I´m cleansed!

This week has been great and really productive actually, so I guess taking a nice ¨vacay¨ was exactly what this little PCV needed. Friday I helped out in Zamora, with my Intercultural Health boys, on a charla they were presenting to health leaders of the communities throughout the province. I got to meet Shuar and Saraguro shamans, medicinal healers, and midwives. It was pretty cool, all I really did was help with a slide show and play a game with them, but I sported my Intercultural Health t-shirt (that I designed, thank you very much) and smiled and did the Gringa wave and I was good to go.

But I quickly left after my part to go to Loja to witness yet another Intercultural health event. This time, it was actually in Vilcabamba, an hour south of Loja, and my friend Andy had invited another volunteer, Clay, to come do a technical exchange and bring his Tsachila family with him. The Tsachilas live in the Santo Domingo region (about 3 hours west of Quito, in a transitional zone of sierra and coast) and they have a very distinct culture. Clay has the amazing opportunity of living with them, wearing the traditional garb, painting his body, etc. His host dad, Alejandro, is a traditional medicine curer, or shaman, and he performed cleansings on us. Alejandro is extremely proud of his culture, wearing the traditional red paint in his hair, a knee-length woven skirt, and body paint that comes from a dried fruit. I have seen pictures and heard a lot about this culture, but I have not witnessed it real live.

Alejandro brought his wife, Rosa, too. She wore this really beautiful multi colored skirt and had her face painted (just lines across her face), as well as her legs and feet. When I arrived, Rosa was making a traditional ¨sauna¨ which consisted of a giant pot of boiling leaves, about 30 different types she said. They dug a hole, about 2 feet deep, and then put a rock that had been sitting in the fire in the hole. Then someone sat on a stump, put their feet on a plank of wood that stretched across the hole and Rosa poured in the steaming water. Then you placed a sheet over your whole body, excluding the face, and just sat and enjoyed the instant steam bath. It looked awesome, I didn´t get to do it...I opted for the cleansing ceremony. But Katie, another volunteer, said she is looking forward to doing this in the US, in her manicured lawn and with neighbors looking out at her while she just chills with her mom´s 70s print bed sheet wrapped around her. Hey...I wouldn´t object.

But while most were doing the sauna, I wanted to watch Alejandro perform his cleansings. I was able to see him ¨cleanse¨ Andy´s host parents, and that was good because I got to see what it was like and I was able to see what he said, so as to verify he didn´t say the same stuff to me.

He started out by taking a swig of cane alcohol and blowing it on his hands, so as to clean them I guess. Then he blew all over the mom´s body: her arms, chest, patted down her head. Then he spit on these rocks he had. After that, he rubbed her with a candle for a few minutes and then lit the candle. While he was rubbing her with the candle, I noticed he kept rubbing his eye, like it was itching him. After the reading was over, he told her that she ate too much salt, and that his eye was burning, like a salty sensation, and that´s why he told her that! It was so cool.

He basically did the same thing to me. However, what he told me was really interesting. After rubbing me with the candle, he asked his wife if she brought these special leaves for a cold bath and had said she didn´t. He looked disappointed...and I started to freak out. Am I ok? Will I explode if I don´t get this bath? Are wild boars going to come eat me?
Tranquila, Corrie....it´s just sunburn. He told me that the sun is really affecting me where I live, that it is making me weak. This bath would help me, but unfortunately he didn´t have the leaves to do so. I couldn´t believe it, I told him I lived in Zamora...but by the sound of it, he didn´t really know too much about Zamora and that there is as much as there is. PLUS, I´m super sunburnt...freaky thing.

He also told me that I am missing my family (kinda general, but true) and that I will live a long life. He had a big smile when he said this, so I totally believe him and it made me feel really good to hear that.

After that, he cleansed me with an egg. Rubbed me all down with an egg, and then spit some perfume concotion on me. He was very happy with the egg cleansing because when you shook it, you could hear that it was pure yolk, there was no liquid inside. He smiled big again and said all the bad energy was trapped in the egg, he had gotten a lot out. Hallelujah!

So I mosied back inside after this reading (it was outside in the pitch dark, by the way) and I had the most intense amount of energy! Everyone was like Corrie, are you ok? I was like so ready to go. But it was cool hearing how other people´s readings turned out; one guy had a lot of friendship (amistad), another girl had stomach issues, etc. They were all like, oh, it´s so general, it´s like a horoscope. But I was totally into what he told me. That shaman ROCKED!

We all had to pay $5 for the readings, but it was totally worth it. It was great too, because they have never really left Santo Domingo, so for them to have this opportunity to come all the way down to Loja, was great. Clay was super excited to have exposed them to another part of the country and for others to witness what their culture was like. I definitely want to go to visit them again; they are trying to boost tourism in their site as means of income generation. So if you ever want a cleansing, I got your shaman.

Lady Terps taking on Ecuador

Woo wee. I am pooped. This past week was one of my most memorable weeks so far, since Ms. Kristina Amelia Roberts came to visit me. Kristi and I were roommates in college for a mere semester, yet our ridiculous personalities and great sense of Wanderlust have helped us maintain a great bond.

I was super excited to meet up with her, mostly because this was going to be exciting to have a friend come visit me (one who knows me well) and I was anxious to see her perspective on things here in Ecuador. When she called me to come get at the airport, I was surprised at how fast she had de-boarded (is that a word??) and gone through customs. Dressed in her usual Kristi style---great bag, lioness hair and flowing scarf--I knew right away it was her. Yet, where was all her luggage? It hadn´t left the States... Great. Starting to sound a lot like my parents´ journey when they got here (took them five days to claim their luggage). But that didn´t stop us. Kristi had literally just gotten back from Italy, 24 hours before seeing me, so she was definitely in a go-with-the-flow attitude.

Perfect. Because that´s exactly what you need to enjoy Ecuador.

We took a nice tour of downtown Quito the next day: teleferico ride(gondola) up the Quito mountain side for an excellent view of the city (she left her battery charger up in the restaurant so we had to sweet talk the guy to let her back up...which we also found was one of my talents here: sweet talking), shopping at the local artesan market, lunch in historic Quito, and great cocktails in the Mariscal. All doing this in the same outfit, I was so far very impressed with Kristi´s traveling abilities. Finally the next day, after many calls to many different airlines, we claimed Kristi´s backpack (more thanks to our ¨investigative team¨ that we had put together...)

Then we headed off to Ibarra, about 3 hours north of Quito. It is known for its great weather and the weather was perfect. We actually lucked out with great weather the whole time. But met up and stayed with a married couple from my group, Jake and Erin. They were awesome hosts, got to walk around the city, sample some of their famous ice cream and then joined up with a bunch of other volunteers at a BBQ. That was a blast, getting to talk to the other volunteers, along with a local, and Kristi, I think, got a good sense of what Peace Corps and the people are all about.

After hitting up Ibarra, we had a long day of bus rides back to Quito to then go up to the coast to the province of Esmeraldas. I was super excited to see Esmeraldas because A) it is home to the majority of the Afro-Ecuadorian community B) it is, literally, on the opposite side of the country from where I live C) it´s the coast=BEACH

So we got to Quininde, which is inland, but is Geoff´s site, a youth and families volunteer that is also from my group. It was Saturday night, so we had a couple drinks and then went out on the town. We danced like crazy gringoes at this club, where everyone seemed to be around the ages of 12-15. But whatev...it´s the coast so I guess anything goes. The dancing was different from where I live. They played a lot more Reggaeton and they were gettin´all up in each other´s GRILLS so that was kinda like being back in the US, but with less clothes. It was hotter than the hinges of hell, but still a good time.

Sunday we headed up to the coastal town of Atacames (2.5 hours), which is pretty much a touristy beach town. Another volunteer, Chris, lives up there so we were able to crash at his place--which was a total ¨ideal Peace Corps¨ house: all wood, hammocks everywhere...it´s like what I thought my house was going to be down here. We walked to a couple beaches, hung out with some locals, drank giant batidos or fruit juices. It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted. Kristi and I got pretty burnt but that was basically the worst thing that happened to us the whole trip, so I´m not complaining.

We got to see some of Geoff´s work in his town the next day, the place where he does youth group activities and where he is growing a garden.

We traveled back to Quito Tuesday night so that Kristi could catch her 8 am flight back to the states. Overall, it was an amazing trip. Kristi was an excellent travel partner...I was surprised at how much faith she had in me, jumping in and out of buses and eating foods I told her was good. But I definitely needed this trip to re-center myself and I was anxious to get back to Yantzaza.

However, after Kristi left, I continued down to Riobamba to visit my other friend Darci and I got to check out her site. She lives an hour out of Riobamba, in a city called Guamote, and it was really cool to see because her site is about 90% indigenous. Thursdays are their market days so we got to walk around...it was a HUGE market, Darci telling me it´s one of the largest in Ecuador. I could tell...people were pushing through us, people were yelling, there were so many indigenous...it was a little overwhelming. But super cool.

Well I got back to Loja at 5 am this morning and I am spent. Luckily I have a weekend to recooperate.

But now I definitely know how much I can travel in a week and how to do it. It´s kind of exhilirating knowing how you can travel throughout a foreign country with ease.

How do you say ¨Random¨ in Spanish?

Things are status quo down here in the Middle of the World. Work is...well...work. Been hitting a wall lately and luckily my roommate from college, Kristi, is coming down to visit me next week. This is great timing because I´ll be missing Zamora by the time her visit is over. Plus, it will be nice to grab some ¨American¨ish food in Quito :-)

Due to the lack of exciting activity, I have noticed that there are a lot of wacky trends going on around here. Not sure if it´s the change in weather (today is the third SUNNY day in a row!)...

• Toying with Creativity: One thing I´ve learned here is that kids get real creative with their toys. Since a lot of them don´t have toys, they make do with what is lying around (brilliant concept...my kids are gonna have a blast with coke bottles and empty egg cartons!). One thing, however, has puzzled me more than others. Within the past few weeks I´ve noticed three different kids walking around with cardboard boxes on their heads. I´m not sure if they are trying to be robots...it´s the most bizarre thing. This one little dude was walking up the same sidewalk I walk up to get to my house. He was just strolling along like it was nothing...then BAM! he hit the light pole, wobbled a little bit, and continued with the box on his head. It was hilarious.

• Do you like my hat? Along with creative toys, kids have started new fashion crazes. The latest: the black plastic funda-hat. Plastic bags, or fundas, are found everywhere and recently kids seem to like to put them on their heads. The smaller ones are tight around the crown of their head and then the top is flapping in the wind, while the handles hang down like little Orthodox dreadlocks. Just the other day, my fruit lady was sporting one. And she´s like in her twenties...

• Painting Dogs: Dogs are gross here. I wasn´t a fan of dogs before I even got here (sorry Elly!) and now I despise them even more. They are all bravo, bark like crazy and poop and pee everywhere. This is no such thing as a pooper scooper in the entire country of Ecuador. However one thing I have sort of grown to like is painting dogs. Just yesterday I was in Zamora and my friend Yesenia and I passed a purple dog. The poor (once) white mutt was splattered with bright purple...and it looked to be dyed, just not paint. So that´s staying for a while, buddy.

• Phil Collins is the greatest musician who ever lived: Phil Collins is the MAN in Ecuador. As a fan of music, it makes me sad as to how Ecuadorians associate Americans with the horrible American music they play. Phil Collins was playing on repeat yesterday at a school. Not until the fifth time I heard the same song did I realize that an English class was learning the words. I mean, whatever floats your canoe. Along with Phil Collins, other favorites include: Bon Jovi, ¨the song from Titanic¨, MIMS- This is Why I´m Hot, some Beatles (this is forgivable, yet British...), and let´s not forget Hotel California. Oh and what really gives me a good chortle is the popular naming of Elvis, yet no one´s heard of him.

• It´s just a name, right? Speaking of names, naming your child is a big deal yet not so big deal at the same time. For some families, they won´t name their children for months after they are born. But when they do name them, the names are usually very.....interesting. It sometimes saddens me to see kids with American/English names. Mostly because they are getting rid of their Hispanic roots, not to mention the pronunciation is atrocious. However the real kicker I saw the other day was, and I kidd you not, Mehlghibson. Now, it took me a few minutes to process the name but after a couple of run throughs and help from a co-worker, I discovered this poor kid´s FIRST name was named after none other than the famous Mel Gibson. That was his first name....you won´t even believe what his middle name was...syke, it was Luis or something like that. But still, if that won´t get you beat up on the playground I don´t know what will.
  

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.

Ley Seca?! More like Ley Let´s Drink More

So before I forget, I was just getting my nails did at a beauty salon and the women were all gathered around this one girl. My interest was peaked and I peeked over--they were ¨waxing¨ this chicks moustache with PACKING TAPE. Then three more women followed suit and were all joining in on the packing tape party. I mean, whatever gets the job done, I guess. That was my funny episode of the day (my nails cost $3 by the way; little flowers painted on them...so cute).

Now the campaigning is finally over and elections are on Sunday. This weekend is ¨Ley Seca¨ or Dry Law (literally) and no one is allowed to drink, I guess you have to be in a sober state of mind to vote...which is probably a good thing, as there have been more drunks during elections than I´ve seen during fiestas. However, some have told me they get MORE drunk during Ley Seca than other times...not sure how that works. I guess it´s not as strongly enforced or monitored (they put you in jail if you are caught drinking...but apparently drinking in the house is somewhat ok...)

Thursday night was the last night of campaigning, so at midnight none of the parties were allowed to campaign, no more campaign songs on the radio (thank Dios!) and no more parades. I spent Thursday night in Zamora, as I decided to have a little b-day bash with my gente from Zamora. I made tacos (big hit!) and we jammed in my friend Yesenia´s apartment. There were only 8 of us and we danced until about 11 pm. It was funny because this is my first birthday in a foreign country and my first away from College Park (well for the past four years at least...). And the party most DEFINITELY had a different atmosphere. It was not your typical Corrie party--no gin bucket, no buckets full of Natty Light, no rap music blasting. Instead it was a jabba (crate) of Pilsener, salsa and merengue playing, and a few indigenous doctors rocking out with us. But definitely fun.

Yesenia´s apartment looks out over the river walk that Zamora recently built and a lot of public gatherings are held there. The political party, MAS, was closing their campaign that night and brought a great band, Los Búfalos. Everyone was telling me they are like Kiss, with the crazy clothes and long hair. They were right, the lead singer rocked a leopard jacket (in this heat?!) and the lead guitarist was sporting a fetching red plaid kilt. However they played Spanish cover songs all night...it was great though. So we danced on her balcony all night. Then at 3 am went down to salsa with the crowd. I have definitely improved my salsa and merengue skills, so expect that to be playing at my wedding, folks ;-) Just kidding....but seriously....

At 4 the party sadly ended and we went up to sleep for a mere three hours before going to work. Woo wee I was chuchaki! But it was a great night. They all got me gifts--little Shuar and Saraguro bracelets and the girls got me this AWESOME silk scarf. I was really touched that they all thought of me. I now feel like one of them, that I am really part of this community. It was definitely a ¨wow, I´m glad I´m in Peace Corps¨ moment.

Can´t wait to see what the elections bring on Sunday. That´s all everyone is talking about. And hopefully Ley Seca sticks, yesterday I had some youths invite me for a beer....no gracias, chicos.

Shoulda been a farmer

Being Holy Week, there was no work on Friday and most people hung out with the fams Saturday and Sunday. I went to mass (for the first time since being here...whoops...) on Friday night. It was very...warm. The church was packed and there is a tradition down here that you don´t bathe during holy week. Which explains the funk that was eminating to the rafters the whole two hours I was smushed in a pew. But hey, it was for The Lord.

Saturday I woke up early and went with my neighbors, Rosario and Elvis, to their finca or farm. It was a blast. I helped Rosario plant corn, and I was really glad I went because a) I have already done it and am now becoming a novice at planting corn and b) the señora that usually comes to help out didn´t show. So it was Rosario and me plantin´. It didn´t turn out to be too too hot that day, but I did work up a sweat...and some blisters. We planted for about 6 and a half hours. Talk about a work out...it´s amazing these men and women work in the fields until they are about 70. I walked away with a great booty of free fruit and Rosario made me a plate of my favorite empanadas. I definitely believe money is over rated and we should go back to a barter system...but that´s another blog...

So here are some pictures, along with a cornocopia of other photos. Enjoy!

Rosario and Elvis taking a break. We had to plant the corn where you see all the banana trees behind them. It was hard work, driving a big stick into the ground and then dropping three little kernels inside. My favorite part was how quiet it was; all you could hear were the birds and the sound of the banana leaves blowing in the breeze.



Me at the Rio Zamora, along side where the finca was. I´m holding a papaya I caught. They were like, CORRIE--CATCH THE PAPAYA because I was the only one that could reach....


I love this picture...true corrie fashion. We were walking home from a charla one day and my friend, Sandra, invited us to get some guavas from her house. She climbed up the tree like a freakin monkey to get them down for us. They are a funky fruit, but pretty tasty after a while. They´re like giant pods with a little fuzzy fruit inside and you spit out the seeds.



Here´s Sandra scaling the tree like it´s nothing. No shoes, no problem. It´s amazing how people just KNOW how to do stuff like this down here.


Me with the Zamora Boys...Dirney (behind me) and Agusto. They played soccer...and lost to the doctors. But they played real well. Agusto was the one who got into the fight at the end...we all can´t win, right?


Me and Yadira, a FODI girl, and Sandra. You can sorta notice my crazy jungle hair (more noticable in the guava picture...) I never had really curly hair...until I got here. And now it´s out of control. But it´s a good look...Corrie en la SELVA.

And you all know just how much I love fish

Semana Santa= week before Easter = no meat = all you eat is fish

No joke. And you all know just how much I love eating fish. However, I´ve become a big girl while living on my own down here and have learned how to appreciate a nice filet o´ tilapia.

Not much is going on for Semana Santa, mostly food choices change and there seems to be a lesser amount of drunks roaming the street, which is always good. Basically the menu includes fish: fenesca, a soup with fish and grains including corn, beans, peas, all mixed into a thicker broth. Quite tasty and this is what they eat Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Then the segundo or second dish, is rice (of course), with yuca and salted fish. The fish I´ve had has been WAY over salted, but they like their salt down here. Having eaten fish for the past 4 days straight, I am very proud of myself. However, I can´t look at another pescado again until at least Semana Santa 2010.

Tuesday was World Health Day, so I spent the day in Zamora at a health fair the Ministry of Health held. It was heavily attended......syke...no one came. So what did we do? Drink of course! They all cracked open their Pilsener bottles at 11 am (I mean, only an hour until lunch break...) Then in the afternoon there were juegos and the boys of the Minsitry of Health played the doctors in the hospital in a nice friendly game of indoor soccer. (In indoor they use a smaller ball, smaller court, and less players). It was great watching the guys...until a fight broke out at the end. This was the last place I was expecting to see two grown, well-educated men fight. But I guess indoor gets the best of us. Apparently one of the doctors ¨intentionally¨ kicked one of the doctors who works for the Ministry and they just full on went at it. Fists were flying, shirts were ripped, tempers were high. But then they had a beer and calmed down. All is well in health care. As the other docs were saying ¨¡Es el dia de salud! ¡El dia de salud, hombre!¨ (It´s health day....health day, man!)

Well knowing that, why can´t all the world´s problems be solved on World Health Day?