This post is a long time coming. Work has been nearly all consuming. While things aren't slowing down, I think the learning curve is easing up a bit. At any rate... a long time ago in a land far, far away... called Manchester... I spent two weeks working. :) Manchester is beautiful, peaceful, and in some parts serene. England, in general, is pretty cool... the accents, the culture, the order, the history, the architecture, and, yes, my friends, even a little bit of the food (mushy peas and fish and chips are alright with me). One of the first things I [View Full Entry]

---

---

In effect, this was the crown jewel of the trip... the objective... the dream. In the month or so leading up to the climb I said to family, friends, and people I met at the hostel that I was going to try to summit Cotopaxi... "try" being the key word. The main problem in climbing Cotopaxi is the altitude (5,897 meters; 19,347 ft) -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotopaxi. I did not want to get my hopes up too high, nor anyone else's. Well, I summited Cotopaxi in about 6.5 hours. ;) I think it is the most difficult thing, at least physically, that I [View Full Entry]

---

---

As part of my trip to Ecuador, I was taking 20 hours of one-on-one Spanish lessons. During one of the lessons, my instructor, Santi (same instructor as I had during my last trip to Ecuador), mentioned that he and some other people from the hostel were going to Mindo for the weekend and staying at the hostel that he is currently building (his main expertise is in tourism) and he invited me along. We left Friday afternoon... me, Santi, Ralph, Rene, and Allison. Ralph and Rene were from Germany and Allison from Canada. We were going to take the trolley bus [View Full Entry]

---

---

This was my second trip to Ecuador and the hostel "The Secret Garden". My goals for this trip were pretty simple... climb Cotopaxi and take more Spanish lessons while enjoying my stay at the Secret Garden (great three-course dinners and Chilean wine). Trekking up Guagua Pichincha was part of the preparation to climb Cotopaxi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pichincha_%28volcano%29 On my second day in Quito, a group of about six of us (a couple from Holland, three from Canada, and me) and a guide (Louis) headed out in a four-wheel drive vehicle out of Quito and up into the mountains. The d [View Full Entry]

---

---

Note: The details here are woefully lacking. Most of the group was at the 2nd site, and so I don't know much about what they did (except that they were working on a classroom for special needs children... painting, installing insulation, doing trim-work, and so forth). This was my third mission trip to Mexico and second with First Presbyterian. As with last year, we spent two days in-transit to Valle Hermoso with a night stopover in Texas. I was exhausted most of the way down... up too early... drive all day. By the end of the first day (and being on [View Full Entry]

---

---

Six guys and three days and a back to nature adventure. And hanging out with just guys is a very different experience than when girls are around. The nature of the conversation changes, we relax more, etc. For most of the time on the trip, I wore just a hat and a bathing suit... wearing shoes only when necessary. It was a very liberating feeling... kind of like a Huck Finn free-spirit. Most of the others guys wore about the same. Over the three days, we spent a lot of time talking and joking around. It was great to hang out [View Full Entry]

---

---

This time I was in Chicago visiting my friends M&A. I took a plane in on Saturday and stayed at a hotel out near O'Hare... which, by the way, is much less expensive than in the city... though it is a 45 min. CTA ride (@ $2/trip) to the Loop; extended stay hotels (e.g. Staybridge Suites) are relatively inexpensive out by the airport, though I stayed at the Doubletree with my hotel points). Sunday morning I took the CTA to the Roosevelt stop just south of the Loop. It was then a short walk to the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium [View Full Entry]

---

---

These were my last two days in Quito, which I spent with the Douces and at Casa Gabriel. Over the two days, I wrapped up my work and gave Phil a report on some of my ideas for improving some of the organizational aspects of Casa Gabriel. Spending time with the Douces was great. We played ping-pong, watched Funniest Home Videos, ate dinner together, and talked a lot... and one evening Phil and I talked for over an hour about a lot of different things... missionary life, religion and Christianity, family, and even politics. The second day Phil, the boys, and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, I have been very busy of late. Yesterday, I finished my Spanish lessons (20 hours in five days). Santi (my instructor) did a great job and I think I learned a lot. During the week, we had a couple of hours of lessons at the mall, visited a fruit market, had lunch, and capped the week off by cooking an Ecuadorian meal at his apartment (Santi is a great cook... and is also building a hostal in Mindo made of bamboo - very cool and I look forward to visiting it one day). I still have a long way to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Okay, new argument... lonely hotel room vs. a dorm room with three loud, snoring men (one of whom was sick and coughing) in a poorly ventilated room... I´m leaning toward the lonely hotel room. With four hours of Spanish lessons and going out to Casa Gabriel every day (plus studying and socializing), I am opting for the private room (still at the Secret Garden... they have both types of rooms). It is about $18 (vs. $7) a night, but I think it will be worth it. Plus, last night in the dorm room, I ended up talking to a UK guy [View Full Entry]

---

---