November 20, 2004

Greetings from Ecuador.

We all appreciate Bob Watson, Marge Cole and Bill Stumbaugh helping us open the airport very early on Tuesday morning 9 November, our day of departure. We arrived safely in Guayaquil, Ecuador that evening about 1030 and were met by our host Rotarians and GSE Chair Hugo Klopfstein. We have been going at a rapid and non-stop pace ever since. As I write this we are on our mid-trip break and are staying at a hotel in Baños. This is the first opportunity I have had to try to put some thoughts together and send them back.

In summary we have visited all types of schools, universities and matching grant projects to include village banking in a number of localities. We have met and been hosted by Rotarians in Guayaquil, Portoviejo, Chone, Bahia de Caraquez, Manta Riobamba and Ambato. Beginning next Monday, 22 November, we will continue on with Rotarians in the cities of Ambato, Latacunga, Ibarra and a number of clubs in Quito. We will return home on Saturday, 4 December.

Our team members have made presentations to a number of grade school and high school classrooms. The children all really enjoy hearing about school in the U.S and seeing photos of the teachers classes, home town and family. In addition we have met with the faculty at most of these schols and have had roundtable discussions.

We also have had the opportunity to visit a number of the GSE team from Ecuador that was in San Diego last March. TEAM Leader Roberto Retamales spent a day with us in Bahia. Team member Cynthia Game arranged for our team to visit her university and to participate in a discussion with teachers who are currently doing their student teaching and working on their credentials. Next Monday we will also visit with Gerson Ortiz, another member of the Ecuador team and on Monday, 29 November we will visit Jorge Villarroel, one additional team member. I have kept in touch with all of the members from the Ecuador team and am pleased they want us to visit them this year.

Of course there have also been a number of personal experiences which we are all treasuring. No way is there enough time to share them. In fact, most are the "you had to be there" type anyhow. In addition, we have also had a few "Rotary Moments" which will remain with us forever.

That is it for now.

The entire team extends its sincere appreciation for this wonderful and once in a lifetime experience.

Yours in Rotary Service,

December 2, 2004

Second Report of GSE Trip

Our second two weeks began on Sunday evening, November 21, when we left Baños and returned to our host families in the city of Ambato. We remained with our families for 4 nights and had the opportunity to visit with two clubs in Ambato as well as the club in the city of Latacunga.

We were transferred to the city of Ibarra on Thursday, November 25 and remained with our host families there until Sunday November 28. We had the driver of our van stop in a small town along the way where we celebrated our Thanksgiving dinner in a small restaurant. One of our team members had a turkey table decoration which helped us feel right at home. J During our time in Ibarra we visited the Indian Market in Otavalo which is a shopper's paradise for local handicrafts. We also were invited to participate in the R.C. of Ibarra´s annual fund raiser on Saturday evening. The event was a bingo evening which began at 8 PM and was over at 4 AM on Sunday. By then we were all unable to distinguish between "B-5"and "N-33" or any other combination of letters and numbers. A long night.

Sunday 28 November found us being transported by van to Quito where we are currently residing. We depart this coming Saturday December 4 for home.