THis is just a random sign on the door of a taxi here in Quito.    Notice how they depict the pregnant woman.....with a little baby in her abdomen....cute.

We are all safe in Quito in a hostel near the office.  Daily meetings and lots of  busy work, preparing goods to be delivered to the folks on the coast.  There is a group of three previous Ecuador PC vols. who are driving back and forth to our communities with things we put together for them here.  We current vols. are not permitted to do that, but the previous ones are free to do whatever they want.  They are escorted by police or military forces and are bringing people( damnificados - Spanish for victims)  back this way if they have family to stay with in the Quito area.

  I also worked at the Lions Club one evening helping them assemble materials to take to the coast. Their organization was very efficient and it was great to see a bunch of people who could have passed for Lions Club members from any city.

You can go to the " Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Ecuador Earthquake Relief"  facebook page to see how to make  Paypal contributions to the Returned Peace Corps volunteer group. They are posting video updates and photos.   They are in touch with people in the communities who they actually know from when they were active volunteers and are taking things that the people actually need.  They are assessing which communities are not getting support from other donors and focusing on them.  So, I think your monetary contributions will be well spent..nothing skimmed off for administration..only to pay for the gas for their vehicles and probably a little food for the workers...but, I guarantee there is not much out there to buy, even if you have the money.

Here are a few photos of my experience.  They are not too graphic.   I was evacuated before they started looking for people under the rubble, thank god !!!  These are just some buildings we saw as we drove into Portoviejo to pick up some people.

There have been aftershocks in the past few days and more buildings are collapsing, daily.  There is an article in the paper today that there was a 6.3 temblor last evening here in Quito.  I did not feel it.  I was sitting on my bed, blogging, I guess.

This is Claudia and Barbie.  Claudia is 11, daughter of the folks who took us in for two days after the quake.  She is a very sweet girl, a dancer, singer, plays guitar and violin....or at least has an interest in learning.

This was a little activity that kept us busy for about an hour.  We were shelling beans, habichuelas....string beans...but they let them mature and then shell them...they look like lima beans and were delicious.  The little dark skinned girls is the daughter of a young woman from Cuba who you'll see in a later photo.  The little boy is Andres, little brother of Claudia and very sweet too.....but, very active.

This is Claudia and her mother, Maria Fernandez.   MF is a medico..not sure if she is a doctor or a paramedic or some other type of medical person but she was not called in as an emergency medic..but very generous with her home.

This is the grandmother of Claudia who seems to live there and do all the cooking.  We had no lights, so I whipped out my headlamp and she loved it.  All the light in the photo comes from the flash on the camera...it was really pitch dark except right in front of her face.  I wanted to give it to her but I am still not sure where I'll be next and I might need it.   Andres wore it around after dinner for a couple hours.

This is a morning scene...the two women sitting on the couch are visiting in Ecuador from Cuba...they are visiting professors of music.  They had come to Maria Fernandez's home for dinner on Saturday and the quake hit around 6:45 so they were stuck there.  They were very happy to be there as their apts. were in center of Portoviejo and are likely damaged or destroyed and of course, along with the apts., all their personal things.     Maria Fernandez, the mom is on the mattress and  has her arm over her kids.

A sleeping scene. Thre were three women on the back mattress.  I spent two nights in a chair, but it was a lounge chair and actually pretty comfortable.  During the first night, we ran outside twice when we were awakened by replicas, aftershocks.  They brought the TV down on Tuesday when we got electricity.

Claudia and Andres....waking up. One of the Cuban women in the background doing her daughter's hair for the day. 

This is the corner across from my host family's house in Portoviejo.  This was the result of an aftershock...it did not fall during the original quake.  It was likely damaged and then the aftershock finished it off. While I was packing my stuff, a truck went by and touched the wires ( which I had been told were not dangerous since there was no electricity) and set off a bunch of sparks and noise.  People from the nearby houses were sitting in the streets, saw the truck and the sparks, and ran after the truck shouting and throwing rocks.  Thanks god, the truck kept going and did not stop to argue...I fear something

horrible might have ensued. 

This is my host mother outside her door with the electric cables draped across the house.  Sad sight.  She did get electricity and water back a couple days later but I feel sure she is still staying out with her niece, Maria Fernandez.  I was on the second floor of the house when the original earthquake hit and somehow made it down the stairs and outside through that door.  We then sat on plastic chairs in the doorway for a couple hours in the dark.  I did have my headlamp for some light which was helpful.  

I took this in front of the hotel we stayed in the first night after we were evacuated from Portoviejo.  The dog team is from Spain.  It was there on Monday, the quake happened Saturday night.  Fast

A "bombero" from Peru...firefighter/rescue

Just a view in front of our hotel.  Lots of press stayed here along with a lot of the rescue teams and the vice president of the country.  Its a 5 star hotel...very nice.  We had some damage but they assured us the place was stable....no telling what would have happened  if another "replica" had hit. 

These are two nurses who were with the dog team from Spain. We had a nice chat...

Another view of the staging of the rescue teams on Tuesday morning.

Another staging photo

Loading the dogs and gear to go to the sites.

Just a shot of one of the Spanish team's crates.

Self explanatory........

Two other evacuated volunteers and I helped the Lions make little bags of toiletries to take to the coast...they were getting one roll of toilet paper, a toothbrush, a cup, a bar of soap and toothpaste.  Think how good it would feel to brush your teeth .......