Going down the coast after Easter to our retreat house in Ayangue was great. A well-earned rest even although I say it myself. Apart from our meeting there is a chance to go for a swim or go for a walk or just relax in front of the telly. I took the chance to catch up on some letters and mails. However, I did also have the chance to practice my by-now famous dives at the pool. Previously I would have been a bit scared of doing the dives but since the last time I was there with the Parish Youth Groups, I have been given a new-found confidence. Before Holy Thursday I had left my car in to get repaired and was not able to get it out till after Ayangue. The rattling has gone so I suppose it is a good job well done. The school building goes on apace. It looks as of we are coming into the home straight – which is quite good considering that the new school year opens in ten days time. All that is left is plastering work and painting. The eight classrooms are more or less ready, the same with the first set of toilets. But the staff room, HT’s office and the other set of toilets will have to wait a while. Every time I went down the school this week, there were loads of parents lined up getting their kids enrolled for a new year; or even a few kids still doing exams to try and get them into the new school year at the last minute. I took Pedro round to the two chapels of Maestro and La Paz to see of he could come up with plans to build them a new chapel each. There is already some sort of structure there – bamboo – and it needs replacing. So the time has come to build. However, in an attempt tog et the folk to see that not everything drops out of the sky as a gift and to encourage them to collaborate, we will not build it all but leave some thing s – painting and plastering – for them to do a wee bit. As the new school year dawns, it is also time to get going with Parish catechism. Every chapel I go to, there are plans afoot for signing up kids for First Communion or Confirmation classes. Each of these is a two-year course – much more than you would ever have back home – but there always seems to be a great number of folk signing up. My English friend, Les Dickens, contacted me again. He is the FIFA representative for Ecuador and was in touch earlier on last year with a visit form the national coach. Now he is trying to get a football training course set up for the new football pitch. He seems quite confident that it will happen and also that he can get us a set of footballs for the kids.

Happy Easter! What a tremendous night we had last night at our Easter Vigil! Of course, we had been working (or at least I had) whether the rain would stay off for our bonfire and procession. And, true to form, it did not. So there we were with a large crowd in the drizzle starting the Easter Vigil. I am amazed that it all went so well – seven hours of a Mass is something to keep going but with Tito’s help on the guitar and not getting to fretted myself (in fact not fretted at all), we got through a bonfire, fireworks, a couple of songs, a procession (with the local worthies looking on from behind beer bottles), seven Old Testament readings and a New Testament one (all with drama or song or slides), a cracking sermon from yours truly, a Baptismal reflection and then the Eucharist. Meaning that we got to daylight at 6.45am just about shattered. All in all, I can thank God for being amongst such a great group of people who responded to the crazy challenge of their PP to stay up all night in Vigil. Young and old! Strangely the area is quite quiet now – I think they have all gone to bed! The Easter Vigil was, of course, preceded by Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Different from previous years, we were in the Parish Church for all these services. It was a quantum leap from other years and I did sense that, being in a well-built place, was so different from the straw huts of previous years and from the experience that Colm Hogan, my Irish brother, was having down the road in his mud-laden and recently-established Parish. Holy Thursday means Washing of Feet and, whereas in Scotland people are shy to have their feet washed, here everyone wants to offer their toes. I had 30 feet – how many apostles were there anyway, Rory? After the Mass we had prepared an Altar of Repose below in the Parish halls and that allowed for some quiet prayer and reflection. Then on Good Friday, the same as in other parts of the city, we had to put up with the rain for our main procession. Once again, the youth of San Ignacio chapel did us proud by acting out the Stations and leading us in prayer. The vital link for the success is to have our own Jose Luis (traffic cop) who brings a patrol car which we use as a microphone system for the prayers and hymns as we go along. We also had our Youth Conference on Thursday and Saturday morning and there was a good crowd on both days – our theme was HOPE and managed to discuss and act out what it meant to us who live in the midst of poverty and mud. Some great and profound responses from the youth themselves! The rains continue to batter down on us daily. Most distressing this week is the realization that Leonor’s house (known to many Scots) is about to fall down into a dam. The rains have been so strong this year and so drawn-out that slowly the path at the back of her house has become a gully which, if the rains don’t stop shortly, will get washed away. Please God, no! There were other things happening this week but I am a bit shattered and ready to sleep and/or get down the coast tomorrow for our monthly meeting with the lads.

Paradise Park has been opened! And football reigns there! We had a great opening day on Saturday with typical Ecuadorian touches to the organization. Firstly we had been promised a ‘personality’ to come and open the proceedings; all week I had been getting and making messages to follow this up; only to find on Friday night that the promised “personality” was not going to materialize. We opened it ourselves! Not before we had waited an hour and a half for the speaker system to turn up, only to find that, when it did turn up, it didn’t work! Once again, we did it ourselves. I did a short blessing ceremony, blessed all parts of the pitch and then played in the first match. We got beat 3-2. However, it was fantastic to see a full pitch and people playing on the pitch from early in the morning till late at night! Well done on all who donated towards the building of ‘Parque Paraiso’, especially the support we received from eth Celtic Charity Fund. Of course, building work continues at the school. With the school year about to start in three weeks, there is still a lot of plastering, painting and cleaning up to be done. At various stages the work has been hampered by the incessant rains: one problem in the school yard is that the school water pump has overflowed as the level of rain water has increased. The only way round this was to divert this excess water out onto the street and hope that it dries up when the rainy season is over – if not we will have another neighbours revolt on our hands! This work should be finished on schedule before the school year starts. So they say that there is never a dull moment here. Yeah, that’ll be right. There I was on Thursday night moving towards an exhausting end to another day – we had just had the Pastoral Council to make final arrangements for Holy Week – when I turned the corner in the car to find that a bus had gone into the side wall of the Church. What? As I made my way up four steps at a time to see what the damage was, I could see that the driver had wanted to do a three-point-turn and had lost control, letting the bus bang into the outer wall of the Church grounds – not the actual Church. Still, it could have been worse, if he had been going at a faster pace, he would have gone through the wall and fallen down to the lower floor!!!! I try to get out and about as much as I can, walking through the shanty streets. And one way of doing that is fulfilling my visits to the sick and housebound which I have been doing since I cam back from Scotland. It is always great to see them so full of hope in the midst of obvious poverty. They remind me of why I am here and give me a spur to get on. Of course the curse of the week was the mud!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday I had had quite a busy day in between the opening of the football pitch and then the Masses but at 6pm I found myself unusually free. So I decided to go and pick up the cupboards which Felix, one of our Catechists, had been making. Since there were seven and awkward to carry, I was going to have to make four separate journeys back and forward through muddy rivers to his house. Things were going well until, on the fourth journey, I decided that I would take a new route …… AND ENDED UP STUCK (NO, LODGED) FIRMLY IN THE MUD! By this stage it was now 8.30pm and darkness had fallen. We tried ourselves to get the truck moving. To no avail. Then we got chained up to a water truck. Nothing. A bus – same. The great Fr. Tom Oates – even there nothing. Finally the police (who had just caught a guy brandishing a knife outside one of our chapels) – still nothing. There was nothing for it but I had to abandon the car – since it was near Felix’s house, he volunteered to stay with it. In any case, our own water truck was going to come at 5am to pull me out. No sleep as I waited and waited for the water truck. It never came. So frustrated, I went off to do the three palm Sunday morning Masses. It was only after that that we got picks and shovels, got ourselves covered in mud again. And, finally after a further hour, the truck was freed! Two muddy pairs of shoes, two shirts and two pairs of trousers! Thanks to so many guys for helping free the truck – I shall go the other way in the future! Oh by the way, I nearly forgot ---- at San Ignacio chapel they gave me a donkey for the Palm Sunday procession. I managed to get up and down no problem but there were a few hairy moments as we made our way round the local streets, praying and singing. The only problem was that some people were genuinely asking “but which one is the donkey?”

Well, what a trip that was! If tears are anything to go by in showing how much something has affected you, I can tell you (without shame) that I cried all the way from Glasgow to Amsterdam, a journey of around two hours. It all started before take-off when Adela asked me how I was feeling – I wasn’t able to answer for the next few hours. And every time I calmed down, I looked at the two Andres that were sitting beside me (who were also water-eyed) and we started all over again. I think you can say it affected us all deeply. I want to begin by saying thanks, on behalf of the Ecuadorians, to all in Scotland who made it such a success. In particular to Bernadette, David, Stephen and Susan who not only gave up their annual holiday to drive us around (“cinturones pro favor”) but also spent many frustrating hours beforehand getting things organized and raising funds. Also to so many others in Ayrshire and in Lanarkshire who gave so freely that the Ecuadorians’ dream could become a reality. I personally enjoyed being at Home again with a chance to meet the various parts of the family. Although I was ‘on call’ all the time, I did manage few conversations with everyone in the family! We did so many things while we were in Scotland; it’s difficult to name them all. One of the main things we did was the community project mainly based at Eglinton Park, Kilwinning. There we planted trees but it was also an opportunity for the Ecuadorians to get to know the young people who came along to help – from St. Matthew’s and St. Johns’ youth group. Special mention to the school captain who gamely fell in a recently-dug hole …. Just for a photo opportunity. We planted trees there but also in St. John’s Church gardens and at the Plantation in between Saltcoats and Ardrossan. In each of the places, the Ecuadorians showed themselves as naturals with a shovel in the hand. The guys from NAC even said that it would have taken them two days to do what the Ecuadorians had done in a few hours. We also visited various schools and it was great to see the enthusiasm of the kids and staff at each location. We were entertained in each school to Scottish songs and dances and we returned the compliment by showing off Ecuadorian dances … even yours truly donned the gear and did the jigs. Of course, we spent most time in the new St. Matthew’s Academy in Saltcoats and it was a pleasure to be in classes and share in assemblies and Masses. In every corridor people stopped to practice Spanish and share their newly-made friendships with their poor brothers and sisters on the other side of the world. Mr. Chris Flood, the DHT that had most to do with us, said that in the short history of the new school, the Mass that was shared with the Ecuadorians on Friday would be hard to beat for emotion and faith. A lot of our time was spent in St. John’s Parish – both in the Church House, Church and the Hall. In the Hall we had a welcome fiesta as well as a farewell Mass. There were crowds at each event and it was great just to be part of this emotional swell. Fr. Martin was great host as were St. John’s youth group and leaders who provided eats at every moment … I’m already missing the tablet! The youth night was memorable and it was great to see so many different youth groups represented. Our Sunday Mass with the two Bishops was terrific, especially since Bishop Taylor came down duri9ng his sermon to speak very openly to the Ecuadorian youth – telling them that they had rich gifts to give us, gifts which we often lacked: faith – a vibrant faith – and deep joy! St. John’s will live long in our memory. We had a great day at Celtic Park. Firstly we had a tour of the stadium with a very enthusiastic guide where we were show the trophy room, the Directors Room and the inside of the stadium itself. We went round the Superstore and it was interesting to see the Ecuadorians just quite happy to get their photo taken beside the clothes – clothes that would be far too expensive in Ecuador. However, with various donations we were able to get them all a scarf and a top. And, after a hearty repasse at Andy and Christine’s, where we met various members of their family, it was back for the match against Inverness Caley – a slow match but a result none the same – 2-1! The Concerts were a terrific high. Thanks for Patricia and Andy for organizing a great night at the Dalziel Park in Motherwell. I spent most of the night going from person to person thanking them for all their support over these years – sorry if I missed anyo9ne. And, as I did so, I was pleased to see all the Scots and Ecuadorians mixing and sharing great fun and dances. At one point I saw that the Ecuadorians had tied together three Celtic tops to make skipping ropes for everyone to join in with!!!! And we also had a great farewell concert at St. John’s on Tuesday night. We mixed our Ecuadorian dances with a Scots Ceilidh and were probably exhausted by the end of the night. Of course there are things you can prepare for on a trip like this but there are always going to be unexpected highs, and when we visited East Kilbride last Monday we had snow in great abundance, a thing the Ecuadorians had never ever seen. Let’s just say they took to it like ducks to water – throwing snowballs and making snowmen. I will never forget the sight of them being thrown into the snow one by one! This is just a short resume because I think for us all who experienced the trip, it will take months to let it all filter through our minds. We will wake up one morning crying over the memory, we will remember suddenly something really funny but through it all we will all remember something terrific and fantastic. Thanks to all who worked so hard. As we fought back tears in our final Prayer at Smithstone, Isabel prayed thanking God for this ‘dream come true’.