Mary and I are so excited! Those of you who have ventured to distant lands for retirement know what a treat it is to have visitors. Today our son Jimmy and his wife Brooke arrive for a short visit from the United States. We have been busy for a couple of weeks planning and preparing for our guests.
When visitors come we generally try to send home items for the rest of the family as gifts or souvenirs. This year Mary got busy making a coloring book for each family with pictures of Ecuadorian animals and flowers for the children (and adults) to color. In addition Mary came up with the idea to create 2017 calendars with pictures we have taken of the area. She downloaded a program to make the calendars and we worked together to create this:
The idea for calendars actually came to Mary while she was devising ways to raise money for the children’s Christmas celebration. She got the program to create one page calendars to sell during the Carnival week to tourist. The idea was to sell the calendars for a bit more than it cost to produce them and give the profits to the children. Okay – but where do we copy full sheet sized calendars in our little town?
I went and talked with our friend Victor at the Cyber Café downtown and arranged to have him copy the calendars on cardstock paper. We had a few startup errors and the copy machine kept jamming up, but we finally got thirty or forty printed up to sell to tourists.
Maybe if it had not rained continuously for the entire week of Carnival we might have sold some… But…
Oh well. They were really cool calendars and would have been good souvenirs.
Still we had the program, so Mary got busy making unique calendars for 2017 to give to our family. I went back to Victor’s Cyber Café and found out that he could print regular page cardstock much more easily and he had the equipment to cover and bind the calendars.
This was last Friday. I was running errands, so I asked Victor if he would prepare the calendars while I ran to San Jacinto. I left the computer information with him and he set about to do all of the work. I paid him no deposit nor did he ask for one. He did not prepare a work order and did not ask when I would be back to pick up the calendars.
Yesterday Mary and I went to Portoviejo, so I did not get back to Victor’s place until today. Victor had all of the calendars ready. He had a rigid clear plastic cover on the calendar and bound them across the top with spiral binding.
We printed up six copies in our original order. Victor put a rigid blue plastic page on the back of each calendar.
There are different pictures for each month.
We were thrilled with the quality of the copies and think that these will be great presents for the family as they remember us each month next year.
By the way – If anyone is interested in ordering a few (dozen) calendars, contact Mary on Facebook or pup us an email. All profits will go to the San Clemente area children’s Christmas fund.
We know we live in a developing country, but people like Victor remind us always that all things are possible here where…
Life is good in Ecuador!
You both never cease to amaze me! I love the calendars. What are the prices? I wonder if I ordered one, if it could be sent to me on Ometepe Island? What a great way to raise funds. I can’t find any calendars anywhere here. Maybe they are in the larger cities, but not here. When we return to the states, I always buy a couple of calendars, yours are so special. I want one. Enjoy the visit with your family.
LikeLike
Thank you, Debbie. We were very happy with the way they turned out. We will probably be able to sell the calendars for $10.00 and, after the cost of the program is covered that will give us a good amount to contribute to the children’s Christmas fund. I do not know about getting one to Nic. We will see.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Congratulations! They are beatiful. I want two calendars.
Great job 🙂
LikeLike
Ethela – come by or call us the next time you are in San Clemente. The calendars we set up initially are in English with the first day of the week as Sunday. We can use the program to make Spanish month names with the first day of the week Monday like normal here in Ecuador.
Anyway – glad you liked the calendars.
LikeLike
As usual, you are creative and thoughtful abiut things for your families. Hope you have a great visit.
LikeLike
We plan to have a great time, but the first order of the day will be getting their luggage down from Quito. For some reason their luggage did not make the flight from Quito to Manta. They made it safely though and all is well.
LikeLike
So gorgeous and you and Mary are both talented.
LikeLike
Thank you JoAnn. It was a fun project and we will probably make more.
LikeLike
Sneak peak at a beautiful gift! Great idea – I love it!!
Missy Rowley Highland Granite
>
LikeLike
Hey, Missy! It was good hearing your voice last night. We have a packet of things for you and your family in the group. The calendar should be a good thing to help remind everyone of some of the beauty around us here in Ecuador. Love you!
LikeLike
Thanks for thinking of us with the calendars. Hope you guys have a good week.
LikeLike
I am sure we will have a great time. We hope you and Jaime like the calendars. Love you!
LikeLike
These are beautiful! Incredible souvenirs. What a great idea!
LikeLike
It was a great idea of Mary’s. What is a bit incredible is that we were able to get quality copies and binding like that in our little village here in Ecuador. Our friend, Victor went above and beyond getting these made and ready. We are so blessed to live here!
LikeLike
Those are amazing and it is incredible that you were able to have them so nicely done! I’m sure your family will appreciate them everyday in their homes. Hopefully, you can sell some more of the others to tourists when you have more festivals!
LikeLike
Thank you, Barbara. We hope the family will like them.
LikeLike
the calendars are lovely.. the ceibo and the maracuya flower are my favorites!
LikeLike
Thank you. We also put in one pictures of the parrot’s beak heliconia flower. We tried to get a variety of sunsets, plants, animals and general vistas. We believe the family will really like them.
LikeLike