Voting in a foreign country turned out to be a bit more complicated than I had hoped. Unfortunately, the State of Missouri is not the most technically advanced State in the Union (Surprising, I know!) A bunch of my friends were able to order their absentee ballots on line, receive them as a PDF, vote, sign the ballot, and then just mail it in. I had to print out a form and then mail it to the Board of Elections. I had hoped that they would only require a signature, so I had the ballot mailed to my parent´s house for them to complete. So much for planning, Missouri requires all absentee ballots to be co-signed by a Notary Public or other official authorized to administer oaths. Therefore, my Parent´s had to mail the ballot to me to get the appropriate signature. I thought that someone in the Peace Corps office would be able to do this, but nobody is so authorized. I looked for an American Notary in Quito, but without luck. I had to have one of my friends scribble a crazy signature where the co-signer was supposed to sign, hopefully this will work.
While I was in the office committing voter fraud, I turned in a ballot from one of my friends who I knew who had voted for Obama. I have to admit that I was tempted to tell him that I turned his ballot in and then throw it away. While I was thinking, I had a moment like in a cartoon. Karl Rove dressed like a devil appeared on one of my shoulders. He whispered in my ear, “Pitch it! He´ll never know”. Then Dick Cheney popped on the other shoulder dressed like an angel. “That would be a disservice to Democracy, Jay. You know better than that”, he said. I turned the ballot in…thank you Mr. Vice President.
With Halloween approaching, I thought I´d retell a story I recently heard. It is about the Hacienda where I had lunch with the new Ambassador (Post: Make Cotton Soff – In Word) you can also see the website at http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=3692
"La Cienega" is a Spaniard hacienda built on the province of Cotopaxi-Ecuador. Two hundred years ago this hacienda served as home of Spaniard conquerors, they had thousands of indigenous people working on huge fields.
These haciendas were the heart of the economics in that time. Now, this hacienda is a touristic site, because is a building which has history. This hacienda has not been remodeled or modified it has been kept the same way as it was two hundred years ago. The hacienda works as an inn, and has the name of "la cienega".
It was late October; I went to the cienega to spend a weekend outside the city. My younger sister and brother were scared because they knew this place was supposed to be haunted.
There is a legend which says, that the Africans and indigenous people who worked on this hacienda suffered everyday, they were slaves, and working schedules were so harsh, most of the slaves died in the middle of the task. And their bodies were buried in the fields.
It was Saturday in the night, after we at dinner in the hacienda restaurant, my parents went ahead to their room with my sister. Five minutes later, I went with my brother. As we were walking through a hallway, my brother just fell to the ground, he said he felt something grasping his foot.
There was no one, and there were no doors on that hallway, from which, a prankster could play a joke. I felt cold, and seen. I continued to walk very fast to our room. That midnight my brother woke up screaming because he said that he felt that someone was pulling his feet. I calmed him for a couple of minutes, and took him to my parent's room. I returned to my room.
I went to the bathroom to pick up a bottle of water because I was thirsty, when I stared at the mirror. At my side I saw a face, the face was ugly and seemed to be rotting, and I simply fainted. I woke up at nine o clock. I checked my arms and they had scratches, as like those of a cat, but instead, these were only two lines in each arm. I was freaked out.
That next day I talked to a staff member and told him of what happened the other night. For my surprise, he simply told me that these kinds of experiences are weird. Although, that hacienda has a certain reputation of haunted.
A week later, I learned that this place gets its name "la cienega" from the translation from the Spanish, what means is "the swamp" because the Spaniards not only buried corpses on the ground, but mainly on a nearby swamp, which is about a five miles from the main house (where the inn works). And local people say that the spirits which inhabit the hacienda are enraged spirits who seek vengeance from their cruel masters.
I have to admit that I don´t believe in ghosts and didn´t feel anything crawling up my neck while we were walking around the Hacienda´s grounds, but it is still pretty interesting.
Speaking of Halloween, I hope you all have a good one. I´ll be leaving La Libertad this Friday and heading out to my friend´s site, El Chaco. I´ve been there twice before, and it is nice and the weather is hot. About 70 volunteers from all over the country are heading there for a big Halloween bash and the next day we are going to have a rafting contest down the Quijos River. It should be fun, and after the last couple of weeks, it will be a nice break from planting gardens every other day.
Speaking of gardens, John and I planted our 12th one this week. That was our target number when we started the project so I´m pretty happy. We have two more lined up next month and then hopefully we will start transplanting. The next big hurdle will be getting the parents to plant gardens in the own yards. We´ve taught them the techniques, now it is up to them (with a little prodding from us).
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
What it is like to bathe once a week
Towards the middle of last month, the water pressure in my part of town dropped significantly. There was still enough water coming out for us to cook with and even enough to shower with, but the pressure was not high enough for my hot water heater to work. The sensors in the heater weren’t tripping when I turned the water on, so I couldn´t get any hot water. This was a pretty big problem for me since it has been cold and rainy lately. I tried to take a cold shower one night, and I barely got my head wet before I ran out of curse words to yell. Instead, I used my neighbor´s shower which still worked. The problem with theirs was that it would run for about 10 seconds and the hot water would cut out. Then I´d have to shut the water off, let the heater reset, and try again. I ended up getting semi-clean, but it took a while and I ended up colder than I started. Since it was such a pain to shower, I ended up taking one shower a week for about the last month. I smelled pretty bad some days, but that´s life. I was contemplating “re-wiring” the heater Tim Allen style. I figured I could hook the gas up directly to the burners and light it with a match. This may have worked, but more likely it would have just blown up and killed me.
Fortunately, the head of the water committee spent a couple hours this week digging up a stretch of tubing and fixed the problem. I took a shower on three consecutive days…ah, the simple pleasures of the poor.
Another problem that I´ve failed to mention is that my camera broke (I say mine, but it really was my brother´s). It had been acting up for a while, and I knew it was a matter of time. The humidity here is so bad that pretty much everything breaks sooner or later. Some days I´d have to set the camera outside in the sun before I could take a picture because the inside of the lenses were all fogged up. That´s is why I haven´t had many pictures in the last month´s posts. I thought about getting a new camera, but I would end up just breaking that one too. Also, I´ve decided that taking pictures makes me look even more like a tourist, so not having the camera helps a little.
I talked to my boss the other day about the project proposal that I recently submitted. He said that the proposal was well written, and there were only a few things that I needed to modify. Then we started talking about some of the concerns that I had. He said that the profit margin on projects like ours was shrinking because the price of feed was going up. I told him that I didn´t think the ladies understood the risks and amount of work that was involved. He then asked about the other activities that the ladies were currently doing. I told him, truthfully, that all the ladies are busy constantly now and think that they can add the chickens without a problem. He said that they would need to drop all their other work to be approved, which they won´t do. That put an end to the conversation and to our project as well. I´m actually happy that it ended this way because I think doing anything with the ladies in my town would have turned into a disaster.
I was not looking forward to telling my neighbors and “friends” that I had accepted the job helping with training and was going to be leaving La Libertad earlier than I had planned. I finally had an opportunity to talk to my neighbors, Sara and Carlos, alone this week. We were driving to pick up some onions and a told them my plans. Carlos didn´t say anything, and Sara just said, “So, does this mean we are going to get a new volunteer earlier?” I had expected them to be upset that I was leaving, or at least kid me about wanting to live in the city. I was glad to see that in my 18 months here I made such a deep impression on them that they are more concerned with the next guy than me. Maybe this has something to do with them getting attached to Mike and then him treating them like shit and never visiting. Hopefully I´ll be able to break them of those feelings.
Speaking of the next guy, now is the time when we have to apply for a new PCV. I´ve talked to a couple of people about it, and I´m trying to talk them out of the idea. I´d feel sorry for the poor bastard that has to live here after me. In order to get anything accomplished, I´ve had to leave town. That´s not the way that it should work, so I´ve told them that if they want another PCV, they have to have concrete ideas of what they would do (I wish the previous guy had done that!). We´ll see what they come up with.
Fortunately, the head of the water committee spent a couple hours this week digging up a stretch of tubing and fixed the problem. I took a shower on three consecutive days…ah, the simple pleasures of the poor.
Another problem that I´ve failed to mention is that my camera broke (I say mine, but it really was my brother´s). It had been acting up for a while, and I knew it was a matter of time. The humidity here is so bad that pretty much everything breaks sooner or later. Some days I´d have to set the camera outside in the sun before I could take a picture because the inside of the lenses were all fogged up. That´s is why I haven´t had many pictures in the last month´s posts. I thought about getting a new camera, but I would end up just breaking that one too. Also, I´ve decided that taking pictures makes me look even more like a tourist, so not having the camera helps a little.
I talked to my boss the other day about the project proposal that I recently submitted. He said that the proposal was well written, and there were only a few things that I needed to modify. Then we started talking about some of the concerns that I had. He said that the profit margin on projects like ours was shrinking because the price of feed was going up. I told him that I didn´t think the ladies understood the risks and amount of work that was involved. He then asked about the other activities that the ladies were currently doing. I told him, truthfully, that all the ladies are busy constantly now and think that they can add the chickens without a problem. He said that they would need to drop all their other work to be approved, which they won´t do. That put an end to the conversation and to our project as well. I´m actually happy that it ended this way because I think doing anything with the ladies in my town would have turned into a disaster.
I was not looking forward to telling my neighbors and “friends” that I had accepted the job helping with training and was going to be leaving La Libertad earlier than I had planned. I finally had an opportunity to talk to my neighbors, Sara and Carlos, alone this week. We were driving to pick up some onions and a told them my plans. Carlos didn´t say anything, and Sara just said, “So, does this mean we are going to get a new volunteer earlier?” I had expected them to be upset that I was leaving, or at least kid me about wanting to live in the city. I was glad to see that in my 18 months here I made such a deep impression on them that they are more concerned with the next guy than me. Maybe this has something to do with them getting attached to Mike and then him treating them like shit and never visiting. Hopefully I´ll be able to break them of those feelings.
Speaking of the next guy, now is the time when we have to apply for a new PCV. I´ve talked to a couple of people about it, and I´m trying to talk them out of the idea. I´d feel sorry for the poor bastard that has to live here after me. In order to get anything accomplished, I´ve had to leave town. That´s not the way that it should work, so I´ve told them that if they want another PCV, they have to have concrete ideas of what they would do (I wish the previous guy had done that!). We´ll see what they come up with.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Two Small Failures & One Big Success
A couple of weeks ago one of my friends sent me a text message about climbing one of the big Ecuadorian mountains (Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, or Cayambe). Since you need a guide, equipment, and a couple hundred bucks to climb the big guys, I really don´t want to. The way the weather is down here, you are more than likely to get to the top and not be able to see 10 feet in front of your face. Instead, I suggested that we climb the Ilinizas which are easier to do and don´t cost anything. My friend liked the idea, and what started out as two or three people hiking turned into eleven of us.
We spent the night at a hostel in the town near me and woke up the next day at 5:30. The weather was bad the night before, but it looked like it was going to clear up. Unfortunately, it got worse as we climbed. About half-way to the refuge (which itself is about half-way up the mountain) it started to snow. We hiked another hour or so up the trail in the snow and wind. It was nice to see a little different weather, but once we got to the refuge, it was clear that we had to turn around.
Of course, the next day the weather was better, but that´s they way it goes.
It was nice to see everyone, and five of the volunteers from my group got to see my site for the first time. A couple people mentioned that if they were stuck in La Libertad, they wouldn´t have been able to take the cold and the rain and probably would have quit. That strikes me as funny because one of the girls who said that lives in the jungle and her entire town is infested with rats. I know for sure that I couldn´t have lived there. I think we all are able to adapt to whatever difficulties that we have, but think that we couldn´t deal with someone else´s situation…the grass is always browner on the other side!
Another nice thing about the visit was that one of the girls who came is an expert in yogurt manufacture. I organized a workshop for the ladies in my town to learn what we need to do. I invited around 15 women to come to my house the day before our hike, but when we were supposed to start, only 2 showed up. We still did some stuff, but it definitely was a lost opportunity.
So, those are the two failures, now for the success. A couple of weeks ago, I applied for a job with the Peace Corps office. The position is called “PCV Co-Trainer” and this week my boss called and told me that I got the job. Basically, two volunteers are chosen from each program to help with the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the training of each new Omnibus. As of January 19th, I will be leaving La Libertad to work in Quito and the training site (I don´t know exactly where this will be, but it has been in Cayambe for the last couple years). I very excited about the opportunity and it is going to be a huge lifestyle change. Not only will I be working in cities, but I´ll also be in a lot of meetings, I´ll have more specific responsibilities, and I´ll be living with at least three other Americans (the other Co-Trainers). This is going to look great on my resume, and it is going to help with my transition back to a “normal” life after the Peace Corps. Also, I will only need to stay in Ecuador for a couple more weeks (I´m not sure of the details, but I think instead of finishing on April 20th, I´ll be done sometime towards the middle of May). It will also be nice because I´ll leave La Libertad, but be able to come back and visit. Mike, the previous volunteer here, left and even though he was working in Quito, never came back. I think this did a lot to damage the way people here think about his time in town. Instead of remembering all that he did, they just talk about him never visiting.
Anyway, I only have three months left here, and although I´m sure I will miss some of the people, I can´t wait to start on something different.
Finally, it was great to see that the Cubs were able to continue their hot streak in the Playoffs. 100 years of futility…wow!!! Here is a picture of a hat I bought to rub the Dodger´s victory in the face of a friend of mine who is a big Cub fan.
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