Sunday, December 23, 2007
Christmas Family Vacation
The whole trip was 372 miles (598 kms) and one big circle - Quito, Shell, Tena, Baeza, Papallacta, Quito. The longest leg was from Tena to Quito. Due to the roads it took us 6 1/2 hours to drive back today - a lot of it at 10 kmh!
Here are a couple of videos as well to give you a sense of our travel by canoe.
Lots of photos on Flickr.com (click the link to the right).
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Christmas Concert AAI
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Annual Car Registration - the quick and the dirty
The certification part went OK, but when Graham went to pay for the renewal of the registration the problems began. "It is already paid" said the lady at the bank. "No, I haven't paid it" replied Graham. "But it is paid."
Problem - to renew your registration you need an original receipt from the bank showing you have paid. With the registration already paid, Graham could not get an original receipt. What to do?
After trying to get a second copy of the original - that someone else paid by error, no way of telling who - Graham finally went to the top. He went to the Police Department responsible for vehicle registration and spoke with someone there. They told him he needed to go the Tax Office (SRI) to clean up the account. "Happens all the time" they assured him.
So, off to the SRI. After waiting an hour or so, a lady listened to Graham's story and said "Yup, happens all the time." She pecked away at her computer and then looked up and assured Graham it was fixed. Now, he had to go back to the bank.
At the bank there was NO lineup (whoooHOOO) so Graham gave the car registration to the teller, and guess what - he was able to pay it! Now we have the original receipt. It has taken half a day to get to this point.
Next, Graham heads back to the Police Department to do the paperwork to get the new registration. Oops, don't get too excited Graham. First, the sign says you have to wait 48 hours after payment before getting the new registration. Second, you need photocopies of the old registration, passport, etc. Graham didn't have this stuff. It is Friday. Gotta wait until Tuesday.
Today, Tuesday - here is where the dirty part happened.
Graham is standing in line. They are 20 minutes late opening the gate at the Police Department. It is raining slightly. Suddenly, a big drop of rain runs down Graham's back. Yuck. Oops, it’s not rain. A pigeon has just unloaded it’s morning constitutional on him, hitting Graham on the head and running down his shoulder.
He had a Kleenex with him, so the guy in line behind him tried to wipe Graham's shoulder and back while Graham wiped off his head. He stinks – big time. Those things let go with a huge quantity, Grade "A"!
But, he wasn’t about to quit. So he made everyone around him suffer with the smell. Finally the gates open and he got in line and was given ticket number 13. Yeah, think about it. Lucky 13.
But guess what – numbers 1-8 didn’t show, so inside of 5 minutes they are calling #9. Then two more windows open. Numbers 10-12 are called immediately. Then #13. So Graham is at the window, in all his poopy, smelly glory. The girl smiles at him and asks “Where is your Cedula?” (Ecuadorian ID card). Graham explains he doesn’t have one, just a censo (ID card for foreigners). She looks puzzled and leaves her computer. Uh oh he thinks.
She returns seconds later with a piece of carbon paper (needs it to print the form he has to sign) and finishes the paperwork. Graham asked her “Do you want to see the censo?” “No” she replied. "There’s a photocopy here." So he has no idea why she was originally puzzled.
And then, in the next instant, Graham's wildest dream came true – he held a brand-new, valid-for-one-year vehicle registration in his hand!
Registration in hand, poop on head, he headed out to grab a taxi and head home. But now, it is morning rush hour. So the cab slowly crawls back to the apartment, the taxi driver constantly looking back at Graham with a funny expression. The cab stunk. Finally, once close to home, Graham paid him and jumped out. He could walk the rest of the way faster than could be driven in the traffic, and could no longer stand himself.
So, it’s done. Now Graham is clean. Clothes are in the washing machine. End of story. Not quick, but definitely dirty.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Visit to Spain
It is the point of entry for Gibraltar. To cross over (Gibraltar is an independent country) all you need to do is show you passport and keep on walking. La Linea is Spanish, Gibraltar is English. The Rock is full of historic evidence, giving testimony to it's strategic naval position.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Winter Prayer Letter available
Monday, November 26, 2007
Plane adventures
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Thanksgiving - friends, food and fire
It threatened rain, and did drizzle lightly on occasion, but overall we were dry and well fed, and had a great time enjoying friends!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Paperwork and Processes - III
Another trip down to the immigration office this morning - Graham left the his office at 6:50 AM. When he arrived at the immigraiton office, he was told they weren't handing out numbers yet. But then, a few minutes later, an American couple left and said "Yeah, we have our numbers." So Graham tried again, and this time they gave him a number - 510. "Oh-oh" thought Graham. This is going to take a while. He had hoped to be one of the first.
While reading a book (The Speed of Trust by Covey - a good read!) a lady came up to Graham and asked if she could switch ticket numbers. She had 507, but her husband hadn't arrived yet and she didn't want to lose her turn. Graham happily gave a 510 for a 507! Settling back to continue reading, Graham realized that the numbers were rolling by quickly! They had opened three windows for service! AND started early! At about 8:07 they called 507, and 5 minutes later Graham had his new censo. On to the salida (permission to leave the country).
Amazingly, no one was in the line, or in the waiting room. Graham got ticket 209, and then they immediately called for 209. Two minutes later Graham was out the door. By 8:15 he was looking for a taxi and back to work at 8:25. WOW! That is the FASTEST we have ever gotten those documents.
The only down side is that Graham didn't get much reading done . . .
Monday, November 19, 2007
Paperwork and Processes - II
So, sometimes things do work with great efficiency here!! Now Graham has to go back to the first immigration office tomorrow to get his censo now that his data has been corrected in the computer system.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Paperwork and processes
It turns out that the part of the office that handles this paperwork didn't start working (for whatever reason) until about 8:15 or so. They called "500." The first guy goes up. He doesn't have all his paperwork correct, so he leaves. "501." A young mother goes up. She waits. And waits. And an hour later, is still waiting. The natives are restless. The young man behind the counter is on the phone with his supervisor, unable to get the computer to accept the inputed information. Finally, it works. Now it won't print. More phone calls. A visit from a co-worker. Finally, the documents (called a censo) print.
Meanwhile, an hour and 25 minutes has gone by. Everyone is restless. This is supposed to be a 10 minute procedure. The young man behind the counter is flustered. And then a lady who does not have a ticket tries to jump into the line. You can imagine how that was accepted. (In case you can't - it wasn't!! Lots of raised voices and yelling between the others in line and this lady).
Our turn. Graham gives our documents to the young man, and he announces "You are in the system twice. You have to go to another office on Monday to fix that, then come back." Sigh.
Fortunately, Sharon and the girls are not duplicated in the system, so they proceed to get their new censos and a second document called a "salida" (a document confirms you have Police permission to leave the country). You can't get a salida without a censo.
But not everything is bad . . . in the mall across the street there is a Baskin & Robbins. We head over there and have ice cream to celebrate the partial victory. On Monday Graham goes to the other office to start the process of getting the duplicate entry erased from the computer system. Then you have to wait 24 hours for the system to be purged. On Tuesday he can go back and try to get his censo and salida again. We'll keep you posted!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Feria de la Salud
We did this without advertising, except one brief interview during the morning on the radio. We rendered approximately 900 services, and had about 2000 people visit the radio compound or hospital. By all measures it was a success.
While people were getting checked - or waiting to get checked, or waiting on someone else who was getting checked - a musical team played Christian music, and for a short while, the Ecuadorian Police Band played patriotic music.
More photos are on our flickr website here.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Rainy, Rainy day update
On the downside, the soggy weather has forced us to cancel our get-a-way plans for today. We were going to head to a hosteria named "San Luis" and then up to the town where they have a huge outdoor market (Otavalo). But, alas, an outdoor market in rain is not very fun. Nor is a hosteria where all there is to do is walk through the woods. So we'll go grocery shopping in the mall instead. Kind of boring, but necessary.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Home Improvements IV
Home Improvements - III
Home Improvements - II
Home Improvements
Monday, October 29, 2007
What are the chances?
Fortunately, matte is not like coffee (all liquid) and no great damage was done to the components inside.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Welcome to our BULHORN
We also have a bunch of photos posted at Flickr - head on over and take a look.
In case you don't know, BULHORN stands for "Bulmer Update Letter Heralding Our Radio News." Although, truth be known, we do a lot more than radio these days. Sharon teaches at the Alliance Academy, Graham serves on the Academy's board, and as part of the administration of the Latin America Region of HCJB Global, Graham has as much to do with health care and education as radio. But BULHORHCEN doesn't make sense (radio, health care, education). So we'll stick with status quo.