Apologies for interrupting week 12, but my blogs from week 11 didn’t make it onto the Community Connections website.  I have added my blogs below retrospectively.  Thank you to Claire and all the week 11 team for making the experience so memorable for me…

Day Numero Uno.

After a long wait (and long flights!) week 11 are finally here in Ecuador! Today we visited Miraflores for the first time, and had a welcoming ceremony from the local community.  Gradually, each volunteer was welcomed and received hard hats and overalls for the week ahead.  We then joined in the dancing with the locals.  My efforts at dancing weren´t appreciated, so I decided not to dance and just spun the kids round by the arms as fast as I could, which they seemed to enjoy more than my dancing!  And they seemed to enjoy making me get dizzier and dizzier!

We had a tour of Miraflores on the back of a tractor, ducking to avoid low branches, before heading to Gaston´s farm.  He had prepared a cake for Louise´s birthday (which was very nice!) and gave us a tour of his farm.  I have really enjoyed seeing the community, and the hard work that the previous groups have put in so far.  There is plenty still to do, and we are all looking forward to getting stuck in tomorrow.

I cannot follow Liz Still´s excellent top 5´s, so my effort is the Spanish I have picked up since I´ve been here.  So my phrase for today is Como te llamas? (What is your name?)  More very basic Spanish lessons coming up tomorrow!

Numero Dos.

It was the 2nd day at Miraflores, so now we have acclimatised to the altitude we got down to some serious work!  Todays activities were:

• Grouting tiles
• Sanding and varnishing wooden posts
• Smoothing down walls with wire brushes
• Whitewashing all the plastered walls

 As a group, we had a go at all the jobs, with Mark and Dave doing the sanding by themselves (and trying to avoid electrocuting themselves in the process).  Their pole-dancing will be on YouTube next week, as I´m not sure we´re allowed to add that to the blogs!!

 The builders are fun, and liked the fact that I was sweating buckets after an hour…hopefully I´ll lose a few pounds if I stay off the carbs!  They also liked my lack of language skills, especially when I muddled the word for lunch (almuerzo) with the word for death! (muerte – well, it sounded similar to me anyway!)

 The tile grouting has been finished, but there´s still plenty to do tomorrow.  Off for a shower now, then out for dinner!

 Numero Tres.

A wet start to the morning, and just like the UK the roads grind to a halt when it rains….it didn´t dampen our spirits though, and we got cracking as soon as we were there.  Jamil, Steph, Viv and I grouted the outside walls with trowels and brushes and filled in the cracks with cement, some of which was very flaky.  Luckily the rain had stopped by then!  By the afternoon, we were applying protective varnish to some of the inside walls, which will be left ‘áu naturel’ to give the place a rustic look.

 Gaston, the chairman of the Martha Estrella Foundation, visited the site today and he was very pleased with everyone´s efforts.  He revealed that they are going to install two glass windows in the middle of the medical centre. One will be etched with all the names of the Bupa volunteers that have helped build, and the other will be etched with the names of the builders themselves.  I´d love to come back and visit once the place is up and running!

 The PC´s arrived today, and the windows will arrive later in the week, so perhaps the wait won´t be too long!

 Today´s Spanish lesson is ‘De nada’ which means no problem….this sums up how our group has gelled – nothing is too much trouble and we all pitch in and help with everything.

Numero Cuatro.

Today I spent the day in the bathroom…..painting and decorating one of course! (Although I seemed to get more paint on me than on the walls).  The builders have started tiling the dining area, and have installed the kitchen sink, so Week 12 may be able to make themselves a cuppa while they work!

 The rustic look that I mentioned yesterday has already changed, and the rest of the team were instructed to apply orange-brown paint over the top of them.  They also finished varnishing the wooden beams around the courtyard.  Patty and I enjoyed our painting in the bathroom so much, that we almost got left behind – we didn´t hear Claire call when it was time to go!  One of the local builders came in to find us….and just like normal office gossip, the builders commented in Spanish that we weren´t actually painting at all…..how rude! :-o  .  Luckily, Patty can speak Spanish and heard them talking, so we might play up to that for a laugh tomorrow!

 One good thing about a lack of hair is that its easier to wash paint and dust out of it….off for a shower now!

Numero Cinco.

Today was the last day onsite, so we had the choice of decorating, or helping the children with their English.

 I chose to help the kids with their English….and soon wished I chose decorating!!  Patty and I covered Heads, Shoulders Knees and Toes, the Hokey Cokey, numbers 1 to 20, and colours…..lets just say they enjoyed the dancing activities best!  An enjoyable, chaotic experience!

 We then did a final tour of the build site to take videos and photos before going to the closing ceremony.  The children performed a dance for us, and the music is still bouncing round in my head!  We then performed our Bupa song to the tune of YMCA, with both English and Spanish verses thrown in.  It was a lovely experience, and one I´will treasure forever!  We all held it together till we got on the coach, and then the floodgates opened!

 We had lunch at the Fundacion Martha Estrella and said our final goodbyes to Estephania and Steph, before heading to the mall.  Tomorow is a rest day, so I´m fully stoicked up with chocolates and sweets for the hike up Cotapaxi!

Goodbye, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu!

The weekend has gone so quickly!  On Saturday, I hiked up the Cotapaxi volcano, which was very tough!  The coach broke down about 200m from the car park, which doesn´t sound much, but at such a high altitude every footstep is an effort!  Thank God for asthma inhalers and chocolate!!

 Once we got to the carpark, we had a further 300m to go to reach the base camp, and I could only do 10 steps at a time, then 5 seconds to get my breath back.  Near the top, it started to hailstone, thunder and lightning, and that makde us quicken our pace somewhat!  Louise, Lucia, Claire and I made it to the base camp, and it gave us all such a sense of achievement!  Patty gave it a good go but didn´t quite make it, and made the sensible decision to get back to the minibus.

 The way back to the hotel was made at dusk, listening to pan-pipe music and with fantastic views of the Ecuadorian countryside.  Bliss!

 Our first goodbyes were made last night, with Patty and Vanessa going back to the US this morning.  For those of us left, we met the first arrivals of week 12 from New Zealand and Australia.  Most of us went to visit the Equator, then onto the Old Town for lunch and last minute shopping, before the second set of goodbyes for Lucia, Sally, Louise, Jamil and Dave.  I blubbed like a little kid!  (And I´ve still got some more goodbyes to do later!)

 I will miss all of the week 11 team, Ecuador, Miraflores….the whole experience!  I am very priviledged to have taken part in this challenge and I have been blessed with 11 good friends and many happy memories.

Farewell lunch at the Martha Estrella Foundacion

Week 11 comes to an end...

I have had two fundraising barbecues in August,  one with my training team and the other with my mates outside of Bupa, and these have raised £362 towards the Ecuador fund.

I am also running a Fantasy Football League to raise funds, so hopefully that’s another £100….I am also trying to arrange a quiz night, so its excitingly busy at the moment!

I am going in week 11, so plenty of time for some extra cake sales!  Good luck to all of you with your fundraising, and I look forward to hearing your news soon!

I am organising a few fund-raising barbecues as my main fund-raisers, and a quiz night for my team.  I am also going to attempt to bake cakes to sell at work, so I’ll let you all know if I was successful or not!

Wishing you all the best with your own fund-raising efforts, and look forward to hearing all your news on this page!

Cheers,

Brian.