Picture pages part 3 - Travels!
I got to make several day or weekend trips during my time there. One to visit a good friend (actually, my very first Ecuadorian friend, who I met right after getting of the plane 10 years ago) and several to do follow-up visits with former shelter kids. And really, it's just coincidence that they lived by a gorgeous beach.
Panama hats are really made in Ecuador
And the center of hat-making is in Montecristi. This is a super-fino hat, they go for about $200 finished in Ecuador (a lot more once they're exported) and you can roll them up, slip them through a ring, and they bounce back in to shape immediate.
Fr. Angel on the beach in Manta
This is the friend I mentioned, Angel. He was in the seminary when I met him and is now a parish priest in Manta, which is on the coast a few hours north of Guayaquil.
The middle of the world
Mitad del mundo is a cheezy tourist trap just north of Quito, where you can stand in both hemispheres at once. In all my visits to Ecuador, this was my first trip
My godson Angel
Angel is in the middle of his year of military service, which is theoretically mandatory for all males once they turn 18. He's been in the middle of the jungle but got a week off after basic training, so we got to see him.
With Byron and Angel
Byron is an amazing kid who used to live at the shelter, but was able to return home. He's now helping out as a volunteer at one of the shelters. He does a great job with the kids and they love him. For his birthday, we took him to Quito. This picture is overlooking Pululahua, a farming valley in the middle of an (inactive) volcanic crater.
Un burrito
There was a donkey which was incredibly soft and cuddly.
In the picture are Byron and Angel with Sarah and Ernesto. We stayed with Sarah's host family, who were incredibly kind to all of us and even baked Byron a birthday cake.
La montana rusa
We went to an amusement park in Quito and rode the roller coaster.
Sarah at Pululahua
This is my friend Sarah who I met in Champaign. She came to visit Guayaquil in 2006 and came back to study in Quito this year. It was so great to get to share my life in Ecuador with a dear friend from the US - one of the few chances of bringing together those two worlds.
Burning sugar cane outside Milagro
Back on the coast, we did a day trip to Milagro to visit some former project kids. It was harvest time for the sugar cane, which meant giant bonfires through the fields
A home visit
Milagro is a rural area where much of the population works in the banana, sugar, or coffee industries. The roads are all dirt and trucks come by and spray a sticky residue that's left over from sugar production to keep things from getting too dusty.
The view over Montecristi
We went up to the top of a hill that overlooks Montecristi. They were building a home for the Constitutional Assembly, which just started its meetings to write a new constitution for the country.
Bust of Eloy Alfaro, Montecristi
Here's the town center. The plaza is dedicated to Eloy Alfaro, a former president and national hero.
The beach in Esmeraldas
I spent several days traveling the northern coast, where many former kids have returned to their families. While I was in Esmeraldas, a friend who works at the shelter and her husband were also there on vacation. We all went out to breakfast, which on the beach in Ecuador means ceviche - delicious shrimp.
The beach
Roberto lives in Esmeraldas and is a former shelter kid. He's going to night school and helps his dad at his job during the day. After seeing a lot of tough cases, it was really great to see him doing well. And to go wading in the Pacific.