Ecuador IV - National Assembly

From: Dan Trumble
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Subject: The Trumble Travels - Ecuador IV - National Assembly

Ecuador is having elections at the end of September to elect representatives to an assembly where the Ecuadorian constitution will be rewritten (or something along those lines). Signs advertising on behalf of various candidates are plentiful. According to the Latin American News Agency article at this link http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B981FAAFE-F339-40C9-AB24-52477825B386%7D)&language=EN more than 600 people appear on the national ballot (and more are on provincial ballots.

Here is a sampling of some of the signs.


One evening while we were out there were folks handing out posters and flags for Dale Patria. Below is one of those flags. I do not know if Dale Patria is a great guy or a crook. He does seem to be well funded.


Sign


People promoting List 27. The woman is the ex-wife of the President (or former president).

More folks marching in support of someone

More supporters of Dale Patria.

National Candidates. Truly, there are a bunch of them.

Some Regional Candidates

More Dale Patria supporters.

Ecuador III - Food

From: Dan Trumble

Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007

Subject: The Trumble Travels - Ecuador III - Food

While it pained me to do so, I ended up sampling several different food options while in Ecuador.
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Juana took care of us with coffee, water, and snacks. The inset is humita which is made with corn and cheese. Doris, the Accountant in EC is the other one in the picture.

Lunch at Spaghetti. Pictured from left to right: Fernando (Country Director of Ecuador), Rich, Dan, Luz María (Accountant from Mexico), and Rafael (Ministry Services Manager for Ecuador).

Trout & caviar. I’m not sure I’ve ever had caviar before. Caviar is indicated by the arrow.

BK Stacker Cuadruple from Burger King

Rincon La Ronda Restaurante. I had tongue.

I also had blueberry juice

Soup. The big hunk of something is green plantains.

Lots of juice options are available in Ecuador

Fritada (fried pork). Also popped corn, some other corn stuff, plantain, and avocado. In the lower left corner is cheese soup with avocado.

Hot Chocolate and Cheese. Whoever heard of such a thing…but what a great idea!

Naranja juice, El Tomate Rellano (with tuna as it turns out), a hot chocolate with cheese…AND a hunk of steak that Rich wasn’t going to eat!

Ecuador II - Old Town Quito

From: Dan Trumble
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007
Subject: The Trumble Travels - Ecuador II - Old Town Quito


On Friday night Rafael and his wife, Sofia, Isabel and her husband, Ronnie, Luz Maria, Rich and I went to the Old Town of Quito. This is where the Presidential house is located as well as the house for the Mayor of Quito. Also, lots of narrow, hilly streets and pretty old structures including churches and other stuff.

For more pictures and stuff, see http://www.gagme.com/greg/vacation/2004/galapagos/quito2.php

Old pretty buildings


A wedding was taking place.


Another old building.


We rode around on horse-drawn carriages. Here’s Rich and me.

The group at dinner after walking (and riding carriages) around Quito’s Old Town

Ecuador I - Quito

From: Dan Trumble
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007\
Subject: The Trumble Travels - Ecuador I - The City

Greetings! I’m sending this message from Bogotá, Colombia where I arrived yesterday from Quito, Ecuador. Rich, a colleague of mine, and I spent a few days in Quito before flying to Colombia yesterday. We spent time training with some of the staff and exploring a possible software solution for some of the unique accounting requirements that exist in Ecuador. Luz María, the new Accountant in Mexico, also joined us.

Quito is that capital city of Ecuador and is 2800m (9200 ft) above sea level so even though it is only a short distance south of the equator, the temperatures are moderate and the climate is very nice. Given the struggles I have with heat sometimes when I travel, this was a very welcome change. Quito is a city of approximately 1.5 million people. Quito is pronounced like key toe but the guy at the Colorado Springs airport called it kwee toe (“kwee” like the sound in “queen”). It is probably safe to assume he has never been to Quito. On the other hand, our flights went well so I guess he did his job fine.

Ecuador, like much of the rest of South America, was colonized by the Spanish and the Spanish and Catholic influence is evident. We visited El Panecillo which is about 3000m above sea level and overlooks much of the city. There is a large statue of the Virgin Mary. I guess I don’t really know whether El Panecillo is the statue or the hill or what. Anyway, kind of interesting.

On Thursday I had Chinese food for lunch. That makes 11 countries where I’ve had Chinese food:

Burkina Faso
Colombia
Ecuador
El Salvador
Ethiopia
Hong Kong
Kenya
Peru
The Philippines
Rwanda
USA

Archival TTTs are available at http://trumbletravels.blogspot.com/
Trumble family stuff, including a new post, is available at http://trumble-toast.blogspot.com/

Luz María & Dan at El Panecillo with Quito in the background


The city with a sign in the foreground for a candidate to the assembly that will be drafting a new constitution. More on that stuff in another message.


This city from the project we visited


El Panecillo (http://tour.in-quito.com/quito-tourist-attractions-panecillo.htm)


Dan (foreground). Virgin (background)

Another shot of the city with some guy (it’s me!).

Chinese Food (Sesame Chicken)

Work occurring. This is during a presentation from GrupoMAS, a vendor located in Quito.