For October 7-10. I’ll get caught up one day.
After the game of soccer we boarded a motorized canoe (the preferred method of transportation on the rivers in this region) and headed up river to a lodge where we were going to spend the night. This lodge, the Arajuno Lodge, is owned by an American named Tom bought the land in 2002 and start construction in 2003. I won’t go as far as to say that this lodge was as nice as the first one. But, that said, it was pretty nice. Are group was split among two cabins, there was a communal lodge type building where we could hang out and where meals were serve, Tom’s house and a couple of other buildings (but I’m not sure what they were used for). And, I think the food here might have been even better – not in Amazon terms, but in a general sense of the word.
We spent most of the remainder of the afternoon swimming in the Arajuno river. After the soccer game this was a nice way to relax and cool down. However, while we were ‘relaxing’ we were constantly remembering how the ‘don’t pee in the river’ rule applied even more here – in rivers in the Amazon River basin. Basically there is this small, not so nice creature that is attracted to pee and if it catches you peeing in the water it runs up your urethra, lodges itself in there and the only way to remove it is by having an operation (sorry to be so explicit, but no one is making you read this and it is just the truth). Oh, and I forgot to mention, it is supposedly REALLY painful. So, anyways, we had a good reason to be on our best behavior in the river.
After swimming we helped (translation = watched) Tom feed the fish and the turtles he has in his breeding ponds. Since his lodge is based on ecotourism he has undertaken the task of repopulating the river with native species and, at the same time, working with the locals to make their practices more sustainable. In general it is a very interesting approach I think he has taken. He has worked with the local communities (he calls it his ‘zone of influence’ which includes about 12 miles of the river) to end the practice of dynamite fishing on the river. But, what he has been smart to realize (he wrote his master’s thesis on this) is how when you talk with communities you need to address how the issue affects (1) their income, (2) their health or (3) the future of their children. So, what he did is he worked with the communities to build fish ponds within the communities. The communities can now breed their own fish for consumption or sale and do not need to fish out of the river. As a result there is no more dynamite fishing. So, since the river is now ‘safe’ for aquatic animals he is breeding a type of fish and a type of turtle that are both native to the river. However, this is a very long term project (8 years to go, 7 already invested in it), but he is using the time he has left to work with the communities to make sure they do not hunt the turtles when they are introduced (he’s trying to work out a system where the locals agree to only consume 50% of the eggs for protein, which would allow for a sustainable turtle population).
I came away from the talk with Tom impressed by a form of development that BOTH provides alternatives to the community and creates a more sustainable environment for all inhabitants. However, I was also disheartened by this one fact… Tom has been working with the surrounding communities for 7 years, but his ‘zone of influence’ only includes 12 miles of river. This just goes to show that if we want to work with communities effectively to ensure local sustainability it is going to be a very labor intensive process. I know this is dumbing down development big time right now. But, there will be more about it in coming posts.
I met the girl of my ‘love story’ while Tom was talking to use about the fish and turtles [And I will admit I am borrowing the term ‘love story’ from the South Carolina governor, for those of you that know about that whole situation. It’s just too good to pass up…). However, I am not referring to a typical ‘love story’. Nor am I referring to a typical girl. I am actually referring to a woolly monkey named Mona. Mona was captured by hunters after the same hunters killed her mom. She started off with a different family, but Tom came across some time later and fell for her (who wouldn’t?!?) and the family gave her to him. Although the law prohibits having woolly monkeys as pets, Mona is an exception. For, once a monkey is captured they cannot be released since they won’t be able to survive in the wild. But, that aside. I do not feel bad for Mona AT ALL. She has all of Tom’s land (88 hectares I think he said and the surrounding forest) to run around, play, eat fruit and do other woolly monkey things and then she has all the human attention she could ever ask for. The one other guy in the group of 11 and I also benefited since Mona much prefers to hang out with guys (the girls of the group did NOT like this fact. I think they referred to her as ‘sexist’ on at least a couple of occasions). So, Mona would come play with me and the other guy in the group, climb on us as we walked around and sometimes sit in our laps. What a rough life!!!
Wednesday morning we made clay pots. Interestingly enough, though, the indigenous people say that if men make pots (using the coil method) they lose their masculinity. So, being culturally sensitive (and maybe a little lazy, just a little though) I opted out of the making of pots using the coil method. However, I could do whatever else I wanted to do with the clay. In the end I made a replica (in a loose sense of the term) of Mona and tried to give it to her as a gift (I told you, I had fallen for her). However, Mona failed to appreciate the gift and simply stole some of my clay and ate it… So much for that! However, she did take offense that one of the girls was sitting between me and the other guy. Mona made this very clear and I ended up switching spots with the girl so Mona would stop attacking her.
When we arrived back at our ‘base’ lodge we had a talk from the son of a local Shaman. It is very interesting because here in Ecuador doctors often work side-by-side with shamans. Shamans respect conventional medicine and send their patients to doctors at times. And, most of the doctors respect the work of the shamans. It is a very interesting system and shaman have a lot of power within communities. However, one of the directors of our program told us that once she visited a shaman because bad things were happening to her and her kids – they were getting sick, their house was robbed and many other unwanted things. They went to the shaman and one of the things they had to bring with them was uncooked chicken eggs. The shaman ran the eggs over their bodies and then broke them open. The insides of the eggs were black… Something to think about. If so many Americans believe in God or some other force/power/existence out there that cannot be explained, how can they be so quick to dismiss a form of medicine that addresses powers and forces that exist around and within us? Just a question to dwell on.
Thursday morning our small group walked into a mixture of primary and secondary forest and we were individually ‘dropped off’ to spend an hour alone in the forest. I used the time for reflection, but (to be honest) not just about the forest (a lot of things were running through my head). However, during the hour I overcame my fear of the small creatures crawling around on the forest floor. At the end we sat as a group and reflected about this experience. Everyone had reflected differently. One of the statements I remember… “If everyone spent an hour in the rainforest, no one would cut it down.” Although I wish this were true, I’ll ask this one question in response. If people are willing to kill over money, how can we expect that people will not cut down the forest for money, their livelihood or whatever it might be?
In the afternoon we took another motorized canoe upriver to a place known as ‘Amazonico’. This is a rehabilitation center for animals that have been illegally captured and/or are being bred for reintroduction into the rainforest. Two things I found interesting… First, 25% of the animals die as a result of captivity, 50% can never be released and only 25% can eventually be released into the wild. I just found these very surprising numbers. Second, it was weird seeing all of the animals in what were essentially cages. Cages might be an unfair term. These were more like pens that you would see at zoos. However, I have just gotten so used to seeing all of the animals in their natural environment it just felt… Wrong.
Thursday night most of the group (only two people stayed at the lodge) went to El Laboratorio. If I’ve ever seen a dichotomy (I think that’s the word I looking for), this was it. Here we were in the Amazon and we were at a… I don’t even know how to describe it. El Laboratorio is a medium sized (100 feet long or so), ovular shaped building that is elevated off of the ground, with a ceiling and with walls that only come up to your chest. Basically there are a couple of tables, a bench runs along the wall and the middle is a dance floor. All of this is topped off by a functioning disco ball hanging from the ceiling. So, there you are surrounded by music and a random assortment of people, with a cold beer in hand AND able to look out into the Amazon… It was really a sight and experience to remember. And an experience I don’t expect to repeat anytime soon.
On the bus ride back from the Amazon we stopped at a small town to have a quick lunch. Midway through the lunch my chair started to rock back and forth. I look around to see who could be shaking it or to see if anyone was shaking the table. Nothing… “You guys feel that,” asked one of the directors a moment later. We had just experienced a small earthquake. Another first to add to my list of things accomplished to date.
Later Friday afternoon we arrived back in Quito and, as I said early we had an evening to do laundry, catch up on email and organize our suitcases before we were to move in with our Quito host families on Saturday. My adventures in the Amazon had come to an end, but hopefully only to an end that is only temporary.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
El Oriente (Part I): Hot Springs, Ecotourism and A School Visit
This post is for October 5-9. I will not be putting up a post from the week before that since I've been a little short on time.
So, on Friday we arrived back in Quito from El Oriente (The Amazon) and had one night to catch up on email, do laundry and catch up on sleep before we move in with our Quito host families on Saturday. Sometimes I have to say it is better to stay disconnected from current events… The University of Richmond has this nifty system where they send emails to students studying abroad with pertinent information for that student’s country of study. In the last 4 days Quito and Guayaquil have been moved onto the ‘Critical’ list for safety and security (after a man carrying $44,000 was shot and killed as he went to a bank. Luckily I’m not packing that kind of cash) and the Ecuadorian government has announced that Quito, Guayaquil and Manta are ‘States of Exception’ and the military will assist the police in establishing checkpoints to control the crime. But, life here goes on as normal. I saw the translation of these words into actions last night and it simply means that soldiers are paired with the police as the patrol the streets. If it wasn’t for the difference in uniform you would never know.
But, anyways, what did we do for our four days in El Oriente?
Monday we boarded the bus after a quick breakfast and began the drive through the mountains and down to the plains of El Oriente. However, about 90 minutes into the trip we stopped at the Papallacta hot springs about 40 miles east of Quito. These hot springs are some of the most popular in Ecuador since they basically have a sulfur content of 0. At the hot springs there were different temperature pools ranging from extremely hot to bitterly cold. We started in the warm pool and then failed in our attempt to enter the extremely hot pool… Undeterred, we went into one of the bitterly cold pools and followed this with a run through the extremely hot pool. Basically, we learned that when you go in the cold pool and numb your nerves it buys you a couple of minutes in the hot pool until your body starts to register the intense heat. Is this good for the body? We really don’t know… But it actually felt really good. An hour or so later, with me feeling slightly light headed from all of the heat, we got back on the bus and continued our journey southeast.
Eventually we descended out of the cold, high altitude mountains and into the plains of El Oriente (where you are only a couple hundred meters above sea level even though you are over a thousand kilometers from the coast) and stopped in the town of Tena to pick up supplies. All I can say is that I was super psyched. I have taken several courses on the Amazon and it has become a small obsession for me. And… I was finally there!!!! What was my first impression? First, you have to remember that Tena is a town on the very fringe of El Oriente. It is a town people stop in on their way into El Oriente. However, with that in mind, I still thought it was very, very, very cool. After buying an extra t-shirt and pair of pants I walked along the Napo River with some friends, a river I had only ever seen on a map before in my life. Very quickly a lot of the mysticism I had associated with this part of the world evaporated. I was reminded this was where real people were leading real lives. And, at the same time, I had to keep telling myself … I’M ACTUALLY IN THE AMAZON!
After the stop in Tena we continued down the road (in comfort, let me add, since it was recently paved by an oil company since there was a major oil find further down the road) to the first lodge we were staying at, the Aliñahui Lodge. This lodge was nothing, absolutely nothing, like I expected! There were 8 or so cabañas, two main buildings for administration and to house the owner and his family and a cafeteria/meeting. These buildings were relatively spread out and the land between them had been cleared and some variety of rugged grass was growing. The five guys got put in cabaña 5, a building with two rooms, electricity, hammocks and a bathroom with a shower (with warm water) and a flushing toilet. We were all extremely surprised at first. After all, this lodge was in El Oriente. But, I then reminded myself that this was ecotourism at its best, or at its worst (depending on how you look at it). With these amenities they can appeal to foreign tourists (mostly from Europe) and bring in a large amount of money (in relative terms) to a rural and poor region
Tuesday morning our group of 23 was split in two (logistically it is hard to have 23 students traipsing around El Oriente) and my group headed to a local school about 10 minutes further down the road. The students at the school actually come from the town directly around the school (sometimes it’s common for students to have to travel long distances to school). In the morning we painted with the students and then ate lunch with the teachers. Throughout the day a couple of thoughts really hit home. First, how can a state require that students take a minimum of 10 years of education when the ‘colegio’ (high school) that they need to go to to accomplish this is in another town and to get there on the bus the students need to pay money that a lot of their families simply do not have? Second, is it fair to use income or education a measure of quality of life in an environment where a lot of the families are subsistence farmers (a lifestyle that does not generate an income) and a lot of the families might not see the importance in an education since it takes away one of their field hands in the immediate term and is unnecessary if the kid simply takes over the family farm. I’m not saying that these families are not poor, but I don’t think a lot of them are as poorly of as we are lead to think.
Before we left we played a game of football (soccer) in which the Americans were against the Ecuadorians. Two things you have to understand… First, the sun continuously surprises me with its intensity. We were playing out on a soccer pitch and it felt like a freaking oven (long pants and a black t-shirt [I know, the color choice was stupid] definitely did not help). It was so bad I truly thought I was going to faint at one point after I sprinted back to our goal. Second, we were playing against the entire school, their two teachers who were there and some random other people. We were heavily outnumbered. They didn’t have a goalie, but more just a wall of small kids that were eerily effective at stopping soccer balls with their bodies. So, we, not so surprisingly, lost and in the process discovered that the head teacher (an older woman) has a strong foot for shots on goal and that three people on offense just can’t succeed when they are up against what seems like an infinite number of defenders.
The adventures from El Oriente will be finished in part two…
So, on Friday we arrived back in Quito from El Oriente (The Amazon) and had one night to catch up on email, do laundry and catch up on sleep before we move in with our Quito host families on Saturday. Sometimes I have to say it is better to stay disconnected from current events… The University of Richmond has this nifty system where they send emails to students studying abroad with pertinent information for that student’s country of study. In the last 4 days Quito and Guayaquil have been moved onto the ‘Critical’ list for safety and security (after a man carrying $44,000 was shot and killed as he went to a bank. Luckily I’m not packing that kind of cash) and the Ecuadorian government has announced that Quito, Guayaquil and Manta are ‘States of Exception’ and the military will assist the police in establishing checkpoints to control the crime. But, life here goes on as normal. I saw the translation of these words into actions last night and it simply means that soldiers are paired with the police as the patrol the streets. If it wasn’t for the difference in uniform you would never know.
But, anyways, what did we do for our four days in El Oriente?
Monday we boarded the bus after a quick breakfast and began the drive through the mountains and down to the plains of El Oriente. However, about 90 minutes into the trip we stopped at the Papallacta hot springs about 40 miles east of Quito. These hot springs are some of the most popular in Ecuador since they basically have a sulfur content of 0. At the hot springs there were different temperature pools ranging from extremely hot to bitterly cold. We started in the warm pool and then failed in our attempt to enter the extremely hot pool… Undeterred, we went into one of the bitterly cold pools and followed this with a run through the extremely hot pool. Basically, we learned that when you go in the cold pool and numb your nerves it buys you a couple of minutes in the hot pool until your body starts to register the intense heat. Is this good for the body? We really don’t know… But it actually felt really good. An hour or so later, with me feeling slightly light headed from all of the heat, we got back on the bus and continued our journey southeast.
Eventually we descended out of the cold, high altitude mountains and into the plains of El Oriente (where you are only a couple hundred meters above sea level even though you are over a thousand kilometers from the coast) and stopped in the town of Tena to pick up supplies. All I can say is that I was super psyched. I have taken several courses on the Amazon and it has become a small obsession for me. And… I was finally there!!!! What was my first impression? First, you have to remember that Tena is a town on the very fringe of El Oriente. It is a town people stop in on their way into El Oriente. However, with that in mind, I still thought it was very, very, very cool. After buying an extra t-shirt and pair of pants I walked along the Napo River with some friends, a river I had only ever seen on a map before in my life. Very quickly a lot of the mysticism I had associated with this part of the world evaporated. I was reminded this was where real people were leading real lives. And, at the same time, I had to keep telling myself … I’M ACTUALLY IN THE AMAZON!
After the stop in Tena we continued down the road (in comfort, let me add, since it was recently paved by an oil company since there was a major oil find further down the road) to the first lodge we were staying at, the Aliñahui Lodge. This lodge was nothing, absolutely nothing, like I expected! There were 8 or so cabañas, two main buildings for administration and to house the owner and his family and a cafeteria/meeting. These buildings were relatively spread out and the land between them had been cleared and some variety of rugged grass was growing. The five guys got put in cabaña 5, a building with two rooms, electricity, hammocks and a bathroom with a shower (with warm water) and a flushing toilet. We were all extremely surprised at first. After all, this lodge was in El Oriente. But, I then reminded myself that this was ecotourism at its best, or at its worst (depending on how you look at it). With these amenities they can appeal to foreign tourists (mostly from Europe) and bring in a large amount of money (in relative terms) to a rural and poor region
Tuesday morning our group of 23 was split in two (logistically it is hard to have 23 students traipsing around El Oriente) and my group headed to a local school about 10 minutes further down the road. The students at the school actually come from the town directly around the school (sometimes it’s common for students to have to travel long distances to school). In the morning we painted with the students and then ate lunch with the teachers. Throughout the day a couple of thoughts really hit home. First, how can a state require that students take a minimum of 10 years of education when the ‘colegio’ (high school) that they need to go to to accomplish this is in another town and to get there on the bus the students need to pay money that a lot of their families simply do not have? Second, is it fair to use income or education a measure of quality of life in an environment where a lot of the families are subsistence farmers (a lifestyle that does not generate an income) and a lot of the families might not see the importance in an education since it takes away one of their field hands in the immediate term and is unnecessary if the kid simply takes over the family farm. I’m not saying that these families are not poor, but I don’t think a lot of them are as poorly of as we are lead to think.
Before we left we played a game of football (soccer) in which the Americans were against the Ecuadorians. Two things you have to understand… First, the sun continuously surprises me with its intensity. We were playing out on a soccer pitch and it felt like a freaking oven (long pants and a black t-shirt [I know, the color choice was stupid] definitely did not help). It was so bad I truly thought I was going to faint at one point after I sprinted back to our goal. Second, we were playing against the entire school, their two teachers who were there and some random other people. We were heavily outnumbered. They didn’t have a goalie, but more just a wall of small kids that were eerily effective at stopping soccer balls with their bodies. So, we, not so surprisingly, lost and in the process discovered that the head teacher (an older woman) has a strong foot for shots on goal and that three people on offense just can’t succeed when they are up against what seems like an infinite number of defenders.
The adventures from El Oriente will be finished in part two…
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Week Three: The Short Week (and shorter post too!!!)
Just a reminder, this is September 23-27. I’m slowly getting close to catching up. There will probably be another post later today to get full caught up.
Friday we had our first major paper due. It was called the Personal National History Paper. As I briefly said before, all of the papers we write are based on conversations and interviews we have with Ecuadorians. At times this can be tricky, but I’ve also found it is a good way to start conversations with some people. When I got my friend, the store owner, talking about how dollarization affected him I ended up being staying in the store for over an hour listening. However, it is also a little difficult getting used to basing papers of first hand interviews, rather than research conducted in the library.
That night was the first night that I skipped out on my family to go hang out with the Gringos. Some people might not understand this, but it just shows how big of the experience the home stay is here in Ecuador. Your family is truly YOUR FAMILY. For the time you are here you do everything they do, eat everything they eat and much more. Therefore, you see Ecuadorian life through the lens of your family.
However, sometimes this can be a very interesting lens to look through. Remember, here in Ecuador it is common for the kids to live with their parents until they get married. So, for example, one of my friends siblings is 29 years old… This leads to some interesting family dynamics. These 20 some year olds do not have the independence that were used to in the States. So, when we all get together as a group (SIT students) we share stories about our families and what is going on in our/their lives. And, we get stories like… So my mom keeps bugging my brother because she wants him to brush his hair. So, this morning while he was eating breakfast she brushed his hair for him… He’s 22 years old. Or… Last night I was watching tv with my my two brothers and my dad when my mom came out with the nail clippers and cut everyone’s nails… So, I think you get the point. Family dynamics here are a little bit different here.
So, Friday night I ended up at a ‘bar karaoke and cuyes’ (cuyes are guinea pigs, a delicacy here in Ecuador) since one of my friends has a brother that is into karaoke big time (she’ll be at home doing homework or something else in the house and have her mother and brother out in the tv room practicing on the karaoke machine). After an hour or two of karaoke (everyone sang) we all worked our way over to ‘Red Hot’ a club in El Triangulo, one of the main hangouts in the town. In the final count 22 of 23 students of the program showed up. I think that just goes to show, yet again, how cohesive of a group we are.
Going back to the theme of sleep. I have been more tired in this country than I can remember being for a very long time. For example, after 9 hours of sleep on Friday night I got up, ate breakfast, got ready for the day (although we weren’t going anywhere) and then went back to sleep!!! In total I ended up sleeping for between 13 and 14 hours on Saturday. And, on top of that I was tired when the end of dinner rolled around and went to bed at 10:30. Who knows…
Sunday we went to Pablo’s ‘campo’ house in another Valley north of Quito. I’m definitely becoming a fan of Ecuadorian picnics. Just in case one animal is not enough you get chicken, salchicha and a mini steak. On top of this 5 people plowed through a 3 liter bottle of Coca Cola. In regards to Coke I have definitely been noticing a trend… Families and groups of friends here love drinking Coke. At the local store down the street groups of students would buy a 2 liter bottle of Coke and polish it off before they headed home for the day. My family buys Coke when they want to hang out and talk in the Kitchen or for a meal (such as a picnic) with other families. On a practical level this makes a lot of sense. You are 100% safe drinking carbonated drinks here in Ecuador, but the same cannot be said about drinking water or juice. However, I really think that there is more to it. Coke here seems to be the symbol of hanging out and having fun with your friends. Also, it seems to be a small symbol of prosperity – it is American after all. Maybe you completely disagree with this conclusion, but my brother did tell me that ‘Coca Cola’ is the second most recognized word in the world. I haven’t checked that, but I sure do believe it.
Who is Pablo? At first I thought I knew. He was my mom’s brother. However, by the end of Sunday I was not so sure. I was starting to think that something had been lost in translation. After picking up on a lot of small clues I was starting to think that Pablo might, in fact, be my mom’s boyfriend… Hopefully I would find out in the coming week.
Friday we had our first major paper due. It was called the Personal National History Paper. As I briefly said before, all of the papers we write are based on conversations and interviews we have with Ecuadorians. At times this can be tricky, but I’ve also found it is a good way to start conversations with some people. When I got my friend, the store owner, talking about how dollarization affected him I ended up being staying in the store for over an hour listening. However, it is also a little difficult getting used to basing papers of first hand interviews, rather than research conducted in the library.
That night was the first night that I skipped out on my family to go hang out with the Gringos. Some people might not understand this, but it just shows how big of the experience the home stay is here in Ecuador. Your family is truly YOUR FAMILY. For the time you are here you do everything they do, eat everything they eat and much more. Therefore, you see Ecuadorian life through the lens of your family.
However, sometimes this can be a very interesting lens to look through. Remember, here in Ecuador it is common for the kids to live with their parents until they get married. So, for example, one of my friends siblings is 29 years old… This leads to some interesting family dynamics. These 20 some year olds do not have the independence that were used to in the States. So, when we all get together as a group (SIT students) we share stories about our families and what is going on in our/their lives. And, we get stories like… So my mom keeps bugging my brother because she wants him to brush his hair. So, this morning while he was eating breakfast she brushed his hair for him… He’s 22 years old. Or… Last night I was watching tv with my my two brothers and my dad when my mom came out with the nail clippers and cut everyone’s nails… So, I think you get the point. Family dynamics here are a little bit different here.
So, Friday night I ended up at a ‘bar karaoke and cuyes’ (cuyes are guinea pigs, a delicacy here in Ecuador) since one of my friends has a brother that is into karaoke big time (she’ll be at home doing homework or something else in the house and have her mother and brother out in the tv room practicing on the karaoke machine). After an hour or two of karaoke (everyone sang) we all worked our way over to ‘Red Hot’ a club in El Triangulo, one of the main hangouts in the town. In the final count 22 of 23 students of the program showed up. I think that just goes to show, yet again, how cohesive of a group we are.
Going back to the theme of sleep. I have been more tired in this country than I can remember being for a very long time. For example, after 9 hours of sleep on Friday night I got up, ate breakfast, got ready for the day (although we weren’t going anywhere) and then went back to sleep!!! In total I ended up sleeping for between 13 and 14 hours on Saturday. And, on top of that I was tired when the end of dinner rolled around and went to bed at 10:30. Who knows…
Sunday we went to Pablo’s ‘campo’ house in another Valley north of Quito. I’m definitely becoming a fan of Ecuadorian picnics. Just in case one animal is not enough you get chicken, salchicha and a mini steak. On top of this 5 people plowed through a 3 liter bottle of Coca Cola. In regards to Coke I have definitely been noticing a trend… Families and groups of friends here love drinking Coke. At the local store down the street groups of students would buy a 2 liter bottle of Coke and polish it off before they headed home for the day. My family buys Coke when they want to hang out and talk in the Kitchen or for a meal (such as a picnic) with other families. On a practical level this makes a lot of sense. You are 100% safe drinking carbonated drinks here in Ecuador, but the same cannot be said about drinking water or juice. However, I really think that there is more to it. Coke here seems to be the symbol of hanging out and having fun with your friends. Also, it seems to be a small symbol of prosperity – it is American after all. Maybe you completely disagree with this conclusion, but my brother did tell me that ‘Coca Cola’ is the second most recognized word in the world. I haven’t checked that, but I sure do believe it.
Who is Pablo? At first I thought I knew. He was my mom’s brother. However, by the end of Sunday I was not so sure. I was starting to think that something had been lost in translation. After picking up on a lot of small clues I was starting to think that Pablo might, in fact, be my mom’s boyfriend… Hopefully I would find out in the coming week.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
INTAG: A Loss for Words (obviously not really, but you get the point)
Again, just a side note, this is for September 19-22.
INTAG is a canopy rainforest about 4 hours northwest of Quito. At INTAG we stayed on a… I can’t really think of the word. It is part farm, part houses (4 in total) and surrounding property. It is owned by two Americans, Carlos and Sandy who are married. Carlos has lived there for about 33 years and Sandy for about 27 (I think). To get there we took a paved road for about 2 and a half hours and then a dirt road for the rest of the time. After the drive we had to walk about 45 minutes to reach the property. The girls split two of the houses and the us guys got a house to ourselves. These houses are locally constructed (I don’t want you to get the image of something overly nice), but seemed like a little slice of paradise to us. Each house had several hammocks out front that were well used during our time there. Another building, known as the round house, was used for our group meetings. It had three hammocks (again, heavily used during our time there) and overlooked the valley below and the mountains across the way. It was truly a sight to take your breath away.
From about 1996-2006/7 the residents of INTAG were resisting attempts by mining companies to buy the land and start a strip mining operation since there is gold nearby. The residents did not any part of the mining and what ensued was a protracted battle between the residents and the mining companies. So, while we were there we had several lectures/talks about the mining. I’m can’t do the story any justice, but the mining companies started by sending in anthropologists to identify the local leaders (Carlos was one of the ones identified). With that completed the companies tried to win over the residents with promises of jobs and improved standards of living (some residents did join the pro-mining camp). However, when that failed the intimidation started. That climaxed in 2006 when the mining companies got the police to issue an arrest warrant for Carlos (for assaulting a woman at an anti-mining rally. Carlos could prove he had not committed the crime – he had a video of his interactions with the lady at the rally). Carlos hid out in the surrounding mountains for the following month while his lawyer sorted out the legal issues and got his name cleared (later someone admitted that the someone was going to try to kill him while he was in jail). Now, there is no more conflict in the region (although the people of INTAG are suing the mining company and the Toronto Stock Exchange – long story there), but it is a good place to go to learn about the issue of mining and the grass roots resistance (they were the first - but not the last – to resist mining on their land). On top of that we were given a more in depth lecture on the history of Ecuador (which led to some interesting debates about capitalism – again, long story there).
The first afternoon there, Saturday afternoon, we had time to go explore the surrounding area. A couple of my friends and I made our way down to a nearby river to go for a swim. However, the directions we had been given we to the extent of ‘walk down the hill and the path will sort of disappear, but then you will see some big orange trees and follow the path to the left and you’ll be at the river’. Well, since oranges were not on the branches of the trees and there are big trees EVERYWHERE in a RAINFOREST, we ended up taking a little detour. We ended up talking farther down the river than we should of, but, as a result we found a cool bridge across the river (and when I say cool I really mean rustic and probably unsafe). Two pieces of wire were strung across the river to form hand rails. Then, every 7 feet or so wire ran between the two handrails in the shape of a ‘V’ and sticks were placed in the bottom of the ‘V’ to create a path for your feet. However, this path was only about 2 inches wide and with every step you took across you were rewarded with the sound of snapping branches – the same branches that were ‘holding’ you up. Anyways, we eventually found our way to the river and discovered the water was a little colder than we expected… It was really, really cold. When we were all in one of the girls said, in a semi-shocked voice, ‘We’re having fun. Right?’ I think that captured the moment quite well.
Saturday in the morning I went on a nature walk through the canopy rainforest with half of the group. Although my rubber boots are ill fitting (having ridiculously high arches never seems to be a good thing) and my feet were in pain after 3 hours of walking, the walk was incredible. We had the president of the local (and volunteer) forest guards lead us on the walk and talk to us about the forest. I honestly don’t remember much about what was said, but seeing the natural beauty of the forest was incredible. And, getting to climb up a couple of waterfalls only added to the fun.
Every meal was absolutely fantastic. And, the most incredible part was that all of it was homegrown (I later found out that some of it was purchased from other farms in the area, but only because we are an additional 25 mouths to feed). I mean, don’t get me wrong, the food came from ‘basic’ ingredients. However, they are extremely creative in the preparation of the food. We got to eat our first ‘safe’ salad (so this stuff might have been purchased elsewhere… But it was worth it), I learned that Yucca actually tastes really good with a lemony, garlic sauce, I learned that I LOVE fried plantains (a different variety than the banana you can buy in the states… We only import one type in the US, after all) and drink coffee while we could see the coffee tree/bush that the beans had come from (I just might have bought some to take home). But, the coolest part was just knowing that 95%+ of the food we were eating was normally grown less than 300 yards away. It is pretty cool thinking of that level of self sufficiency. You hardly ever get anything like that in the States.
Hammocks. I wasn’t kidding when I said we used them… A LOT. Students we get to the round house an hours early for the lectures to get one of the three hammocks there. They just made the relaxing atmosphere even more relaxing. And, there is something about lying in a hammock, reading a book and hearing the sounds of the rainforest in the background. These Otavalo hammocks are different than the ones you see in the States – they are all fabric and more in a U type shape. I’m already planning on buying one. All I’ll have to do when I get back to the States is figure out how to put it up in my dorm room (hopefully I can get my roommate to go for it…).
Sunday night was ‘hot seat’. For those of you who do not know this game, you go around in a circle and each person is in the ‘hot seat’ for 5 minutes. While they are in the ‘hot seat’ anyone can ask them any question. I think that fact that we were willing to spend about 2 hours going around and putting everyone in the ‘hot seat’ says something special about our group. It shows how cohesive we are and how well we all get along.
Probably the most memorable experience came on Monday. After our afternoon lecture and before dinner we started a soccer game in the field by the round house. Although the field was far from ideal for the game (halfway across the field there was a very noticeable dip in the ground and a barbed wire fence was off to the side), we played nonetheless. The game itself was a lot of fun (there’s nothing like a game of soccer to unwind during) and we even got to play with some of the locals (it was given the local feel when the Ecuadorian adult pulled out his machete to fashion a goal post from a stick…). On top of that we were on the field from which we would overlook the rainforest below and the mountain across the valley. After the game (which made my night complete by itself) a group of us ran to a nearby waterfall in our swimsuits and showered in the waterfall. Not many people can say they’ve done that.
Tuesday morning, after an early morning hike with one of the directors and several other students, we packed up and started the trip back to Los Chillos. On the way, though, we stopped in a town called Otavalo, which is well known for its artisanean market. However, we spent most of our limited time in an amazing sandwich and pie place. This reminded me more of an American restaurant with deli style sandwiches and massive pieces of pie with ice cream. Surprisingly, though, no one from our group complained. The market, most of which is in a large plaza, is quite a sight and has a ton locally produced and made goods. I won’t talk about it much since I’ll be heading back there during the debriefing session at the end of the semester, but I will say I came away as the proud owner of an alpaca sweater. From now on we have christened Wednesdays ‘Alpaca Wednesdays’ since enough of us purchased alpaca sweaters.
That’s all for now. Wednesday we returned to classes as normal. And I’ve gotten a complaint about not enough pictures… I’ll try to get some more up in the next couple of days.
INTAG is a canopy rainforest about 4 hours northwest of Quito. At INTAG we stayed on a… I can’t really think of the word. It is part farm, part houses (4 in total) and surrounding property. It is owned by two Americans, Carlos and Sandy who are married. Carlos has lived there for about 33 years and Sandy for about 27 (I think). To get there we took a paved road for about 2 and a half hours and then a dirt road for the rest of the time. After the drive we had to walk about 45 minutes to reach the property. The girls split two of the houses and the us guys got a house to ourselves. These houses are locally constructed (I don’t want you to get the image of something overly nice), but seemed like a little slice of paradise to us. Each house had several hammocks out front that were well used during our time there. Another building, known as the round house, was used for our group meetings. It had three hammocks (again, heavily used during our time there) and overlooked the valley below and the mountains across the way. It was truly a sight to take your breath away.
From about 1996-2006/7 the residents of INTAG were resisting attempts by mining companies to buy the land and start a strip mining operation since there is gold nearby. The residents did not any part of the mining and what ensued was a protracted battle between the residents and the mining companies. So, while we were there we had several lectures/talks about the mining. I’m can’t do the story any justice, but the mining companies started by sending in anthropologists to identify the local leaders (Carlos was one of the ones identified). With that completed the companies tried to win over the residents with promises of jobs and improved standards of living (some residents did join the pro-mining camp). However, when that failed the intimidation started. That climaxed in 2006 when the mining companies got the police to issue an arrest warrant for Carlos (for assaulting a woman at an anti-mining rally. Carlos could prove he had not committed the crime – he had a video of his interactions with the lady at the rally). Carlos hid out in the surrounding mountains for the following month while his lawyer sorted out the legal issues and got his name cleared (later someone admitted that the someone was going to try to kill him while he was in jail). Now, there is no more conflict in the region (although the people of INTAG are suing the mining company and the Toronto Stock Exchange – long story there), but it is a good place to go to learn about the issue of mining and the grass roots resistance (they were the first - but not the last – to resist mining on their land). On top of that we were given a more in depth lecture on the history of Ecuador (which led to some interesting debates about capitalism – again, long story there).
The first afternoon there, Saturday afternoon, we had time to go explore the surrounding area. A couple of my friends and I made our way down to a nearby river to go for a swim. However, the directions we had been given we to the extent of ‘walk down the hill and the path will sort of disappear, but then you will see some big orange trees and follow the path to the left and you’ll be at the river’. Well, since oranges were not on the branches of the trees and there are big trees EVERYWHERE in a RAINFOREST, we ended up taking a little detour. We ended up talking farther down the river than we should of, but, as a result we found a cool bridge across the river (and when I say cool I really mean rustic and probably unsafe). Two pieces of wire were strung across the river to form hand rails. Then, every 7 feet or so wire ran between the two handrails in the shape of a ‘V’ and sticks were placed in the bottom of the ‘V’ to create a path for your feet. However, this path was only about 2 inches wide and with every step you took across you were rewarded with the sound of snapping branches – the same branches that were ‘holding’ you up. Anyways, we eventually found our way to the river and discovered the water was a little colder than we expected… It was really, really cold. When we were all in one of the girls said, in a semi-shocked voice, ‘We’re having fun. Right?’ I think that captured the moment quite well.
Saturday in the morning I went on a nature walk through the canopy rainforest with half of the group. Although my rubber boots are ill fitting (having ridiculously high arches never seems to be a good thing) and my feet were in pain after 3 hours of walking, the walk was incredible. We had the president of the local (and volunteer) forest guards lead us on the walk and talk to us about the forest. I honestly don’t remember much about what was said, but seeing the natural beauty of the forest was incredible. And, getting to climb up a couple of waterfalls only added to the fun.
Every meal was absolutely fantastic. And, the most incredible part was that all of it was homegrown (I later found out that some of it was purchased from other farms in the area, but only because we are an additional 25 mouths to feed). I mean, don’t get me wrong, the food came from ‘basic’ ingredients. However, they are extremely creative in the preparation of the food. We got to eat our first ‘safe’ salad (so this stuff might have been purchased elsewhere… But it was worth it), I learned that Yucca actually tastes really good with a lemony, garlic sauce, I learned that I LOVE fried plantains (a different variety than the banana you can buy in the states… We only import one type in the US, after all) and drink coffee while we could see the coffee tree/bush that the beans had come from (I just might have bought some to take home). But, the coolest part was just knowing that 95%+ of the food we were eating was normally grown less than 300 yards away. It is pretty cool thinking of that level of self sufficiency. You hardly ever get anything like that in the States.
Hammocks. I wasn’t kidding when I said we used them… A LOT. Students we get to the round house an hours early for the lectures to get one of the three hammocks there. They just made the relaxing atmosphere even more relaxing. And, there is something about lying in a hammock, reading a book and hearing the sounds of the rainforest in the background. These Otavalo hammocks are different than the ones you see in the States – they are all fabric and more in a U type shape. I’m already planning on buying one. All I’ll have to do when I get back to the States is figure out how to put it up in my dorm room (hopefully I can get my roommate to go for it…).
Sunday night was ‘hot seat’. For those of you who do not know this game, you go around in a circle and each person is in the ‘hot seat’ for 5 minutes. While they are in the ‘hot seat’ anyone can ask them any question. I think that fact that we were willing to spend about 2 hours going around and putting everyone in the ‘hot seat’ says something special about our group. It shows how cohesive we are and how well we all get along.
Probably the most memorable experience came on Monday. After our afternoon lecture and before dinner we started a soccer game in the field by the round house. Although the field was far from ideal for the game (halfway across the field there was a very noticeable dip in the ground and a barbed wire fence was off to the side), we played nonetheless. The game itself was a lot of fun (there’s nothing like a game of soccer to unwind during) and we even got to play with some of the locals (it was given the local feel when the Ecuadorian adult pulled out his machete to fashion a goal post from a stick…). On top of that we were on the field from which we would overlook the rainforest below and the mountain across the valley. After the game (which made my night complete by itself) a group of us ran to a nearby waterfall in our swimsuits and showered in the waterfall. Not many people can say they’ve done that.
Tuesday morning, after an early morning hike with one of the directors and several other students, we packed up and started the trip back to Los Chillos. On the way, though, we stopped in a town called Otavalo, which is well known for its artisanean market. However, we spent most of our limited time in an amazing sandwich and pie place. This reminded me more of an American restaurant with deli style sandwiches and massive pieces of pie with ice cream. Surprisingly, though, no one from our group complained. The market, most of which is in a large plaza, is quite a sight and has a ton locally produced and made goods. I won’t talk about it much since I’ll be heading back there during the debriefing session at the end of the semester, but I will say I came away as the proud owner of an alpaca sweater. From now on we have christened Wednesdays ‘Alpaca Wednesdays’ since enough of us purchased alpaca sweaters.
That’s all for now. Wednesday we returned to classes as normal. And I’ve gotten a complaint about not enough pictures… I’ll try to get some more up in the next couple of days.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Week Two: Spanish, Dinner with the Ex-Husband and My Two New Friends
Two things to note. First, I am talking about the week of September 14-18, so don’t get confused. I’m still catching up. Second, I am counting the week as week two since it is the second week I have been with my host family, even though I have been in country for just under three weeks (scary thought. I know). And, warning, this is a long one. No one is forcing you to read it, but it has some good background information.
The second week can be best described as the slow week of frustration. You have started to make a routine for yourself, but things seemed to slow down big time (it varies from family to family, obviously, but a lot of the students would agree with this assessment). At the same time, a good number of people started to become frustrated with their Spanish. Think about it. We have been making fools of ourselves now for over a week. For the first week it is easy to laugh it off when you cannot communicate to well with the people around you. However, the second week you just start to get frustrated. The people here don’t see you as a person with a personality or anything else. It definitely started to eat away at me. The good news is that the 2 co-directors of our program have done this for years and have a pretty good feel for how the average student is going to feel each week.
So, during the week we had an afternoon session where we talked about ‘language learning’. During the session they talked about how, in general, people learn a foreign language in a foreign country. Picture yourself as a dot and the knowledge begins to accumulate around you in the shape of a circle. However, you don’t feel like anything has changed what-so-ever. During this time you have some fantastic conversations with people and you have some conversations where you wonder if you have ever learned Spanish before in your life. Eventually you make a leap up to the next level and the process repeats itself (although your starting skills are at a slightly higher level). I definitely came out of this talk feeling a little better, but that only lasted for a little while until the frustration overpower the logic.
Also, during this week I started to become extremely tired. I would get home from class and need to talk a 1-2 hour nap just to be able to make it through to bed time. Some might disagree with me, but I firmly believe that learning a new language and being surround by it 24-7 definitely wears you out. Your brain is like a sponge, but it can only absorb so much before it needs a break.
However, the week did also include a couple of interesting moments…
Monday night I found myself talking to my mom about the machista culture in Ecuador. So, what is the machista culture. Basically, there is a train of thought in Ecuador with a very defined role for the woman in a house. Women are there to look after the children, prepare the meals, keep the house clean and cater to the men in the family. Under this train of thought the men do not help in the kitchen (not even clear their plates from the table), essentially keep the women from going out (after all their role is IN the house) and are the authority in the house. Not all men follow this train of thought, but I’ve noticed it is present to at least a small degree in most men. During our conversation on Monday night my mom tells me that the reason she divorced her husband is because he was extremely machista and it was passed onto the kids. All I can say is that THIS EXPLAINS A LOT. After dinner my 2 brothers don’t even make an attempt to clear their places. They just watch as I clear mine. And, there is a weird power struggle going on since my mom is the authority figure, but deep down inside my brothers are hardwired against having a female authority figure. Hard to explain, I know, but it is noticeable.
Tuesday night I went to parent’s night with my mom at Martin’s school. I sat down at one of the desks and looked around… As I am sure you could guess I was the only white skinned, blond haired person in the room. However, the teacher still came over to me, gave me a piece of paper asking which students parent I was and wholeheartedly expected me to fill it out. I don’t know what she was thinking, but I think she would have known if she had a gringo kid in her class!!!!
And, the fun wasn’t over yet. Raul and Martin’s dad (ex-husband to my mom) was in town and wanted to take us (his two children and me) out to dinner. When he stopped by the first time (earlier in the night) I learned that my mom and him aren’t too good at talking face-to-face (at least one wall separated them at each time), but were still hindered while they shouted at each other. Anyways, the second time he came by my mom was out of the house and we went out with him to Pizza Hut for dinner. What ensued was probably one of the most awkward dinners of my life (but, at least I had been craving pizza!). Raul got up to go to the bathroom shortly after we sat down and the crosshairs of my father were turned to me… Two things I learned quickly. One, when he gets upset he talks really fast. Two, gets upset when he talks about his ex-wife in general and her new boyfriend in particular. So, there I am sitting at the table while he starts to grill me about the new boyfriend. Where does he live? What’s he like? Have you seen him? However, all of this was in extremely rapid Spanish and I looked like a complete fool as I attempted to answer his questions (mostly just telling him I didn’t know anything) and repeatedly asked him to slow down. Anyways, Raul came back to the table and I returned to the tactic of only making eye contact with the food on my plate. I made it through dinner, but not before my brother dragged me into the argument on his side and in the telling of a lie… His dad especially doesn’t like the point that his ex-wife ever goes out with her friends or her boyfriend in the evening. After all, her job is to stay at home and watch Martin. I don’t know which side of this argument you would fall on, but it was awkward non-the-less.
Thursday I went to a museum in Quito with my Spanish class. However, getting there was not as easy as I would have expected… I have been repeatedly encountering a problem with directions. I stop in the street and ask someone for directions to a location and am sent in the ‘correct’ direction by an ever-so-helpful Ecuadorian… However, two blocks later I stop and ask someone else and am sent right back in the direction I just came from. Some people might think that this has to do with my lack of ability to speak Spanish. However, that’s not the case (at least 99% of the time). So, I have been trying to find another explanation. Although my mom here tells me that I must be asking ignorant people and should ask people who are dressed in nicer clothing (there really is a strong classist attitude here), I think it has to do with how helpful the Ecuadorians want to be. After all, you can’t be helpful if you do not know the answer to the question. So, instead, I think that they take their best guess and present it as fact. I guess that is nice, but it has led to me getting quite lost on a couple of occasions.
So, there I am in Quito on Thursday morning at 9:20 AM. I got off the bus coming from Los Chillos and knew I was within a couple of blocks of my destination (the group was meeting at 9:30 and we were entering the museum at 10 AM). I ask a man where the ‘Museo Nacional: Banco Nacional del Ecuador ‘ is and am sent on my way. But, today I am smarter than I have been in the past. I have learned from my mistakes. So, I stop every couple of blocks as I walk along and ask for directions again and again. Time is ticking (it’s 9:45) and I am walking at a brisk pace down the street. At 9:55 I show up in front of my destination… And I realize I am at the actual National Bank, not the museum I was aiming for. There I am, looking dazed and confused, when I make my new – unwanted – friend. An older, homeless lady comes up to me and asks what the time is. Before I know it I am in a conversation with her and she invites me over to her house for lunch… ‘Bad idea’ I tell myself, so I say thank you and walk away. She follows. ‘Can she come to my house for lunch then?’. ‘No’ I say again. She starts grabbing me by the arm (it wasn’t forceful, but it is still making me nervous). My hands shoot to my pockets just in case this was a distraction for a pickpocket. With her in tow telling me she can be mi companera on my journey (and me telling her I don’t want help, none-the-less a companera), I walk up to the bank and ask a gentleman for directions. He points me in the right direction (I really mean it this time) and I cross the street still trying to lose my new friend and looking for a cab (I was petrified she was going to get in the cab with me). I turn around… And realized I had lost her! I flag down a cab right as she reappears grabbing at my arm again, frantically climb in (hitting my head in the process) and slam the door behind me. I was glad to be in a cab, away from mi companera, even though we drove back the way I came to a building I had passed 30 minutes earlier, was charged double the amount I should have been (because of ‘traffic’) and didn’t meet up with my group until 10:15 AM.
When I got home on Thursday I stopped by the little corner shop down the street. By the time I left I was determined to have made a new friend. I had been scouting out my target for the previous couple of days. The store owner is an elderly gentleman who spends a lot of his time simply sitting in the shop watching tv (it’s not that busy of a store). So, I figured I could go in, buy a Coke and talk to him for a while. What ensued beat all of my wildest expectations. First, this guy must be pretty bored. Second, he likes to talk. I ended up staying in the store for about an hour talking to him about different events. Most importantly, though, I was talking in Spanish. This gives me a place I can go in the afternoons to talk even more Spanish when most of my family is either busy or out of the house.
By Friday I was overcome by frustration with Spanish. It’s hard to explain, but it was pretty bad. I was just happy that we would be going to INTAG, a canopy rainforest north of Quito, with my group of gringos for 4 days of relaxation and ENGLISH!!!
The second week can be best described as the slow week of frustration. You have started to make a routine for yourself, but things seemed to slow down big time (it varies from family to family, obviously, but a lot of the students would agree with this assessment). At the same time, a good number of people started to become frustrated with their Spanish. Think about it. We have been making fools of ourselves now for over a week. For the first week it is easy to laugh it off when you cannot communicate to well with the people around you. However, the second week you just start to get frustrated. The people here don’t see you as a person with a personality or anything else. It definitely started to eat away at me. The good news is that the 2 co-directors of our program have done this for years and have a pretty good feel for how the average student is going to feel each week.
So, during the week we had an afternoon session where we talked about ‘language learning’. During the session they talked about how, in general, people learn a foreign language in a foreign country. Picture yourself as a dot and the knowledge begins to accumulate around you in the shape of a circle. However, you don’t feel like anything has changed what-so-ever. During this time you have some fantastic conversations with people and you have some conversations where you wonder if you have ever learned Spanish before in your life. Eventually you make a leap up to the next level and the process repeats itself (although your starting skills are at a slightly higher level). I definitely came out of this talk feeling a little better, but that only lasted for a little while until the frustration overpower the logic.
Also, during this week I started to become extremely tired. I would get home from class and need to talk a 1-2 hour nap just to be able to make it through to bed time. Some might disagree with me, but I firmly believe that learning a new language and being surround by it 24-7 definitely wears you out. Your brain is like a sponge, but it can only absorb so much before it needs a break.
However, the week did also include a couple of interesting moments…
Monday night I found myself talking to my mom about the machista culture in Ecuador. So, what is the machista culture. Basically, there is a train of thought in Ecuador with a very defined role for the woman in a house. Women are there to look after the children, prepare the meals, keep the house clean and cater to the men in the family. Under this train of thought the men do not help in the kitchen (not even clear their plates from the table), essentially keep the women from going out (after all their role is IN the house) and are the authority in the house. Not all men follow this train of thought, but I’ve noticed it is present to at least a small degree in most men. During our conversation on Monday night my mom tells me that the reason she divorced her husband is because he was extremely machista and it was passed onto the kids. All I can say is that THIS EXPLAINS A LOT. After dinner my 2 brothers don’t even make an attempt to clear their places. They just watch as I clear mine. And, there is a weird power struggle going on since my mom is the authority figure, but deep down inside my brothers are hardwired against having a female authority figure. Hard to explain, I know, but it is noticeable.
Tuesday night I went to parent’s night with my mom at Martin’s school. I sat down at one of the desks and looked around… As I am sure you could guess I was the only white skinned, blond haired person in the room. However, the teacher still came over to me, gave me a piece of paper asking which students parent I was and wholeheartedly expected me to fill it out. I don’t know what she was thinking, but I think she would have known if she had a gringo kid in her class!!!!
And, the fun wasn’t over yet. Raul and Martin’s dad (ex-husband to my mom) was in town and wanted to take us (his two children and me) out to dinner. When he stopped by the first time (earlier in the night) I learned that my mom and him aren’t too good at talking face-to-face (at least one wall separated them at each time), but were still hindered while they shouted at each other. Anyways, the second time he came by my mom was out of the house and we went out with him to Pizza Hut for dinner. What ensued was probably one of the most awkward dinners of my life (but, at least I had been craving pizza!). Raul got up to go to the bathroom shortly after we sat down and the crosshairs of my father were turned to me… Two things I learned quickly. One, when he gets upset he talks really fast. Two, gets upset when he talks about his ex-wife in general and her new boyfriend in particular. So, there I am sitting at the table while he starts to grill me about the new boyfriend. Where does he live? What’s he like? Have you seen him? However, all of this was in extremely rapid Spanish and I looked like a complete fool as I attempted to answer his questions (mostly just telling him I didn’t know anything) and repeatedly asked him to slow down. Anyways, Raul came back to the table and I returned to the tactic of only making eye contact with the food on my plate. I made it through dinner, but not before my brother dragged me into the argument on his side and in the telling of a lie… His dad especially doesn’t like the point that his ex-wife ever goes out with her friends or her boyfriend in the evening. After all, her job is to stay at home and watch Martin. I don’t know which side of this argument you would fall on, but it was awkward non-the-less.
Thursday I went to a museum in Quito with my Spanish class. However, getting there was not as easy as I would have expected… I have been repeatedly encountering a problem with directions. I stop in the street and ask someone for directions to a location and am sent in the ‘correct’ direction by an ever-so-helpful Ecuadorian… However, two blocks later I stop and ask someone else and am sent right back in the direction I just came from. Some people might think that this has to do with my lack of ability to speak Spanish. However, that’s not the case (at least 99% of the time). So, I have been trying to find another explanation. Although my mom here tells me that I must be asking ignorant people and should ask people who are dressed in nicer clothing (there really is a strong classist attitude here), I think it has to do with how helpful the Ecuadorians want to be. After all, you can’t be helpful if you do not know the answer to the question. So, instead, I think that they take their best guess and present it as fact. I guess that is nice, but it has led to me getting quite lost on a couple of occasions.
So, there I am in Quito on Thursday morning at 9:20 AM. I got off the bus coming from Los Chillos and knew I was within a couple of blocks of my destination (the group was meeting at 9:30 and we were entering the museum at 10 AM). I ask a man where the ‘Museo Nacional: Banco Nacional del Ecuador ‘ is and am sent on my way. But, today I am smarter than I have been in the past. I have learned from my mistakes. So, I stop every couple of blocks as I walk along and ask for directions again and again. Time is ticking (it’s 9:45) and I am walking at a brisk pace down the street. At 9:55 I show up in front of my destination… And I realize I am at the actual National Bank, not the museum I was aiming for. There I am, looking dazed and confused, when I make my new – unwanted – friend. An older, homeless lady comes up to me and asks what the time is. Before I know it I am in a conversation with her and she invites me over to her house for lunch… ‘Bad idea’ I tell myself, so I say thank you and walk away. She follows. ‘Can she come to my house for lunch then?’. ‘No’ I say again. She starts grabbing me by the arm (it wasn’t forceful, but it is still making me nervous). My hands shoot to my pockets just in case this was a distraction for a pickpocket. With her in tow telling me she can be mi companera on my journey (and me telling her I don’t want help, none-the-less a companera), I walk up to the bank and ask a gentleman for directions. He points me in the right direction (I really mean it this time) and I cross the street still trying to lose my new friend and looking for a cab (I was petrified she was going to get in the cab with me). I turn around… And realized I had lost her! I flag down a cab right as she reappears grabbing at my arm again, frantically climb in (hitting my head in the process) and slam the door behind me. I was glad to be in a cab, away from mi companera, even though we drove back the way I came to a building I had passed 30 minutes earlier, was charged double the amount I should have been (because of ‘traffic’) and didn’t meet up with my group until 10:15 AM.
When I got home on Thursday I stopped by the little corner shop down the street. By the time I left I was determined to have made a new friend. I had been scouting out my target for the previous couple of days. The store owner is an elderly gentleman who spends a lot of his time simply sitting in the shop watching tv (it’s not that busy of a store). So, I figured I could go in, buy a Coke and talk to him for a while. What ensued beat all of my wildest expectations. First, this guy must be pretty bored. Second, he likes to talk. I ended up staying in the store for about an hour talking to him about different events. Most importantly, though, I was talking in Spanish. This gives me a place I can go in the afternoons to talk even more Spanish when most of my family is either busy or out of the house.
By Friday I was overcome by frustration with Spanish. It’s hard to explain, but it was pretty bad. I was just happy that we would be going to INTAG, a canopy rainforest north of Quito, with my group of gringos for 4 days of relaxation and ENGLISH!!!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Ambato: Voting, Sightseeing and a Lunch to Remember
Sorry I’ve dropped the ball this past week and a bit. Expect a flurry of posts in the next couple of days while I get caught up.
Saturday morning (September 12) we left to go visit the grandparents and my mom’s brother’s family in the city of Ambato. Ambato is the capital of the province of Tungurahua, is referred to as the ‘Cradle of the Three Juans’ since it was the birthplace of three notable Ecuadorians and is overlooked by the active Tungurahua volcano which destroyed a good portion of the valley when it last erupted in the mid-twentieth century. It is also the home of my mom and her family.
After lunch I walked to the nearby school (colegio) with Raul and his grandfather so that his grandfather could vote (for his wife) in a local election. I am not entirely sure what the local election was for. They were explaining to me what is essentially a local credit union, but I could not figure out why there were elections for it. I get the feeling that at least in Ambato the credit union is essentially a government entity. But, the coolest part was seeing the electoral process in action in another country. We always read about ballot stuffing and all of the things that go wrong in the newspapers. But, I feel like we don’t hear enough about the successes of the democratic processes in other countries. In the school there were over 25 voting stations, each one dealing with a different range in the alphabet. At each voting station the voter had to show their ID, which was checked against a list of names, before they were given a paper ballot and the voter could circle their choices (up to 3 for this election). And, even more interesting, voting is required of all Ecuadorian citizens (there are exceptions for age, travelling, disability, etc.). If you do not vote (you can prove that you voted since everyone receives a paper ‘receipt’) you cannot get a passport (which allows you to leave the country), get an identity card (which is necessary to get a job) and get a driver’s license, among other things. Basically, if you don’t vote the vast majority of your civil rights are suspended… But, as a result, the voter turnout is close to 100% (if you subtract those who are not required to vote).
Saturday night we ended up at my mom’s brother’s house for la merienda. For those of you who have never heard of merienda before… A brief explanation.
In Ecuador almuerzo is by far the largest meal of the day. Dinner, which is called merienda (unless you are having a formal dinner in which case it is called cena) is typically much smaller. At its most basic it consists of bread and coffee/tea/hot chocolate, but can vary a lot from family to family. Tonight, for example, I had two small ham and cheese sandwiches and a cup of coffee. And sometimes it can consist of some more carbs (rice, potatoes, etc.) with meat. However, regardless of the meal, Ecuadorians LOVE, LOVE, LOVE carbs. It is not uncommon for every portion on your plate with the exception of one to be carbohydrates. The best example I have so far… One day I was having pasta with chicken for lunch. However, just in case that was not enough, they gave me a side plate of rice. I was shocked, but… I still ate the rice.
Back to the main story… We were at my mom’s brother’s house for merienda and I was talking to them in Spanish trying to explain what my dad does (some of you should know how hard that can be… Even in English). However, I was amazed by how supportive the family (and everyone else I have spoken to) has been while I butcher their language. I can’t figure out why the people here are so supportive. In Spain I have been outright laughed at in the past, but here everyone is extremely nice while I learn Spanish. I think part of it is the fact that very few adults I have met can speak English. However, even the kids who can speak English well (there are a decent number) never say anything negative. For lack of another reason, I’ll just write it off with the general kindness and helpfulness of every Ecuadorian I have met so far.
The following morning we set out on our tour of the surrounding area. We started off driving through an indigenous village and then people in the car started to mention banos. Now, for those of you who know Spanish banos means bathrooms. So, there I was, sitting in the car waiting to stop somewhere so that people could use the bathroom. However, we kept on driving. Obviously I was missing something, but I couldn’t figure out what. So we continued on our tour. We drove to a bridge from where you could look down several hundred feet and see a raging river below (I was later told that it was a favorite spot for suicides... It’s probably better that they tell me all of these things only after we leave) and then to a lookout with a cable car (open air with room for about say 4 people) across the river (we did not take the cable car, but it did look pretty cool). From there we drove through a couple of tunnels and we were suddenly in the Amazon (el oriente). In el oriente we stopped at a water fall before we piled back into the car. I had personally been hoping to walk around some more and see the sights on foot, but the my preferred being a ‘car’ tourist.
And then we had lunch… Some more background.
Some of the real treats about studying abroad in a developing country are the health concerns that there are. During orientation we were essentially told that we should expect to get sick while we are here. And, when I say sick, I mean sick. We were all given rehydration salts (the Spanish saying here goes that you can’t die if you drink lots of water and consume the salts) to use when we get sick (and the ‘good news’ is that there is only one stomach sickness we can get here where you actually dehydrate faster than you can physically rehydrate) and were told of what foods to avoid (fruits and vegetables without thick outer skins, street food and water). These sicknesses normally only last 24 hours (of both vomiting and the runs), but for at least a couple of those hours you feel like you are going to die and if you don’t keep drinking water you run the risk of passing out (sounds fun. doesn’t it?). So, we all have this little piece of not so comforting information while we go about our daily lives here.
So, we stop at a restaurant in the town of Banos for lunch and order our meals. My first warning sign was seeing heads of lettuce being stored on the ground in one of the rooms off to the side. Before the food arrived I was already feeling a little iffy about the food. Then, the soup came out. There I am looking at my soup with little pieces of vegetables floating around (another thing that caught my attention). Looking for an excuse to get out of eating this first course I ask what kind of soup it is… I am told, “oh, it’s chicken soup.” Where’s the chicken, I ask myself. I proceed to push my spoon to the bottom of the soup and drag up a piece of ‘chicken’. Now, I am hardly a chicken expert, but looking at this meat I knew this chicken had NOT lead a good OR healthy life (you probably think I am over reacting, but you should have seen this meat!!!). For the next couple of minutes I play with my soup, just hoping it would go away. Finally, I fill up my spoon, put it to my lips and take a taste. Before anything even registers I am putting the spoon back in the bowl and telling everyone I don’t like the soup. Next, the fish I ordered comes out and I happily note that the fish was well cooked with its skin still on (by this point I am completely paranoid, but when you eat well cooked fish with its skin still on it is relatively safe. Normally skin, fried, cooked until crispy = good). Using my rice as a buffer zone between my fish and the vegetables (including that lettuce I had seen earlier) I ate the fish and the fried potatoes. The fish was surprisingly good and at least the lunch filled me up, but I spent the rest of the afternoon knowing for sure I was about to get deathly ill.
We got home in time for dinner on Sunday night and… MY MOM EVEN ASKED ME HOW MY STOMACH WAS FEELING (I probably would have started feeling ill in the evening)!!! In my mind that just supported everything I ‘knew’ about what I had eaten for lunch. I went to bed expecting to be woken up by my stomach in the middle of the night. However, Monday morning rolled around and I was still feeling fine. I had made it through another weekend and, even better, I had not gotten sick.
Saturday morning (September 12) we left to go visit the grandparents and my mom’s brother’s family in the city of Ambato. Ambato is the capital of the province of Tungurahua, is referred to as the ‘Cradle of the Three Juans’ since it was the birthplace of three notable Ecuadorians and is overlooked by the active Tungurahua volcano which destroyed a good portion of the valley when it last erupted in the mid-twentieth century. It is also the home of my mom and her family.
After lunch I walked to the nearby school (colegio) with Raul and his grandfather so that his grandfather could vote (for his wife) in a local election. I am not entirely sure what the local election was for. They were explaining to me what is essentially a local credit union, but I could not figure out why there were elections for it. I get the feeling that at least in Ambato the credit union is essentially a government entity. But, the coolest part was seeing the electoral process in action in another country. We always read about ballot stuffing and all of the things that go wrong in the newspapers. But, I feel like we don’t hear enough about the successes of the democratic processes in other countries. In the school there were over 25 voting stations, each one dealing with a different range in the alphabet. At each voting station the voter had to show their ID, which was checked against a list of names, before they were given a paper ballot and the voter could circle their choices (up to 3 for this election). And, even more interesting, voting is required of all Ecuadorian citizens (there are exceptions for age, travelling, disability, etc.). If you do not vote (you can prove that you voted since everyone receives a paper ‘receipt’) you cannot get a passport (which allows you to leave the country), get an identity card (which is necessary to get a job) and get a driver’s license, among other things. Basically, if you don’t vote the vast majority of your civil rights are suspended… But, as a result, the voter turnout is close to 100% (if you subtract those who are not required to vote).
Saturday night we ended up at my mom’s brother’s house for la merienda. For those of you who have never heard of merienda before… A brief explanation.
In Ecuador almuerzo is by far the largest meal of the day. Dinner, which is called merienda (unless you are having a formal dinner in which case it is called cena) is typically much smaller. At its most basic it consists of bread and coffee/tea/hot chocolate, but can vary a lot from family to family. Tonight, for example, I had two small ham and cheese sandwiches and a cup of coffee. And sometimes it can consist of some more carbs (rice, potatoes, etc.) with meat. However, regardless of the meal, Ecuadorians LOVE, LOVE, LOVE carbs. It is not uncommon for every portion on your plate with the exception of one to be carbohydrates. The best example I have so far… One day I was having pasta with chicken for lunch. However, just in case that was not enough, they gave me a side plate of rice. I was shocked, but… I still ate the rice.
Back to the main story… We were at my mom’s brother’s house for merienda and I was talking to them in Spanish trying to explain what my dad does (some of you should know how hard that can be… Even in English). However, I was amazed by how supportive the family (and everyone else I have spoken to) has been while I butcher their language. I can’t figure out why the people here are so supportive. In Spain I have been outright laughed at in the past, but here everyone is extremely nice while I learn Spanish. I think part of it is the fact that very few adults I have met can speak English. However, even the kids who can speak English well (there are a decent number) never say anything negative. For lack of another reason, I’ll just write it off with the general kindness and helpfulness of every Ecuadorian I have met so far.
The following morning we set out on our tour of the surrounding area. We started off driving through an indigenous village and then people in the car started to mention banos. Now, for those of you who know Spanish banos means bathrooms. So, there I was, sitting in the car waiting to stop somewhere so that people could use the bathroom. However, we kept on driving. Obviously I was missing something, but I couldn’t figure out what. So we continued on our tour. We drove to a bridge from where you could look down several hundred feet and see a raging river below (I was later told that it was a favorite spot for suicides... It’s probably better that they tell me all of these things only after we leave) and then to a lookout with a cable car (open air with room for about say 4 people) across the river (we did not take the cable car, but it did look pretty cool). From there we drove through a couple of tunnels and we were suddenly in the Amazon (el oriente). In el oriente we stopped at a water fall before we piled back into the car. I had personally been hoping to walk around some more and see the sights on foot, but the my preferred being a ‘car’ tourist.
And then we had lunch… Some more background.
Some of the real treats about studying abroad in a developing country are the health concerns that there are. During orientation we were essentially told that we should expect to get sick while we are here. And, when I say sick, I mean sick. We were all given rehydration salts (the Spanish saying here goes that you can’t die if you drink lots of water and consume the salts) to use when we get sick (and the ‘good news’ is that there is only one stomach sickness we can get here where you actually dehydrate faster than you can physically rehydrate) and were told of what foods to avoid (fruits and vegetables without thick outer skins, street food and water). These sicknesses normally only last 24 hours (of both vomiting and the runs), but for at least a couple of those hours you feel like you are going to die and if you don’t keep drinking water you run the risk of passing out (sounds fun. doesn’t it?). So, we all have this little piece of not so comforting information while we go about our daily lives here.
So, we stop at a restaurant in the town of Banos for lunch and order our meals. My first warning sign was seeing heads of lettuce being stored on the ground in one of the rooms off to the side. Before the food arrived I was already feeling a little iffy about the food. Then, the soup came out. There I am looking at my soup with little pieces of vegetables floating around (another thing that caught my attention). Looking for an excuse to get out of eating this first course I ask what kind of soup it is… I am told, “oh, it’s chicken soup.” Where’s the chicken, I ask myself. I proceed to push my spoon to the bottom of the soup and drag up a piece of ‘chicken’. Now, I am hardly a chicken expert, but looking at this meat I knew this chicken had NOT lead a good OR healthy life (you probably think I am over reacting, but you should have seen this meat!!!). For the next couple of minutes I play with my soup, just hoping it would go away. Finally, I fill up my spoon, put it to my lips and take a taste. Before anything even registers I am putting the spoon back in the bowl and telling everyone I don’t like the soup. Next, the fish I ordered comes out and I happily note that the fish was well cooked with its skin still on (by this point I am completely paranoid, but when you eat well cooked fish with its skin still on it is relatively safe. Normally skin, fried, cooked until crispy = good). Using my rice as a buffer zone between my fish and the vegetables (including that lettuce I had seen earlier) I ate the fish and the fried potatoes. The fish was surprisingly good and at least the lunch filled me up, but I spent the rest of the afternoon knowing for sure I was about to get deathly ill.
We got home in time for dinner on Sunday night and… MY MOM EVEN ASKED ME HOW MY STOMACH WAS FEELING (I probably would have started feeling ill in the evening)!!! In my mind that just supported everything I ‘knew’ about what I had eaten for lunch. I went to bed expecting to be woken up by my stomach in the middle of the night. However, Monday morning rolled around and I was still feeling fine. I had made it through another weekend and, even better, I had not gotten sick.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
One week down?! Classes, soccer, casinos and my younger brother
Time got away on me this weekend, but this was supposed to go up on Friday… So I am just going to pretend that it is Friday in this post.
By Friday afternoon I had officially been with my home stay family in Los Chillos for one week – although it felt like ages – and had made it through my first week of classes.
Monday morning we were taken to class by a member of our host family so we could get acquainted with the route. My trip entails a 90 second bus ride – in which I only have enough time to pay my $0.20, awkwardly fall on some random Ecuadorian as I pay my $0.20 and get off the bus – and a 2 or 3 kilometer walk. Luckily there are 4 other students that live in my development, so we are all able to make the commute to school and home again together. Come Monday afternoon us gringos were on our own to get home. Me and my friends in the same development were fine, but one of the other girls in the group deserves a special mention… She successfully got on the first of two busses she needed to take to get home. However, confused by the fact that the buses do not stop unless you ask them to (and you can ask to get off anywhere along the route) she missed her stop. She eventually managed to get off the bus in an indigenous village on one of the nearby mountains. She boarded a second bus to go back down the mountain. On the ride down, however, her nerves acted up and she vomited on the bus. On a positive note… She did eventually make it home.
So, what do classes entail? It is way too easy to forget that I am actually here for an ACADEMIC semester abroad since I come home and the national past time is watching tv (I swear I have seen more tv in the last week than I see during an entire normal semester). Every morning during the week we have Spanish classes that start at 8 AM (and for class I am in a group with only 4 other people). The first 2 hours normally focus on grammar/verb tenses (all that fun stuff) and then at 10 AM we get our 20 minute break. Next we have a Taller (workshop) class where we study different aspects of Ecuador (last week it was a basic overview of Ecuador’s history) until 11:50 AM. The last hour (12 PM – 1 PM)… Well, we haven’t been able to figure that out yet. Some days it includes grammar and verbs, other days it includes games. Regardless of the emphasis of the class, however, they all focus on the students’ ability to speak the language. Everything else is secondary since they realize that speaking the language is the most important part. But, all told (including breaks) we have 5 hours of Spanish class every day. To put this in perspective, the intensive Spanish classes at Richmond include about 6 hours of class time each week. So, every day we practically do an entire week of Richmond’s intensive Spanish. However, it really does not feel that bad. As me and a lot of my friends have commented, it is the least painful 5 hours of Spanish we have ever had.
And, a couple times each week (2 last week and 2 more times this coming week) we have afternoon sessions (we have lunch before these sessions start and the highlight of that hour is comparing what our host moms packed for us and, sometimes, pawning our food off on other people so that is looks like we ate, and liked, our entire meal). These afternoon sessions are conducted in English and include everything ranging from the differences between the North (USA) and the South (South America) to culture shock.
Basically 90% of the homework we are given requires us to talk to/interview an Ecuadorian. This has been a little weird getting used to since we are only using these people as the sources for everything we write rather than academic sources which are held so highly in university. It also leads to so very interesting conversations with our host families… On Monday night, after asking my mom about important dates in Ecuador’s history, our conversation found its way to the topic of racism and I found myself trying to explain to my mom, in Spanish, Equal Opportunity Laws and the fact that Native Americans are not restricted to their reservations (my mom thought they were required to live there and there were laws prohibiting people from hiring them).
Tuesday night turned into movie night. Ecuador is proudly ranked second on the list of countries with piracy problems. You can get everything from books to DVDs for a greatly reduced price. As a result, people here do not rent videos; they simply drive to the movie store and purchase the movie they want to see for $1.50. And, the stores here have turned it into a respectable business. Once you choose your movie they put it into a DVD player in the store and you can watch parts of it to make sure that it is a quality pirated movie. So, we purchased our movie (State of Play – La Sombra del Poder) and went home to watch it. We watched it in Spanish (just in case you were wondering) and without subtitles (the Spanish subtitles were horrifically wrong and I eventually had my brother turn them off) and I was actually surprised by how much I understood. Although I did not understand the movie word for word, I definitely understood everything that was going on. And, not only did I understand what was going on, at one point I was even able to explain to my brother what was going on... Movie night definitely fell on the list of small victories.
On Wednesday we watched the world cup qualifier matches (and Ecuador had a much needed victory over Bolivia). But, I learned that when you are with true soccer fans you do not simply watch one qualifier match… We were in front of the tv for 3 ninety minute games!!!
Later than night my brother and I went over to a friend’s house to play soccer. It was not until we got there that I realized that I was about to experience street soccer at its finest – a barbed wired fence marked one side of the pitch and the spectators stood on the roof of a nearby shed. That night I quickly learned two lessons. First, do NOT be over zealous in the balls you chase after in street soccer. In the first 3 minutes I managed to fall and cut my right palm and top of my left foot (I’m still not sure how I cut my foot without first cutting my knee…). Second, altitude sucks. Since oxygen concentrations are lower at higher altitudes (and we are at about 1,800 meters) you have a tendency to outrun your lungs when you exercise. This means that you hardly exercise your muscles, but are still exhausted and unable to continue after you have run (and I’m only talking about distance of 50 or 100 yards). Everyone in the SIT group jokingly (only sort of jokingly) agrees that the image from the semester should be a gringo standing, with a hand on each knee, panting and feeling like they’re about to vomit (and a lot of these students are athletes back at their schools). My recommendation to everyone… Stay at sea level.
Thursday night we found our way to a casino in Quito with several of my brother’s friends (my brother was planning a lot of things with his friends last week since his university started on September 14). I was just lucky they let me in!!! I only had my Richmond student ID – an ID that is not accepted anywhere in the states for anything that really matters. Soy gringo!
Friday night my mom went to a fiesta (when she first told me I thought we were all going… I felt just a little awkward when I asked what time WE were leaving for the fiesta) and my older brother and I were left to watch after Martin. I have been quick to learn that my younger brother is a professional whiner. And, Friday night he managed to take it to an entirely new level. Several of my brothers friends came over to hang out (one of them studied English in England for a year and when he does speak in English he speaks with a British accent. Talk about a surprise) and when we asked Martin to go watch tv since he has annoying the heck (to put it nicely) out of us, he started to cry. This on and off crying (for no apparent reason – honestly) continued until he went to bed. So, by the end of Friday night I was definitely NOT a fan of my younger brother...
Saturday we were leaving for Ambato, a small city 2 hours south of Los Chillos, where we were going to visit family and spend Saturday night.
By Friday afternoon I had officially been with my home stay family in Los Chillos for one week – although it felt like ages – and had made it through my first week of classes.
Monday morning we were taken to class by a member of our host family so we could get acquainted with the route. My trip entails a 90 second bus ride – in which I only have enough time to pay my $0.20, awkwardly fall on some random Ecuadorian as I pay my $0.20 and get off the bus – and a 2 or 3 kilometer walk. Luckily there are 4 other students that live in my development, so we are all able to make the commute to school and home again together. Come Monday afternoon us gringos were on our own to get home. Me and my friends in the same development were fine, but one of the other girls in the group deserves a special mention… She successfully got on the first of two busses she needed to take to get home. However, confused by the fact that the buses do not stop unless you ask them to (and you can ask to get off anywhere along the route) she missed her stop. She eventually managed to get off the bus in an indigenous village on one of the nearby mountains. She boarded a second bus to go back down the mountain. On the ride down, however, her nerves acted up and she vomited on the bus. On a positive note… She did eventually make it home.
So, what do classes entail? It is way too easy to forget that I am actually here for an ACADEMIC semester abroad since I come home and the national past time is watching tv (I swear I have seen more tv in the last week than I see during an entire normal semester). Every morning during the week we have Spanish classes that start at 8 AM (and for class I am in a group with only 4 other people). The first 2 hours normally focus on grammar/verb tenses (all that fun stuff) and then at 10 AM we get our 20 minute break. Next we have a Taller (workshop) class where we study different aspects of Ecuador (last week it was a basic overview of Ecuador’s history) until 11:50 AM. The last hour (12 PM – 1 PM)… Well, we haven’t been able to figure that out yet. Some days it includes grammar and verbs, other days it includes games. Regardless of the emphasis of the class, however, they all focus on the students’ ability to speak the language. Everything else is secondary since they realize that speaking the language is the most important part. But, all told (including breaks) we have 5 hours of Spanish class every day. To put this in perspective, the intensive Spanish classes at Richmond include about 6 hours of class time each week. So, every day we practically do an entire week of Richmond’s intensive Spanish. However, it really does not feel that bad. As me and a lot of my friends have commented, it is the least painful 5 hours of Spanish we have ever had.
And, a couple times each week (2 last week and 2 more times this coming week) we have afternoon sessions (we have lunch before these sessions start and the highlight of that hour is comparing what our host moms packed for us and, sometimes, pawning our food off on other people so that is looks like we ate, and liked, our entire meal). These afternoon sessions are conducted in English and include everything ranging from the differences between the North (USA) and the South (South America) to culture shock.
Basically 90% of the homework we are given requires us to talk to/interview an Ecuadorian. This has been a little weird getting used to since we are only using these people as the sources for everything we write rather than academic sources which are held so highly in university. It also leads to so very interesting conversations with our host families… On Monday night, after asking my mom about important dates in Ecuador’s history, our conversation found its way to the topic of racism and I found myself trying to explain to my mom, in Spanish, Equal Opportunity Laws and the fact that Native Americans are not restricted to their reservations (my mom thought they were required to live there and there were laws prohibiting people from hiring them).
Tuesday night turned into movie night. Ecuador is proudly ranked second on the list of countries with piracy problems. You can get everything from books to DVDs for a greatly reduced price. As a result, people here do not rent videos; they simply drive to the movie store and purchase the movie they want to see for $1.50. And, the stores here have turned it into a respectable business. Once you choose your movie they put it into a DVD player in the store and you can watch parts of it to make sure that it is a quality pirated movie. So, we purchased our movie (State of Play – La Sombra del Poder) and went home to watch it. We watched it in Spanish (just in case you were wondering) and without subtitles (the Spanish subtitles were horrifically wrong and I eventually had my brother turn them off) and I was actually surprised by how much I understood. Although I did not understand the movie word for word, I definitely understood everything that was going on. And, not only did I understand what was going on, at one point I was even able to explain to my brother what was going on... Movie night definitely fell on the list of small victories.
On Wednesday we watched the world cup qualifier matches (and Ecuador had a much needed victory over Bolivia). But, I learned that when you are with true soccer fans you do not simply watch one qualifier match… We were in front of the tv for 3 ninety minute games!!!
Later than night my brother and I went over to a friend’s house to play soccer. It was not until we got there that I realized that I was about to experience street soccer at its finest – a barbed wired fence marked one side of the pitch and the spectators stood on the roof of a nearby shed. That night I quickly learned two lessons. First, do NOT be over zealous in the balls you chase after in street soccer. In the first 3 minutes I managed to fall and cut my right palm and top of my left foot (I’m still not sure how I cut my foot without first cutting my knee…). Second, altitude sucks. Since oxygen concentrations are lower at higher altitudes (and we are at about 1,800 meters) you have a tendency to outrun your lungs when you exercise. This means that you hardly exercise your muscles, but are still exhausted and unable to continue after you have run (and I’m only talking about distance of 50 or 100 yards). Everyone in the SIT group jokingly (only sort of jokingly) agrees that the image from the semester should be a gringo standing, with a hand on each knee, panting and feeling like they’re about to vomit (and a lot of these students are athletes back at their schools). My recommendation to everyone… Stay at sea level.
Thursday night we found our way to a casino in Quito with several of my brother’s friends (my brother was planning a lot of things with his friends last week since his university started on September 14). I was just lucky they let me in!!! I only had my Richmond student ID – an ID that is not accepted anywhere in the states for anything that really matters. Soy gringo!
Friday night my mom went to a fiesta (when she first told me I thought we were all going… I felt just a little awkward when I asked what time WE were leaving for the fiesta) and my older brother and I were left to watch after Martin. I have been quick to learn that my younger brother is a professional whiner. And, Friday night he managed to take it to an entirely new level. Several of my brothers friends came over to hang out (one of them studied English in England for a year and when he does speak in English he speaks with a British accent. Talk about a surprise) and when we asked Martin to go watch tv since he has annoying the heck (to put it nicely) out of us, he started to cry. This on and off crying (for no apparent reason – honestly) continued until he went to bed. So, by the end of Friday night I was definitely NOT a fan of my younger brother...
Saturday we were leaving for Ambato, a small city 2 hours south of Los Chillos, where we were going to visit family and spend Saturday night.
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