Change is Good?

First off, congratulations to everyone who voted last week. It’s good to see Democracy at work. Although I didn’t vote for Obama, it has been interesting to observe the reaction from Ecuadorian citizens and the Press. The day after the election, everyone I know was asking me about the first “Presidente Negro”. I told them that I didn’t vote for him, and they asked why. I told them that I thought he would raise taxes and that I always voted for Republicans. I think they just thought that I didn’t want a black President. This country is about as racist as you can get (they refer to people from the coast, where most Afro-Ecuatorianos live, as Monos, or monkeys), so I think that they feel that we should be the same. The Press talked a lot about how “historic” our election was and that a lot of things will change. They never elaborated on what would change though…I guess they bought into the hype as well.

I was with a friend the other day and we ate lunch at a restaurant run by an Afro-Ecuatoriano. We asked him how he felt about a black President. He just said that he thought that Obama would help poor people in Ecuador. I know that all Presidents have a tough job, but putting Ecuador’s problems on his shoulders as well, may be a bit too much.

My boss came to visit La Libertad this week. The purpose of his visit was to confirm that we would be getting a new PCV after I left. I had told him already that I didn’t think that they really needed a new volunteer here. I’ve had to leave L.L. to find a lot of my work, and the people haven’t been very receptive to some of the changes I thought they should make if they wanted to improve, so I was worried about what a new PCV would do. The people here wanted another volunteer here very badly though, mostly I think that they want a new PCV because they have had one for so long. They’re not receptive to change, so they want to keep their PCV status quo.

My boss wanted to put another PCV here because (this is just speculation on my part) he needs to find sites for 21 new PCVs before the end of April. Putting another PCV here in L.L. makes his job that much easier. Since my boss and the whole community wanted to put a volunteer here, I kept my mouth shut. In the back of my mind, I thought that maybe the problem was more with me than the community. Maybe a new PCV would find all kinds of work that I never got involved in. Then I remembered that Mike, the PCV before me, had similar problems.

It’s going to be hard training the new group of volunteers and then telling one of them that they are going to live here. Hopefully I’ll be able to make sure that the new PCV likes to work with children because there are a ton of opportunities here to work with kids and adolescents.

The Halloween party last week was a blast. One interesting thing was that like last year there appeared to be an unplanned general theme among the costumes. Last year, there were about 10 guys in drag (I was not one of them). This year there was a very religious feeling. There were two guys dressed like Jesus, one dressed like Biff, Jesus´ best friend (To get the reference, you have to read the book Lamb), some Mormon and Evangelical missionaries, a couple witches, an angel, a devil, a nun, the Virgin Mary, and one very handsome Priest.

Finally, Mama Negra, the biggest parade and party of the year in Latacunga was scheduled on the 8th of November. Unfortunately, two nights before the parade a 13 year old was killed at one of the pre-parties. It is still unknown exactly what happened. What is known is that a firework exploded and hit the kid in the head. Some say it was an accident and others say it was done on purpose by a rival high school. Either way, the parade and party were cancelled by the head of the Province for the next three years because of security concerns. The people in Latacunga were upset about the decision, and I can’t blame them. A lot of people had bought food and beer to sell to the thousands of tourists who would come to the party. This has to be a big income generator for the town and surrounding communities, not to mention a great time. It would be like cancelling the 4th of July on July 3rd.

(NOTE: As I write this, I was just informed that the party has been rescheduled for November 29th)