My fish came with a head!

Hey all,

Last week, four friends from the US came down for a visit. We had a great time, and I want to thank Susan, Kari, Scott, and Nate for everything. I get so caught up with my work and the frustrations of living in a foreign country that I often forget how lucky I am to be here. Showing them around and seeing how they reacted to what has become a "normal life" for me was a fun and needed refresher. Anyway, enough with my babble. The rest of this post was written by my friend Kari...

I knew the minute Jay was accepted to the Peace Corps, Scott and I would definitely pay him a visit wherever he was going to be placed (apparently also assuming we would be invited :) When we found out he was going to be in Ecuador, I had no idea what to expect. This was probably a good thing as visiting a Peace Corps volunteer and visiting a country are definitely two different adventures. I would love to say Nate, Susan, Scott and I saw Ecuador through Jay’s eyes, but even that would be a stretch—a glimpse is what we got—a tiny, miniscule glimpse of life in this beautiful country.

We saw a market full of unfamiliar fruits and veggies, a sampling Jay would prepare for us in the morning which served as the catalyst for Nate’s incessant quest for Tomate De Arbol juice for the rest of the trip. “Fresh” was also newly defined for me as Susan nudged me at the market and pointed to a man walking by carrying his dinner (whatever it was, it was already skinned and waiting to be fried). We saw fifteen Ecuadorian women lined up to sell fried plantains and we listened to Jay as he told us of the time he tried to buy two potatoes. Apparently, one cannot purchase anything less than the 25 lb bag—no matter what the price. If the market doesn’t have what one is looking for, Jay showed us what his recourse was—planting everything himself. In fact, the entire salad that Jay made for dinner that evening was pulled right from his own garden!

We ate some wonderful dishes including fresh seafood on the coast. Excited to try some of the fish, I ordered the fresh tilapia only to find it presented to me in its entirety—from the head to the tail. Before I could faint, scream or fall into a state of shock, Scott quickly removed it from my plate only to have Jay reach over, grab it and suck everything out of it—eyes and all! Nothing is wasted in this country and I admire them for that (not enough though to begin eating fish heads.)

Along with the fresh fish, the Ecuadorian coast greeted us with plenty of pineapple drinks, fresh roasted coffee and a secret path to a black sand beach (about a 10 minute walk :). The scenery was as breathtaking as the waves were refreshing.

We traveled throughout the country by bus. Climbing through the mountains and descending toward the coast, we were kept on alert by a cacophony of Spanish discotheque tunes. There was no need to worry about finding a place to eat while on the road because the townspeople would jump on the bus as it slowed in order to sell fresh pastries, chocolates and chips. Sales were not impeded by a crowded bus either—somehow salesmen found a way to squeeze through the aisle. It was as if that one yogurt-pop sale was the most important of the day—talk about dedication to one’s work.

The five of us lived in very close quarters for the duration of our trip and adjusting to the shared bathrooms and cold showers really reminded us how much we take modern conveniences for granted. Even the preparations for the trip taught me this as I trekked down to the travel clinic for Typhoid Fever and Hep A shots. Those along with the malaria pills and mosquito nets we slept under made me nervous—nervous about diseases that I don’t even think twice about now—diseases that kill over one million people each year. According to the World Health Organization a child dies of malaria every 30 seconds. I couldn’t get over thinking about how sheltered and disconnected from the world I am.

The Ecuadorian people were wonderful and from the little time I spent here, I thought they seemed genuinely happy. They were kind, the children were full of hope and they truly seemed to be living life in the moment. Jay is doing some incredible work down there with the Ag program and community gardens, but I think the most impressive thing about him is that his goal isn’t just to “help” but to effect change by creating something sustainable. Since this can only be measured over the long term, I imagine the day to day tasks can be quite daunting; however, Jay does them successfully and was able to share many of his insights with us; for this I’m grateful.

Someone told me once that “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” I’m not sure who originally said this, but it was an eye-opening trip full of firsts and I am so glad I was able to see Jay and this miniscule glimpse of his life.