Our first trip to a beach

The nearest beach to our house turned out to be a pretty nice one. The town is Ballenitas, which means little whales. It's about a 15 minute, 25 cent bus ride.

The first picture is of the beach from one of the public access points. The two female figures in the front are Marguerite and Maria Anabel, the sixteen year old who lives with us.

The second picture is of some fishing boats. Note the name on the leftmost boat. It caught my eye, and I couldn't resist.

A little further along there is a head which has been carved out of the rock. I know it's touristy, but it's not something you see every day.

The pelicans here seem to like to fly in squadrons. The birdwatchers among you will notice that half of them seem to be adults, and half are juveniles. That explains the two color schemes.

One of Marguerite's favorites here are the frigate birds. They're rare in the Carolinas, but very common around here Often while Marguerite walks home, she can look up and see as many as a dozen soaring overhead.

Finally, there were a number of dead puffer fish scattered on the beach. If you can't tell, that's an American quarter to indicate their size. I had never seen one in the flesh before.

Marguerite's second day teaching.

I got a lesson again about the commandment of the Peace Corps about how thou shalt be flexible. 
I was  giving a talk with my community volunteer in a village in the campo (in the country) in the community center.  So  I was quite busy and preoccupied with 10 kids which takes a lot of concentration when you are speaking in a foreign language or trying to.  I finally noticed that people were coming in and moving chairs and furniture, and many were wearing their finest.  The community volunteer explained they were preparing for a meeting.  After awhile a lady came over and asked  us to lower our voices.  As it turned out they were starting a Mass for a person who had passed away.  When we realized that a mass had started already, we quickly moved our stuff and I continued with the class outside.  Then I  noticed that we were beginning to have some new group members called chanchos (pigs).  Actually three little pigs, the size of  German Shepherds, but fatter. Animals of all types  in many villages are free range (really free range), which means your yard, front porch, etc.  Fortunately, the chanchos got bored pretty fast, and moved on.  The goats would have been more of a problem as we would have had to hold on to our papers.  Your class is in trouble when the goats butt in.   Also, I imagine "The dog ate it" would bring on new meaning.
 Anyway, we continued our class.  Then the kids wanted to learn some English:  they stayed over almost an hour to have an impromptu English class.  They seemed so proud of their newfound words, and I left feeling so good and had a smile on my face (oui, oui, oui) all the way home.  MW

Discovery Day Parade in Santa Elena

On Monday, the Santa Elena peninsula celebrated its "discovery" 487 years ago. You see it in quotes quite a bit. The reason is interesting. Ecuador is a mix of several ethnic groups. By far, the largest group is mestizos, who are a mix of the indigenous population, and the European latecomers. When you look at all the dark hair in the attached pictures, you will realize that the indigenous part of the mix is pretty strong. It's hard to pretend the peninsula was discovered by the Spanish when most everyone here has ancestors that were around a lot longer than 487 years ago.

As you might expect, I was looking forward to seeing what the bands in the parade were like. Most marching "bands" here consist of drums (lots of drums), some bells (metal xylophone like instruments) and sometimes some herald trumpets. Even some military units use that instrumentation. The Scots have their bagpipes, and Ecuador marches to tinkly little bells (and lots of drums).

The first picture shows a glimpse of a high school age "band". I chose this one because of the familiar pink figure in the background. He wasn't in the parade. That is one of the ubiquitous vendors.

The next photo is of some cartoon characters. I wish I could tell you more about them, but I couldn't read the sign if there was one.

Photo three is an example of some of the footwear some of the ladies marching in the parade chose to wear. There were lots of similar choices.

Photo number four is of a dance troupe, one of only a few. They are creating a ship to reflect the importance of fishing in the local culture and economy. Note the fragment of some interesting artwork on the government building in the background.

The final photo is of the crowd that gathered in the town park during and after the parade. You can see one of the church towers in the background.  Somewhere in that crowd were a few clowns with an incredible sound system.

 

 

 

Basilica of the National Vow

Marguerite visited a basilica in Quito on the Friday before we graduated. She took the pictures that follow.

Although the church was built in a very old style, the first stone was actually laid in 1892. The church was also built with public funds. The title of the church commemorates an act of the national assembly in 1874 which consecrated the nation of Ecuador to Jesus Sacred Heart.

The first picture is of the nave, which gives you a sense of the scale of the place. The second picture shows a view of the city from one of the windows. (I spent weeks trying to get a shot like that.) The third picture show the two towers close up from a opening near the roof. Note the time on the clocks.

Marguerite wondered aloud what it would be like to have an earthquake while she was visiting.  She had no way of knowing there would be one or two within a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

Safe and Sound in Santa Elena. 

Just to let all of you know who may have read about the earthquake in Quito, that we felt nothing as it is about 300 miles away.  We moved just in time, and to think that two weeks ago I was climbing around the top of the cathedral within only a couple of miles of the epicenter.  Fortunately, there were no buildings which came down.  It was the worst quake in 24 years in the city at a 5.1 and several bad aftershocks.  Four were killed due to landslide triggered by the quake and four are missing.  This is the tragic part of life on the Ring of Fire. 

I am enjoying my new job especially going out to the campo (boonies) and working with some of the sweetest kids and parents.  They are so tolerant of my "Spanish." 

Graduation Day and moving

We were sworn in as Volunteers on Tuesday. The Ambassador did the honors. Thirty eight of us started the training, and thirty seven finished. One of us who graduated has to go home for some surgery. He will join us later, if all goes according to plan. As it happens, he will be in Santa Elena province near us.

We moved on Wednesday, which happened to be our 31st anniversary. Marguerite got carsick coming down the Andes. The trip took thirteen hours. An anniversary like none other.

I was asked to sing the Ecuadorian National Anthem at the beginning of the ceremony.  So, I found it online, studied and practiced the Spanish like mad. Whoever set the words to the music had a nasty habit of putting two and even three syllables on a dotted eighth note.  With some effort, the staff found me a recording so that I could be sure about which sections repeated, etc.  Came the big moment, and the sound system wasn't working.  After waiting a few minutes, we decided I would lead the group unaccompanied.  It wasn't really an Ecuador moment, it was a technology moment.

Marguerite volunteered to be one of the student speakers. It happens that the lady who spoke with her is from North Carolina, and graduated from NC State only 40 years after Marguerite where she attended for her first two years. The first picture is of them speaking.

The next picture is of the graduating class. As I said once before, they are a fine group, and you would be proud of them. We've gotten pretty attached to each other over the three months. Some of us will be keeping in touch.
　

The third picture is of our Tumbaco host family. There is a tradition of each class creating a mural. Since the Peace Corps will not be using the center any longer, ours was painted on canvas. It follows the style of a famous Ecuadorian artist; Oswaldo Guayasamín. You can't see it, but we all signed the mural on the bottom.

The final picture is of us with our Santa Elena host mother on the left, and the ambassador. The poor guy posed for a lot of pictures that day. I guess it goes with the job.

Jeff and Marguerite's Big Adventure

-OR-

!Derrumbe!

It started out innocently enough. Our host family wanted us to see a church in a nearby town they are proud of.   Since we would be driving to church, I dressed accordingly; nice shirt and pants, dress shoes that I had not worn in Ecuador yet, no hat.


As we approached the town of El Quinche, there was a roadblock. There had been a derrumbe, or landslide earlier that week. Without knowing how far we needed to walk, it was decided we would walk to the improptu bus stop that had been set up on the far side. It was deemed safe to walk, but not to drive with the heavy equipment that was working to restore the hillsides on the side of the road. It turns out the walk was nearly a mile. A reminder that I had had physical therapy for my Achilles tendon as recently as Friday.

So, we did the walk, loaded the buses, and soon reached a stop around three blocks from the iglesia. We had to run the gauntlet of street vendors trying to sell us everything imaginable. The decibel count runs anywhere from 15 to 30. That's before the church bells start to ring.

So we finished the gauntlet. The money changers weren't inside the temple, but they definitely surrounded it.

Shortly before 10:00, we started to file into the huge main sanctuary. As we neared the front of the crowd, it was announced that this mass would be held outside. So we all turned right, and tried to crowd through a narrow passage and a narrower door. The courtesy level was about the same as at a bus station.  I originally had my hands in my pockets touching my valuables; wallet; phone, and the smallest of our cameras.  Because my elbows were hitting people in the head, I took them out.

It was apparently here, in sight of the altar and the statue of the Virgen de El Quinche, that my pocket was picked, and my wallet was stolen.

There are several precautions I usually take when I go out.  Since we were supposed to be driving, and going to church, if I had thought about them, I would not have thought they would be necessary.  That's why my wallet had a lot more in it than it usually does.

The first photo shows the route we had to walk. You can see the hillside they are trying to reconstruct on the left. The lady in purple facing the camera is the mother of our host family.

The second picture shows the iglesia, and a statue in the park in front. I know you've seen a lot of these pictures, but this is a big part of Ecuadorian life and culture.

The third picture shows the altar.

The final picture is yet another view of the mountains I never tire of seeing. It is carefully cropped to exclude all of the things you have seen before that I have to look past.

 

 





 

Medical Care in Ecuador

I'm sure many of you have read about the death of Peace Corps Volunteer Nick Castle in China last year. I can't comment on that case, but I can comment on the care Marguerite and I have received so far here.

Both of us have called on the medical staff here; Marguerite for several problems, and my experience has been primarily with my injured Achilles tendon. We also hear comments from others when they have problems, which nearly every one of us has had.

The care we have received has been first rate. We have two Ecuadorian doctors, and until last week we had an American nurse. They are responsive, understanding, competent, thorough, and entirely professional.

They also go to considerable lengths to train us how to prevent problems, and how to deal with them when we get them. Peace Corps takes our health very seriously.

Also, Marguerite has had the occasion to accompany a baby to a freestanding Peds clinic, and an adult to the nearest Emergency Department. Both facilities were clean and modern. In both circumstances, the protocols were the same that would be followed in the States. The only difference was they didn't have to wait as long.