Somos Sinches!

Our trip the weekend of the 9th was to Cotopaxi a province named after the famous volcano that resides there. We left around 10 AM on Friday and took our usual bus but this time with a different driver. We had been advised to bring rubber boots like the ones we wore at Hakuna Matata so Chris and Emily bought Danielle and me some. We loaded up the bus and were off. It wasn’t a long trip though and after a little nap we were basically there.

We reached the hacienda and were given our rooms. Emily L and I ended up rooming together in a nice corner room. It was sparse but clean and had an all yellow bathroom. There was even a yellow bidet! After we settled in we went out into the courtyard for introductions. The main hacienda guy- and Christina’s friend- “Chiri” talked to us about the idea behind the hacienda. He had us feel the four elements fire (sunlight), air (wind), earth (dirt) and water (a kind of warm juice that we drank with cheese empanadas).

As we ate and drank, Chiri explained what we would be doing during our trip- searching for the treasure. He explained to us that the next day we would  go on a hike to find the treasure but we first had to go on an ‘acclamation’ hike. In order to be ‘sinche’ (strong) for the hike we ate chapo which was made by mixing the juice with this grey flour stuff they had. It ended up being a dryish paste that tasted vaguely like the juice. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t something I’d eat often.

After building up our strength we planted a garden. Where we were eating were a bunch of flower plants sitting around. It was these that we planted to symbolize ‘cultivating’ our friendship with each other and Pacha Mama which is quichua for Mother Earth. It ended up being really hard and taking forever because we had a ton of plants to plant and the soil was really dry and hard. Also the garden was pretty weedy. Eventually we finished our hard work and watered the newly planted plants.

At one point several of us were pulled away by Chiri who had learned our names immediately. A note about Chiri: he is probably the happiest man I have ever met. He is constantly smiling, joking, laughing. He doesn’t believe in using alcohol or drugs because he thinks you can get high off of nature. He obviously lives this theory. Anyway, the few of us that were pulled away went to some field to plant some little onions in little window boxes. The soil in that field was some really nice soil.

While planting our friendship we also met the ranch dogs. They are all golden retrievers and beautiful. They followed us around all day, running ahead and just having a great time. They were all really sweet and loved all the attention we gave them.

Later we started our ‘acclamation’ hike. We started out in front of the hacienda, hopping the fence of the sheep/llama pasture to find some four-leaf clovers. We were told we all had to find one before we could go on our hike, but I was the only one who found one!!

He's laying down looking towards
the upper righthand corner

From there we headed up a hill, first stopping to see the face in the volcano called Rumiñahui. It looks like the profile of a man lying down. According to Chiri the legend holds that Rumiñahui, an Incan general, hid from the Spanish a vast amount of Incan treasure at the time of conquest. It is said that when the Spanish went against their word and murdered Atahualpa, the ruler of the Incans, Rumiñahui hid the treasure in the mountains where it has never been found, but this is what we would be looking for the next day.

So then we started our hike. We began by jumping, with some help from the super-human cowboy, over a small creek and then crawling under a barbed wire fence. I had troubles with the crawling and got a scratch on my back from the barbed wire. From there we went down a steep hill and finally entered the forest. We climbed up a pretty steep slope to this cave but then had to turn around and slide back down on our butts. Then the boys and Marcos (aka Zorro aka the super-human cowboy aka rodeo champ) went across the creek again via log but the rest of us followed along the bank until we got to a water fall. Marcos scaled the waterfall, secured a rope at the top and helped pull the people who wanted to climb it up. Those people hiked down that side of the creek and met up with us where we were going to diverge from the path. Little did we know we were about to die.

The slope we were about to climb was more of a cliff face than anything. It was basically vertical with just enough slope to provide unreliable footholds. For the most part we had to grab at trees and, in their absence, thorny plants, to pull ourselves up. I was parallel to the ground more often than not. Marcos of course was all but running ahead with the rope to help pull us up this cliff. At one point there was a particularly tricky section- you basically had to climb sideways up the roots of a smallish tree that looked like it was sliding down the mountain- so Marcos gave everyone a literal hand. Or in my case two. I almost didn’t make it since I slipped a little.

This was seriously the most difficult hike I’ve ever done in my life. I literally had to hoist myself up this mountain by my arms, relying on small trees and vines for support. It was terrifying and frustrating at the same time. At a few points I almost couldn’t continue because I just got stuck with nothing to hold onto and almost no upper body strength with which to pull myself. I was cursing like a sailor.

Finally we made it to the top and, once we got by another barbed wire fence, collapsed on the hillside. While resting our first lunch course was brought to us via donkey! We got that juice again- this time cold- and some mote with pork in it. After our rest we walked through cow pie land back to the hacienda.

Back at the ranch we had more lunch and then some of us went to rest for about 5 minutes. The rest of the group went to look at the animals. After only a couple minutes the group just left us so we found Caro, Chiri’s girlfriend, who took us to see the cows- more poo!- and the calves. There was a radio playing in the calves’ pasture probably to keep them calm. Then we went down the road just a bit to the horses and that’s where everyone else was. So we rode some horses for a bit.

Before we could ride we had to roll old tires on top of each other to make barriers for the ring we were riding in. Danielle grabbed one and, not realizing it was full of water, slid it over onto its side, splashing dirty rainwater all over both of us. Then we got to ride but since there were only three horses we had to take turns. It was fun. We got to just ride around by ourselves in the enclosure which I had never done before. Even little Mauela wanted to ride. She’s obviously a cowgirl at heart!

When we got back to the hacienda Chiri took us into the room in front of Chris and Danielle’s room and told us the Rumiñahui story and about what we would be doing the next day. He explained the history and the legend and then did the coolest thing possible. He went over to the bookshelf, pulled a book partially out and opened the bookcase into a secret room!! I was astonished and jealous- I want one in my house! So we followed him up the stairs and into this room with windows all around from which you could see three different volcanoes. It was really cool. He also told us that we had to get up and make a wish at 6am to the volcanoes.

After that we all hung out on the porch for a while, I passed out allergy medicine (just about everyone was having a bad time in that respect) and then we ate ‘dinner’ which consisted of hot chocolate, cheese empanadas and an enormous bowl of popcorn. Since we had ridden the horses Danielle wasn’t feeling good and having problems breathing so I got out my inhaler just in case.

After dinner we went with the guys to the rodeo. Chiris’s brother Javier and Marcos (of course) were competing so we went to support them. So we got on the bus and took a pretty long drive- about 1 ½ hours- to the rodeo. The bus driver didn’t know how to get there so eventually someone got off the bus, got a cab to take them to the rodeo and then we followed the cab. Before the taxi maneuver the bus driver yelled out the window at a couple people to ask for directions and I had Baños flashbacks!

The rodeo was in a fairly small outdoor stadium so it was freezing. Since we were up in the mountains it got really cold at night and it reminded me of football games in high school in the fall. Thank god Keunae let me borrow the fleece she bought here or I would’ve froze to death!

I realized fairly quickly that the rodeo is not for me. First of all I don’t like the treatment of the animals but it also made me really nervous. Whenever the rider got bucked off I was so worried. I just don’t get the point to be honest. It just doesn’t seem good from any point of view- either the bull/horses’s or the rider’s.

They were showing some stock footage of rodeos though and the clips of little kids riding sheep were hilarious. Also there were rodeo clowns but they weren’t funny. All they did was try to get the bull to run out of the ring.

We watched the second part of the bulls then we waited through most of the horses until our guys were competing. Javier didn’t have a great ride but Marcos was in first place when we left- very near the end. Then we took our long trip back- I slept through most of it- and they started fires in the little stoves in our rooms. Our room ended up really nice and toasty before we went to sleep so that was really nice. 

stay tuned for more about our stay in Cotopaxi next week on TFTE!

Hasta luego,

Caitlin

¿Sabor de la vida?

My Dear Readers,

I know it's been a long time since my last post and while the week after the whole "coup attempt" thing was relatively uneventful school has been getting more work intensive as it is now officially midterm season. Ecuador may not have real seasons but it does have a midterm season. Similar to its actual seasons, it is relatively mild but it still exists and must be take seriously. But enough excuses, we've got some catching up to do. You can now expect several ensuing posts that are now edited! I know, what a shock! So let's dive in shall we?

After the whole political unrest thing from Thursday and the weekend, school was back to normal on Monday. In class we played catch-up so I had my first midterm of the semester in translation. It wasn't too bad. We had an in-class portion and an outside-of-class-but-still-during-the-school-day-portion as well. The latter was a translation that we had until 4pm to do but I had less time since I had to volunteer. It went fine either way.

My volunteer work that was out of ordinary. The class and I went to Tumbaco- a nearby town in the same valley as Cumbaya- to what seemed to be a convent that also doubles as a senior home to cut the 'grandmas's' hair. I was basically useless until two of the girls needed help calming down one lady who seemed to not have complete control over her movements. I just held her arms down so she couldn't hit the girl cutting her hair. It was a kind of sad place but the grandmas seemed happy to see us.

On the way home I took the bus that goes by my house for the first time. When I wanted to get off I had to kind of yell "gracias!" so the bus driver would know I wanted to get off. It was strange.

Tuesday I had a midterm in Cine which wasn't really hard at all except that the sub gave us the wrong directions. Of course she didn’t realize this until Chris made Danielle ask/tell her about it and I was almost done with the part we were supposed to do at home. That test would’ve taken about 30 minutes if we had done it right!


That day there was a performance by a dance troupe from Boston that we had to go to instead of dance class. It was pretty cool and they were all really great dancers. After classes Danielle and I caught a cab since it was raining pretty hard- the lights had gone out twice in Soc class- and it was a really weird ride. First we almost got t-boned by a pickup truck, then a guy on a motorcycle reached in the window and grabbed the drive while both were still moving in traffic! It turns out they knew each other- they may have even been cousins, I don't remember- and they chatted until we turned. Then when we got into Danielle's neighborhood the guy just had her get out in the middle of the street because he was "in a hurry." Then he took me right to my door. It was all too weird so I didn’t pay the normal price. (Side note: some taxis have little tv screens with ads on them but they all have the same couple commercials on them: one for bingo with an impossibly busty woman, and one with this awful dancing cooked chicken being the most notable.)


That Wednesday I went with Emily to meet her new convopartner, Diana and she invited us to a cultural event that she was helping coordinate the next day so we went not really knowing what it was about. It ended up being really long but pretty interesting for the most part. It was basically a program to show how awesome the ethnic diversity program is. There were a couple dances which were pretty cool and a band of music students that were pretty good.


 After the program there was a party for the new students and all the Ecuadorians kept trying to get me and Emily and Chris to go. We really didn’t want to go since we had homework to do and we knew it would go on forever. We finally sneaked away and went to El Español to get a coffee and use the internet. We were there until they closed and the guard had to lift the security gate to let us out.

Friday morning I was awakened by a knock at my door at 7:15 in the morning.  Guadalupe stuck her head in my room and asked for her upset stomach pills she had given me when I was sick before. I dumbly got up and rummaged around in my closet until I found the bottle and Guadalupe left. I was so confused that I misread my clock and thought I slept through class!

That day Danielle had planned a 'day of beauty' at her house that afternoon so we met up at Juan Valdez cafe with Keunae and walked to her house. Keunae couldn't stay long and after she left Danielle ordered pizza from Papa John's. Listening to Danielle place our order, I noticed she went from understanding everything this guy was saying “sí…sí,sí,…” to completely lost. She asked "what?" a couple times but still looked bewildered. Then she handed the phone to me because she had no idea what the guy was saying. I grabbed the phone- the guy was saying ‘alo? alo?’ because no one was talking- and finished the order. It took a minute to realize he was asking me what kind of coke I wanted- diet, zero, etc.

When I finished Danielle told me that she thought he was saying “¿sabor de la vida?” “flavor of life?” so of course she had no idea what that meant. It turns out he was saying “¿sabor de bebida?” which means “what kind of drink?” We got a good laugh out of that. So did Emily and Chris when they showed up- right after the food.

Even if it was Papa John’s, I was really excited to eat pizza. After lunch I gave Chris and Emily manicures since I learned how in my volunteer class. Danielle’s host niece, Antonia, came in wanting to hang out with the big girls. She’s like 9 and speaks almost perfect English. So she convinced her mom to let me do paint her nails and then she didn’t leave us alone until they left. Not that she was particularly annoying or anything, it was just funny that she was excited about hanging with us.

Antonia really loves the Jonas Brothers- she’s even going to their concert here with a friend- so she made us listen to some of their music. So then Danielle played some BSB and N’Sync saying that they were our Jonas Brothers. Then we just kept watching early 2000’s videos- like Say My Name- and it was hilarious. For us. I’m sure Antonia was bored to death.

Then Antonia and her family left, shortly followed by Chris and Emily and I stayed so Danielle and I could watch the next installment of our Harry Potter several week movie marathon. 

That's all for now, but, dear reader, you can expect another post soon.

Hasta Luego,

Caitlin

 

This is an URGENT U.S. Embassy Warden Message

In the aftermath of the madness that was Thursday we were told not to leave our houses for our safety. Since I live 10 miles away from Quito and the situation here in Cumbaya was never dangerous I didn’t follow this advice, sorry US Embassy, but I did stay in town. On Friday we didn’t have classes so Danielle and I decided to meet up at the Juan Valdez coffee shop at the Esquina mall. I asked Guadalupe to drop me off on her way to the Supermaxi but she told me that we were going together to the store, then coming back home to eat lunch and then she would drop me off. It all seemed too complicated to me but I just said sure.

So we went to the store and it was awkward as always. She made me get a bunch of sweets which I don’t mind but it seemed like she thought that’s all I eat. We were at the store all together way too long. She doesn’t bring a list, she just wanders around looking at everything- it takes forever. Finally we made our way home and had lunch right away. Miria made chicken nuggets and they were delicious. Right after lunch I got Guadalupe to take me to meet Danielle. I was amazed she got out of the house so fast! Of course she asked me if I wanted to rest a while before I went out but by this time it was after 3 so I said no.

By the time I got to Juan Valdez it was already getting cloudy and colder- like just about every day so far. When Danielle showed up we bought some kinda expensive but tasty coffee drinks and chatted for a while. After we finished up- and when the high school hooligans who seem to flock there showed up- we went to find the movie store on my walk to the Women’s Center where I volunteer. When I had passed it earlier with Guadalupe it wasn’t open but when we went there it was. It must have weird hours. Danielle found a lot of movies she wanted but didn’t have much money. She asked the guy where the nearest ATM was and it was at the mall so we walked right back again.

When we finally found the ATM it wouldn’t give Danielle any money so she had to scrape together $5 for the first three Harry Potter movies. While she was buying them the cashier/owner guy told her that there were actually 6 of these movies. Haha, as if someone buying 3 at a time didn’t know that! Then we decided to go on a quest for an ice cream sandwich. I see these cute commercials for them all the time and I really wanted one. We went into a couple little stores with ice cream freezers but none of them had sandwiches so we headed towards the park in the middle of town.

Finally we found a little mall type place that had a Pinguino store- Pinguino makes like all of the ice cream novelties in Ecuador- so we got ourselves some sandwiches and we were happy. We continued walking around Cumbaya for a while looking for a different ATM for Danielle but we never did find one- and we covered quite a bit of ground. From there we went to Danielle’s house to watch her new movies.

Danielle’s parents weren’t home so we watched the movies on the tv, which is in their bedroom for some reason. I forgot how unintentionally funny the first movie is! They are just so little, haha. During one of the movies we fixed ourselves some leftovers that Salome had left in the oven for Danielle. It was some chicken in this tasty sauce but when Danielle cut into hers she found it was a plantain! So she got rid of the plantain and got herself some chicken.

We watched the first two movies but by the time we started the third one I was starting to fall asleep. As Danielle was trying to call a cab for me her parents came home. Cumbaya Taxi, the company we always call, wasn’t answering so Salome called someone else for me. Salome was very concerned that I wasn't wearing shoes in the house and was afraid I was going to catch a cold or something. When I got home the taxi driver charged me $1.50 because it was ‘late.’ What a rip off!

Saturday I slept in, made myself some breakfast and then did some catching up on my virtual life- uploading pics to facebook, updating this monstrosity. Later I went out with Guadalupe to get some lunch. Since Miria doesn’t work on Saturdays we had to go out. We went to this really busy ‘fast food’ place and of course Guadalupe ordered a ton of food. We got a ‘fritado completo’- which is roast pork, two types of corn, potato pancake things and cheese- a giant bowl of soup- which Guadalupe explained to me is potato and cow stomach- as well as two empanadas and two quimbolitos. The soup freaked me out way too much for me to eat it so I just had some potatoes out of it and stopped eating it. Guadalupe was loving it. She even added all the condiments that came with it, like avocado, tomato and fried cow’s blood! The fritado plate was pretty good but the meat was really dry. The empanadas with aji were really good. I didn’t ask what was in them because I’m sure I didn’t want to know.

As we were leaving Guadalupe asked for two bags- one for the quimbolitos which were for me and Danielle, and one for leftovers for Pancho her dog. Then she dropped me off at the Esquina to meet Danielle again. We basically repeated the day before. She went to the ATM which didn’t work again so we took the less steep way to the bank so she could feed her movie habit. We walked back to the store that Guadalupe told me had $1 movies but they charged Danielle $2 anyway.  Then we went to the first store from Friday and she bought some more. She spent about $30 on movies and got 18! I really need to jump on this bandwagon. If there’s any movies you want- any at all- let me know, they have everything!

While we were walking around Guadalupe called me and wanted to see if Danielle and I wanted to go with Pato and his friends to his friend’s ‘tienda’ which means store. I was really confused because that makes no sense so said I’d ask Danielle and I hung up. When I called back I realized she was saying ‘hacienda’ which made more sense. Apparently there was a party going on that night and we were invited- most likely by Guadalupe. I said sure we’d go but later I realized that Danielle didn’t want to. I basically forced her to go because I didn’t want to go alone, knowing it would be awkward.

So we walked back to my house- where apparently everyone was ‘waiting for us’ according to Guadalupe- but there was no one there. Well, Guadalupe was there and she told us that they had left so that Lauren could change but I was thinking that that was code for they left already- just like last time. So Danielle and I waited around and sure enough they came back. We went downstairs and waited to leave- not sure why we were waiting- so Guadalupe brought us some coffee and bread while we talked and watched Balto 2. Then we went and met everyone at the Supermaxi. We followed them about 25 minutes out of Cumbaya to this ‘hacienda’ that was gated but the gate was locked. I think someone called the guy who was inside to unlock the gate but we also saw someone jump the wall. It wouldn’t be the first time I broke in somewhere with Pato…

So we finally got in, parked and walked around the dark grounds. There was a sweet pool that was covered up and we parked it in this tiny room right off the pool that had a foosball table and some weird decorations. There were those melted beer bottle things on the wall and one of them had a picture of Carlos Gardel on it. Also there was a mug that said Pirate Pub or something on it. Strange.

Eventually we found out that most of them were staying the night even though Guadalupe said we’d be back that night. Danielle and I didn’t want to stay the night- especially if we had maybe broken in, lol- so we figured we’d bum a ride with some of the people who were leaving early. Then we moved into a bigger room which was empty except for a bar. They brought in some chairs and we sat around and Danielle and I shared a glass of watermelon Zhumir because there weren’t enough glasses for everyone.

We talked and drank for a while, then just before we left people started dancing. I made Danielle come dance with me but then we saw some people leaving so we asked for a ride. We got a ride with Pato’s friend Francisco who was driving his little sports/classic car (I couldn't tell, it was dark) but we had to squeeze into the back because his girlfriend Ana Maria- the one who came with to the fútbol game so long ago- was there too. I had to sit with my knees on either side of his seat, haha. When we got in the car Hoobastank was playing and I’m slightly embarrassed to say I knew all the words to the song. (I went through a phase but this was before the atrocity that is The Reason, *shudder*) I started falling asleep on the ride home even though it was early.

When we got back I called a cab for Danielle and she went home. Guadalupe was kind of sad because she was going to drive her home, but she was too late. Sunday I literally never left the house, you're welcome US Embassy.

Hasta luego,

Caitlin

You say you want a revolution well, you know...you should go to Ecuador

Thursday started out just like any other day. I ate my Peanut Butter Crunch, walked to school, participated only slightly above minimally in Cine. I went with Lauren and Danielle to cinemax and to find a newspaper for Soc class. Since I didn’t find one we went to sit on the couches so I could use Lauren’s computer for internet. So I ate my lunch, I bought us all snacks from the bookstore with my credit, and looked up articles about social problems. The internet was acting crazy but we didn’t really think anything of it. Bianca came by at one point to say hi. She was still in class but left to ‘go to the bathroom.’ I found a suitable article so I was writing down notes when Bianca came back and told us that classes were canceled. She told us that the police and military were on strike so there was no security anywhere and even the president didn’t have any protection. Naturally we didn’t believe her at first but she was serious.

We weren’t sure what to do so Lauren went looking for Christina. Pretty soon she came walking by and told us to meet up in her office to figure out what to do. So we made our way there and on the way found out that international students were not to leave the university. As soon as we got into the office Maria Teresa told Danielle and me that we were going with her. So we walked out of the university with her and she just told us to walk home. We both thought she was going to drive us but I guess not. During the walk home we noticed that it was hotter and more humid than normal and decided that it was because of the tense political climate, haha.

Danielle and I parted ways at the usual corner and I continued walking, and singing Big Girls out loud, until MT pulled up with the Lumbisi and Quito kids and told me to get in the back, meaning the trunk of her SUV, which I did. I thought she was just going to drop me off at home but, as always, she just drove right past my house. We all settled into the living room in front of the tv and MT went to get more people. She came back with Christina and some others including Keunae’s friend Jean who is here on her own.

We basically watched the tv for about 3 hours. MT fed us lunch, which was really sweet of her, then when things seemed to settle down a bit, she took us home. I had called Guadalupe to tell her that I was ok and at MT’s house and she was like, ‘you’re not going to Quito are you? There are problems there.’ As if I didn’t know that, that’s why I was calling! Haha. When I got home we basically watched the tv all night, had some chocolate cake and watched some more tv. At one point I  was talking to four different people on fb chat as well as watching the tv and listening to the tv in the living room which was up full blast.

Here’s what basically happened from what I can tell:

Ecuador has a colorful political history which often consists of getting bored with presidents and kicking them out of office, replacing them with military juntas, dictators, new presidents or whoever they feel like. So Thursday there was a protest/uprising by the police and for a while it seemed as if this president would succumb to the same fate as his predecessors. Even MT said that if they really want him out 'we'll have a new president in a few hours,' because such a regime change would not be out of the ordinary. Thursday’s situation was slightly different though. What seems to have happened is that several days ago the president has proposed and put to assembly vote a law that cuts benefits to public servants. Part of this proposed law cuts bonuses and promotions for the national police. Factions of both the military and national police declared a protest on Thursday, taking over the airport and several military barracks. The president went to one of these barracks to negotiate with the police but became upset and went all Hulk on their asses. He loosened his tie and exposed his chest telling the crowd to kill him, he’s right here, kill the president if they’re brave enough.

After this outburst he went down to talk to the crowd and was tear gassed. He was rushed to a hospital where the police and military barricaded the doors, not letting anyone in or out. In the meantime a mass of presidential supporters gathered at the presidential palace and they were rallied by members of the government. Around this time a 5 day state of emergency was declared. At one point the man giving the speech at the time said that he got a message from the president saying that people were on the roof trying to get in, trying to kill him maybe. (Sounds super paranoid to me but who knows) So the guy called to the supporters to go to the hospital and save the president, and save democracy. He was basically telling them to go up against the police and military with naught but their Correa posters and Communist flags.

At some point the highest ranking officer in the military made a public statement urging all military personnel to stop protesting in such a violent way- they had also been barricading the roads by burning tires in the streets. Later that night, while the president was still being held in the hospital, the military loyal to the president staged a violent rescue mission. The president got out unscathed but the ensuing gunfight lasted for about 30 minutes and killed between 2 and 20 people (obviously reports vary and a number may never be settled on) injuring many people as well.

Once the president was rescued he went immediately back to the palace where he gave a speech to his supporters criticizing the police and claiming conspiracy to take him out of office. All in all it was a chaotic and confusing day. Details are still foggy and may be for a while. Things have gotten back to normal by now (Sunday) but it’s difficult to say what really happened and what will happen still.

I'll keep you posted whenever I get updates, but that's all for now.

Hasta luego,

Caitlin

I'm naming my kid "Landrover"

Monday after class I went to the cafeteria to eat lunch with Lauren, Chris and Emily who were watching Madeinusa. I didn’t want to watch that movie again but I didn’t want to eat alone. Chris and I shared a chicken empanada and a pizza panini. The empanada was good, the panini was kinda weird. Since I didn’t want to watch the movie I left after lunch to nap until I had to volunteer.

When I got to the class the prof didn’t show up by 3 so I started my lesson. I tried to work on pronunciation with them but it was hard since some of the girls are so shy. Also there are some sounds in English that don’t exist in Spanish so they’re hard to teach. I focused on those but it was hard. Especially the English ‘r,’ it’s really hard for them to say correctly. We’ll have to have another class on that. After my lesson they practiced cutting a couple new girls’ hair. Then they ended class about an hour early for a birthday party for three of the girls.

Everyone brought food so I felt bad eating but they made me- just like Guadalupe, haha. It was interesting to see what people brought for the party. There was of course cake but someone also brought sweet rolls. There was popcorn with plantain chips in it- very Ecuadorian- little cut up hotdogs, chips and candy. Since it was their birthdays we decided to have a toast with wine. Keep in mind that this class ranges in age from 15 to 50. There was a box of wine and a bottle. The one, 15 year old, girl tried to open the box but she didn’t have scissors to cut the bag inside so she just opened the bottle which was a twist off top and easier to open. She gave everyone a little bit and someone gave a toast. As we all started to drink we realized that it wasn’t wine we were drinking- it was agua ardiente! (Agua ardiente, if you don’t remember, was the really strong sugar cane liquor they were pouring in our mouths at the Lumbisi festival.) Everyone was like “ahh, it’s so strong!” but they drank it anyway! Even the 15 year olds! We were laughing about that the rest of the party. The professor even said that as she was drinking it she was thinking, ‘what kind of wine is this, it’s so strong!’

Near the end of the party a lady came up to the classroom to talk to me. We went downstairs and talked in the little store. She asked me if I could teach a real class, in addition to the half hour class I teach now, so other people could come and learn English. It would start at 5:30 and end at 6:30 ‘so I would have time to finish my homework.’ Then she asked me what I would have to be paid. I was taken aback and asked her to repeat herself. Of course I can’t take money since I can’t work here so I said I was a volunteer and work for free. She was so happy about that she gave me two hugs! It was cute. Unfortunately now I have to do what I was trying to avoid by working at this place! At least it will be older people and not kids- I think.

Tuesday morning I got up at 5am to finish my paper that I wasn’t able to write the night before because I was falling asleep. I just about finished it before I had to get ready and go to school. I called a taxi to take me to school because I had my computer with me- so I could finish at school- which is too heavy to carry up that mountain, and so I could have even more time to work on my paper.

I was the first one to get to my first class and I wasn’t even early. Apparently there was terrible traffic from Quito so just about everyone was late- including our substitute. The sub is a good teacher though all we did was go over that ridiculous movie we watched.  Part of our discussion was the main character’s name- Madeinusa- and how in this region of Ecuador called Manabí people have really weird names like “Alka-Seltzer”, “Land Rover”, “Refrescante Pílsener” and “Semen de los Dioses.” Emily told me that she knew someone who taught a La-a which is pronounced “La 'dash' a.”

After class I went to sit by the sushi restaurant because it has power outlets and I needed to finish my paper for Soc. I ate my ‘lonchera’ and wrote my paper until Kevin came by. We talked a little while he ate his lunch and, after he left for class, Emily T came by and talked with me for a while too.

Finally I finished my paper, printed it out, and then went to class. In Anthro we talked about a fairly interesting reading we had to do but somehow they got off on a tangent about seeds for about 20 minutes so I kinda stopped paying attention. When they finally got back on track so did I. When I wasn’t really paying attention I was thinking about my solo for dance class. I decided on sadness for my emotion but decided that you can’t start a ‘sad’ dance the way our combination starts so I did it backwards. I felt pretty clever about that one. People seemed t like it too so I was happy.

Soc was more of the same. We did a mind-map of “Education” and one kid, who isn’t great at Spanish, tried to explain to us that the student is the most important thing in the Education system. But he did this by telling us his life story. He went to high school in Pennsylvania and he said the ‘Jews’ and ‘Koreans’ had a strong learning culture whereas the ‘Black’ and ‘Irish’ kids became gangsters and “gangsters no estudia!” It was ridiculous. Also, though for no discernable reason, he kept saying “!es fundamental!” over and over again. Later when Chris wrote that in my notebook I almost started cracking up in class.

Then Danielle and I shared a taxi home since we both had our laptops with us. When I got home I searched the internet for the full episode of the season premiere of Dexter. Eventually I found it and I cried- because it was sad, not because I found it. For dinner I had that tasty fish pasta so I ate a ton!

After translation class on Wednesday I got lunch at the university’s Italian restaurant with Emily, Chris and Omar. I was kind of sad that they didn’t have that special I saw when Danielle and I came in one morning- mushroom and pancetta risotto sounds so good!- so I got penne pomodoro instead. It was pretty good but it could have used a little more seasoning. During lunch Omar told us that he likes needles! Just another facet of his weirdness…

After lunch we went to cinemax so Chris could buy her host siblings some movies for their birthday. They had the Smurfs on DVD but the cover was in Dutch, “De Smurfen.” Apparently in Spanish they are “Pitufos.” It is common, according to Omar so who knows really, to call a short person a pitufo.

When we got back to the university everyone went to the computer lab but me since I didn’t need to so I found Lauren on the couch in Einstein and chilled with her until I had to volunteer. Since I had to teach my first real class I was nervous and Lauren and I looked up some good ice breakers for English class.

In class I tried to wait a while before starting because one of the girls had asked me to because not everyone gets there on time and then they miss my lesson. I started around 3:30 (even though the girl that asked me still wasn’t there) and the lesson went a little long. It ended up being around an hour instead of half an hour so I kind of cut into the real class time. There’s one woman who knows some English already so she was asking lots of good questions- some unimportant ones too- so I tried to answer them all. I felt bad cutting into class but I think it was going pretty well because I was getting some of the shy girls to talk a little more. I think the prof was a little annoyed but she didn’t say anything.

For class they were doing nails and one of the younger girls did mine. She wasn’t great at it but she was trying. When she cut my cuticles it kind of hurt. I had to leave before she could paint my nails so I only had bottom coat- which is a frosty white, not clear.

I went downstairs and there was no one there except for some ladies knitting and a lady there for a computers class. Eventually the lady who was waiting told me that the director lady was in the kitchen so I asked her what was up. Apparently I misunderstood the other day. I won’t be teaching two different classes each day, I’ll be teaching the girls in the belleza class later in the day and if other women want to learn English they can come as well. So basically I’m just teaching a more formal class to these girls. Hopefully other people show up but if they don’t that’s ok too. Since I had already taught my lesson I just went home. I had a sandwich for dinner which of course I didn’t make because Guadalupe won’t let me and it had mayo and cheese on it. I ate it anyway because the mayo was really mild and so was the cheese. When I asked her what kind of cheese it was Guadalupe looked at me kind of funny and just said ‘sandwich.’ I think I must have looked confused then because she showed me the package and sure enough all it said was ‘sandwich cheese.’

Hasta luego,
Caitlin

I’ve Got the Amazon Twitch

Saturday we got up for breakfast at 8 which was coffee, juice, bread, cheese and an egg. After breakfast we went to get ready for the day’s activities. Half of the group was going on a hike while the other half went tubing then we switched. I was in the hiking group so I put on my red rain poncho and rubber boots they loaned us and I was ready! We all took pictures in our ponchos because we looked so ridiculous.

Unfortunately our ‘hike’ was really just a walk down the main road we came in on. We saw a really sweet spider- spotted by yours truly- and learned a little about plants. Then we came to the school we had passed on the way in and saw how lacking it was. It was kind of sad. From there we went into someone’s house for some cultural demonstrations. The house was very bare and not very weather proof.

Our tour guide told us all about the customs of the area regarding cooking and we ‘helped’ make chicha- a traditional drink made in this region of yucca. They had some piece of boiled yucca that a girl put in this giant wooden bowl and she started mashing it with a big pestle. Then we got to try while the guide took our picture. When I tried to do it left handed he yelled at me! We tried the chicha- not the one we made- and some tea which was pretty good. Then a guy came in a played the violin for us. When he finished we were allowed to try playing it too but none of us could. We also tried to play this seashell and I was the only one that could get any sound out of it. I knew there was a reason I stuck with trumpet all those years! 

From the house we continued on the road back across the scary bridge- which is much more nerve-wracking on foot- and ended up at this building with a big covered patio where we got ready to go tubing. I don’t know where but I thought I heard that we shouldn’t wear shoes unless they for sure wouldn’t come off in the water. Since I only had my flip flops I just left them and went shoeless. Was that ever a bad idea. We kept walking on gravel and rocks- it was so annoying!

We took trucks back up to where we started, got our helmets, lifejackets and tubes and we walked down to the beach to get started. Our guide, Octavio, and his sidekick Cosme, were going to guide us down the river. I assumed that tubing would be like going down a lazy river. Unfortunately this river was far from lazy. We had to lie on our stomachs and use our arms to navigate the rapids. We were told not to push off from rocks but try to swim so you go around them. That was much easier said than done. Where ever the river wanted you to go, you went. No matter what I did I could almost never steer myself.

One of the very first rapids I went over had a log running across my path at the bottom so I got stuck. Two other people had ended up going that way in front of me but by the time I realized what happened I couldn’t do anything. Octavio was holding up the log- it was more like a branch I guess- so I could go under it but I didn’t quite fit. My big head- or my helmet, whatever- was stuck on the branch and I couldn’t get free. By this time I was turned around, facing backwards, and my face was being pushed by the branch into the oncoming current. I felt like I was going to drown if he let that branch go. Eventually with one little heave the log relinquished its hold and I was free to spiral directly into another log. This time I wasn’t wedged underneath it so I could much more easily extricate myself from its grasp.

 

For the most part tubing was fun. I got really frustrated when I was trying so hard to swim in one direction only to float down in the opposite one. I also kept getting stuck on rocks that were just under the surface. I would be stuck like a beached whale on my tube and Cosme would come dislodge me. Finally he asked ‘que le pasa?’ what is happening to you? I just told him I didn’t know!

We would stop and collect the group at the still waters but at one they jumped off a cliff. There were a bunch of little town kids swimming in this area when we pulled up our tubes to the sand bar. I was one of the last in line so I was last up to the cliff. As soon as I got up there I started having a panic attack. I was shaking and hyperventilating a little and even started crying. There was no way I was jumping off that cliff- I had to go back down immediately. So I sat on the sandbar freaking out and watching everyone try and fail to kill themselves.

Christina was up on the cliff for about 20 minutes trying to gather the stupidity to jump but she never did. They all tried to coax her down- Chris yelled “Venga! Venga! Sigue no más,” like guys on the buses, but she still wouldn’t go. Finally she walked down the hill and we finished the second half of the trip. There was a cave that looked cool but I was afraid that my exhausted arms wouldn’t allow me to get out so I just hung around outside.

The very end of the trip was on land, if you can call it that. We had to carry our tubes on the shore which was just rocks for a long time. I had no shoes so I let one of the guides carry my tube. There was no way I was carrying that thing. By then I was exhausted and really frustrated. Then we made it back to the patio building and we had lunch. They gave us plantain soup and a whole fish with rice, beans and yucca. It was pretty good but the fish was hard to eat because of the skin and bones.

After lunch we went back to the hostel and me and the roomies took a 3 hour nap. It was delightful. Not too long after we woke up we had dinner. This time we got shrimp skewers for an appetizer and goulash for dinner. It also came with potatoes and peas. Dessert was this strange fruit with slimy grey seeds called Granadilla (I have too many pictures already but see it here), as well as a fruit salad. After dinner we talked and then played cards at the table. We played Go Fish and Fantan. It really brought me back.

Then we went to Danielle and Chris’ room to play more cards and then just talk for a while. We stayed up pretty late and when Bianca and I got back to the room we were surprised to see the others were asleep, including Kevin, lol.

Emily and the cocoa fruit

Sunday we had breakfast again at 8 and it was the same except they asked if we wanted ‘salchichas’ with our eggs. Salchichas are basically hot dogs but they tend to eat them at breakfast. They were pretty good. After breakfast we waited around a while till we could make chocolate! Near our cabin, down closer to the river, was this little hut where they had started a fire in the fire pit. We roasted the dried cocoa beans, hulled them and then ground them twice. The first grind looked like coffee grounds, but the second one ended up being kind of liquidy.

Then we took the paste and cooked it down with some milk and sugar. And then voila! Chocolate! It was a really thick dark chocolate sauce you had to eat with a spoon. We shared a plate between two people and I was really wanting some strawberries to eat with it!

After said deliciousness some of us opted to go on a real hike, not the walk we did the day before. We got ready and headed out past the pool and into the ‘jungle.’ First we stopped at some cocoa plants and tried the fruit. The bean is surrounded by this milky-white goo. It looks and sounds gross but it tasted really good- as long as you don’t bite the bean, which I did at first. If you just kind of suck on the bean the white part kind of tastes like watermelon but more tart. 

Our hike was also led by Octavio who told us a lot about the plants we saw. He explained the medicinal properties of some vines- good for snake bites- and other interesting tidbits. Near the end he told us to walk down the path some, stop and stay facing that direction. We did for about 5 minutes until he told us we could look and Emily L, Kevin and a USFQ student ‘guide’ who is from the Napo region, had leaf headdresses! The boys had big leaf hats and Emily had a similar headdress to the one the violin player had- just made out of leaves- and they all had a red flower in their mouths that looked like big red lips. It was funny but ridiculous too.

The hike was fairly strenuous because we had to go fast so we could eat and check out on time. At the very end we went to this greenhouse where there are poison dart frogs. Octavio grabbed two out to show us. They were so cute! One was red, yellow and blue so it’s called an Ecuador frog. 

After the hike we went for a quick swim before lunch. It was really nice. Lunch was rumored to be tacos but when they brought out the salad, cucumber salad, beet salad and tuna salad I was wondering where the taco stuff was. Then they brought out the tortillas and people made wraps with the salads. I felt that was taco sacrilege so I just ate the parts separately. After our faux tacos we packed up and got ready to leave. First though we had to merchandize. A bunch of us bought Hakuna Matata t-shirts which were really cute. It was kind of a hassle and Alex tried to buy mine but it was worth it.

Finally it was time to leave. We piled into the ‘taxis’ again and headed back to the bus. Danielle, Chris and Emily L stood up for part of the taxi ride for a more extrem ride. Then we took some pictures on the bridge and got on the hellishly hot bus. Eventually we opened all the windows and the vents and it was as cool as it was going to get in there. After a nap, Danielle and I shared headphones again.

At our bathroom stop the bathroom was the worst I’ve seen. The toilet was just kind of running and there was no flush button/lever, just a wire sticking out of the tank. Plus there was no water in the sink. During the break we broke out the leftover food and I was very happy to have another two spoonfuls of peanut butter with nutella.

The bus ride home took a lot longer than to get there- at least it seemed like it did. By the time we got back it was dark. At the university we called two taxis, one for Cumbaya and one for Quito. When I got home I just had tea and bread for dinner and it was perfect.

Hasta luego,

Caitlin