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...