Pallatanga-aah

(Check out more of our photos at Picasa)

Saturday morning promised a sunny weekend, set to unfold at the country ranch of District Governor Luis Villacres and his wife, Rosalia. Our team was joined by Secretary to the Governor Rafael Quintero and his wife Sara, along with GSE coordinator Hugo Klopfstein and his wife Susie. One could not ask for more generous hosts or better company for two days of rest and relaxation.

The hacienda consists of many patios, garden areas, and rooms to sleep at least 25 guests. We watched the sunset and chatted on the front porch before enjoying a fondue dinner made with cheese purchased fresh at a local stand earlier in the day.

Sunday morning, Rachael, Maddy and Heather walked to town to experience the weekly market. Hundreds of villagers travel hours to Pallatanga from surrounding mountain towns to buy fruits, meat, shoes, miracle homemade cures for headaches and foot fungus- everything a local family might need. We squeezed through the crowds, winding past huge freshly-slaughtered pigs (next to men swinging squealing piglets destined for a similar eventual fate) and bicycle carts with hundreds of recently-caught fish, eyes bulging with the rising heat. Fruits of every kind imaginable were spread out on blankets and makeshift stalls: babaco, uvillas, pitahaya, maracuya, naranjilla, taxo, grenadilla, and obitos. For a mere quarter, we purchased a 2-foot-long green bean pod. The vendor split it open for us, and inside were a dozen or so furry seeds, each the size of a skipping stone: we ate the sweet, cottony pulp and inexpertly spit out the seeds just like the locals.

A man walked by with a heavy sheepskin still dripping red along the edges; old women with black hats and bright skirts smiled near-toothless grins as we admired their wares. Children chewed contentedly on bits of fresh pork skin purchased from a snack cart, alongside a woman with long black braids scooping homemade ice cream from a burlap sack. This is no grocery store back in the United States! The market is alive with color, sound and smells; it is an experience to provide contrast and depth to shopping days at home, and one we'll not soon forget.

Marta in Pallatanga

I want to share with you about our relaxing weekend in Pallatanga. It is one of DG Luis Villacres retreats; a beautiful mountain home in the hills of Pallatanga. The view is spectacular, overlooking the mountains and valley. Our GSE group was joined by Luis and his wife Rosalia, Rotarian Rafael and his wife Sara and Rotarian Hugo and his wife Susie.

We arrived and all rested and enjoyed each others company letting the relaxation take hold. Rosalia, the ultimate hostess, then took me into town to get goodies for lunch and dinner. Everyone in the town knows her and Luis. They have owned the property for over 20 years, We had great conversations and Rotary fellowship. When it got a little chilly, Luis got his beautiful red poncho. I went to my bag and got my white poncho that I purchased in Loja at the Peruvian horse competition. I love this picture of us. I hope you enjoy it too.

Rosalia loves to knit, so Susie, Sara and Rosalia all showed Sherry and I how to knit scarves with our hands instead of needles or hooks. We both did quite well.

Later Saturday night Rosalia took us ladies for a drive around and took us to the place where they held the District RYLA camp. It is a beautiful lodge that houses around 100 guests. I can certainly imagine the fun that the students had there. It is still so amazing to me to be so far away from home and our Rotary world, yet it is exactly the same here. The passion and love for serving is the same, only in Spanish.

Sunday morning Susie and I went to church with Rosalia. The morning was so beautiful with clear, crisp cool air. Luis shared with me that he is hoping to start a Rotary Club in Pallatanga. He invited his first prospective member to visit with us and we talked to him about Rotary. I asked him if I could share one of our District pins with him. I got the OK from Luis and pinned him. It was a great afternoon. Tonight we are headed back to Guayaquil for our last week here in Ecuador.

Frio-bamba

One hour south of Ambato we make our way in a loaded van through the twisting hills to another city in the Andes; Riobamba.Lorena Rivera, a former GSE member from an Ecuadorian teacher team, accompanies us on the southern trek to her city, which she affectionately calls, “frio”bamba.We drove through the main part of town, which looked like a smaller version of Ambato. Numerous small businesses line the streets alongside colorfully and creatively painted homes and street vendors sell fruit, ice cream and packets of nuts and other indistinguishable bags of treats only brave foreigners may want to try.We park outside a church and make our way to the backside of the building.We are here to visit a recently completed Rotary project - an after-school day care facility.The children are patiently waiting for us, and when we arrive they greet us with songs and a dance. They have words of thanks and flowers for the money that Rotary has provided them for this after-school program.

Later that night we meet with the Rotary Club of Riobamba for introductions and dinner. It is Thanksgiving for the US, but for us it is just another day and we feast on langostino (lobster) and fillet mignon. Turkey and pumpkin pie are hard to yearn for with this incredibly tasty meal. Another late night, and our arrivals to our host family’s homes are at 11pm. Our next day consisted of vocational visits to three institutions. The first was a visit to the private school “Despertar” (escuela particular). An Australian woman who sought a more child-centered educational program similar to schools in her homeland established this school 15 years ago. Lorena’s daughter attends this program. It is the only school we have seen with soap, towels, and a private bathroom in each classroom. School tuition fees are about $200 monthly. Gardens, play equipment, and clean rooms grace the inviting atmosphere of this school. Our next stop is a visit to a school for the cognitively and physically challenged students from ages 5 to about 21. The goal is to give students life skills and some students receive vocational training in agriculture, sewing or carpentry. Psychologists and specialists in speech/physical therapy provide services for students alongside teachers and university students who are teachers in training. Over 300 students gathered in the gymnasium for a “Rumba-therapia” session and we joined in on the musical aerobics program. To end our visits for the day, we head to the school for the hearing impaired. This school serves about 80 students ranging from kinder to 18 years old. Four teenage students entertain us with a comical mime about preparing for a date and the trouble that arises when the boyfriend flirts with another girl. The program gives instruction in sign language. An important goal for Ecuadorian sign language is for the creation of national language signs. Many regions have their own signs for words and colloquialisms in their area. Students also learn skills such as welding, pottery, and crafts.

Our night ends with a celebration called a pena in the Hotel Cotopaxi. We are joined by more members of the Ecuadorian GSE San Diego group from 2004 which included Lorena, group leader Rafael (Heather and Rachael's host dad in Guayaquil) and 3 other teachers. They have been getting together twice a year every year since their return from the states. Two musical groups entertained us with regional Ecuadorian music. We were on our feet dancing long into the night. The dancing and party finally closed down at 2am. Tomorrow we head to the country mountain home of District Governor Luis Villacres and his family for the weekend before heading back to our starting point of Guayaquil.

A Message from the Rotarian: Ambato and a visit with the District Governor

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.

One Day In Baños

Our first day in Ambato started well, despite Sherryilynn feeling like she was on Death's doorstep and staying behind on our day of tourism. She decided to stay at the hotel and rest while the rest of us gathered in the morning and were met by our hosts for the day: Amabato Rotary Club President Fabian and Rotarian Guillermo. We traveled about one hour of of town to the lovely city of Banos which is perched on the slope of the active volcano for which the province is named, Tungurahua. Tungurahua means "throat of fire" in Quichua (Kitch-wa), the Incan language spoken by Ecuador's indigenous peoples. Besides offering the thrilling backdrop of a crater that occasinally spits smoke and fire, Tungurahua bestows high waterfalls, streaming thermal baths, dense jungly vegetation and deep river gorges that make a great playground for nature lovers and adventure seekers.

Despite Rachael's desire to bungee jump of a local bridge along with other tourisits, our group remained more nature lovers than adventure seekers. A quick stop at the Sugarcane Stalls on the edge of town is where we tried local treats such as chewable sugar cane, sugar cane juice, and sweets made of guava. Within the town, the ladies were treated to a local taffy called melchocha that is softened and blended by swinging it onto wooden peg, usually mounted in the doorways of shops. We then visited the Basilica of the Virgin Saint of Holy Water and were treated to the beautifully echoed songs of the parishioners.

From Banos, our crew headed towards the upper Amazon region along the La Ruta de las Cascadas (Highway of the Waterfalls) for about 10km. Our first nature loving event was at the beautiful Manto de La Novia waterfalls where we took the engine powered tarabita (cable car) about 500m across - and 100m above - the Pastaza river gorge.

We then headed up the road for about 30 minutes to the village of Rio Grande. From there we hiked downhill for about 20 minutes to get to the base of the Pailon del Diablo (Devil's Cauldron). Marta chose the less risky (and drier) view of the falls from the suspension bridge while Fabian, Maddy, Heather and Rachael crawled their way up the side of the mountain to get the views from beside and behind the falls.

After a quick stop for dinner, the tired adventurers headed back to Ambato to prepare to get back to work the next day.

A Message from the Rotarian: Part 2

Today is Saturday, 11-22-09. We just finished our second week visiting Ecuador. It has gone by so fast and has also been full of amazing activities.

In the past 2 weeks we have visited 11 Schools and medical facilites in Guayaquil, Cuenca, Loja and this week in Quito. All of the places we have visited, have been supported by the local Rotary Clubs. Each one has been unique and taught us so much about the teachers and students. In some we have been able to spend a lot of quality time with the students and teachers. In others, it has been listening to a presentation about the school´s mission and touring their facilities. That has been hard because we all would have enjoyed more quality time interacting with the teachers and students. Some of the locations are close to each other, while others require a lot of driving time. We usually travel in vans, with Rotarians as our guides. Like I mentioned earlier, the mandatory electric power outages statewide have affected some of our visits, both to schools and host families. You don’t realize how 4 hours of no electricity affects lives both professionally and personally. This has also affected our being able to update our blog for you. By the time we arrive home from our busy days, the power is usually out until 11 pm and then there is nothing to do other than sleep.

As the Rotarian in the group, it has been amazing to me to live the true meaning of Rotary. “Service above Self “is the credo here, as it is in our District in San Diego. As a Team, we have all been so fortunate to have met wonderful Rotarian families that have hosted us. They have taken care of us as if we were their family. Each one of us has been fortunate to stay in separate homes and had unique experiences with each of them.

This week was pretty full. Our days began at 8:30 AM, at the Hotel Sebastian, our meeting point. We would go out on our visits and return to the Hotel for a 1 to 2 hour rest then change into our blazer uniform and then be off to our night Club meetings. We visited the first 3 Quito Clubs´meetings 3 nights in a row. Their meetings start at 7:30 pm with fellowship, then the actual meeting starts at 8:00 pm, and dinner in served while the meeting progresses. Each night, we were all home at our host families no earlier than 10:30 pm. This made for long days. Thursday was special since we finished our vocational work early, were able to visit the ¨Medio de Mundo¨and then got home earily so that we could spend time with our families.

Today, Saturday, was a very special day. We were picked up at 8:30 AM, by the Rotary Club Quito Valle Interoceanico. We were joined by 6 Rotary Youth Exchange students from all over the world. I was surprised to find out that the District here has over 120 Youth Exchange students throughout Ecuador. So far we have met 8 of them. We drove about 1 hour up the mountains to the beautiful community of Nono. It is a small village of about 2000 people that is strongly supported by Rotary. We spent the whole day there which we started with a breakfast Rotary meeting. We gave our Power Point presentation which everyone enjoyed. We then toured their new cheese making factory, organic gardening project, community craft center that the local women are supporting by selling hand knit products and attended a presentation by the local High School. The Rotary Club helped build the school and has supported them since with equipment and sharing in the payment of the salaries of the teachers. One of the fun things the Club members and our GSE team did was plant some trees in the local park. Our Team got to plant an Oak tree and they made us promise to come and visit anytime we are in Ecuador. Rotary has had a huge impact on this farming community. The locals are very grateful for the help and are caring for everything that has been done here. They even have a local band that played for us today during the student presentation.

This week we were also interviewed by Rotarian Rosalia Arteaga for her TV show ¨Cara a Cara con Rosalia¨ which is set to air in a few weeks. We also did an interview for the countrywide newspaper ¨Hoy¨ which should be printing tomorrow. We are off tomorrow morning to Ambato. We will be greeted by District Governor Luis Villacres, as he will be making his official visit to both Ambato and Riobamba Rotary Clubs, where we will be visiting later this week.

By the way, the big hit has been our District pins and the District Calendars. I have been presenting one to each Club President and everyone really enjoys having a part of San Diego to look at every single month. Thank you again Escondido Club for this great project.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

So, Friday was the team´s first "free" day of the trip, and we each had great plans on how we'd like to spend it. Maddy took the opportunity to spend the day with family, visiting her cousin Petit's house during the day, visiting with her 93 year-old aunt, and then going to dinner and the symphony with another cousin, Lupe. Sherrilyn, meanwhile, relaxed at the hotel, checked out a local artisans' market, and enjoyed pizza at a small Italian restaurant nearby. Rachael, Marta and Heather decided to visit the Otavalo market and other small towns in that area. This is where their adventure beings. Gather around while they tell their tale...

On the 2 hour drive to Otavalo, we passed people setting up food stands alongside the rural highway; our driver explained that Nov 20/21 is the day for the Virgin of Quinche. Thousands of people make a pilgrimage from all around, walking for hours to go to the church's masses, which begin at 2 am and are repeated hourly throughout the night. "How quaint," we thought. (Hope you´re sensing the foreshadowing.)

We cruise through Otavalo, finding a few special treasures, and then follow up the market with lunch on Lago San Pablo , and a visit to a volcanic crater lake, Laguna de Cuicocha, up above 10,000 feet. After passing through Cotacachi, famous for its leather work, and San Antonio, known for woodworking, we start our journey home. When we are about an hour from Quito, traffic comes to a standstill. Apparently, the road is blocked in both directions to allow the people making their pilgrimages to walk to Quinche. No problem, says Edgar, our driver: there´s another road to Quito, we just have to backtrack a bit. An hour later (now about 7:30 pm and quite dark), we are happily cruising along the new highway when, you guessed it: brake lights ahead. Apparently, this highway too is completely closed down for the pilgrims. The policeman politely informs us that, in fact, all roads to Quito are blocked. Not to worry, though- we can get through as soon as they reopen... AT 4 A.M.!!!

By some miracle, Edgar is able to maneuver us out of the jam of buses, trucks, and cars, and we wind our way back to a place called Cayambe, which probably means "stretch of ten buildings sitting on 2-lane highway." Luckily, there happens to be a hotel there, the less-than-appropriately named "Gran Columbia International" or something like that painted on the concrete block wall out front. We are given the last 2 rooms; having no advance reservations means we are forced to pay the top rack rate of $13 per room. (Luckily Edgar is able to impose upon a long-lost brother of a sister-in-law; he said they were just a little surprised to see him!) There is no power in the town, though the liquor store across the street has a generator going and a nice crowd is gathering. So we are led by candlelight up several flights of stairs to the tiny rooms - they are unable to locate a key for one room, but use the master key to get us in. Since we don´t plan on going anywhere before 4 am anyway, there´s a chain on the door, and since we really have no other options, we nod and shut the door. Marta decides to go straight to bed (around 830) since there is nothing else to do. The room Rachael and Heather are in has twin beds that have extra-firm (read: rock-solid) cot mattresses with concrete pillows. The place is clean though and we had managed to pick up a bottle of Chilean wine while we were checking in downstairs so we decide to have a few copas and enjoy at least that. We receive a call on Marta´s cell phone and it´s our Rotary host for the next day, making sure we are okay. When we explain that we´ll be getting on the road before dawn to try to get back to Quito by 6:30 am, he says, "That´s great, so you´ll be here in time to leave for our 8:30 am day-long trip to a rural school!" Okay, maybe not his exact words, but we knew there would be no hall pass given for tomorrow's activity. So we brush our teeth with sugarless gum, wash our faces with antibacterial hand wipes, and lie down for a few hours rest.

Back on the road in the dark of morning, we pass a few devoted stragglers as we close in on Quinche. Church in sight, we're not sure whether to cross ourselves and be thankful for safe passage home- finally!- or dare this particular Virgin to try to slow us down again. To be on the safe side, we opt for the former. We arrive at our Hotel Sebastian and fall into the cloud-like beds for a blissful 20 full minutes of slumber.

After this brief recharge, we head to Nono, a pueblo high in the hills above Quito which was once a dying town with few resourses. School here ended at 8th grade, and many families were forced to leave to find work and education. Now the Rotary InterOceanan Group (with help from Swiss Rotary groups) has stepped in and built a high school and set up a cheese-making factory. They teach organic gardening, provide craft classes for the children, and have started a community band. They have provided hope for the people of this area, and we were amazed to see the way the town has been transformed. Community members generously provided us with a typical lunch of fried pork, corn on the cob, potatoes, habas (akin to lima beans), and delicious local cheese. A wonderful day, and despite our tiredness we were glad not to have missed getting to know this special place. On the drive back to Quito, Rachael and Heather delicately fell back asleep; please do not believe any tales of blackmail-worthy photos of Heather snoozing against the window, mouth agape. Tomorrow we head off to Ambato, where more adventures await...