Hello all.
It has been awhile, but we thought some of you might want to see our pics from Alaska.
Here they are.....
Part I: Work
These were taken during the first work portion of the trip out to the Y-K Delta. Jet from Anchorage to Bethel, bush plane to the isolated Yup'ik village of Chevak, then a cold-windy-wet 4 hour boat ride out to our field site in the middle of nowhere. Once there we established camp (a two day process), waited for the weather to clear (lots of rain, winds up to 50mph, and cold), and then finally spent some time hunting for shorebird and waterfowl nests. This is what it looked like....
Part II: Play
On our own. Three weeks hitchhiking, camping, backpacking, canoeing, and enjoying.
Part III: Work, again
Round two on the Y-K Delta. Why? How about Yup'ik kids, thousands of flightless geese, and 5 errant polar bears.
That's it.
As you may have noticed, we didn't include too much in the way of narrative. If you have any questions feel free to email, comment, or call.
Happy Holidays!
ps- yes, Mary did suffer through her morning sickness while living in a tent on the tundra.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Alaska
Hello again.
As many of you know we leave for Alaska today. For those of you who did not know here are the details:
We have been hired by the USGS to work as Avian Field Biologists as part of a remote field team studying the effects of climate change on the behavior of migratory shorebird populations in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge of Alaska. (click on any of the hypertext if you want more details)
Below is our itinerary which details our major movements for the duration of the trip. To get to the field site we will need to take two different bush planes to finally arrive in the small Yupik community of Chevak. From there we will load all of our gear onto a boat and head out onto the Bering Sea for a chilly four hour ride before reaching our site on the penninsula at the northwestern edge of Hazen Bay.
Itinerary:
Thursday, June 3rd
Fly from NYC to Anchorage
Monday, June 7th
Fly from Anchorage to Bethel (1 hour, 400 miles)
Fly from Bethel to Chevak (1 hour, 136 miles)
Take boat on the Bering Sea to remote field site (4 hours)
Sometime in July (it depends on hatch):
Take boat back to Chevak
Fly from Chevak to Bethel
Fly from Bethel to Anchorage
Make contact with family (probably by email) to let you all know that we are alive and well.
Have a great summer!
UPDATE....Saturday, July 17th...
We are in Anchorage today and tomorrow and then headed back out to the Delta on Monday for an additional two weeks of work with the USGS. Our return date will depend somewhat on the weather and the birds, but we will be moving to southern Maine during the first week of August. Until then the only way to get in touch with us will be by satellite phone (emergency only).
Enjoy summer!
As many of you know we leave for Alaska today. For those of you who did not know here are the details:
We have been hired by the USGS to work as Avian Field Biologists as part of a remote field team studying the effects of climate change on the behavior of migratory shorebird populations in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge of Alaska. (click on any of the hypertext if you want more details)
Below is our itinerary which details our major movements for the duration of the trip. To get to the field site we will need to take two different bush planes to finally arrive in the small Yupik community of Chevak. From there we will load all of our gear onto a boat and head out onto the Bering Sea for a chilly four hour ride before reaching our site on the penninsula at the northwestern edge of Hazen Bay.
Itinerary:
Thursday, June 3rd
Fly from NYC to Anchorage
Monday, June 7th
Fly from Anchorage to Bethel (1 hour, 400 miles)
Fly from Bethel to Chevak (1 hour, 136 miles)
Take boat on the Bering Sea to remote field site (4 hours)
Sometime in July (it depends on hatch):
Take boat back to Chevak
Fly from Chevak to Bethel
Fly from Bethel to Anchorage
Make contact with family (probably by email) to let you all know that we are alive and well.
Have a great summer!
UPDATE....Saturday, July 17th...
We are in Anchorage today and tomorrow and then headed back out to the Delta on Monday for an additional two weeks of work with the USGS. Our return date will depend somewhat on the weather and the birds, but we will be moving to southern Maine during the first week of August. Until then the only way to get in touch with us will be by satellite phone (emergency only).
Enjoy summer!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Ciao Sayausi
June 1, 2010
Tuesday,7:54pm
Bayville, NY
Post-Thunderstorm
Well after 27 months in Ecuador Peace Corps has officially come to a close. We have spent the last month job hunting and visiting family and are now back in New York getting ready for our upcoming work in the Yukon Delta this summer (more details in a future post) before moving to Maine in the Fall. This will be the last Ecuador post and it will be a collection of events that took place during our last few months of service (somewhat of a potpourri).
We hope you enjoyed seeing, perhaps a bit too much of, our lives in Sayausi during the past two years! (and thanks for all of the comments, we have loved reading them)
Iliniza Norte: February 3
In combination with one of many trips that we had to take to the Peace Corps office in Quito we decided to try our luck at hiking up yet another Ecuadorian Volcano, Iliniza Norte. Surprise, we didn't make it to the top (see earlier posts regarding Volcan Cotopaxi, and Volcan Chimborazo). Once again we remembered from our training as Wilderness EMTs that preventing an emergency is always the preferred option, and given the strong winds that were blowing I had no interest in experiencing the part of the mountain known as "Paso de la Muerte". We had planned to spend the night at 4,800 meters above sea level, but after a delayed departure from Quito, two buses, and 6hrs of hiking uphill we realized that we were not going to find the shelter before dark. (for those of you who have never experienced it, searching for a hut in the dark on the side of an Andean volcano is not fun) So shortly before sunset, and in the middle of a vertical scree field with swarming clouds and menacing weather, we decided to turn around and head back to the hostal in the nearest town even though we had enough food to last us two full days on the mountain. The decision was a good one as we both survived, enjoyed the sunsetting on the nearby glaciers of Cotopaxi, and the hot showers and warm tea felt great even though it was after midnight by the time we reached the hostal and were able to enjoy them.
Carnaval: February 6
What is February without Carnaval...check out last year's post for in-depth coverage on Carnaval Festivities. This year we were up at Maribel's house again and "played carnaval" with all sorts of food, ice cold water, corn starch, and foam. We also "played carnaval" the day before with my soccer team but didn't bring the camera as the festivities took place along the shore of the rived that runs through town. Imagine what you see in the pictures below but instead of a kitchen full of Maribel's family, visualize my soccer team, the mens' counterpart to my soccer team, lots of soot from the meat that was grilled, mayonnaise, mustard, and lots of dunking people in the river.
"Playing Carnaval" with syrupy fig juice for "la foto"
"Playing Carnaval" with whatever was within reach
Banana?
Good Fanesca Friday: April 2
Our landlady Dona Carmen invited us to her house for Good Friday. It is tradition to make a HUGE meal for Good Friday and invite as many people as you can afford to feed. Dona Carmen prepared an eight course meal (she said she used to make eleven but nobody would eat the last few courses) including the ever famous fanesca. Fanesca is a soup made with at least nine different grains and reconstituted salted fish a.k.a. bacalao. One spoonful of this soup is enough to satiate the hungriest of stomaches. We were served a giant bowl as the fourth course in the Good Friday feast. It was all I could do to stir the fanesca around in the bowl a few times, take a bite, and politely say, "ya."
During the meal there was a HUGE hail storm to go along with the HUGE meal, so of course I took some video.
Semana Santa procession
more proceeding
Good Friday Hail storm
When it hails it hails
Have you ever seen hail bounce off of an Andean Papaya?
Happy Birthday Mary and Norma: April 3
Norma and I share the same birthday, so the family was planning a big bash for the fifth. When we told them we were leaving the fourth they rescheduled and had us up for a cuy-eatin', cake smashin'time. The party was great, the food was delicious, and I learned one more Ecuadorian tradition on the way out.
The birthday person is invited to take a bite out of the cake after they blow out the candles. I had seen this before and noticed that someone comes up from behind and pushes the birthday person's face into the cake. Now, when I have seen this on previous occasions the push only results in a small amount of cake on the nose of said birthday person. So, when my turn came to take a bite out of the cake I was expecting a small, gentle push from behind. Long story short, the only reason it looks like a gentle nudge from behind is because the birthday person uses all their might to keep from getting their face completely shoved into the lovely cake in front of them. I, not being prepared to brace myself for what I thought would be a little push, got my face smashed into the cake! I am quite sure there was more cake on my face than was left on the table.
So, one more lesson learned, one more birthday celebrated, and one last cuy eaten before our departure from Sayausi. Not bad for one day.
Saying Goodbye: April 4
We had originally been scheduled to depart Ecuador on April 23rd, but for medical reasons (happy side note, the amoebas are finally gone!!!) we left a few weeks early. This came as a huge surprise to us and our friends in Sayausi. For the past year they had been talking about our goodbye party, and they were all disappointed that we were going to be leaving in such a hurry. Even though they didn't have any time to plan, that did not stop them from giving us an incredibly sweet send-off that we will never forget.
Needless to say there is no way to describe what it is like to leave a place you have come to know as home and people that have become your family. Viva Sayausi!
Wine for everyone (so what if we are in a moving van)
Tu eres mi gran amigo
van entering bus terminal
Tuesday,7:54pm
Bayville, NY
Post-Thunderstorm
Well after 27 months in Ecuador Peace Corps has officially come to a close. We have spent the last month job hunting and visiting family and are now back in New York getting ready for our upcoming work in the Yukon Delta this summer (more details in a future post) before moving to Maine in the Fall. This will be the last Ecuador post and it will be a collection of events that took place during our last few months of service (somewhat of a potpourri).
We hope you enjoyed seeing, perhaps a bit too much of, our lives in Sayausi during the past two years! (and thanks for all of the comments, we have loved reading them)
Iliniza Norte: February 3
In combination with one of many trips that we had to take to the Peace Corps office in Quito we decided to try our luck at hiking up yet another Ecuadorian Volcano, Iliniza Norte. Surprise, we didn't make it to the top (see earlier posts regarding Volcan Cotopaxi, and Volcan Chimborazo). Once again we remembered from our training as Wilderness EMTs that preventing an emergency is always the preferred option, and given the strong winds that were blowing I had no interest in experiencing the part of the mountain known as "Paso de la Muerte". We had planned to spend the night at 4,800 meters above sea level, but after a delayed departure from Quito, two buses, and 6hrs of hiking uphill we realized that we were not going to find the shelter before dark. (for those of you who have never experienced it, searching for a hut in the dark on the side of an Andean volcano is not fun) So shortly before sunset, and in the middle of a vertical scree field with swarming clouds and menacing weather, we decided to turn around and head back to the hostal in the nearest town even though we had enough food to last us two full days on the mountain. The decision was a good one as we both survived, enjoyed the sunsetting on the nearby glaciers of Cotopaxi, and the hot showers and warm tea felt great even though it was after midnight by the time we reached the hostal and were able to enjoy them.
Carnaval: February 6
What is February without Carnaval...check out last year's post for in-depth coverage on Carnaval Festivities. This year we were up at Maribel's house again and "played carnaval" with all sorts of food, ice cold water, corn starch, and foam. We also "played carnaval" the day before with my soccer team but didn't bring the camera as the festivities took place along the shore of the rived that runs through town. Imagine what you see in the pictures below but instead of a kitchen full of Maribel's family, visualize my soccer team, the mens' counterpart to my soccer team, lots of soot from the meat that was grilled, mayonnaise, mustard, and lots of dunking people in the river.
"Playing Carnaval" with syrupy fig juice for "la foto"
"Playing Carnaval" with whatever was within reach
Banana?
Good Fanesca Friday: April 2
Our landlady Dona Carmen invited us to her house for Good Friday. It is tradition to make a HUGE meal for Good Friday and invite as many people as you can afford to feed. Dona Carmen prepared an eight course meal (she said she used to make eleven but nobody would eat the last few courses) including the ever famous fanesca. Fanesca is a soup made with at least nine different grains and reconstituted salted fish a.k.a. bacalao. One spoonful of this soup is enough to satiate the hungriest of stomaches. We were served a giant bowl as the fourth course in the Good Friday feast. It was all I could do to stir the fanesca around in the bowl a few times, take a bite, and politely say, "ya."
During the meal there was a HUGE hail storm to go along with the HUGE meal, so of course I took some video.
Semana Santa procession
more proceeding
Good Friday Hail storm
When it hails it hails
Have you ever seen hail bounce off of an Andean Papaya?
Happy Birthday Mary and Norma: April 3
Norma and I share the same birthday, so the family was planning a big bash for the fifth. When we told them we were leaving the fourth they rescheduled and had us up for a cuy-eatin', cake smashin'time. The party was great, the food was delicious, and I learned one more Ecuadorian tradition on the way out.
The birthday person is invited to take a bite out of the cake after they blow out the candles. I had seen this before and noticed that someone comes up from behind and pushes the birthday person's face into the cake. Now, when I have seen this on previous occasions the push only results in a small amount of cake on the nose of said birthday person. So, when my turn came to take a bite out of the cake I was expecting a small, gentle push from behind. Long story short, the only reason it looks like a gentle nudge from behind is because the birthday person uses all their might to keep from getting their face completely shoved into the lovely cake in front of them. I, not being prepared to brace myself for what I thought would be a little push, got my face smashed into the cake! I am quite sure there was more cake on my face than was left on the table.
So, one more lesson learned, one more birthday celebrated, and one last cuy eaten before our departure from Sayausi. Not bad for one day.
Saying Goodbye: April 4
We had originally been scheduled to depart Ecuador on April 23rd, but for medical reasons (happy side note, the amoebas are finally gone!!!) we left a few weeks early. This came as a huge surprise to us and our friends in Sayausi. For the past year they had been talking about our goodbye party, and they were all disappointed that we were going to be leaving in such a hurry. Even though they didn't have any time to plan, that did not stop them from giving us an incredibly sweet send-off that we will never forget.
Needless to say there is no way to describe what it is like to leave a place you have come to know as home and people that have become your family. Viva Sayausi!
Wine for everyone (so what if we are in a moving van)
Tu eres mi gran amigo
van entering bus terminal
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Cusco Extravaganza
March 8, 2010
Monday, 1:24pm
55, Cloudy
Sayausi
Por fin! Here is the long-awaited (or at least long in coming) Peru trip post. Though months have past the memories are as fresh as ever, thanks to tons and tons of photos. In fact, with the help of Dona Ana (i.e. my mom) we set ourselves a new record for number of pictures taken. Between the three of us we took so many photos that it would quite literally be impossible to post all of them. So, below you will find only the “best of” photos which still include a whopping three hundred images for your viewing pleasure (I promise I tired really hard to post only a few but I liked so many of them). For those of you who are interested in seeing all of the Peru pics (over 3,000 images) we can show you them in person as we will be back in the states in April!
Enjoy and disculpara for the delay.
The Great Peru Itinerary:
Day 1: Meet Mom in Guayaquil
Day 2: Tour Guayaquil and fly to Lima
Day 3: Fly to Cusco and Walking Tour
Day 4: Rafting
Day 5: Train to Aguascalientes
Day 6: Machupicchu and train back to Cusco
Day 7: Sacred Valley Tour
Day 8: Last minute shopping and fly to Lima
Day 9: Fly to Ecuador (see previous post for Ecuador with Mom stories and photos)
Day 1: Meet Mom in Guayaquil
Our grand adventure began with meeting my mom at the Guayaquil airport and then whisking away to the oh-so-fancy Dreamkapture hostal where my mom was quite amused by the electroducha (electrified shower: electricity heats the water as it passes through and only occasionally shoots out sparks …exhilarating!).
Day 2: Tour Guayaquil and fly to Lima
The next morning we toured the Malecon (the riverside park), visited a very special park with very special inhabitants (see pictures for details), and ate a delicious seafood lunch followed by tasty batidos (milk and fruit drinks). Then we were off to the airport for our flight to Lima.
We arrived in Lima around 8:00pm and stayed at El Patio, a charming hotel located in the middle of the Miraflores section of Lima. We then had a late dinner and went to an art exhibit featuring all sorts of sculptured nativity scenes.
Day 3: Fly to Cusco an Walking Tour
Early in the morning we were off to the airport yet again to catch a flight to Cusco. After checking in to El Balcon, a lovely hotel close to the center of all things Cusco, we were off to see the sights and the stores. We spent the entire day roaming up and down cobblestone streets, taking pictures, and generally enjoying ourselves. We also ate some grilled alpaca and quinoa soup…as they say, “when in Rome’…or in this case, Cusco!
Day 4: Rafting
Awesome!!! There are no other words to describe it. Rafting was fabulous and my mom was a natural paddler. Though truth be told, I’m pretty sure our raft guide could have gotten us down the river without any help from us. In any event, the surrounding area was gorgeous, the rafting was beyond fun, no one had to make use of the rescue kayakers, and the hot lunch afterwards tasted oh-so-good.
Day 5: Train to Aguascalientes
Finally, we were on our way to Machupicchu. However, in order to get there one needs to a) hike the four day section of the Inca Trail or b) take a train. We opted for the latter and set off early in the morning to catch the first train to the town of Aguascalientes. The scenery along the way was spectacular and the town of Aguascalientes offered everything a tourist could want (though apparently only for a few days, as just several weeks after our visit there were huge mudslides that washed out the train tracks and tourists stranded in Aguascalientes found themselves without some creature comforts). We spent the day browsing the shops and strolling along the river before calling it an early night so that we would be well rested for our 5:00am departure to Machupicchu the next morning.
Day 6: Machupicchu and train to Cusco
Before the sun even hinted at peeping over the surrounding mountaintops, we were up, ate breakfast, and standing in line to catch the first round of busses headed up to Machupicchu. Not an hour later we arrived at the ruins. There was a light rain when we arrived which added quite the ethereal quality to the experience. It’s hard to describe what a remarkable place it is or how it looked (hopefully the pictures will help with that) but it certainly makes one reflect upon the past, present, and future in a different way.
Not too soon after arriving Mike and I went for a small hike up Huayna Picchu (the mountain you always see in the background of pictures of Machupicchu) where we took a few misty pictures of the ruins from up high and had some great views of the glacier covered mountains that define the valley. We then found my mom, thanks to the walky-talkies my mom had brought with her (yes we were those tourists, but they did come in handy and were fun to use) and met our tour guide who took us on an informative, and interesting tour of the ruins. When the tour finished we still had a little time to wander around and that is what we did until the last possible minute. Then we headed back down to Aguascalientes to catch the train back to Cusco.
It was certainly an incredible day.
Day 7: Sacred Valley Tour
The Sacred Valley Tour wasn’t something we had originally planned on doing but once in the vacation mode momentum builds and all of the sudden you’re on a bus visiting several of the surrounding ruins and towns that surround Cusco.
The tour was great and we got to see a lot more than we would have otherwise. It’s hard to believe just how many ruins are around Cusco. It’s truly impressive.
On a funny note, our tour guide was a woman from Cusco who was wonderful the whole day and then as we were headed back to town, shortly after the sun had set, she shared with the entire bus her thoughts on aliens and UFOs. Yup, we got the 4-1-1 on alien and UFO activity in and around Cusco…who knew? So it makes you wonder, was it really the Incas (better put, the Quechuas) or was there some extraterrestrial force at work carving and moving all of this rock? I guess we’ll have to sign up for another tour to get the answers…maybe next time.
Day 8: Last minute shopping and fly to Lima
Our last day in Cusco we took another small tour to nearby ruins with ridiculously big carved stones, and then did some last minute shopping before heading back to Lima.
In Lima, we toured the Miraflores district, did some more shopping, enjoyed Christmas carols (yes, this post is very late) in the central park while enjoying hot chocolate and an incredible rice pudding with cherry preserves desert, and then called it a night and slept soundly with images of rapids, ruins, shops, and cobblestones floating through our sleeping heads.
Day 9: Fly to Ecuador (see previous post for Ecuador with Mom stories and photos)
The next day we flew to Ecuador where out whirlwind adventure slowed down to Sayausi speed and we spent a week with my Mom relaxing in our site and touring the streets of Cuenca (again, see our previous post).
It was quite the trip and certainly one I will remember forever. We would of course like to thank Dona Ana for such a wonderful trip and for all the wonderful memories; eating grilled alpaca and roasted cuy feet, braving the rapids of the Urubamba, drinking coca leaf tea, exploring ruins of yore, bathing with electrified shower heads, and learning all about aliens and UFOs…what a world, what a trip!
(Our service here in Ecuador is winding to a close and after two years we will be flying back to the US on April 23rd! We will try to post again sometime soon to describe what we have been up to for the last few months (highlights include Carnaval celebrations and hiking up yet another active volcano). For the meantime, feel free to scroll through the archives to revisit all that we have reported on for the last couple of years…. on the top right of this page you can see all of our old posts filed by date. Enjoy!)
Special Note: Due to spam, we have added a filter to the comment option. Keep commenting as always (we love reading them) but your comment will not immediately appear on the blog.
Monday, 1:24pm
55, Cloudy
Sayausi
Por fin! Here is the long-awaited (or at least long in coming) Peru trip post. Though months have past the memories are as fresh as ever, thanks to tons and tons of photos. In fact, with the help of Dona Ana (i.e. my mom) we set ourselves a new record for number of pictures taken. Between the three of us we took so many photos that it would quite literally be impossible to post all of them. So, below you will find only the “best of” photos which still include a whopping three hundred images for your viewing pleasure (I promise I tired really hard to post only a few but I liked so many of them). For those of you who are interested in seeing all of the Peru pics (over 3,000 images) we can show you them in person as we will be back in the states in April!
Enjoy and disculpara for the delay.
The Great Peru Itinerary:
Day 1: Meet Mom in Guayaquil
Day 2: Tour Guayaquil and fly to Lima
Day 3: Fly to Cusco and Walking Tour
Day 4: Rafting
Day 5: Train to Aguascalientes
Day 6: Machupicchu and train back to Cusco
Day 7: Sacred Valley Tour
Day 8: Last minute shopping and fly to Lima
Day 9: Fly to Ecuador (see previous post for Ecuador with Mom stories and photos)
Day 1: Meet Mom in Guayaquil
Our grand adventure began with meeting my mom at the Guayaquil airport and then whisking away to the oh-so-fancy Dreamkapture hostal where my mom was quite amused by the electroducha (electrified shower: electricity heats the water as it passes through and only occasionally shoots out sparks …exhilarating!).
Day 2: Tour Guayaquil and fly to Lima
The next morning we toured the Malecon (the riverside park), visited a very special park with very special inhabitants (see pictures for details), and ate a delicious seafood lunch followed by tasty batidos (milk and fruit drinks). Then we were off to the airport for our flight to Lima.
We arrived in Lima around 8:00pm and stayed at El Patio, a charming hotel located in the middle of the Miraflores section of Lima. We then had a late dinner and went to an art exhibit featuring all sorts of sculptured nativity scenes.
Day 3: Fly to Cusco an Walking Tour
Early in the morning we were off to the airport yet again to catch a flight to Cusco. After checking in to El Balcon, a lovely hotel close to the center of all things Cusco, we were off to see the sights and the stores. We spent the entire day roaming up and down cobblestone streets, taking pictures, and generally enjoying ourselves. We also ate some grilled alpaca and quinoa soup…as they say, “when in Rome’…or in this case, Cusco!
Day 4: Rafting
Awesome!!! There are no other words to describe it. Rafting was fabulous and my mom was a natural paddler. Though truth be told, I’m pretty sure our raft guide could have gotten us down the river without any help from us. In any event, the surrounding area was gorgeous, the rafting was beyond fun, no one had to make use of the rescue kayakers, and the hot lunch afterwards tasted oh-so-good.
Day 5: Train to Aguascalientes
Finally, we were on our way to Machupicchu. However, in order to get there one needs to a) hike the four day section of the Inca Trail or b) take a train. We opted for the latter and set off early in the morning to catch the first train to the town of Aguascalientes. The scenery along the way was spectacular and the town of Aguascalientes offered everything a tourist could want (though apparently only for a few days, as just several weeks after our visit there were huge mudslides that washed out the train tracks and tourists stranded in Aguascalientes found themselves without some creature comforts). We spent the day browsing the shops and strolling along the river before calling it an early night so that we would be well rested for our 5:00am departure to Machupicchu the next morning.
Day 6: Machupicchu and train to Cusco
Before the sun even hinted at peeping over the surrounding mountaintops, we were up, ate breakfast, and standing in line to catch the first round of busses headed up to Machupicchu. Not an hour later we arrived at the ruins. There was a light rain when we arrived which added quite the ethereal quality to the experience. It’s hard to describe what a remarkable place it is or how it looked (hopefully the pictures will help with that) but it certainly makes one reflect upon the past, present, and future in a different way.
Not too soon after arriving Mike and I went for a small hike up Huayna Picchu (the mountain you always see in the background of pictures of Machupicchu) where we took a few misty pictures of the ruins from up high and had some great views of the glacier covered mountains that define the valley. We then found my mom, thanks to the walky-talkies my mom had brought with her (yes we were those tourists, but they did come in handy and were fun to use) and met our tour guide who took us on an informative, and interesting tour of the ruins. When the tour finished we still had a little time to wander around and that is what we did until the last possible minute. Then we headed back down to Aguascalientes to catch the train back to Cusco.
It was certainly an incredible day.
Day 7: Sacred Valley Tour
The Sacred Valley Tour wasn’t something we had originally planned on doing but once in the vacation mode momentum builds and all of the sudden you’re on a bus visiting several of the surrounding ruins and towns that surround Cusco.
The tour was great and we got to see a lot more than we would have otherwise. It’s hard to believe just how many ruins are around Cusco. It’s truly impressive.
On a funny note, our tour guide was a woman from Cusco who was wonderful the whole day and then as we were headed back to town, shortly after the sun had set, she shared with the entire bus her thoughts on aliens and UFOs. Yup, we got the 4-1-1 on alien and UFO activity in and around Cusco…who knew? So it makes you wonder, was it really the Incas (better put, the Quechuas) or was there some extraterrestrial force at work carving and moving all of this rock? I guess we’ll have to sign up for another tour to get the answers…maybe next time.
Day 8: Last minute shopping and fly to Lima
Our last day in Cusco we took another small tour to nearby ruins with ridiculously big carved stones, and then did some last minute shopping before heading back to Lima.
In Lima, we toured the Miraflores district, did some more shopping, enjoyed Christmas carols (yes, this post is very late) in the central park while enjoying hot chocolate and an incredible rice pudding with cherry preserves desert, and then called it a night and slept soundly with images of rapids, ruins, shops, and cobblestones floating through our sleeping heads.
Day 9: Fly to Ecuador (see previous post for Ecuador with Mom stories and photos)
The next day we flew to Ecuador where out whirlwind adventure slowed down to Sayausi speed and we spent a week with my Mom relaxing in our site and touring the streets of Cuenca (again, see our previous post).
It was quite the trip and certainly one I will remember forever. We would of course like to thank Dona Ana for such a wonderful trip and for all the wonderful memories; eating grilled alpaca and roasted cuy feet, braving the rapids of the Urubamba, drinking coca leaf tea, exploring ruins of yore, bathing with electrified shower heads, and learning all about aliens and UFOs…what a world, what a trip!
(Our service here in Ecuador is winding to a close and after two years we will be flying back to the US on April 23rd! We will try to post again sometime soon to describe what we have been up to for the last few months (highlights include Carnaval celebrations and hiking up yet another active volcano). For the meantime, feel free to scroll through the archives to revisit all that we have reported on for the last couple of years…. on the top right of this page you can see all of our old posts filed by date. Enjoy!)
Special Note: Due to spam, we have added a filter to the comment option. Keep commenting as always (we love reading them) but your comment will not immediately appear on the blog.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Feliz Año Nuevo!
January 5, 2010
Tuesday
Sayausi
Cloudy, 60
Feliz Año Nuevo and a Hug
(Check out the new link called "Volunteer Feature" located under the picture on the right-side of the screen! You may recognize the featured volunteers.)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! This holiday season has been packed with travel, parades, family and friends. My mom was here for two weeks (December 14-28) during which time we took over 2,000 photos! Therefore, we will be spreading the holiday joy over two installments: 1. Holiday Extravaganza and 2. Peruvian Adventures. Even though the Peru portion of my mom’s trip came before the holiday part we thought we would post all holiday related photos, videos, etc… before the holiday season is officially over. So, get ready for lots of costumes, cuy, candy, dancing, and of course, more parades! (and then, in a week or so, we will post the Peru portion of the visit)
December 23rd: School Christmas Party and Museo Banco Central de Cuenca
Our first day in Sayausi started off with a bang…or at least with a lot of Christmas carols. I was invited to be a Christmas carol judge for the annual Christmas party up in Bellavista.
At nine o’clock sharp the caroling began with me seated at the judge’s table and my mom and Mike in seats of honor (i.e. they were given chairs instead of having to sit on the cement bleachers with the kiddies). The competition was steep and it was only by one point that first grade beat out the sixth grade. It was then time to judge the nativity scenes that each grade had constructed in their respective classrooms.
I’ll give a little background into the nativity scenes so that later when I explain how they were judged it will make more sense. It is tradition for every family to have a baby Jesus doll that in the weeks leading up to Christmas is paraded from house to house within the family. For example, for one week it will be at your aunt’s house and then there will be a procession with music and flowers and food to get it to your grandfather’s house where it will spend a week before continuing the journey (those of you residing in Bayville should remember this from last year when we brought some of Ecuador home in the form of a ceramic baby Jesus and made you all parade him around). In preparation for the arrival of Baby Jesus each house constructs a nacimiento or nativity scene. The scene of course is incomplete: all figures are facing towards an empty space which is reserved for the arrival of Baby Jesus. Historically, these nativity scenes (which every household makes during advent) were made from local mosses, bromeliads, and orchids. Not surprisingly, this was less than good for the surrounding forests. Therefore, in the last five or so years there has been a push to use recycled materials or anything reusable and environmentally friendly so as to maintain both the tradition of the nativity scenes and the natural environment. So, now people get really creative and make beautiful nativity scenes using old newspapers, potted plants, fallen branches, etc…
Back to the school…the nativity scenes were judged based on two categories: creativity and use of recycled materials. Again the competition was steep but it was again the first graders with their corn cob three kings and gourd stable that took home first prize.
It was then on to the sack races and other general festivities. The ice cream was served early as the electricity was cut at ten o’clock (there have been daily power cuts across the country for the last three months due to the year long drought) which worked out well for us! We each got giant scoops of homemade coconut ice cream. We were then given at least five small panes de pascua (Christmas bread, aka panetone) before we left.
We spent the afternoon in Cuenca and even checked out some of the Incan ruins near Cuenca’s biggest museo, Banco Central. However, after our Peruvian adventure it was clear that the Incan Empire didn’t quite have as strong a hold on Ecuador as it did in Peru. The museum was fun though and we only set off the alarm three times as we walked around (there was a small motion detector that would go off if you stepped too close to any of the exhibits). We ate lunch at Moliendo Café (the only place Mike and I eat at in Cuenca: cheap, good, and owned by a really sweet Colombian couple). My mom agreed the food was delicious including the bunuelo (cheese flavored doughnut). Then we toured the markets, both food and craft, before heading back to Sayausi where we dined on coal roasted chicken at David’s (Mike’s teammate’s restaurant).
December 24th: Parades Galore
The entirety of Christmas Eve or Nochebuena was spent either watching or participating in parades. These parades feature kids dressed up as religious figures, gypsies, traditional dress, or as superheroes and they go on for hours! We went into the center of Cuenca to check out the largest parade and had a nice spot right on the central park. For several hours we watched countless horses, cars, kids, babies, dogs, sheep, and everything else parade by decked out in everything from the most extravagant costume to the most basic. Sun baked (again, we still haven’t gotten any rain) we went for lunch at a tourist friendly restaurant that specializes in Ecuadorian fare and overlooked the parade in the central park. Needless to say between the location, the company, and the food lunch was delightful.
Then we headed back up to Sayausi to participate in a different parade. At this point the Christmas spirit had really gotten into me and I agreed (after several weeks of being persuaded by our neighbors) to get dressed up with a few other women from my town. What did we dress up as? Cholitas Cuencanas of course! A neighbor gave me a pollera, blusa, and chalina, Jenny (our landlady’s daughter) braided my hair, and poof I was ready. My mom and Mike were not poofed into anything but they did walk in the parade being sure to catch any particularly photo worthy moments. However, since I was the only one in costume I was the only one to receive the bag of candy, pan de pascua (panetone), and banana (which everyone in the parade who was dressed up got).
The parade started up at Dona Rita’s house (the same house where we would be the next night for my mom’s first ever cuy roast) and winded through town where it eventually ended up in the church for a Christmas evening mass.
After mass it was back home and time for sleep…well, we may have had a few candies first!
We also tried out the envios service here in Sayausi over the holidays. Turns out it works! We (with the help of Doña Carmen and family and the Rusts) sent a cuy to the states (sorry AZ family but they don´t deliver to the Southwest) for Christmas Eve.
December 25th: Feliz Navidad!
Merry Christmas to All! Christmas morning of course started with stockings (Chuspi enjoyed the stocking itself as much as the contents) and then it was breakfast, presents, and then, you guessed it, on to more parades!
This time we were just observers and photographers. The parade started in San Martin (a barrio of Sayausi) and ended up in the plaza right outside our front door, which is where all parades seem to end. Once the parade reached the plaza there was an outdoor mass followed by dancing, music, and more dancing.
Then it was off to Bellavista for cuy, more dancing, cake making (aside from the baby Jesus it was also Juan Diego’s birthday too), and general merrymaking. We were up at Dona Rita’s house from two o’clock until ten o’clock during which time my mom and Juan Diego helped each other with English/Spanish, we supervised while Juan Diego made and decorated his own birthday cake, played frisbee (my mom’s birthday present to Juan Diego which was wildly popular), chatted, ecua-danced, ate, chatted some more, bathed baby Matias (Melida’s month old baby), dressed up baby Matias (my mom also brought down a few jumpers for Matias…also wildly popular), ate cuy (yup, that’s right my mom chowed down on cuy and liked it…at least a little bit), and ecua-danced some more before eating birthday cake.
After the festivities we walked home along the river (which also happens to be the road) listening to the sounds of frogs. A very nice Navidad indeed.
Opening Stockings
Sayausi Parade
Christmas Mass
Christmas Dancing
Christmas Kids
Christmas Dinner
December 26th: Ver Deporte
Saturday was a day to recoup after over a week and a half of nonstop travel and activity. So, in classic Sayausi style we spent most of the day down by the estadio watching countless soccer games and chatting with our neighbors and friends.
December 27th: Hacer Deporte
Sunday was a lot like Saturday except Mike and I were playing in all the games. The first game of the day was futbol in the estadio de Sayausi at 10:30am. The second game was basketball (me) at 11:30am, then Mike played basketball at 12:30pm which we weren’t able to stay and see because I had another game at 1:00pm in San Jose (another barrio of Sayausi that is further away and where we don’t really know many people). So my mom and I zipped off in a cab with Maira to go my one o’clock game while Mike stayed to play three-on-three with his basketball team as the team they were supposed to play against didn’t show up.
My game in San Jose was called short after a fight broke out in the second half. Yup, after two years of playing in countless games here in town this was the very first fight and my Mom was there to see it! Long story short we were winning and the other team was upset because up until then they had been undefeated and BAM, fighting. No one was hurt and only one girl on my team was involved. It was essentially five girls from the other team pulling the hair of one girl on my team. Either way the game was called, and we aren’t going to play at that field anymore (voluntary decision on our part as the organizers weren’t going to kick anyone out so my team just decided we didn’t want to play in a tournament where teams fight). Then we were delayed at the field for an hour as a giant storm rolled in and dumped buckets of water and hail. Fortunately, there was a small covered area where everyone could huddle until the rain passed and the cab came and picked us up.
By the time we got back to the apartment it was almost 3:30pm and our van back to Guayaquil was leaving at 4:00pm. Having been in Ecuador for almost two years we decided that was plenty of time to shower, go grab lunch(slow roasted pork and potato pancakes) and bring it back, eat it, clean up, and then get a cab to the van office.
We pulled into the van office at 4:06pm (the van service said they could wait to 4:05pm at the latest) to see the van waiting for us. And so we made our grand exit from Sayausi, up the hill, through Cajas, over the continental divide at 14,000ft, back down the hill, through the clouds, across the rice paddies and banana plantations, and into Guayaquil.
December 28th: Se Va
My mom’s flight left at 10:30am the morning of the 28th which gave us plenty of time to have a nice breakfast at the hostel and reflect most positively on a wonderful trip.
After my mom went through the door to customs Mike and I headed back up the hill, and four hours later were in Sayausi where upon arrival we took a long nap.
In the next post all Peruvian related photos and stories will be shared. A few highlights include white water rafting with my mom in the Urubamba Valley, eating roasted alpaca on several different occasions, watching the mist pass through the ruins at Machu Picchu, and alien sightings among the snow capped mountains near Chincheros!
Año Viejo (Old Year)
For New Year’s Eve, and for several days leading up to it, Cuenca, Sayausi, and Ecuador are covered with life size dolls dressed in old clothes, stuffed with newspaper, and donning a mask (be it a Barney, Michael Jackson, famous politicians, or a generic old man face). These dolls called Año Viejos in Sayausi are tethered to the fronts of cars and busses, seated outside shops, and hanging from window ledges until the clock strikes twelve….more on that later.
Not surprisingly New Year’s Eve brought with it many more parades, the Año Viejos (the dolls described above), and viudas (widows). At this point you should have a pretty good idea about what a holiday parade in Ecuador would look like so I won’t go into details. The Año Viejos I have described above and the pictures below should complete the picture, literally. However, the viudas or widows are new. On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve the streets become crowded with young men dressed up as women begging (more like jokingly asking) for change. These groups (they tend to travel in groups of three to five) often set up camp on a street and string a rope up to stop passing traffic. Once the car has stopped the driver and passengers are asked to give some change to the viudas. This interaction generally involves a lot of laughter on both sides and occasionally ends up with extra change in the purses of the viudas.
You may ask, as we did, why? Why do young men dress up as women, call themselves viudas (widows), and ask the occasional passersby for change? Good question. If you find out let us know because no one in our town had the faintest idea as to why people do it, they just do. As for the Año Viejos we did get a little bit more information on them, but nothing too definitive. To some it represents the good of the past year, to others the bad. Some create a doll that has the likeness of a person they respect while others chose to dress their doll as someone they despise. There are dolls that look like cartoon characters (Sponge Bob is popular). What binds them all though is their common fate (see below).
To start of the New Year’s Eve festivities there was an Ecua-volley game and a women’s indoor game (soccer on a small field with a small ball). I was asked to play in the game as at this point I am friends with all the soccer moms (unlike in the states, soccer mom here quite literally means the moms that play soccer) and their daughters. So, myself, Maira, Leo (Maira’s sister), the Carbo sisters (daughters of the President of the Parroquia of Sayausi), and Diana (a good friend of the Carbo sisters) played a game against Nacha (wife of David, Mike’s basketball teammate), Jota (Nachas sister), and several other Nacha relatives. The game was tied at the end of standard play and went into extra time (two five minute halves). After a stunning goal by myself and another by Majo (one of the Carbo sisters) our team became the winners and as such the proud owners of a crockpot. Yup, a crockpot. Upon seeing the crockpot everyone on my team asked, “What’s that?” The crockpot has since been sitting in our living room, still in its box, since it is unheard of to cook with electricity due to cost (and the ongoing nationwide daily power outages due to drought).
After the thrilling sports events many people went to the church for mass while others went home for dinner, but all came back shortly after for the “chancho encevado”. What, may you ask, is a chancho encevado? Well, think to yourself what is the most appropriate thing to do after a New Years Eve mass? Well, if you answered “to chase around a greased pig in the plaza”, then you are well attuned to Ecuadorian culture. After the chancho encevado was captured everyone under age twelve lined up for the “ollas encantadas” a.k.a the enchanted pots.
The ollas encantadas are the Ecuadorian equivalent of pinatas except that every kid gets their own and even though you’re technically only allowed three hits you get to hit until to smash an enchanted pot and all the goodies fall out. It looks like this: a long line of kids waiting for their turn, a string twenty yards long from which twenty cantalope sized ceramic pots are hanging, two adults directing the children, and a crowd of onlookers. Inside each of the enchanted pots are a doll, a bag of candy, and an orange. And I’m pretty sure I figured out what makes the pots enchanted. Whenever the last pot is broken but there is still a line of kids, after a five minute break twenty new pots are dangling from the string…pretty magical huh?
Following the ollas encantadas the race to the top of the “palo encevado” began. This race did not end until well after midnight and was really a sort of endlessly entertaining sideshow while the rest of the festivities continued. Can you guess what a palo encevado might be? How about a thirty foot high greased eucalyptus trunk with soda, chips, soccer balls, and clothes dangling from the top? Yup, a greased stick with at most ten dollars of prizes tied to the top and a pack of anxious teenage boys at the bottom. Now that’s good fun.
In the hours leading up to midnight we were treated to several singing performances and the announcement of whom Sayausi’s Año Viejo was supposed to resemble. Turns out our vecino (neighbor) was the lucky guy, and as is custom a mock will was read in which he had a chance to say something funny about all of his family members, neighbors, and friends.
So, now the clock is striking midnight. What do you think happens to all those Año Viejos that spent the day tied to a car, sitting in front of a store, or hanging out a window? A giant bonfire greets them at the tolling of the New Year. Every man, woman, and child tosses their “Old Year” into the fire then proceeds to give everyone a hug while wishing a Feliz Año to one and all. The hugging then continues for several days (or weeks) as you must say Happy New Year and give a hug to everyone you know even though it might be awhile before you bump into them.
Chancho Encevado
Ollas Encantadas
Well, that sums up our holiday season here in Ecuador. Lots of parades, a wonderful time spent with my mom, plenty of good food, and to send the old year off in style a greasy pig and a giant fire.
Happy New Year (and a hug)! May it bring you health, happiness, and maybe if you’re lucky, a roasted guinea pig and an effigy made in your likeness!
Tuesday
Sayausi
Cloudy, 60
Feliz Año Nuevo and a Hug
(Check out the new link called "Volunteer Feature" located under the picture on the right-side of the screen! You may recognize the featured volunteers.)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! This holiday season has been packed with travel, parades, family and friends. My mom was here for two weeks (December 14-28) during which time we took over 2,000 photos! Therefore, we will be spreading the holiday joy over two installments: 1. Holiday Extravaganza and 2. Peruvian Adventures. Even though the Peru portion of my mom’s trip came before the holiday part we thought we would post all holiday related photos, videos, etc… before the holiday season is officially over. So, get ready for lots of costumes, cuy, candy, dancing, and of course, more parades! (and then, in a week or so, we will post the Peru portion of the visit)
December 23rd: School Christmas Party and Museo Banco Central de Cuenca
Our first day in Sayausi started off with a bang…or at least with a lot of Christmas carols. I was invited to be a Christmas carol judge for the annual Christmas party up in Bellavista.
At nine o’clock sharp the caroling began with me seated at the judge’s table and my mom and Mike in seats of honor (i.e. they were given chairs instead of having to sit on the cement bleachers with the kiddies). The competition was steep and it was only by one point that first grade beat out the sixth grade. It was then time to judge the nativity scenes that each grade had constructed in their respective classrooms.
I’ll give a little background into the nativity scenes so that later when I explain how they were judged it will make more sense. It is tradition for every family to have a baby Jesus doll that in the weeks leading up to Christmas is paraded from house to house within the family. For example, for one week it will be at your aunt’s house and then there will be a procession with music and flowers and food to get it to your grandfather’s house where it will spend a week before continuing the journey (those of you residing in Bayville should remember this from last year when we brought some of Ecuador home in the form of a ceramic baby Jesus and made you all parade him around). In preparation for the arrival of Baby Jesus each house constructs a nacimiento or nativity scene. The scene of course is incomplete: all figures are facing towards an empty space which is reserved for the arrival of Baby Jesus. Historically, these nativity scenes (which every household makes during advent) were made from local mosses, bromeliads, and orchids. Not surprisingly, this was less than good for the surrounding forests. Therefore, in the last five or so years there has been a push to use recycled materials or anything reusable and environmentally friendly so as to maintain both the tradition of the nativity scenes and the natural environment. So, now people get really creative and make beautiful nativity scenes using old newspapers, potted plants, fallen branches, etc…
Back to the school…the nativity scenes were judged based on two categories: creativity and use of recycled materials. Again the competition was steep but it was again the first graders with their corn cob three kings and gourd stable that took home first prize.
It was then on to the sack races and other general festivities. The ice cream was served early as the electricity was cut at ten o’clock (there have been daily power cuts across the country for the last three months due to the year long drought) which worked out well for us! We each got giant scoops of homemade coconut ice cream. We were then given at least five small panes de pascua (Christmas bread, aka panetone) before we left.
We spent the afternoon in Cuenca and even checked out some of the Incan ruins near Cuenca’s biggest museo, Banco Central. However, after our Peruvian adventure it was clear that the Incan Empire didn’t quite have as strong a hold on Ecuador as it did in Peru. The museum was fun though and we only set off the alarm three times as we walked around (there was a small motion detector that would go off if you stepped too close to any of the exhibits). We ate lunch at Moliendo Café (the only place Mike and I eat at in Cuenca: cheap, good, and owned by a really sweet Colombian couple). My mom agreed the food was delicious including the bunuelo (cheese flavored doughnut). Then we toured the markets, both food and craft, before heading back to Sayausi where we dined on coal roasted chicken at David’s (Mike’s teammate’s restaurant).
December 24th: Parades Galore
The entirety of Christmas Eve or Nochebuena was spent either watching or participating in parades. These parades feature kids dressed up as religious figures, gypsies, traditional dress, or as superheroes and they go on for hours! We went into the center of Cuenca to check out the largest parade and had a nice spot right on the central park. For several hours we watched countless horses, cars, kids, babies, dogs, sheep, and everything else parade by decked out in everything from the most extravagant costume to the most basic. Sun baked (again, we still haven’t gotten any rain) we went for lunch at a tourist friendly restaurant that specializes in Ecuadorian fare and overlooked the parade in the central park. Needless to say between the location, the company, and the food lunch was delightful.
Then we headed back up to Sayausi to participate in a different parade. At this point the Christmas spirit had really gotten into me and I agreed (after several weeks of being persuaded by our neighbors) to get dressed up with a few other women from my town. What did we dress up as? Cholitas Cuencanas of course! A neighbor gave me a pollera, blusa, and chalina, Jenny (our landlady’s daughter) braided my hair, and poof I was ready. My mom and Mike were not poofed into anything but they did walk in the parade being sure to catch any particularly photo worthy moments. However, since I was the only one in costume I was the only one to receive the bag of candy, pan de pascua (panetone), and banana (which everyone in the parade who was dressed up got).
The parade started up at Dona Rita’s house (the same house where we would be the next night for my mom’s first ever cuy roast) and winded through town where it eventually ended up in the church for a Christmas evening mass.
After mass it was back home and time for sleep…well, we may have had a few candies first!
We also tried out the envios service here in Sayausi over the holidays. Turns out it works! We (with the help of Doña Carmen and family and the Rusts) sent a cuy to the states (sorry AZ family but they don´t deliver to the Southwest) for Christmas Eve.
December 25th: Feliz Navidad!
Merry Christmas to All! Christmas morning of course started with stockings (Chuspi enjoyed the stocking itself as much as the contents) and then it was breakfast, presents, and then, you guessed it, on to more parades!
This time we were just observers and photographers. The parade started in San Martin (a barrio of Sayausi) and ended up in the plaza right outside our front door, which is where all parades seem to end. Once the parade reached the plaza there was an outdoor mass followed by dancing, music, and more dancing.
Then it was off to Bellavista for cuy, more dancing, cake making (aside from the baby Jesus it was also Juan Diego’s birthday too), and general merrymaking. We were up at Dona Rita’s house from two o’clock until ten o’clock during which time my mom and Juan Diego helped each other with English/Spanish, we supervised while Juan Diego made and decorated his own birthday cake, played frisbee (my mom’s birthday present to Juan Diego which was wildly popular), chatted, ecua-danced, ate, chatted some more, bathed baby Matias (Melida’s month old baby), dressed up baby Matias (my mom also brought down a few jumpers for Matias…also wildly popular), ate cuy (yup, that’s right my mom chowed down on cuy and liked it…at least a little bit), and ecua-danced some more before eating birthday cake.
After the festivities we walked home along the river (which also happens to be the road) listening to the sounds of frogs. A very nice Navidad indeed.
Opening Stockings
Sayausi Parade
Christmas Mass
Christmas Dancing
Christmas Kids
Christmas Dinner
December 26th: Ver Deporte
Saturday was a day to recoup after over a week and a half of nonstop travel and activity. So, in classic Sayausi style we spent most of the day down by the estadio watching countless soccer games and chatting with our neighbors and friends.
December 27th: Hacer Deporte
Sunday was a lot like Saturday except Mike and I were playing in all the games. The first game of the day was futbol in the estadio de Sayausi at 10:30am. The second game was basketball (me) at 11:30am, then Mike played basketball at 12:30pm which we weren’t able to stay and see because I had another game at 1:00pm in San Jose (another barrio of Sayausi that is further away and where we don’t really know many people). So my mom and I zipped off in a cab with Maira to go my one o’clock game while Mike stayed to play three-on-three with his basketball team as the team they were supposed to play against didn’t show up.
My game in San Jose was called short after a fight broke out in the second half. Yup, after two years of playing in countless games here in town this was the very first fight and my Mom was there to see it! Long story short we were winning and the other team was upset because up until then they had been undefeated and BAM, fighting. No one was hurt and only one girl on my team was involved. It was essentially five girls from the other team pulling the hair of one girl on my team. Either way the game was called, and we aren’t going to play at that field anymore (voluntary decision on our part as the organizers weren’t going to kick anyone out so my team just decided we didn’t want to play in a tournament where teams fight). Then we were delayed at the field for an hour as a giant storm rolled in and dumped buckets of water and hail. Fortunately, there was a small covered area where everyone could huddle until the rain passed and the cab came and picked us up.
By the time we got back to the apartment it was almost 3:30pm and our van back to Guayaquil was leaving at 4:00pm. Having been in Ecuador for almost two years we decided that was plenty of time to shower, go grab lunch(slow roasted pork and potato pancakes) and bring it back, eat it, clean up, and then get a cab to the van office.
We pulled into the van office at 4:06pm (the van service said they could wait to 4:05pm at the latest) to see the van waiting for us. And so we made our grand exit from Sayausi, up the hill, through Cajas, over the continental divide at 14,000ft, back down the hill, through the clouds, across the rice paddies and banana plantations, and into Guayaquil.
December 28th: Se Va
My mom’s flight left at 10:30am the morning of the 28th which gave us plenty of time to have a nice breakfast at the hostel and reflect most positively on a wonderful trip.
After my mom went through the door to customs Mike and I headed back up the hill, and four hours later were in Sayausi where upon arrival we took a long nap.
In the next post all Peruvian related photos and stories will be shared. A few highlights include white water rafting with my mom in the Urubamba Valley, eating roasted alpaca on several different occasions, watching the mist pass through the ruins at Machu Picchu, and alien sightings among the snow capped mountains near Chincheros!
Año Viejo (Old Year)
For New Year’s Eve, and for several days leading up to it, Cuenca, Sayausi, and Ecuador are covered with life size dolls dressed in old clothes, stuffed with newspaper, and donning a mask (be it a Barney, Michael Jackson, famous politicians, or a generic old man face). These dolls called Año Viejos in Sayausi are tethered to the fronts of cars and busses, seated outside shops, and hanging from window ledges until the clock strikes twelve….more on that later.
Not surprisingly New Year’s Eve brought with it many more parades, the Año Viejos (the dolls described above), and viudas (widows). At this point you should have a pretty good idea about what a holiday parade in Ecuador would look like so I won’t go into details. The Año Viejos I have described above and the pictures below should complete the picture, literally. However, the viudas or widows are new. On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve the streets become crowded with young men dressed up as women begging (more like jokingly asking) for change. These groups (they tend to travel in groups of three to five) often set up camp on a street and string a rope up to stop passing traffic. Once the car has stopped the driver and passengers are asked to give some change to the viudas. This interaction generally involves a lot of laughter on both sides and occasionally ends up with extra change in the purses of the viudas.
You may ask, as we did, why? Why do young men dress up as women, call themselves viudas (widows), and ask the occasional passersby for change? Good question. If you find out let us know because no one in our town had the faintest idea as to why people do it, they just do. As for the Año Viejos we did get a little bit more information on them, but nothing too definitive. To some it represents the good of the past year, to others the bad. Some create a doll that has the likeness of a person they respect while others chose to dress their doll as someone they despise. There are dolls that look like cartoon characters (Sponge Bob is popular). What binds them all though is their common fate (see below).
To start of the New Year’s Eve festivities there was an Ecua-volley game and a women’s indoor game (soccer on a small field with a small ball). I was asked to play in the game as at this point I am friends with all the soccer moms (unlike in the states, soccer mom here quite literally means the moms that play soccer) and their daughters. So, myself, Maira, Leo (Maira’s sister), the Carbo sisters (daughters of the President of the Parroquia of Sayausi), and Diana (a good friend of the Carbo sisters) played a game against Nacha (wife of David, Mike’s basketball teammate), Jota (Nachas sister), and several other Nacha relatives. The game was tied at the end of standard play and went into extra time (two five minute halves). After a stunning goal by myself and another by Majo (one of the Carbo sisters) our team became the winners and as such the proud owners of a crockpot. Yup, a crockpot. Upon seeing the crockpot everyone on my team asked, “What’s that?” The crockpot has since been sitting in our living room, still in its box, since it is unheard of to cook with electricity due to cost (and the ongoing nationwide daily power outages due to drought).
After the thrilling sports events many people went to the church for mass while others went home for dinner, but all came back shortly after for the “chancho encevado”. What, may you ask, is a chancho encevado? Well, think to yourself what is the most appropriate thing to do after a New Years Eve mass? Well, if you answered “to chase around a greased pig in the plaza”, then you are well attuned to Ecuadorian culture. After the chancho encevado was captured everyone under age twelve lined up for the “ollas encantadas” a.k.a the enchanted pots.
The ollas encantadas are the Ecuadorian equivalent of pinatas except that every kid gets their own and even though you’re technically only allowed three hits you get to hit until to smash an enchanted pot and all the goodies fall out. It looks like this: a long line of kids waiting for their turn, a string twenty yards long from which twenty cantalope sized ceramic pots are hanging, two adults directing the children, and a crowd of onlookers. Inside each of the enchanted pots are a doll, a bag of candy, and an orange. And I’m pretty sure I figured out what makes the pots enchanted. Whenever the last pot is broken but there is still a line of kids, after a five minute break twenty new pots are dangling from the string…pretty magical huh?
Following the ollas encantadas the race to the top of the “palo encevado” began. This race did not end until well after midnight and was really a sort of endlessly entertaining sideshow while the rest of the festivities continued. Can you guess what a palo encevado might be? How about a thirty foot high greased eucalyptus trunk with soda, chips, soccer balls, and clothes dangling from the top? Yup, a greased stick with at most ten dollars of prizes tied to the top and a pack of anxious teenage boys at the bottom. Now that’s good fun.
In the hours leading up to midnight we were treated to several singing performances and the announcement of whom Sayausi’s Año Viejo was supposed to resemble. Turns out our vecino (neighbor) was the lucky guy, and as is custom a mock will was read in which he had a chance to say something funny about all of his family members, neighbors, and friends.
So, now the clock is striking midnight. What do you think happens to all those Año Viejos that spent the day tied to a car, sitting in front of a store, or hanging out a window? A giant bonfire greets them at the tolling of the New Year. Every man, woman, and child tosses their “Old Year” into the fire then proceeds to give everyone a hug while wishing a Feliz Año to one and all. The hugging then continues for several days (or weeks) as you must say Happy New Year and give a hug to everyone you know even though it might be awhile before you bump into them.
Chancho Encevado
Ollas Encantadas
Well, that sums up our holiday season here in Ecuador. Lots of parades, a wonderful time spent with my mom, plenty of good food, and to send the old year off in style a greasy pig and a giant fire.
Happy New Year (and a hug)! May it bring you health, happiness, and maybe if you’re lucky, a roasted guinea pig and an effigy made in your likeness!
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