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
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.
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