March 13, 2011

Went to an ACSI educator conference and had a delightful time, although we froze to death with 60’s during the day and 40’s at night. Think I have adjusted to the tropics??? Since being in Panama, I must have been asked 100 times “where was I from”. So 100 times, I have mentioned Cincinnati. Then in Quito, I was asked where I was from and that was not my answer. How strange to say I was from Panama. But I met just so many people that were from all over the world. Most were teaching somewhere in Latin / South America at the time, but many have taught in numerous countries around the world. Most were originally from someplace in the states, though.
I presented (in English, of course) three different times at the conference with three different subjects. Needless to say, it was a bit much. I don’t know just why I volunteer for such things. But it was fun, people seemed excited to have the information and it was certainly a challenge to prepare for all three.
Meanwhile, I took another leap of faith and I actually invited people to my place for dinner the weekend before leaving. That may have been more of a stress. When jumping out of your comfort zone, just DO it. Our guests actually seemed to enjoy the meal and didn’t die, so maybe I might become a cook. I met a great friend here in Panama that is determined to make a cook out of me. Talk about a challenge!
Quito, as you can see from the pictures is absolutely breath taking. How you can be on the equator and see mountain tops with snow is crazy. I will let the pictures tell the story. Also, I met Dave Walker’s daughter who was at the conference from Bogota, Columbia and Mark Beadle’s friend that works with him from Sevenstar Academy. We had some free time and got to do a little touring while in Quito. Thankfully I was hanging around with several that spoke fluent Spanish. Apparently (as if I would know), the people in Ecuador speak a much more refined Spanish than Panamanians. The country is clean (as without any trash anywhere), but apparently, crime is an issue. AND we were warned to not drink the water, even in the hotel. Several of our group had a few “issues” because of the water. While touring the “Old Town” of Quito, there was a robbery right in front of us. We were trying to figure out where we were and getting a taxi during rush hour while it was raining. One of those moments in life where you are scared and miserable, then laughed like crazy once inside a taxi. (And being with other Spanish speaking friends it was much easier.)
Some pictures are posted of the “OLD TOWN”, which was absolutely beautiful. It has one of the highest concentrations of churches in the world and the few that we went into were beyond amazing. Most people were walking around with ashes on their forehead since we toured on Ash Wednesday. Never have I seen churches that are were so elaborate. It was impossible to take pictures since service were going on in all the churches.
Probably my favorite trip was going to the equator. After being in Greenwich England some 20 years ago and taking pictures of our kids at 0 degrees longitude, I always wanted to be on the equator. I never realized how cold it could be though. There was one break during the conference during which all of us from Panama went out to sit in the sun. We were all freezing to death.
The food in Ecuador was wonderful. You will see a picture of a grill with Guinea pigs on it. Apparently, it is one of their special treats in Ecuador. For breakfast every morning on the buffet was shrimp cerviche. I did have it for dinner and it had to be one of the best foods I have ever tasted. But instead of crackers, they serve it with popcorn and corn nuts with some special flavoring. For breakfast, it just didn’t seem right.
Back to school tomorrow. I plan to post more pictures when I get them from my friends.