Holy Water, Holy Week, Holy Cow!

First off, sorry that it has been a while since I updated the blog. It has been a hectic couple of weeks, but since time flies when you are having fun, that is a good thing. To start off, thanks to Ellen Christ for a great week. She (My good friend Jeff´s Sister) was in Quito working for a medical mission and stayed a week longer to travel. It was great to have another friend visit.

Ellen came at a perfect time, and everything worked out well. The first reason it was a good time to visit was that my neighbors baptized their two youngest daughters on Ellen´s first day here. They had originally asked me to be the Padrino or Godfather. This is a very big deal in Latin America, and I was honored that they asked me. We talked about it a little more and they decided that it may not be the best idea. Usually the Godparents will be involved with Confirmations, 15th Birthday´s and Weddings. I told them that I wasn´t going to come back for these parties to participate, so they decided to have a couple from Quito that they know be the Godparents. The problem was that the couple doesn´t know the girls at all, so they had me be the "Semi-Godfather" and help out at the Baptism. Also, for the next 13 months I will see the girls everyday, while there official Godfather probably won´t see them till they turn 15.

The day before the party I was sleeping and awoke to my neighbor beating on my door and yelling, "Jay, wake up! We´re going to peel the pigs!". Now, how can you not get up for that? That was around 7:30, and commenced 17 hours of killing animals and cooking food for the next day. I personally killed 2 pigs (what they called "Peeling", was gutting and burning off the hair with a blow torch), 25 chickens, and a couple Guinea Pigs.

The next day I got up and went with the family for the Baptism. At the Church I met Ellen and I let her describe the rest of the week in her own words. (Note: Ellen´s account is in red, and my comments are in white...

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAY!

Jay asked me to write a post for his blog to tell you about my Ecuadorian experience... I first spent a week in the poor villages of Southern Quito on a medical mission while staying in Quito for the week and seeing a few sights around the city. It was an amazing experience, especially seeing the drastic economic change from the modernized city of Quito to the poverty stricken areas of Southern Quito.

I then headed to meet Jay for yet another look at the Ecuadorian culture....I met Jay in Machachi for the baptism of two little girls that are his neighbors, went back to Jays house (that he is too tall for!) and got ready for a "real Ecuadorian party". (By "real Ecuadorian party", Ellen means a real sierran party. On the coast and in the jungle they do things a lot different) Jay´s neighbors threw a HUGE baptism party, there had to have been 150-200 people there. To give you a few highlights to the party: a massive 3 story cake with a fountain underneath, a live band, watching people eat guinea pigs, passing out to-go grocery bags at dinner to all the guest who proceeded to eat 1/3 of their food then put all the rest of the food mixed together in the bag, dancing and taking shots all night (I learned that it is rude to say no to a dance or drink so I danced and drank all night...even double teamed by Ecuadorian men...thanks Jay!), then going to bed at 4am only to be out lasted by the 80 year old grandma who was still taking shots and dancing!

Day 2 we headed out to the town of El Chaco in the national forest. The bus ride out there was beautiful, there were many waterfalls in the lush forest. That night we went to Palm Sunday mass up on the hill of the town and then had pizza and beer with Jays Peace Corp friend and his Ecuadorian friends.

The next day (St. Patricks Day!) we woke up and went rafting on the Quijos River in the cloud forest. Apparently the rivers in El Chaco are known for world class rafting. (The 2005 Rafting World Championship was held on the same stretch of river that we rafted on) The rafting was amazing and the scenery was breathtaking, through the forest and canyons. During our trip down the river we hopped off the raft at a distillery literally in the middle of the jungle. The locals were making a sugar juice and a strong liquor called puro. They were very friendly and we help crush sugar cane, take shots of puro, and see the distilling process (quite barbaric compared to the AB brewery!) Then after starting St. Pattys day with a few shots of puro we headed back down to the rafts and finished the river. That evening we headed to the town of Tena to meet a big group of Jays Peace Corps friends for again pizza, beer, and some of Tena's famous cocktails.

Tuesday we headed out to the Amazon Rainforest to a town called Compana Coche. It was a trek to get there, a bus, a canoe, then smashed in a truck bed full of Ecuadorians and animals. Another one of Jays friends lives out there and we stayed at her house. In her hut she has living with her bats and rats however I am sure she keeps herself safe with one of her many machetes she has. We then walked around town and drank Chicha with the locals. This is probably where I most likely will get some worm or parasite, but like I said before it is rude to refuse a drink. This drink this community drinks is basically a plant called Yuca (Cassava in the US) that the women chew up in their mouths, spit out, ferment in there Amazon river water and drink as an alcoholic beverage out of a shared bucket! The girl that lives at this site drinks this all day, I am surprised she isn't dead. I should have opted for a guinea pig, that would have been a wiser choice. We then ate dinner, drank beers, then Sadie and I slept under the mosquito net while Jay slept in the hammock with the rats and bats all night.

The next morning we woke up only to find Jay on the hammock under a plastic sheet for protection from the rodents, pretty funny. (Not really!) We then walked more that morning to an amazing view point of the Amazon (Actually the Rio Napo, a tributary of the Amazon, but pretty much the same thing) before we left Campana Coche in the pouring rain. My bag got soaked in river water and I literally thought our canoe was going to tip because we took it across river with 20 school kids rocking the boat. But we made it across and it was well worth the experience. We then took a bus to Baños and had another beautiful bus ride from Puyo to Baños in the forest with tons of waterfalls. That night in Baños we walked around, saw the volcanic ash from Tungurahua, ate dinner and went out for drinks.

Thursday morning we woke up and Jay took me for a real Ecuadorian breakfast, llapingachos (cheesy fried potato pancakes, fried eggs, and rice). We then hiked up around Baños and caught some really great views of the city. In the afternoon we caught a bus back to La Libertad and then Quito for the evening. In the huge city of Quito we had a night outside of the Ecuadorian culture in what Jay calls 'gringolandia', La Mariscal: dinner at an Indian restaurant, watching NCAA at a sports bar, then drinks at an Irish Pub.

My last day in Ecuador we woke up and had another real Ecuadorian breakfast, Bólon de verde (fried cheese and plantains). We then headed out to Mitad del Mundo, middle of the world, to see the equator actually at 12:00 on the Equinox. Couldn't have planned it better! After walking around the equator we went back into Quito to see some of the holy week festivities Quito had, the city was packed. The afternoon ended with watching some of the procession through the city (basically miles of Ecuadorians dressed in what looked like a purple Ku Klux Klan outfits carrying the crucifix these guys are called Cucuruchos), eating Fanesca (a traditional soup during holy week made with 12 types of grain to represent the 12 apostles), then going to Holy Friday mass at Iglesia de la Compania (a beautiful church in historical Quito). It was really interesting to seeing the traditions of Ecuador during a holiday week.

Long story short, you need to come visit Jay! I had a great time and Ecuador is a beautiful country. It was amazing to see the many cultural differences with in the different regions of the country and I only skimmed the surface. Thanks Jay for a great second week of my trip!

Ellen

Thanks again to Ellen for bringing down a couple bottles of Sierra Nevada. And not getting too grossed out by seeing fried rodent and drinking previously chewed food.

After Ellen left, things calmed down for a day or two. Easter was pretty much a bust. I woke up early and told my neighbors "Happy Easter". They looked confused for a second, and then said, "Oh yeah, today IS Easter". Apparently not that big a deal. I did make some hard boiled eggs, but didn´t bother decorating them. Then I played soccer (We lost and I gave up two goals. I must have some bad Karma from telling all my soccer friends how east their game is) and then went to work at the bank. Easter dinner was a delicious plate of cuy...what more can you ask for on a holiday.

As Ellen said, this Monday was my 30th Birthday. I´m not really big on Birthdays, but I figured that 30 was a little different. I didn´t want to spend it in La Libertad, so I took a bus to Cuenca and met up with a bunch of friends. We spent Monday night hanging out and Tuesday we walked around Cuenca and then went to my late birthday dinner at a new sushi place (My first sushi in 13 months, so it was a treat). After dinner, we hopped on night buses back to our sites. Thanks to everyone who sent Birthday wishes, but let´s never mention that my 20´s are in the past.

Note: I finally got my flight back to the US. I´m landing in Chicago on July 1st and heading back here on the 22nd of July. My plan is to spend 1 week in Central Missouri, 1 week in St. Louis, and 1 week in Chicago. Save the date, and I´ll see y´all in three months!

Projects

The last week and a half have been interesting because it seems that everyone now wants to start a project with me. As I mentioned before, the bank group wanted to do something with me. We had another meeting (this time with only 12 people) and it went better. We settled on doing a chicken project. A lot of people already have chickens here, but they are mixed or creole breeds that don´t produce much. The creole breeds are very hearty though and are able to live outside people´s houses off bugs, worms, and a little grain given them by their owners. Our project idea is to build a large

building with space for the chickens, coops, and storage for the feed that we will need to give the ore delicate "Pure-Breed" chickens. Our next step is to find a location that works for everyone and then begin writing the proposal in Spanish.

Also, at the High School, two teachers asked me last week why I wasn´t working with them on their project. They made it sound like I was being lazy. This pissed me off, so I told them that they had all the paperwork that we need to complete on the school´s computer for months, but they hadn´t even read it. They claimed that they didn´t know that the files were there, but I explained that two other teachers were with me when I downloaded it. I also, told them that another teacher had told me that they didn´t want to start the project, because they didn´t know what was going to happen to the school after the new constitution was finished (apparently there is some talk of school closing and combination). The teachers acted surprised about this and said that they´d talk to the teacher who told me that. Then, another teacher came in and said that I spent more time at the grade school and that I liked them better. I then told the , sarcastically, "When you spend three weeks practicing for programs, what am I supposed to do?". They then dropped the subject and haven´t asked again about the project. I´ve pretty much given up on working with them.

Finally, one of the police officers who started working in La Libertad about three months ago asked me if I could help him and the Grower´s Association he is a part of with a project. I asked, what is the project? He said that they didn´t know, but they wanted to do a project with me. I knew what they really wanted...free money. I told him I´d see what I could do. Since he lives about an hour away from me, I told him later that my boss said I couldn´t help. (I never actually talked to my boss, but I imagine that´s what he would say, and it is always better to put the blame on someone in Quito. Especially when your dealing with your town´s cop.) Instead, I´m going to get them and help them complete the paperwork to request and PCV to live and work there. I actually think that it would me a good site because it is a bigger and warmer town with an existing agricultural organization.

Last week, one of my friend stayed in La Libertad for a night. He had a friend flying into Quito and didn´t want to pay for a hotel. I was glad for the company, and the weather was clear, so I got to show him around town for a look at the mountains. I don´t know why, but every time somebody comes to visit, the weather gets better.

This week I was also able to get some work done on my garden (I´m growing Brocolli now) and do some more computer work. Next week, my neighbors are Baptizing their two youngest daughters. I helped Carlos print out the invitations on his computer. He wanted to put a picture of his middel daughter on the invitation, but in the background of the picture there were other kids. He didn´t like that, so I spent an hour or so "PhotoShopping" out the offending kids. It turned out nice, and Carlos and Sara were impressed. Unfortunately, when we printed out the invitations, after two or three, the print cartridge ran out of yellow ink. The invitations looked crappy, but they needed to go out the next day. So much for my work.

I hear that Ecuador has been getting some press over the Ecuador/Columbia border situation. If you don´t know, basically Columbian forces probbed 1 mile into Ecuadorian teritory last weekend to kill some members of FARC (Columbian Armed Revolutionary Forces - A marxist guerrilla group) who were hiding in Ecuador. Columbia almost immediately apoligized and said that the forces didn´t know that they were in Ecuador (yeah, right). Ecuador and Venezuela then started to mobolize their forces to the Columbian border to defend against Columbian agression. Some people were saying that it could lead to war, but I didn´t think that it would amount to much. Peace Corps HQ didn´t even issue a warning, and they warn us about everything. Last Friday, at a big meeting of Latin American Presidents, everything got worked out and the "crisis" is over. In the end, all that happened is that a handfull of drug-running communist terrorists were killed by Columbia while somehow living safely in Ecuador.

Soccer update: We´ve played two more games since my last post and we are 1-0-1. I played both second halves and gave up one more goal (a high arcing shot of my defenseman´s head that I didn´t even see because of the sun...excuses, excuses)