Futbol, Cuycoima, y La Navidad

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!!