To stress the importance of cultural integration, the PC sent us to various indigenous communities these last two days. I was picked to go to Carabuela, a small little town whose economy relies heavily on handicraft sales. And so the adventure begins!
We arrived early Friday morning and spent the better part of the morning learning the entire process of making knitted clothing. It was pretty interesting because they allowed us to participate in all the steps. First, they cut the wool from the sheep, then washed it in the river and hung it up to dry. After a couple hours, we took the clean wool and teased it with big combs until it was in long fluffy tubes. We then spun the wool tubes into yarn, which was used to crochet or knit the goods. So in theory I could make my own sweater with a sheep, scissors and a crochet needle!
After the yarn making, we walked around the town observing various other trades. We made bread in a traditional wood oven, watched a man make shoes from twine and saw a woman making pottery from clay she literally dug up from the ground.
That night, we all gathered at the shaman's house, and he did a 'cleaning ritual' on us to banish bad spirits. The process is quite simple if you would like to try this at home:
1) Make an alter out of stones
2) Spit chicha (fermented banana liquor) on foot-long plants
3) Smoke a cigarette
4) Smack the cleansing recipient's body from head to toe with the plants (linger on those who are especially full of bad spirits)
5) Spit more chicha on their feet
He didn't spend too much time on me, so I guess my soul was relatively clean.
After the shaman, we were herded to the community center for dinner and general festivities. As guests of honor, we were served an Ecuadorian delicacy: guinea pig (cuy). I was quite disappointed with my portion because I received a piece of the back which doesn't offer much meat... After the meal, we danced to bands that played native music and watched a group of locals perform a traditional dance- all the while we passed around a big bottle of chicha for shots.
The party ended around midnight, and here is where the night took a turn for the worst. Apparently the planning committee didn't think too hard on sleeping arrangements, as we slept on concrete floors. Combine that with arctic weather, a general lack of blankets, a homeless handicapped man blowing a whistle outside the house till 4am, a girl banging on the door in search of her mother, a man loudly vomiting downstairs and frequent dog barking-- one might have problems sleeping... I really wished I braved a few more shots of chicha. Naturally I woke up a little pissy, only to discover they don't drink coffee. Let’s just say I was quite happy to leave after we ate lunch...
All-in-all, the trip was a successful; I came back with a couple hand-made hats, a bag and added a few Quichua words to my vocab. Fun times in Carabuela!
When I woke up this morning at 8am (which is very late given my new sleep schedule), I was taught how to do laundry. But don´t you already know how to wash your clothes Jason?!? Yes, I do know how to operate a washing machine, however that´s not an option here… Washing clothes by hand is really not as time consuming as it seems though; It takes about as much time as a machine. Granted, its more labor intensive, but the clothes get cleaner in my opinion. This is just one in a series of things that never crossed my mind when thinking about life in the PC :P
After the laundry fun, I went to mass, which is different than in the States. The order is the same (although it’s in Spanish) but the people literally talk throughout the entire mass… Literally, during the Homily I had trouble hearing the priest for all the noise. Another difference was that relatively few people took communion. I would guess that only 30% of the participants partook. Also, instead of offering the blood separately, the priest dips the host in the wine and will only put it in your mouth. I plan to go weekly, so hopefully that assuages Mom and Grandma´s worries.
Now I´m off to the fiesta! Today is one of the bigger fiestas for San Pedro. Hooray for dancing!!!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Banishment
Its official, I´m not to go in the kitchen. Okay, maybe banishment is too strong a word, but my sweet little viajita (78 y/o!) insists on waiting on me hand and foot. I´ve finally convinced her that I am capable of washing my coffee cup in the morning, but that took some time because she insists that "the water is too cold" for me to wash. At first I thought it wouldn´t bother me, but I just feel really bad that she cooks and cleans for me, which are things I´m more than capable of doing.
With that, let me tell you a little about my host family. I live alone with my mom, who is a widow. She has 6 sons and 1 daughter, all of which are grown and gone. The daughter comes by the house every so often, and is a rose cultivator in Cayambe (the nearest large town). I have a couple of observations so far about family dynamics, that are markedly different than the US. First, as I have already stated, I am not really required to do chores. Also, even though it is just me and my señora, she waits until I finish eating before she serves herself. However, tonight the daughter came for dinner and ate with me... I can´t quite put my finger on how exactly these gender/age roles all fit together. I have a private room with a queen size bed, all of which are red! The bathroom is also private with running water, but there is no hot water heater. The shower head is connected to an electric heater with warms the water as it comes out. Therefore there´s an inverse relationship between water pressure and temperature. Obviously there is no central heat, but I have 4 wool blankets on my bed with keep me more than warm at night. My amenities are pretty uptown compared to other volunteers.
Enough with the culture though! I´ve not been doing too much outside of class lately. We have to go to classes in another town which is about an hour commute via bus. So by the time I get out of class and make it back to my pueblo, the internet cafes (we are graced with two in my town) are closing :(
I´m not allowed to say exactly where I am because of PC safety and security rules, but I can tell you a little about my town. What the PC did was give us all homestays in the surrounding area, with 4-5 volunteers per community. I really like the people in my town, which is good since we will go through training the next 2 months together. My town is a small little farming community WAY up in the Andes with a little problem with that thing called poverty. Although its pretty poor, the people here really keep the city in great condition. It has a nice town park/square where the people hang, and regular bus service to Cayambe, which is more than I can say for other volunteers. I am really pleased with my placement, except for one thing: altitude. I literally have problems breathing when I go on the smallest walks. Everyone says that I´ll get used to it, but that has yet to materalize... I don´t think most people understand that going from 0ft to around 1600ft will actually affect you.
I went to the fiestas in the street this last weekend, which was a blast! The Ecuadorian tradition for drinking is a little different. Everyone shares the same cup, which one person fills and then chooses the person who he wants to drink. So I partook of this tradition and then proceeded to dance in the street. And no, I wasn´t drunk. The band literally plays in the park, and everyone gathers around and dances outside. I got quite the workout since there were way more women than men. Literally the girls just grab your arm and drag you into the dance. The fast paced dancing combined with my breathing problems, made me leave after one hour. Am I gonna do it all over again this Sunday for the fiesta grande? You bet!
So I don´t really have that much to say since I´ve been in training pretty much all day every day. Also, since its still the first week we´ve yet to get to the juicy stuff; its all pretty much been orientation type stuff. So I´ve yet to learn exactly how to safe the world... More to come later!
ps sorry I dont have time to edit/reread, the cafe is closing!
With that, let me tell you a little about my host family. I live alone with my mom, who is a widow. She has 6 sons and 1 daughter, all of which are grown and gone. The daughter comes by the house every so often, and is a rose cultivator in Cayambe (the nearest large town). I have a couple of observations so far about family dynamics, that are markedly different than the US. First, as I have already stated, I am not really required to do chores. Also, even though it is just me and my señora, she waits until I finish eating before she serves herself. However, tonight the daughter came for dinner and ate with me... I can´t quite put my finger on how exactly these gender/age roles all fit together. I have a private room with a queen size bed, all of which are red! The bathroom is also private with running water, but there is no hot water heater. The shower head is connected to an electric heater with warms the water as it comes out. Therefore there´s an inverse relationship between water pressure and temperature. Obviously there is no central heat, but I have 4 wool blankets on my bed with keep me more than warm at night. My amenities are pretty uptown compared to other volunteers.
Enough with the culture though! I´ve not been doing too much outside of class lately. We have to go to classes in another town which is about an hour commute via bus. So by the time I get out of class and make it back to my pueblo, the internet cafes (we are graced with two in my town) are closing :(
I´m not allowed to say exactly where I am because of PC safety and security rules, but I can tell you a little about my town. What the PC did was give us all homestays in the surrounding area, with 4-5 volunteers per community. I really like the people in my town, which is good since we will go through training the next 2 months together. My town is a small little farming community WAY up in the Andes with a little problem with that thing called poverty. Although its pretty poor, the people here really keep the city in great condition. It has a nice town park/square where the people hang, and regular bus service to Cayambe, which is more than I can say for other volunteers. I am really pleased with my placement, except for one thing: altitude. I literally have problems breathing when I go on the smallest walks. Everyone says that I´ll get used to it, but that has yet to materalize... I don´t think most people understand that going from 0ft to around 1600ft will actually affect you.
I went to the fiestas in the street this last weekend, which was a blast! The Ecuadorian tradition for drinking is a little different. Everyone shares the same cup, which one person fills and then chooses the person who he wants to drink. So I partook of this tradition and then proceeded to dance in the street. And no, I wasn´t drunk. The band literally plays in the park, and everyone gathers around and dances outside. I got quite the workout since there were way more women than men. Literally the girls just grab your arm and drag you into the dance. The fast paced dancing combined with my breathing problems, made me leave after one hour. Am I gonna do it all over again this Sunday for the fiesta grande? You bet!
So I don´t really have that much to say since I´ve been in training pretty much all day every day. Also, since its still the first week we´ve yet to get to the juicy stuff; its all pretty much been orientation type stuff. So I´ve yet to learn exactly how to safe the world... More to come later!
ps sorry I dont have time to edit/reread, the cafe is closing!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Escape Successful!
First, I want whoever reads this to take a second to thank their Internet connection just for being there. You dont know what you have until its not there anymore...
So, I made it to Quito alright and even had a little of that money left over thanks to a dive bar in Miami! When we arrived, we went straight to a little hostel in Quito for the night, then headed to Cayambe the next morning. We stayed in a complex there for two nights, alternating between being bored to death by classes, eating YUMMY food, and hanging out at night (I´m addicted to mafia now btw). The last day (today) they assigned us our host families with who we will be living with for the next 8 weeks. Im in a quaint little mountain town, and am staying with a sweet little old lady.
A little aside on the food: Every meal that I´ve had here has had at least three starches, and in no small quantity for that matter. Usually its rice, potatoes, and bread/pasta.
Well today my host mom cooked a large meal for my first lunch here. It was a bowl of potato soup (prob about 2 1/2 cups), white rice (at least 1 1/2 cup), fried potato (a whole potato), a chicken breast and a salad. Everything was DELICIOUS! However, my mom stood next to me and watched me eat the entire meal (as it turns out she was nervous of whether or not I would like it). This obviously made me nervous, so I cleared my entire plate even though I felt ill with fullness half way through. Big mistake. She intrepreted this as me being hungry and ran to the kitchen to bring me another plate of plain white rice. I wanted to cry as I shoveled it into my mouth, but decided to suck it up for the sake of cultural sensitivity. So now I´m sitting in an Internet cafe, wanting to puke, and reading on the Internet how one should not finish their plate in Ecuador for this very reason.
At least I´m prepared for breakfast tomorrow!
Other fun things that have happened: I got bit by a dog, got 3 vaccines, rode in the bed of a truck through the Andes to my site, discovered I WAY overpacked and finished 5 corsswords.
This month is the fiesta de san pedro, so I´m sure I have more stories to come!
So, I made it to Quito alright and even had a little of that money left over thanks to a dive bar in Miami! When we arrived, we went straight to a little hostel in Quito for the night, then headed to Cayambe the next morning. We stayed in a complex there for two nights, alternating between being bored to death by classes, eating YUMMY food, and hanging out at night (I´m addicted to mafia now btw). The last day (today) they assigned us our host families with who we will be living with for the next 8 weeks. Im in a quaint little mountain town, and am staying with a sweet little old lady.
A little aside on the food: Every meal that I´ve had here has had at least three starches, and in no small quantity for that matter. Usually its rice, potatoes, and bread/pasta.
Well today my host mom cooked a large meal for my first lunch here. It was a bowl of potato soup (prob about 2 1/2 cups), white rice (at least 1 1/2 cup), fried potato (a whole potato), a chicken breast and a salad. Everything was DELICIOUS! However, my mom stood next to me and watched me eat the entire meal (as it turns out she was nervous of whether or not I would like it). This obviously made me nervous, so I cleared my entire plate even though I felt ill with fullness half way through. Big mistake. She intrepreted this as me being hungry and ran to the kitchen to bring me another plate of plain white rice. I wanted to cry as I shoveled it into my mouth, but decided to suck it up for the sake of cultural sensitivity. So now I´m sitting in an Internet cafe, wanting to puke, and reading on the Internet how one should not finish their plate in Ecuador for this very reason.
At least I´m prepared for breakfast tomorrow!
Other fun things that have happened: I got bit by a dog, got 3 vaccines, rode in the bed of a truck through the Andes to my site, discovered I WAY overpacked and finished 5 corsswords.
This month is the fiesta de san pedro, so I´m sure I have more stories to come!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Escaping the USA
So I finally made it to Miami, albeit it involved waking up at 4am and lugging 100+ pounds of luggage around the airport. But whatever, I've never been one to complain...
So basically today we went through a little orientation/ice-breaker thing with all the volunteers (which is close to 50!). And now I am about to go to dinner with some of the people I met and plan on blowing the $120 they gave us to "cover expenses for tonight." Everyone is really nice, so far, and I'm really looking forward to finally making it to Ecuador tomorrow!
That's really all that happened, more to come later!
So basically today we went through a little orientation/ice-breaker thing with all the volunteers (which is close to 50!). And now I am about to go to dinner with some of the people I met and plan on blowing the $120 they gave us to "cover expenses for tonight." Everyone is really nice, so far, and I'm really looking forward to finally making it to Ecuador tomorrow!
That's really all that happened, more to come later!
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