December 12, 2008
Friday
1:23pm
Weather: Overcast, 60F
Sayausi
The Season Begins
Last Sunday marked the official start of the new soccer season here in Sayuasi. And like any beginning, end, or relatively special event in Ecuador it was accompanied by a parade. Each team, of which there are twenty, marches in their brand new uniforms each led by a flag bearing the team name, a mascota (a dog dressed up in the team uniform), and a madrina ( a local 15-20 year old woman in a fancy dress with heels and her hair done).
The parade began at ecua-ten o’clock in the morning and as such Migi and I arrived at my team’s captain’s house at ten fifteen (our gringo attempt to arrive on ecua-time). We were the first ones there, excluding the madrina and the several girls who live in the same house, and spent the next hour and a half in a small room with too much furniture and a ton a Christmas decorations chatting with Churritos (the daughter of the captain who has curly hair and therefore is known only as churritos which means curls) and watching as Darwin (the son of the captain who is three) repeatedly threw a Christmas wreath in an attempt to break the light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
By eleven thirty the entire team had arrived and the rest of the teams were lined up down the center street of Sayausi. And although we had been there for an hour and a half we had to run to make it to our spot in the parade. An Ecuadorian custom seems to be that no matter how early you get there and no matter how late the event starts there will be a period of panic where all of the sudden everyone is running.
With all twenty teams, mascotas, madrinas, and flags lined up we made our way through the adoring crowds to the stadium (the open dirt field with flood lights and goal posts where all the soccer games of the league are held). Upon arriving at the stadium each team’s name was called along with the name of the bella madrina. Each team would then slowly walk to midfield, turn down the center line, and then make a final turn headed toward one of the goal posts where the “mesa principal” was set up and all the Liga Deportiva de Sayausi bigwigs were seated. This procession probably took about forty-five minutes, highlights of which include a madrina riding in on horseback and the Ecuadorian equivalent of pomp and cirmcumstance played about forty-five times on a loop. The procession was followed by the Ecuador national anthem which was then followed by the Cuenca anthem which sounds exactly like the national anthem.
Marching down the Street
Still Marching in the Street
Entering the Stadium
Still Entering the Stadium
The Crowd
After the welcoming statements, each madrina was asked to step forward for the judging of the madrinas. This part most resembles a beauty pagent in the states except the contestants do not speak nor exhibit any sort of talent. They just stand there smiling and the judges walk back and forth a few times then huddle in a group for an excessive period of time before crowning the Senorita of the Liga Deportiva de Sayausi. During the judges huddle REMs “Losing My Religion” was played on a loop and my teammates joked about how I was the only one who could actually understand the words of the song. It’s worth noting here that the speakers and events of the inauguration do not have the crowd’s complete attention. I would even go so far as to say that they do not have half of the crowd’s attention. It has the feel of a high school assembly but without a principal telling everyone to quiet down.
Once the winning madrina had been picked and the other madrinas had time to dry their eyes it was time for the uniform judging. A representative from each was asked to step forward and again the judges walked back and forth a few times before huddling together to have a deep discussion about the quality of the uniforms. After another rendition of “Losing My Religion” the winning uniforms were announced….drum-roll please…BUENOS AIRES JR!! (for those of you who are totally out of the loop that is my team and we won the championship this past August). I guess tight red pants are classier than I thought…that and the Buenos Aires Jr. Men’s team had totally sweet red and black Adidas warm-ups…but I still think it was the red lycra that did it.
A Madrina on a Horse
The Olympic lap came after the madrina and best uniform selection and consisted of a member form each team running around the field behind one runner carrying a flaming paint can on a stick. The fixed torch that was lit was also an old paint can but served very well as an Olympic torch. The ceremonial lighting of the torch was followed by the swearing in of all the players and then by several lengthy speeches by the bigwigs at the front table.
The Olympic Lap
Lighting the Torch
Addressing the Masses, look for excessive use of hand gestures
At the end of all of this the teams were asked to file out as they had come in. It goes without saying that this did not happen and instead there was massive mingling and loud music instead of an organized exit march.
Double click the image below to enlarge the photos and see the captions
Cuy-coima
A few weeks ago Mike had the honor of being treated to a lovely lunch in Cajas. All of the technicos were invited and none of them had to pay. For the six technicos and Migi there were six cuyes, motecito (giant watery corn), mountains of rice, ensalada, ajicito (kind of like salsa), potatoes in cuy juice, and rounds of good cheer. And who was to thank for all of this free Ecuadorian culinary goodness?
…a trucking company that uses the highway that runs through Cajas. Keep in mind there are substances that are prohibited from being carried as cargo in the park and this highway is the quickest way to get to the metropolis of Guayaquil and the many ports on its shores. The whole thing smelled fishy and it didn’t help that the park boss was calling the whole lunch a cuy-coima which translates loosely to guinea pig-bribe.
But who’s asking questions when there’s juicy cuycito for lunch?
Remember there’s still time if anyone wants us to bring them back a roasted rodent for Christmas!!
She broke her what?
Yesterday Migi was at the office diligently working on a First Aid presentation that he will be giving to the park guards in January right before they have to patrol the route for the 30K Eco-challenge that Cajas is hosting (Migi got them to change the route for conservation and safety reasons so now the race will not go through pristine forests and pre-Colombian Incan trails). As he was quietly working at his computer reviewing the differences between strains and sprains he overheard two of the tecnicos in a panic.
Upon listening more closely it turned out that a tourist had fallen in the park and broken a bone. At this point Migi approached the tecnicos, reminded them that he is an EMT, and at the same time told them that instead of staying at the park office talking about what to do they needed to go up to the park and help the other park guards take care of this woman.
At this point a police car pulled up to the control station and a park guard got out to relay the entire message as the electricity had gone out in the middle of the original call about the tourist (the park radios don’t work when the power is out). When Migi asked the park guard which bone the tourist had broken, the guard signaled to his femur and made a frowny face.
Now if there was one thing they taught us when we were getting our EMT certification it was the absolute horror of breaking a femur. The pain, the blood loss, and immediate need for urgent care from well qualified professionals are some of the reasons why Migi urged the group to get in the car and get up to the park, which was 15K and 25 minutes from where they were and another 30K and 45 minutes in the opposite direction to the nearest hospital.
After they had all piled into the car Migi started trying to work on his broken femur related vocabulary and ask all the questions we were taught to ask about an emergency situation. From these questions Migi learned that it was a woman in her forties who fell while hiking by the Lagunas Unidas (a point located two hours from the road on a muddy, rocky, slippery trail).
“Really, this woman fell while walking and broke her femur?”
“Yes.”
“It takes a lot of force to break a femur. Was she rock climbing?”
“No.”
“Is she really old?”
“No.”
“Is she really overweight?”
“No.”
“Huh. I don’t think she broke her femur.”
After being assured that it was in fact her femur that was broken, Migi began to ask if the ambulance that was coming would have a traction splint (try that in Spanish). A traction splint is standard in US ambulances but it sole and only purpose is to apply traction to a broken femur. The tecnicos and park guard had no idea what a traction splint was but they were sure the ambulance would not have it (having volunteered at the Red Cross here in Cuenca I can vouch for the fact that there is nothing in the ambulances with the exception of a cot and a few poorly trained high school kids trying to get service hours).
This concerned Migi for several reasons. One, the only way to make a person with a broken femur feel anything except for excruciating pain and simultaneously prevent the bone from piercing an artery which could very quickly lead to heavy blood loss and possible death is to apply traction and maintain traction. Two, even though we were taught how to construct a makeshift traction splint for situations like these, they take a long time to make and despite the simplicity of making a traction splint with a canoe paddle, several bandanas, a lot of rope, weird knots, and a water bottle, once you put someone in a traction splint they become next to impossible to transport unless you have a smooth surface, a professional quality stretcher, and a dozen people. Three….no the first two should be enough to convey the gravity of the situation.
So, as the truck was winding its way closer and closer to the trailhead down which was the tourist with her broken femur with several untrained park guards and no radio contact because the electricity was still out, Migi was thinking about the lack of a Good Samaritan law in Ecuador and his relative inexperience in applying traction to a broken femur despite having practiced many times applying what he was told was appropriate traction on unbroken femurs.
Finally, they arrived at the parking lot.
In the parking the lot there was already an ambulance surrounded by park guards with the sixty year old woman with a broken tibia inside. Yes, in the parking lot, and yes, a 60 year old, and yes, a broken tibia. No, she was not 40, and no, she was not 2 hours down the trail, and no, she did not have a broken femur. As it turns out it is really hard to break a femur while walking. Who knew?
The park guards had a stretcher and had hiked in then hiked out with the woman and as such were soaking wet as it had been rainy and hailing for the past several hours. And again, she did not have a broken femur. Needless to say, Migi was relieved beyond description.
Home Alone with Friends, Christmas Cookies, Pan de Pascua, and Presents for Profe
Last week we also had Kelly and Lisa over (PCVs) to watch Christmas movies and make unreasonable amounts of Christmas cookies.
Aside from watching the Grinch and Home Alone we also spent a large portion of the evening sorting the multi-colored sprinkle package into individual colors to facilitate cookie decorating later in the evening. The cream cheese and powdered sugar frosting was dyed “red” by the addition of red Jell-o powder as food coloring was not available.
You really have to be innovative to get by in Peace Corps!
Other Christmas related tidbits include pan de pascua and regalos for the profe, aka me.
Pan de Pascua
On his way back from the femur incident Migi stopped at our local tienda to get some eggs for dinner and he overheard a woman asking for pan de pascua. Being inquisitive by nature, Migi then asked Lupe, the tienda owner, what pan de pascua is. She told him to come back in two hours and she would have some ready, hot out of the oven.
Two hours later Migi went back to the tienda where he was shown a pan de pascua. Pan de pascua is in fact the Ecuadorian version of panetone. She then refused to let Migi pay and wished us a Feliz Navidad.
Double click the image below to enlarge the photo and see the captions
Regalos para mi
Today, after teaching a class to the park guards in Cajas, I went up to the school in Bellavista to drop of the grades for the trimester and hand back the exams. As I was handing everything back the director of the school asked me if I could stay for a few minutes when I was done.
So, once I had finished handing everything back I went to the director’s office where I was met by all the teachers at the school (seven in total). We all sat down and the director then proceeded to thank me for all of my help at the school. And boy do Ecuadorians know how to thank people. I’m pretty sure my face was several shades of red by the end of it all. In addition, to the flowery speeches of which there were several I was presented with two giant Christmas bags filled with gifts! Needless to say that in English I would have been at a loss for words so in Spanish I was barely able to speak but I did manage to thank them all in return and say that I wish I could thank them more.
Though I refrained from rummaging through the bags in front of the entire staff, it was the first thing I did once I got home.
The gifts include:
An Ecuador shoulder bag
Two hand embroidered white linen shirts
A leather handbag
A Colorful wool sweater
Two pairs of linen pants
A hand knit scarf
Lots of friendship bracelets
A nice send off for Christmas vacation!
Watch the present opening extravaganza!
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Nacimiento y Agradecimiento
November 30, 2008
Sunday
7:47am
Weather: Cloudy and cold
Sayausi
The Niño
A few weeks ago I was dropping off the lavasas (all of our food scraps that are used for pig food) at our old host family’s house and I noticed about halfway there that the ground was covered in rose petals. Not just one or two petals here and there but an actual trail of rose petals that led up to the kitchen door of our host family’s house. I thought they were there because a daughter-in-law had recently moved in because her house in under construction and that the rose petals were some sort of ceremonial house switching ritual. Boy was I wrong. Although my host family thinks it’s hilarious that I thought that, as if they don’t do anything similar to that on a regular basis (For example, they carry burning coals with incense around the house once a week to quitar (remove) the evil spirits).
It turns out the rose petal trail was in honor of the Niño (the baby Jesus). Each extended family in Sayausi has a Niño that stays in each family member’s house for one week starting in September. Before the Niño arrives the family has to construct a nacimiento (nativity scene). Once the nacimiento has been constructed the Niño arrives. The rose petals were from when the Niño had left Dona Melchora’s house the past Sunday (the Niño only moves on Sundays and if the family is late moving the Niño they have to pay a dollar fine).
After having been explained the tradition of the Niño, Dona Melchora invited us to the next procession. This time the Niño was leaving an Uncle’s house and going up to Mari’s house in Bellavista (the same house where we roasted cuyes with my Dad). Of course we accepted the invitation and I spent the week leading up to the big procession at Mari’s house helping with the construction of the nacimiento (it involved de-threading plastic sacks for the roof and spray painting wood chips for the grass).
On Sunday evening at seven o’clock we met Norma (Mari’s sister) and Dona Rita (Mari’s mother and Dona Melchora’s sister) in the plazoleta of Sayausi then walked down to the Uncle’s house (Rita and Melchora’s brother’s house). We entered the house through a long dark hallway that opened up into a large sitting room that was lined with couches and chairs and was already seating about twenty family members all centered around the nacimiento and the Niño. After walking around and shaking everyone’s hand and kissing everyone’s cheek (Ecuadorian custom) we took our seats. From our seats we could take a good look at the nacimiento.
The nacimiento was essentially a series of tiered bookshelves covered in a white cloth. Each tier was covered with rose petals and candles and featured figurines of shepards, kings, animals, Joseph, Mary, and of course, the Niño. The typical Niño here is on average ten times larger than any other figure in the scene, wears an embroidered brightly colored dress, and rests in a custom built wooden cradle.
After everyone had arrived, which was about another fifteen people making a total of about thirty Albaracins (their last name), we were served a hot cinnamon flavored rum drink followed by a prayer and then coffee and homemade banana empanadas. Once everyone had finished their snack the procession began. We all filed outside, led first by the children carrying large bags of rose petals, then Norma carrying the Niño flanked by several adults with candles and incense, then finally the rest of the family including me and Mike.
The procession lasted almost an hour and followed the major street of Sayausi meaning that in order to arrive at Mari’s house we definitely stopped traffic.
Once we arrived at Mari’s house we all filed into another large sitting room lined with about thirty chairs centered around another nacimiento. After everyone was seated the patriarch of the family (Tio Oscar who happens to be our next door neighbor) stood up with the Niño and moved to the center of the room. At this point a line was formed leading up to the Niño and each family member, children included, was blessed by kneeling beneath the cradle of the Niño while Tio Oscar said a prayer and made the sign of the cross with the Niño above their head. Mike and I weren’t sure if we should go up and so remained in our seats until Dona Melchora took us by the arm and said we needed to be blessed for the health of our families. So, with everyone watching (we were the last ones) we each individually took a knee in front of Tio Oscar while the Niño in cradle was passed over our heads and some sort of blessing was murmured.
This was followed by a longer prayer, another hot cinnamon rum drink, a toffee candy, agua de remedios (pink herbal sugar drink), rice, potatoes, and stewed meat.
All and all the procession plus prayers, blessings, and snacks, took about three hours. Additionally, each Sunday during the dinner portion of the procession a bag is passed around and each family is expected to give three dollars. This money is used to buy bread and bananas for Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve all of the children dress up as members of the Bethlehem crowd and parade through town ending up in the main plaza of Sayausi where they are given bread and bananas. Mari told me that her family buys about 400 breads every Christmas Eve to hand out. Her son, Juan Diego, dressed up as San Jose last year and may dress up the same this year but is still deciding between that and Papa Noel (not a Bethlehem original but still a popular holiday figure).
Just for comparison’s sake I want to briefly explain what Mike has told me about the Honduran version of the Niño’s role in holiday festivities. In Honduras, each house has its own Niño and their own nacimiento. However, there is no sharing of the Niño. In fact it is quite the opposite. Each house has to guard their Niño from being stolen. Yes, in Honduras your neighbors try to steal the Niño instead of sharing him. And if your Niño is stolen you have to throw a party for the family who stole your Niño, if you want to get it back.
So, I guess each country has its own way of celebrating the holiday season. We’re looking forward to being back home with family with or without Niño processions or Niño stealing. However, if any of you would like to start either one of these traditions there are stores here that sell only Niños and dresses for the Niño and we would be happy to pick one up for you.
Click to watch niños throw rose petals in Procession of the Niño
Click to watch Mike in the Procession of the Niño
Click to watch Tio Oscar bless people with the Niño
Thanksgiving
Wednesday morning I began to cook for Turkey Day. And for an extra Peace Corps challenge, Sayausi was without running water ALL day. Yes, from sunup to sundown there was not a drop of water to be gathered in Sayausi (before sunup the water had a brown sludge consistency due to heavy rainfall the previous day). All cooking was done without the ability to easily wash, rinse, or soap a single dish or ingredient. With this in mind, cookies, cornbread, and tortillas were strategically prepared first followed by roasted vegetables and from scratch-stuffing so that even if the veggies tasted like anise the cookies would not taste like onion. Mike was there to help with dicing and general moral support as there was no electricity at the Cajas office so he couldn’t get anything done on his computer and came home after being at work for just less than an hour.
We finally turned off the oven around 5pm that evening and treated ourselves to dinner at the chicken place in town as there was not an available pot or pan in the house that wasn’t filled with savory treats for the next day.
Watch Mary fetch water from the giant bucket we store for times when there is no water
Thursday morning our apartment in Sayausi became the staging ground for what would become the first ever Cajas National Park Thanksgiving extravaganza. Volunteers arrived from far and wide to celebrate el Dia de Accion de Gracias in the pristine valley of Llaviucu. By ten o’clock we had loaded our neighbors buseta (big van or little bus) with two horses of firewood (conversion: Mike learned that a horse is equal to two mules, and each mule is two cargas of wood), ten pounds of charcoal, a propane gas tank with hose and regulator, 14 Peace Corps Volunteers, 14 backpacks with sleeping bags, pots, pans, silverware, a jaba of beer (12 big bottles of beer), several boxes of ecua-wine, 10 gallons of drinking water, toilet paper, untold pounds of food and snacks, a portable stereo, dish soap, binoculars, and a fishing pole. Needles to say we were a large load for a relatively small van and as a result our max speed uphill to the park was around 5mph.
Nevertheless, we arrived at the cabin by eleven o’clock and were snacking on bocaditos by eleven thirty. After some heavy snacking, there was hiking, fire building, and holiday arts and crafting until late in the afternoon when we started heating up all the Turkey Day goodies for the big meal. The served-on-the-porch-overlooking-the-lake-in-a spectacular-valley menu included the following:
Charcoal Roasted Chicken (Thanks to a pollo place in Sayausi that opened at 6am for us)
Stuffing de Sayausi (Me and Mike)
Mac and Cheese (Margaret a PCV in Honduras 69-71)
Mashed Potatoes (Amy and Jacob)
Roasted Roots with Rosemary and Garlic (Me)
Veggie Gravy (Amy)
Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows (Brad)
Lucy’s Cornbread (made by me)
Veggie Crudite (Me and Migi aka Mike)
Mrs. B’s Spinach Dip and Crackers (Kelly B.)
Made by the Swiss in Ecuador Cheese and Crackers (Linea)
Bruchetta and Herbed Tomatoes (Me after being married to an Italian for a year)
Herbed Butter (Almost Italian Mary)
Bread and Cheeses (Jungle Lauren)
Wine and Cheese (Margaret)
Fruit Salad with Yogurt (Lucy and Craig)
Fruit (Lauren, Mike, and Me)
Guava Machete Fruit (Garrick)
Tennessee Apple Pie (Amy)
Riobamba Chocolate Chip Cookies (Erin and William)
Secret Recipe Oatmeal Cookies (Linea)
Oreo Brownie Fusion (Kelly)
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting and Walnuts (Lucy)
Grandma Carbone’s Anise Biscotti (Me)
There was so much food that the four burner stove wasn’t sufficient to heat everything up so Mike turned the fire that Amy had so skillfully built into a makeshift oven to heat up the two chickens and four pots of stuffing (we didn’t heat up the third chicken as there was an abundance of food and treats). I’m sure I have forgotten to list some foods not that they weren’t also delicious but the food coma has impaired my memory.
The evening was spent star gazing, planet watching, constellation creating, owl listening, card playing, night hiking, catch phrasing (a game sort of like Taboo but easier), and being thankful for good food, good company, good lodging, and everything else good in the world. Before going off to bed we loaded up to wood burning stove with charcoal and even though we were at 10,000 feet above sea level the cabin stayed toasty warm all night long in the upstairs carpeted rooms with fluffy beds, pillows, and comforters.
The next morning Mike and I got up around five o’clock and went for a sunrise tour of the Llaviucu valley. When we got back around eight we sat down to a breakfast of leftovers and homemade tortillas with eggs and coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and milk. Not bad for the middle of nowhere in an Ecuadorian national park. The morning was then filled with checkers playing, day hiking, fishing, and general park activities like bird watching and llama chasing. We were also lucky to have an Andean toucan visit us while we were fishing (the cabin is actually called La Casa de los Tucanes) and to have two endangered condors fly up the valley while we were river hopping in search of trout. We tried to lure them in with the chicken carcass we were using for fish bait but it proved just as ineffective in attracting the condors as it was for the trout.
At three o’clock the busetta arrived to take us back to Sayausi and although we had fewer things than before it was still crammed and the wire holding the back of the van closed did not endure the cobblestone road up to the highway so Mike had to backtrack on foot to pick up involuntarily jettisoned items. We’re still not sure if we lost anything to the river as we crossed the small wooden bridge but so far no one has noticed anything as missing.
When we got back home on Friday afternoon our apartment served as a very comfortable waiting room for those who were headed back home on a bus later that day/night. We ate more leftovers and watched Lord of the Rings noting the similarities between Cajas and the landscapes in the movie. And although it had been several days we still did not have enough water pressure to ignite the calefon (water heater) and so we took ice cold showers at 9,000 feet above sea level where ice cold is really ice cold and the ambient temperature is slightly above ice cold. Don’t worry we did not get sick but we haven’t showered since as there is still (on Sunday) not enough water pressure.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of delicious food, good company, and hot showers. We look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks and to taking a hot shower.
Double click on the image below to enlarge the photos and see the captions
PS…It is now 11am on Sunday, we have finished typing, are about to go into Cuenca to post, and the water in our apartment is now completely shut off. I guess we will have to continue looking forward to that hot shower.
Sunday
7:47am
Weather: Cloudy and cold
Sayausi
The Niño
A few weeks ago I was dropping off the lavasas (all of our food scraps that are used for pig food) at our old host family’s house and I noticed about halfway there that the ground was covered in rose petals. Not just one or two petals here and there but an actual trail of rose petals that led up to the kitchen door of our host family’s house. I thought they were there because a daughter-in-law had recently moved in because her house in under construction and that the rose petals were some sort of ceremonial house switching ritual. Boy was I wrong. Although my host family thinks it’s hilarious that I thought that, as if they don’t do anything similar to that on a regular basis (For example, they carry burning coals with incense around the house once a week to quitar (remove) the evil spirits).
It turns out the rose petal trail was in honor of the Niño (the baby Jesus). Each extended family in Sayausi has a Niño that stays in each family member’s house for one week starting in September. Before the Niño arrives the family has to construct a nacimiento (nativity scene). Once the nacimiento has been constructed the Niño arrives. The rose petals were from when the Niño had left Dona Melchora’s house the past Sunday (the Niño only moves on Sundays and if the family is late moving the Niño they have to pay a dollar fine).
After having been explained the tradition of the Niño, Dona Melchora invited us to the next procession. This time the Niño was leaving an Uncle’s house and going up to Mari’s house in Bellavista (the same house where we roasted cuyes with my Dad). Of course we accepted the invitation and I spent the week leading up to the big procession at Mari’s house helping with the construction of the nacimiento (it involved de-threading plastic sacks for the roof and spray painting wood chips for the grass).
On Sunday evening at seven o’clock we met Norma (Mari’s sister) and Dona Rita (Mari’s mother and Dona Melchora’s sister) in the plazoleta of Sayausi then walked down to the Uncle’s house (Rita and Melchora’s brother’s house). We entered the house through a long dark hallway that opened up into a large sitting room that was lined with couches and chairs and was already seating about twenty family members all centered around the nacimiento and the Niño. After walking around and shaking everyone’s hand and kissing everyone’s cheek (Ecuadorian custom) we took our seats. From our seats we could take a good look at the nacimiento.
The nacimiento was essentially a series of tiered bookshelves covered in a white cloth. Each tier was covered with rose petals and candles and featured figurines of shepards, kings, animals, Joseph, Mary, and of course, the Niño. The typical Niño here is on average ten times larger than any other figure in the scene, wears an embroidered brightly colored dress, and rests in a custom built wooden cradle.
After everyone had arrived, which was about another fifteen people making a total of about thirty Albaracins (their last name), we were served a hot cinnamon flavored rum drink followed by a prayer and then coffee and homemade banana empanadas. Once everyone had finished their snack the procession began. We all filed outside, led first by the children carrying large bags of rose petals, then Norma carrying the Niño flanked by several adults with candles and incense, then finally the rest of the family including me and Mike.
The procession lasted almost an hour and followed the major street of Sayausi meaning that in order to arrive at Mari’s house we definitely stopped traffic.
Once we arrived at Mari’s house we all filed into another large sitting room lined with about thirty chairs centered around another nacimiento. After everyone was seated the patriarch of the family (Tio Oscar who happens to be our next door neighbor) stood up with the Niño and moved to the center of the room. At this point a line was formed leading up to the Niño and each family member, children included, was blessed by kneeling beneath the cradle of the Niño while Tio Oscar said a prayer and made the sign of the cross with the Niño above their head. Mike and I weren’t sure if we should go up and so remained in our seats until Dona Melchora took us by the arm and said we needed to be blessed for the health of our families. So, with everyone watching (we were the last ones) we each individually took a knee in front of Tio Oscar while the Niño in cradle was passed over our heads and some sort of blessing was murmured.
This was followed by a longer prayer, another hot cinnamon rum drink, a toffee candy, agua de remedios (pink herbal sugar drink), rice, potatoes, and stewed meat.
All and all the procession plus prayers, blessings, and snacks, took about three hours. Additionally, each Sunday during the dinner portion of the procession a bag is passed around and each family is expected to give three dollars. This money is used to buy bread and bananas for Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve all of the children dress up as members of the Bethlehem crowd and parade through town ending up in the main plaza of Sayausi where they are given bread and bananas. Mari told me that her family buys about 400 breads every Christmas Eve to hand out. Her son, Juan Diego, dressed up as San Jose last year and may dress up the same this year but is still deciding between that and Papa Noel (not a Bethlehem original but still a popular holiday figure).
Just for comparison’s sake I want to briefly explain what Mike has told me about the Honduran version of the Niño’s role in holiday festivities. In Honduras, each house has its own Niño and their own nacimiento. However, there is no sharing of the Niño. In fact it is quite the opposite. Each house has to guard their Niño from being stolen. Yes, in Honduras your neighbors try to steal the Niño instead of sharing him. And if your Niño is stolen you have to throw a party for the family who stole your Niño, if you want to get it back.
So, I guess each country has its own way of celebrating the holiday season. We’re looking forward to being back home with family with or without Niño processions or Niño stealing. However, if any of you would like to start either one of these traditions there are stores here that sell only Niños and dresses for the Niño and we would be happy to pick one up for you.
Click to watch niños throw rose petals in Procession of the Niño
Click to watch Mike in the Procession of the Niño
Click to watch Tio Oscar bless people with the Niño
Thanksgiving
Wednesday morning I began to cook for Turkey Day. And for an extra Peace Corps challenge, Sayausi was without running water ALL day. Yes, from sunup to sundown there was not a drop of water to be gathered in Sayausi (before sunup the water had a brown sludge consistency due to heavy rainfall the previous day). All cooking was done without the ability to easily wash, rinse, or soap a single dish or ingredient. With this in mind, cookies, cornbread, and tortillas were strategically prepared first followed by roasted vegetables and from scratch-stuffing so that even if the veggies tasted like anise the cookies would not taste like onion. Mike was there to help with dicing and general moral support as there was no electricity at the Cajas office so he couldn’t get anything done on his computer and came home after being at work for just less than an hour.
We finally turned off the oven around 5pm that evening and treated ourselves to dinner at the chicken place in town as there was not an available pot or pan in the house that wasn’t filled with savory treats for the next day.
Watch Mary fetch water from the giant bucket we store for times when there is no water
Thursday morning our apartment in Sayausi became the staging ground for what would become the first ever Cajas National Park Thanksgiving extravaganza. Volunteers arrived from far and wide to celebrate el Dia de Accion de Gracias in the pristine valley of Llaviucu. By ten o’clock we had loaded our neighbors buseta (big van or little bus) with two horses of firewood (conversion: Mike learned that a horse is equal to two mules, and each mule is two cargas of wood), ten pounds of charcoal, a propane gas tank with hose and regulator, 14 Peace Corps Volunteers, 14 backpacks with sleeping bags, pots, pans, silverware, a jaba of beer (12 big bottles of beer), several boxes of ecua-wine, 10 gallons of drinking water, toilet paper, untold pounds of food and snacks, a portable stereo, dish soap, binoculars, and a fishing pole. Needles to say we were a large load for a relatively small van and as a result our max speed uphill to the park was around 5mph.
Nevertheless, we arrived at the cabin by eleven o’clock and were snacking on bocaditos by eleven thirty. After some heavy snacking, there was hiking, fire building, and holiday arts and crafting until late in the afternoon when we started heating up all the Turkey Day goodies for the big meal. The served-on-the-porch-overlooking-the-lake-in-a spectacular-valley menu included the following:
Charcoal Roasted Chicken (Thanks to a pollo place in Sayausi that opened at 6am for us)
Stuffing de Sayausi (Me and Mike)
Mac and Cheese (Margaret a PCV in Honduras 69-71)
Mashed Potatoes (Amy and Jacob)
Roasted Roots with Rosemary and Garlic (Me)
Veggie Gravy (Amy)
Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows (Brad)
Lucy’s Cornbread (made by me)
Veggie Crudite (Me and Migi aka Mike)
Mrs. B’s Spinach Dip and Crackers (Kelly B.)
Made by the Swiss in Ecuador Cheese and Crackers (Linea)
Bruchetta and Herbed Tomatoes (Me after being married to an Italian for a year)
Herbed Butter (Almost Italian Mary)
Bread and Cheeses (Jungle Lauren)
Wine and Cheese (Margaret)
Fruit Salad with Yogurt (Lucy and Craig)
Fruit (Lauren, Mike, and Me)
Guava Machete Fruit (Garrick)
Tennessee Apple Pie (Amy)
Riobamba Chocolate Chip Cookies (Erin and William)
Secret Recipe Oatmeal Cookies (Linea)
Oreo Brownie Fusion (Kelly)
Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting and Walnuts (Lucy)
Grandma Carbone’s Anise Biscotti (Me)
There was so much food that the four burner stove wasn’t sufficient to heat everything up so Mike turned the fire that Amy had so skillfully built into a makeshift oven to heat up the two chickens and four pots of stuffing (we didn’t heat up the third chicken as there was an abundance of food and treats). I’m sure I have forgotten to list some foods not that they weren’t also delicious but the food coma has impaired my memory.
The evening was spent star gazing, planet watching, constellation creating, owl listening, card playing, night hiking, catch phrasing (a game sort of like Taboo but easier), and being thankful for good food, good company, good lodging, and everything else good in the world. Before going off to bed we loaded up to wood burning stove with charcoal and even though we were at 10,000 feet above sea level the cabin stayed toasty warm all night long in the upstairs carpeted rooms with fluffy beds, pillows, and comforters.
The next morning Mike and I got up around five o’clock and went for a sunrise tour of the Llaviucu valley. When we got back around eight we sat down to a breakfast of leftovers and homemade tortillas with eggs and coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and milk. Not bad for the middle of nowhere in an Ecuadorian national park. The morning was then filled with checkers playing, day hiking, fishing, and general park activities like bird watching and llama chasing. We were also lucky to have an Andean toucan visit us while we were fishing (the cabin is actually called La Casa de los Tucanes) and to have two endangered condors fly up the valley while we were river hopping in search of trout. We tried to lure them in with the chicken carcass we were using for fish bait but it proved just as ineffective in attracting the condors as it was for the trout.
At three o’clock the busetta arrived to take us back to Sayausi and although we had fewer things than before it was still crammed and the wire holding the back of the van closed did not endure the cobblestone road up to the highway so Mike had to backtrack on foot to pick up involuntarily jettisoned items. We’re still not sure if we lost anything to the river as we crossed the small wooden bridge but so far no one has noticed anything as missing.
When we got back home on Friday afternoon our apartment served as a very comfortable waiting room for those who were headed back home on a bus later that day/night. We ate more leftovers and watched Lord of the Rings noting the similarities between Cajas and the landscapes in the movie. And although it had been several days we still did not have enough water pressure to ignite the calefon (water heater) and so we took ice cold showers at 9,000 feet above sea level where ice cold is really ice cold and the ambient temperature is slightly above ice cold. Don’t worry we did not get sick but we haven’t showered since as there is still (on Sunday) not enough water pressure.
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of delicious food, good company, and hot showers. We look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks and to taking a hot shower.
Double click on the image below to enlarge the photos and see the captions
PS…It is now 11am on Sunday, we have finished typing, are about to go into Cuenca to post, and the water in our apartment is now completely shut off. I guess we will have to continue looking forward to that hot shower.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
A Day in the Life of a Famous Ecua-Yankee Author
November 15, 2008
Saturday
8:30am
Weather: Partly cloudy
Temperature: 60’ish
Sayausi
The original theme for this post was going to be a photo-documentary of a single day here in Ecuador. However, we ended up not taking as many pictures as anticipated and several other days turned out to have actual things to write about. As such, this post is just like any other; a random collection of thoughts, events, and photos.
Dia de los Difuntos
Also known as Day of the Dead in Mexico, closely associated with Halloween in Los Estados Unidos, and part of the Fiestas of Cuenca in the province of Azuay, Ecuador.
During the first week of November Cuenca celebrates itself and Dia de los Difuntos. This weekend is probably the biggest weekend of the year after Christmas, Semana Santa (Easter), Carnaval (Mardi Gras). For the fiestas there are bailes (dances), concerts, artesanias (crafts), misas (masses), games, Volkswagon bug races, burro races, a Miss Cuenca competition (La Reina de Cuenca), and a Chola Cuencana competition (no literal translation just Chola of Cuenca). Since most of the free events are held outside and it was raining buckets for the entire weekend we didn’t get to see much of the fiestas. Fortunately, we saw many of these things during the fiestas of Sayausi back in June and so we can just imagine that they were more grandiose and the venues were larger.
For Dia de los Difuntos, which was the Sunday of this party weekend, there was a giant mass that is held in a cemetery here in Sayausi. During this mass people bring flowers for their loved ones that are buried in the cemetery and the priest reads a complete list of these loved ones. Outside of the cemetery vendors sell colada morada (a warm, purple colored, cinnamon, pineapple, blackberry drink) and gua-guas de pan (breads in the form of babies). These are specialty items that are only sold for Dia de los Difuntos (although I have heard that some families throw caution to wind and make the colada morada for Christmas). The mass in Sayausi (which traditionally was held at 2:00 in the afternoon) was held at 5:00 (the people were a little put off by this as it traditionally held at 2:00 and that’s when it should be) and is supposed to last several hours but was cut short due to a torrential downpour (which people were saying wouldn’t have happened if it had been held at the normal time and what was Padre Oscar thinking to change it). So we hid out in Carmita’s tienda for the evening hoping for the rain to stop. When several hours had passed and it was still raining we accepted the offer of plastic garbage bags fashioned into a poncho type garment and made our way home through the continued rainfall.
On a Norteamericano note, on Dia de Halloween, I made pancakes with…CANDY CORN! Looked great…tasted like candy corn with pancakes.
Pictures of Dia de los Difuntos (double click the image to enlarge the image)
Sunday (yes, just Sunday)
From time to time there are processions in Sayausi (i.e. every week give or take a few days). On this particular Sunday (which was going to be the inspiration for our Day in the Life post) the local elementary school was having a soccer tournament. So, all of the teams paraded through the plaza and the market that is there every Sunday. Each team was in uniform, carried a sign with the name of their team, and was led by a madrina (Mari’s sister Sandra’s daughter Heidi was one of the madrinas and Juan Diego, Mari’s son, was on one of the teams). A madrina is kind of like a team matron but she wears a gown, a tiara, makeup, and carries a bouquet of flowers. More often than not the madrina is selected for the team based on her visual appeal. And so twelve or so teams of elementary school kids were led by elementary school madrinas into the plaza where the madrinas are voted on and a queen is elected. Keep in mind that none of the madrinas actually had to say anything, they were just voted on. A lovely tradition that certainly encourages young girls to care about more than what they look like, they learn to care about what others think they look like. Good thing we don’t have anything like that in the States.
After stumbling across this procession, we continued on our way to Cuenca where we were meeting up with a few volunteers to do some grocery shopping before heading out to Kelly’s house in Santa Ana for a BBQ. Before heading to the grocery store where we were going to do said shopping we stopped by the ATM. Who can find something unusual about this ATM encounter after looking at the pictures?
On the way from the ATM to the store we passed through one of Cuenca’s many parks. Parque de la Madre (Mother’s Park) is a hotbed of speedwalking activity. At any time of day you can find the next “Jeff” training at the Escuela de Marcha (Speedwalking School) that is located in the park. Other common sights in Parque de la Madre include; kids playing, soccer games, Ecua-volley games, teenagers “cuddling” on benches, hot dog vendors, a planetarium, and of course the giant statue of Ecuador’s pride and joy, Olympic gold and silver medalist, three-time World Champion, the one and only, speed walking legend: Jefferson Perez.
In this next paragraph I am going to reveal something to you. I do not in any way want what I am about to say to spoil your vision of Peace Corps and what your son/grandson/nephew/son-in-law/friend/former teacher or daughter/niece/daughter-in-law/friend/former teacher is going through here in Ecuador. Let me remind you that we have an unreliable supply of hot water (yes, we do normally have water it’s just sometimes we don’t have hot water) and we are only given $10 worth of minutes on our PC issued cell phones each month. We are truly roughing it here and so when I tell you about out grocery store, Supermaxi, I expect that you will remember the hardship we face in our daily lives (our TV only gets like 5 channels and our freezer needs to be defrosted frequently) and see Supermaxi as a well deserved luxury. I will not attempt to describe what Supermaxi is. I will simply allow you to look at the few pictures we were permitted to take of its interior (I think Ecuador wants to keep its guilty pleasure a secret as well) and remind you that there are only three Supermaxis in Cuenca and that there also exists a Megamaxi, which I will allow your imagination to visualize after seeing pictures of its more humble beginnings.
After buying the necessary foods for a totally Norteamericano BBQ we hopped on a bus, waited for an hour in the market parking lot (see life here really is tough), and then we were off to the hills of Santa Ana where our dear friend Kelly lives and where Cuenca trucks all of its dear trash. Yes, Santa Ana is both Kelly’s home and Cuenca’s landfill; a perfect location for a Sunday cookout.
The Guest-List:
Me (aspiring Cholita of Sayausi)
Mike (recently discovered model and author)
Kelly (hostess and Santa Ana’s resident polar bear)
Sarah (Lojana who agrees Cuenca is better)
Garret (recently imported from Bolivia since PC Bolivia was shut down)
Matt (have you checked out his website for Puyo’s Orchid Garden?)
Kenji (knows how to pack light for a hike)
Wilcox (does not have a Supermaxi in his site)
The Menu:
Cheese Burgers with mushrooms and onions
Grilled Asparagus
Mrs. B’s Spinach Dip
Doritos
Ruffles
Carrot sticks
Ecua-Beer
Coke
Diet Coke
Cookies
Yes, life here in Ecuador is a daily challenge. That’s why it’s nice that every once and a while with a little effort (we had to walk up to the nearby tienda to get the beer and only half of them were cold) we can really enjoy ourselves and know we can make it through our hard knock lives as Peace Corp volunteers.
A Day in Life(double-click to enlarge the image)
Las Fiestas de Cajas
This past week marked the twelfth year of Cajas’ status as a national park. To celebrate this milestone Cajas and Mike (not necessarily in that order) have been working on nine books: a mammal guide, a bird guide, a plant guide, an amphibian, reptile, and fish guide, a route guide, an environmental education workbook for teachers, a workbook for kids, a storybook filled with pictures and stories by kids, and a tourist brochure.
During these past few months as the park and Mike (again not necessarily in that order) realized that there was still a lot of work to be done on these books, Mike and the park (in that order) having been working really hard and really long hours to make sure everything would be ready for the fiestas. And because of all of this hard work almost everything was ready for the fiestas. As a co-worker of Mike’s said, “You can prepare here but that doesn’t actually mean anything will happen.” Not that Mike really took that advice to heart as he was at the office until 8:00pm the night before the fiestas trying to make sure all of the books were going to be ready (2 print shops and a design shop to coordinate) and that all the appropriate banners, flags, and other parade paraphernalia was organized for the next morning. We left the house at 6:30am the following day to go “prepare” for the parade.
So yesterday was the big day and for the celebration Cajas organized a parade, a concert, and a Session Solemne (A Solemn Session). The parade began at 8:30am on a Friday morning and over 40 groups with a total of around 900 people participated. And even though the Park was only given permission to have the parade the night before (yes, they had known for months about the parade) everything turned out great. Mike was in charge of getting the groups in order for the parade at the start and then once all of them were parading he was making sure the high school band marching behind him and the park guards didn’t run them over. I’m not sure what the other park employees were doing during this time but I’m sure it was important.
Watch Mike Walk!
Watch Mike Wave!
The parade ended in Parque Calderon (the central park of Cuenca) where there were snacks for everybody and a concert in the plazoleta (which also wasn’t approved until the night before but hey how can you plan for something with only a few months notice?). At this point Mike was told today was his day off because all of the books were ready and now he could just enjoy the fiestas….except that they still needed to find a projector for the Session Solemne that started at five and prepare the auditorium for the many VIPs that would be attending. So, really Mike spent that afternoon making last minute touches to the slideshow, setting up the projector and the screen, making sure all banners and flags were appropriately displayed, and oh did I forget to mention he had to gather facts for several of the speeches that were to be given that night?
At 5:00pm the Session Solemne began in the Salon de la Ciudad of the Municipal Building that borders the central park. A Session Solemne is kind of like the Oscars without any funny skits or suspense but with the fancy clothes, flowers, awards, and ushers. Basically, it is an opportunity for really important people to get together, dress up, and congratulate each other for all of their excellent work. Normally, I don’t think I would have been at all entertained by lengthy speeches in a language I am still learning but several words did stand out among the overly ornate orations: Cuerpo de Paz and Miguel Carbone. The regional representative of the Secretary of the Environment, a man who has the ear of the President should he need it, personally thanked Mike during his speech in front of all the big wigs and the 500 people in the audience for Mike’s contribution to the completion of the nine books and the conservation of Cajas National Park. Not bad for seven months in site. Mike tells me PC Honduras was not like this.
After the Session Solemne (or maybe it was still part of it) they served cocktails and continued thanking each other while looking at pretty posters of Cajas, one of which is a picture Mike took of a fox when we were here three years ago. Not being big on self-congratulations and having been up since five o’clock in the morning, we skipped out on the cocktails. Probably a social no-no in Ecua-culture but since we have no current plans to settle in Cuenca, were undressed, had been in Cuenca for over twelve hours, and had already been congratulated enough for our Norteamericano standards, we went home.
Below is a link to a page that has pdfs of all of the books. Since they are new releases with limited print numbers hard copies are in high demand. If you have any specific requests I can see what I can do.
ETAPA website with pdfs
Highlights of the books include: my name on the credits for translation in the Mammal Guide, Mike’s name on many credits for the Mammal Guide, Route Guide, and Amphibian Guide, and is featured as a guapo tourist in nine pictures in the Route Guide as well as haven written the Backcountry First Aid section.
Las Fiestas del Cajas (double click to enlarge the image)
P.S. Happy Birthday Grandma!
Saturday
8:30am
Weather: Partly cloudy
Temperature: 60’ish
Sayausi
The original theme for this post was going to be a photo-documentary of a single day here in Ecuador. However, we ended up not taking as many pictures as anticipated and several other days turned out to have actual things to write about. As such, this post is just like any other; a random collection of thoughts, events, and photos.
Dia de los Difuntos
Also known as Day of the Dead in Mexico, closely associated with Halloween in Los Estados Unidos, and part of the Fiestas of Cuenca in the province of Azuay, Ecuador.
During the first week of November Cuenca celebrates itself and Dia de los Difuntos. This weekend is probably the biggest weekend of the year after Christmas, Semana Santa (Easter), Carnaval (Mardi Gras). For the fiestas there are bailes (dances), concerts, artesanias (crafts), misas (masses), games, Volkswagon bug races, burro races, a Miss Cuenca competition (La Reina de Cuenca), and a Chola Cuencana competition (no literal translation just Chola of Cuenca). Since most of the free events are held outside and it was raining buckets for the entire weekend we didn’t get to see much of the fiestas. Fortunately, we saw many of these things during the fiestas of Sayausi back in June and so we can just imagine that they were more grandiose and the venues were larger.
For Dia de los Difuntos, which was the Sunday of this party weekend, there was a giant mass that is held in a cemetery here in Sayausi. During this mass people bring flowers for their loved ones that are buried in the cemetery and the priest reads a complete list of these loved ones. Outside of the cemetery vendors sell colada morada (a warm, purple colored, cinnamon, pineapple, blackberry drink) and gua-guas de pan (breads in the form of babies). These are specialty items that are only sold for Dia de los Difuntos (although I have heard that some families throw caution to wind and make the colada morada for Christmas). The mass in Sayausi (which traditionally was held at 2:00 in the afternoon) was held at 5:00 (the people were a little put off by this as it traditionally held at 2:00 and that’s when it should be) and is supposed to last several hours but was cut short due to a torrential downpour (which people were saying wouldn’t have happened if it had been held at the normal time and what was Padre Oscar thinking to change it). So we hid out in Carmita’s tienda for the evening hoping for the rain to stop. When several hours had passed and it was still raining we accepted the offer of plastic garbage bags fashioned into a poncho type garment and made our way home through the continued rainfall.
On a Norteamericano note, on Dia de Halloween, I made pancakes with…CANDY CORN! Looked great…tasted like candy corn with pancakes.
Pictures of Dia de los Difuntos (double click the image to enlarge the image)
Sunday (yes, just Sunday)
From time to time there are processions in Sayausi (i.e. every week give or take a few days). On this particular Sunday (which was going to be the inspiration for our Day in the Life post) the local elementary school was having a soccer tournament. So, all of the teams paraded through the plaza and the market that is there every Sunday. Each team was in uniform, carried a sign with the name of their team, and was led by a madrina (Mari’s sister Sandra’s daughter Heidi was one of the madrinas and Juan Diego, Mari’s son, was on one of the teams). A madrina is kind of like a team matron but she wears a gown, a tiara, makeup, and carries a bouquet of flowers. More often than not the madrina is selected for the team based on her visual appeal. And so twelve or so teams of elementary school kids were led by elementary school madrinas into the plaza where the madrinas are voted on and a queen is elected. Keep in mind that none of the madrinas actually had to say anything, they were just voted on. A lovely tradition that certainly encourages young girls to care about more than what they look like, they learn to care about what others think they look like. Good thing we don’t have anything like that in the States.
After stumbling across this procession, we continued on our way to Cuenca where we were meeting up with a few volunteers to do some grocery shopping before heading out to Kelly’s house in Santa Ana for a BBQ. Before heading to the grocery store where we were going to do said shopping we stopped by the ATM. Who can find something unusual about this ATM encounter after looking at the pictures?
On the way from the ATM to the store we passed through one of Cuenca’s many parks. Parque de la Madre (Mother’s Park) is a hotbed of speedwalking activity. At any time of day you can find the next “Jeff” training at the Escuela de Marcha (Speedwalking School) that is located in the park. Other common sights in Parque de la Madre include; kids playing, soccer games, Ecua-volley games, teenagers “cuddling” on benches, hot dog vendors, a planetarium, and of course the giant statue of Ecuador’s pride and joy, Olympic gold and silver medalist, three-time World Champion, the one and only, speed walking legend: Jefferson Perez.
In this next paragraph I am going to reveal something to you. I do not in any way want what I am about to say to spoil your vision of Peace Corps and what your son/grandson/nephew/son-in-law/friend/former teacher or daughter/niece/daughter-in-law/friend/former teacher is going through here in Ecuador. Let me remind you that we have an unreliable supply of hot water (yes, we do normally have water it’s just sometimes we don’t have hot water) and we are only given $10 worth of minutes on our PC issued cell phones each month. We are truly roughing it here and so when I tell you about out grocery store, Supermaxi, I expect that you will remember the hardship we face in our daily lives (our TV only gets like 5 channels and our freezer needs to be defrosted frequently) and see Supermaxi as a well deserved luxury. I will not attempt to describe what Supermaxi is. I will simply allow you to look at the few pictures we were permitted to take of its interior (I think Ecuador wants to keep its guilty pleasure a secret as well) and remind you that there are only three Supermaxis in Cuenca and that there also exists a Megamaxi, which I will allow your imagination to visualize after seeing pictures of its more humble beginnings.
After buying the necessary foods for a totally Norteamericano BBQ we hopped on a bus, waited for an hour in the market parking lot (see life here really is tough), and then we were off to the hills of Santa Ana where our dear friend Kelly lives and where Cuenca trucks all of its dear trash. Yes, Santa Ana is both Kelly’s home and Cuenca’s landfill; a perfect location for a Sunday cookout.
The Guest-List:
Me (aspiring Cholita of Sayausi)
Mike (recently discovered model and author)
Kelly (hostess and Santa Ana’s resident polar bear)
Sarah (Lojana who agrees Cuenca is better)
Garret (recently imported from Bolivia since PC Bolivia was shut down)
Matt (have you checked out his website for Puyo’s Orchid Garden?)
Kenji (knows how to pack light for a hike)
Wilcox (does not have a Supermaxi in his site)
The Menu:
Cheese Burgers with mushrooms and onions
Grilled Asparagus
Mrs. B’s Spinach Dip
Doritos
Ruffles
Carrot sticks
Ecua-Beer
Coke
Diet Coke
Cookies
Yes, life here in Ecuador is a daily challenge. That’s why it’s nice that every once and a while with a little effort (we had to walk up to the nearby tienda to get the beer and only half of them were cold) we can really enjoy ourselves and know we can make it through our hard knock lives as Peace Corp volunteers.
A Day in Life(double-click to enlarge the image)
Las Fiestas de Cajas
This past week marked the twelfth year of Cajas’ status as a national park. To celebrate this milestone Cajas and Mike (not necessarily in that order) have been working on nine books: a mammal guide, a bird guide, a plant guide, an amphibian, reptile, and fish guide, a route guide, an environmental education workbook for teachers, a workbook for kids, a storybook filled with pictures and stories by kids, and a tourist brochure.
During these past few months as the park and Mike (again not necessarily in that order) realized that there was still a lot of work to be done on these books, Mike and the park (in that order) having been working really hard and really long hours to make sure everything would be ready for the fiestas. And because of all of this hard work almost everything was ready for the fiestas. As a co-worker of Mike’s said, “You can prepare here but that doesn’t actually mean anything will happen.” Not that Mike really took that advice to heart as he was at the office until 8:00pm the night before the fiestas trying to make sure all of the books were going to be ready (2 print shops and a design shop to coordinate) and that all the appropriate banners, flags, and other parade paraphernalia was organized for the next morning. We left the house at 6:30am the following day to go “prepare” for the parade.
So yesterday was the big day and for the celebration Cajas organized a parade, a concert, and a Session Solemne (A Solemn Session). The parade began at 8:30am on a Friday morning and over 40 groups with a total of around 900 people participated. And even though the Park was only given permission to have the parade the night before (yes, they had known for months about the parade) everything turned out great. Mike was in charge of getting the groups in order for the parade at the start and then once all of them were parading he was making sure the high school band marching behind him and the park guards didn’t run them over. I’m not sure what the other park employees were doing during this time but I’m sure it was important.
Watch Mike Walk!
Watch Mike Wave!
The parade ended in Parque Calderon (the central park of Cuenca) where there were snacks for everybody and a concert in the plazoleta (which also wasn’t approved until the night before but hey how can you plan for something with only a few months notice?). At this point Mike was told today was his day off because all of the books were ready and now he could just enjoy the fiestas….except that they still needed to find a projector for the Session Solemne that started at five and prepare the auditorium for the many VIPs that would be attending. So, really Mike spent that afternoon making last minute touches to the slideshow, setting up the projector and the screen, making sure all banners and flags were appropriately displayed, and oh did I forget to mention he had to gather facts for several of the speeches that were to be given that night?
At 5:00pm the Session Solemne began in the Salon de la Ciudad of the Municipal Building that borders the central park. A Session Solemne is kind of like the Oscars without any funny skits or suspense but with the fancy clothes, flowers, awards, and ushers. Basically, it is an opportunity for really important people to get together, dress up, and congratulate each other for all of their excellent work. Normally, I don’t think I would have been at all entertained by lengthy speeches in a language I am still learning but several words did stand out among the overly ornate orations: Cuerpo de Paz and Miguel Carbone. The regional representative of the Secretary of the Environment, a man who has the ear of the President should he need it, personally thanked Mike during his speech in front of all the big wigs and the 500 people in the audience for Mike’s contribution to the completion of the nine books and the conservation of Cajas National Park. Not bad for seven months in site. Mike tells me PC Honduras was not like this.
After the Session Solemne (or maybe it was still part of it) they served cocktails and continued thanking each other while looking at pretty posters of Cajas, one of which is a picture Mike took of a fox when we were here three years ago. Not being big on self-congratulations and having been up since five o’clock in the morning, we skipped out on the cocktails. Probably a social no-no in Ecua-culture but since we have no current plans to settle in Cuenca, were undressed, had been in Cuenca for over twelve hours, and had already been congratulated enough for our Norteamericano standards, we went home.
Below is a link to a page that has pdfs of all of the books. Since they are new releases with limited print numbers hard copies are in high demand. If you have any specific requests I can see what I can do.
ETAPA website with pdfs
Highlights of the books include: my name on the credits for translation in the Mammal Guide, Mike’s name on many credits for the Mammal Guide, Route Guide, and Amphibian Guide, and is featured as a guapo tourist in nine pictures in the Route Guide as well as haven written the Backcountry First Aid section.
Las Fiestas del Cajas (double click to enlarge the image)
P.S. Happy Birthday Grandma!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Boy, you’ve gotten fat…and beautiful
November 1, 2008
Saturday
7:00am
Sayausi
It seems that after six months of being in our site we have started to fall into a routine of some sorts which has distracted us from attending to our blog. Furthermore, due to the said established routine this blog may seem to lack the usual flare that I am sure you have all noticed and appreciated about our previous posts. Apparently, you can take the gringo out of the U.S. but you can’t take the task oriented nature out of the gringo.
Mary’s “Work”
In the past four weeks I think I have officially crossed the line into to being Peace Corps busy. Granted this is a relative term both within Peace Corps and certainly in comparison to what “busy” may mean to someone working in the great U.S. of A. As of right now from 7:30am until 12:00pm Tuesday through Friday I am working. Yes, that’s right for a total of eighteen hours per week (including the many break-citos within those hours to tomar a pan-cito y platicar i.e. chat with my “colleagues” while work is supposed to be happening…just for clarification this chatting and snacking is not because of me, it is actually built in to the typical Ecuadorian work day)
So, what may you ask am I doing besides snacking, engordaring, and gossiping during these self-described work-hours? Well, on Wednesdays and Thursdays I walk up the road from the plaza to Bellavista Elementary School (it actually has a more official name, or names rather, but I can’t remember all eight of them so I just call it la escuela de Bellavista despite being corrected a number of times about its actual litany of names). At this school I am currently giving English classes, trying to start up a school garden, and eventually trying to elbow in some environmental education classes and possibly a world map in the future. But for now some Enlglish and a school garden, which the near constant rainfall in our town makes it a nearly impossible task, will suffice. Below is outline of what my work days consist of:
Wednesdays at La Escuela de Bellavista
Jardin: A class of twenty four-to-five year olds all wearing aprons (to keep their uniforms clean) and dripping noses shouting back at me the few words I have managed to teach them. Usually this class also includes a bathroom break where I have to dole out sheets of toilet paper and help about half of the class unbutton and re-button their pants. On occasion there is also a random crying student who needs to be sent home because they miss their mom.
Segundo de Basico: More shouting, no aprons, no bathroom assistance, less crying, and a surprisingly increased ability to retain information (then again when you’re coming from buttoning pants and wiping noses the mere ability to maintain some sort of physical upkeep is impressive).
Recreo: Also known as recess in the States, is a time where the kids run around like crazy (nothing new here) but the teachers, instead of watching over the madness, retreat to the kitchen, shut and lock the door, and sit down to eat bread, drink coffee, and talk about whatever gossip is making the rounds on that particular day (last weeks’ topic was the realization that there was a student who only had his father’s last name. “Jamas en mi vida” i.e. “Never in my life” was the resounding chorus upon hearing this piece of information, as it is the custom for every child to have a total of four names: first, middle, mother’s last name, and father’s last name. I always thought I was strange for having all those names but here it is unheard of for someone to be lacking one. I really think the teachers believed he was some sort of aberration that actually did not have a mother and just appeared on this earth by some unseemly manner).
Tercero de Basico: This is the first class I have where I can actually write something on the board and there is the slight possibility that they will be able to copy it in some form into a notebook. However, the writing of more than five words on the board takes up the entire 45 minutes as they attempt to copy it, erase it, ask me if it is OK, I say it is, they say it is not, they erase it again, and the cycle repeats.
Cuarto de Basico: This class has forty (yes forty), energetic, eager to participate, but hard to focus students that can write reasonably quickly and retain information from one week to the next. This class is obsessed with what color pen they should be using to take down the notes I put on the board and so a large portion of each day is spent discussing red pen, blue pen, pencil, should we skip a line, what do I do if I don’t have enough space on the page (well, continue on the next page I say as though I were some sort of mensa member), is that a “g” or a “y” (y’s here have to be made by the joining of two perfectly straight lines whereas only g’s and j’ have a curvy tail), and is that an “n” or a “h” (the proportion of stem to hump with the letter ‘h’ is about 10 to 1 and anything else is indistinguishable as a letter).
Thursdays at La Escuela de Bellavista
Quinto de Basico: The teacher of this class is the Director of the school and as such feels he is quite the outstanding instructor. Each time I write something on the board or explain something he will erase and re-write or excuse himself for the proceeding interjection and basically try to stage some sort of coup where he ends up teaching some other mildly related topic instead of whatever it was I had been teaching. Also, his preferred form of communication is most similar to that of a dog defending a fire hydrant; a series of barks punctuated by displays of macho-ness.
Sexto de Basico: By far my favorite class, there are only 16 students and every single one is super excited about everything. I think this is the equivalent of fifth grade in the States and so the universality of fifth graders being in a developmentally awesome stage holds true. As an added bonus, they can write quickly and the teacher just sits quietly at his desk.
Recreo: Pretty much the same as Wednesday’s recreo though the topic of the gossip usually changes.
Septimo de Basico: I usually end up teaching this class for about fifteen minutes instead of 45 as after recreo on Thursday’s the entire school formars (stands in lines according to their grade and pratices a few pseudo-militaristic exercises) and the director barks some announcements at them before calling out the names of around 60 individuals to collect some small piece of paper he has that they need to deliver to their parents. Why this task can’t be given to the teachers of the classes still confuses me. In any event, the students in this final class can learn about the same amount of material as the previous class in less than half the time but with the enthusiasm of tweens that are no longer unabashedly excited by school and are more interested in making sure their social status is maintained.
So that’s my work up in Bellavista and now I can’t leave the house without being bombarded with “Hola Senorita” by the wandering masses of the students that are finished with school at 12:00pm and have never had one of their teachers live in their neighborhood. It’s actually quite cute and does my ego wonders.
The other two days of the week I go up to Cajas National Park with Mike to give Tourism/English classes to the parkguards. Technically the classes start at eight and finish at ten but by the time the class actually starts and by the time I get a ride back down to Sayausi it is usually noon, so I count the entire time as work though in reality there’s only about an hour and half of actual work but when in Ecuador do as the Ecuadorian park employees do i.e. work equals the total amount of time it takes to do something including travel time and break-citos.
Mike’s Work
After many months of being stuck behind a desk (something Mike probably never envisioned himself doing especially while in Peace Corps) the several books he has been working on (i.e. re-writing though he will only be given credit for ‘technical revision, photographer, and translation’) are supposed to go to print this coming Tuesday! Which has been no easy task as most of the edits he has done have required access to AdobeReader which ETAPA has still not given Mike access to at his work computer and so can only use the program for a minute before it kicks him off and shuts down. This means that a majority of the work he has done was first with paper and pen and then transferred to digital format when he had access to a computer with the appropriate program; all and all tripling the time it would have taken if he had just been given the ability to use AdobeReader at his own computer (Internet access would have also made the job much easier; oh well). In any event, he finished and now, as mentioned earlier, the books are supposed to go to print. And although “supposed to” in Ecuador is the equivalent of saying “will not” it may present a possible end to desk work for the near future.
However, Mike has done such a good job with the books (he was complimented on his methodical approach to editing and his attention to detail in front of all the major jefes at the last park meeting) that he may get pinned to the desk for another round of books that didn’t make this deadline. As the newly appointed park biologist (the old one is doing a Masters in Quito and as such will be gone for the following ten months), in addition to more book editing he has been given the responsibility of designing and implementing a survey for the park guards to fill out on a regular basis that would track the number and movement of different animals in the park so that Cajas could monitor the health of its fauna (or the maybe more accurately so that is can measure the extent of the effect of cattle and horses that are in the park and should not be). It’s almost like Mike left a real job in the States only to get a more “real” job in Ecuador.
Fortunately, every now and again the park does let him out from behind the desk and one of those rare moments occurred a few weeks ago when he accompanied a team of biologists to assist with site selection for an upcoming condor study (see pictures below). The study aims to monitor the small population of Andean condors that frequent the park by luring them to particular peaks using recently slaughtered cows. The biologists will set up nearby observation points where they will sit in a relatively dry place with binoculars and wait for the condors to appear. Before cozying up in there observation points the biologists will delegate the slaughtering of cows, and all the blood and foulness that that action entails, to the park guards demonstrating the food chain that exists in the work place as well as in nature.
Another out-of-desk experience included taking a camera and park guard on a point-and-shoot tour of specific sites in the park. One of the books Mike has been working so hard on in the most recent past is a guide to all of the trails in Cajas. In this book, each trail is broken down in to several different points of interest where some specific information is given about the surrounding area. There is also supposed to be pictures from each of these points of interest. Keep the word “supposed” to be in mind. So, obviously several of these pictures were missing i.e. did not exist and so needed to be taken. So Mike, a park guard, and camera spent the day visiting these points of interest and taking pictures for the book. As a result Mike can now add to his resume part-time model and photographer. Not bad for a day’s work.
Mike also took it upon himself to break free of his desk shackles one day last week to go check up on another study going on in the park. This other study is monitoring the population of deer by measuring the amount of fecal matter found within several transects throughout Cajas. I was lucky enough to accompany Mike on this lovely, rainy, wet, cold day and trudge through the Andean paramo looking for small red strings that identified each transect. Fortunately, we were not there to count the quantity of fecal matter (though I wouldn’t be surprised if that was included in an upcoming hike). The task of finding the transects ended up being a mission of luck rather than map reading ability as these biologists had incorrectly placed the transects and so they were also incorrectly placed on the map. We did end up stumbling across one of them and despite its location everything else about was set up correctly.
Despite the likelihood of working behind a desk each day Mike continues to pack his backpack with all his hiking gear (pancho, waterproof pants, first aid kit, thermos with tea, compass, maps, binoculars, gloves, hat, emergency blanket) just for the possibility that he may find some excuse to leave his office, computer, chair, and desk behind for the day and pretend to be a real Peace Corps volunteer doing things outside the confines of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Adobe Acrobat.
Home on the Range…or more accurately the Plazoleta
Pasta
Though we are both working stiffs we still find time (somewhere outside those 18 hours per week) to enjoy the campo life. After leaving it sitting on our kitchen shelf for three months, we finally took out the pasta maker and made pasta. It was not nearly as time consuming as I originally thought it would be and I now appreciate the need for a giant wooden board (whether it be for googala or other doughs that require a well of flour for eggs to be placed within). The tile counter top is OK but the grout can be quite annoying while kneading. But it’s all worth it to use the play dough machine…I mean pasta machine that is amazingly reminiscent of a play dough machine with the added advantage that you are actually supposed to eat what comes out of it as opposed to just wanting to eat what comes out of it.
The next day we feasted on fresh pasta with tomato sauce and though the noodles are longer than I have become accustomed to, the taste was unsurpassed (at least in the land of Ecua-noodles).
Watch Mary make pasta!
Watch Mary eat pasta!
Veggies and Kichwa
Obviously we pay rent every month. Not so obviously, our landlady comes to our house each month to collect it. Even less obviously, when she comes she brings with her a giant crate filled with vegetables from her garden that she presents to us just after we give her the money for the rent. I would like to emphasize the word “crate” in the previous sentence. It is not just a mere lettuce head or bunch of carrots; it is an entire crate of vegetables (see pictures in slideshow and make sure to notice the new “window” Mike made for our kitchen). Also, keep in mind that our land lady is a fully fledged chola. That means everyday she wears a pollera, the flashy blusa, a cardigan, braids, and a chalina (a blanket worn for extra warmth when it is cold and balanced on the head when sunny, to block the sun of course).
This past month when she, her daughter, and her grandson came over with the overflowing crate of vegetables she also brought one of her other daughter’s homework for Mike to help her with. The homework was kichwa. Our chola (i.e. almost indigenous land lady) brought Mike (total gringo) her daughter’s kichwa homework. I mean we probably have the only Kichwa-Spanish dictionary in all of Sayausi and Mike has probably received more formal Kichwa instruction than anyone in Sayausi but the entire situation was still highly amusing.
Boy, you’ve gotten fat…and beautiful
This is a difficult story for me to write. But I figure for the sake of cultural exchange and humor factor it is worth putting down in a public space for the entire world to read and comment upon.
If you will recall from earlier in the post Mike and I went for a hike in Cajas on a cold, rainy day. Again, it was a cold, rainy day and as such I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, a fleece, a windbreaker, a scarf, a raincoat, jeans, and waterproof pants over my jeans. The hike took around five hours, of which four of them included large amounts of rain and wind. We had just gotten out of the back of pick up truck (which was our ride back to Sayausi form the park which means more rain and more wind) and were walking through the main street of Sayausi back our apartment when we ran into Luz Mil.
Luz Mil is also a chola, like our land lady, but a more eccentric chola with the final effect being more similar to a rodeo clown than cute and indigenous. The majority of people in our town also believe that she is a witch. In any event, she has taken quite the liking to me and is always thrilled to see me. Whenever, Mike runs into her (which is fairly often as he walks by her house on the way to work) she always asks, “Y la nina Mari? Donde esta? Como esta la nina Mari? Porque no viene aqui para visitarme. Yo hice motecito, porque no viene?” Guilt, as it turns out, is a universal tactic in trying to get people to come visit.
On this particular occasion, a month or so had passed since the last time I had seen her and so she was particularly enthused to see me on the street. We crossed over to greet her in the traditional Ecua-fashion which includes a kiss, a hug, and several exchanges of “How are you”, “How have you been”, and “How has it been going”. However, after the kisses and hugs there was no “How are you” there was no “How have you been” there was no “How has it been going”, there was only, “Oh, how fat you’ve gotten, you look so beautiful! What have you been eating to get so fat and beautiful! I can’t believe how beautiful and fat you have become!” I tried to go on the defensive with some comment about the number of layers I had on because it was so cold and so on but she countered expertly by pointing out the my face had also gotten much more beautiful and fat.
Now, I realize there are some cultural differences between here and there and for the most part I think I have adjusted well to these differences and usually do not take offense to where these differences collide. But my brain honestly and truly had no idea how to respond to someone telling me how incredibly fat I have gotten and at the same time saying how absolutely beautiful I looked. In any event, I want to hear no comments on the truth or untruth of my fatness, nor the accompanied beauty of this fatness. I will just point out that if someone here in town is sick everyone automatically says that this person has lost a lot weight and how terrible it is to lose weight. Following this logic I will assume her meaning was more along the lines of how healthy and glowing I looked and I will now monitor my ability to button my jeans.
Moving on to other less personally scrutinizing topics...
Don’t Forget to Vote
That’s it really, don’t forget to vote. We did and we are both registered in states where our votes quite literally don’t matter and we had to pay $6.00 to do it. That’s like ten ice cream cones, five full lunches, or sixty pieces of bread, quite the sacrifice (no comments about fatness here please). So, go vote…for Obama.
Don´t forget to double click to enlarge the slideshow and see the captions.
Saturday
7:00am
Sayausi
It seems that after six months of being in our site we have started to fall into a routine of some sorts which has distracted us from attending to our blog. Furthermore, due to the said established routine this blog may seem to lack the usual flare that I am sure you have all noticed and appreciated about our previous posts. Apparently, you can take the gringo out of the U.S. but you can’t take the task oriented nature out of the gringo.
Mary’s “Work”
In the past four weeks I think I have officially crossed the line into to being Peace Corps busy. Granted this is a relative term both within Peace Corps and certainly in comparison to what “busy” may mean to someone working in the great U.S. of A. As of right now from 7:30am until 12:00pm Tuesday through Friday I am working. Yes, that’s right for a total of eighteen hours per week (including the many break-citos within those hours to tomar a pan-cito y platicar i.e. chat with my “colleagues” while work is supposed to be happening…just for clarification this chatting and snacking is not because of me, it is actually built in to the typical Ecuadorian work day)
So, what may you ask am I doing besides snacking, engordaring, and gossiping during these self-described work-hours? Well, on Wednesdays and Thursdays I walk up the road from the plaza to Bellavista Elementary School (it actually has a more official name, or names rather, but I can’t remember all eight of them so I just call it la escuela de Bellavista despite being corrected a number of times about its actual litany of names). At this school I am currently giving English classes, trying to start up a school garden, and eventually trying to elbow in some environmental education classes and possibly a world map in the future. But for now some Enlglish and a school garden, which the near constant rainfall in our town makes it a nearly impossible task, will suffice. Below is outline of what my work days consist of:
Wednesdays at La Escuela de Bellavista
Jardin: A class of twenty four-to-five year olds all wearing aprons (to keep their uniforms clean) and dripping noses shouting back at me the few words I have managed to teach them. Usually this class also includes a bathroom break where I have to dole out sheets of toilet paper and help about half of the class unbutton and re-button their pants. On occasion there is also a random crying student who needs to be sent home because they miss their mom.
Segundo de Basico: More shouting, no aprons, no bathroom assistance, less crying, and a surprisingly increased ability to retain information (then again when you’re coming from buttoning pants and wiping noses the mere ability to maintain some sort of physical upkeep is impressive).
Recreo: Also known as recess in the States, is a time where the kids run around like crazy (nothing new here) but the teachers, instead of watching over the madness, retreat to the kitchen, shut and lock the door, and sit down to eat bread, drink coffee, and talk about whatever gossip is making the rounds on that particular day (last weeks’ topic was the realization that there was a student who only had his father’s last name. “Jamas en mi vida” i.e. “Never in my life” was the resounding chorus upon hearing this piece of information, as it is the custom for every child to have a total of four names: first, middle, mother’s last name, and father’s last name. I always thought I was strange for having all those names but here it is unheard of for someone to be lacking one. I really think the teachers believed he was some sort of aberration that actually did not have a mother and just appeared on this earth by some unseemly manner).
Tercero de Basico: This is the first class I have where I can actually write something on the board and there is the slight possibility that they will be able to copy it in some form into a notebook. However, the writing of more than five words on the board takes up the entire 45 minutes as they attempt to copy it, erase it, ask me if it is OK, I say it is, they say it is not, they erase it again, and the cycle repeats.
Cuarto de Basico: This class has forty (yes forty), energetic, eager to participate, but hard to focus students that can write reasonably quickly and retain information from one week to the next. This class is obsessed with what color pen they should be using to take down the notes I put on the board and so a large portion of each day is spent discussing red pen, blue pen, pencil, should we skip a line, what do I do if I don’t have enough space on the page (well, continue on the next page I say as though I were some sort of mensa member), is that a “g” or a “y” (y’s here have to be made by the joining of two perfectly straight lines whereas only g’s and j’ have a curvy tail), and is that an “n” or a “h” (the proportion of stem to hump with the letter ‘h’ is about 10 to 1 and anything else is indistinguishable as a letter).
Thursdays at La Escuela de Bellavista
Quinto de Basico: The teacher of this class is the Director of the school and as such feels he is quite the outstanding instructor. Each time I write something on the board or explain something he will erase and re-write or excuse himself for the proceeding interjection and basically try to stage some sort of coup where he ends up teaching some other mildly related topic instead of whatever it was I had been teaching. Also, his preferred form of communication is most similar to that of a dog defending a fire hydrant; a series of barks punctuated by displays of macho-ness.
Sexto de Basico: By far my favorite class, there are only 16 students and every single one is super excited about everything. I think this is the equivalent of fifth grade in the States and so the universality of fifth graders being in a developmentally awesome stage holds true. As an added bonus, they can write quickly and the teacher just sits quietly at his desk.
Recreo: Pretty much the same as Wednesday’s recreo though the topic of the gossip usually changes.
Septimo de Basico: I usually end up teaching this class for about fifteen minutes instead of 45 as after recreo on Thursday’s the entire school formars (stands in lines according to their grade and pratices a few pseudo-militaristic exercises) and the director barks some announcements at them before calling out the names of around 60 individuals to collect some small piece of paper he has that they need to deliver to their parents. Why this task can’t be given to the teachers of the classes still confuses me. In any event, the students in this final class can learn about the same amount of material as the previous class in less than half the time but with the enthusiasm of tweens that are no longer unabashedly excited by school and are more interested in making sure their social status is maintained.
So that’s my work up in Bellavista and now I can’t leave the house without being bombarded with “Hola Senorita” by the wandering masses of the students that are finished with school at 12:00pm and have never had one of their teachers live in their neighborhood. It’s actually quite cute and does my ego wonders.
The other two days of the week I go up to Cajas National Park with Mike to give Tourism/English classes to the parkguards. Technically the classes start at eight and finish at ten but by the time the class actually starts and by the time I get a ride back down to Sayausi it is usually noon, so I count the entire time as work though in reality there’s only about an hour and half of actual work but when in Ecuador do as the Ecuadorian park employees do i.e. work equals the total amount of time it takes to do something including travel time and break-citos.
Mike’s Work
After many months of being stuck behind a desk (something Mike probably never envisioned himself doing especially while in Peace Corps) the several books he has been working on (i.e. re-writing though he will only be given credit for ‘technical revision, photographer, and translation’) are supposed to go to print this coming Tuesday! Which has been no easy task as most of the edits he has done have required access to AdobeReader which ETAPA has still not given Mike access to at his work computer and so can only use the program for a minute before it kicks him off and shuts down. This means that a majority of the work he has done was first with paper and pen and then transferred to digital format when he had access to a computer with the appropriate program; all and all tripling the time it would have taken if he had just been given the ability to use AdobeReader at his own computer (Internet access would have also made the job much easier; oh well). In any event, he finished and now, as mentioned earlier, the books are supposed to go to print. And although “supposed to” in Ecuador is the equivalent of saying “will not” it may present a possible end to desk work for the near future.
However, Mike has done such a good job with the books (he was complimented on his methodical approach to editing and his attention to detail in front of all the major jefes at the last park meeting) that he may get pinned to the desk for another round of books that didn’t make this deadline. As the newly appointed park biologist (the old one is doing a Masters in Quito and as such will be gone for the following ten months), in addition to more book editing he has been given the responsibility of designing and implementing a survey for the park guards to fill out on a regular basis that would track the number and movement of different animals in the park so that Cajas could monitor the health of its fauna (or the maybe more accurately so that is can measure the extent of the effect of cattle and horses that are in the park and should not be). It’s almost like Mike left a real job in the States only to get a more “real” job in Ecuador.
Fortunately, every now and again the park does let him out from behind the desk and one of those rare moments occurred a few weeks ago when he accompanied a team of biologists to assist with site selection for an upcoming condor study (see pictures below). The study aims to monitor the small population of Andean condors that frequent the park by luring them to particular peaks using recently slaughtered cows. The biologists will set up nearby observation points where they will sit in a relatively dry place with binoculars and wait for the condors to appear. Before cozying up in there observation points the biologists will delegate the slaughtering of cows, and all the blood and foulness that that action entails, to the park guards demonstrating the food chain that exists in the work place as well as in nature.
Another out-of-desk experience included taking a camera and park guard on a point-and-shoot tour of specific sites in the park. One of the books Mike has been working so hard on in the most recent past is a guide to all of the trails in Cajas. In this book, each trail is broken down in to several different points of interest where some specific information is given about the surrounding area. There is also supposed to be pictures from each of these points of interest. Keep the word “supposed” to be in mind. So, obviously several of these pictures were missing i.e. did not exist and so needed to be taken. So Mike, a park guard, and camera spent the day visiting these points of interest and taking pictures for the book. As a result Mike can now add to his resume part-time model and photographer. Not bad for a day’s work.
Mike also took it upon himself to break free of his desk shackles one day last week to go check up on another study going on in the park. This other study is monitoring the population of deer by measuring the amount of fecal matter found within several transects throughout Cajas. I was lucky enough to accompany Mike on this lovely, rainy, wet, cold day and trudge through the Andean paramo looking for small red strings that identified each transect. Fortunately, we were not there to count the quantity of fecal matter (though I wouldn’t be surprised if that was included in an upcoming hike). The task of finding the transects ended up being a mission of luck rather than map reading ability as these biologists had incorrectly placed the transects and so they were also incorrectly placed on the map. We did end up stumbling across one of them and despite its location everything else about was set up correctly.
Despite the likelihood of working behind a desk each day Mike continues to pack his backpack with all his hiking gear (pancho, waterproof pants, first aid kit, thermos with tea, compass, maps, binoculars, gloves, hat, emergency blanket) just for the possibility that he may find some excuse to leave his office, computer, chair, and desk behind for the day and pretend to be a real Peace Corps volunteer doing things outside the confines of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Adobe Acrobat.
Home on the Range…or more accurately the Plazoleta
Pasta
Though we are both working stiffs we still find time (somewhere outside those 18 hours per week) to enjoy the campo life. After leaving it sitting on our kitchen shelf for three months, we finally took out the pasta maker and made pasta. It was not nearly as time consuming as I originally thought it would be and I now appreciate the need for a giant wooden board (whether it be for googala or other doughs that require a well of flour for eggs to be placed within). The tile counter top is OK but the grout can be quite annoying while kneading. But it’s all worth it to use the play dough machine…I mean pasta machine that is amazingly reminiscent of a play dough machine with the added advantage that you are actually supposed to eat what comes out of it as opposed to just wanting to eat what comes out of it.
The next day we feasted on fresh pasta with tomato sauce and though the noodles are longer than I have become accustomed to, the taste was unsurpassed (at least in the land of Ecua-noodles).
Watch Mary make pasta!
Watch Mary eat pasta!
Veggies and Kichwa
Obviously we pay rent every month. Not so obviously, our landlady comes to our house each month to collect it. Even less obviously, when she comes she brings with her a giant crate filled with vegetables from her garden that she presents to us just after we give her the money for the rent. I would like to emphasize the word “crate” in the previous sentence. It is not just a mere lettuce head or bunch of carrots; it is an entire crate of vegetables (see pictures in slideshow and make sure to notice the new “window” Mike made for our kitchen). Also, keep in mind that our land lady is a fully fledged chola. That means everyday she wears a pollera, the flashy blusa, a cardigan, braids, and a chalina (a blanket worn for extra warmth when it is cold and balanced on the head when sunny, to block the sun of course).
This past month when she, her daughter, and her grandson came over with the overflowing crate of vegetables she also brought one of her other daughter’s homework for Mike to help her with. The homework was kichwa. Our chola (i.e. almost indigenous land lady) brought Mike (total gringo) her daughter’s kichwa homework. I mean we probably have the only Kichwa-Spanish dictionary in all of Sayausi and Mike has probably received more formal Kichwa instruction than anyone in Sayausi but the entire situation was still highly amusing.
Boy, you’ve gotten fat…and beautiful
This is a difficult story for me to write. But I figure for the sake of cultural exchange and humor factor it is worth putting down in a public space for the entire world to read and comment upon.
If you will recall from earlier in the post Mike and I went for a hike in Cajas on a cold, rainy day. Again, it was a cold, rainy day and as such I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, a fleece, a windbreaker, a scarf, a raincoat, jeans, and waterproof pants over my jeans. The hike took around five hours, of which four of them included large amounts of rain and wind. We had just gotten out of the back of pick up truck (which was our ride back to Sayausi form the park which means more rain and more wind) and were walking through the main street of Sayausi back our apartment when we ran into Luz Mil.
Luz Mil is also a chola, like our land lady, but a more eccentric chola with the final effect being more similar to a rodeo clown than cute and indigenous. The majority of people in our town also believe that she is a witch. In any event, she has taken quite the liking to me and is always thrilled to see me. Whenever, Mike runs into her (which is fairly often as he walks by her house on the way to work) she always asks, “Y la nina Mari? Donde esta? Como esta la nina Mari? Porque no viene aqui para visitarme. Yo hice motecito, porque no viene?” Guilt, as it turns out, is a universal tactic in trying to get people to come visit.
On this particular occasion, a month or so had passed since the last time I had seen her and so she was particularly enthused to see me on the street. We crossed over to greet her in the traditional Ecua-fashion which includes a kiss, a hug, and several exchanges of “How are you”, “How have you been”, and “How has it been going”. However, after the kisses and hugs there was no “How are you” there was no “How have you been” there was no “How has it been going”, there was only, “Oh, how fat you’ve gotten, you look so beautiful! What have you been eating to get so fat and beautiful! I can’t believe how beautiful and fat you have become!” I tried to go on the defensive with some comment about the number of layers I had on because it was so cold and so on but she countered expertly by pointing out the my face had also gotten much more beautiful and fat.
Now, I realize there are some cultural differences between here and there and for the most part I think I have adjusted well to these differences and usually do not take offense to where these differences collide. But my brain honestly and truly had no idea how to respond to someone telling me how incredibly fat I have gotten and at the same time saying how absolutely beautiful I looked. In any event, I want to hear no comments on the truth or untruth of my fatness, nor the accompanied beauty of this fatness. I will just point out that if someone here in town is sick everyone automatically says that this person has lost a lot weight and how terrible it is to lose weight. Following this logic I will assume her meaning was more along the lines of how healthy and glowing I looked and I will now monitor my ability to button my jeans.
Moving on to other less personally scrutinizing topics...
Don’t Forget to Vote
That’s it really, don’t forget to vote. We did and we are both registered in states where our votes quite literally don’t matter and we had to pay $6.00 to do it. That’s like ten ice cream cones, five full lunches, or sixty pieces of bread, quite the sacrifice (no comments about fatness here please). So, go vote…for Obama.
Don´t forget to double click to enlarge the slideshow and see the captions.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Medical Brigades, the Constitution, and Standfast
October 1, 2008
Wednesday
11:20AM
Sayausi
Medical Brigade
About a week ago Mike and I volunteered to be translators for a group of Air Force doctors from the States. The group was going to be in Ecuador for two weeks giving free medical treatment in several small communities around Cuenca (not Sayausi though). All and all there were about twenty doctors, nurses, medical technicians, and dentists from bases all over the US. However, only two of them spoke Spanish. What they lacked in Spanish they more than made up for in fire power! Driving to and from the town we were led by a truck filled with armed Ecuadorian soldiers and followed by another truck with more armed Ecuadorian soldiers. It was much more armed corps than Peace Corps.
There have been few moments in my service so far where I have felt like my Spanish is good; while we were with the doctors was definitely one of those moments. We spent the entire day translating for the patients, whose Spanish was heavily accented with Kichwa and spoken at an almost imperceptible volume, and then the doctors, who want us to translate things like orthostatic …. And for the most part we were able to express both the patient’s concerns and the doctor’s advice (though let’s be honest Mike could do that on day one in Ecuador whereas this has been six months in the making for me!)
So, we spent the day helping translate which were later affectionately termed as the “macarena pains”. You see every patient that came in, and everyone I have met in our community of Sayausi, suffers from the same set of symptoms and they go as follows:
Doctor: What is the problem?
Patient: My back hurts.
Doctor: When did that start?
Patient: My legs hurt?
Doctor: Is that related to the back pain?
Patient: My stomach hurts and my arms are sore and my heart hurts, and my back hurts, too.
Doctor: silence
Patient: My back hurts, my legs, arms, stomach, and heart, they all hurt.
The more time the patient is given to speak the more times they repeat the above sequence. Now, this is not meant to be insensitive and these people have led hard lives with minimal medical care but the doctor’s see each patient for 10-15 minutes and the patient’s have probably never seen a doctor before and don’t believe in things like dehydration and germs. So, as you can imagine trying to diagnose each patient with the above list of complaints with zero medical history was challenging to say the least and usually resulted in twenty tablets of 400mg of Motrin for the patient and some confusion for the doctors.
In any event, it was a lot of fun helping out and all of the medical staff was really nice and it was interesting to talk to them about their experiences at home, abroad, and in Ecuador. It was also interesting to compare notes with another group of Norteamericanos under the supervision of the State Department here in Ecuador. For one, they were under the impression that Cuenca was super dangerous. In fact, it seems like they thought the whole world was extremely dangerous, which given where they have been and who they work for, makes a certain amount of sense. However, it was strange to have people telling us how they weren’t allowed to ride on buses and how shocked they were to learn the only mode of transportation we took was the bus. They were also concerned about whether or not we felt safe in our site and if the people shunned us because we were from the U.S. Obviously, they have not been reading our blog and don’t know about the chola cuencana dances, the soccer games, the cuy dinners, and the general out pouring of kindness that we have received since our arrival in Sayausi.
I guess it’s safe to say that the State Department adjusts its policies based on the organization it’s supervising.
Reconnect: Quito
Unfortunately, we could only help translate for one day even though the brigade was going to be there for two full weeks because we had to go up to Quito the next day for Reconnect. Reconnect is a three day meeting held in the Peace Corps office in Quito four to five months after a group has been in their sites. The purpose of this giant meeting is to bring the counterparts that volunteers have been working with and help each pair outline their project ideas for the next eighteen months. However, many volunteers cannot bring their counterpart for varying reasons and so end up trying to plan projects on their own. Either way it’s great to see everyone, talk to the nurses, and empathize with one another about common, or uncommon, PeaceCorps experiences.
Originally, Mike and I had planned to continue traveling north after Reconnect to go hiking for a few days before returning to our site however, two days after Reconnect the country of Ecuador was having elections. For the past several months an assembly (that was elected last year) has been writing a new Constitution for Ecuador and the Sunday after we concluded Reconnect was when the entire country was going to vote on it. So, just as the group of doctor’s had told us that they were not even allowed to leave their hotel on the Sunday of the election, our bosses told us that we were going to be on Standfast from the Saturday after Reconnect until we were told otherwise.
Standfast is the first stage in Peace Corps’ plan to protect us in the event of anything bad happening (Evacuation is the final stage). Although Standfast is really the stage before anything actually happens. It just means go to your site, stay there, and wait until we tell you what to do next. That way if anything bad does happen they know where we are and can move through the appropriate protocol (not to mention that the community where you live is always by far the safest place for you to be). In this case it seemed a little silly as 75% of the country was in favor of the Constitution so the likelihood of anything, like chaos in the streets, happening was low. Nevertheless, the U.S. government probably knows more about these situations than we do (as they have a reputation for constantly meddling and/or interfering in world politics, especially here in Latin America…by the way we heard this and it does not in any way, shape, or form represent our beliefs. We should also add that as Peace Corps volunteers we are not allowed to publicly state our political positions so anything you read that you think represents our opinion does not, it is just something we heard and are repeating here for your benefit) so we cancelled our hiking trip and returned immediately to Sayausi as soon as Reconnect ended on Friday afternoon.
The Elections
Here seems like a good time to discuss the political goings on of the region to round out anything you have heard or not heard from the major news networks which sometimes keep facts from getting in the way of their reporting.
Over the past few years things in Latin America have been changing to a more liberal, some may say socialist, position. Many Latin American presidents, that have been democratically elected, have been nationalizing foreign companies in their lands so that the money made from these companies stays in their country for their people. As you can imagine, the U.S. government is not entirely fond of this behavior or the anti-capitalist value system it represents.
The current president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has been engaging in some similar activities although not to the same degree as his neighbors in Bolivia and Venezuela who recently kicked out their U.S. Ambassadors. Venezuela kicked out its ambassador in support of Bolivia who kicked out their U.S. Ambassador for supporting a separatist group in Bolivia that wanted to cede from the nation and take the majority of the country’s oil producing lands with it (as a result, Peace Corps was also pulled out of Bolivia and some of those volunteers are coming to Ecuador to finish their service). While President Correa has not done anything that extreme he does not want to renew the lease that Ecuador has with the U.S. allowing the U.S. to have a military base in Ecuador (the lease expires this year). His reason is that Ecuador is a country of peace and as such does not want foreign military bases on its soil. He feels so strongly about this that the idea was included in the new Constitution and if it passes foreign military presence will not be allowed in Ecuador. This really confused the Air Force doctors who were here. Some of them were thinking that if anything happened in Ecuador wouldn’t it be great that the U.S. military was here to step in…which I guess is great unless you are the local government who may not agree with the U.S. government and its military.
There are some other cool things in the new Constitution as well like recognizing indigenous belief systems, protecting the natural resources of Ecuador, and providing all Ecuadorians with a free high school education. Also, this is the first time Ecuadorians have been allowed to vote on a new constitution as in the past (they have had several new constitutions in the last several decades) the President has just enacted the new constitution without consulting the people of the country. This time there was a nationwide election for the delegates to write the constitution, and then a year later a nationwide referendum to ratify the constitution.
Other cool things in general about elections here in Ecuador are that they are held on Sundays so everyone can go (as opposed to Tuesday when there is work and school), there is no campaigning allowed during the 3 days prior to the election (instead of a frenzy of fliers on election day), everyone is automatically registered to vote (instead of making it a hassle/impossibility), and everyone has to go to the polling site and cast a ballot whether it be filled out or left blank (instead of less than half of the populous voting). So that means everyone from 18-63 is required to vote and proud of it. After 63 it is optional but after watching the polls for a while on election day it seemed like a lot of 63+ people still opted for voting as opposed to not.
After voting everyone gets a voting card which they need to present whenever filing official paperwork at the city, state, or national level and if they don’t have their voting card showing that they voted there are fines and getting any sort of paper work done or enrolling your child in school becomes a much harder process.
So, when Election Sunday rolled around we were excited to see how it was organized. We woke up to an unusual amount of hustle and bustle surrounding the normal hustle and bustle of the Sunday market. However, the day seemed to have a festive feel to it and the extra hustle and bustle was for the election. I think the ice cream trucks (i.e. a soft serve machine on a gas generator roped down to the back of a pickup truck) added to the general giddiness of the people.
There were two voting sites within view from our apartment and they were both at the local schools nearby. As you walked up to the voting sites they were surrounded by vendors with laminating machines for the voting cards after people cast their ballot. The rooms of the school were divided according to gender and last names so that within each school there were about twenty different rooms and no one ever had to wait to cast their votes; you just walked in, found your room, filled out your very clear and easy to understand ballot, drop it in the box, sign your name, get your voting card, and leave.
The voting began at seven in the morning and ended at five in the afternoon at which point they began counting the ballots (see videos below) and by six o’clock there were nationwide tentative results. “Si” or “Yes” ended up winning with 65% of the nationwide vote and therefore approving the new constitution. The other 35% was made up of the “No”, “null”, and “blank” votes that were cast.
As you watch the video pay attention to how many ballots are going to the “Si” pile as opposed to the “no” pile. The campaign slogan was “Si, mil veces si!”, and watching the votes being counted it definitely looked that way.
Counting Ballots
Dinner with Kelly’s Parents
The Tuesday after the elections we were invited out to dinner with Kelly (our nearest neighbor) and her parents, who were visiting from Ohio. Of course we went to Colombian (a Cuenca cluster tradition) and it was delicious and Kelly and her parents are fabulous and it sounds like her mother follows our blog from time to time (Hi, Mr. and Mrs. B.! Thanks again for dinner and ice cream!).
After dinner we went out for ice cream where we ran into the entire medical brigade that we had translated for before we left for Quito! Small world indeed. So, Kelly’s dad treated the entire brigade to ice cream and we sat around and chatted while enjoying the most delicious ice cream in Cuenca.
Conclusion
So, this last week or two was filled with all sorts of fun and interesting things as I am sure the next few weeks will be. And even though pineapple and citrus season are coming to an end here in Ecuador mango and watermelon season is just starting up, so things are looking good around the equator.
As always double-click on the image above to see a larger image and the captions.
Wednesday
11:20AM
Sayausi
Medical Brigade
About a week ago Mike and I volunteered to be translators for a group of Air Force doctors from the States. The group was going to be in Ecuador for two weeks giving free medical treatment in several small communities around Cuenca (not Sayausi though). All and all there were about twenty doctors, nurses, medical technicians, and dentists from bases all over the US. However, only two of them spoke Spanish. What they lacked in Spanish they more than made up for in fire power! Driving to and from the town we were led by a truck filled with armed Ecuadorian soldiers and followed by another truck with more armed Ecuadorian soldiers. It was much more armed corps than Peace Corps.
There have been few moments in my service so far where I have felt like my Spanish is good; while we were with the doctors was definitely one of those moments. We spent the entire day translating for the patients, whose Spanish was heavily accented with Kichwa and spoken at an almost imperceptible volume, and then the doctors, who want us to translate things like orthostatic …. And for the most part we were able to express both the patient’s concerns and the doctor’s advice (though let’s be honest Mike could do that on day one in Ecuador whereas this has been six months in the making for me!)
So, we spent the day helping translate which were later affectionately termed as the “macarena pains”. You see every patient that came in, and everyone I have met in our community of Sayausi, suffers from the same set of symptoms and they go as follows:
Doctor: What is the problem?
Patient: My back hurts.
Doctor: When did that start?
Patient: My legs hurt?
Doctor: Is that related to the back pain?
Patient: My stomach hurts and my arms are sore and my heart hurts, and my back hurts, too.
Doctor: silence
Patient: My back hurts, my legs, arms, stomach, and heart, they all hurt.
The more time the patient is given to speak the more times they repeat the above sequence. Now, this is not meant to be insensitive and these people have led hard lives with minimal medical care but the doctor’s see each patient for 10-15 minutes and the patient’s have probably never seen a doctor before and don’t believe in things like dehydration and germs. So, as you can imagine trying to diagnose each patient with the above list of complaints with zero medical history was challenging to say the least and usually resulted in twenty tablets of 400mg of Motrin for the patient and some confusion for the doctors.
In any event, it was a lot of fun helping out and all of the medical staff was really nice and it was interesting to talk to them about their experiences at home, abroad, and in Ecuador. It was also interesting to compare notes with another group of Norteamericanos under the supervision of the State Department here in Ecuador. For one, they were under the impression that Cuenca was super dangerous. In fact, it seems like they thought the whole world was extremely dangerous, which given where they have been and who they work for, makes a certain amount of sense. However, it was strange to have people telling us how they weren’t allowed to ride on buses and how shocked they were to learn the only mode of transportation we took was the bus. They were also concerned about whether or not we felt safe in our site and if the people shunned us because we were from the U.S. Obviously, they have not been reading our blog and don’t know about the chola cuencana dances, the soccer games, the cuy dinners, and the general out pouring of kindness that we have received since our arrival in Sayausi.
I guess it’s safe to say that the State Department adjusts its policies based on the organization it’s supervising.
Reconnect: Quito
Unfortunately, we could only help translate for one day even though the brigade was going to be there for two full weeks because we had to go up to Quito the next day for Reconnect. Reconnect is a three day meeting held in the Peace Corps office in Quito four to five months after a group has been in their sites. The purpose of this giant meeting is to bring the counterparts that volunteers have been working with and help each pair outline their project ideas for the next eighteen months. However, many volunteers cannot bring their counterpart for varying reasons and so end up trying to plan projects on their own. Either way it’s great to see everyone, talk to the nurses, and empathize with one another about common, or uncommon, PeaceCorps experiences.
Originally, Mike and I had planned to continue traveling north after Reconnect to go hiking for a few days before returning to our site however, two days after Reconnect the country of Ecuador was having elections. For the past several months an assembly (that was elected last year) has been writing a new Constitution for Ecuador and the Sunday after we concluded Reconnect was when the entire country was going to vote on it. So, just as the group of doctor’s had told us that they were not even allowed to leave their hotel on the Sunday of the election, our bosses told us that we were going to be on Standfast from the Saturday after Reconnect until we were told otherwise.
Standfast is the first stage in Peace Corps’ plan to protect us in the event of anything bad happening (Evacuation is the final stage). Although Standfast is really the stage before anything actually happens. It just means go to your site, stay there, and wait until we tell you what to do next. That way if anything bad does happen they know where we are and can move through the appropriate protocol (not to mention that the community where you live is always by far the safest place for you to be). In this case it seemed a little silly as 75% of the country was in favor of the Constitution so the likelihood of anything, like chaos in the streets, happening was low. Nevertheless, the U.S. government probably knows more about these situations than we do (as they have a reputation for constantly meddling and/or interfering in world politics, especially here in Latin America…by the way we heard this and it does not in any way, shape, or form represent our beliefs. We should also add that as Peace Corps volunteers we are not allowed to publicly state our political positions so anything you read that you think represents our opinion does not, it is just something we heard and are repeating here for your benefit) so we cancelled our hiking trip and returned immediately to Sayausi as soon as Reconnect ended on Friday afternoon.
The Elections
Here seems like a good time to discuss the political goings on of the region to round out anything you have heard or not heard from the major news networks which sometimes keep facts from getting in the way of their reporting.
Over the past few years things in Latin America have been changing to a more liberal, some may say socialist, position. Many Latin American presidents, that have been democratically elected, have been nationalizing foreign companies in their lands so that the money made from these companies stays in their country for their people. As you can imagine, the U.S. government is not entirely fond of this behavior or the anti-capitalist value system it represents.
The current president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, has been engaging in some similar activities although not to the same degree as his neighbors in Bolivia and Venezuela who recently kicked out their U.S. Ambassadors. Venezuela kicked out its ambassador in support of Bolivia who kicked out their U.S. Ambassador for supporting a separatist group in Bolivia that wanted to cede from the nation and take the majority of the country’s oil producing lands with it (as a result, Peace Corps was also pulled out of Bolivia and some of those volunteers are coming to Ecuador to finish their service). While President Correa has not done anything that extreme he does not want to renew the lease that Ecuador has with the U.S. allowing the U.S. to have a military base in Ecuador (the lease expires this year). His reason is that Ecuador is a country of peace and as such does not want foreign military bases on its soil. He feels so strongly about this that the idea was included in the new Constitution and if it passes foreign military presence will not be allowed in Ecuador. This really confused the Air Force doctors who were here. Some of them were thinking that if anything happened in Ecuador wouldn’t it be great that the U.S. military was here to step in…which I guess is great unless you are the local government who may not agree with the U.S. government and its military.
There are some other cool things in the new Constitution as well like recognizing indigenous belief systems, protecting the natural resources of Ecuador, and providing all Ecuadorians with a free high school education. Also, this is the first time Ecuadorians have been allowed to vote on a new constitution as in the past (they have had several new constitutions in the last several decades) the President has just enacted the new constitution without consulting the people of the country. This time there was a nationwide election for the delegates to write the constitution, and then a year later a nationwide referendum to ratify the constitution.
Other cool things in general about elections here in Ecuador are that they are held on Sundays so everyone can go (as opposed to Tuesday when there is work and school), there is no campaigning allowed during the 3 days prior to the election (instead of a frenzy of fliers on election day), everyone is automatically registered to vote (instead of making it a hassle/impossibility), and everyone has to go to the polling site and cast a ballot whether it be filled out or left blank (instead of less than half of the populous voting). So that means everyone from 18-63 is required to vote and proud of it. After 63 it is optional but after watching the polls for a while on election day it seemed like a lot of 63+ people still opted for voting as opposed to not.
After voting everyone gets a voting card which they need to present whenever filing official paperwork at the city, state, or national level and if they don’t have their voting card showing that they voted there are fines and getting any sort of paper work done or enrolling your child in school becomes a much harder process.
So, when Election Sunday rolled around we were excited to see how it was organized. We woke up to an unusual amount of hustle and bustle surrounding the normal hustle and bustle of the Sunday market. However, the day seemed to have a festive feel to it and the extra hustle and bustle was for the election. I think the ice cream trucks (i.e. a soft serve machine on a gas generator roped down to the back of a pickup truck) added to the general giddiness of the people.
There were two voting sites within view from our apartment and they were both at the local schools nearby. As you walked up to the voting sites they were surrounded by vendors with laminating machines for the voting cards after people cast their ballot. The rooms of the school were divided according to gender and last names so that within each school there were about twenty different rooms and no one ever had to wait to cast their votes; you just walked in, found your room, filled out your very clear and easy to understand ballot, drop it in the box, sign your name, get your voting card, and leave.
The voting began at seven in the morning and ended at five in the afternoon at which point they began counting the ballots (see videos below) and by six o’clock there were nationwide tentative results. “Si” or “Yes” ended up winning with 65% of the nationwide vote and therefore approving the new constitution. The other 35% was made up of the “No”, “null”, and “blank” votes that were cast.
As you watch the video pay attention to how many ballots are going to the “Si” pile as opposed to the “no” pile. The campaign slogan was “Si, mil veces si!”, and watching the votes being counted it definitely looked that way.
Counting Ballots
Dinner with Kelly’s Parents
The Tuesday after the elections we were invited out to dinner with Kelly (our nearest neighbor) and her parents, who were visiting from Ohio. Of course we went to Colombian (a Cuenca cluster tradition) and it was delicious and Kelly and her parents are fabulous and it sounds like her mother follows our blog from time to time (Hi, Mr. and Mrs. B.! Thanks again for dinner and ice cream!).
After dinner we went out for ice cream where we ran into the entire medical brigade that we had translated for before we left for Quito! Small world indeed. So, Kelly’s dad treated the entire brigade to ice cream and we sat around and chatted while enjoying the most delicious ice cream in Cuenca.
Conclusion
So, this last week or two was filled with all sorts of fun and interesting things as I am sure the next few weeks will be. And even though pineapple and citrus season are coming to an end here in Ecuador mango and watermelon season is just starting up, so things are looking good around the equator.
As always double-click on the image above to see a larger image and the captions.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Don Jimmy´s Visit
September 16, 2008
Tuesday
11:30AM
Sayausi
We are back in Sayausi after having spent the last week traveling around Ecuador with my dad a.k.a. Don Jimmy. Don Jimmy arrived in Quito, Ecuador on Monday September 8, 2008. During the week that followed we traveled down to the coast, hung out in Sayausi, hiked in Cajas, strolled through Cuenca, and shopped in Otavalo. Below is a closer look at what happens when you bring an Arizona Yankee to South America. And by closer look I mean the longest post we have ever made with the most pictures we have ever posted. In other words, pull up a chair and prepare to settle in for the long haul…or read a little now and a little later, whatever gets you through. And remember, Don Jimmy was our first visitor but not our last, so the next post could be about you!
Note: This page is going to take a while to load because there are lots of video clips and slideshows (remember to double-click on the slideshows to see the captions).
Sunday September 7, 2008
Sayausi is a ten hour bus ride away from Quito. Therefore, Mike and I had originally planned to take an early morning bus on the day of my dad’s arrival, putting us in Quito around 7:00pm and leaving a little over two hours before my dad’s scheduled arrival at 9:45pm. However, on Sunday the day before my dad was going to arrive ‘a little over two hours’ of leeway did not seem sufficient considering the bus ride could easily be delayed by traffic, landslides, or other unforeseeable yet fairly common events on the Pan Americana of Ecuador. So, we packed our bags that morning and set out for Riobamba, a small city located 7 hours north of Sayausi and only 3 hours away from the Quito airport.
Before we left however we needed to let Dona Melchora, Norma, Rita, and Maribel know that our plans had changed. Visiting several Ecuadorian families is no small task and hence our departure time was postponed three hours on account of having to visit each family to organize Tuesday’s dinner (much more on this later) and to do some despida-ing (saying goodbye) before we left for two days (people don’t really travel too much here so it is a relatively big deal when some leaves, even if it is only for several days).
We ended up on a 2:30pm bus and for our viewing pleasure we were shown two movies: a Steven Segal thriller and a movie produced by WWF (yes, the wrestling federation). We arrived in Riobamba around 10:30pm as we were delayed some on the way for a still unknown reason that required the bus to turn around and back track for 45 minutes before turning around again, heading back in the right direction. Not a huge delay but it definitely reassured me in the decision to leave a day earlier than we had originally planned.
Monday September 8
Mike and I left Riobamba around 11:00am after a breakfast of two eggs, bread, jam, cheese, coffee, and juice for the low, low price of $1.50 (Cuenca prices are a lot higher than most in Ecuador due to the high number of emigrants that are sending money back to families in and around Cuenca. One egg, bread, and coffee is $1.50 in Sayausi).
After a pleasant four-hour bus ride we arrived in Quito and immediately checked into the hotel we had reserved for that night. The hotel was lovely with a panoramic view of New Town and the Panecillo (a giant stone angel on a hillside that overlooks Old Town) and we spent the remainder of the afternoon vegged out on cable TV with a small break for dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant where we splurged on a $5.00 dinner complete with naan (yummy!) and several Indian dipping sauces.
During the day I had talked briefly with my Dad about hurricane Ike and the possible implications for his flight out of Miami but the pilot took them around the storm and he arrived in Quito at 10:45pm.
Now, if you don’t know my dad this next piece of information may not sound that amazing but trust me, it is. My dad arrived prepared to spend eight days in a foreign country, hiking in the cold of the Andes, strolling down the sunny streets of Cuenca, and passing through the hot coastal city of Guayquil. When my dad has previously visited me for a weekend during spring in New York he has packed two large suitcases along with a carryon that he has been unable to zip closed due to the enormity of things that have been crammed in (things like gloves and scarves…and we all know how cold New York City is in May). So imagine our surprise when my dad shows up with only two small backpacks and one suitcase. And get this, the suitcase which was by far the largest of the three bags was filled only with things for Mike and me! (It should be mentioned that we provided my Dad with a pretty thorough packing list with lots of do’s and don’ts. This a service we are happy to provide to anyone else coming down to visit)
So, after seven months of phone calls, emails, and packages a real live family member was in our midst!! Off we went to the hotel where we chatted until we got a call from the front desk asking us to be quieter as they had received a phone call from our neighbors. Definitely an indication that we were in a pretty nice hotel as normal Ecuadorian culture permits all decibels of noise at any hour.
Tuesday September 9
Our first full day of Ecuadorian sights and sounds began with breakfast at the Magic Bean located in the Mariscal of Quito (the Mariscal is the tourist neighborhood filled with restaurants and hotels). This breakfast differed significantly from the $1.50 breakfast we had in Riobamba that day before. To start with there were more choices. Instead of choosing between fried and scrambled eggs, we could have anything you could possibly imagine in any combination; crepes, omelettes, bagels, smoothies, granola, etc... Of course this “choice” comes at a price but when your dad is visiting and paying the price is well worth it! So, we had a lovely breakfast with wonderful company and set the tone for the rest of our trip; relaxing and fun.
After breakfast we had to pack up our bags and head to the airport again for a flight to Guayaquil. Guayaquil is located in the southwestern part of the country right on the coast. It is also conveiniently located a short 3 hour car ride from Cuenca and Sayausi. We should mention here that we had originally planned to fly in and out of Cuenca during my dad’s trip but the week before he arrived we found out that the Cuenca airport was closed. Yes, the entire airport was closed for two weeks; September 1 - September 15. And the only way we found out was when we went to buy tickets. There was no mass media outreach (at least not in Sayausi) to inform the people of the impending closure. There was nothing at all to warn potential travelers of airport construction that would shut it down completely for two full weeks. So, we improvised. Instead of leaving Quito around noon on Tuesday heading directly for Cuenca, we left at nine o’clock heading for Guayquil where we would get a car to take us to Cuenca.
Headed south on an airplane leaving from Quito can be quite remarkable as the city is more or less surrounded by volcanic peaks. These volcanic peaks are usually shrouded in low-lying clouds. However, in airplane cruising at high altitudes these low-lying clouds form a lovely sheet of white that accentuates the jagged peaks breaking through and providing a rather priceless vista of some glacier covered Andean Mountain peaks (Cotopaxi and Chimborazo).
After forty minutes of peak watching we made out descent into Guayaquil where the high temperature in combination with intense humidity made us thankful for our Sierran Mountain site. We then piled into an air-conditioned van (thank goodness) and headed for Sayausi.
As it turns out the drive from Guayaquil to our site is quite nice. You start off traveling through lush cocoa, sugarcane, and banana fields and then begin a steady climb up a windy road that passes through Cajas National Park (Mike’s counterpart). It’s also worth noting that the road begins at sea level in Guayaquil then reaches 4,000 meters (12,000 ft) within an hour and a half. Therefore the drive is beautiful but steep with signs (and stone rubble) every hundred meters cautioning landslides and accidents. As you can imagine the views are incredible, and as my dad can attest to, the drive passes close enough to the edge of the road to provide a truly panoramic, and nauseating, experience.
After three hours of twists and turns, drop-offs, and waterfalls we arrived in Sayausi. My dad, after saying how beautiful everything was and how nice the apartment is, took a nice long nap…until we had to leave to go up to Maribel’s house for a traditional Ecuadorian dinner.
We arrived at Maribel’s house at four o’clock after taking a ten-minute bus ride up the road from our apartment (this was the only time we were on a bus during my dad’s entire trip). Upon our arrival we were immediately swept into a small wood hut where they had already picked out four plump, live cuy (reminder: cuy are guinea pigs). My dad was given the prime seat in front of the fire with the best view of the cooking that was going to take place. And boy did stuff take place.
Dona Rita, the mother of Maribel, Norma, Sandra, and Meli, took each cuy one at a time and pressed its nose against the floor applying increasing pressure until a soft ‘crack’ was heard. The ‘crack’ indicated that the cranium had been broken. Once the cranium was broken she gouged out each eye with her fingernail then held it upside down over what looked like a frying pan. Each cuy was hung upside down for a few minutes allowing the blood to drip out. After each cuy had its cranium broken, its eyes gouged out, and its blood drained, it was dipped in boiling water. The boiling water caused the pores to open, which allows the fur to be ripped out more easily. This entire process from cranium crushing to de-furring takes about thirty minutes.
The next part is to take out the unwanted organs. The unwanted organs include everything except the liver, which is a delicacy. After the organs are taken out its mouth is cut open so that it looks like each cuy is dressed up like the Joker from Batman. At this point the cuy is ready to be seasoned then wedged onto a large stick and roasted over an open fire.
I would like to point out that my dad handled all of this very well especially considering his semi-vegetarian status. Before the cuy were killed he made a special effort to thank each cuy (see picture in slideshow below).
While the cuy were roasting we took my dad on a tour of the garden where I have been helping Maribel plant broccoli and other goodies over the past few weeks. On the way we stopped at the pig pen where my dad again talked to the animals and the animals apparently responded positively to what he was saying.
After the tour of the garden we were ushered back into the wood hut to watch the capture and beheading of two chickens. The chickens are sparred the crushing of the cranium but are subjected to a partial beheading with an extraordinarily dull kitchen knife. Again, the blood is let out, the feathers are pulled out, the organs are removed (although more of the organs remain in the chicken than the cuy), the flavor is added, and then it is cut into pieces and added to the caldo de pollo (chicken soup).
During the entire meal preparation my Dad was introduced to about seven adults and at least as many children. To my dad’s credit he remembered most of the names and was given the title Don Jimmy by Norma (she asked if Jim was like Jimmy and then proceeded to call him Don Jimmy which caught on with everyone else as well). During all the meets and greets my Dad gave each person a little recuerdo (souvenir) of Arizona which were well received and are now displayed around several different houses in Sayausi. Keep your eye open for a picture of Norma with a basket of roasted cuy and an Arizona flag pinned to her jacket. My Dad also introduced the idea of ‘thumb wars’ to the children and with Mike’s help translated it to the following:
Uno, dos, tres, cuarto
Yo declaro la Guerra de dedos!
Needless to say it was a smashing success and I expect I will have to play this game for the next two years.
After four hours of butchering and seasoning it was time to eat. Juan Diego, Maribel’s son, made clear that his favorite parts of the cuy were the head, liver, and feet. As such, he grabbed the four livers before anyone else could claim them (I can’t speak for the Ecuadorian contingent but from our side he didn’t have any competition). My Dad was served and ate chicken neck (this is the local favorite part of the chicken) soup, cuy paws, cuy meat, motecito (watery corn), rice, aji (a local type of hot sauce made from tomate de arbol), potatoes, and agua de remedios (the pink, sugary tea that is very popular here). Tired but happy we returned to our apartment, watched an episode of West Wing, then fell fast asleep.
Wednesday September 10
Wednesday morning we had a nice breakfast in our apartment then set out on a tour of Sayausi. The tour included the soccer field, the Laundromat, our favorite tienda, a river view, the internet café, and three cafecitos (we took my dad to meet a few of our closest friends here in Sayausi and at each house we were served essentially the equivalent of another breakfast). After visiting several families back to back to back it made the importance of remittances in the lives of people in Sayausi very obvious. You only need to see the house (or the furniture) to know whether or not the people living in it have family in the States sending back money. Nevertheless, the tea and crackers were great at every house and full though we were it was time for lunch and we had just the place in mind for Don Jimmy.
There is a restaurant located in between Sayausi and Cuenca called “El Paraiso de Eva”. However, everyone knows the restaurant as “El Che”. “El Che” is plastered with photos and parafenelia all about Che. Not only that but the owner is always dressed in full Che reagalia. Yes, everyday he wears fatigues, a hat, combat boots, and of course a loaded gun. But this is no act, no gimic, no ‘come and eat at Che’s’ sales pitch. This man is an honest to god revolutionary…with a restaurant. In any event we talked to him for a few moments after a lunch of roasted pig, llapingauchos (balls of mashed potatoes with cheese in the middle), motecito, caldo de pollo, with lemonade and he was gracious enough to take a few pictures with us and discuss how the revolution was progressing. Needless to say he is in favor of the new constitution that is being voted on in two weeks. Because of this upcoming election there is graffiti everywhere that says “Si” or “No”. In fact there is even a “Si a la constitucion” rap that is played frequently on the radio. My Dad took great joy in the political environment that has taken over Ecuador and the activeness of the people. From our balcony in Cuenca the next night he yelled to the gente, “Vota si!” but as currently serving Peace Corps volunteers we can’t tell you what we think about the constitution or the ambassador would have our heads (figuratively of course). That being said, we didn’t stop my dad from yelling, not that anyone could.
After lunch we returned to Sayausi for a quick afternoon siesta then up to Dona Melchora’s house for a fourth cafecito and little surprise. Though Mike and I had forgotten entirely about a previous promoise, Melchora and Norma had not. No more than five mintues after our arrival they whisked me upstairs to dress me up as a chola cuencana, again. So, for the third time in a month I was wearing a pollera, a blusa, and a chalina, dancing in the upstairs living room to the blasting tunes of traditional Ecuadorian music this time with my dad and get this…even Mike was made to dance (see pictures in the slideshow).
Dancing the Chola Cuencana, Again
We finished off the day with dinner in Cuenca overlooking the river Tomebamba. Not bad for Peace Corps.
Thursday September 11
Before heading into Cuenca to stay at a luxurious hotel and eat lots of delicious food, we decided to head into Cajas National Park for a few hours of hiking and alpaca hunting. Luckily, our neighbor owns his own taxi and agreed to take us to lake Llaviucu (a lake in the park) and wait for us while we hiked around. So, we packed a bag full of snacks, a few extra layers in case of rain or other weather changes that Cajas is known for, and set out.
Fortunately, the weather agreed and we spent the morning checking out Incan ruins (a stone wall about three feet high that runs about fifty yards), chatting with fishermen looking for trout, and searching for alpacas and llamas (which we did end up finding along with a few baby llamas, too). We ate nuts (hand delivered from the states since they are hard to get down here) and apples while sitting near a beautiful lake and only got kind of muddy traipsing around.
When we had finished with our hike we headed into Cuenca to begin acting like the tourists we haven’t been able to be. We stayed at a great hotel with a balcony, ate dinner with Kelly and Lesley (our nearest Peace Corps buddies), went out for ice cream, and stumbled across two live concerts; one of which was a series of high school choirs singing Beatles medleys in the old cathedral and the other a traditional Ecuadorian group that was playing in a rotunda in the central park (Parque Calderon). During the concert in Parque Calderon we were really waiting for them to play one song; Chola Cuencana. Fortunately, lady luck was on our side (or maybe it’s just that there are a really limited number of popular traditional songs) and they played Chola Cuencana just before we were about to throw in the chalina.
Friday September 12
Our first and last morning in Cuenca began with a complimentary buffet breakfast at the hotel (with unlimited coffee refills!!!). Then we went to the nearby hat museum where they make all sorts of hats including the famous Panama Hat which is actually made in Ecuador.
How to Make a Panama Hat
After hat shopping we went to a local guitar shop that is owned by an Ecuadorian family that makes guitars by hand on the second floor of the shop. We got a tour of the workshop and I left the proud owner of a handmade guitar! Technically, I still have to learn how to play the guitar before I can truly appreciate it but I also have an instructional book and a lot of free time to remedy that slight drawback. (Thanks for the guitar Dad!)
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Nueve de Octubre, a market that sells really great cheap, wooden furniture, pots, pans, knickknacks, and everything elase you could imagine needing. Also, on Tuesdays and Fridays there are several stands set up where local curaderas (people who cure) offer limpiezas. A limpieza supposedly gets rid of whatever bad spirit is ailing you. After some convincing, my Dad agreed to get a limpieza. During the limpieza the curadera hits the patient with a bushel of herbs repeatedly while making a ¨schhhk¨ sound. After beating the patient with the hearbs she then rubs several eggs over the patient´s face, stomach, and lower back. Before getting spit on with spirit water, the patient has to rub scented oils through his or her hair. Though my Dad did not agree to get spit on during the limpieza but he handled it in stride as well as the beating with the herbs and the egg rub.
Videos of the Limpieza
By this point it was just about 11:30am and we needed to eat lunch and catch our ride back to Guayaquil to get our plane for Quito to get our car to Otavalo, so we grabbed lunch at the hotel (yummy pizza) and checked out.
The car ride was great, though again I think my Dad would emphasize the lack of guardrails and passing lanes, and we arrived at the airport with an hour to spare. I should mention here that there are a few pictures of a small town alongside a highway in the slideshow below. The small town is El Mango and one of our Peace Corps friends is living there…slightly different than the pampered life we are living in the suburbs of Cuenca. My Dad said the rice paddies surrounding the small town reminded him of his service in Vietnam.
Again we got great views of volcanic peaks (Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Illinizas) during the plane ride and arrived in Quito where a private car from the hacienda we were going to be staying at in Otavalo was waiting. It was quite the celebrity experience.
The ride up to Otavalo was highlighted by the full moon casting its glow on the mountains that bordered the road. We arrived at the hacienda (Casa Mojanda) just after eight o’clock where we were met by the four other guests and the hostess. We were then served a delicious three-course meal followed by freshly made tea with herbs cut from the garden. All and all things were going pretty well and they were only going to get better.
Saturday September 13
Saturday morning we woke up to spectacular views of several surrounding volcanoes (Cotacachi, Imbabura, Fuya Fuya) and piled into the hacienda’s SUV with the other guests and headed off toward the animal market. The animal market takes place during the early morning hours every Saturday just outside of Otavalo. At this market people from the nearby areas bring their cows, horses, llamas, pigs, guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, fighting roosters, and every other type of animal you could possibly imagine. Though we were tempted by a few cute baby pigs, in the end we decided it would be better to go back to the hacienda for breakfast before making any big decisions.
Back at the hacienda we were treated to a breakfast of pancakes, granola, yogurt, fresh fruit salad, and unlimited coffee! Then, with full stomachs and a sunny day ahead of us we loaded into the SUV again and headed off for the Saturday market. Otavalo is famous for its Saturday crafts market and tourists (and some locals, too) crowd the streets on a weekly basis shopping for anything from leather hats to knickknacks to woven textiles. And my Dad, who is by no means a shopper, spent five hours perusing the stands of Otavalo and bargaining with the vendors in his limited (yet impressive) Spanish, and Mike who is also by no means a shopper got to practice his limited (yet also impressive) Kichwa. During our shopping extravaganza we did take time out to enjoy a live Andean folk band that was playing for the lunch crowd in a popular restaurant. In fact, my Dad went back two more times throughout the day the take in the reedy tunes of the Andes.
Some prize acquirements made during the spree include two very nice wool ponchos (essentially blankets that people are socially permitted to walk around in) and an Indiana Jones hat for Mike (exactly how it sounds) to keep off the sun and rain while hiking through Cajas.
To celebrate a good day of shopping we went to a nearby pie shop and ordered two slices of pie topped with vanilla ice cream. We had been to this pie shop two years ago when we were here as turistas and rumor has it that is was started by a Peace Corps volunteer a long time ago. The pie is great but the service is definitely at a Peace Corps pace; unhurried at best. Again, with full stomachs, we got into a taxi and returned to the hacienda for an afternoon of napping and strolling the impressive grounds and gardens.
In the evening, we were served rosemary chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, tomate de arbol juice, and maracuya pie (passion fruit pie). Everything was delicious but I was particularly impressed with the rosemary chicken. The flavor was great but that paled in comparison to the quantity of meat that was on my piece of chicken. After seven months of campo chicken I had forgotten that chicken usually has quite a bit of meat on it and because of this can actually be served as a main course at dinner as opposed to a garnish in a soup!
Sunday September 14
For our last full day at the hacienda we decided to go on a hike at some nearby lakes (Lagunas de Mojanda). So, after a breakfast of eggs, homemade wheat bread, fruit salad, granola, yogurt, naranjilla juice, unlimited coffee, and a half hour of trying to convince the llamas in our front yard to let us pet them we drove up to the lakes with our private guide and Maki (a sweet dalmation that lives at Casa Mojanda).
The lakes are located a half hours drive from the hacienda up a cobblestone road with sweeping views of the surrounding valley. Once we arrived at the lakes we took an hour hike through the Andean paramo at over 12,000ft (good job dad!). During the hike Maki uncovered a few resting birds and we explored the edge of a quinoa forest (a highly endangered tree that grows at extreme altitudes and takes a long time to grow).
When we returned to our cabin at the hacienda we ate our sack lunches, which we were supposed to eat on the hike but ended up saving for home. Again, the cheese sandwich with roasted red peppers, the apple, chips, and cookies were delicious. The cheese sandwich even more so as the last time we had eaten any type of cheese other than the local queso fresco, which is essentially like solidified cottage cheese, was over seven months ago. Yummmmm, real cheese!!!!
After lunch my Dad took his meditation break, which on a good day turns into a nap, and Mike and I went to the kitchen for another cup of unlimited coffee. Here in Ecuador coffee means Nescafe Instant Coffee and there are absolutamente no free refills. Being at a place that serves real, roasted, fresh ground coffee with hot milk on the side was quite the treat.
Our last dinner at the hacienda was amazing. The entire dinner had an Indian theme starting with mulligatawny soup and ending with a cinnamon fruit custard. We chatted with the other guests after dinner then retired to the common room for our last viewing of West Wing (I have made several references to West Wing which may require some explanation. West Wing is a political series about the White House that we have been watching on and off since I was in high school. A few years ago we decided to start from the beginning and since then whenever we have time we watch an episode, or two. We are finally on the last of seven seasons after four years of diligent viewing).
Our last night at the hacienda there was a gorgeous full moon that drifted in and out of the clouds providing a cozy atmosphere for sound sleeping.
Monday September 15
My Dad’s last day in Ecuador! Like the previous two days this one began with a nice warm fire (thanks Mike) in our living room chimenea followed by a delicious breakfast and then trying to coax the llamas into letting us feed or pet them. Unlike the previous two days on this morning we had to pack.
Packing didn’t take too long though as my Dad was leaving with much fewer things than he came with and so at around 10:30am we loaded into a car and drove back to Quito. Fortunately me Dad’s flight was not until the early evening, which gave us time to have a wonderful lunch at an Italian restaurant. Mozzarella cheese never tasted so good! I’m pretty sure the lunch consisted of at least four courses, each one more delicious than the last (unfortunately there was no googala but we did get tiramisu and gelato for dessert).
To settle our stomachs, we took a walk around the surrounding neighborhood before getting a taxi to take us to the airport. We’ll skip over the teary goodbyes and get right to saying how great everything was.
All and all the trip was fantastic and we would like to thank my Dad for treating us to such a fun week and to his fabulous company! We miss you and had a wonderful time with Don Jimmy in Ecuador.
To everyone else we would like to invite you to come and visit us in Ecuador. And as my Dad would like to make clear to everyone thinking about coming South, Mike’s travel agent skills are exceptional so the more the merrier!
Special Note: If you say ´tomate´the next time you talk to us you will have proven your dedication to this blog as we will know that you read the entire entry and that is no small feat. Remember the code word is ´tomate´.
Tuesday
11:30AM
Sayausi
We are back in Sayausi after having spent the last week traveling around Ecuador with my dad a.k.a. Don Jimmy. Don Jimmy arrived in Quito, Ecuador on Monday September 8, 2008. During the week that followed we traveled down to the coast, hung out in Sayausi, hiked in Cajas, strolled through Cuenca, and shopped in Otavalo. Below is a closer look at what happens when you bring an Arizona Yankee to South America. And by closer look I mean the longest post we have ever made with the most pictures we have ever posted. In other words, pull up a chair and prepare to settle in for the long haul…or read a little now and a little later, whatever gets you through. And remember, Don Jimmy was our first visitor but not our last, so the next post could be about you!
Note: This page is going to take a while to load because there are lots of video clips and slideshows (remember to double-click on the slideshows to see the captions).
Sunday September 7, 2008
Sayausi is a ten hour bus ride away from Quito. Therefore, Mike and I had originally planned to take an early morning bus on the day of my dad’s arrival, putting us in Quito around 7:00pm and leaving a little over two hours before my dad’s scheduled arrival at 9:45pm. However, on Sunday the day before my dad was going to arrive ‘a little over two hours’ of leeway did not seem sufficient considering the bus ride could easily be delayed by traffic, landslides, or other unforeseeable yet fairly common events on the Pan Americana of Ecuador. So, we packed our bags that morning and set out for Riobamba, a small city located 7 hours north of Sayausi and only 3 hours away from the Quito airport.
Before we left however we needed to let Dona Melchora, Norma, Rita, and Maribel know that our plans had changed. Visiting several Ecuadorian families is no small task and hence our departure time was postponed three hours on account of having to visit each family to organize Tuesday’s dinner (much more on this later) and to do some despida-ing (saying goodbye) before we left for two days (people don’t really travel too much here so it is a relatively big deal when some leaves, even if it is only for several days).
We ended up on a 2:30pm bus and for our viewing pleasure we were shown two movies: a Steven Segal thriller and a movie produced by WWF (yes, the wrestling federation). We arrived in Riobamba around 10:30pm as we were delayed some on the way for a still unknown reason that required the bus to turn around and back track for 45 minutes before turning around again, heading back in the right direction. Not a huge delay but it definitely reassured me in the decision to leave a day earlier than we had originally planned.
Monday September 8
Mike and I left Riobamba around 11:00am after a breakfast of two eggs, bread, jam, cheese, coffee, and juice for the low, low price of $1.50 (Cuenca prices are a lot higher than most in Ecuador due to the high number of emigrants that are sending money back to families in and around Cuenca. One egg, bread, and coffee is $1.50 in Sayausi).
After a pleasant four-hour bus ride we arrived in Quito and immediately checked into the hotel we had reserved for that night. The hotel was lovely with a panoramic view of New Town and the Panecillo (a giant stone angel on a hillside that overlooks Old Town) and we spent the remainder of the afternoon vegged out on cable TV with a small break for dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant where we splurged on a $5.00 dinner complete with naan (yummy!) and several Indian dipping sauces.
During the day I had talked briefly with my Dad about hurricane Ike and the possible implications for his flight out of Miami but the pilot took them around the storm and he arrived in Quito at 10:45pm.
Now, if you don’t know my dad this next piece of information may not sound that amazing but trust me, it is. My dad arrived prepared to spend eight days in a foreign country, hiking in the cold of the Andes, strolling down the sunny streets of Cuenca, and passing through the hot coastal city of Guayquil. When my dad has previously visited me for a weekend during spring in New York he has packed two large suitcases along with a carryon that he has been unable to zip closed due to the enormity of things that have been crammed in (things like gloves and scarves…and we all know how cold New York City is in May). So imagine our surprise when my dad shows up with only two small backpacks and one suitcase. And get this, the suitcase which was by far the largest of the three bags was filled only with things for Mike and me! (It should be mentioned that we provided my Dad with a pretty thorough packing list with lots of do’s and don’ts. This a service we are happy to provide to anyone else coming down to visit)
So, after seven months of phone calls, emails, and packages a real live family member was in our midst!! Off we went to the hotel where we chatted until we got a call from the front desk asking us to be quieter as they had received a phone call from our neighbors. Definitely an indication that we were in a pretty nice hotel as normal Ecuadorian culture permits all decibels of noise at any hour.
Tuesday September 9
Our first full day of Ecuadorian sights and sounds began with breakfast at the Magic Bean located in the Mariscal of Quito (the Mariscal is the tourist neighborhood filled with restaurants and hotels). This breakfast differed significantly from the $1.50 breakfast we had in Riobamba that day before. To start with there were more choices. Instead of choosing between fried and scrambled eggs, we could have anything you could possibly imagine in any combination; crepes, omelettes, bagels, smoothies, granola, etc... Of course this “choice” comes at a price but when your dad is visiting and paying the price is well worth it! So, we had a lovely breakfast with wonderful company and set the tone for the rest of our trip; relaxing and fun.
After breakfast we had to pack up our bags and head to the airport again for a flight to Guayaquil. Guayaquil is located in the southwestern part of the country right on the coast. It is also conveiniently located a short 3 hour car ride from Cuenca and Sayausi. We should mention here that we had originally planned to fly in and out of Cuenca during my dad’s trip but the week before he arrived we found out that the Cuenca airport was closed. Yes, the entire airport was closed for two weeks; September 1 - September 15. And the only way we found out was when we went to buy tickets. There was no mass media outreach (at least not in Sayausi) to inform the people of the impending closure. There was nothing at all to warn potential travelers of airport construction that would shut it down completely for two full weeks. So, we improvised. Instead of leaving Quito around noon on Tuesday heading directly for Cuenca, we left at nine o’clock heading for Guayquil where we would get a car to take us to Cuenca.
Headed south on an airplane leaving from Quito can be quite remarkable as the city is more or less surrounded by volcanic peaks. These volcanic peaks are usually shrouded in low-lying clouds. However, in airplane cruising at high altitudes these low-lying clouds form a lovely sheet of white that accentuates the jagged peaks breaking through and providing a rather priceless vista of some glacier covered Andean Mountain peaks (Cotopaxi and Chimborazo).
After forty minutes of peak watching we made out descent into Guayaquil where the high temperature in combination with intense humidity made us thankful for our Sierran Mountain site. We then piled into an air-conditioned van (thank goodness) and headed for Sayausi.
As it turns out the drive from Guayaquil to our site is quite nice. You start off traveling through lush cocoa, sugarcane, and banana fields and then begin a steady climb up a windy road that passes through Cajas National Park (Mike’s counterpart). It’s also worth noting that the road begins at sea level in Guayaquil then reaches 4,000 meters (12,000 ft) within an hour and a half. Therefore the drive is beautiful but steep with signs (and stone rubble) every hundred meters cautioning landslides and accidents. As you can imagine the views are incredible, and as my dad can attest to, the drive passes close enough to the edge of the road to provide a truly panoramic, and nauseating, experience.
After three hours of twists and turns, drop-offs, and waterfalls we arrived in Sayausi. My dad, after saying how beautiful everything was and how nice the apartment is, took a nice long nap…until we had to leave to go up to Maribel’s house for a traditional Ecuadorian dinner.
We arrived at Maribel’s house at four o’clock after taking a ten-minute bus ride up the road from our apartment (this was the only time we were on a bus during my dad’s entire trip). Upon our arrival we were immediately swept into a small wood hut where they had already picked out four plump, live cuy (reminder: cuy are guinea pigs). My dad was given the prime seat in front of the fire with the best view of the cooking that was going to take place. And boy did stuff take place.
Dona Rita, the mother of Maribel, Norma, Sandra, and Meli, took each cuy one at a time and pressed its nose against the floor applying increasing pressure until a soft ‘crack’ was heard. The ‘crack’ indicated that the cranium had been broken. Once the cranium was broken she gouged out each eye with her fingernail then held it upside down over what looked like a frying pan. Each cuy was hung upside down for a few minutes allowing the blood to drip out. After each cuy had its cranium broken, its eyes gouged out, and its blood drained, it was dipped in boiling water. The boiling water caused the pores to open, which allows the fur to be ripped out more easily. This entire process from cranium crushing to de-furring takes about thirty minutes.
The next part is to take out the unwanted organs. The unwanted organs include everything except the liver, which is a delicacy. After the organs are taken out its mouth is cut open so that it looks like each cuy is dressed up like the Joker from Batman. At this point the cuy is ready to be seasoned then wedged onto a large stick and roasted over an open fire.
I would like to point out that my dad handled all of this very well especially considering his semi-vegetarian status. Before the cuy were killed he made a special effort to thank each cuy (see picture in slideshow below).
While the cuy were roasting we took my dad on a tour of the garden where I have been helping Maribel plant broccoli and other goodies over the past few weeks. On the way we stopped at the pig pen where my dad again talked to the animals and the animals apparently responded positively to what he was saying.
After the tour of the garden we were ushered back into the wood hut to watch the capture and beheading of two chickens. The chickens are sparred the crushing of the cranium but are subjected to a partial beheading with an extraordinarily dull kitchen knife. Again, the blood is let out, the feathers are pulled out, the organs are removed (although more of the organs remain in the chicken than the cuy), the flavor is added, and then it is cut into pieces and added to the caldo de pollo (chicken soup).
During the entire meal preparation my Dad was introduced to about seven adults and at least as many children. To my dad’s credit he remembered most of the names and was given the title Don Jimmy by Norma (she asked if Jim was like Jimmy and then proceeded to call him Don Jimmy which caught on with everyone else as well). During all the meets and greets my Dad gave each person a little recuerdo (souvenir) of Arizona which were well received and are now displayed around several different houses in Sayausi. Keep your eye open for a picture of Norma with a basket of roasted cuy and an Arizona flag pinned to her jacket. My Dad also introduced the idea of ‘thumb wars’ to the children and with Mike’s help translated it to the following:
Uno, dos, tres, cuarto
Yo declaro la Guerra de dedos!
Needless to say it was a smashing success and I expect I will have to play this game for the next two years.
After four hours of butchering and seasoning it was time to eat. Juan Diego, Maribel’s son, made clear that his favorite parts of the cuy were the head, liver, and feet. As such, he grabbed the four livers before anyone else could claim them (I can’t speak for the Ecuadorian contingent but from our side he didn’t have any competition). My Dad was served and ate chicken neck (this is the local favorite part of the chicken) soup, cuy paws, cuy meat, motecito (watery corn), rice, aji (a local type of hot sauce made from tomate de arbol), potatoes, and agua de remedios (the pink, sugary tea that is very popular here). Tired but happy we returned to our apartment, watched an episode of West Wing, then fell fast asleep.
Wednesday September 10
Wednesday morning we had a nice breakfast in our apartment then set out on a tour of Sayausi. The tour included the soccer field, the Laundromat, our favorite tienda, a river view, the internet café, and three cafecitos (we took my dad to meet a few of our closest friends here in Sayausi and at each house we were served essentially the equivalent of another breakfast). After visiting several families back to back to back it made the importance of remittances in the lives of people in Sayausi very obvious. You only need to see the house (or the furniture) to know whether or not the people living in it have family in the States sending back money. Nevertheless, the tea and crackers were great at every house and full though we were it was time for lunch and we had just the place in mind for Don Jimmy.
There is a restaurant located in between Sayausi and Cuenca called “El Paraiso de Eva”. However, everyone knows the restaurant as “El Che”. “El Che” is plastered with photos and parafenelia all about Che. Not only that but the owner is always dressed in full Che reagalia. Yes, everyday he wears fatigues, a hat, combat boots, and of course a loaded gun. But this is no act, no gimic, no ‘come and eat at Che’s’ sales pitch. This man is an honest to god revolutionary…with a restaurant. In any event we talked to him for a few moments after a lunch of roasted pig, llapingauchos (balls of mashed potatoes with cheese in the middle), motecito, caldo de pollo, with lemonade and he was gracious enough to take a few pictures with us and discuss how the revolution was progressing. Needless to say he is in favor of the new constitution that is being voted on in two weeks. Because of this upcoming election there is graffiti everywhere that says “Si” or “No”. In fact there is even a “Si a la constitucion” rap that is played frequently on the radio. My Dad took great joy in the political environment that has taken over Ecuador and the activeness of the people. From our balcony in Cuenca the next night he yelled to the gente, “Vota si!” but as currently serving Peace Corps volunteers we can’t tell you what we think about the constitution or the ambassador would have our heads (figuratively of course). That being said, we didn’t stop my dad from yelling, not that anyone could.
After lunch we returned to Sayausi for a quick afternoon siesta then up to Dona Melchora’s house for a fourth cafecito and little surprise. Though Mike and I had forgotten entirely about a previous promoise, Melchora and Norma had not. No more than five mintues after our arrival they whisked me upstairs to dress me up as a chola cuencana, again. So, for the third time in a month I was wearing a pollera, a blusa, and a chalina, dancing in the upstairs living room to the blasting tunes of traditional Ecuadorian music this time with my dad and get this…even Mike was made to dance (see pictures in the slideshow).
Dancing the Chola Cuencana, Again
We finished off the day with dinner in Cuenca overlooking the river Tomebamba. Not bad for Peace Corps.
Thursday September 11
Before heading into Cuenca to stay at a luxurious hotel and eat lots of delicious food, we decided to head into Cajas National Park for a few hours of hiking and alpaca hunting. Luckily, our neighbor owns his own taxi and agreed to take us to lake Llaviucu (a lake in the park) and wait for us while we hiked around. So, we packed a bag full of snacks, a few extra layers in case of rain or other weather changes that Cajas is known for, and set out.
Fortunately, the weather agreed and we spent the morning checking out Incan ruins (a stone wall about three feet high that runs about fifty yards), chatting with fishermen looking for trout, and searching for alpacas and llamas (which we did end up finding along with a few baby llamas, too). We ate nuts (hand delivered from the states since they are hard to get down here) and apples while sitting near a beautiful lake and only got kind of muddy traipsing around.
When we had finished with our hike we headed into Cuenca to begin acting like the tourists we haven’t been able to be. We stayed at a great hotel with a balcony, ate dinner with Kelly and Lesley (our nearest Peace Corps buddies), went out for ice cream, and stumbled across two live concerts; one of which was a series of high school choirs singing Beatles medleys in the old cathedral and the other a traditional Ecuadorian group that was playing in a rotunda in the central park (Parque Calderon). During the concert in Parque Calderon we were really waiting for them to play one song; Chola Cuencana. Fortunately, lady luck was on our side (or maybe it’s just that there are a really limited number of popular traditional songs) and they played Chola Cuencana just before we were about to throw in the chalina.
Friday September 12
Our first and last morning in Cuenca began with a complimentary buffet breakfast at the hotel (with unlimited coffee refills!!!). Then we went to the nearby hat museum where they make all sorts of hats including the famous Panama Hat which is actually made in Ecuador.
How to Make a Panama Hat
After hat shopping we went to a local guitar shop that is owned by an Ecuadorian family that makes guitars by hand on the second floor of the shop. We got a tour of the workshop and I left the proud owner of a handmade guitar! Technically, I still have to learn how to play the guitar before I can truly appreciate it but I also have an instructional book and a lot of free time to remedy that slight drawback. (Thanks for the guitar Dad!)
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Nueve de Octubre, a market that sells really great cheap, wooden furniture, pots, pans, knickknacks, and everything elase you could imagine needing. Also, on Tuesdays and Fridays there are several stands set up where local curaderas (people who cure) offer limpiezas. A limpieza supposedly gets rid of whatever bad spirit is ailing you. After some convincing, my Dad agreed to get a limpieza. During the limpieza the curadera hits the patient with a bushel of herbs repeatedly while making a ¨schhhk¨ sound. After beating the patient with the hearbs she then rubs several eggs over the patient´s face, stomach, and lower back. Before getting spit on with spirit water, the patient has to rub scented oils through his or her hair. Though my Dad did not agree to get spit on during the limpieza but he handled it in stride as well as the beating with the herbs and the egg rub.
Videos of the Limpieza
By this point it was just about 11:30am and we needed to eat lunch and catch our ride back to Guayaquil to get our plane for Quito to get our car to Otavalo, so we grabbed lunch at the hotel (yummy pizza) and checked out.
The car ride was great, though again I think my Dad would emphasize the lack of guardrails and passing lanes, and we arrived at the airport with an hour to spare. I should mention here that there are a few pictures of a small town alongside a highway in the slideshow below. The small town is El Mango and one of our Peace Corps friends is living there…slightly different than the pampered life we are living in the suburbs of Cuenca. My Dad said the rice paddies surrounding the small town reminded him of his service in Vietnam.
Again we got great views of volcanic peaks (Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Illinizas) during the plane ride and arrived in Quito where a private car from the hacienda we were going to be staying at in Otavalo was waiting. It was quite the celebrity experience.
The ride up to Otavalo was highlighted by the full moon casting its glow on the mountains that bordered the road. We arrived at the hacienda (Casa Mojanda) just after eight o’clock where we were met by the four other guests and the hostess. We were then served a delicious three-course meal followed by freshly made tea with herbs cut from the garden. All and all things were going pretty well and they were only going to get better.
Saturday September 13
Saturday morning we woke up to spectacular views of several surrounding volcanoes (Cotacachi, Imbabura, Fuya Fuya) and piled into the hacienda’s SUV with the other guests and headed off toward the animal market. The animal market takes place during the early morning hours every Saturday just outside of Otavalo. At this market people from the nearby areas bring their cows, horses, llamas, pigs, guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, fighting roosters, and every other type of animal you could possibly imagine. Though we were tempted by a few cute baby pigs, in the end we decided it would be better to go back to the hacienda for breakfast before making any big decisions.
Back at the hacienda we were treated to a breakfast of pancakes, granola, yogurt, fresh fruit salad, and unlimited coffee! Then, with full stomachs and a sunny day ahead of us we loaded into the SUV again and headed off for the Saturday market. Otavalo is famous for its Saturday crafts market and tourists (and some locals, too) crowd the streets on a weekly basis shopping for anything from leather hats to knickknacks to woven textiles. And my Dad, who is by no means a shopper, spent five hours perusing the stands of Otavalo and bargaining with the vendors in his limited (yet impressive) Spanish, and Mike who is also by no means a shopper got to practice his limited (yet also impressive) Kichwa. During our shopping extravaganza we did take time out to enjoy a live Andean folk band that was playing for the lunch crowd in a popular restaurant. In fact, my Dad went back two more times throughout the day the take in the reedy tunes of the Andes.
Some prize acquirements made during the spree include two very nice wool ponchos (essentially blankets that people are socially permitted to walk around in) and an Indiana Jones hat for Mike (exactly how it sounds) to keep off the sun and rain while hiking through Cajas.
To celebrate a good day of shopping we went to a nearby pie shop and ordered two slices of pie topped with vanilla ice cream. We had been to this pie shop two years ago when we were here as turistas and rumor has it that is was started by a Peace Corps volunteer a long time ago. The pie is great but the service is definitely at a Peace Corps pace; unhurried at best. Again, with full stomachs, we got into a taxi and returned to the hacienda for an afternoon of napping and strolling the impressive grounds and gardens.
In the evening, we were served rosemary chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, tomate de arbol juice, and maracuya pie (passion fruit pie). Everything was delicious but I was particularly impressed with the rosemary chicken. The flavor was great but that paled in comparison to the quantity of meat that was on my piece of chicken. After seven months of campo chicken I had forgotten that chicken usually has quite a bit of meat on it and because of this can actually be served as a main course at dinner as opposed to a garnish in a soup!
Sunday September 14
For our last full day at the hacienda we decided to go on a hike at some nearby lakes (Lagunas de Mojanda). So, after a breakfast of eggs, homemade wheat bread, fruit salad, granola, yogurt, naranjilla juice, unlimited coffee, and a half hour of trying to convince the llamas in our front yard to let us pet them we drove up to the lakes with our private guide and Maki (a sweet dalmation that lives at Casa Mojanda).
The lakes are located a half hours drive from the hacienda up a cobblestone road with sweeping views of the surrounding valley. Once we arrived at the lakes we took an hour hike through the Andean paramo at over 12,000ft (good job dad!). During the hike Maki uncovered a few resting birds and we explored the edge of a quinoa forest (a highly endangered tree that grows at extreme altitudes and takes a long time to grow).
When we returned to our cabin at the hacienda we ate our sack lunches, which we were supposed to eat on the hike but ended up saving for home. Again, the cheese sandwich with roasted red peppers, the apple, chips, and cookies were delicious. The cheese sandwich even more so as the last time we had eaten any type of cheese other than the local queso fresco, which is essentially like solidified cottage cheese, was over seven months ago. Yummmmm, real cheese!!!!
After lunch my Dad took his meditation break, which on a good day turns into a nap, and Mike and I went to the kitchen for another cup of unlimited coffee. Here in Ecuador coffee means Nescafe Instant Coffee and there are absolutamente no free refills. Being at a place that serves real, roasted, fresh ground coffee with hot milk on the side was quite the treat.
Our last dinner at the hacienda was amazing. The entire dinner had an Indian theme starting with mulligatawny soup and ending with a cinnamon fruit custard. We chatted with the other guests after dinner then retired to the common room for our last viewing of West Wing (I have made several references to West Wing which may require some explanation. West Wing is a political series about the White House that we have been watching on and off since I was in high school. A few years ago we decided to start from the beginning and since then whenever we have time we watch an episode, or two. We are finally on the last of seven seasons after four years of diligent viewing).
Our last night at the hacienda there was a gorgeous full moon that drifted in and out of the clouds providing a cozy atmosphere for sound sleeping.
Monday September 15
My Dad’s last day in Ecuador! Like the previous two days this one began with a nice warm fire (thanks Mike) in our living room chimenea followed by a delicious breakfast and then trying to coax the llamas into letting us feed or pet them. Unlike the previous two days on this morning we had to pack.
Packing didn’t take too long though as my Dad was leaving with much fewer things than he came with and so at around 10:30am we loaded into a car and drove back to Quito. Fortunately me Dad’s flight was not until the early evening, which gave us time to have a wonderful lunch at an Italian restaurant. Mozzarella cheese never tasted so good! I’m pretty sure the lunch consisted of at least four courses, each one more delicious than the last (unfortunately there was no googala but we did get tiramisu and gelato for dessert).
To settle our stomachs, we took a walk around the surrounding neighborhood before getting a taxi to take us to the airport. We’ll skip over the teary goodbyes and get right to saying how great everything was.
All and all the trip was fantastic and we would like to thank my Dad for treating us to such a fun week and to his fabulous company! We miss you and had a wonderful time with Don Jimmy in Ecuador.
To everyone else we would like to invite you to come and visit us in Ecuador. And as my Dad would like to make clear to everyone thinking about coming South, Mike’s travel agent skills are exceptional so the more the merrier!
Special Note: If you say ´tomate´the next time you talk to us you will have proven your dedication to this blog as we will know that you read the entire entry and that is no small feat. Remember the code word is ´tomate´.
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