out last night from seeing the Tungurahua volcano (16,480 ft) from the neighboring mountain El Altar (17,454 ft) due to heavy fog and rain that has hung around since Saturday.   We stayed on this mountain for 3 hours in the dark hoping the weather would break, but it just didn’t.  So we drove the hour back to our $15 hotel room at the Rey De Los Andes (King of the Andes) in Riobamba and had a good sleep.   Why I sleep so well in hotel rooms in anybody’s guess but I was thankful to get a few zzzzzzzz’s.   There was absolutely nothing wrong with this hotel at that price and it had an attached restaurant that served great food.

It kinda was nice that there were only 4 of us on this trip, and we all got along so well, no whiners or complainers, so we easily agreed on almost everything.  Thank you to Miguel, Anne, and Michael for making the trip enjoyable in spite of the disappointments.

We tried going back this morning to the same spot and we were always heartened by any glimpse of blue sky but the morning on  El Altar was no different than last night.  The rain and fog was exactly the same and portions of the road were more slippery plus we had to deal with two minor landslides.   The only benefit today was more activity from the local indigenous folks, most delivering milk to a central processing place nearby, using donkeys or horses.  They were really so friendly and fun to watch despite the fact that everything and everybody was drenched.

We also could not see the snow-covered Chimborazo mountain nearby so we had to make do with what was available.   Chimborazo, because it is so near the bulge of the equator, is actually closer to the sun than Mount Everest.   It is over 20,561 feet high.

I took well over 200 shots so I will be doing a lot of processing tonight and tomorrow.  I will have many shots of the Andes Mountains at around 15,000 feet, and cloud and fog, and more indigenous folks as we passed by.  The glory and majesty of these mountains are a sight to behold.   In many areas it is like looking at a vertical Saskatchewan, with a patchwork quilt of fields covering mountains from top to bottom.  These are generally family farms separated by little rows of shrubs or trees and it really is amazing to see farming this high up.  Not only that but we were surprised to see huge greenhouse operations way up near the summits as well.

As the crow flies, we are not going far, but zig-zagging through the mountains adds a lot of miles and it is a very tiresome trip.

The Boys were happy to see me home and to get fed a good meal.

I may get some photos posted late tonight, but more likely later tomorrow.   I gotta go make myself a quick supper.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos later at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.

Monday-Tuesday August 27-28, 2012

Monday August 27/12 update

I found out at midnight that I may be a great-grandpa sometime soon.  Todd’s daughter Heather is expecting.  It is hard for me to fathom that my son is about to be a grandfather too.   I guess this had to happen sooner or later as she is 20 years old already.  Congratulations to her and Trevor.

I am pretty certain that I am the first in our family to hit this milestone.   Since I should have another 40 years or so to go yet, there is a good chance I could hit Great-great0great grandfather status before the big red bus hits me.

Note that there will be no blogs likely for the next two days as I will be on the road trying to get hopefully striking photographs of the active volcano Tungurahua.  Apparently it has quieted down a little over the last few days and we are also at the mercy of the weather which is supposed to be rainy today.   Hopefully it will clear up by tomorrow night.  I doubt that a $15 hotel is going to have wi-fi, plus we will be up half the night trying to get night shots, so I am not going to bother dragging the laptop along.

Tuesday August 28/12 update

We are up early and the Boys are very clingy.   They seem to know when we are packed up for a trip.   I have fed them once and will feed them again before I leave.

I just read the latest updates and the volcano seems to be showing more activity since last night which could be good or bad, depending on how you want to look at it.   It is drizzly here this morning but hopefully this will clear up as we head north.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.

Sunday August 26, 2012

Sunday August 26/12 update

Late nights and early mornings take their toll, especially when you don’t lock the Boys out.

I polished up a discussion paper for the Amigos School meeting on Friday as I nervously watched my email to see if we would have any more takers to go to the volcanoes.  Sadly nothing happened today on that front so I emailed the other couple to say I was still willing to go if they were agreeable in splitting the cost only 3 ways, about $35 more each.  Elation occurred when they responded that they were still agreeable so onward and upward in the face of adversity.

I contacted Linda & Tom to drop off my portion of the presentation and they said to come over, so I hopped the #3 at Monay Mall which takes me within a block of their amazing 3,000 sq ft apartment in Otorogo, overlooking the park and the large hummingbird display. 

They are such big-hearted people and an immense asset to the Amigos school.  We discussed many issues and topics before I caught the #3 home.

I wasn’t sure where the #3 would travel because the eastbound lanes on Suarez were closed for repaving.   The detour was ridiculously far but returned a couple of blocks from our bridge so I was OK with that.

I have mellowed over the last few years and learned to exercise more patience with most things.   But when folks are waiting on me to provide information that I must obtain from an unreliable third party, I begin a slow boil.  I have just fired off an angry email to the driver for the volcano excusion (Miguel, the founder of the Amigos School) who has been promising information for over a week now.  Here we are, with less than 36 hours to go, and about all we know is that we are going east.  I am not a happy camper and I let him know it.   That was today’s excitement.   Please see all photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.

Saturday August 25, 2012

Saturday August 25/12 update

To bed at 1am after watching a movie with the Boys.   Unfortunately, I was awake at 4am so I just got up and got to work.  I was tasked to make a photo collage as part of a Friday presentation to Municipal officials when we have another meeting scheduled to plan the future of the Amigos English School.  I finally completed the collage about 6 hours later.

The next task was to try to bring up topics for discussion at the above-mentioned meeting.  There is so much we can do but it is vital that we get some outside funding.   It is not fair that Tom and Linda carry the brunt of the expenses.  Most of us have time to volunteer but money is scarce.

I then got the most disappointing email from a Canadian couple that they have Visa problems that must be dealt with on Monday and Tuesday, so they are cancelling out on our volcano excursion.   Bummer.  I hate to give up on this trip so I put an ad in GringoTree to replace them.

I had a quick nap and cleaned up to go do my chores at Joe’s Secret Garden.  Supper tonight was Coq Au Vin (read Chicken stew in wine sauce) and it was really tasty, but the apple tart caramel dessert was the clincher.  There were supposed to be 3 Birthday girls tonight but two of those did not show up, however we found another gal whose Birthday is on Tuesday.  Joe wanted to be sure I got photos of them, so I complied.  The two gals both happened to be eastern Canadians as there was a huge contingent of Canadians on this evening.

I finally met Richard and Sheryle (from Calgary) who live in my dream house on the hill.   Sheryle does cooking classes with her Ecuadorian friend Carmita and Bella has attended their classes.  I have been invited to come and actually see my dream home anytime.

I was discussing the Amigos School with Sheryle who introduced me to Emilie and Melinda who run the Hearts Of Gold foundation.  Apparently they are looking for non-profit charitable organizations to donate to, and apparently they already know Linda Atkisson of our group.  Maybe this could be a good fit??
I had one lady approach me about doing another night photography tour so I guess I will have to do that sometime soon.  

I was sought out by a lady named Regina and her son Barry.   Barry lives not far away and is a computer guru.  Regina is actually going to be moving across the river from us in October in the new houses there and is looking for someone to join her on the bus to Joe’s and to share the taxi back.  No problem.   She also is a bridge player so I set her up with Joe so they can have two tables going tomorrow.   We all had a very pleasant supper together.

GringoTree posted my ad tonight already so I had one bite from a professional photographer from Ona, south of here.   I really don’t want to give up on this trip.

After reviewing my photos tonight, I can’t say that I very happy with them today.   I’ll have to keep an eye on this camera to see if the focus problems continue or if it was just a bad night.

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

Friday Aug 24, 2012

Friday August 24/12 update

Where does the time go?  I get on the computer at 9, and before I know it it is already 12:30 and I have to panic shower and shave to catch the bus to our meeting at Amigos School at 2.   I needn’t have hurried, Chris#2 and Pamela showed up but nobody else did until 2:15.    We all came, except Victoria who begged off sick.

We gathered up tables and chairs and stools, plus the small BBQ grill and the kids all came early, and started piling themselves in orderly fashion in the box of the truck as well.  We were only going about 3 blocks away, as the crow flies, to a park on the Tomebamba for a picnic.   The kids were having a blast.

http://youtu.be/NHJ21g_7oVY

Tom and Linda had made some scoops out of 2-litre bottles and added some tennis balls for the kids to toss and catch with.   They were a hit!   Chris and Bettye supplied snacks to accompany the hotdogs and juice.  Balloons helped occupy the younger ones for a bit too.  We had a 3-legged race that many kids participated in.  The park itself had the usual swings and slides and climbing apparatus so the kids always had something to do.   A couple of the older kids were enjoying the features of my Ectaco translator.

Tom led the hotdog cooking while everyone pitched in for distribution and cleanup.  Several parents and some older teens joined in to help.  It really was a satisfying cooperative effort.   The community people were all in attendance and even one city official stopped by for a while.

Linda found two tomatoes somewhere and stuffed them in the pockets of my hoodie.  Of Course I forgot about them until I stuck my hand in there later and mush…  It colored my sweat pants and everything, and I couldn’t do anything until I got home.

I keep asking myself why I keep doing this, but all it takes is the one smile or hug from that once shy youngster to make it all worthwhile.

When we got the whole crew back to the school, the community President, Patricio, explained to all the kids about the two weeks off while they start regular school again.  The kids seemed disappointed at that but gave us a huge applause of Thank You.  In turn, we thanked the kids for being so well behaved and helpful.

Leaving by Feria Libre again I noted all the child shoeshine boys hanging around today.  Some of them didn’t even look school age yet.

The bus ride home was an adventure.  The bus took all manner of crazy detours to avoid a soccer game happening tonight.  Our fan club failed to notify us so now we have missed yet another one.

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

Thursday August 23, 2012

Thursday August 23/12 update

Today is a day of rest, so I didn’t rest of course.   I caught the #15 to the end of the route in El Valle, south of here, over the mountain.    El Valle is aptly named because it has tremendous views of two valleys and it is so quiet, I just love it up there.

There are many indigenous people in the area and there are many homes without fences, gates or grates.  They feel very safe and secure up there.

I met with a fellow named Mike Pena who has a small house at the top.  He speaks good English and he hires himself out as a cabbie.   He also has a buddy with a pickup if necessary.

I walked all the way home, about 5 miles, and I was glad to reach there.  My legs felt like rubber.

Part of the reason I went up there was to see if the two homes I like up there are still for sale.  The other part was to try to do my videos in HD to see how they would work.   I think that succeeded.

http://youtu.be/-bTvK_A6osU

The furthest home is just a block above the Los Olivas Garden convention center.  While it only has a view of one valley, I like the yard and the quiet of this property.  Its only drawback is the neighbors are a little close in the rear, but I have yet to see them.  Of course I would have to buy an Ecuadorian lawnmower that Bella would have to learn to milk.

The second house is not much farther down the hill and it needs a lot of work yet.  I had a closer look after I took the video and it is much larger than it appears.  Its main drawback is the sports field to the rear.  I have no idea who would use this, but it would be cause for concern. 

Both places have bus stops right near the properties so basic daytime travel would be very easy.   I love our present house, but I could sure use the quiet of El Valle.

I was actually surprised to see a tractor tilling a large garden.  Farm machinery is such a rarity in this country. 

There are a few industries on the lower part of the hill, a couple of concrete block makers, a paving company, some ferreterias, bus repair, a lumber yard, internet cafes, and lots of little tiendas, to name a few.

That huge townhouse complex in lower El Valle appears to be gaining a rec plex of sorts, with lots of steelwork in progress.  It is funny that the #15 bus goes by the lower entrance while the #14, I think it is, ends up at the top side.

I was nearly home when this funeral procession crawled by me with lots of pickups packed with mourners.   That was totally unexpected as I didn’t see any services anywhere on my long walk.

The house on the corner across our street is finally progressing on the interior.  It appeared that an electrician was adding some conduit to the ceilings while other workmen were completing some interior walls..

The boys are really enjoying the returning heat in the lavanderia and the rooftop terrace.  There has been a definite warming trend with the return of steady sunshine, which is most welcome.  In about 5 weeks we wuill have the sun directly overhead.  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/sunearth.html

I am really impressed with the progress of our lemon and lime trees.  We really have fruit growing, so soon we can make our own juice.

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

Wednesday August 22, 2012

Wednesday August 22/12 update

Good news!   We have 5 of us committed to go see the Tungurahua volcano on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Now I just need Miguel to give us more ideas of itinerary, etc, and we will be sailing.   Miguel’s van will hold 5 passengers very comfortably and 10 uncomfortably.  If someone begs to join us I am sure we can accommodate them.

Where does the time go?    Between feeding cats, cleaning litter, doing laundry, having lunch, checking 5 emails, uploading photos to 3 sites, etc, it is 1:30 before I know it and I have to shower to get to the Amigos English School.   But this wasn’t before I was mopping up a load of water seeping from the water bottle container, on the island top, down the side and all over the floor.  I wasn’t sure if it was cracked or what but I gambled…  I knew there was a fair amount of water in the crock when I tipped in the new bottle so this may have been simple overfilling giving way.    I filled a jug with water and put that in the fridge.   I hoped reducing the amount of water would help, and it must have, because it did not bubble at all as I was draining water.  I then gingerly put a cloth underneath the crock to see if it needed to soak up any more overflows.  Six hours later it seems I was correct and we have no problems.

At the school we were really hoping to build on the tremendous success of Monday but things went south in a hurry.   Chris was away at an appointment, and Chris #2 was too sick to stay today so he and Pamela went back home.   The new bilingual teacher, Victoria, never called or showed up and Miguel stopped by with the news that we were going to be visited by City officials today, then he disappeared too.  Panic stations!!

So Tom, Linda and I, along with a few parents, tried to salvage the day, especially when the city officials came calling.   We were thankful they did not stay long, and thank God for the coloring pages which kept the kids occupied during that time.  The officials left us with 38 notebooks which we will use later.   We can’t let the kids take them home or we will never see the books again.

Plans were made for a trip to a nearby riverside park on Friday.  We will have games and food for the kids.  We can bring friends so we expect about 50 people to be there.

Then the school will take a two-week hiatus while the kids adjust to returning to regular school and we get a needed break to sit back and assess how we will reopen the school.  Honestly, without a proper teacher in attendance it is really tough on the rest of us.   We really like Chris and Victoria so we hope they will stick around.  We also have four others coming from the US over the next few months so hopefully things will work their way out.

The kids smiles, handshakes and hugs make it all worth it.  When the teeniest shy ones flash you a satisfied smile it really makes your day.

Returning home via Feria Libre again I was struck by how the outside parking lot was completely jammed with booths, on a Wednesday, rivaling the space in the huge building.   I took a panorama shot so you can get an idea of the size, and it goes way-y-y-y-y-y back!

From the moving bus I saw that this beautiful house one block south of the Banco Pichincha that had been under renovation is to become a Chinese Restaurant!   That will be very welcomed here because there are only a handful of those and gringos like a little variety.

At a bus stop by the Inca ruins, I saw these two gals laughing at me for taking a photo through the bus window so I took their picture and showed it to them through the glass.   They just laughed some more.

I then stopped at the seamstress’ place to get a connecting strap added to my backpack to stop it from sliding off my shoulders all the time.  She had gotten the exact length of similar strapping and I supplied the clasp.  10 minutes and the job was done.

I had defrosted some tilapia fillets and within 15 minutes I was enjoying a delicious fish supper.

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

Tuesday August 21, 2012

Tuesday August 21/12 update

In one month we will be starting our second summer season.   Bring it on!!!!

Bella sent me a note that CIBC had not cancelled a credit card as requested when I had called in May and now they were trying to charge us the fee again.   It did not take long for me to straighten that mess out.

I slipped downtown to the Book/Movie Exchange at the Windhorse Café.   I saw Garth and Orilla there but they didn’t see me and then they slipped away before we could chat.

On the Escalinata, and on the riverbank, there were so many beautiful artworks on display.  The wire motorcycle was about 9” long and the artist wanted $40 for it.   The artist by the tree, Freddy Peralta, was selling the painting of the blue woman for only $30.

This lady and her daughter were posing for her husband taking shots with his cel phone so I asked if I could take a picture and they easily agreed.  Isn’t that shot just the greatest statement about Ecuadorians and how they love their children??!!

The rivers are exceedingly low so we wouldn’t mind a good rain to replenish them.   We are getting dangerously close to seeing a "River of Rocks" again.

On my way home I stopped at the local video store and picked up 8 more movies.   My time was limited and I tried to keep an eye out for our maid, Rosa, but somehow she got by me and was waiting at the door, early, and ready to start work.

Later I decided to slip out and get some shelving at Rotary Market for our DVD’s  so I promised Rosa I would be back in time.   I couldn’t immediately find what I wanted, but did finally locate a unit somewhat close and usable for our collection of almost 150 in stock now..   I haggled the price down to $40 and was on my way back home.

I made a mess of the newly cleaned floors when I had to make holes in the hardboard backing to allow cords to be run through.  My initial thought was just to use the unit for the DVD’s and put the plant on top but it was way too high for that so I had to move all the electronics into this new unit.   The DVD’s are now housed in the old TV unit which is the right height to support the large plant.   I am glad it worked out.  The stack of DVD’s you see in the big unit are those we have yet to watch.

I got an email from Martha Mays asking if I would consider continuing with the Spanish classes.  Unfortunately I had to respond that I couldn’t.  I am just too darn busy and I have oodles of Spanish material on hand that I need to absorb.

I was watching AlJazeera news while suffering through some filet mignon and they had a brief clip about the Tungurahua eruptions which has been quite active these last 4 days.  Many people had to be evacuated from the vicinity.   I don’t wish anyone any harm but I sure hope there is still activity by the time we get our tour organized, which won’t be before next Tuesday for sure.

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

Monday August 20, 2012

Monday August 20/12 update

I had a good sleep but only the clock was forcing me to rise and shower and do chores, like laundry and the dreaded cat litter.

When I flicked on my computer I was flabbergasted to see 71 Undeliverable Mail emails for something I did not send about 2 hours earlier, something about properties for sale.  I hurriedly sent an email to my whole address book warning folks not to open that particular email (and not one of those came back…).  I am in a quandary how some AOL account in the US (received this info from Gmail later) hacked into my email???   I NEVER give out my password to ANYBODY so this came as quite a shock.   On the advice of two good friends I have now changed my password to something completely new so we should be safe again.

My dear wife bravely visited my Mom yesterday with my sister Leonie and most of the day went well although Mom apparently wanted them to stay much longer which caused a bit of a scene.   Mom wants everything her way and her schedule uninterrupted but has no patience for the schedules of others for others and their families.  It is truly sad and this causes a lot of heartache for Leonie who really busts her hump for Mom in our absence.  We love you Leonie and truly appreciate your efforts.

I am trying to set up a Photography Club here, beginning with some of the fine folks we have already met.   We will have to see how that will unfold as the response so far has been light.

We have an erupting volcano to the North, many miles away and it has always been on my Bucket List to watch one in action.  So I have discussed with Miguel setting up a trip for about 5 of us for 1.5 days with a few side trips in the bargain.   Miguel says he knows a local guide and a hotel for $15 a night.   The following report is only a few hours old.   

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/20/life-idUSRTR36ZNI

Then I got an email enquiry from an overqualified Ecuadorian teacher named Victoria who speaks great English about our Amigos School so I called her right away.   We arranged to meet in an hour near the school, which just gave me time to bus there, drop off my photos to Joseph at Joe’s Secret Garden, and get to the meeting corner.  She drove up in a little white car and, just as I climbed in, Chris came up behind us, so he got in too.

We had a full complement of kids, teachers and parents and community help today.   Chris #2 did a fabulous job with the kids with some practice introductions and replies, even drawing out some of the shiest youngsters.  Chris and I and Victoria busied ourselves preparing foam letters and sorting them so the kids could come up and grab letters for their names and paste them on the wall.  It was so much fun watching them place their letters themselves, especially Santiago who had to bend his name around the pole.   Linda again kept them occupied fully during the second part of class with the coloring pages which the kids dearly love.  Even the mischievous boys were behaving today and the class easily ran over an extra ½ hour but nobody minded because they were all having fun.  This is the way we envisioned the classes would go and today was just ideal.   I just wanted to kiss and hug every kid there.

Chris #2 and Pamela were very comfortable in front of the class and Victoria was an incredible asset because of her fluency in both languages.  I believe she was a hit with everyone, even offering to Miguel that she would like to work with teenagers at a later point if our little schoolhouse ever evolves in that direction.  Finally we feel that everything is falling into place.   The Community President, Patricio, says we can expect to see some donated desks on Wednesday.   I mentioned to Miguel that we need to seek donations of computers and free Internet to really make our jobs easier as there are so many visual resources on the Net.  He said the Kookaburra Café is looking to donate us one or more computers!   I suggested that maybe he talk to the Judge Juanito to see if he can get Etapa to donate some free high speed Internet….  Then we would really be cooking!!

As usual I walk by the edge of the Feria Libre market to catch a bus home and past the live animals for sale.  How these animals don’t just take off is beyond me, since most are not tethered in any way.

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

Sunday August 19, 2012

Sunday August 19/12 update

I let the boys in the room last night and that was a mistake of course, so I was up early and did the chores and washed my bedding before heading out.

Then I caught the #16 over to Parque Paraiso for a children’s festival centered around kite flying.   There were many kids helped by parents trying their hand at it with plastic kites or homemade kites from newspapers.  At times it was quite windy which created havoc with large signs and even an air-filled amusement slide overturned.   Luckily it did not appear that any children were hurt.  They just deflated it quickly and set it up again later.

Almost immediately I came upon some new white faces from Wisonsin/Arizona that have only been here for four days.   They said they have so far been rescued by Canadians at every turn and are very grateful.   We spent quite a bit of time together as I explained many things and gave them my card with my cuencaresidency blog on it.  They are pretty adventurous so I helped them catch the #16 back to Solano.   They only live a few blocks west in the Otorongo area but they also wanted to go to the big Mercado on Calle Larga.   I am pretty sure his name was Walt.   They will probably do 6 months here and 6 months in Arizona each year.

I was also hoping either my language buddy Juan (Gilligan) or some of my photographer friends would join me at 1pm but nobody showed.   While waiting near the bridge I met 4 more gringos from Hawaii and Colorado.

I had a large piece of fried chicken with a few fries for $1.50 then started to head home following the Yanuncay and Tomebamba rivers.  Since this is Sunday there are always families out playing sports or having picnics.  At this one futbol game this family had a baby Chihuahua that was so darn cute, and it didn’t yap at all!!  I wanted to grab it and hide it in my backpack.

I broke down and stopped at a video store that I had seen on my nightly walks and bought 4 more videos for $5.  I am sure the boys will enjoy Forrest Gump.

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

Saturday August 18, 2012

Saturday August 18/12 update

Last night I took another walk and ended up watching some local soccer and volleyball.  Then the boys and I watched The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes with James Franco which was amazingly good.  I don’t know why they put such a tacky title on such a fine movie because it was not at all like the old Ape movies.  Then I had the best sleep in months!

I slept in and did my chores today and then had a nice nap in Bella’s recliner.   It makes me realize how much I miss my old recliner that was donated to me by Tom and Betty.

I fed the boys then caught the #50 to the Rotary Market area.   I wanted to pick up 3 more folding hair brushes for $1 each and I picked up a cheap but complete manicure set for another 50c.

Then I hopped the next #50 over to Joe’s Secret Garden for their Shrimp Scampi supper which was absolutely delicious!   There were many nice people there including 3 more Canadian couples.

One of the patrons asked if she could follow me around and pass out postcards of an apartment they have for rent on the coast.  I saw no harm in that so I said OK.  I didn’t realize she was doing a major sales pitch that apparently some folks didn’t appreciate with their leisurely supper.   When I found out that complaints had been made to Joseph I had to apologize to both Joseph and the lady for my error in judgment. 

Other than that the evening was awesome and Joe regaled us with some more tunes on his Baby Grand.

I caught a cab home and this cabbie had spent 10 years as a cook in the Hamptons in New York so he spoke pretty good English.

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

Friday August 17, 2012

Friday August 17/12 update

To bed at 2am, awake at 5, and up by 6 as the mind is just whirling with ideas.

I managed to finish a small name sign for the new Amigos English School and proceeded to check out more children’s songs.  I did not download any more as I emailed Chris about the many free ones apparently available on iTunes, of which I know nothing.  He at least has an iPod.

As a hedge, I did save my kids tunes to a memory stick and fired up our old laptop.  Unfortunately the sound on my laptop is really awful, even full blast, so I hooked it up to my computer speakers for a drastic improvement.   Then I had to slip out to Coral to pick up another set of these small speakers for $6.62.

One really good thing this morning was that I finally got a response to our GringoTree ad from a visiting US couple who are willing to come out today to see the kids.   Welcome Chris (#2) and Pamela!    I filled up my laptop backpack and headed out to meet them a few blocks from the school.  They are really a nice couple.

We had a full complement of people today, including Miguel.   Linda had made lovely nametags for everyone and then she started the afternoon off with an alphabet race game.  The original idea was to suck on a straw to pick up a piece of paper with a letter on it, then transfer that to a table across the room to spell a person’s name.   The straws were too long so Miguel came up with a participation scheme where they had to hold the paper letter between their foreheads and bring it across the room.   We pitted the boys against the girls and the girls came from behind to win 14-12.  They were really enjoying this!

Then it was my turn to find a working power outlet to power the new speakers hooked up to the old laptop.  We ended up using Chris’ speakers as they seemed to put out more sound.   We played the ABC song, Row Row Row your boat, Day-O, Michael Row your boat ashore, Mary had a little lamb, etc.  On the rowing songs I was making the rowing motions, but we don’t think the kids knew that.   We are pretty sure they just thought I was a nerd dancing and they were just howling.   Then when we got the Chicken Dance running they joined in enthusiastically.   I was leading that one and ugh, I just hate that song.

The good thing is that we did not scare off the new couple, as the new Chris has been teaching in California.and he is willing to help us plan our way forward.    Onward and upward….

Feria Libre was quite busy again today.   While waiting for the bus a couple of policemen started giving heck to two buses that didn’t pull into the bus drop-off lane.  It’s about time they start helping out with the bad traffic manners in this town.

When I finally got home by bus I was amazed at the number of people on the walkways and soon discovered the reason.   It appears the police and military took down 3 miscreants across the road and the crooks were huddled in the box of a pickup, trying to hide their identities.   We watched as a policeman crawled under 2 vehicles in the alley to check their undercarriages.  The drama is still ongoing 4 hours later..

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

Tuesday-Wednesday August 14-15, 2012

Tuesday August 14/12 update

I repeated my successful night tricks with locking the cats out and having the humidifier run continuously and was rewarded with another decent sleep.  This is a catch-up day for a few things so I was forced to get up much earlier than my body wanted.   I really could have slept in another couple of hours.

First I bused downtown to Parque De La Madre and ran up the escalinata to the Windhorse Café.  Today is book and movie exchange day and I had 3 movies to exchange.   I found this brand new art store that seemed to have a flamingo theme with some beautiful sculptures.  This place is right next to the Sabor Latino.

Then I caught the #3 back to Coral at Monay Mall and did my grocery shopping for the week.  I had gotten mostly meat last week so today I was trying to get veggies, juice, and peripherals for around $40 but ended up spending $50.   At least I know I won’t starve for about 3 weeks.

I ended up going out for a short walk tonight and I hope to make that a habit.   There was a volleyball game and a dancercise class going on next to Raoul’s place.  There sure was lots happening in the area for 9:30 on a Tuesday night.

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

  

Wednesday August 15/12 update

I didn’t lock the boys out last night and paid the price so I spent most of the morning trying to catch up on sleep. 

I made it over to Bettye and Chris’ apartment  and saw the beautiful job they did on their living room wall with the mirror boxes.   I am envious of all the room they have.

Then we headed over to our newly dubbed “Amigos English School” and were soon joined by Linda and Tom.  This time there was nobody from Miguel’s family in evidence all day.  Chris did a great job explaining “time” using the white board.  Then Linda kept them occupied with more alphabetical coloring pages which they really seem to enjoy.  The kids were then treated to ice cream bars by Tom as part of their weekly treat program.

Upon leaving, we discussed the possibility of posting an ad for a volunteer teacher(s) and see what happens.   We certainly could use some professional guidance as the kids are getting accustomed to us and are getting bored more easily.   I just posted it a few moments ago to GringoTree so we will see what results we can get.  

There was a police band playing at the front of the Feria Libre market and the people seemed really amused by that, I have no idea why…  maybe it was the drunk dancer…   It was really bust today so it must be fresh meat and fish day.  I bought a pailful of baby potatoes for $1 which should last me for several meals.

I tried to get a shot through a tiny window on the moving bus of the construction progress at the Parque de La Madre which has been closed off for months now.  It appears they have a sizeable hole dug for the proposed underground parking garage.  

I stopped at Coral in Monay Mall on the way home to grab a few blank CD’s and DVD’s, along with a large CD holder.  Since I have been downloading music for people, and doing photo gifts, my stock had run very low.

That meant I got home late but I still did not feel like eating out.  I have so much good food at home, and yes, I really can cook!  You can see my tasty chicken breast supper with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables (McCain’s from Canada no less) in a photo on the following blog.

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

Sunday-Monday August 12-13, 2012

Sunday August 12/12 update

I was up very early again, and got to work on saving the photos and movie of Gabriela’s Grad Party onto a DVD which I will deliver later, maybe Monday.     Next I tackled the photos of the night before for Joe’s which were posted on yesterday’s blogs.   I keep operating in these 2 to 4 hour increments of sleep, work, sleep, work.   I am going to miss being able to doze to the sounds of the Olympics.

Then I tackled downloading many Motown songs for a friend and ended up with 145 of them. 

I seem to be making any excuse to stay housebound and I must break out of the doldrums.   A good sunny day would help.   I do have a few things to attend to tomorrow so I am hoping for a good night’s sleep.  

The humidifier we bought doesn’t seem to be much help at all.  It reaches the maximum humidity very quickly and shuts off the fan, and I seem just as stuffed up as before….

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.

Monday August 13/12 update

I think I have figured out the humidifier…  If I only touch the fan button, and not the humidity setting, then it seems to keep running…   So I actually got 4 ½ hours of straight sleep after I locked the cats out of the room.  Then I was up at 5am and got some more work done.  I laid down again with the boys from 9:30 to 11:30 before I headed out.

First stop was to get my phone recharged and also my bus pass, the two essentials to operating in this city.  Raoul was having lunch in his truck outside so we chatted briefly.

Next I stopped at Coopera Credit Union to do the week’s banking before heading over to Jorge Beltran’s.  Only the maid was home so I left my gift of the DVD with the photos and the movie of Gabriela’s Grad celebration.

From there I caught the #16 to the west end and stopped in at Joe’s Secret Garden.  Joseph was apparently in the shower so I left the memory stick with Saturday’s photos with Joe.

Next I stopped in at Chris and Bettye’s lovely apartment.  Last week they installed this lovely metal+wood iguana on their kitchen wall and it is really impressive.  Today Bettye was having some workers install some lovely wooden boxes with inlaid mirrors in the living room.  Once the measurements were agreed upon they were very good at lining them up.  I was very surprised they were only using concrete nails to support these 19” boxes instead of screws and anchors but the first two rows of 3 were put up very quickly.   As I watched the one fellow put in one of the top row nails I mentioned to Chris that he didn’t seem to pound it in very far.  Unfortunately my perception was accurate as the upper box bent the nail down upon installation, crashing down on the lower two, knocking them off as well.  I just wish I hadn’t been right but luckily nothing was broken and they continued to reset everything as Chris and I left.

Upon arrival at our English School today we noted Miguel was not around and Linda wasn’t there either but she came in later.  It was nice to see tables and chairs for the kids provided by the neighborhood folks.  The kids started coming in and grabbing their name tags and settling in.  Chris is becoming a good schoolteacher and is very proficient at drawing things on the whiteboard.   We had the kids learn some of the items in a home then Linda had arranged some alphabetized coloring materials for the kids which help keep their concentration.   It is really very effective.

Linda says she has heard from some of her affluent friends, former teachers, who are offering to send money and supplies.  So far we are doing not too bad though with everyone’s help.

During our first class a week ago I was helping the kids with the pronunciation of the letter H, which is silent in the Spanish language.  I was really overemphasizing the H in the word “Hello” so they would catch on.   Well they have caught on too well because it is now a running joke whenever I am around with the kids saying it strongly so I will respond.  You can hear them doing this in the middle of the video:

http://youtu.be/LFi2cSXlzyM

The kids are really well behaved and their personalities are starting to emerge, especially the shy girls.  We are really amazed how well they pronounce things.  Kids are such sponges for knowledge.  Also heartwarming is to watch the older siblings freely helping their younger brothers and sisters.  Who can refuse those little dark eyes?   Gotta love the Cuancanos.

I headed over to Feria Libre to catch the bus but stopped in this clothing store on a whim.  I really love the two pairs of track pants that I have, mainly because they don’t attract the cat hair, so I was looking to get a few more.  This lady had 3 nice pairs which I negotiated for $20 total.  They are as good as anything I would get at home, even if they are knockoffs.

The street life is always interesting, like the lady asleep in front a shop, to the group of guys playing cards.

It was too early to go to Big Kabuda’s for a great burger so I opted for 2 cheap neighborhood burgers, fries and a Sprite for $2.50.   There is a dance studio upstairs that Bella and I will have to check out some day.

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

Saturday August 11, 2012

Saturday August 11/12 update

I was up very early again, and got to work on the videos and photos of the night before which were posted on yesterday’s blogs.   It seems I living in 2 to 4 hour increments of sleep, work, sleep, work.   There is certainly no point in tossing and turning when there are productive things to be done.

I also printed a couple of photographs from our Yunguilla trip last weekend that Chris wanted,

A decent and filling lunch was required today because we know supper is always late at Joe’s Secret Garden where I am photographing the patrons again tonight.

I don’t know where the day went as I kept dozing off trying to rid myself of a nagging headache. 

In the late afternoon I got cleaned up and then slipped up to Chris & Bettye’s apartment to deliver the pictures I had printed and also to drop off the “Spanish Now” manual for Chris.   I wanted him to see if there is anything productive in there that we could use for the children’s school English classes because I am skeptical.

Brad and Cindy came by and we all made our way over to Joe’s for their wonderful Southern Fried Chicken dinner, followed by a delicious apple-peach cobbler.

It is so nice that everyone cooperates so well for the photographs.  I got buttonholed by a couple of people over the “domestic help” benefits and tax issues.  I passed out a few cards so they would have the cuencaresidency.blogspot.com address where all the details are in writing.

Joe and Joseph had lots of new workers today and it was impressive that they were lined up to greet all the patrons as they arrived.  Then they were very efficient with the service, correcting a lot of past mistakes by making sure that all the dinner items arrived at the same time.   All in all, it was again a very good night with great food and interesting company.  Joe played a few tunes on the baby grand and a couple entertained us with their dancing.

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

Thursday-Friday August 9-10, 2012

Thursday August 9/12 update

No news.  Hung around today and prepared for the graduation ceremony for tomorrow.  I admit to being nervous about going.   I may be the only white face in the crowd.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.

Friday August 10/12 update

Today is a national holiday in Ecuador so most things are closed.  I have been trying to find out about any celebrations today but so far have been unsuccessful.

I spent all day finishing preparations for the grad ceremony and watching the Olympics. 

I called Jorge Beltran (the fellow that built our home) to ask if I could stop by to drop off the gift for his daughter around 8pm and he said to come sooner than that.  Their home is only about a mile away so I decided to walk.   I arrived there about 7:40 and they were still doing their final preparations so I waited.   I was going to continue to walk to the hall, about another mile, but they insisted that I wait and go with them.

Jorge and son Matteo were loading up the SUV and pickup with all sorts of supplies and many cases of liquor.  That was when I found out that this celebration wasn’t for a bunch of graduates, but that it was just a private party for Gabriela alone.

Jorge and Matteo went off in the pickup to buy more snacks while I went with Martha and Gabriela in the SUV.  The hall was beautifully decorated in white and pink and the caterers and DJ were all in place.  I was immediately taken to Table #1 to be seated with the family, specifically Martha’s brother that has just come from the USA and speaks good English.  That was a good surprise. 

I managed to get individual shots of their family before guests began arriving but never managed to get shots all of them as a group except at the beginning of the following video of the evening,

http://youtu.be/7WjYGIbS_-k

I finally got to meet Jorge’s eldest son and family, including the two grandsons.  Jorge and Martha were just so proud and happy to have everyone here.   They were so nervous and worried that the crowd was late in arriving but Martha’s brother reminded them that “Ecuador time” dictates a fashionably late arrival.  There were folks coming in as late as 10:30, well after the speeches and lunch were done.   I noted nobody was bringing gifts and wondered if I had missed a donation drop-off for the tiny envelope that was included in the invitation.

As suspected, I was the only white face in this crowd and was suitably proud that I had been considered enough of a friend to have been included, and to be seated prominently with the family.

The family speeches were emotional and heartfelt with the pride of Jorge and Martha clearly showing, and the humbleness and gratitude of Gabriela pouring forth as she struggled not to cry.

I was thoroughly impressed with the DJ once the music started as he had a ton of lovely instrumental music.  Martha’s brother’s oldest son was reluctant to dance at first, but when he got up he sure put on a hip-shaking show.  The music was mostly in the form of long 15-minute tracks of frenetic music and yet the tables were virtually empty and the dance floor was packed.   It was a good thing that they had anticipated this and allowed for a huge dance floor.  The Latinos love to party, and party they did!!   I am certain they would be continuing until daylight.

I quietly slipped out about 12:45 and collapsed in bed upon arrival.   I awoke about 3 hours later and began downloading the videos and photos, then catnapped another two hours while that process unfolded.  Then I began the YouTube upload and catnapped another two hours for that long process.

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

Wednesday August 8, 2012

Wednesday August 8/12 update

I have been so busy with photos, English school, and trying to organize a midnight tour to see the Perseid Meteor shower that I hope I don't forget about the Graduation Friday.   I finally found a lint roller at Coral because my pants were so disgusting with cat hair and lint.

I haven't heard from JD's in over 2 weeks and they have not responded to emails about the Perseid night excursion so I will be going with Miguel's brother as driver along with 3 other photogs.  I am just awaiting firm details from Miguel.    I can’t figure out how JD’s expects to gain a good reputation when they ignore good customers…  It just boggles my mind.

I took pictures at Joe's Secret Garden today in the sunshine and they are all portrait quality, they are that good!   There weren't very many people for burgers, maybe 20, but that made it even more relaxed and cozy.   

Linda Peddecord, Tom's wife, who helps us with the English class sent me a few photos from Monday and today.   See the attached.   I love the one where I am trying to look shocked at the kids to get a laugh.    It worked.

We presented the collage of the kids who attended the very first class and that will be installed on the wall of the “school”, hopefully before Friday’s class.

The boys are coping well with Bella’s absence so far as I am the only one they can cling to, so they spend most of their time on my bed now.

That was today’s excitement.   Please see all the rest of the photos at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com.  Hugs to all.

Would you learn anything from this man?

Chris, Al & Miguel leading the class on Monday

Presenting the Collage of the first class ever

Tuesday August 7, 2012

Tuesday August 7/12 update

The boys woke me up this morning so I decided I had better get cracking.   Yesterday Miguel had said he wanted a collage of all the kids at the first day, with their names, so they could put it on a wall in the classroom.  I hurriedly made up a center “banner” to go with 30 photos of the opening day of English school and saved it all to a memory stick.  With this in my pocket I headed downtown to arrive shortly after 9am at the Fuji store that did my last enlargement so well and reasonably.  I was sent upstairs to see this tiny gal who took only ½ hour to whip a collage that looks great, 40cm by 50cm.  This gal sure knew her way around PhotoShop!!   I then got it framed right there for $20.50 total.

I then dragged that with me to Kiwi, by the airport, to see if that salesman truly did get me a new humidifier for the same price or not.   I figured I had about a 10% shot of coming home with a new one, but surprise, surprise, they had it there for me!!!   And, it works really well!!!   Hey, I was two for two on the day already.

I managed to get home an hour before Rosa showed up to clean house.   Rosa had no idea that she had a namesake running the marathon for Ecuador in the Olympics….   How could she not know??   I showed her the information on the computer.   Her namesake, Rosa Chacha came in 83^rd,.and she is from Ambato, Ecuador.    She couldn’t believe it that nobody had mentioned it to her.

I left Rosa to work while I dug up my November receipt for the cheap office chair that broke on me last week.  It snapped a leg off so I had to shoot it.   I hauled its carcass to Gran Aki to see if there was any warranty on it.  My day had been going pretty good so far so I was hopeful, but no soap this time.   I had to cough up another $42 for another chair, which when discounted was still more than I paid for the original.  I thought of upgrading for ½ second until I saw that the other chair had exactly the same undercarriage.

So I hauled both chairs home (I’ll find a use for the old one), dumped them off and continued to Coopera to do some grocery shopping.   I loaded up Bella’s rolling basket to the brim with beans and veggies, filet mignon, pork tenderloin and sausages.  The total there was $38.19.  Now I am almost broke again.

I have heard from my honey again that she has made it safe, but tired, to her mother’s place in Victoria.

Tonight I try cooking Ecuadorian sausage.   Bella doesn’t care for sausages so it will be an adventure for me.

That was today’s excitement.   Enjoy the photo.  Hugs to all.

Collage for the new school celebrating the opening day

Monday August 6, 2012

Monday August 6/12 update

If you will recall, in my blog of August 3, I mentioned that Miguel Arias was wanting to set up an English class for the neighborhood kids.  Today was the “grand opening” and I was so afraid I was going to miss it with my queasiness, but by noon it had subsided so I thought I would take the chance.

I had to go by Coopera for some cash and their systems were down so I waited over ½ an hour to make a small withdrawal.  I honestly think the loans officer OK’d it under his signature because the systems were not running but they gave me my allowance anyway.

I caught the #16 to near Feria Libre and walked to Joe’s Secret Garden to drop off my memory stick with Saturday’s photos.  Then I went one more block over to Chris and Bettye’s where I chanced having some peanut butter and crackers, with no ill effects.   Bettye even made me a few to take with me (that was my supper too).   They are such good friends.

So Chris and I wandered across the river to Miguel’s parents’ place to see what progress was being made with the “classroom”.   Initially there were only about 5 plastic chairs but, as Miguel left to get Linda and Tom, other neighborhood fellows began arriving with a whiteboard, more chairs, and a couple of tables.    I kept the kids occupied by taking their individual photos.  Linda and Tom were supplying hot dogs and treats for this inaugural class so we didn’t know what to expect.  The wieners were uncooked so again the neighborhood brigade sprang into action, getting a small tabletop BBQ and running to get some coal.  It did not take long to get that heated up.   The whiteboard was hung on the wall and we were ready for business!   Miguel took Tom off to a dentist appointment so he was missing the inaugural event.

We ended up with 20 kids attending, so everyone had a hotdog or two, some pop and a treat.  Linda did a great job doing this for the kids, and with the help of the local ladies, it really went off without a hitch.

We had decided earlier that our approach for the first class would be just the simple introductory sentences.  Chris took the initiative and started with phrases like, Good morning, Hello, My name is, What is your name, How old are you, I am __ years old, etc.   We were blown away with how quick these kids caught these and how well they pronounced things.  You have to understand that their alphabet pronunciations are way different than English, like the H is silent, and a G is pronounced like an H.  They also have no grounding for things like a TH sound either, so teaching English is a challenge.   Then we started with the numbers 1 to 5, and the little buggers pulled a fast one and kept counting to 10!!  Gotta love the Cuencanos!   Even the adults, even as old as Miguel’s Dad, were participating and learning.

I had tried to get my Spanish teacher to help but she was leaving town, etc so Chris will try to contact his Spanish teacher for ideas, or referrals.  While we are all well-meaning, and this is a new experience, none of us are teachers, nor do we have any curriculum or any idea where to go with this.   With a varied age group of about 3 to 11 so far, it is like having the little red schoolhouse and trying to cope with several grade levels.  This made me think of the “To Sir With Love” line about “taking us from crayons to perfume”.  I just know we need some good direction to follow up on our good first day.

Miguel has indicated he now wants to run it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Chris and Linda felt that a one hour class is long enough to keep their attention.   I am going to defer to them on most issues because I am uncertain how much time I am able to devote.   As it is I have to miss Wednesday because of my commitment to Joe’s Secret Garden who has an afternoon BBQ.   Bear with me a while to get the photos up on the other blog.

One of the other pictures is a group washing clothes in the Tomebamba.   Note that the person in the lower center, with the pink shirt and hat, is really Michael Jackson, alive and well in Cuenca.

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

Saturday-Sunday August 4-5, 2012

Saturday August 4/12 update

We were up very early to catch a bus to join Chris, Bettye, Tom and Miguel for an excursion to the Yunguilla Valley.   Miguel and Chris had been invited to bring guests out to visit Judge Juan Gonzales and his lovely wife Nora for a tour of their farm and an almuerzo (lunch).  This valley is about 2,000 feet lower than Cuenca and very warm.  The farm is also in the shadow of an area of legend, where a meteorite has buried itself in a mountaintop.  We originally thought that a pointy peak was the meteorite itself, but it wasn’t until we were leaving, and could see the whole mountaintop, that it appeared the meteorite is really the whole center of the mountaintop, with two small mirror-image peaks at either end.  Now it makes more sense to us.

The Judge, affectionately called Juanito everywhere in Cuenca, is 77 years old and still working as the head judge in Cuenca, and this family farm is their weekend refuge.

With Miguel doing a lot of interpreting we had some great discussions about families and the local history, on which the Judge is an authority.  We quickly fell in love with this couple for their self-deprecating humor and easy style.   I told Juanito as we were leaving how much he reminded me of my wonderful father.

Their land is part of a family heritage of 360 acres nested high in the valley with rivers on either side.  They have ingenious irrigation systems, and even a fountain, fed by gravity alone.  They have multiple fruit trees, chickens, ducks, geese, cattle horses, and even peacocks.   Juan enjoyed taking a few photographs with my camera, that is why you will see some rare shots of myself.

We had an awesome day there with these wonderful people and they put out this huge lunch and the plates of food just kept on coming.  Comments were reinforced many times by Miguel that emptying your plate is considered good form.  As a result, I overate, got too much sun, so I have been queasy since leaving there.   Somehow Bella was the only one to suffer multiple insect bites.

The ride back was uncomfortable as Chris and I napped in the back.   I was just praying that I wasn’t going to upchuck all over Miguel’s van because he only had pop-out windows in the rear of his Hyundai van.  BTW, can you tell that I took the shot of me napping??

We made it back to Chis and Bettye’s where everyone freshened up to attend a lamb or beef rib supper at Joe’s Secret Garden.  If I hadn’t been contracted to take their photos this night I would have just gone home.  I felt so bloated and uncomfortable the whole time that all I could eat were some raw veggies and dip, and I shouldn’t have eaten even that.  Everyone else enjoyed their meals but I was so happy to get home and get comfortable in my own bed.

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

Sunday August 5/12 update

Today is a day I have not being looking forward to as my honey heads home to Canada for a whole 3 months.  I know I can look after myself and the boys but I do admit to feelings of panic, especially today.   I took her to the corner to catch a cab to the airport and barely made it home in time as my sickness manifested itself quickly and with little warning.

I was supposed to join Toronto photographer Glenn Specht on a walking tour of the city this morning to photograph old buildings but my overnight rumblings made me realize that that would have been a disaster unless there was a bathroom within 10 yards at all times.  I emailed him to cancel at 7:30 am and he was most gracious about my late cancellation having “been there, done that”.  The morning has since proven that my decision was the right one.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.