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.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Green Thumb?
This gardening stuff has really taken off. Since the beginning of the school year John and I have been to 11 schools and still need to visit four or five more. One school actually already had plans to work with a group of University students from Latacunga, but asked us to “manage” the project. Its amazing to think that last year I grew my first crops and now I´ve been bumped up to a management position. Another 10 months and I´ll probably own my own farm.
Some of the schools had even organized formal work days, or Mingas for all the Parents to come and help. The mingas are pretty common down here, but when they set one up for you, it means they´re serious. Two of the schools we visited for the first time were kind of funny. They were both near some tourist destinations, so I think they were used to gringos being around, but not communicating with them. The whole time we were working, they parent´s kept assuming that we didn´t speak Spanish. They even would talk about us in front of us, thinking that we couldn´t understand. In another town they asked where I lived. When I told them that I lived in La Libertad, they were amazed. “Really? In the pueblo?”, one guy asked. I think that made me seem a little more credible in their eyes because I didn´t live in the city.
Other than the gardening, I was busy the last week finishing up our grant proposal. I turned it in to my boss, but honestly I hope we don´t get it. The thing is that no matter how hard I try to explain to the ladies, I don´t think they understand the risks and work involved in the project. The proposal is for constructing 13 chicken houses. The women would then be responsible for buying the chicks, feed, and other supplies. I figure that should run to about $500 in the first two months. Then we´ll start selling the birds and recouping the money. There was another small chicken project in my town recently, and about 40% of the birds died due to poor care. I told the ladies who had the birds a few things they needed to change, but the didn´t listen. My worry is that once the ladies have the cash, they´ll just do there own thing, a lot of the birds will die, and then they´ll stop the project because they lost all their money. I had to turn the proposal in though, because they ladies kept hounding me. I´ll have a meeting soon with my boss where I can explain my doubts. Maybe we can try to get the project´s scope decreased.
Notes:
The election we had down here over the weekend went off without a hitch. The new constitution was approved overwhelmingly and they are going to start changing the laws in the next couple weeks. We’ll see how things go, but either way it is kind of crazy to live in a country while they are changing the rules you have to live by.
Also, I just liked this picture of some of
the kids in my town
Some of the schools had even organized formal work days, or Mingas for all the Parents to come and help. The mingas are pretty common down here, but when they set one up for you, it means they´re serious. Two of the schools we visited for the first time were kind of funny. They were both near some tourist destinations, so I think they were used to gringos being around, but not communicating with them. The whole time we were working, they parent´s kept assuming that we didn´t speak Spanish. They even would talk about us in front of us, thinking that we couldn´t understand. In another town they asked where I lived. When I told them that I lived in La Libertad, they were amazed. “Really? In the pueblo?”, one guy asked. I think that made me seem a little more credible in their eyes because I didn´t live in the city.
Other than the gardening, I was busy the last week finishing up our grant proposal. I turned it in to my boss, but honestly I hope we don´t get it. The thing is that no matter how hard I try to explain to the ladies, I don´t think they understand the risks and work involved in the project. The proposal is for constructing 13 chicken houses. The women would then be responsible for buying the chicks, feed, and other supplies. I figure that should run to about $500 in the first two months. Then we´ll start selling the birds and recouping the money. There was another small chicken project in my town recently, and about 40% of the birds died due to poor care. I told the ladies who had the birds a few things they needed to change, but the didn´t listen. My worry is that once the ladies have the cash, they´ll just do there own thing, a lot of the birds will die, and then they´ll stop the project because they lost all their money. I had to turn the proposal in though, because they ladies kept hounding me. I´ll have a meeting soon with my boss where I can explain my doubts. Maybe we can try to get the project´s scope decreased.
Notes:
The election we had down here over the weekend went off without a hitch. The new constitution was approved overwhelmingly and they are going to start changing the laws in the next couple weeks. We’ll see how things go, but either way it is kind of crazy to live in a country while they are changing the rules you have to live by.
Also, I just liked this picture of some of
the kids in my town
Dannon Ain´t Got Nothin´On Me
There are some things in life that scare me: airplane travel and rodents mainly (funny that I took three flights to come to a country where we eat rodent for dinner regularly). I had an experience recently though that was scarier than all those other minor tribulations. As I stared into a pot full of light purple creamy goo, stuck a spoon into it, raised that spoon to my mouth, and ate what it was holding, I thought to myself, “This could be the last thing I do”. That´s right, I ate blackberry yogurt that I made with my own hands.
A couple months ago I went to visit a friend and saw a small scale yogurt project that some women from her town were doing. It wasn´t that complicated and would work well in my town since a lot of people have milk cows. They way things work here is that families will have 2-10 cows that they keep by their houses and everyday someone takes the cattle to their grazing lands. Every night they bring the cows home, milk them, and then the next morning a guy drives around in a truck and picks up the milk to take to one of the plants that packages the milk or makes cheese, ice cream, etc. Right now they are getting about $0.32 per Liter of milk. Then of course, they take that money and buy food with it. One of the things that is very popular in town is yogurt. So, my idea is to cut out the middle man and have people make their own yogurt.
The process basically consists of pasteurizing the raw milk, adding a bit of plain yogurt, and then letting it sit at 122-130° F for about five hours for the culture to work. It’s the five hours at high temp that are a bit of a problem up here. To do this I made a wooden box with three light bulbs inside. With an attached dimmer switch, I can keep the temperature pretty constant (would you expect less from a chemical engineer?). The first couple batches turned out OK, but not perfect. I´m going to keep working out the kinks, and hopefully we are going to start selling our 100% natural yogurt at the grade school to replace the artificially colored and flavored stuff that they sell now. And the best news is that after that first bite, I´m still around to write this post.
A couple months ago I went to visit a friend and saw a small scale yogurt project that some women from her town were doing. It wasn´t that complicated and would work well in my town since a lot of people have milk cows. They way things work here is that families will have 2-10 cows that they keep by their houses and everyday someone takes the cattle to their grazing lands. Every night they bring the cows home, milk them, and then the next morning a guy drives around in a truck and picks up the milk to take to one of the plants that packages the milk or makes cheese, ice cream, etc. Right now they are getting about $0.32 per Liter of milk. Then of course, they take that money and buy food with it. One of the things that is very popular in town is yogurt. So, my idea is to cut out the middle man and have people make their own yogurt.
The process basically consists of pasteurizing the raw milk, adding a bit of plain yogurt, and then letting it sit at 122-130° F for about five hours for the culture to work. It’s the five hours at high temp that are a bit of a problem up here. To do this I made a wooden box with three light bulbs inside. With an attached dimmer switch, I can keep the temperature pretty constant (would you expect less from a chemical engineer?). The first couple batches turned out OK, but not perfect. I´m going to keep working out the kinks, and hopefully we are going to start selling our 100% natural yogurt at the grade school to replace the artificially colored and flavored stuff that they sell now. And the best news is that after that first bite, I´m still around to write this post.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
¿Should I Be Teaching Spanish?
Things have been semi-busy in the last couple of weeks. Since school started we have been visiting 3-4 schools a week setting up times to start planting our gardens. There has been a lot of interest, and it looks like we´ll surpass our goal of 12 gardens. A big opportunity came this week in Latacunga. There was a meeting of all the school Directors in the area. John and I were able to give a 7 minute presentation on our gardens and afterwards we talked to a bunch of Directors we hadn´t met yet about planting at their sites.
In La Libertad things are OK. I´ve been busy with the English classes and on the 1st day of each class at each grade, I´ve been giving tests…on the Spanish alphabet and writing numbers in Spanish. Most of the kids were able to do it without any major problems, but it´s sad to see older kids who after 5-6 years are still unable to write out the alphabet. My goal is to get these kids some extra help while I´m teaching English. Let´s face it, if they don´t know their own language, they´re not going to succeed in another.
A good/bad thing is that the grade school is expanding. Next year, they plan on having an 8th grade (right now, the school only goes to 7th grade). Each year after that, they plan on adding another grade until 10th. The thing is, the High School will probably close since all the students they would have will still be in the grade school. Because of this, there is a small feud starting between the two. Mostly it is the High School teachers bad mouthing the school. I told them about the results of the ABC tests, and they said, “Well, what do you expect with the teachers there. We don´t know what they do all day!”. It was funny since they told me this while we were sitting in the office during the middle of the day watching TV.
Last weekend I went to Quito to watch the Notre Dame vs. Michigan game. It was a great game, and I finally got to see the Irish win. It was especially nice since I watched the game at a bar owned by a Michigan graduate and was surrounded by Wolverine fans.
You may not have heard, but it is a crazy time in Latin America. First, some Russian bombers flew to Venezuela last week http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article4753363.ece The US Government said that there was no nuclear weapons onboard, but with the US-Russian relations as they are and Hugo Chavez being no friend of America (or democracy), you could see how he wouldn´t be against another Cuban Missile Crisis. It would definitely drive up oil prices (which would give his and Russia´s governments a lot more cash to spend on keeping their huddled masses under control).
In Bolivia there have been protests for and against the US and the Bolivian President, Evo Morales. Here are some links that explain better what is going on http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2008/09/17/bolivian_governor_arrested_peace_corps_volunteers_evacuated/ . and http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/16/bolivia.peace.corps/ The Peace Corps just evacuated all the Volunteers out of the country, and with the way things are down there, I don´t see them coming back anytime soon.
Here in Ecuador, the debate over the new Constitution is heating up. The referendum is on the 28th of September. I don´t see us having any problems, but you never know. During the weekend of the Election, the Peace Corps is making us stay in our sites to keep us out of trouble. Also, I´m going to stock up on rice and canned goods…just in case.
In La Libertad things are OK. I´ve been busy with the English classes and on the 1st day of each class at each grade, I´ve been giving tests…on the Spanish alphabet and writing numbers in Spanish. Most of the kids were able to do it without any major problems, but it´s sad to see older kids who after 5-6 years are still unable to write out the alphabet. My goal is to get these kids some extra help while I´m teaching English. Let´s face it, if they don´t know their own language, they´re not going to succeed in another.
A good/bad thing is that the grade school is expanding. Next year, they plan on having an 8th grade (right now, the school only goes to 7th grade). Each year after that, they plan on adding another grade until 10th. The thing is, the High School will probably close since all the students they would have will still be in the grade school. Because of this, there is a small feud starting between the two. Mostly it is the High School teachers bad mouthing the school. I told them about the results of the ABC tests, and they said, “Well, what do you expect with the teachers there. We don´t know what they do all day!”. It was funny since they told me this while we were sitting in the office during the middle of the day watching TV.
Last weekend I went to Quito to watch the Notre Dame vs. Michigan game. It was a great game, and I finally got to see the Irish win. It was especially nice since I watched the game at a bar owned by a Michigan graduate and was surrounded by Wolverine fans.
You may not have heard, but it is a crazy time in Latin America. First, some Russian bombers flew to Venezuela last week http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article4753363.ece The US Government said that there was no nuclear weapons onboard, but with the US-Russian relations as they are and Hugo Chavez being no friend of America (or democracy), you could see how he wouldn´t be against another Cuban Missile Crisis. It would definitely drive up oil prices (which would give his and Russia´s governments a lot more cash to spend on keeping their huddled masses under control).
In Bolivia there have been protests for and against the US and the Bolivian President, Evo Morales. Here are some links that explain better what is going on http://www.boston.com/news/world/latinamerica/articles/2008/09/17/bolivian_governor_arrested_peace_corps_volunteers_evacuated/ . and http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/09/16/bolivia.peace.corps/ The Peace Corps just evacuated all the Volunteers out of the country, and with the way things are down there, I don´t see them coming back anytime soon.
Here in Ecuador, the debate over the new Constitution is heating up. The referendum is on the 28th of September. I don´t see us having any problems, but you never know. During the weekend of the Election, the Peace Corps is making us stay in our sites to keep us out of trouble. Also, I´m going to stock up on rice and canned goods…just in case.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Make Cotton Soff - In Word
Besides the low rent and inexpensive food, a great thing about Ecuador is the cheap (prices and quality) Chinese made clothes that can be found all over. Pretty much all the T-Shirts down here are American knock-offs of name brands, sports teams, or they just have English writing on them. I was walking through the market the other day and saw a $5 shirt with the title of this post written on it (misspelling included). I have no idea what it means, but how could I pass up a shirt like that…it is now my favorite.
Had another fun/life threatening experience with my neighbor Carlos the other day. His outdoor hot water heater was on the fritz, so we decided to take a look at it. We figured out what the problem was and were taking apart one of the gas valves when a friend of mine sent me a text message. I was standing next to Carlos responding to my friend while he was fiddling with another valve. He apparently turned to water on while the gas valve was disconnected. When the water came on, another gas valve opened to light the pilot and then WOOOOOSHHHH!!!!! I turned and saw a jet of flame shooting out the side of the heater and climb up to the second story of Carlos´ house. We both ran and Carlos turned off the gas at the tank. I was unscathed, but Carlos singed most of the hair in the front of his head. Someday that guy is going to kill me.
What does it take to win “Mother of the Year” at the high school that I work at? I´m not 100% sure, but just remembering your kid´s name and Birthday will get you in the Finals. I was working up there registering students for the new year, and a bunch of the parents when we asked them what their kid´s Birthday was, they had to look up the date on the Birth Certificate. Some parents even had to look at the paperwork when we asked them their kid´s name, unbelievable. Another crazy thing is that to register the older students, they needed copies of their ID. Unfortunately, they are unable to get IDs now because there is a shortage of materials to make IDs in the WHOLE COUNTRY. Nobody can get a license or ID for at least a month.
The good news is that school started this week, so I´ll be busy again until I leave. I´m still going to be teaching English at the grade school and along with nutrition/heath classes every once in a while in the high school, I´ll also be teaching “Logical Reasoning”. If you remember, a couple of months ago, I helped the high school teachers prepare for a logic test they had to take. They liked it so much, I´m stuck doing it. Actually, it should be fun. On Tuesday I went there to see when they wanted me to start. The Director looked at me and said, “Now!”. They were busy getting paperwork ready for the parents, so I had to teach a one hour class without materials or preparing. I was pretty happy that I pulled it off.
I´m planning mostly on doing word and math problems with the kids and Brain-Teezer type puzzles, so if you have any, please send them to me jayverhoff@msn.com .
Another highlight of the week was that on Thursday, my friend John and I got to eat lunch with the new US Ambassador to Ecuador. Here is her profile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_M._Hodges.
We met her at the 300 year old Hacienda Cienega “Swamp House” between La Libertad and Latacunga. The owner gave us a tour and explained some of it´s history. It was interesting. You can see pics of the Hacienda at http://www.hosterialacienega.com/html/en/hotel_cotopaxi_ecuador.html. We then had a really nice lunch with the Ambassador, two members of her staff, and the owner. The lunch cost about $25, but the owner was trying to impress the Ambassador, so he picked up the bill. Unfortunately, the owner talked most of the time, and since he was there, we talked mostly in Spanish. We only really talked about what John and I are doing for about two minutes, but for free filet migñon I´m not complaining.
Finally, here is a quote from the comedian Lewis Black that I just heard. It is a couple years old, but it reminded me that no matter how bad it gets down here, I still went to college in a worse place…just kidding.
“If you´re thinking of killing yourself, Rolla is the place to go. Because when you get there, you´ll take one look around and say, ´I want to end it all´. You can´t even get there directly. You fly into St. Louis and then drive two hours south on Route 66. They wrote a song about it…but not that part of the highway.”
- Lewis Black on Late Night with Conan O´Brian
Had another fun/life threatening experience with my neighbor Carlos the other day. His outdoor hot water heater was on the fritz, so we decided to take a look at it. We figured out what the problem was and were taking apart one of the gas valves when a friend of mine sent me a text message. I was standing next to Carlos responding to my friend while he was fiddling with another valve. He apparently turned to water on while the gas valve was disconnected. When the water came on, another gas valve opened to light the pilot and then WOOOOOSHHHH!!!!! I turned and saw a jet of flame shooting out the side of the heater and climb up to the second story of Carlos´ house. We both ran and Carlos turned off the gas at the tank. I was unscathed, but Carlos singed most of the hair in the front of his head. Someday that guy is going to kill me.
What does it take to win “Mother of the Year” at the high school that I work at? I´m not 100% sure, but just remembering your kid´s name and Birthday will get you in the Finals. I was working up there registering students for the new year, and a bunch of the parents when we asked them what their kid´s Birthday was, they had to look up the date on the Birth Certificate. Some parents even had to look at the paperwork when we asked them their kid´s name, unbelievable. Another crazy thing is that to register the older students, they needed copies of their ID. Unfortunately, they are unable to get IDs now because there is a shortage of materials to make IDs in the WHOLE COUNTRY. Nobody can get a license or ID for at least a month.
The good news is that school started this week, so I´ll be busy again until I leave. I´m still going to be teaching English at the grade school and along with nutrition/heath classes every once in a while in the high school, I´ll also be teaching “Logical Reasoning”. If you remember, a couple of months ago, I helped the high school teachers prepare for a logic test they had to take. They liked it so much, I´m stuck doing it. Actually, it should be fun. On Tuesday I went there to see when they wanted me to start. The Director looked at me and said, “Now!”. They were busy getting paperwork ready for the parents, so I had to teach a one hour class without materials or preparing. I was pretty happy that I pulled it off.
I´m planning mostly on doing word and math problems with the kids and Brain-Teezer type puzzles, so if you have any, please send them to me jayverhoff@msn.com .
Another highlight of the week was that on Thursday, my friend John and I got to eat lunch with the new US Ambassador to Ecuador. Here is her profile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_M._Hodges.
We met her at the 300 year old Hacienda Cienega “Swamp House” between La Libertad and Latacunga. The owner gave us a tour and explained some of it´s history. It was interesting. You can see pics of the Hacienda at http://www.hosterialacienega.com/html/en/hotel_cotopaxi_ecuador.html. We then had a really nice lunch with the Ambassador, two members of her staff, and the owner. The lunch cost about $25, but the owner was trying to impress the Ambassador, so he picked up the bill. Unfortunately, the owner talked most of the time, and since he was there, we talked mostly in Spanish. We only really talked about what John and I are doing for about two minutes, but for free filet migñon I´m not complaining.Finally, here is a quote from the comedian Lewis Black that I just heard. It is a couple years old, but it reminded me that no matter how bad it gets down here, I still went to college in a worse place…just kidding.
“If you´re thinking of killing yourself, Rolla is the place to go. Because when you get there, you´ll take one look around and say, ´I want to end it all´. You can´t even get there directly. You fly into St. Louis and then drive two hours south on Route 66. They wrote a song about it…but not that part of the highway.”
- Lewis Black on Late Night with Conan O´Brian
Friday, August 22, 2008
From The Neck Of The Moon
I think that I mentioned a while ago that I joined the recently formed Agricultural Task Force (ATF). Since the group is new, we don’t have any set responsibilities yet. I suggested that one thing we could take on was helping with the training of the non-agricultural Omnibuses. The Peace Corp big shots loved the idea, so last week, five of us went back up to Cayambe to give a 3 ½ hour presentation on agricultural themes. During our training, we received a couple days of health and education training, but the Youth & Families and Health programs don’t receive any significant Ag training. I talked about school and home gardens, inter-program cooperation, and a little about nutrition. The rest of the group talked about composting, value added products, and chemical use and protection. It went really well, and several of the trainees told us that our presentation was the most practical session they had during their training.
The bad news is that the training may be the last function of the ATF while I am here. I talked to my boss the other day and he said that the budget of PC Ecuador is going to be cut by Washington and there is no money to fund our activities. We are going to try to find other sources of funding and we have ideas for cheap projects, but I think we will be limited to training activities and information dissemination. I did just write an article for the Youth & Families Program’s newsletter about school gardening, so I can hang my hat on that.
Last weekend was the Festival de San Juan in La Libertad. The festival was the same as last year except they didn’t do the Maypole dace, so they didn’t need me to act as the pole. The one notable thing was that at Mass on Friday and Saturday, the Priest told the story of John the Baptist. For those of you who don’t know, John was preaching in Galilee and got in trouble with the ruler and his wife. John was arrested and during the ruler’s birthday party he was beheaded and his head was brought to the ruler’s wife on a platter. The Priest told the story twice because after the first time he asked a couple of questions and nobody knew the answers. Then he started an hour long rant about the town. He said that it was improper to celebrate the death of John the Baptist at a party by having another party. He said that most kids memories of the Feast of John the Baptist were, “Dad got drunk and fought with Mom”. Instead of drinking, the Priest said that we should take time to reflect on the past year with our families. Of course this went over well. Most people weren’t paying attention anyway, and as soon as he left, everyone started drinking. I didn’t stay long because of what the Priest said and also one shot of homemade sugar cane alcohol is enough to last me for a while. The thing about that whole situation that strikes me is that these people will not listen to their own Priest and I’m supposed to get anything accomplished here!
The Priest also went on to criticize the town’s leadership for deciding to build a new church without saving enough money to repair the current church (it started to rain during mass and water was coming down on the alter through the giant whole in the roof). Ne
xt he jokingly said that he hoped somebody died during this year’s festival so that next year we could celebrate that death AND the death of John the Baptist. It wasn’t exactly at the Fiesta, but a guy from my town did die that weekend. It was Sunday morning after a soccer game and the guy was trying to cross the Pan-American Highway on his way home and he got hit by a
car. He was drunk at the time. I’m sure it was from drinking at the Festival till early in the morning and then continuing at the game. I went to the wake, and people were drinking there, I guess the Priest was right next year will be a blast.
I went with my buddy John and a group of 60 High School kids from Latacunga to Mt. Cotopaxi last Sunday. John set the whole thing up and got funding from the US for two buses to pick us up, guides, and lunch. It was great because the kids had never been there and the weather was not very cloudy. We climbed from 15, 090 feet to about 15,944. That’s where the snow line is, so we got to climb around the glacier. I took the Priest’s advice and went o
ff on my own away from the kids for a while. Standing on the glacier, listening to the ice crack and water run underneath me, while looking out at the snow-capped peaks in the distance made me think, “Man, my feet are cold!”. I did learn an interesting fact. Cotopaxi, the name of the Volcano and of the Province that I live in means “Neck of the Moon” in Quichua. Pretty cool. 
Finally, congratulations to Jefferson Peréz, Ecuador’s most famous athlete, on his Silver medal in the Men’s 20K Walk in Beijing. This is Jeff’s second medal (and I believe the only ones for Ecuador). I know its not on par with Michael Phelps, but we take what we can get down here. I do feel a little silly though admitting that I watched a bunch of guys walking around in circles for a hour and a half…with interest.
The bad news is that the training may be the last function of the ATF while I am here. I talked to my boss the other day and he said that the budget of PC Ecuador is going to be cut by Washington and there is no money to fund our activities. We are going to try to find other sources of funding and we have ideas for cheap projects, but I think we will be limited to training activities and information dissemination. I did just write an article for the Youth & Families Program’s newsletter about school gardening, so I can hang my hat on that.
Last weekend was the Festival de San Juan in La Libertad. The festival was the same as last year except they didn’t do the Maypole dace, so they didn’t need me to act as the pole. The one notable thing was that at Mass on Friday and Saturday, the Priest told the story of John the Baptist. For those of you who don’t know, John was preaching in Galilee and got in trouble with the ruler and his wife. John was arrested and during the ruler’s birthday party he was beheaded and his head was brought to the ruler’s wife on a platter. The Priest told the story twice because after the first time he asked a couple of questions and nobody knew the answers. Then he started an hour long rant about the town. He said that it was improper to celebrate the death of John the Baptist at a party by having another party. He said that most kids memories of the Feast of John the Baptist were, “Dad got drunk and fought with Mom”. Instead of drinking, the Priest said that we should take time to reflect on the past year with our families. Of course this went over well. Most people weren’t paying attention anyway, and as soon as he left, everyone started drinking. I didn’t stay long because of what the Priest said and also one shot of homemade sugar cane alcohol is enough to last me for a while. The thing about that whole situation that strikes me is that these people will not listen to their own Priest and I’m supposed to get anything accomplished here!
The Priest also went on to criticize the town’s leadership for deciding to build a new church without saving enough money to repair the current church (it started to rain during mass and water was coming down on the alter through the giant whole in the roof). Ne
xt he jokingly said that he hoped somebody died during this year’s festival so that next year we could celebrate that death AND the death of John the Baptist. It wasn’t exactly at the Fiesta, but a guy from my town did die that weekend. It was Sunday morning after a soccer game and the guy was trying to cross the Pan-American Highway on his way home and he got hit by a
car. He was drunk at the time. I’m sure it was from drinking at the Festival till early in the morning and then continuing at the game. I went to the wake, and people were drinking there, I guess the Priest was right next year will be a blast.I went with my buddy John and a group of 60 High School kids from Latacunga to Mt. Cotopaxi last Sunday. John set the whole thing up and got funding from the US for two buses to pick us up, guides, and lunch. It was great because the kids had never been there and the weather was not very cloudy. We climbed from 15, 090 feet to about 15,944. That’s where the snow line is, so we got to climb around the glacier. I took the Priest’s advice and went o
ff on my own away from the kids for a while. Standing on the glacier, listening to the ice crack and water run underneath me, while looking out at the snow-capped peaks in the distance made me think, “Man, my feet are cold!”. I did learn an interesting fact. Cotopaxi, the name of the Volcano and of the Province that I live in means “Neck of the Moon” in Quichua. Pretty cool. 
Finally, congratulations to Jefferson Peréz, Ecuador’s most famous athlete, on his Silver medal in the Men’s 20K Walk in Beijing. This is Jeff’s second medal (and I believe the only ones for Ecuador). I know its not on par with Michael Phelps, but we take what we can get down here. I do feel a little silly though admitting that I watched a bunch of guys walking around in circles for a hour and a half…with interest.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Erradicating Child Labor...By Making Kids Work
I´ve been busy and bored at the same time for the last couple of weeks. With the schools on vacation until September, I have a lot more free time during the day, but I´ve been trying to keep occupied. Even though we are allegedly in the “Dry Season”, the weather has been overcast and it has rained every week lately.
Since I had some time and the weather hasn´t been sunny, I took my laundry to Latacunga last week to wash it at the laundry mat. My buddy John had dropped of the ad we made for the cleaners earlier, so when I showed up, they didn’t charge me. The free laundry was nice, but when I talked to John, he said that he just gave them one copy of the advertisement. The owner assumed that we had handed out a bunch of copies. John said that we would de that, so I had to come back to Latacunga another day to give out the ads. We spent a couple hours going around town giving the ads to all the hotels and tourist agencies that foreigners usually go to. Also, we hung up about 50 copies around town. After we posted a flier, we´d walk away and almost every time we´d look back and see a couple Ecuadorians looking at the ad. The ad was totally in English, so I know they couldn´t understand it, but I guess the novelty of a couple gringos hanging up fliers was too much for them to resist. We even gave out a few ads to people who came up to us on the street and asked for one to take home.
I went into Quito last week to see the new Batman with some friends. The movie was good, and while in Quito I bought a couple more movies and the entire 4th and 5th seasons of “The Office” (All for $14. You gotta love pirated DVDs!!) Also in Quito, I bought a thermometer to use with the yogurt project I´m trying to get started. Out of curiosity, I had some water boiling and took its temperature. It was boiling at only 188° F. At sea level, water boils at 212° F. Living at an elevation of 11,200 feet does some crazy things.
Other than watching “The Office” and reading, I´ve been trying to practice my Spanish a little. I bought a copy of the Instant Immersion CD/CD-ROMs. It said “Advanced” on the package and I though it would help with my vocabulary and maybe get rid of my accent (I´ve been told by Ecuadorians who live in the city that I sound like the Ecuadorian version of a redneck). Unfortunately, my Spanish is above the level of the CDs, so I don´t think that they´ll do me much good.
Another thing that I´ve been doing is working on the gardens around my house. I have two new ones going and I was finally able to harvest some broccoli that I´ve been growing. I steamed some for dinner the other day and I have to admit that it was the best tasting Broccoli that I´ve ever eaten. The problem is that it took almost 7 months to grow. In the States it should only take about 2 ½ months from seed to harvest. The short days, lack of sun, and cold temperatures really screws me here.
I did also get a little publicity for the gardens we are doing near Latacunga. There was a half page story (mostly pictures) on them in the July issue of Social Responsibility magazine. I think the head of the project that we are using to get our contacts in the schools wrote it up using pictures that I had taken. The funny thing is the magazine´s purpose. Social Responsibility has it´s mission statement printed under the title on the front page. It says that the magazine is dedicated to “Eradicating child labor in Ecuador”. Of course, most of the pictures in the article show kids from the schools working in the gardens. I guess a garden can´t count as a sweat shop even if the kids are sweating.
The last piece of semi-exciting news is that JayInEcuador is now the top Google result when you search my name. Finally!
Since I had some time and the weather hasn´t been sunny, I took my laundry to Latacunga last week to wash it at the laundry mat. My buddy John had dropped of the ad we made for the cleaners earlier, so when I showed up, they didn’t charge me. The free laundry was nice, but when I talked to John, he said that he just gave them one copy of the advertisement. The owner assumed that we had handed out a bunch of copies. John said that we would de that, so I had to come back to Latacunga another day to give out the ads. We spent a couple hours going around town giving the ads to all the hotels and tourist agencies that foreigners usually go to. Also, we hung up about 50 copies around town. After we posted a flier, we´d walk away and almost every time we´d look back and see a couple Ecuadorians looking at the ad. The ad was totally in English, so I know they couldn´t understand it, but I guess the novelty of a couple gringos hanging up fliers was too much for them to resist. We even gave out a few ads to people who came up to us on the street and asked for one to take home.
I went into Quito last week to see the new Batman with some friends. The movie was good, and while in Quito I bought a couple more movies and the entire 4th and 5th seasons of “The Office” (All for $14. You gotta love pirated DVDs!!) Also in Quito, I bought a thermometer to use with the yogurt project I´m trying to get started. Out of curiosity, I had some water boiling and took its temperature. It was boiling at only 188° F. At sea level, water boils at 212° F. Living at an elevation of 11,200 feet does some crazy things.
Other than watching “The Office” and reading, I´ve been trying to practice my Spanish a little. I bought a copy of the Instant Immersion CD/CD-ROMs. It said “Advanced” on the package and I though it would help with my vocabulary and maybe get rid of my accent (I´ve been told by Ecuadorians who live in the city that I sound like the Ecuadorian version of a redneck). Unfortunately, my Spanish is above the level of the CDs, so I don´t think that they´ll do me much good.
Another thing that I´ve been doing is working on the gardens around my house. I have two new ones going and I was finally able to harvest some broccoli that I´ve been growing. I steamed some for dinner the other day and I have to admit that it was the best tasting Broccoli that I´ve ever eaten. The problem is that it took almost 7 months to grow. In the States it should only take about 2 ½ months from seed to harvest. The short days, lack of sun, and cold temperatures really screws me here.
I did also get a little publicity for the gardens we are doing near Latacunga. There was a half page story (mostly pictures) on them in the July issue of Social Responsibility magazine. I think the head of the project that we are using to get our contacts in the schools wrote it up using pictures that I had taken. The funny thing is the magazine´s purpose. Social Responsibility has it´s mission statement printed under the title on the front page. It says that the magazine is dedicated to “Eradicating child labor in Ecuador”. Of course, most of the pictures in the article show kids from the schools working in the gardens. I guess a garden can´t count as a sweat shop even if the kids are sweating.
The last piece of semi-exciting news is that JayInEcuador is now the top Google result when you search my name. Finally!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
I´m Back Baby!
After a three week vacation, I´m back in Ecuador (for better or worse). I had a blast in the States and want to thank everyone who hosted a BBQ, gave me tickets to a ball game, let me sleep on their couch, drove me around, let me barrow their car. bought me a beer, took me out to lunch/dinner, gave me a hug, said they enjoyed reading the blog, and generally made my trip home the best time I´ve had in a while.
The trip back was pretty uneventful except for a lot of turbulence over the Gulf of Mexico (Thanks Dolly!) and when we landed in Quito, the woman across the aisle from me asked me in Spanish, "What time is it?". I answered her, but she just looked confusedly at me. I repeated the time, but again, she didn´t understand. Then she held up nine fingers and said, "nueve". I said yes, and then she started talking to me very fast. I only understood about 1 word in 50 and thought, "Holy S___! I lost all my Spanish while I was in the US". Then a Mexican lady behind me started talking to us. Her, I could understand. She asked if I understood the other lady and I said no. She then asked the lady where she was from. She didn´t understand and showed us her passport...she was from Hati! She was speaking French the whole time with a little Spanish thrown in, Thank God!
I got to my house too late to visit my neighbors, and since I was tired from the trip, I just went to bed. THe next morning, I awoke to my neighbors knocking on my door asking me to get up. I opened the door, and two of my neighbors were carrying pots and pans and asked me to come with them to another neighbor´s to kill some Guinea Pigs for a fiesta that night. Well, if you´re going to get back in the swing of things, you might as well go all the way. (Note: I went to a pet store in the US and saw that Guinea Pigs go for $34.50 a pop. Outrageous! I can get a Guinea Pig cleaned, cooked, and with two side dishes for $6). After killing them, my neighbor asked if I could go to her daughters graduation that afternoon to take picture. They had another neighbor´s camera, but didn´t know how to use it. I changed out of my killing clothes and we took off. We got to the high school at noon, but of course the ceremony didn´t start until 4:00. After the graduation, which was really more of a fashion show since the school´s curriculum was clothing design and manufacture, we went back to my neighbor´s to eat (oh, guinea pig and potatoes how I didn´t miss you!) .
Later, the DJ started up and we drank and danced until 3:00 AM. Itried to leave earlier, but they insisted that I stay. I just kept thinking that two days earlier I had dinner at a nice Chicago sushi restaurant with 12 of my friends. Good food, good wine, good conversation and a lot of laughs. Now, I was dancing all night to music I didn´t like with a belly full of rodent. The thing is, earlier in the night when we were making toasts, my neighbor raised her glass to congratulate her daughter and turned to me and said, "Jay, I´m glad you made it back in time to help us celebrate because you are a part of our family". That got to me. As much as I miss my friends and family, I´m glad I here for now. I only have nine months left to work, and its going to fly by. I don´t think I´ll miss the food or unpunctuality when I leave, but I know that I´ll miss being a part of this messed-up World.
The trip back was pretty uneventful except for a lot of turbulence over the Gulf of Mexico (Thanks Dolly!) and when we landed in Quito, the woman across the aisle from me asked me in Spanish, "What time is it?". I answered her, but she just looked confusedly at me. I repeated the time, but again, she didn´t understand. Then she held up nine fingers and said, "nueve". I said yes, and then she started talking to me very fast. I only understood about 1 word in 50 and thought, "Holy S___! I lost all my Spanish while I was in the US". Then a Mexican lady behind me started talking to us. Her, I could understand. She asked if I understood the other lady and I said no. She then asked the lady where she was from. She didn´t understand and showed us her passport...she was from Hati! She was speaking French the whole time with a little Spanish thrown in, Thank God!
I got to my house too late to visit my neighbors, and since I was tired from the trip, I just went to bed. THe next morning, I awoke to my neighbors knocking on my door asking me to get up. I opened the door, and two of my neighbors were carrying pots and pans and asked me to come with them to another neighbor´s to kill some Guinea Pigs for a fiesta that night. Well, if you´re going to get back in the swing of things, you might as well go all the way. (Note: I went to a pet store in the US and saw that Guinea Pigs go for $34.50 a pop. Outrageous! I can get a Guinea Pig cleaned, cooked, and with two side dishes for $6). After killing them, my neighbor asked if I could go to her daughters graduation that afternoon to take picture. They had another neighbor´s camera, but didn´t know how to use it. I changed out of my killing clothes and we took off. We got to the high school at noon, but of course the ceremony didn´t start until 4:00. After the graduation, which was really more of a fashion show since the school´s curriculum was clothing design and manufacture, we went back to my neighbor´s to eat (oh, guinea pig and potatoes how I didn´t miss you!) .
Later, the DJ started up and we drank and danced until 3:00 AM. Itried to leave earlier, but they insisted that I stay. I just kept thinking that two days earlier I had dinner at a nice Chicago sushi restaurant with 12 of my friends. Good food, good wine, good conversation and a lot of laughs. Now, I was dancing all night to music I didn´t like with a belly full of rodent. The thing is, earlier in the night when we were making toasts, my neighbor raised her glass to congratulate her daughter and turned to me and said, "Jay, I´m glad you made it back in time to help us celebrate because you are a part of our family". That got to me. As much as I miss my friends and family, I´m glad I here for now. I only have nine months left to work, and its going to fly by. I don´t think I´ll miss the food or unpunctuality when I leave, but I know that I´ll miss being a part of this messed-up World.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Random Notes
Sorry that it has been a while since I updated, but the last couple of weeks have been thankfully busy. I´ve been working or traveling a lot which has kept me from spending all my time thinking about my trip home next month (July 1st through the 22nd). Here are some of the highlights...
->We finally got all the numbers together for the chicken project and I did a feasibility study on the business (who says you have to have an MBA?). I found that we´d make money, but only in the long term. During the first year each member of the group would have to fork out almost $900 of their own money and then wouldn´t recoup it all until the third year. I think that is way too much money and too long a time for people in my site to stay with the idea, so it looks like that project is a bust. Instead, we now are looking at working with broilers instead of laying hens. I haven´t done the study yet, but hopefully the numbers will be better.
->I just joined the recently formed PC Agricultural Task Force which will be working with country wide agricultural training. I still don´t know a ton of Ag stuff, but I hope to help with organizing and setting goals for the new group. My first idea about slightly changing the format of Pre-Service Training has received a lot of good buzz, and I think it will be implemented.
->I went down to Ambato for a friend´s birthday party a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to see everyone and while I was in the city, I picked up a $1.25 bootleg copy of the new Indiana Jones (Sorry George Lucas). I was excited to see the movie since I´ve always been a fan, but was very disappointed. The only redeeming quality in my mind was that it was set not far from here and there were several small bits that had connections to Ecuador (Francisco Orellana, the explorer, and the Quichwa language which they still speak here).
-> I traveled to the northern part of Ecuador last week for a couple of days to visit some friends. It was nice to see a different side of life and feel some warm weather. It is usually pretty dry there, but it rained almost every day...I must have brought it with me. The area where my friends live is called the Chota Valley and is famous for being the home of almost all the Ecuadorian Nation Soccer Team´s players. Since a lot of the residents are Afro-Ecuatoriano, the culture is very different and I could have conversations with people, look them in the eyes, and not have to squat...how bizarre! We basically just hung out, but I did get to see one of my friend´s yogurt projects. She showed me how to do everything, and its pretty easy. When I get back from vacation I think I´m going to try it out in my town. I think that I´ll do it all on my own and later on I´ll get others involved (there will be a lot less headaches that way).
Other than that I´m getting stuff ready for the trip. I have some garden work to do next week and then some packing.
I´m looking foreward to seeing everyone and if you are planning on being in Chicago or St. Louis in July, send me a line.
P.S. - This will be the last post until I get back from the States, so until then, Hasta Luego!
->We finally got all the numbers together for the chicken project and I did a feasibility study on the business (who says you have to have an MBA?). I found that we´d make money, but only in the long term. During the first year each member of the group would have to fork out almost $900 of their own money and then wouldn´t recoup it all until the third year. I think that is way too much money and too long a time for people in my site to stay with the idea, so it looks like that project is a bust. Instead, we now are looking at working with broilers instead of laying hens. I haven´t done the study yet, but hopefully the numbers will be better.
->I just joined the recently formed PC Agricultural Task Force which will be working with country wide agricultural training. I still don´t know a ton of Ag stuff, but I hope to help with organizing and setting goals for the new group. My first idea about slightly changing the format of Pre-Service Training has received a lot of good buzz, and I think it will be implemented.
->I went down to Ambato for a friend´s birthday party a couple of weeks ago. It was nice to see everyone and while I was in the city, I picked up a $1.25 bootleg copy of the new Indiana Jones (Sorry George Lucas). I was excited to see the movie since I´ve always been a fan, but was very disappointed. The only redeeming quality in my mind was that it was set not far from here and there were several small bits that had connections to Ecuador (Francisco Orellana, the explorer, and the Quichwa language which they still speak here).
-> I traveled to the northern part of Ecuador last week for a couple of days to visit some friends. It was nice to see a different side of life and feel some warm weather. It is usually pretty dry there, but it rained almost every day...I must have brought it with me. The area where my friends live is called the Chota Valley and is famous for being the home of almost all the Ecuadorian Nation Soccer Team´s players. Since a lot of the residents are Afro-Ecuatoriano, the culture is very different and I could have conversations with people, look them in the eyes, and not have to squat...how bizarre! We basically just hung out, but I did get to see one of my friend´s yogurt projects. She showed me how to do everything, and its pretty easy. When I get back from vacation I think I´m going to try it out in my town. I think that I´ll do it all on my own and later on I´ll get others involved (there will be a lot less headaches that way).
Other than that I´m getting stuff ready for the trip. I have some garden work to do next week and then some packing.
I´m looking foreward to seeing everyone and if you are planning on being in Chicago or St. Louis in July, send me a line.
P.S. - This will be the last post until I get back from the States, so until then, Hasta Luego!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
The Body of Who??
I had just finished teaching at the grade school last Tuesday w
hen the Director asked me if I was going to "Corpus". I told him that I didn´t know what that was, so I didn´t know if I was going or not. He explained that it was a big party this weekend outside of Latacunga. Since I didn´t have anything to do on Saturday, I went to check it out. The name turned out to be short for Corpus Christi, Latin for Body of Christ. And the festival was allegedly to celebrated the feast of the Eucharist, but in reality it celebrated beer, booze, and dancing to bad music. The parade started right on time (2 hours late) and was pretty much the same as the Mama Negra parade in Latacunga, but with a little less booze. There were a couple of other PCVs there, and it was a good time. The funny thing was that they didn´t try to hard to make it look like they were celebrating a religious feast. The only guys wearing anything 
religious were the guys (sorry, I don´t know what their official name is) wearing these huge hats with pictures of the Virgin and Jesus on them. They are traditional to the Pujili area (where the parade was).
hen the Director asked me if I was going to "Corpus". I told him that I didn´t know what that was, so I didn´t know if I was going or not. He explained that it was a big party this weekend outside of Latacunga. Since I didn´t have anything to do on Saturday, I went to check it out. The name turned out to be short for Corpus Christi, Latin for Body of Christ. And the festival was allegedly to celebrated the feast of the Eucharist, but in reality it celebrated beer, booze, and dancing to bad music. The parade started right on time (2 hours late) and was pretty much the same as the Mama Negra parade in Latacunga, but with a little less booze. There were a couple of other PCVs there, and it was a good time. The funny thing was that they didn´t try to hard to make it look like they were celebrating a religious feast. The only guys wearing anything 
religious were the guys (sorry, I don´t know what their official name is) wearing these huge hats with pictures of the Virgin and Jesus on them. They are traditional to the Pujili area (where the parade was).While we were walking around we met an Israeli guy who had just started traveling around South America. Since he didn´t speak much Spanish, he tagged along. It was amusing to see how shocked he was at the way people were acting. He refused all the drinks people piled on us, kept asking if people always sold food uncovered on the street, wondered why the police just stood around while fights were breaking out, and generally questioned what he got himself into. None of this stuff bothered or surprised us PCVs. I guess that shows that we have integrated.
The traveler left before us and later as I was changing buses in Latacunga I ran into him again. I asked if he got back without any problems and he just shook his head. He said that on the bus ride back to town he fell asleep and someone stole his hat. He couldn´t believe how that could happen...lesson learned for him.
We planted another garden last week and all went well. I also got some good news from my boss. Since I´m having to travel a lot more to go to all these gardens, I´m pa
ying a lot more on bus fares. I asked for a raise to cover these extra expenses and it was approved. I will now be receiving $10 more a month...huzzah!!!
ying a lot more on bus fares. I asked for a raise to cover these extra expenses and it was approved. I will now be receiving $10 more a month...huzzah!!!Sunday, May 18, 2008
Schoolyard Taunts Ecuadorian Style..."Ok, who brought the wet shit?"
I went to another small school outside of Latacunga this week. The school was in a town called Tanicuchi and was very poor. THey already had a small garden, unlike the other schools we are going to work at. Their garden was planted January by a group of university students from Latacunga. In it´s 15´x 30´foot area there were only about 12 small plants growing. It was pretty sad looking, so we dug it up and started from scratch. I asked if the university students had ever come back, and they said no. Now, I don´t know the whole story behind the students working there, but this is similar to the story of most development work. People come in, spend a day working(or some other short period of time
), leave feeling that they´ve accomplished something, and then never come back. In actuality, they accomplished nothing sustainable and do more harm than good. The school is a good example. The garden sucked and was taking up space. Also, the kids and the teachers didn´t work as hard or seem as interested as the other schools we´ve been to and I don´t think the trust us to come back. We told them they need to water the plants every day, but after their first experience they may not. If they don´t, nothing will grow and the cycle will continue.
), leave feeling that they´ve accomplished something, and then never come back. In actuality, they accomplished nothing sustainable and do more harm than good. The school is a good example. The garden sucked and was taking up space. Also, the kids and the teachers didn´t work as hard or seem as interested as the other schools we´ve been to and I don´t think the trust us to come back. We told them they need to water the plants every day, but after their first experience they may not. If they don´t, nothing will grow and the cycle will continue. Anyway, we got the garden planted and fertilized with manure the kids brought. AS we were dumping the plastic bags of crap out, one bag was full of fresh cow 
manure. The rest of the bags were full of dry (and therefore less smelly) manure. As the wet turds plopped out, some of the kids looked around at the others and said, "OK, who brought the wet shit?" I had to laugh as the other kids furiously denied it.
manure. The rest of the bags were full of dry (and therefore less smelly) manure. As the wet turds plopped out, some of the kids looked around at the others and said, "OK, who brought the wet shit?" I had to laugh as the other kids furiously denied it.I spent last weekend working at the community bank´s charge days. Everything went well, and at the end of the last day I closed up shop and took the keys home with me. Normally, at the end of the day, one of the ladies will come and take the money we´ve collected and take it home to deposit the next day. We had over $6,000 that day, but nobody came to collect it. We put the money in a box in the bank and when I got home, I gave the keys to my neighbor in case anything happened (I didn´t want to get the blame).
The next day at 6:30 AM one of the ladies from the bank started tapping on my window. She asked me to come out and talk. I went outside and she asked me for the keys to the bank. I explained that my neighbor had them and went back to bed. About 10 minutes later, she was back knocking on my window. Again I went outside, and she asked me where the money was because she had to make the deposit. I told her where we put the money and was starting to go back inside. She then asked me to come with her. I asked her why and she told me that she didn´t know where the money was. I explained again (I know I said it right because it wasn´t hard to say in Spanish), but she kept whining that she needed me to get it. I was starting to get pissed at this point, but I told her, "Let´s go!". She said that she had to go to her house first and would be back at 7:00. I changed clothes and was ready to go at 7:00, but she didn´t show up till 7:40. Now I was steaming. I started walking to the bank at my normal pace (about 3 times faster than Ecuadorians walk) and she asked me if I was mad and I said yes. She couldn´t understand why I was pissed even after I opened the bank and got the money from where I said it was. She got me up at 6:30 AM for five seconds of work at 8:00, so I think I had the right to be pissed.
I was talking to a PC friend later that day and told her the story. She said that she has heard similar stories recently from other PCVs in our group. I think we are all getting to the point where we are comfortable enough with our Spanish, our sites, and we have seen enough ignorance that we now are getting mad and telling people about it. I don´t know if that is the right thing to do, but such is life in the Third World
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Red Country - Dead Meat
The new Government of Ecuador has been making a lot of changes lately. (Note: The Constitutional Assembly that is writing the new Constitution is still hard at work. You can tell that it is hard at work because that´s what the commercials say. Yeah, they have to have advertise! The country overwhelmingly voted for the new Constitution, but after the Assembly dissolved the Congress, took it´s power for themselves, and several members have been involved in scandals, I guess they feel that they need a little good publicity.) From tougher rules for the mining industry to possibly kicking out one of the country´s biggest cell phone companies (my cell phone company) the new guys are turning everything upside down. They even declared a new National Holiday on May 1st. May Day is now the “Day of the Worker” in Ecuador…Communism City here we come.
Another smaller change that they have made deals with the customs department. They have made it a lot harder and much more expensive to get something out of customs. Therefore I want to repeat the rules for sending packages down here. DO NOT SEND ANYTHING OVER 2 KILOGRAMS (4.4 POUNDS) OR DECLARE A VALUE ON ANY PACKAGE. Please don´t take this as a plea for gifts. I don´t need anything and since I´ll be in the Status in July, I´ll be able to get everything I need for the rest of my time down here then. I just don´t want anyone to send a $10 gift that would cost me $50 to get out of hock (I probably would just leave it there).
If you will remember from my post a couple of weeks ago, we had to say good-bye to one of my good friends. She had been traveling too much and the PC bosses kicked her out. The day before she left we had a going away party in Quito for her. One of my other good friends came up from down South to see her off. Unfortunately he didn´t have permission. He traveled a lot too and when he called his boss to tell him that he was coming, his boss said that he couldn´t. He came anyway, and sure enough, the PC found out and he got the boot as well. That takes my original training group of five down to two and the whole Omnibus from 46 to 28.
Speaking of my Omnibus, we had our Mid-Service meetings last week in Quito. It was nice to see everyone and share stories/experiences, but from a “work” standpoint, it was a waste of time. At this point everyone´s situation is unique and what everyone is trying to do is so different that it is better just to call someone up on the phone if you have questions about a project that may be applicable in your site. Also, there are a couple people in my group that love to hear themselves talk. Any session that should have taken one hour inevitable took two or more. By the end of the second day everyone was exhausted and a lot of people were getting frustrated.
Thankfully, yours truly suggested an post-meeting activity for everyone, and it turned out well. We all met up at a bar after dinner and had a Pub Quiz. If you don´t know what that is, it is basically a trivia contest with some beer thrown in. All but two of the PCVs in our group came, and even though my group came in third, I had a good time.
The interesting culinary store of the last two weeks happened the other day when I walked in to my neighbor´s house and she was frying up some meat. She asked me to eat a bowl of rice and meat. It was surprisingly good and I asked what it was and where she got it. She said that it was sheep and our neighbor gave it to her. I was surprised that someone gave away that much meat, so I asked why the neighbor did that. Rosa then explained that a dog got into the neighbor´s flock and killed a bunch of sheep. There was too much meat for her to eat, and you can´t sell dead animals in the market, so she gave it all away. I´m not 100% sure, but I think that was the first time I´ve ever eaten and animal killed by another animal.
The Great Gringo Goalkeeper experiment may be over. I got benched last week. I probably shouldn´t be upset seeing that the other guy has been playing all his life and I have a grand total of ten games at goal under my belt, but I don´t like being told that I´m no good at anything (especially since I´ve given up less goals so far than he has). Anyway, I probably will just play when the other guy can´t make it.
Another smaller change that they have made deals with the customs department. They have made it a lot harder and much more expensive to get something out of customs. Therefore I want to repeat the rules for sending packages down here. DO NOT SEND ANYTHING OVER 2 KILOGRAMS (4.4 POUNDS) OR DECLARE A VALUE ON ANY PACKAGE. Please don´t take this as a plea for gifts. I don´t need anything and since I´ll be in the Status in July, I´ll be able to get everything I need for the rest of my time down here then. I just don´t want anyone to send a $10 gift that would cost me $50 to get out of hock (I probably would just leave it there).
If you will remember from my post a couple of weeks ago, we had to say good-bye to one of my good friends. She had been traveling too much and the PC bosses kicked her out. The day before she left we had a going away party in Quito for her. One of my other good friends came up from down South to see her off. Unfortunately he didn´t have permission. He traveled a lot too and when he called his boss to tell him that he was coming, his boss said that he couldn´t. He came anyway, and sure enough, the PC found out and he got the boot as well. That takes my original training group of five down to two and the whole Omnibus from 46 to 28.
Speaking of my Omnibus, we had our Mid-Service meetings last week in Quito. It was nice to see everyone and share stories/experiences, but from a “work” standpoint, it was a waste of time. At this point everyone´s situation is unique and what everyone is trying to do is so different that it is better just to call someone up on the phone if you have questions about a project that may be applicable in your site. Also, there are a couple people in my group that love to hear themselves talk. Any session that should have taken one hour inevitable took two or more. By the end of the second day everyone was exhausted and a lot of people were getting frustrated.
Thankfully, yours truly suggested an post-meeting activity for everyone, and it turned out well. We all met up at a bar after dinner and had a Pub Quiz. If you don´t know what that is, it is basically a trivia contest with some beer thrown in. All but two of the PCVs in our group came, and even though my group came in third, I had a good time.
The interesting culinary store of the last two weeks happened the other day when I walked in to my neighbor´s house and she was frying up some meat. She asked me to eat a bowl of rice and meat. It was surprisingly good and I asked what it was and where she got it. She said that it was sheep and our neighbor gave it to her. I was surprised that someone gave away that much meat, so I asked why the neighbor did that. Rosa then explained that a dog got into the neighbor´s flock and killed a bunch of sheep. There was too much meat for her to eat, and you can´t sell dead animals in the market, so she gave it all away. I´m not 100% sure, but I think that was the first time I´ve ever eaten and animal killed by another animal.
The Great Gringo Goalkeeper experiment may be over. I got benched last week. I probably shouldn´t be upset seeing that the other guy has been playing all his life and I have a grand total of ten games at goal under my belt, but I don´t like being told that I´m no good at anything (especially since I´ve given up less goals so far than he has). Anyway, I probably will just play when the other guy can´t make it.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Invoking God´s Wrath...One Trash Fire at a Time
We have trash pick-up here every Wednesday. A truck come through the center of town and will pick up any bags of trash by the road. I usually take my glass and metal trash to be picked up while I compost my organic trash and burn the rest. I was starting a fire last week with old newspapers to burn my trash (Thanks Steph and Matt for the gift that keeps on giving!). My old and half-senile neighbor came by and tried to take the newspapers I was balling up out of my hand. He kept saying, "Give me your Comercios" (El Comercio is the Quito paper). I tried to tell him that the papers were in English and he couldn´t read them, but he was insistent that I give them to him. Now, this isn´t the first time that he has asked me to give him stuff, so I kept telling him that I needed the papers and the were no good for him. I eventually used all the papers to start the fire and then moved away from the smoke. Don Alfredo walked over to me, looked me hard in the eyes, and told me a story. He said that before he got married, he worked for a Frenchman who owned all the land around the town. He said the one day the Gringo brought out a huge bag of money and asked Don Alfredo to separate it into piles of old and new bills. The man then put the new bills in his safe and took the old bills outside. He then lit the pile of old money on fire while Alfredo watched. Don Alfredo said the he asked the man to give him the money, but the man said that the money was old and useless. Don Alfredo said he still couldn´t understand why the man would rather burn his money that give it away. Then Don Alfredo pointed to a small hill by my house and said, "A week later, the Gringo was driving his tractor on a hill like that. The tractor fell over on the Gringo and he was crushed to death." Don Alfredo then patted me on the shoulder, nodded knowingly, and then asked again for some newspapers. Like I said, he is only half-senile. The story worked, and he got some of the papers I had in my house.
I was in the High School this week, and some of the girls of the third year (15-16 years old)were making maps on big pieces of paper. One of the maps was of all the mountain ranges of North and South America. They were copying it out of their Goegraphy book, and it looked nice. I complemented them on it and asked
where Ecuador was on the map. One of the girls said, "Jay, this is a map of mountains!". I said I knew that, but where was Ecuador on the map. She didn´t understand what I ment until I pointed it out and said, "Here!". Then I asked if she knew where the US was. She looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Jay...this isn´t a map of Europe!". My Fault.
I went back to Tilipulo to transplant the plants that we planted in February. They were doing well and we ended up making 7 more beds. This time we worked with the parents of the kids in the school because they said that the kids hadn´t showed them how to make the beds. It went well and the parents said that they learned a lot. As you can see from the pictures, we made a big difference. The plan is to come back in September after Summer Vacation t
o plant twice the area. Also, some of the parents said that they were going to make gardens by their houses. This is my real goal for working there. Hopefully with their own gardens, they can improve the diets of the families (especially the children) of that town.
o plant twice the area. Also, some of the parents said that they were going to make gardens by their houses. This is my real goal for working there. Hopefully with their own gardens, they can improve the diets of the families (especially the children) of that town.I was in the High School this week, and some of the girls of the third year (15-16 years old)were making maps on big pieces of paper. One of the maps was of all the mountain ranges of North and South America. They were copying it out of their Goegraphy book, and it looked nice. I complemented them on it and asked
where Ecuador was on the map. One of the girls said, "Jay, this is a map of mountains!". I said I knew that, but where was Ecuador on the map. She didn´t understand what I ment until I pointed it out and said, "Here!". Then I asked if she knew where the US was. She looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Jay...this isn´t a map of Europe!". My Fault.It isn´t hard to figure out why a 16 year old would think that the United States of AMERICA is in Europe when you consider their teachers. I next went into the office and the teachers were huddled around a sheet of paper saying, "Victoria is taller than José, but shorter than Maria. Pablo is taller...". I listened for a minute as they argued over who was the tallest. Finally, I told them the answer and explained it. They were amazed and asked another question. Apparently the teachers have to take an IQ test next week and wer working on practice tests with some difficulty. Since I could get the questions, I am now teaching logic classes to the teachers every day until the test. They dodn´t have experience with these types of tests, and since their raises depend on the results, they are excited to learn.
I actually like the problems. Here are a few examples that they couldn´t get. Fill in the blanks with the numbers that continue the sequence. The answers are on the following post. Good luck.
1) 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 8, 27, 16, __, __, __
2) 2, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, __, __, __
3) 2, 3, 4, 9, 16, 29, 54, __, __, __
4) 0, 1, 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, 24, __, __, __
Answers to the Questions
I hope you got them all...
1) 81, 32, 243
2) 4, 12, 13
3) 99, 182, 335
4) 44, 81, 149
1) 81, 32, 243
2) 4, 12, 13
3) 99, 182, 335
4) 44, 81, 149
Monday, April 21, 2008
The 1 Year Countdown
Niccolo Machiavelli wrote in The Prince that only from the mountain top can you see the valley, and only from the valley can you see the mountain top. As I try to sum up my experiences from the first year in La Libertad (April 20th 2008 - 2009), I keep thinking of this line. It may be a cop-out, but I don’t know if I can fully grasp the significance of being here for myself or the people I know. Although I live at over 11,000 feet, often I feel like I’m right at the bottom of the valley. Either way, I don’t think I’ll "see" what I’ve been doing here until I’m out of it. I’ve heard that most PCVs quit right away or at the 1-year mark. I think that there are a lot of people who want to quit earlier, but want to stick it out at least a year. We have already lost two this last week, and I’ve heard a couple of other friends say that they may leave.
I’ve also heard that a lot of people don’t get going on their projects until the second year. I hope I’m on this side. I’ve had work the last 12 months, but nothing too spectacular. The chicken project, the gardens in Latacunga, and possibly with the Government hopefully will make my last 12 months memorable.
I would like to take this milestone to thank everyone who sent packages, cards, texts, phone calls, and well wishes down here. Without the support of friends and family, I don’t know where I’d be. (That goes for a lot more than just Peace Corps service!) I hope this message finds you all well up North and enjoying the first tastes of summer.
I miss you all and can’t wait to visit in July, but first I have to get to work.
I’ve also heard that a lot of people don’t get going on their projects until the second year. I hope I’m on this side. I’ve had work the last 12 months, but nothing too spectacular. The chicken project, the gardens in Latacunga, and possibly with the Government hopefully will make my last 12 months memorable.
I would like to take this milestone to thank everyone who sent packages, cards, texts, phone calls, and well wishes down here. Without the support of friends and family, I don’t know where I’d be. (That goes for a lot more than just Peace Corps service!) I hope this message finds you all well up North and enjoying the first tastes of summer.
I miss you all and can’t wait to visit in July, but first I have to get to work.
Right now, it arrives...summer !
¡Ya llega verano! I heard this, which translates into the title of this post, a couple of times this week. This is good news because that means hopefully that it will stop raining. Winter here means clouds, rain, and mud, while summer means clouds, wind, and dust. neither is ideal, but at least I'll be able to dry my laundry.I went into Quito on tuesday for my friend Maria's going away party. We had a good time, but it was tough to say good-bye at the end of the night. I then went on wednesday morning to Mindo, a town 2 hours west of
Quito. There is another PCV from my Omnibus there who is working on a chicken project. I wanted to get some ideas and any excuse fro going to the tourist haven of Mindo wasn't going to slip through my fingers. I've heard that Mindo is beautiful and I wasn't disappointed by the scenery or the project. The weather was great and other than all the bug bites I got, everything went great. The project is a lot bigger than what we will start with, but I picked up some hints and more importantly some contacts in Quito.
Quito. There is another PCV from my Omnibus there who is working on a chicken project. I wanted to get some ideas and any excuse fro going to the tourist haven of Mindo wasn't going to slip through my fingers. I've heard that Mindo is beautiful and I wasn't disappointed by the scenery or the project. The weather was great and other than all the bug bites I got, everything went great. The project is a lot bigger than what we will start with, but I picked up some hints and more importantly some contacts in Quito. Both schools in La Libertad were on vacation this week, so it
was a good time to visit Mindo. The lack of school and the drier weather also meant that it was a good time to play baseball. My buddy John wanted to come up to visit the kids he works with in Latacunga on the radio, so he came up too. It was fun to play, and luckily it didn't rain until after we finished.
was a good time to visit Mindo. The lack of school and the drier weather also meant that it was a good time to play baseball. My buddy John wanted to come up to visit the kids he works with in Latacunga on the radio, so he came up too. It was fun to play, and luckily it didn't rain until after we finished.I think old age is catching up with me! Two weeks ago I jumped for a ball while playing soccer and was undercut by the other team's Forward. He banged my Quad pretty hard and the next day I could hardly walk. It is still hard to squat, but doesn't hurt too bad. Last week the only goal I gave up in a 3-2 Reina de la Paz victory went in off my middle finger and
jammed it. It hurt after the game, but nothing too serious. I was visiting my neighbors when one of the ladies saw me looking at my finger. I told them what happened and she took my hand, asked for some cooking oil, and then started very roughly rubbing the oil in the joint. The pain was intense, so I pulled my hand away. The ladies were all disappointed that I couldn't "take it", and said that it would help. I couldn't look like a whimp, so I gave her my hand back and sheprocedded to manhandle it for 10 minutes. Needles to say, when I woke up in the morning, it looked like I had a giant purple sausage growing out of the end of my palm. Ecuadorian home remidies to the rescue again.
jammed it. It hurt after the game, but nothing too serious. I was visiting my neighbors when one of the ladies saw me looking at my finger. I told them what happened and she took my hand, asked for some cooking oil, and then started very roughly rubbing the oil in the joint. The pain was intense, so I pulled my hand away. The ladies were all disappointed that I couldn't "take it", and said that it would help. I couldn't look like a whimp, so I gave her my hand back and sheprocedded to manhandle it for 10 minutes. Needles to say, when I woke up in the morning, it looked like I had a giant purple sausage growing out of the end of my palm. Ecuadorian home remidies to the rescue again. I don't think I'll let them work on the sprained ankle I got this week.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Chiquito Postito - Small Post
Things have been busy here (I can tell by the lack of progress on the collection of short stories that I´m currently reading), but slow (I can tell by the lack of stories to write about) this week. I was able to go top Latacunga las Saturday to watch the UNC game. Unfortunately, Carolina lost, and even more depressing was that that was the first full live college basketball game I saw all year.
We are getting started on the chicken project finally. I had a short meeting after we finished working all day in the community bank this week. We now have a rough idea of the next few steps that we have to take. Everyone is excited to get started (including myself). I´m trying to keep their expectations low because we may not get funded. I talked to my boss about the project and she said it was a good idea and suggested that everyone work individually instead of in a big group. She thinks that this will cause less problems amongst the group and even though we will lose some of the "team building" benefits, it will work out better. The ladies were all very excited to learn that they could work by themselves which shows how little they trust each other (even Sisters were happy they didn´t have to work together).
Also, my boss and I talked about trying some value-added projects with the onions we grow. She said that she had just talked to a guy who works for a large food processing company in Ecuador that is always on the look out for more product to buy. She said that his company sells onions packaged in vinegar and can´t get enough raw material. She thought it´d be a good match, so she started to write down his information for me. I said that I´d never seen the long white onions that we grow packaged that way. She stopped writing, looked at me, and then throw away the guys info. "I forgot that you only grow those types of onions. You can´t do anything with those." she said.
Got some bad news this week. One of my friends decided to quit. His work wasn´t going well and his Grandmother recently got very sick. He thought he´d be of more use at home, so he left. Another very good friend got kicked out of PC. She had been traveling a lot without telling anyone. She wasn´t happy in her ste and had an Ecuadorian boyfriend in the city near her, so she spent a lot of time there. It sucks that she is leaving because she was one of the few people I talked to regularly, but I think she´ll be happier in the US.
We are getting started on the chicken project finally. I had a short meeting after we finished working all day in the community bank this week. We now have a rough idea of the next few steps that we have to take. Everyone is excited to get started (including myself). I´m trying to keep their expectations low because we may not get funded. I talked to my boss about the project and she said it was a good idea and suggested that everyone work individually instead of in a big group. She thinks that this will cause less problems amongst the group and even though we will lose some of the "team building" benefits, it will work out better. The ladies were all very excited to learn that they could work by themselves which shows how little they trust each other (even Sisters were happy they didn´t have to work together).
Also, my boss and I talked about trying some value-added projects with the onions we grow. She said that she had just talked to a guy who works for a large food processing company in Ecuador that is always on the look out for more product to buy. She said that his company sells onions packaged in vinegar and can´t get enough raw material. She thought it´d be a good match, so she started to write down his information for me. I said that I´d never seen the long white onions that we grow packaged that way. She stopped writing, looked at me, and then throw away the guys info. "I forgot that you only grow those types of onions. You can´t do anything with those." she said.
Got some bad news this week. One of my friends decided to quit. His work wasn´t going well and his Grandmother recently got very sick. He thought he´d be of more use at home, so he left. Another very good friend got kicked out of PC. She had been traveling a lot without telling anyone. She wasn´t happy in her ste and had an Ecuadorian boyfriend in the city near her, so she spent a lot of time there. It sucks that she is leaving because she was one of the few people I talked to regularly, but I think she´ll be happier in the US.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Bush League Bullfighting
How do Bullfighters get started? Is there a Minor League of Bullfighting? I'm sure questions such as these have kept you up as many nights pondering as they have me. Fortunately, I can now answer both of these questions. Last week I went into Machachi on Saturday morning to see "7 Brave Examples of Local Bullfighters". I had seen the signs proclaiming this in La Libertad and decided that I had to go. A friend and I got there at 12:00 (That's when the sign said that it was going to start, but this being Ecuador, the festivities didn't start until around 1:00). When we got there, we were the only ones there except guys setting up the DJ equipment. We were able to get the best seats in the house. I say seats, but the "stadium" was really just a ring with grassy knolls around it that were formed into stands. The day was nice, and sitting there by this small bull ring shaded by trees and the mountains looming in the distance was pretty cool.
Finally the fights started and I realized that the "7 Brave Examples" were a little better at being brave than being examples. It was just like minor league baseball. A lot of young guys working on their game, with a couple of over-the-hill guys trying to hang on, and one stud prospect. They all had the Matador gear on and tried to do all the moves, but ended up getting pretty beaten up by the bulls. Luckily nobody got hurt. It was funny to see one of the kids get flipped and then run to the side of the ring. While the helpers kept the bull occupied, he was talking to his coach in the stands. I couldn't hear the conversation, but I imagine that it went a little like this...
Bullfighter - Coach, I'm getting killed out there. What should I do?
Coach - Well, do you see those horns on the end of the bulls head?
Bullfighter - Yeah.
Coach - I'd try to avoid those.
Bullfighter - Thanks.
Before the fights, I was hoping that they would kill one of the bulls. Once I got there, I changed my mind. I didn't think that these guys were good enough to cleanly kill the bull, so instead they rushed the bull and tapped it on the back in the same spot that they would have stabbed it. That was a lot safer, and the bulls didn't have to suffer. They have bigger fights in Quito and Riobamba that I now want to attend to see the real deal.
Happy April Fool's Day! I hope you all had a good day because I know I had fun. I got three of my friends good, and one rumor that I started is still making the rounds. What can I say, I got to have something to keep me busy.
Work has been OK lately. I finally got the High School to let me teach some nutrition classes. My plan is to get them to use the vegetables that they grow for lunches for the kids instead of just rice, potatoes, and candy like they serve now. Also, I want to do a health fair with the kids making food for the teachers and parents to taste test. We'll see how it goes. I think I may finally start assisting with Chemistry and Physics too.
My buddy John went the other day to see the garden that we had planted in Tilipulo. He said that it is doing great. I'll be back there in a week or so to transplant the new plants. Hopefully this will be the start of more outside work.
I was walking through town the other day and a truck pulled up next to me. It was a government truck and a guy from the Ecuadoran Agricultural Ministry was driving. He said that he was visiting my town and heard from some people that I was doing some experiments in crop diversification. I showed him what I was doing with alternative crops (to little success). He was interested and asked me to come by his office in Machachi to see how we could work together. I think he wants me to organize Ag classes in La Libertad. Nothing really exciting, but any work is good work.
Finally, To add on to the pile of bad/odd things that have happened to Ecuador since I got here, the main traffic hub in the south of Quito was heavily damaged this week when a water tunnel running under it broke and then created a huge hole in the middle of the Trebol or Clover. You can see pictures at http://www.interactive.net.ec/noticias/crater_en_el_trebol_en_quito_incomunica_a_la_capital.html
and
http://www.ciudadaniainformada.com/ciudadania/ciudadania-despliegue-noticias/ir_a/ciudadania/article//quito-en-emergencia-por-colapso-de-colector-del-trebol.html
It is going to take a while to get this fixed and will make my travel to and from Quito a little harder.
P.S. - We tied last week's soccer game 1-1, but I didn't give up a goal in my half
Finally the fights started and I realized that the "7 Brave Examples" were a little better at being brave than being examples. It was just like minor league baseball. A lot of young guys working on their game, with a couple of over-the-hill guys trying to hang on, and one stud prospect. They all had the Matador gear on and tried to do all the moves, but ended up getting pretty beaten up by the bulls. Luckily nobody got hurt. It was funny to see one of the kids get flipped and then run to the side of the ring. While the helpers kept the bull occupied, he was talking to his coach in the stands. I couldn't hear the conversation, but I imagine that it went a little like this...
Bullfighter - Coach, I'm getting killed out there. What should I do?
Coach - Well, do you see those horns on the end of the bulls head?
Bullfighter - Yeah.
Coach - I'd try to avoid those.
Bullfighter - Thanks.
Before the fights, I was hoping that they would kill one of the bulls. Once I got there, I changed my mind. I didn't think that these guys were good enough to cleanly kill the bull, so instead they rushed the bull and tapped it on the back in the same spot that they would have stabbed it. That was a lot safer, and the bulls didn't have to suffer. They have bigger fights in Quito and Riobamba that I now want to attend to see the real deal.
Happy April Fool's Day! I hope you all had a good day because I know I had fun. I got three of my friends good, and one rumor that I started is still making the rounds. What can I say, I got to have something to keep me busy.
Work has been OK lately. I finally got the High School to let me teach some nutrition classes. My plan is to get them to use the vegetables that they grow for lunches for the kids instead of just rice, potatoes, and candy like they serve now. Also, I want to do a health fair with the kids making food for the teachers and parents to taste test. We'll see how it goes. I think I may finally start assisting with Chemistry and Physics too.
My buddy John went the other day to see the garden that we had planted in Tilipulo. He said that it is doing great. I'll be back there in a week or so to transplant the new plants. Hopefully this will be the start of more outside work.
I was walking through town the other day and a truck pulled up next to me. It was a government truck and a guy from the Ecuadoran Agricultural Ministry was driving. He said that he was visiting my town and heard from some people that I was doing some experiments in crop diversification. I showed him what I was doing with alternative crops (to little success). He was interested and asked me to come by his office in Machachi to see how we could work together. I think he wants me to organize Ag classes in La Libertad. Nothing really exciting, but any work is good work.
Finally, To add on to the pile of bad/odd things that have happened to Ecuador since I got here, the main traffic hub in the south of Quito was heavily damaged this week when a water tunnel running under it broke and then created a huge hole in the middle of the Trebol or Clover. You can see pictures at http://www.interactive.net.ec/noticias/crater_en_el_trebol_en_quito_incomunica_a_la_capital.html
and
http://www.ciudadaniainformada.com/ciudadania/ciudadania-despliegue-noticias/ir_a/ciudadania/article//quito-en-emergencia-por-colapso-de-colector-del-trebol.html
It is going to take a while to get this fixed and will make my travel to and from Quito a little harder.
P.S. - We tied last week's soccer game 1-1, but I didn't give up a goal in my half
Thursday, March 27, 2008
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.
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 w
e 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.
e 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.
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.
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
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!
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