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.

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!

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.

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.

Here is the proof!

We start the day tomorow at 8:30am!  We will be distributing 300 wheel chairs in the morning!!!

It was so rewarding to be working with Rotarians from different clubs and also with Rotarians from Ecuador.  Hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, we unboxed, assembled and organized the chairs.

By the end of the afternoon, we were all hot, sweaty, dirty, tired and so happy!

The chairs come in different sizes ranging from 12″ to 20″.  I can still remember the how I felt when I unboxed my first 12″ chair.  It was so small.  I remember looking over to my friend Gary Trail and saying that “If you think it’s hard to see a chair for someone so small, wait until you put someone in it. ”  I call these heart-string chairs, because they really do pull at all your heart strings at once.

Here is a photo of a 12″ chair next to a 20″ chair.

We had completed all the chair assembly and clean up early so the bus took us back to the hotel for some well deserved R&R.  We went for a swim and a bite to eat and then back to our room.

The bus picks us up at 8pm to go to the Rotary meeting.  We found out that they normally don’t eat until 10.30pm, but that since we are used to eating much earlier they have moved the meal to 9pm.

I am really looking forward to going to the meeting.  I have been asked to make a presentation at the club on behalf of the team and those who know me, know that I love to speak about things I am passionate about!

Well I think that is more than enough for today!   I am off to enjoy a glass of rum before we head out.  (PS:  5 year old aged rum, $5.99 for a 26 ounce bottle at a store around the corner from the hotel!   )

Adios Amigos!

We were scheduled to be picked up by the bus at 8.30 (it was late, but we almost expected that). We had decided that it would be a good time to get a group photo.  You can see the 29 members of the team below.   Special thanks to Lynn Chant who is a professional photographer.  She got everyone posed and setup the entire shot.

And here are the lovely Timmins ladies waiting for the bus.

A great shot of Chris and I on the bus.

We work really hard on these trips, but it is all worth it.   Here is a shot of me really putting in a lot of extra effort.

PS:  I am sure its just a coincidence that the Miss Turismo Latin America competitors are staying at our hotel.

One of the most amazing things so far on this trip is that we have now run into two seperate Rotary teams that are also here doing great Rotary projects.   In our hotel, we have met Rotarians from a group of dentists and dental assistants that are here on a huge dental project.  They have about 30 people from Pensylvania, USA, some from Denmark and more from Brazil.   They are all working together to help the people of Ecuador!

While at the school today, we met a GSE team from San Diego, USA!    It just blows me away that in this one city, there are 3 great Rotary projects going on at the same time!

Unfortunately, there seemed to be some confusion about the restaurant we wanted to go to and they dropped us off at the wrong mall.   We decided to roll the dice, take our chances and we are sure glad we did!  The ambiance, food and service were all excellent!  If ever you are in Ecuador, we highly recommend El Fogon  (sorry, they don’t have a website to link)

We had contact numbers for our cabbie and he called 4 buddies and next thing you know we are back at our hotel safe and sound and ready for bed…. Until Gary suggested that we really should have a nightcap… but just one!

So now it’s around midnight and I won’t be uploading any pics tonight (sorry)!!!

But overall, it was a very relaxing day, a perfect way to get to know our home for the week.

Monday morning we will be visiting a school project that the local club has worked with for many years.  In the afternoon we will assemble around 300 wheelchairs and in the evening we will attend a Rotary meeting.    It will be  a long day, but we will get some downtime as well.

For all of you who have posted comments, a sincere thank you! Keep them coming!

Until next time, Adios Amigos!

There were about a dozen Rotarians and partners to greet us at the airport.   Everyone seems very friendly!

Our hotel seems ok.. the pool was closed for the night, but we plan to take dip in the AM.  When we landed, it was about 24C.

We were hungry so we went to the restaurant in the hotel.  I had a typical Ecuadorian dish that consisted of re-fried beans, rice, beef and deep friend plantains!   MMMM… very good and only $8.95 (they use US currency here).   We also tried the national beers and were very impressed.

Well, it’s late so I will keep it short for tonight!  Buenos Noches my Amigos!

Let’s look at this trip by the Numbers….

3

The number of team members from Timmins (Tonya,  Chris and myself)

7

Nights in Ecuador

10

Total Days away including Travel days.

29

Team members including Rotarians and in some cases their partners.

530

Wheel chairs to be handed out in our week’s visit.

The Itinerary

We will be arriving in Guayaquil and most of our time will be spent there.   We will also be doing trips to other communities, including a trip to Cuenca which is about 8200 ft above sea level.

We will fly to Toronto Friday November 6th and spend the night with our good friend Rajeeve.  We fly out from Toronto Saturday morning, but won’t arrive until around 11pm that night.

All team members on this project will pay for their own travel expenses.   The cost of the wheelchairs was raised by Rotary District 7010.  We purchase the chairs for a really good price from the Wheel Chair Foundation of Canada.

We are so looking forward to this trip, more details will be posted next week!