The end...for now

I leave for Quito (and then to the airport) exactly ONE week from today. The last couple weeks I had been feeling really ready to go home, almost wishing I could fast forward time…and now I am finding I want exactly the opposite. The library is finally coming together and I am adding the finishing touches: currently typing up a list of rules to laminate and put on the wall, labeling the different book sections in the library and as the table and book shelves are finally in the room I have been enjoying just hanging out and watching the kids come in, sit down, and just read…something they have never had the opportunity to do in school. I almost couldn’t believe it when a group of the seventh grade boys stayed past the school bell to finish the page they were on.

Just for fun, I am going to make a list of things I will miss and things I will not miss.

THINGS I WILL MISS (and already miss thinking in a week they will no longer be the “norm”)
1. A minimum of 100 hugs per day from some of the cutest kids you could imagine
2. Listening to Segundo’s stories about the Llaganates, hidden treasure, and whatever else is on his mind
3. Being a campo girl: milking cows, planting fruits, plowing land, riding horses
4. Eating encebollado (this fabulous tomato based soup with onion and fish that Isabel makes Friday-Monday to sell in el centro de El Triunfo).
5. Watching the kids play with my puppy, Sisa and listening to all the nicknames they have for her, “Sisas,” “Sisita,” “Sisan,” “Simon”….
6. Watching Barbie movies with my “hermanita” Melanie on rainy Ecuadorian winter days
7. Learning how to knit from my neighbor (or rather stopping by her house every 5 minutes because I messed up a stitch on the scarf I am hoping to someday finish)
8. Taking the bus to and from El Triunfo and seeing waterfalls, gorgeous mountains, a snowy volcano, etc. every time I look out the window
9. Riding in the back of trucks with at least ten other people with hands grabbing onto me trying to steady themselves
10. Picking fruit from trees and kids pressing little apples, pears, claudias and numerous other fruits into my hands every day during class
11. Going to the river when it gets hot to skip taking a cold shower
12. Paying only 35 cents for a coke, 25 cents for a tamale, 15 cents for ice cream, $10 for a pair of jeans (and the list goes on…)


THINGS I WON’T MISS:
1. Not being able to drink water without boiling it first
2. COLD showers (when there is even water that is)
3. Rice and some form of chicken (if it’s a good day) every day
4. Not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilet
5. Catcalls and the nickname “gringa”
6. Other teachers thinking I am a money tree of gringa-ness
7. Not having any privacy
8. Not having internet or a phone (although I will admit, this could just as well go in the list of “things I will miss”)
9. Waking up to roosters crowing at 5:30 every morning
10. Washing my clothes by hand (Well, this could be a little white lie…I have been paying a neighbor to wash my clothes for the lat couple months)

When I re-read what I have written down, both for things I will miss and won’t miss, I think to myself that all of these things have been a part of my experience here in Ecuador and that my experience has certainly been a positive, unforgettable one. Even the things I won’t miss I cherish in some way and probably wouldn’t change them even if I could.

I think it’s fair to say that this could be my last blog from Ecuador…thus, the end of my blog until my next adventure (which is still T.B.D). As I am leaving mid-May I have rounded out exactly one year abroad (having left late May for the Dominican Republic last year). Wow. One year abroad. The Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Ecuador. Sometimes I wonder what it will be like to be stationed in the U.S for a while, speaking English, taking hard classes again, etc… Then I remind myself that the adventure doesn’t stop here, nor does the Spanish or the cultural clashes…life is what you make of it and I certainly want to keep the same zest for life, adventure and new experiences that I have encountered abroad.

Two and a half more weeks in Ecuador...

Why is it that just as you are feeling like you really are a part of and fit into a community it is already time to go? This past summer in the Dominican Republic just as I was starting a reading group with young mothers and baptizing my godchild it was already time for me to pack my bags. In Uruguay this fall just as I knew the Montevideo bus routes like the back of my hang and was beginning to spend more time with uruguayan friends from the university it was time for me to go. And now, once again in El Triunfo, Ecuador I find myself finally feeling like a real member of the community (holding neighbors new born babies, saludando everyone by name, progress in school and with the new library, etc.) while at the same time I realize that I only have two more weeks here. Two more weeks and my year abroad will come to an end. Some days I am ready for life to resume back to normal in the good old USA and other days I can hardly fathom what it will be like to speak and hear English all the time, actually throw toilet paper down the toilet, take hot showers and be able to use my blackberry. Regardless, life is what you make of it, and I truly believe it can be adventurous wherever you are and whatever language you are speaking.

Everything is great in El Triunfo. The library is coming along nicely and thankfully timely. I am planning a inauguration of the library (which will be my last day in the school) where a group of kids are going to put on a little play that I wrote and we are going to read a couple stories, eat cake, drink cola, and celebrate the opening of la biblioteca República de Suiza. Last week the entire room (which will be both the biblioteca and computer center) was painted and cleaned and two big bookshelves were made. In a couple hours someone is coming to measure the room to put in new cables for the computers and tomorrow I am hopefully going to Ambato (a big city about an hour away) to buy a big wooden table and rug.

In the middle of June El Triunfo celebrates the founding of the township and there is an entire week of festivities. One of the big events is the selection of the queen of El Triunfo – in which a candidate from each barrio (area of El Triunfo) is involved in a little pageant to determine who is queen. Last night the first preliminary round for la reina de El Triunfo began. There was a huge turnout to watch the pageant (which included the hula skirt of a candidate falling off during her dance, lots of cerveza and vino, karaoke by a few choice members of the community, an obnoxious singer named Yolando who sang one two many tunes for my liking and kids who stayed out as long as their parents). It was a fun night to say the least and I am certainly feeling the effects. Not to mention the adorable 16 year old girl that I took to breakfast with me the other month in Baños (I think I mentioned that in an earlier blog) won!

Día del Maestro

This past Tuesday was Día del Maestro, or Teachers Day as we know it in the good old USA. However, here in Ecuador, the “holiday,” was a bit extended (to say the least). Instead of a few kids bringing in little treats for the teachers on the actual day of (as it is done in the US), both Monday and Tuesday school was cancelled. The Thursday before all the teachers from the school where I teach left school two hours early to have a special celebratory lunch in Baños. Then the following Wednesday (the day after the actual holiday) the student government and their parents prepared a feast (and I mean feast…about four different pieces of meat per person) for lunch. On Thursday (TWO days after the actual holiday) the board of school directors planned a day of “juegos populares” (games like toss the water balloon, pass the pencil nose to nose, etc.) and yet another feast, this time of the Ecuadorian delicacy, cuy (known in the U.S as GUINEA PIG). No further comment on that meal. Then on Friday, being that the teachers wanted to round our the week celebrating, the third grade teacher had a party at her house (at least the school day didn’t get cut short for this one…)

I actually missed out on Fridays festivities (can’t say I was too upset…I was a bit “Teachers Day-outted”) because I accompanied the seventh grade class on a field trip to go bird watching in a town about an hour away. We left at 4:30 am (not kidding) and spent the morning bird watching. Afterwards we went to a river water park (with two huge slides) and spent about three hours playing in the river water. Then we had a typical Ecuadorian lunch (packing full the little comedor), followed by a presentation by the local cuerpo de bomberos (fire department). After over 12 hours of “paseando” we arrived back to El Triunfo at 6:00. I went to bed at 8:00 ☺

***Library update:
-repainting the space this weekend
-hired carpenter to make bookshelves
-bought $200 worth of books in Quito last week
-going to a market this Monday to buy a table and rug

A Day in the life of "Megita"

My daily schedule goes somewhat like this:

Wake up around 7:05.
Make a cup of tea.
Feed my puppy.
Make the less than one-minute walk to school.
Teach from 7:30 to 12:45.
FREE TIME
FREE TIME
FREE TIME
FREE TIME


As you can see…after 12:45 I have a pretty free schedule – and yet I always feel busy. Here is how I find myself spending my “free-time”…
-helping students of all ages with English homework
-going to the river with groups of kids to bañarse
-sitting at the front of the kiosk-like store in the center of town and playing cards
-helping someone milk their cows in El Monte
-Racing on horseback up to the mirador (look out point) of El Triunfo
-Looking for (pulgas) on my puppy...(not so much anymore thanks to the friendly vet)!
-babysitting my adorable little “sister”, Melanie
-helping vecinos (neighbors) to plant crops/till fields, etc. (thus the constant blisters on my hands)
-hiking to the cascada de las golondrinas (waterfall of the songbirds) and swimming in the waterfall beneath it
-taking the bus down to Baños and getting manicures for $1.25 (complete with semi-ghetto flower designs)
-helping to feed the chickens/rabbits/pigs/guinea pigs/etc.
-reading to the neighbor kids
-washing clothes in the river on a rock with las muchachas (I am by a LONG shot the worst washer around)

Estás celoso? I thought so. Muahaha.

Enjoy the fotos! (Teaching El Triunfo how we celebrate Easter in the states, Puppy Lovin’, Humming bird sitting in a nest made of spider webs, niño in a USA hat from the clothing drive, Antoni with his pet chickens

PS – My highlight of the week was giving Leni (a little boy in third grade with six fingers on each hand) a few pictures I printed out when I was home of the six fingered major league pitcher, Alfonseca. The look on his face almost made me cry…as his classmates looked on wishing they were the ones with six fingers.





M

Return to Ecuador!

Yesterday marked my return to Ecuador. I originally was only staying until the end of March, but I decided to extend my visa and stay until mid-May, which is how I found myself re-entering the wonderful country of Ecuador late last night. The family that I lived with in El Triunfo had agreed to pick me up at the airport, so when I arrived at 9:15 pm (with three HUGE duffel backs jammed packed with supplies for the library and used clothes to sell in order to raise more money), I luckily had people there waiting for me. I figured it would just be Isabel (my friend who I live with) and her brother who owns the truck, but I should have known better. Instead Isabel’s entire family, including Segundo as well as her brothers entire family were waiting for me in the airport, complete with “Bienvenidos, Megan Mishler” balloons. As soon as I arrived they explained to me that they had been worried all day long, not being able to remember if I was arriving 9 am or 9 pm. Luckily for everyone involved, they guessed correctly. They also told me that as it was every ones first time in an airport as they were waiting for me to pass through customs and get my bags they were taking pictures of themselves as if they had just arrived from a foreign country or long trip (fake crying, waving, hugging)….”just incase we never have a chance to be in the airport again” they told me.

Once we all said out hellos, we packed into the two-cab truck…four in the back and four in the front. It was crammed to say the least. As we headed out of the city and towards El Triunfo we already had been informed that the quickest route home would not be doable because the road from Baños to El Triunfo was closed for a Semana Santa (Holy Week) walk aka caminata from los campos (the small towns) to Baños for a morning cathedral service. Knowing this, we decided we would take an alternative route that would get us home about an hour later than the normal three-hour drive from Quito to El Triunfo. As we were on the last part of this drive we approach police blocking the road and we learn this road is also closed due to another caminata. As I was half sleeping it took me a few minutes to realize we were headed in the wrong direction, back tracking the last hour of our drive. As we pull onto the dirt/gravel road that is our only remaining option for making it back to El Triunfo before morning, Segundo points out to me a cars headlights what seems like hours away and much higher up the mountain. “Yup, that’s where we are headed” he tells me. About an hour into the drive on our “new” country road we come across a big tour bus (luckily without passengers) stuck in the mud at a high point on the mountain. The four men tell us they have been waiting for a car to pass since 10:00 pm – it is now 2:00 am. Two of the men jump into the back of our truck as we try to make our way around the side of the bus. As we try to inch by along the side of the mountain on the muddy terrain, we get stuck. I will admit that I was already imagining this would happen. So, half of us get out of the car and lift up the back two wheels of the truck, which miraculously works. About an hour and a half later (3:30 am), after departing from the Quito airport at 9:30 pm we arrive to El Triunfo. I would say my first seven hour in Ecuador upon my “re-arrival” were a perfect start. I am not being sarcastic…it’s always an adventure.

PS – Stay tuned for an update on how the “pulga” went – aka the selling of the three duffel bags of used American clothes I brought back from the US…

Back to Bloggin'

I think the last time I posted it was maybe two weeks ago --- but I have good excuses for the writing lapse. For one, my brother, John, visited me in Ecuador on his spring break from law school and we traveled around together for the week. We spent a couple days in Quito (seeing the sights...churches, miradores, markets, etc.), then continued on to Mindo (a beautiful little town in the cloud forest where we stayed at a beautiful eco-lodge...unfortunately we got VERY sick...I am not going to go into details, trust me, it is for your best interest). After a seven hour bus journey on "recovering" stomachs (to say the least) we made it to my "hometown" of Baños (gracias a dios) and enjoyed having some time to regain our energies...we ended up doing a go-kart tour of the waterfalls around the area, going on a hike, visiting the mountain town where I teach, and much more! Overall we had a great trip and I was so glad to have had a miembro de mi fam to share my new home with! John and I traveled back to the U.S. together (or rather we left the airport the same night), which leads me to my second excuse for not blogging recently -- I have been at home for the past week and a half! And believe me, as much as I love Grand Rapids, I can't say that it inspires me to write/reflect. Regardless, it has been great to recharge my energies, think about how I want to spend my last couple months in Ecuador (I will still be living in El Triunfo and teaching at the elementary school), and relax. I almost could not get over the fact that in the U.S you can actually throw toilet paper down the toilet...as John said when he arrived back home "God Bless the U.S.A!"

And now for an additional "pitch" to all readers....I also spent a lot of my time at home working on stationary (made from the paintings done by los niños from El Triunfo) which I am selling for a minimum donation of $10. The proceeds of the stationary will go 100% towards the founding of a library in the elementary school in El Triunfo! If you are interested in buying some stationary please contact me at mmishler@middlebury.edu, and I will hook you up! (See attached letter).

For now, enjoy the pictures (including John milking his first cow) and I will be back to blogging via Ecuador sometime later this week as I head back Thursday morning....just in time for Semana Santa!

Día de la Mujer

Día de la Mujer, which falls on March 8th to be exact, is supposedly an international holiday…although I will admit that I never knew the holiday existed until this past Monday. Regardless, I think it is one of my new favorite holidays. The day started with a two-hour program put on by the seventh grade class. The program consisted of songs, poems, dances and a rose presentation (one given to each of the female teachers). To represent the women and mothers in all parts of the world, the seventh grade class split up into groups and learned dances from different parts of the world. The songs chosen to represent the Estados Unidos were “You Ain’t Nuthin’ but a Hound Dog” along with a mix of other similar songs, which I thought was hilarious. Maybe they think that is still how we are getting our groove on in the USA. I guess I am alright with that misconception, as I would say that as a whole we Americans just don’t know how to move like Latin Americans do. Actually, there is no comparison…while the LA youngsters grow up with their hips swinging to the constant blaring beats of merengue and salsa I was clapping along to “B-I-N-G-O” and “Row your Boat” (along with s slew of Disney songs) until I was old enough to choose my own radio station (and then it was Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys, dios mio).

Getting back to the topic of Día de la Mujer, after the program classes were cancelled and all teachers went to a close-by town to have a trout lunch (I fished for the trout myself thank you very much), followed by more than a few drinks and some friendly dancing to nacional música de Ecuador, cumbia and salsa. I like to imagine my experiences here in the escuela in a small Ecuadorian mountain town happening back in my elementary and high school in the US…although it is hard to imagine because it would never happen. The two education systems really are worlds apart.

I am going to have a respite from school stories and the likes because this Saturday (in only three days) John (mi hermano) is coming to visit for a week and then I am going home for a week and a half. I am going to pick up John in Quito where we will spend a couple days, then off to Mindo and the cloud rainforest for a couple days and then to Baños/El Triunfo. It will be nice to be home for a bit to recharge and to take some time to think about things I can do in the school and teaching wise as there aren’t many resources here in El Triunfo. Project ideas? Want to help sponsor a new library in the elementary school República de Suiza? Holler at me!

Besote,
Megan

PS – Feliz de de la Mujer (a couple days late) to all the mujeres that read this blog. Especially to my mom who es la major de todas! ☺

Makin' Progress

I would without a doubt say I have really enjoyed my first two months here in Ecuador, and in El Triunfo (wow, I can’t believe it has been two months), but I would also say that in the last few days something has really clicked and I am really feeling like part of the community and forging new relationships.

From high school girls asking me to help them with homework or paint their nails, playing volleyball with a group of girls my age, going horseback riding, or learning to make a mean mora (blackberry) shake, I feel as though I am just getting to a level in the community that I can really help students and make long lasting friendships and connections.

This past Saturday for example I headed down to Baños (the tourist town down the mountain) on the morning bus from El Triunfo and sat with a 16 year old high school student, Morelia. Morelia is a sweetheart. She often stops by my house to ask me to help her with homework (often when she is on her way to feed her families pig down the road). Morelia has 7 siblings, of which the two eldest boys are a little delayed because the Mom used to give them pure cane liquor when they were babies to calm them down and stop them from crying and the eldest sister who got pregnant with one of her teachers when she was 15. Bueno, regardless of the family history, Morelia is a doll. Thus, I invited her to come to breakfast with me at a local hostel that has a nice rooftop terrace breakfast area. I figured she didn’t have any money so I offered to pay for her and convinced her to come along. When I opened the door to the hostel (which is a pretty nice, clean, hostel, but is by no means what I would call luxurious) Morelia told me she was ashamed to enter because she had never been in a hotel before and on the way up the stairs she literally asked me if it was O.K if she talked. Not kidding. I told her that of course she could talk, she had just as much the right to talk as anyone in the building!

On another note, after another trip to Quito today (leaving form El Triunfo at 3:00 am (gag me) to make it to Quito the exact hour the Consulate opened) I officially am done with all the visa hassle as my visa application was approved and everything will be ready to pick up by the end of the week! Yipee! Double yippee because on the taxi drive back to the bus terminal I bought 50 roses for one dollar at a road-side stand!

I am looking forward to a weekend trip to the historical city of Cuenca with Isabel who I live with and her three-year old daughter and looking even more forward to John coming in a little less than 2 weeks (especially because he is bringing starburst jelly beans). Hehe.

LLL! Longer letter later…

Love,
Megita

A Day in Quito

Since I have decided to extend my stay here in Ecuador I have been spending a good amount of time trying to figure out what I have to do regarding visas. For US citizens, upon arrival in Ecuador they are given a 12-X visa – which allows them 90 days in a calendar year to be in the country. Since I am staying over 90 days, this visa won’t suffice. Until about a year ago it costs 10 cents and a visit to the local consul to extend the visa to 180 days in a calendar year but over the last few months the policy for tourist visas has changed numerous times and for this reason it has been really confusing figuring out exactly what I have to do. Gracias a dios, I finally got all my papers together (and found out that they were the correct ones, yippee), so I headed to Quito yesterday to apply for the visa (unfortunately I have to return to Quito Monday to see if my application has been authorized in order for it to be processed).

QUITO. Not wanting to travel alone, I asked Segundo (the mountain/treasure guide I have mentioned before), since he doesn’t work anymore (although he is almost 80 and still leads trips into the Llaganates…the mysterious national park that borders El Triunfo), to accompany me to Quito. After picking some fresh fruit for a tonga (Kichwa word meaning food supply) we set off for Quito and 6 am from El Triunfo arriving to Quito at 11:00 (which didn’t give us much time to make it to the consulate which closes as 12). Luckily, we got all the visa drama settled, so we had the rest of the day to track down one of Segundo’s friends that he wanted to see. Segundo has a lot of friends. Having led over 200 trips into the Llanagantes, and having befriended I am guessing all of the trekkers, it is no surprise. We finally got a hold of his friend Juan del Hierro who invited us to his house at 3. Having time to spare we headed to the Instituto de Geográfico Militar (the military institute of geography) to look for maps of the Llanganates. The military officer working in the map area figured we were setting off to search for the supposed 60 plus tons of Incan gold hidden in the Llaganates, and pointed to a random spot on the map saying he already knew where the treasure was. In reality, Segundo just wants to take a trip to a lagoon in the Llagantes that he flew over once in helicopter. We ended up buying two maps (the first maps the honored guide had ever owned of the beloved Llanganates) even though he could walk the trails with his eyes closed, and then we spontaneously called another friend of Segundo’s who invited us to lunch.

This friend, Fernando, who called Segundo “hermano,” treated us to a delicious seafood lunch. When he had to head back to work and Segundo and I still had about a half hour to spare before heading to the house of Juan del Hierro we decided to order dessert…which ended up being two huge banana splits. According to Segundo desserts like ice cream are like liquids and have lots of vitamins, thus you can eat as much as you want. I like this idea. Eventually we grabbed a cab and headed to the northern part of the city where Segundo’s friend had given us directions to his house. Or rather, we had scribbled down on scrap paper one street name and about five times “turn right,” “turn left at the next curve,” “turn right and go straight for a while,” “turn right at the auto shop.” As I’m sure you could have guesses, we got pretty lost. The cab driver not being the nicest, and me being out of cell phone credit to call and ask for directions, we got out of the cab where we figured we were pretty close and set out to find the house on foot. Having entered two other houses, taken about ten wrong turns, and an hour later we arrived to the house of Juan del Hierro. A huge white house in a gated community overlooking all of Quito, my campesino friend Segundo definitely looked out of place. But, I could tell from the start Juan and Segundo were old friends. Sharing story after story about trips into the Llaganates and reminiscing about old friends, it didn’t matter that Juan had a huge house and two BMW’s in the driveway. Not to mention he had beautiful original artwork hung all the house, half of which was signed and dedicated to Juan del Hierro himself. We spent the latter part of the reunion talking about the Ministerio de turismo and about the possibility of El Triunfo being a site for a community tourism project. It is in this conversation that I got roped into helping gather personal stories and history of the Llangates, along with photos, routes, tourist packages, etc. to present to the Ministerio de Turismo in a couple months.

After our visit with Juan del Hierro (I really like this name, which is why I keep mentioning him by his full name), we headed to the bus terminal and back to Baños. In Baños we finally convinced a taxi driver to take us up the mountain to El Triunfo and ended up arriving to our respective houses at about 11:45 pm. What a day!

holaaaaa

It has been a while since I last blogged…so I will try to give some good updates.

This past Tuesday, the official day of carnaval, I went with a group of people to Puyo (a town about an hour away that is in the jungle) to go swimming and (of course) play carnaval. We ended up going to a park that had numerous lagoons and lakes to swim in (and even saw a little monkey playing in the trees). Everyone went swimming and some little boys were effortlessly trying to get me to swim them across the deep-water on my back…which was really tiring. After a packed lunch of, take a guess, chicken and rice, we all climbed back into the two trucks and headed back to El Triunfo. A group of about twelve of us were in the back of the truck, aka we were prime targets for those playing carnaval…throwing buckets of water on us from roof tops, water balloons from the streets, even other trucks were throwing things at us. We of course were prepared as well and every time we crossed a river we stopped to refill our buckets and bottles with water. Once we even stopped to buy cane liquor (pure alcohol from the cane plant that they mix with a variety of fruity flavors)…it is pretty strong stuff to say the least. I was absolutely soaked the entire return trip and will admit I am feeling the effects with a nasty cold.

On Thursday I did a painting activity with the second and fourth graders. I started by asking each class to think about something that represents their daily life here in El Triunfo. Immediately the students were shouting out ideas: trucha (trout), milking cows, picking mora (blackberry), riding horses, the volcano, el monte (the mountains up the hill from the center of town), etc. I tried to have each student focus on a simple idea for the actual painting, something they could really focus in on. Although the actual hour or so I spent with each class painting was a bit stressful (picture me alone with a class of about 25 students who had never painted before), and none of the teachers were too helpful, the majority of the paintings turned out great. You can look forward to seeing a selected few of the painting on stationary for sale in the local Cascade and Ada area (and by contacting the lovely Shelley Mishler) in the near future. Hint, hint fundraiser for the elementary school here in El Triunfo…my goal is to start a library here with children’s books as there are currently 180 students and less than 10 books in the school. With 100% certainty I would say that the students spend a larger part of the school day playing fútbol (soccer) than reading. Although it may be more accurate to say that they don’t read at all.

As of last week I am spending Fridays helping to teach English in the high school, right up the hill from the elementary school. There are actually only about 50 students in the high school because the majority of high school-age students in the area either attend high school in Baños (the bigger town about an hour down the mountain) or only attend school on Saturdays in order to help out with farming and household chores. It is fun to work with an older age group and they certainly propose a entirely different set of challenges than the students in the elementary school. For example a student in ninth year spent the entire class hour making kissy faces at me. I have been in contact with a couple of my favorite Spanish teachers from high school and we are planning to Skype in the coming week, allowing the US students to practice Spanish and my students to practice English, an intercambio/exchange of sorts.

Yesterday I made chocolate chip cookies, however as I discovered there is no cookie sheet in all of El Triunfo I had to opt for chocolate chip bars…which ended up rather gooey and misshaped.

Well, I think that is all I can think of for now…I will try to post again later this week!

Carnaval pics and bad news

Below are some carnaval pics (the aftershots) and pics of my dear pacha (who died yesterday from a sickness she had because she received her puppy vaccinations too late). Pobre Pacha!

carnaval!

We have a five day weekend this week because of carnaval. Since we Americans do not really celebrate carnaval, what most likely comes to mind when you hear about the holiday is Brazil and the half naked (or basically completely naked) glittery women that dance samba in the street. Well, that is one example of carnaval, but here in Ecuador they have their own set of traditions – traditions of which I feel free to comment on as I sit here writing this soaking wet. Here in Ecuador carnaval is celebrated with parades and parties and a non-stop celebration of “love and friendship” (as quoted on an invitation I just received to a carnaval party Sunday night). However, the tradition that the kids like most and that reminds everyone that carnaval has arrived is to “mojarse” aka get everyone wet and or messy. This can be done with water balloons, buckets of water, splashing water from a sink, squirt guns, etc…and then you are reminded of how wet you are when flour, egg and silly string are added to the mix.

So to “jugar carnaval” here in Ecuador all you really need it water. So basically everyone is fair game to play and get played. This past Thursday school was shortened to a half-day in order to play carnaval with the students. I had heard about the “traditions” and thus came prepared…with silly string, eggs (one of which I cracked on the school director’s head), flours, and water balloons (which I woke up extra early to fill). By the end of the almost two hour “play-time” I looked like a drowning ghost: absolutely drenched with flour plastered all over my arms, face and hair. I think I still have some flour in my ear.

Tomorrow I am headed to Baños, the hopping tourist town 45 minutes down the mountain from El Triunfo, to watch the parade (and call my Mommy to wish her a Feliz Cumpleaños) and Sunday I am headed to Ambato (the biggest city within a two hour distance from El Triunfo) to watch the even bigger parade and rodeo.

¡Vive carnval!

Unas cosas...

Highlights of the last few days:

1. I taught the family I am living with to make pizza.

2. I went to the carnival fiesta and parade of a nearby town and learned that in parades here they throw fruit instead of candy! And being the only white, blue-eyed girl around, I got A LOT of fruit! YUM!

3. I went horseback riding this morning and it was very fun and gorgeous views!

4. I milked a cow for the first time...no further comment.

5. I am currently sitting inside a store while the owner is at lunch using the internet signal from across the street. The owner literally just left me here alone while she went out.

Blog Popularity...

I received a notice last night via email from blogspot.com stating that I had over 500 readers!

Kidding. More like 5. Ha. No worries. Sigo escribiendo…

The school week has drawn to an end, and overall it was a pretty good one, as I hinted at in my last posting. Today I started my new Friday post at the colegio (high school). However, it wasn’t a regular day because this weekend there are the fiestas in a nearby town, Patate, and there is a big parade that twenty five of the high school students are dancing in (a traditional folkloric dance of Ecuador, I might add) – and today was the dress rehearsal. So instead of teaching, I helped to hand out outfits for the dancers (I will have to post pictures after the parade…the get-ups are adorable…a spin off of the traditional Ecuadorian dress).

The only downfall of this week has to do with my efforts to fundraise for the elementary school in order to start a library. As I have mentioned before, the school has about 180 students, grades one through seven, but is lacking in resources. There is no money in the budget for arts and crafts supplies or for physical education necessities (not even a soccer ball or jump rope). Furthermore, and this is the part that bothers me the most, there is no library in the school (nor in the community as a whole), so the students only occasionally read for classes and leisure reading is nonexistent. For this reason I see a library as the perfect addition to the school – and as an outlet for students who don’t really have any common space within the school, and certainly not one where they would be invited to relax and read a book (or two, or three).

I sat down with the school director on Wednesday and presented the library idea and some of my fundraising ideas and he seemed thrilled. He was already set to show me the extra room that he though would be a great space and so on. However, the following day, the same director, who lovingly calls me “Megita,” pulled me into his office to inform me the professors had talked and think it would be better to get the school a projector. Now let me say that not one teacher knows how to correctly use a computer or any other technical device. He said that with such a projector they could do many more activities in the classroom and so on. As I was sitting in his office I could picture the projector being used for the teachers to watch movies projected onto the wall…certainly not something I see benefiting the students to a large extent, or to any extent at all. I was nonchalant during this encounter because I was a little taken aback. I felt like I (and my USA connections) was/were being advantage of.

When I returned to my house later in the evening Isabel informed me that Don Galo (the director) had just told her to tell me that they also could use a computer and that she should encourage me to get one for the school. “UM HELLO, IT’S NOT LIKE I AM A MONEY TREE you idiota” was only one of the things I considered telling the director. However, I decided I would let myself cool down and kindly tell him the following week how I feel and why I think the library would be the most beneficial for the students.

I feel like this is a situation that often arises for extranjeros (foreigners) in developing countries such as Ecuador. The people in the given community realize they have a chance to get somethings that they want (lap tops, projectors, etc.) out of an individual with connections to money and lower U.S. prices on such items and so they in a way use or take advantage of the extranjeros, whether they mean to or not. It frustrates me because I feel very loved and accepted by the community, so to feel taken advantage of puts me in a difficult position…there is a fine line between giving the community something it needs and having resources taken advantage of.

Enough of that drama…I am looking forward to the weekend and heading to Patate for the fiestas and dances. Not to mention I am going horseback riding with a student later this afternoon. Lindo Ecuador!

Woof Woof

I have now been a resident of El Triunfo for 4 days. Whoo.

Some highlights of my first few days after the move up into the mountain town…both during school hours and “after hours.”

1. Pacha – I am guessing most of you, well none of you, know what “pacha” means. It is actually a kichwa word that means madre or mother of the tierra (land). This is the name of my new Ecuadorian puppy. This may sound silly that I have a puppy here, but Pacha was meant to be my puppy, so I say to you boo-ya. Pacha was the last puppy left of one of the teachers at the elementary school and no one wanted her because she has a little belly button that pokes out of her belly – which people thought was bad lucky. When I saw her and played with her and said she was adorable and so on she was gifted to me within five minutes. I originally said no but then the family I am living with says it is fine and if I can’t bring her to the United States (a grina puppy) then she can stay with them. So that is how I got myself an Ecuadorian pup. Grey, with little blue eyes and only about three months old, Pacha became my puppy…and then after 20 hours she ran away. She was missing for almost two days until there were about 180 people, or rather kids ages 4-12 out looking for her. Thus she was found in a house up the hill, just having returned from fetching milk from the cows with an older woman in town. So that is how I got my Ecuadorian pup back. And today I bought her a cute little pink and purple collar. Mi perrita linda, Pachita.
2. Deberes – Deberes translates to homework in English, and this week, for the first time the entire class of sixth graders did their homework. I had purposely tried to make the assignment a little more fun that normal and did mention that we could listen to English pop songs on my lap top if the work was done…but still! I was impressed. I think the kids themselves were rather surprised. Not to mention the “vagos” or generally troublesome, often held back a year or two (or three) kids in a couple of the classes have really started to open up to me and to work and pay attention is class. I could hardly believe it the other day when one of these students kept showing me all class how much progress he was making in his English notebook with the assigned tasks.
3. Segundo stories – I think I mentioned Segundo in my last blog, but if not, he is one of the older men in the community, not the mention the oldest and most respected treasure hunter and guide into the Llangantes mountains in the area. And he loves to talk . Over dinner, on a walk, searching for my lost puppy, picking fresh fruit off trees, he always has a story. The other day he was telling me about his relationship with Eugene Brunner, a famous German treasure hunter who is known to have discovered the exact location of slew of Incan gold hidden in the Lllagantes mountains. He told me of Brunner’s sad life of being continuously used for his gold secret and how he often cried because it was so hard to hold in. Segundo I think has an idea as well regarding where the treasure is, but he tells me with sincerity that he has no interest in the treasure and never has, “for what does one need gold for in this country, to make life more difficult when I already have a roof over my head and food on my plate.”

I am writing this before going to bed, so wish me luck that Pacha doesn’t get her cry on during the middle of the night.

The Big Move

I am now a resident of El Triunfo (see some pics above.) For those of you who don’t know anything about El Triunfo or about how I ended up in this small Ecuadorian mountain community, read on.

As I was working on my study abroad plans during my sophomore year at Middlebury (plans that seemed to have changed every other day…) I mentioned the idea to my advisor about taking a semester off from official school-work. I already was set to spend the fall semester studying in Montevideo, Uruguay (which I did, and loved), but I wanted to do something different in addition to this experience. My advisor was very supportive of this new idea and one spring day when I passed him on the sidewalk returning from a morning class he said “I have the perfect spring plan for you, Megan. I have a friend connected to a community in Ecuador…” Thus, within the week I was having coffee with this “friend” (who happens to be an adventure-book author who was in El Triunfo about ten years ago writing about his search for Incan gold in the Llaganates (the national park and mountain range the borders El Triunfo)), and by the following month I had concrete plans to teach in the school in El Triunfo and live in the community the following spring.

So here I am. Having spent the month of January living in Baños de Agua Santa (a adventure tourism town that is about 40 minutes downhill from El Triunfo) and having travelled up in the bus or sometimes milk truck to the school every morning (waking up at 5:30 am to do so), I feel as though I am ready to start out here in El Triunfo. Although the area known as El Triunfo includes a few other small mountain towns, the area I am living has a little under 1,000 inhabitants. In this town center there is a school, church, discoteca, karaoke bar, a little restaurant, two small stores, a soccer field and volleyball court (or rather square shaped dirt area with a makeshift net). As my first day living in El Triunfo was yesterday, a Saturday, there was a lot happening in the town. Soccer games were going on (speaking of soccer, they 20-30 age group team wants me to play with them but as I have no identification card for the league they will have to pass me off as “Diana Rodriguez” in order for me to play…we’ll see how that goes), mora (blackberries) were being sold in the streets, a group of young men were playing volleyball, and of course a slew of girls from the school were already following me around. I ended up spending my first day playing with a bunch of the kids I teach in school (as well as with the 3 year old, Melanie, that lives in the house I will be staying in), watching a soccer game of the sixth grade girls, playing with a litter of puppies and having to turn down one as a gift (NOT easy to do), and being invited to make the 7-day trip into the mystical Llangantes mountains by the towns oldest and wisest treasure guide, Segundo, (while we were picking an Ecuadorian fruit called Claudias off of trees I might add).

Although I certainly miss my travel partner and while it was fun to be in Baños with all the action I am excited to be here in El Triunfo – I think it will allow me to be more involved in the community and focus more on school and teaching .

New post below...but here are some photos!

Photos include: a couple photos from a weekend stay in the Andes (falcon with prey in it's claws and Chris and I at Laguna Quilotoa), some of my students swimming at the river, the volcano in Baños (might I add, "active volcano), and the colonial zone in Quito.

Problemas en la escuelita

As I mentioned in my last blog, tomorrow grades 2-7 (the entire escuela) will be going on a day long “caminata” (long walk/hike) to visit another school high up in the mountains. This school is in an indigenous community and half of the classes are given in the native language, Quechua. I would say a million times over the supervision of students is much less important to school staff in Latin America, but yesterday when during the middle of fourth hour every single teacher left their classroom alone to chat/argue for thirty minutes about what the teachers should eat for lunch the day of the caminata: “Chicken…no trout….Doña Myra does the best chicken…No, it is Doña Anita that does it best….” As the conversation drowned on students would stick their heads in the office window, “Profe, so and so están peleando” (Teacher, so and so are fighting) and the teacher, barely looking at the student would reply rather uninterested and without worry “Vengo ahora” (I’m coming now…which really translated in this case to “I’ll come when I am finished here).”

Another issue in República de Suiza (the school in which I am volunteering) and other Latin American public schools is the lack of creativity of which the students are allowed. For instance, the other day in an English class four and five year olds were asked to color in their hand that they had just traced on paper. When a handful of them began to color their hand in colors such as hot pink, green, blue, etc. the teachers flipped out. “NO NO NO…look at the color of your hand, you have to use a tan color.” They actually made the kids start over. I was thinking, and actually told one of the kids “I LOVE your hot pink hand, it is my favorite of all.” Because who cares what color kids color in their hands…I was imaging myself doing the same type of project when I was in pre-school and coloring my hand rainbow and then having the teacher “ooo” and “aah” about how pretty it was (now, the extent to which some teachers and parents praise kids in the U.S. is a another issue), but still, you get the point.

Of course there are loads of other issues and downfalls of the school system here and I wish even one of them were easy to do away with or alter, but I have to remind myself that I am just one person and just being here to offer my opinion in classes and on education in general and to be a positive influence for the students. Speaking of the students, they are fabulous (well, minus the handful that like to give me a hard time) and generally love to hang on me all day long. I often have one kid holding on to each of my fingers. In gym class, which I teach on Wednesdays and Thursdays they will actually fight over who gets to hold my hand when we are playing games. I am looking forward to moving to the village at the end of next week and having more interaction with the students: getting to know their families, reading to/with them after-school hours, and just being available to help with homework, be a friend, etc.

Ecuador is a special and beautiful country. Only the size of Colorado it is one of the most ecologically diverse countries in the world. This Saturday I am going on a day hike in the jungle (about an hours bus ride away) and this Sunday I am going on a bird-watching hike in the national park that borders El Triunfo. This past-weeks highlights include stopping at a house in El Triunfo after school that had a “SE VENDE TRUCHA” sign (selling trout) on the front door and Chris, I and the other three volunteers on the farm made delicious, fresh, trout for dinner. Another highlight was going up to the “Kinder” (pre-k and kindergarten) school up the hill to teach English and Physical Education…the thirty, always energized, little niños love to all give me a hug and the same time and then fall to the floor and it is so cute…they are absolutely adorable (and thank gosh, because they are crazy)!

That’s all for now…I will try to blog again later this week!

PS- If any readers exist…(Mom? John?...) please leave a comment for once. I feel like a goon.

You just can´t get away from your roots....

Of the ten or so new faces I met this weekend (of which the majority was spent in a realtively secluded village in the Andes) five were oddly connected to Michigan and or Middlebury.

One was a camp counselor at Camp Echo (the rival summer camp of the camp where I attended and worked, Camp Henry), another went to Calvin College located in good old Grand Rapids, Michigan, another (who owns a restaurant in Baños) is from Marquette, MI and has a whole wall of his restaurant decorated with Michigan memorablia (it´s a total gringo hangout, but still...),and another is a to-be Freshman feb at Middlebury.

One odd connection and game of name dropping after another and I had completely forgotten I was in Ecaudor.

Besides the odd connections that I came about this weekend I also made other connection: one with a fabulous, and rather enchanting actress from London and another with a Italian couple who invited Chris (my boyfriend) and I to stay at their flat in Roma! Not too shabby!

I met the majority of the aforementioned people/pairs this weekend when I stayed for two nights at the Black Sheep Inn, nestled in the Andes in a small, unknown town known as Chugchilan. The Inn is an eco-lodge that serves all vegetarian (gourmet) meails and specializes in day hikes around the area. As we only had one full day, Chris and I did the so-called most famous hike in Ecuador that begins at laguna Quilotoa (a lake formed in a crater many years ago after a volcanic eruption). We both decided it was the most beautiful natural formation we had ever seen. We had a guide who throughout the four hour hike (that passed around the rim of the lake, through a indigenous village that still speaks Quechua, up and down a huge canyon and back to the Black Sheep Inn) who showed up indigenous plants along the way and let us take rests when the altitude had us breathing more heavily than normal. Overall, it was a fabulous weekend and I reccommend the Inn to anyone looking for a fun, different getaway! (However, I would reccommend that if you do decide to make the trip and do so via the five hour bus that winds through the mountains to arrive to the small town of Chugchilan, to use the bathroom before you get on the bus because I, two hours in, had to bribe the bus drivers to stop the bus and let me use a bathroom...which ended up being a little canyon where an old indigenous woman motioned me over).

Enough about the weekend and bathroom troubles...now I am back in Baños and just finished a Monday at the escuela in El Triunfo. As for anyone interested in my teaching schedule, here it is:
Mondays and Tuesdays: English
Wednesdays and Thursdays: Cultura Física (Phys. Ed.)
Fridays: Computation (Although this Friday the escuela is doing a school wide four hour hike to another small elementary school up in the mountains...!)

I really like the school where I am working, although it is hard to not notice how far the Ecuadorian school system has to come and it is even more difficult to come up with ways to revive classes (such as the English classes) that have entailed nothing more than repeating the teacher and copying off the board for years (or rather, forever). Also a challenge is teaching Physical eduaction (a ¨subject¨in which I have no expertise in a country in which I have no idea what the kids are supposed to/normally do in such a class). Last week was my first official week as profesora de cultura física and all of the teachers were supposed to help me when it was time for their class to have physical education. To no surprise only one teacher helped me and one of the warm-ups she had the small second graders do was have three kids kneeling on the ground to see if the other students could jump over them (and let me tell you that most didn´t clear the jump...)

AKA feel free to email me with any brilliant physical education ideas...I will be sure to put them into practice!

besos!

ECUADOR!

Today marks my one-week “anniversary,” if you will, with Ecuador.

I am going to skip over the first full day spent in historic Quito….PAUSE: As I am writing this blog, sitting on a hammock overlooking the Andes mountains and taking in the scent of fresh flowers and herbs a hummingbird just few literally right in front of my face, pausing for a second, as if it wanted to get a glimpse of my blog (definitely not worth it, Mr. Hummingbird). OK, so back to the actual blogging….I am going to skip over the first full day I spent in Ecuador in which I visited numerous churches, museums and el famoso mirador, PIM El Panecillo (a fabulous view of the city on top of a little hill named “panecillo” because it resembles a bread roll) and dive into my arrival to Baños – where I will be spending the next two months.

For this blog I am going to focus on three topics: DOGS, VOLCANOES (or rather, THE volcano, Tungurahua) and EL TRIUNFO).

DOGS: For my first three weeks in the Baños area I am staying on a sustainable garden/farmed (WOOFF affiliated) owned by a Canadian woman. The volunteer workers on this farm work the land from 7-3 and in exchange receive free board and food (food meaning gather whatever you can on the farm and whip it into some delicious vegetarian masterpiece…. In addition, I like to keep a supply of Ecuadorian chocolate handy).

The first so called “chore” of the volunteers each day is to take the three dogs – two German Shepards one St. Bernard – for a walk. Dog walking…sounds SO simple. But I am not referring to a normal “dog walk” I am referring to a “mountain dog walk”…imagine three huge dogs in a setting similar to that of Jurassic Park (minus the dinosaurs)….endless waterfalls, rivers to cross, mountains to climb, “jungles” to get lost in, etc. Not to mention, a insanely fast moving foreman, Mario, who seems to revel in the fact that no one can keep up with his pace. Although I am not a working volunteer on the farm, and am instead paying my rent for the time being, I volunteered to take part in the morning dog walk my first morning on the farm. After being pulled up two mountain sides with the aide of a dog leash and having drenched and dirtied beyond belief the clothes I had set out for my first day of volunteer work in a neighboring school I figured I would skip on the morning dog walks for the time being…

VOLCANOES: I would consider myself a generally lucky, and certainly blessed individual. With that said, I will allow you to determine if the following was a stroke of luck or the opposite. The volcano Tungurahua, which towers above the farm I am currently staying, in an active volcano that has erupted two times in the last fifteen years. This volcano, which most had assumed prior to last Monday had entered it’s twelve year dormant cycle, has again stared to emit smoke (non stop) and let out startling roars (at all hours of the day, and unfortunately the night as well). Between the earfuls I have gotten from the locals, ex-patriots, and the local volcanologist himself, all concerning the newly active volcano, I am not sure what to make of the natural disaster that seems to hang over the heads of all in Baños…

For the record, the volcanologist believes there is nothing to worry about and that the volcano is not approaching another eruption… I guess for now I will continue to enjoy the views of lava trickling down the side of Tungurahua on a clear, starry, night.

EL TRIUNFO: I haven’t said this aloud, but I am going to type it here…I am afraid I have already fell in love with year another Latin American pueblo. Estoy jodida. Through a contact back in the states I was put in contact with a couple community members of this small Ecuadorian town and after a few emails last spring decided I would take this spring off from college and spend the semester volunteering at the town’s local school.

Here is what my week looks like in the school’s mountain village: Monday and Tuesday I assist the English teacher (What I mean by this is I basically teach the entirety of all they day’s classes), Wednesday and Thursday I teach cultura física (this is my actual class)….we are currently preparing for the annual zone-wide track competitions and Friday I teach computer classes both at the escuela (grades 2-7) and el colegio/high school. Like I said, after only two days and a slew of absolutely precious faces ingrained in my memory, I have fallen for the town. There is something about the atmosphere and community essence of such small communities in South America that gets me every time…I am looking forward to moving up the community late this month.

For the last two periods of school today the kids convinced El Director to let them go to the river to swim…so that’s what we did. As I watched the young students strip out of their uniforms and jump into the crisp water, as others played on the nearby bridge and I felt like I was in a U.S. elementary school….

Kidding.

***Tomorrow I start my new “position” as “gym teacher”…wish me luck! In addition, I am looking forward to a weekend trip to national park, Cotopaxi.

I think I already want to push back my return flight late March….