Basqet, Bautizo, y Bastantes Fotos

May 21, 2009
Thursday
10:00am
Sayausi
Cloudy, 55F

WARNING: The multimedia component of this post is beyond excessive. There are twenty-six videos and hundreds of photos. We`re not sure why there is so much, perhaps we have become digital camera crazy, but we hope you enjoy at least a portion of it.

Bautizo
Several weeks ago we were invited to Juan Diego’s baptism (Juan Diego is Maribel’s son, Maribel is Dona Rita’s daughter, Dona Rita is the sister of our old host mom, Dona Melchora). Juan Diego just turned eight years old but it is not uncommon for children to be baptized at that age or older here. The reason for the “later” baptism is because the family is supposed to throw a huge party after the ceremony where they invite at least a hundred people, feed them tons of food, tons of drink, and provide a DJ to play music all night long: it takes several years to save up enough money to host such a large party.

This year, however, there was enough money saved and so Jaun Diego was getting baptized.

Maribel and Juan Diego came by our apartment at least a month before the date of the baptism to give us our invitation. On the first Saturday of May the mass would be held at 4:00pm followed by dinner and dancing at 7:00pm. We gladly accepted the invitation and the request that we serve as the official photographers for the event.

We spent the next several weeks asking everyone we knew what type of present would be appropriate for a baptism (we had heard from other volunteers that only religious gifts were acceptable). It turns out anything is fine for a baptism present and so we bought a Spiderman pencil box, a Kung Fu Panda board game, and the Kung Fu Panda movie.

When the big day finally arrived we found out that Mike had his first basketball game at three o’clock the same day as the baptism!! Figuring that the game would take just under an hour and that both the basketball court and the church were a three minute walk to our apartment, we thought we would have just enough time to go to the game, change, and get to the church in time for the ceremony. So at three o’clock the game began and at three fifty it ended. We made a mad dash for home, changed out of our respective uniforms (I had had an indoor game at 2:30 that afternoon), cleaned up as best we could without showering (not enough time, and the water was out anyway), and we were out the door by four o’clock and in the church by 4:02pm.

Thinking it was horribly rude for us to arrive even a minute late I was both surprised and not surprised to realize we were some of the first people in the church. Not only that, none of Juan Diego’s family was there yet. I started to worry that maybe we were at the wrong church or perhaps we had read the time wrong. So, I stepped outside to call Norma, Maribel’s sister and Juan Diego’s aunt, to confirm the time and place of the ceremony.

-Norma?
-Yes??
-The ceremony is at four, right?
-Yes, are there a lot of people there already?
-Yeah, there’s a few people but I don’t see Maribel, or Dona Melchora, or anyone. Are we at the right place?
-Yes.
-Are you coming?
-Yeah, we’ll be there soon.

Twenty minutes later just before Jaun Diego was actually baptized his family and the rest of the crowd showed up. We should’ve learned our lesson from this and the last entire year of living in Ecuador but later that night we made the same mistake; showing up on time.

After the ceremony we went home and waited until seven o’clock to leave for the party that started at seven o’clock (thinking that the half hour walk up to the house would put us there at an appropriate time). When we arrived at Maribel’s house eveyone was in their work clothes, there was a bucket of seventeen yet uncooked chickens, giant pots of boiling water, and zero guests. Yes, we were the very first ones there. Not only that we remained the only ones there, other than immediate family, for the next three hours. No joke, we were the only ones there for three entire hours before other people started to show up. During those three whole hours we saw the sound system arrive and get set up, the roasted pig arrived, the fruit for the fruit display arrived, was washed, and finally assembled, the cake stands were set up, the cakes arrived, the cakes were arranged and rearranged, the decorations were hung up, the electricity went off and on several times slowly things down even more, and Mike and I took a lot of pictures.

When other people finally showed up there was an hour and a half of dancing, candy snacks, trago (sweet,warm alcohol), and more dancing. I feel as though I should take a minute here and try to explain what dancing consists of here (and by here I mean family parties in the mountains not dancing at disotecas or anything hip/modern or coastal). Close your eyes. Imagine you are walking down a lovely road. The sun is out, birds are chirping, and every few minutes you see a good neighbor walk by. You’re happy. Your gait is jovial. Your arms swing gaily at your sides. In fact, you’re feeling so merry, so happy in this day that your arms form right angles, and your hands are in little happy fists swinging as you walk, gently bouncing down the street. Now, take away the road but continue walking in place just as before; arms swinging, a slight bounce in your step. This how you dance in the sierra of Ecuador. Of course there are few other details: no eye contact with your partner, very little smiling, and an occasional round of clapping to the music. Not so bad, especially for the rhythmically challenged like myself.

After a few rounds of bouncy dancing, dinner was served…at eleven thirty pm! For those of you who know me there are very few things I do at eleven thirty. In fact there is only one thing I do at eleven thirty: sleep. So, eating soup, a giant chunk pork, an even bigger chunk of chicken, several potatoes, a mountain of rice mixed with hot dog pieces, and a giant cup of the most sugary tea you can imagine was quite the feat for eleven thirty. This was followed by more dancing and eventually cake at two o’ clock in morning, so we hear. We ended up bowing out of the festivities around twelve thirty. Not so bad considering we showed up at seven.

The Ceremony and the Fiesta (double-click to enlarge the image)


Stop playing with your tie

Repeat after me...

Hola, Don Jimmy!


Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is celebrated the same day here as it is in the U.S. and many of the customs are the same: cakes, flowers, candies, stuffed animals carrying big, red hearts that say, “I love you.” However, there are a couple customs that we don’t have in the States. One, there is no school the Friday before nor the Monday after Mother’s Day (this may be Sayausi specific). This seems to me like more work for moms who otherwise wouldn’t have kids to look after but that is my norteamericana perspective. Two, Saturday night the streets are filled with trucks carrying speakers and about a half dozen jovenes (young adults). The trucks stop in front of houses, where they have been told to go, and “serenade” the mother who lives in the house. This “serenading” consists of kids screaming at the top of their lungs for at least forty-five minutes at each house. Also, this all takes place between 2:00 in the morning and 5:00 in the morning. Again, it might just be my norteamericana-ness but this seems like it might not be that enjoyable for a mom who works all day. The moms here love it, so there you go. Enjoy the serenading.

Serenading at 2:00am (the video is really dark because it’s 2am)

Out our bedroom window at 2:15am


Basqet
Mike has finally entered the wonderful world of the Liga Deportiva de Sayausi. And following in my golden footsteps, he is quite the star. The last game his team was winning 51-2 at the half. Ouch!!! Mike being nobler than I, and the other members of his team, let up a little during the second half to end with a 73-16 victory. Who knows, we may have to make room for another trophy in the house, not that it could be as big as my trophy as that would be defying at least one law of physics.

Last year there was no men’s basketball league, for no apparent reason as there has been in the past, so this year everyone was out to get Migi (nothing to do with his ridiculous height advantage). He had at least three different offers from different teams which, I would say, puts him pretty high up in the draft pick (again, nothing to do with the fact that he is at least a foot and a half taller than anyone). But he really had no choice as the men’s counterpart of my soccer team was forming a basketball team i.e. the husband of one of my good friends (and teammate) down here asked Mike to play on his team. Anyway, stay tuned for more “Quisiera ser como Migi” b.ball highlights.

Mike “the baller who’s taller” Carbone (double-click to enlarge the image)


Agua Vida
This week I helped lead a field trip with the group of students I have been working with at the school. There is a branch of ETAPA (a local government agency in charge of water and phones) called Agua Vida. Agua Vida gives environmental education lessons in 36 schools. They visit each school once a month and for one of their last activities they organize a field trip. I was invited by a teacher to accompany the students on the trip, and I gladly accepted (with the idea to worm my way into Agua Vida lessons next year).

The students were so excited you would’ve thought they were going to an amusement park instead of a water treatment plant; again it’s all a matter of perspective. Although I was reminded of my students in Harlem who couldn’t imagine anything more humiliating than to be seen on a yellow school bus, when my students here were shaking in their seats with excitement when the very same yellow school bus pulled into the yard.

After an overly excited rush to the bus to claim the best seats, the ones in the back of course, we were off to our first stop: Cajas National Park. At the park we met up with Ramiro, a parkguard that was in my English classes for several months, led the tour around the lake. During the tour we were on the lookout for birds, of which we saw many, and cool plants, of which we saw many. When we returned back to the guard station we had lunch.

I remember field trips when I was kid. I also remember the cafeteria putting together a sack lunch for each kid. Nothing spectacular just a PB&J, juice, maybe some fruit, definitely no guinea pig. Lunch on this field trip was much more communal, though each student did bring their own pot with lid carrying some rice and meat. Several students brought entire roasted guinea pigs which were divided among all the students and adults. Other students brought liters of Coke which, with the help of 2-3 plastic cups, was eventually divided among all the students and adults. I was given a piece of cuy, a plate of rice, a choclo (corn on the cob), a cup of Coke, and several candies for after lunch. I was offered some chicken and a hard boiled egg but couldn’t manage all of it and so had to decline.

In the bus on the way to our next stop, the water treatment plant, I was offered juice in a different but well used plastic cup, a menthol candy, a coconut lollipop, and some chips. Again, I was forced to decline due to rumblings of cuy in my stomach.

We were only at the water treatment plant for ten or fifteen minutes before heading off to our next stop, the sewage treatment plant. And although we were only at the sewage treatment plant for 30 minutes it was informative and didn’t smell all that bad. Then it was homeward bound, at which point I was offered some cut up fruit and more candy (and they wonder why women gain weight in PeaceCorps). All and all the day was fun and the kids were fantastic.

Field Trippin (double-click to enlarge the image)



Blasts from Blogs Past
Below are new pictures that were missing from previous posts. Enjoy!

The school garden (double-click to enlarge images)


Hi-ho, hi-ho! It`s off to work we go.

Turnip Toss

The Señalizacion de los Senderos de Cajas



Articles about the group that got lost in Cajas and Mike helped find


Indoor game at the Fiestas de Buenos Aires


When it rains...

...it hails.

Our ceilng when it rains, also the floor of the apartment upstairs

Semana Santa in Cuenca


The 15km Jefferson Perez Race, yes we did meet Jef



Excessive Chuspi-ness
All posts will most likely end with a portrait of Chuspi. Since you last saw Chuspi she has gone to the vet, been on a bus, and met several new life forms. Here is this month´s addition to the Chuspi archives.

Meeting New Friends..or Snacks


Apu laughs at Chuspi
A box and a ball
No, get in! Get in!
Camera Crash
Chuspi does nothing
Meet the Beatle
First Contact
They`re Friends
How she`s uses her paw!
Sting like a Bee
Round 2
Velcro Beatle
Scaredy Cat I
Scaredy Cat II
Hiding
Domestic Dispute