June 5, 2010
THE LAST THREE WEEKS IN ECUADOR
Well I thought I should probably having a closing blog since I’ve kind of left everyone hanging since Abril. Anyways I am back in the U.S.A., I made it! Which I actually almost didn’t so it is something to be happy about. Lets see my last three weeks in Ecuador:
3rd to last week:
Monografia- I spent this week finishing my 35 page paper on the relationship between coopertivas and cajas de mujeres, pretty much evaluating the microcredit, how its used, why and the problems in the system. If you ever want to look at and know some Spanish I would be happy to share it!
2nd to last week:
I headed to Cuenca for the first time with three other girls from my program, Cuenca is about a 10 hour bus ride from Quito… so we left pretty early but still didn’t get there until evening.
We stayed in a cute little hostel and decided we would hit up the adventura concert that was down the road at the soccer stadium. The concert was PACKED with people everywhere…
While trying to find our entrance we were surrounded by little kids selling gum and posters, a few minutes after getting out of the crowd, Megan realized her wallet was not in her pocket anymore. We all kind of started freaking out a bit especially because this was day one of a two week trip and its hard to travel without money and her credit card was in there too…
After standing there some time slowly accepting that this was really bad megan looked down and someone had dropped her wallet at her feet… all the money and her flash drive was gone but they had left her cards in tack! Praise the Lord! It was kind of miracle because criminals usually aren’t that nice! So we were in a pretty good mood the rest of night… with our hands on valuables at all times…
The next day we wandered around Cuenca seeing the sights, it’s a beautiful city! We bought some beautiful clay pots for a $1 each which soon became the joke of the trip, as we were pretty positive they would never make it back to the states in one piece. (THEY DID THOUGH!)
We went to Cajas National Park, got let off by our bus in the middle of no where, had to hitch-hike the rest of way, kind of failed at hitch-hiking, although we did make it on a different bus… got lost hiking which turned at 4 hour hike into 2 hours…saw a wild llama…
We decided to leave Cuenca around 11:30 at night so we wouldn’t have to pay for a hostal and be at are next location by morning. So we boarded the bus probably asleep by 12 when all sudden around 1am the bus stops… “no pase, no pase” people are yelling… Meaning we can’t pass… the bus stays stopped for about 20 min then turns around back towards Cuenca…then stops for another 20 min… then turns around back towards Quito this time stops for 7 HOURS….just sits for 7 hours! It was horrible… then the kicker at about 7 in the morning the bus turns around again to head back to Cuenca! People ourselves included were pretty outraged but there was nothing much we could do… until we saw another bus pass going toward Quito …so about ¾ of the bus unloaded and crammed onto this other bus… it was a pretty tight squeeze but finally we were making ground toward Quito about 10 hours after we begun our journey. Apparently what was happening were indigenous protests. Currently there are conflicts with indigenous water rights and their form of protest is blocking roads with trees, and rocks so I believe that is why we couldn’t pass.
But about 15 hours later we made it to Ambato where we had to catch another bus to Banos, Rachel had missed her bus to Tena hours ago so she stuck with Kelly and I for the rest of the trip.
In Banos we met up with some of guide friends there (I've been to Banos quite a few time and know a lot the locals there so its fun!) and decided we wanted to go a jungle tour... so the next day we got picked up by our friends and headed to Puyo...
We started out at a monkey sanctuary where there is quite an abundance of monkeys and they are NOT shy... in fact one clung to me pretty tight and though i was its mom... if you would like me to expand on how i know that please ask me sometime....
anyways it was pretty incredible to have monkeys just crawling all over us for an hour!
We spent the rest of the day riding in a canoe carved out a log, painting our faces with some berries from trees, hiking to to hidden waterfalls and eating some typical fish... It was a great day (sorry that my detail is slowly lacking... its just a lot to cover in one blog post so im trying to speed things along) :)
After all our fun jungle activities our friends dropped us off at the bus stop to Tena where we quickly ran to catch the 2 hour bus to Tena...
Exhausted we almost missed our stopped but luckily we got out at the exact right spot in the middle of no where... waited about ten minutes and caught a truck taxi to kelly's village...
I can't remember what her village is called but its a beautiful name in kitchwa and its a beautiful little town of about 30 people...
Kelly's host family welcomed us into their home very generously... making us dinner upon our late night arrival...after dinner i could barely keep my eyes open so we crawled under the mosquito net in the next "room" (the whole "house" is just made by bamboo rods spaciously placed in the form of a house, there is no running water and you have to go across the street to use the bathroom.. it kind of felt like camp!) and instantly fell asleep!
The next day after an amazing yucca fry breakfast we took a bus into town and met up with Chris's old host dad who took us white water rafting for the day!
We spent the rest of afternoon hanging out with Kelly's host family whom are all amazingly kind people! The morning we hiked into town and caught a bus back to Quito...
After eating/doing my laundry at kelly's house i headed to the airport to pick up my mother!
JOAN BENNETT ARRIVES IN ECUADOR (last week)
So after jumping out at my mom walkway of international arrivals we had a wonderful reuniting hug (some tears may have been shade) but it was great!
We headed to a cute hostel (well after arriving clearly realized it was actual a hotel and overpriced) called cafe cultural but it was beautiful and a great location..
The next morning after walking around in some markets I decided I would take her to the teleferico... We ended getting a really cheap taxi and the taxi driver was super nice and provided great conservation
So it was kind of mean for me to bring her there her first day in Ecuador as I forgot shes not used to Quito elevation: almost 3000 meters or 10,0000 feet. I than made her climb up another few kilometers to look at volcano Pinchinca! We decided to ride some horses on the way down and met some guys who were visiting from Florida for a wedding that night... by the time we were down they invited us to go have a beer with them and after that they invited us to the wedding but at this point we thought maybe it was there beer speaking not them so we kkindly declined and headed home.
That night we decided to stay in Old Town and found a cute little hostel for $7 and excellent staff ( a young guy named Frank, I think me and mom both had a crush on him :0 ) We spent the night on La Ronda, a beautiful historic, oclonial street, with live music in every shop and FILLEd with couple and families...after walking around there a few hours we wondered off the street, which is a little dangerous in this area but we ended up finding a huge outdoor concert of live music with couple dancing in the square! It was beautiful!
After a somewhat rough start of realizing we left moms passport copy and internet/computer failures we had bought plane tickets for the next morning to Guayaquil. We sat down at a nice breakfast place to re-make our game plan and settle down for a bit ( great food, on the more expensive end ... $2.50 for breakfast??? oh well).
We (well "I" i guess, most of trip was me just telling my mom where we were going what we were doing, it was kind of like life role rehearsal) , anyways we decided to go to Mitdad del Mundo... the center of the world! After mom almost lost her foot in the trolley door (literally it closed on her foot, it was dramatic), we were on our way. We had to transfer to two different buses and about an hour and half later we were at the equator 0'0'0...
Although everyone its like 500 meters off or something but none the less its a fun place to go... with dancers and live music!
GUAYAQUIL:
The next morning we said our good-byes to Frank (well he had left so we left messages through his uncle) and headed to the airport.
We flew to Guayaquil and headed directly to Damien House when we arrived.
Damien House is a non-profit started to give people with Hanson's Disease (also known as Leprosy) a place to live a life with integrity. Its a really neat place if you want to find out more check out there website http://www.
At Damien House we planned to meet Collie Kreuger and her group of high school school girls she had taken down to do work there that week.
The next three days were jammed packed and full of hard work, laughter and smiles!
We washed walls, painted, went to play with kids in an after school program and just hung out! Joan even volunteered me to paint a mural at the Hanson House.
After three days in Guayaquil are new friend sister annie drove us to airport and we headed back to Quito and caught a bus to Banos.
Banos take 4 or 5?
I've been to Banos the most of any city so it was really fun to take my mom to all the best spots... After hitting up the hot springs and delicious veggie dinner we headed to sleep early...the next morning I got one of my good friends there to arrange a white water rafting trip for us.
We got put into a group with some travelers from Europe, Argentina and Spain. Mom hit it off with the english speakers and I joined the raft of spanish instruction.
After a long, exhausting, exhilarating day of rafting we took a hike up to the virgin Mary with views of the volcano (that just erupted again on Friday!)
That night I took her to my favorite restaurant in all of Ecuador Casa Hood, where we celebrated one of my friend's birthday, then we met up with some of rafting friends and went out dancing with them the rest of the night!
We left at 3:30am in the pouring rain and took a bus to Cotacachi to visit my friends and family there.
After a horrible night without sleep we made it into Cotacachi around 11, I took my mom to both places I worked and introduced her to all my co-workers... It was so great to see all my co-workers after three weeks and be able to share that part of life with my mom.
My favorite part of the day was reuniting with Ines and Karick! We went to the friday market and ate some empandandas, then my mom was able to attend a workshop with all the women in my town learning to do a new type of necklace making while I played with all my little kids friends.
Due to a power outage I spent the rest of the night doing a puzzel with my little brother...It felt so great to be back at my house and with my family again!
The next morning I took my mom to the largest market in Ecuador... a little over whelming but mom finally perfected her "cuanto cuesta?" how much does this cost? after asking a women how much she cost and another how much cheese she had...
We made it back from the market in time to meet my whole community at the finals of the soccer tournament in Turucu... after the soccer tournament we went to the post tournament dance where I saw people I worked with and all my friends in my community... I ended the night by walking home with three of my friends and the second place bull.
The next morning we went up to the crater lake and I offered my host mom to take my little brother, after first thanking me for the offer but telling me no, a few minutes later Karick came running in my room saying his mom gave him permission to go with us!
As fun as it was, he scared me out of his mind as continually found it exhilarating to try to touch the water with his short arms... so like any good sister i held him by his legs as the boat speed around the crater lake...
Then the moment i had been dreading as we packed our bags and headed down the dirt road to catch a bus back to Quito...
In Quito my family there prepared a lovely cafercito for us and then all of a sudden it was Monday morning and I was taking my mom to airport! Her flight was at 9am but luckily I wasn't flying out until 11 that night so i had the whole day to get a new censo...
I had recently found out the student ID card that was in my stolen wallet, I needed to leave the country...
Unfortunately, the day I was leaving was a day very similar to the 4th of July in the U.S. so I spent the morning going migration office to migration finding out nothing was open... by 10 am I was crying, alone, tried in the middle of Quito positive I was not going to be able to leave the country that night and have to buy a new plane ticket...
After getting directions to a third office from a man who told me not to bother going because it would be closed... I found it and it was OPEN. PRAISE THE LORD... $4 later and a denucio I had a new censo!
I spent the rest of day paintballing with some of my Quito friends...
Before I knew it I was at the airport being dropped off by mom host family... the WHOLE family dog and all...After many tears and hugs I passed through the international gate and 12 hours later I walked out the doors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
End of the Semester
May 3rd 2010
I cannot believe that as I write this I have four days left of my program. (That does not mean only four more days in Ecuador THANK GOD!) This week is all about finishing my monografia… my 25 page paper on a theme of my choice somehow related to development and my internship. I chose to write about the relationship between caja comunitarias de mujeres and coopertivas (small community banks of women and cooperatives), the objectives and problems with this system and if indeed it is supported by the popular finance system within Ecuador.
Before my internship I knew very little about the soldiery economy, popular finance, micro credit and I didn’t even know what a caja was… If you speak Spanish you can take a look at my monografia when I get back or feel free to ask me, because I find the topic fascinating and would love to talk about it.
Its so strange being back in Quito after living in such a small community for 6 weeks. Leaving my community was SO hard.
A quick snapshot of the past few weeks in La Calera, Cotacachi….
The other night I got home from work and there were a bunch of women in my house and more bread and potatoes that you can even imagine… the whole couch was just full of bread and they still weren’t done… so I helped them make bread for about another hour and then we started putting the baskets together, pineapples, platanoes, potatoes, chickens, cuys (guinea pig), beer, soda… just mountains of food… Finally after asking several people I figured out what was going on… Rodrigo’s (my dad) brother who is currently living in the U.S. wants to get married so we had to go ask the permission of his girlfriends parents… hence all the food.. it’s kind of like a bribe I guess…
We didn’t leave until almost ten because part of the strategy is you have to go and surprise them when they’re already sleeping…Apparently sometimes you have to wait all night if they say no at first… luckily we were all invited in pretty promptly after the initial meeting with the grandparents…and the daughters parents.
Then the dad of the girlfriend begins passing out shots of whiskey one person at a time and everyone starts talking very seriously in kitchwa… in fact the whole ceremony was in kitchwa… after some more conversations, some serious, some ending in laughter (not really sure what they were about) they started passing out plates of food (note this after I have stuffed my face while making bread for the previous 3 hours) I ate half of a potatoe and couldn’t do anymore until Marcielo, my uncle, kept urging me to try the cuy… so I did it I tried a small piece of guinea pig….
Finally, the last week, were able to get off work early enough to join the soccer game (this happens every day around 5pm) .. normally when we would got home they would have already started so we would just go for a short run and play with the little kids… which don’t get me wrong was really fun… but playing with the big people was a LOT more fun…
It’s just so hard to leave right when I’m starting get past all the language and cultural barriers and really get to know some of these people…
I truly loved it there but it was so much easier to leave knowing that I am going back in 2 weeks to visit everyone.... So ...there was some glitch in the computer system and I was able to switch my plane ticket for free! So I am now staying until the end of May now which I am thrilled about it (especially because I have no job Im going back for… if anyone has any ideas let me know)! I am going to travel with Kelly for a week, I am not really sure what were going to do… we want to do Peru but I have not looked into cost and after losing my wallet and credit card and breaking my computer in the past two weeks money is kind of tight. So who knows where we’ll end up… then out of blue on the 14th JOAN BENNETT is coming to Ecuador! Never saw that one coming… so I am trying to come up with some plans for her…I am most excited to take her to visit my family and work in Cotacachi…mom hope your practicing your Spanish because neither of my families speak a word of English… and all the guys at my work wanted you to know you will be meeting your future son-in-laws...
So a few… “what the heck I’m almost done with the semester” reflections:
-material things=not important… I mean this one I knew but not until I had my wallet stolen with a bunch of money did I realize and materialize it(no pun intended)… true it was bummer but really I don’t care that much, it’s just money (and my really awesome Ecuador student id card… more sad about that than my credit card ha) but at the end of the day… it doesn’t change my life… its not a person… just a thing
-be open with people… my host mom in Cotacachi was so open with me about everything and it helped our relationship grow so much… she told me the good, bad and the ugly about her life without hesitation and I learned so much from her
-people are people everywhere… yes I understood this before… but not until I sat down with some of friends… who are my exact age but I have grown up in a different world than me, did I realize yes we have a TON of differences but we are so much more similar than I realized
-chicken = way chewy than I remember
-I love the braid on boys
-I will REALLY miss seeing volcanoes and mountains every single day.
April 21, 2010
Life in La Calera
So I have been slacking big time in posting anything but let me reassure you that is not because i have nothing to post simply that I don’t have the time to do it. Well I must begin by saying my time here in Cotacachi is passing faster than I could imagine, I have less than two weeks left here and I feel as if I just arrived. Also the fact that I just started my monografia (my 25 page diagnostic research paper – in Spanish) reminds me how little time I have left.
But I really could not have ended up with a better family here, I absolutely love them! Yes they’re not perfect, people yell and fight but I am right there part of the family and I think that’s what I like. My little brother kirack is pretty much the cutest kid in the world and definitely feels like my brother… sometimes all I can do is hug him to death cause he’s so cute and other times I could really punch him in the face with all his mimicking and throwing of my things (ok I never would punch him ever.. but I did accidently kick a soccer ball in his stomach and he started crying.. I felt really bad)
So what’s life like here in rural Ecuador… well one thing about the people here… sleeping in does NOT exists, no matter what time you go to bed, for example today for some reason I did not have to go to work until 10! Super pumped thinking I will get to sleep past 6:15 for the first time in a very long time… wrong. 6:20 a little tap on my door “erinnnnnn” the voice of Karick, so I ignore it first, than a min. later this time accompanied by a pound “VENGA COMER” (come eat), I mean breakfast is amazing, I’ve even grown use to instant coffee, but its 6:30…
Even weekends, the early rising does not cease, for example this past weekend I went to a Minga. A minga is when all the people work together usually on Saturday (very early) for something for the community or someone in the community that really needs help. So we jumped in the back of the truck and headed up, and up probably about an hour we drove up, until the “road” which really wasn’t a road to start…really wasn’t a road anymore…when we got there, there were about 40 people with shovels in hand waiting for us… we jumped out and began to pass out the baby trees, everyone took about 3 baby trees ( totally around 300 trees) and we began to hike…we hiked so far up eventually we were using roots and trees to pull our bodies up… then everyone planted the trees right there in the jungle of the mountain.. it only took about 30 minute to plant over 300 trees which was pretty neat... the pupose was to help bring water to the community over time…
My morals haven’t changed but I must be honest here…I bought a chicken….
So two weekends ago I went to the animal market with some people from my community (at 6 in the morning on a Saturday) and Sam another kid from my program who lives in my community…. Well we decided to buy a chicken… but here’s the bad part, we bought it not just have or eat, we bought it to fight….
It isn’t became the talk of everyone in our community, everyday they asked us if we were training it, what we were feeding it… the fight was the next Saturday so we had a week to prepare… but to tell you the truth, if you hadn’t guess I know nothing about cock fighting nor support it in any way… but when Saturday came everyone (mainly all our cousins, and uncles…which make up about 80% of the town) were pretty pumped for the fight…
We got a truck and pretty much all the men and boys of our community hoped in to come watch our fight… it was pretty fun to be supported by a whole community…
Our rooster was just a baby, so we kept having to wait to see if one of equal age would come… after watching a few fights of other birds I was pretty ready to leave…cock fighting is not my thing… anyways finally another bird about the same size as ours came…and the fight began… everyone was going nuts (because our community was over half of the crowd) luckily because they were babies neither of the birds really knew what they were doing nor were that violent… after about 10 minutes the other bird was so scared it ran out of the ring and we won!
Everyone went nuts it was super fun… no one had really bet anything because they all thought we would lose... I only bet $5 for my own bird… but it was still so fun!
We didn’t have a truck anymore on the way back so we walked the long walk back… the whole way people would shout the name of chicken Inti-shu (… which means one sun in kichwa) or Samuel because no matter how many times we told them they couldn’t get their hands around the idea that we bought the bird together… a girl at a cock fight is kind of rare….
Anyways… that night the volcanoes were pretty excited that we won at well because there were THREE earth quakes! There weren’t that big but big enough to shake the whole house and knock some things on the floor! There were really only felt around this area so we think maybe they were volcano related since Cotacachi is located in-between two “active” volcanoes…
(oh and as long as im being completely honest here I have another confession: I ate chicken! My family killed it in the morning and we had for dinner that night… it doesn’t get much fresher than that)
Anyways I needless to say… I love it here…
I love waking up to a volcano out my window every morning
I love the BRAID! No joke it is beautiful on men!
I love riding in the back of trucks pretty much every day or back of a motorcycle
I love that there is soccer every single day
I love that I am related to almost everyone in my community
I love that every time I see the little girls in my town they run and jump into my arms
I love that sometimes there is only bread and coffee for dinner and sometimes there is a feast
it’s kind of hard though because I’m finally at the point where I’m starting to be decently good friends with the kids my age here and now I’m going to have to leave… but I’ve told them all I’m going to try to return.. So let’s see if I can live up to that!
March 31, 2010
My New Job(s)
So I’ve been here a week…although there is never hot water unless you boil it, I have to flush the toilet by dumping a bucket a water and use the same bucket to wash my hair… I love it here!
I wake up around 6:30 have a delicious breakfast of eggs and veggies, a roll and café and then wait for the bus that comes generally around 7:45ish…it’s the only bus that comes to my community so even though I don’t have to be at work until 8:30ish I generally take it (18 cents) … sometimes I walk…its about a 40 min walk into town buts its beautiful, the whole way you can see mountains, a volcano, farms, cows, and the best part is the people.. everyone is super nice greeting you with a Buenos dias as you pass!
So per usual I had to be difficult and work at two places instead of just one…
1: Cooperativa Santa Anita de crédito y ahorros….
It is the main cooperative of Cotacachi, when I am here I follow around Luis, a 23 year indigenous young man… a typical day consist of some paperwork at the office and by 10 o’clock were off to visit clients in the communities further up in the mountains… the best part is that we travel by motorcycle! There really isn't a better way to spend the day then cruising through windy mountain roads on the back of a motorcycle!
The downside is I understand practically nothing because when you get up in the mountains a lot of the people only speak kichwa… which is nothing remotely like Spanish or English… but I really want to learn it… I already have one phrase down “ally punchga” (no clue how to spell it but that’s what it sounds like) means “good day”….
2:
Here I am working with a 24 year girl Mira who just started there as well a month ago, she is currently working on a project with “cajas de mujers.” The project first consists of doing a diagnosis of all the cajas, which are basically women’s group that take out credit from the cooperativas because it is a lot of work and paperwork and time for one person to take out credit on their own and if you only need a small amount then the cajas are a much better route…
After evaluating the cajas she’s going to make some huge report and evaluate how the cajas are doing … and then go to the communities and teach the women how to operate more effectively.
Right now we are in the stage of visiting the communities, so I go with her and another indegious woman and we sit with group meetings for sometimes as long as 3 hours talking and learning all about their caja, again a lot of this is done in kichwa…
Sometimes we stay in the office and I help here record the information about loans and debts into excel files…
I’ve only been at both places a few days because I’m splitting my time each week so I still don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing but that’s the general idea
March 30, 2010
My new home
So a few observations after day one in Cotacachi
1. my dad has longer hair than I do
2. 2. 2. I have 2 pigs, a bunch of chickens, 1 sheep, a puppy and a whole guinea pig farm
3. 3. 3. My mother, Ines, is beautiful both inside and out
4. 4. 4. My mom dresses in the traditional indigenous attire, my dad does not
5. 5. 5. my bed kind of feels like a stack of cardboard
6. 6. 6. If you’re lucky, the sink lets out a small drip when you turn it on high at night
7. 7. 7. I no dresser so I will be living out of my suitcase
8. 8. 8. We eat SO many fruits and vegetables!
9. 9. 9.All the teenage boys in the community come to my house to play video games… I have been hearing some war sort of game for the past 3 hours
10. 10. My host mom thought I was insane when I said I go to bed around 11 or 12…
And so concludes day one…
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