Their 7 AM flight from Miami had been delayed about 3 hours but they were all so excited to be in Ecuador that the lack of sleep didn´t really matter. They spent the day getting settled in the neighborhood of their hotel and I met up with them that night for an amazing bus, walking and horse-drawn carriage tour of the historical center of Quito. One of the girls on the trip, Valeria, was actually born and raised in Quito so her family met up with us and very generously treated us all to the tour! The center of Quito is beautiful and has been renovated recently with beautiful lighting that really shows off the colonial architecture.
were in completely new territory. The small city of about 20,000 people has few paved roads, few amenities and no tourism industry to speak of. I believe our hotel was one of the two in town; but what Tosagua lacks in luxury, it makes up in hospitality. We were immediately warmly welcomed by the hotel staff and were greeted with smiles and offers of free fruit in the marketplace. As novelties in town, we stood out wherever we went but I don´t believe any of us ever received anything less than friendly smiles; incessant ´Hola´s and Hello´s followed us wherever we went. That evening, we met the other group who had started building that day and would be our companions for the next four days. They were a group of 11 high school students from different cities all over the US (including a New Yorker that I actually share a close friend with- such a small world!). They had been in Ecuador for almost a month and were participating in an educational tour of the country, ending with five days of service with Habitat. Their two leaders, Kate and Nyssa, had already been in Tosagua with a previous group for a week at the beginning of July so they were already familiarized with the site and the town. That night, the local affiliate office threw both groups a welcoming party complete with speeches from a few local officials, the executive director of Habitat and a dance party. The dance was not exactly traditional (and neither were the costumes!) but both groups joined in and most everyone had a good time. 
We began work at 8 AM the next day and the next four days became a challenging but happy routine. The construction site in Tosagua is a completely different kind of site for Habitat Ecuador and is a pilot project that they are hoping to replicate all over the country. When it is finished, it will be a community of 160 houses along with a meeting center, playground and a computer room where the families will be able to access the internet and children can do their homework. Habitat began building in Tosagua with individual families in 2003 and helped to 
construct almost 40 houses scattered throughout town. Yet, this did not engender the community that Habitat hoped to build, nor did it help families who did not already own their own land. In 2003, the Tosagua office received a large donation of land from the government and began making plans for the Las Palmas (Handprint) project. Each family who applied for a house was taken through a 2-month process during which they were expected to show proof of income, a need for housing, an ability to pay and a willingness to help build the houses in the community. Those families who were accepted will pay a monthly mortgage of about $45 for the next 7-8 years until they have paid off the price of their house and their plot of land. I was told by one of the future homeowners that this payment is lower than the average rent in town.
The days of building varied although a few constants remained the same. The two houses that the teams worked on were next to each other and were in the middle stages of development. Each team was able to build walls and see a lot of progress on each house. Since there were two large teams, it was difficult to always find exciting work for each person but the maestros and the construction supervisor, Gustavo, were great about making sure everyone was busy even if it meant doing boring but helpful work like moving supplies around the site. Besides the fun part of building walls, people were involved in cutting bricks with machetes or trowels to fit in difficult spots, pulling nails out of wood that could be used again as molds, sanding down and painting walls in the more finished houses, and, everyone´s favorite, mixing cement and sand to make mortar. Actually, making the mix was tough and really physically demanding but it was definitely a source of amusement, especially for the Georgia Tech kids. We all decided that mixing almost 300 pounds of materials with shovels was a ridiculous task but it seemed like the best way to prove our determination to help get those houses built!
There are too many great pictures of the build to include here but you can find them at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9422192@N02/sets/72157601412894884/
One person who I absolutely have to mention and who I would say many of us counted as the best part of the trip was Lupe, a future homeowner. She came to visit the site and help out on the first day and then she began bringing two of her brothers and her three small boys along with homemade treats every day. She and her brother Gabriel showed up all the gringos in their strength and expertise with the tools that we were clumsily trying to use. She taught us all new words and gave a few people some very appropriate nicknames. By the end of the week, she had gotten so close to the Georgia Tech brigada that she invited us all to her sister´s house for a party and we also went with her family to an amazing concert/dance party on a day of celebration for Ecuador´s heroes of Independence (similar to Memorial Day in the States).
She is currently living with her father and kids in a cramped house while she is trying to get her high school degree. She is excited to move into her new house in Las Palmas in a few months, especially because a new nursing center is being built close by and she hopes to study there in a few years. Lupe´s spirit and determination impressed us all and, although I wish more families had been on-site to help out, her presence helped us make a real connection to the community and realize that our labor was about more than just bricks and mortar.On the last night of work, the Tosagua office threw both teams a farewell party at the hotel. Maria and Gustavo gave speeches about how much they appreciated our help and both teams had a chance to present a taste of ´American culture´. The high school students presented some of the better known cheesy dance moves (like the sprinkler, the disco and the funky chicken) while the Georgia Tech kids sang their school´s song ¨Ramblin´ Wreck¨(whiskey featured prominently!) Much fun was had by all and Maria surprised everyone with certificates and framed photos of ourselves at the work site in handmade frames.
The high school team left early the next morning to go back to the mountains for a few days so I spent the weekend with the Georgia Tech crew. We spent Saturday morning visiting a local children´s foundation called Las Manos which was founded by Hugo Palacios, the former Habitat Executive Director. We had an amazing time playing with the kids and riding on top of a fire truck with them (see flickr account for pictures)! We also visited the original home of the Panama hat, Montecristi, and had a delicious seafood dinner at the beach in Manta.
We couldn't help but get distracted by this:
We started each day with breakfast at 7 AM and usually didn´t finish working until about 7 PM but it was worth it! We got a lot done in terms of refining the new structure of Habitat. Essentially, Habitat started in 1996 with the national office in Quito and 7 other affiliate offices scattered throughout the country. Over the years, it became clear that the organization would need to condense in order to make the most of its budget and resources. Also, the focus of the projects has shifted from helping families build houses on their own land to creating communities like the pilot project of Las Palmas in Tosagua. In order to achieve this, 3 of the different offices have been closed and the four main offices have been re-organized. The conference was a great way for all the new employees to get acquainted and get on board with the same plans. 
The Guayaquil, Tosagua and Santo Dominigo employees working hard:
The Quito employees all smiles as usual:
My office mates Ximena and Daniel (my supervisor):
Ximena and I, working hard...
About an hour outside of Quito, we passed by some fruit stands in Guaylabamba and Suzy bought a bag of chimoyas. 
You split them open and they look like this. You pull out the little triangle pieces and chew on them and then spit out the pits. It tasted strangely like juicy bubblegum. I could only eat about half of mine before the twisty roads and sweetness got to my tummy. But it was good!
Soon after, we stopped at the equator. There are many information points set up along the equator and this was definately one of the more serious, scientific sites, unlike the Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the world) that apparently has toilets flushing and spinning eggs to show you the difference on each side of the equator. I can´t wait to go there! This marker had been determined by GPS and a very serious researcher gave us a lecture on how it was the correct line unlike the Mitad del Mundo. Here is a pic of Suzy and Marcello straddling the line and then Suzy and me (the beauty queen arms were her idea- I swear!)
And a much better view of Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi is the largest active volcano in Ecuador and one of the highest active volcanoes in the world. The last major eruption was in 1904 but some activity was recorded in 1975. It´s summit can be seen from most points in Quito.
Suzy had brought along a little book of chistes para ninos or ´jokes for children´. I couldn´t hear too many of them from the backseat but I think most were along the lines of my favorite made-up joke when I was little- ´Why did the chicken put his feet in the fire? To dry off his toenail polish!´ Apparently I thought I was hilarious. But really, they didn´t make ANY sense.
When we got to Ibarra, we started looking at furniture. There was a network of streets with showrooms surrounding the pretty town square.
This Sunday, my first group will be flying in from Georgia and I´ll be meeting them at the airport with Daniel. They´ll stay the night in Quito and then we´ll fly to Manta early Monday morning and take a bus for about an hour and a half to Tosagua, a very tiny town near the coast. We´ll be there until next Sunday. I´ll be taking lots of pics so expect another post in about a week and a half.