Host Family Appreciation Day
The Peace Corps put on a lunch to thank the 37 host families for putting up with us for the last three months. The Volunteers did just about everything, including a fabulous talent show. I'm attaching a few pictures. I should point out that it was full of inside jokes, and jokes only an Ecuadorean would understand. Nevertheless, we thought you would get something from these pictures.
The first picture is a parody of the Wizard of Oz. The one on the left is Dorothy. Judy Garland would be so proud. You will be able to recognize the other Oz photos. There are also some pictures of some talented dancers. All of these characters will be doing some serious work in the far-flung corners of Ecuador in just a couple of weeks.
Visit to Santa Elena
Marguerite and I just spent four days in our future new home. Our host family is very welcoming, and we think they will be very compatible. The couple have a charming 15 year old daughter. The house isn't as extensive as the one we are in today, but our room is larger, and the bathroom has a door.
Tragically, houses in the coast are not plumbed for hot water. Cold showers are everything they are reputed to be.
The town is more spacious than Tumbaco, with the houses not as densely packed. Our current neighborhood is a little quieter, but as town neighborhoods go, our new one is fairly quiet. The amenities of town living are not far away. It is noteworthy that our new host family doesn't see the need for a car.
The first picture is of the house. The museum is in the background. I don't know if you can tell, but there is a vacant lot on either side of the house. The second picture is the greeting that awaited us on the door to our room. People misspell and mispronounce my name all the time. The third picture is of our room. Note the bedspread they provided. Finally, a picture of Viviana, the mom, and Maria Anabel. We were in the bus station on Sunday morning when we were starting our journey back.
Health issue and site visit
Earlier, I mentioned pulling my Achilles tendon in an ill considered basketball game several weeks ago. It was healing very slowly because of all the walking we do in training. At the end of last week's field trip, I noticed that ankle was swollen, which had never happened be.fore. I spoke to the nurse about it, she sent me to a doctor in Quito, and he read me the riot act. I was put on crutches, prescribed twelve physical therapy sessions, and he ordered me to rest the tendon at all costs. I have since been taking a cab home from school, and to my therapy sessions. The doc, incidentally, did some of his training at Hopkins, and he spoke English better than some native Marylanders I could mention.
There was doubt that I would go to the site visit this coming week, but I have decided I want to go unless ordered not to. Barring some change, Marguerite and I will be out of town Tuesday through Saturday, and out of touch. I will rest the leg as much as possible, and resume therapy when I get back.
Two more Ecuador moments
We were invited to a celebration of a saint's day that was being held by the favorite uncle of our host mother. It started with an outdoor hour long service, which may or may not have been a full mass. My Spanish has progressed to the point where I could recognize the Apostle's creed.
Today's first Ecuador moment came when the biggest, baddest dog in the neighborhood walked right down the center aisle during the service. He apparently smelled the food being prepared.
Before the end of the service, a truck pulled up, and a band climbed out the back. There were four trumpets, three saxes, three trombones, and a bass drum and a snare drum. They started to perform soon after the service, and I knew I was in trouble when they started playing without tuning. I try to be reasonably diplomatic in these posts, but the band was positively dreadful.
The second Ecuador moment(s) came when the bass drum was played so enthusiastically that it repeatedly set off the security alarm of a truck parked nearby. No one ever moved the truck.
However, as always, the hosts and guests were very gracious. They served us a gigantic mound of food which included roasted chicken, roasted pork chops, of course potatoes, mote (like hominy), and chicha, a fermented drink from corn which has been enjoyed for several thousand years. The fiesta started at 3PM and is still going strong as we write at midnight. The entire barrio is still up and partying, including the children. We went home after dark as the drinking was just getting started, so we are babysitting an infant.
Puerto El Morro
We visited this little town on last week's field trip. The name is a little misleading. The town sits on some broad canals that eventually reach the sea. The bigger boats in the picture fish in the open ocean. The small boat in the middle of the picture is typical of the one or two man boats that fish for crabs in the canals. The canals also attract dolphins, and we got to take a boat ride to go looking for some.
Hiatus and Field Trip
I neglected to mention that Marguerite and I were going on a field trip last week. For security reasons, and for lack of internet access, we were encouraged to leave laptops at home, so we were out of touch. We came back yesterday (Saturday).
We traveled from the Quito/Tumbaco area to Guayaquil, which is the largest city in Ecuador. It is also reputed to be the most dangerous, so we got lots of security information before we left. The bus ride averages 10 hours. With connections, etc., we reported for our taxi ride to the terminal 6:00 yesterday, and got home around 6:00.
It happens that our sites are not far from Guayaquil, so Marguerite got to meet her counterpart, and I got the chance to visit my school, and meet my counterpart and some of the kids. We also taught some lessons there.
The school is very different than I expected. It's called a "colegio", and in one of the towns we visited on our last trip, that meant the top grades, roughly sixth through twelfth grades. In my school, that means grades one through six. So I have to rethink the kinds of activities I will be trying to arrange and develop. There are 432 students. The class I taught had around forty kids in it.
We also got to visit Santa Elena where we will be living. It struck me that in all of the other places we have been, the strangers would remain strangers. In this town, they're our future neighbors. The restaurant where we found lunch might become a regular choice for us.
The town is perhaps a little nicer than some in the area. We noticed that most streets are wider than some towns. Since the area is so flat, the street grid is more orderly than some other places. The park in the center of town was apparently recently upgraded, with lots of seating and an active fountain. There is also a family of iguanas that act like they own the place.
We were taken on a bit of a tour of the town, including a trip to the top of the tallest hill, where a new church is being built. Among other things, we watched some of the stone work being prepared.
The first picture is a panorama from the top of the hill.
There is an important museum in the town, probably its only tourist attraction. It's the oldest documented archaeological site in the country. There is a cemetery that is at least 8,000 years old. The second picture is a display near the entrance to the musueum. It looks like a mosaic, but it is actually woven reeds that have been painted. I couldn't tell if it is really as old as it seems. It's in such good shape, it's probably a reconstruction.
