A Trip to the Coast

We made our first trip to the coast. Off to Puerto Lopez we went. First stop Cuenca Bus station to purchase a ride to Guayguil, cost 24$ for 4 people. The bus ride to Guayguil was 4 hrs down the mountains and through the beautiful Cajas.  Upon arrival in Guayguil we found the ticket booth for the bus to Jipijapa. This bus takes you right into Puerto Lopez. Again a low cost of 16$ for the 4 of us. This bus ride stops in Jipijapa for about 15 min and then continues on to Puerto Lopez, altogether about a 4 hr ride as well. So all in all an 8 hr trip but well worth it.

Upon arrival we checked into a nice little Hostel about a 1 minute walk to the beach. The room had a double bed, and a bunk bed which worked perfectly. We also had a private shower. After a good meal of burgers and salchipapas on the beach it was time for bed to prepare for our big day tomorrow.

An early morning start is hard in some small towns. I've never had as hard a time to find a good breakfast stop as I have here in Ecuador.  Finally after finding one and paying nearly 17$ for 4 breakfasts we were off to the beach. First stop whale watching. And what a scene it was.  Not the clearest picture but by the time you click the camera they are already back in the water.

Next stop Ilsa de Plata AKA the poor mans Galapagos. This was a beautiful walk on an undisturbed island. Animals just sitting and not worried about us the people. On the island you will find several animal. They have the Blue Footed Boobies, some small lizards and some nice Turtles.  

 We enjoyed our lunch on the boat with these beautiful turtles all around us. It was truly a privilege.  Next off we go around the island to do a little snorkeling.  Now this was my first time trying snorkeling and was quite interesting. Some beautiful fish were in the water, Keefe even claims he saw Nemo (the clown fish).

Around came 3:30 and it was time to go home. Everyone was tired out and sleepy on the trip home. The boat ride back is about 50 mins.

As much as the island trip was beautiful, we are told that during the months on Jan - April the vegetation is much more lush and it is a good time to visit. You just need to watch for rain showers during those months as they can come out of nowhere.

The next day we did decide to go home as it was quite the overcast day and the beach would not be as enjoyable. We hopped a bus to Jipijapa then a second bus to Guayguil. Once in Guayguil we decided to stay a few hour and check out Iguana Park. If in Guayguil you must make the  trip. It's about 10 minutes from the airport and bus station and something you will never forget.

Seeing both this and the Isla de Plata shows one thing, man and beast can live in peace. In both the areas the animals had no fear of us and were fine walking side by side. And with the Iguana's you could even  touch them as seen above the old man is feeding them.

Home we go. A short trip but one none of us will ever forget. In fact so enjoyable we will do again. This is just one of the many different things you can do here in Ecuador. The land with many lands.

Experiences

I know this is why many return looking for the Experiences. So here are a few more that may interest you.

We have a friend that recently moved in who is about to be a teacher in English. The last few weeks she was quite sick and didn't know what to do. She told her son who has decided to not have anything to do with the truth to go to the meeting. After arriving and talking to a few he had the opportunity to see the love and help that is given to those around us. He has even expressed interest in coming more regularly.

Friday morning service is only about a 25 min walk away, Keefe and I decided to walk it this week and try and find English speaking people on the way. No English but many Spanish who we offer tracks to. Keefe learned how to offer a track in Spanish. Later that morning we were on the corner of the area we were going to work and waiting for ours friends. Time went by and people passed us several times, and then out of the blue Keefe grabs a track from my bag and offers it to the next lady who walks by. She takes it and walks away only to turn around and come back to us. She proceeded to tell us that just yesterday she had been told that God didn't have a name and she wanted to know more. As our Spanish is quite limited for that complex of a conversation we did have Spanish speaking friends who went to her home and were there for over an 1hr. Really anyone can be used.

Heidi was given a study this week. Funny part is that the study is in French. Now if you know Heidi she lived in Quebec for 17 years but doesn't speak French the greatest. In fact she has quite the accent. So of all the studies she could get we laugh that it is in French.

This final one may not be as exciting or encouraging but I find it shows that no one will be able to say "I didn't have a chance to hear." We were out one morning and ran into some Spanish friends. One kind older sister asked us to follow her to a home she knew to be English that she met that morning. We went along. Upon our arrival he knew who we were and why we were there he made it very clear he did not want us there. All that being said. This gentleman had a chance to speak to us in the States, he was then given a chance here in Spanish, and finally given a opportunity in Ecuador in English and still made his stand Very Clear. There is no question that all will have a fair chance.

The Thermal Pools of Banos Cuenca

Another week gone by and a busy one it was. It's nice to be in a regular routine in our new home. This week we toke off on Friday to Banos (Cuenca). This is a thermal hot spring about 10 minutes out of town. There are 4 different resorts that we found out there. The nicest appear to be the one we choose which was called Piedra De Agua. It was $10 each and $5 for the kids. For that you have access to the Turco (steam bath), Hot pool, and freezing cold pool. There is also a $20 upgrade to get into the Spa. The Spa gives you access to a personal assistant who walks you through the Turco, the Red and Blue mud bath. He then takes you below ground where you sit in the hot tub for 10 minutes and then a freezing cold tub for 2 minutes, and finally you have the steam box. A nice experience and I bet it's even better if you don't have any kids with you.

The picture above is the mud bath area of the spa. To the left this is the hot pool with basic access. There is also a eating area as well as massages available. Definitely worth the visit if in the area. And for us worth several visits as it is a 10 minute bus ride. We walk 5 minutes up the road grab the #12 bus and 10 minutes later we are there.

We didn't do much exploring this week. But we did have an opportunity to meet many of our neighbors. And what's quite interesting is that most of them speak English, in fact in our building of the 7 families it appears 6 speak English.

The question does remain is life here feasible? We found several things out. If looking to maximize your stay here you can take a 1 year Spanish class at a University for between $1000-1500 including books. This will allow you to apply for the student VISA. That being said we understand laws to change quickly here But technically you could come in on a tourist Visa, Apply for a 6 month Visa, after which you could take a University course and then apply for a 1 year student Visa. Giving you a total of near 2 years in the country.

Looking for work during this time? You have options. One I found the other day is called oDesk. At oDesk you sign up for free, post a resume and search for jobs that are done online. It can be anything from writing reports or proposals to being an admin assistant or even posting products online. Everything is done and logged online. There are hourly jobs as well as contracts. Another option is Open English, this is an English teaching online opportunity. You sign up and get paid to teach online. There are quite a few friends down here doing this option. Another teaching opportunity is Tutor  ABC. The difference with the two is that Tutor ABC is teaching to Chinese where as Open English targets South America.

So can life down here work? Yes, how free you want to be depends on how much you want to spend, and how simple you want to live.

A trip to the Museum

Life is surprisingly busy here. For one thing anything you need takes time. The other day I needed a few items and by the time we went to the grocery store and hit the downtown area for a 1 lbs of coffee for $3.50 it took about 1.5hrs. So with a schedule of up and out every morning for 3 hrs and then work for 2hrs it doesn't take long that your day fills up. Before you know it, it's 8 o'clock and your ready for bed. All that being said Friday's are family day.

View from the bottom

View from the top

Monday to Thursday Heidi schools the kids each day. And it's quite amazing how much they are learning. Aidan can now add and subtract and Keefe is learn multiplication and division. But Friday's are special, we take a field trip. So on Friday we went to the Bank Museum. The name was very deceiving to me. I thought why would anyone go there. Turns out it is a history museum and it goes through the different tribes that lived in Ecuador and how they lived. They even had real shrunken heads in the Amazon section of the museum. Then you make your way outside and there is a Inca ruin, still not sure if it was just a  reconstruction or whether there was an actual burial site there as there is a tunnel which is closed off that are what appears to be burial grounds. And as a bonus it's FREE to go in. Imagine that a free museum that is interesting.   

A Inca house

Sunday's are always quite interesting. There is always such a flavor at the meetings we have American's, Australians, Canadians, and local Ecuadorians. All giving comments and participating. This week was special because we had friends come down from the coast who had just finish pioneer school and were actually in the July study issue. The very one we were studying. After we had the pleasure of going for Lunch - Almoerzos of course and had soup, chicken, rice, beans, and fresh juice for $1.75.

Our new celebrity friends

After lunch it was off to some friends house for board games and snacks. Life here keeps us busy. But the fun is always as a family. Something you don't get to do as much back home. To see the unity with the friends. The interest in the people, and the time you spend as a family truly is a blessing beyond compare.

Our new home

So here we are our new home in cuenca. It's a 2 bedroom fully furnished apartment. It even came with washer and dryer which you don't get everywhere, plus utilities are included. Even internet is included, finally unlimited internet with a decent speed. The area is great, a park 2 minutes away where we take the kids to play soccer or I should say futbole and let them run around. There's 4 bakeries in the area. Buses are a 5 minute walk away and we can get anywhere in the city within 25 mins on the bus. There's even a shopping mall a 20 minute walk away.

Kitchen

Livingroom

Up the street we found a little restaurant like a st.hubert and got a half chicken, fries, rice, sauce and some kinda of vegetable we couldn't identify for $9 in a nice little to go box. We also found a little tailor that fixed our sons coat for $1 and a shoe repair shop that fixed 2 pairs of shoes for $8 although I'm pretty sure he gringo taxed me should have been $5 at most.

Sunday we went for Almouzos which is the term for a standard lunch which includes a soup, rice and chicken and a glass of juice. All that for $1.75 and if you want to have it in a fancy restaurant it's between $2-2.50. Anyways we were 9 of us and lunch cost $20 for all of us. Today we went to the market and stopped at another little lunch stop and had Salchipapas which is a bowl of fries with a hotdog and lettus for $1.00 and that was the large one, could have got the small for $0.75 and would have been enough. Juice was another $0.50.

The last thing I needed to setup was a mailing address. So how do you get mail here especially things you need. There is a service called Club Correo and basically it gives you an American address in Miami after which your items get imported here and they call you when your package arrives. And the nice part with this is that it is all setup online and after paying with PayPal you're ready to roll and start receiving packages. All that being said it's setup, we'll see how it works I've ordered my first package. I'll keep you posted.