El Oriente

I am in Quito. Ahhh!

As in, in Quito and done with my internship in Ibarra. I am nothing but a tourist now. Ahhh!

Okay, I'm being dramatic again, but I mean...it was obviously a more emotional day than usual, what with having had all the despedidas (good-byes) yesterday at the Municipio (and everyone making a little speech, including me), and last night with all the family (the brothers, sisters, in-laws, and children), eating, drinking, dancing Ecuador's native dances together, and more speeches. And meeting up with a few other co-workers later and saying good bye. Ahh.

And of course this morning, saying good bye (again) to some co-workers, and then to my immediate Ecuadorian family and Rachel. I will really miss Rachel (probably the most)...we had some really good times together, and were always laughing!! =]

Well now, I will steer myself away from all these thoughts on farewells, and say that I am leaving for the Amazon jungle in a little under an hour (at 11pm--and we arrive at 6am...what else is new). Michelle, my friend from Rice, and I will be in Cuyabeno for a 4-night, 5-day tour. Cuyabeno is one of the ecological reserves in Ecuador, and it's part of what is called "el Oriente" in Ecuador. (There are four parts to Ecuador: (1) la Costa, the coast, (2) las Sierras, the mountains, (3) el Oriente, the east/Amazon, and (4) los Galápagos, or the Galapagos Islands.)

Here's our itinerary, more or less (we're going with www.andeanchallenge.com):

"1.-Quito - Lago Agrio - El Puente . Flight 10:30 a.m. or bus journey (one day before - 8 hours) to Lago Agrio. Drive from Lago Agrio to el Puente. Canoe trip down on Cuyabeno river to our camp place .Exciting night walk.


2.- Cuyabeno river. After breakfast, trek into the primary rain forest learning about medicinal plants, flora and fauna. After lunch, journey downstream to relax and enjoy the surrounding nature on tubes (water tubing).


3.-Cuyabeno River. After breakfast, we paddle by traditional dug-out canoe on the Caiman-Cocha (Laguna del Caiman) where we will enjoy this unique nature. Lunch. Hike in the primary forest including lessons in the use of plants for survival. Before we head back to our camp, we’ll have a relaxing time to swim and enjoy the sunset on the magnificent Laguna Grande.


4.- Cuyabeno river. In the morning, walk to the Tarapuy Siona Community, our naturalist guide will explain about the culture and traditions of the native people. Piranha fishing in the afternoon. Return to the camp. Night canoe trip in search of caimans (alligators).


5.- El Puente-Lago Agrio-Quito. Early morning bird watching. After breakfast journey upstream the Cuyabeno river to El Puente. Drive back to Lago Agrio at 16:00. Flight or bus journey back to Quito."

Well.....there are many other things to write about my experience here, but it will have to wait until after el Oriente. For some reason, I am loath to blog right now....although that may be due to these last days here in Ecuador. Well (again), it is time for me to go, entonces hasta luego. =]

I need stronger bug spray

Back from the beach! Covered in mosquito bites, but what can one do....it is the same no matter where I go--Houston, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Indiana--all the mosquitos flock to me like bees to honey! Sighhh T.T

Atacames was quite enjoyable, although I ended up going alone since my housemate got really sick =[. Traveling solo was a good experience, although it was really sketch being asked by almost every single male who talked to me whether I had a boyfriend and if I was traveling alone (and being the naive--and probably foolish--traveler that I am, I said, yes, I was traveling alone).

It was exceedingly humid in Atacames, and I was trying to figure out if Houston was worse or not (guess I will figure it out soon haha). It's a pretty touristy place, not just for foreigners, but also for Ecuadorians and other Latin Americans. Actually, at the hostal I stayed at, there were TWO Colombian families with kids who were on vacation in Ecuador. Both of them were from Cali, and both of them were very kind to me and took me in as part of their family when we met at the hostal (Hostal Chill Inn, with Yolanda, the Swiss owner who was very kind and made a great breakfast of eggs-in-a-hole, which is a cracked egg cooked in a hole in the middle of toast, with seasoning--soo good). One of the Colombian moms even gave me an orange kanga with white palm trees on it! (A kanga is one of those sheets you see girls wearing at the beach...you can tie it in different ways over your swimsuit--as a dress, skirt, etc. Very useful!)

We (the two Colombian families and I) also went whale watching in this small boat (small compared to the big, blue ocean with strong swells wayyy out there....I mean it--we were FAR from land). And we spotted whales multiple times!! I think it might have been the same ones, maybe, since it was a pair, swimming side by side. It was so awesome!! And they looked like killer whales to me, but I think it's actually humpback whales that come to that area. In any case, they were HUGE...even from the distance we were at....much, much bigger than our boat.

Other than that, I just chilled, played on the beach, ate ceviche, did some souvenir shopping, and read my book (Dark Watch by Clive Cussler--only about 50 pages in. I've only ever read Sahara by him, and that only because I saw the movie first and really liked it. Hmm...I think I've only ever read Sahara by him....Anyway, turns out that he's a pretty decent adventure/sci-fi writer, right up my alley of genre interests, or one of them anyway, so when I was in Quito a few weeks ago, I picked up his book at a bookstore that had several books in English. That was in expectation of reading at the beach of course...I had to keep myself from cracking the book open till I got to Atacames).

So yes, that's my weekend in a nutshell! The 10-11 hour bus rides to and back were a little brutal, but oh well. And I am only working two more days (tomorrow, technically today, and Wednesday) before I head out to Quito! (And an Amazon jungle tour for five days before flying back to Houston.) It's been quite the adventure here...and will continue to be. Tomorrow, Rachel and I are planning on getting our hair dyed and cut, respectively (heheh, no worries, I am not dying my hair). And I think we're also planning on trying cuy, which is roasted guinea pig, specialty of Ecuador! Hahahaha...will let you all know how that goes! =D

Atacames

Off to the beach. BBL.

=D

Malarone

I threw up today (technically yesterday) for the first time in years and years. Although I had woken up with a troubled stomach, it must have been due to the fact that I started taking Malarone this morning (malaria prophylaxis). Side effects include: cough, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, loss of appetite, mouth sores, nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, weakness.

And I had heard that Malarone was the malaria drug with the least side effects! I'd hate to be on another one....(unless I am mistaken). So anyway, there's been stomach pain and severe loss of appetite (apart from the vomiting), and a bit of nausea. So I guess it's not too bad. I'd rather have this than malaria, in any case. I just hope that the side effects go away soon...

And why have I just started taking a malaria prophylactic, you ask? Well, I am leaving for the coast tomorrow night (yayy beach time!), and malaria drugs are recommended for any area in Ecuador that's not in the Andes (where I currently am). So you should start Malarone 1-2 days before the trip, take it every day during the trip, and then for 7 days after. I'll actually be taking it non-stop until five days after I come back to the States, since the weekend after this I'll be in the Amazon jungle for a 5-day, 4-night tour (and then I'll stay in Quito for a day and then fly back to the U.S.!).

I know--such a hard life! Haha so I shouldn't complain about the drug that's allowing me to do all these things without (too much) fear of contracting malaria. And I am very grateful that I even have access to a drug like that, knowing that so many people in the world need it and can't get it. I hope a cheap malaria vaccine is created, and soon (somewhat relevantly--I think I will continue to pursue my Global Health Technologies minor. I was unsure at the end of this past school year, since it would take away so much time from other things I could be doing during senior year...but I find that I am still passionate about it).

Update on work: it's been slower these past few days, ever since we actually finished up delimiting the neighborhoods of our first, trial parroquia (parish in English). Due to our work, we actually found out that the parish lines had been changed, way back in 2007 or 2009 (there were two agreements), so not only did we formally draw neighborhood lines, but we also changed the limits of two parishes! (Maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal to you....but it'd be like changing county lines I guess. It's a big deal here.) So yeah, these past few days have been filled with data entry and the sort. Tedious, but necessary.

And now, I must return to my writing assignment for SOSC 422, which is the class I am getting credit for through this internship. Sigh....I always procrastinate on Blogger when I have something else I need to write....

The only bad thing

about taking anti-inflammatory pills, perhaps, is that I can't see where my skin is swelling, so I keep unexpectedly finding new bruises T.T

Horseback riding today, on the other hand, was wonderful! I had a somewhat feisty stallion named Colorado, and he kept trying to make trouble with two of the other horses. He was, however, extremely responsive to very light touches with the rein, so once I figured that out, he was easy enough to control. And I think he liked me! =D (Or at least, he nibbled at my shoe at one point, which I took as a sign of affection.) Before we started, they asked if we had previous horseback riding experience, and I said yes, since I did do it in Costa Rica...and some short rides before that....but when they were like, "Okay then! Let's go without helmets, and with the faster horses--it'll be just fine," I was like, "Oh shoot I'm probably doing something stupid." But after an hour of riding, I think I started really getting the hang of it, so I consider that 5-6 hour ride my intro to horseback riding class. Yes, it was at least 5 hours, but it was marvelous =]. And I absolutely love galloping! This may seem so dorky to some of you but I don't care!! It was awesome!! =D

Yup. =]

Damage check

Whoo! Today was full of adventure...Rachel and I went whitewater rafting in the morning, on the Río Mira, and when the tour company picked us up (www.otavaloguide.com--we're going horseback riding with them tomorrow, too), we realized that it was going to be just us two on the trip....haha I mean the rafting guide was coming with us, and the driver as well to balance out the raft (and there was another guy, but he took care of the car this time around since the driver had never gone before). So I was thinking, "Well, that's going to be interesting," since I've never done whitewater rafting before with less than the full number of people. So we get to the river, and we pump up the raft right there on a tiny, rocky bank, and then we were on our way! (Btw, the raft is for eight people, but since there were only four of us, I asked if that was going to be a problem, and they were like, "No! It'll be better. The raft will go faster. =)" I guess that made sense.) The bad thing about having only four people is that you have to expend more energy in moving the raft. In any case, it was really fun! =D

Until we hit apparently the worst rapid in the river, and I fell out of the raft.

I KNOW! GAH! I mean, I'm obviously alive to tell the tale, but it was, in all honesty, a pretty scary experience. One moment, I'm in the raft, the next, I'm tipping over (and usually when you tip over, you still stay in the raft because your foot is securely squeezed under the middle air-filled thingies, or the strap if you're sitting up front, which is where Rachel and I were), and the next, I fall out into the rapids (yes, with all the big rocks and stuff). If you've fallen out of the boat while whitewater rafting before, you can probably identify with me that it's a really disorienting experience (because you can only fall out during the rapids...unless you are really bad at rafting haha). First of all, you are completely at the water's mercy, being jerked this way and that through the rapids, and even though they tell you to close your mouth, you keep it open because you're gasping for air while the water's constantly trying to fill your mouth. Second of all, you can't really see where you're going or what you're about to hit, 'cause all that whitewater's in your face, and then there are rocks under the surface that you don't know are there until you hit them, and again, you can't really control where you're going (to try to do so would probably actually be worse). So it was bad when I started hitting a couple rocks (going backwards in the river), and then, out of my limited vision, I saw that the rock wall had come up really close to my right side, and THAT alarmed me because I was then dragged under (which is also terrifying) and thought I was about to slam into that wall, and when I didn't, I thought I was about to slam into some other big rock jutting out of the river.

Right about the time I got dragged under the water was when I started pleading God for help. Since there isn't any of the disorienting whitewater under the water, that was when a sliver of clarity struck, and I started praying. So when the raft finally caught up to me and I was dragged onboard, I was extremely grateful that God had kept me alive, and not only alive, but relatively safe and unhurt. It definitely reminded me of how my life is in His hands, and how He is sovereign over everything. We continued on our way, and although my right leg and right ring finger were throbbing, I remembered how Karen told me once about an amputee patient who said he was grateful to even have one of his legs, and so I decided to be grateful that I had gotten off lightly with what appeared to be a couple sprains and maybe a broken finger (I actually chuckled after I was safely in the boat again, because who sprains an ankle/knee going whitewater rafting?? Hahaha...). In any case, we hit some more rapids, and there was a point where we were close to the bank and collided with a bunch of thin tree branches, and I was about to fall out of the boat again, but I was like, "NO! I am NOT falling out again! I'd rather get smacked by these branches!" So I doggedly clung onto the rope on my opposite side, and managed to stay in the boat (and broke off a few branches in the process).

In any case, we finished the rest of our trip, and it was enjoyable! When we got to land, I realized that I couldn't put very much weight on my right leg, and when we got home, Rachel was very kind in giving me anti-inflammatory pills and insisting that I put ice on my knee (and I agreed because I knew it was good for me, although I am notorious for always getting bad bruises and never icing them...probably why I have so many leftover bruise marks on my legs). And THEN Ceci (my host mom) was like, "Ayayay I don't have any ice, but I have frozen meat! You want some? Red meat is really good for bruises--it takes away the swollenness." And I was like....I've only ever seen this in the movies....but eventually she convinced me, cut up slices from the frozen chunk of meat, and had me put them on my right knee, shin, and ring and pinkie fingers. I stayed sitting on my bedroom floor with the company of María Celeste until the meat was well-thawed and dripping watery blood (haha...it was an interesting experience, and I was rather amused through the whole thing).

I actually think it helped a lot (or maybe it was the anti-inflammatory pill), since there seems to be minimal swelling. And good news! I don't think anything's actually sprained or broken, just very, very badly bruised. So all you Houstonians will get to see my pretty bruises when I come back in a couple weeks! (As if you all haven't seen enough of them these past three years.........I certainly have.) So yes, I am limping noticeably, but since I still have my life and all my bones intact, I count myself as blessed.

And I am going horseback riding tomorrow! =D (I'm probably being stupid, aren't I?) But it will be so beautiful =] (riding around a volcano crater lake!). And hopefully, I will get to visit the Otavalo market (the most famous in Ecuador, and famous worldwide) tomorrow after riding (since we start in Otavalo), as this will be my last available weekend to do so. Anyway! I will now leave you all to rest your eyes from my ramblings.....=]

Ecuadorian culture

We didn't actually go to the hot springs today, which is okay with me, since I was pretty tired anyway (I know what you're thinking--"But hot springs would be perfect after a tiring week!" Well, so is my bed). In a way, this is good, because it's a great transition into Ecuadorian culture and my crazy/crazy awesome host family! =D

And just as a disclaimer, nothing of what I say is meant to be offensive, because there's not necessarily a "better" culture among cultures--they're just different. My co-workers were telling me how they thought Americans were all so cold, since we can't seem to be able to take a joke (of course, I disagree, I think Americans can be rather warm, but obviously because I am used to the culture). And, of course, U.S. folk can argue back that Latin Americans are all too forward and don't respect personal privacy/space, but in the end, that's the culture and what is expected. So I'm going to stop lecturing now, and just leave it at the opinion that we should not consider a certain culture superior to another, but rather recognize and adjust to the differences (without giving up your own values).

Anyway! Ecuadorian culture:

• Saying that we'll do something but then pushing it back, or omitting the other dozen things in between "¡Vamos!" and actually doing the thing we set out to do, thereby creating a very tenuous schedule of events and taking forever to make decisions (this, to me, is the most obvious difference from U.S. culture--but not too different, actually, from Asian culture). Examples:
• Say: "We're going to the lake now!" What actually happens: We leave, but start driving around Ibarra looking at houses since an uncle and aunt want ideas to build their own, and then never make it to the lake.
• Say: "We're going to the hot springs this weekend!" What actually happens: The date gets pushed back a couple weeks, and we still don't make it today haha.
• Always being on the verge of dancing. Examples:
• Milton and Betty will unashamedly break out into dance in the office when they hear a good song. I even joined in today, since it's Friday, and I decided I needed to move around after lunch.
• The municipal government driver (yes, they hire drivers for all the official business. Is it the same in the States? I've never thought about this...) blasts music from his truck and starts shimmying in his seat and whooping while driving and while I start to slightly fear for my life.
• Having strong family ties. Examples:
• My host mom (Ceci) and her daughter (Maria Teresa) and granddaughter (Maria Celeste) have a tradition of visiting her brother's house in Caranqui (which is a parroquia of Ibarra, kind of like a county in a state, except this is in a city) every weekend, along with her other brother and his wife, and her other sister and her children (who actually live right next door). So in total, it's Ceci + kid + grandkid, brother + wife + 2 kids, other brother + wife, sister + 2 kids, me + Rachel, and sometimes + other friends or even other brother, who lives in Quito. It is quite the party.
• And this house in Caranqui is the one I described in an earlier post, the one that makes you feel as if you've been transported back to the 1800s. But I have honestly really come to love "la casa en Caranqui" and all the hubbub that goes with it when we're there.
• That house is also the place where I first did karaoke in Ecuador (karaoke here is really popular!!), as I mentioned some time ago. With the "java" of beer (a crate of 12 bottles of beers, each bottle being equivalent to 3 cans of beer). Oh, another thing, Ecuadorians can DRINK. I mean, I don't drink very much, but even I can tell that they must have very well-functioning livers. The family managed to finish most of that crate (or all? I don't remember).
• Hmmm....having strong family ties, except for fatherlessness and weak marital ties? =[ Many of the women/girls I know here are fatherless (including my host sister and host niece, and daughter of my host sister's friend, and many of my co-workers' kids). I also am pretty sure that I know more people here who are divorced or have been divorced, or are going through divorce, or say that they're not married so they can get with unsuspecting people, than I know people who are married and faithful to their spouses. This seems to be a problem throughout Latin America, and it is incredibly sad to me. Marriage is supposed to be a beautiful and sanctifying thing, not something you have on the side or can easily disregard. That's terrifying to me. Jesus Christ must be the center of the life of my husband (if I ever get one) and mine, because I'm not going to just roll the dice and hope they get me a spouse who decides to be committed to me and only me, and for whom I don't have to drive all over the city to see whether his car is in front of a strip club or not (yes, that was another unexpected side trip once, and many of the women here apparently do that occasionally).
• Spoiling/not disciplining their children. Examples:
• Ooooooh my host-niece? MAN but she would've gotten a good spanking by now! Actually, multiple spankings--like one every day, if not more. She is definitely sweet sometimes, but more often than not I'm just like.....are you serious? At that age??? Girl needs some Asian tiger mom in her life....
• Potatoes, corn, and fritada. People here eat SO MUCH POTATO. Basically with every lunch and dinner (like how Asians are with rice, except they also eat rice with meals here). And corn (not on the cob, usually, but in baked kernels). And pork. Okay, fritada? One of the best things ever (fried pork), but it's a lot....btw, fritada's what actually got me interested in Latin American culture way back in high school. I was on a mission trip to Chicago, and we went to an Ecuadorian restaurant one night, and the pork was just SO GOOD that I was convinced I had to learn more about the culture from whence it came......heheh it's kind of silly, but I obviously don't regret it.
• Ají. Since we're on the topic of food, I will mention this ever-present, delicious Ecuadorian seasoning! Ají is a salsa made with--at the most basic level--red chili peppers, water, tomatoes, and onions (and sometimes lime juice). Every restaurant has it, and it's also usually present at family meals. You can make it really spicy (add less water), or "más suave" (not so spicy). Since I love spicy foods, ají is the perfect addition to all of my meals here heheh....the only downside is the onion (I don't like onions). But remember (for some of you) what I said about coming to an understanding with papaya when I was in Costa Rica because I ingested such large amounts of it? I think the same has happened here with onions. I've ingested so much onion (with ají, with ceviche, in general, etc.) that I've come to be okay with eating it. Also, I don't cry when cutting onions! (And I have probably thus perpetually designated myself as the onion cutter for whoever of you I'm cooking with in the future. But I think I'm okay with that.)

This post has gotten so long. Dang it. I'm going whitewater rafting tomorrow though! (Yup, plans got switched around again. Horseback riding on Sunday!)

So I should really go to sleep now. Buenas noches...! :)

Hot springs tomorrow?

Hey erry'one...so I realized I haven't posted about Colombia yet, but it was great! I admit that's not a very good description of the trip, but I also wasn't there for a whole lot of time (only several hours).

"Colombia es pasión" -- On the back of a car. My dad also gave me a silver pin with Colombia's heart logo on it a couple years ago. Do I know where he got it from? No (seriously).

But in any case, the city I visited, Ipiales, has an EPIC cathedral. Photo:

Is that not epic????? Reminds you of that one Swiss (?) castle in Sherlock Holmes 2 that was built around that waterfall, right? (Kind of? This cathedral has a river flowing under its arch...)


So anyway, we went to visit the cathedral up close (Santuario de Las Lajas/Las Lajas Cathedral), and it is beautiful. And then we went to downtown Ipiales to do some shopping. That was really the extent of my stay in Colombia...although I want to go back one day (maybe when it's not so dangerous?) because I keep hearing how beautiful it is (and it was, even the small part I visited).

And tomorrow, I believe I am going to a place called Chachimbiro with the family (the Ecuadorian family). It contains.......hot springs! Whoo!!! =]

And then this Saturday, Rachel and I are going horseback riding for ~7 hours (whoo!!), starting in Otavalo and going around Lake Cuicocha (a beautiful volcano crater lake), and then whitewater rafting (class 3-4) on the Río Mira on Sunday (whoo!!). Haha YES I am going to be pumped so full of adrenaline this weekend!! Not to mention, we will also be celebrating Father's Day with all the fam (aka lots of people) this Sunday after rafting (yup, Father's Day is the same date here as in the States! And if you didn't remember that it was this Sunday, this is your reminder heh).

And then next weekend, Rachel and I will again be traveling, this time to Atacames, which is one of the best beaches in Ecuador (whoo!!). It does, however, take a looooong time to get there (so we leave at 7:35pm by bus, and will arrive at 6am the next morning.....whoo). This will be a Thursday night to Sunday trip.

And thennnn in two weekends, if all goes well, I will leave Ibarra to go to Quito, from which I will then take another overnight bus with Michelle (who is a friend from Rice--I was so shocked when I first arrived in Ecuador and saw her name on the schedule of arrivals for the same organization! Also Michelle, I realize you might be reading this lolcats --> that was for you) to do a 4-night, 5-day tour (or 3-night, 4-day tour) of Cuyabeno, which is in Ecuador's Amazon jungle (they say that you absolutely must visit the Amazon because it's so beautiful here). And I'm SO sorry for that ridiculously long sentence.

And then from there (I'm also sorry that the last five paragraphs have started with "and" or "and then") we will return to Quito, and I will be flying out of Ecuador and back to Houston!! Ahhh!!!! I'll arrive around noon on July 5th.

So, as you can see, I really don't have much time left in Ecuador, but I have obviously planned to enjoy every bit of it as I can. And I really am also enjoying the work I'm doing here, as well as a good relationship with my co-workers! The two people Rachel and I work with the most are Milton, a feisty old man, and Betty, a very carefree and slightly intimidating woman. Milton is actually Brazilian, but moved to Ecuador when he was little, so everyone's nickname for him is Miltinho (pronounced Meel-chee-ño), which is the Portuguese diminutive for Miltonito/Miltito. He's acquired a habit of always greeting us with "HELLO BAY-BIES!!!!!" (yes, in English), so several days ago, I started responding with "HELLO PAPI!!!" (aka....hi daddy), and now that's become the norm because Milton and Betty love it so much. Haha...it makes me feel as if Rachel and I are in Charlie's Angels, Milton being Charlie, of course. And Betty...oh Betty. If she gets hold of an empty plastic bottle, rolled up sheet of paper, or anything like that, she will start hitting anything within reach, repeatedly (table, person, chair, etc.). While simultaneously yelling (especially when there's music on). Haha she is not actually scary, just really shocking to the eardrums sometimes.

Us four (Milton, Betty, Rachel, and I) went out for shrimp empanadas tonight, since we had a really long day of work (till 6:30pm or 7pm), and the empanadas were DELICIOUS. And, of course, Papi paid because he had lost a bet with Rachel and me (heheheh...it was silly--over what days the night market happened, and of course since Rachel and I love the night market, we knew we were right, but he didn't believe us....to our benefit). And then we visited said night market afterwards for a little stroll.

So yes, that's what's happening right now....oh, I also will be learning how to drive a stick-shift one of these days! From our young taxi driver friend (really, pirate taxi driver friend, but he's reallyyyy nice!!!). So that's exciting!! Whoo! Haha okayy..........I'm going to bed now. Good night guys! =]

Señor Presidente

Well, yes, I was indeed 12 feet away from the President of Ecuador today, as he decided to come visit Ibarra in support of the new park that will be built starting next year (not just any park--it will be huge and modern and located on what used to be Ibarra's airport. Yes, that big--24 hectares. Not that I really know how big that is--they just kept repeating "veinticuatro hectares!"). My host mom and the other older ladies here kept on saying, "¡Es muy guapo! ¡Más que Obama!" (Translation: He's really handsome! More than Obama is!) And Rachel (the other intern at our house) and I were like, "Uhh, we'll see..."

So here's a photo for you all ;).

That was obviously the most exciting thing that happened today...yesterday, Rachel and I taught a couple of our co-workers how to use Google Docs and Google Calendar, in hopes that those would come as useful tools in their work. My internship here, to be quite honest, is not as high-tech or as fast-paced as the same kind of thing would be in the United States. There's a lot of arguing and disorganization, so things usually get done at a fraction of the pace as in the U.S. I have definitely learned a lot about policy-making, however, even with the slow tempo, and I value most the things I've learned about working in a country that is not as high-tech, ambitious, rich, or organized as the U.S. It will come in handy one day when I move out of the States =].

As for the city that I'm in--Ibarra--it really is quite a lovely place. It's very tranquil, and not a whole lot of criminal activity happens here. It gets pretty cool in the mornings and evenings, and somewhat hot in the afternoons. Everything is smushed together (from the colonial times), so there will be just this one huge block of a building (with different roof heights, but all one block) in a city block, and everything from hair salons to Chinese restaurants to Ecuadorian restaurants to clothing stores to hotels to internet cafes to malls to ice cream shops to grocery stores to bread shops to apartments and to many more next to/on top of each another. (Side note: I went to a Chinese restaurant, called a Chifa here for some reason, with Rachel the other day, and the lady who owned it and I spoke briefly in Chinese and it was really cool.)

Helado de paila (or pan ice cream) is native to Ibarra. It is delicious--a sorbet made from sugar, pure fruit pulp, and apparently egg whites, mixed together in a copper pan that's placed on top of ice with salt. Here's an article on it: http://voices.yahoo.com/ibarras-sweetest-treasure-helado-de-paila-6521470.html?cat=16. And a photo of how it's made! =]

I also mentioned a meat market and a night market in my previous bullet-point summary post. To me, the two things couldn't be more different. The Ibarra meat market (selling mostly pig parts--skin, meat, intestines, organs, fat--basically everything you can and thought you couldn't use off a pig) is inside a warehouse-type building, still at room temperature, full of a rank, raw smell, and filled with tiny stall after tiny stall. By tiny, I mean a space about 4x5 feet, and 3 feet high. The way people got in and out of their stalls was by crawling under their stall counter (since it did not disconnect at any point), through an opening about 2 feet wide, if even. In the smallest of the stalls, you could fit at most two people, and maybe a child (and there WERE children there helping their parents). Buyers can walk up and down the rows to get meat from a seller, but I wondered how many made their business there because everyone sold almost the same thing, and there were dozens and dozens of tiny stalls. For the first few minutes, it was interesting to me to see how meat was sold here, but then after that, I couldn't wait to get out of the market. Different sections of meat or pig parts hanging from the bigger stalls, whole pale skins laying on the counters, or large metal bowls filled with what I soon realized was blended pig fat or other liquids, and platters full of intestines, livers, spleens, and other organs that I did not know were edible. (SORRY if this is so graphic!) At one point I even noticed a big bucket filled with what could only be the liquid-y insides of a recently slaughtered pig. Blaughaweghhhhhghh....I didn't have the stomach for this, but I respected all those people (and children!) who did.

The night market, on the other hand (waaayyyyyyy on the other hand), is a place I could spend hours in just walking around and seeing the vendors' wares. It's mostly a fruit and vegetable market, called the mayorista, and only happens on Monday and Thursday nights in Ibarra. Dozens upon dozens of trucks arrive (mostly from the coast) starting around 8pm, and vendors set up shop in preparation for the crowds at 9, 10, and even 11 at night. All kinds of tropical (and non-tropical) things come in, including pineapple, papaya (there were some as big as a good-sized baby, no lie), oranges, apples, tomatoes, potatoes, tamarindo, rambutan, granadillas (ahh, I like these a lot--was introduced to them here in Ecuador), bananas, plantains, tree tomatoes (which are not actually tomatoes, but are rather more fruity, also met them first in Ecuador), lemons, limes, onions, etc. The list obviously goes on and on and includes a bunch of fruits/veggies that I saw for the first time in my life. There were even vendors with fish, toiletries, packaged foods, and other things. And the QUANTITY of all these foods! Stall after stall (these were much bigger than the ones in the meat market, and rather more like small rooms) of tomatoes, or potatoes, etc. And of course everything was super fresh and cheap! If we had a place like that in Houston, I would never go to the grocery store.

So anyway, I will stop gushing about the mayorista now, and conclude this post. I'm slowly making up for those silent weeks...but it's hard because there's more I want to write about every day! Haha oh well...until tomorrow then =].

Interning

Got back two and half hours or so ago from a night meeting for my internship...the office/team I'm working for met up with the people of a barrio (neighborhood) to go over county lines and stuff and also the process of delimitation. I won't bore you with the details, but if there's anything I've learned so far about the social interactions here in Ecuador, it's that everything (at least here in Ibarra) is very democratic, and not at all very efficient. Haha. Very opposite of many things in America, no? Of course we say we're democratic, but I think we respect efficiency salted with a bit of democracy more.

I suppose I should give you the background of my internship, since that hasn't happened yet....I'm working for the municipal county government of Ibarra, Ecuador, which is the capital of the region of Imbabura (so it's actually Ibarra, Imbabura, Ecuador--think capital city, state, country, or something like that). Since I'm interning in Urban Planning, and one of my majors is Policy Studies (with a concentration in Urban and Social Change), they assigned me to the sector of Participación Ciudadana, or literally, Citizen Participation. It's a social program, but what I really do is act as a liaison between the social and technical side of urban planning (the social side is Área Técnica de Participación Ciudadana--literally, Technical Area, where they do most of the logistical stuff of meetings, etc., and it's not actually very technical--and the technical side is Planificación--aka planning--where they use AutoCAD and ArcGIS to make maps, plan the city, etc.).

Which leads me to why I was almost in tears the first day of my internship. After I had arrived in Ibarra from Quito by bus, my host mother (Ceci, who also works at the Municipio, aka the municipal government) took me to meet everyone. I was then told that I was meeting the mayor (O.O GAH taken off guard), who turned out to be a strict but amiable-type father figure. The meeting only lasted 10 minutes and it went well. Then I met my co-workers/a bunch of other people in Participación Ciudadana, and I was grilled by one of my bosses on what I would be able to help them in. Basically, there was a mix-up (they hadn't paid attention to what my resume actually said) and they thought I was a graduated architecture student who would be able to help them with the technical side of planning, and I was like, ......no. And then they kind of all looked meaningfully at each other (3 people were there at the time) and started sighing and laughing, and even though I couldn't understand everything they were saying to each other (rapid Spanish-speaking is still a bit hard for me to mentally translate), I could understand that the gist of it was, "Wowww what are we going to do with her? She's useless to us as it is."

So I felt pretty humiliated, and it wasn't even my fault! So then I, being determined that I did not come all the way to Ecuador to be useless, was like, "Well, what do you guys need? I can learn whatever it is." And they replied, "We need someone who knows how to use AutoCAD! But you don't know how to use it." (None of them knew how to use it, which is why they needed someone who did.)

Me: "Well, I can learn it."
Them: "Yeah, yeah, of course you can learn it, but how long will that take? Haha."
Me: "I can learn it in a day or two. Let me learn it."
Them: *laughing and shaking their heads and ignoring me for a while*
Me: *struggling to maintain a sense of dignity and reminding myself to both be humble and man the heck up* "Look, let me learn AutoCAD. It'll just take a day or two, and then I can come back and help you with whatever you need."
Them: "Mmhmm.....sure, a day or two."

Basically, after all my pushing in struggling Spanish, and after a day and a half of that, they were finally like, okay, fine, go learn it--not like there's anything to lose since she doesn't know anything right now. And before they packed me off to the office of Planificación, I had suggested to them that they get ArcGIS, which is a program that I thought was more suited to their needs (not that I knew how to use that one either). And they were like, "Yes! That program is what we want! Do you know how to use it?" And I was like, "No." And they were like, "Sigh." And then I said that I'd learn that program, too, since we found out that a couple people in the other office had it and knew how to use it.

So BASICALLY the result was that I learned both AutoCAD and ArcGIS the following Monday and Tuesday, defying all expectations (yes, I did feel smug and somewhat redeemed...), and finished making the initial maps that they needed by the end of the week.

And now, after 3 weeks of being here, we are all friends, and they no longer think I'm useless (quite the contrary, and rather depend on me to do the digital work and also use me as an example when they're trying to convince the people to try something new, aka delimit their neighborhoods, and I find that kind of ironic/amusing). So yes, this is a happy ending, and I am very grateful to God that it is (ending to the initial fiasco, that is). This past week, the team and I have been getting to know each other better by traipsing around the Ecuadorian countryside together (no, like, literally traipsing up and down and around the mountains and neighborhoods here) in order to accurately delimit the barrios. I'll go into more detail of my team and why we're doing all this later, as this post has gotten too long! Suffice it to say that the work I'm specifically doing will eventually go up on the City of Ibarra website (according to my bosses, who are now really more like colleagues)! That is exciting =].

So yes, I will end it there, even though I have paragraphs more to say about what I'm doing (for later!).

Also, I'm going to Colombia this weekend. Heheheheheheh. Just a day trip on Saturday since the border is only 2 hours away, but super exciting nonetheless. I'll let you guys know how it goes! =D Good night =].

I have internet!!!

I am SO SORRY that this blog has thus been SO EMPTY but I now finally have internet at my homestay, so there is about to be a deluge of posts. Yes. But just so it doesn't all come at you (if anyone is still reading this...haha) in one downpour, I'm going to bullet-point things in Ecuador that I have never experienced, never thought I'd experience, are interesting, etc., and then post steadily about them. But YAYY I can blog again!!

Okay. Things I have enjoyed/learned/been schooled in here in the middle of the world:

• Almost crying on the first day of my internship
• Subsequently learning AutoCAD and ArcGIS in two days and feeling really useful (or at least, I learned everything I needed to know for my work)
• Also meeting the mayor of Ibarra on my first day O.O (apparently he is also the president of all the mayors of a region or something like that--I was nervous)
• Being a mother (okay, more specifically, learning more about mothering because I have an 8-year-old host....niece?...named Maria Celeste. An interesting experience because I have thus far been convinced that I will not have children)
• Eating something called helado de paila (literal translation: ice cream from pan/pan ice cream)
• Being integrated into my host mother's crazy and crazy awesome extended family of brothers (my host mother's name is Cecilia btw, or Ceci), sisters, in-laws, and children (aka my first encounter with them was at the colonial type house I wrote about earlier, and then karaoking with them and a 12-pack of Ecuadorian beer, Pilsener, of which each bottle is equal to at least 3 cans of beer, at the house--no worries, I did not partake very much, and they laughed at my initial shock)
• Eating fritada! My favorite food of Ecuador, and probably its most famous =] (fried pork--it's ridiculously good here)
• Also visiting a legit meat market....oh my goodness O.O--I was glad to be out of there by the end
• Inadvertently attending a Seventh-Day Adventist church service. I was extremely uncomfortable for the first 10 minutes I was there, because I couldn't remember if 'Seventh-Day Adventist' meant it was a Mormon church or not, but then I finally figured out that Mormons belonged to the Church of Latter-Day Saints (it was definitely the word 'day' that messed with my mind)
• Going to an AMAZING night market in Ibarra that is just FILLED with fruits, vegetables, and activity--the cheapest prices and biggest variety and dang but I sound like a salesperson oh well and gahhhhhh amazing....
• Going karaoking with my colleagues in the middle of the day, during working hours (I promise there's a good explanation for this--part of which includes me being clueless for a good portion of my time here and therefore not knowing what's going on until it actually happens. Okay, I'm not sure if that should be considered part of the good explanation haha)
• Getting really sick with slight fever and lots of traveler's diarrhea (sorry if that's TMI) for one day (praise the Lord! Only one day!)
• Attending my first funeral? Or the first one I remember attending. For the mayor's mother, no less =[. Even the President of Ecuador came later that night (yeah, the mayor really is a big shot, but a good one). And you would not BELIEVE the amount of arranged flowers that came in--filled the auditorium and even flowed out (I snuck in a picture...felt kinda bad =/ )
• Getting my nails done??!?!!!?? (Sorry this is so trivial after the last bullet point, but this is the first time I've ever done it)
• Learning how to babysit six crazy balls of energy (aka kids) at once, by myself
• Going to Quito for the weekend with the aforementioned awesome extended family and other intern who lives with me (Rachel), and doing stuff like visiting Mitad del Mundo (or the exact placement of the equator), hearing Ecuador lose to Argentina in the first 35 minutes of a fútbol game because Argentina had scored 3 goals by then (two by Messi, and Ecuador still at 0), exploring a street called La Ronda at night (amazing--my favorite part of Quito--like Bourbon Street in New Orleans but much more family friendly), and riding the Teleférico up a mountain for a breathtaking view
• And finally, explaining to my 8-year-old host niece why she should be okay with her mother (my host sister, Maria Teresa) getting married (!!!!! It was so surprising! We were at the end of our weekend trip in Quito today, and Maria Teresa had been talking for hours with an ex, and then when we got back to Ibarra, she was like, yeah...we're getting married. And everyone was like O.O and her daughter, Maria Celeste, ran to the room crying, and then Rachel and I were excited and happy for her. Anyway, more about this later)

So yeah! That's a summary of what I've been up to so far--I'm sure I forgot some things, but I will try to fill in all the interesting details as I make up for the past 2-3 weeks. I should really go to sleep now, so hasta mañana =].