Enjoying Everyone

By the time you read this, I will already be on my way to Uruguay. We have finished our first term as Manna Project International – Ecuador and have now all taken off for our Christmas and New Year’s vacation. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back, but just to give you an idea, I’m dipping into some of my savings I made from being a teacher (teachers have savings?) and heading off to Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile for two and a half weeks.

Surprisingly, however, I don’t feel that I actually need this vacation yet. I really enjoy living in Ecuador and working with the kids and families in San Francisco. In fact, several days this week I spent over eight hours in the community simply hanging out and really getting to know the people. Just yesterday we had two major events in the community. In the morning we held our second parent discussion. We have a big restructuring in store for January and so we brought the parents to not explain these changes to them, but also to provide an open forum for them to provide feedback to us. The way our School Support Program is currently structured it is very difficult for us to teach because we always have kids working on homework and there really is not a specific time set aside for our lessons. We have decided that it would be better to separate the homework time from the class time. This way, kids who do not have homework will not become a distraction for those that do; furthermore, we will have an hour of focused class time every day. We will have two days a week of Language and Literacy instruction, two of Creative Arts, and one day of focused English class. Many of the parents were quick to point out, and I am sure you have as well, that there is no place for math in this schedule. In response, we explained that there will be math instruction everyday. As kids finish their homework, before the focused class time, we do not have the option of sending them home, nor do we have the option of simply allowing them to roam wild. It is in this time, between finishing their homework and starting the next class, that we will provide math and logic activities.

Our parents responded quite well to these proposals and we are happy to be moving forward with changes the community approves of and supports. We wanted to take it one step further, however. We then went ahead and gave them the opportunity to ask for whatever they wanted, even if there was no way we could provide such services. If we do not ask the community what they want, there is no way we can effectively serve the community. Several ideas mentioned include opening an athletics program (both for youth and for mothers), continuing with English class at an hour when more adolescents and adults can attend, looking to obtain a computer so as to offer typing and computer classes, and increasing our incentives for consistent attendance. Every month we provide an incentive of some form or another for all kids who have not missed more than three days of class and the parents had some wonderful ideas of what these incentives could be. They suggested taking field trips to several museums and a zoo in Quito, having a tour and the opportunity to talk to students at a university, or going on one of the many amazing short hikes in the area.

After the parent meeting we met as a group for lunch to discuss and digest these ideas proposed by the parents before heading to the second anniversary of the Cooperativa del Valle – Esperanza y Progreso (Valley Cooperative – Hope and Progress). Cooperative in Ecuador our in many ways like mini-banks (i.e. this one has 700 members with accounts from people in the communities surrounding San Francisco); however, there is one major difference: These cooperatives are not interested in profit, but rather developing the strength and solidarity of the community. Although I have really not mentioned it before, we absolutely would not be able to function without the support of this cooperative. Not only did they do all of our publicity and registrations in October, but they also donated the building in which we are working. The event kicked off with mass and continued with a speech competition from local high school students as to the importance and value of cooperatives in this type of community. After some incredible speeches we were amazed to find out that they would also be serving an enormous plate of fritada: fried pork with Andean corn, yum! The afternoon culminated with a performance from a local band accompanied by dancing in the street.

A much bigger party, however, was that of the Feria de Quito. December 6^th is the anniversary of the Independence of Quito and the whole city comes out for a week of song, dance, and bullfights. Pertaining to the latter, we attended two concerts. The second of which is what you would expect a bunch of gringos to attend: big concert at La plaza del teatro (National Theater Plaza) right in the heart of the Centro histórico on the night of December 5^th. What was most fun about this event, was more than simply the music however, was the face that thousands of quiteños were parading the streets not only on foot, but also on top of buses! The other concert, and the one I had more fun at, was a Vallenato (Colombian country dance music) concert we attended in South Quito. South Quito (all half of Quito) may well be the poorest urban neighborhood in all of Ecuador, and this park where the concert once was right in the heart of it. None of us had ever been to this part of South Quito before, but I looked at the map and figured I could get us there on the bus. After a while everyone believed we were lost, but I had faith and we made it! We were most definitely the only non-Ecuadorians in the entire place; nonetheless, or probably because of, we had a blast. Although the opening act was awful, the main band put on a very exciting and energetic show that really got the crowd into the performance.

My favorite part of the Feria de Quito, however, was definitely the toros (bullfights). Many people who do not understand bullfights believe them to be a gory and cruel event, but I truly believe that a properly performed beautiful is an absolutely beautiful thing. There are incredibly strict guidelines and rules that govern the entire process of wearing down and eventually killing a 500 kg bull. One such requirement is that when you bring the bull past you, you must keep you legs perfectly still. And the closer the bull comes to you the better; touching is definitely preferred. Another rule is that you must bring the sword over the bull’s head, in between the horns, and enter it directly behind the shoulders, through the spine, and into the heart in one full swoop. My favorite aspect of attending a bullfight, however, is watching the pompous bravado with which the toreros (bullfighters) parade around the ring. One such bullfighter was so confident is his own ability that after bringing the bull in for a pass he immediately went down on his knees with his back to the bull pumping his sword in the air as the crowd cheered in appreciation.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Only once in my life had I spent Thanksgiving away from my family. You may or may not know this, but I really love to eat good food. I also love having big family get-togethers where we have the chance to catch up and play lots of games. Watching football is also great too!

Unfortunately, none of this happened on Thanksgiving this year. Nevertheless, Thanksgiving was amazing! I cannot say enough about how impressed I was with all of the cooks in the house. Often my mom and my uncle cook together for the holidays and they both always do an amazing job, but I really believe that our turkey came out perfectly. Hilary had the amazingly difficult task of cooking the (still slightly frozen) turkey without a thermometer in our too small oven that has no temperature gauge. Despite these challenges I cannot imagine how the turkey could have tasted better.

Hilary also cooked a chocolate cake and a pumpkin pie. I love dessert! SO GOOD!

In addition to these desserts, I ate even more of what I actually thought the dessert was. Zak baked a large loaf of pumpkin bread that really tasted more like cake than any cake I have eaten in South America. Absolutely wonderful!

What would be Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes and gravy? It would be lame…Fortunately for us Hilary also made an amazing batch of gravy from the turkey and John absolutely nailed the mashed potatoes. I don’t know how he did it, and I know I sound like a broken record, but they tasted perfect!

I am so happy to be living down here with such a great group of people (who really know how to cook) and I am really do feel thankful this Thanksgiving.

The Saturday following Thanksgiving we were treated to a special show. Danny Flores, an Ecuadorian that works with us in the after school program in San Francisco, also works with a youth group in South Quito. This youth group was putting on their first annual talent show. There were a variety of acts ranging from an interpretive dance, a young violinist, a hip-hop dance, a theater performance, and an indigenous Quichua dance troupe. Danny worked as the emcee and did a great job of stalling for time. We are in Ecuador where efficiency isn’t entirely valued giving us about a 10-15 minute break between each act for the next talent to prepare. At one point I even came on stage between performances and led the audience in a song (¡Parriba, pabajo, pal centro, pa dentro!)...

Danny’s principal contribution to the talent show was his direction of the theater piece. This was a hilarious comedy in which male and female gender roles were reversed. It starts off with the woman yelling at her husband because her breakfast is not yet ready. It then continues with the woman going off to the auto shop and fraternizing (sororitizing?) with her co-workers about how inferior men are. While the women are at work a pregnant man comes over for idle conversation with the husband. The show ends with the women going out, getting drunk, hitting on the hot waiter, and getting kicked out of the bar by the female owner. The woman then comes home and beats her husband because he asked her not to spend all the family’s money on booze and to try and save some for the kids. In the end, however, it was all a dream and the curtains close the next morning as the man is telling his wife to make her some breakfast.

What for me was the most terrifying performance was the local indigenous troupe dance. (Although for some reason no Ecuadorians seemed surprised). As the curtain opened there were about 12 little children dressed up in animal costumes, and one boy dressed as a hunter with a gun bigger than he. All the animals got up and started dancing: The birds flew, the chickens pecked, the bunnies hopped around, etc. It was all very adorable as they were bouncing around in circles, not really paying any attention to the hunter that was walking around. Until, all of a sudden, the animals surrounded the hunter. They closed in on him, took his gun, and took him down! While one bunny rabbit held the gun over his head in triumph five other little animals choked, kick, and beat the hunter. Afterwards, all the animals turned towards the audience and pumped their fist in victory. Meanwhile, however, the hunter is still lying on the ground and twitching! This, for me, was too much. The Ecuadorians, nevertheless, saw nothing strange or out of place in this scenario…

Apparently I am not as cultured as I hoped…

Climbing mountains and building relationships

“This is the most beautiful view I have ever seen!”

~ John Newman, avid mountain climber and MPI-Ecuador Program Director from Colorado, upon reaching the summit of Iliniza Norte.

John, Seth, and I decided that we needed a weekend above the clouds and so we decided to take the short bus ride to the town of Chaupi, population 100. From Chaupi it was a 45 minute truck ride to the trail head at 3950 meters (13,000 feet). From the trailhead it is a mere 2.2km to the refuge but you are asked to allow at least 3 to 3.5 hours because you have to climb up to 4650 meters (15,300 feet). This comes out to over 2000 feet of elevation gain in about a mile and a half (or 8000 feet horizontally and 2300 feet vertically). This refuge is located right on the saddle between two of Ecuador’s tallest volcanoes (Iliniza Sur and Iliniza Norte).

Needless to say this was quite steep. We then spent a cold and restless night at the refuge before waking up at 5:00 to cook breakfast and be on the trail by sunrise.

As hard as the previous day’s hike was, the summit hike was considerably more difficult, though much more rewarding. This day we hiked from 4650 meters to the top of Ecuador’s eighth-highest peak at 5126 meters (16,900 feet). The first hour was a rough scramble through loose rocks and frozen sand. Once we reached the top of the first ridge we were absolutely blown away by the view. Looking to the north and the east we were surrounded by a blanket of clouds that was only broken by majesty of Ecuador’s volcanoes standing tall above the white surface.

As we continued for the final hour and a half up the (not as steep) rough scramble to the summit the views only got better and better. I don’t know if you have ever been above 16,000 feet (I never had, except for on an airplane), but there really is not much air up there. Breathing is not actually an easy task. We pressed on however, and were rewarded at the top. From the summit we were blessed with the most amazing view of the six of Ecuador’s ten highest peaks from one point.

These are, from North to South, Volcán Cayambe (at number 3, the only point on Earth where there is snow on the Equator), Volcán El Altar (number 10, but Ecuador’s most difficult mountain), Volcán Cotopaxi (number 2 and a most perfect cone), Volcán Iliniza Norte (8 and we’re on top), Volcán Iliniza Sur (6 and RIGHT in front of us), and the massive Volcán Chimborazo (número 1 and Ecuador’s only mountain over 6000 meters).

I have included several images here from the hike, but the entire album is also available by clicking here.

The following weekend we dropped all the way down to below 800 meters and the town of El Chaco and the Quijos River, site of the 2005 white-water rafting world championships. We also participated in a bit of a championship; however, this one was organized for novices. For the mere price of $5.00 per person we qualified for two days of rafting. Day Two was the long race and we paddled hard against five other boats and came down the final stretch in second place. We had managed to make it through the length of the course without losing anyone; nonetheless, on the very last rapid, in front of the entire crowd, I fell out of the boat! I immediately swam back to the boat and the guide turned us back towards me, but by the time I was back in the boat we were facing backwards. Our guide, always aware, immediately shouted “¡ATRÁS! (back paddle)” and we crossed the finish line cruising in reverse!

Enough weekend fun, now on to programs! This past Saturday (we did not go out of town) we held our first parent meeting for the families of the kids in our program. I was incredibly impressed with the turnout as fifteen parents gave up their Saturday and trudged through the pouring down rain to attend our event. We discussed several topics, but first we asked the parents to talk to us. We really wanted to know what they thought about our work with their children. I cannot say how happy I was to hear all the positive feedback we received from each and every parent present!

After the parents talked we went into the meat of the meeting. Raquel and Bea, certified psychologists from Spain and UBECI volunteers, led a group discussion on the three principal parenting styles: Authoritarian, Passive, and Cooperative. In small groups we not only defined these three parenting styles, but we also talked about how children are normally affected by each of the different styles. Sadly, physical abuse is incredibly common in our community (due in large part to the pervasiveness of “Authoritarian parents”).

We did not come to Ecuador to tell people they are not allowed to hit their children. We did not come to Ecuador to tell people they have bad parents. We did not come to Ecuador to tell people how to raise their children. We are here to educate. All of our parents love their children and want the best for their kids. Our goal is show the different ways children tend to act based on how their parents interact with them. Every parent agreed that they want their child to grow and act the way children of “Cooperative parents” act and could understand how they might be able to slightly change their parenting styles for the benefit of their children.

Raquel and Bea conducted a great discussion, but what most impressed me was how Raquel ended the discussion. In a small circle we were all asked to say two things: what we are going to leave at the meeting (as in, what we will no longer do or feel) and what we are taking away from the meeting (as in, what change we will make in our lives). I think this last activity was small, but absolutely essential. It is incredibly energizing to hear each and every parent say all that they will do for their children.

Finally, I want to give a special thanks to one volunteer who is staying with us this week. He has been an absolute joy to have with us. Just Tuesday night he cooked us an amazing dish of Puerto Rican chicken, beans, and rice. What most impresses me, however, is his dedication to our work and the people of Ecuador. Two weeks ago a new family moved into the community of San Francisco: a single mother and her two children. The younger child, at six years of age, has never been to school and is not even able to recognize letters or numbers. The older child, ten years old, also cannot read or write, but he can barely write his own name. These children have not been to school simply because they cannot afford the $10/month fee required to attend school. As soon as our friend found out about these children he immediately offered the $200 necessary to put both of these children through school for a year.

I really am excited about the progress we have begun to make in our community. We now have over 40 children registered in our School Support Program and more and more coming in every day. Already this week we have registered eight new kids. I am also excited about the prospects of starting an English class for adolescents and adults. We have started planning and recruitment for this course and plan to have our first English session on Tuesday the 20^th.

Videos

Here´s a few videos from Ecuador:

This first one is of me falling off of a 100 meter bridge in Baños. Apparently there was something wrong with the ropes so they had me standing on the platform for a long time....

This next one is at the Guamani Market in Quito working with UBECI. Dani is leading the song and dance with the kids.

This final one is a little dark but I think still worth watching. This was when a bunch of little indigenous girls performed a dance for (and with) us in Chugchilán.

Finally, Zak compiled a video of all of us jumping off a bridge and put it on YouTube. Check it out here, but beware, it may not be suitable for minors.

Gringos in the air and children on the ground

Since my last major update things have finally become to calm down and the MPI Ecuador team has started to form its regular weekly routines; nevertheless, this is not to say that we have not had our fair share of fun.

To begin with, several of us made the trek to the town of Baños (literally baths). A town on the eastern edge of the Andes famous for its thermal baths heated by the nearby, and active, Volcano Tungurahua. One such bath is fed by a thirty meter waterfall that leaves the mountain at 124 degrees Fahrenheit. We decided that one was probably a little too hot for us and went to the one on the other side of the mountain, tucked away into a river canyon with several pools ranging from 83 degrees to 105 degrees. Very relaxing…

Of course if a town is named Baths, the major attraction will be the thermal baths. There is another (apparently minor, who knew?) attraction that Baños is also known for: Puenting (literally, bridging). Puenting is an activity where someone ties a really long rope to the bottom of a bridge that spans a canyon 100 meters above the water, then swings that rope up to the other side, and then ties a person to said rope. This person is then, in turn, asked to jump off the bridge and swing back and forth on that really long rope before being lowered to the river bottom below. Slightly different from sitting in a hot spring…

Another exciting weekend excursion was to the town of Mindo on the western edge of the Andes, known for its cloud forests and waterfalls. My favorite part was jumping off of a ten meter waterfall, unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera when I was jumping into the water so the only really picture I got is of myself struggling with the mosquito net.

I’m happy to say that our regular programming has now begun. Our initial program is an after school, educational support program, which is co-sponsored by our partner UBECI (Unión de Beneficios y Educación con Colaboración Internacional). We work Monday through Friday from 2:00 to 4:30 in the community of San Francisco. The primary activity is for the kids to complete their homework. This may seem surprising in a program for little kids (our children are between the ages of three and eleven), but even in first grade most students have at least an hour of homework every night. In addition to providing an appropriate setting for completing their homework, as well as support when needed, we also provide the students with additional practice in various areas. Monday is language arts day, Tuesday we focus on social values, Wednesday is math, Thursday is art day, and Friday we teach English. Each of the Program Directors has separate responsibilities in the program and I have taken on the responsibility of being in charge of the math activities. In addition, I am also the primary teacher of the group of older students (eight to eleven years of age). After one week, there are about thirteen kids in my group and about ten in the younger group. We are continuing to advertise within the community to try and raise these numbers to close to twenty in each group. I have to say that I am very happy with the way this program has started. My kids are wonderful and I really enjoy going to San Francisco every afternoon.

A second program with which we have partnered with UBECI is their market program. Throughout South Quito there are neighborhood markets in which farmers from around the region come into the city to sell their food and other goods. These peasants have no other choice but to bring their children with them to the markets. UBECI provides an educational day-care service for these families with children between the ages of two and twelve in Chillogallo and Guamaní. We focus on activities that support the children’s physical and social well-being. Activities include songs accompanied by complicated yet doable physical movements, artistic creations requiring specific hand-eye coordination, and race style exercise requiring movements other than simply running or walking straight ahead.

Finally, I want to talk some about a four day excursion that we took to the region of Quilotoa. Quilotoa was a volcano until 1797 when it had its last eruption and completely blew its top leaving a circular crater where there is now a lake. Our first day we hiked all the way around the rim of the crater, which we completed in just under five and a half hours in order to make it back to the hotel by the time the rain started. In the rainy season in the Ecuadorian Andes (October-March) it basically rains every day at about two o’clock. For this reason we planned five to six hour hikes for the mornings throughout our stay in region of Quilotoa. Early in the morning, however, it is usually warm and sunny enough to where the high temperature of the day usually occurs around 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning before the clouds begin to roll in.

Our second day in Quilotoa we did the shortest of our three hikes (only about 10km) up to the top of a nearby mountain (about 14,000 feet). The most interesting aspect of this hike, however, was once we reached the top we realized that we were directly on the western edge of the Andes. From there we could look down several thousand meters and see an infinite flat bank of clouds all the way out to the horizon. Never in my life have I stood on solid ground and look down into a flat cloud that goes on forever. More interesting, still, was watching how these clouds crashed into the Andes. It was almost like watching the ocean crashing up against a series of beaches and heads. The clouds would hit the heads (mountains) and go straight up into the sky. Other clouds would flow into the beaches (valleys) and slowly move in until the valley became too steep at which point the clouds would jump up and do back flips in the air. These clouds then converge together above in a ballet in which the dancers are running and jumping and intertwining and splitting in all imaginable directions.

After our hike the six of us road the bumpy, muddy, and nearly vomit-inducing 23 kilometers to Chugchilán in a five passenger truck with a man and his wife in just under 45 minutes. Despite the means of transport, Chugchilán was wonderful. We stayed at Hostal Cloud Forest, where for only $8 we received a bed, hot shower, popcorn in the afternoons, breakfast, dinner, and the company and advice of the owner José Luis. This really was a wonderful hotel complete with hours and hours of Cuarenta, a local dance troupe, and maps and other hiking information.

I have to say the dance troupe was a complete surprise as we were all sitting around the fire reading our books when all of a sudden 15 seven to ten year old girls barge in wearing brightly colored outfits and all begin to say buenas noches to us. Totally shocked, we look up and greet them, and then look to each other trying to understand the situation. At which point the girls start rearranging all of the furniture and then turn the music on and just start dancing. Finally starting to feel somewhat comfortable and enjoying the show, all the girls come out into the audience and take us into the dance with them. I love to dance, but I have to say I was totally lost. Apparently nine year old girls are not the best dance coaches…I was just trying to keep up with her, but there were a couple of times when I really thought that she was going to throw me across the room.

Stay tuned for a couple of videos later this week!