The Best of ECUADOR

(1) My scarf collection
(2) The Ultimas Noticias´15K
(3) Ecuador-Venezuela Soccer Game
(4) La Huaina--my second home in Quito
(5) Bridge Jumping in Baños
(6) Holding a boa in the Vivarium
(7) White Water Rafting in Tena
(8) David and Cesar (from mohawks to vueltas)
(9) Using my last name to get the group Bus Reservations
(10) Llapingachos
(11) Banana Batidos from the coast
(12) Walking everywhere
(13) Riding in a Chiva for Fiestas de Quito
(14) Reggaeton
(15) The view of the mountains walking to school
(16) Class trip to Parque Metropolitano
(17) My students and our inside jokes
(18) Unlikely Christmas Dinner in Montañita
(19) Swimming in the River in Lita
(20) Fellow SECAPers and Quiteños

One month left in Ecuador...

Trying my best to avoid excessive countdowns, but since I haven´t been home in close to a year, it is a very exciting time to know that I will be coming home soon to see family and friends. The part that is difficult that I didn´t ever imagine before was what I would be leaving. I have made friends in Quito, both Ecuadorian and American, created a familia with the niños and my host parents that I have been living with for the past year. While I am very excited to be home, perhaps it is bittersweet. It is with this that the one month mark has left me with a sense of taking advantage of everything I love about Ecuador and making the most of the rest of my time. Since the last time I´ve written, I´ve visited Baños and jumped off a bridge with 3 of my close friends that arrived here to volunteer in March. I celebrated the equivalent of Labor Day Weekend at the beach in Atacames. I´ve visited Cesar and David´s preschool to watch their family day performances. I´m currently planning to head to Ambato to celebrate my friend from high school´s bday. I´m also going to be running-jogging-slugging along in a 15K in June. When I go to think back about the time I´ve spent in Ecuador this year, I´m sure I will have nothing but fond memories of the people and places.

Feliz Dia de la Maestra! :)

My Intermediate class after our fiesta for dia de la maestra...

Some of my favorite students from the morning Basic 2 class...
Fellow SECAP ¨Profe¨s...

Oh I´m Part of the Magic, Alright

Therese always told us to never turn down an invitation from anyone in Ecuador. You never know what could happen. I´ve had my share of ¨kidnappings¨ and ¨darring vueltas (i.e. going in circles)¨ during my time in Ecuador and breakfasts that last till 7PM, but I very rarely regret taking invites from students and friends while here. I´ve gotten to visit tiny pueblitos in the North, I´ve eaten typical food at students´ homes and most recently, I´ve gone to a magic show at the University with my friend Rachael and her student, Mauro. When Rachael asked me to tag along, I didn´t know what to think. Magic shows can either be really cool or really hokey. We arrived a little late to the Politecnica´s auditorium, where we joined close to 200 students taking a break between finals and thesis writing. Some of the jokes were difficult to understand and untranslatable without ruining the punch line but every time the Magician from Argentina came around looking for volunteers, Mauro hinted to not make eye contact and we wouldnt get chosen...but alas, the magician was looking for an assistant who he described would be ideally ¨chiquitita¨ and thus my magic career began walking on a man who was hypnotized and laying on a bed of nails. Thought you all might enjoying seeing the photo!

Jungle boogie, doo doo--doo doo

As my time in Ecuador begins to come to an end, I figured it best to spend my last long break away from the city and out into the Jungle. Some of the new March´08 Volunteers had some time off too, so we all planned a trip to Tena. After arriving in Tena after a 5 hour bus ride, we were quickly fitted for our new fancy footwear, ie big rubber galoshes, and whisked off to the cabañas. After a quick lunch and a little rest, we headed out on our first trek through secondary rainforest. Our guide and translator were both excellent and showed us the various medicinal and edible plants in that area. We ate a plant that tasted just like a Sour Patch Kid and one that we were later able to make into something of a pasta dish. The second day we went out on a much longer hike that included canyoning in small bat caves, trudging through river water and getting to see a good number of lizards and snakes. We ended the day tubing down one of the Rio Napo´s tributaries and relaxing as the sun went down. Finally on our last day we were able to go on a small hike and visit a community where we shared the typical drink of chicha and some more tasty plants along the way. The entire time was a mix of lengthy hiking and lengthy naps in the hammocks. At one point, a friend found a tarantula, which I later found out is probably the largest species in the world. After our three day adventure, we headed to the actually city of Tena where we saw our first monkey climbing down the stairs from a bridge. We spent our Saturday white water rafting in Class III rapids, which were just perfect for our group--not too much work but just the right amount of splash in your face. All in all, it was a memorable trip, filled with scenic views and never a dull moment.

Unlikely Mini-Vacations

Last weekend was definitely one for the books. Saturday, I went to a 10th anniversary drag show here in Quito, which starred one of our friends that we´ve met since being here. Let me tell you, I´ve never been to one before, but I´ll bet a Latin American one tops all others. It was definitely an experience, bright red glitter lipstick and eyeshadow and a little number by Shakira. Also, probably one of five places in Latin America where it is openly accepted to hold such a show and they have been open for ten years.

Sunday, I went to the zoo with the niños and we got to see condors, jaguars and Galapagos turtles-- pretty sweet, it was definitely not your typical zoo. They were all Andean animals, which was cool for me, but David was a little upset to find the zoo had no elephants and no giraffes, like the ones on TV. But he was hilarious too, because we´d be waiting in line to see something and he´d see a butterfly flying by and be enthralled by that. Cool, but not quite part of the zoo, my little friend.

This past weekend, plans with a number of people (volunteers and friends from home) got moved around back and forth and I had ended up with a ticket to Guayaquil and a three day weekend, so I figured why not. The last time I had been there, it was super rainy so Andrew, a more experienced Guayaquil visitor, took me to a few spots that are must sees and that was that. This weekend was incredible. The weather was perfect, a nice 85 degrees the entire time, with a rain shower here and there. I was able to talk a walk up and down the Malecon and up Las Peñas. I also sat and read for a while in the famous iguana-filled park. Then I met up with Sarah for a bite to eat and this hippie-ish fruit restaurant, where I had an amazing sandwich with peaches, pineapples and chicken. We were able to meet up with Shelby for some drinks at a local bar that night. Then Sunday, we spent some time in the Parque Historico, that had three different sections: a zoo, a historical Williamsburg-esque section and a garden. Finally, we ended our girls´weekend with the Oscars in Spanglish (they were dubbed, but dubbed poorly so only some of Jon Stewart´s jokes were understood).

And today...dun dun dun... is David´s 4th Bday! :) ...who made sure to remind me last night at 11PM.

Ode to Quito

Salsa, Merengue and the latest Reggaeton craze
Fiestas de Quito, how I loved those days

Young kids missing school to sell knick knacks
A non-corrupt legal system is what this city lacks

Buses so crowded, I choose to walk
Nice old ladies always willing to talk

$1.50 for the newest pirated flicks
Pickpockets and thieves up to their latest tricks

Cheap almuerzos are a way of life
15 year olds that hope to make a good wife

Cleaning up the city with murals on the wall
Even down here you can hear the rooster call

Men breathing fire at a busy intersection
Parents who give their kids nothing but affection

Visit to the Vivarium

Running like a gallina with its head cut off...

This past week, I was invited to join two students (mid 50s, Marco and Dominga) and their family for a vacation. Knowing that they weren´t planning on taking no for an answer and not having too much better to do, I joined along. The plan was to head up North, about two hours from Ibarra, in a town called Lita, where Marco grew up. The trip was a five hour drive from Quito with brief stops in Otavalo and Ibarra. We left their house at the wee hour of 7AM and from there headed to meet up with their friend Martin, a German born Otavaleño, who prepared us breakfast and had an impressively extensive garden that separated his home from the others on the block. From there, we were back on the road and headed to Ibarra. On the way, we bought some fruit that is native to that area: chirimoya. It looks like a monster fruit, green with large wart-like bumps all over, but is quite possibly the sweetest fruit you´ll ever have. Definitely a treat! From there we visited San Antonio de Ibarra, an outskirt town of Ibarra that is famous for its woodcarvings. After a quick vuelta, we were back on the road and headed to our destination of Lita. The winding roads through the mountains left some gorgeous landscape views and were interrupted only by the 1,000 fritada and choclo restaurants that lined the streets.

When we finally arrived in Lita, it was everything you can imagine a small town in Ecuador being. Marco was like a star in the town as we walked through and went for a walk to get me acquainted to the town. Being with Marco was an added perk, because its Carnaval time and the water balloons were shielded by his fame that we didn´t get the typical showering of eggs, flour, water balloons and soap foam. After meeting some of the locals, we headed out for a hike. Along the hike, we stopped at one of the many rivers that pass through the town and stopped at the spot where you were technically in three provinces: Esmeraldas, Imbaburra, and Carchi. After sweating up a storm, (which was better than the rainstorms we´ve been having in Quito), we headed to the water for a quick swim that was amazingly freezing when we first arrived and by the end of our hour there was juuust right.

From there, Dominga said we should cook something special for dinner. I agreed but had no idea what I was agreeing to exactly. As we headed back to the house we were staying at, we stopped along the street and bought a chicken. A live chicken. Thinking nothing of it, I assumed it was for the grandfather and his farm or something like that. Never did it cross my mind that there was no great big grocery store around and that I would be in fact eating this little fellow in less than 4 hours. With a single meal, I may have been turned vegetarian. After the meal, we sat around with the abuelo and they told funny stories about the past and watched a movie. The next morning, I headed to catch my bus back to Quito and made a few stops along the way. With three bus transfers, I myself felt like a chicken with its head cut off.

Everyone I meet is my teacher…

It began as any other day, with the ninos acting as if I was a jungle gym while I was chatting online, I was doing two loads of laundry and not sure if Saturday’s sun would be enough to dry everything in time, before the ever expected Quito afternoon rain and I didn’t think much of what would be of January 19, 2008. And of course, the only thing I have learned in my twenty two years of existence is that life lessons come when you least expect them. It’s in the little moments that you learn the most, it’s from the people you least expect that you learn how to live and be you.

Earlier on Saturday, I had been told I’ve got enough stories about Ecuador for a book, that I should be a writer. The truth of the matter is I’m not a very good storyteller (I ramble), I’m not a captivating writer, but I do have one talent that’s necessary for all of this to take place and that’s the art of simply talking to people, listening to them and being open to whatever may come when an invitation is given.

If I were to write a book about Ecuador, it would be about the people. I have met enough people in my five months here thus far that are so uniquely themselves that their lives need to be shared.

Let me begin with one of my young students who is the epitome of what a nice 17 year old girl should be. She was the only student in both my classes last term to get a 100%. She always writes her English free-write assignments about her mother, who she calls her best friend and her hero. She is the type of student who is kind to everyone and helps her fellow students when they have questions whether they are her best friend from high school, the new student in class or the older students who can’t quite see the board from their seat, which is a mere three rows back. Her name is Nathaly.

She is the type of student that has the social capital to get eight fellow English students and her gringa professor to join her in a cause she believes in. She is the oldest daughter of three to two loving parents. Her mother is the godmother of an immensely cute 6 year old girl, who I met today. The “benefit lunch”, if you want to label it as such, was for her the small girl’s mother. We were helping collect $6,000. There’s very rarely such thing as insurance here, unless you’re of a higher class that has that luxury. The young girl’s mother had been in an accident when she was younger and from what I can gather whatever medical care she had received before was now invalid and her leg needed to be replaced for a prosthetic one.

When we arrived to the benefit lunch, or better described as a community BBQ, we were led to the backyard of a church. Apparently the occasion had been going on since 10AM. We arrived at 2PM and weren’t a minute late, in Ecuador, lunch is an invitation I’ve learned can last for hours and being on time is rarely customary. But alas, we arrived eight people deep. Nathaly dragging me by the hand and the other students following, not yet sure what to make of the backyard festivities. When we arrived, there were six folkloric singers as entertainment and people were filling up on the lunch that was served and having beers left and right. It was something you’d see in the movies but you wouldn’t believe that that was in fact how it was. Six folkloric singers placed majestically in front of an Andean landscape at a neighborhood BBQ. It was then that Nathaly began the introductions to her mother. This is my profesora querida and this is Edison, el hombre que parece papa, and this is Paul…, Jose…, Patricia…, Cesar… and Silvana… she went on an on about each of us and how amazing we were to have joined her today. Her mother was wonderful, she was the template for her sweet daughter and even more so, looked as if she had been behind the grill all day. As Nathaly’s Basic II English class sat in the corner of the crowd, we just took it all in, had some good eats and weren’t sure how long we’d stay or what was in store. Suddenly, we met the woman that the benefit was for and vowed to stay for as long as need be. She was a petite young woman, jovencita is the word for it here and it encapsulates her better, I think. She couldn’t have been more than 28, with two children and a loving husband. It clicked why Nathaly needed all the help she could get and single-handedly would bring in close to $300 from her friends in English class, who keep in mind don’t have a lot of money to begin with.

On the way to this remote yard, Nathaly told me about the week before and how the jovencita had told Nathaly and her mother to watch over her children if anything were to happen. She promised and it was then that she came to her adult education class with the hope that her friends of all ages would support her, even if it was just because it was important to her.

It is now close to 2AM that I am writing and if you know me well, you know I don’t lose beauty sleep for anything in the world, but this seemed like a story I didn’t want to forget any of the details for. We ended up staying until 9PM, which means that other people had been there for close to twelve hours when all was said and done. It was admirable what they were doing. They surrounded their beloved jovencita with friends and even kind strangers who might’ve just had no other Saturday plans. We danced into the night, we drank enough Pilsener Grandes that it might as well have been in a keg and that was just for our group, we laughed and shared stories and everyone was having a good time. The jovencita must’ve thanked us a million times for coming and said it meant a lot to her that we were all there. You could see there was a tear forming in her eye and Nathaly grabbed her and all at once spun her around, telling her that it was her night.

My human spirit was awakened and renewed. It’s shocking at times to learn things from those that are younger than you, especially when you’re their teacher, but it happens and it’s an amazing experience. In the 7 hour lunch I went to today, I learned more than I ever could’ve bargained for. It was just what I needed at the midpoint of my service here in Quito. It was the most perfect celebration of life.

It got me to thinking that it’s not only Nathaly that I’ve met here that has this amazing outlook on life, there are others too.

Memo, the man from Montanita, who took two gringos in for Christmas Eve dinner and probably didn’t think twice about how much that meant to me.

Xavier, my dad’s high school friend, who after some twenty five years took his old buddy’s daughter to lunch and to one of Quito’s museums with his wife and son, having never met me before in his life

The women (and one man, who is in fact, my father’s long lost personality twin, I’m certain—if you know my dad, you know its close to impossible to have a personality that even comes close to reminding you of his) from my morning English class last semester that would invite me to elaborate brunches every Tuesday, in exchange for breakfast vocabulary in English.

Santi and Maria, my host parents, who are two of the most loving people I’ve been given the fortune of meeting. They are funny, enthusiastic and wholeheartedly dedicated to their two young children.

You may not believe me but I could go on for hours about the people I’ve met here and their unbelievable kindness. The lady at the tienda I always go to, the accountant at my school, the guard that works at the Western Union next to my house…each person in their own little way has given me the opportunity for a good day and taken the time to show me what it means to be happy, whether consciously or not.

The Holidays on the Coast

December 21st--my first term as an English professor finished and within an hour I was headed on a night bus to Montañita, a relaxed coastal town in Ecuador, where I would spend Christmas and New Years and the days surrounding them on the beach with Andrew and his international travel buddies and close to twenty of my fellow WorldTeach-ers.

Once I arrived the next morning, I went to the cabana style hostel that we would be staying at. It was so relaxing and the waterfront was a welcomed change from the hustle and bustle of the Quito streets. That night, after dinner, we were able to meet up with Andrew´s friends as we passed them on the streets. The town is small enough that cell phones are a joke and if you want to meet up with someone, a quick vuelta around the block, will catch you up with them. The town of Montañita is a great getaway to dance in the streets to the sounds of bongo drums, with a fruit cocktail drink in your hand. The people were so friendly and one artisan in particular, Memo (short for Guillermo), took us under his wing for the holidays. Andrew and I met up with him for Christmas Eve dinner at midnight. We were joined for dinner by two musicians that we had actualy seen play the night before, another artisan from Canada, Honduras, ...you get the idea, a free spirit from Colombia and Memo´s mother, who prepared the meal.

Christmas Day was spent catching some rays on the beach with a few of my favorite World Teachers. Rough life, I know. After a few days of hanging out in Montañita, surfing, sunning, swimming and more, we headed off to Puerto Lopez, the hub city that connects you to different parts of the Coastal National Park Machalilla. Our first stop was Agua Blancas, a quiet, dusty little town where we toured the reservation and went camping. (Of course, it was the first night it rained since I´d been on the coast!) The next day we set out to Isla de la Plata, also coined as the Poor Man´s Galapagos. Here we were able to see the infamous piqueros con patas azules, better known as blue-footed boobies to the English speaking population. We then hopped on the boat and headed to snorkel for a bit in the water. My lack of knowledge of fish names makes for a boring description but the majority of them were similar to Dory in ¨Finding Nemo¨. My favorite were the shiny purple and black ones. The next day we headed to Los Frailes, a beautiful beach with the clearest water I´ve ever seen. The beahc area was surrounded by two points and formed a cove type feel. We took a walk down the beach to one of the points and were able to see hundreds of black crabs and admire the different forms of geology in one of the caves and upon the rocks we climbed. One thing to mention about our time in Puerto Lopez was getting to see the creation of the Burning Men for the New Year´s festivities. Every year, each household creates a giant paper mache doll and sets it aflame at Midnight. Some of the most creative and unique ones I saw were a Peruvian soccer player, Homer Simpson and ET.

On New Year´s Eve, we hurried back to Montañita for the festivites. Montañita is truly the city that never sleeps, or maybe just sleeps during weekdays and non-holidays. The night began with a campfire cookout at Hilary´s hostel, with fish, potatoes, sangria, and a delicious rice combination brought by Ava. Then we headed out and watched the fireworks and just before midnight watched as the hardcore surfers rushed into the waves for their first surf of the new year. At midnight, everyone was on the beach dancing and laughing and burning the Old Year. As fate would have it, in a crowd full of people, we somehow ended up next to Memo, his mom and ¨Colombia¨ and danced into the night. As we were beginning to fade, Memo´s mom said she needed a break and Colombia chimed in with ¨La alma nunca cansa¨ (The soul never tires). What a mantra to begin the New Year with. After the New Year, we spent one more day in the beloved coastal town and then headed to Guayaquil, where Andrew would take off to Lima by bus and from there to Buenos Aires by plane.

My time in Guayaquil was unfortunately a short one but fun nonetheless, we went to the Malecon 2000, along the waterfront, and visited the famous park that has iguanas roaming free throughout the grass and walkways. Along the Malecon, we visited the Museo de Banco Central of Guayaquil, which featured an art exhibit of Juan Villafuerte, an interesting painter from Ecuador who emphasized surrealism and human form. Finally, I headed out from the coast yesterday to take an all day bus to Quito. While I was originally not looking forward to it, it turned out to be alright, since I had an empty seat next to me and the vendors sold just the right things to eat at just the right times. One man had a small container of rice, chicken and vegetables for 75 cents..perfect!

This Monday, I head back to SECAP to teach a class of Basic I and another class of Basic II, which will be nice to have one class of the same curriculum and one with returning students. It will simply be difficult to say goodbye to the easy living of the past two weeks. Lucky for me, in just a few weeks, I head to the coast again for a teaching conference and can soak it up just a little more.

¡Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo! :)