Living The Good Life

I read this book a couple of years ago, The Tipping Point , you might have heard of it once or twice.  It is all about the momentum of change, how one small moment can spin you into something life-changing, something great. Meet my tipping point: Homes of Hope I know it would make sense to start from the beginning, to tell the whole story about Homes of Hope and how I crossed its path.  But it seems like there is no way I could do the story justice.  I'm still trying to figure out how this place, and the people I met there, are changing me and my understanding of the world.  All I know is that I recognized the moment when the potential for change hit me full on. Over lunch in her beautiful home on the beach, Aleida Mejia, one of the organizers, contributers, and all around amazing developers of Homes of Hope, was telling us about her exile from Cuba when she was only twelve years old. I listened as she recounted her early childhood in Cuba, the revolution, her family's escape t...

So it is raining here in beautiful Guayaquil.  Again.  When I say rain, I don't mean just a little sprinkle, a soft and constant pitter patter, or a gentle mist.  Oh no, I mean a savage downpour that pounds on the windows, roofs, and streets.  Yesterday we had a rainstorm that flooded the streets...and our apartment (yeah--we live on the second floor of our building). The clouds started to roll in on our way home from spanish lessons,  it had been a beautiful sunny afternoon with not a cloud in the sky.  Dave and I made it into our apartment right when the first big drops started to land.  Right in the nick of time, right?  Yeah, that's what we thought.   Five minutes after arriving home, it sounded like rocks were being thrown on every surface of our building.  Curious about this sudden weather change, I started to walk to our front balcony door to watch the storm.  I didn't make it too far before I stepped into what has been come to be known as Lake Richert.  The water wa...

I have a confession....I'm addicted to all things blog.  I can't help myself, I love every aspect of blogs and blogging.  I love the fact that I can catch up on the lives of old friends, that I can share my experiences with loved ones even though I am so far away, that I can escape from the drama of middle school for a few moments and immerse myself in the drama of others, all with just a click of a button.  Most of all, I love that a record of life is being kept, a collection of big and small moments that are important to Dave and I.   A little embarrassed by my obsession, and the time I seem to spend on it, I've tried to curb my attention to all things blog...but a new discovery has wiped that resolution clear away:  The blog widget. Holy moly, are those suckers addicting and oh so entertaining.  You can add just about anything to your blog to make it the ultimate time waster... *I've got Site counters (Yes, there was a celebration once the site counter ticked over 5,...

Well, not really.  It is actually pretty overcast around here and lightening has been flashing across the sky for the last couple of hours.  But...I'm in a much better mood than yesterday.  I have been feeling a bit guilty because of my pity-party extravaganza...okay, okay, tantrum.  Mostly because I know that Dave is the main recipient of those party favors, we know that can't be so much fun. Today I felt the urge to throw an anti-pity party.  You are all invited to join in these festivities, and I promise that there will be no screaming, throwing of dishes, or crazy ravings from the host, just good ol' fashioned thankfulness. * My boss brought me pretzels today from her trip to the states.  Love that. * The kids loved my arm-sized bruise and the EcuaBus story that goes along with it. * My husband made me laugh today.  A lot. * I am feeling so much better on the cold front, it is unbelievable.  (Isn't that always how it works out?  You're sick during vacations and ...

I have to go to work tomorrow. I haven't stopped sweating since 8:00 this morning. I have a cold.  In 90 degree heat.  Stuffed up and hot = not fun. No matter what I do, I can't defeat the ant population in my house. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss Middleton Middle School and all who work there. I'm wearing pants and debating whether to put on a long sleeved t-shirt because I have twenty mosquito bites on my body.  Make that twenty-one. I desperately need a real cup of coffee. I can't stop sneezing. It is too hot here! Thank you for letting me have my little pity-party.  I feel better all ready.

Dave and I just had an amazing week with our very first visitors.  I've tried to break down our adventures in the following four posts.  It is pretty long, but I just didn't want to leave anything out.  We had such a wonderful time with our friends and it has made us so anxious for our next set of guests!  

Dave and I had our first official visitors in Ecuador this past week.  Our good friends, Brandon and Tosha, made the long trek from Boise, Idaho to experience a week in the good life.  Luckily, Dave and I had the week off of work because of Ecuador's celebration of Carnival.  We were able to show them around Puerto Azul, Guayaquil, and Puerto Lopez before they had to board the plane back to the states on Wednesday morning.  We had adventures a' plenty in the fast-paced week, and thankfully Tosha and Brandon were open to being our visitor guinea pigs.   The Bentz' flew into Guayaquil on Wednesday night, technically Thursday morning.  We were able to pick them up from the airport with the help of Paulino, the school's trusty driver.  We headed to bed pretty quickly after they arrived, it being close to three o'clock in the morning, and let them sleep in as Dave and I went to our last day of work for the week. On Thursday they were able to stop by the school to get the...

After spending a couple of days in Guayaquil, we headed to Puerto Lopez, a low-key beach and fishing village.  This was Dave's and my second time visiting PL, so we thought we knew what we were getting into.  Little did we know that everything changes when it is Carnival.  The village was packed with Carnival revelers, there was no free space on the beach, and thumping techno could be heard from every corner twenty-four hours a day.  It was a great people watching opportunity, even though we had to dodge flying water balloons a couple of times. The first day we arrived in Puerto Lopez, we were able to tour the beach and hit some of the artisan stands that line the main strip.  We ate dinner at a cute restaurant that served the typical Ecuadorian cuisine and then walked back through the strip to our very clean and cute hostel.  Thank goodness we had booked a place that was off of the main road, you could still hear traces of the techno beat but not as if it was right next door. Th...

One of our Puerto Lopez adventures was to Isla de la Plata, an island twenty or so miles away from the coastline.  After an hour boat ride, we arrived on the peaceful and beautiful island.  It is called the island of silver because of the lost treasure Sir Francis Drake, that rascal of a pirate, hid somewhere in the sea surrounding the island.  We didn't have any luck finding silver, but we did see a lot of boobies.  Birds, that is. We saw the blue-footed booby, which is apparently always a crowd pleaser, and a lot of the masked booby.  I was amazed at how comfortable the birds were in our presence.  Many of the masked boobies were taking care of their young, either roosting on their eggs or caring for their just hatched little ones.  The birds allowed us to get inches, and I mean inches, away from them and snap away like we were the booby paparazzi.  The blue-footed booby broke out a couple of dance moves and entertained our group of hikers for about twenty minutes.  The birds com...

Having visitors in Ecuador has been an exciting venture for Dave and I.  Tosha and Brandon reminded us of what life was like before we adjusted to the daily occurrence of what we call EcuaExperiences.  From being a part of a taxi chase scene straight out of a Bruce Willis film to surviving the bus depot during carnival, the Bentz' witnessed many EcuaE's during their week-long visit.   But none of the experiences throughout the week really compared to the EcuaBus incident.  An unexpected, panic-ensuing, adrenaline pumping, belly-laugh generating adventure that took place as we were all trying to leave Puerto Lopez on Monday night.   We had been having a very enjoyable morning and afternoon in Puerto Lopez.  The rain had stopped, the sun was shining, and the people were still partying hard for Carnival.  We had a wonderful breakfast at the Whale Cafe that included banana pancakes and real coffee. Brandon and Dave had gone swimming in the ocean while Tosha and I shopped at the man...