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Ecuador April 2008
Greetings from Ecuador!
The last few months have been very busy for us! We have had visitors, bought an apartment in Quito, and are wrapping up our work with the schools.
In February Jim's sister Sue and cousin Jan came for a visit. Sue had been to EC before with Jim about two years ago. This was Jan's first trip to South America. We had a great time visiting Baños, Jatun Sacha and Papallacta. In Baños we took a tarabita (a basket on a wire) across the river to view a waterfall, did lots of shopping and enjoyed the cool weather. Sue and Jan got the Jatun Sacha experience of living with nature. Lots of insects and bird sounds at night, taking cold showers and eating a high carb diet (rice, potatoes, plantain and yuca) were just some of the festivities. During one of our days at JS we took a canoe ride down the Napo River and visited an animal rescue organization called Amazoonica. They have had success in reintroducing monkeys back into the wild. They also have birds, ocelots, capybara and much more. Papallacta is famous for their hot springs and we enjoyed a nice hot soak. We stayed at the Guango Lodge which has hundreds of hummingbirds of about 20 varieties. I was in seventh heaven with the hummers buzzing around my head! It was a fabulous trip for us with a nice break from our routine!
In March we purchased a 2 bedroom apartment in Quito. Jim and I will need a base for our FES operations in the future and Quito seemed right for us. We love working with the people in the rainforest but I have to tell you the climate is difficult to tolerate. I have no idea how the people who call it home, do it! Of course they do not sweat and never seem to be bothered by sleeping in wet sheets…ugh! In addition, all of our papers are soggy and anything made of leather turned green. We will return to the rainforest for short periods, but we will not live there! After the first week of April we should be in Quito until we leave to return to the US, probably in May.
One of the advantages of buying property here is that now we are eligible for an "investors" visa. This will allow us to travel in and out of Ecuador without having to deal with consulates and visa timelines. We have a lawyer who is filing the appropriate papers for us and we should have our new visas by the end of the month. Yippee!
Last week while we were in the rainforest we made one more connection to another community, Puni Ishpingo. Our friend Gabriel Tapuy, who I swear is related to everyone in the area, took us to meet the community where his nieces and nephews live. Jan and Sue, Jim's sister and cousin, had bought some school materials so we gave them to Ishpingo. Unfortunately, on the day we went to visit the school was on vacation, but we were able to see the school and gave the vice president of the parent community the supplies. They were thrilled to get anything as their community is 45 minutes off the main road by car (a 2 hour walk for those who want to go to Tena) and rarely receive anything, even from the government. Ishpingo did not even have a road until two years ago. Gabriel's niece has been living in the community for 25 years. Before the road they had to haul what they wanted to sell, platanos, yucca, lumber out by horse or by walking on a narrow trail. It is amazing how tough these people are and their fortitude to enduring hard work just to survive and have food to eat. They never cease to amaze us!
Hope all is well on your home front! Please continue to tell your family, friends and your enemies about our work in Ecuador!
Abrazos,
Nancy and Jim
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Nancy Wesorick
Friends of Ecuador Schools
http://friendsofecuadorschools.com/
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