November 1 to 10- Wonderful New Happenings in Salinas

In the last few months, Salinas has had some wonderful new stuff going on.

 Remember back in April I was lamenting having no exercise/yoga classes, well, now we do. A wonderful young woman called Rowan from the US who lives in Salinas now with her husband and young son, is giving  yoga classes every Tuesday and Thursday 8:30AM to 9:30 right across the street from us at the Hotel Amira. The location may change soon- still a walk from our house- but the intense but much needed exercise and stretching will stay the same. Below is her Facebook page regarding the yoga- Yogarobics: Fitness Fusion Fun

https://www.facebook.com/groups/545430385493649/

                                                                     Rowan leading our class

There is also a new Salinas Cultural Society whose members are into photography, painting, quilting, acting, you name it, there will be a place for you. Facebook page below:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Salinas-Cultural-Society/229899337134350

 I joined and attended the second meeting at Chris & Pia’s house. They have a beautiful house in Salinas full of Chris’ amazing paintings- more on this later. At this particular meeting we had a world renowned sculptor and his wife, Paul and Alicia Palacios, join us. He has some amazing works all over Ecuador including this one in front of the Santa Elena church.

 

We look forward to his participation and hope that he will provide some instruction for us all.

During this meeting we achieved a lot. Picked a president – Donna & Terry joint- a new secretary- Raquel -and some of us were assigned parts- not me-LOL- in a play which we will be performing at the end of January.

                                                             A picture of our entire group

 

Last Saturday, those people interested in photography met Mary on the Malecon at 7AM. Yes, you read right, 7AM. Something about the light being better at that time- LOL

We walked along the many back streets in the poorer barrios and we all took some great pictures- eve me with my cheap underwater camera.

                                                                Some of our group

 

 

 

Mary tends to be friendly to everyone and after telling one little older lady what a beautiful garden she had (in Spanish of course) we were all invited in and allowed to take all the photos we wanted.

                                                                  Mary, our group leader

 

                                                                  Our very friendly hostess

 

                                                 Her beautiful flowers all over her tiny yard

 

                                                              And chickens for eggs

 

The people in these back barrios are very poor but so amazingly friendly. This woman knew none of us but invited us into her home to show off what little she owned. Now this is why I love this country!!

On November 1, we had a fund raiser at ‘Smokin’ Restaurant to raise money for Christmas for the 86 kids in Buene Fuente school. We will be buying gifts for each child plus providing a Christmas dinner on December 12th. This was organized by our friend Babs who is an amazing organizer and a wonderful person. Sixty people attended the dinner of which the majority of $$ was donated back into the fund plus many more people came to bid at the silent auction. 

 

 

 

 

 At the auction, Uwe and I bid on a dinner at Smokin plus one of Chris’ amazing paintings. The price of the painting kept going up but I was determined to have it. Uwe went to the ATM machine and after putting down one more bid, WE WON!!!

                                                       My painting and Chris & I

 

                                        My painting in my black/white/gray newly renovated kitchen

 

During the second week in November we also started an English Class for the vendors/restaurant workers-or  anyone who needed some English dealing with visitors. This was organized by our friend Mary and the Capitan of the Salinas Coast Guard. Over 40 people had signed up for the twice weekly lessons – Tuesday and Thursday 5PM to 7-and many of my fellow expats plus Ecuadorian friends had come to teach or help translate.

                                                         Here are a few of our students .  

 

                  And our expat and Ecuadorian friends who are volunteering to teach.

 

I was teaching a young man called Jose who worked at one of the restaurants along the Malecon

I had a wonderful time learning as much Spanish as he was learning English. What a wonderful opportunity for all us retirees.

We are also involved in one more Christmas project. This one involves an extended family of 49 person, 23 of whom are under 16 years of age. On my friend Mike’s advice- they are neighbors of his- we are adopting this family for Christmas and providing needed staple groceries plus fun items ( cakes/ turkeys/ cookies etc.), hygienic products( tooth brushes, paste, shampoo, soap etc.) and toys/clothing for all the children. I am so impressed with the help I am receiving from our Salinas community and from my friends & family back in Canada and the USA.

                                                          This is the home all 49 people live in

 

More news regarding our Christmas projects will be covered in later posts.

October 4 to 31- October in Salinas

Salinas in October has been more about parties than anything else- go figure.

The first party that we could not attend was back home in Canada for our darling Great Grand Daughter, Victoria’s first birthday! Wow, how quickly time passes. As mentioned on my previous posts, the downside of expat living, especially as far away as South America, is missing important family functions.

                                           Victoria at her very first birthday party- what a silly girl!

The second weekend in October is also Canadian Thanksgiving. This year we were invited to our friends Connie & Murray’s for a home cooked turkey dinner. Murray is from the Toronto area, as well, to be exact we met him first at the Ecuadorian consulate in Toronto when we both applied for our 12IX visa- small world! And now, of course, we are neighbours and best friends.

Our amazing dinner of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, dressing, veggies WOW!

Newly retired friends of theirs also attended, Silvio and Isabel, also fellow Canadians!

                                                               Our wonderful hosts

The next big party was another Guest chef evening for our friend Leslee at Will’s . This time the menu was home cooked meat loaf with mashed potatoes, green beans and two different types of sauces. Absolutely delicious! The evening was well attended by our expat and Ecuadorian community.
                                                    Our guest chef and her husband

The next afternoon Uwe and I had a small party for our ‘End of Renovation Celebration’. We invited only a few of our closest friends- Uwe hates big parties so I can blame him- LOL 

                                                   My favorite women

                               We served cold turkey, buns, condiments and homemade potatoe salad.

                                                          Lots of drinking, chatting and laughing.

 

 

On the Tuesday of that week, one of my Ecuadorian amigas, Susanna, had made arrangements for the members of our Women’s Coffee Klatch to go to the Museo  de Amantes de Sumpa in Santa Elena  and learn how to make gua gua bread, a typical food offering for the Latin tradition of honoring the dead, the Day of the Dead November 2nd.

The following is a wonderful Blog written by our friend Jodi with pictures of the enjoyable event.

http://jtm5503.blogspot.com/2013/10/gathering-of-women-expats.html

We have also had many amazing Women's Cocktail hours changing venues each second Wednesday.

                              This one was at Luccy's Mexican Café, one of my favorites.

                                                         Great Sangria and Quesadillas

 

The next one was at Kevin's & Molly's new restaurant/bar The Happy Gringo. We sat in the peaceful backyard patio. This was probably one of our best attended events.

 

                                           Ana supplied a birthday cake for Babs

October seems to be a popular month for birthdays in the expat community with many celebrating their milestone 65^th! Yes, we are an old bunch. Every other day there was another party at one of the many expat restaurants. Uwe and I attended Mary’s 65^th party at a local bar called Sins. There must have been at least 100 expats and Ecuadorian friends of Mary’s attending- a wonderful turnout as Mary is a very popular person.

                                                                Lots and lots of friends

                                                       Mary with her not quite healed broken arm

One other item of news for October. As in other years, there will be another Christmas party for the Olon Orphanage this time organized by the expats of Olon. Again, most of us here are donating to this wonderful cause. See my last years Blog regarding this event which I hope to attend again this year.

http://uwepetrastravelyear.blogspot.com/2012/12/december-22-26-christmas-in-salinas.html

This year for the first time, our Salinas’ Expats and Ecuadorian friends are providing gifts, clothes, shoes and personal items for the 80 plus children of the very poor village of Buena Fuenta. Our friend Babs is organizing this event and we are going to a Fund Raiser for this tonight- more on this next post.

As well, our Women’s Coffee Klatch will be adopting 2 or 3 families in the poorer section of Salinas with donations coming in from all our friends here plus generous people in the USA and Canada. We will be delivering a large basket of food- staples plus fun things, clothes, personal hygiene products and of course wrapped toys for the children. More on this next post as well.