Time Passes Quickly ...Especially When One is Busy!

So much time has passed since my last entry and yet it seems like it was just yesterday that I posted here! The last couple of weeks have been extremely busy for me, so the time has flown by and I have not had much time for posting here. I'll fill in the gaps now, as best I can.

About a week ago, I remember seeing a beautiful crescent moon hanging perfectly over the glimmering lights of Quito when I left the office. Later that same night, there was a great deal of fog that rolled in. It all made for a very dramatic evening in this city that looks so picturesque at night. We are now moving into the rainy season, but have not had much rain so far. In fact, since my last post we have only had two days of rain. One day there was a quick shower in the afternoon and the other day we did have a steady, slight rain that lasted for a few hours. The latter is fairly unusual here --the quick and powerful afternoon shower is the norm. Because it has been so dry, there have been some wildfires high up in the mountain range that surrounds the city. It makes for quite a luminous landscape late at night and I can see the wildfires out of my bedroom window.

I have now had my first visitor. A friend of mine from Houston came to visit about a week ago. Brian has been traveling around Ecuador since he got here, but we have been able to spend a few days together, tour the historic downtown area, and have dinner. All great fun. It is nice to see old friends here and that is one thing that really miss about being back home. Oddly, Brian was set to go to Greenland and, when I said 'enjoy, and maybe next time you can come to Quito,' he changed his plans and came to Ecuador instead of Greenland. Quite a change, I'm sure.

I have many friends that I am able to stay in touch with periodically, but I certainly cannot see them as often as I used to. I also just generally miss my familiar surroundings. While Quito is a nice city, I miss my old gym, the people I saw there, the restaurants that I used to go to, the places I was so familiar with, trips to Austin, riding my bike in West Houston, laps at the swim center, etc. I am sure I will keep finding similar experiences here, but it is not a perfect transplant. I do miss quite a few things. The next time I go to Houston, I think I will have to bring my bike back to Quito with me ...and I'm still looking for a good swimming pool here.

Brian wanted to visit an old theater here in the historic part of town, so we went. The show was interesting, amusing, and quite good. The theater was built in the late 19th century and is a very nice sight. It is on a plaza in the historic center. The show consisted of about a 12-piece band and 4 female vocalists --everyone from Ecuador --recreating the music of the famous music group of the 70s and 80s, Abba. Now of course you may remember that Abba was not all women and they were Swedish and not Latin American, still the performance was quite good. The singers

--all dressed in 70s mod attire --and musicians did an excellent job of impersonating Abba ...though Brian and I chuckled a bit throughout the show thinking about what we were watching. Periodically there was a backdrop of Abba photos hanging behind the performers to remind the audience of the real Abba.

I participated in a briefing at the U.S. Embassy last week, too. I was asked to brief the Ambassador and the Deputy Chief of Mission, as well as about 10 other high-ranking officials, on the state of legal reform in Ecuador and what my project is doing to assist in the changes. Of course, I had to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for the group and that was very time-consuming. They certainly paid attention to it, though, and I answered questions after the briefing before lunching at the Embassy with some of the audience members. The security to get in and out of the Embassy is always tight, so that presents some logistical challenges and one has to allow about an extra 30 minutes to get in and another 30 to get out.

My big project for the last couple of weeks has been preparing for a training event that was held this Thursday-Sunday. On Thursday, I lectured on communication and institutional conflict to a group of 50 government officials --another PowerPoint! The purpose of the lecture was to give the officials some useful skills to deal with the conflicts that occur in their institutions and also between their institutions. On Thursday night, I welcomed 4 trainers from the U.S.A. who came to Quito to help me with the project. On Friday, we held roundtable discussions (10 officials per group) to determine what problems exist with the legal system in Ecuador and its reforms, and how all of the institutions can go about finding workable solutions. That lasted all day Friday. On Saturday, the team of trainers worked with me for several hours drafting a report for the event, which I now have to revise and publish.

Saturday afternoon, I took the group out to visit Quito. We went to Mitad the Mundo, which is the geographic center of the earth that separates the Northern Hemisphere from the Southern. We also went to the historic center in Quito and visited some of the famous buildings. They enjoyed the sightseeing, but they had to leave early for the airport. We did not stay out late, since I had to meet some of them at 4:00AM today to go to the airport so they could begin their trip home. Great to see and work with the trainers again --all of whom I know well --and it reminded me (again) of some of the people and things I miss back home.

Today I spent the day wrapping up things after the event, catching up on email, and doing a little shopping at the grocery store. Shopping for groceries and a pizza dinner has become a regular activity for me on Sundays! I enjoy the long walk, too.

Above I have posted a picture of the old theater (Teatro Sucre), which I will now forever associate with Abba! I have also posted a picture of me at 0 degrees, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds --right at the equatorial center of the earth. Notice the difference in the sun on one shoulder versus the other --one on the sunny side of the equator and the other not! I am literally standing with one foot in one hemisphere and the other in the other hemisphere. Notice the red diving line under me. If you click on my picture, above, you can see a higher resolution version of the picture.

Hope you enjoyed reading. Sorry it has taken me so long to post an entry here, but please check back soon ...and please keep writing.

Saturday Night Lights Across Quito's Churches

I have spent most of the day working at home ...while the plumbers worked in my master bathroom. They had to disassemble the shower area and repair some plumbing to stop the leak. I hope it is finally stopped, but I cannot use the shower until tomorrow morning to test it. The whole repair process was about 5 hours of work and made a bit of a mess. Although the plumbers did a good good of cleaning, I still cleaned again after they left. The only sign of the work that was done now is the smell of the sealant that they used. I'm sure that the plumbers lost quite a few brain cells working in the bathroom today as they smelled the sealing compound for several hours!

The city is beautiful at night and that is the time that I enjoy the most. At about 7PM, as the evening sky turns dark, the temperature drops to about 65 degrees, the traffic slows down, and the city becomes more quiet ...until about 9PM when the partying starts. I plan to go to a restaurant in the neighborhood and have a light dinner, then come back home to read. Tomorrow I have a busy day.

Earlier in the morning, I plan to do a long walk again down to the valley and the old church at Guapulo. Then I have to meet some visiting lawyers from the USA and some of the Embassy staff for brunch. After that I will do a little shopping and then come back home to prepare some things for work on Monday. The weekends are a good time for me to catch up on reading, too, so I'm sure I will do that.

I'll let everyone know how the walk and brunch is later. For now, time to enjoy the view of the city from my balcony and then dinner!

Sunday Walkabout - Coffee - Books - More Supplies

This morning I decided to venture out for my longest tour of the city on foot. I wound up walking about a total of two hours by the time it was all done. The interesting thing to me was that every time I asked how to get somewhere, the people immediately told me to take a cab or a bus. When I told them I wanted to walk, they all uniformly told me 'that is very far away, so you should take a bus!' When I insisted on walking, they warned me that it is hilly (which it can be) and that it is quite hot (which it is not!). In any event, I eventually convinced them to give me directions and I enjoyed visiting the city on foot.

My first stop was to the section of town known for the nightlife. It is simply called 'La Mariscal.' Every city in the world has this sort of area of town. It is not the downtown, but pretty close. It is not too expensive, but has lots of popular bars, dance clubs, pubs, and trendy restaurants. There are also internet cafés and places that tourists would look for, so this is known as the place that the tourists go. Still, many younger locals go to the area, too, because it has the clubs, pubs, etc. It was pretty quiet in the morning, but some restaurants were open and a lot of businesses opened around 11AM.

I went to El Cafecito first. This is an older home, which has been converted into a hostel, coffee shop, and small restaurant. While there I met 6 German tourists who were hiking throughout South America for two months before starting work after graduate school. I had a great cup of coffee and a freshly made fruit smoothy (papaya, cantaloupe, and watermelon). I also sat around and talked to the night manager of the hostel who was getting off duty. He is Greek, but lived in Munich for 20 years before moving to Ecuador 3 years ago. He speaks decent Spanish, slightly better English ...and a great deal of German and Greek, obviously.

After my coffee, I wandered around La Mariscal. I ran into a young tourist who tried, in broken Spanish, to ask me if I could direct him to the Cafecito Hostel. Boy was he in luck! Not only could I do that but, when I detected a hint of an Australian accent and asked if he spoke English, he got very excited. Turns out he is in Ecuador to study Spanish and has been here about one week. We chatted a bit --as I forced him to practice his Spanish -- and walked back to the hostel. I left him there with the nice Greek/German man who was still sipping his espresso (probably his third of the morning) and rolling a cigarette (probably his second since I left him).

I eventually made my way to Libri Mundi, regarded as the best book store in Ecuador ...and it is! This is a top-notch bookstore with an extensive selection of all types of books in several languages. I came here because I was told it has a great selection of books on architecture and interior design. I spent about one hour looking at the selection and eventually made my decision. It settled on a book that takes one on a tour through many different countries focusing on diverse home designs that efficiently utilizes minimal space. Interesting ideas and I do love architecture and design. On my way out of the store, I spotted a book by John Rawls, quite a distinguished philosopher on law, government, and politics and, though I have read the book, I bought it in Spanish this time! I'm sure it will take me longer to read, but it will improve my vocabulary in Spanish on all of these intersections of civil society in which I am now working. The book is Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy.

Next, I headed toward the Parque Carolina and the El Jardin shopping center. This has become a regular stop for me on Sundays. The park has lots of people wandering around and the mall has a little bit of everything. After walking around the park for a bit, I shopped for some groceries and more cleaning supplies that I needed. The mall was, as usual, full of people. I can't tell how much they buy, but there sure are many people wandering about.

Finally, I started walking back toward my house. When I got back, I made myself a great cup of coffee using my new French press coffee maker I bought. The only problem is that I noticed that it takes a very long time to boil water at nearly 10,000 feet of altitude! Still, I can now make coffee whenever I want, instead of walking to a local coffee house. After coffee, I took Jackson on his afternoon walk, brushed him, and came back home to do a little reading and call some friends back home.

Quito is quiet on Sunday nights. Most restaurants close early, so I went to one of my favorite places --La Liebre (the Hare). This is a little DVD rental place that is also a coffee shop and small restaurant. The food is simple, but quite good. Now, I'm off to read some more and watch the evening news.

The map at the top generally shows where I was today. If you want to see a detailed map that shows some of the places I stopped, first click on the 'Quito Walk' link below the following map. From there, you can just zoom in as much as you want for as much detail as you would like on some of the points along my walk. Thanks for dropping by to see what I'm doing today in Quito! ...and please let me know what you think.

View Quito Walk 09 06 09 in a larger map

Full Moon Over Quito

The city lights at night and the full moon look great tonight. Again, it is crisp, clean, and cool tonight except at the traffic circle near my house. For some reason, quite a bit of fog always seems to accumulate there.

I went to a dinner at the Ambassador's residence tonight. It was an interesting mix of a few Embassy staff (senior staff), a few military personnel (colonels mostly), and me. Her residence is an older hacienda that has been nicely maintained and refurbished in a manner suitable for an ambassador. One of the Embassy staff pointed out to me that the wine glasses had the seal of the Secretary of State and mentioned that only THE Secretary of State or an ambassador can use the official seal. It made me want to make off with a glass, but I figured better not to. Now if there had been a shot glass to inconspicuously drop into my pocket, then maybe ;-)

Lots of writing and meetings at the office today. Time flew by and it was past 5PM before I even noticed. I have observed that the office staff is pretty carefree about time matters. That seems to be the custom here generally. They are always amazed at how fast I leave and then come back from lunch. When I go out on my own, I'm usually out and back within 30 minutes. The rest of the office staff goes out a one-hour lunch that usually stretches into 1.5 hours but, as I said, that seems to be the custom here.

Tomorrow is the end of the week again and this week seems to have flown by. This weekend my big project is to continue my search for the right gym. I did find a nice yoga studio around the corner from my house and the rumor is it is really nice. I may drop by there this weekend, too.

Jackson is looking longingly at me now, so I guess I'd better go play with him a bit before bed time. There will be more time for posts later.

Jackson Hurls - Not everything is Less Expensive - Persistent Drips

Yesterday I realized that Jackson is not entirely adjusted to the altitude. We went out for our morning walk and I noticed he was a little winded, but figured everything was OK. Since it was time for him to eat, I fed him and he gulped his food down, as usual. A few minutes later he decided he wanted to play fetch --and again this is not unusual --so we played a little fetch. After one of his last retrievals, he got this dejected look on his face, turned and walked out of the carpeted room we were in, and promptly vomited all of his breakfast! He then laid down and huffed and puffed for a bit longer. I figure it was a combination of the fatigue from the walk and the playing, plus having just eaten. Oh, well. Lesson learned. Guess we both need to be more conscious about adjusting to the altitude.

Jackson's vomitus was an inspiration for me to go shopping ...for cleaning supplies, among other things. I went on a long walk to the mall to get some sundries. It's amazing how many little things you need when you are setting up a house. Little things one takes for granted like toilet paper, hand soap, toilet brush, etc. It all adds up and you have to buy it.

While I was out, I wandered into a drug store and saw some of the dental floss that has an end you can thread through a permanent retainer, like the one I have on my lower teeth. I figured I'd get some. Not that I needed it right away, but I figured there it is. What a mistake! When I went to checkout, the tab was ridiculously high. I inquired what drove the price up and found out the little package of special dental floss was nearly $20. How insane is that. On the heels of that, I priced a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka (750 ml, standard size, not jumbo) and that was $65. Also insane.

The other weird thing about shopping is that the products I'm just used to running down the aisle and picking up are re-packed in unidentifiable ways down here or entirely unavailable. I spend much more time finding the usual stuff or looking for replacements. And the people here just linger in the aisles looking at stuff, so it is shopping cart mayhem in the aisles trying to get through.

While shopping I did meet a mother, father, and son team of missionaries from Oklahoma and chatted with them. The were shocked I spotted them as non-locals!

Last week was consumed diagnosing a couple of water leaks in diverse area of the house --hence the photo of water dripping. The place is brand new, so no one has turned on all the faucets, flushed all the toilets, etc. The plumber who was here last week swore that one leak was behind a shower, but I have figured out over the weekend that cannot possibly be true. I have now diagnosed the true source of the leak, which is the toilet, so it is much easier to repair. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, now that I have saved the plumber lots of time figuring out where that leak was from, I returned home today to find another leak. This one is beneath my master bathroom sink. Some clean up and emptying of the cabinet awaits me later tonight, since the plumber arrives bright and early tomorrow.

Today was a long day of meetings and I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to grab a beer and pizza... then clean and dry!

More Ecuador adventures to follow tomorrow.

Thanks to all of you who have sent emails and called.

American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative

Several of you have asked about what it is I'm doing down here. Some have suggested (well, really only one has suggested it!) that I'm down here on some covert operation. Since I haven't really explained it before, and to spare you from doing independent research, I'll tell you a bit about the ABA Rule of Law Initiative.

The Rule of Law Initiative is a public service project of the American Bar Association dedicated to promoting the rule of law around the world with the belief that the rule of law is the most effective, long-term solution to pressing problems, including poverty, economic stagnation, and conflict, facing the world community today.

I am the Director of the Rule of Law Initiative in Ecuador, based in Quito. I have overall field responsibility for in-country programs, including grant-funded programs; manage international and local staff; identify program methodologies and develop long-term and short-term strategies and work plans to improve the rule of law in Ecuador. I implement, monitor and evaluate in-country programs and activities. I am responsible for financial oversight of all programs and for donor relations in-country. In cooperation with headquarters-based program staff, I draft grant proposals and undertake fundraising in-country.

The major program in existence before I got here was the criminal justice reform project. That project focuses on transitioning from the inquisitorial to the adversarial legal system, and we provide all types of support and training in that regard. Since I got here, I have been developing new programs, including (1) the women and children's rights project (focusing on how to prevent exploitation of women and children in the region, especially by better prosecuting human trafficking cases), (2) the anti-corruption project (focusing on measuring corruption in Ecuador as compared to the region and suggesting ways to improve anti-corruption efforts), and (3) the ethics project (providing support for judges and lawyers on how to improve the ethical guidelines and disciplinary processes to ensure the highest ethical standards in the legal profession).

Well, that's the nutshell version of what I do. Most of the time I am in government meetings and staff meetings and doing research or reading research on these topics. No day is the same, the work is very interesting and exciting, and the home office gives me great support to keep developing the projects. All in all, I couldn't ask for more.

The only thing that is a little rough is being out of pocket, in unfamiliar surroundings, and feeling a little disconnected from my fiends back home ...But then I'm just getting adjusted here, so I think that will improve with time. And then there is also the fact that the last few weeks I have just been hit with so many changes (work, travel, personal, etc.).

Then being away has its advantages, too. I am meeting new people and seeing lots of interesting things. Once I'm settled in here in Quito, I will start expanding out to see other things in Ecuador and the region, and that will be exciting. Lots of fun travel opportunities await down here not only in Ecuador, but also, neighboring Colombia and Peru ...not to mention all of South America.

Well, enough for now. Time for a local pilsner --which are pretty good, but the way --and some reading. Keep dropping in and I'll keep posting. See you all soon back here.

Is Any One Reading?...

...Because no one seems to be posting comments.