Are We There Yet? Travel Log

Thursday, April 24, 2008 Not much to report from the last three days. We have spent our time in classes, at the beach and just generally hanging out. I would call the next bit of stuff random musings. Just in the last few days I have noticed that I am really starting to think in Spanish. When the kids talk I translate it into Spanish sentences and repeat them aloud. I think if I had more time here I could really get a good handle on the language, but then again I would probably go crazy from lack of clean clothes, a good night’s sleep and a soft bed. Tate has made a new group of friends. They are kids that live around our school so he and Joshua (Freddy and Raquel’s son, age 7) can play and I can be in our room doing stuff. I like that better. Cora played with them all last night but there are no girls and I think she got bored with the boy play. As I am sure you can imagine, they all have stick guns and are running around shooting each other. The fact that they can do that fo

Apparently I forgot to put what I typed up the past few days on the flash drive so a real post will have to wait for tomorrow. I did want everyone to know we are alive and well, however, and are starting to gear up for the trip home this weekend. I am sitting in a puddle of sweat right now so I think I will log off and go jump in the ocean across the street. Hasta Luego!

Saturday, April 19, 2008 Happy Birthday Kathy! I am pretty sure this will come to you a day or two late but that seems to be the best we can do here. Steve left yesterday and it was hard for all of us. We talked to him today while he waited for his plane from Miami to St. Louis and he said his trip from Puerto Lopez to Guayaquail to Miami went well. We have to do the exact same trip next Friday and Saturday so I was curious. The only stress is the four hour bus ride that does not stop for bathroom breaks. I am going to have to learn the phrase, “Cora is going to pee on the bus if you do not stop,” by next week. The kids and I went to an Ecolodge called Hotel Alandaluz today. It is about 15 minutes from Puerto Lopez and Tito took us in his truck. Every time I see Tito it costs me $10. Anyway, it is a hotel/resort that is committed to ecological preservation. Everything is composted and the food is all organic. I expected to pay $5 to $10 a person to be able to use the pool and

April 17, 2008 Steve took writing duty today: We took the day off yesterday and spent some time just relaxing and running errands, el banco, el bus terminad, and lunch at the Whale café which is owned by an American couple. Michelle and Cora had pancakes and Tate had sausage and eggs. I had a steak sandwich and no one had any rice. After that we tried to have a siesta which is hard to do in a town of 8000 people, 4000 dogs and 2000 motorcycles. We actually studied quite a bit on Wednesday and then headed down to the internet café/beach for the nightly round of email checking and futbol en le playa. On Thursday after class we packed up lunch and went to Los Frailes beach. It’s part of the national park system. The beach was really nice and we were the only people there. The waves were pretty big and there was a very strong undertow. We all swam naked in the ocean. Except for Tate, he was having a wizard battle of some sort with the ocean itself. When we got back it took about an hour to

April 15, 2008 I am really enjoying my new Spanish teacher. We have a lot in common and spend a lot of time talking instead of doing actual lessons. It is still good because it is helping my comprehension but I am not learning as many verbs as Steve is. After class today we had our fishing trip with Winston Churchill and his gang. It was him, an amigo of his piloting the boat and three of his kids. The boat was a lot smaller than the one we took to Isla de la Plata but still held the crew, the four of us and a young couple from New Zealand. We started off snorkeling and did not see much. We then went out of the bay to fish and did not catch much at all. I began to worry that it was going to be a disappointing trip. They moved the boat again and I hooked something so large that it broke the line. I think it was a shark.  They moved the boat one more time and we had success there. We caught several blowfish. The boat pilot knew how to stoke their stomachs so that they blew

Friday, April 11, 2008 Friday was our last day in Quito and it was a bit sad for everyone. It was hard to say goodbye to our teachers and friends we have made there. I would not say we were sorry to leave the home we were staying in (it got a bit stifling in the end, the kids had to be so quiet all the time and there were a lot of rules) but we will miss the people who were there. Not much else to report. We had classes in the morning, spent the afternoon packing and did a walk in the neighborhood one last time. We bought dessert for every one for our last dinner and Paul, Jamie, Steve and I had a good chat before going to bed. Saturday, April 12, 2008 We left Quito this morning and have entered a whole new world and it is fantastic! As cold and rainy and busy and chaotic as Quito was, Puerto Lopez is just the opposite. We are wearing shorts and t-shirts and sandals, we spent the afternoon at the beach (three blocks from our cabanas at the school) and have walked the whole town

I just posted a short deal and it did not go through. We are having technology trouble here and it is getting frustrating. Hopefully all will be worked out before too long. Sorry.

Monday, April 14, 2008 We are at the internet cafe but the Windows versions are not compatable. I cannot bring anything from my computer to the one at the cafe. At least not yet. Steve has another idea, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. Sorry folks. Technology can be a great thing and can also be a huge pain in the hiney.

Friday, April 11, 2008 I forgot to post this yesterday so you two days worth today. I don’t know what kind of internet access we will have in Puerto Lopez so you may not hear from us again until Monday or Tuesday Wednesday: We had a typical day of Spanish classes so I won’t bore you with those details. In the afternoon we went to Casa Gabriel which is a home for former street boys. It is run by Phil Douce from Columbia, MO. We connected with him through Dr. Ellis Ingram, the head of the pathology dept at University Hospital. My mother-in-law Kathy works with him. I did not know he was from Columbia until we met today and we knew some of the same people. Many of you reading this contributed items for us to take to the school. We were able to fill 4 large duffel bags and a big suitcase with stuff and it was all greatly appreciated. The home was a great place to see. The boys range in age from 10 to 16 and all have committed to changing their lives for the better. They all have

The last two days of Spanish classes have been hard for me. There is so much to remember when it comes to putting sentences together. Is the subject masculine or feminine? Is the adjective one that changes or is permanent? You have to carry the plural form all the way through the sentence. As long as I can write what I want to say I do fine, when I have to put it into conversation I struggle. We were talking about that last night at dinner. Steve and I have to get past the fear of looking like a fool when talking. It is clouding our ability to speak in Spanish. In school we can only speak in Spanish so I have not heard my teacher, Nancy, speak in English. She takes English lessons in the afternoons so I knew she was learning. Yesterday I took her to lunch so she could practice. That was a lesson in itself for me. It was hard to understand her English (which means she has a hard time understanding my Spanish!) and her speech was very slow and painstaking. A lot like mine.

Sorry, but I did not get time to write last night. I had a hard day of Spanish and really needed to study. One cool thing we did was climb to the top bell tower of the basillica here in Quito. This is Ecuador, so the ladders were on the outside of the church and it was certainly a hair raising experience. I have some pictures that will freak everyone out at home. Liability? Pshaw!!!

Friday, April 4th It is 9pm and I am so tired I don’t know how I am going to write this, but we had amazingly full day and I don’t want to forget any of it. Also, it did not rain all day! That is amazing in its own right. Instead of school in our classroom we took a field trip to Colonial Quito today. We took the trolly with our teachers and walked around. I do feel like it was a waste of Spanish lessons because I had to spend time dealing with my kids, but I can see how that would be a great experience one on one with a teacher. I look forward to going back and looking around some more. After class time was over the kids and I took the TeleferiQo to the top of the Pinchincha Mountain. The TeleferiQo is cable cars that climb an impossibly steep mountain. The day was clear so we could see all of Quito. It was good to get that perspective because I could really tell how the city was nestled in the valleys. Also how huge it was. We have only been in a tiny part of it this week!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008 Today was a better day. Much, much better. We got to school on time. It did not rain ALL day. I got an internet cable that worked. The classes were just as hard but at least we knew what to expect. The large amount of rain has caused several mudslides in Quito and Ecuador in general. They closed the public schools here for 48 hours because the mudslides have caused traffic problems. Now it is not possible to take a bus to Manta and then onto Puerto Lopez anymore, we have to fly to Manta. We were planning on that anyway but because that is the only way now they raised the price of the flights. It is still less than I budgeted so I am happy but apparently to everyone around here that price is crazy. I read in books that there are Ecuadorian prices and there are Gringa prices so that is what I was planning for anyway. Wednesday, April 2, 2008 Last night I got too tired to write. It ended up as just drivel so I quit and went to bed. I did sleep most of the night whi

I have internet access! The Spanish school has wireless internet but I was not able to connect for some unknown reason. Today I bought an Ethernet cable and all is well now. So, here come the posts I have been writing for the last three days but have been unable to send. We are here, all are well and things are great! We got up at 4am to get to the airport by 5 for our 6:50 flight. I bought us a one day pass to the Admirals Club, which is the private lounge for American Airlines. It cost $50 (the kids were free) and was worth every penny today. It was nice to go into a calmer, quieter area during the five hour layover in Miami. No blaring loudspeaker messages, comfy chairs, and they had juice and snacks which kept the kids happy. Because of the snacks I did not have to spend $20 on airport lunch, so really, the lounge only cost $30. A bargain! I don’t think I would do it if it was just me, but with the kids it was a real lifesaver. One bad thing: Their internet was down in t

O.k. That last post was really just a test as I was setting things up. Now the real, good stuff begins. Where to next? My kids and I are on our way to Ecuador for a month of Spanish language school. Steve will be joining us the middle two weeks of our adventure. I will answer each question in turn. Why spanish school? We don't know any spanish. Actually hablo Espaniol en poco. Muy poco. (The people who know spanish and are reading this are probably laughing.) Tate and I went to Honduras two years ago and I figured we would be able to get by because lots of people speak English. It is pretty much a universal language, right? Wrong! I could not function and felt very detached from the people and culture I was learning about. (The same thing happened in France but that was o.k. The French did not want to talk to me anyway.) We got separated from the fluent Spanish speaker we were with and I nearly had a meltdown. I coped by going into a Wendy's (yes, they have Wendy

I have always admired people who have these cool blogs. Actually, I think I have admired they time they have to set them up. Little did I realize that it was so easy. Not that anyone has dropped in my estimation. Now I just feel that this part of life is no longer a mystery to me. I wonder what will move into that spot? Hang gliding? For the next month my family and I will be in Ecuador attending Spanish school. I have spent the last few weeks planning and packing and arranging and we finally leave today. Why am I staring a blog now??! I was awake at 4am and have time to kill. Enough of this intro. It is boring anyway.