This weekend
we actually had two gringo functions that we attended- Saturday night at
Edison’s house warming and Sunday night at a fund raising dinner at Peggy &
Will’s.
Let me give
further explanations regarding the fundraiser for ‘Expats Helping Kids in
Ecuador’ http://www.expatexchange.com/expat/index.cfm?frmid=202&tpcid=3360923. This is a yearly event at Peggy and
Will’s house which another expat couple Tod and Mary also help organize. Here
money is raised to help pay for operations for children whose parents cannot
afford these necessary procedures. To date, twenty-three children have been helped.
These operations involve children born without an anal track, congenital
cataracs, missing tear ducts, water on the brain or severe disfigurement or
even badly broken limps that were not healed correctly. This was the first time
we had been in Salinas at this time of year and were able to attend. It was a
wonderful event strongly supported with over 125 attendees both expat and
Ecuadorian. It included a dinner, silent auction, live auction and raffle.
Peggy and Will’s
beautiful ocean front house all decked out with decorated tables
Sister
Veronica and some of the children this group have helped ( she is considered
the Mother Teresa of coastal Ecuador)
The many
many people supporting this endeavor
Some of the
Silent Auction items
A beautiful
young couple seated at our table, Kevin and Rowan.
Speaking of
Rowan, have I mentioned that we now have twice weekly Yoga classes in Salinas
and Rowan is our teacher. Yes, Yoga classes here- whoopee https://www.facebook.com/groups/545430385493649/
She teaches
1 hour classes every Tuesday and Thursday morning starting at 8:30AM right
across the street from where we live at the Hotel Amira. These sessions are
held outside beside the beautiful pool area.
On Monday we
took the bus to Guayaquil. We have taken this 2 ½ hour ride before at a cost of
$3.60/person but this time because I am over 65 years old ( who would believe
it-LOL) and have my cedula, I only had to pay ½ price. They treat their old
people well here. Our aim in going was to get away from our construction zone
as now all the windows and doors were out. As well we needed a shopping trip to get the still necessary
items like backsplash for the kitchen, a new bathroom sink and plane tickets to
the Galapagos. In order to get our residency discount plus my ½ price for being
over 65, we had to buy these tickets in person.
We were
staying at the Howard Johnson Hotel near the Mall del Sol, a very nice hotel
but pricey. I didn’t care, after living in a construction zone for 3 weeks I
needed luxury!
The hotel was
connected via an over the road walkway to the Mall del Sol, a large modern
shopping mall much like our huge ones back home. Here is a view in both
directions.
During our
first full day there we accomplished a lot. First we went to the Dicentro Mall
which consisted entirely of stores selling tiles, backsplash, bathroom &
kitchen fixtures, lights, furniture – a regular paradise for people doing
renovations. I had been there previously with Mike but was now dragging Uwe
along. We went back to the store where I had seen the backsplash I liked and
bought 7.5 square metres as Uwe liked it as much as I did.
Here is a
sample- the picture of course doesn’t do it justice.
Then we went
to another huge store right across the street, Boyacan, where we found a
bathroom sink we both loved at 50% off. Carrying the sink, we took a taxi back
to a Servientrega outlet right beside our hotel and shipped it off to Mike in
Salinas.
Next we took
another taxi trying to find a stereo shop selling high-end speakers that Uwe
had discovered online. I’m sure I have mentioned that my husband is a major
audiophile. While partying one night we had blown one of the new speakers we
had brought here from Canada last fall. Yes, for those of you who know Uwe, yet
another speaker has hit the dust. Let me count the numbers he has blown- LOL
The taxi
driver did find the address we wanted- Guayaquil is huge and very complicated
for getting around- but the store was no longer there. Oh well, back to the
internet to purchase and ship another speaker.
We spent
several hours walking, eating and shopping in the Mall del Sol as well. The
Tame Airlines has a kiosk there and they fly from Guayaquil to Galapagos. After
presenting our cedulas which identify us
as residents, Uwe got a discount from the regular round trip for tourists of
$326 to his price of $269 and I got a further reduction to $206 again because I
was over 65.
We were
booked for our Galapagos trip starting on September 29- whoopee!