Fr. Glenn's Blog

2009-06-06T07:22:00.000-07:00

>My Post for today is the following that I received from a good friend.
I hope you enjoy it and see Mexico as I do and as Linda describes in here.

Glenn+

One Journalist’s View
> By Linda Ellerbee
>
>
> Sometimes I’ve been called a maverick because I don’t always agree with my colleagues, but then, only dead fish swim with the stream all the time. The stream here is Mexico .
>
>
>
> You would have to be living on another planet to avoid hearing how dangerous Mexico has become, and, yes, it’s true drug wars have escalated violence in Mexico , causing collateral damage, a phrase I hate. Collateral damage is a cheap way of saying that innocent people, some of them tourists, have been robbed, hurt or killed.
>
>
>
> But that’s not the whole story. Neither is this. This is my story.
>
>
>
> I’m a journalist who lives in New York City , but has spent considerable time in Mexico , specifically Puerto Vallarta , for the last four years. I’m in Vallarta now. And despite what I’m getting from the U.S. media, the 24-hour news networks in particular, I feel as safe here as I do at home in New York , possibly safer. I walk the streets of my Vallarta neighborhood alone day or night. And I don’t live in a gated community, or any other All-Gringo neighborhood. I live in Mexico . Among Mexicans. I go where I want (which does not happen to include bars where prostitution and drugs are the basic products), and take no more precautions than I would at home in New York; which is to say I don’t wave money around, I don’t act the Ugly American, I do keep my eyes open, I’m aware of my surroundings, and I try not to behave like a fool.
>
>
>
> I’ve not always been successful at that last one. One evening a friend left the house I was renting in Vallarta at that time, and, unbeknownst to me, did not slam the automatically-locking door on her way out. Sure enough, less than an hour later a stranger did come into my house. A burglar? Robber? Kidnapper? Killer? Drug lord?
>
>
>
> No, it was a local police officer, the “beat cop” for our neighborhood, who, on seeing my unlatched door, entered to make sure everything (including me) was okay. He insisted on walking with me around the house, opening closets, looking behind doors and, yes, even un der beds, to be certain no one else had wandered in, and that nothing was missing. He was polite, smart and kind, but before he left, he lectured me on having not checked to see that my friend had locked the door behind her. In other words, he told me to use my common sense.
>
>
>
> Do bad things happen here? Of course they do. Bad things happen everywhere, but the murder rate here is much lower than, say, New Orleans, and if there are bars on many of the ground floor windows of houses here, well, the same is true where I live, in Greenwich Village, which is considered a swell neighborhood — house prices start at about $4 million (including the bars on the ground floor windows).
>
>
>
> There are good reasons thousands of people from the United States are moving to Mexico every month, and it’s not just the lower cost of living, a hefty tax break and less snow to shovel. Mexico is a beautiful country, a special place. The climate varies, but is plentifully mild, the culture is ancient and revered, the young are loved unconditionally, the old are respected, and I have yet to hear anyone mention Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna’s attempt to adopt a second African child, even though, with such a late start, she cannot possibly begin to keep up with Anglelina Jolie.
>
>
>
> And then there are the people. Generalization is risky, but— in general — Mexicans are warm, friendly, generous and welcoming. If you smile at them, they smile back. If you greet a passing stranger on the street, they greet you back. If you try to speak even a little Spanish, they tend to treat you as though you were fluent. Or at least not an idiot. I have had taxi drivers track me down after leaving my wallet or cell phone in their cab. I have had someone run out of a store to catch me because I have overpaid by twenty cents. I have been introduced to and come to love a people who celebrate a day dedicated to the dead as a recognition of the cycles of birth and death and birth — and the 15th birthday of a girl, an important rite in becoming a woman — with the same joy.
>
>
>
> Too much of the noise you’re hearing about how dangerous it is to come to Mexico is just that — noise. But the media love noise, and too many journalists currently making it don’t live here. Some have never even been here. They just like to be photographed at night, standing near a spotlighted border crossing, pointing across the line to some imaginary country from hell. It looks good on TV.
>
>
>
> Another thing. The U.S. media tend to lump all of Mexico into one big bad bowl. Talking about drug violence in Mexico without naming a state or city where this is taking place is rather like looking at the horror of Katrina and saying, 0Damn. Did you know the U.S. is under water?” or reporting on the shootings at Columbine or the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City by saying that kids all over the U.S.. are shooting their classmates and all the grownups are blowing up buildings. The recent rise in violence in Mexico has mostly occurred in a few states, and especially along the border. It is real, but it does not describe an entire country.
>
>
>
> It would be nice if we could put what’s going on in Mexico in perspective, geographically and emotionally. It would be nice if we could remember that, as has been noted more than once, these drug wars wouldn’t be going on if people in the United States didn’t want the drugs, or=2 0if other people in the United States weren’t selling Mexican drug lords the guns. Most of all, it would be nice if more people in the United States actually came to this part of America ( Mexico is also America , you will recall) to see for themselves what a fine place Mexico really is, and how good a vacation (or a life) here can be.
>
>
>
> So come on down and get to know your southern neighbors. I think you’ll like it here. Especially the people.
> ***
>
> wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ellerbee
>
> http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/E/htmlE/ellerbeelin/ellerbeelin.htm

2009-06-04T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today is June 4. Forty-three years ago today Scottie and I were married. As the days dew closer to today I wondered how today would be for me. Somewhat to my surprise today has been a beautiful day. I arose after one of the best night's sleep I have had in a long time. And I woke up just feeling good, very good --physically and emotionally. Somehow today was a day of thanksgiving, not regret; a day of remembering good times and of recalling events that were so special to us.
Sure I still get the "blues" from time to time, and I expect I always will. And In a way I hope I always will.
As I said to my daughter today, there is a point at which grief gives way to wonderful memories that you relive and today as I look at the picture on my dresser of her in her wedding dress instead of tears, I feel a warmth and comfort. She now lives joyously among "the angels and the archangels and all the company of heaven" and I am sure she too is thankful for all that we shared together. It seems that while you are grieving you feel separated from one another. But when the time comes and the grief is replaced with thanksgiving you feel re-united; curiously enough, it's not a denial of the loss, but an embracing of it.
I share this in my blog today in the hope that others who suffer the loss of a loved one will know that with the love of those family and friends and angels whom God sends your way a day does come when your grief heals and is replaced with what I have experienced today, and carry with me most days.
June 4--it is a good day!!
Glenn+

My thoughts on Judge Sotomayor, et al.

2009-06-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing so much crap from the Conservatives about her appointment, I feel compelled to add my two cents.

IT IS THE JOB OF SUPREME COURTS TO MAKE LAW:
I am sick and tired of hearing people, many of whom are lawyers, insisting that the want a Supreme Court appointee who will APPLY the law, not MAKE law.
In our legal system we have several ways laws are made: One is by the vote of elected bodies, City Councils, State Legislatures and the US Congress. The Second is my the decisions of Appellate Courts. Appellate Courts are all State Courts of Appeals and State Supreme Courts, and the United Sates Courts of Appeals, and the U. S. Supreme Court. Every time an appellate court publishes an Opinion in one of the official sets of books that record such Opinions their decisions declare one or more principles of law, and some of those principles MAKE NEW LAWS addressing issues that have never been addressed by a legislature, or by any other court. This then becomes newly made law. Lawyers cite that newly made law in their briefs, and other courts will rely on that new law until and unless that new law is overturned by a higher court.
Many of the issues that come before a Supreme Courts are issues of law that have never been decided before, or they have been decided by a lower court of appeals and the Supreme Court is asked to review the lower court's decision. These are called Cases of "first impression". This is how our "Common Law" system works.
Now to be fair, in making new law Courts must be very careful in the legal reasoning they used to do so. They just can't create a new principle of law out of whole cloth. The new principle of law must be a logical deduction that results from the reasonable implications of established principles of law. Those established principles of law are called "precedents".
So let's be clear: one of the primary jobs of a state Supreme Court and the U. S. Supreme Court is to MAKE NEW LAW.

MEDIA REPORTS ON LEGAL MATTERS ARE OFTEN MISLEADING:
Another matter: When the media reports the decisions of Supreme Courts they emphasize the outcome of the case, not the reasoning of the court. In doing so they often distort what the court really did. .
For example: (this is a hypothetical, not a real case) Suppose a State legislature passes a law permitting gay couples to get married. Suppose also that a law suit is brought alleging that in the process of passing that law the legislature failed to hold public hearings which the Plaintiffs say are required by state law (relying on AN INTERPRETATION of a state statute.) The case goes to trial and the trial court finds that indeed the legislature did not hold public hearings. But the trial court interpreted the the state statute in question to mean that the legislature is not required to hold public hearings.
The case is appealed on an issue of the interpretation of a state statute: Does that statute REQUIRE the legislature to hold public hearings before it can vote on such an issue. The case goes up to the State Supreme. Court. The Supreme Court rules that the statute DOES NOT require the legislature to hold public hearing, therefore the new law permitting gay marriage was passes in a lawful manner. The Press then reports the outcome of the case with a headline: "State Supreme Court Supports Gay Marriage". Actually the Supreme Court said nothing about Gay Marriage. All they said was that the legislature did not violate the law in the way tghe voted on and passed the statute that permits Gay Marriages.
The point here is that people have to be careful relying on the press' reports on legal matters. Time and time again the media reports on court decisions in a way that gets the most attention, not necessarily in the way that is accurate.

JUDGE SOTOMAYOR'S FAMOUS QUOTE:
Apparently in a speech a number of years ago Judge Sotomayor said that she hoped that an experienced Latina judge would render better decisions than a white male judge who did not have her experience of life.
I certainly have no way of knowing what she meant, and I do not pretend here to do so. But as I heard that quote, here is what it made me think of.
Before any appellate court, including a Supreme Court decides a case they read the briefs submitted by the lawyers and then they conduct oral argument on the case. During the oral argument as the lawyers make their their arguments to the court, the judges interrupt the lawyers to ask questions. The point of these questions is to help the judges better understand the facts of the case and the legal issues in the case and to help them project how any decision they might render will play out in the real world.
The questions a judge thinks to ask are shaped by that judges experiences in life as well as their legal experience. Therefore, a Latina judge, or an Africa-America judge, who grew up in "the projects", or a Native American Judge, who grew up on an indian reservation will undoubtedly ask questions that a white upper middle class male judge, who was born and raised in Marin County, California would never think of asking (and visa versa). The questions that judges ask and the answers they get from the lawyers shape their understanding of the case. And, their understanding of a case influences the decision they render So, in some kinds of casss the minority judge will ask better questions than a non-minority judge. In other cases the non-minority judge may ask better questions.
Why no one else has proposed such an interpretation amazes me. We wont know what she intended to say until the hearings occur. But I would not be surprised if her explanation isn't similar to what I have suggested here. Time will tell.
Glenn+

2009-06-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

QUE TAL?
It has been quite a while since I posted anything. Actually I have been pretty busy and when I'm not busy I find it easier to do other stuff than to sit down and write. I really intend to be a little more disciplined about this.

Last Sunday was my last Sunday at the Church of the Holy Spirit. The past four months that I served there as the Interim-Vicar were a gift from the Holy Spirit to me. For one, it allowed me to slide into retirement instead of jumping into it. The truth is, I had planned a trip right after I left good Shepherd at the end of January. I had thought of going to Hawaii for a few weeks. I have never been there and it seemed like a good time to go, prices are down, etc. I had to put taking a trip on hold when the Bishop asked if I'd like to be the Interim-Vicar at Holy Spirit and help prepare the way for their new Vicar who would arrive in June. At first I was little disappointed about not having at least a week or so to get away before jumping back into the saddle. But once I got re-connect with the people at Holy Spirit I didn't miss the trip one iota. They welcomed me so graciously and made me feel truly wanted and needed, and that I truly had something to share that they really needed. There is no better experience in life and I am so grateful for every moment I was able to spend with them.
I also had the blessing of finding a new friend in the person of their new vicar, Julie O'Brien. We were able to talk over a lot of things about being a soon-to-be-ordained priest generally, and about starting her ministry at Holy Spirit. Sharing that experience with her, a person I came to truly respect and admire for her obvious gifts, her loving heart, and her great sense of humor.
Now I am getting ready for my trip to the Olympic Peninsula for the Arizona Highways Photo Workshop next week. I got a new Canon 5D, Mark II camera and I am learning my way around it slowly. It is a fabulous camera. For the camera buffs out there, I read some reviews on it before buying it and learned why it creates such marvelously sharp images. It is not because of how many mega pixels it has, though it has 21.1; it is because the mega pixels on the sensor are larger that in other cameras, except for the professional models. The larger pixels capture more light, leading to finer detailed images. I can't wait to experience it for myself.
Well that's enough for now. A few random thoughts and I am ready to call it a day.

A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS
Music plays a very important part in my day and in my life. I have a very eclectic muscial taste. Mostly I like vocals with good harmony. It doesn't matter if its country, or pop or oldies. I like the experience of good harmony. For me, singing in harmony with others is one of life's great spiritual experiences. I sang in a Barbershop Quartet, as well as in our high school choir. Later I sang duets for parties in college with an old college friend. During the years I was the youth minister at Grace Church in Tucson, I helped form a music group from our high school and college kids that traveled around Arizona and around Colorado visiting churches and performing a wonderful repertoire of Christan music, much of which was written and arranged by one of the college kids in the group. I did not perform with the group, I just sang in practices with them..
But music has always been an important part of my life in general and my spiritual life in particular. Often when I have my prayer times I sing songs that are prayers of love and praise. Most of the music that I listen to isn't religious, but it is about life and love and joy and sorrow and loss and hope, all things that ae holy to me. Nat King Cole, Paul Simon, Peter, Paul and Mary, Johnny Cash, John Denver, Wynnona, Celine Dion, James Taylor, Phil Harris (whom only old folks will remember), the Mills Brothers, the Statler Brothers and many other are on my iPod. I envy other cultures, like the Germans,and the Irish who sing in their pubs and beer halls. To have a few beers and to sing with some friends, I can't think of a better way to spend an evening.
Well, these truly are just random thoughts, but again, that is all I said it would be.
Sing more, and sing more often, especially sing in harmony with good friends. It is good for the soul.
Glenn+

2009-05-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,
QUE TAL?
It has been a few days since my last post, but there hasn't been a lot to talk about. But there are a couple of things I'd like to share.
Last Monday I went to a Pain Management doctor about the problem I have been having with pains shooting down my left leg and the numbness in my left foot. I had thought it was a sciatic nerve problem. The doc quickly determined it was probably not a sciatic nerve problem, but rather a form of neuropathy, perhaps caused by a vitamin deficiency. During the examination the doc had some questions about the medication I take for my arthritis pain, in part because I was taking fairly large doses of Tylenol, which is hard on the liver. She suggested I try a new medication called Rysolt E.R. I started taking it on Tuesday and almost immediately I noticed a dramatic relief of the arthritic pain in my feet that has been so debilitating for so many years. The difference was so dramatic that I was afraid it wouldn't last. All week long I kept expecting the pain to return, but it never did, even whe the barometer dropped yesterday. A drop in the barometric pressure almost alwaysmade my arthritis very painful.
Before I started the Rysolt, if I was on my feet for any period of time, like even an hour, my feet would throb so, that I would just have to get off them. And they would hurt like that until the next day. I wasn't able to walk any real distance, even walking a mile would be enough to have me hobbling around.
With the new medication I am trtying out various activities. I haven't gone for a long walk yet, but I will today. Today I will walk for a half hour and see how it goes. Then, assuming that goes well, on another day I will go for an hour and see how that goes. But by everything I have experienced so far I expect it to go just fine. What a blessing this will be when I go on the AZ Hywys Photo Workshop next month. I have been wondering how I would handle the walking that I know will be a part of the trip, but now I think it wil be OK.

A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS
Recently I was in a conversation about the current economic crisis. we talked about how GREED had been the major cause of this current situation. People shared their own stories of how they had personally seen banks and mortgage companies lose all sense of ethical responsibility in the drive to make as much as they could as fast as they could. We talked about how ethics is not even taught in the Business colleges of our finest universities. Greed at the corporate and business level was only part of the story. Personal greed had driven people to think they could buy what they could not afford in the purchase of their homes, coupled with running up massive amounts of credit card debt only to learn that the credit card companies manipulated their "rules" to "trick and trap" people by arbitrarily raising the int erst rate and imposing unfair penalties.
Then it occur ed to us that many , if not most of the people who caused this climate where the only guiding ethical principle was GREED, where people who also attend church.
Surely many of the executives of these banks and mortgage institutions and credit card companies consider themselves to be "Christians". I'll bet that many of them are even leaders in their churches, serving on vestries, boards of trustees. Many probably even teach Sunday School or lead groups that do outreach projects, etc. Yet somehow they walk out the church door and put on their professional hat and never even think about whether what they are doing is right or wrong, about whether there are any moral aspects of what they do in their businesses; they never consider the social responsibility of their business decisions. The just worship the god of "profit at all costs".
I don't know if this circumstance is an indictment of the churches, or the people or both. But it seems to me to be undeniable that far too many "believers" are really " hearers of the word and not doers". I think sometime our theology of "salvation by faith" gets interpreted to mean," what one does ion their professional lives doesn't matter, as long as they "believe"in God. Maybe as church leaders we set a bad example. We practice our own form of greed when we place a huge emphasis of "growing the church". The "successful church" is one that keeps getting bigger and bigger as more and more people to attend and more and more people increase their giving so that we can spend hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars building bigger, fancier church buildings, and buying more and fancier church stuff. Then after building the new beautiful building and after we fill it with new and even more beautiful church stuff, we have a bake sale, or similar event to raise a couple of hundred bucks to donate it and call it our "outreach program". The church is often as self-centered, and greedy and self-deceiving as the banks and the mortgage institutions and the credit card companies have been. We deceive ourselves by saying that we are "bringing people to Christ". Is that really what we are doing when those people we "brought to Christ" go out and live their processional lives guided only by unbridled, unrestrained, and unconscionable greed. Have we brought them to Christ or have we just brought them into the religious version of what the rest of the world is doing?
Something to ponder.

Adios for now
Glenn+

2009-05-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Y'all,
This is just a quick note as I am about to leave for the EFM graduation for the class I have mentored this last year. Last evening I was invited to coin in the graduation ceremonies for the class Jack Robertson mentors. It was a moing event. Jack had prepared a marvelous liturgy complete with the Litqany for Ordinations, a commissioning of the graduates as entrants into a new Ministry of Service, followed by a Eucharist and fabulous dinner. Bill McNulty, one of the grads was not there because he had to return to New Jersey for the summer, so we called him on the speaker phone and included him in our toasts and the reading of a essay he wrote about his EFM experience. It was an evening full of laughter and an few tears, but mostly it was filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit.

I am sure the ceremonies this afternoon for my class will also be a moving and rewarding experience for all. We are not having a liturgy, but it will be full of laughter and some touching moments also.

People who have not had the EFM experience cannot appreciate how deep the bonds are between the participants. ach class becomes a special community of seekers and sharers. (if that is a word).

It has beena pribilege for me to be a part of both classes. I have substituted as the mentor in Jack's class when he had to be away, as well as mentoring my own class. Plus everyone involved is a member of Good shepherd and being with them is a heart warming experience.

This evening Mike and I are invited to the wedding of one of my wife's' hearing impaired students. This young lady has completed not only high school but college as well, My wife taught her from the time she was about 6 years old and we have all watched her grown into a bright and beautiful young woman. I know if Scottie were here she would be beaming with joy and pride.
Most of her students wee multiply handicapped and improvements we small and and the goals they could set for them were very modest. But this young lady was, and is, brilliant. Her hearing loss is her only physical challenge, and watching her develop and grow was I think the most rewarding experience of her entire teaching career. I am thrilled to be invited to the wedding reception this evening and I know ow I will have a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, wishing Scottie could be here.

Well, adios y'all for now. I gotta' run.

Glenn+

2009-05-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

QUE TAL?
I spoke today with a good friend who read my last blog entry and wanted to add a "Comment". Unfortunately she found it was more difficult than expected and decided to just send an email instead. Actually the process for entering a comment is not easy, so if you wish to respond to anything I write, please just send an email to me at frnlaw@msn.com, and on the Subject Line put the word "Blog" so that it gets through my junk filter.

A wonderful group of people at my former parish, Good Shepherd in Cave Creek, have started a wonderful ministry of providing Holy Communion to the residents at a nearby retirement residence facility. I am honored to have been asked to take part and today I had my first service there and it was delightful. One of the things I was most impressive was the people who organized this didn''t just set up a schedule for the services, they personally attended and greeted and genuinely loved those residents who attend. I conducted the service, but their presence brought the warmth and the caring hearts that were essential to the entire experience. It was a wonderful community to worship with. Thank you, Jesus!!

Yesterday I received the itinerary and additional informational material from Arizona Highways about the Photo Workshop I will be attending in June. We are going to the Olympic Peninsula. There are nine participants signed up for the Workshop. We will have a lead photographer who is a featured photographer for Arizona Highways, George Stocking. He will have two assistants, so the ratio of participants to leaders is 3:1. We will be moving to different locations every day and every night. I think we only that one location where we stay more than one night, The workshop last 5 days. My good friend and fellow clergy person and photographer, Jack Robertson, is attending the workshop with me and we will stay over three extra days to take advantage of the opportunity to be in such a glorious location to photograph. My niece, who has spent many vacations in that area recommended that we spend our extra days on one of the "Gulf Islands", which is a group of islands on the Canadian side of the water. These island are picturesque; they have great B&B's and everything you need is close by, unlike Vancouver Island or even Victoria. This trip is a retirement gift from the Good Shepherd parish community and what a blessing it will be.

A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS
I have been listening to a lot of music lately and when I visited the retirement community today a few songs came to my mind as I left. One is a song by Mary Chapin Carpentar called "Grow Old Along With Me". The lyrics are an invitation to one's beloved that they share all of what it means to grow old together. Another is a John Denver song called "Poems, Prayers and Promises" and in that song there is a line that says "it turns me on to think of growing old".

As people get older they experience many pains and many challenges, loss of hearing, loss of eye sight, loss of memory, and often debilitating health issues. Getting old is not for sissies.

Ours is a society that values youth, and especially having youthful "appearance" when youth is a distant memory. As a society we seem to value appearances over reality. Just look at the ads for youthful cosmetics, skin treatments and surgeries. As one of my children once said: "Dad, it isn't whether you win or lose, its how you look that counts."

Other cultures are less concerned with such superficial appearances, they value inner qualities like experience and wisdom, things that only come with time and age. Someone pointed out to me once that our culture has no term for older people that is not pejorative. We call them "elderly", "senior citizens", etc. This same person said that some "primitive cultures"value their older people call them "the long livers". To call someone "a long liver" has the connotation of one who has survived; and who doesn't want to be a survivor? To be survivor one has to possess many very positive qualities, not the least of which is courage. I don't mean to over-romanticize getting older. Survivors have scars and often they live with a great deal of pain, physical pain and emotional pain. But "the long livers", the survivors are "the victors". They are the ones who have come through it all and won "the victory of life". And they have brought with them the lessons they learned along the way, lessons we need to hear and learn from.
Today I met "the long livers", the victors and I was privileged to worship with them today and I look forward to the next time. Thank you, Jesus!
Glenn+

Some New Opportunities

2009-05-08T04:48:00.000-07:00

Good Morning everyone,

As I re-ignite my blog I plan to have two parts to it. The first is just about what's happening in my life. I will call this section by a Spanish phrase that is often used as a slang phrase in greeting people who are good friends, "Que tal", which roughly means, "What's up?" or "How's it goin'?" One of my Spanish-speaking friends may read this and refine this explantion for me, but that is what I understand the phrase to mean. At times, and perhaps often, I will add a second section of some thoughts that are on my mind, things I ponder. I will call that section "A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS" at least for now or until I think of something else to call it.

QUE TAL?
Thanks to my nagging sciatic nerve last night was a very short night. I will see the pain management doc next week and I sure hope she can make some improvement. These nights with only a few hours of sleep make the days a little tough. The one thing about being a priest is that every day I get to see so many people whose problems and difficulties are far greater than anything I experience. When you see what they deal with, and the faith and courage they have, it sure puts any aches and pains I have in the proper perspective.

A few weeks ago I posted a request on my "wall" on Facebook for the names of some people who are in the business of selecting the art work (including photography) that decorates commercial buildings like doctors offices, etc. I have received about a half dozen leads to such people. I am extremely grateful to all those who sent me these leads. This is very exciting and a little scary all at the szme time. It is a little scary because now I have to go through my inventory of images and select a limited number to go into a Presentation Portfolio. Selecting thoses images is scary for a couple of reasons. First we all tend to be overly critical of our own creations and I am afraid Iwill leave out a very marketable image because I get too critical. Second, I tend to select image that I like for some reason, not ones that best fit the clients' needs. And third, trying to undersand the clients' needs is an art form all its own becasue some clients are better than others at explaing what it is they want. You have to "listen" to them very carefully and creatively. This is a new phase for me and I am sure I will learn a lot in this phase. I am fortunate in that I have a very good friend who is willing to help me make the selection of images for presentations.
Also it has been a long time since I have added any new images to my web site and I will be doing that over the weekend also.

A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS
This weekend we will celebrate Mother's Day. For those of us whose mothers are still with us, it is a time for cards. gifts, flowers and other expressions of love and graitude. For those of us, like myself, whose mothers have passes away, we cannot send cards, etc, but we reflect and remember and recall and give thanks.

Many years ago I heard a person who was both a clinical psychologist and priest explain something that I have shared in many Mother's Day sermons. And that is this: Our experience of our mothers is our first, and perhaps one of our most profound, experiences of God. As infants we are totally dependant for eveything on our parents, but most particlarly on our mothers, especially in those first few months. In those first, most formative few months of our lives, we rest secure in the arms of a loving being who is All Powerful, All Knowing, and who sacrifices everything else willingly to care for us. It is through our mothers that we experience the connection between food and love, that later on takes many forms, including the ultimate meal of love, Holy Communion. In our mothers we experience a love that is unconditional, a Godly love. Later as adults we come to know the One True God who is the perfection of all of those godly qualities we first experienced in our Mothers.
Our Moms are far more than just a loving and caring person who raised us and to whom we owe our gratitude. They are our first sacrament, our first communion, our first, and one of our most enduring experience of God. Alleluia!! Amen!! somthing to ponder when we write that card this year.
Glenn+

A Long Time Since the Last Post

2009-05-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

Howdy out there in "blog-land".
I have really neglected doing anything with this blog and I want to try making some posts on a regular basis for a while and see how I do. It provides a refreshing break from TV and who know, maybe someone will even read it.
Well I have been retired now for a little over three months and I must say I really love it. Some have questioned how "retired" I truly am, since I am working part time at the Church of the Holy Spirit, I am pretty busy (and getting busier) with Valley Interfaith Project, I have made a few hospital visits with a former parishioner from Good Shepherd and I am taking part in a plan to provide Eucharist on a monthly basis at a retirement home in North Scottsdale.
I remember all to well the advise given me by Margaret Walker as I was about to retire. She said that the key to a successful retirement is saying "No". She said it is so easy to let your life get busier than it was before you retired. She is right! I'm not there yet, but I think of her advice every day.
Even as full as my days are full, I don't feel pressured and the pace of what I do has a lot of personal and "kick-back time" also. For example last week Bob Doyle, with whom I shared office space for most of the years I had my law practice, and the guy who taught me everything I know about criminal defense practice, invited me to go bass fishing. Last Wednesday we went out to Sajuaro with a terrific guide, on a great boat and we had a fantastic day of fishing. Between the four of us (counting the guide) we caught about 15 bass AND, as we were just starting to fish right after dawn we saw a Bald Eagle swoop down to try to grab a fish; he missed, but we had a fantastic sight. it all happened to fast to try to take a photo, so we just marveled at the moment.

Last week I received an email from Chris Morck in Quito, Ecuador. Chris is the Assistant to Bishop Ramos and he and his wife Trish became my friends and help make my trip to Ecuador so fabulous. In his email Chris told me he will be ordained a Deacon on May 30 and invited me to his ordination. I will still be the Interim-Vicar at Holy Spirit on that date, so I can't go. but I told Chris I will plan to be there for his ordination to the Priesthood, which will most likely be in December of this year. Actually going to Ecuador then suits me much better than to try to go now. I have been hoping to go back to Ecuador next Spring anyway to teach English to the diocesan staff and clergy there. I am beginning to think that if I go in December for Chris's ordination, maybe I will just stay there instead of making two trips within a 4-6 month period.

The economics of it suggest that may be something to consider. There are a number of things that have to be arranged if that is to happen. First, their new Bishop has to invite me, or at least permit me to come to teach. Also, I need to lose a big chunk of weight. Quito is at 10,000' altitude and I can't go carrying all of the weight I have gained this last year . Actually that is a motivating factor to lose weight. I also need to see if it suits the diocese there for me to come in December and stay to teach. Another issue is I have to get some training in how to teach English as a Second Language. So, there are a lot of stars that have to line up if I am to just stay when I go for the Ordination. Also, I have to give some serious thought to issues like being there for Christmas where I know very few people and away from my family here. Also, that would put me there again during their rainy season as I was on 2008 and I had planned on returning during their dry season this time. So we shall just see what I am called to do and what seems to work out.
Also, I am beginning to work on marketing my photos. I am making contacts with interior designers, especially people who do commercial interiors. I have some excellent leads, but I can't sell anything until after the first of the year because I took early retirement and Social Security limits what you can earn until January of the year in which you become eligible for full retirement. For me that is January, 2010. But what I can do now is network and put together a Presentation Portfolio, ands that I am doing.
Well, I better quit and leave somethings to talk about tomorrow or whenever.
Abrazos a todos
Glenn+

Thursday, February 12, Abe Lincoln's Birthday

2009-02-12T04:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I contunue to work on my food plan adventure. Actually I have made some strides, but there is still a way to go. I made a chicken dish in the Crock Pot and some rice and broccoli in the rice cooker and it came out terrific. I had the chicken for a second day and it was "OK". I didn't even try to keep the extra rice, of which there wasn't that much anyway. Having the smaller rice cooker is great in that regard. Last night I made a beef stew and I have quite a bit left over. It was just "OK" also. I am not sure what it lacked, but it did lack something, like flavor, perhaps, but it was good enough to keep and I will get several more meals out of it.

I turned my atention this week to makiing some travel plans. I checked out all of the Workshop poissibliities from the list of Arizona Highways Photo Workshops for this year. Attending one of their workshops is a retirement gift from the people at Good Sheperd . The workshop I have chosen will take place on the Olympic Peninsula in Northwest Washington. It should be really cool. There are gorgeous rivers and waterfalls amid the fabulous rain forests and dramatic beaches. to photograph. The sunrise and sunset light, plus the fog and even perhaps some great light from rain clouds, etc should make it a fantastic place to shoot and learn from one of the great professionals. They limit the workshop to 15 people and Jack Robertson, who is going with me, and I make a total of nine who have registered so far. What a great experience that will be. I plan to stay over for a few days after the workshop to see what else there is to explore there. I would love to get out to see some whales in the sound and maybe do a little fishing and who know what else. I hear Vancouver is a great place to visit and it is just across the sound, so I may explore that also.

I also made reservations for a cabin at the Mule Shoe Ranch in Southeastern Arizona for the latter part of next week. It is a remote location about 30 miles of dirt road outside of Wilcox, AZ operated by the Nature Conservancy. They only have five cabins there plus a commons area with a large observation deck. They also have hot springs to soak in. I hope it is not too cold to enjoy those. The area is full of wildlife and gorgeous scenery. So it should be a great photo trip. Chick Gerston is going with me. There are only five cabins, each with kitchens and you have to take your own food. There are no dining facilities and no stores or restaurants for at least 30 miles. We will drive down there on Wednesday afternoon and stay at a motel Wednesday night so we have only a short drive to the ranch on Thursday morning. That way we will have all day Thursday and Friday and a half day Saturday morning to enjoy the place. I would have liked to stay a third night, but I could not schedule it this time.

I am having a great time settling in at the Church of the Holy Spirit. It is an interesting contrast between the two congregations, Good Shepherd and Holy Spirit. Good Shepherd is absolutely frenetic in its busy schedule of activities and programs, while Holy Spirit has a much smaller congregation and much smaller schedule of events and programs. I feel like I have been rafting the Colorado River and just moved from the raging rapids of the middle of the river and into a calm pool along the shore.

Well, that is it for today. I have to finish reading Paul Tillich this morning to prep for my EfM class this afternoon.

Adios for now Y'all
Glenn+

The First Week

2009-02-06T06:25:00.000-08:00

Greetings to whoever reads this, if anyone,
Well, I have almost completed my first week of retirement. It is an adjustment to a slower pace of things. However, it has been a great adjustment so far. The lack of stress has had an incredible effect on how I feel both physically and mentally. I tell people that the best way I can describe how I feel mentally is to say how much "lighter" I feel. The bathroom scale doesn't seem to agree, but I do just feel lighter all over.
Last night I slept the best I have slept in a long. long time. My sciatic nerve usually disrupts my sleep after only a few hours, but last night it never bothered me. In fact for the first time in months I was able to roll over onto either my left and right sides with no pain from the sciatic nerve. Usually as soon as I roll onto one side or the other the pain shoots down my left leg and I have no choice but to get up and walk around for a while until it feels better.
And when I did get up this morning my feet felt better than they have felt in months. Most (but not all) of the numbness i n my feet had subsided and I felt like I could walk like a normal person. Perhaps the workouts at the rehab gym are beginning to have some effects.
I have a meeting with the Deacon at Holy Spirit at the church at 8:30 this morning to become familiar with how they do their liturgy and the he and I will go out for some coffee and just become better acquainted. I know him, but not very well. Then I have a lunch set with Dick George and Dick Walsh at the Rock Bottom Brewery. I wont have any brew but the food there is very good and I am looking forward to seeing both of them. Then I will hit the rehab gym this afternoon.
Since I had such a good time at the casino last weekend and came home a winner to the tune of $19.50 I can afford to go back if I want to. We shall see.
One of the things I want to accomplish this weekend is to set up a food plan for my meals for the coming week. I plan meals on a day to day basis and I wind up throwing away a lot of what I buy because it goes bad before I have another recipe that uses the same stuff. I am learning what most every woman already knows, that there is more to cooking than just following the recipes. It takes a lot of planning or you wind up wasting a lot of food and money.
I am not sure how to go about this, but I may go to the book store and see if there isn't something there that can give me some guidance. I need a "Cooking for Dummies" book or perhaps "Cooking 101". I need something that talks about how to plan meals for a week at a time.
Well, adios y'all for now.
Glenn+

Retirement: First Day

2009-02-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of my retirement and it happens to fall on a Sunday. It seemed so strange to get up so leisurely and move so slowly. Usually I spend a couple of hours meditating and listening for a sermon, then it is hurry into the shower and get to church, usually about 7:00 AM to get set up for the 8:00 AM Eucharist. Not today however. Even when I start at the church of the Holy Spirit next Sunday it will still be more leisurely since their one service is at 10:00 AM.

Today I am going to San Pablo for Mass and that is at 10:00 AM. It will be terrific to go there after having served there for so long, also the Mass said in Spanish is so beautiful. After church I have a lunch meeting with the Sr. Warden, Emmy Davis and her husband Doug, with whom I have been friends for many years. We will meet a Chompies and begin to talk about the structure of my work at Holy Spirit. I will begin there next Sunday and probably meet with their vestry soon and work out a Letter of Agreement.

After lunch with the Davises I will come home and get ready for the Super Bowl, I will begin to fix supper, which will be a ground beef pie made with phyllo dough crust, I am also going to fry up some zucchini in the skillet for a veggie treat.
I will be by myself for the game and that is fine. Mike and Leah are going to a party with some of their friends
Well I am going to save this and come back to it later after I get back from church and lunch.

Monday Morning:
I didn't write any more on this entry yesterday, since I was a little later getting home from the lunch meeting, so I'll add some now and post it.

Mass at San Pablo was a thrill. It was FILLED with at least 350 people, a couple of whom had been there when I was there and they remembered me. The Mass was a chaotic as it always was. Anglos would go nuts with all the noise during the Mass--children making noise, running all around, chasing each other up and down the center, laughing, just being children. Mexican people don't parent their children in church like we do. They just let them run around and play. It doesn't bother the parents or the priest at all. It used to just drive me crazy, but I just had to learn that it is a cultural thing and you can't change it. They had a mariachi group provide the music and it was great fun.

I had a great meeting with the Davises and I am really looking forward to my time at Holy Spirit. We talked for a long time and when I got home I just didn't feel like fixing a big dinner so I snacked all during the game. And what a game it was. the Cardinals played a great game, but I know that is no consolation.

Today I go back to cardiac rehab after a week off. It could be a hard work out. And I need to get back onto a sensible eating pattern. Between eating a lot of Mexican food at the clergy conference and eating a lot of high calorie and high sodium foods over the weekend, I NEED TO REPENT.

I must add how much I enjoyed the Super Bowl alone. These last few days I was hoping no one invited me to a Super Bowl Party, and they didn't. It isn't that I am anti-social, or don't enjoy being with other people, I think I had just been in large groups so much during the last week, with the clergy conference Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and then the events over the weekend, all of which I truly enjoyed; I was just looking forward to watching the game, listening to the commentary of the people on TV and just being alone. It sometimes amazes me how I have come to enjoy being alone sometimes.

I am giving some thought to what else I might do with the time I have and the new freedom of being retired. I want to get back to being with the Hispanic and perhaps the migrant community somehow. There are a lot of possibilities. That is why I wanted to go to church yesterday at San Pablo. I plan to have lunch with the priest at San Pablo soon. And I want to spend some time with the priest in Douglas who shared his work with migrants with us at the clergy conference, and I will be meeting soon with the leaders from Valley Interfaith, the local community organization of churches that does a lot with the local Hispanic community. And, of course there are the opportunities with the church in Ecuador, whom I also need to contact soon. Who knows what I might do? I know God does and I am trying to listen . Maybe that is why I like some alone time, so I can listen to Him/Her.

Adios for now,
Glenn+

2008-12-20T05:01:00.000-08:00

Greetings Everyone and Anyone who cares to read this,

Today, December 20, 2008 is the 39th anniversary of my ordination. I have never made a big deal of the anniversary of my ordination, like some do. Scottie always remembered it with a card and a gift and that meant a lot. God how I miss her!!

All that is really important to me on this anniversary each year other than sharining it with her, is to celebrate the Eucharist on the Sunday closest to December 20 and just give thanks for my priesthood. My priesthood has defined my life; it is what I was born to be.

Just as important to me is as the anniversary of my ordination, though is thecelebration of the Christmas Eve Mass each year. EWvery Christmas Eve I approach the altar in the procession at that Mass I pause and just give thanks for my priesthood. And I always remember that first Christmas Mass in 1969. My first Mass in Aliquippa that first Christmas was special and every year as I come to the altar on Christmas Eve and pause I always remember how blessed and overwhelmed I felt that night.

It was just five days after my ordination and eight days after the birth of our first child, Christie. Scottie had just come home from the hospital on Dedcmeber 22. I was still skinny, and Scottie and I were so very young. Surely back then of we had no idea of the adventures that lie ahead. Since then Scottie's father died in '72 an we took the giant leap of faith of moving to Tucsion, Arizona in '74; we lost two children at or near birth; we had another son, Mike, in January of '82; I started law school in August of '82 and graduated in '85. I practice law for almost 20 years, and continued my priesthood during that same period as well. In 2002 I went to Good Shepherd as an interim rector and became Rector in January 2004. Shortly thereafter we discovered Scottie was dying of cancer and for four long years we fought for her life. In November of last year I lost her. After 41 years of marriage, not counting all those years we knew each other growing up, I am now alone. I have had the chane to make two mission trips to Africa and I spent 2 month on sabbitical in Ecuador this year with a 10 day side trip to Peru. I have become a photographer of some significant skill level; and now I am about to retire. It has been one hell of a trip.

Last Christmas I did not celebrate the Eucharist, since I was on my sabbatical following Scottie's death. The kids and I were all up in Estes Park that Christmas, thanks to the loving gift of our dear friends, Gini and Bob Pringle, who offered us the use of their home there to ease the pain of that Christmas. That gift eased the pain far more than we could ever have imagined. We went to church in Estes Park that Christmas Eve, but I did not celebrate. That is the only Christmas in 39 years I did not say Mass on Christmas.

I will celebrate this Christmas Mass knowing that it will be my LAST one as Rector of Good Shepherd. There will be a big lump in my throat and a tear in my eye I am sure. I have not yet announced my retirement to the parish and if anyone reads this before I make an announcement, which will be right after Christmas, please respect my need to keep this in confidence until then. Surely I will continue to have chances to celebrate Christmas Eve at other churches as I will continue to work part-time wherever the diocese might wish to send me. And I don't mean to minimize the gratitude I will have for those opportunities. But celebrating the Eucharist on Christmas Eve in your own parish has been a special blessing that only someone in my place might appreciate.

I have been blessed with the chance to have some marvelous parishes over these many years and every year on Christmas Eve when I approadch the altar in the procession I feel a special joy and gratitude for being called to be a priest among the marvelous people God has given me.

How well I remember that first Christmas Eve and arriving home after that first late Christmas Mass. Scottie had set out some snacks, because she knew how tired I would be when I got home and she knew that I can never just jump into bed after getting home late. She got out that first bottle of Harvey's Bristol Cream that Bob and Grace Jones had delivered to our house that same afternoon, and we had the first of what wwas to be the first of a very special Christmas Eve tradition; snacks and a glss or two of Harvey's Bristol Creme late on Christmas Eve, really very early on Christmas Day. I will continue that tradition even this year when there will be just Mike and I alond here. Come to think of it I will ask Kevin to buy some for Christie so she, and he, can have a glass "with me" even though they cannot be here this year. I think she would like that since she has become such an important part of that tradition in recent years, especially those years when Scottie was not well.

After writing all of this I think I will resume this blog as I begin my retirement and just let anyone who is interested drop in if they wish. And if no one wishes to, that's OK too, 'cause just the writing of it will be of value to me as I start this new chapter of this adventure called "my life".

Love to you all,

Glenn+

Dinner with the Tobins

2008-06-27T14:51:00.000-07:00

Last evening Rob and Linda Tobin, their two children, Emil and Drew, and Rob's Mom, Lois came to visit. They are on a swing through the west and they came through Phoenix to visit me and it was such a delight to spend time with them. I fixed dinner, steaks, asparagus, salad and brownies for desert and that was the first time I have tried to entertain that way. It was a milestone for me.
All went quite well. The steaks were a little rare, but everyone was very polite and said that is how they like their steaks. The kids loved the pool and we had a great time sipping wine and snacking before dinner and relaxing after dinner.
I did learn somethings though by virtue of having the whole process of prepaing the house and he meal, etc. What I learned is that I could have been a lot more helpful to Scottie whenever she prepared to have people for dinner. I was always a little indifferent about how the house looked or whether the front walk was swept off, etc. Now I realize how much it meant to her to have the house looking nice for company and how much work it is to get it ready and to prepare and serve and clean up a meal for 7 people. I could have helped a lot more than I did and been more sensitive to how much it meant to her to have everything as nice as possible. I am not beating myself up iover it, it is just one of those things you learn and wixh you had learned it sooner. Mike helped a great deal and Linda helped a lot also. But still and all it was a humbling lesson for me in some ways. On the other hand, I also felt some real pride that I did it all and that it all went so smoothly and I really enjoyed doing it. So it was a great experience for me and one I will look forward to repeating again.
The flagstone patio is still in process. Diego comes and works a few hours each afternoon and he thinks he will get it all finished tomorrow. It will really be fantastic to have it done and I know it will be beautiful.
Tomorrow evening Tom and Carol Goretzki are coming over to see the house and then we are going out for dinner. Keeping in contact with them is really important to me, and I am anxious to show them the new? house.
Earlier today I worked on one of the photos I took at Bosque del Apache the last time I ws there in 2007. It is a rich image of blue sky and blue water shot at dawn with just a hint of first light in the sky. The image is really about the various textures and tomes of blue in the water and in. the sky. I enlarged it to 36"x24" and took it to be printed earlier this afternoon. They should have the print ready to review on Tuesday and assuming it comes out OK I will have it mounted on a museum mount and I plan to hang it in the master bedroom on the wall over the bed. I think it will be beautifl there. I still have to get a queen size bed ( I just have my twin size bed in there now, and frankly it looks a little funny). I will get a new bed after Mike moves out. After he leaves I plan to take my twin size bed and make it inot a day bed in what is now Mike's room and then get a queen size bed for the master bedroom. Slowly things will all come together I am sure.
Well that is it for today. this evening I hope to get some more reading done. I am reading Scott McClellan's book on the lies about the war and other deceipts perptrated by theBush White House and it is fascinating.
Adios for now.
Glenn+

Back at the blog again

2008-06-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

For some time I have been thinking of getting back ito keeping up my blog. I don't have a set urpose in doing so, like I did on my trip to Ecuador. but maybe I'll just start jotting down what I am doing and reading and learning and thinking. This could be dangerous. Opening up your mind to others can be a very scary thing, but I think I'll give it a try and se what happens.

This is what is on my mind today; ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
To begin with, I just finished the most recent book by Bishop John Shelby Spong, the retired Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Newark and probably the most controversial theologian, author and lecturer I know of. I have read several of his book. His most recent and the one I just finised is titled: Jesus for the Non-religious. If you are not familial with Bishop Spong I can briefly tell you that he is a biblical scholar and theologian and what makes him so controversial is that he declares that though Jesus was a real person of history who was killed by the Romans, and through who God was present is a most intense manner, all of the proclamations about him in the new testament, virgin birth, the miracles, even the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension are not historical events, rather they are pre-modern, pre-scientific stories rooted in the Jewish liturgical trqdition told to try to explain the un-explainable, to express the un-expressable and communicate that which is beyond the frame of human thought, which is the experience of the unique presence of God in the humanity of Jesus. He is passionate in his devotion to and proclamation of the reality of God, not as a personified character who intervenes in our lives. but who is our very lives themselves. He is in the line of thinking of Paul Tillich who declared God not to be "a being" but rather to be "the ground of all being".

One may or may not agree with Bishop Spong on many of his ideas, but it is a great experience to hear him out and wrestle with his perspectives. As I read the book I was moved by his description of how to live passionately in the mystery of God. He expresses it this way:
Live fully, Love wastefully and Be all you can be.

The book concludes with a poem written by a lady named, Lucy Negus, after she had heard one of his sermons and I find the poem worthy of pondering:

Christpower

Look at him!

Look not at his divinity,

but look, rather, at his freedom.

Look not at the exaggerated tales of his power,

but, look, rather, at his infinite capacity to give himself away.

Look not at the first-century mythology that surrounds him,

but look rather at his courage to be,

his ability to live and

the contageous quality of his love.

Stop your frantic serach!

Be still and know that this is God:

this love

this freedom,

this being;

And,

when are accepted, accept yourself;

when you are forgiven, forgive yourself;

when you are loved, love yourself.

Grasp that Christpower

and dare to be

yourself!

Ya' know, after all, our life is in Christ, not the stories about Him. I came to know him first, not through the stories about him, but through the love of certain people who entered my life. I discovered a divine presence in them that they imparted to me. Having encounterd that divine presence on some people, I found that it was present in all people, and not just in people, but in everything that surrounded me. I discovered I live on God as a fish lives in the sea. God is all that I am, all that I came from, all that fills me and surrounds me, and at death into him I shall desolve and become one. The stories in the Bible are a guide as to how to intensify my awaremenss of him within myself and how to enhance my expression of that presence in what I do and say.

In this regard I agree completely with Bishop Spong, God cannot be captured in any story or doctrine or theology. All expressions of and about God are flawed and finite. God is perfect and infinite beyond infinite. My awareness of God is always present, it is beyond faith or believing, it is the way I experience life, and all the other stuff about God is subject to change.

Getting Ready to Leave

2008-03-03T05:59:00.000-08:00

¨Hola¨ Y´all,

You may notice that just as I am about to leave Ecuador I have leqrned how to use the apostrophe (on at least this keyboard, anyway). Each keyboard here is different as regards some of these little things.

This is probably the last blog I will post from Ecuador. Tomorrow is packing day and I leave early Wednesday morning and I have to be at the airport here at 6:30 AM.

I had a great trip to Otovalo this weekend. The shopping was great fun and I found a little restaurant there that had a group that played Andean folk music in the evenings.
Sunday morning I took a taxi to Ibarra, a town about a half hour north of Otovalo and went to chrich at the Episcopal church there. The church was virtually full with about 100 people I would guess. The priest there is a very good preacher and gave the best sermon I have heard since I got here. The music however, left a lot to be desired. While the priest is a good preacher, he is tone deaf and, shall I say, he is rhythmicly challenged as well. He just can´t follow a beat. And on top of it all he sings far too loud for one who is way off pitch and way off beat. I guess he sings loud because no one else sings. And I suspect they don´t sing because they can´t follow the priest. In fact the music in every church has been ¨challenging¨ in one way or another, to say the least.

After church I took the bus back to Quito. I had not problems on the bus this time. I made the decision not to take a camera, just to reduce the stress of the trip. There were some times I wished I had had it, because there are many indigenous people there and they are fascinating in their traditional clothing. But on balance I know I made the right decision.

I met an Australian couple in Otovalo and had lunch with them in a little restaurant near the market. I asked them if they had visited the animal market, that I had visited on my first trip to Otovalo. They said they had been there and really enjoyed it. As a joke I asked if they bought any animals, and to my complete surprise they said, ¨Well, as a matter of fact, we did!¨ Apparently they bought a little piglet from a lady, took come pictures of it and them promptly re-sold it again. They said they lost $1.00 in the transactions, but had a great time doing it. What a riot!! Aussies are just a different breed, that is all I can say.

I will wash clothes today from my weekend trip and lay out everything. I need to see how it all looks when I add in the stuff I bought here to see what fits in my luggage and what doesn´t. Then I will have to make some choices. Some of the clothes I brought are old junky things that I have multile versions of at home. If dumping some of that stuff will allow me to avoid having to buy another suitcase, and pay the extra airline fee, I will do that. If that isn´t enough I will have to go buy another suitcase and pay the extra luggage charge. Paying the extra charges is only part of the matter. I fly from Quito to Miami and change planes there for my flight to Phoenix. In Miami, I will have to reclaim all of my checked luggage, go through Customs (those lovely people) then re-check it all for the flight to Phoenix. Having extra luggage in that circus is not fun.

Bishop Ramos has offered me the use of his chauffer to take me to the airport. That is a wonderful thing. It saves me from having to stand on the street with multiple suitcases, etc, and flag down a taxi at 6:00 AM in the morning. He truly is a terrific person. Tomorrow evening I am having supper at Chris and Trish´s house with the Bishop. It will be a great ¨farewell¨evening.

I will not try here to sum up this blessed experience. It will take me some time to sift through it and reflect on it all. It has been a journey of the heaart and soul as well as a physical one. It has had some incredible highs and a few lows as well. Such is life no matter where you are. I am glad I will have this written record and my photos to help me relive it all for a long time to come.

I thank you all for sharing this journey with me. I have felt your prayers and and your spirits and hearing from some of you that you have enjoyed this journal has given me a great deal of pleasure.

Figuratively speaking, I have been ¨on top of the world¨, while, quite literally, I have been here at the ¨Middle of the World¨. And I am ready to return to be ¨on top of the world¨ there as well.

Love to you all,
and for the last time,
Adios from Ecuador,
Glenn+

A Little ¨Last Minute¨ Shopping

2008-02-29T05:10:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
It has been raining A LOT here in Quito the last few days. It starts about mid-afternopon and it rains until sometime in the ¨wee-small¨ hours of the morning. Even the locals say that this year´s rainy season has been worse than usual. There is flooding in many areas, and the President of Ecuador has declared the entire country under an emergency in order to release funds to help those whose lives, livelihoods and homes have been wiped out. All of the damage is in parts of the country other than Quito and the northern highlands where I have been visiting and will visit this weekend.
The idea of going to the Amazon this weekend has been changed. The accident that Chris had that demolished his vehicle took away the primary means of traveling there. We looked into renting a vehicle, but it really is not practical. So, I decided to go back to Otovalo this weekend and go to the fantastic artisans market there and get a few final gifts before I get ready to leave next week. The weekend market there fills up a huge portion of the town and they have things there that are not easily found other places, and the prices are far below what you would pay if you did find them here in Quito.
Also there is an American couple I met there and I will try to lok them up again. I had oiginally met them on my first trip to Otovalo and we made arrqangements to meet again at a sports bar here in Quito to watch the Super Bowl together. They had given me their phone number on a napkin at the bar. Now I can´t find the napkin, but I may be able to find them as they are pretty well know in Otovalo.
I decided not to take my camera on this trip. I would like to but I don´t expect I would get any award winning shots and I can´t take the risk with the only camera I have left.
I would be less than honest if I did not say that between getting sick last weekend and having my camera stolen this week, I am a little ¨bummed out¨ right now. I try not to let it get to me, but in all truth at times it really does. This is such a gorgeous country with so many wonderful people and places, but it is still a third world country with all of the risks and problems that are what make it a third world country. You have to admire those who, like Bishop Ramos and Chris and Trish Morck, willingly accept these risks and problems as a way of life in order to extend the church and make life better for those who live here. They have each endured serious auto accidents, illnesses like mine-and probably worse- all simply to serve the Lord and make the world a better place. They, and so many others around the world, whose names we will never know, could so easily just stay in the comfort and security of the good old US of A and ¨talk the talk¨. I cannot help but be inspired by their dedication, courage and faith, and that will stay with me long after I have left Ecuador.
Well, I need to get ready to go to the bus station and head to Otovalo.
Love to you all,
Glenn+

A Few Days in the Cloud Forest of Mindo

2008-02-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings to Y´all.
I just had a wonderful two days in Mindo and enjoyed the tranquil, warm climate. Mindo is a funny little town. First it is very small. There is one main street and there is so little traffic on it that most people just walk in the middle of the street. It reminds me so much of the mythical town in Alaska in the TV series ¨Northern Exposure¨.
In Mindo there is a doctor in town who is there on a one year requirement of doing rural medicie for a year before you can get your medical license. She is a very young, very nice, single young lady who lives at the hotel where I stayed. There is a Sheriff and a police station in town, but often no one is in their offices. Everyone in town knows everyone else. Everyone lives off of the tourism. The town is full of unique ¨personalities¨ with the kind of curious tensions between the personalities that would be a perfect model for a new TV series on this small town near the equator in Ecuador. The could call it ¨Mitad del Mundo¨, Middle of the Earth.

Unfortunately the trip was not without its difficulties. On the bus from Quito to Mindo one of my cameras and a lens were stolen, and most unfortunate of all the camera was my 5D, my best, most expensive camera. It was literally stolen right out from under me too. When I got on the bus I put my camera backpack under my seat. Apparently the person behind me slid the backpack from under my seat just enough to open it and snatch the camera. I didn´t discover it until I was about to go to bed the first night in Mindo. I made a police report, but that is all I can do. The brighter side of it all, if there is one, is: a) it happened near the end of my trip instead of at the beginning, b) there was no violence involved, c) they did not take the whole back pack, so I still have a camera and two of my lenses, and d) they did not take the device that holds all of the photos from this trip.
Well, other than that, it was a fine trip, very relaxing, and I enjoyed being with my friends who own the hotel.
I need to get some groceries, so ¨adios¨ for now.
Love to you all,
Glenn+

My Last Full Week in Ecuador

2008-02-25T05:26:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,
The calendar is closing in on my return date of March 5. This is my last full week in Ecuador and I feel very mixed emotions. I have enjoyed virtually every minute. I say virtually and will explain that in a minute. And I inted to enjoy these last few days to the fullest. Today I am going back to Mindo to spend a little time with some friends I made there and to photograph the fabulous butterfly farms they have there. I may also get another chance to photograph some exotic birds there.
I attended the diocesan convention on Friday and it was very interesting and a valuable experience. Their convention is incredibly small, compared to ours. There are about 40 delegates including both clergy and lay. Consequently everthing is done much more informally. Interestingly they were revising their Constitution and Canons and I learned that those have to be approved by the Ecuadorean Government. I did not have a chance to get more info about that, for reasons that will become clear below, but I am curious about this. Much of their time was spent trying to restructure the subdivisions of the diocese, which they call districts. They have the same issues Arizona has had to deal with over the last three plus decades that I have been in the diocese, that is: how to structure a diocese that has a large central locus and a number of small ¨rural¨ congregations that are separated by enormous distance and even culture.
And now to explain why I say I have enjoyed virtually every minute. Friday night when I arrived back at my apartment I felt ¨funny¨, like sick at my stomach funny, and within an hour I was really sick. I will spare the ugly details, suffice it to say it was one of those times when you are half afraid you will die, and half afraid you wont also. I didn´t sleep at all Friday night. By Saturday morning the ¨action¨ had pretty much stopped and I got some sleep. I slept all day Saturday and Saturday night and Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon I began to feel a lot better and today I feel FINE.
I have decided to follow through with my plans to go to Mindo. It is a very laid back place, much quieter and warmer than my apartment, much lower in altitude ( about 4000 feet, as apposed to 10,000 feet here) the hotel is very comfortable, and I know all of the food there is sanitary ( I am a little ¨gun shy¨ about that right now). So since I feel well, AND I REALLY DO FEEL FINE NOW, going there for a few days seems like a very good idea.
I am still not sure if our plans to go to the Amazon this weekend will work out. That is still on the drawing board. We will just have to see.
Well, Adios for now.
Glenn+

A QUICK NOTE

2008-02-20T07:32:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
I just thought I´d post a quick note to let everone know I am fine and that this whole week I am working on my Spanish. My classes are in the afternoon and I do my studies in the morning. That is the schedule Monday through Thursday this week. I must say that the classes have been fabulous. In fact I have been having this strange experience where I get into a pattern of thinking in Spanish and when I need to think of a word in English, that I otherwise could think of with no effort, I can´t think of it. My abililty to undertand Spanish televison has also increased tremendously. If they are on a topic where I know the vocabulary I can follow just about everyting that is being said. That is a huge improvement.
The young lady who is my tutor has a sister who is living in Colorado Springs, working as a Nanny in order to improve her English. What a small world.
It has been raining and cold here all week. Standing in the pouring rain waiting for a taxi is just not a part of our life in Arizona. It is a routine part of life here.
I am looking forward to the Diocesan Convention here on Friday and Saturday. Following what goes on there will be a true test of my Spanish.
Well, that is about it for now. I just wanted to send a quick note, I need to ge back to finishing my homework for my class this afternoon.
Adios Amigos,
Glenn+

El Oso Perezoso

2008-02-18T06:03:00.000-08:00

This has been a very wet, and bone-chilling weekend. It was a great weekend to just do very little and do it slowly. The Title above says The Lazy Bear and that has been me this weekend. I have taken a few long walks between the rain showers, but mostly I have stayed close to the apartment, napped a little, watched a little soccer from Spain and Chile--you know you can really get hooked on this game--cooked most of my meals in the apartment, and in general just allowed myself time to recover from my trip to Peru. Since it was raining preyty hard yesterday morning, I decided I wait and try to go to church at 6:00 PM at Cristo Librador. At 5:30 it was raining even harder, so my daily Moning Prayer and meditation was my church yesterday.
I waked up this morning feeling so refreshed and I am really looking forward to these last few weeks here.
Here is summary of my plans for the balance of my time here. This week I have Spanish classes every day Monday through Thursday. Then on Friday and Saturday this diocese has its annual diocesan convention and I will attend the convention and perhaps have some role as well. I am having supper this evening with the Bishop and one of the things we will talk about is the convention.
Next Sunday or Monday I plan to go back to Mindo and visit agqain with some friends I made there when I was ethere a few weeksw ago. I will return to Quito on Tueday or Wednesday and on Friday Chris Morck and his family and I will go to Puyo, a town in the Amazon where the diocese has a church. We will visit the church there, see a little of the Amazon region of Ecuador and return to Quito on Monday. Then I stqrt to pack up because the following Wednesday I leave Ecuador and return home. These last few weeks will fly by I am sure.
Christie and Kevin are coming home the weekend of March 14 -17, and it will be great to be able to share so much of what I have done with them. Mike is doing so much better and seems to have his mygraines well under control
I have never been homesick at any time during this trip. But I am starting to yearn for those people and things that are HOME for me. Of course I miss my family, and I am really looking forward to seeing them soon. I miss Scottie terribly and I still have some teary times now and then when I think of her, and I suspect I always will. I am looking forward to getting back to church and being with, and WORSHIPPING with my spiritual family. I have especially missed the feeling I get when I worship with the people of GSH. There is nothing comparable. There are a few other things that I am beginning to long for: one is FLAT LAND, not having to go up and own stairs all day long, another is SMOOTH SIDEWALKS, walking without having to watch constantly for things that you can trip on or fall into, then is KNOWING THAT A PUBLIC BATHROOM WILL HAVE A TOILET SEAT, most here do not, another is BRUSHING MY TEETH WITH TAP WATER, the joy of using bottled water all the time wears off after a while, still another and a huge one at that is DRIVING OR RIDING IN TRAFFIC WITHOUT MY HEART IN MY THROAT, I have said enough about this before .
Though I am not homesick, I am beginning to think of those things and people that make up my day to day life that I associate with HOME. I take that as a good sign that this has been a fabulous trip, I have healed and grown in many, many ways and soon it will be time to return to the life God has called me to, and that I love so much.
Love to you all,
Glenn+

¨HOME¨ IN QUITO

2008-02-14T11:27:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
I am back ¨home¨ in Quito and now I can catch you all up on a lot of stuff that I couldnt while I was in Peru. The internet access was very limited there, either by time or quality or both in most of the places I stayed.
This may turn out to be a fairly long entry and I will try to break it up in segments to make it easier to read and/or to return to later if you dont want to read the whole thing in one sitting.

MORE ABOUT COLCA CAÑON:
There was so much that I experienced on the trip to Colca Cañon that I didnt have time to share. Some has to do with the animals. Before I went on that rip I couldnt tell an Alpaca from a Vicuña from a Viscacha. I would guess many of you cant either. Vicuñas are pary of the camel family of animals, like Camels, Alpacas and Llamas. The differences are: Vicuñas are a wild, they only come in one color and they have a slightly smaller body and a longer neck that Alpacas or Llamas. Vicuñas are tan all over with white bellies. Alpacas and Llamas look a lot alike and frankly I am still not sure which is which. Vicuña fur is one of, if not the most valuable, of furs. The wild vicuñas are captured and carefully sheared leaving the animal enough fur to keep warm in the high altitudes where they live. A Viscacha, I learned, is a rodent that lives in the high altitudes and it is the size and shape of a rabbit. It even has long ears, shaped slightly different from rabbit ears, but very long nonetheless. And, they have a long tail that they flip around like a squirrels tail only it isnt furry tail like a squirrel, it just has a little tuft on the end. They are very fast and hide among the rocks and I never could get a photo of one.
The condors we saw were incredilbe. Andean Condors are about the same size as California Condors with a wing span of 9-10 feet. However, the Andea condor has a very prominent white collar around its neck. Their red, bald heads, white collars and black bodies with large white stripes that run the length of their huge wings, makes them an incredible sight.

MORE ABOUT CUSCO:
I did not quite appreciate Cusco enough when I was there. In large part because by the time we got there I had flown to Lima, taken an early flight to Arequipa, toured Arequipa, left at 6:00 AM or so to go to Colca Cañon, where we were kept awake during most of the night by the drums and flutes celebration Carnival, hiked around at 14,000 feet, then back to Arequipa and another early flight to Cusco. So, I needed a day or so to slow down in Cusco.
But, Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire that ran from Ecuador through Peru and into Chile. Cusco was regarded by the Inca culture and religion as the belly-button of the earth. When the Spanish conquered the Inca they razed the Inca religous sights and built lavish, extravagant church and cathedrals over them to show that Christianity was superior of Inca religion. Yet when you tour some of those churchs and cathedrals and see some of the religious art you see how the decendents of the Incas sublity added native and Inca symbols into the art in the churches. For example in a painting of the last supper there in the middle of the table where the main course would be was a guinea pig (a delicacy for indigenous people here) on a plate. The main crucifix has Jesus with the facial features of an Inca, and so on. This relatonship is depicted wonderfully on a T-shirt I saw on a lady at the airport yesterday. When I saw it I laughed out loud and hope I can find one somewhere. I cannot describe it here, due to its somewhat adult content, but if you ask me personally I will be happoy to describe it for you.

MACHU PICCHU:
Machu Picchu means ¨old mountain¨ in the Quechua language, the language of the natives in Peru. You take a train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes that last about 3.5-4 hours. It is a fantastic trip with scenery that is absolutely breath-taking. We had assigned seats on the train and when I found my seat the person sitting next to me had a huge Nikon digital camera, one of the most expensive professional models they make. I knew immediately this was going to be a fun ride. He was from Australia and was taking 6 months to travel around the world photographing. The scenery along the way was beautiful, and frustrating at the same time. We, my new Aussy friend and I, kept wanting the train to stop so we could take pictures. We did the best we could shooting through the train window though.
We arrived at Aguas Cailintes (literally Hot Waters), the town at the foot of the mountain complex where Machu Picchu is located. Our luggage was taken to our hotels while we were herded onto buses for the 20-25 minute ride up the mountain. The problem was we didnt know to expect that we would not go to our hotels first. So we had to hurridly think about what we wanted to take up to Machu--jackets? which one? rain gear? mosquito spray? which camera or cameras and lenses? etc. What resulted was I, and most of us, took too much and regretted it when we started to hike the endless stairs at Macchu.
We were broken into groups based on langauge preference and off we went. The bus snakes up a serpentine road just wide enough for 1 1/2 buses, which made for some interesting encounters with buses coming down. We all survived.
At the top we got off the buses and were about to enter. The entrance to Machu is a little like the entrance to the zoo, any zoo--boothes hocking all kinds of stuff from bottles of water, bug spray, plastic panchos and endless memorabilia. You go past that, and go through to ticket booth. At the ticket both they check your camera. I did not know until that moment that they do not allow professional cameras into Machu as they assume they are for commercial purposes. My cameras passes inspection, but I thought about my Aussy buddy and wondered what happened to him. I was later told they would let you in with a professional camera but you have to pay 800 Soles (the Peruvian dollar) which roughly equals about US $250.00, OUCH!!!
After you pass the ticket gate you walk along a walkway for about 75 yards with jungle growth along both sides, and suddenly without warning there you are, looking out over the city of Macchu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas, and you take a deep breath just stand there in wonder at what is infront of you, and your mind flashes to all of the National Geogaphics or other photos you have seen and you realize that no photo can convey what you see and feel.
Our guide started us up a long, and I do mean LONG, set of stairs that take about a half hour to climb to the upper of three levels--we had been on the mid-level as we entered. It quickly became obvious my legs could not make the trip. There are no hand rails, the stairs a just big round rocks, and even if I got up, Id never get down. Remember I am carrying way too much stuff--two cameras, three lenses and a back pack. So I stayed at the mid level while the rest of the tour went up. I walked around the mid-level and took a lot of pictures. About an hour later I met up with the group again and we toured some more of the mid-level. By that time we were ready for lunch and a break. The guide spoke to me and suggested I meet with her after lunch and we would walk back into Macchu and she would tell me what she had told ethe others while on the upper-level. She certainly did not have to do that. We did meet and she took all the time in the world to give me a very personal explanation of the history and culture of Machu Picchu. I will remember her kindness always.
I went back to my hotel a crashed.
The next day I went into Machu alone and went at my own pace and hiked all over the mid level and part way up the upper level also for about 4.5 hours. That is when I think I got the best photos.
When I finished I went back to Aguas Calientes, had a late lunch, walked around the markets there and took the 5:00 PM train to a town called Ollantaytambo where I was met by the van that took me back to Cusco. I got to Cusco about 9:00 PM and still had not had supper. I found a place to get supper and a Pisco Sour and crashed. At that point I decided to cancel the trip to Lake Titicaca and go to Lima instead. I made arrangements for a flight to Lima and went to the airport to wait. My flight was at 4:30 PM. At 6:00 PM after a number of delays they cancelled the flight and told us we all had to wait until the next day. They began the tediuous prcess of trying to get people hotel rooms and deal with the multiple problems people had with missed connections. Some people, more than just a few, were making connections in Lima with cruise ships to either go to Antarctica or the Panama Canal. For me this was an inconvenience, for some it was a disaster. The next day I got my flight to Lima, stayed at an fairly nice hotel, and started the process to try to change my flight to Quito so I wouldn´t arrive at midnight as currently scheduled. I got an earlier flight, landed in Quito in the early afternoon.
My apartment surely feels like a home away from home. The trip was marvelous in every way and i am ready to get back into the ¨routine¨ of my life here.

REFLECTIONS.
In my blog entries I have shared the things I have done and the places have been and the things I have seen. What is much harder to share is the experience of the people I meet along the way.
Traveling has many rewards and adventues, but one of the most enjoyable parts is the people you meet along the way. Fortunatley I can converse with people in either of two languages. This greatly expands my world. I am not only talking about meeting other tourists, who are mostly wonderful people, but there are others as well: cab drivers, people who work in the hotels and restaurants, the guides, the people you are standing next to in lines waiting to change airline tickets. These people are the color and texture of a place, and when they find out you care enough to learn their language, many of them warm up to you and share something of who they are, what their lives are like, and they ask about me and my life and about life in the US. These are not necesarily deep conversations, they are just the sharing of a few moments of our lives, and a few thoughts and feelings as we pass together through this mystery we call life. I will remember many things from my trip both here and in Peru, and I will forget many as well. But for a few brief moments with another person in another land, with another history and another culture shared a few precious moments of our lives and the said good bye, for ever. It reminds me that all of life, not just traveling, is mostly about the people we meet, share some time and some of ourselves and then say good bye, forever. As many of you know ¨good bye¨ comes from the old English ¨God bye you--God be with you¨. Similarly ¨Adios¨ means literally
¨A Dios¨--to God¨. We meet people, however briefly, and say good bye, giving one another to God.

Adios for now,
Glenn+

Hola de Cuzco

2008-02-09T04:14:00.000-08:00

Good Morning Everyone.

As you may know from yesterdays blog I am now in Cuzco. Yesterday was a free day and frankly it was a kind of a long day. I spent the morning trying to contact the travel agent who arranged by trip to see if he could change my flight back to Quito from Lima, since as it is I will arrive in Quito at midnight. That means I wont get to may aopartment until almost 2:00AM. Unfortunately I could not reach him and I will try a little later. I spent th rest of the day just strolling around town.

Cuzco is a pretty large city. It has a beautiful old colonial center with some magniuficent looking old churches. It is a hard city to walk arround in though, because every sidewalk is up and down stairs, and after a few hours of that it takes its tole on me. By supper time my legs were pretty exhausted.

Every city and town in the third world has its people on the streets who try to sell you stuff, everything imaginable from towels and lottery tickets to sunglasses and hair dryers. Here the street vendors just sell mostly art and craft type stuff. What is different here is the volume of street vemdors and their persistence. They are thicker than flies, and a some dont take no for an answer easily. It really is different here in that respect, and unlike most other places, frankly here they are really annoying.

Last night I was very tired and went to bed about 8:00 PM and slept until 4:00 AM. When I woke up I looked out the window from my hotel room. It looks out over one of the plazas here and I have a great view of the facade of one of the museums. The way it was litghted up was beautiful, so I decided to grab a quick shower and take my camera and see what else might look good in the dark. It was a great idea and I found some great light on some terrific subjects. I came back to the hotel and had breakfast abot 5:00 and went back out to shoot some more as the sun was coming up. It was terrific.

I will stroll around town some more this morning and then this afternoon I have a planned tour of the city that will run until supper time.

Tomorrow I have to be ready to be picked up at 5:00 AM to go to the train to Machu Picchu.

Machu is quite a bit lower in elevation, and closer to the jungle. They say it is very humid and there arethere are lots of mosquitos. I need to pick up some repellant and pack a small bag of stuff for my one nigjhts stay at a little village near Machu, called Aguas Calientes. I will arrive at Machu aboiut mid day tomorrow and have the rest of that day at Machu. I will stay over night at Aguas calientes and return to

Well, I will stop there for now. I will probably make my next entry after going to Machu.

Adios for now,

Glenn+

Back to Arequipa, The White City

2008-02-07T14:03:00.000-08:00

Dear Everyone,

Since my last entry I have had problems with the internet access at every place >I have been. So I will do my best to try to catch you up.

I had a great flight from Lima to Arequipa, was met promptly and professionally at the airport and taken to my hotel which was lovely, except that their internet didnt work. I was then taken on a tour of Arequipa, which is called the White City. It has that name because it is in the heart of volcano country and during the Colonial Period, when Spain was colonizing South America volcanic rock is the most prevalent building material avaiable. Here the volcanic rock is white and virtuially all of the buildings are built of white volcanic stone--hence, The White City.

I had a lovely dinner and the next morning I was picked up early and taken to a village near Colca Cañon. The village is called Chivay and it is exactly what you would picture a small Andean village being--a csmall central square with the Church on one edge of the square and the municipal building on the opposite side of the square. It was a 5 hour drive to get to Chivay and along the way we went up to 15,000 feet in elevation. We saw wild vicuñas along the way. They are like llamas but have a much longer necks and their wool is infinitely more valuable.
I started this post yesterday and in the middle the computer cut me off. So I will start again.
While in Chivay they were still celebrating Carnival. They played and danced all night and even were continuing when we left town after lunch the next day. This is a relatively poor community so the little girls ansd ladies wore their best dressses and added lots of paper decorations as well as balloons and some even tied plactic wash basins and kitchen pots and pans to their dresses. The music was provided by the men and boys who played drums VERY LOUD and they played home- made flutes made from PVC pipe with holes drilled in them for the finger holes used to change the notes Beautiful music it was not, but what it lacked in suffistication it made up for with creativity and community fun.
We went to Colca Cañon and it was gorgeous and we saw lots of Andean Condors. I got some great shots too. we also saw an Andean Fox, a very rare sight-no photo though he was too fast.
Last nuight back in Arequipa I had dinner with a British fellow I met on the trip to Colca. He was a lot of fun and we had a greaqt time.
This morning I was picked up at the hotel at 5:30 AM and went to the Arequipa Airport to catch an early flight to Cuzco, the gateway to Machu Picchu. I am now in Cuzco and have the entire day free. Cuzco is over 11,000 feet in elevation. the weather so far today is clear. Lets hope it continues. Tomorrow afternoon I have a city tour of Cuzco, and very eaqrly, like 5:00 AM the next morning, I take the train through the Sacred Inca Valley for two days at Macchu.
Well, that is it for now. I will be back later with more stories.
Love to you all,
Glenn+
PS Youprobably have noticed I dont use apostrophes. It is not because I have forgoten how to spell, the problem is I cant figure out how to do an apostrophe on the Spanish Keyboard. They are very different and some things ae just hidden.
Adios from Cuzco, Peru

Greetings from Lima, Peru

2008-02-05T03:52:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
I am in Lima, Peru. I arrived last night, was met promptly by the reps from the travel company who took me to my hotel. They were absolutely fantastic. They had my itinerary and went over it with me, answered all my questions, and directed me to an excellent restaurant for dinner. I must say, never having traveled where I was alone, without a group, with my own private ininerary that was arranged through a travel agency, in this case AAA, I felt a little uneasy at the get go. They told me peopole would met me at every juncture and take care of everything. I wanted to believe it, but I had some uncertainties about would everyone get the communications, and would they really be where they were supposed to be. But all my anxieties are put to rest.
A quick summary of the last few days. Sunday I went to church at Christo Librador and it was marvelous. The priest invited me to celebrate and I enjoyed it very much. I felt so welcome. The church was full and the Holy Spirit was very present. I stayed for coffee and emapañadas. Empañadas are sort of like sandwiches and they are a little different everywhere you go. These were like fry bread filled with a little cheese; very very good. After church I went to Old Town to see and photo some of the Carnival festivities. The photos came out terrific. I had to keep the camera coverd with plastic to protect it from the karaoka that was flying everywhere.
I memtioned in my letter to the parish the other day that Bishop Ramos and Chris Morck, his asistant were in a very bad auto accident. It could have been a catastrophe, had they not had their set belts on. The seat belts literally saved both of their lives. Please keep them in your prayes as they recover at their homes both physically and mentally from such a horrible experience.
The hotel here in Lima is marvelous. It is part of a chain in Peru called Casa Andina and I will be staying in a couple more on this trip. At dinner I decide to try the national drink of Peru called a Pisco Sour. WOW!!!!! It is a very powerful drink. The waiter gave me the recipe but I would only drink one when I knew I had the rest of the week off. Needless to say I slept very soundly.
It was a shock to get off the plane in Lima from Quito. The shock was the sudden change in altitude from 10,000 feet to sea level, from the cool thin Andean air to the soft breezes of the ocean. Now I get back on a plane and go up again. I am not sure of the altitude in Arequipa, but I am guessing it is about 8,000 feet. Tomorrow I go to Colca Cañon, a huge cañon that they say is over twice as deep as the grand cañon. It is also a place where Andean condors are commonly seen. I will stay one night at the cañon and return to Arequipa and prepare to go to Cuzco.
Well, I must go and take care of a few incidentals, like getr some Peruvian money, called nueva sols, literally, new suns, before my ride to the airport comes for me. I will most likely have access to internet in Arequipa and will let you all know what I find next on this great adventure.
Love to you all,
Glenn+

Carnival, etc.

2008-01-31T14:11:00.000-08:00

Greeting from Quito,
I thought today woud be very unexciting, but I was very mistaken.
This morning I went to the tourism office in Old Town. I was looking for a place that might sell the Lonely Planet book for Ecuador. I had bought one in Phx before I left and it has been a resource that I don´t want to try to live here without. It seems I left mine in the car that was involved in the accident on Monday. Another anglo told me they thought they saw them for sale at the tourism office in Old Town. To make a long story short they didn´t have it, nor did they have it at any of the other places in Old Town I was referred to. Finally someone told me of a bookstore in a secton of town called La Mariscal (more about La Mariscal later), so I started to look for a taxi.
Suddenly I heard a lot of noice, band music (not very good band music, but band music nonetheless) and I found myself in the midst of a huge parade that is part of the Carnival celebration that runs until Ash Wednesday next week. It was fabulous--literally hundreds of people, most in indeginous dress, some in constumes of every imaginable kind, bands, floats, people throwing flower pedals, and the ever-present KARAOKA. Karaoka is a custom where people buy aerosol cans of a soapy foam spray and go around spraying everybody and I mean everybody. It serves much the same purpose as confetti, only some spray it right in peoples´ faces. It vanishes pretty quickly, but it is a pain when you get hit right in the face, as I did, and many do. Don´t you know I didn´t have a camera. But it may be better, because the karaoka could have damaged the camera anyway.
I am sure I will run into more Carnival. I will be in Arequipa, Peru on Shrove Tuesday and there they will surely have a fantastic event for the last day of Carnival.
I thought I´d take a few minutes to acquaaint you with a few of the slices of daily life here. I have already mentioned the horrible traffic, but what I haven´t told you is that people here walk the same way the drive--aggressively. No one ever says excuse me or such when they bang into you or cut in front of you. No one ever steps aside to let a lady, or anyone else for that matter, pass first. It is every man and woman for themselves and no apologies.
Also people think nothing of blocking a pathway. People park cars on the side walks and force pedestrians to step out into the streets. They think nothing of blocking a lane of traffic if they need to stop for a few minutes for some reason. People often block the aisles in the supermarket and move only after they are asked. They are not rude by their standards at all, that is just the culture here.
Walking on the sidewalks is an exercise in mental concentration and athletic ability. The sidewaljks are horrible by our sndards. They have holes, some from lack of repair, some by design, there are pipes and other structures sticking up right in the middle of the sidewalk, the elevation changes fro property to property. One property owner ha hs sidewalk at a certan height, the next has his 6 inches higher or lower, curbs vary in height from low to ¨make your best jump¨. You have to watch very carefully every step you take, and be ready make an athletic move at any time.
On the more plesant side, Ecuador is a major producer and exporter of flowers, especially roses. Green houses are all over the countryside. The good part about this is that flowers here are dirt cheap. I bought a dozen long-stemmed roses for my apartment for $1.70, and some places they cost as little as $1.00.
I mentioned La Mariscal above. That is a part of town generally referred to as GRINGO LANDIA. It is a part of town where many restaurants and hotels and shops are located that cater to gringo tourists. I go there sometimes when I eat out. The gringo sports bar where I will watch the Superbowl is located.
Speaking of the Superbowl, no one does here, that is speak of it, I mean. The papers don´t have a word about it, there is nothing on the TV sports news--nada, nada, nada!!!!. I had to ask Mike to send me an email telling me what time the game is on Sunday.
Similarly, there is very little news about the primary elections. None in the press, and only short references in the TV news. Incase anybody thinks otherise, the USA is not the center of interest on the earth. The only interest I hear expressed by local people about the primaries is ANYBODY BUT BUSH, other than that the locals have no interest.
If you have never traveled in underdeveloped, or third world contries, bathrooms would be a bit of a surprise. Used toilet paper is NEVER put in the commode. It is placed in a waste basket mext to the commode. If you stop at a gas station, the men´s urinals are outside--set only so that the person using it has his back to the area where the gas is pumped. In some public bathrooms a lady stands inside, both the mens and womens and sells you a very small amount of toilet paper for a dime.
These are just a few of those little things that make up daily life. Well, I must go and do my Spanish homework and get some supper.
Love to you all,
Glenn+

My Trip to Cotopaxi

2008-01-30T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hola Y´all,
As I mentioned yesterday, today Chris Morck and I went to an ecological park that surrounds one of the post prominent volcanos near Quito, called Cotopaxi. He picked me up at 5:30 AM and we drove through the empty streets of Quito and up, from 10,000 to over 14,000 feet toward the park. As usual Quito was enshrouded in deep fog and it wasn´t until near sunrise at 6:30 that we started to get out of it. Incidentally, you may be interested to know that on the equator the sun rises and sets every day at exactly the same time all year round and it rises at exactly 6:30 AM and sets at exactly 6:30 PM.
The road to the park is incredibly rough and inside the park it was even rougher. Chris has a 4x4 pick up and we had no problems but it is a ride not to be forgotten. Another incidental piece of info: When I am in a car I almost always hang onto the ¨Oh, my God¨ handle just above the passenger door window. I do this because everyone constantly swerves abruptly, weaving in and out of the maniacal traffic here. Also on rough roads, like the ones we were on today, holding on to that handle is a necessity. I will come home with a much stronger right arm than when I left for sure.
We arrived at the park expecting that the fog would preclude us from seeing much if any of the volcano. Infact the constant fog and cloudy conditions have been the only real disappointment on this trip as they have effectively killed any chance to take good landscape and scenic photos. I expected today would be no exception, but went hopefully anyway.
Well, to our great surprise, we got some very good light as the sun played ¨peep-a-boo¨ through the clouds, and when we got to were we had the best chance to see the volcano, the clouds that covered the snow line around the volcano slowly began to lift. We never could see the top of the volcano, but we surely saw more than most people ever see and it was incredible. I hope my photos do it justice. We were up about 14,000-15,000 feet in altitude. There are no trees because we were well above the tree line. That area is called locally by the name ¨paramo¨. It has some similarities in appearance to the tundra of Alaska. The ground is sponge-like, very wet and very soft with tiny vegetation and very tiny, and very gorgeous red, blue and yellow flowers. There are volcanic rocks of all sizes everywhere left from volcanic eruptions that have occurred over thousands of years. Herds of wild horses roam the paramo, and we saw many of them. Wild llamas also roam the paramo, but they are less frequently seen. But since we were riding a wave of great luck, we did see a few as we were driving back toward the entrance to the park as we left and that was a thrill.
It was a magical experience in every way. I am so grateful to Chris for taking the day to show me this wonder of nature that few ever get to experience.
Tomorrow and Friday I have Spanish classes in the afternoon. Tomorrow morning I am going to the Office of Tourism and replace the Lonely Planet book on Ecuador that has been my second bible on this trip. I left it in the car I was in when we had the crash and forgot to get it out before thay took the car away. I depend every day on information provided in that book.
Friday morning I am going to an Episcopal church here in Quito that I was at briefly early in my trip. It is called ¨Chrtisto, el Librador¨, Christ, the Liberator. It has a magnificent ministry to the poor area in which it is located, including a day car center for about 45 children every day. Most are children of single mothers who work. They charge $25 per week, per child, and it cost about $40 per child, per week. The meal the children get at the church is the best meal, and often the only meal they get. The congregation at this church is the largest in the entire diocese. In addition to the day care they also have several progams for elderly people, and a host of other programs. This is a tiny church located in run-down buildings that they are trying to repare and expand to accommodate their ever-increasing services to the neighborhood. Friday morning I will go to the church to photograph their minsitries and their people and I plan to go to church there on Sunday.
It is a truly inspiring group of faithful people who do so much with so little, operating soley on faith that somehow the money and resources they need will be found to continue their ministries.
Well, it has been a long day and I need to go to the grociery store for a few things for supper and then I will relax and watch the Aminal Planet and National Geographic channels in Spanish until 8:00 when I will watch Robert Lehrer and see how the primary elections are going.
I send my love to you all and pray for you all every day (among the people I pray for every day I include, ¨and everyone who reads my blog¨) so if you read my blog you get prayed for, at absolutely no extra charge.
¨Adios y amor¨ from near the middle of the earth.
Glenn+

The Adventure Continues

2008-01-29T06:20:00.001-08:00

Greetings to you all,

It has been a long time since I had accwess to a place where I could enter my blog, but I am finally back in Quito and I have lots of stories to tell.

As you know I went to Ibarra last Wednesday with Chris and his friends. I decided not to join them on Thursday and Friday which opened up a block of time for me with no schedule plans. So I decided to go to Otovalo for the weekend. Otovalo is a town about 2.5 hours north of Quito and it is famous for its markets of artisans and its animal markets

I took the bus and went to Otovalo Friday morning.

I spent Friday walking around the town getting familiar with the area. Otovalo is inhabited my many Indigenous people, most of whom dress in their traitional manner and they are very fascinating. However they are very relictant to have their pictures taken. They do not trust photographers and think that their images will be exploited commercially. This of course presented a serious challenge for me.

Saturday is the BIG Market day. The artisans market not only fills the central plaza that it fills every day, on Saturdays it spills over into all of the surrounding streets and it truly is an enormous event--more about that later.

In addition to the artisans market I really wanted to see and photograph the large animal market which is held in a huge empty lot on the edge of town. It starts at 6:00 AM, before sunrise. Saturday morning I had a taxi pick me up at 6:00 and take me to the market and I arranged for the driver to come back an hour and ahalf later to take me back to town.

The animal maket is quite an experience. Hundreds of mostly indigenous people come to this market each bringing a cow or a bull or a goat or pig or horse to sell. They stand in this crowd of anuimals and people with a rope on their animal and wait for someone to come by who may make an offer to buy their animal. It is chaos, yet it is such a slice of local life here I wouldn´t dare miss it. I had a ball. I took some photos from distance so that I was less obtrusive and objectionable. I also used a method called street photography that is just letting the camera hang from your neck and rest on your stomach, and without raising the camera to your eye you just point it in the direction you want to shoot and push the shutter button. No one knows you are taking photos and sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don´t, but I have become pretty proficient at this technique and used it a lot to shoot people in public areas.

After I left the animal market, I went back to town and had breakfast. I hired a taxi driver to take me up into some of the outer areas outside of town to see some of the sights there, especially a gorgeous waterfall in an ecological park, and then we went up a mountain called Cotocachi that has a gorgeous lake high up on the mountain. We were gone about 4 hours and the whole trip was fantastic. Along the way the driver would introduce me as his friend to indigenous people and then they were very willing to allow me to take their pictures.

We camw back to town and I had lunch. Then I hit the artisans market. I bought a beautiful woven tapistry and some gifts.

When I wnt back to the hotel about 3:30 I met another guy, namd Robert, who was staying there who was also traveling alone. He had a car that a friend in Otovalo had arranged for him. It was a 4 wheel drive car about the size of a Toyota 4 Runner. He was going to exlore a back road up one of the mountains and asked me if I´d like to join him. I went along and we had a great time exploring the area and saw some fantastic views.

I came back and had an early dinner and went to sleep. I got up Sunday morning expecting to take the bus back to Quito, and had infact packed up all my stuff. But at breakfast the waiter told me that that same day they were starting a 10 pre-lenten Carnival and it would be a great place to take photos. So I decide to stay an extra day and go to the fiesta. About that same time the Robert showed up and said he was also going to the Carnival and asked me to join him. We went and it was so cool. There were hundreds of indigenous people all in trdional dress, lots of booths selling all kinds of local food, including roasted guinea pig. In fact they had the guinea pigs right there on a spit roasting over a charcoal fire, with the heads and little feet and all. (my apologies to anyone who has a problem with this descriptions, but this is an exsential part of local life). They had a queen and princesses, formal presentations of gifts to the queen of local produce and a soccer tournament.

While is was wondering around I saw another anglo with a Canon Camera on his shoulder. We started to chat and he introduced me to his wife and we decided to meet for supper at a restaurant in town. We had a great evening together. They are from New York and are big New York Giants fans. They were planning to come to Quito this coming Sunday to a sports bar that happens to be the same one. I had been in a week ago. They are coming this coming Sunday

to watch the Super Bowl. We dedide to meet at that same bar this coming Sunday and watch the game together.

Robert had told me that he was going to Quito Monday morning and offered me a ride. So I decide to accept.

We left Otovalo about 9:00 AM. All was well until we were about 20 miles out of Quito. We thought we had made a wrong turn and taken a wrong road. Roberte tried to make U turn, and didn´t see another car who hit us broad side on the drivers side. The adventure had suddenly taken a new and very uncertain turn. No one was hurt, thank God, but the other driver was very angry. Robert didn´t speak Spanish either.

The police came and I am thinking ¨this could be very bad¨. Amazingly the police officer was so laid back about the whole thing. He calmed the other driver and said no one needed to get upset, no one was hurt and the insurance comapnies will take care of the damage to the cars. I quickly learned that here in Ecuador all legal liabilities in traffic accidents are the responcibility of the owners of the cars, not the drivers. The driver doesn´t even get a traffic ticket. All the officer wanted to know was that both cars were insured.

Well, don´t you know that the car I was in had been borrowed by Robert from a friend of a friend and the car was not insured. Since I speak Spanish I am the one in the cell phone talking to the owner of our car and I learn this and now my heart rate picks up a little. I had to inform the police officer that our car is not insured. Again he was so laid back. He said no problem just tell the owner to come here so I can talk with him. So we waite outside the polce station in the Ecuadorean sun for 2 hours until the owner arrives. Luckily I had purchased a broad brimmed hat at the market in Otovaolo. Finally the owner arrived and he talked with the office assured him he had the finacial ability to cover all damages and that was it, we left. I took a taxi on to Quito and that was it.

Today I have my Spanish class and tomorrow Chris and I are oing to another large Ecological Park, called Cotpaxi, an all day trip. I will have more adventure to share after that trip.

God Bless you all.

Glenn+

My Trip to the Church in Ibarra

2008-01-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

Greetings to you all,
Monday and Tuesday I had my Spanish classes which are very helpful, but not very interesting stuff for the blog.
Yesterday I went to visit the Episcopal Church in Ibarra, a town about 2.5 hours north of Quito. It is the church farthest north from Quito and it is about 70 miles from the border with Columbia. Chris took me together with a family that is currently staying at his house. This family, mother, father and three small children, lives in Chattenooga, TN. They are old friends of Chris and Trish. They are a wonderful and delightful family. They have a FAIR TRADE business in Chattenooga and they are here in Ecuador to meet local artists from whom they can buy items directly and pay the artists more than the local distributors pay them, then take the items back to the US to sell. The local distributors pay unconscionably low prices to the artists, mark up the prices and sell to the tourists, or export to other countries like the US where the middle men make the most money and the artists makes the least. FAIR TRADE businesses try to see that the poor artists get a just and fair benefit from his/her art.
The Episcopal priest in Ibarra knows the local artists and arranged the contacts with Chris´s friends. It was a fantastic day in many, many ways.
First I have to explain that one of the realities in Ecuador, aned Northern Ecuador especially, is the flood of refugees coming into Ecuador from Columbia. The government of Columbia is a very repressive regime. The military and the para-military forces of the government roam the country and crush any effort to speak out against the government. The church in Ibarra tries to help as many refuges as it can. They even have a small bed room right beside the main sanctuary and while we were there we met a small family of refugees that had just arrived from Columbia, a mother and three daughters. They had fled because they were a part of a human rights group and a para-military force had raided their group and killed the son and the boy friend of one of the daughters. It is a horrible situation that gets no press in the US to my knowledge. I am told here that the US government is very supportive of the current regime in Columbia. I have no independent confirmation of that, but I am very interested to find out.
Later in the day we visited two families who have small homes on the ourskirts of Ibarra. The first family has a small farm, but to supplement their modest life, the mother makes ear rings and necklaces using designs taken from ancient ruins of pre-Incan civilizations near where they live. They are beautiful in their simplicity. They made a deal with Chris´friends that will improve their lives greatly. The family was so gracious and we had a wonderful time with them.
From there we went to another family. This family had an incredible story. Fourteen yeras ago the father was returning to his home on a motorcycle, his only means of transportation. He was run off the road by a car driven by some thieves who wanted his motor cycle and left him to die in a ditch by the side of the road. He did not die ,but was left paralyzed from the waist down.
To feed their family, the wife strated a small buiusines making clothes. She now employs two other peole full time and has 30 other women who do embriodery on the clothes for her part time. She makes a whopping $0.40 on each gament she makes. The shirts, dressed and pants are fabulous. The family who are friends of Chris made a great arangement with the lady to purchase a large supply of her product and paid her a price far above what the local distributors pay. Everyone benefitted thanks to the help of the church in Ibarra who made all of this possible.
I was exhausted when we finally got back to Quito. I had planned to go with them again today and Friday to another town, but I opted out. The little truck Chris has is very small, eventhough it has back seats, but you know what those are like. In the truck we had Chris, the father and the mother of this family, plus their 3 small children and me, and all of our stuff. The kids were fantastic all day and we all really enjoyed every part of the day. But the trip today and tromorrow is a 5 hour drive, twice as far as we went yesterday, plus an overnight stay, which means we all have to take some small luggage. I just decided it was a little too crowded and could be really uncomfortable for everyone, so I opted out.
Instead I will go to Otovalo, a town near where we were yesterdays and stay there for a couple of nights and visit the incredible market they have there on Saturdays. It is a real feature of local Ecuadorean culture and I really want to see it. I will leave today and come back on Sunday.
Well, that is what I have to share for now.
My love to you all and I will look for a place in Otovalo to access email and this blog to let you know what I find there.
Love to you all,
Glenn+

A Short Note

2008-01-21T11:41:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
I have a short note today, because the only news is that I started Spanish classes today. The class is private tutoring for two hours a day, plus study and practice time outside of class on your own. It is very personalized and I think it will be perfect.
I plan to go to class about two days a week on the average. These will be the days I am in Quito and not traveling outside the city.
This week Wednesday through Friday Chris is taking me to visit some of the churches outside of Quito. Wednesday we go to Ibarra about a 2.5 hour drive northwest of Quito. Thursday and Friday is a two day trip to Guaranda, a town about 5 hours southwest of Quito. These will be my first chances to see churches that are in rural communities. This all makes for a good week.
Late yesterday I found an American-type sports bar that had both Guinnes and the NFL playoff games on TV. ALLELUAI!!!
So what if the play by play was in Spanish, which over time I came to understand more and more. I saw the end of the AFC game and the first half of the NFC game. I watched the second half and overtime in my apartment. It made for a nice Sunday evening.
Well, I have my homework to do, so I will say Adios for now.
Glenn+

A Day at Pululaua

2008-01-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,
Yesterday at Puluylaua was an absolutely incredible day. I didn´t know what to expect because I had very little infomation about Pululaua. All I knew was what Chris told me which was bring cloths for cold and hot and for rain and sun. I knew he was taking his whole family and that Puluaua had something to do with an old volcano that had colapsed, creating a deep crater.
Well, when we got there I found the most gorgeous vistas and scenery I have seen since I have been here. The volcano did colapse creating a crater that drops down about 2000 feet, from a rim of about 13,000 feet. It is completely coverd with vegetation of the kind I saw in Mindo and thought was jungle, It is not jungle, but what they call here a CLOUD FOREST. What that means is that the forest is dense but because of the altitude it is constantly either surrounded or engulfed in clouds. Hense the advise of bringing clothes for every kind of weather because that is what we had over the course of the day. When the clouds were not over us the sun was very hot, and when the clouds rolled in it got cold and though it didn´t rain the air was very moist.
At the botton of the crater is farm land that is lush. They grow corn and other crops there, but the other crops were not planted while we were there.
A friend of Chris´ is building a house in the crater and has the shell built plus a covered shelter away from the house. We had the most fabulous picnic in th bottom of the crater. We cooked chorizo sausages for appetisers, and had steaks on the grill along wth potatoes and vegetables, wine and carrot bread. The kids ran in the grass, and we watched the scenery change minute by minute as the clouds rolled in and covered the area and then rolled out again.
We left there in the late afternoon and stopped at Mitad del Mundo, only we went to the REAL equator, and took a guided tour that was fascinating. We stood directly on the equator, balanced and egg upright on the head of a nail, and saw some demonstrations that were incredible. One had to do with the swirl of the water going down a drain. Whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere when water goes down a drain it swirls counterclockwise, I think. They had a portable drain and moved it a few yards off the equatorial line and we saw the water swirl. They then put the drain right on the equatorial line and there was no swirl at all, the water goes straight down the drain.
It was a truly fascinating tour and I got some good photos.
I was really beat when I got back to my apartnent and slept soundly all night, which I had not done for a couple of nights.
I got up this morning and had a long quiet time and prayer time, and a slow quiet breakfast. I got my shower and went to the catherdal for church.
Tomorrow I will call the language school and talk to them about what they may have to offer that would suit my needs. I get along quite well, but I want to see what they can design that might help be better understand what people are saying, and correct some of my speaking as well.
This afternoon I am going to the park and just have a relaxing afternoon. I went to the grocery store and got more food that I can prepare in my apaprtment. Nothing fancy just hot dogs, frozen dinners, some fresh fruit and yogurt, which I have missed.
In my quiet time this morning I found myself focusing on how much better I am feeling. I am finding a peace in these days that seems to be related to the balance of solitude and time with people who have become my friends and my time exploring the beauty and wonders of this magical place. I really do feel a calm and a healing beginning to take place that is hard to describe.
Physically I am feeling terrific, but the ever present hills and the stairs are hard on my legs. My feet don´t bother me at all which is a bit of surprise, given all the humidity, but going up and down stairs and huge steps and hills is taxing. The sidewalks everywhere are very rough and uneven with huge steps. So, I just go slow, and slow suits me just fine. I have no hurrys and no worries.
Well, Adios again for a while.
Glenn+

Back in the Big city

2008-01-18T13:56:00.000-08:00

Hello Blog Fans,
I just returned from Mindo and was surprised to find that the blog entries I did in Mindo did in fact get posted: ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA!!!
There is a story from my time in Mindo that I didn´t try to write while Iwas ther because of the problems with the internet, so now that I am back in the big city, I can tell it.
Thursday in the early afternoon I was strolling through the streets of Mindo (there aren´t that many) looking for a place to have lunch, hoping to find something a little better that the pizza places that line the main drag. I turned a corner to go down a side street and saw a sign that caught my eye. It was for a restaurant and the building looked like the kind of place I was looking for. I went in and found that it is owned by a couple in their late thirties, she is American and he is Ecuadoean. It turns out she was born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, went to college at the U of A, and got a nursing degree and joined the Peace Corp. She was sent to Columbia, part of the last Peace Corp group to go there. While she was there she met an Ecuadorean musician, who toured the world playing the flute, and similar instruments. They married and after a few years in Chicago where he studied music and she worked as a nurse, they decided to pursue their real dream, which was to open a hotel/restaurant in Mindo, Ecuador. They bought a lot in Mindo, designed the bilding themselves, had it built and opened about a year ago. It is the most fabulous place and this couple is absolutely wonderful. I had lunch there and went back for supper and they were the best meals I had. They gave me two CDs of their music (she learned to play stringed instruments and the two of them peformed every weekend at a restaurant while they were in Chicago. The type of music they play is South American jazz, that´s the best I can describe it.
If any of you ever go to Mindo theirs is the place to stay, first class everthing for $15 a night and the food is impeccable. What a coincidence !!
Well, I need to go to the grocery store, the bank, wash come clothes and fix a Stouffers frozen dinner and get a good night´s sleep. I am meeting Chris at 7:30 in the morning for a day trip to to Pululaua, with a stop at Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the Earth) which is supposedly the actual Equator where you can stand with one foot in the northern and the other in the southern hemisphere, my next adventure.
Adios for now,
Glenn+
.

I will try again

2008-01-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

Howdy everyone,
It is Thursday afternoon in Mindo and it is raining. That is not news, but it is the explanation whay I am on the internet.
Since my blog entry yesterday didn´t seem to get posted for some unknown reason, I will try to recall what I said yesterday an fill you in on the events of last night and today.
I did catch my bus to Mindo, but it was more of an adventure than I had expected.
I called the bus company on Tuesday afternoon to check the schedule. I got no answer, only a ¨leave a message¨ message. So I left earlier than I had planned on Wednesday and took a taxi. I told the driver I wanted to take the bus to Mindo, and showed him the address of where to catch it. He informed me that they closed that station last Saturday and now they were located at the central bus depot of Quito and he took me there.
The central bus station of Quito is slightly larger than enormous. I hunted around and eventually found the bus, bought my ticket for $2.50, ran to the bathroom (there is no bathroom in the bus and it is at 2.5 hour ride. I bought a bottle of water and got on the bus.
The bus was very comfortable. I just put on my iPod, leaned back and relaxed and enjoyed watching the scenery gradually change from mountgain to jungle.
Mindo is at about 5000 feet in elevation and it is in the middle of the jungle.
I quickly learned that part of the reason it is a jungle is it rains every day from about 1:30 through the night and stops about 8.00 the next morning. It is just a constant shower, not a hard rain at all, but mud is the main carpet of the area.
I found a place to stay quickly and it is a very nice little room, hot water in the shower (but not the sink). It is very clean , a few blocks off the main street and only $16 per night.
I found a place on the main drag to get a pizza and a beer, $2.50 and walked around until it started to rain. Fortunately I had with me the pancho Dick and Marilyn gave me for Christmas. It is perfect. I went back to my room and found that off the back patio of the main building they have hummingbird feeders that attract literally dozens of humming birds. Sounds like a photo op to me, so I sat on the covered patio and took photos all afternoon of hummingbirds.
When it was time for supper I looked for a place Chris had recommended called ¨Out of Babylon¨. I found it easily and it is the most fascinating buliding I have ever seen. The owner built it himself over a six yer period. It is a work of art. And he has no formal training in art or architecture. The dinner was great and I went back to my place and went to sleep about 8:00 PM listening to the rain in the reoof.
Earlier I had made arrangements with a guide to take me out early in the morning to see and shoot photos of birds. I woke up at 4:00, (a solid 8 hours of sleep) and got up, had my prayer time and got my camera and lenses ready.
I had a small breakfast of cheese, bread, jam and juice and we were off to find birds. We saw Tucans (several specie) and a number of other birds that I don´t know the names of, even though the guide told me. A couple of the phots are OK, but the birds were far away.
After I returned, I looked for a place to have lunch and found a neat place with anglo owners. It turns out the lady is from Tucson, met her husband while she was in the Peace Corp and they started this restaurant. I will go there for supper and get to know them better. Well I had better stop and get some supper.
Hasta mañana folks,
Glenn+

Hola from Mindo Ecuador

2008-01-16T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well here I am in Mindo. It was an interesting trip from the very beginnng. Yesterday afternoon I called the bus company to be sure the schedule had not changed. I got a message saying that the number I called was no longer available. I wasn´t sure what that meant for me, but I knew it meant I wasn´t going to talk to anyone.
So this morning I left my apatment an hour early to allow for complications. It is a good thing I did. When I told the taxi driver that I wanted to take the bus to Mindo and gave him the address of where to get the bus, he told me that last Saturday they had changed to location for the bus to Mindo and fortunately he knew where to take me. I got there and found it is the central bus station for the city of Quito, an enormous and very busy place. I asked around and finally found where to go and I got the bus.
The ride here was fantastic: very, very relaxing. The bus was comfortable, I listened to my iPod, and the scenery was fantastic as we dropped from 10,000 feet to about 5,000 feet in elevation where Mindo is located. What that means is we went from this enormous valley among the Andes, down to the jungle, and I do mean JUNGLE. The vegetation here is so thick an ant couldn´t penetrate it.
I easily found a place to stay: a small room, but it is clean and the bed looks very comfortable. It costs $16 per night. The town is the epitome of what you would think a small rural town in the jungle of South America would be. The streets are mud. The buildings are in varying degreees of quality from ¨OK¨ to ¨I don´t think I want to go in there¨, to ¨under construction or destruction¨ I can´t be sure which. It is quaint and laid back and peaceful. The beauty of the town is in the location and in the people and they are fantastic and so kind. What I quickly learned upon arrival is that every afternoon it rains and rains all afternoon, every day. The time for activities is in the morning. So I found a little Pizza place and had lunch, $2.50 for a pizza and a large beer, and as promised it started raining.
I will make arrangement for a guide to take me looking for birds tomorrow morning. That is the only way you can do it. To do that you have to get up and eat breakfast at 5:30 and leave at 6:00. That should be no problem for me. You do have to walk a lot, so we´ll have to see how that goes. I will be OK unless we have to climb a lot of hills. Let us Pray!!
The rain is slowing down and I am hoping I can scout out the town a little. I have a rain pancho Scottie´s sister gave me for Christmas and it is perfect for this adventure.
It will be a quiet and relaxing afternoon for sure and that is fine. Chris recommended a restaurant for supper so I will go there and see what I find.
Well, I am here, it is terrific and I am off to explore, even in the rain if necessary.
Hasta Mañana, Amigos.
Glenn+

A Second Note for today

2008-01-15T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hi Yáll,
I thought I´d add a quick second note today as I am not sure if I will have internet for the next couple of days.
My appointments for tomorrow was cancelled and I decided to take a short trip by myself out of Quito, in part to see how it goes and what I lean about taking such trips, and second to visit what I am told is a great location with lots to see and do.
I am going to a town about 2.5 hours west of Quito called Mindo. It is renown for its bird watching, butterflies and orchids. It sure sounds like a great place to take photos to me. I will catch a bus that leaves Quito at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning and get there about 10:30 and look for a place to stay. If I don´t find one I´ll come back on the 2:00 PM bus, but I cannot imagine there will be any trouble. The bus costs $2.50 each way. Places to stay run from $5- $16 per night. It is the middle of the week so the locals aren´t going to be there and it is not tourist season.
Mindo is about 5000 feet in elevation, so it wil be a little warmer than here. I plan to stay 2 nights and return Friday afternoon. On Saturday Chris and his uncle and I are going to another place called Pululua. That is just a one day trip. I have to read up on it so I can´t tell you much, but Chris says it is a great place and that is enough for me.
BIG DISCOVERY: I found some frozen dinners in a grocery store and picked up a couple. I am getting a little tired of eating out each night. So tonight I´ll stay home and have Stouffers frozen elbow maceroni and beef. Bon Appetite!!
I will probably be able to find an internet cafe in Mindo, but just in case I have a problem I wanted you to know I didn´t fall into a volcano or something.
Love,
Glenn+

Catching Up

2008-01-15T05:18:00.000-08:00

Greetings everyone,
I have a lot of catching up to do. Saturday I got back too late and the internet cafe was closed, It was closed on Sunday also, and again yesterday I got back too late again. It has been an action packed time and I have lots to share.
Beginning with Saturday afternoon, I did go to the Botanical Garden and the Chapel of Mankind. The Botanical Garden was fabulous. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and perfect for such a trip. It is located in Parque Carolina, the largest inner-city park which I had visited the other day. The flowers were gorgeous, everything from roses to orchids and many the other flowers that grow in the Andes, and the Amazon. All of the plaques with info about the flowers were in Spanish, so I will have to get a book of regional flowers in English to be able to tell what I took photos of. I spent at least two hours or more there.
Then I took a taxi to the Chapel of Mankind. It is an art collectiion of the works of a famous Ecuadorean artist, Guayasamin. The collection at the Chapel is dedicated to the pain and suffering of the indigenous people of Equador experienced from the various conquests and dominations over the centuries. The art is not pretty, but it is very powerful and the Chapel is a must see if you want to have any understanding of the indigenous people,
I got back in time to go to dinner and had a good night´s sleep.
Sunday I got early, had my prayer time, and got ready to go to church at the Cathedral. I got there pretty early and met Padre Angel, the priest in charge, the same one with whom I was to stay after I arrived. He was very nice and very apologetic and asked me if I´d like to take part in the two masses that morning. He got me an alb and chasuble and, bingo, bango, bongo, I was put to work. The Cathedral is a pretty large building, that probably seets three hundred or more people. there were about 40, maybe 50 people max, at the first mass and 20 at the second. We con-celebrated at the first mass and they had a renewal of baptismal vows at both masses and I helped with that also. It really was a great experience.
After church I started walking down the street, hoping to find a place near by where I could get some lunch. No luck! Every place was closed. I had made arrangements to go to Chris and Trish´s house that afternoon, so I just called them to say I was on my way and got a cab and went there. Trish had lunch ready and I was so grateful. I used their Skype to call Christie and Mike and it was terrific talk with both of them. While I was there, Chris and I made up a calendar of places he and I can visit together while I am here and we set some dates for those trips. We have some very exciting things planned.
When I got back to the apartment I got a call from the Bishop asking if I would like to join him on a trip on Monday. I didn´t quite understand exactly where we were going, but he said bring your bathing suit. I told him I didn´t bring one and he said he had an extra, not to worry.
I met the Bishop and his wife, Marilina, who is absolutely delightful, at the diocesan office and off we went.
What I soon discovered was that it was his day off and we were headed for for one of his favorite get-aways, a place called Papallacta. It is a spa, resort about an hour and a half from Quito high in the mountains. When I say ¨high¨, keep in mind I am starting at 10,000 feet and high means much higher than that. We went up to about 13,000+ and arrived at this fabulous resort with a whole bunch of hot spring pools, each a different temperature, nestled in amoung these mountain peaks that rise up into the clouds. In fact at times the clouds would come down and suddenlt you are engulfed in them as you swim in these marveloulsy hot waters. It costs $17.50 for the day, can you imagine? We took a break later in the afernoon and went for a fabulous lunch at the hotel. A full, dinner-size meal for $7.95. The next surpirse was Marilina introduced me to a local drink called, Camelasso. It is a hot alcoholic (or non-alcoholic) drink make with juices and cinnamon. With alcohol is definitely better. You sip it and it is so relaxing. I must get the recipe!!
We went back to the spa and we each had a full hours massage. That costs only $40, and it is a FULL MASSAGE, even your skalp and face. The hard part was leaving. The traffic coming back to Quito was horrible and we didn´t get back until 8:00 PM, too late to go get some supper, so I made do with some peanut butter and bread and a couple of glasses of wine. I fell asleep by 9:30 and slept the sleep of the just.
Today I plan to take it easy and catch up on a few things I need to do: get caught up on my blog, get some groceries, get a haircut, go to the bank and I will call Padre Angel and try to arrange to meet him sometime this week.
I appreciate the comments some of you have sent saying you are enjoying the blog. I wish I could share the tastes of the marvelous foods, the smells of the local area--some wonderful, some not quite so wonderful, but they are part of the expericnce too. I wish I could share the cool, moist high mountain air, and the views of the sharp peaks of the mountains and volcanos that are absolutely everywhere. I have to pich myself every once in a while and realize I am actually in the Andes, those same mountains I have seen so many times on the National Geographic channel and other places so many times. The same places I studied in 5th and 6th grade in school It is absolutley breath-taking.
Well, Adios for now.
Love to you all and I´ll have more to share tomorrow.
Glenn+

Saturday in Quito

2008-01-12T07:28:00.000-08:00

Greetings to you all,
Today is Saturday and much of the hustle and bustle of the city I spoke of earlier is absent today. What a difference!!
Yesterday I had the entire morning to myself with no plans so I decided to make it a mini-retreat. I got up about 6:00 and I had the entire morning in silence (not really that hard when you are alone with no one to talk to), but no music, no TV, I just stayed in my apartment just kept silence all morning: reading Morning Prayer and Scripture, spending time in prayer and mediation and reading one of the books by Thomas Merton that I brought. It was a gloriously refreshing time.
About 11:30 I got a call from Chris Morck asking if I could help him a little. He and Trish were hosting a seminary student from Berckley who had arrived the night before. She is here for two weeks to improve her Spanish and help at the medical clinic operated by one of the parishes here in Quito (she is also a nurse). It seems Chris and Trish both had a meeting in the afternoon that would run most of the afternoon and he asked if I would take her around part of Quito for the afternoon, which I was glad to do.
He brought her to the supermarket near my apartment and from there we took a taxi to Plaza Grand and spent the afternoon there. We took a tour of one of the cathedrals there and it was an incredible experience of the churches opulance and extravagance in the presence of overwhelming poverty. I will go back and take some photos to show what I mean, but it was almost nauseatingly grandeose.
After that Chris met us and we took the seminary student to the churh where she will be working and to the family with whom she will be staying.
That church is the opposite extreme from the cathedral we had been in earlier in the afternoon. It is located in a very poor area, with a very meager sanctuary that is filled with worshippers twice on Sunday and again on Thursdays. It has a small medical clinic, a day care center for 45 children and an after school program for older children, a program for elderly and a seemingly endless list of classes and projects. It functions on donations from the diocese and from churches in the US and is always doing more for people than its meager resources can support, but they live and love by faith. IT IS THE CHURCH AT ITS VERY BEST.
I will go back to take photos of the church, its work and worship there on a Sunday.

As I said recently I am planning to get out of Quito and explore some of the rest of the country. I will start next weekend by going to a town called Otovalo. It is a town about two hours drive north (into the northern hemishphere). It is famous for its artisans and its market on the weekends, a market that includes not only works of the artisans, but a market of large and small animals--anyone what a llama, or a pig, or perhaps a guinea pig? It is a beautiful area about 7000 feet in elevaton. There is an Episcopal Church there and I want to get to know the church there also. I think I will go on Thursday, explore the area and the church on Friday, go to the markert on Saturday, go to church there on Sunday, and come back on Sunday afternoon or Monday.
You can take a taxi from here for $7.50, and stay in a very nice hotel for $35 a night. It will be a great first trip.
I understand that the recent small eruption of Tungurahua volcano is new in the US. It is not a threat to Quito, but it is news here also. Such minor eruptions are not uncommon and in fact it will erupt out of one side of the mountain while the other side remains covered with ice and snow. There is aways the possibility of a big eruption, but no one here seems concerned.
This afternoon I am going to the Botanical Garden to learn about and photo the flora of the Andes, and then I want to visit the Chapel of Mankind, a museum didicated to the struggle of the indigenous people here over the centuries. I am told it is very interesting.
Tomorrow I will go to church at the Cathedral and see what I might do next week with the Bishop and/or Chris.
Adios for now
Glenn+

Clean Clothes and a visit to Plaza Grande

2008-01-10T12:26:00.000-08:00

Hello from Quito,
Last night I had a great dinner at what I thought was an Argentinean-Chilean Restaurant, but it turned out to be an Ecuadorean-Chilean restaurant. Not that I would know the difference, mind you. The food was very good, a great chicken dinner with rice salad, bread, for $7.00. The chicken had a sauce that I cannot identify but it was very good.
I had a great nights sleep, 8 solid hours. In fact I have slept well most every night since I have been here. Some of that may have to do with all of the walking, and climbing stairs and hills. Or perhaps it is some of the Spanish TV progams, which are quite boring. may be the reason, but regardless of the reason, it feels great. Speaking of Spanish TV, I do watch it and it does help with my ability to understand Spanish.
This morning I washed clothes ealy, before others could get to the machines. The machines at the apartment are not fast, but they eventually do the job. After finishing the wash and a quick run to the supermarket for bottled water, I took a cab to Plaza Grande.
I was there the other day for a short while when I went to Old City, but today I spent about 5 hours there just walking around and taking photos mostly of people. There were no demonstrations there today as there had been the other day, just people of all kinds hanging out in the Plaza. A lot of old men meet there and sit on the benches and talk, and nap, or just sit there doing nothing. It is full of vendors, kids in school uniformes, various police and military people, old ladies and young couples, etc. It is a fascinating place for people pictures.
I had a lunch in a neat little place and had lamb and rice and ¨water with gas¨, that is the phrase for bottled sparkling water. If you want plain bottled water you have to ask for ¨water without gas¨.
I also stopped in mid afternoon at a place highly recommended in my travel book that has great fruit salads with creme. And it was also wonderful.
I have mentioned getting around in taxis. They are everywhere and very cheap. The meter starts at 35 cents and a trip across town is seldom more than about $2.50. There is no tipping taxi drivers, but it is common to round the fare up to the next highest quarter. So a fare of $2.15 would really be $2.25.
Tomottow afternoon I am going to Chris´s house and meeting him and seminarian from the US who is here for about 18 days. Then we are all going to a meeting of the PanAmerican Leage of Churches. This is a very active group and it is the same group I met with on Monday morning with Chris. On Mondsay it was mostly just introductions, but this is a meeting about some of their projects, so I am looking forward to it.
I am also beginning to look at some of the areas I want to visit by myself and when I see Chris tomorrow I will get some guidance from him. Depending on what the Bishop may have in mind for me next week I might try a 3 day trip to one of several places I am interested in. It will be nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city, of which there is plenty. A little tranquility in some outer, more remote area for a few days would be nice.
Despite the hustle and bustle I must say this is wonderful. I have had more time to relax, read, pray, and just let my mind wander than I have known in a long, long time. My morning time is very special. I start each morning with Morning Prayer (and coffee), and then have time to just think of and pray for all of you. It is strange perhaps how you can be so very far away, with only internet communication with a few, yet still feel very close to you all. I feel your love and your prayers, and thank God for all of you and for this incredible experience.
My meeting tomorrow may run late into the afternoon and I may or may not get a chance to post anything here tomorrow, we will just have to see.
Mean while I love you all and keep you all in my heart.
Glenn+

I am getting around town

2008-01-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

Greetings to you all.
Getting used to these Spanish keyboards is a bit of a challenge and I apologize for typos and other goofs. You may note I dont use apostrophes. I dont know how on these machines. There are a few other peculiarities also and they are sometimes different on different keyboards. So we will make do as best we can.
Yesterday I had a great time visiting a couple of the great places here in Quito. First, I went to Old City, which is the old colonial part of Quito. I took a taxi, that is how I get everywhere that is not in walking distance, arriving first at Plaza Grande. This is a grand open area on one edge of Old City. It is where the government buildings are and it is where everyone with a cause comes to speak out to the crowds about their issue. There was a huge gathering to hear speakers about a proposed change in the tax system. There were armed police and military personel everywhere in the Plaza. They acted like this was all normal, not as thoiugh they were there for this particular occasion, but is was a strange feeling.
I took some photos of the plaza, the buidings there and some of the crowd and speaker and moved on. I stopped and had some lunch and then just started walking the narrow streets of Old City, taking photos of people and of the peculiar architecture. I walked a number of the streets and then started the long up hill climb to the other end of Old City and I do mean UP and I do mean LONG CLIMB. At 10,000 feet it was quite a climb. There is an old gothic-style cathedral at the top of the hill that looks like an old Europena Cathedral and looks completely out of place here. I took a few shots of it and grabbed a taxi to my sec0nd stop, Parque Carolina.
Carolina is a huge park in the center of the city with every imaginable activity from horseback riding, to soccer and backetball courts, a fantastic skate board course that is unilike any I have ever seen, a lake with paddele boats and endless open spaces to stroll. I strolled and came upon a group making a televison spot about the proposed tax issue. I struck up a chat with the main actor in the production and had a fascinating time with him. I then strolled some more and took a photo of a guy who was doing spray paint art on the outside of one of the tunnels, and I do mean ART, not graffiti. The photo shows some of his art as well as him spray painting and I relly like it a lot.
I grabbed a taxi, that is the only safe way to get around town, especially with an obviously valuable camera. You have to be very careful as regards security. I dont carry a walle, only a copy of my passport, and only small amounts of cash, one credit card, all in secure pockets. I am most careful when I have my camera with me. I dont want to over state the case, but pick pockets and grab and run crimes are very, very common.
I found a TGI Fridays for supper and went back to my apartment to try to get some news about the NH primary--forget it--nada, nada, nada. I finally got the results this morning at the diocesan office.
That takes me to today:
After breakfast I took a cab to the diocesan office for a eucharist at 9:00 and a tour of the office and an introduction to everyone there. Then I had luinch with the Bishop and Chris Morck, his assistant. We talked about a host of possiblities for places for me to go, but didnt make any immediate plans, except on Friday I will attend a meeting at one of the churches here in Quito, and attend church at the cathedral on Sunday. The Bishop just returned from his vacationa nd he really doesnt have his own plans made yet.
I need to wash some clothes tomorrow early before others in the apartment get into the laundry room and then if the weather is nice, it is raining today, I will look for another part of this fasciating city to cruise and shoot photos.
I have learned that to take photos of people you have to ask first and usually they want paid, either 50 cents or a dollar. You cannot blame them though. The peoiole that are the most intersting to photo are the poor, and I dont begrudge them at all.Well, it is time to head off for supper. there is an Argentinean-Chilean restaurant a block for my apartment and it is not raining hard so I think I will go there. I has lunch with Chris there and the food was very good.
Adios Amigos from Quito.

It is Tuesday

2008-01-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone out there in blog-land,
I have settled into my apartment and started to get around a little. This is a big accomplishment as I have had Chris as a guarian angel the first day or so and now I am on my own. My apartment is right on one of the main drags of the city, right in the heart of the city and it is a perfect locatuion for access to literally everything I need.
I got some grocieries from the super markert, explored he neighborhood and went out for dinner. I had selected a restaurant from my book on Ecuador and got a cab to go there. When I got in the driver told me that restaurant is closed. So I asked him for a recomendation and he took me to a great place.
I came ¨home¨ and watched TV and had a glas of wine. I am beginning to get used to Spanish TV. I watch mostly news and I did get an American PBS broadcast and got a little of the news on the eve of the NH primary.
I forgot to tell you all the other things Chris and Trish and I did on Sunday after we went apartment hunting. There is a hill in the center of the city called ¨Panecillo¨, literally ¨little bread¨. It get its name because the hill looks like a little loaf of bread. On the top of the hill is an enormous statue of the ¨Virgin of the Revelation¨. Also from the top you have a 360 degree view of the City of Quito and the surrounding volcanos and glaciers, when it is clear. It was not quite clear enough to see more than one volcano and a mere glipse of one of the glaciers.
The disovery of glaciers here was very surprising. Imagine there are glaciers on the equator, and there are a number of them and they proviode the water supply for Quito. The concern is that due to global warming the glaciers are disappearing and the fuyure of the City of Quito is at stake.
Also, the top of Panecillo is a popular gathering place for locals on a Sunday afternoon. There are streeet venders selling everything from what looks like bowls of chicken livers to cotton candy, kids are playing soccer, los novios, that is lovers, walk around holding hands, and it has a certain carnival atmosphere. It is quite cool, literally and figuratively.
After I finish this I need to go to the bank, and then take a cab to the Old City, the old colonial part of Quito. This is where the old churches, the most recent is about 100 years old, are located as well as some old museums, and who know what else.
If I have time for more adventure today I will go to one to the huge inner-city parks. El Parque Carolina and wonder around with my camera.
Tomorrow at 9:00 AM there is a Mass at the Diocesan Office and the Bishop will have returned from his vacation to Puerto Rico. I will meet him for the first time and talk about what I might do with him and his staff and how I might help at the Cathedral on occasion.
I am feeing great! The altitude is only noticeable when I have to climb up several flights of stairs. Climing stairs here is a way of life. Everything is ¨up stairs¨ and most of the stairs are bigger steps than is typical in the US, and few have hand rails. One of the best features of my apartment is the elevator--gracias a Dios. But I just go slow and all is well.
That is about all for now. The sun is burning off the morning mist and it will get warm soon. No rain in sight as far as I know and I guess it has rained only one day in the last couple of weeks.
You are all in my prayers and I truly feel the prayers of you all.
Hasta mañana,
Glenn+

I am settling in

2008-01-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

Greetings to everyone,
It has been a very busy time since yesterday. Yesterday morning Chris Morck drove to about 5 possible apartments looking for one that would work for a place for me to stay. We found one that is in a perfect location, but it was not available for inspectionm until today. The ones we saw we ok ,but we waited to check out the one in the better location. We saw it today and it is perfect. A very confortble furnished apartment on a main thoroughfare with a laundry room and a gym. I took it and moved in today. Chris dropped me off and left after we went out for lunch. Now I am going to a super market to get some supplies and settle in. The internet cafe and the super arkeet are virtually across the street from my apaprtment.
You may have heard that one of the volcanos outside of Quito is erupting. It is the same one I saw on fired when we landed. It is about 75 miles from Quito.
Tomorrow I will begin gettting around town on my own and that is an adventure in itself.
I will add more tomorow.
Adios

Greetings from Quito, Ecuador

2008-01-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

I had a wondeful flight via Miami and arrivesd here in Quito last night. As we were landing in Quito I could see the fire in one of the volcanos outside the city. What a fantastic sight!! I was met at the airport by the lay assistant to the Bishop, Chris Morck. He and his wife Trish and their two children hosted me last night and they are a wonderful young family. Today I will look for a permanent place to stay here in Quito. The weather here is very comfortable, about 60 degrees, a little cloudy but very delightful. I have been talking with Chris about places to visit and many of them are places where the diocese has churches and he has offered to take me with his as job is to visit these outer congregations.
I know this is short, but I wanted to let everyone know that my trip was terrific and everything I have learned from Chris about the diocese and the country is very, very exciting.
Adios for now.
Glenn

On The Eve

2008-01-04T04:20:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,
I am on the eve of starting my trip to Ecuador and Peru. It is hard to believe the time has finally come. What an adventure this will be.
People ask if I am ready, and the answer for now is "Not Yet", but I will be soon. The hardest part of packing is not deciding what to take on a trip like this; the hardest part is deciding what NOT to take. I will be in many different climate zones, high mountains 8-11,000 feet with temps in the mid 40's to low 70's with frequent rains, and in the jungles of the Amazon in equatorial heat and humidity, and along the Pacific beaches, also hot but hopefully breezy as well.
I am understandably anxious about a trip of this length, two months. I have never traveled that long before, especially into a totally foreign culture and language. While I do speak Spanish, I am not fluent. When I am in my vocabulary comfort zone I can think in Spanish and conversation is easy. But once I get outside that comfort zone, I have to think in English and translate and that is tiring. To some degree the mental exercise of living in Spanish all day long will be tiring for some period of time. I hope the time comes quickly when I can converse in most situations without thinking.
A photographer friend of mine recently traveled over seas. When he re-entered the US the US Customs agent gave him a very hard time because he didn't have proof, ie sales receipts, for all of his equipment showing that he did not buy his camera gear over seas. They threatened to confiscate all of his gear, about $10,000 worth. I certainly don't have sales receipts for all my equipment, so I have to get an notarized affidavit from a friend dated before I leave the US and executed here in the US to prove, if asked, that I did not buy my equipment over seas.
How stupid can they get. Our sea ports are totally spends its limited resources is hassling photographers.
Well I am hoping I will be able to keep this blog up dated while I travel and I hope you enjoy following "Glenn's Excellent Adventure".
I ask in advance that you please forgive and read right through the typos, which I am sure will be many. I do proof read, but an author always reads what he thought, not what is written. But hopefully all will be clear enough to communicate effectively and that is the ultimate goal
Adios Amigos y Amigas.

2007-10-11T03:00:00.000-07:00

Father Glenn was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. He and his wife, Nancy “Scottie” grew up just a few miles from each other and have known each other since Jr. High School. They were married in 1966 and have two children, Christie Schwalbe, a pharmaceutical representative in Denver, and Mike a teacher’s aid in special education in Phoenix.

Father Glenn received his BA from MuskingumCollege in New Concord, Ohio in 1966, an M. Div with distinction from the PhiladelphiaDivinitySchool in 1969, a JD with honors from University of Arizona in 1985. He was ordained a priest in 1969 and immediately become Rector of All Saints in Aliquippa, PA.

In 1974 Father Glenn, Scottie and Christie moved to Tucson where he served as Associate Rector at Grace Church. In 1979 he became vicar of a bilingual mission, Chapel of the Resurrection in Tucson, Arizona.

Father Glenn returned to school in 1982 and completed a law degree in 1985 and was admitted to the practice of Law in Arizona. He practiced law for almost 20 years, specializing in Personal Injury and Criminal Defense while serving a host of congregations as a supply priest and interim Rector.

In the summer of 2002 he became interim Rector here at Good Shepherd of the Hills and was called as Rector in 2004. At that time he closed his law practice and gave up his license with the State Bar to devote his full attention to the ministry of Good Shepherd.