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!