BobnRox in Ecuador

This last weekend, Ecuador celebrated for four days running, so this weekend we think that our weekly dinner out at the Casa Blanca will be a little more sedate.

The weekend began slowly with some attempting to create a "Halloween" type  of holiday on the 31st, but that is not catching on too fast.  Then we fast forward to the "Day of the Dead", which is a Memorial Day, but not for soldiers exclusively, it's to remember all the departed family members.

The Day of the Dead is interesting here at the Coast, in that each house buys or cooks special "pan" or bread baked in various shapes, ie, fish, people, etc.  Then, the families all cook the favorite meals that were enjoyed by the people who have died.  It gets more interesting as there is also a tradition whereby the locals wander from home to home, where they are given some of the special bread and a shot of rum.  My kind of Trick or Treating...

Then the next day is the celebration of the founding of Cuenca (I think).   This is not such a big deal to the locals except that they get the day off from work, and that is a huge deal!

So...here is it off season, and a four day holiday hits right at the end of the month (payday), so it seems that everyone in Ecuador decides to take a trip to Montanita...Now this is great for Montanita, but it is a town that has no ability to handle humongous crowds.

It was just another little village on the Coast a few years ago, until Surfers sort of put in on the map (for other surfers).  Surfing is still pretty big, but it has been eclipsed by plain old non-surfing tourism.  By far the vast majority of visitors now come for the atmosphere, to see and be seen, to see if sex, drugs and rock and roll still live, and all the other stuff that never happens in their home towns.

Now, all of this notoriety is coming in a very helter skelter manner--certainly it was not planned by the city fathers, and, in fact, they are completely out of their element in dealing with the skyrocketing popularity of the town.  These guys are just officials in a small town comuna and completely baffled by city planning, zoning, engineering, and infrastructure improvement.

For example...if you look back about 12 months ago, we featured a piece extolling the fact that the town was putting in colored pavers on all the muddy streets--well and good...but, they then tore them all out to put in sewer and water pipes.  So, for a year the pavers have been stacked up on the side streets, and they sort of "walkaway" to be used in other home projects like bookcases, etc.

But, that isn't all...they discovered recently that the new sewer pipes are not deep enough for gravity flow of sewage from the houses and restaurants and hotels.  So...everything is on hold...I presume until the high season ends sometime in May 2010.

So, right now, when it rains, the streets are pretty darn muddy.

Also, there has been a frenzy of building new hostels or little hotels and a zillion new restaurants...all with no overall plan. 

I have always regarded the Planning Department in any town in the US as a necessary evil, and one that might be circumvented if possible, but this kind of friendly anarchy is resulting in gridlock in a little town totally unprepared to be the the number one tourist attraction in Ecuador.

Last weekend, we had the "perfect storm" of tourism and gridlock...I would say that a minimum of 20,000 extra people streamed into Montanita each day.  A whole bunch of them drove cars...and did you hear me mention anything about building Parking lots?  No...so the total town was a parking lot...and muddy, and full of vendors, and full of people, and most could not get lodging...so a bunch slept on the beach...not bad...but...

So...finally the government is getting interested in this little tax paying goldmine, and the first thing they are doing is trying to cope with gridlock.  They are sending in platoons of police on each big weekend just to get a handle on traffic.

Guayaquil is rearing its ugly head in that it is sending some petty crooks along to prey on tourists, so the police are also watching for these guys, and even inspecting buses to check for weapons and for bad guys...all good...

In addition, our friend Alfonso, who is a bank guard right next to the Casa Blanca and the Montanita Hotel, tells us that much of the police presence is now going undercover to stop too much drug dealing.  It used to be that a little dope smoking was tolerated, if nobody flaunted it...sort of like nudity...

The undercover guys are masquerading as waiters, street vendors, and tourists...so leave your dope at home folks--if you are so dumb as to use it at all...

So what the upshot of all of this?  Well, Rox and I love the place, and are going to be there at our Head Table, as usual, at 6:00 at the Casa Blanca--where else???

As you regular readers know, we commute between our condo in Cuenca and our place at the Beach here at the Coast...

Sometimes the drive is cloudy or foggy, but last week the sky was blue with huge pillows of white clouds, and the air was clear as crystal...all this made viewing the rugged granite mountains that much more impressive, so we are going to just put in a few pics to show you how it was...

First off, we got behind a "cowboy truck", which was taking these modern cowboys up to the 12,000 foot level to string barbed wire...shades of the old west!

We were going slowly enough to see a herd of llamas grazing by the road and snapped a shot of this new baby...not doubt who her daddy is...the big gold chief that we have featured a couple of times previously...

Here are several shots of the impressive granite peaks that we are awed by...

 I am sure that a bunch of our Texas readers are impressed that these guys are "stringin' wire" at 12,000 feet, and driving fence posts into solid granite..".Todo, this ain't Kansas anymore, and it sure as hell ain't Texas prairie..."

In this next pic, you can see a cloud bank down in that valley in the middle of the shot...and being that it's top is about 4000 feet,  it seems that we can just coast down to it, and be there in minutes...well, it takes an hour to reach those clouds, and then everything changes...it goes from dry granite, to humid jungle, 'cause...the sun almost never comes out at this altitude...

So...here is a shot of the jungle stuff, and you will notice the filtered light that makes it thrive...

It was a great and interesting trip over the Andes and through the Cajas National Forest, and the drive through the zillions of acres of farms was fun, too...everything is green and growing, 'cause it's Spring down here, and the plants know it.

And, that's not all!  We hit Guayaquil, the city we love to hate, and blew through that town in twenty minutes flat!  It's about the same as doing it in LA...makes you feel good to see it in the rear view mirror!!!

Agripina and Isidro greeted us at home...off loaded all the junk...all in time for drinks on the deck and another glorious ocean sunset...

Barking dogs don't usually merit much attention from us, as they do their thing and then they quiet down, but today, we were disturbed by a bunch of incessant barking.  Rox finally got up to see what the fuss was about, and she reported that two dogs had chased an iguana into the surf and were terrifying the little guy by their aggressive postures and loud barking.

Well, we both walked out there, along with a few of the neighborhood kids who were taking a break from their sandy soccer game.  Rox got there first and told one of the older kids to go get a stick.  She had the idea that, after shooing away the dogs, that we could shepherd the little iguana back to safety. 

Most animals caught in the wild do not like to be "shepherded with a stick", so we went to plan B, which was for one of the boys to slide the pole under our little buddy's armpits, and then I would grab the other side and hope that he could hang on while we carried him the 100 yards to our yard.

This is his picture taken in August...

He is probably about two years old, and has grown about 6 inches in the last couple of months, and with his tail, he is about 3.5 feet long.  The reason that you don't just bend down and pick up an iguana is that they have six inch claws and very well developed shoulder muscles, which means that when they panic, they can take a lot of skin right off you before you can even think of letting go.  They are vegetarians, so they don't really tend to fight with their mouths and teeth...goodie...

The rest of the rescue came off without a hitch, as we walked him across the beach, through our gate, and carefully set him down next to the big palm tree in front of the deck.  He remained frozen for about 20 minutes, and then slowly walked to the palm that is in the foreground for all of our sunset photos, climbed up slowly, made it through the canopy, and will probably recharge his batteries for the next several days.

So...all in all, a good day, and a great feeling...

As I was growing up, I sort of liked animal crackers, but didn't regard them as a "Must Have" treat--However, here in Ecuador, the kids are absolutely nut-so about them!!  And...on top of that...they are an integral part of Christmas giving!  The big department stores here in Cuenca are featuring these crackers, naturally, but you must see aisles devoted to monster bags of these crackers, to get the full impact of how important they are.

Here I am with a bag that we bought yesterday...it is triple bagged, and I was assured that all the "really nice" people bought these bags now, in anticipation of Christmas with the kids...take a look...

So, this year, we will be including mucho animal crackers in the candy gift bags that each child gets...

And...with the continuing generosity of you good readers, we were able to complete the gift buying for all 150 kids, plus Rox bought a bunch of half price decorations to really spiff up "Santa's Workshop".  This included 10 meters of 6 foot wide red fabric-paper material, that we will use to wall in the workshop, plus some blinking lights, lots of streamers at 40 cents each.  In addition, we were able to get a good deal on 200 plates for hot dogs and chips, and 200 soft drink cups...(don't forget that many of the kids arrive with their moms).

Here is Rox sitting on the bed with the last of the Boy toys that were needed.

 One of the reasons that we are doing our shopping in Cuenca is that the big stores here get huge container shipments of Christmas stuff right from China...the stores on the Coast do not, and consequently, the prices for similar items are tripled...plus the selection of toys is dismal...

Folks, we still need a couple of you really generous souls to step up to the plate--see the previous entry for instructions on how you can participate in what is turning out to be a pretty nice party for some deserving kids...

We still plan to buy all the hot dogs, chips and drinks for the party, gift wrap for all the gifts, Candy for 150, Kodak developed photo for each kid.  We will provide funds for Cecilia, who will make one Papa Noel outfit, and two Elf outfits, plus costs of other help.

Thanks again...

We had a fitting just the other day to make sure that when the "Mama Noela" costumes are finished that they fit "just right"...

Take a look...

Now our "elves" won't be wearing tee shirts, 'cause it's hot in December...

OK Folks...here is an update on the fundraising for this one and only party that these kids get to have for Christmas...

We are about half way to our goal of doing everything that we can to make this a great occasion for the kids...

For those of you who have already kicked in, we can't thank you enough for your generosity, but we know that a bunch of you were waiting until you actually knew whether we were just going to go right over the top the first time...

Well...it was a great outpouring, but here is what we still have to purchase...

A few more toys for girls (30)...mostly dolls, and cutesy little girl dress-up stuff...

Hot dogs for about 150...last year Agripina and her daughter made sandwiches and cut off the crusts to make them more "dainty".  We will pick up the cost this year, as she is living on a very limited income.

All the candy for 150...

Soft drinks and maybe some beer for the adults...

I will be taking 150 pics of kids getting gift from Santa, and these will be printed by the Kodak color printing machine in Salinas...50 cents each...This may be the only picture a family will get this year.

We are going to pay a few of "volunteers" for their time, as they are taking time off work...($20.00 each max)

So, do the math folks...this is a great thing we can all do together, just a little at a time...

Now...here is a shot of how it worked last year, and you can see that we didn't know what the heck we were doing.  That is Sonia, helping Papa Noel, as she retrieves baggies loaded with candy for each child.  There are about 40 off to the left the picture.  This year, Sonia will have a "Santa's Elf" costume, and the whole process will be more civilized, with Santa, sitting in his own Santa's workshop, and the whole party carried on in the shade, not the hot sun.  Rox will supervise the type of gift for Sonia to hand out, mainly relating it to age and interests of each child (you know, doll vs. macho truck).

However, one is still struck by the big smiles all around...

 So...if the feeling moves you...

 PayPal works best...just type in our email address after you get to Paypal.com    bobnrox@gmail.com

http://www.paypal.com/

If you don't have Paypal, you can always send a check or cash-(go on take a chance!) to our bank in Oregon.

Address:

  Evergreen Federal Bank

1329 NE Sixth Street

Grants Pass, Oregon 97526

Attn: Tara Lopez--

Hedges Kids Party Ecuador

There are quite a lot of you folks out there, so nobody has to send a bunch...just a little...thanks mucho...

bob & rox