Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras. In whatever language…good times. Working in the office paid some major benefits for this festival. We got off work Monday and Tuesday, so the rest of the co-trainers and I left for the extra-long weekend to various parts of the country.
I left to go out to the jungle community of Tena to meet up with 10 friends. We took it easy the first night and then on Sunday morning we jumped on the back of a truck and took the half hour ride to the indigenous town of Misahuallí. Misahuallí is known for the craziness of its carnaval, and it did not disappoint. They had a park on the big river that flows through town cordoned off with food vendors, beer stands, music stages, and of course, people selling the carnaval necessity…foam spray.
Luckily we were on the river, because we were covered with foam, paint, and oil after being at the party for 10 minutes. About every hour I would jump in the river to cool off and get clean. The group of us instigated a war between a bunch of little kids who were playing near us. The water and foam flew, it was a good time.
We left around 4:00 before the real insanity began. The next day we heard on the radio that three people drowned that night. Unfortunately, Ecuadorians can’t have a real party without there being some fatalities.
On Sunday night a couple of us went to a different town to see what was going on there. On Monday morning we got up to go watch a professional soccer game, but on the way there people started throwing stuff on us. I was wearing nice clothes and didn’t want them ruined by the dye in the foam, so I asked people not to spray me. A 6’2” gringo in nice clothes was too big a target, so the Ecuadorians pelted me anyway. At this point I lost it. I started cursing at people in English and in order not to kill someone, I had to go back to the house. It probably was for the best because I’m sure that at the game it was worse. I think my frustration level has reached its maximum.
Instead of going to the game, we watched Slumdog Millionaire. It was good, and I can still say that I’ve seen all the Oscar Best Picture winners. Another piece of culture I saw was the Provincial Ballet of Pastaza and their new work “Puyu”. It was about what you’d expect from the Provincial Ballet of Pastaza, but worth seeing. The ballet told the story of the Shwar Indians and their relation to the Catholic missionaries, Spanish settlers, and oil companies. It was interesting, but I was scared the whole time they were dancing around. They were jumping with spears and bows, I thought somebody was going to get knocked out. (Again, Ecuadorians love them some danger).
I got back last night, and today we are finalizing plans for the new Omnibus’ arrival. They get in at 8:00 tonight…now the fun begins
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Quito – Chattanooga of South America
Looking down the valley from La Libertad at night, I could see the lights of Quito in the distance. I would sip on a cup of hot tea or coffee and wonder what it would be like to leave the boredom of La Libertad and live there. I always treated Quito as my Mecca and would daily pray for a little excitement in my life. Now that I’m here, I’m glad that I didn’t live in the Capital during my entire service. It’s not that I want to move back to La Libertad (I’ve had my fare share of guinea pig and muddy roads), but I think that I wouldn’t have had a “real” Peace Corps experience if I had lived in the city, or even in a touristy small town.
That being said, it has been interesting living here, so interesting in fact, that I haven’t had much time to write in the blog. Sorry for the delayed post and here are the highlights of my life in a mid-sized US city surrounded by hills that somehow got transplanted in South America.
I say that it seems like a US city because of all the conveniences that we have and how much American stuff is around (fast food, american stores, and gringos, gringos, gringos). Quito though is a pretty big city (1.5 million people), but after 10:00, there isn’t a lot of stuff going on. One thing we did do a couple times since we got her was to go to an Irish pub for their Pub Quiz. We came in second two weeks ago and our team won this week. It was fun, and we won free dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that is owned by a couple Irish guys. We went the next day to enjoy our free feast. The food was great, and it was interesting to talk to the owners about the new import restrictions that the Government just implemented. They are having problems getting a lot of the ingredients that they’ve been using, so they have had to change the menu. I know that’s not a big deal, but it’s a sign of the leftist government's desire to cut Ecuador off from the global market.
Working in the office has been different. We are in front of computers all day, so my eyes are having to get used to the strain. Also, since all the other PCVs have to come here if they have any problems, we hear about all the gossip and PCV/PC HQ issues. One of the big stories that is going on in the office right now is that PC Washington has inspectors here auditing the entire PC Ecuador administration. Apparently there were some complaints about the previous Country Director (he left Ecuador in November). The inspectors were here for a week, went back to DC, and are now coming back. I’m not sure what they are looking at (we probably never will know exactly), but they have been interviewing some of my friends about how policies were or weren’t implemented and followed. It makes me wonder how much stuff wasn’t correctly handled during my service, but at least there will be some accountability (after the fact).
On the topic of Country Directors, we had lunch at a Japanese/Thai fusion restaurant with her. The food was great (I had some Unagi for you Nate!) and it was a good opportunity to talk to the CD about a lot of our opinions. She was interested to hear what we had to say, which was a nice change from the old CD.
Things are OK with our host family, but mostly because we don’t spend a lot of time there. I did have a small accident at the house the other day. I broke the handle off the kitchen sink (what can I say, I’m a strong guy). It still works, but I’ll have to pay to get it fixed. I hope it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg, but it is a Kohler faucet. They probably don’t have replacement parts, and just to get a guy to come here to look at it will cost about $25. Maybe I’ll just pack my stuff up during the night and quietly slip away.
NOTES:
- We had a meeting with the families that will be hosting the Trainees in Cayambe. I got to see the family that I lived with. It was nice to see them, but my old host “mother” said that her husband had finally passed. That was sad to hear, but he had been sick so long that it was a blessing.
- Ecuador –US relations hit a new low this week when the second member of the US Embassy was expelled from the country. You can read all about it at… http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmmx1kqv2xD-vKb4MBwu6HltV9YwD96GQ8503 . It seems that the Chavez/Morales/Correa triumvirate is feeling pretty good about themselves after victories in the Venezuelan/Bolivian/Ecuadorian constitutional referendums in the last 6 months. They are getting closer to Iran and Russia and running away from the US and Europe as fast as they can. We’ll see what that does to the Peace Corps presence in Ecuador, but it doesn’t look good.
- Speaking of looking good, I saw El Presidente Correa while I was running the other day, and last week we saw him sitting in the front seat of an SUV in his motorcade. We waved at him, and he waved back…good thing he couldn’t read my mind.
That being said, it has been interesting living here, so interesting in fact, that I haven’t had much time to write in the blog. Sorry for the delayed post and here are the highlights of my life in a mid-sized US city surrounded by hills that somehow got transplanted in South America.
I say that it seems like a US city because of all the conveniences that we have and how much American stuff is around (fast food, american stores, and gringos, gringos, gringos). Quito though is a pretty big city (1.5 million people), but after 10:00, there isn’t a lot of stuff going on. One thing we did do a couple times since we got her was to go to an Irish pub for their Pub Quiz. We came in second two weeks ago and our team won this week. It was fun, and we won free dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that is owned by a couple Irish guys. We went the next day to enjoy our free feast. The food was great, and it was interesting to talk to the owners about the new import restrictions that the Government just implemented. They are having problems getting a lot of the ingredients that they’ve been using, so they have had to change the menu. I know that’s not a big deal, but it’s a sign of the leftist government's desire to cut Ecuador off from the global market.
Working in the office has been different. We are in front of computers all day, so my eyes are having to get used to the strain. Also, since all the other PCVs have to come here if they have any problems, we hear about all the gossip and PCV/PC HQ issues. One of the big stories that is going on in the office right now is that PC Washington has inspectors here auditing the entire PC Ecuador administration. Apparently there were some complaints about the previous Country Director (he left Ecuador in November). The inspectors were here for a week, went back to DC, and are now coming back. I’m not sure what they are looking at (we probably never will know exactly), but they have been interviewing some of my friends about how policies were or weren’t implemented and followed. It makes me wonder how much stuff wasn’t correctly handled during my service, but at least there will be some accountability (after the fact).
On the topic of Country Directors, we had lunch at a Japanese/Thai fusion restaurant with her. The food was great (I had some Unagi for you Nate!) and it was a good opportunity to talk to the CD about a lot of our opinions. She was interested to hear what we had to say, which was a nice change from the old CD.
Things are OK with our host family, but mostly because we don’t spend a lot of time there. I did have a small accident at the house the other day. I broke the handle off the kitchen sink (what can I say, I’m a strong guy). It still works, but I’ll have to pay to get it fixed. I hope it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg, but it is a Kohler faucet. They probably don’t have replacement parts, and just to get a guy to come here to look at it will cost about $25. Maybe I’ll just pack my stuff up during the night and quietly slip away.
NOTES:
- We had a meeting with the families that will be hosting the Trainees in Cayambe. I got to see the family that I lived with. It was nice to see them, but my old host “mother” said that her husband had finally passed. That was sad to hear, but he had been sick so long that it was a blessing.
- Ecuador –US relations hit a new low this week when the second member of the US Embassy was expelled from the country. You can read all about it at… http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gmmx1kqv2xD-vKb4MBwu6HltV9YwD96GQ8503 . It seems that the Chavez/Morales/Correa triumvirate is feeling pretty good about themselves after victories in the Venezuelan/Bolivian/Ecuadorian constitutional referendums in the last 6 months. They are getting closer to Iran and Russia and running away from the US and Europe as fast as they can. We’ll see what that does to the Peace Corps presence in Ecuador, but it doesn’t look good.
- Speaking of looking good, I saw El Presidente Correa while I was running the other day, and last week we saw him sitting in the front seat of an SUV in his motorcade. We waved at him, and he waved back…good thing he couldn’t read my mind.
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