We arrived in Ambato Sunday, mid afternoon. We had a wonderful drive through beautiful countryside. Our driver was great as he shared information on the villages we were driving through and the history of this beautiful country. We stopped at a basket stand where we saw many varieties of baskets that were being woven, from bassinets, vegetable carriers to sewing baskets. We then stopped to view a huge dam, that unfortunately, due to the drought here in Ecuador, was almost empty. I did find something unique there. There was a family selling ceramic coffee mugs with your picture on it. They would take your picture with the beautiful mountains as the background. Of course, I had to do this, especially with a price of only $5.00 dollars. The picture of the Team turned out great and I now have a very special memorabilia of our trip to Ecuador.
Our driver got a little lost in the city, so we asked a policeman for directions to our destination. They were so gracious when they knew we were Rotarians and offered to escort us to our destination, the Hotel La Florida. We were greeted by our Ambato Rotary Club host families. We each received a beautiful bouquet of roses, courtesy of their Club. We all went to our homes for family dinners with our host families.
Monday morning we met at the Hotel La Florida for our cultural and sightseeing day. We were taken to see the beautiful mountainside villages and stopped at Baños and beyond. We drove through many dark tunnels that did not have electricity and were only one lane wide. I will leave our adventures and discoveries of the day to the Team to write about. That was a fun adventurous day that ended with dinner at our host families. Of course, right after dinner, 7:00 pm, the lights went out until 11:00 pm. I went to bed.
Tuesday morning we all met at the Hotel and were taken to the Rotary school that the Club supports. We arrived there at 9:00 am, and were picked up at 12:30 pm. The school is high, high in the mountains, in the middle of a farming community. It was a great vocational visit. We all split up into different classrooms and taught, observed and learned about the school and how Rotary has changed their lives for the better. Again, the Team will share their experiences with you. I enjoyed watching our Team in action, with Heather sharing her postcards from her students to them and having the children write back. They were very creative in their writing and drawings. Maddy brought a great story book about Stella Luna the Bat and had a bat puppet with her. The children loved listening to her read and answer questions about the story as they got to hold the puppet. Rachael and I helped the higher grade teacher teach a geography class on Ecuador. I drew the map of Ecuador with all the provinces on the board, and Heather filled in all of their names and the products they were famous for. Rachael got to grade the students on their drawings and spelling. Sherri, who was a little under the weather, helped the teacher with some math work and the primary grade teacher with some crafts. We were treated to some hot tea and empanadas, that were brought in by parents of the children. It was a great visit.
When we returned to our Hotel meeting point, we met up with DG Luis, and his wife Rosalia who were on their official Governor’s visit to Ambato. That night we were taken to dinner with all of our host families to a great restaurant called Raices (Roots). We saw hamburgers on the menu and of course we ordered one. Not a great choice, but tasty. It is so bizarre to arrive at a restaurant and all of a sudden the candles come out and the power is out for 3 hours. We all had a great dinner by candlelight. Right when we were to go home, the power came back. Driving seems a lot safer with traffic lights working.
Next morning all of us, GSE Team and DG Luis and local Club officers, drove to see their Water Hydroelectric plant Matching Grant project. It is amazing, again, high, high in the mountains, at about 2900 meters altitude. The grant is with a Rotary Club in Germany. The water plant generates electricity, that is sold by the community and leaves them a revenue of about $1,000, per month that is used for their village. It is a great project.
We then drove down the mountain a little to another small village that the Rotary Club supports their school. That was an amazing visit, with 90% of the population dressed in their indigenous attire, and not speaking Spanish, but their language of Quechua. We were greeted by all as royalty. We then visited the schools and that is where I decided to deliver the beautiful bracelets that Dale Barnes gave to me from Interact Club. The children loved them. Even the boys wanted some for their siblings. We then passed out stickers to all of the children and the 2003 Rotary pins that were given to us by Russell Hampton Company. Thank you again Russ for arranging this for us. I took great pictures. We then went to lunch at a beautiful park overlooking the city.
That night, there was a joint meeting with the Clubs of Ambato and Ambato Cosmopolita, at the Hotel. This was the official visit by DG Luis to both Clubs. It was a great dinner meeting. We got all dressed up in our blazer uniforms and gave our full Power Point presentation. They all loved it and were asking a lot of questions about San Diego and our District. DG Luis spoke very highly about our Team and mentioned all of the positive feedback he had received from all of the Clubs we had visited in his District. He congratulated us on all the events and schools that we had attended and the positive impact we had left behind. We all received some beautiful wool Rotary scarves as thank you gifts.
Next morning, I received a call asking me to let the GSE Team Teachers go and visit their schools and for me to join DG Luis for his morning activities. Of course I accepted and was honored with the invitation and joined him and Rosalia. We were taken to meet with the Mayor of Ambato. He happens to have gone to school in Los Angeles at Hollywood High and 1 year of college at USC. He has fond memories of that. He was very gracious. We then visited with the “Prefecto”, which is like the Chief County Supervisor/Officer. They were both very grateful to Rotary and all of the great work that is being done in their cities and communities. We were then met by the press outside City Hall and were interviewed both on TV and by newspapers. We than walked to the local newspaper a block away, for more interviews and pictures. Our next stop was to drive high, high in the mountains, again at about 2900 meters altitude, to a farming community where the local Club has a matching grant for the irrigation of their crops. We visited that and were then treated to a surprise lunch by the local families, of Cuy, potatoes and potato soup. We were not planning on the lunch and it was an honor to be hosted by them in a very small brick building where they shared their plans for the project. We were then off to another lunch with our GSE Team and the local Rotarians at the home of a Rotarian. I was glad that I had not eaten a lot earlier, since the food was delicious and a lot of it.
At 4:00 pm, our ride to Riobamba arrived and we were off. This again was a great visit, with wonderful Rotarians dedicated to “Dar de si, Antes de pensar en si” Service above Self.
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