Leaving Bua was bittersweet. Our close relationship to our family was almost beginning to match the level of intimacy we had experienced with our snuggly siblings. Host dadddy even felt comfortable enough to ask me why my parents got divorced and how much my trip cost. I pretended not to understand these questions... But really there were several magical moments our last few days living amid cacao, ratones and plantain. Leo and I had an animal noise-making contest and the lion roar that comes our of this three year olds mouth is unbelievable. The pancakes were an incredible success. But i have to say my brothers and my late-night "scrambled pancake" invention ended up being of extreme importance,(No-stick pans have not been invented in Ecuador yet.) We planted our last tree and rejoiced. Almost 4,000 in 30 days! Andersons 9th birthday was on the 21st and we celebrated with traditional reggaeton music and a hardy portion of chicken and rice. And I my dancing skills ended up being a humorous source of entertainment. It made me happy to see my family laughing even if was at my expense. Our last night the entire community came together and had a 6 hour fiesta where we were permitted to indulge in a few bottles of Pilsner, the local brew which also happens to be the grossest beer in the world. But i couldn't resist sharing a drink with host daddy (who i have guestimated weighs about 90 pounds) and taking pride in the fact that i could at least match his alcohol intake. I also learned that 8 year old kids dance in a comparable manner to high-school kids in the U.S. I can only assume this is the natural effect of reggaeton on the human body. Our last night i was sitting in the kitchen (because our sleeping quarters didnt have a light) and reflecting about the past month of my life in journal. Host mommy, who was beginning to realize that i was always hungry, secretly prepared me some plantains and a hard boiled egg. How far we came!
The following morning we got up bright and early to head to Quito and said our last goodbyes with our family. I don't know if i was more touched or confused when mommy started to cry, but i couldn't help but tear up myself when i hopped in the camioneta and saw my familia disappearing into the distance. A family that had completely defied my expectations, good and bad, of what i had anticipated and even hoped for. I guess I had assumptions that i wasnt even aware of: that the family would feel inclined to give even though they had little, that they would be interested in myself and not my wealth, and that they were somehow unaffected by so many of the consumerist aspects that i associate with American culture. But there failure to live up to these expectations ended up making my experience richer and more educational then i could ever have predicted. To be adopted by a family with such different standards of living for an entire month, really gets rid of any facade of the common perception of poverty. At first i found myself noticing the differences between us: the stuff we have, the things we value, the food we eat. With time these differences seemed to dissolve and the similarities that were once overshadowed by such overwhelming circumstances came in to light. I began to see the ambitious and some may even say unlikely dreams that we both possessed. My eight year old sister, who was still struggling to answer her three digit addition problems, aspires to one day become to president of Ecuador. My father, who struggles to support his family because of the variability of market crop pricing, has taken the initiative to be one of the key players in bringing a Chocolate micro-enterprise to Bua. My three year old brother Leo showed me that laughter has no language barrier nor does it discriminate against age or heritage. And perhaps what was the most profound was the fact that when i told them my goals and dreams, they accepted and supported them and vocalized their faith in the power of individuals to make change; something that we both strongly believed in. Regardless of what their incentives were about having two foreigners living in their house, a cultural exchange occurred that surely had an impact of both parties. Now, laying comfortably on my mattress in our urban hostel, i reflect on my days in Bua and begin to accept the reality that this family will only live on in my memory. They have no address nor email, no telephone or myspace. So i guess i'll just have to wait until Magdelena is the President of Ecuador...
Monday, October 26, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Bua....
It´s getting harder and harder to smile and laugh at many of the unfarmiliar obstacles we are coming in contact with. I think everyone in our group agrees that Calypso and I have the most difficult living situation. The bathroom and the not showering i can get past but when youre awoken in the mmiddle of the night by warm liquid running down your leg things start to get beyond livable. And by warm liquid i mean piss. Sleeping in general has been hard because our host brother is afraid of the dark and is constantly switching his flashlight in the middle of the night. And there´s the rats that are constantly munching on the food surplus in our room (which doubles as the pantry). But this has all made for some funny midnight dramas. The other night the rats were so noisy and distracting that Anderson went to get his dad, asleep just a curtain away. His dad walked in, pool stick at hand with his wife close behind, and began to viciously stab any mysterious animal that was invaiding the food. Once we got over the inicial shock we all just began to laugh and hope that he had killed something. After about five minutes of near war and no found casualties he gave up, but confidently said ¨Ya salgo,¨ it already left. If only i trusted this man...
Food has also been an increasingly pressing issue. Each day were given another meager serving of plantains and rice if were lucky. And this could be Calypso and I just conspirisizing out of starvation but were pretty sure our family is hording all of the good food and keeping it for themselves. The other day we saw them eating chicken and carrots and were on the verge of attack.
Unfortunetly enough ive been really sick for the past week. I was running a 104 fever and am pretty sure i threw up half of my body weight. But this weekend has been amazing. It our first independent student travel trip and me and two other crazies decided to venture down to the small andean resort town of Banos. Our first night we ended up jamming with locals, meeting some friendly Australians, and sitting in the back of a painted VW mini bus with some travel bums from the US. Yesterday i Bungee Jumped! 120 meters off of a bridge in the middle of a narrrow valley with raging river beneath. It was such a terrifying but envigorating experience. The people who were giving us directions before we jumped didnt speak any english and it seemed right then that my 6 years of spanish went out the window. I couldnt look down once i was standing on top of the bridge. Goodthing the word superman is the same in spanish and engligh because all the guy kept on teling me was SALTA COMO SUPERMAN! jump like superman! I´m pretty sure i passed out after about 2 and a half seconds of freefall but was quickly brought back to life by the wiplash...
So i actually wrote all of that a week ago but the computer died so i couldnt finish it. Only 5 more nights in BUA and to be honest i am really realy to begin our next adventure. Not only has the living situation been difficult but the project were doing here is a testement to the difficulties and confilcts that come into play with development projects. The village were working with is a perfect microcosm of globalization taking place in an indigenous village. The farmers were working with will have a cell phone in one hand and a machette in the other; such seemingly polarized technologies when it comes to novelty. The combination of the introduction of inorganic trash and a lack of community education makes for a seriously unasthetic and unhealthy working environment. There have been times when i have been digging to plant a tree and i have had to dig through diapers and medicine bottles just to make a hole. Inicially i felt that our time could have been better spent doing a different project because it seemed that there were so many other more drastic problems that need attencion in the community. And our partner grassroots organization told us we were going to be doing reforestation but really were doing an ¨agroforestry project¨ which seems to translate to helping local farmers plant fruit trees to eventally sell or wood trees to be cut down. But other than that, life is getting better everyday!
We have several characters in our group and many hours are wasted away laughing mindlessly. We were placed in homestay families so that there would be one person with some spanish speaking abilities. And we were all surprised when the organization paired Bridget and Johnny who are not only two of the funniest kids on the trip but neither of them speak spanish. Or really Bridget didnt pay much attencion during her 4 years of high school spanish...But anyway three weeks into the homestay they pretty much gave up trying to communicate with their family. They would bring dictionarys to dinner and look up words but there family never seemed to understand. It wasnt until they found out that their spanish skills, or lack there of really, werennt the problem. There family only spoke Sanfiki, the native indigenous language.
I also had my first experience with South American narcotics. Dont worry parents, not cocaine...but i wouldnt be surprised if the medication i took mwas durived from the same plant. I got some unlabeled sketchy medication that was apparently for a high fever and diahrea. Lets just say i havent pooped in five days... And the trip leaders are pretty sure i have a parasite and thats whats causing my weakened immune system and tummy issues. Uh oh!
I´m picking up a light wieght halloween costume this week to carry up the 4 day hike to Matchu Pichu. I´m thinking slutty Inca girl, but havent settled on anything yet.
Calyspo and I elected to cook breakfast tomorrow morning to avoid one more day of fried plantains. I think were going to pick up some pancake mix today. WHOOOOOO!!
I would give anything for a chocolate chip cookie right now. Last night dinner was literally a fried chunk of cheese and what has been informally dubbed as ¨the log¨ by our group. The way its made is you squish up and planain and then reshape it back into the figure of a plantain. Its so bizarre and has no taste. But yes that was dinner and I´m so hungry!
5 more days. I can do it! Ill be able to blog much more often now, its jyst everytime weve had internet access ive been too sick to use a computer. So hopefully on thursday ill post again. FROM QUITO! cant wait, but still finding a way to love and learn in every moment.
Food has also been an increasingly pressing issue. Each day were given another meager serving of plantains and rice if were lucky. And this could be Calypso and I just conspirisizing out of starvation but were pretty sure our family is hording all of the good food and keeping it for themselves. The other day we saw them eating chicken and carrots and were on the verge of attack.
Unfortunetly enough ive been really sick for the past week. I was running a 104 fever and am pretty sure i threw up half of my body weight. But this weekend has been amazing. It our first independent student travel trip and me and two other crazies decided to venture down to the small andean resort town of Banos. Our first night we ended up jamming with locals, meeting some friendly Australians, and sitting in the back of a painted VW mini bus with some travel bums from the US. Yesterday i Bungee Jumped! 120 meters off of a bridge in the middle of a narrrow valley with raging river beneath. It was such a terrifying but envigorating experience. The people who were giving us directions before we jumped didnt speak any english and it seemed right then that my 6 years of spanish went out the window. I couldnt look down once i was standing on top of the bridge. Goodthing the word superman is the same in spanish and engligh because all the guy kept on teling me was SALTA COMO SUPERMAN! jump like superman! I´m pretty sure i passed out after about 2 and a half seconds of freefall but was quickly brought back to life by the wiplash...
So i actually wrote all of that a week ago but the computer died so i couldnt finish it. Only 5 more nights in BUA and to be honest i am really realy to begin our next adventure. Not only has the living situation been difficult but the project were doing here is a testement to the difficulties and confilcts that come into play with development projects. The village were working with is a perfect microcosm of globalization taking place in an indigenous village. The farmers were working with will have a cell phone in one hand and a machette in the other; such seemingly polarized technologies when it comes to novelty. The combination of the introduction of inorganic trash and a lack of community education makes for a seriously unasthetic and unhealthy working environment. There have been times when i have been digging to plant a tree and i have had to dig through diapers and medicine bottles just to make a hole. Inicially i felt that our time could have been better spent doing a different project because it seemed that there were so many other more drastic problems that need attencion in the community. And our partner grassroots organization told us we were going to be doing reforestation but really were doing an ¨agroforestry project¨ which seems to translate to helping local farmers plant fruit trees to eventally sell or wood trees to be cut down. But other than that, life is getting better everyday!
We have several characters in our group and many hours are wasted away laughing mindlessly. We were placed in homestay families so that there would be one person with some spanish speaking abilities. And we were all surprised when the organization paired Bridget and Johnny who are not only two of the funniest kids on the trip but neither of them speak spanish. Or really Bridget didnt pay much attencion during her 4 years of high school spanish...But anyway three weeks into the homestay they pretty much gave up trying to communicate with their family. They would bring dictionarys to dinner and look up words but there family never seemed to understand. It wasnt until they found out that their spanish skills, or lack there of really, werennt the problem. There family only spoke Sanfiki, the native indigenous language.
I also had my first experience with South American narcotics. Dont worry parents, not cocaine...but i wouldnt be surprised if the medication i took mwas durived from the same plant. I got some unlabeled sketchy medication that was apparently for a high fever and diahrea. Lets just say i havent pooped in five days... And the trip leaders are pretty sure i have a parasite and thats whats causing my weakened immune system and tummy issues. Uh oh!
I´m picking up a light wieght halloween costume this week to carry up the 4 day hike to Matchu Pichu. I´m thinking slutty Inca girl, but havent settled on anything yet.
Calyspo and I elected to cook breakfast tomorrow morning to avoid one more day of fried plantains. I think were going to pick up some pancake mix today. WHOOOOOO!!
I would give anything for a chocolate chip cookie right now. Last night dinner was literally a fried chunk of cheese and what has been informally dubbed as ¨the log¨ by our group. The way its made is you squish up and planain and then reshape it back into the figure of a plantain. Its so bizarre and has no taste. But yes that was dinner and I´m so hungry!
5 more days. I can do it! Ill be able to blog much more often now, its jyst everytime weve had internet access ive been too sick to use a computer. So hopefully on thursday ill post again. FROM QUITO! cant wait, but still finding a way to love and learn in every moment.
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