I just wanted to add this photo on separately because it is a good one of all of the volunteers who helped at the inauguration ceremony for the new building in Malingua Pamba. Clearly you can see who is who! :)
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Group photo from MP
I just wanted to add this photo on separately because it is a good one of all of the volunteers who helped at the inauguration ceremony for the new building in Malingua Pamba. Clearly you can see who is who! :)
Monday, May 3, 2010
PICTURES!!
This is the first of the murals with Pam and her guide who are lost, looking for help. The two little figures in the mountains are her heros, Lautarro and Pedro.
Here are Pam and Marta loooking for the heros, Lautarro and Pedro, with the picture they took several months before. The family on the right is trying to help them find the boys by telling them that yes, they know the kids but they live further away.
Here is the first meeting to help get the school started. Pam and Jean (the translator, guide, know-it-all of Ecuador) are the far right. On the far left is Elvia, the woman who cooked for me while I was there with her husband Paulino next to her, the president of the community. The middle man is Paulino's father, who passed away in a tragic accident but was helping with the school.
The sign above says "The power of the volunteers" and the mural depicts all the volunteers pitching in to build the school and new building that I painted the murals on. The red letters says something to the effect of "if everyone had more volunteers the world would be a better place."
"Education is the key to the development of the future" or something along those lines. This mural was painted by several girls who were EXTREMELY enthusiastic to help out. Above the window I painted the alphabet in Spanish, which is the same as in English except for the n with the squiggle over it!
"Water is life; everyone needs it; take care of it; every drop counts." That is what is painted along the wall that is above the water taps!
Sorry Suzal if I spelt your name wrong, I really tried to get it right! But I painted this right next to the sink to make sure that they remembered we helped too (since all the kids' names were painted on the bottom of each of the murals that they helped it, I figured it was only fit for us to have our names and the date added as well).
These three pictures are about health: brush your teeth, throw trash away and wash your hands. Each of the three were painted by different kids: toothbrush (the Colgate brand was his own idea) done by William, trash was Patricio who copied the silly cartoon from a book I gave him, and wash your hands was done by Enma.
This mural was done by Sonia, Blanca and Enma. They were supposed to just paint the background for a picture of some engineers but it was so beautiful we decided to let it just be as is.
"Don't kill, don't steal and don't do something else (I can't remember what)", it is in Quichua, the local native language. Pam saw it written somewhere along her hike when she got lost and wanted to add it to the mural project.
The saying again, but bigger and better! Like the outlining I did to make it more bold? Also I used red, blue and yellow, the colors of the Ecuadorian flag.
One of the classroom for a group of students at the school. I taught one of my English lessons there for the collegio last Saturday.
The front of the room with the whiteboard and the poster of Colorado that I just hung up before leaving.
These adorable kids are wearing the little smocks we used for the kids when they helped paint. The funny thing is that they weren't painting and weren't going to paint, they just wanted the smocks to wear. It is now a fashionable trend I guess--thanks to me and Suzal! :)
I'm in Vilcabamba right now waiting for a bus to Tumianuma, where I will walk to Neverland Farm (NF from now on!). The craziest thing happened this morning: I woke up, did yoga in my little room--which had a very uncomfortable bed by the way but I really can't complain because it was only $5/night--then I found a restaurant for breakfast (rice, chicken drumstick and tea) and then was heading out. I finished The Appeal and changed my book in for Dear John, by Nicholas Sparks--thought of you Robyn :) --and then went to get a taxi. Another guest from the hostal was getting a taxi as well so I asked him where he was going. He said Tumianumba and I asked, oh yeah me too, where? We quickly realized we were both going to NF!!! So we grabbed a taxi together to the bus terminal, got a bus at 10:15 to Vilcabamba, thankfully only an hour drive, and are now here waiting for another bus to the small village where we'll walk together to the farm! He had met Tina, the owner of NF, on a plane to Miami. My new friend's name is Kena and he lives in New Jersey but his family is from Kenya. He works for the state as a lawyer and went to school in Minnesota. It's interesting having a travel partner. I'm a bit nervous about being at NF for a month because it looks like I'll be speaking English there the whole time, which is not one of my goals of this trip. I already know English, thankyouverymuch. Hopefully I will find a school I can help out with near there, or if anything just enjoy the moment and time there and realize I will have other opportunities to work on my Spanish. OK so I'm now going to give captions to the pictures and then head off! Luckily my travel partner Kena has a Nikon and a cable and that is how I'm able to upload the final pictures of the murals! YAHOO!!!! I put the pictures in order of the story too--enjoy!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Details of Malingua Pamba
I really don´t know where to start with this one. The past two weeks has had so much going on and I´ve thought about so much, so I think I´ll start with a random list of memories, thoughts and experiences.
1. I already shared with you the baptism I went to. Again, I want to reiterate to myself and you how thankful I am that I went and how thankful I am for William taking such good care of me throughout that day. I was nervous about going in the first place because I was worried I would have to stay all night (like 4 or even 7AM) with a bunch of drunk people while I was freezing my butt of and completely exhausted. That is why I was so excited to have gotten a ride back with William to get to bed at my normal hour.
2. For the past two weeks I´ve been getting up in the morning around 6AM and doing Yoga to the People podcasts in my room. It was a great way to get started in the morning, trying to focus on my time in this community, and keep myself stretched out. I had a hard time staying focused though at times and found myself thinking about what I would be doing at the gym in Napa if I were back at home...but it still felt great!
3. I finished all 8 or 9 murals, depending if you count a wall with painted words on it a mural or not. It was such a big project, much bigger than I´d expected, but I´m very glad for having the opportunity to do so. I really love painting and I liked having a project I could work on throughout my time there. It gave me a purpose and I enjoyed donig it. I felt bad that I didn´t get kids to help paint with me for the final two weeks, but they did do the majority of the work with Suzal there. All I was doing were the very small details and letters that took too much time and a very steady hand to complete. I am very proud of them and can´t wait to upload the finished pictures to show you!
4. While painting, which I did enjoy, I had a lot of time all by myself in the morning and even in the afternoon to just think. It was good but it was so much more fun with music. I definitely got homesick during that time and I think not having internet access really played a huge role in that! Luckily in the afternoon the little kids came and talked with me and watched me silently as I painted something very small and slowly.
5. Last weekend I went to Isinlivi, a very small village a 2.5 hour walk from MP, for the weekend where there is a beautiful hostal there called Lulu Llama. It too was a bit pricey ($18/night for the dorm) but it included breakfast and a 3 course dinner of creamed spinach soup, bean chili with rice and banana bread for dessert. While I was there, I read a LOT and then was disturbed when like 4 couples arrived who I started talking with. It was really interesting because they were all in their late 20s/early 30s and none of them all married. They are backpacking around South America and I realized I would LOVE to do that once I get a boyfriend and hopefully the opportunity to travel at that point in my life. It was a very relaxing stay and I read all in the morning before heading back to MP. The most memorable thing would definitely have to be the walk there and back though. I was told it is a fairly easy walk but I WAS EXHAUSTED! I left at 6AM with Blanca and Sonia from MP to get to Isinlivi for church at 8:30. They took me on all their shortcuts and one went right up a large mountain! OMG I couldn´t breathe whatsoever. They were laughing at me as I huffed and puffed my way up and I thought I was going to die. I tried to tell them how I actually am fairly in shape in the US at the gym, but I don´t think it showed as I barely made my way through hell to get through that "easy" walk. But once again the community showed how amazing they are when Blanca later told me she doesn´t usually go to Isinlivi on Sundays anymore to go to church but she went just to take me! I was shocked and tried to express my sincere gratitude for holding my hand as we walked slowly there (figuratively not literally hand-holding). And the excursion didn´t stop once I got to the hostal either. I mean yeah I did sit and read all day and the next morning, but I had to walk back on my own. I figured I´d take the road and it would be easy, or at least easier. And it started out easier. But the mist started coming in. I ran into these high schoolers on a motor bike who I talked to for a few minutes, and found them as intersting as the little kids because one of the boys would whisper to his friend to ask me something because he was too shy, just as some of the little kids do! They offered me a ride but stupid me and stupidly determined me, I said no because I wanted to walk back on my own. Well I ran into a rain storm, but didn´t want to wear my jacket because I wanted it to keep my back pack and all my electronics (ipod, camera and Kindle) dry. So I walked for an hour with an elderly woman with very few teeth in her mouth, in the pouring rain. When I finally made it back to MP, blessedly happy that I wouldn´t have to do that walk ever again if I didn´t want to, I showered and then laid in bed from like 5 to bedtime. I wore more clothes than I have yet to put on and Aurora was kind enough to deliver food to me in my bedroom (I hadn´t understood when Josafina, the grandmother, had knocked on my door to tell me to go to Aurora´s house for dinner and had thought she was just telling me she was going to Aurora´s...). I luckily didn´t get sick and warmed up eventually.
6. I taught some English words to Sonia, Blanca and Enma one night. It ended up with me just talking about life in California and the US. They asked me questions and I had fun answering them. One of the most memorable questions was when Sonia, the 14 year old, asked me if there was any poverty in the states. I was shocked and glad to shed some light on the truth of the situation in the US. I tried to explain that there are situations very similar to here in Ecuador: very rich people and super poor communities as well. I once again realized the stereotypes that are portrayed through the media that are not exactly completely true (yeah Hollywood isn´t really reality) of the states.
7. Last Saturday I took over for one of the teachers who wasn´t there for the colegio (high school). I taught 6 lessons of English! The week before I´d helped one of the teachers with 3 of his classes, but last weekend I had all my own classes. It was fun and not as intimidating as I´d expected. The problem I had was with wondering how effective my one day of help really was. I had no idea what they knew, what they were learning, if they had books for learning English, nada. I ended up working on a bunch of vocabulary (like just making lists on the board that they copies, probably not the most effective way to learn but I really didn´t know what to do with the few resources they have available and the limited time I had--50 minutes for one or two days). Then we worked with the very "to be" or "to have", depending on if I had worked with the class the week before or not. We then played a game where we through a paper ball around the room asking "Are you tall?" or "Are you a sister?" to practice speaking. I also made some stupid pictures of like 2 cows or a shirt that I passed around to everyone. Then they had to say "I have two cows" or whatever the picture was they had. Overall I think they enjoyed the switch up of having me there and I enjoyed working with them.
SO I could probably go on for pages about all that I´ve experienced. In the end, I am very grateful for the time I spent there. Looking back I almost wish I had spent more time there, but as I was there I could definitely feel the pull back to family, the states and civilization. Being out in cities now, like at this internet cafe with more modern people, is a huge change that I am enjoying as well. I hope the farm will offer me the chance to continue practicing my Spanish, but I guess I will find out tomorrow.
I don´t know when the next time will be that I have internet access, but I´ll try when I can! Off to the hostal to finish my book! XO
1. I already shared with you the baptism I went to. Again, I want to reiterate to myself and you how thankful I am that I went and how thankful I am for William taking such good care of me throughout that day. I was nervous about going in the first place because I was worried I would have to stay all night (like 4 or even 7AM) with a bunch of drunk people while I was freezing my butt of and completely exhausted. That is why I was so excited to have gotten a ride back with William to get to bed at my normal hour.
2. For the past two weeks I´ve been getting up in the morning around 6AM and doing Yoga to the People podcasts in my room. It was a great way to get started in the morning, trying to focus on my time in this community, and keep myself stretched out. I had a hard time staying focused though at times and found myself thinking about what I would be doing at the gym in Napa if I were back at home...but it still felt great!
3. I finished all 8 or 9 murals, depending if you count a wall with painted words on it a mural or not. It was such a big project, much bigger than I´d expected, but I´m very glad for having the opportunity to do so. I really love painting and I liked having a project I could work on throughout my time there. It gave me a purpose and I enjoyed donig it. I felt bad that I didn´t get kids to help paint with me for the final two weeks, but they did do the majority of the work with Suzal there. All I was doing were the very small details and letters that took too much time and a very steady hand to complete. I am very proud of them and can´t wait to upload the finished pictures to show you!
4. While painting, which I did enjoy, I had a lot of time all by myself in the morning and even in the afternoon to just think. It was good but it was so much more fun with music. I definitely got homesick during that time and I think not having internet access really played a huge role in that! Luckily in the afternoon the little kids came and talked with me and watched me silently as I painted something very small and slowly.
5. Last weekend I went to Isinlivi, a very small village a 2.5 hour walk from MP, for the weekend where there is a beautiful hostal there called Lulu Llama. It too was a bit pricey ($18/night for the dorm) but it included breakfast and a 3 course dinner of creamed spinach soup, bean chili with rice and banana bread for dessert. While I was there, I read a LOT and then was disturbed when like 4 couples arrived who I started talking with. It was really interesting because they were all in their late 20s/early 30s and none of them all married. They are backpacking around South America and I realized I would LOVE to do that once I get a boyfriend and hopefully the opportunity to travel at that point in my life. It was a very relaxing stay and I read all in the morning before heading back to MP. The most memorable thing would definitely have to be the walk there and back though. I was told it is a fairly easy walk but I WAS EXHAUSTED! I left at 6AM with Blanca and Sonia from MP to get to Isinlivi for church at 8:30. They took me on all their shortcuts and one went right up a large mountain! OMG I couldn´t breathe whatsoever. They were laughing at me as I huffed and puffed my way up and I thought I was going to die. I tried to tell them how I actually am fairly in shape in the US at the gym, but I don´t think it showed as I barely made my way through hell to get through that "easy" walk. But once again the community showed how amazing they are when Blanca later told me she doesn´t usually go to Isinlivi on Sundays anymore to go to church but she went just to take me! I was shocked and tried to express my sincere gratitude for holding my hand as we walked slowly there (figuratively not literally hand-holding). And the excursion didn´t stop once I got to the hostal either. I mean yeah I did sit and read all day and the next morning, but I had to walk back on my own. I figured I´d take the road and it would be easy, or at least easier. And it started out easier. But the mist started coming in. I ran into these high schoolers on a motor bike who I talked to for a few minutes, and found them as intersting as the little kids because one of the boys would whisper to his friend to ask me something because he was too shy, just as some of the little kids do! They offered me a ride but stupid me and stupidly determined me, I said no because I wanted to walk back on my own. Well I ran into a rain storm, but didn´t want to wear my jacket because I wanted it to keep my back pack and all my electronics (ipod, camera and Kindle) dry. So I walked for an hour with an elderly woman with very few teeth in her mouth, in the pouring rain. When I finally made it back to MP, blessedly happy that I wouldn´t have to do that walk ever again if I didn´t want to, I showered and then laid in bed from like 5 to bedtime. I wore more clothes than I have yet to put on and Aurora was kind enough to deliver food to me in my bedroom (I hadn´t understood when Josafina, the grandmother, had knocked on my door to tell me to go to Aurora´s house for dinner and had thought she was just telling me she was going to Aurora´s...). I luckily didn´t get sick and warmed up eventually.
6. I taught some English words to Sonia, Blanca and Enma one night. It ended up with me just talking about life in California and the US. They asked me questions and I had fun answering them. One of the most memorable questions was when Sonia, the 14 year old, asked me if there was any poverty in the states. I was shocked and glad to shed some light on the truth of the situation in the US. I tried to explain that there are situations very similar to here in Ecuador: very rich people and super poor communities as well. I once again realized the stereotypes that are portrayed through the media that are not exactly completely true (yeah Hollywood isn´t really reality) of the states.
7. Last Saturday I took over for one of the teachers who wasn´t there for the colegio (high school). I taught 6 lessons of English! The week before I´d helped one of the teachers with 3 of his classes, but last weekend I had all my own classes. It was fun and not as intimidating as I´d expected. The problem I had was with wondering how effective my one day of help really was. I had no idea what they knew, what they were learning, if they had books for learning English, nada. I ended up working on a bunch of vocabulary (like just making lists on the board that they copies, probably not the most effective way to learn but I really didn´t know what to do with the few resources they have available and the limited time I had--50 minutes for one or two days). Then we worked with the very "to be" or "to have", depending on if I had worked with the class the week before or not. We then played a game where we through a paper ball around the room asking "Are you tall?" or "Are you a sister?" to practice speaking. I also made some stupid pictures of like 2 cows or a shirt that I passed around to everyone. Then they had to say "I have two cows" or whatever the picture was they had. Overall I think they enjoyed the switch up of having me there and I enjoyed working with them.
SO I could probably go on for pages about all that I´ve experienced. In the end, I am very grateful for the time I spent there. Looking back I almost wish I had spent more time there, but as I was there I could definitely feel the pull back to family, the states and civilization. Being out in cities now, like at this internet cafe with more modern people, is a huge change that I am enjoying as well. I hope the farm will offer me the chance to continue practicing my Spanish, but I guess I will find out tomorrow.
I don´t know when the next time will be that I have internet access, but I´ll try when I can! Off to the hostal to finish my book! XO
Saturday, May 1, 2010
jourmey to cuenca
I am going to try a questionable experiment right now: type a blog post on my kindle. Why, you ask? Because I am in a hostal in Cuenca wih free wifi and no computers! This is a crazy thing to try if you could see how slow typing is on this thing and if it doesn´t load I´ll be super bummed. I guess I am just excited to share more details so here I go. I left you this AM in Guayaquil with my German friend. She was super cool and had been studying in Buenas Aires since August then went surfing in Peru for the last 5 weeks and today is on her way to do an internship in the Galapagas Islands...yeah pretty sweet. After breakfast, we shared a taxi to the bus terminal. I got a bus ticket to Cuenca for 8 bucks that took 4 hours...
OK that was all I could muster on my Kindle. I am now in Loja for the night at an internet cafe and am going to finish that post. By the way, when I got distracted and stopped typing, one of the owners of the hostal I was at had knocked on my door and had invited me to go with her and another guest to the sandwich shop down the street just to get out, more to come on that later.
Back to the bus trip. It was a very interesting trip at that too. I was sitting on this very nice bus waiting for it to go when an older gentleman from across the aisle asked me in English if he could sit next to me. I didn´t understand why he wanted to switch seats and I was a bit uncomfortable about it, but just said Yes I don´t mind. He starts talking to me in English and I end up learning a lot about him on the bus ride. I am a bit hesitant because I don´t understand his tactics for talking with me, but just try to stay alert and enjoy it as much as I can. I soon learn that he has dual citizenship in Ecuador and the US. He was born in Ecuador, in Cuenca, then moved to Ohio after serving in Vietnam, meets his wife, gets married and they move to Cuenca to raise their two daughers. One of his daughters is like 2 years younger than me and has just joined the US Navy. His older daughter is 22 and lives at home in Cuenca, going to the university there studying special education.
He tells me about his interests in traveling and how he dragged his not-so-stoked-to-travel-wife around the world, including a year or so in Panama, three years in Africa, some time in Mexico and more! It was interesting and I liked talking to him once I felt more like he wasn´t going to rob me. He gave me some very fatherly-advice since I think he felt for my own dad as I was like his daughter´s age traveling around on my own. And to further soothe your nerves, he told me how he works as a helper at the Embassy in Cuenca for Americans and so he gave me his phone number in case there are any problems I have and need his help (along with a warm welcome to his family´s farm in Cuenca to meet his daughter and wife if I return to Cuenca).
The only thing that felt a bit odd was a conversation we had after our little snack time (I shared my empanadas I bought on the bus to Guayaquil the day before and he shared peanut butter cracker sandwiches AND chocolate covered nuts, yummmmm!). We had just finished watching the Blind Side with Spanish dubs when they turned on this SUPER corny movie. I was watching the beautiful landscape when my new friend asked me if I was religious. Remember: almowst like 95% of Ecuadorians are Roman Catholic, and I had already heard him mention how he works with the Baptist church, so I wasn´t too surprised with his question. Once I´d told him how I´m not religious, but I had spent some time exploring religions, he started going on and on. He told me how Jesus could be my best friend for life and be there for me whenever I need him. It went on and on. The most memorable part of that conversation was when a particular scene in the movie played as my bus partner continued talking to me about Jesus; as he went on about how his journey to God, this tacky movie went through a scene where this couple was in the bedroom. The husband pulled out this huge black dildo and gave it to his wife who said "if you want to", and then went and shoved it up his butt (we didn´t see this on the screen but it was clear that was what was going on). I warned you it was a tacky movie and I just couldn´t believe I was watching that as this very religious, but nice and respectful, man was telling me about God and Jesus!
Thankfully he ran out of steam and we talked about other things as we continued our journey through the beautifully lush mountains to Cuenca. I learned a very intersting Spanish lesson on my way to the city as well. The river down the mountains has a lot of trout and I saw a sign that said "trucha". I asked if that was trout in Spanish, he said yes with a smile and then went on to tell me that there is a very small, but Very IMPORTANT, difference between "trucha" (trout) and "chucha" (vagina). So yeah, I´ll be careful with that one if I ever want to order the fish in a restaurant.
Before I knew it, we were in Cuenca, he got off early because it was close to his house, and I got a ride to the bus terminal. There I grabbed a taxi to the Green Spot, a hostal Lee and Doug (volunteers at MP for the inauguration weekend) had recommended to me. I had drawn a map on a napkin to give to the taxi driver, but due to some miscommunication he thought we were looking for a friend´s house. Luckily I finally was able to get it through to him that I was going to a hostal and we got there. It was a very beautiful place but a bit pricey ($18/night). I sucked it up though due to the recommendation and the fact that I was already there. I got some suggestions about where to go and made my way out.
It had started to rain but I had heard such great things about the city that I didn´t want the rain to hinder my explorations. I was told that there were several city buses going along this street that will take me to the center of the city, but I had just spent like 2 days on buses and preferred to walk. I made the walk to the center city right when it started to POUR. I found a restaurant in my guide book and ordered a vegetarian crepe (which included either spinach or another dark leafy green inside a crepe with a nice sauce on top; it also came with some french fries, which I ate with sweet and sour sauce that I had mistaken for ketchup but that was still delicious, and some boiled veggies). I ate surprisingly quick for a restaurant, and I think it may have been my first official meal in a restaurant all by myself.
Luckily the rain had started to calm down a bit so I started my way back. Although it was drizzling I really wanted to walk. And walk I did until I got home and was thoroughly drenched. I decided not to worry about it even though I knew my pants wouldn´t dry by the time I needed to pack them (and I just realized I should have pulled them out of my bag before I left for dinner...too bad). When I got back I showered and tried to do the Kindle thing.
Then I was invited to that sandwich shop, that ended up being closed, so we went to a Supermaxi--grocery store, my first in South America! On our journey the other guest, a 29 year old girl from Austria who is living in Guayaquil for six months doing an internship with a travel agency, invited me to get a drink after the store. We grabbed a ride with the brother of the female who took us to the grocery store (the brother and sister own the hostal and the brother was on his way to a wedding at 8PM!). We walked around a bit and after checking out a few places we actually ended up in the exact restaurant I´d been at earlier that day! I grabbed a snack, this corn meal cake steamed in a leaf with some sausage on top (for $1 it was surprisingly filling and wonderfully delicious). We had a beer each, another first in Ecuador, and chatted for a bit. We grabbed a taxi back and I didn´t get to bed until about 10:30, the latest in about a month.
This morning I woke up and met my new friend for breakfast at the hostal table at 8:30. It was a fabulous spread of lots of fruit, yogurt, granola, scrambled eggs, toast, jam and tea and juice. I like trying new fruits and today I got to try another new one that was fun to eat and tasty too. During breakfast another guest came out who we learned was from Toronto, Canada and had spent the last week in Bolivia with her husband at the climate control conference. Her husband is retired and she is only working part time as a home-school teacher at a school (once a week the parents come to the school and put into action the programs she creates including physical education, environmental science, etc). Her and her husband are on their way back to Guayaquil today to fly to California and up to Canada tomorrow.
My friend and I had planned to walk to the center of the city once again to watch a running race take place. On our walk along the river, right by the hostal, to the center we ran into our breakfast friend who was walking to a big market with her brother (who lives in Cuenca). We ended up joining them and I had a fun time seeing lots of different fruits and veggies. There were also a bunch of guinea pigs, rabbits, little chicks, and even puppies and kittens! It was a good market and I liked walking around with her brother and his wife who have been living in Cuenca for awhile and were doing a bit of their grocery shopping at the market.
Instead of walking into the city with my other friend, I walked back to the hostal with the older woman because I needed to take a bus to Loja and hopefully get down to the farm today. I grabbed a taxi and got to the bus station at noon, just in time for a bus that was on its way out. The bus was $7.50 and included a water bottle and was supposed to take 5 hours, which it did. I read the instructions to the church that I´d printed from the website and realized I wouldn´t have enough time to get there safely. So I was contemplating getting to Vilcabamba, a small town south of Loja, for the night but decided just to finish the journey tomorrow and get to a hostal safe and sound.
The bus was a very chill ride as I read the entire way. I´d fortunately grabbed some fruit from the breakfast table so I ate a few bananas, mandarine oranges and trail mix on the ride. I also made my way through "The Appeal" by John Grisham, or something like that. I´ve been reading like a phean down here; I´ve already finished Harry Potter in Spanish, Pretty Women (the abridged version), The Little Prince (also in Spanish), Lucia, Lucia (a stupid book about a girl in the fashion world that I´d grabbed from the free pile at Castro before heading off), Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland (a short book) and How to Disappear Completely (a book I´d downloaded onto my Kindle). I´m very excited to have my Kindle here because I´ve used it lots already and am now starting Ana Karinena on it! I also like to have a paperback with me for days like today when I wouldn´t have felt comfortable using the Kindle on a public bus.
So I arrived in Loja around 5PM, grabbed a taxi to a hostal I´d seen in the guide book (for $5/night, close to the airport, room and warm showers! no complaints--called Hostal Lundres). Unfortunately it is Sunday night so the restaurant recommended in my book was closed, along with almost every other thing on the streets, but I did find something eventually. I was happy that it was simple, basic and traditional. For $2 I got a huge plate of rice, beans, a chicken drumstick, a large white thing that tasted like a potatoe kinda and some tea or juice (couldn´t tell because it was warm and I´ve had warm juice so I wasn´t too sure which it was). I took a picture so sometime I can upload that to show you!
Now I´m here in the internet cafe a block away from the hostal. it is 7PM but I have 30 minutes left on the hour I bought for 80 cents. I think I can scurry back safely so I´m going to now write a little about Malingua Pamba!
OK that was all I could muster on my Kindle. I am now in Loja for the night at an internet cafe and am going to finish that post. By the way, when I got distracted and stopped typing, one of the owners of the hostal I was at had knocked on my door and had invited me to go with her and another guest to the sandwich shop down the street just to get out, more to come on that later.
Back to the bus trip. It was a very interesting trip at that too. I was sitting on this very nice bus waiting for it to go when an older gentleman from across the aisle asked me in English if he could sit next to me. I didn´t understand why he wanted to switch seats and I was a bit uncomfortable about it, but just said Yes I don´t mind. He starts talking to me in English and I end up learning a lot about him on the bus ride. I am a bit hesitant because I don´t understand his tactics for talking with me, but just try to stay alert and enjoy it as much as I can. I soon learn that he has dual citizenship in Ecuador and the US. He was born in Ecuador, in Cuenca, then moved to Ohio after serving in Vietnam, meets his wife, gets married and they move to Cuenca to raise their two daughers. One of his daughters is like 2 years younger than me and has just joined the US Navy. His older daughter is 22 and lives at home in Cuenca, going to the university there studying special education.
He tells me about his interests in traveling and how he dragged his not-so-stoked-to-travel-wife around the world, including a year or so in Panama, three years in Africa, some time in Mexico and more! It was interesting and I liked talking to him once I felt more like he wasn´t going to rob me. He gave me some very fatherly-advice since I think he felt for my own dad as I was like his daughter´s age traveling around on my own. And to further soothe your nerves, he told me how he works as a helper at the Embassy in Cuenca for Americans and so he gave me his phone number in case there are any problems I have and need his help (along with a warm welcome to his family´s farm in Cuenca to meet his daughter and wife if I return to Cuenca).
The only thing that felt a bit odd was a conversation we had after our little snack time (I shared my empanadas I bought on the bus to Guayaquil the day before and he shared peanut butter cracker sandwiches AND chocolate covered nuts, yummmmm!). We had just finished watching the Blind Side with Spanish dubs when they turned on this SUPER corny movie. I was watching the beautiful landscape when my new friend asked me if I was religious. Remember: almowst like 95% of Ecuadorians are Roman Catholic, and I had already heard him mention how he works with the Baptist church, so I wasn´t too surprised with his question. Once I´d told him how I´m not religious, but I had spent some time exploring religions, he started going on and on. He told me how Jesus could be my best friend for life and be there for me whenever I need him. It went on and on. The most memorable part of that conversation was when a particular scene in the movie played as my bus partner continued talking to me about Jesus; as he went on about how his journey to God, this tacky movie went through a scene where this couple was in the bedroom. The husband pulled out this huge black dildo and gave it to his wife who said "if you want to", and then went and shoved it up his butt (we didn´t see this on the screen but it was clear that was what was going on). I warned you it was a tacky movie and I just couldn´t believe I was watching that as this very religious, but nice and respectful, man was telling me about God and Jesus!
Thankfully he ran out of steam and we talked about other things as we continued our journey through the beautifully lush mountains to Cuenca. I learned a very intersting Spanish lesson on my way to the city as well. The river down the mountains has a lot of trout and I saw a sign that said "trucha". I asked if that was trout in Spanish, he said yes with a smile and then went on to tell me that there is a very small, but Very IMPORTANT, difference between "trucha" (trout) and "chucha" (vagina). So yeah, I´ll be careful with that one if I ever want to order the fish in a restaurant.
Before I knew it, we were in Cuenca, he got off early because it was close to his house, and I got a ride to the bus terminal. There I grabbed a taxi to the Green Spot, a hostal Lee and Doug (volunteers at MP for the inauguration weekend) had recommended to me. I had drawn a map on a napkin to give to the taxi driver, but due to some miscommunication he thought we were looking for a friend´s house. Luckily I finally was able to get it through to him that I was going to a hostal and we got there. It was a very beautiful place but a bit pricey ($18/night). I sucked it up though due to the recommendation and the fact that I was already there. I got some suggestions about where to go and made my way out.
It had started to rain but I had heard such great things about the city that I didn´t want the rain to hinder my explorations. I was told that there were several city buses going along this street that will take me to the center of the city, but I had just spent like 2 days on buses and preferred to walk. I made the walk to the center city right when it started to POUR. I found a restaurant in my guide book and ordered a vegetarian crepe (which included either spinach or another dark leafy green inside a crepe with a nice sauce on top; it also came with some french fries, which I ate with sweet and sour sauce that I had mistaken for ketchup but that was still delicious, and some boiled veggies). I ate surprisingly quick for a restaurant, and I think it may have been my first official meal in a restaurant all by myself.
Luckily the rain had started to calm down a bit so I started my way back. Although it was drizzling I really wanted to walk. And walk I did until I got home and was thoroughly drenched. I decided not to worry about it even though I knew my pants wouldn´t dry by the time I needed to pack them (and I just realized I should have pulled them out of my bag before I left for dinner...too bad). When I got back I showered and tried to do the Kindle thing.
Then I was invited to that sandwich shop, that ended up being closed, so we went to a Supermaxi--grocery store, my first in South America! On our journey the other guest, a 29 year old girl from Austria who is living in Guayaquil for six months doing an internship with a travel agency, invited me to get a drink after the store. We grabbed a ride with the brother of the female who took us to the grocery store (the brother and sister own the hostal and the brother was on his way to a wedding at 8PM!). We walked around a bit and after checking out a few places we actually ended up in the exact restaurant I´d been at earlier that day! I grabbed a snack, this corn meal cake steamed in a leaf with some sausage on top (for $1 it was surprisingly filling and wonderfully delicious). We had a beer each, another first in Ecuador, and chatted for a bit. We grabbed a taxi back and I didn´t get to bed until about 10:30, the latest in about a month.
This morning I woke up and met my new friend for breakfast at the hostal table at 8:30. It was a fabulous spread of lots of fruit, yogurt, granola, scrambled eggs, toast, jam and tea and juice. I like trying new fruits and today I got to try another new one that was fun to eat and tasty too. During breakfast another guest came out who we learned was from Toronto, Canada and had spent the last week in Bolivia with her husband at the climate control conference. Her husband is retired and she is only working part time as a home-school teacher at a school (once a week the parents come to the school and put into action the programs she creates including physical education, environmental science, etc). Her and her husband are on their way back to Guayaquil today to fly to California and up to Canada tomorrow.
My friend and I had planned to walk to the center of the city once again to watch a running race take place. On our walk along the river, right by the hostal, to the center we ran into our breakfast friend who was walking to a big market with her brother (who lives in Cuenca). We ended up joining them and I had a fun time seeing lots of different fruits and veggies. There were also a bunch of guinea pigs, rabbits, little chicks, and even puppies and kittens! It was a good market and I liked walking around with her brother and his wife who have been living in Cuenca for awhile and were doing a bit of their grocery shopping at the market.
Instead of walking into the city with my other friend, I walked back to the hostal with the older woman because I needed to take a bus to Loja and hopefully get down to the farm today. I grabbed a taxi and got to the bus station at noon, just in time for a bus that was on its way out. The bus was $7.50 and included a water bottle and was supposed to take 5 hours, which it did. I read the instructions to the church that I´d printed from the website and realized I wouldn´t have enough time to get there safely. So I was contemplating getting to Vilcabamba, a small town south of Loja, for the night but decided just to finish the journey tomorrow and get to a hostal safe and sound.
The bus was a very chill ride as I read the entire way. I´d fortunately grabbed some fruit from the breakfast table so I ate a few bananas, mandarine oranges and trail mix on the ride. I also made my way through "The Appeal" by John Grisham, or something like that. I´ve been reading like a phean down here; I´ve already finished Harry Potter in Spanish, Pretty Women (the abridged version), The Little Prince (also in Spanish), Lucia, Lucia (a stupid book about a girl in the fashion world that I´d grabbed from the free pile at Castro before heading off), Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland (a short book) and How to Disappear Completely (a book I´d downloaded onto my Kindle). I´m very excited to have my Kindle here because I´ve used it lots already and am now starting Ana Karinena on it! I also like to have a paperback with me for days like today when I wouldn´t have felt comfortable using the Kindle on a public bus.
So I arrived in Loja around 5PM, grabbed a taxi to a hostal I´d seen in the guide book (for $5/night, close to the airport, room and warm showers! no complaints--called Hostal Lundres). Unfortunately it is Sunday night so the restaurant recommended in my book was closed, along with almost every other thing on the streets, but I did find something eventually. I was happy that it was simple, basic and traditional. For $2 I got a huge plate of rice, beans, a chicken drumstick, a large white thing that tasted like a potatoe kinda and some tea or juice (couldn´t tell because it was warm and I´ve had warm juice so I wasn´t too sure which it was). I took a picture so sometime I can upload that to show you!
Now I´m here in the internet cafe a block away from the hostal. it is 7PM but I have 30 minutes left on the hour I bought for 80 cents. I think I can scurry back safely so I´m going to now write a little about Malingua Pamba!
More details of MP
All the kids playing Simon Dice with me. They wanted to take a picture so I had them all touch their heads before I took it!
Me and Patricio in front of the little hut his family used to live in before they moved into their cement house.
Me and Aurora, the mom of Patricio and William. She is SO nice, has a beautiful smile and gifted me a handmade white scarf before leaving as a thank you. The funny thing is that it was one of two white scarves that was gifted to me, Enma also gave me a scarf very similar to Aurora´s. I´m not sure what to do with two twin scarves though when I´m trying to pack light....
Me and Suzal wearing our matching Opaca jackets!
One of our typical breakfasts: popcorn, bread, some tropical fruit, tea.
Sorry for the short details yesterday but I was a bit stressed. Let me start by telling you the wonderful story of my day yesterday before I get into the past two weeks. So after I left the hostal where I had had breakfast and then typed a bit on the computer (gosh my hands were shaking I was so excited to have internet for the first time in two weeks; I think a lack of communication only goes to make the homesickness worse so I´m feeling much much better now). I grabbed a taxi to this one intersection where a ton of busses go through. Oh before I say more, let me tell you how I got these travel plans: one of Pamelita´s friends who was her guide for the trip she took with her family is named Jean. Jean lives in Ecuador but is not originally from here. She fell in the love with the country, decided to move here and learn everything there is possible to know. When I told her that I´m going to Neverland Farm after MP, she gave me EXACT instructions on how to get from there to there. The bummer thing that I quickly learned was that I didn´t have her look at what I wrote down so the towns are my interpretation of what she said, which I found out were not the exact names...
OK so I have my little paper with instructions and have gotten to this intersection with all the busses flying by. I am told by the taxi driver to wait on this one corner, which I do for like 20-30 minutes, which is weird because there are a ton of busses and supposedly the bus I want comes every 10 minutes. Also there are a few bus stop signs on 2 different corners, neither of which is the corner I´m standing on. I even ask a young college looking student if I´m in the right place and he says yes. Well I decide to ask a police officer who is also there and he tells me that I´m actually on the wrong corner, go figure. I find the right corner, meet someone who is also waiting for the same bus to Rio Bamba and we catch it together.
OK I´m going to have to write more later because my travel buddy is going to have breakfast so I´m going to join her and write more tonight or later this morning. Sorry for the suspense!
I´m back! I don´t know how long I have because it is 8AM and my friend and I are going to share a taxi to the bus terminal/airport at 9AM, but I want to tell a bit more about my trip yesterday at least.
So I get on the bus and it is one of those nice buses that we took from Napa to Disneyland in high school. I just took my bags on with me and luckily had 2 seats to put them besides me. I told the bus driver I wanted to go to El Tambo, but he had a hard time understanding me; eventually he nodded and said, oh yeah, OK, and I sat down. After the bus starts going another employee, the driver´s helper, comes by and takes your money ($1 for me). We are traveling along watching a Jackie Chan movie in Spanish voice-over and then we stop and people get on. The buses stop whenever someone waves their hand to get on or says "gracias" and wants to get off. When the bus stops vendors get on and sell empanadas (cheap white bread with a very small amount of some filling), candy, french fries, chicken kabobs, whatever! At another stop the driver tells me to get off and get onto that bus. I don´t question him even though my instructions don´t tell me to switch buses. I get onto the next bus and wait for the money guy to come by so I can ask him where we´re headed and see if El Tambo is on our route.
It takes this money guy a much longer time to get down the aisle and when he does, he doesn´t understand where I want to go. A woman across the aisle says something else, but I don´t know if that is where I want to go either. So I just ask "where are we headed?" He says Guardara and I say OK. I look in my book and see that it is on the other side, away from RioBamba, but at least it is going south. I also see that it is on the way to Guayaquil, the second largest city in Ecuador after Quito. I decide to take a bus to Guayaquil, spend the night, and then head to Cuinca the next day (my unofficial destination before Neverland Farm; Cuinca is supposed to be a very great city that I will spend a day in, hopefully today--Saturday May 1st). So the bus to Guardara is like 2.5 hours and then the bus to Guayaquil is 5. I start my bus trip at 9:30AM or so and don´t get to Guayaquil until 4:30. This would not be so bad if it weren´t for a few things: 1. I started my trip at 4:30AM from MP, even though I woke up at 2:45 because we were supposedly leaving at 3AM, but everyone in MP is late. 2. I didn´t get off a bus for any longer period of time except to simply change buses, not even to go pee in the 8 hours or more I was on buses. 3. Since I didn´t get off the bus, the only food I had were the powerbars in my backpack and the somewhat unhealthy, questionably clean food sold on the bus by street side vendors. 4. The weather changed like NO OTHER on the trip!
I wasn´t too disappointed with taking such long bus rides because the guide book said they were beautiful routes, I got to see a lot of the countryside and I wasn´t holding anyone up so I wasn´t stressed (no one was waiting to pick me up and no one was being dragged on the adventure with me). It was a beautiful trip to Guardara, all the green rolling Ecuadorian hills and the super steep gardens along the mountains. At the top we reached a ton of fog and I was glad to be wearing my MP vest, Opacca jacket and the 2 white scarves (along with 2 long sleeve shirts, long underwear, jeans, hefty socks and my hiking boots). Guardara seemed to be a cute town but I didn´t see much of it because the bus drove us through the town, onto another street where we encountered a waiting bus that he told me was going to Guayaquil. I hopped onto that bus and sat for the next 5 hours.
Not so bad at first, still beautiful setting and they put on Planet of the Apes in Spanish, too loud though. My eyes were stinging from such an early morning wake-up, so I rested my eyes. When I opened them I was starting to get warm, but it was raining so we couldn´t open the window. Soon enough we started getting into a jungle area and thought that if we were by the Amazon, this is probably what the Amazon looks like. Lots of tropical trees along the hill with little huts alongside the road where people lived, had restaurants and lots of banana stands. The food that was sold on the bus changed to things I hadn´t seen yet in Ecuador. Then to my further surprise the weather kept getting super hot (like humid and uncomfortable) and we got down to the flat lands where there were a lot of standing bodies of water along with tall grasses. Houses were placed on stilts on this water with long walkways of rickety-looking wood out to their houses. I couldn´t believe I was still in the same Ecuador I had been in for the past month where I had worn layers and layers of clothing all the time.
I couldn´t open my window. It was stuck. And so was the one in front of it. Luckily the person across the aisle opened his so I could get some air. I then changed into a t-shirt by putting it on over my clothes and taking my other long sleeves off--I wasn´t wearing a bra but I didn´t care because it was so hot (not to say that I exposed myself but to say that it was more obvious in just a t-shirt than 2 long sleeve shirts). I noticed many things along this trip. First, the people were different. I saw a lot more African looking people than I had seen yet. Also, a lot more overweight people with bellies bulging over their jeans--in MP there were no overweight people. And as I was looking out of the bus window I realized how similar these towns on stilts looked like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. But the thing is, nobody was making a big hoopla about these communities while New Orleans was all over the news as a devastating tragedy. I was thinking about the differences and decided that since this poverty and condition of living has been this way in Ecuador for so long, it is normal to them and nothing news-breaking. Also, it is extensive, not just one little part of a state, but a huge proportion of the country lives with conditions like this. Nevertheless, I couldn´t help but think they are still people and these people are living like this in both New Orleans and Ecuador, but in one place everyone is up in arms while in another no one blinks an eye.
Lastly, I thought about the size comparison between Ecuador and the US state Nevada: even though they are similar in size, if I took a 5 hour bus ride around Nevada I could probably close my eyes and not realize I went anywhere in those hours because the state is so un-exciting. While in Ecuador, 5 hour trip is like going to 3 different countries! It was quite exciting, even if I was super hot and uncomfortably tired and had to pee for the past 8 hours (bus drivers don´t make pee stops).
I met a guy on the bus who was sitting by the open window who told me about himself and how he´s spreading the word of God. Luckily I could honestly tell him that I did not have a cell phone and he could not therefore call me to share the word of God.
When I got to the bus terminal (HUGE BUS TERMINAL!!) a guy told me to be careful in Guayaquil because walking around on my own is not safe here. He was such a nice person and was just spreading caution, thankfully. I then found a taxi, showed him the hostal I wanted to go to, and after some hunting (even the book warned us that it is not the easiest hostal to find) we found Dreamkapture Hostal. I got a dorm room, met a German girl who has been surfing in Peru for the past 5 weeks and hung out. I had a migraine starting and by the time I went to bed (7:30) it was a full blown migraine, probably due to the weird eating, sleeping and drinking water schedule i had--I didn´t drink any water because I had to pee all day! We went and got some food: her a hamburger, me a taco of chicken and beans that was SO GOOD!!!! Some sort of electricity issue happened where we lost electricity for the rest of the night! No computer, no lights, no fans. It was unbelievably hot. Like sweat dripping down my back in just my shorts, flip flops and tshirt. I took a shower but soon after was back to being super hot again. After dinner, I tried to sleep. By around 10PM or so, I was asleep so I don´t know, the fan came back on along with the rest of the electricity, fortunately.
This morning I got up, had breakfast at the hostal (scrambled eggs, toast, juice and tea), went on the computer and am now going to get ready to head out. We are going to the bus terminal where supposedly there are buses to Cuenca every 30 minutes. The bus ride can either be 3.5 hours or 5.5 hours, depending on which route the bus takes, but I should be able to pick the shorter one if I just ask. So that´s what I´m going to do. I emailed the Green Spot, a hostal in Cuenca that got a great recommendation from another travel friend, so hopefully I´ll have reservations tonight. I also emailed Tina, the contact person for Neverland Farm, to let her know I´m going to hopefully be there either tomorrow or Monday. Since my schedule is flexible, if she says later in the week I could do that and just take my time at a few cities around the area. I´m looking forward to heading South though because supposedly Guayaquil is like the only hot city around! I can´t believe I´m looking forward to the cold, but there´s really nothing I want to do in this heat!
So I´m off and when I get to my next destination I will try and fill you in more on MP, since it was my life for the past few weeks--even though it feels like lightyears away right now!
Friday, April 30, 2010
The past 2 weeks
Hey so I am not going to write too much right now because I feel rushed to get out of this hostal in Latacunga and be on my way. I´m off to another hostal tonight so maybe I can write more then. I just wanted to see if these pictures would load. The only one I´m posting right now is of the piss pot in my room: its our little bathroom there with the toilet paper, hand sanitizer and the pot of course! Overall it has been a mixed bag of being in Malingua Pamba on my own for the past two weeks. Im glad for the change but know I will miss some of the kids and the community. Last weekend I made the 3 hour¨"easy walk" to Isinlivi where there was this beautiful hostal I stayed in for Sunday night. It was refreshing to be around other travelers. I hope to upload more pics later, I just have to find another person with a Nikon camera so I can use their plug to upload. I have been pretty homesick somedays but am hoping the change in environment and people will make me enjoy the moment more. I know I need to wait it out, even if I wish I could be home enjoying summer vacation instead of on my own. Today I´m making a bus trip for a few hours, not sure how many, because I´m going from Latacunga to RioBamba or Cuenca. My final destination is further south past Loja, in southern Ecuador if you want to check it on the map (mom!). OK write more later! XO
Hey, So this was an ingenious idea of mine: to write a blog entry while at Malingua Pamba (MP). I am writing it on one of their computers in the computer lab, saving it onto my flash drive along with some of my pictures (because Paulino has a Nikon camera like I do so I can download them onto the flashdrive and hopefully upload them onto my blog) and am hoping to then copy and paste this sometime soon online. It feels like forever since I´ve written or been on the computer, even though it has probably been only about two weeks. But when youŕe not writing or communicating at all, 2 weeks seems like an awfully long time. Let me see how much I can write right now!
Starting with most recently, I have just been dropped back off at MP after being at a party for four babyś baptisms. It was up inthe hills about a 15 to 20 minute drive away. I was hesitant about going but decided I should do it because, well, I had no other choice. Josafina, the grandmother, insisted I go so I felt obligated and have never felt up to saying no to her. It was so much fun I am very glad I went, but I'm also glad I had the chance to return early because supposedly the party is going to go on until tomorrow morning, something I don't care to see considering how tired and cold I already am. Elvia and Paulino are the god parents to one of the little boys so they were something special today...although I think Paulino is someone special all the time considering he's the president of the community and very involved in many different activities. As much fun as I had, I have to owe it all to William, Aucedes' eldest 16 year old son, who hung out with me the entire time. I'm sure if I had stayed he would have looked after me all night, but I don't know how much more I could have enjoyed myself considering it is already approaching my bedtime and it has been foggy all day! (By the way my bedtime has been somewhere between 7:30 and 9:30 since I've been here!).
William and I had a fabulous conversation with another friend of his about MP and all the changes Pamelita has made. For example, prior to Pam's visits, no one here used condoms! They thought they were balloons that could be blown up to incredible sizes! I couldn't believe it. They told me how the amount of young girls with babies has decreased along with the overall amount of babies in the population. The older generation still doesn't know about condoms, but I guess it doesn't matter since they are no longer reproducing? They also told me how she brought them water, the high school, and so much more including technology—prior to her visits they didn't have computers or cell phones, while now almost every person over the age of 14 or so has a cell phone.
Besides the interesting conversations, there was also a TON of food! We were served two meals while we were there, both consisting of cuy (guinea pig) and chicken in a broth. The first time we were served I wasn't too hot on the whole guinea pig thing since I already tried it and felt it was too tough to enjoy. However, the afternoon meal included cuy cooked differently and I enjoyed it much more, much juicier and tender than I had expected. Oh and I forgot that both included egg that was cooked kinda like a thin omellete draped over the meat soup. And of course there was the ceremony in this very small church that held a surprising amount of people. Something I've realized is how much I like mass in Spanish, especially with the priest of this community since he speaks slow enough I can usually understand him. The surprising thing was how at the end he mentioned a cemetary and I didn't follow his thought. I asked William afterwards and he told me that the community's cemetary is on a woman's property who now wants to use it for gardening so the people either need to give her some money or move the burried remains...kinda weird but I guess that is how things go here.
Overall the day was great and I definitely ended up feeling so much more at ease here than I have for a long time. I think it also helped to have a pall with me all day who wasn't too busy working in the fields or with his family, as he usually is. I am getting a bit freaked out being in the computer lab on my own right now so I'm hopefuly going to write more tomorrow before leaving!
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