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Monday 21st Feb
We're in Quito. One of those days we needed to spend quietly. Woke up late, then went to Quicentrum mall for KFC! The mall is large and modern, full of brand name shops from Tommy Hillfiger to Diesel.
Then caught a cab back to the hotel - $3. The hotel is nice, $90 b&b, spacious and there is a great view from the balcony of our room. We have two double beds which are really comfortable. Mike spent much of the day working on the talk we will be giving to the VII Latin American Convention this coming weekend, which is partly based on our own Personal Introduction, and partly on the background of the country we originate from. The point of the talk is the philosophy of Ubuntu. Until now, the 24 communities in 14 countries of south and Central America remain distant from each other, and from the greater Retrouvaille organisation. The cultures in Latin America are quite different from those in the rest of the world, and even then, there are marked differences from country to country. Thankfully, for the most part they share a common language, Spanish, except for the Brazilians of course who speak Portuguese. Trinidad and Tobago are also at a disadvantage, as they speak English.
Our own attempts at learning Spanish have been somewhat feeble, we're sorry to say. We did work hard, but were tempted to get out and see the town too much, with the result that we didn't do enough homework. Still, we have the basic grammar, and with practice and revision when we get home, we'll get there.
The convention starts on Thursday evening, and will continue through to Sunday afternoon. We have a translator, Carla, who helped us out at the discernment last month. She has also translated our talks, and is a great help. Sandra Escobar, who we have corresponded with by email previously, is helping Ann & Ej.
We had to have new business cards printed, as we didn't bring enough, and ran out. We still cannot believe that they were delivered to us within 2 hours of us approving the proof! The same printers (Romula and his wife are a Retrouvaille couple) are making the coasters we wil be handing out as small gifts this weekend - it is an LA tradition which we will honour. We'll put jpg's of the coaster design up here somewhere when we can work out how to do it.
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