Friday, Nov 3, 2017
Beat Goes On
Nothing much new to report this week, just rock’n Olon . My days have an easy rhythm to them. I try to get out as much as I can, and some days the rain gets in the way of me doing that. On one of the days I was out and about, I got to enjoy a local school’s marching band play through the streets of Olon. I thought they were quite impressive for young kids in this dusty little town on the coast. What do you think?
Future Musicians of Ecuador
Rock’n Olon
Display for Rock’n Olon
Rock’n Olon Gift Rocks
Heidi was able to get a display made she designed for the Rock’n Olon project to support the Olon Orphanage and other charities here.
These unique gift rocks can be purchased at Bohemia, a gift boutique, in Olon. Make sure you get your lil’ piece of Ecuador Olon before they sell out!
Andrea (artist), Scarlett (biz owner, Bohemia), Heidi (designer, artist)
Step by Step
Watching Carpenter Finish the Job
It is really incredible the steps required to get something like this made here.
Step 1: Ask locals where to find a good carpenter.
Step 2: Find someone to help translate when talking with said carpenter. (Many thanks to our friend Soraya!)
Step 3: Explain the design, what is needed, how you want it to look via 3 way conversation.
Step 4: Find the local sheet metal guy in town to cut a needed piece of metal (repeat steps 1, 2 and 3). He has been drinking, so the finished product doesn’t quite have straight edges. In defense of sheet metal guy, it is a big holiday here.
Step 5: Since cement is needed for the base of the display, find cement. (Carpenter has wood, not cement.)
Step 6: Go to local “hardware store”. No cement. Get referred to a Tienda at other end of town that handles cement. Find said place. Pay for cement bag.
Step 7: Find someone to move said cement bag via a tricicle (pedal bike with a makeshift transport platform) to the carpenter.
Step 8: Transport finished display to the gift boutique it will be used in. Damn, no tricicle available. Three men carry it the four blocks through town to said store. Locals and expats alike comment on these guys along the way. 😉
Larry, Moe, and Curly
These steps don’t include what Heidi had to do to find the wood to make and hand paint her signs that the carpenter attached to the frame of the display, or where she had to go to find the pot. Bottom line, this ain’t a Home Depot experience baby! The finished product did however turn out fantastic in only the way my wife Heidi can create something.
Chau.
Hi Todd, what a fun story of the carpenter! Only in another country would all that happen! Love the rocks, so pretty!
We had snow this weekend in the Seattle area. So cold today too. I have my long Johns on !
Enjoy Ecuador for me !!
Laree
Thanks Laree. Brrrr…no bueno!
Hi Todd, I am so thankful to have found your blog! My son decided to travel to Ecuador on his own, after working in Alaska for five months to pay for the trip. Reading your blog has alleviated a lot of my fears and worries about his safety and health, while being there in Ecuador, because like many who have never travelled outside the USA; I have many fear-based phobias about foreign countries. Although, with all of the mass shootings happening in the United States; I can’t help but feel that my son is safer in South America than here! Anyway, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog and truly admire the courage and leap of faith that it must have taken, for you and your wife to sell everything…reduce your belongings down to a few suitcases and move to Ecuador! Bravo!
Thanks for reading Laura. I’m glad you are here! I think Ecuador is a great country. There are plenty of young people here too. If your son is ever on the coast in the Montanita/Olon area tell him we would be happy to meet up. My son Easton is here for the next few months (he’s 27) and spent this summer fishing in Alaska. Sounds like your son may have been doing the same. It truly is a small world in reality.
Hi Todd, thanks for the reply. Actually, my son Lennon (yes, he was named after John Lennon) spent a couple of weeks in Montanita, and now he’s staying at a hostel in Olon. He’s been meeting people and making new friends and really likes it’s there, and has told me that he’s met some of the nicest people in the world. Lennon is going to be singing/playing at Spondylus this Friday from 7pm till 9pm, if you and your wife & son happen to be out and about. I know that he would enjoy meeting you and your family!
Hi Laura, that’s awesome (his name and him being in Olon)! We will be sure to look for him at Spondylus. Thanks for letting me know. Olon is a very friendly community so I bet he has been doing just great.
Hi Todd, I wanted to ask you about how I would go about sending a piece of mail to Lennon? A new bankcard came for him, and I need to send it to him; so I wanted to find out what the best way was to do that!
Wow, that is a difficult thing to do. Mail is almost impossible to get here. The best way is to give it to someone headed over here. Let me ask around and I’ll get back with you. Basically through mail, it will cost you a minimum of $70, it will take 6-8 weeks, and there is no guarantee he will get it. One of the charms of living in Ecuador ;-P