Extending the finish line

It has been quite some time since I’ve posted an update. I’ve made some big changes in my life, well, big decisions that will lead to big changes. I will soon end my Peace Corps service on April 20^th. As volunteers we are required to serve two years in our host country. Late last year I began toying with the idea of staying. Not in my community but applying for a “Peace Corps Volunteer Leader” position in Quito. This entails working primarily for the Natural Resource Conservation Program directly with my program manager. I was intrigued by this position mostly because it would be a great experience living and working in the big capital city of Quito working directly with my program manager. I could learn a lot. It will also be a great opportunity for me to make additional connections for a future career. I went home for Christmas, mulled it over in my head and with my awesome parents who want nothing more than for me to be happy and live up to my full potential. I made the decision to apply for the position and fortunately I GOT IT! I will be living and working in Quito as a PCV Leader for the Natural Resource Program for another year. Another year in Ecuador. And yes, it does sound a bit crazy considering there were several points during my service when I couldn’t wait to leave and there were some points in which I wish I’d never came but now, I’m very happy in Ecuador and I’m very much looking forward to making a big change from the campo in the coast to the metropolitan city in the mountains.

These past few months I’ve been traveling a lot. Like… A LOT. Between workshops, training sessions, medical sessions, meetings and technical exchanges I’ve had my plate full. When I have been in my site I’ve been primarily working with the women’s group getting them set up to the best of my ability for the initial stage of opening their business. It’s exciting times and I feel very confident and proud of the women. It hasn’t been easy for anyone involved and we’ve learned quite a bit during the process all of which will be beneficial for the future. I’ve established all the connections I can for them and all I can do is hope that they continue on the track they’re on. It’s not in my nature to hold people’s hands for extended periods of time so they’re going to have to take the initiative from here on out, which I think they will.

This past month I’ve said ‘good-bye’ to a few of the volunteers I consider to be good friends. It’s almost like high school. You hope to see them again but we all know the likelihood is not in our favor. Regardless, this awesome website called “Facebook” has proven to be a useful communication tool. If you haven’t tried it yet go to www.facebook.com. It will change your life.

I recently celebrated my fourth Semana Santa (Holy Week) here in Ecuador. This holiday starts on Thursday and ends on Easter Sunday. As a catholic nation most people celebrate the religious part of this holiday on Good Friday and Sunday is for church. A majority of Ecuadorians use this holiday to spend with their family. This usually involves copious amounts of latin music, beer and food. Many people use this time off from work and school as an excuse to go to the beach. An exodus of Ecuadorians make their way to various beach towns and cities fighting the crowds and cramming into buses. As a gringa I steer clear of the beach. I’ve always used this time to go in the opposite direction like the sierra or jungle. This year I went to the province Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas with two friends. It has been on my bucket list to experience the Tsachila culture. Originally from the highlands they made their way down to the inner coast of Ecuador changing some of their customs. They are most known for their brightly colored hair shaped into a ‘hat’ using the bright orange dye surrounding the achiote seeds (annatto seeds). They still live in a traditional manner as many indigenous cultures in Ecuador do. Of course you will still find modern conveniences in their homes they still dress in traditional clothes, eat traditional foods and live, for the most part, in a traditional manner. The community we visited has opened themselves up to tourists. The mostly receive Ecuadorian tourists but the occasional gringo will make his way up there. They gave us demonstrations of coloring their hair, hunting, making ‘medicines’, music, dance and so on. While it was fascinating it did indeed have a ‘touristy’ feel which took away from the experience. My friends and I also got ‘gringoed’ horribly (over charged because we’re white) which left a bad taste in my mouth but for the most part I’m very glad I went and finally got to learn first-hand about the culture.

Several weeks back I was asked to make a presentation about my work in Ecuador to present to the Ambassador for the US here in Ecuador. He’s new after the previous ambassador was deemed persona non grata after a wikileaks scandal. The current Ambassador, Adam Namm, was incredibly down to earth and pleasant. It was not a stressful experience and all of us 7 volunteers enjoyed the experience talking about our work, getting his feedback and conversing with him and the consulates who joined him. It was a memorable experience no doubt.

Well, I’m in the home stretch. I’m packing my stuff up, saying my ‘good-byes’ and preparing to go home to visit for a month (thanks Peace Corps!). I’m looking forward to coming back and starting a whole new experience here in Ecuador.

Meeting Ambassador Adam Namm

Tsachila weaving

Grandpa and granddaughters

Tsachila shaman accoutrements

Sarah and I

Taking the achiote seeds out of the pods

Rubbing off the dye around the seeds

Caught red handed

Making music

Mirrored necklaces

Playing the marimba

Our guide

The guide showing off his hunting skills

Preparing the spear

explaining the traditional medicines

a gringo gets Tsachila-d

Using the ‘magic fruit’ to paint our skin

gringas and the guide

Dancing with palm fronds

helping take out the seeds

Evergreen and I

Dancing

Dancing feet

‘Cleasing stall’ to clean impurities with smoke and medicines

Children dancing

sweeping the entrace to the dance

lining up for the dance

hiding under the cape

hiding under the cape

getting his hair painted

getting his hair painted

dad painting his son’s hair

dancing children

Artesania for sale

Margaritta in Cuenca

The women recieve a special recogintion

Leaves are tasty

waterfall of churute

monkey boy

playing in the water

jungle boy

virginia getting her back massaged

me and the best waterfall in Churute

a pre-dip before the hike to the waterfall

rice field of Churute

a beautiful overcast day in Churute

White herons

Thank you AGUMCH! For everything!

Celebrating International Women’s Day

Celebrating International Women’s Day with a special breakfast

Meeting Ambassador Adam Namm

Tsachila weaving

Grandpa and granddaughters

Tsachila shaman accoutrements

Sarah and I

Taking the achiote seeds out of the pods

Rubbing off the dye around the seeds

Caught red handed

Making music

Mirrored necklaces

Playing the marimba

Our guide

The guide showing off his hunting skills

Preparing the spear

explaining the traditional medicines

a gringo gets Tsachila-d

Using the ‘magic fruit’ to paint our skin

gringas and the guide

Dancing with palm fronds

helping take out the seeds

Evergreen and I

Dancing

Dancing feet

‘Cleasing stall’ to clean impurities with smoke and medicines

Children dancing

sweeping the entrace to the dance

lining up for the dance

hiding under the cape

hiding under the cape

getting his hair painted

getting his hair painted

dad painting his son’s hair

dancing children

Artesania for sale

Margaritta in Cuenca

The women recieve a special recogintion

Leaves are tasty

waterfall of churute

monkey boy

playing in the water

jungle boy

virginia getting her back massaged

me and the best waterfall in Churute

a pre-dip before the hike to the waterfall

rice field of Churute

a beautiful overcast day in Churute

White herons

Thank you AGUMCH! For everything!

Celebrating International Women’s Day

Celebrating International Women’s Day with a special breakfast

Carnaval: Enjoying Life!

After my last non-detailed post I figured I should give a bit more info in regard to what’s happening on this side of the world.

Since leaving my original community and host family things have changed quite a bit. I live near my original community in a giant house with another volunteer. I feel like I did when I first moved out of my parent’s home. I answer to no one! On the other hand, I do miss living with my host family.  Their home was peaceful, I miss the dogs and chickens, I miss my host mom asking me several times a week why I don’t put sugar in my coffee, I miss sleeping on a real bed, and I miss wifi. I also feel like I’ve become disconnected. Don’t get me wrong, living with an English-speaking person whom I can have real conversations with is awesome but I feel more like an outsider living in my gringa bungalow while my community members are out and about doing Ecuadorian things. It also doesn’t help that school is out so I have no more classes to give and the women are finding it difficult to have periodic meetings so this has decreased my productivity and increased my desire to spend copious amounts of time preparing food dishes, finding reasons to go into town and sleeping in (sounds like vacation).

Fortunately  I’ve had to do lots of traveling for various reasons. Last week I went to Quito for my annual medical check-up. This one, being for “Close of Service” was quite thorough. Several bodily excrement samples had to be given for various tests. Miraculously, and I do mean miraculously I don’t have parasites. I find that incredibly hard to believe given the fact that I don’t necessarily take many precautions to avoid getting them. Street food is a staple and water isn’t boiled as often as it should be before I use it. Regardless I’m in good health! During my trip to Quito which involved three days I spent time getting to know Quito better and enjoying a last few drinks with some of my fellow volunteers. One evening we dined on Llapingachos (a personal favorite) and then made our way to the Guapulo District of Quito. This area consists of a zig zag road making its way down a steep mountain. One particular area has several hipster bars that sell hot Canelazos. We found a table on a balcony that over looked a very foggy Quito where only halos of lights were visible. We stayed warm with the outdoor space heaters, canelazos and conversations. It was a magical experience.

After my medical examinations were complete I made my way up north to visit my friend in the small community Morochos. She welcomed me with homemade lasagna and we caught up with our personal lives. The following day I made a dangerous trip to Otavalo in search of cheap jeans. It proved to still be dangerous (dangerous on my pocket book) because I was lured into purchasing three sets of earrings. I’m sick. I have a horrible earring purchasing disease. That evening we traveled to the town Peguche to enjoy a mini concert of a variety of South American traditional musical bands. Each band played their region’s songs with local beats and local dancers. It was beautiful and interesting to be able to notice even the slight differences. It helped having a couple of Ecuadorian indigenous boys with us to inform us where the bands were from. We ended the night dancing which mostly involves stomping in a concentric circle with up to 30 other people. I was dragged into the middle a couple of times by an incredibly inebriated young man. I did my best to hold my own by attempting to dance ‘traditional’ (very modestly with very little booty shaking.)

The following day we relaxed and traveled into town to my friend’s boyfriend’s home. We began to braid each other’s hair and put on make-up and then made our way to his grandparent’s home. There we were dressed up in traditional Anacos the traditional Andean Kichwa skirt, shirt, belt, shoes, and any other pertinent accessories. They’re very beautiful but not the most comfortable. These belts must be pulled on nice and tight to prevent the folded cloth making up the skirts from falling off. After being dressed, taking the obligatory photos and drinking hot colada with bread we traveled again to Peguche for the big show. It being the weekend before Carnaval this concert attracted everyone from the nearby towns and cities beckoning them to come dressed in their Sunday best (it really was on a Sunday) ready to drink and dance. Unfortunately it was heavily raining which forced everyone to get under the large roof making very little breathing room. We made ourselves a small bubble and when dancing was in order our nearby bystanders pushed away the plastic chairs to make just enough room to dance in a very tight circle. Classy as we ladies are we brought Clos Wine in recycled soda bottles to join in on the festivities while maintaining our budget. We finagled our way into the middle of the concert crowd and ‘danced’ which involved very little movement as we made our way into a circle. When the direction was changed elbows became lethal weapons. We decided to get some air and some food which led us to leaving. It felt as if we’d been at the indigenous concert for only 30 minutes but it was early morning and we had no doubt been there for hours. I slept beautifully that night.

The next morning, still not well rested we met up with another volunteer and his host family from Tumbaco to travel to the town Chota. This Afro-ecuadorian town nestled in a beautiful desert-like portion of northern Ecuador is a famous Carnaval destination. Famous for their bomba, fritada and extreme carnival activities drones of Ecuadorians make their way to this small town if only just for one day. When we arrived I got out of our van and took a gander at the rushing river that was providing ammo for the Ecuadorians ‘playing’ Carnaval. I was initiated into the festivities with two buckets full of water dumped on me. Fortunately Chota is a warm place. From there we used spray foam and paint as pay back. My friend and I were determined to get in on the fun knowing that we were obvious targets being gringas. We armed ourselves with cheap face paint that we dumped into our hands and smeared the bright colors on the faces of our fellow Carnival ‘players’. If someone was clean, even better! We saw a large group of boys armed with not just paint, water and foam spray but also confetti and glitter. As I said we were determined to get dirty so we attacked the young men. Four days later and I still have glitter in my scalp. It was worth it! We stopped playing and went to lunch down the road and as we made our way back we realized returning to the Carnaval compound was not an option. Traffic was horrific and we made the decision to go back home. Our driver took a short cut which took us through the mountains on an old road. The Andes gifted us a beautiful view the whole way, rainbow and all.

This year’s Carnaval was one for the books. I got to experience Carnaval in an Indigenous way and got to truly ‘play’ Carnaval. The best part was that I got to celebrate it with good company as well.

 

 

 

It has been quite a long time since I’ve posted a new blog. As I’m sure no one wants almost two months worth of information about my life I’ll just give little anecdotes of the highlights:

I went home for Christmas. It was AMAZING!!!

I was kicked out of my host family’s home because they needed my room for visiting family. They gave me four days to find a new place. Fortunately I have a very nice friend who is letting me crash at her place.

The parents and in-laws of the volunteer near me visited the Reserve and I was able to give them a tour of the reserve with the local guide. We saw an exuberant amount of birds, particularly the roseate spoonbills. It was New Year’s Eve and I got to witness a very old coastal tradition where someone uses a bunch of weeds called “broom” to sweep away the bad spirits and bring in good luck for the new year.

I spent New Year’s Eve with one of the ladies I work with from the group. We ate fancy turkey, went to a church service and played with sparklers until two in the morning.

New Year’s Day I went to the family of her husband in a nearby town and we ate Fritada (pork dish) and lazed around all day. I had lots of photos but unfortunately I let a girl use my camera to take photos and she deleted all of them…

I lost my rat coin purse.

I ate a fancy Argentinean pasta dish with a very good bottle of wine with one of my PCV friends. Thanks to her and her uncle! We toasted to him several times.

I marked off a thing on my Ecuadorian bucket list: Train to Nariz del Diablo. It was fun, beautiful and interesting but I can tell you now the rock formation looks nothing like a nose.

I spent the night in Riobamba with several friends and we ate Llapingauchos and jugos made with ice from Chimborazo. It was a perfect send off.

After Llapingauchos in Riobamba we went to Quito and had a late lunch of legit burritos and maracuyá margaritas. We finished it off with micro-brewed beer. I heart Quito.

I attended our Close of Service Conference in which we learn about what we need to do to finish up our service. It was a bit sad knowing I’ll never see some of the friends I’ve made here in Ecuador again, or any time soon.

I made a quick  trip to Mindo where a few friends and I saw more hummingbirds I could fathom, exotic orchids, artisanal chocolate, Colombian musicians serenading us to the most delicious pizza I’ve had in Ecuador, a beautiful sleep in a tree-house hostel while being serenades by the cloud forest’s nightly rain.

I was invited to a little girl’s first communion ceremony in the Catholic church and accepted. Unbeknownst to me I had accepted to be the girl’s Godmother.

 

‘Tis the Season of Gift-Giving

Dear readers:

If you are reading this blog I ask you to please go to this link to the Peace Corps website. This link will direct you my project in which you can read information and donate funds. Any amount will help!

It would be much appreciated if you could send this link to anyone you know who would like to donate money to a project that will directly benefit a hard-working women’s group. Post the link on your Facebook, Twitter it or email it to your friends and family.

On behalf of Asociación Gran Unión de Mujeres Churute, the community of Churute, Leah Gitter and myself

THANK YOU/GRACIAS!!

Donated to my Peace Corps project with this link: https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=13-518-001

women of AGUMCH giving a talk on HIV/AIDS

The women in front of the church in their community

HIV/AIDS awareness

Maria

Making calendars to raise funds

Screen printing

The women in front of their house

The women’s first event/project “El Festival de Mango”

Churute from Cerro El Mirador

The entrance to the community El Mirador

Howler Monkeys of Ecological Reserve Manglares Churute

Coastal tropical forest of Ecological Reserve Manglares Churute

Mangrove forest of Ecological Reserve Manglares Churute

Royal Palm Tree of Ecological Reserve Manglares Churute

Coastal Tropical forest of Ecological Reserve Manglares Churute

The lagoon and home of the Horned Screamer in Ecological Reserve Manglares Churute

Strangler Fig Tree of Ecological Reserve Manglares Churute

I’ll be home for Christmas

In one week I’ll be home; home meaning Texas and where my family lives (well most of it). I’m of course incredibly and indescribably excited about going home after being in Ecuador for 23 months. I’m very much enjoying my time here in Ecuador but the thought of going home where people ‘get’ me, eating good food, giving my dog kisses, spending time with family and friends and just doing American things are what’s getting me excited. I’m also happy to be able to spend Christmas at home rather than here sans family. Also, it just doesn’t feel like Christmastime in hot coastal Ecuador. I’ve been incredibly busy these past couple of months which has been a relief actually. It’s a relief from having nothing really productive to do. So when I go home it really will feel like a vacation!

I recently went to the women’s weekly meeting to catch up on their current events and give them some of my current information. They talked about covering all of their costs for the house they’re renting out which is quite a bit a month. The members of the group are paying for everything out of their own pocket. They do make some money but their fledgling business isn’t turning a profit yet. After discussing in full about how they’re worried about making rent payments they turned to the topic of having a ‘cena’ or fancy dinner when I come back from the States. We’ll have it on December 28^th with the women and their husbands. They said they would all chip in to buy a turkey and will prepare Ecuadorian side dishes. Turkey here is expensive! They said we’ll all dress up really nice so it’s going to be quite the event. Well, there they were talking about having a dinner when I get back from the States to celebrate friendship right after worrying about being able to make rent on their house. The next morning I emailed my parents giving them the background story and asked if they would like to help me pay for the turkey. My amazing, caring and generous parents donated money to buy a turkey and the trimmings. This Wednesday I’m going to surprise the ladies when I see them for the last time before I head to Texas. I hate to sound cliché but all of this giving and sharing is warming my heart. Thanks Mom and Dad!

This last week my Natural Science class went out in the community to pick up trash. It’s the penultimate class I’ll have on taking care of the local environment and the kids have been great! I made somewhat of a game out of picking up the trash by dividing them up into teams with team captains. They had to collect as much trash as possible. Everyone was declared a winner. During our outing the kids ransacked… or de-ransacked a house that had tons of trash in their front yard. I had to call them away unsure if they were picking up things that weren’t trash and also I’m sure that family was quite embarrassed to have an entire class picking up trash from their front yard. Oh well. Also this past week I took my high school natural science class out ‘into the field’ to collect leaves, seeds and fruits so they can study them. High school kids are just not my forte. I just don’t know how to handle kids that age. Regardless I think I’m getting through to at least 8 out of 35 students.

Cosas dignas de mención:

Thanksgiving was a success!

I had to cook breakfast and lunch one day because my host mom had exams at the doctor’s office. My host dad cannot make food for himself so I have to do it. I enjoy cooking and helping out when I’m home so I gladly said I would help. My host dad literally with tears in his eyes said “You’re leaving soon. What a shame, we won’t have you around to help anymore.” It’s mildly touching yet mildly irritating.

I pulled out my travel bags to start packing and out came a cute little mouse. Fortunately all I found in my bags were little turds.

Winter has almost arrived where I live. It’s hot as blazes but still waiting for the rain to come.

Hot sun all day= 2 minutes of hot water in the shower

The recycled art class I give in the really rural area of my community is going well. By far they are the smartest and learned the fastest. I see something really good coming of this. Less trash and a business opportunity for them.

Thanksgiving Traditions

If you know me you know that my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving (American Thanksgiving of course). It’s an all-American holiday with a very muddled history but still carries the sentiment of sharing and reflecting on what one is thankful for in life. It’s also a celebration of harvest, of bounty, or in other words FOOD.

In my neck of the woods (Texas) my mom slaves away for a few days cooking and preparing for our traditional Thanksgiving feast of turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry chutney, chestnut dressing, green bean casserole and corn soufflé. I’m responsible for the dessert which always includes a pumpkin something or other like tartlets or pie which from personal experience is a delicacy to weimaraners. My mom partitions herself in the kitchen the day before the holiday and allows no one to pass unless it’s to get a drink. Somehow being her only daughter and proving that I do have ability in the kitchen she grants me immunity and allows me to act as her sous chef. We sip on wine and prep the food while listening to classical music. The following day my mom slaves away in the kitchen over a hot oven and a hot stove all while maintaining a sparkling clean work area. While she makes best friends with the turkey my dad and I sit outside drinking crown and coke chatting about life. The few family members that celebrate with us, basically my grandma, my brother and my sister-in-law, trickle in around noon. We all converse and enjoy the time together until it’s time to eat. At this point my mom has spent 85% of her time that day in the kitchen preparing a beautiful meal. She beckons us to the table filled with casserole dishes and platters of Thanksgiving delicacies. We serve ourselves family style piling the food on our plates with eyes bigger than our stomachs. Thirty minutes later we’re stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey and make our way to a nearby chair or sofa to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. After dessert we all sit down and watch a Christmas movie, most traditionally National Lampoons “Christmas Vacation” while we secretly wish we hadn’t eaten so much food. The following day my parents don’t wake up early to go out and brave the Black Friday crowds, no way. Rather, my Dad wakes up early to bring down boxes of Christmas decorations from the attic. My mom  wakes up early and prepares the house to be decked. She will spend the entire day decorating the house with Christmas music classics playing on the radio and a glass of wine nearby. By the day’s end my parents’ house would be magazine perfect and beautiful marking the starting point of the Christmas season.

These are my family’s traditions and I never really appreciated them until I was without. Of course Ecuador doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving and we Peace Corps volunteers do our best to celebrate the day together. My plans for today are to go to the city Guayaquil to celebrate with new and old friends I’ve made here in Ecuador. We’ll all chip in to buy a turkey (it’s expensive here!) and share the dishes we’ll bring. I’m making a dish out of camote which is an Andean purple sweet potato. It will be fun and I’m glad I have people to celebrate with but of course it isn’t the same and I miss celebrating Thanksgiving with my family.

There is one major thing I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving and it’s that I’m thankful I’ll be home for Christmas!

Celebrating Life Rather Than Death on Día de los Difuntos

Día de los Difuntos is a celebration of the memory of the dead. This holiday is also known as Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). In Ecuador, it is celebrated in various ways. In the coastal regions most people simply go to the cemetery, leave flowers, maybe light a candle and spend the day with their family. In the Andes they carry a bit more tradition by not only going to the cemetery with their family but also drinking a special drink called Colada Morada along with a special bread called guaguas de pan or muñecos de pan (Bread Babies). Colada Morada is made from purple maiz (corn) flour to give it the morado color (purple). The flour is cooked in water until it carries a very thick consistency, is strained and turned into a smooth liquid. From there mortiño (somewhat like blueberries), cinnamon, enough sugar to rot your teeth and any other available fruits are added to the drink mixture. The guaguas de pan, guagua pronounced “wawa” means “baby” in Kichwa, are a sweet bread made into the form of a baby wrapped up in a blanket. Some bakeries go so far as to decorate them with gelatinous icing to give them a more baby-like appearance. This drink and baby are symbolic foods to only be eaten during Dia de los Difuntos.
Click here for a recipe for Colada Morada from Laylita’s Recipes

In my town, some people went to the cemetery but most just stayed at home and gathered with family and I’d say about 40% of the men went to the nearest “bar” to get wasted. I, however, wanted to attempt to do something with my host family and friends. The day before the holiday I bought Colada Morada from a woman in the next town over for my host family and me to drink. I had to buy boring and not so tasty coastal bread to accompany the colada since it’s not tradition in my neck of the woods to drink Colada Morada and eat Guaguas de Pan. The days leading up to my purchase I notified my host family that I would be buying the Colada. I explicitly explained I would be buying it however for some reason my host mom thought I said I was going to make it. The day before my purchase she started to school me on how to make the drink and what I needed to buy in order to make it. My host brothers stepped in and tried to help me, once again, explain to her what my plans were. Confused, she still insisted on the type of corn I needed. I had to almost sternly tell her “I’m not making the colada, I’m buying it.” When I did finally come home with the containers of prepared colada morada she took a look at them and told me to put them in the refrigerator so I can take it with me to my friends’ house the following day. Ahh!!! I can’t tell you how many times I told this woman that I was buying Colada Morada for the family. I had to again explain to her my purpose of buying this traditional drink. Finally, she understood I bought it to share with my Ecuadorian family in honor of the holiday. We put it in a pot to warm it up and I went to my room to wait for lunch to be ready. An hour later I went upstairs and two of my host brothers, 28 and 31, were already drinking the colada and had eaten 4 pieces of bread each. There was enough of the drink to feed 6 people and I bought a dozen pieces of bread. My host dad and I barely got a full mug of the drink… I was slightly pissed. If there was one person in my host family that I wanted to share the colada with it was my host dad, not those silly selfish boys. And as they left the table my host mom had to yell at them and tell them to thank me for buying the bread and colada to share with them. They thanked me and she snidely called them “golosos” which means “binge eaters” but in a less extreme way.

The day of Día de los Difuntos, I went to the home of the president of the women’s group with the other volunteer in my site to celebrate the holiday. We lunched with her family and friends and mildly participated in the entertainment. The president of the women’s group and her friends are very Evangelical Christians and had planned an informal prayer service at the house. They had a keyboard, a microphone and large speakers set up and they sang religious songs, read a passage from the bible and prayed. The other volunteer and I clapped along to the songs and were surprised that they actually had beautiful singing voices. We commented on how neither of us has ever heard of someone back in the States going this far to have an in-house impromptu church service. It was unique and turned into a cultural experience. After the closing prayer we got prepared to go to the river and swim. The other volunteer and I sat on rocks and talked for several hours enjoying the beautiful stream and the relaxing day of reflecting on life and friendship rather than death. I would have enjoyed going to cemetery to celebrate this holiday in the traditional way but celebrating it in a different way was an enjoyable experience as well.

Cosas dignas de mención

We have finally received permission to use the kayaks in the reserve!!! The community will make money from renting the kayaks to the guides and the guides will make money from their clients who use the kayaks. It’s win/win!

I’ve started teaching how to make recycled handicrafts in the very rural part of my community. I’m really excited about it because they’re people who I’ve wanted to reach out to and they are just as excited about learning how to do these handicrafts.

I was served sahino twice in one day. I visited my friends and they served me squab (pidgeon) as well as sahino. Both were tasty. I went home and my host family also prepared sahino. Both families have a common friend who recently hunted and killed one. He is generous and shared the meat with other people. What is sahino? Wild boar.

During my natural science class the teacher invited me to ‘desfilar’ with the school the following day. “Desfilar”? I had no idea what that meant and rather than ask I just nodded and said “Of course!” I went home to look up the word: desfilar= to parade. Ah… I forgot that it the fiestas of my cantón (celebrations of my county). The following day I took the trip to Naranjal which is a trip I rarely make. I met up with the school and we waited in the drizzle for an hour before finally taking off and walking through the streets of the town. We ended at the municipio (municipal offices) where we very unceremoniously made our presence known. I planned on staying to enjoy the festival but it was raining and my feet were a blistered mess from walking a long distance in my ‘nice’ shoes. The best part of the entire experience was definitely seeing the kids all excited and proud to march in the parade.

Playing with trash in the jungle

This past week I traveled to the jungle for a working vacation. As PCVs we can have “tech exchanges” which means one PCV requests that another visit him or her to give technical assistance. For this particular trip I and another PCV were asked to help a fellow volunteer teach recycled handicrafts. We started the ‘workshop’ by going around her small indigenous community, Atahualpa, picking up trash to use as materials. This also served as an announcement that the gringas were in town and it was time to get started. Our host PCV showed us around town and we happened upon the mother load of soda labels at one woman’s house. It was actually kind of fun picking up trash, mostly because there are different brands available in the amazon and it was interesting to see what sort of junk food they eat in comparison to the people on the coast. We returned back to the PCVs house and began setting up to receive our counterparts. They trickled in and we began teaching them how to make handbags/coin purses out of chip bags and soda labels. They quickly caught on and were enjoying the activity. Among the typical women and children that show up to such things the town drunk found his way to the house and other gringos from Tena came to learn so they too teach other communities eco-friendly handicrafts.

We lunched on mac-n-cheese (half Ecuadorian and half Annie’s) that our host ever so kindly shared with us and received  a large group of women and children in the afternoon. The jungle sun blazed down on us as we continued making handicrafts making it a sweaty activity. It was abnormally hot that day and it was decided that we would bañarse (bathe) in the river. The pueblo is situated on the Tena River which serves as a source for not just entertainment but also to actually bathe and wash clothes. We were guided down to the river by our new young friends and I took the opportunity to act silly with the kids while cooling off in the cold water. We went into Tena that evening by camioneta (truck) riding in the back while watching a huge thunderstorm coming in. We ate tacos and drank cold beer for dinner and spent the night in a very nice house used by another volunteer organization. The house was beautiful and the two nights we stayed there all we could hear when falling asleep was the loud symphony of insects and rain beating the roof. Bliss.

The following day I received my obligatory flu shot from the Peace Corps and did some light shopping in Tena. That afternoon we returned to our host’s pueblo and taught how to crochet and knit using ‘plastic yarn’ made from plastic bags. We ended that day swimming in the river and I attempted to teach the kids how to do back flips in the water. They may be stronger swimmers than me but I was fancier, haha!

After our tech trip the other volunteer and I tried to visit another volunteer who lives near Puyo. We arrived in Puyo in the morning after hitching a ride with another gringa from Tena. We assumed we had plenty of time to visit the orchid garden. The experience in the garden was bitter sweet because while it was beautiful and incredibly interesting our guide and the owner of the garden just didn’t seem to understand the concept of time. The gardens, or small forest if you will, were once grazing pasture for cattle. The owner acquired the land and reverted it back to tropical rainforest little by little and today it is a full-fledged secondary forest. The museum clearly documents the progress of the forest through photos of insects and mammals as they were discovered in the reforested area. Our guide led us along a beautifully maintained path pointing out all the flora and fauna along the way. We of course saw many orchids wildly growing on the trees. We came upon a clearing that looked very well manicured and our guide pulled out a magnifying glass. He led us along clumps of greenery on the side of a tree and told us to look into the lens. On the other side was a miniscule and perfect orchid! It was the most incredible plant I’ve ever seen in my entire 27 years of existence. I couldn’t believe how small and how beautiful the flowers were. It’s mind boggling to believe such perfect and small flowers exist and WHY? Why are they so small?! Exciting stuff folks. Our tour continued and our guide teased our grumbling stomachs that had been empty for the past 5 hours with plants that tasted like chimichurri sauce. He risked being poked by a thorny plant to grab a small fruit that tasted much like Carambola (star fruit) just to tease us further. Finally we began to leave but our guide continued to share the beauty of his forest. Of course he was very much proud of it and loved talking about it which certainly provided a great experience for us but it was time to end the tour and move on. Unfortunately we missed the last bus to the other volunteer’s community and we were forced to stay in Puyo, which isn’t a bad thing at all. This city seems to have a mixture of coastal and Andean food, Amazonian culture and distinct Puyo-ness. We ate delicious trout for dinner prepared by a woman from Esmeraldas (so far from home!) and walked the streets taking in the sights and sounds of Puyo. That night I took the most glorious hot shower I’ve had in a looong time.

The next day we had plans to visit yet another volunteer to help her teach the recycled handicrafts but it didn’t work out. Instead we explored Puyo. We did some shopping with money we don’t have, ate maitos and volqueteros (which to me is blasphemous to my beloved cevichocho dish from the Sierra), and walked the entire riverwalk of the Puyo River. It was a leisurely day and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Cosas dignas de mención

I heart Ecuadorian street food. Cheap, delicious and not nutritious.

I gave an English test to the students last Friday. Let’s just say I really do wonder if I’m wasting my time…

While in Atahualpa I was victim to mosquitoes and flies that my body isn’t used to. My legs look like an insect war zone.

I’ve been in my site for a year and a half!

My counterpart took me to a Bananero (Banana Farm). His cousin and one of my host brothers are currently working there. I met the owner of the Hacienda and he told me about the entire process of the hacienda. From growing the bananas, to harvesting them, to transporting them to be ‘processed’, to washing them to where they’re beautiful and shiny, to packaging them to shipping them (4 days to the states, 27 to Hong Kong). It was a surprisingly interesting process and I visited on the perfect day in which they getting prepared to ship the bananas out into the world. (pictures with explanations below).

And the Beat Goes On

This past month has been quite the productive one. I’ve embarked on writing a Peace Corps Partnership Program grant to help fund the women’s new business, more on that in a few weeks. The women have moved from their old location in town to a new one so they’ve been getting their new house cleaned and painted and have moved all of their equipment into it. They’ll soon start selling their t-shirts to the community as well as pizza which will be a great opportunity for them to make some extra cash.

I’m still teaching in the schools and it’s official, my favorite class is without a doubt the natural science class I’m teaching to 5^th graders. I love  teaching that subject to these kids and we do a lot of fun activities and games. I have to say that I’m shocked at my creativity. One day I showed up thinking we were going to plant seeds but the garden wasn’t ready. On a whim I decided to continue with the “creatures of my pueblo” theme and on the spot started talking about capuchin monkeys. Through the charla (lesson) I had the idea for a game. When I exhausted the topic of Capuchin monkeys we all went outside. I had kids who wanted to participate take their shoes and socks off and line up. They had to grab a dry erase marker with their toes and race to the other side of the volleyball court. It was fun and I guess sort of demonstrated how monkeys can use their toes to hold things and still be able to move… The next week I thought we were going to plant seeds and again it wasn’t going to happen. This time I talked about snakes and the kids mentioned “sayama” which is an indigo snake. Since I recently looked that snake up after seeing one I knew enough about that snake to finish up the charla. It was actually a great experience for us to share our knowledge about the “creature of their pueblo”. I, again, randomly thought of a game that somewhat had to do with the theme but not really. We went outside and I had them form two lines. They had to grab the shoulders of the student in front of them and race without letting go. The two chains, or snakes, lost. To remedy their lack of working together the teacher had them briskly walk rather than run and ‘slither’ around the cancha (football field). They enjoyed it even though they didn’t learn much about snakes but they did learn something about team work…

Recently I traveled to the province of Manabí (famous for their delicious food) to help out another PCV with a crafts workshop. The workshop was hosted by a factory that produces fish meal to be used as food in shrimp farms. The factory has basically contaminated all of the local water sources causing locals to get sick and develop cancer so they do their best to maintain a positive image and help fund large community projects. The PCV was invited to teach the women how to make crafts out of recycled materials but she wasn’t the only facilitator there. She and I had scheduled times for about two hours each day to teach how to make handbags out of plastic labels and chip bags as well as vases out of newspaper and magazines. Our crafts are novel and different so we gained some attraction. We also gained attraction with the fact that our crafts use trash ergo helping to clean up the environment. Unfortunately other crafts being taught at the workshop included making things out of foam boards (foamix), cakes out of Styrofoam and a variety of other crafts that included glitter and tons of baubles. Regardless, we had a great group of women who were very much interested in learning the craft and several excelled in it. This craft is unique and there is a market for such things, particularly with gringos, so there is also an opportunity to make some money. I’ve been teaching several people in my community and they’re really enjoying it. Some have verguenza (shame) asking for trash to use as material but they’re getting over it.

On the same note, I’m leaving next week to go to the jungle, Tena, to help another PCV teach a group of women how to make these handicrafts. I think it’s so awesome that other volunteers are finding success with this activity. It’s helping with waste management and starting the behavior change of reusing, reducing and recycling as well as promoting creativity. Most people who are doing these activities are women and it’s giving them the opportunity to do something extraordinary with their time and empowering them to not only be creative artistically but potentially creative in a business sense. Some are finding opportunities to sell their handmade trash art. I love being a part of the process of teaching others something new and seeing what they come up with.

Occurencias dignas de mención:

My host brother turns the patio of his house into a bar of sorts on Fridays and Saturdays. He’s down the road so it doesn’t bother me unless he blares music and the wind is just right. I went over there the first night he opened and it was fun. I danced, drank nasty Ecuadorian beer and could easily walk home whenever I wanted, which is great! This past weekend he begged me to come over because he feels that no one will come unless I’m there. It’s obviously not sustainable business practice relying on a gringa’s presence but I obliged and went to his house. There were only about ten people who showed up so I don’t think his theory holds true. Regardless, I had a great time.

I was in the process of putting my mosquito net over my bed one night and I noticed a large black thing in the corner. I pulled the mosquito net out further and to my horror it was a spider!!! It was a big one with a big fat abdomen. It was almost too big for me to kill. I lowered my mosquito net back against the wall and grabbed a spider killin’ shoe. I got close and realized IT WAS INSIDE the net. I don’t think I would be alive typing this blog if I hadn’t seen that spider before crawling into bed. If I woke up to that spider crawling on me I would have just died, right there, from fright. Anyway, there was another spider on the net as well. What was going on?! I did some warm-up shoe whacks in the air and then SLAP! Killed one spider. SLAP! Killed the other. I pulled my mosquito net back out and let the carcasses fall on the ground, ew. I hung the net up, tucked it into my bed and “What? What is this I see?” I say to myself “Baby spiders!!!!” They were easier to kill. Fortunately I was able to sleep that night which means it’s a good sign that my fear of spiders is lessening.

I was walking down the driveway last week and startled something in the dried leaves. I stopped to see what it was and it was a very long, skinny, bright green snake. It had no fear of me and let me take tons of close-up photos of it.

When I was visiting the PCV in Manabi it was by chance her birthday was that week. We celebrated by going out to lunch and cooking a delicious dinner of fresh fish, shrimp and fried green plantains. That night her friends in town came over, surfer boys, to have a dance party in her house. The most remarkable memory of the whole night was when one of the boys put on a headlamp (flashlight) and turned it on to the strobe light mode. This is supposed to be used if you’re in an emergency and need someone to find you but in this case it was used as a disco party light.

My friends that I visit every Wednesday invited me to a quincenera. It was nothing like the quincenera I attended when I was in high school for one of my friends. The Ecuadorian version lasted forever. There were  a lot of traditional events that included scantily clad girls getting garter belts put on them that were taken from the nether regions of the birthday girl. We didn’t eat until 2am which did not mark the end of the party for others but it marked the end of the party for me. My friends asked me what parties were like in the States. I replied, “I guess boring. We mostly just eat, maybe dance, talk a lot and call it an evening around 10:00. If you really want to party you have to go to a club and pay a $15 cover charge.” I don’t think they understood what I was talking about.

Flipper(s)

I think I’ve finally surpassed the cusp of my Peace Corps service in which the end seemed so far away. Now, with seven months to go until I am complete I am feeling the sense of urgency to make sure my projects are sustainable and that I enjoy every last minute of my time here.

I’ve recently made some new friends in my community and nearby communities which has made some subtle changes to my social life. Wednesdays have been conquered by a family in my small community. They invited me over for lunch one day and I have been eternally invited to their house every Wednesday until I leave. I show up around 10:00am and the wife and I (she’s 25) begin to chat and prepare lunch while her youngest daughter, two, climbs all over us begging for attention. Around noon her husband will come in from their cacao orchard and the children will come home from school ready to relax and eat lunch. We’ll stuff our faces and I am always be urged to have seconds which I refuse but am served them anyway. After lunch, feeling full and satisfied, we start our ‘English lesson’ which involves me patiently helping them pronounce words in English. They love it when I say their names with a gringo accent. Her two year old daughter, Sully, is pronounced Su-gee. With a latino accent her name sounds Asian. I was curious to know how it was spelled and when she wrote it down I was certainly not expecting the name “Sully”.

The president of the women’s group has invited the other volunteer near my site and I to eat an early dinner with her on Thursdays. This I think is turning into a weekly occurrence (when applicable) as well. It’s interesting to see how other families interpret the same Ecuadorian dishes I’ve become so accustomed to. There isn’t much variety to Ecuadorian cuisine in my neck of the woods but there are subtleties that make each woman’s cooking unique. It’s amazing how different even rice can taste. I noticed that the president of the women’s group served rice that had a very distinct flavor, turns out it was rice they picked from their own field. Amazing! Our first dinner ended up turning into a dance party. I can’t seem to escape these impromptu dance parties. This will be my fourth random kitchen dance party since being here in Ecuador. Twenty-five years in the States and not one has ever occurred (actual parties don’t count). Of course if you know me you know I love to shake what my mama gave me regardless of the setting so I enjoy it.

I’ve been accompanying the guides on tours in the Reserve a lot lately. I stopped doing them for several months to distance myself a bit since there was a lot of animosity between the Tourism Committee members and the one guide I worked with a lot. He recently started to call me again asking for my help to interpret spanish to english for his gringo clients and I accepted. I forgot how much I love going on the tours and being a guide. I actually surprised myself on how much I’ve learned about the Reserve. It has come to the point where I just give the guided tour and the guide is there to answer questions I can’t. I have a huge sense of pride for the Reserve and all of the critters and plants that call it home as well as the community itself. It does feel like home for me and I feel like I’m sharing it with the visitors that come to Churute from other parts of the world.

This past weekend I did nothing but guided tours. Saturday we had a large group of study abroad students from a University in Guayaquil. They were from the US, Australia, Belgium and other countries and were all my age. I love giving tours to college-age people mostly because it feels more like we’re just hanging out more than anything else. The most notable part about this trip was upon our return from seeing the aquatic birds of the mangroves we spotted a crocodile, finally! I had heard about 5 meter-long crocodiles and had yet to see any evidence. I haven’t a clue as to how large this one was but it made a pretty big splash when we passed as it took refuge in the water. I couldn’t believe it though, just two weeks after seeing the sloth and I finally got to see another animal I’ve been dying to see in the Reserve.

Sunday, the guide asked me if I would like to accompany him on a tour with a group of local Ecuadorians. There was no need for interpretation but they were going to go out to “Isla de los Ingleses” (English Island) which I hadn’t had the opportunity to visit yet. I was excited to go because legend had it that there were dolphins and it was also the first site in the Mangroves that was identified as a touristic destination.

We arrived at the area about an hour and a half after our departure, it’s a long canoe ride out. The group we were with had an eight-year old girl that cried about everything and was terrified of being in the motorized canoe. She spent the latter half of the trip to our destination begging the guide to turn us back around. We cruised around the cove that is surrounded by mangroves searching for dolphins and admiring the large pelicans. This was the closest I’d been to the ocean on the Reserve and just another 20 minute canoe ride would take us out of the mangroves and into the Pacific. We started to turn back to go to another location when I spotted some mist in the distance. It was no doubt blow-hole mist. We sped toward the area and we came upon a large family of bottle-nosed dolphins! The first one we saw was hunting a fish by aggressively swimming in tight circles, he was successful. We inched along so as not to scare them and then one of the men on our canoe started to slap the side of it. The canoe is made of fiberglass and a loud banging noise rang through the air and no doubt through the water. Dolphins have a very sensitive sense of hearing being a mammal that uses echolocation. I was no doubt pissed and told him to stop. The guide also told him to stop but of course since he’s a macho man he ignored us. It of course didn’t set to well with the dolphins and they scurried away back inland. We traveled in their direction and this time the guy’s wife said something along with an insult and he stopped. Finally the dolphins warmed up to us and started to get more curious and closer. They would emerge from the water, spew mist from their blow-hole and take a gander at us. It was an incredible experience! I’ve only seen dolphins at Sea World after they’ve been brainwashed. I was witnessing bottle-nosed dolphins in their natural habitat in my own backyard! I couldn’t believe it, I still can’t believe it!

I’ve been keeping busy teaching at the school in my community. On Mondays I have a natural science class with the 4^th graders. It’s my favorite class out of all of them. Not just because of the subject but they’re so attentive and actually participate. On Fridays I teach 3^rd-6^th grade a combination of English and stuff like critical thinking, gender development and career development. The 3^rd and 4^th grade classes are my favorite, the older kids however are horribly behaved or just stare at me disinterested. I’ve warned them I wouldn’t come to teach their class if they don’t behave and I think I got a positive response. at least last week went a little better even though I gave them a test, ha! I know for a fact that the reason why the 3^rd and 4^th graders are better behaved is due to their teachers. These two teachers are ‘in training’; I assume to get their masters because they are already highly motivated and have the full capacity to be good teachers. They really do take a great interest in their students and actually make lesson plans, something I haven’t see the other teachers do. They stay in the class when I teach and help me out when the kids get a little too rowdy. Regardless of how much I am beginning to dislike teaching the other classes I can’t give up on them. I have to continue trying and hope that I’m at least getting through to one kid…

Ocurrencias dignas de mención:

I contracted some sort of stange virus that caused me to have zero appetite. In fact, the thought of food made me nauseous. I called the Peace Corps medical office after a couple of days of this and they told me it was some virus that was going around all of Ecuador and that I need to force myself to drink lots of fluid and stay in bed to rest. I had been on a tour and was running around a lot the week leading up to the day when I decided to call so it made sense to let my body rest and fight off this mysterious virus (it’s mysterious because they didn’t give me a name just ‘virus’). So that weekend I laid in bed reading, watching movies and staring at the wall feeling perfectly fine minus the fact that I had absolutely no desire to eat. My host mom begged me to go to the doctor to get pills since the Peace Corps didn’t make me do that. The thing about most Ecuadorians is they think that if you’re sick you have to take a pill of some sort. I tried to explain that my body will cure itself of the virus and there is no pill for me to take. She was no doubt skeptical and I think I greatly worried her when I skipped several meals. When my appetite came back two days later I hoped it would prove my point. I don’t think it did.

A few weekends ago a PC friend and her friend from the States visited me to see the Reserve. The guide I work with did the tour for free but we paid him a third of the value any way and took him to eat papi-pollo (fried chicken and French fries) as well as his brother who drove us. They were SHOCKED that I invited them to eat. They are still talking about how that was the first time a gringa had ever invited them to lunch. Remember, when you ‘invite’ someone that means you pay.

I’m reading Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”. I haven’t read it for several years and reading it here in coastal Ecuador which is a similar setting as to that in the book I feel like I understand the book on a completely different level. The Latino-isms are obviously palatable in the story and I see the way the characters interpret things in the book and how that actually seems to happen in real life. This sounds cliché but it has made me see my surroundings as if they’re a Márquez novel, which is a good thing.

I’M GOING HOME TO TEXAS FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click Here to watch a short video of the dolphins