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.