Birthday Post

Easter Egg dying! Thanks Mom for the dying kit...the kids loved them! They had no idea that we did this, or why we would color eggs...but they had a blast! We boiled a few, but then I realized we didn´t need to boil all of the eggs, because they could eat them the next day anyway (why do we always boil the eggs? for refrigeration or just good egg salads the next day??)


My landlady, Doña Anita, and her daughter, Magaly. They invited Grigs and I to Magaly´s 16th birthday, just upstairs. It was quite the party with blacklights, a big dinner, little shots...they even had cigarettes in candy dishes! The teenage boys were smoking away the whole night...just ridiculous. The dad got up and made a big speech on how it was a bittersweet day since he was saying goodbye to her 15 years, as now she is a ¨full fledged woman.¨


Birthday tradition: Shoving your face in the cake. We then proceeded to dance until 4 am...luckily I just had to hop downstairs to go to bed and they kindly turned down the music....a little.


Ah the infamous ¨dance pictures¨. These are from when the teachers did their little baile in front of, um, the whole town. It was incredibly embarassing and no one remembered their steps except for yours truly. We had to wear wigs and ridiculously high cut skirts...ughh. Which leads to the group photo.....


TADA! Omg this is so embarassing. I refuse to show close-ups to anyone...simply for the fact that I look like a taller Dolly Parton reincarnate. And everyone noticed how my ¨top¨ was more or less made poorly and didn´t support anything the good Lord gave me. Oh well...that´s show business!


Earth Day! I took my girls to the park and we drew Earth Day salutations and facts with chalk. It was awesome because everyone was stopping to look at what we were writing.


This was the area we basically covered. Unfortunately, three hours later there was a horendous downpour and it all got washed away. But as my mom always says, it´s the thought that counts.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and packages! You guys are amazing...still remembering me from so far away! It feels great to be 24...I´m in my mid-twenties now!

Shake it señor!

Just realized, my last post was my 100th post! Thanks to everyone for your comments and support on this blog, by the way. It´s been quite a journey and even more enjoyable with you guys reading about it and joining in on my ridiculous stories.

Some might have heard, pretty much just my parents since I´ve been complaining about it, but the school garden I was in the process of building was bulldozed this week. I get to school, already with a brand new shovel and a bag full of seeds, and I see a GINORMOUS MOUND OF MUD in the exact spot where Grigs and I had been digging last week. Like it seriously came out of nowhere. The Directora of the school claims she had no idea that the municipio decided to dump all their mud there, but they did. Thanks, Señor Alcalde. Just adds to icing on the cake. After some talks with my program director, I might proceed but in the form of a tire garden....less possibility of bulldoze-ment, and if they are going to plow over it, at least they might stop and look at it first...maybe.

Four more months guys....America´s so close I can almost taste it.

So instead of people being worried about, oh I don´t know, girls not passing their grades, or attendance issues, or general school issues...the teachers are worried about what they are going to perform for Día del Maestro, or Teacher´s Day. As if there weren´t enough days we need to celebrate here. Classes ended early the other day solely to discuss our ¨game plan¨ for Tuesday. Thursday is the big performance day and we need to do a dance in front of the other teachers from the other schools. I´m included since I´m a teacher, fair enough. However, I like my anonymity and ¨half-time¨ status at the school. Not participating in some of these things (which gets real old, real fast) is nice and I get to use the Gringa Card as an excuse.

But this time, since it´s my last Teacher´s Day, I figured I´d participate. Last night was our first ¨practice¨ and I showed up with the English teacher (my next door neighbor), and three other teachers. The English teacher, Deysi, was Reina of her parish and Vice Reina of Zamora Chinchipe...and she still acts/dances/poses as if she still were the Reina.

The Directora was glad I was there, so I felt like I earned some Brownie Points on that one. Then we meet Chivo/Ochiv/Chito I don´t remember his name, but he was the cutest little dance instructor. Clad in camo cargo pants, a white wife beater and white Nike hat, our little man was ready to rock and roll! He put on traditional Ecuadorian music and we just danced away. This guy was incredible...he was shaking his butt like he was an Ecuadorian Beyonce, none of us could keep up with him. I was shvitzing like crazy and he just kept moving that booty like nobody´s biz-nass. I seriously thought he was a 17-year-old girl trapped into a 30-year-olds body. And he wasn´t gay, no offense, which I totally thought he was. Especially since he´s trained almost all of the reinas in the province, not to mention is organizing the biggest Quinciñera in the province (which I want to try to get a ticket to but looks doubtful...). When he bust out his Michael Jackson moves (which they want an installment of in our ¨number¨) I almost died. Not only because he was good at it, but also because people still can´t get over the fact that Michael Jackson is dead and so maybe we should stop dancing as if he were still alive (let´s just tone it down a little, hmm?).

Definitely an amusing night. I just hope I don´t make a fool out of myself come Thursday. Why we have to dance, I don´t know. But this country is all about the dancing.

Fanesca Friday

A very Happy Easter (and/or Passover) to all! Here the Easter season is very different, as Easter isn´t really celebrated whereas Good Friday is the major holiday.

We were off from work Thursday and Friday. Grigs and I started digging a garden I am making for the school on Thursday and Friday I got an inviation for the traditional lunch. Sindy and Madgy invited me to join them and both sides of the family (the same Baptism crew I chummied with last weekend). We got there around 10, helped them prepare a salad (you´re gringa! you know how to make salad then!) and then helped them fry the fish. As with all Ecuadorian lunches, there is a soup to start. On Good Friday, they eat Fanesca, a soup made of pumpkin, 12 grains (for the 12 disciples I´m just told), and fish. It´s ok....a LOT of soup, but a big deal to make and eat down here. We then had fried tilapia and rice...that was really, really good.

Afterwards, we just sat, rubbing our bellies. The men of course lifted their shirts over their potbellies and complained of the heat. It was super hot that day...they invited me to go to the river, but I didn´t want to risk a possible horrible sunburn. Even in the shade I could feel my skin bubble.

Yesterday there was mass, but no special dinners or lunches. Everyone was surprised when I told them we don´t eat Fanesca....what do you mean you don´t have fanesca? It´s still surprising to them that people have other traditions in other parts of the world. I told them how that even in America, not all Easters are celebrated the same. For example, what I always remember from our Polish Easters is the butter lamb...Ecuadorians didn´t seem to think that was as cool as I do. That was the highlight of Easter, not to mention Easter egg hunts! Eggs and the butter lamb. I also explained that Greeks celebrate Easter at a different time from Catholics, because they use a different calendar...it made for quite an interesting discussion.

But I am also learning too that not all ¨Catholic nations¨ celebrate the same way. When I was studying in Mexico, I noticed that it was a much more religious country than Ecuador. And Spain celebrated their religion in a totally different manner. For them, Catholicism was more of a tradition, something they had to do since they had been practicing it for so long. Whereas in Mexico, Catholicism was a way of life, a way of being. Here, it´s half and half of the two. For some it´s the most important thing in one´s life, God is everything. However, at the same time, they only go to mass when it´s required. They do mention ¨God¨ in a lot of their sayings: Dios le pague--may God repay you; Si Dios quiere--If God wills it. I feel that most here are god-fearing people, but the actually practice of a truly catholic life (i.e. sex before marriage, adultery) is non-existent. Once again, I am learning it is hard to generalize over one culture (Latinos) as the intricacies that make up that culture, really separate it from the rest.

I´m a Madrina!

This weekend really proved to me my integration into this little world I am living in. My absolute favorite person here, my 7-year-old best friend Madynley, asked me to be her godmother or madrina. So on Saturday a baptism was held for Madgy and her two younger sisters, María Angelica and Camila. It was in Loja, since the family of Fabricio (the father of the two youngest girls)is from Loja. We had the baptism in the afternoon, followed by a dance and dinner at their house. It was just lovely meeting both families and I really felt welcomed in their hearts and home.


Me with the little ones before the bautizo. Camila is on the left, a cousin Miriam in the middle and Angelica on the end. I had to get my hair did and was not too happy with the outcome...I looked like My Pretty Pony...and you all know how I feel about horses....


Camila, Angelica and Madgy after the ceremony. It´s common to have older children baptized here, not everyone baptizes at birth. It´s a big deal, people like to get really dressed up and have a party afterwards, so in a way most have to save up for a baptism.


Angelica during mass.


Me with my hijada (goddaughter) and her padrino, Fernando. He is Sindy´s (Madgy´s mom) brother.


Proud Papa Fabricio.

It was an amazing weekend. I had so much fun with them and it was beautiful to see this ceremony and the love this family has for each other.

While I´ve got the camera up and running, here are some photos from the medical brigade.


This is the center of the first town we stayed at, Valladolid.


Chris atop a house in the village Chito. The mornings there were so nice and cool...how I miss those.


Mountainside. These mountains were a lot bigger than where I live, it was really impressive seeing them almost like the Sierra mountains but with rainforest vegetation.


Coffee is the major crop in Zumba, as its warm but not too hot. (We only harvest cacao and bananas, it´s too hot for coffee where I live). All over the place you would see coffee laying out on the street, drying out in the sun.

Medical Brigadeering

Last year, Chris and I translated for a group of nurses and nurse practitioners who came to Zamora Chinchipe to ¨help heal¨ those underserved. It was a great experience, so when they called us to help them again, we jumped at the opportunity.

This year, however, we traveled all the way down to the provinces of Chinchipe and Palanda, right along the Peruvian border. We were excited because these are two places we both had never been to before, yet had wanted to see for some time. The capital of Chinchipe is the town of Zumba, where there is a hospital and army base. The only way to get to these towns was by going through Loja, and then south through our province of Zamora Chinchipe...where the roads are absolutely horrible.

We met up with a group of about 15 nurses and nurse practitioners from the state of Washington (and one nurse practitioner from Canada). Everyone squished into the back of a cattle truck, situated with benches and we prayed for a safe and fast journey. It took us about 6 hours to get to our first destination, with the potholes being the size of small ponds and curves comparable to a saucy latina dancer, we managed to get there with ¨sore bums¨(as the Canadaian kept saying).

It was a beautiful town, Valladolid. The priest greeted us, gave us lunch, and then split us up as some were staying in town and the rest had to go to a town out in the campo. Yours truly was part of that group (since I know how this place works....whatever that is supposed to mean). So we hopped back in to the cattle truck and bumped our way for TWO HOURS to a town so far removed, I still don´t understand how or why people live there. It was so incredibly far, but it had the most beautiful scenery I have seen while in Ecuador. This part is actually part of the Andes range, where I live I am part of the Condor range. So the mountains are a lot larger, almost like Loja, but with rainforest on them. Absolutely spectacular. Landslides are also a big issue, some of the roads being blocked for months at a time during rainy season (this town, Porvenir del Carmen, was blocked in for six months last year...)

We made it to the one town, and we jumped right into work. Half way through, Chris had to sit out because he was battling strep throat and could barely talk. But we saw a lot of extremely poor people, many of whom had not seen a doctor in years.

At 10 we had to leave, it was just so late and we were all exhausted from the journey. Got to be around 1 am.

Then we ventured off to other smaller communities the next day, going to Palanda in the afternoon. We generally saw about 30 to 70 patients (that was my high) in a day. That is just nurse and translator. Over the whole week we saw about 1700 people between the 17 of us.

Palanda was cute, very typical Ecuadorian town. Chris and I noticed that they all look exactly the same...no joke. One group went out to a community and got stuck in a mudslide on the way back, so they had to portage all the duffle bags of medicine over the landslide.

After Palanda, we opted for a bus ride to Zumba, which was about 4 hours. Zumba was very similar to Zamora, hilly, pretty houses, fairly developed. In the morning we were woken to the church bells and army men singing during their morning run.

Chris and I got to go with a group of nurses to these three towns, Chito, Chonta and Chorro. It was a lot of fun. These places were also really far away, so we saw a ton of people in each place. The local governments took care of us; giving us food and a place to lay our sleeping bags.

We did see a number of interesting cases, such as epilepsy, a weird case of warts, dengue, malnutrition, STDs. However, the majority just suffered from bone/joint aches, headaches, and a need for parasite medication. Chris and I could tell what they were wanting before they even sat down.

It was a lot of fun though. I learned so much from these nurses and their expertise. Almost all of them had been on at least one mission before, so they were cool to talk to about that. The Canadian nurse had worked many years in Inuit communities, so we talked about that and compared the Inuits to Shuar.

I had a great time. They tipped us in Easy Mac and Snickers bars, not to mention anything they didn´t want to take home. It was great to get out of Yantzaza for a little while and see something new. Zumba was an incredible place, we were saying they should put volunteers down there. It´s far, but absolutely gorgeous and the people down there need the help more than others.

We finished off the week in Vilcabamba, as it is our buddy, Andy´s, last week in Ecuador. He goes back next week. It´s hard to believe his service is over already...but what is harder to believe is that ours will be over in less than five months!

Guayzimi: My Spa of Zamora Chinchipe

FINALLY fiestas are over. Someone said to me yesterday, no wonder our country is poor--all we do is party. That couldn´t be truer. It´s not always a bad thing...they just need to do it in moderation.

Anyway, after a really nice baile Friday night, I decided to decompress in Guayzimi, Chris´s site.

Guayzimi is two hours away, at the end of the line where after that, all communities can only be reached by boat. It´s a sleepy town, one where you can lay in the middle of the road and wait for a car, or moto, all day before having to get up.

But I love going there.

There are a number of reasons. Some don´t like it because it´s so far. But I find that it´s incredibly relaxing, I feel so rejuvenated after going.

Chris still lives with a family, but esentially has his own wing to their house. When I got there, Chris was making some delicious pressure-cooked meat, and chatting it up with his two host sisters. Maria and Mercy are great. They always seem to perk up when I am there, Chris says. The female influence is a nice change for them. We gossip, they´ll braid my hair or do my nails.

We dined deliciously, Chris being one of the best cooks I know here. Being well fed always makes me feel better.

We took a nice walk to the river in the afternoon. We couldn´t swim in it because there is a large amount of Mercury they dump from the mining. So we just strolled and slowly baked in the hot, Amazon sun. I did get a bitchin´ flip flop tan. One of my most impressive to date.

Getting back to the house, we showered and cleaned up. I was seriously sweating non-stop on Saturday...so much sol. Chris has this awesome shower, though. His host family noticed how tall he is, so they extended his shower and now the water basically falls from the ceiling...it´s awesome. The tallest shower I´ve seen in Ecuador.

The family then invited us to dinner, which is always a treat. I love eating with them, because I never realized this before, but I love family dinners. We always eat as a family in my house, and I always took for granted that family time together. We talk, joke around. They asked me about my trip to the States. They are just a really good family...super buena gente. That also rejuvenates me.

We got to watch the coverage of the Chile earthquake. I can´t believe it happened...so much bigger than Haiti too. They sent us warnings on our cell phones to stay away from the beaches for big waves were coming. That shouldn´t be a problem for me. However, it got me and Chris talking about how we would hold up if there was an earthquake here in Ecuador. He could get out, but my cement bunker would be probably the unsafest. I would be fine if there was an atomic bomb and I would be safe from the aftermath, but an earthquake...I don´t think so. Oh well, let´s cross our fingers that nothing like that happens.

Mario is always a treat too. Mario is 10 and the little baby of the family. He´s one of the funniest kids I´ve seen. He is either incredibly smart or incredibly not. But still, he´s always entertaining. When Chris and Mario get together, it´s even funnier. Watching them jump rope had me rolling on the ground.

The weather in Guayzimi is also incredible. The nights and mornings are so fresquito...its awesome. It´s so smothering in Yantzaza, but in Guayzimi, it´s just refreshing I love it.

Well we finished our weekend with a great chicken lunch and then I hopped on the bus home. Chris and I have been through so much together, it´s great to have him so close to me to enjoy each other´s company and each other´s communities. Our lives are going to be so different in a mere five months, but we will always have these moments to look back on.

No...More...Cerveza....

The three day mayhem that is Carnaval just ended. And thank the Lord. I don´t think my liver could take anymore Pilsener. Here are some bullet points to sum up quite an eventful (and sadly, last) Carnaval 2010.

- Friday: The school decided it would be an excellent idea to have all the girls go up to this little tourist spot and play carnaval (shoot foam and throw water balloons, generally soak as many as fast as you can). I went up on a whim, opting not to go to the basketball game the other girls were playing in. Good thing, as there were about 5 adults to 40 kids...only two of which were actually WATCHING the water. It was at this place called Las Burbujas (The Bubbles) and it´s a break in the river, so there are little streams and mini waterfalls...geez, I can´t even describe it in English. Anyway...there´s water. And they had the scooper trucks out digging the stream deeper. Bad idea. I basically had to save three people from drowning since no one can swim here. I was like a very untoned, pasty Pam Anderson running to save a little boy and then a PROFESSOR! who was trying to save a girl. The girl was in the worst shape, I couldn´t find her dark little head that was barely bobbing above the surface. All the while, other girls were yelling at me that my sandals were floating away. A girl is drowning people! My $3 sandals don´t make a difference! Gracias a Dios, everyone was fine. And I made everyone GET OUT OF THE POOL! If only I had brought my whistle...

-Sunday: Valentine´s Day. I decided to go to Zumbi and meet up with Grigs. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day...strong sun, perfect blue skies, great pool weather. We took a dip in the pool, went down the waterslide. Then headed over to a nice table and got beers served to us all afternoon. Even got some empanadas thrown in! As the sun was setting we had enough beer flowing through our veins to dance a dance or two. Then I decided to get up and participate in a ¨women´s contest.¨ I jumped up on stage...turns out I was a candidate for Miss San Valentín! I was representing the good ol´ US of A. Out of nine women, I made it to the top two!!! Basically had to shake my butt the whole time and blow kisses in the crowd. Unfortunately, I lost. It was a close race...the girl beat me in salsa...which was totally unfair since they are basically BORN to dance salsa here. Oh well. I got two beers and a chance to dance with the single mayor (which was brought to my attention several times).

-Monday: A moto cross race was down the road, so Grigs and I went with my friend Rumi and then Jason from Loja met up with us. We then decided to go to Chicaña, the most well known place around here for Carnaval. It was fun...a LOT of people. And very trashy, we noted. It was weird, like it´s hard to describe but it was just gross the people that were there. Everyone was like super mis-matched, all wet and stinky and drunk. Like state fair type times 10. And all playing¨cholo music (hick-like). We danced around...watched one of my STUDENTS participate in the wet t-shirt contest. Thank god she didn´t win....

-Tuesday: Tried to sleep in, but the music and hot air made it impossible. So Jason and his friend Oswaldo and I went to Zumbi to get one last whiff of Carnaval. It was really cloudy and a little chilly, so we tried not to get wet (basically impossible...). Didn´t spend a lot of time there, saw the rain clouds coming so we skadaddled. Made sure to get some empanadas de verde from the black folk before we peaced out. Then as I got back to Yantzaza around 8 or so, all nice and dry, two guys carried me into the fountain in the parque. Just great.

Well, it´s all over. But today start the fiestas in Yantzaza! Need to rest up this weekend. I slept 12 hours last night and I still need to catch up.