Living through History

Today started out normal.

Went to school. Took my final exam. Had snack time. Returned to class to plan our presentation for tomorrow.

Then, we heard there was chaos in Quito.

All 17 of us huddled around the radio listening to how President Correa was in the hospital, the borders were closed, and the police and military had shut down the airport. We were let out of school early because of a possible military coup happening 30 minutes away in Quito.

It's hard to figure out exactly what is going on, partially because there's a couple sides to the story and partially because the news is in Spanish (also almost all of the media is also government controlled). What I have gathered is that yesterday, Congress passed a law that would cut bonuses and delay promotions for the police and military. In protest, rogue military/ police seized the airports and shut them down. They surrounded Independence Square and the Presidential Palace in Quito and started a rally/protest/general mayhem. When the president tried to address them, they threw tear gas at him, and so he fled to a hospital for sanctuary. The city is in total chaos.

I knew something was really wrong when on the way home from school at noon time, there was tons of traffic, the buses were crowded, and all the shop owners were locking up. It's not as though this is new to Ecuador- the 3 Presidents preceding the current one have been ousted by the people, however the people here weren't willing to keep their shops open while the police were on strike and not around to provide protection. My classes for tomorrow have been canceled, and essentially I'm on lockdown in my house.

Now it's just a waiting game to see if things calm down and control is regained, or things get worse. I'm hoping for the latter because Sunday I am supposed to head to Quito before leaving for the rain forest on Monday. Right now that's not possibly because the major highway is closed and the province borders are closed. Hopefully things will calm down enough that we'll be able to get to the rain forest because I'm super pumped for it.

If nothing else, today was full of excitement and makes for a good story.

Because Pictures Just Aren't Enough...

Even though some of it is a little shaky (the roads were unpaved and covered in rocks), I think the video I took does more of a justice to the parts of the Ecuador that I have fallen in love with than pictures ever will.

I can't figure out how to upload video here/I think I have too much of it, so I set it all up on youtube. Here are the links to copy and paste:

An Ecuatorian Band
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRQvgL81CMc

All of the stuff from the cloud forest at Intag
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvdPF0ZgBlg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwZ324m1kX8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_8iLjbjZiI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3aS8uj_gQw

Silly Bands Are Universal

Now I'm not usually one to enjoy spending time with lots of little children that have way to much energy and sticky stuff all over their hands, but today was an exception.

This is my last week in Los Chillos Valley, and also my last week taking spanish classes and so we had a project of sorts. There's an elementary school (grades 1-7) that is a bit understaffed, hugely underfunded, where the majority of the kids are from the campo (rural farm areas where there is often a lot of poverty). This school made the Saugus Public Schools look phenomenal, which speaks volumes as to the supplies available and facilities provided. There are many schools like it, but La Escuela de Juan Garcia Navarro just happens to be located not far from where we're staying. Our assignment was to pair up, choose a grade, and prepare 3 different lessons that would last from 7:30 until 11:30. The elementary school only has classes in the morning because in the afternoon, the same classrooms are used for a high school.


I paired up with Lia, and we chose/got stuck with 5th grade. We prepared a lesson in Ecuadorian ecology, Art, and English. We had no guidelines, only a piece of paper with a school address, the number of kids in the class, and a vocab list of words that would be useful in trying to discipline children. With 28 kids listed in the class, all I was hoping was that they were past the point of needing help going to the bathroom, but not beyond the point of no return where the attitude kicks in.

As soon as we arrived at the school this morning, it was like an alien spaceship had landed. Now, I get stared at everyday by people in the street because I have blondish hair, blue eyes, and a bright green rain jacket(that was a poor decision on my part). This was different though- the kids stared at first, but came right up, didn't hesitate to ask all sorts of question, offer you a piece of gum, and then latch on to your side.

When we finally started class, it was apparent that we were just going to have to wing it. We started with a lecture(as much of a lecture as one can give while 24 little children are running around) about Ecuador and plants and animals. The kids were FULL of energy. After naming about 1000 different types of animals in Ecuador, including the ones from Africa that are in the zoo, we moved on to our art lesson. Everyone drew one of the three regions of Ecuador, either the rain forest, the sierra, or the coast. The kids really got into it, and it kept them occupied, which was fabulous. After we strung the pictures together so that they could hang in the classroom (the pictures were almost thrown away at the start of high school in the afternoon, but Lia managed to salvage them- I don't think I have ever seen someone run so fast) there was a slight snack break (the snack of course was rice) and when we returned, we started our lesson in English. Fifth graders (who in Ecuador are 8 years old) have a limited attention span, so we decided to do games in English. We played "Simon dice" aka "Simon says" and used English words. After, we went outside to play "The Captain is Coming"- it's along the same idea as "Simon says" only instead of Simon, there's a captain and everyone else is doing nautical actions (like looking for pirates). This was one of the least successful portions of the day. There was just too much going on outside to focus. All of the boys decided that it would be fun to run up and wrestle on top of a mound of dirt. Our games in English turned into games in Spanish, and we finally conceded and played "Pato Pato Gansa" (otherwise known as "Duck Duck Goose").

We finished the day indoors and gave the kids lollipops and sillybands (the multicolored bracelets shaped like animals) and it was as though it was Christmas. There were a few sillybands left over, but not enough for two for everyone, which caused quite an uproar of whining. I caved for one girl who was leaving school with her little sister, and gave the younger sister (she must have been about 5) a pink bracelet shaped like an ostrich. This little girl then opened up her backpack and gave me two of her stickers, and it was then that I realized that teachers are able to put up with all of the bad stuff because of little things like that.

Before leaving for the day, the whole group gathered with the teachers from the school to debrief. The teachers of the school told us how it was hard without funding or resources and especially since many kids had tough lives at home. A couple of the teachers weren't really teachers at all, just friends of teachers that had been asked to help out because the school was that desperate- the friends were working for free. It was really interesting to compare education systems here and at home. Here, no matter how rich or how poor the school, all kids have to wear uniforms (it levels the playing field) and everyone learns English. There is a huge disparity though between private and public schools and it's mainly because of a lack of fiscal support to public institutions by the Ecuadorian government.

I can't see myself as being an elementary school teacher ever, but nonetheless I really enjoyed today. The conditions didn't seem to phase the kids at all-they were eager to learn and excited about everything. Any time Lia and I walked anywhere, there was at least 2 kids latched on to each of our arms. They would chat about anything and were patient when we couldn't understand the Spanish. After class, a few of my friends were going to the bar for a drink or 5 because their classes were awful. For me though, I got way more out of the experience than I ever would have thought.

Head in the Clouds

Sometimes, it doesn’t even feel like I am in Ecuador.  Friday night I jumped on a bus to Quito with my host brother to see a concert.  It was outside in the middle of the city, and we listened to a jazz band from Germany. I could have been in any city in the world doing the same thing.

Then there is the rest of the time, when it feels like I am on a completely different planet.  The morning after the concert, I left for Intag and literally spent the weekend up in the clouds.  We drove 6 hours (3 hours on the Pan-American high way, and 3 hours on a single lane dirt road carved through the Andes mountains) outside of the city to a cloud forest reserve.  A cloud forest is pretty much a huge dense forest that is so high up there is constant cloud cover on the ground.  

Shortly after entering the cloud forest, my two academic directors pulled the bus over and said they needed to show us something.  After getting out of the bus in the middle of nowhere, and making my way through the tall grass and over a small hill, I found myself staring at the most beautiful sight I have ever encountered.  We were on the edge of a volcano- below was a huge crater lake, Cuicocha, that was over 200 meters deep, and in the center was an island.  As far as the eye could see there were only mountains.  We had barely even entered the cloud forest, but this first stop proved to be a good indicator of how the rest of the weekend would unfold.

 

 

 

When we finally arrived and were greeted by our hosts, Sandy and Carlos, we still had an hour hike ahead of us.  We loaded up a few horses with our backpacks (because there wasn’t a road) and hiked the trail to where we were staying.  The accommodations were…rustic.  There was a house of sorts with bunk beds inside and hammocks out.  There was an outdoor shower (cold water from a hose) and a compost latrine.  There was no electricity- we had candles.  Needless to say we didn’t have phone service or internet.  Our hosts told us that they only got electricity in the past five years, and telephone wires in the past few months.  It was a whole different world out there.  On the property, there was an outdoor picnic type area where we ate all of our meals, a little hut where we had classes, and an open field to kick around a ball.  Horses and cows were all over the place (the chickens were kept cooped up).  There was a fair amount of mud (you could sink up to you mid calf) so the choice footwear was rubber boots.  I looked like REI threw up all over me with my flannel, khakis and knee high yellow boots-anything goes in the cloud forest.  On the way home we stopped in Otavolo, a huge market town.  I’m pretty sure we gave America a name because of the way we looked and smelled. 

 

 

 

Every day we hiked around the forest- there were small dirt trails that lead to waterfall after waterfall and river after river.  Standing under the waterfall was the closest I came to a shower for the four days I was there.  There were plants with leaves the size of my body, and vines that you could swing from.  The whole thing looked a lot like the island in Jurassic Park (only instead of dinosaurs there were birds and bugs). We never feared getting lost because the 3 dogs on the farm always came with us and knew the way back.   

The food there was amazing- most of it was grown on site.  There was a garden with tons of plants- bananas, coffee beans, yucca, pineapple, carrots, potatoes, lettuce, tree tomatoes, lemons, oranges.  Of course there was rice at every meal, but I didn’t mind when it was accompanied by salad (a novelty down here) or pumpkin soup, or homemade guacamole.  At breakfast there was always pancakes, jams, and freshly squeezed juices.  What we lacked in luxury amenities was more than made up for at meal times.

 

Over the course of the four days, we listened to the stories of various people that lived in the area.  The first night we listened to Carlos- a Cuban national who had lived in the cloud forest for almost 30 years and our host for the weekend.  He told us about the struggle that has been going on since the mid 90s with the mining companies there.  Foreign mining companies come in offering all sorts of stuff- money, roads, schools, hospitals, and doctors to the people living the cloud forest in exchange for the rights to mine the land for copper.  What seemed like a good deal really isn’t really in the long run- mining for copper necessitates clearing millions of hectares of forest and contaminating the water supply with lethal chemicals.  Most people realized the long term hard that would ensue and started a resistance movement.  The first company that arrived was forced to leave after the community torched everything from heavy machinery to pencils and paper owned by the mining company.  The second company was a bit more determined, and when bribes didn’t work, they turned to violence.  Carlos was a leader in resisting the mining effort, and the company hired thugs to see if they could make him come around.  They paid off the police to raid his house and issue a warrant for his arrest.  Eventually, the company went bankrupt because they weren’t able to start mining.  When only a few people stand between you and billions of dollars worth of ore, those lives don’t seem too important anymore.  Carlos finished by talking about how now it’s not a transnational from some far away country that wants to mine, but instead the Ecuadorian government, so they’re going to have to figure out another way to fight.  The next day we listened to a similar story from a women who lived in the town where the miners where.  She joined the resistance movement at 16 when she was just a kid.  Now some 15 years later, she is still involved in the fight.  It’s crazy-a lot of women here, especially in the rural areas, are expected to stay  at home, take care of the kids, cook, and clean the house.  Somehow, all of the women whose world had been their homes got involved in this david and goliath fight.  It was both inspiring to hear these stories, and heartbreaking to think that there was a serious chance that that place would not always be there.

 The weekend flew by- it was good to get away from classes and the city for awhile.  Life there was just so different, and although I do appreciate running water internet service, it was definitely a nice escape.

A Day at the Market

This past week was pretty uneventful in that I had class every day from atleast 8 to 1, and two days I had class from 8 to 4.  We ended the week with a much needed field trip.  Between the 6 hour days, snack times, and field trips, I feel like I am back in elementary school.  I'm not quite sure how I made it through all those years of school 5 days a week, 6 hours a day, and 8 am start times because its near impossible for me to get through it here.  For our field strip, we went as a class to explore the city of Sangolqui.  It's a city in Los Chillos Valley only a few kilometres from my house.  First, we hit up "El Mercado del Turismo," which was essentially a huge outdoor market with crazy fruits and vegetables.  There were stands set up all over the place, and mountains of yucca, bananas (both yellow and green), papayas, and pineapples were piled high up and down the length of the streets. Inside, there was enough meat to feed an army.  Chickens and cows and pigs were hanging in pieces everywhere.  It was enough to make any meatlover turn veg  (needless to say I didn't have much of an appetite when I found out we were having pork for lunch).  From there we stopped at a small vendor that was filled with all types of herbs from Ecuador.  Natural medicine is very popular here, often preferred over what we would think of as traditional medicine and doctors visits.  Instead of taking tylenol for a small ache or pain, people here drink tea made with certain herbs and spices. There were herbs for stomach aches, headaches, nervousness, split ends, better circulation, infertility, and broken hearts.  Some I had seen of before- oregano, rosemary, lavender, cinnamon, while others I had never even heard of.  After buying enough herbs to make quite a few pots of tea, we went to a small church in the center of town.  The large, well known church in Sangolqui, La Iglesia Matriz del Sangolqui was under construction, but we went into a smaller one right next door.  Our last stop of the day was to the "municipio" which is about the same as city hall.  Looking like true tourists, we walked out of there with all sorts of pictures, posters, and post cards of the famous parts of the city.  There are a bunch of pictures below of just about everything I saw (except for the meat section of the market).  There will be more pictures to come shortly- I'm heading to the cloud forest (a rainforest so high up you are literally in the clouds) for the weekend, and have my cameras packed up and ready to go.   

View of Los Chillos Valley from Ilalo- the mountain/volcano I hiked last weekend.

At the top!

My accomodations

Looks like snow, right?

family of snowmen

My school yard (which also has a daycare/preschool and some sort of a church)

My school building

The view from my classroom window

Los Chillos

During our field trip

el mercado del turismo in Sangolqui- tons of food and tons of people

Choclo, or fresh corn

Medicinal Herbs

All sorts of plants and spices that will cure everything from split ends to a broken heart

Sangolqui

Iglesia Matriz de Sangolqui

My spanish class after a successful day in Sangolqui

The Fast and the Furious

Every morning I catch a ride to school with with host brother and his aunt, and every morning I feel like I'm riding shotgun in the Fast and the Furious.  I have yet to see a posted speed limit.  Stop signs and red lights are optional- you can honk twice to let other cars know you're just going to blow right through. The painted crosswalks are merely decorations.  I'm pretty sure hitting pedestrians is worth bonus points.  I like to think of rotaries as circles of death.  On the way home from school I take the bus.  I wait at the bus stop, but the bus never really stops...its more of a slow down, jump, and hope to god you make it.

Every day here is an adventure.

And I Thought New England Weather was Crazy...

Today, I built a snow man on the equator.

Well, technically it wasn't snow, it was hail, and technically it wasn't the Equator, it was about 45 minutes away.  But still.

The normal afternoon shower turned into torrential downpours which turned into hail, and lots of it.  The hail pelted the roof, and covered the front lawn in a blanket of white.  When it lightened up a bit, I went outside with my host brother and his girlfriend and made (miniature) snowmen.  I never thought I would crave hot chocolate in Ecuador.

Before this crazy weather started, I had gone hiking with my host father.  Ilalo is a (dormant) volcano about 10 minutes down the road by foot with a hiking trail/pasture complete with grazing cows...  My host father climbs it every weekend, and can make it up the 3 km trail in 30 minutes.  It took me an hour.  The altitude effect is crazy!  From the top, which was marked by a giant cross covered in mirrors, I could see the entirety of Los Chillos Valley, and the other mountains that surrounded it, which made for a pretty awesome view.

 

To all of those who proposed, supported, and voted for the Leash Laws in Massachusetts...

As a pedestrian, as a runner, and as someone who is not particularly fond of big dogs, especially those that jump and chase and bark, I would like to officially thank you.  You all are truly underappreciated.  Here in Ecuador, there are dogs everywhere, but I have yet to see a collar, let alone a leash.  The majority of dogs here are either guard dogs that look especially scary and are usually leaning through fences waiting for that poor soul to wander too close, or stray dogs that look more like wolves roaming the streets.  The scenery here is beautiful- I can see the mountains from just about anywhere.  However, whenever I am walking or running, I don't enjoy it because I am too focused on avoiding the traffic (even from the sidewalk), the pollution that is filling my lungs, or the dog that I am sure at any moment is going to break loose any put my rabies shots to the test.


Dogs aside, one positive has been the lack of bugs.  Before today my view of Ecuador had been insect free.  Then I met my little cousin.  He is the typical 12 year old boy, and gave me a tour of Ecuador like none I had been on thus far.  We saw underneath all of the rocks in his yard, my yard, and I think an uncle's yard, because obviously that is where all of the cool bugs are hidden.  We also ate some questionable fruit growing in the yards- I didn't ask questions because I'd take a sick stomach over looking at/touching bugs any day of the year. 

Other than the "wildlife," everything down south is going really well.  My spanish is slowy but surely improving, and there is hope that by the end of this trip, I will have the spanish vocabulary and language skills to match those of my insect loving 12 year old cousin. 

Because Words Just Aren't Enough...

 My room in Hotel Alston in Quito, where I spent my first night.

Outside of Rancho Alegre, my hotel in San Antonio.

Inside of Rancho Alegre.

Part of the group in San Antonio for orientation.

The entire group at dinner in San Antonio.

Celebrating with the national beer of Ecuador.

In the streets of San Antonio.

"Mitad del Mundo" or the Center of the World.

Welcome to the Fam

This weekend I finally met my host family.  Waiting for them to pick me up was one of the most stressful/nervewracking experiences.  It all proved to be for nothing though, because this weekend was great.  In my family there are two parents (I have yet to meet the mom though because she is in Tokyo), and three brothers (one of which I won't get to meet because he is studying in England).  The oldest brother is a little bit older than me, and has an American girlfriend, which is nice because I think she understands better than anyone how I feel.  All of them have been really nice, welcoming, and patient with me and my horrible spanish.
I have spent most of my time this weekend with my oldest brother, his girlfriend, and their friends.  Friday I went to a bonfire. Saturday I went o Quito to the March of the Zombies- there was 300 people dressed up as zombies walking the streets of the capital.  It was weird-really weird, but a good time nonetheless.  Later on Saturday we went to an outdoor concert of sorts.  We walked down this huge, steep hill that led to an open area where there was a church.  A stage and vendors had been set up, and there was a band playing, and all kinds of food being sold.  There was a ton of people, and a ton of liquor.  I have quickly learned that fiestas and alcohol go hand in hand in Ecuador.  There were crazy fireworks set off from what almost looked like scaffolding that had been handmade and decorated.  It was like nothing I have ever experienced before, probably because in the US public intoxication is not allowed and laws against unsafe pyrotechnics exist.
I ended the weekend with a barbeque last night at my older brother's friends house.  I have really appreciated him taking me around this weekend to hang out.  It's overwhelming at times because its hard to understand a lot of what is going on, especially when everyone is using slang and talking at once, but I think I'll catch on eventually. 

After an eventful weekend, today started class- I have Spanish class from 8 to 1 Monday through Friday.  It's not nearly as bad as it sounds.  We have 2 "pausas" which are essentially snack times to break up the day.  There are four people including myself in my class.  We are in a room that is about the size of a closet in what I think is some sort of church.  Never before have I had as much incentive as I do now in a class- how well I am going to be able to communicate with everyone in this country depends on how much effort I put in.  If only there was this much incentive for all classes in college.


So everything so far as been "tranquilo" as the people  here like to say.  There has been no need for the snake bite kit, pocket knife, bug catcher, or small pharmacy that I brought.  My only complaint is that it's cold- not cold like middle-of-the-winter-in-Maine cold, but not as hot as one would think the equator would be.  I'm still working on getting pictures and video up, but they should be ready soon!

I Made It

My first glimpse of Ecuador was from the plane.  Quito is 10,000 ft about sea level, so I knew that I would be in the mountains, but I was still shocked to see out the window of the plane.  We came out of the clouds approaching the airport in Quito and were surrounded by huge mountains on all sides-it was amazing.

After leaving the airport, I got to the hotel and met with the group and the tour Directors, Fabian and Leonore.  There are 14 of us in the group and everyone is from the west coast except for myself and one New Yorker.  We didn't really get a chance to settle into the hotel because we only stayed for a night.  Monday morning we got up, had breakfast, and headed to a smaller town about 45 minutes away, San Antonio, for our orientation. Some highlights from the trip:
I got to play futbol in Ecuador.
I can add Ecuador to my list of foreign countries I have run in.
I straddled the northern and southern hemisphere.
I learned (sort of) how to salsa dance.
I learned the history of Ecuador in 45 minutes in our first lecture from a lady who made Font's history class look like the most organized production ever.
I ate 5 meals a day and fell in love with the food here.
I sang karoake and drank pilsener.
I learned just about everything is very cheap- ice cream for 30 cents, 25 cents for a bus, beer for $1.
I learned that for the most part Ecuadorians are very laid back, nice, patient people.  

The last day of orientation was yesterday and it culminated in us being split into groups of 3 and navigating around.  We were each given a city that we had to get to and get back from.  My group was sent to Nanegalito- it was a 2 hour bus ride away through the mountains and cloud forest.  It was one winding road surrounded by enormous mountains covered in forests.  I remember loving the bus rides through Europe and not wanting to fall asleep because I would miss the landscape and that was how it was again.  It was so beautiful and completely untouched.  When we got to the city, we realized it wasn't really a tourist town.  It was tiny, and we were the only gringos there.  We walked around, and found a lunch place where I kid you not, I had the worst meal of my entire life.  We struggled to eat a little of it because we didn't want to be rude and we were already causing enough of a scene in that little town.  The soup had some questionable looking meat in it and there was stuff floating in there that I never want to see in my food.  It was so bad it was almost funny. almost.  We left soon after and it took us almost 3 hours to find our way on the Ecuadorian public transportation system to get back to our original hotel in Quito. 

Last night, to celebrate our adventures and our last night together before going our separate ways with our host families, the group went out on the town.  We pre-gamed with a knock off of rubenoff (it was as bad as it sounds) and then went to downtown Quito to a club and had a great time.  We had to watch out for the corner with the transvestite prostitutes and beware of pick pockets and drug dealers, but we made it there and back alive. 

Today I meet my host family- there are 2 parents and 3 brothers and they live to the South in Los Chillos.  I'm excited but wicked nervous.  My spanish is the part I'm worried about most.  I feel like it has gotten so much better even after only a few days, but I don't know how well I'll be able to communicate my ideas and opinions and everything to them. 

That's about all for now.  I love it here- it's so different from home in so many ways, and no two places or cities seem to be alike. I have some great pictures and video that I'll try to post asap.