Jesse's Roatan island trip

This one is going out to Gordy

2009-03-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

I just needed to make a shout out to my best friend Gordy. Gordy and I have grown up together and have been through thick and thin together. He is one of those guys I could not imagine life without. I probably see him on average of two to three times a day. One might say we are drawn to each other and have a wonderful "working" relationship.

Cheers to Gordy!

The Finale in Roatan

2009-03-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Well Day 5 was also a tough one! We had this day planned and packed with activities (we actually just make up an itinerary as we go but it became a full day).

Travis and I have been eying the water with it's composed aqua blue water all the while one of the best barrier reefs in the world was beckoning us to it's humble abode. We, as any good moth drawn to the light, took the plunge and went scuba diving on Friday with the fine folks from Anthony's Key Resort.

Now let me set the stage a little here. I was open water certified to dive back in 1996. Certifications do not expire and as any school boy would do on the playground when he wants to play I told them that I could play even though I hadn't dove in 13 years! Travis was certified in Thailand and has dove a couple places like Australia and such but it had been about 8 years for him. To his advantage, he is a Fireman in Huntington Beach and plays around with similar equipment as oxygen tanks and masks...

We buddied up and had a blast! Now before we left, Hector our dive master had us get in the water right there off the boat before we left. Even though it was only about 10 feet of water it was very unsettling stepping off the back of the boat into the water. Let me paint a little picture for you... you have a +/-30lb tank on your back, a constricting wet suit, about 20lbs of weight strapped to you and all this extra gear on you and I am supposed to flipper walk to the edge of the boat and just hop in with out looking like an idiot in front of an audience of professionals.

The dive was a ship wreck dive taking us to a grand total of 130 feet (which I think is deeper than my Open Water Certification allows me to dive...hmmm...). I felt like I was in one of those National Geographic documentaries. We progressed from there to the reef which must have been 70 or 80 feet high. It was just stunning to see this wall of coral, growth, fish and sea life! Loved the whole experience!

Trav and I went back to the hotel and picked up Rod and Beni and headed out to a family members home for a wonderful lunch. All week we had talked with Roni about going out on his speed boat and after lunch at his place he invited us out. The water was a little rough but we had to go anyways.

Does any speed boat buffs recognize the above symbol?

Fountain is the name of this speed boat that falls in the price range similar to that of a loan I would get on a $200k house! Again I say it... we were treated like royalty. We took out the 40ft speed boat and saw some different places and one time reaching a speed of 70mph. We had a grand ole' time!

Finished up with a lovely dinner to close our Friday night.

Day whatever... the last day for me. They were doing a birthday party this afternoon with all of the family and meeting all of the uncles and cousins that had hooked us up over the week. I unfortunatly had to head out on a plane for home.

But before I left I had just one last thing to do. I ended the trip with a Canopy Zip Line Tour Saturday morning. After 12 stations I "zipped" off to the airport to make my journey home.

In all it was a phenomenal trip. I love everything about it and am excited about the next trip to come! Thanks to all of you who have followed this blog and my trip!

Nothing But Love,
Scherba

Stay tuned...

2009-03-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for the latest and greatest of the Roatan experience! I will be updating with one more blog...

Still living the rough life...

2009-03-12T09:13:00.000-07:00

So day 2 finished with dinner at the resort where we were playing as guest of the owner. Dinner was served by waiters in formal attire and powder blue vests (my favorite color). Being on an island I thought it appropriate to have the fried fish with a cream shrimp sauce. It fish was covered in pieces of shrimp unlike the token portions we might recieve in the States. Unfortunatly I do not take well to fish and shrimp and was barely able to finish my meal. I do not know why but it never settles well...

Day 3 lead us to Anthony's Key Resort http://www.anthonyskey.com/en/index.html which is the most known and best resort on the island! I would recommend it to anyone on a honey moon, or adventure getaway! We got hooked up with a Dolfin Encounter where we were able to hang out in the water with the dolfins and pet them and watch their tricks. Pretty cool. It happened to be Rod's neice's 8th birthday and it was all free to us because it was a cousins resort. Pretty weet place! Roatan is known as the best place to dive in the world with the second largest barrier reef in the world. Lunch there was a three course all inclusive style lunch that, hmmm... we didn't have to pay for either!

Before I got all lazy at this resort I went to a local pediatric medical clinic. I connected with this clinic before I went and arranged for me to bring medical supplies. I brought a 60lb duffle bag of goodies for them. I was super impressed with the clinic. It was started by an American Nurse about 15 years ago and has won amazing favor from the islanders and been blessed by God in so many ways. She basically offers services free of charge unless they can pay the $2 for services. the two doctors are local but all of the others are mainly volunteer staff from elsewhere. I enjoyed my time there emensly!

The day finished with a small brithday party at Rod's sisters house for 8 year old Dani.

Day 4 took us to a small island owned by Anthony's key which I will just let you check out from the web site http://www.finsandflippers.com/en/index.html Just spent the day there and arranged with cousin a diving trip tomorrow morning with the best dive service on the island. THis place bought and sunk two ships to provide some extra scenery for their divers!

Today is going to finish up with some Cuba Libres (rum and cokes) and a fried chicken place we have been wanting to try.

Nothing But Love,
Scherba

P.S. This is where we are staying...

Honduran Bay Islands

2009-03-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

So I made it to Honduras. More specifically, to Roatan the Honduran Bay Island in the Caribbean. Hmmm, how did this happen. Well, a buddy of mine (Rod de la Sotta) was coming here to visit his sister and family here. I just happen to tag along. The island is beautiful! It is certainly not an established touristy location though. This is the real thing. Or maybe it is because I am getting the inside family treatment and not the resort treatment.

Now this definitely does not mean that there are no resorts involved! It turns out that Rod's Brother-in-law is from this island and has connections, or should I say more specifically family ties, to some of the best resorts and touristy stuff on the island! The first day we went to the best beach which is in West Bay. It is called Tabyanna and this is the resort we spent the day at http://www.infinitybay.com/ The next few pictures are of this beach and activities...

The Sun sets on the first day here and the next part of our day begins. Four dudes (Rod, Travis and his brother Ben Terich and myself) traveling together and staying in a one room hotel with only two beds (yes we share- and we rotate every night... J/K about the rotating) is not a recipe for retiring early to the room. So we walk the road that is converted from the beach to the various social gatherings and listen to competing music and get some drinks...

Day two finds us here at another family resort called Turquoise Bay http://www.turquoisebayresort.com/... We have the whole bay and beach to ourselves. We take out some kayaks to the near by keys and explore. This place is rough also because we just have to wait here for Rod's family to show up and the owner of the resort and we will all have dinner here. The sun has set on this beautiful day but I am sure it is barely over half way done!

I am sure tomorrow will be just as eventful and will try to keep everyone posted.

Nothing But Love,

Jesse

Locks of Love

2008-09-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

So, I'm not totally sure how this blog thing is gonna work out. I know we want to keep bloging, but, I think we might create a new blog and leave this one as a journal of our trip. . .not sure though. If we do create a new one, I'll put a link for it here. For now though, I thought I'd share with you my latest change of appearance. . .
My friend Jaime and I have been talking about donating our hair for a while now, and well, the time finally came. We just did it this morning. It's still a little shocking!
"Before"

"During"

Ahhhhh!!

"After", with my adorable hair dresser Caroline.

Luckily, I LOVE it!!
Jaime's turned out really cute too, although all the pics of her are one her camera.
Okay, more later.

The faces you know you miss!

2008-09-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

It Finally Happened!

2008-09-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

"Ladron, Ladron." That is what I would have shouted if I knew! ¨Thief, Thief.¨ We made it two months, minus two days, without any problems. We returned last night to Quito from the coast (perhaps my favorite location), left the airport, walked to the public bus route that we were proud of knowing already, got on for 25cents each instead of the $8 the taxis wanted to charge and headed on our way. Well, some how we got on the wrong Linea (Line). We started in the right direction but at some point things just seemed wrong. ¿Äh, disculpe señora, a que direcion estamos yendo... A La Marin?¨ Somehow in the mix of it all the troley like bus had flipped around and started heading back towards the airport. Hmm, I suppose we should get off here since in a couple more stops we will have traveled for 2o minutes and returned to the exact same spot. Mind you, we have each a large traveling backpack and an additional small backpack. The bus had gotten packed with in the last two stops and we needed to navigate towards the door. Successfull! We decide to hail a taxi to just take us to our final destination. We get in and in the midst of trying to explain the place we wanted to go I cannot find my wallet, which is ALWAYS in the same, front right pocket. Hmm, Sir, we need to stop and get out, I lost my wallet, perhaps it is in the street where we got in your car. Now we have just traveled across the country from sea level to 9,000+ feet in elevation. I am high tailing it back to the intersection hopeing for the best, all the time seeing the taxi drivers face in my head when I told him that I did not have my wallet. He gave that look like, well, I hope it is in the street, but friend, you´ve been punked. Panting, we reach the intersection. No wallet. Well, I supose we should hail another taxi. We took 4 taxis in about 6 blocks until we were able to find a guy that knew where we wanted to go. It was quite an ordeal. Now back to the states to replace that which was once mine with a new one.

See you all soon,

Check back periodically as we will probably post a few more pictures and some wrap-up stories.

Nothing But Love,
Jesse and Cassidy

The Gosple of Luke: Chapters 15-24

2008-09-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I finaly posted a comment on what I have been reading. Feel free to go back and read them. You can easily click on the link to the right to get them together.

IF you have not been reading I would encourage you to. It is wonderful stuff!

Join me as we read through the book of Luke in the Bible and write your comments about what you think.

Nothing But Love,
Scherba

Montanita

2008-09-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

We have been in this little coastal town called Montanita *the second n actually has a squiggle line above it, but I can't make it work on the keyboard* Being here has been super relaxing. I(Cass) have been working hard at enjoying each day since all I can think about is being home....in four days!! We have been super relaxed here. We had originally planned on visiting a few different coastal town but tonight will be our 6th night here. Woops... We ended up really liking it. It's a super chill, surfer, party, touristy town. We of course don't really surf or party for that matter, but we have just really soaked up the chill vibe. Jesse actually did surf though, and did pretty well for basically his first time and zero instruction.

The street. There's really only one main street. The town is super small.

Jesse enjoying his FRESH morning juice that we have come to enjoy and almost expect. In Ecuador you have freshly made juice with pretty much every meal. I think this one was pinapple banana...one of our favorites.

Classis beach. There are venders everywhere. Everything is pretty cute, but after looking at it alllll the time everything kinda blends together an you don't really see anything. Haven't bought anything yet... maybe today, our last day here.

More classic beach. Ceviche venders everywhere too. I had my first share of it last night. It was very good, and I am not sick today!

We have talked about getting henna tatoos since our honeymoon. There are tons of people "vending" these as well. We did it our first day which probably wasn't the best idea since mine is already pretty much gone. Oh well. It was pretty cute though.

This is Edison, the "artist." Acctually he just traced a drawing, pressed it onto our backs, then traced it again with the henna. He was super sweet though. He even helped Jesse create his own.

Jesse wanted to try out surfing, since that's basically the only thing that people do here. He had only done it once in the freezing cold rain in Santa Cruz about five years ago. He did great. Got up pretty much every time. It may have had something to do with the fact that the board he rented was a GIANT, super boyant plank. . . .perfect for learning!! I was super proud of him.

These drink street venders were out every night. They lined the street. There were always lots of people at them, so I think that they were probably safe, although we never ordered anything on the street.

So, yesturday we went to this little island called Isla de la Plata. Some people call it "Poor Man's Galapagos." It has some of the same bird species as the Galapagos. The travel book that we have warned us that it might be a rough ride, but we didn't take it heart I guess. My poor sweetie threw up three times. Once on the way there and twice on the way back. He was such a good sport though, making jokes and smiling the whole way. He was pretty beat by the time we made it home though. We had a windy hour car ride to finish off the trip. I was quite miserable too, but willed myself not to puke. Thank you Lord, I HATE puking..
The Blue Footed Boobie.

Don't remember this one's name. Cool bird with gian red neck/chest.

Ummm don't remember this one's name either. But look at the one in the back, there were two eggs under him.
Then we had a chance to stop and snorkel.. It was pretty chilly though and we didn't really have that long, then we had to ride on the rough water again, so Jesse and I just took pics from the boat.

Our trip to the coast has been a good one. An extremely relaxing way to end our trip. We splurged on a hotel, $30 per night..it has a pool, jacuzzi, and nothing that Jesse is allergic to!! It has been quite the treat. We leave the coast tomorrow on a plane back to Quito where we will finish up our souvenier shopping, visit with our new friends, Jon and Anna, and then fly out Friday afternoon. . .

I'm sure we'll have plenty of thoughts to share with you when this is all over, but for now... please pray for safe journeys and health. . . my throat is sorta feeling yucky today, and I'm hoping it's nothing more.

Nothing but Love.

See you soon.

From Baños to the Coast

2008-09-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so last week we traveled down through the middle of Ecuador, in the highlands, then over to the coast where we are now. Here´s a little snipit of out trip.

We took a bus (about 3 hours) to a little town called Riobamaba. It was a cute town, but we didn´t go to see the town. We went to take a train the next day, south toward Cuenca. The train is famous for it´s decent down ¨La Nariz del Diablo¨(the devil´s nose). This decent of course is only about the last hour of the 7 hour train ride. Most people sit on top of the train for the whole ride. We did too, even though it was lightly raining the entire time. It was a fun experience. The train went pretty slow and only derailed once. Overall a successful trip. Here´s a few pics of the train..

At the end of the train ride we ended up in a town called Alausi. There we ate a really quick lunch and then jumped on a bus to Cuenca to finish off our day of traveling. It took about four and a half hours to get to Cuenca. Cuenca was a town that I ws really excited about visiting, but by the time we got there I (this is Cass by the way) was kinda over the colonial towns and don´t think that I enjoyed it as much as I may have, had it been towards the beginning of our trip. I also got a little sick, so that also made it hard to enjoy. It was still beautiful though. We dedcided to only stay three nights, and since we only had two full days there, we decided to take a ¨city tour¨to make sure we saw all that we should. Here´s a few pics...

Typical residencial city street

the ¨New Cathedral¨ It´s the second largest church in South America. It was pretty amazing. The next one is also of the cathedral, from the back...

A flower market a block long... I love flowers!

Another pretty church. We didn´t go in this one, but it sure was pretty at night.

Ecuador is the home of the Panama hat (not Panama). Cuenca is where most are made and sold. Aren´t we cute?!

And, classic Ecuador.. rifles are sold with backpacks. Who would have thought...

One of the paintings in the museum of modern art. We loved the contrast it shows between the ¨have´s and the have not´s.¨ Check it out.

The end of our tour, the balcony of the city.

After Cuenca, we took a private transpot, a big van, to the largest city in Ecuador, Guyaquil (population 3 million). We only spent one night here. It ended up just being an ïn-between¨(between the highlands and the coast).

We are still alive and smiling.

This is the cutest corridor in the city, you see it in ALL the books, flyers, etc. It was recently remodeled and cleaned up, it really is pretty. This was the first place we went that was truely warm. It was humid too, and after walking up these some 400 steps I was drenched..oh well.

In the park right behind our hotel there were Eguanas, just hanging out.... lots of them. (And turtles, fish and pigeons).

Picture from the boardwalk. On the map Guayaquil looks kinda like it´s on the ocean, but it´s actually on a river. This is the river.

So, from Gualquil we came to the coast. We were going to just stop in this little surfer town called Mantañita, then continue to this other town called Puerto Lopez, but we like it here in Montañita so much that I´ll think we´ll stay here and just take a day trip to Puerto Lopez. We will head back to Quito on Wednesday or Thursday then fly out on Friday. More pics to come from the beach.

Be sure to check out our ¨Trip Map¨ to the right to get a better idea of where we´ve been!!

Love you all and miss you...see you soon.

2008-09-06T10:14:00.000-07:00

The following is adapted from our friends blog. Visit it by clicking on the link to the right¨: Eshlemans

You Know You're in Ecuador When...
- multiple children run up to you at one time to shine your shoes (flip flops, converse, green suede vans..)
- Futbol is more important than anything
- If you don't have nausea at least once a week, you must not be eating.
- If the doors on the bus can still shut, there's still room for more
- Milk and eggs aren't refrigerated
- You can't breathe at an intersection
- $3 for lunch is really expensive
- No vehicle (car, bus, police motorcycle, ambulance, bike) stops for a pedestrian. They do however honk to let you know they're coming.
-You can buy 100 limes for $1 on the corner, the bus, the street...
- You can go from sweating to freezing in 30 minutes
- You can get 120 songs on one CD for $1
- New release movies (still in the theater) are $1.50 on a DVD at the store right next to the theater
- Rice is served at every meal, every day
- The view of the mountains never gets old
- Coca-Cola is the new water - and even tastes better
- Pinguino Ice Cream - they sell Magnum bars!
- $1 for 25 roses
- Old ladies and children are the best pick-pocketers. Watch out!
- Most buses have curtains and tassels - classy.
- KFC is one of the most popular restaurants
- You have your "own" panaderia, pirated DVD store, movistar man, and tiendita where you know the workers by name
- Halls cough drops are considered candy
- Aji (spicy salsa) makes everything taste better
- Regaton (music) is played at all hours of the day/night
- Only 80's-90's top 40 music has made it on the radio here
- Even the poorest of the poor have cell phones
- You have never thought white bread could be so tasty!
- There is a different key for EVERY door in your house
- Family dogs always seem to be hanging out on the roof
- You throw your toilet paper in the trash, not the toilet
- You have been involved in a city bus race
- You have witnessed a political protest
- You haggle with Taxis for a mere 50 cents
- You put popcorn in your soup
- You drink juice with every meal
- When somehow drivers make 3 or 4 lanes out of 2 lanes
- Mothers silence their crying children by flopping our their äll natural¨ pasipher in the restaurnat, bus, street corner or anywhere really that the child can grab for it
- You are overly excited when a bathroom has toilet paper, soap, paper towels and a SEAT!
- Toilet paper is scented because you dispose of it in the waste basket, not by flushing it in the toilet
- The Isuzu Rodeo is branded with Chevrolet here
- Gas is $1.48 a gallon, Diesel is $1.03
- When a man wants to marry a women the parents of the man go with him to ask for her hand from her parents (to show that his family accepts her).
- There are more than 3million Ecuatorians in the US.
- They are obligated to vote... When they vote they recieve a ¨card¨saying so. Without it they can not buy any big purchases such as a car, house, drivers licence, passport and the list goes on...(Imagine the outcome or fraud involved with indigenous people who do not follow politics. Political parties promise tons of food and supplies to the poor country people if they vote for them and they win)
- Ecuador is in the process of voting on accepting a new constitution! Big deal to be decided by ¨vote¨Sept. 28th
- Men are obligated to join the armed services
- The average monthly salery is $250! (Imagine rent of $80 and a phone bill of $50 what you could do with the rest! Maybe food or school uniform and books for your kids...)

Oh how the list can go on...

Feliz Cumpleaños (Happy Birthday) Brooke and Mia

2008-09-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Brooke and Mia!!! We hope that you had a super fun party for your birthdays last week. We were sad that we were not there. We hope that Mia had a great birthday yesturday and that Brooke has a great birthday today!!! We love you very much.

Since we couln´t be there to celebrate with you we want you to know that we wish we could share this yummy ice cream with you and maybe when we get home we can come visit and take you out to ice cream!!
This is a picture of us in a birthday supply store. I asked the lady if we could take pictures wearing birthday hats and holding a birthday balloon for you. . .she said yes and is actually taking the picture for us. It´s hard to read, but the Hello Kitty balloon says Happy Birthday!! Uncle Jesse is blowing you a kiss!
We love you very much!!! and miss you!!

Love,

Auntie Cass and Uncle Jesse

Shell - And a bit of Jesse´s thoughts...

2008-09-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, this little town was named after the huge oil company. Many may not know, but Ecuador supplys a large percent of the worlds oil. We had a chance to visit this town while we were in Baños, not because we wanted to see the influence of large oil companies on the Amazon, but because of a connection we recieved from Karen Appier´s brother-in-law, Tom Clark.

The draw to Shell for us is that it is the gateway to the jungle and historical with misionary work. For those who have read the books, seen the movies (the last one being Ënd of the Spear¨) or heard the stories, you might be starting to connect the dots a little. Some +/- 50 years ago a group of missionaries went to this area to reach one of the tribes in the jungle. Five of the men were killed in this process, the name most recognized being Nate Saint. God has done an amazing work in this area in revealing his love for people with obviously great sacrifice by those who chose to assist him in it.

This is a picture of the center plaza in Shell with a large tower topped with a replical of Nate Saints´airplane.

Rick and Sharron LaBouef have been in Ecuador for 30 some years now and he is a jungle piolt. He basically has people (jungle people, natives, missionaries, etc.) who show up at his gate every morning around 7am begging for flights out to one of the 250 plus air-strips. He then ¨hops¨from one air-strip to another all day ¨bush flying.¨ We were able to spend a night with them and hear their stories.

...and a pic. of the LaBouefs and their plain

It is pretty cool to be a part of something big. To be apart of God´s family.

While there we also went to an orphanage that a lady from the states started. She has 56 children in a very small place! The kids come to her from all ways. Dropped off, found, delivered by the police and so forth. She just houses them and loves on them. She has been in operation for about 7 years with hopes and plans to build on a larger property more rooms and placed to make this operation functional. It is truely a day by day ministry.

Cass with some of the kids at the orphanage

here is a pic of the orphange itself...

Here are a few my thoughts:

I have visited a place in my mind that should have been obvious, but I do not really encounter often. Cass and I have commited to being a part of something larger than ourselves. For this reason, traveling and giving of money, time and resources to various origanizations is on the fore front of our minds. I have been able to research the big organizations and find information on the internet about places and people in which to invest. But what became more clear to me, and brought up experiances from the past when I was in Guatemala, Amsterdam, Ireland, Mexico and on, was that the need is endless. When I say endless I really mean ENDLESS. Just in Ecuador I have had the privliage of seeing three different real-life ministries by those who have little to those who have nothing. We rationalize away resouces (especially money) from 5 bucks to $100,000 fairly easy. For very little these particular three organizations/ministries could exponentialy have a greater impact! Even with-in the non-profit organizations/ministries there are categories of ¨¨Haves¨and ¨Have-not¨.

So I have been a bit challenged. How and to whom should we invest our resources?

For example: Let´s say someone spent a $1,000 or so on toys for themselves this past year... Did you know that there is a friend in Chico who has a non-profit called Bridging the Gap by Giving that will build a clean water well for those who do not have clean water. Hmmm, water seems simple, but people die DAILY because they do not have it. Or the sacrifice for others is a choice of clean water or education because it takes so long to travel to the closest location to retrieve clean water. Check it out. Go to http://www.bridgingthegapbygiving.org/ We will return with many things from our trip here in Ecuador for Shirly to sell at her International botique store. Be sure to check them out as 100% all proceeds from your purchaces go direclty to building a clean water well.

Well, those are a few of my thoughts as I cut myself from rambeling on too long. I would welcome any and all the opportunities to develop these thoughts further with anyone interested.

Nothing But Love!

ADVENTURES in Baños

2008-08-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

So, we spent the last week in a town called Baños. It´s named after the thermal baths (baños) that are there. We did visit the baths once, but were sorta grossed out by the enormous number of people that were in them that we decided to pass. In Baños there are also endless adventure activities to take part in.... we took part in our fare share...First, we went for a mountain bike ride from Baños toward a town called Puyo. Total trip is 61km. We didn´t go the whole way though, about half. There are some 13 waterfalls along this road that although we did see, we didn´t photograph all. . you´re kind over it by number 8, although they were beautiful.
A major rush was the bridge swing jumping. Yes that´s me standing on the top of a 35 meter bridge looking down at nothing but sharp rocks and freezing water. The guy kept saying ¨puedes, vamos¨ (you can do it, let´s go). Swing jumping was something that I really wanted to do, but I really watned to watch someone do it first. The guy had no business when we rode by and said that he would make his assistant do it first but it would cost me $15 instead of $10. SO... I though what the heck, there are pictures of this all over town, it must be safe... I made Jesse check out all the equiptment then suited up and climbed to the top. . .knees shaking and damp eyes I dove head first off this bridge. You have to dive head first because the rope is attached to the other side of the bridge and in order to fall gracefully you do a beautiful summersalt in the air before being caught by the rope and swining over the river while the harness rides up your crotch. It was amazing!!!!! (We don´t have an upside down picture of me cause we took a video! (I´ll show it off when we get home). . .we do have an upside down picture of Jesse though!!
He wasn´t going to do it, but after seeing that I made it down alive, thought ¨what the heck, if my wife can do it, so can I¨ (He didn´t hesitate nearly as long as me though..) I tell myself it´s becuase he actually got to see someone go first, although I´m pretty sure he´s just braver. After I jumped there were tourists lining up to do the same. I should have asked the guy to let me do it for free, I did bring him a bunch of business!!

Jesse got jealous of the many waterfalls along the way and decided to make one of his own!

The mouth of the Amazon. The bike ride truely was picturesc.

Not having seen enough waterfalls, we decided to repel down five of them. It´s called canyoning and it was super fun. . .and freezing.

Jesse showing off. . . he really could have guided the whole thing. I think he spent most of the time thinking of how he could set up something similar in Northern California...he loved it!!

I didn´t do so bad either.

(Like the yellow diaper thingy. It kept my behind nice and protected.)

Here we are at the end. Soaking wet and ready for our next adventure.

This picture doesn´t really have to do with Adventures, but it´s a picture of the common area in our hostal. I LOVED our hostal. It was $8.50 per night per person. It had this great firepit area outside that was always clean, well lit, and warm, and it had a communal kitchen! I could get up whenever I wanted and have my coffee!!! This made for AMAZING morning routines (for those that know what I mean =))
This is me loving the fact that I am going to have broccolli for dinner. We made a yummy spagehtti with delicious broccolli.
We also went for a hike!! It was long, steep, and beautiful. I was happy for the exercise and thrilled for the view!

I thought that this was super cool, I hope you do too. Look at these ants, they´re so strong. We passed a long line of them on our hike.One other ¨ adventurous¨ thing we did was take a night ¨chiva¨ (basically a flat bed truck with a roof and bench seats, no sides and painted really colorful) ride up a really steep hill to watch the volcano in hopes of it spitting out some fire. Unfortunately it was sooooo cloudy that I could barely see the person next to me, so as you can guess, we didn´t see any lava. It was fun to share the experience though. (Although, once again, I was freezing).
Please save some Chico sun for me.

Oh yes, and we played on the children´s playground. I think we teater-totered for almost an hour!

One more note: we really were gonna go white water rafting, I didn´t chicken out, but.. they canceled our trip the morning of becuase there weren´t enough people. So, we´ll have to go when we get home as soon as the rivers are ready!!

Our trip to the highlands

2008-08-25T20:05:00.001-07:00

I think that this picture speaks for itself. . . the highlands and the people of them.

The first part of our trip in the highlands was with a tour company to a lake called Lago Quilotoa. On the way we went to a market, well three markets, one with large animals, one with small animals and food, and one with artsy handicraft stuff..

Some small animlas . . .

This is one of the many views of the stunning volcano crater lake!!

We walked down to the lake, slid on sand rather, then rode mules up!! Jesse was first in line, I was second. Jesse´s mule had diarreah. . .so did my shoe by the end!!! (I´ll show that picture when we get home if you ask..)

These are actually horses, not mules. After Lago Quilotoa we stayed at this hostal-ranch called PapaGayo. Our second day we went horseback riding in the hills. I didn´t get anymore poop on my shoe!!Beautiful!!
Yes, we wore chaps. They were super warm and kept our pants clean..ish.

Here we go again. We actually did flag a bus on the Pan American Highway. You should have seen us running down the road once one pulled over to jump on before they took off again. (Little different than the US, huh..)

Bellavista: The Cloud Forest Reserve

2008-08-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

We took our first trip from Quito to the cloud forest. This is one of the last places in the world where there is still cloud forests. They are becoming exstinct due to a number of causes (mainly human reasons). It was beautifull! It is sort-of like a jungle experience in the mountains and clouds. Bellavista is a reserve where people go to hike the trails and bird watch. Ecuador has been ranked as the best place to bird watch in the world due to its incredible variety of birds that you would not be able to find anywhere else.

When you can see it, the view is amazingly beautiful!

So, we did not realize that bird watching was the only thing to do and we are not all that into bird watching. The other thing is that I am alergic to, well, really about everything, ESPECIALLY musty, damp, moldy places... hmmm... who would have thunk that a cloud forest would be that way...(Note: everyone has binoculars except for Cass - they were really looking at a bird, not just posing)

The lodge was an oversized treefort with a bit of everything I am alergic to. We left a day early so as not to make me sick. But, the hiking really was beautiful. We had three guided hikes through the forest at different times of the day. One particular hike, we walked up a creek for about 45 minutes and saw some great things.We wore rubber boots on all of our hikes because all the trails were wet and muddy (or you had to walk in a creek for part of it).

Of course, Cass´ boot had a large gash in it so it really served no purpose other than to freak her out that some blood sucking creature was going to swollow her foot, and to build muscles in one leg due to draging this boot full of water for 45 minutes.All in all, it was a beautiful time!

The Gospel of Luke: Chapters 8-14

2008-08-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

So, here is the post for the second week of scripture reading. I noticed that no one read or wanted to comment on what they read last week in the book of Luke. Maybe this week we will have a little more success with the comments. I plan on writing so check back on the comments from time to time. These posts are labled and can be easyily acceced by the link to the right. Have fun and see what comes of it.
Jesse

An interesting day with the fam

2008-08-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

This is our Mama, Susana. We are in a town called Ibarra. I´ll tell more about this town and this day at the end. . . .

This is me and our Mama and Papa (Papa is Marco) eating empanadas.
Still to come. . .the story of this day.

Ummm ya, this is what KFC looks like in Ecuador (fried chicken, rice, and lentils, oh and a tiny bit of lettuce) all for $2.29 . . .

Okay so about this day. . .
There is this indegenous town near Quito called Otavalo. On Saturdays there is a huge market where they sell numerous types of scarves, blankets, bags, trincets, etc. We were super excited to go and shop for Shirley´s store. There is a huge variety and everything is really cheap. Our family asked if we would like to spend the day with them and go shopping in Otavalo. Of course we were excited to hang out with them, but also to not have to pay a tour company $40 for the ride, so begins our day. . . (this is an excerpt from an email to my mom. . .)
¨We went on the shopping trip today with our family. Definitely not what we expected. We drove for about 2 hours and stopped by this pretty lake that was TOTALLY overcast, so at least I think it was pretty. Then we went to the leather town, where I bought nothing. There were some cute purses, but nothing super unique or super cheap. So we (you and me) both passed (on purses). Then we went to a town nearby for lunch. . .Marco asked if I watned cuy (guine pig) or chicken, and I said chicken. . . for some reason it took us almost 2 hours in total to find a place to eat. . .oh I have to tell you the place they finally took us to: KFC!! In Ecuador the fried chicken comes with rice and lentils!! We couldn´t belive that we were in South America eating KFC. Then when we finally got to the place that we wanted to go to. . .we were gonna shop for Shirley, for ourselves, for souveniers, ect. . . Marco (our Papa) told us that we had 15 MINUTES. I seriously thought that he was joking!!! Oh no! Jesse said could we please have a little more time, so he gave us 20! We were expecting to have like 2 hours. So I tried to laugh it off, we bought a couple things, and then left. So the trip was not quite what I was expecting...
I don´t think we´re gonna have another chance to go back, but luckily there is a smaller market here in Quito with very similar things that we can go to when we get back from our travels.¨
. . .so that´s a brief recap, but now that I think about the day I totally laugh. We were just sooo shocked that we only had 20 minutes in the market compared to the 8 hours we spent on the day!!

Bacilica (a little out of order)

2008-08-21T16:35:00.000-07:00

This is the Bacilica in Quito. It was pretty amazing! There are two towers to one side and instead of the typical ¨Gargoyles¨it is adorned with Iguanas, Turtles and other animals.

Leaving for some travels tomorrow

2008-08-20T21:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. We really wanted to post a blog with pictures today about our trip to the cloud forest, but we just didn't have time. It was sooo beautiful. We will definitely do it soon, but for now I just wanted to let everyone know that we are leaving tomorrow on our three-ish week journey through Ecuador. The first place we will go is to the volcano/mountain of Cotopoxi. There we hope to see a cool lake inside a volcano, ride horses and possibly hike up to where the snow starts on this ginormous mountain. . . we'll see how our breathing is at about 15,000 ft. Anyhow, from there we have ideas/plans of what will be next, but we'll keep you updated the best that we can as we go. Please pray for safe travels and a joyous time. Miss you all, but am so thankful for this opportunity!!

The Book of Luke

2008-08-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

We have chosen to read through the book of Luke in the New Testament of the Bible. I thought it would be interesting to extend an invitation out to everyone to read the same book of the Bible together and we can have an on going dialouge/conversation about it.

There are four weeks left in our trip, which will be perfect for dividing the book up by reading one chapter a day. This week we will read Luke chapters 1-7.

I do not expect to prepare a sermon for people to comment on. Nor do I have any expectations for this. I will simply start a blog at the beginning of each week (more or less depending on if I have access to a computer), I might add a little something, but the idea would be for each of you who are interested in reading with us to add comments.

Comments may be observations, questions, answers to someones question or something you belive God is teaching you.

Comments are also easy! Just click on the comment tab and follow the prompts. You may write it annonomously, sign your name or create a profile.

I will also "Lable" the four posts as "The Gospel of Luke." For future references all you would need to do is click on the lable to have easy acces to the previous posts/comments.

I encourage anyone and all of you to join us in this. This has the potential to be a very real and rich experiance. If you do not have a Bible you can easily get access to one by searching for it on the internet with a search engine.

Nothing But Love,
Jesse and Cassidy

Jesse´s Birthday

2008-08-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

So I spread my birthday out over the week. On Tuesday (the actual b-day) we got a Mokachino coffee drink and a brownie with ice-cream to celebrate. (Jeremy Munoz I am representing your Kite Board business here)

We then went to a futbol match on Thursday to watch the futbol team from Ecuador (who won the Sur America Cup) play against a team from Bolivia. The entrance was lined with official "security" of guards and dogs!

The game was great...

Especially after they score! The crowd goes wild, smoke fills the stands, flares light up barely demonstrating the energy in the crowd. (You will notice a few fans in the picture who climbed up on the fence.)

This is a picture of how they serve beer at the game. It is served in plastic pitchers like the ones my mom used to make Kool-aid in when I was young (that was a while ago since I am 30 now!)

This is my beer...

This is my wife and my beer...

In all, it was a wonderful week!

Our last day of school

2008-08-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day of school. I wonder when it will kick in. We´ve been in this internet cafe for about an hour and a half and I keep thinking about the homwork that I have to do when I get home. . .I get a little stressed (this is Cass speaking, obviously. Jesse doesn´t get stressed). Then I think, wait. . . I don´t have any homework, in fact I don´t even have to think or talk in Spanish anymore if I don´t want to. But, of course, I will. I don´t want to lose this month´s worth of work.

This is Jesse and the director of the school (Patty).

This is me and my teacher from this week and last (Yolanda), with my diploma of course.

Empanadas

2008-08-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we made emapanadas with a few of our classmates and teachers. It was wonderful to end the week with a fun, brainless, activity. I am always completely exahusted by Friday afternoons. Thinking and speaking in another language makes me more tired than running, which of course I haven´t been doing here anyways. Don't worry I wrote down the recipie and will be happy to make them when we get home.

They are, of course, fried . . . as are most things here =)

The final product . . . with Jesse´s artistic touches!

Botanical Garden

2008-08-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a peak at the MANY beautiful flowers and plants that we saw at the Botanical Garden last week.

Termas de Papallacta

2008-08-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

Last thursday we took a wonderful trip to nearby (1 1/2 hour trip) Papallacta. Because Ecuador is basically one big volcano, there are a lot of places that have these thermal pools heated by the volcanos. We visited some of the more popular ones near Quito. We will visit more later in the town of Banos... This happened to be our first trip out of Quito and we were very grateful for the excursion! At 3300 meters it is entering into the beautiful cloud forest of Ecuador. Some of the following pictures are from the bus or at the pools themselves. IT was beautiful!

These three pictures are from the bus as we were driving to Papallacta...

Here we are at the pools with other friends from our language school...

One of our fantastic views from the pools...

To the left is a pool (hot) right next to the creek (cold). Going from hot to cold is great for your circulation!

And, of course, the pensive look after soaking in the eternal pools of soothing water! They free the mind from the body to allow one to ponder...

Random updates, facts, pictures, etc.

2008-08-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

There´s flower stands EVERYWHERE, and the flowers are soooo cheap, like a dozen roses for 2 dolars, and they´re pretty roses too!!

This picture is for Brooke.
This is a guanabana fruit and I am holding a cup of FRESH guanabana juice. The lady with me is Nancy. Whe owns the juice shop, it´s all sooo good and fresh!! The blend it, squeeze it, juice it right before your eyes. And a cup only costs 50 cents. I´ll be back for more!

Ana and Jon had two girls staying with them for a few days. The six of us went out to dinner, they also went with is to the Mitad del Mundo.. At dinner, Jesse bought us all flowers. What a romantic!!

Brian Happ, we totally chose Pepsi over Coke. You know I realized I really do like it better. Jesse went for the big bottle, it was only 10 cents more (total of 62 cents). He couldn´t resist.

Okay, this picture looks really random, but there is a point I promise. This is a piture of Jesse´s forearm with two stamps on it. On Wednesday we went to the women´s prison here in Quito. You had to get your forearm stamped upon enty. We were gonna take pitures of both of our arms, but I forgot and washed it off, woops. Cameras weren´t alowed in so this is the only proof we have. . .
So the prison experience was pretty neat. There were many Ecuadorian women there but also a few English speaking ones too. I guess about a month ago there were alot more foreigners but the Presedent here recently passed a law that said if you were caught with under 2 kg of drugs and you had served half of your sentence you were free to go (or something like that). One of the girls we taked to was leaving that night for home (Germany) another was leaving in a week (home to Italy). The other english speaking girl that we talked the most with was from South Africa and had been there a year, but had not been actually sentanced yet, so she doesn´t know how long she´ll be there. Oh, her Mom is there with her too. It sounded like most of the women, especially the foreigners, were convicted for drug trafficing.
So this one girl from South Africa that we talked to the most told us that she had just recently become a Christian. She said that some missionaries had come to the prison not long ago and told her about Jesus. I wasn´t sure if she knew really what Christianity and Jesus were all about, but we didn´t have long to talk. If you think of her please pray for her to really know the love and freedom that comes with being a child of Jesus. Jesse and I are thinking about visitying again next Wednesday. Maybe we can talk with her more then. (Wednesdays are visiting days).

Okay well that´s all for now, more to come soon.

Shrunken Heads Anyone...

2008-08-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

The Land of the shrunken heads. There really are tribes that used to shrink heads! The following is not for the weak at heart as I will demonstrate the process from start to finish...

First:

You must choose your hunting partners carefully as they will not only watch your back, but must also be a good shot with a blow dart!

Next:

(I decided to delete the pictures demonstrating the process from start to finish but if you are interested make sure you ask us about it. It is actually quite interesting.)

So...

Here is the final product of a shrunken head. It has hair and large earrings, but it is the real deal. Dad, if I remember right, recieved one of these early on in your carrer right?!

Nothing But Love

La Mitad del Mundo

2008-08-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

Kissing from two seperate hemispheres...

Yes, We have been to the middle of the world! Ecuador´s biggest claim to fame (and its name) is its location right on the equator. La Mitad del Mundo is the place where Charles-Marie de La Condamine made the measurements in 1736 showing that this was indeed the equatorial line. In the center of La Mitad del Mundo stands a 30m-high stone trapezoidal monument topped by a brass globe. There are all kinds of touristy gift shops and such.
There is also a different museum next door where they say is the true equatorial line. With G.P.S they have determined that 250meters from this huge monument an tourist attraction is the true line. Well, we paid to see them both! We did not want to be left out of the loop, or should I say, left off the line!

Jesse holding the world with one hand...

Cass supporting the world and maintaining a graceful pose...

together, as one, in harmoney with trapezoidal monument...

This is also the place where we got our first dose of FOOD POISONING! Yep, we were hungry and needed to eat. We did not want to spend too much money and were delighted to see that several of the places for lunch in this park were cheap. We have adapted a rule/guideline for choosing a location to eat... If we have a choice between several restaurants, we will not pick the one that is empty of patrons even if it looks like it might be better. We have learned that there can be a lot of wisdom in choosing the one with people in it eating their food. So we chose the restaurant that had a lot of people (natives as well) eating at it (or at least compared to the other places). Due to this new experience we have added another rule/guideline: NEVER pay under $2 for a hamburger, fries and a coke! It just might kill you! We paid $1.80 for the above and Cass is now making up for the cost of the meal by paying with pain. She has been sick... it must have been perhaps a raw patty, lettuce or the tons of warm mayo on the fries and burger. We even discussed if we should eat it when we received our delicacies. Hmmm.... next time we will be all the wiser.

We learned/saw some interesting things that we did not know about our Planet. Like it is easier to balance an egg on the head of a nail, the days have roughly the same length of daylight and night time hours (12hrs from +/- 6am to 6pm) and you actually weigh less on the equator. We did a fun demonstration which I was skeptical to at first. Just off the equatorail line we preformed a ¨resistance¨demonstration were our young woman tour guide tried to seperate two pinched fingers and lower our clasped fists from above our head. I´ll be honest, I rolled up my sleeves for the arms demonstration. I fealt like everyone needed to know why she was unable to lower my arms... :) (Just kidding, I did not really do that- just kind of) For the most part, our young aspiring tour guide was unsucesful until... the line... She had us line up on the equatorial line and then preformed the same demonstration. While she was still talking she meandered down the line seperating fingers with ease and lowering our arms with one hand. I fealt bad for the other guys before me so I let her lower mine also. Plus I did not want to strain myself too much. She caught me in the eyes with an apoligetic glance as to say it was not personal and that it had nothing to do with my ¨man-hood.¨ With one hand she pulled down on my resistant arms and gave the que to Cass that if she wanted to try she was welcome to do the same. Cass spared me the trauma. Thanks sweetie!

the equator and it´s line...

The trip to The Middle of the World was in all a great one. We got matching shirts that said, ¨Been there, Balanced that,¨ with a picture of an egg. No, we did not get a shirt, but I am sure I could market it there!

Make sure you answer the trivia question to the right...

31 de julio del 2008

2008-08-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!! I had a wonderful day! We had school at 8am until 1pm and then we had this big fiesta at our school because it was the director´s husband´s birthday. . and convieniently mine too!! Each class brought a traditional Ecuadorian dish and there was a group of men who played traditional music. They made me and the director´s husband dance in front of everyone. I wasn´t quite as embaressed as I would have thought I would be. It was really fun!! Then we had one more hour of class. The second hour is more student led, so I asked if I could just do my homework with my teacher so that I wouldn´t have to do it later. He, of course, said okay. Then at 4pm Jesse and I went home and relaxed a little. Then at 6pm we went out for dinner at this restaurant called La boca del lobo (mouth of the wolf). It´s this super colorful excentric restaurant in La Mariscal (the gringo land). It was fun and the meal was delicous. I had rosemery swordfish and Jesse had mini bacon wrapped fellet minons. Then we took a taxi to the movies and saw Hancock. I enjoyed it. Then we took a taxi home and went to bed. Oh and Jesse bought me flowers too!!!!

So. . . one of the Ecuadorian delicacies is cuy (guinnie pig). This was one of the dishes at the fiesta. It tasted a lot like chicken!!

The ¨band¨

The director´s husband offering me his hand as an escort out onto the dance floor! Me thinking, you´re not serious right... Oh no, he was!

Part of the crazy restaurant where we had dinner. Those are all glass walls!!

My beautiful birthday flowers from Jesse and our Ecuadorian family, and of course chocolate.

Pretty pictures Cass wanted to post

2008-07-29T16:00:00.001-07:00

B-B-Qed bananas...

Old Town style...

An uphill view of Old Town from the balcony of Casa Victoria...

La Iglesia de Santa Domingo (church) at dusk in Old Town...

Un poco mas picturas

2008-07-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple more random pictures....

More glass on the walls...

The classier option to glass...

More obstacles in the side walk...

A pretty one...

More places to buy a dirt bike!

The Humor in Realities: Part 2

2008-07-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

We are part way through our second week of school. The humor is that I can no longer speak in Engish or Spanish!!! My head is a jumbled whirlpool of stimulated thought. There is no filter in place to ease the stimulation. Everything must be processed! Who knows, my life might depend on it. Crossing a street is like running a gauntlet of ego-centric baboons let loose to wreck havick on the city (or that at least this is the experiance so far). We are, although, learning to dance as man and machine (pedestrian and vehicle) as we absorb the rythem of, well, shall we say, LIFE! It is all becoming easier though as we are starting to think in Spanish, dodge the cars appropriatly, etc. The filter is working and easing the stress on the mind and body.

Liability- What is that? In the U.S. we live so safe, so clean, so out of "harms" way. Even in the "sketchiest" or "run-down" areas there is that rule-of-thumb: You are basicly safe from getting hurt because no one wants to get sued! Have you ever noticed a piece of broken glass on the side walk?! When you see it you instantly think, conscience or subconscience: "Broken glass = unsafe condition = danger = be careful = avoid me! "Be careful- Avoid me" is certaintly the idea when houses line their concrete walls with it. Glass, any kind of glass. You pick the color of glass, choose the once intact home of a refreshing beverage glass, choose the once functioning and utilized sheet of glass for a window, a table, a mirror or the shower. You will see it all! My favorite is the twisted colorful chards of broken bottles stuck intertwinded onto the wall. As the sun hits the artfull array of a security system/wall my mind wanders to the once joyeous occasion when that cola or beer was consued amoungst friends. I am quickly brought back to my senses as a car flys by honking a precautionary horn indicating, "I'm not stopping" and a whistle blows from a nearby "traffic cop."

All-in-all, it is better to return to my senses. The next step is always a doozy. Which leads me to my next topic. I have come to the assumption that Ecuadorians do not were sandles because it is utterly dangerous to do so. The sidewalks are uneven with exposed holes, potruding pieces of metal, steps, slopes and yes, even dog poo! (Sorry, I can not read how to rotate the picture)
You could cut, slice, rip, tear or get some crazy infection if you were not paying close attention to where you are walking... You will certainly have your foot stepped on at one time or another in the public transportaion system. Such is life I suppose. We still maintain the "American Mentaliy" that we are practically safe from anything. (Mom and Dad, do not worry. This is just a figure of speah. We are still REALLY safe!) :)This is a picture of them burning the ¨trash¨ in the gutters...

Oh how we could go on... Quito is a huge city, yet the humor is dirt bikes are sold on practically every corner and are riden by quite a few as they navigate their way through the city... Security guards (or youngsters with guns) are posted at almost every store or corner. It is not uncommen to walk a block and count 3-7 security guards. (Sorry I do not have a picture of them. I have not figured out a way to take one and get away with it... maybe Cass can bat her eyes and ask for a picture with one in each arm...) I am not sure if I should feel safer knowing there are security guards everywhere or more vulnerable to unseen dangers... She asked!!!! YES!!!!

For now, this is becoming life. This is our new oreintation to thinking and comparing. We are excited to be here and are being taught a lot about flexibility, what is "normal," comfort zones and about all the things we really take for granted in life.

Until next time,
Nothing But Love!

School update

2008-07-27T15:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Jesse got to do his take on the realities here in Quito . . . now I get to update you all on our current statuses. . .

So, as you all know, part of our purpose of coming here to Ecuador was to participate in Spanish school. Our first week we attended a Spanish school called Andean Global Studies. This school was sufficient. We learned a little. Our teachers were nice. The distance was walkable. But it was just not what we had in mind. . . I think that it's somewhat drab atmosphere was contributing to my homesickness. . .I also think that I was just really missing my mommy and daddy. Also, there are just so many new things to take in and it all is a bit overwhelming. . . all also contributing. To kind of explain this city. . it really really long (from north to south) and skinny (from east to west). Well, the north part of town is called New Town, and the south part is called Old Historic Town. The old part is the pretty, traditional, unique part, and the new is the big dirty city part (it's not ALL dirty) our home is in the north as was our school. So unless we wanted to take a 30 minute bus ride we were feeling kinda stuck in the new part. Which we weren't super excited about.

So. . . .we found a new school in a different part of town, it's still in new town, but it's in a different part, and the school is BEAUTIFUL, and the teachers act like they REALLY enjoy being there. We are excited to be in this new environment. To start the first week there we have increased our schooling hours from 4 to 6 hours a day. Along with the step up in hours (Now it is Jesse writing) Cass has opted out of the "medical" course in evaluation of all the circumstances. The "medical" part to the school would have cost more and have taken her to some of the hospitals here in Quito which in reality are not much different than big hospitals in the States. This new school offers volunteer, "hands on," experiences that we do not have to pay for and gives her the personal involvement she was looking for here in Ecuador. We are excited about this new change.

(okay, it's Cass again). So along with this change in schools and environments, we also met some new friends here that are changing my homesick view of the world. Their names are Jon and Anna and they are friends of a friend of ours from the states (Amber Rader). They arrived here about three weeks ago and are staying for a year to work in this amazing house called Casa Victoria, check out the link on our page. The mission of the house is restoring homes, restoring lives. It's a Christian organization that is trying to impact the town of Quito with the love of Jesus. We also have the option of living at the house our last two weeks in Quito if we want to. . .we'll see, we also love our home family. So, that's the basic update. Life is looking up!! Not that it was really down. =) We are having fun!! Thanks for you thoughts and prayers!

NEW SCHOOL

OLD SCHOOL

Our new friends Jon and Anna

Us with our morning routine!!

The Humor in Realities...

2008-07-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

Cass has done a good job of updating the blog! However, I feel compeled to write my own to give some perspective that is often either missed or overemphasised. Hopefully with some humor you will enjoy the following...

First of all, everything on the computer is different! The keyboard puts characters on the screen that don't exist. Letters on the keyboard are rubbed clean, or should I say rubbed off- I don't think they are very clean! Everything on the screen is in spanish (go figure) and usually you can at least change the keyboard setting from spanish, german, japonese, etc. so that you can type how you are used to typing on a keyboard at home. All to say it takes a bit of effort and a little more time to type. So forgive akward characters or misspelled words - I CAN'T FIND IT ON THE KEYBOARD! .) (see, i cant even find the colon - AH, I just forund it hitting the wrong key!!! Ah yeah!)

Next, have you ever wondered what it is like to sleep on a runway on an airport, in a dog pound, with dreams that sound like car and home alarms or with a cloths pin on your nose..._+)(*)_+)(**&^%$#@!%^(__{}[]=-09\'";:/? I found the question mark sign! ??? Have you ever wondered what it is like to sleep in all the same conditions at one time? Yeah, me neither... but I have a good idea! The airport is about a mile away, dogs bark all night long(Cass likes whne the dogs suddenly bark at the gate when we walk by - it startles her a tad). The best is when you wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air... for some reason, when I can't breath through my nose (I am alergic to everything) and the air at +9,000 feet seem to leave me short of breath at times.

Now, we eat well. Plenty of food. Actually to much food but we want to be polite, so we eat, and eat,. and ... So let me tell you about our coffee. We are in the perfect growing region for coffee. Ecuador, they say grows great coffee. Listen to the following about the wonderful coffee we drink. I am still searching for that perfect, ah, that good cup of Joe. Actually, you can not find brewed coffee here. There are only Americanos (espresso with water) and they leave one still searching as well. (sorry, I have no video for you, I can't find the computer tower to plug in my carmera!)

Oh how I could go on! Running out of time. We got to go to class and they charge us a buck a hour at the internt cafe (papayanet.com).

Stay tuned for future "The Humor in Realities." Next time, we will look at pedestrian "land minds," city transportation, the common "security system," and much more!

Nothing But Love,
Jesse

ps- Brooke, Auntie Cass says her favorite food so far is a fruit called guanabana. Sorry, I don't know what it looks like. But it sure tastes good!

Nuestros primer dia de clase

2008-07-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

_Our first day of class_

Today is Monday and we just finished our first day of learning. Wow, are we exhasted. It takes sooooooo much effort and energy to speak, and especially think, in another language. Jesse's teacher is a man named Manuel, and Cass' teacher is a lady named Sylvia. They are both very nice. Although we thought that we were pretty good at Spanish, we tested beginner, especially me -Cass-. It is a little discouraging to be taught things that I have learned multiple times, but I need to get rid of my pride and believe that the teacher knows what she is doing. It is good practice just to be speaking in Spanish I guess. Que mas, que mas. . . we found a mall, acctually 3 of them, all sort of in walking distance from our home or school, -We walk a lot, at least an hour per day, this city is very big. Bigger than we expected. We also found 2 movie theaters, we might go see Handkock one day...

Our family is still wonderful. We played soccer with thier grandchildren this morning. They are young, but are very good. I was completely ou

t of breath at 9,300 ft. My excuse was the altitude and less oxygen!!

Okay, we'll attempt more pictures... Love you all, and miss you --I'm a little homesick already, hopefully it passes--

The pictures with us in them are in "Old Town" Quito-the historical part. We had to take a trolle to get there. The whole experience was fun!! The one in the middle is a picture of Quito from the plane.

The two photos on the outside were taken in El Parque Metropolitonina, a HUGE park were there were tons of people walking, riding bikes, running, families having picnics. . .we really like it, the man in the picture is Marco, our Ecuadorian papa. The photo in the middle is of me with four of the many grandchildren. This picture was taken this morning during a futbol -soccer- break!!

Okay that's all for now, we don't have a phone that works yet, so we haven't called, Mom's and Dad's we hope to call soonish.

Nothin but love

Estamos en Quito, Ecuador

2008-07-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

That says we are in Quito, Ecuador. The journey was long, but pleasant. We've already met a handful of interesting people with stories that we will have to share when we return, it would take to long to write it all. Our family that we are staying with is sooooooo nice. In the house there is the Mama (Susana, and the Papa (Marco. During the week three of their gandchildren stay with them during the day, so we got to meet three of their grandaughters on Friday. Immediate bonds with all of the family! There is also another spanish student staying with them. She is from Japan and is also sooooo nice!! Today (Saturday, we took public transportation from our home to the "Old Town." Old town is know for it's colonia buildings, gorgeous churches, and traditional looks. We are enjoying it and are taking it all in slowly. Please pray for Jesse's sinuses. He has had a hard time breathing since the Sacramento airport and did not sleep so good last night. I think we are going to try loosing the wool blankets tonight to see if that helps. Trial and error.
Here are a few pictures from our day. We start school Monday, and will probably post again then.
Oh, and our Spanish is doing pretty darn good!!

Okay, we thought we were going to post some pics, but the combo of this slow computer and our camera being on the wrong setting is just not working. So, here is a pic of us at the internet cafe, with our camera on the right setting. More pics later!!

Leaving . . . .

2008-07-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Ahhhhh, okay it's 4:00 and we are supposed to be out of the house on the way to my parents in 30 minutes. I can't believe the time is finally here. Just so everyone knows I got my official RN license in the mail today. Yeah, it was pretty exciting!!
Okay, with heavy backpacks and hearts full of excitement and expectation we embark on our journey. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel tonight and tomorrow.
We will update you (and hopefully post a couple pictures of Quito) as soon as we can, probably a couple of days though. Nothing but love

Where does this Begin...

2008-07-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Why Ecuador? What about North Carolina or Hawaii? What are we doing and what really are our plans...? You might be asking all of these questions or even getting caught up for the first time.

So, where does it all begin... Cass and I have been married for two years now and as of May she is finished with school. We pondered bravely what we could do and what our next step might be as we have this window of time in our lives where we could do or go anywhere. We went clear to the east coast to explore North Carolina where Cassidy was extended four job offers at Duke Medical. We then traveled to the most western state in the U.S. to see what Hawaii might have for us. As the options were many and the uniqueness of each location enticing we needed to develop what our purpose or vision for this up-coming few years would be.

Our intention was to move to acquire the exposure to a new culture, city, group of friends, jobs, and location in the good ole' USA. Ultimately, it was to grow individually and together out of our current comfort zones and expand the development of our selves, our exposure to "that" which is outside of our beautiful town of Chico, and for the two of us to grow together.

The Conclusion:
Every place/location has many things that make it unique, enticing and worthy of growth opportunities for us. The question was, "which place, when everything weighed out, is the place for us right now?" All things considered, we landed our decision (surprisingly) on Chico. So what about that previous paragraph and all that talk about growth and "comfort zones" and stuff? We came to a conclusion that our passion is people, our desire is to create moments where lives are changed (medical missions, ministry opportunities, supporting a child or village in another country, raising money to build wells in poor countries, etc.) our values rest on our faith, our family and our friends and our passions are to travel. Chico offers the best base to currently meet those interests of ours. We have labeled this time in our lives as being "Globally Intentional."

Off to Ecuador:
So here we go. Two months in South America. The first month we will be hosted by an Ecuadorian family while we attend a language school to study Spanish. Our one-on-one tutoring with consist of four hours a day studying, excursions and extra curricular activities. Cassidy has arranged for a special emphasis in her studies geared toward the medical professional. She will learn medical related material, culturally sensitive issues and have numerous visits to hospitals and clinics in the area (while I suppose I will be updating our Blog).

The second month will be filled with the unknown! Backpacking around Ecuador from the Pacific coast towns and beaches, to the Andean Mountain range with it's glaciers, and down into the Amazon to explore the jungle.

Follow our journeys! Explore with us! Be a part of this time in our lives where we believe God has directed us! And embrace the stories, excitement and pictures to come...

Nothing But Love!
Jesse and Cassidy Scherba

4 Days and Counting

2008-07-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

We leave in 4 days!! (Thursday, July 17th at 9:48pm)!!

Cassidy Scherba, RN

2008-07-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

So, as the title may give away . . . I passed!! I didn't plan on finding out if I passed my boards for at least a month. But I went on the State of California Board of Registered Nursing website this morning and low and behold . . . there was my name with a license number, issued on July 11, 2008. I'm pretty sure they only give licenses to people that pass the boards!!! I know this doesn't technically have to do with Ecuador (on our Ecuador blog), but the relief of knowing that I won't have to wait until we get back to find either a license or a letter of rejection waiting for me in a pile of mail is exhilarating. Ok, that's all for now, feel free to pass on the good news!

Tickets

2008-06-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

My goodness. . . after five grueling hours of staring at the computer we finally got our tickets to Ecuador, it's official. Has that ever happened to you. . . you find tickets you like, decide, after deliberating over the price, that you are actually going to go through with it and buy the tickets and then when you finally get to the part where you click "finalize purchase" the computer tires to tell you . . . sorry this price is no longer available, or sorry . . . these ticket are sold out. This happened to us four times!!! How many people are going to Quito, Ecuador on July 17th. Apparently a lot. Anyhow. . . we finally got some. . . and the price was as good as any we had seen all morning/afternoon. So, the official planning begins.