Fulbright Fellow, Cuenca Ecuador, August 25 2007-December 22 2007, What a blessing!

Page 4: December 1 to December 22

My project: Developing Computer Instrumentation Capabilities in Latin America, was accepted by the Fulbright Commission and the US Dept of State and here I am! I am here to teach computer instrumentation, help develop instrumentation infrastructure and a new major in Engineering Physics and possibly a national Physics Teachers Association. Above is my last class. We had a mini-course for 40 hours during two weeks in December.

All pictures below are "thumbnails." Click on a picture to see a bigger copy, afterwards, use your browser's back arrow to return to this page. If you see any pictures that you want a higher resolution copy, just email me. Most pictures have 3-4 Mbyte originals

Salinas Beach Resort

When I returned from Uruguay, my Friend Eduardo picked me up from the airport and we headed for Salinas, a beach resort town on the Pacific Ocean. The Rector of ESPOL had wanted to send the institute of Physics there to have a retreat and form a 5-year plan. I was invited to come along. Sure, OK, if they insist. . .

We had 6 people in a miniature Chevy. Including a baby, Maria Gabriella. The women in the back were, Judith and Adrianna . Also Jorge Hurel was in the back with them. Eduardo was driving.

Here are Jorge, Eduardo and I above the beach.

This is our hotel, the Barcelo Colon:

There was a lighthouse, but it was on private property and I could not get any closer.

Salinas had a nice Square:

My talk on Virtual Instrumentation was the first item on the retreat agenda. Here is the Power-Point, if you are interested. (Sorry it is only in Spanish)

Around Salinas. The military base had a nice Nativity Scene:

Sunday morning I went along the beach and saw some good waves. The last foto is a father and his two boys beachcombing.

On the way back home, I went to a restaurant with my friend Eduardo and his wife Rosalba.

Back to Guayaquil

I must have said something interesting during my talk, because I they wanted me to return the next Wednesday to teach a workshop on programming. On the plane over to Guayaquil we passed over the lakes in the beautiful El Cajas National park:

Here is the class:

The guys in the picture: Back Row (L to R) Fernando Montalvo, Otto Alvarado, Me, Dick Zambrano, Front Row, Jorge Hurel, Carlos Martinez and Fernando Vasquez.

It is hard to see, but this tree was really beautiful in the middle of campus:

Eduardo took me to his office in the Las Piñas campus of ESPOL. They had tortoises like at the Galapagos. The tortoise is the mascot of ESPOL.

I also got to return to the Iguana Park in downtown Guayaquil.

As I was leaving, we passed a bunch of these cool cartoon character statues made of papier-mâché. the folks in Guayaquil would buy these and then at the new year set them on fire for good luck. the bigger the statue, the greater the good luck in the new year. Is Hall mark behind all this?

I would have liked to buy a Bugs Bunny, but I am not sure I would want to burn him. Well back to Cuenca , , , less than two weeks to go.

So, how am I going to spend my final weekend in Ecuador?

Back to Guayaquil, Again

After the programming workshop, some of the engineers at Guayaquil asked me to return and teach a course on Data-Acquisition. Therefore, my last weekend was back in Guayaquil. This was probably my most successful course, thanks to the high-quality and motivation of the class. This was an outstanding bunch colleagues and we developed some great friendships this weekend: The names of the members of the class are given at the beginning of this page.

Dick, Jorge and I were the three physicists in the group:

I also thought that it was cool that a state school had a beautiful nativity in the middle of the new Electrical Engineering building:

On Sunday, on the way back to Cuenca, Fernando took me home and I met his family. Guess what they had?

Cuenca

Back in Cuenca for my last week: Christmas lights were up around town, and looked great!

And lastly, but not least. This family, my landlords, were a blessing the whole time that I lived in Cuenca: Adrianna (L) Juan (R) and Gael(Arms). In the middle was Magdelena, who did a great job with my laundry and cleaning my apartment.

Thanks to all the people that made this semester in Ecuador possible. First my family and especially my understanding wife, Karen. Second to the Fulbright commissions in the US and in Ecuador. Third to the Ecuadorians that befriended me and helped me during this time. Fourth to my colleagues at Samford who  supported me and encouraged me before and during this time. And finally to my students in Ecuador that put up with my poor Spanish while teaching. All in all it was a great blessing to be able to do this project.

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Th Th Th That's All Folks!!!

All pictures above are "thumbnails." Click on a picture to see a bigger copy, afterwards, use your browser's back arrow to return to this page. If you see any pictures that you want a higher resolution copy, just email me. Most pictures have 3-4 Mbyte originals