Ahh the Colombians...the black (literally) sheep of Ecuador. They are loved yet feared and loathed at the same time (sound like a minority population in the US?)
Yantzaza´s Colombian population, however, is probably the biggest in the area. With the allure of mining in Zamora Chinchipe, and a large number of foreign companies setting up shop in this little nook of Ecuador, a bunch of Colombians have come to live here. They mostly stay for a week or so, leave for the mines for a month, and then come back to rest up for a week before leaving again.
There are a lot of Colombians in my neighborhood, so I´ve gotten to know some of them. Two dashing young lads happen to live in the apartment above me. Duber and Diner, no joke....they are cousins, are really cool little Colombians that have been here about 3 years. After hanging out on the front bench the last few days, they invited me for Duber´s birthday celebration. I was a little nervous because they said they were going to the Billars, which is the Colombian Billard hall hangout.
Now, I have no beef with the Colombians...they have all been really nice to me. Here, people are just really skeptical of their actions, whether or not they are dangerous, etc. Colombia is a lot more dangerous than the comparative comatose Ecuador, but that doesn´t always mean the country breeds bad people. Ecuadorians tend to give a second look when the two minority groups of the town are hanging out together, especially because we are both so noticable.
So I get a little dolled up and we walk, the three of us, down to the pool hall. I was nervous because I didn´t want a lot of people saying stuff about me...like oh the gringa is with the colombians, etc. We reached the swinging doors, and I coyly stepped in, wondering what these dark faces were going to think about the whitest face in Yantzaza stepping onto their turf. No one said anything, it was like those movies where you hear background music, one sole pool ball hitting the table, and everyone just looking up at the one foreign object that entered the door. I was like AY DIOS, and my stomach did 10 flips. Duber and Diner were leading me in with big smiles, telling me it´s ok...I guess they could tell I was nervous. And then this girl Lydia came over and started talking to me, the owner of the bar. She was really cool and I was able to whip out my ¨Cori¨ Spanish personality (as most say I act differently in Spanish...). She was super cool and chatted me up.
Felt a little looser as some came over and shook my hand, wanting to get to know me. Duber and Diner taught me how to play their pool (shooting the number 7-15 in order). But it was funny because as we were playing Diner turns to me and is like, wow look at this, this is the ¨extranjero bar¨ or bar for foreigners. Once he said that I chuckled to myself and thought, wow he´s really right. In a sense, I felt a lot more comfortable because we were all away from our homelands, here in Ecuador on a mission.
As the night went on, more Colombianos trickled in and out. It was the first time in a while I have felt really out of my element. I feel more and more local everyday, yet this time I had to stretch myself again, just like I would have a year ago. But I was glad for this experience, another wake up call for me, and another way for me to appreciate how integrated I have become.
I am now accepted into the Colombian way; just add that one to the list...
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
You want my quimbolito instead of bus fare?
Yesterday I had such a good day. It was my first real day back at work since being on vacation, and I have been getting antsy lately, so I was really excited to do something constructive. I´ve also been a little down about work, since the whole entire staff of FODI is pretty much getting fired in a month due to the new mayoral administration, so I have been in limbo as to what I want to do when September 1 rolls around. I took the toro by the horns and just decided to do more work with the school and my girls at Paulina Solis, as well as go to Zamora twice a week. However, when and if FODI needs me, they will let me know but I won´t be doing things for them on a daily basis (at least this is the tentative plan...).
Anyway, Grigs asked me to help out at one of the FODI centers yesterday so I hopped on a ranchera to get over there in the morning. The rancheras are the buses without doors or windows, just a truck with seats in it. I hopped in front with the driver since it looked like it was going to downpour (I´m good at calculating rain clouds now...) and we started chatting. Once I got to the center at San Pablo, I told him I got off here and handed him my 40 cent fare. He shook his head and said ¨Que te vaya bien¨ (May things go well with you). I was like HALA! Then I knew it was going to be a good day.
San Pablo, however, is one of my favorite centers. The moms are great, the educators are awesome, and the kids are a blast to play with. After picking up some Avon that I bought from the center´s cook (she´s an Avon Reina in these parts), I went out back and helped Grigs and the moms plant some seeds for this garden they´ve tried to revive. We both kinda didn´t know what we were doing, as far as what seeds should grow near each other, etc. But I think we estimated well enough. No one seemed to contest our guessing, so we figured it was good enough. We only planted seeds in two beds, if it doesn´t work out...meh. Hopefully it will, because I need to get in some green thumb practice.
Afterwards, Grigs and I played a little with the kids. Being bigger and considered Big Foot here, they tend to think I´m a jungle gym so they climbed on me for a little bit and then played Hide-N-Go Seek....my favorite. It mostly involves us just running around and yelling the whole time. And then, as my mom always used to (and still does) tell us, ¨laughter soon turns to tears¨ and wouldn´t ya know, two kids slam right into each other while turning a corner and the game stops. :-(
One of the best games though, involved a kid being ¨San Antonio¨ and the others sit on a bench, waiting for San Antonio to save them from ¨a demon¨ (yours truly). But the way San Antonio gets rid of this demon is by whacking them with a towel....it took me a bunch of tries to understand what they were doing, and I still don´t seem to get it. More than anything it was funny watching kids beat me with a towel...at least the educators got a real kick out of it.
Grigs and I gave a little charla to the moms later on on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, which was good. And of course, afterwards, the infamous ¨refrigerio¨ or snack. They labored all afternoon to make these Quimbolitos, or floury cupcakes with raisins and they are baked in banana leaves. They were pretty good. But of course had to send me home with a bunch. After catching the bus with my quimbolitos, I got off to pay the driver and he rushed over to me asking for one. I handed him my 40 cents, but he was like no I want a Quimbolito. Ok Señor! So I didn´t have to pay for any transportation yesterday!
Once again, the little things are making me appreciate my days here. Who would have thought free bus rides and tag with a towel could brighten up one´s day?
Anyway, Grigs asked me to help out at one of the FODI centers yesterday so I hopped on a ranchera to get over there in the morning. The rancheras are the buses without doors or windows, just a truck with seats in it. I hopped in front with the driver since it looked like it was going to downpour (I´m good at calculating rain clouds now...) and we started chatting. Once I got to the center at San Pablo, I told him I got off here and handed him my 40 cent fare. He shook his head and said ¨Que te vaya bien¨ (May things go well with you). I was like HALA! Then I knew it was going to be a good day.
San Pablo, however, is one of my favorite centers. The moms are great, the educators are awesome, and the kids are a blast to play with. After picking up some Avon that I bought from the center´s cook (she´s an Avon Reina in these parts), I went out back and helped Grigs and the moms plant some seeds for this garden they´ve tried to revive. We both kinda didn´t know what we were doing, as far as what seeds should grow near each other, etc. But I think we estimated well enough. No one seemed to contest our guessing, so we figured it was good enough. We only planted seeds in two beds, if it doesn´t work out...meh. Hopefully it will, because I need to get in some green thumb practice.
Afterwards, Grigs and I played a little with the kids. Being bigger and considered Big Foot here, they tend to think I´m a jungle gym so they climbed on me for a little bit and then played Hide-N-Go Seek....my favorite. It mostly involves us just running around and yelling the whole time. And then, as my mom always used to (and still does) tell us, ¨laughter soon turns to tears¨ and wouldn´t ya know, two kids slam right into each other while turning a corner and the game stops. :-(
One of the best games though, involved a kid being ¨San Antonio¨ and the others sit on a bench, waiting for San Antonio to save them from ¨a demon¨ (yours truly). But the way San Antonio gets rid of this demon is by whacking them with a towel....it took me a bunch of tries to understand what they were doing, and I still don´t seem to get it. More than anything it was funny watching kids beat me with a towel...at least the educators got a real kick out of it.
Grigs and I gave a little charla to the moms later on on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, which was good. And of course, afterwards, the infamous ¨refrigerio¨ or snack. They labored all afternoon to make these Quimbolitos, or floury cupcakes with raisins and they are baked in banana leaves. They were pretty good. But of course had to send me home with a bunch. After catching the bus with my quimbolitos, I got off to pay the driver and he rushed over to me asking for one. I handed him my 40 cents, but he was like no I want a Quimbolito. Ok Señor! So I didn´t have to pay for any transportation yesterday!
Once again, the little things are making me appreciate my days here. Who would have thought free bus rides and tag with a towel could brighten up one´s day?
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Honk if you like Ecuador PARTE DOS
Now that Dan Weitz has experienced ¨The Ecua¨life that I live, he was nice enough to record his experiences and give his ¨dos centavos.¨ So let´s hear it for my first guest blogger!
Transportation: Local busses never come to a complete stop, people literally jump on and off the bus while it is still moving, and bathrooms on busses are for women only. Every car is at least 15 years old and honks about 3 to 5 times per minute. It’s also popular to ride in the back of pick-up trucks (the “Click It Or Ticket” rule clearly isn’t enforced here). There are no trains, no metro, no BMWs, no limos.
Vendors: You can buy everything from machetes to electric chords from people on the streets. One guy was walking around with a 3 liter bottle (yes, 3 liter) of Coke and selling little plastic cups of soda straight from the bottle. Also, there are legitimate stores with security guards that sell bootleg video games and DVDs for $1.50 (the quality is surprisingly good, too). There are little bodegas everywhere you turn, and if you need some bananas, no matter where you live, it will be at most a 15 second walk.
Cost of living: A three course meal with a chicken soup appetizer, grilled meat with rice, beans, and plantains, a small dessert, and delicious fruit drink costs $2 (includes tax, and you don’t tip here). For 6 tomatoes, 3 green peppers, a sack of potatoes, 3 limes, 1 pineapple, 2 avocados, 2 large carrots, 1 large head of broccoli, and cilantro is cost us $4.50. Monthly rent is $70. A 10 minute taxi ride or 1 hour bus ride each cost $1. Ice cream bars are 25 cents. A jumbo sized beer at a restaurant is $1. Nuff said.
Lifestyle: If you want someone’s attention, such as a waitress at a restaurant or a girl at a bar, you hiss at them. Every day is laundry day, there are always clothes hanging end to end on clotheslines. There’s no such thing as eggs and bacon for breakfast, instead it’s chicken and beans. At bars there are no gin and tonics or rum and cokes, but just beer that comes in half liter sized bottles with small plastic cups to pour in and share with everyone around you. Bugs like to bite you in the most random places such as your index finger knuckle or pinky toe. No matter how many times you take cold showers, it’s just as cold today as it was yesterday.
Walking the streets: Roads don’t have dotted white or double yellow lines (after all it’s pretty difficult to paint rocks and dirt). There are stray cats and dogs everywhere, and it’s common to be woken up by roosters in the morning (though something just doesn’t sound right with the way they cockle doodle do down here). There are beautiful mountains in the distance everywhere you look and the view just never gets old. People are very friendly and talkative and it is common to say Good Afternoon to just about every person you pass on the streets. Many buildings are only half finished and appear to be abandoned projects.
As poor as this country is, the people here seem very happy with their lives. While they may never watch the Super Bowl on a 50” plasma TV or talk to friends on their brand new iPhone, they are perfectly happy sitting outside their small cement apartments on plastic chairs watching cars drive by on a Saturday afternoon. Corrie loves it here and her Spanish is incredible. She was a great host and this was definitely a worthwhile experience that made me appreciate a new culture and admire even more Corrie’s devotion to this country.
Transportation: Local busses never come to a complete stop, people literally jump on and off the bus while it is still moving, and bathrooms on busses are for women only. Every car is at least 15 years old and honks about 3 to 5 times per minute. It’s also popular to ride in the back of pick-up trucks (the “Click It Or Ticket” rule clearly isn’t enforced here). There are no trains, no metro, no BMWs, no limos.
Vendors: You can buy everything from machetes to electric chords from people on the streets. One guy was walking around with a 3 liter bottle (yes, 3 liter) of Coke and selling little plastic cups of soda straight from the bottle. Also, there are legitimate stores with security guards that sell bootleg video games and DVDs for $1.50 (the quality is surprisingly good, too). There are little bodegas everywhere you turn, and if you need some bananas, no matter where you live, it will be at most a 15 second walk.
Cost of living: A three course meal with a chicken soup appetizer, grilled meat with rice, beans, and plantains, a small dessert, and delicious fruit drink costs $2 (includes tax, and you don’t tip here). For 6 tomatoes, 3 green peppers, a sack of potatoes, 3 limes, 1 pineapple, 2 avocados, 2 large carrots, 1 large head of broccoli, and cilantro is cost us $4.50. Monthly rent is $70. A 10 minute taxi ride or 1 hour bus ride each cost $1. Ice cream bars are 25 cents. A jumbo sized beer at a restaurant is $1. Nuff said.
Lifestyle: If you want someone’s attention, such as a waitress at a restaurant or a girl at a bar, you hiss at them. Every day is laundry day, there are always clothes hanging end to end on clotheslines. There’s no such thing as eggs and bacon for breakfast, instead it’s chicken and beans. At bars there are no gin and tonics or rum and cokes, but just beer that comes in half liter sized bottles with small plastic cups to pour in and share with everyone around you. Bugs like to bite you in the most random places such as your index finger knuckle or pinky toe. No matter how many times you take cold showers, it’s just as cold today as it was yesterday.
Walking the streets: Roads don’t have dotted white or double yellow lines (after all it’s pretty difficult to paint rocks and dirt). There are stray cats and dogs everywhere, and it’s common to be woken up by roosters in the morning (though something just doesn’t sound right with the way they cockle doodle do down here). There are beautiful mountains in the distance everywhere you look and the view just never gets old. People are very friendly and talkative and it is common to say Good Afternoon to just about every person you pass on the streets. Many buildings are only half finished and appear to be abandoned projects.
As poor as this country is, the people here seem very happy with their lives. While they may never watch the Super Bowl on a 50” plasma TV or talk to friends on their brand new iPhone, they are perfectly happy sitting outside their small cement apartments on plastic chairs watching cars drive by on a Saturday afternoon. Corrie loves it here and her Spanish is incredible. She was a great host and this was definitely a worthwhile experience that made me appreciate a new culture and admire even more Corrie’s devotion to this country.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Honk if you like Ecuador!
I have been fortunate enough this week to receive my THIRD American visitor....Señor Daniel Brian Weitz. After our adventures together at Maryland, Dan decided he wanted to continue the good times and come on down South of the Border.
Last Sunday night he arrived late in to Guayaquil, which was nice as I had the day to rest up after the exhausting night bus. Guayaquil was in fiestas that weekend, surprise surprise, and I went out with my friend Kristin the night before to experience the sights. Tons of fireworks, open flames on the streets, and probably the most amount of people I have ever seen. Being the largest city in Ecuador, with almost 3 million people, Guayaquil grows even larger during fiestas.
Anyway, I managed to find this really cute, artsy hostel on the Malécon, or riverwalk, in Guayaquil. We stayed in the ¨Green Room¨ and now Dan remembers what verde means (he is slowly but surely picking up Spanish phrases....his favorite is chuchaki which is hungover, but never seems to get it right....)
We explored Guayaquil on Monday, the riverwalk, climbed 500 steps to a lighthouse that overlooks the whole city, and had a great grilled steak dinner. Guayaquil turned out to be quite delightful despite its somewhat notorious reputation.
Then we took a three hour bus ride to a sleepy beach town on the coast. It was cute, but unfortunately the weather really sucked so it was cold and cloudy the whole time. They did have a ton of restaurants and bars so we got to experience some nightlife.
Wednesday night we took a night bus to Loja and then took a bus to Vilcabamba. Vilca turned out to have really nice weather, with its rolling mountainsides and hippy mountain feel, Dan surely got a taste for the different lifestyles on the Coast and the Sierra. We decided to go for a hike up this mountain, Mondango. In order to get up, we had to pay a buck fifty to get into the property, yet no one was answering the bell. A neighbor was like just go on in, so we hopped the barbwire fence and hiked up this mountain. It was an incredible view, 1950 meters!
Staying at Izchalyuma, this sweet hostel, we got amazing massages and had a wunderbar dinner (it vas very german...) After Vilcabamba, we met up my friend Jason in Loja for lunch and then took a bus back to Yantzaza. When we got here, we met up with Chris and his girlfriend Emily, had some street meat with them and Grigs joined us later. It was a great little gringo get together, and we were definitely attracting attention. The highlight for Dan that night was hoping in the back of a pick-up and taking a spin around the block to this disco we went to. The disco was afull of screaming girls, waiting for Jhonatan Luna, some cover singer. The girls were screaming like when I saw Ricky Martin for the first time, but this chico was merely singing cover songs. Dan is now deaf in his right ear. But I got to show off some of my merengue moves :-)
Now we are just hanging out; took him to some local bars, we ate frog yesterday, and went to the pool and waterslide in Zumbi today. He is here until Wednesday and then we are heading back to Guayaquil so he can fly back to BORING USA. Hahahaha. So far, I think he likes it, says it is nothing like what he expected, but I said you really cannot expect anything when coming down here.
So far the things he has noticed:
1. Massive amounts of honking...everyone honks for no reason, but I say, why not?
2. Cold showers....I say, whats the big deal?
3. Tsss tsss tsss....the totally effective and PC way of calling to a hot girl...
Now I am hoping Dan will provide some insightful observations of his own that we can all reflect on. Slash...I hope more of you will decide to come visit now.
Last Sunday night he arrived late in to Guayaquil, which was nice as I had the day to rest up after the exhausting night bus. Guayaquil was in fiestas that weekend, surprise surprise, and I went out with my friend Kristin the night before to experience the sights. Tons of fireworks, open flames on the streets, and probably the most amount of people I have ever seen. Being the largest city in Ecuador, with almost 3 million people, Guayaquil grows even larger during fiestas.
Anyway, I managed to find this really cute, artsy hostel on the Malécon, or riverwalk, in Guayaquil. We stayed in the ¨Green Room¨ and now Dan remembers what verde means (he is slowly but surely picking up Spanish phrases....his favorite is chuchaki which is hungover, but never seems to get it right....)
We explored Guayaquil on Monday, the riverwalk, climbed 500 steps to a lighthouse that overlooks the whole city, and had a great grilled steak dinner. Guayaquil turned out to be quite delightful despite its somewhat notorious reputation.
Then we took a three hour bus ride to a sleepy beach town on the coast. It was cute, but unfortunately the weather really sucked so it was cold and cloudy the whole time. They did have a ton of restaurants and bars so we got to experience some nightlife.
Wednesday night we took a night bus to Loja and then took a bus to Vilcabamba. Vilca turned out to have really nice weather, with its rolling mountainsides and hippy mountain feel, Dan surely got a taste for the different lifestyles on the Coast and the Sierra. We decided to go for a hike up this mountain, Mondango. In order to get up, we had to pay a buck fifty to get into the property, yet no one was answering the bell. A neighbor was like just go on in, so we hopped the barbwire fence and hiked up this mountain. It was an incredible view, 1950 meters!
Staying at Izchalyuma, this sweet hostel, we got amazing massages and had a wunderbar dinner (it vas very german...) After Vilcabamba, we met up my friend Jason in Loja for lunch and then took a bus back to Yantzaza. When we got here, we met up with Chris and his girlfriend Emily, had some street meat with them and Grigs joined us later. It was a great little gringo get together, and we were definitely attracting attention. The highlight for Dan that night was hoping in the back of a pick-up and taking a spin around the block to this disco we went to. The disco was afull of screaming girls, waiting for Jhonatan Luna, some cover singer. The girls were screaming like when I saw Ricky Martin for the first time, but this chico was merely singing cover songs. Dan is now deaf in his right ear. But I got to show off some of my merengue moves :-)
Now we are just hanging out; took him to some local bars, we ate frog yesterday, and went to the pool and waterslide in Zumbi today. He is here until Wednesday and then we are heading back to Guayaquil so he can fly back to BORING USA. Hahahaha. So far, I think he likes it, says it is nothing like what he expected, but I said you really cannot expect anything when coming down here.
So far the things he has noticed:
1. Massive amounts of honking...everyone honks for no reason, but I say, why not?
2. Cold showers....I say, whats the big deal?
3. Tsss tsss tsss....the totally effective and PC way of calling to a hot girl...
Now I am hoping Dan will provide some insightful observations of his own that we can all reflect on. Slash...I hope more of you will decide to come visit now.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Whoa...sorry for the delay....
I´ve been a really bad blogger lately....sorry about that. Things have been coming up lately, so I haven´t had time to sit down and write, also I was waiting to post pictures that I have!!!
My hair. Held up nicely for two days...I think she put enough hairspray...enough to make the movie ¨Hairspray¨ embarassed. Which does not equal the gel the guys use in their hair (Brown Sugar being one of them). It´s called Moco de Gorilla or Gorilla Snot...no joke. And the guys LOVE that stuff.
So the wedding, which was July 4th, was really cool. It was a great experience and I am really grateful to my friend Yesenia for inviting me. Here is a little summary of the weekend, as it was full of fiestas and gringo-ness, and wedding excitement.
I went to Vilcabamba with everyone Saturday, ate lunch there, then sped back up to Loja to get all dolled up for the wedding. It was the wedding of my friend from Zamora, who´s a dentist. She and her roommate threw me a birthday party, I´ve crashed at her house a couple of times...BUENA GENTE. Anyway, I was really excited to go to a wedding of a good friend. I took Little Brown Sugarwith me, he met up with me in Loja.
I got my hair done...like prom style (it cost $4!!!) and then my nails done. I got a pedicure too...thought why not. And it was great...my feet were disgusting though...with all the campo hiking and sandals; the poor woman was scrubbing away and cleaning my feet for almost an hour and a half! Pobrecita.Then I did my makeup (yea...I did it!) and we went to the wedding. My friend Lorena was there with her BF (Lorena is Yesenia´s roommate). I´m really glad she was there because I didn´t know anyone...i thought my friends from Zamora would go but they didn´t show up. The church was gorgeous...got to take a lot of pictures with them.Then they had the reception in this GORGEOUS building. It was like brand new, at the Civil Engineers Professional Association. Incredible...served an amazing dinner. Super fancy....I was glad I got my hair done and dressed up; the women were totally decked out. They all looked like Beauty Pagent contestants. But Brown Sugar and I danced (he was a little agua fiestas though...didn´t want to dance as much as I wanted too :-( I went to Chris´s house just the other night to visit him, and I was telling his family about him and the wedding. Then Chris´s host sister, Maria, pipes up and says Cori, hay más que un burro en la loma (lit: There is more than one donkey on the hill. HAHAH! I was laughing so hard, their version of ¨there are more fish in the sea¨ type of deal...)
At times, I felt a little awkward, but I´m getting more and more used to feeling that way. They called me up to get in line for the presentation of the garter...each girl single girl had to give a number, and they gave out three garters. I unfortunately didn´t get one. Oh well...I´m in no rush to get married.
Here are some pictures! I am also posting some of the infamous Tortilla. She is a great cat...I feel bad leaving her by herself during the day, but she is really starting to get to know me and recognizes me over strangers. So my little mija is becoming my own!
Oh, PS: I just got a bike! I found one in the back of my building and I asked the landlady if I could borrow it. It was missing a pedal and needed a new chain and seat and a new tire. So I took it down the street and a guy fixed it up for me for $37! So I got a bike for less than $40!! It´s great, especially at night when I don´t want to walk up to my apartment by myself.
The church, San Jose. It´s a little dark, but this place was gorgeous, very similar to an American church.
Lorena, Yesenia, Mario and Me. I did have heels on...big mistake. Brown Sugar was not happy since I was towering over him, but whatever. Fashion overrides all here!
Las damas or bridesmaids. They all have to be single in order to be in the bridal party, hence the fact they all look/are 16-year-old. Orange (or the Ecua-orange as I like to call it) was her bridal color, in case you hadn´t noticed...
Me and Panelita....man, I am WHITE...or is he just really BROWN sugar???
The reception, with the same Ecua-orange. It was absolutely amazing this venue (and this picture is just about a quarter of the space it was in). I seriously felt like I was in the US. They had this fancy-shmancy dinner, nice white wine. And then for the after dinner drink: scotch.
My hair. Held up nicely for two days...I think she put enough hairspray...enough to make the movie ¨Hairspray¨ embarassed. Which does not equal the gel the guys use in their hair (Brown Sugar being one of them). It´s called Moco de Gorilla or Gorilla Snot...no joke. And the guys LOVE that stuff.
My little Tortilla! She´s about two months old, I think.
Me and the Tortilla. She loves to play fútbol.
Last but not least, Tommy the Weiner Dog. This little guy is always running around Zamora and finally I got to take a picture of him. He cracks me up, this pobrecito got his name painted to him! Well, at least we know which one is Tommy! (Tommy Scott, thought you might appreciate this one)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Fresh Meat in the Jungle
The time has come and Chris and I are officially able to welcome a new ¨jungle baby¨ to our little jungle family. Yes, we have received a new volunteer (sorry....that sounded like someone was really going to have a baby...). He comes to us from Omnibus 101, sworn-in just this past May. We lost our first volunteer prospect, guess she wasn´t down with the heat. But Grigs (his middle name is Grigsby but everyone calls him Grigs) was on the coast, in Manabí, but due to some safety and security issues he had to switch sites.
Grigs will be living in Zumbi working with FODI and the Municipio. He is a Natural Resources volunteer, so he´ll be our ¨nature guy.¨ Being a fellow DC alum (went to George Washington and graduated in ´08), we already had a lot to talk about. Basically he says Zumbi is like the Hilton compared to where he was living before.
So to inaugarate our new jungle baby, Chris, his girlfriend Emily, and I all took Grigs up to the Alto Nangaritza, or the river where Chris lives. It was an awesome trip. I have been meaning to get up there; it´s an ideal tourist spot, yet due to it´s far location and more or less difficult means of getting there, I was excited to finally have a good excuse to go.
One of Chris´s friends, Bolo, has a boat and was nice enough to take us up, only making us pay for gas ($40). The boat was a long, skinny aluminum canoe with a motor. It had high sides, because when the boat is full throttle, the water is all over the place. This river, the Nangaritza, is a really big river, with tons of Shuar folklore. We saw a lot of waterfalls, just emptying into the river (it had rained all morning). There were two waterfalls right next to each other, one wimpy one called El Bautismo (The Baptism) and then about 50 yards down another one but stronger called La Confirmación (The Confirmation). Normally, they take tourist under the waterfalls so they become ¨baptized¨ and ¨confirmed¨ in one day. Oh and Bolo swung Tarzan-style on some vines for us...pretty scary...I had to talk Chris down from doing it.
Then we boated down to this Shuar town, Shaime, which I have heard a lot about. It´s pretty much the only sizable town on the river, with a whopping population of 90. But it has a health center and a decent sized dock for the boats. It´s amazing how people live so far away from towns, but then again they have been living like this for generations, so living simply off yuca and papayas is normal.
As we left Shaime, there was a fork in the river and you could clearly see the division of the rivers that form to make the Nangaritza (we were going up-stream to get to Shaime). It was amazing because you could see one river was darker than the other and the water didn´t really mix....don´t know how to explain it but it boggled my mind!
The real point of the trip, however, was to hike up this mountain to see these natural labrintos, or labrynths. We got out of the boat and Bolo puts his 3-year-old toddler on his shoulders and just BOLTS off into the jungle. We were like whoa dude, slow down a little. The trail was PURE mud...luckily we all had our Ecua-boots on. It was a really tiring, but fulfilling hike. Once we explored some nature, fell up the mountain a couple of times, and slid down some craggy rocks, we reached the labrynths. It was amazing. There were these giant rock formations with about a 6-inch cut in the middle of all the rocks. Like a river had once passed through there or something. Bolo couldn´t explain what the rocks were, or why they were there. I asked them how did they ever find these places, and he said that his friend actually got lost one day and stumbled, literally, upon them. Crazy.
I can easily see how one would get lost. But it was just so cool to see all of this nature. I see plenty of it here, but we were REALLY in the jungle this time. And then he told us just beyond the rock formations was the Peru border. We couldn´t cross because they would shoot us....haha just kidding. But Chris said on the last trip he was on, their guide told them there were still landmines from the war in the 90s.
Overall, it was a GREAT day. I think Grigs is really going to like it here, and we gave him quite the welcome weekend.
We´re heading off to Loja for the 4th of July this weekend and I got invited to a wedding! Get ready for an exciting upcoming blogpost!
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Grigs will be living in Zumbi working with FODI and the Municipio. He is a Natural Resources volunteer, so he´ll be our ¨nature guy.¨ Being a fellow DC alum (went to George Washington and graduated in ´08), we already had a lot to talk about. Basically he says Zumbi is like the Hilton compared to where he was living before.
So to inaugarate our new jungle baby, Chris, his girlfriend Emily, and I all took Grigs up to the Alto Nangaritza, or the river where Chris lives. It was an awesome trip. I have been meaning to get up there; it´s an ideal tourist spot, yet due to it´s far location and more or less difficult means of getting there, I was excited to finally have a good excuse to go.
One of Chris´s friends, Bolo, has a boat and was nice enough to take us up, only making us pay for gas ($40). The boat was a long, skinny aluminum canoe with a motor. It had high sides, because when the boat is full throttle, the water is all over the place. This river, the Nangaritza, is a really big river, with tons of Shuar folklore. We saw a lot of waterfalls, just emptying into the river (it had rained all morning). There were two waterfalls right next to each other, one wimpy one called El Bautismo (The Baptism) and then about 50 yards down another one but stronger called La Confirmación (The Confirmation). Normally, they take tourist under the waterfalls so they become ¨baptized¨ and ¨confirmed¨ in one day. Oh and Bolo swung Tarzan-style on some vines for us...pretty scary...I had to talk Chris down from doing it.
Then we boated down to this Shuar town, Shaime, which I have heard a lot about. It´s pretty much the only sizable town on the river, with a whopping population of 90. But it has a health center and a decent sized dock for the boats. It´s amazing how people live so far away from towns, but then again they have been living like this for generations, so living simply off yuca and papayas is normal.
As we left Shaime, there was a fork in the river and you could clearly see the division of the rivers that form to make the Nangaritza (we were going up-stream to get to Shaime). It was amazing because you could see one river was darker than the other and the water didn´t really mix....don´t know how to explain it but it boggled my mind!
The real point of the trip, however, was to hike up this mountain to see these natural labrintos, or labrynths. We got out of the boat and Bolo puts his 3-year-old toddler on his shoulders and just BOLTS off into the jungle. We were like whoa dude, slow down a little. The trail was PURE mud...luckily we all had our Ecua-boots on. It was a really tiring, but fulfilling hike. Once we explored some nature, fell up the mountain a couple of times, and slid down some craggy rocks, we reached the labrynths. It was amazing. There were these giant rock formations with about a 6-inch cut in the middle of all the rocks. Like a river had once passed through there or something. Bolo couldn´t explain what the rocks were, or why they were there. I asked them how did they ever find these places, and he said that his friend actually got lost one day and stumbled, literally, upon them. Crazy.
I can easily see how one would get lost. But it was just so cool to see all of this nature. I see plenty of it here, but we were REALLY in the jungle this time. And then he told us just beyond the rock formations was the Peru border. We couldn´t cross because they would shoot us....haha just kidding. But Chris said on the last trip he was on, their guide told them there were still landmines from the war in the 90s.
Overall, it was a GREAT day. I think Grigs is really going to like it here, and we gave him quite the welcome weekend.
We´re heading off to Loja for the 4th of July this weekend and I got invited to a wedding! Get ready for an exciting upcoming blogpost!
Happy 4th of July everyone!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Coming and Goings
Well, I have been quite the busy little bee this past week. After my medical exam and exciting adventures in Quito, I went to Cayambe to visit my host family from training. As always, it was awesome because I felt like I was with ¨my family¨again. I feel like I really took family dinners for granted, especially now since I eat all alone. But it was great just being with the fam again, joking around, eating some good food. The afternoon before I left, they took me up to Ibarra (about an hour or so away) to eat at Fritada Amazonas, basically Fritada Castle. Fritada is a popular food here, fried pork...it´s so good but so bad at the same time. They bought they huge platters for us to share: a POUND of fritada (dios mio!), choclo (big ass corn), mote (more big ass corn), grilled bananas and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was great. Then I hopped on the bus back to Quito to start my 14 hour journey back to Loja.
Luckily Chris bought us our tickets the day before because the bus station was PACKED. Sunday was another round of elections so everyone was going back to their hometowns to vote.
When I arrived Sunday morning in Yantzaza, my friend Miriam had just gotten there as well. Miriam and I trained together and she lives in Salinas de Guaranda in the province of Bolívar, which is probably the coldest site there is here. Her site looks at Chimborazo, the tallest mountain in Ecuador, so you can get a good gist for what her weather/life is like. Ironically, during training I wanted her site and she wanted where I live, but we both agreed they did a good job of placing us in the end because we both wouldn´t change where we live.
She came down to help me give charlas on Nutrition in Children for FODI. Monday we had a big charla day for all of the educators, which was really good. Gave out some Humana stress relievers that my dad had sent (thanks Dad!) and they were such a hit. People were asking me for more at the end, some of the girls had stolen them from each other! They also kept asking me what they were called, I was like...um...estrés....best thing I could think of. If you put a Spanish accent on an English word, which a lot of times they do, it´ll pass as a legitimate palabra.
Then the rest of the week we traveled throughout the communities giving charlas. This week FODI was also celebrating Dia del Niño, so at every community, we gave cake, a cup of cola, and a FODI t-shirt/short set to every kid. It was a lot of fun, we had a great time seeing all of the communities, as well as talking to the parents. The last community, San Francisco, is a Saraguro (Kichwa) community and we showed Miriam how we party down here! It was great, they did the whole gifting cake thing and then as soon as that was over, a dad whips out this giant pitched of Leche de Tigre...and San Francisco is known for their Leche de Tigre (milk with homemade cane liquor) I got pretty happy (as they say down here for tipsy) on this stuff at Christmas. But this time around I was trying to pace myself. But this guy pouring the milk pours us FULL GLASSES! It was so hard trying to drink the whole thing...and we did that about 3 times in an hour. Woo wee....we were feeling it. But it was great time, as always...riding in the back of the pick up, playing with the kids, eating a TON of food (it´s bad custom to turn down food offered). So we were stuffed. But it was great.
Miriam left and I did another round of communities on my own, but that was still fun. It was great having her here; she is Latina so Spanish is her first language. It was nice having her around to talk to my friends, hang out with people because they could easily understand her.
As for other news, I got a cat! I got to my house on Sunday and someone had put a cat in a potato sack, dropped it through my window, and so now I have a cat I guess. Her name is Tortilla, it´s been almost a week, so I don´t think this one will run away. She´s a kitten, so is still yelping a lot, but buena gente none the less.
Some other news, my friend Doris, the Tuberculosis patient I have been visiting for pretty much the whole last year, finally went home. She had been bed ridden last June because only half of one of her lungs functions, so was put on oxygen. Since then she has been trying to get this electricity powered oxygen machine and FINALLY got it. I was so happy to hear that. She had been having a lot of problems at home and was getting really sick of being bed-ridden, so it´s great she is finally at home with her family. She called me right before she left simply said ME VOY (I´m going!) giggled and then was off to her home.
So a lot has been happening, needless to say. It´s nice taking care of my cat....something I´ve got to look forward to when I get home. Now if she will only use the Ecua-kitty litter box I made her...
Luckily Chris bought us our tickets the day before because the bus station was PACKED. Sunday was another round of elections so everyone was going back to their hometowns to vote.
When I arrived Sunday morning in Yantzaza, my friend Miriam had just gotten there as well. Miriam and I trained together and she lives in Salinas de Guaranda in the province of Bolívar, which is probably the coldest site there is here. Her site looks at Chimborazo, the tallest mountain in Ecuador, so you can get a good gist for what her weather/life is like. Ironically, during training I wanted her site and she wanted where I live, but we both agreed they did a good job of placing us in the end because we both wouldn´t change where we live.
She came down to help me give charlas on Nutrition in Children for FODI. Monday we had a big charla day for all of the educators, which was really good. Gave out some Humana stress relievers that my dad had sent (thanks Dad!) and they were such a hit. People were asking me for more at the end, some of the girls had stolen them from each other! They also kept asking me what they were called, I was like...um...estrés....best thing I could think of. If you put a Spanish accent on an English word, which a lot of times they do, it´ll pass as a legitimate palabra.
Then the rest of the week we traveled throughout the communities giving charlas. This week FODI was also celebrating Dia del Niño, so at every community, we gave cake, a cup of cola, and a FODI t-shirt/short set to every kid. It was a lot of fun, we had a great time seeing all of the communities, as well as talking to the parents. The last community, San Francisco, is a Saraguro (Kichwa) community and we showed Miriam how we party down here! It was great, they did the whole gifting cake thing and then as soon as that was over, a dad whips out this giant pitched of Leche de Tigre...and San Francisco is known for their Leche de Tigre (milk with homemade cane liquor) I got pretty happy (as they say down here for tipsy) on this stuff at Christmas. But this time around I was trying to pace myself. But this guy pouring the milk pours us FULL GLASSES! It was so hard trying to drink the whole thing...and we did that about 3 times in an hour. Woo wee....we were feeling it. But it was great time, as always...riding in the back of the pick up, playing with the kids, eating a TON of food (it´s bad custom to turn down food offered). So we were stuffed. But it was great.
Miriam left and I did another round of communities on my own, but that was still fun. It was great having her here; she is Latina so Spanish is her first language. It was nice having her around to talk to my friends, hang out with people because they could easily understand her.
As for other news, I got a cat! I got to my house on Sunday and someone had put a cat in a potato sack, dropped it through my window, and so now I have a cat I guess. Her name is Tortilla, it´s been almost a week, so I don´t think this one will run away. She´s a kitten, so is still yelping a lot, but buena gente none the less.
Some other news, my friend Doris, the Tuberculosis patient I have been visiting for pretty much the whole last year, finally went home. She had been bed ridden last June because only half of one of her lungs functions, so was put on oxygen. Since then she has been trying to get this electricity powered oxygen machine and FINALLY got it. I was so happy to hear that. She had been having a lot of problems at home and was getting really sick of being bed-ridden, so it´s great she is finally at home with her family. She called me right before she left simply said ME VOY (I´m going!) giggled and then was off to her home.
So a lot has been happening, needless to say. It´s nice taking care of my cat....something I´ve got to look forward to when I get home. Now if she will only use the Ecua-kitty litter box I made her...
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