The End of the Journey... well, this journey anyway

I arrived back in my St. Louis apartment today, after a grueling 7 hour drive without air conditioning in the heat wave hitting the midwest. I spent several hours catching up with my roommates and several more watching bootleg DVDs with them. Now that I'm back here and ready to start the school year, it finally feels like my summer journey is over.

I felt a million miles away from St. Louis for the majority of the summer, and I think a part of me felt that I wouldn't end up back here. But here I am. I guess I feel like I should be able to encapsulate my summer into a few pithy lessons learned or something to that effect. Unfortunately, that isn't quite the case.

I think the best I can come up with is a list of some of the things that I'm glad to have back and some of the things that I'm really missing...

It's always the small things that seem to be the most important. I'm really excited to be able to really unpack for the first time in three months. To be honest, I've been looking forward to putting my clothes in a closet for weeks now. And to be able to leave my shampoo in the shower, now that's really something. Just generally settling down again is going to be really amazing. Having internet and cell phone service is nice I guess, but I kind of learned to enjoy going days without communication.... but I guess now it's back to the race against my inbox.

It pretty much goes without saying that I miss the people in Ecuador. After two tours of duty, I've amassed a pretty significant list of friends and colleagues... and of course a boyfriend. As always, leaving the people is the hardest part. I miss the sound of Spanish all around me, and the volcano Pichincha looking over my shoulder. And I never thought I'd say this, but I miss la hora Ecuatoriana. The idea of rushing to beat a clock for the next 9 months makes me almost physically ill.

So I guess that's that... back in St. Louis for the self-flaggelation that is a dual degree program. An experience only made bearable (and even occasionally enjoyable) by the people who go through it with you.

Until my next trip down south...

Cipro: My new best friend

When I decided to resurrect my blog, I didn't really consider the lack of internet access. So here I am again, trying to fit a month of activities and news into one post.

I walked into my last three weeks in Estero with the responsibility of everything on my shoulders. The person responsible for the projects in Estero left the foundation the week before I went back, so for my week in the office I was desperately trying to soak up all of the knowledge that I could about everything going on there... and failing for the most part. So I came back with a three page work plan and the knowledge that in the office, I am now the person who knows the most about this community. For those of you who know me well, you know that I was a mixture of nerves and ambition.

As far as work goes, the three weeks passed pretty much as normal. Successes, setbacks, and plenty of time conversando and relajando. The new volunteers arrived for my last weekend in Estero so I was playing hostess and trying to cram 2 months of knowledge into their poor heads in two days. Luckily for them, I mixed in catching pulpo and a killer despedida.

We ended up leaving Estero at a dead run trying to catch the last bus that would leave for the day. It was leaving about and hour earlier than we had expected, so after begging the driver to wait for 15 minutes, I found myself running through town to get everyone together and onto the bus. We all made it, by some miracle, and that was the end of my time in Estero de Plátano.

I arrived in Quito with a disgusting cough and plenty of body aches and the like. After watching me hack up a lung for the weekend, one of the new volunteers, Allie, gave me some cipro to knock out whatever I had. After a few days of popping pills, I finally started to feel like myself again.

I was supposed to finish my practicum on August 2nd or 3rd, but I'm still here in the office. Since I'm the one who knows the most about Estero at this point, I feel a lot of responsibility to leave people well-informed. Luckily, I have complete confidence in the abilities of the new volunteers. It's always hard to know if the work you've done will have any sustainability when you leave, but leaving it in good hands does a lot for peace of mind.

Where to begin...

When I decided to resurrect the blog, I´m not sure I realized how incommunicada I would be... So I´ll try to pack 3 insane weeks into one super-post.

Before heading out to the coast, I spent the weekend in my favorite place in Ecuador, Baños. The volcano Tungurahua was still erupting a bit, but I decided to entrust my safety to the Virgen de Agua Santa, who is the known protector of Baños. I spent the weekend singing karaoke with friends, drinking canelazos, and riding motorcycles up the summit of the active volcano. I´m not sure that it was a wise idea to get as close as possible to an erupting volcano, but it was exciting! I didn´t get to see any lava up close, but I did get to hear it rumbling as it was erupting and I saw lava from the house... probably better that way...

I left on an overnight bus from Baños on Sunday for the coast. Theoretically, I should have arrived at about 7 am in Atacames where I would take another bus to Estero de Plàtano. However, as usual, my plans didn´t quite work out. At about 5 am, while it was still dark, the bus stopped. I woke up to find that there was only one other passenger on the bus. I asked the driver what was going on and he pointed to further on up the road where it seemed to be on fire. Other buses were also stopped and I saw people getting off to walk. Given that it was dark, I wasn´t really sure where I was, and that there wasn´t another gringo in sight, I decided to stay on the bus for a while to see what happened. I waited for probably 2 hours when finally I ran out of patience and took off walking. It turned out that the road was on fire because the people were doing a protest that involved stopping traffic. This is apparently a fairly regular occurence on the coast and is known as a "paro." I walked through the paro, caught two different buses and hitchiked to make it to Estero de Plàtano. The family that I'm staying with lives on the other side of a river, and unfortunately there is no bridge. We are at the mouth of the river so the water rises and falls with the tide and sometimes it´s possible to walk through when the water was low. So I walked through. The water wasn´t that low. I arrived at the house exhausted and soaked up to my waist. Welcome to Estero de Plàtano...

I really don´t know where to begin trying to explain my three weeks in Estero. My work generally involves helping at the school, attending lots of meetings where nothing seems to be accomplished, talking with everyone, and swimming in the ocean. Ok, well it´s more complicated than that, but that´s kind of the gist. There is a lot going on in Estero, but the population seems to suffer from a lack of motivation. And a lack of a functioning clock apparently since arriving 2 hours late to a meeting is a regular occurrence. I think given some time we might be able to get somewhere, but my boss told me this week that she´s leaving the foundation, so it might be pretty difficult.

All that said, living in Estero has been a pretty unforgettable experience. I lived with a family with 7 kids, 6 of them girls. I watched two or three telenovellas in their entirety. I broke an outhouse and almost fell into the lake of poo waiting below... I stepped on a fish with spines on it´s face which became lodged in my foot while walking through a river. I caught fish with my bare hands with the kids from my house. And my closest friend in Estero is a drag queen named Michelle. Unforgettable to be sure.

I´m in Atacames now waiting for my bus to Quito. I´ll have 7 hours in the bus to think and be alone after three weeks of being with people essentially 24 hours a day. After showering with a bucket of cold water for three weeks, you can imagine how a girl like me is jonesin´for a rock out shower...

Ya listo

I think it's fair to say at this point that I'm having a bit of a rough start. My computer was stolen over the weekend, which was a pretty massive blow. I bought it for myself to start grad school, upgrading from my ancient Dell. I was pretty down about that for quite a while but I'm starting to get over it. I went to the mall of stolen goods, Montufar, to look for it, but had no luck. I just can't believe there's an entire mall of stolen goods... I guess that serves as a bit of an indicator of the state of law and order in Ecuador.

Work is not going quite as I would have expected. I am spending this week "planning" my next three weeks in Estero, but the fact of the matter is that very little planning is actually happening. My supervisor looked at the program plan that I spent an entire semester slaving over and basically told me that we wouldn't actually probably do any of that. The plan as of right now is to go, talk to the people, and build relationships. You might imagine that I do not need a week of 8 hour days in the office to get that down on paper. So... I'm doing a whole lot of nothing. And it's boring.

I don't know if I'll ever get used to the very different work style of South America. Everything is much more laid back and being goal-oriented is not a familiar concept. Sandwiching my first year of graduate school with two stints in Ecuador may have provided the most drastic contrast possible...

In the social arena, things are kinda mas o menos. I've met quite a few other foreigners at my hostel and Spanish school so I never lack for social activities. And despite the legendary flakiness of Ecuadorians, I've managed to see almost everyone in Quito that I wanted to in one week. Now that is impressive. There is more boy drama than I thought humanly possible. And it is some of the most ridiculous drama I have ever encountered, and coming from me that really means something...

So tomorrow I'm off to Baños for the weekend. I've been waiting for this ever since my arrival. The volcano is still erupting, but I'm just gonna trust in God like they always do in Baños. I'm leaving for the coast directly from Baños. Three weeks of no internet and climbing up a mini-mountain to get any cell phone service. Oh, and showering out back with a hose of course. Ya listo...

The Good, The Bad, and the Smelly

Adjusting to life in Ecuador this time around has been somewhat complicated by the fact that in the week that I've been here, I've slept in three different places already. The plan was to leave for the coast, where I'll be spending most of my time, on Tuesday night. On Sunday afternoon, while I was home for a few minutes before running out the door again, I checked my email to find that my colleague thought it would be better if we left on Monday morning... at 7. So I spent the evening in a bit of a panic trying to pack my things and figure out what to do with the stuff I didn't want to bring with me.

After about 8 hours and two buses, we arrive in Estero de Plátano. We spent three days there meeting with people and basically giving me a chance to learn the ropes a bit. The community only has 600 people, so getting to know people was pretty easy. Having lived in Ecuador before, staying with families and visiting the houses of Ecuadorian friends, I thought that I had a pretty good idea of how people lived in Ecuador. It turns out that I was wrong about that. The community of Estero de Plátano is much poorer than I had realized. Although people have electricity, most houses don't have indoor plumbing. While I was there, I stayed with a family and showered outside with a hose. It wasn't too bad for 3 days, but I have to admit that I am a little anxious about doing that for 3 weeks... There is no doubt in my mind that I will be smelly cat most of the time.

Although I do have reservations, I think staying in the community is going to be a really great experience and very different than anything I've ever done before. In such a small place, it's much easier to integrate into the community and I found myself spending every afternoon playing with a flock of children. There's nothing to make you feel welcome like children yelling in joy as you walk up the street. I know that I will have to be very patient with the work that I'm going to try to do, but I think that as long as I keep my expectations realistic that everything will work out.

I'm back in Quito now for the week. I'm abundantly happy to have access to real coffee and showers, although the hostel does feel a little lonely after living with a family. I'm actually a bit sick though, so having some time to recuperate is probably a good thing...

In other news, I had planned on going to visit friends in Baños, perhaps the most lovely town in the world, this weekend. I had to reschedule for next weekend though when I found out that the volcano there was erupting. Just another day in Ecuador...

I'm not scared...

I left rainy Kansas yesterday, traveled for 12 hours or so and arrived safely in rainy Quito. After all of my airport pick-up planning fell through, I ended up taking a taxi from the airport. As I expected, my taxi driver tried to rip me off. There's nothing that will bring your Spanish skills back faster than haggling over $2, or so it seems.

As I try to connect with old friends, I'm remembering the difference between Ecuador time and US time. For example, I was supposed to meet someone for drinks at 8:00 tonight. 8:00 meaning 9:30, apparently. While I wasn't waiting in vain for people to arrive on time, I was able to get the low down on Estero de Plátano, which is where I'll be spending most of my time trying to teach sex ed.

It turns out that the health center in Estero doesn't provide condoms, nor does it offer STI testing. This puts a bit of a kink in my plan. I imagine it will be a little difficult to encourage people to use condoms and make sure to be periodically tested for STIs if there isn't actually a way to do that... It looks like I'll be getting creative this summer. In addition to that little snag, I also periodically freak out in my head when I remember that this community is an hour from the nearest town with internet access and that no one there speaks English. Did I mention I'll be there by myself? But let's not forget the upside! The town is on the beach, a clear advantage over everywhere else I've ever lived. And my Spanish is going to be ludicrously good when I leave.

I hadn't realized how much I had forgotten about Ecuadorian life, so here is a brief list of things that gave me a mild surprise:
-toilet paper goes in the trash, not in the toilet
-kissing on the cheek, not shaking hands
-just because something is on the menu does not mean that it is actually available
-navigating the porta/movistar cell phone world... (the office uses Porta, my friends all have Movi... and if you haven't lived in Ecuador you won't get this one, sorry)
-15 minutes = 45 minutes to an hour
-everyone is dressed better than I am

La Gringa Vuelva!

After a bit of consideration, I have decided to resurrect my blog given that I'm headed back to Ecuador next week. Lucky you!

This time I'm going to be attempting to start an HIV prevention program in a small (think 600 people) town on the coast. So picture me, straight-laced Mennonite that I am, explaining safe sex to a room full of teenagers. In Spanish. In a community where sexual education is about as foreign as eating guinea pigs. Well, actually eating guinea pigs isn't that foreign to them. But it seemed like a good comparison at the time.

I'll only be there for three months this time before heading back to the insanity of grad school. Three months of beach livin' for college credit? Yes, please. Who wouldn't take on sex ed under those circumstances?

So stay tuned to the adventures of your favorite gringa. I anticipate lots of things getting lost in translation, which is always funny... although not always at the time.