Nov
16
We arrived home safetly today around noon. We were greeted by Chris’s Mom and daughter Katy. It was so nice to get nice big hugs! Sis Megs made it just as we were about to leave too! Lynda had subs ready for us and so we headed back to our place to catch up a bit!
Thanks to everyone for their continued support and encouragement! this trip was an amazing experience and I look forward to sharing more pics and stories!
Nov
15
On Saturday, we were free to do as we pleased until 4.30pm when we would have a final meeting to debrief and talk about how we could improve future distributions.
Tonya, Chris and I had decided that we would use this time to do some sightseing and shopping.
One of the places we wanted to visit is called “Santa Ana”. It is a huge hill with lots of art shops and restaurants along the way. One of the more unique characteristics is that they have numbered the stairs.
One thing we noticed throughout the week was that Ecuadorians were not shy of doing hard work. Case in point, this working moving crates of bottles.
We saw a lot of nice sites on our walkabout, so here are a few of them:
Being a port of call, there are a lot of nautical and pirate themed things to see. One area had a many displays about cannons and pirate ships. There was even restaurant that was built to look like a pirate ship.
Eventually, we reached the top of Santa Ana! Step 444!
Here are a few pics from the top! These were taken in sequence starting with the Malecon boardwalk, then downtown, and then a poorer neibourghood. If you were to drive from left to right, it would not take you more than 10 minutes. It’s hard to see such richness close to such poverty, but it seems to be very common in developping nations.
After Santa Ana, we visited a huge local market with lots of arts and crafts for sale.
Our last evening of the trip was aboard an official Ecuadorian Navy training vessell. They “Guyas” is a training sail ship with a compliment of 15 officers and 150 sailors. It made for an absolutely beautiful setting to spend our last night saying goodbye to our new friends.
Our club was well represented:
On the day we visited the schools, our team was chaufered by our friend Gonzalo. We found an engraving shop around the hotel, so we had one made with “#1 Chauffer” written on it. Here is our team presenting it to him and his wife.
On our trip, we actually had 5 Assistant Governors from our District. We thought we should get a photo to show DG Richard that we were hard at work representing our district team!
I had brought a Canadian flag for display at our wheel chair distributions. At the end of the night, I presented to the flag to our Ecuadorian project lead (Octavio, on the left) and Jaime, the club president. Octavio was translating my comments that by giving their club the flag, it was a symbol of our friendship and the hope to work together again in the future.
At one point, the Rotarian’s wives presented each woman on the team a beautiful bracelet and scarf. The guys were presented with a shot glass.
We were given the chance to go on a tour of the ship. After the tour, the ladies saw some of the crew hanging out and of course, we had to get a photo!
As I write this post, I am sitting in Miami airport waiting for our flight to Toronto. Although the trip is all but over, I do plan on posting a couple more times with more pictures. There is only so much I could do while on the trip!
I am also reflecting more on this trip and trying to deal with some of the things I have seen today. At the duty free shop, I found a great deal on a bottle of Remy Martin XO…. and then I realized that for the $120 I would spend on this bottle, I could send a child to school for an entire year. A year that could forever improve a child’s life. In the past, I would think nothing of spending that kind of money on something I really enjoyed, and it’s not like I plan on living like a monk, but I do see things differently after this experience.
This trip has reminded me of some of the life changing decisions I made when I returned from El Salvador last year. It seems that an annual tip like this helps to keep me grounded and in touch with what is really important in life.
Today is also a very important day in my life. It was a year ago today that Christina and I started dating. It ahs been a very busy year, and yet it seems to have gone so quickly. I am one very very lucky man!
To all my friends at home, see you soon! To all the friends I left behind in Ecuador, I will not say good bye, but rather, Until we meet again.
Nov
15
It took us a week, but Friday evening we finally had a chance to check out some Ecuador wildlife. Now I bet you are looking to see some cute and furry animals, but that is only the case when I am in the picture because I am talking about a different type of nightlife!
If you read my last post, you already know that Friday was a very long day. However, we wanted to check out some Nightlife. During the pirate ship cruise on Chris’s birthday our Rotarian friend Gonzalo introduced me to his son (also named Gonzolo) and his girlfriend Denisse. They had offered to take us out to a club and of course, we took them up on the offer.
At home, people tend not to go out till around 11pm. We were told that people usually wait until midnight to go out, but that the bars were normally opened until 6am.
One of the things that I haven’t mentioned is that Ecuador is currently in the middle of a very severe drought. The major consequence of this has been that most of their power is generated by water damms and consequently they currently have scheduled power outages throughout the day. This has forced many bars to close early since they don’t have power from midnight to 6am. The club we were going to had their own generator, so we were good to go!
Here is our group:
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From Left to Right: Tonya, Conzalo, Denisse, Marc, Chris and Kiersten.
It was a really nice place and I really liked the music. It was a mix of newer dance tunes and a lot of older ones as well. At one point a local band came on and belted out some great tunes from U2 and other great bands.
Due to the power outtages, the bar had to close early. We left the club around 3:30am Here is a pic of our lovely Timmins Ladies and one of the bouncers.
We were dead tired, and really wishing that there was a London Cafe around the corner! The 24h restaurant at the hotel would just have to do!
We were really happy that Saturday was a free day and we didn’t have to meet up wiht the group until 4:30pm!
Nov
14
Thursday turned out to be a tourist day! We started the day off at 9am with a city bus tour of Cuenca. The local Rotarians hired a professional tour guide and we did a 4 hour tour.
The tour started with a hat factory tour. Did you know that the original “panama style hat” is actually from Ecuador? It is actually a very facinating bit of history. You can get the gist of it here.
The hats are all hand woven and the finer the weave, the more expensive the hat. Prices start at $15 (for a hat that takes 2 days for 1 person to weave) and go up to $900 (for a hat that would take up to a year to weave).
At one point in the process, they have to let the hats dry outside in the sun. We joked that it looked like a hat farm!
We then visited a church and a museum. The architecture is really quite facinating with a really ecclectic mix of French, Spanish and Aribian. All mixed up, they call it “Cuenca Style”.
At the museum, Chris found a table and chairs that must have been built by one of her long lost Amazonian relatives.
She was a little upset that there was a sign saying that she was not aloud to sit on it.
It would take too long to describe the rest of the tour, so I will just share a few images from the day.
We start with a local women carrying her baby on her back.
One of the oldest churches in Cuenca. And yes, for those wondering, I went into a church and did not burst into flames. I am sure many of you just lost a bet 
An old government building.
Local women selling fruit on the sidewalk.
After the tour it was lunch, a bit of free time and then the drive back to Guayaquil.
I didn’t take any pics on the drive as I wanted to relax a bit. If we could havel stopped, I would have taken a picture that could only be described as heavenly. We are decending down the mountain and all of a sudden you can see the sun shining through some clouds, reflecting on fog that was rising from the valey beneath. It looked like we were floating in between two levels of clouds. Next to looking at Chris, I don’t think I have ever seen anything so beautiful in my life. Due to the low light, I knew that I could never take a picture that would do the scene justice, so I decided to just sit back and reflec on the beauty around me.
This country has beautiful cities, flowers and mountains. But their most beautiful resource is their people. Everyone has treated us with the utmost kindness, gratitude and hospitality. I would recomend a visit to Ecuador to anyone and I also hope to come back some day for a longer visit.
After basking in the warm glow of the setting sun, it came to me that we would eventually have to drive down into the fog below that for now was just a blanket of solace. All I can say is that the drivers here are very skilled and would put any driver in North America to shame!
We arrived back at our hotel, safe and sound around 8pm. We had a message waiting from our new friends Gonzolo and Denisse saying they would pick us up at 10:30 to go dancing. But alas my friends, that is another story that will be posted later!
Thanks to everyone who is following our adventures! We really appreciate to all the comments you have posted, please keep them comming!
PS: A parting photo for those who read through all of this! Cuenca is located in a valley. They took us up on one end of town for a spectacular view of the city.
Nov
14
I’m starting to catch up a bit!!!
Thursday we had to leave the hotel by 6am to head to Cuenca. It is only 260km, but its all uphill on roads with very sharp corners. We were told it would take about 6 hours, and with a couple stops, it did.
The view was so beautiful. I took 500 pics on the bus ride alone, so it will take some time before I sort through them and post them.
We arrived and had a wonderful lunch of all typical Cuencan food. We then visited the Rotary clubs building where other team members were just about done the day’s wheelchair distribution.
We all loaded up on a bus and found out that the President of one of the local Rotary clubs had arranged to give us a tour of his business. It turns out, the business is the San Miguel Rum factory. We walked in and he started to give us a brief history of the company. When I saw the view below, I could swear I heard Angels singing.
Have you ever wondered what a 5000L keg of rum looks like?
Now you will never have to ask yourself that question again!
At the end of the tour, our host presented us each with a bottle of rum. Pre-mised Mohitos for the ladies and San Miguel 5 year old rum for the men. He also gave the group one bottle of San Miguel “Black that he asked us to share at the hotel that night.
After the rum factory, it was back to the hotel for some R&R before we went out for supper. One of the local Rotarian’s wives had arranged for us to go to a restaurant that served typical Cuenca food. It turns out it was almost exactly the same as what we had for lunch, but it so good we did not mind at all!
We were introduced to a warm drink called Canelazo. It is a mix of hot water, a local sugar cane distilled alcohol, lemon and sugar. They serve it from a huge tea pot, and they told us that it is bad luck to leave the restaurant unless the pot is empty. The waiter just kept going around all meal refilling everyone’s glasses. I don’t have an exact count, but I know I had about a dozen of these little 2 oz pours.
We will definetly try to make these when we get home!
So it was a bit of a long day, but a great day!
Nov
13
All I can say is wow…. I will spend a few hours going through my thoughts and memories, during our trip home. My friends and family, I am in awe of the country – the beauty, the open arms and the amazing Equadorian specialties. At the same time, I am on the brink of tears daily when I see the wide disconnect between the Haves and the Have Nots – thank God for the wealthy Rotarians that we have been working with who use a large chunk of their funds, time and love to make things better. We have made good friends, seen many projects that will be in the back of my mind forever…… Talk soon!!!
OH – and thank you to all for the Birthday Wishes!! I was treated like a queen all day – I think they even named an national holiday! lol
Nov
13
This morning our teams were split up. Our team of 11 people stayed in Guayaquil and the remainder of the team headed to Cuenca. We will join them there on Thursday.
We started our day off at 8am. Three local Rotarians picked us up in their cars and we travelled to some more remote areas to visit some school projects that their club has been working on.
Anyone who complains about our Canadian school system needs to come and visit any one of the public school in Ecuador.
We visited 5 different schools. The “nicest” ones were those where Rotarians had already competed successful projects and some of them even had computer labs with brand new Dell computers.
The poorest of the schools were no more than buildings with worn out desks. Students were sitting so close together.
The really amazing thing is that these kids were so happy. They played in the school yard, participated in class and felt privileged to be able to attend school.
The Rotarians were very proud to show us the plans they had to expand one small school. At present it has 3 classrooms. Rotarians here seem very good at partnering with other organizations, especially with the various church groups who will often run the school and be responsible for the education in the schools. The Rotarians own the land and the buildings and pay for part of the operating costs of the schools.
The Rotary club also sells scholarships to send more children to school. The cost to send a student to school is about 8$US per MONTH! Think about it…. That is about what the average Canadian spends at Tim Horton’s in a week!
We also visited an entire community that has been built by a partnership between the city and 5 of the local Rotary clubs. They took an area that was swamp land, filled it in and built concrete buildings. They basically have 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and a very small kitchen /living room area.
Let’s just say that today was going to be another really heart heavy day.
For lunch, we were taken to a private tennis club where the President of our host club was a member. The Seviche de Cameron (shrimp) was to die for!
This place would be considered opulent in any city in Canada. It was difficult to see such a contrast between the total poverty to the total luxuriousness
After lunch, we were to distribute another 40 wheel chairs in a nearby village. Everything went really well and a good time was had by all.
I am still trying to deal with some of the things I have seen on this trip. It’s a beautiful place, the people are kinds and happy. The scenery is breathtaking. And yet, there is poverty at a scale that no one back home can relate to. Even after seeing it with my own eyes, it’s hard to comprehend.
For now, I will leave you with another image that just took a piece of my heart.
Nov
11
After a long but rewarding day, we were scheduled to go on a Pirate Ship cruise. What Chris did not realize at the time was that I had arranged to have a birthday cake brought aboard!
Here is a group shot of all of us on the bow of the ship!
After the cruise, we went for supper at this little place in the oldest part of the city. It is up on the Santa Ana mountain, and we had to walk up an ancient coblestone path to get to the restaurant. It had an amazing view of the river and the most amazing atmosphere.
One of the surprises the team (thanks Dawn) planned for Chris was a pinata. Since we could not do it on the boat, we decided this restaurant would do.
When I asked our Ecuadorian hosts for a recomendation on what to try, they mentioned that “Secco de Chivo” was a local specialty. Being game for everything, I happily ordered the “Goat cooked in beer and spices”.
Eventually, the owner of the restaurant, Arthuro, came by to welcome us to Ecuador. The restaurant had live music all night and it turns out that Arturo is a singer. When he found out it was Chris’ birthday, he serenated her! We then sang her happy bday for the second time this night (in English and Spanish).
He also made sure she had a birthday cake (and if your counting, yes, that’s #2 as well)
Much laughing and dancing was had by all. The view from this restaurant was so amazing, so I just could not resist setting up a shot of Chris and I. I think it was a great way to end the evening.
I am still a day behind on the blog, but it’s all I have time for tonight… Adios Amigos!
Nov
11
I would like to say that I am sorry that I have not posted much on the blog on the last couple days, but the fact of the matter is that we have been too busy and having too much fun for me to even think about the blog.
Yesterday was our first scheduled distribution. We had previously assembled 300 chairs and in the morning we were to hand them all out. Here is a pic with about 3/4 of the wheelchairs.
Unfortunately, things dont’ always go as planned and the distribution was a bit chaotic. As good Canadians we just went with the flow.
The day was quite the emotional roller coaster ride. Although we were feeling good about all the people we were helping, it was obvious that so much more is needed here. The best way I could describe it was that the day was very heavy on my heart. I’m still processing all my feelings about it, so I will leave it at that for now.
Here are a few pics of the day.
Christina helping someone get into the Coliseum.
The recipients and their families patienly waiting for their chairs. The Navy band at the back played music for us too!
Dawn giving a chair to a little girl who we suspect had Downs or some similar disease.
Another happy recipient.
Nov
11
We had a really amazing day, and since this is the first time I have had to post and its already after midnight, I only really have enough time to say we had a blast! Today’s activities really do deserve a longer post and some pics, but I will write something as soon as I can.