Veinte Tres?!?!

Thanks to all those who remembered my birthday, as well as sent gifts. It has made my day and I will always appreciate all the continued support everyone has given me, you have no idea how much it helps on a bad day! But today was a good day. Super rainy, but I hung out and played with the kids in the FODI centers today, so that was fun. Friday is ¨Labor Day¨ so we are all going out Thursday night to celebrate.

However, the elections are finally over and it has been interesting to watch the results unfold. All day Sunday people were buzzing around Yantzaza, voting. I had never seen this much movement here, but people come back from where they are living to vote. It´s mandatory, here in Ecuador, and if you don´t vote, you get a fine and it could also hold up document processes, ie getting a VISA.

Late Sunday, though, my crazy neighbor, Rosario, comes running down the corridor screaming, ERREYES! ERREYES! Which is the name of the guy she voted for and the future mayor of Yantzaza. I was pretty happy, as I´ve heard good things about him. He´s from the party, Pachacutik, which is the Indigenous party. He´s not Indigenous, though, but the party has gained a lot of popularity in this area of the country. Especially with issues such as mining, which is predominant here, and the mines are on the majority of Indigenous land.

Rosario got all dressed up and took me down to see the ¨victory lap¨ Angel Erreyes was going to make. As soon as I stepped onto the corner, where everyone was gathered outside of his house, all you could smell was trago (moonshine). It was so strong, it smacked me in the face. But we all stood and listened to the results that were being tallied off on the radio. In the end, Angel swept Yantzaza, beating the incumbent mayor who was in second place, by double the amount of votes.
In Zumbi, sadly, it was a different story. Zumbi is where I work with FODI and they heavily depend on the mayor for funding and all their projects, so the win in Zumbi was crucial. It´s a different cantón or county, so there were different candidates. Ruben, the incumbent mayor, lost by a mere 300 votes to lawyer, Enner Soto, of the MAS party. This party is known to be ¨the rich party¨ and a lot of people resent them for that. Word on the calle, is Enner sold votes to people from other parts of the country. Basically he had people register to vote in the county, but were from Santo Domingo, which is up near Quito. So Enner did not win fair and square. I felt really bad for Ruben because he´s a great guy and I think he could do a lot more for Zumbi. I don´t know Enner, but everyone who works in the Municipio is pissed.

Last night the FODI people of Zumbi and Yantzaza all gathered for a little ¨pity party¨ because both of their mayors lost. The ones from Yantzaza were saying they were going to resign as soon as the current mayor leaves. Apparently this is what you do, when a new administration comes into office. However, I see it differently. FODI is such an intricate organization, there are so many papers and forms and regulations, it would take forever for a whole new group of people to come in and do what they do. I think this is a good opportunity to work with someone different and who knows what could happen. Not to mention, FODI is not as politically centered as some other organizations run by the city are. Anyway, I felt they were being a little dramatic (thank you, telenovelas). But what do I know, I´m just the gringa.

In Palanda, another cantón in the southern part of the province had a huge dilemma. About a thousand people (this is what I heard...) went into the polling station and burned all of the votes! People are saying it was the Prefecto (or governor´s) doing, again, from the MAS party. Who knows. Goes to show when you think corruption is a thing of the past, it definitely still exists.