More pix

DJ playing with Fuego (Fire, his horse)

Kate and Breana making a sand turtle.

Breana and Julia together again.

Playing Volleyball

Breana supervising the surfing lessons

November News

I will have to start with the same line again: I cannot believe how fast time is going! I know we said we would blog more often but we are so busy doing nothing, that we just don't go online that often. Since our last blog, we have had different groups of students stay here in the hotel.

Three weeks ago we had a group of 12 volunteers from the jungles located between Santo Domingo and Quito come to Canoa for some rest and

relaxation (beach time). The group was made up of different nationalities from England, Germany, Holland, Russia, Whales, and an Ecuadorian/American. God was good to Canoa and blessed us with 2 great days of sun, surf, and fun. One of the volunteers, Julia (Russian) really took a liking to Breana and gave her a bracelet from Russia (Breana cried when they left). Sam arrived from Massachusetts (we mentioned Sam's wife, Noi a few blogs ago) to check on the construction of their new home just down the beach.

Two weeks ago we celebrated "Dias de los Muertos, which is a 4 day celebration of

the lives of those who have passed on (no school for the kids). The 4 Austrian teachers from Quito that we mentioned on the last blog came back and brought 3 little natives (Paola 10, David 8, Mayerli 6) from the Puyo jungle who had never seen the ocean before. We had a great time playing volleyball, Kate made a sand sculpture, and put

away some serious grub (boy can those kids eat!). Henry made

awesome fish tacos and Greg cooked

up some

Langostinas (big *** shrimp!). The baker Henry went in to mass production and made 6 dozen donuts (glazed, chocolate glazed, and jelly filled donuts), it took him 3 1/2 hours to make them and they were gone in less than 15 minutes, needless to say they were good (Ecuadorian Krispy Kreme).

Last week we celebrated birthdays and the new ownership of the Coco Loco hotel. DJ works at the Coco Loco to work off his surf board and ride time for his horse "Fuego," which has kept him out of our hair and out of the water. He has wrestled with the jellies, jelly fish that is, and has

been stung on his finger, hand, arms, and face (as if the pimples aren't enough). Dj has been seeing surfing with the "Silver Surfer" (Sam), and the "Surfester Nester" (his new nsf (native surfer friend)) on numerous occasions off the coast of Canoa. Besides all the fun, DJ is doing well in school with his spanish speaking abilities, and es muy popular con las chicas.

Breana has been playing in the sand, making sand castles, boogie boarding, and doing her best to avoid the jellies (has been stung once). She's constantly searching and finding friends of all ages to play with. She is doing well in school as is practicing very hard on her times tables and her cursive writing. I am amazed at how well her spanish pronunciation is. She has been exercising with her Dad and is excited that some of her clothes fit again. This past weekend Breana was happy to have her friend Julia come visit and she got to go to a birthday party at the yacht club in Bahia. She appears to be very popular in school with the "older" kids (they all seem to be fascinated with her hair).

And as for Henry, he is finally happy to have a new gym (soft sand pit on the beach with a tractor tire, big ropes, driftwood, sand bags, and a sledge hammer). He started training 3 of our local american girls (Anna, Maija, and Trish) in what he calls sand pit training (I have seen it, it's pretty intense!). I told him that if he replaces the tires with donuts and the water for coffee, then I am in. He has been working on assessing the needs to start a volunteer fire department. He works out monday through friday, studies spanish, and still cooks a lot. I honored my

husband on Veteran's day by cooking for him and letting him enjoy his sunset with a cerveza. Good news is his burn has healed, bad news is he has been stung by the jellies (it appears to have tatted his hand, as if he doesn't have enough tattoos).

Not much to say about me, just that we finally got hand crafted

wood dining table and chairs as well as a wardrobe dresser for our room. The only jellies that I deal with, are the ones on my toast (lol). We have had power conservation in this country, so that means that everyday we lose power for about 3 hours at a time, making it difficult for me to facebook, email, blog, or down load my tv shows (that is the true crisis in Ecuador!). I have gone to Manta which is an hour and a half away by taxi to shop (Henry says "imagine that") on several occasions in preparation for our Thanksgiving feast. We will be celebrating with all of the expat community from the US and Canada (there should be approximately 30 to 40 people here that weekend, que loco!). It has been great tasting all of Henry's experimental recipes like homemade jalapeno mac n' cheese, spicy cornbread stuffing, peach cobbler, cheese cake, and fresh salsas (they are experimental because all of the ingredients here are not like ours back in the states) but boy they sure are good, delicioso! Hasta la proxima!