So a couple of weeks ago the President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, came to town to do some politicking. I could almost say that he came to our street. This stage was set up at the end of our street about 100 meters from our apartment door. He came to the area to give away parcels of land. Apparently some absentee landowner hadn't paid his taxes in years so it was being divided up and redistributed.
          Correa is leading what he calls a "citizen's revolution".  From what I've learned, he's popular, he's been re-elected twice, and he's doing some good things for his country (like improving the infrasture). It was quite unique to have the President of Ecuador come to our town. And keep in mind our town is only about 10, 000 people.
          Now, click on the picture to blow it up, and yes, that's Cherith and I in the top right of the photo. We know the owners of the house and were allowed to view the speech from up there. Again, quite a unique experience. A person would never be allowed to watch a speech of a US President from a position like that.

Check out Bucay's website at www.destinobucay.com

What have we been up to lately??? Let's see....

• Rich has been translating the tourism web pages into English (updates are NOT on the site yet)
• Rich has been exploring international marketing ideas (for example, how to get your town into the Foder's or Lonely Planet, etc books)
• Cherith has been helping a local with a business plan for her idea to have a tour operator business
• We have been creating a PowerPoint presentation with photos of all the attractions in the area that we are going to use to go to the schools (with our co-worker) and help teach the kids what there is to do in their own community (they don't really know). I didn't understand the need for this at first, but now I do...I can explain it if you are curious
• We got our three counterpart organizations together for two meetings (they don't communicate much so this is a step in that direction)
• We have just about finished visiting all the tourist attractions, or potential tourist attractions, in the area
• We have done over 50 interviews with community members
• We went to the town beauty pagent (It is one of the biggest activities of the year and it went from 10 PM to 4:30 in the morning! Seriously! The contestants are ages 14 - 18.)
• We have been attending as many local activities as possible...parades, festivals, etc.
• Cherith has started going to "Baila Therapia" (Dance Therapy) classes with some of the local women; Rich tried basketball...the guys keep wanting him to play
• We just spent our first weekend away in three months on the beach in Puerto Engabao...this is a beach 4 hours away where one of our fellow volunteers is working.

Here are some random photos that we have:

Some of the many different colorful traditional dance dresses.

The Virgin Mary is paraded around all the time....

More traditional dess and dancing.

And another group of traditional dancers.

Some of the outfits in one of the many stages of the annual beauty pageant. These outfits were Vegas quality - over the top! This contest (contestants are ages 14 - 18) went from 10 PM to 4:30 AM!

Visiting Keshia in Puerto Engabao, Ecuador. She is another volunteer in our group. This is about 4 1/2 hours from where we live.

The Puerto Engabao lighthouse. Keshia goes here to get cell reception and internet to upload books onto her Kindle....otherwise there is no internet in town.

The community has 16 places, in people's homes, but private entrances, where visitors can stay for $7 per person per night. They are very nice and clean, and this project is helping increase the income of the locals.

This is a town of about 200...you can see almost the whole town in this picture. The building that is being built in the middle will be a hotel. Tourists come for surfing, or just for the beauty and tranquility of the place.

Beautiful sailboats in a town nearby.