Wanna judge a milking contest?

My first weekend back in Ecuador after visiting family and friends in the U.S. was full of unexpected adventures. I had arrived the previous Sunday night, and was eating dinner alone in Quito when a friendly group of three invited me to join them. They turned out to be Eliseo, a competitive swimmer and coach, his brother Bolivar and Bolivar’s girlfriend Karen, who was headed back to Porto Viejo by bus that night. We had a great time hanging out that night, and they invited me to go to their coastal hometown of Porto Viejo to attend the community festival their mom had organized. Promises of delicious food, surfing, and a milking contest tempted me to the coast the following weekend.
The ride from Quito to Porto Viejo was dark, rainy and long. We got in at one in the morning and fell asleep instantly. The next morning we were up at 7am and headed into Manta for a breakfast of fish and plantains, then stumbled across a fun swim meet that I ended up swimming the 100m backstroke in (I disqualified for taking the last few strokes face-down, but it wasn't like I was going to win anyway). Then we drove an hour south to Santa Rosa, a tiny fishing village with reportedly the best surf around. The waves were only a few feet tall, but enough to have a great time and teach the boys a thing or two.
On Saturday we headed to Olmedo, an inland town where Eliseo's mother was born. We stayed in his grandmother's house, an airy wooden building overlooking the river and town. I was asked to be the judge of the milking contest, which started at 7am--too early after a late night with the cousins.First the contestants would tie the calf to the hind leg of the cow so that she wouldn't move around during the milking process.

Eliseo's mom tries her hand at milking.
Then I did.

Of course I had to sample the final product...delicious. The cow's owner was concerned that I'd soon be running for the bathroom but I managed to keep it together.

Fortunately after 3 minutes of milking there was still plenty of milk for the calf.
After I had completed my duties as judge we went horseback riding. The saddle was wooden so a trip around the block was long enough for me.
We even forged a mighty river .
When we arrived back at the plaza, I was asked to judge the rice-cleaning contest. Ok, why not? Each village had its contestants beat the rice in a big wooden mortar and pestle until the husk was removed.
We judged the rice based on whiteness, grain size, and cleanliness.
One community brought their newly purified water for everyone to taste.
Then I watched my first cockfight--no deaths.
I even drove the Olmedo bus!

It turned out to be a very memorable weekend and a great start to my relationship with Eliseo. More on that to come...

Wrapping up the summer

The past few weeks have been full of teaching, visiting with new and old friends, digging in the dirt, navigating the health care bureaucracy, and saying goodbyes.

Summer English classes were a hit and I really enjoyed giving them. There was enough interest to keep going a week longer than we had planned, although by the end it was one hour of English and one our of basketball.

The last week I only had 15 students, a class size that lent itself to fun activities and good learning (I hope).

The squirrely boys sat in the back but I always made them participate.

Steven (pronounced Eh-steven) is an angel in class but wild and rambunctious once you let him outside.

One recess the dog got ahold of Michelle's notebook and had a ball making the kids chase her around to get it back. She ate half of the front cover before letting it go.

More post-class antics: trying to pick the neighbor's well-fortified blackberries.

For our final Friday excursion, the math teacher and I took 30 kids up to Laguna Cuicocha to walk around the crater. Half of the kids ran ahead while some of the others struggled to finsh the 4-hour route, but we all had a good time.

Michelle, Monica, Thalia, and Steven all perky at the beginning of the walk.

Taking a rest break about a quarter of the way in. The first kids start to complain about being tired.

Monica and Michelle were two of the sweetest girls in the class.

Alfredo, the math teacher, was completely in his element, picking blueberries and teaching us all about the plants we saw.

My new friend Fanny with her kids Steven and Michelle, after they invited me for lunch at their house and a tour of the neighborhood.

On Sunday I climbed the hill to a minga (community work party) to put in a potable water pipeline for parts of the community. Every family has to send a representative, and I spent most fo the time digging with my awesome cousin Mariana.

We had a nice day and the view stretched north toward Colombia.

The following Monday, we had a big mural-painting and goodbye party for the group of American students from Putney.

More gorgeous weather inspired me to capture Imbabura from our backyard, where my host dad grows beans, corn, and currently peas.

Elsa and cousin Jefferson, one of my former Panecillo students.
I'm still chipping away at my sewing project, an embroidered shirt that I'm planning to give to my host mom.
Alberto and wife Luzmila dress 4 month-old Wayta up as a mini-tia (auntie).

Que bonita! Even sticking out her tongue.

A few weeks ago, Kelly and I went to Mindo to relax in tropical paradise. It reminds me so much of Hawaii, with its rain, birdsong and vistas. Ahh, home.

We walked up a dirt road to the famous waterfall, which morphed from a 2km (according to the sign at the bottom) to what must have been 8km walk.

The river was cold and clear. Kel crossing the bridge.

We got lots of offers to go "canopying" (zip line) but partly based on this photo decided it wasn't for us.

Instead we ventured down the slide into cool, refreshing water. It was an excellent weekend adventure.

Climbing Imbabura Volcano

On my second attempt at the 15,157 ft Imbabura volcano overlooking Otavalo, I made it!

I referred some of the high school volunteers (the same group helping me with English classes) to my host brother Vinicio, who regularly guides tourists up the volcano. I decided it was a great opportunity for me to go, having gotten lost and not made it the time Kent and I tried to go a different route. The others welcomed me along, and at 5am this morning we all piled in to their pickup truck and headed to Ibarra. It took about an hour to reach the trailhead. We had bread and hot tea that Vinicio had brought for all of us before snapping a few photos and starting up the trail.

The morning light slowly revealed the Andean landscape above Ibarra.

By about 7am, the sun had turned the fields a deep golden color.

Vinicio, Shereef, Ben and Hyde (stretching) were my hiking companions.

Eucalyptus trees lined the path for the first few hundred yards.

The patchwork of fields are typical of the Ecuadorian sierra.

The path was very steep most of the way, passing through the “pajonal” or grasslands.

We got some gorgeous views of neighboring Cayambe volcano, which according to Vinicio is almost always covered by clouds.

As we continued gaining altitude, the inside of the half-crater that forms the summit came into view.

Ben rests and looks over the valley floor.

Resting at the midway point, we could see Cotacachi and Otavalo.

It was really windy up on the ridge.

Some of the views during our ascent made me dizzy.

We were really tired when we reached the summit at about 10:30am…

…but happy!

It was the highest mountain I’ve ever summitted, and I loved it.

To top it off, there was a gorgeous sunset when I got home to rest and wash my socks. Just another day in Ecuador.