The Gringo Report

Posted on January 16, 2012 by kelsey

Several years ago there was an article published in the US about Ecuador being an awesome place to retire.  Again a few years later a similar article published.  Keeping tabs on a few US expats living in Ecuador who run housing/info businesses we knew that the expat community here had really grown.  When I lived here in 2004 the only other gringos (besides other volunteers) I saw were generally around the center of town at the park or cathedral or markets.  When we lived here in 2007 I saw almost as few.  I was perhaps more aware of it because I was no longer spending all day every day at orphanages and a lot more time around town.  We got to know one guy who was from the US who had lived here a while and even had (maybe still has?) his own radio show in town.  He told me about a good sized expat community, but it was still small.

Now we can’t go anywhere without meeting people from the US who are living here.  Last week at the park we met a couple from Texas and their 4 year old who just moved here and will be here for 6 months.  On Sunday Sammy and I went to deliver a package to a missionary serving in the stake whose family was in our ward back in the states and we met a retired couple and their college age son who have been living here a year and are planning on staying permanently.  On the street the other day I passed a family who appeared to be from the US (based on their appearance and English speaking voices) discussing a rat problem which I can only assume means they are now locals.

Tourism also seems to have greatly increased, and we now see one of those double-decker buses driving around town almost every day, along with tons of white people with backpacks, hats, and cameras roaming the streets.  Anyway, if you were curious if we were the only white people wandering around, the answer is no.

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Third Night In Our New House

Posted on January 13, 2012 by kelsey

As I lay in the two twin beds shoved together forming Harmon and Sammy’s bed, begging them to go to sleep, I was struck by the fact that the clanking of a gate somewhere outside didn’t startle me anymore.  The first two nights I would have to get up and make sure no bad guys were breaking in.  The first two nights every noise was an issue.  Is that a bad guy in our house?  Is that a bad guy getting a tall ladder to scale our balcony?  Is that a bad guy up on the roof of the neighbor’s house spying on us?  Is that a bad guy honking his horn???  (You know, bad guys usually honk their horns a lot to distract you…)  But by night number three (last night) I felt calm.  Sometime during the day I decided we were safe and no bad guys were coming to get us.  I think I always feel like that in a new house, but it was amplified here because the windows of every house here have bars, many houses have gates, padlocks, etc.  I’m not really sure that is all necessary, but it makes you think it is.

We are loving our new house.  It is on a very busy street on the edge of downtown.  It’s a street we had joked about being able to live on in past years, right across the street from my favorite restaurant.  It’s in our old ward, it’s close to our friends at the volunteer house, and is two blocks from a newly rebuilt park.  Two houses away is a little local restaurant where we eat lunch every day for $1.50/person and $2/person for dinner.  Our house is too big for us, we are currently living in the upstairs which has 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms and the kitchen.  The kids are sharing a room and we are using the other room as a playroom.  Downstairs is a big bedroom and a small office, a good sized front room/living room and a patio with a laundry area.  (You might be happy to know I have been washing all of our laundry by hand and hanging it out to dry all Ecuadorian style until we save/earn enough money for a washing machine.)  Attached to our house is a garage with another tiny bathroom and small kitchen area.  We are hoping to turn this into some sort of restaurant/shop/tienda/office/something.  We are in a good area that gets too much car traffic and a good amount of tourist foot traffic from up the street.  We also have a front patio area between our house and gate (with a padlock of course).  We were very very blessed to find a great house at a great price so quickly.  It was completely unfurnished (this means it lacks even refrigerator, oven, etc.) and so far we have bought beds, table and chairs, desk for Aaron, and we have been reunited with our favorite microwave/convection oven that our friends stored for us.  Our next purchase for a while will be a fridge, and then if/when Aaron does some consulting work we will be moving on to a couch.  (Really exciting details, I know…)

I am really happy here.  It feels really right.  We have yet to settle into a set rhythm, as we have been running errands buying furniture & housewares, making sure our bank account here was working, setting up internet, etc. but things are going well.  We knew the process of settling in could have taken weeks and we are happy to have the things we need (minus fridge) all in place so quickly.  Anyway, if you are still reading here are some pictures.

Our house.  Wedged between a grassy lot and the neighbors.

I totally cleaned this laundry by myself.

This is me after doing all the laundry.

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Journey to Ecuador Part 3

Posted on January 8, 2012 by kelsey

After making it through security with my very dangerous umbrella stroller and no baby we spent the rest of our layover eating and finding our gate.  Oh, and waiting for all the other passengers to get on the plane.  We were the last ones on the plane again, but this time by choice.  This flight was the best except for one of the flight crew.  I would say this flight was perfect because the kids played for a little and then fell asleep, but the extreme rudeness of one male flight attendant to many of those us around us (do you really need to be condescending to people who don’t speak English very well who nicely asked you for headphones??)  it was pretty horrible for the adults.  At one point this man tried to “squeeze” into our seats so that the cart could go by, but in doing so I had to move Sammy’s tray and he started to wake Sammy up, so I told him to stop.  He proceeded to throw a hissy fit and talk badly about us and told the other attendant he couldn’t fit into our seat (which was ours, which we paid full price for, even if a small sleeping 2-year-old was sitting in) because there was “too much junk”.  This threw Aaron who had been biting his tongue over the edge and he turns around and yells “HEY!  Watch your mouth PUNK!”  This solved the problem because the guy avoided us for the rest of the flight.  I was especially glad because this meant that Aaron wasn’t taken down by secret Air Marshals.

Let me break away from telling you about our trip to tell you how AWFUL American Airlines is.  In our entire trip we found 2 employees to be kind and helpful, and the rest either rude, cranky, unhelpful, or trying to charge us for imaginary charges.  I realize that especially being a flight attendant would be a difficult job, working a lot and with cranky and needy passengers but STILL.  You knew what job you were taking, it’s not like you took it not knowing what flying/working with other humans deserving of respect was like.  It is no wonder to me they recently declared bankruptcy, and honestly outside of our return ticket I will never use them again.  I urge you if you have the choice to save yourself much trouble and do the same.

Anyway, after landing and deplaning in Quito we were ushered into a special line for pregnant ladies, old people, and people with kids.  (Bless you Quito, you are the best!)  We cleared customs, miraculously found all of our bags (even the ones we thought wouldn’t make it that were taken from us and checked in Dallas) and went out to find a taxi big enough to hold our mountain of baggage.  So, I should pause here and tell you that we had 8 big checked bags, and 8 carry-ons (4 carry-ons, 4 personal items) 2 of which were extremely heavy.  Just as you should when moving to another country.  It was ridiculous, but we found a van that fit us quite nicely.  We went to the house we always stay at and finally crashed into bed.

Thursday we just relaxed.  We slept in until 10!  (Thank you to the children who were on their better than best behavior the entire time!!!)  We went for a walk, we emailed our families, and hung out in the house watching the kids stack dominoes.  Friday morning we loaded back into the same van with our driver and drove 8 1/2 hours from Quito to Cuenca.  It was probably the easiest part of our trip, the van was quite nice and comfortable, the driver mostly safe and definitely nice, and the view to die for.  I of course took zero pictures because my camera was buried in one of the many aforementioned suitcases.  The kids were happy, took naps, and we got to eat Ecuador’s best ice cream along the way.  Arriving in Cuenca there was a parade that was blocking off many of the major streets so what should have taken us 15 minutes to get to our hotel took 50 because of the traffic jam.

Friday night we unloaded our things into a giant room with 3 sets of bunk beds and a double and went to visit our friends the Roseros.  They hadn’t heard our message on their answering machine that we were coming, so they were surprised to see us.  This obviously added to our delight.

Saturday we visited our favorite boy’s orphanage run by my favorite nun Sor Teresa.  We surprised her too and even Sammy who normally won’t let anyone new pick her up let her.  The cutest part of that visit was Harmon asking to go upstairs and play with the boys, and when we told him it was ok one of the boys grabbed his hand and led him to the toys to share.  After a fun visit we spent time looking at the newspaper for houses.  This is both enjoyable and frustrating, just like in the US, but slightly more difficult because it’s in Spanish.  I will hopefully have a final decision/housing update for you soon.  We visited another orphanage where I got to see “my kids”, all of my special disabled kids whose huge smiles remind me just how good life is.

Today (Sunday) we woke up for 8am church, saw one of my Laurels (from when we lived here before) open her mission call, and got to see lots of old friends.  The kids enjoyed their combined Sunbeam/Nursery class and sort of tolerated all the attention directed their way by everyone.

We are all alive and well, and hopefully moving out of our small (for so many suitcases!) quarters and into a house soon.  The kids have been loving navigating the cobblestone streets, learning new words in Spanish, and spending 24/7 with mom and dad.  More later.

Posted in ecuador, Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Journey to Ecuador part 2

Posted on January 7, 2012 by kelsey

(There are a lot of parts after 2)

On the night of the 2nd we left Montana on the overnight train.  I would like to tell you how awesome and comfortable it was, but that would be lying.  On the plus side our kids slept most of the night, and although the train was late leaving and stopped at one million places in the middle of nowhere for long periods of time, we finally made it.  The kids were perfectly well behaved an for how little I slept I like to think I was moderately well behaved.  Of course there was that part when we first got on the train where the conductor tells you where to go sit, and when we get there he has only given us three seats, and I start talking loudly about how some people are going to have to move because we paid for four seats and everyone that was currently occupying two had only paid for one and a nice (scared) lady quickly moved to sit by her traveling companion instead.  Yep, I was that lady.

Arriving back to my dad’s where I was staying at almost noon, we spent the day sleeping, re-packing to make everything fit, and getting our last moments in with family.  We tried to get to be early, as we were waking up at 3am the next morning for our 6am flight.  We didn’t make it to bed real early, but early enough to sleep for a few hours…

The airport was as expected.  We waited in line with our massive amounts of luggage, only to be told Ecuador has a non-box policy (two of our suitcases were boxes) and that our only option was to buy big canvas bags from the airlines at $35/piece.  I think this is probably hogwash, as I read online before that Brazil has this policy, but it said nothing about Ecaudor….  This took most of the time before our flight, that combined with a super long and slow slow slow security line made us almost miss our flight.  We were the last ones on but managed to make it.  Our first stop was Dallas, to which we arrived right on time, but taxied so long our 45min layover became 30 min, and since we were at the back of the airplane we were stressed beyond belief.  We had a lot of (heavy) carry-on luggage, and tried in vain to buy a cart from the machine which was turned off.  Some super super kind stranger saw our peril and gave us his cart and we ran full speed.  After riding the train around to the right terminal, we were again the last ones on the plane.  This time they told us our carry-on luggage wouldn’t fit because everyone else already had too much and they wanted to check two of our items all the way to Ecuador.  No problem because it’s not like we wanted to keep control of our things like computers, electronics, etc.  We said goodbye to our things hoping we would see them again, and gate checked our stroller.

Arriving in Miami with a 3 hour layover we were feeling pretty good.  The kids had been behaving exceptionally well, and as we got off the plane (very last) we expected to find our stroller at the gate.  No such luck.  After a lot of discussing (and fuming) it was determined that it was either checked all the way to Quito or was going to be found circling the carousel at baggage claim.  It was determined that I would go out and look for it.  The stroller managed to find it’s way out while I was searching the area (and making sure our checked  carry-ons weren’t there) to my surprise/happiness/anger.  I took my umbrella stroller, passport, phone, and ticket to the security line, where I was told I could not go through because I didn’t have a baby with me.  When I calmly explained how the airlines had messed up and my baby was inside, the pre-security check American Airlines person said the policy was that no-baby no-stroller.  I of course was on fire and tried the other security gate where I was told the same thing.  This of course made me fly into an all out shouting rage while the lady just rolled her eyes.  I asked her what I was supposed to do and she told me to go talk to the agent at the counter.  If I would have done this I would have missed the flight based on the length of the line.  I managed to catch a different kind employee and calmly explain my situation and she helpfully pointed me to the manager who took me to the lady who had told me no and told her to let me in.  I will end this story by saying that it is good that I went through and not Aaron, because he says he would have actually hurt someone and would have ended up in jail.

The story continues later…

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Journey to Ecuador, Phase One

Posted on December 31, 2011 by kelsey

For those of you keeping close tabs on us and our ridiculous journeys, you will be happy to know that yesterday morning we successfully checked out of the house we were renting. 24 hours later than we had originally scheduled, but thanks to a kind landlord we made it work. Immediately following checkout we loaded into Aaron’s truck with the remainder of our belongings we are storing and left to Aaron’s mom’s in Montana. 10 hours later we arrived, all in pretty good spirits considering. We were blessed with almost entirely bare and dry roads, no traffic, and exceptionally well behaved children. We are happy to be here, most of the pre-Ecuador stress now gone, we are just relaxing and having fun with family.

I suppose this isn’t really part of the Journey to Ecuador, but since we had to come to Montana before going to Ecuador, I am counting it. On Monday night at 11pm we will board the train here going back to Seattle, where we arrive at 10 in the morning. If that doesn’t sound like a good time to you (not in a sleeper car keep in mind) then we are alike. Following that fun journey (which everyone keeps pointing out could take longer if the weather is bad, thanks a lot!) we will be returning to our Ecuador bound belongings to re-sort them and make them all fit into the suitcases. Or throw them away. Or whatever. The next morning we leave my dad’s house at 4am for our 6am flight. Are we having fun yet? We fly from Seattle to Dallas to Miami to Quito.

After arriving in Quito at 11pm, we will be greeted by the best taxi driver in the world, and another friend he brings along to cart our 8 suitcases plus carry-ons to the place we are staying. The following day we will either relax, or if we are feeling crazy return to the airport for one more 45 minute flight to our final destination.

I am tired just writing all that. I will keep you all abreast of the situation as it unfolds…

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Ecuador FAQ

Posted on December 20, 2011 by kelsey

I get a lot of questions about our upcoming journey to Ecuador.  Here are some of your burning questions answered.

Q: How do you spell Ecuador?
A: Not like this: Equador.  It’s tricky because equator has a ‘Q’ but Ecuador only rolls with a ‘C’.

Q: When do you leave?
A: January 4th

Q: How long are you going for?
A: It depends.  We have tickets to return on June 12th, but we would potentially like to stay longer if we can.  That depends on 1. visa issues 2. money issues 3. wanting to stay or not

Q: Is it hot there?
A: The coast and jungle of Ecuador are very hot.  We are going to the mountains where it will be approximately 65-75 degrees every day of the year.

Q: What are you going to do there?
A: Aaron is going to hopefully do some telecommute work.  Kelsey is going to continue to stay home with the kids.  We all hope to be pretty involved with the orphanages.  And the eating of pizza.

Q: Do you have a place to live already?
A: While we are sure we are moving to Cuenca, we don’t know where we will be living.  Initially we will stay in a family hostel/hotel and look hard until we find something more suitable.  We imagine a house in the city or bigger apartment to start.

Q: Is it really cheap to live there?
A: Ecuador is not the cheapest country in South America, and the city we are going to is probably the most expensive city in the country, but it is less expensive than living in the US.  Much of the cost benefit also comes from the easiness of living simply while there.

Q: Why are you moving to Ecuador?
A: A lot of reasons.  Love of Ecuador, love of people in Ecuador (friends, nuns, orphans, etc.), higher enjoyment of life when living more simply, love of good weather, love of Ecuadorian food, and an overall feeling that it is what we are supposed to do.

Q: What is the deal with the orphans?
A: The orphans collectively are amazing.  They are kids of all ages with so much potential and so much love to give.  Love that they give pretty much unconditionally.  Being with them and feeling their love and joy is awesome.  Aaron and I both look forward to seeing old and new friends, and our kids getting to make a lot of new friends.  Also we love the foundation I worked with in the past, Orphanage Support Services Organizations (OSSO), which helps provide volunteers, food, medicine, school, teachers, social workers, etc. for the orphans of Ecuador.  If you were wondering what you should do with all those dollar bills you get for Christmas…

That’s all the questions I can think of right now.  Any I forgot?

Posted in ecuador, osso | 6 Comments

Countdown Panic

Posted on December 4, 2011 by kelsey

Today is December 4th.  We have plane tickets to move to Ecuador on January 4th.  For those of you not so keen on doing math, that is THIRTY ONE DAYS!  Oh sure, it can’t be that bad you say, that’s still plenty of time to pack up your belongings.  It probably would be if I was getting a storage unit.  Or if I was taking all my belongings down south.  But I am not.  I am getting rid of almost everything, aside from a few boxes of “really important” keepsakes and the things I am cramming into suitcases.  This means everything else has to go.  Surprisingly this is a really large and annoying task.  Anyone who has visited my house in the past several months has no doubt been invited (coerced?) to take home as much as  they would like.  I have been selling furniture to visiting teachers, making multiple trips to goodwill, and am even hosting a lovely “pay whatever you want” sale. [If you are interested in this please let me know and I will gladly give you the details…]

All of these things give me the illusion that things are under control.  On the day of the sale everything will magically go away, and everything that doesn’t will be promptly escorted to goodwill.  And then all that will be left at my house will be either going to Ecuador or going in the garbage.  But I have a secret: I don’t have any faith in this plan.  It is too close and I have done too little to prepare.  Also, how do you pack your life’s belongings into a few suitcases?  And, what’s more, why is it so hard to refine your keepsakes?  Why do I (and maybe some of you?) hold on to tiny scraps of paper someone wrote you a funny joke on 14 years ago, or a ticket of a play you saw one time?  Why can’t I just throw things into the garbage?  If anyone has an answer to these questions, or some nice things to tell me to calm my growing panic, I welcome it.  Otherwise I will be off watching Hoarders to convince myself to throw every last thing in the garbage.

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Seeking Volunteers for Ecuador – Sponsor Available

Posted on November 18, 2011 by kelsey

Aaron Writes:

In 2004 Kelsey went to Ecuador to participate in the OSSO program.  She did volunteer work at orphanages and made many new friends there, both Ecuadorian and among the other volunteers. She brought Aaron back with her to see the place & people she loved so much.  In 2007, shortly after getting married, we moved to Ecuador together for 6 months, frequently visiting the orphanages and OSSO house. We returned to the USA after Kelsey got pregnant.  4 years and 2 children later, we’re moving back again.

It’s safe to say Ecuador has a permanent place in our hearts, and that Kelsey’s experience with OSSO has had a major part in shaping our lives.

We want others to have that experience.  If you want to volunteer, if you’d like to experience the wonderful Ecuadorian culture, make lifelong friends, and have your heart touched by children who need your love, please consider volunteering for OSSO.  If money is a concern, don’t let that be an obstacle.

We can help 1 person with up to $2,000 towards the cost of your OSSO program fee. This doesn’t include the application fee or spending money.  Our only stipulation is that you work with all your heart for at least 8 weeks.  If you happen to be in Cuenca when we’re there, you can buy us dinner if you’d like to say thanks.

Send us a note if you’re seriously interested or have any questions about our experience.  Check out http://orphanagesupport.org for more information.

Kelsey Writes: P.S. We are currently looking to send someone who has not gone before, and please pass this along to any of your interested friends!

Posted in aaron, ecuador, osso | 8 Comments

Random Thinks.

Posted on October 14, 2011 by kelsey

1. I bought some new exercise pants at Costco.  As I was ripping the tag out I checked it to see if they could go in the dryer.  At this point I noticed you can iron them on low when needed.  Who is ironing their yoga pants?

2. On Wednesday I was complaining about being awake when I started chatting with my friend who is 33 and was going in for her second round of chemo that day.  She told me she hoped that round took the rest of her hair and that she was excited to eat the yummy food at the hospital cafeteria that day.  Maybe I need to rethink my outlook on life, I thought.

3. Why is it so enjoyable to trick your kids into eating veggies by blending them/hiding them in other food?

4. My car windshield seems to be leaking, leaving standing water on the floor of my old car.  To remedy this situation I put a tarp on it and pumpkins on top to keep the wind from blowing the tarp away.  It makes it a lot more fun.  And ridiculous.  I’m sure the neighbors are loving it.

5. 82 Days until Ecuador.

6. Bedtime last night:
Aaron: Don’t lick my eye!
Harmon: I was licking your forehead.
Aaron: Still, don’t do that.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

First World Problems

Posted on October 7, 2011 by kelsey

(alternately titled: Guess Who’s Getting A Chop Today?!)

This is my 26-year-old brother’s new favorite phrase to use on people who complain about seemingly insignificant problems instead of focusing on global issues like getting tent coats for all the people in Seattle protesting.  (Sorry Justin, I couldn’t resist.)  Today I present to you, my very urgent and important First World Problem.

Yesterday I bought a giant bag of Halloween candy at the grocery store that contained 4 types of candy.  Big Tootsie Roll log things, Charleston Chews, Dots, and Junior Mints.  This seemed like a great pack, not only because it was the cheapest, but also everyone has a different favorite in the pack so we would not be all fighting over the same candy.

Naturally I opened the bag in the car to get a pack of Junior Mints for myself, and Dots for the kids.  After dinner I got the kids Dots and Aaron and I both had Tootsie Rolls.  Later in the evening Aaron had a Junior Mints.  Right before bed I went to find myself a Junior Mints.  And I had to dig.  And dig.  And scoot.  And dig.  And then I found a pack.  But this worried me.  This was a 55 piece bag and this was only Junior Mints number 3, where were the rest?  At this point it was obviously an emergency so I ripped the bag all the way open and dumped it on the ground.

People, there were no more Junior Mints.  In a bag of 55 pieces of candy with only 4 different types, there was only THREE of one of the types.  THREE!!!!

Tootsie Roll Company: WE ARE FIGHTING!

P.S. Did you know that Tootsie Roll makes Junior Mints?  Now you do.

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments