A brief tour of two of the "many" Ecuadors

Saturday, October 25, 2014 — Ecuador is a geographically diverse country. That was only an abstract concept before this weekend. I had, since arriving two weeks ago, only seen some of the costal area. This mostly included the area immediately around Guayaquil. We also visited the beach.

There are — at a coarse level — three Ecuadors. Guayaquil sits in a low part of a costal plain. Beyond the plain, the Andean highlands soar into the sky. The eastern slope of the Ecuadorian Andes gives way to the Amazon basin. My time in Ecuador regrettably affords me no opportunity to see thee the Amazon side.

Ecuador consists of three principal geographic regions — a costal plain, the Andean highlands, and a corner of the Amazon basin. (Source:  worldofmpas.net)

My IBM CSC Ecuador team embarked on a weekend outing into the highlands. Cuenca — Ecuador's third city, after Guayaquil and Quito — was our primary destination.  (I'll talk about Cuenca in a later installment.) We made two side trips.  We stopped first at Ruinas Ingapirca, an important indigenous ruin. We also visited Cajas National Park. Radical changes in elevation was a key feature of our trip.

Our chartered bus allowed us to view en route a considerable amount of countryside. We began by transiting Ecuador's coastal plain. This relatively flat expanse bridges between the Pacific coast and the Andean foothills. The plain resides mostly below about 500 meters in elevation.

The coastal plain is home to much of Ecuador's agriculture. We saw vast expanses of banana plantations. These were interspersed with cocoa, rice, and a variety of other fruits. Ecuador presently enjoys robust growth in its agriculture output. Numerous new banana groves are evidence.

Ecuador's coastal plane provides much of the country's banana production.

Our introduction to the Andean foothills was obscured by cloud cover of the overcast morning. We witnessed a spectral unveiling as we climbed through about 1,500 m. The mountains gradually revealed themselves spectacularly. Once above 2,000 m, we enjoyed an unobstructed view of the peaks ahead of us.

The terrain almost could have been the Colorado Rockies of my youth. The mountainsides were rugged. We peered down into plunging canyons. The vegetation was however radically different. These plants of the equator know no changes in the season. They live in a perpetual Spring.

The Andean foothills were masked by fog when we first climbed into them.

We reached our first stop — the Ruinas Ingapirca — at around 3,100 m (10,000 ft) in elevation. This was a spiritually significant place for two pre-Colombian civilizations that chose to live at high elevations. The Cañaris occupied the site during about 500–1400 AD. They were supplanted by the Incas, who reined there until completion of the Spanish Conquest in about 1572 AD.

Las Ruinas Ingapirca demonstrate the Cañaris' surprisingly sophisticated grasp of astronomy. The geometry of the site is aligned to the sun's transit between its Summer and Winter solstices. The Cañaris — and their Incan successors at Ingapirca — were acutely aware of the celestial cycles. 

Our tour guide, apparently of indigenous extraction, showed us a crude Cañari sextant. It consisted a large rock with holes into which water was poured. Its users observed stars' reflections in these little pools of water to divine the seasons and other things that mattered to them.

The active period of the Ruinas Ingapirca spans both the Cañari and Incan periods in South America.

Ingapirca compares modestly to the larger and more prominent Machu Picchu. It provides however a glimpse into Cañari culture. In this regard, it is distinctly Ecuadorian.

Member's of IBM's Ecuador CSC Team examine the interior of a residence built to resemble those used by the Incans.

We visited the following day one of Ecuador's natural wonders. Cajas National Park sits on the South American continental divide. This is the path along the top of the mountains that separates the continent into two drainages. Water on the West side ultimate drains into the Pacific. The East side drains into the Atlantic.

Cajas reminds me of Rocky Mountain National Park, near which I passed much of my youth. Both sit mostly above timber line. This is the altitude above which trees and other large plants can no longer survive. Timber line in the Colorado Rockies occurs at an altitude of about 10,000 ft (3,086 m). The visitors' center in Cajas sits at 13,539 ft (4,180 m).

The Cajas National Park sits astride the South American continental divide.

A diverse variety of other plants do survive in this rarified atmosphere. These include specially adapted grasses, lichens, and mosses. Their Colorado "cousins" are quite delicate. They grow slowly. These Andean plants may be slightly more robust, unconstrained by very short growing seasons.

The flora in Cajas National Park consists of a variety of grasses, mosses, and lichens. 

My brief Andean visit elicited both nostalgia from a mountain childhood, and the excitement of a place that is new and exotic. Americans have a saying, "You can take the boy out of the mountains, but not the mountains out of the boy." There still are some mountains left in me. I find however that I am no longer adapted to higher altitudes.

The Andean environment is however very different however from the Colorado Rockies. The climate is severe enough to claim human lives. The site we visited — Las Tres Cruces — contains evidence in the form of three memorials. The Ecuadorian Andes, so near to the Equator, enjoy a perpetual Spring, by standards of the North American Rockies. That imbues them with a sense of strangeness and wonder.

A Trip to the Beach — Building Foundations for Business Relationships

Saturday, October 18, 2014 — IBM's Corporate Service Corps (CSC) program accomplishes corporate philanthropy through donating its employees' labor to help with grass-roots projects in developing locales. This approach however yields benefits that extend far beyond attainment of goals for corporate social responsibility (CSR). It casts employees into intensively multi-cultural settings. My CSC team includes 15 IBMers from 11 different nations.

First-hand experience in dealing with clients from different cultures represents a key dimension. Much of the world approaches business differently than Europe and North America. Characterizing the unique ways in which different cultures approach business and other relationships is a topic of serious research (e.g., McFarlin). Most MBA programs now contain courses in international organizational behavior.

Our project with Edúcate gives us first-hand experience in a key aspect of this. North American and Western European business cultures emphasize formally and comprehensively defining roles and responsibilities at outset of a business relationship. Many other cultures emphasize first establishing a sound interpersonal relationship. The details work themselves out if the partners first understand and trust each other.

E.dúcate Fundación Directora Patricia Hernández de Sosa provided members of the Ecuador CSC Team with a personal demonstration of this principle. Teammates Sophie Asmus, Aideen Dunne, and I were Dra Hernández' guests at her beach house. We accompanied her to Manglaralto, on Ecuador's Pacific Coast. Manglaralto is a comfortable stroll along the beach from Montañita, one of South America's "surf meccas."

Manglaralto and Montañita are located on the Ecuador's Pacific Cost, between the two Westernmost points on the South American continent.

Manglaralto — literally translated as "mangrove" — contains many beach homes for Guayaquileños, residents of Guayaquil. The local economy is based mostly on tourism and on the fishing industry. Tourist guides suggest it as a quiet refuge from the more-frenetic atmosphere of Montañita, the beach resort-town immediately to the North.

The Hotel Manglaralto is a local landmark along the stretch of coast we visited.

Manglaralto — like many costal communities — faces a threat from teach erosion.  The home of our hostess was originally part of the second row of homes from the surf. The sea claimed the first row. A stone seawall now stands guard between he surf and the houses.

A stone seawall stands as a barrier between Manglaralto and the eroding beach.

Tourism and fishing are the two leading local industries. Fresh seafood is an inescapable part of the diet here. Patricia treated us to a sublime ceviche dish. It was based on an old family recipe. 

The stretch of Ecuador's coast between Salinas and San Lorenzo supports a robust fishing industry.

The sand along the shore between Manglaralto and Montañita is rich with life. Sand crabs scamper on the surface, plunging into their burrows as we approach within five or so meters. Sea snails' shells protrude from the sand like studs.

Montañita — literally "little mountain" — exudes a colorful, tropically rustic ambiance. Brightly colored umbrellas occupy the front line facing the surf. Vendors peddle everything from fresh-cut coconut drinks to local artesianal jewelry to ice cream. 

Restaurant/bars provide the backstop for the beach scene. Many of these establishments include hostels on their upper levels. These abodes appear perfect for surfers seeking to "rough it", immersing themselves in the austere setting. More comfortable accommodations appear farther inland. The architecture particularly colorful one suggests an abstract-modernist interpretation of Saint Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.

Clean, sandy beaches are one of the key assets Ecuador leverages in its quest to become a world-recognized tourist destination.

Our time in Maglaralta proved eminently relaxing. There was time during the mornings read while relaxing on a hammock strung from the porch's rafters. Each of us successfully resisted any temptation to discuss work, although the challenges of our project were percolating in the back of all of our minds. This is the essence relationship building, the foundation of business in many parts of the world. 

With colleagues Sophie Asmus and Aideen Dunne from the IBM CSC team in the town of Montañita.

Artisanal Jewelry from Cocoa Seeds

Saturday, October 18, 2014 — Our E.dúcate hostess treated us this weekend to a visit to the shop of a local artisan.  Herlinda Gonzales' shop — located near the Ecuadorian beach resort of Mangaralto — sits in a rural neighborhood that neither Google's nor Apple's mapping applications recognize. 

Near the beach towns of Manglaralto and Montañita, the Artisanal shop was "off the map", as far as Apple's and Google's map locations are concerned.

The Gonzalez' neighborhood consists of many such shops. Many are dual-purpose dwellings. The workshop sits on the ground floor, and living spaces upstairs. The tropical climate does not require them to be heavily insulated, or completely closed in.

The Gonzalez' shop is located in a rural neighborhood containing other shops.

The Gonzalez' operation is completely organic. They receive raw materials from the rainforest. Their raw stock consists mostly of seeds. They add silver wire stock, elastic, and other connecting materials. The entire process occurs in their workshop.

They perform their work using common power tools.  These include grinders, sanders, and drills. These tools break down the the raw materials — tropical plant seeds — into pieces of the size and shape of their finished products.  They then polish the pieces to a high-gloss finish.  Finally, they paint and assemble them.

Herlinda Gonzalez and her husband use common wood-shop power tools to produce finished jewelry from raw, rain-forest products.

Tagua nuts are one of their main products. Tagua nuts are rock-hard. Each is about the size of a walnut. The "raw" tagua nuts dry out in the sun for eight months before they are ready for use. Once properly aged, the Gonzales' remove their outer shells. The inner nut has a creamy color, and the texture and shape of an animal brain.

Seeds from Tagua plams dry in the sun for eight months before they are ready to become jewelry.

Tagua trees are "cousins" to cocoa treas. The Gonzalez' work with cocoa nuts when available. Having other obvious uses, cocoa nuts are often unavailable.

The Gonzalez cut the round nuts mostly into flat shapes. The highly polished pieces are painted with bright colors. After polishing, the finished products shine with a high gloss.

A finished bracelet manufactured from Tagua seeds.

Guaya oro — Guayan gold — is one of the other raw materials. These nuts are about the size of a peanut. They become shiny, bright-colored beads for necklaces and earrings. 

Hermanas de pendientes — CSC colleagues Aideen Dunne and Sophie Asmus show off freshly made earrings from "Guay Oro" seeds.

A Glimpse into Guayaquil's Low-Cost Private Schools

October 16, 2014 — Our Edúcate client Doctora Particia Hernandez de Soza's agenda for us includes exposing us to as much of a span of Guayaquil's socioeconomic strata as possible. We are of course limited in time. Broadening participants' perspectives is one of IBM Corporate Service Corps' key objectives. 

What businesses do in their home markets cannot necessarily always be "forklifted" into another country. This was a recurring theme during business school classes I attended. eBay's venture into China remains particularly clear in my mind. Moving from familiar environments into unfamiliar ones requires us to reassess many of our previously safe assumptions.

Thursday's visit to Escuela Particular Mixta (EPM) Cab I Patricio Gonzalez provided just such an experience. Escual Particulares Puplaries (EPPs) — such as EPM Gonzalez — are low-cost private schools. They provide parents with alternatives to public schools. They in some ways resemble parochial schools, with which we in the United States are familiar. Except they are not run by the church.

Escuela Particular Mixta Cab I Patricio Gonzalez is a low-cost, private elementary school located in Guayaquil's outer suburbs.

EPM Gonzalez is located in the outer suburbs of Guayaquil. It sits in a poorer neighborhood of Guayaquil. The roads are not paved. The homes lack stylish amenities and finely manicured lawns. This neighborhood represents the "have nots" side of the digital divide.

Guyaquil's socioeconomic distribution at the moment roughly mirrors that in the U.S. U.S. cities' wealth is generally concentrated in their suburbs — although shifts may be underway. Guayaquil's wealth has been concentrated in the center. That may also be changing, as the affluent migrate to gated suburban communities.

EPM Gonzalez exemplifies the austere end of Edúcate's operating spectrum. The foundation overcame the difficulties of this environment to deploy nine working computers into EPM Gonzalez' computer lab. They also prepared the room, including painting it and providing furniture. These computers were donated by commercial firms and private individuals. This is just one of 65 EPP schools that Edúcate supports in this part of Guayaquil. They support about 250 EPPs overall in Guayaquil.

Third-grade EPM Gonzalez students complete math exercises using computers in the laboratory provided through Edúcate's Mas Tecnolgía program.

Roberto, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) specialist supporting EPM Gonzalez, visits the school about twice per month. He drives a rugged, four-wheel-drive truck over rough, unpaved roads to make support calls on about four schools per day.

These nine computers shared are shared by all students in a group.  We observed a group of 24 fourth-graders participating in a math class. Each student takes his or her turn at the computer. They work on "computer theory" when not using the computer for math exercises. 

That means that each student's actual hands-on computer time is limited to about 30 minutes per week. This includes fifteen minutes each for for sessions in Math and Spanish. This is in addition to their "computer theory" workbooks.  

Is this enough to bridge the digital divide? One hopes it gives these students a fighting chance to cross it. Directora Letty Maritiza Vera Mendoza — principal for EPM Gonzalez — raves about her young charges' enthusiasm and motivation for using computers in the laboratory. This may not be enough for them to become "digital natives," a term applied to developed-country youths who are continuously exposed to IT from early childhood. EPM Gonzalez students at least become well-prepared digital immigrants.

EPM Gonzalez' 350 students — grades kindergarten through sixth grade — each get two sessions per week in the Edúcate-provided Apendijaze Personalizado Complementario y Interconectado (APCI) computer lab.

EPM Gonzalez students become familiarized with mainstream IT — presented by "computer theory" workbooks — in addition to using Edúcate's APCI learning program.

Directora Mendoza has been with EMP Gonzalez since its founding, thirteen years ago. The school is clearly a not-for-profit "enterprise." It appears to operate as much as a mission as a business. Its income comes from tuition payments made by the parents who can afford it. The children of many who cannot find becas — scholarships.

PPM Gonzalez teachers take turns in recording hand-written entries in the school's journal.

Directora Mendoza emphasizes the importance of creating a happy, secure environment within which for children to learn and grow. Students are taught ethics based on religious faith and patriotism.  

The school is named for a disabled veteran from the "Cenepa War." This was a brief conflict between Peru and Ecuador during early 1995. The school's name honors the sacrifice of a limb by Cab I Patricio Gonzalez during that conflict. It recognizes him in part through borrowing military ethos including loyalty, honor, and patriotism.

EPM Gonzalez' students seemed unaware of their economically disadvantaged circumstances. They produced a noise level that makes one want hearing protection. The nurturing environment insulates them from the difficult austerities of their day-to-day lives outside of school. EPM Gonzalez students share much in common with students of their age everywhere. They are curious, energetic, and enthusiastic. 

Aideen Dunne, member of IBM's CSC team for the Edúcate project, talks with PPM Gonzalez students.

When we emerged from Directora Mendoza's office to depart the school, students were lined up in a formation. As we walked by, I at first felt absurdly like a military officer reviewing troops. My reflex was to begin shaking a few of their hands. I suddenly discovered what my life would have been like had I gone into politics. Each of the students broke formation in order to shake each of our hands. I cannot recall a similarly warm welcome from people I had not previously known.

A group shot with PPM Gonzalez students and members of IBM's CSC team for the Edúcate project.  

A Visit to a Guayaquil High School

Tuesday, October 15, 2015 — In-the-field research is a key part of any consulting project.  This applies to the IBM's Corporate Service Corps projects. Consultants need direct evidence about factors that may be contributing to clients' challenges.

Our research took us yesterday to Colegio Nacional Rita Lecumberri. Located in the heart of Guayaquil, the colegio — high school — serves more than 2,000 students.  High school includes the eighth through thirteenth years of Ecuadorian students' basic education. This corresponds to grades seven through twelve in the U.S. system. Rita Lecumberri was originally an all-girls' school. Its enrollment now includes boys.

Colegio Nacional Rita Lecumberri is an urban high school in Guayaquil serving 2000 students, mostly from lower middle-class families.

Well controlled regimentation is one's first impression upon entering the school.  Physical access to the building is tightly controlled. Students wear uniforms. Those participating in physical education classes — occurring in the school's central courtyard — begin and end in military-style formations.

Students at Rita Lecumberri stand in formation to begin their physical education.

Seeing Rita Lecumberri's Information and Computer Technology (ICT) lab in action was the primary purpose of our field trip. We enjoyed a brief interview with the principal, a thirty-year educator in Guayaquil. We visited a mathematics class for students in their final "senior" year. 

Rita Lecumberri students use the APCI application during their "senior" mathematics class.

Our presence — and that of a production crew filming a documentary on technology and innovation in education — no doubt provided a disruption to the class' routine. The principal and teacher were gracious hosts. The students — particularly those with English skills — interacted with us enthusiastically.

The ICT lab only provides a portion of the students' instruction in Mathematics and Spanish language. Teachers deliver much of the instruction via traditional means. This includes classroom lectures, whiteboards, and textbooks. Activities in the ICT lab reinforce the "traditional" instruction. They also indicate how well students grasp instruction delivered by more traditional means.

A Rita Lecumberri student completes a mathematics exercise in the Information and Computer Technology (ICT) lab.

The ICT lab is shared by all grades in the school. There are 80 computers in two labs. Each of the 2,000 gets two to three one-hour sessions per week in the lab. One session is for math and one for language.

The teacher gave us lots of time to interact with the students. The principal told us during the interview afterwards that, that was part of the plan. She wants her charges to be exposed to people of different backgrounds. 

Research for our project and practice in speaking and listening to Spanish were the two primary benefits we got from the visit. We got to see first-hand how Edúcate's services work in a real-life classroom environment. Student's unsurprisingly prefer the interactive Apendijaze Personalizado Complementario y Interconectado (APCI) learning tool to traditional lectures and books.

We also sought information about the penetration of ICT into students' homes and lives outside of school.  Nearly all students in this sample of lower middle-income families have computers and internet in their homes. The Rita Lecumberri principal told us that parents now consider computers and internet a necessity.

Sophie Asmus, IBM CSC project teammate for the Edúcate project, talks to Rita Lecumberri students in the computer lab.

We were surprise to find smart-phone penetration as high as it was. Google's "Our Mobile Planet" study for 2013 provides no explicit information about smart-phone penetration for Ecuador or any of its neighbors. We use per-capita GDP as a proxy. Ecuador's per-capita GDP is about $11,000.  This puts it in the neighborhood of China ($11,800) and Indonesia ($9,400).

Those two countries' smart-phone penetration was 47% and 14%, respectively. This range doesn't suggest that GDP is a good predictor.  Our survey of the class found that about 40% of the students had smartphones. This puts Ecuador at the high range for its country.

Finally, we found the class to be intelligent and engaging. A minority of its members had strong conversational English skills.  Nonetheless, I was able to stumble through some interesting conversation. One group of girls and I discussed how public education in the U.S. is financed. 

E.dúacte, our Guayaquil client

October 13-14, 2014 — Our IBM Corporate Service Corps (CSC) mission focuses on our client Fundación E.dúcate. We will work with them four four weeks. Guayaquil Edúcate is a non-profit organization focused on helping disadvantaged youths in Ecuador. The foundation administers currently administers two major "clusters" of programs:

• Mas Tecnología (more technology) provides education technology infrastructure and applications to public high schools (colegios fiscales), public elementary schools (escuelas fiscales), and low-cost private elementary schools (particulares populares escueles); and
• Jovenes Productivos delivers entry-level job skills and placement training for disadvantaged youths previously unable to qualify for employment through formal education.

IBM's CSC Team for Edúcate includes Sophi Asmus (Germany), Aideen Dunne (Ireland), and I. Our primary Edúcate hosts are Patricia Hernandez de Sosa and Johanna Meza. We spend our days in Edúcate's offices, located in the Urdesa neighborhood of Guayaquil.

The core Edúcate team for IBM Corporate includes Sophies Asmus (Germany), Aideen Dunne (Ireland), and I. We work directly with Doctora Patricia Hernandez de Sosa, Presidente Ejecutiva Fundación Edúcate and Johana 

Edúcate's staff consists of about thirty-five full-time employees. The combine their skills in project management, education-technology development, technology management, and fundraising to improve opportunities for young people growing up under remarkably challenging circumstances. Edúcate's efforts have touched the lives of thousands.

Doctora Particia Hernandez de Soza at a recent meeting with Guayaquil civic leaders working to raise awareness of the needs of Guayaquil youth and Edúcate's role in filling them.

Edúcate provides a full lifecycle of education-technology delivery and management to hundreds of Guayaquil skills. They deliver and support Information and Communications Technology (ICT) equipment both purchased by La Municipilidad de Guayaquil and donated by corporations and individuals. Edúcate's builds computer laboratories shared by students who do not have technology at home.

Edúcate raises funds through donations from a broad variety of sources.  The sign reads, "A donation is one of the best teachers of solidarity that exists."

Edúcate represents a case study in low-cost innovation in emerging markets.  The foundation's Mas Tecnología includes a formative assessment tool.  A formative assessment tool gives teachers day-by-day feedback about how students' learning progress. This is significant because formative assessment tools are not yet all that common in education technology environments within the U.S. and other developed countries. 

Apendijaze Personalizado Complementario y Interconectado (APCI) is Edúcate's solution — It was developed specifically for Ecuador. It is highly interactive and enjoyable for students to use.  Guayaquil teachers up-to-the minute reports of how students are progressing. The tool currently covers mathematics and Spanish language for all years of elementary and high school.  Student's complete animated, interactive exercises to demonstrate their progress towards meeting Ecuador's national education standards.

Edúcate developed APCI, a formative assessment tool for Ecuadorian primary and secondary education.

Edúcate fills a vital role in Guayaquil's education environment. It fills a key gap that Ecuador's public sector is unprepared to address. Through 2010 it had delivered nearly 3000 Information and Communications Technology (ICT) labs to hundreds of high schools. We estimate that more than 120,000 individual students have been touched by this effort.

A couple of the students impacted by Edúcate's efforts.  The sign reads, "We give thanks to the Municipality of Guayaquil for working about the education of Guayaquil girls and for connecting them to the world."

First Impressions of Guayaquil

October 11-12, 2014 — Guayaquil's population is about 2.3 million.  Locals attribute 4 million to the greater metropolitan area.  This accounts for about one fourth of Ecuador's total population of ≲16 million.

The city is located near Ecuador's Pacific Coast. A major seaport, it is located on the bank of the Rio Guayas river.  This river is a tidal river. Although its flow is generally seaward, the direction varies with the semidiurnal tidal cycle. The river flows inward during the flood tide. The river waters are also brackish.

Guayaquil is located on the bank of the Rio Guaya, flowing from Ecuador's coastal lowlands into the Pacific river.

Guayaquileños — those who live here — talk about their "Everglades." Mangrove swamps sit along the banks of the Rio Guaya. The city — as with its U.S. Florida "namesake" — fights to conserve the mangroves. They have been destroyed for development and for shrimp farming. 

Guayaquil's mangrove swamps support a variety of aquatic life.

Conservation efforts are also important to Guayaquil's economic health. The city serves as one of the largest sea ports along northern South America's Pacific Coast. Silt accumulation threatens the navigability of the channels into the port. Deep-draft vessels are currently restricted to entry and exit during hight tide.

Guayaquil is in the Southern hemisphere at about two degrees south Latitude. The weather does not change all that much during the year.  Locals talk about a rainy season and a dry season.  We are currently in the dry season.  Our daily temperatures have been in the low to mid 80s.

We experience daily high temperatures in the low- to mid-80s Fahrenheit. 

Guayaquil also does not experience significant changes to its length of day. The longest day of the year — at the December solstice — has only about 30 minutes more daylight than at the equinox. That is, there are about 12½ days of daylight.  Washington, DC, USA, my home, experiences about 15 hours of total daylight at its solstice.

Guayaquil is one of the oldest cities in the Americas. It was founded in 1538.  The region sought to remain an independent state during Northern South America's struggle for Independence from Spain. It ultimately became part of the unified Gran Colombia.

La Iglesia de la Cerra Santa Ana is located on Las Peñas, Guayaquil's historical center.

Gran Colombia ultimately devolved into three distinct nations — Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. The three countries' national flags contain the same three tricolors.  The flag of Guayaquil contains colors resembling those of Argentina. This may be due to Jose San Martin's involvement in mediating Guayaquil's unity with Ecuador.

A still-operating lighthouse sits atop Cerra Santa Ana.

Much economic inequality exists in Guayaquil, as with many other developing countries. Luxury condominiums constructed with edgy architecture appear in desirable waterfront locations. Much more modest dwellings exist within a short distance.

The proximity of modern luxury residences to more-modest abodes exemplifies economic inequality in Guayaquil.

Guayaquil maintains clean, attractive public spaces. The Malecón is the best example. This three-kilometer walkway serves as a popular gathering place on weekends and holidays. I arrived on the weekend commemorating National independence. The Malecón was packed.

On the Malecón, Guayaguil's public waterfront park. 

Traveling to Guayaquio

October 10, 2014 — I begin this project from the domestic departure terminal in Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, Ecuador. I await the delayed departure of the final leg of an all-day journey to Guayaquil, Ecuador.  I plan to spend four weeks in Guayaquil.

My Spanish skills will be tested this afternoon. None of the announcements are repeated in English. A regional airline will take me to my destination. I had better listen carefully.

Work brings me down here. My employer IBM sends me down here as part of a corporate philanthropic program. The company donates employee labor as an alternative to mailing checks. Collaborate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to projects that serve local needs and align with the company’s core competencies and values.

I come to Guayaquil as a member of a team of fifteen fellow employees. We represent ten different nations.  This includes five Asian countries, four European, and the U.S.

This will be my most complete immersion in a foreign culture.  It also represents the longest time I have spent in a single country outside of the U.S.  We will stay in a local hotel, outside of the business district. It is a local hotel.  This will be genuine immersion.