Wrappin' up

Another good stretch of time since the last post and I have to admit that this keeping up the blog is not easy with all other things going on. Here we go....

Events
Recently the BIB hosted a number of fundraising events which some were successful and others not so much. First on July 31, the BIB held another garage sale. Take any garage sale I have been to at home and multiply it by 100. There were crazy lineups outside the foundation before we even opened the doors. And when we did open, holy shit, it was like Black Friday at a Walmart. There was shoving, and running, and someone even put their baby down to go and find the bargains. Jessi (the BIB librarian) had to rescue the child and ask who the mother of the year responsible for the child was! Regardless, the garage sale raised nearly $800 which set a record for most money earned, and we had a BLAST running the show.

Preparing for the mad rush


We got to fashion some of the clothes prior to the sale opening

We had a great team and a lot of fun!!

The next day was not as successful as anticipated. The BIB put on a fundraising concert held at the Posada del Arte, a local hotel. After days of pounding the street and handing out flyers, only 10 people (excluding volunteers) showed up. I can definitely say that I have heard a lot, and I mean a lot, of better folk bands than these guys. But, the day was fun regardless getting to share it with the other volunteers.

Beauty
We are truly lucky to have found such a beautiful country. Both Dalene and I had no expectations for Ecuador, but Ecuador, you captured our hearts. I think that somehow the sky is more blue and the trees are more green. I truly believe it has some of the most stunning scenery and offers so much in terms of natural beauty. From volcanoes to rain forest, the magnificent Galapagos to stunning waterfalls. Here are some adventures I have had over the past several weeks:

My only taste of the Amazon (this trip..)

View of the Amazon Rain Forest from Puyo, Ecuador

Waterfalls on the outskirts of Baños

A view from the top

A tree house on top of the mountain overlooking Baños

The treehouse had a swing over the valley

One of the many beautiful views on our hikes

Baños from atop the mountain

Teleferico in Quito, Ecuador

We were treated to this sunset overlooking Volcan Cotopaxi

The Foundation (La Biblioteca Interactiva de Los Niños)
What can I say? The reward of working with these kids is the reason I didn't go home with Dalene when she left. From the moment I started at the BIB until the day I have to leave I have felt I made an impact. The smiles on their faces, the hugs I get when they see me walking in the street, and always getting pulled in 16 different directions by a separate child to go and play a game or draw with them...it is all priceless. They have truly stolen my heart away and it won't be easy to leave them. In fact my favorite has asked me if I could put her in my suitcase and take her home. Don't know how I would get that passed customs....

Me and Vero

Naelli and Me and storytime

Cecilia and her Niños

Reading time

Face painting day for Christian, Dayanara supervises the work of Sam

A tearful farewell to Sam and Chris

Amy has taken on the very popular music class

Yoga is always packed

Friends and Fun
The people both Dalene and I have met through La BIB, friends of the BIB or local Bañenos have made this whole experience that much more enjoyable. We have both learned so much from other people about their travels, culture etc. We now have everlasting friendships (and a couch to sleep on if need be in the future). There were many a good time and laughs shared.

The nightly ice cream run


A little Karaoke with Susana from Bolivia and Santiago, a bañeno

And after Mocambos and Karaoke, the club

Dinners at the BIB were a common thing, so many great chefs!

The new crew, and our fearless leader Karlito during a hike

Boby and the Bibi

Jody and Boby, the minds behind the BIB

Strange
Ok, if you haven't realized it by now, things are quite different here. Some good friends keep repeating a key phrase "El Ecuador man, El Ecuador". Here are some examples of what I have seen and what I see everyday which makes you look twice. Baños de Cajon - they pump steam into a eucalyptus filled cedar box that has you in it only with your head exposed. Genius concept and will cure the nastiest hangover, but boy do they look funny with you in them.

Pelileo - Blue jean retail capital of Ecuador. I can understand the half mannequins for the jeans, but this one was a little on the strange side....
Branding and Copyright - well in South America anything flies. It seems that any copyright or branding law is thrown out the window. If you want jeans with an Armani tag on them, you just have to ask and they will put it on for you. You also get patches and sayings on clothes that are ridiculous, but worth a good laugh.

We are starting the SWSE club

I have not seen a retail DVD for sale in 12 months, and have had numerous reference books photocopied without even a hesitation. Have to say it is nice paying $1 for any movie to own versus the $6 you have to pay to keep it for only 1 night...

Zoos and animals- actually this one I thought was pretty cool. They allow some of the animals to just roam around the zoo. We found this thing just having a nap. One of the other people standing around said it was ok for us to get close. Hmmm, strategy to off-the-gringo or just being nice..... (it was the latter)

We also got to go to a monkey sanctuary. This was one of mine and Dalene's favorite experiences. I got a chance to go again, and wasn't missing my opportunity. Nowhere do I know of in North America you can walk through jungle and have the monkeys climb all over you and play around. Strange but awesome!!!

I am le tired

Efficiency - ok, lesson 1 to learn when coming to South America is to be flexible and patient. Things will not get done the same way as back home. Efficiency, throw that concept out the window. Once you get into the routine, you don't want to get out. Life just seems to become easier. We had a good laugh at this sign which was posted for the operating hours. Yep, the hours are the same for everyday, but they for some reason they needed to split it up. Well done.


Adverts etc.- ok, well I have to hand it to whoever thought of this one. What better way to advertise your teleferico experience!


This was the strangest store name I came across. It translates to "We are not Chinese, but we are cheap". Wow.

Food - ok, I know we all have our customs, but eating Cuy (Guinea Pig) just didn't sit well. Neither did the idea of eating slugs that this guy was selling... I'm sure they are really healthy, but pass.

Need a broom? How about a tv antenna? You can't go anywhere here without hearing somebody and their mobile business. From traveling fruit stands, juices, ice cream, and even a traveling broom salesman.

Chi-Chiva Leche!! This guy takes his goats around town and sells fresh goat milk to anyone who wants to buy. We partook and got a glass. Have to say it was pretty tasty. To wrap up the South America experience I am going to make a little list of what we will miss the most, and will not miss in the least.

THINGS WE WILL MISS

• The children here at the BIB. I can't say more than I wish I could bring you all home with me!!

• The amazing people we have met along our travels and were able to get to know.

• Teaching English was such a rewarding opportunity. It has opened a door that now I want to get my certification to teach English so next time I have a little more structure to know what I am doing.

• Culture, such an opposite from North American lifestyle. Things get done when they get done. Meetings usually start 15 minutes later than anticipated. PS, to all who make plans to see us, please take this into account that we will probably be late.

• The views every morning of a mountain, volcano, and waterfall staring at you

• The buses have been surprisingly efficient and convenient. I have not driven a car in over 9 months and do not miss it at all.

• Speaking Spanish - we worked so hard to get to the level where we are, it would be a shame to lose it. (we have vowed to inter-cambio with our friends on the net and to keep studying)

• Visiting the local market for fresh fruit and vegetables has become a steady part of my daily routine. The fact you can a full bag of fruit and veg for less than $3 where in Canada I don't think you can even buy a pineapple for that price.

THINGS WE WILL NOT MISS

• Noise pollution - this will the biggest one for me. I will not miss the big diesel engines with no exhaust muffle devices, the chiva buses driving by at all hours of the morning blaring their reggaeton music, and finally the car rigged up with megaphones and speakers blaring what they have for sale

• Bugs - This affected Dalene the most as she was the one with the delicious blood. Still it will be nice to be in a place for a while without bugs to worry about.

• Getting stared at. People can't help but to just lock eyes on the foreigner and not blink. I now have resorted to either making a funny face, or talking to them. The stares usually disappear after that...

• Gringo prices - getting taken advantage in terms of pricing will not be missed. Speaking Spanish adds a lot of benefit when you are able to successfully negotiate and tell them they are charging you WAY too much
  

• Finally the biggest thing I will not miss is the feeling of security. No, not the homeland security bullshit, but just the being careful with all your valuables and documents. You always have to be on your guard with your things. You can't leave your bag 2 feet from you unattended or put your luggage in an overhead compartment. You have to be on your watch always, otherwise if not, eventually something will happen to you.

So that's it. This chapter of the Hecktic Travels is coming to a close. What an amazing year. Thank you to all of our dedicated readers for sharing our adventures. Our next step is undetermined at this point. I am going home and we are going to rest for a few months. Most importantly spend some quality time with Dalene before we embark on our next adventure. Rest assured, we will have our backpacks on again before we know it. Stay tuned...

T-Minus One Month

I know, I know, I haven't written a blog in a couple weeks, and I'm sorry, but I just don't want to write a post that just tells you what my daily routine is, Uber boring. Need to keep our faithful readers somewhat interested...

Time is winding down for me in Baños. Today marks exactly one month and I will reunited with Dalene who I miss ever so much, and reunited with my passport country, which to be honest, I don't miss much at all.

To say the least, it has been extremely difficult to be apart from Dalene for this long, but we both knew it would be. The cochroaches in the apartment have become my new flatmates but do a shitty job of keeping me company, so I resort to offing them.

Say hello to my little friend

Again, thankfully for Skype I am able to see Dalene (when the internet is working), but I don't know how many times I have just stared at her for a few seconds, then told her to get her ass on a plane and get back here. Overall the decision for me to stay (and Dalene to go) was the right one and we have no regrets. My time here has been ever so rewarding. The experiences, the kids, the volunteers (well most of them), and the family at the BIB have been incredible.

Anyway, here is what has happened over the past couple weeks:

- I got my Visa extension!!! After 4, 8 hour round-trips to Quito, I finally was handed my passport with the extension in it. RELIEF!! Of course, needless to say, the other volunteers and I went out and partied to celebrate.

Yo y Sam

- I decided to take on instructing Yoga classes for the children. With the help of Cecilia (a volunteer from Spain) it was a huge hit and we ended up having 2 classes instead of 1 because of the amount of kids who signed up. The kids seemed to really get into it, although I am still having to teach them the meaning of "tranquilo" at times.






- On the weekend some other volunteers and I decided to take off for a day trip to Rio Bamba.

waitin' for the bus

The city sits at the base of extinct Volcan Chimbarazo. On a clear day the volcano is supposed to be magnificent. In fact, the volcano has the famed reputation of being the highest point on earth. Because of it's longitudinal position the volcano actually sits higher than 7000 ft than Mt. Everest. So if you want to get as close as you can to the sun, this is the mountain that you need to climb.

Although touted in the tour books as being a delightful city with beautiful scenery, we were not fortunate to get a clear day and so the distant views were not spectacular.

We had only a day to spend here, and we stuck around town. We got to experience the mercado mayorista which turned out to be just a huge vegetable emporium and not the market we were looking for. So we eventually found our way back to the centro and were able to take in what beauty Rio Bamba had to offer. On Saturdays the streets shut down from traffic and vendors line them for about 6 square blocks. They sell EVERYTHING, from fruits and veg, clothes, batteries, nail clippers, and animals.

Oops, wrong market

Chris and Sam, we found it eventually

Yes, they sell everything...

Animal market

One thing about traveling is that you have to have patience and an eye to see the beauty that every place has to offer. Given how long I have been traveling, it takes a lot more to amaze me. But being open to new places and aimlessly wandering does have its benefits. We were able to capture some cool shots of the city, and some art in the form of wall graffiti.



Having spare time on the weekends means that I need to find things to do. For some reason I had a craving for chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Sam had told me that her sister's birthday was on Monday, so that was the only excuse I needed to get my ass in gear. The result was awesome!! Too bad that her sister couldn't have enjoyed a piece with us.




As a result of this, the BIB will be hosting a Birthday day for all the kids at the BIB and guess who's baking the cakes. Uh huh, this guy.




We have a busy month ahead of us. The BIB is planning a yard sale at the end of the month and a benefit concert. Classes are in full swing because school is out and the kids want to take English lessons. The classes are nearly packed and finding a desk space is pretty difficult these days at the BIB. Some of us are thinking about escaping for a quick trip out to the coast, which I am really hoping happens. I would like to see the ocean one last time before I make my way home.

Sam has done an awesome job painting some of the furniture in the library. Amy and Chris have taken on a handful of English classes, and new art projects for the niños. Sam and I have tackled an Inter-cambio (an exchange for English and Spanish speakers to improve on their language) on our own and it actually went pretty good, at least we think the crowd enjoyed it.

We truly are FAMily here.



Until next time.

Suerte.

.....tion

Well, this is Peter, the sole writer of Hecktic Travels, for now at least. Dalene has left big shoes to fill based on all the warm compliments from our readers, but I will do my best to keep you in the loop of my solo adventures here in South America.

Adaptation
It was 9 days ago today that I said a difficult, tearful, emotional "hasta pronto" to Dalene in Quito. Life is very quiet without her around. I am often talking to myself (at least way more than usual) and our small apartment, which now is just my apartment, feels incredibly larger and empty. But thanks to technology, I am able to talk with her daily, and today I got to see her and the family back in Canada.


Frustration
Life in South America is different. I should be used to it by now right? Wrong. I tolerate it, but unfortunately I still don't accept it. As you heard in the last post from Dalene she was left stranded at the airport because of a mess up by Santa Barbara Airlines. You can imagine my surprise when I returned to Baños after saying goodbye to her, thinking that she was safely on a flight. WRONG. I was not happy she had to spend a night alone in Quito, and run around the city by herself to figure out how the hell to get to Miami. But fortunately all worked out for the best and she was on a plane the next morning.

In order for me to stay until August, my tourist visa required renewal. On the first trip to Quito, the immigration officers told us that it would be almost $200 cheaper to return when there was 8 days or less for my current visa to expire. I was at 10 days, grrrr. So I decided to return the following Tuesday for a day trip (4 hours each way on bus). When I finished with all the paper work, they told me I had to come back Friday. Huh? This isn't done yet? Wow, so now I return to Quito for my 7th time to hopefully get my Visa finished. If they reject it for some reason, I am in a world of trouble because Friday is my last day left on my Visa. Everything will fine.... Won't it?

So after my visit to the immigration office, I decided to take a little trip over to the SBA Airlines office to find out what was going on with our flights - specifically, why Dalene's got cancelled and if she'll get a refund, plus to confirm my flight in August. Well I found out that my flight is voided too. What a great company to deal with! They take our money and have given us nothing but a headache. Anyway, fortunately they have said they we "should" get a refund, but none-the-less this is a real pain that needs to be taken care of.

Finally, this one is my fault, but I was hit with a(nother) bout of food poisoning. Pretty lucky that this was the only the 2nd time in the whole trip, but the stupid thing is that it is the 2nd time in Baños, and from the same restaurant!! Casa Hood, you will not get me a third time... Oh well, that came and went and I am feeling back at par.


Relaxtion
On last Sunday La BIB's volunteer crew embarked on a trip out to nearby Viscaya to visit the weekend home of Veronica and Ricardo (brother and sister who come to La BIB). Situated next to a trout farm in the middle of the mountains, it was meant to be a great day of rest and relaxation. The weather did not disappoint either. The sun was shining for the first time in a long rainy season and gave us an incredible view of Mama-T.

Mama Tunguraua isn't quite done yet....

Karl (volunteer) with Veronica and Rodrigo (no tienen miedo!)

So much for her being asleep. A huge ash and CO2 plume was released by her all day and allowed us to capture some spectacular photos.

When we arrived at the trout farm to catch our lunch, this was the day my food poisoning set in. Veronica kept pleading me to come over here and look at this or that, come on the swing, come to the river, but all I could think about was not being ill. I found a nice bed rock and lied down to try and feel a little better. The others played on the swing, went down to the river, and of course caught our lunch

Ven Pedro!!!

Que divertido!

After a 1.5 hour nap, we had to leave to go to the house to eat, but that was the last thing on my mind. Pobre Pedrocito (Poor Petey) Veronica kept saying, and her Mother was kind enough to make me a home remedy of onion water which is supposed to help the stomach. Not so much, but bless her for trying to help me out. Lunch looked amazing, full plates of trout and rice and salad, how I WISH I could have taken part, instead the bed was the best thing for me. I think everybody else was jealous of my relaxing time, so everyone partook in a siesta after lunch. After the group lunch and siesta, we had to make our way back to town to catch our ride back. All in all a beautiful day marred a little by food poisoning. Another example how the community has opened their doors to us to really make me feel like family.

Participation
We finally are going to have a full house at La BIB this week, after being low on volunteers. We get a new volunteer today and one tomorrow. And with the return of two others, we are not being pulled in so many directions when the kids are in session (although I kind of miss it a little). Jessi, our librarian, can finally feel like things are under control, and we can do a lot more fun activities with the kids because we have more creative minds to think of new ideas. I am actually putting together a yoga lesson for the kids and as well for the volunteers, we'll see how that works out!

Revelations
I am starting to believe that teaching is my thing. I have been told that my teaching techniques are really instinctive and I work really well with people. It might be going to my head, but I think that maybe I should pursue this. I would love to keep up my Spanish, and possibly there is a need for Spanish or ESL teaching wherever I end up. I can now understand the satisfaction that teachers get from their work. What I am receiving from these students learning, I have never received in the form of a paycheque or bonus. Back to school for me? I never thought I would say it, but maybe.....