martes, 28 de abril de 2009

A picture is worth a thousand words


Cuy (Guinea Pig) Roast!


I picked up on a soccer team for a tournament last weekend. We won second place and a pig.

One of the other teams didn't show up so we had a huge muddy scrimmage with spectators. Kent went for a few wild slides in the mud.


My host sisters like to stress out Kent with their constant giggling.



My host mom got out the stone mortar and pestle to make some aji, or spicy sauce, with pumpkin seeds, hot peppers, water and salt.




I helped.


Kent and I hiked up to the sacred Lechero Tree in the morning and got an amazing view of Otavalo on one side and Laguna San Pablo on the other.



Cultural differences

Recently I’ve noticed an increasing number of differences between my beliefs about illness and those of my host family. For example, when I spent last Saturday lounging around the house with an upset stomach and diarrhea, my family assured me that it was because I drank cold water (the key word being cold) directly after drinking hot milk with them instead of waiting at least 3 hours. Drinking hot liquids does make sense because the boiling kills bacteria and parasites, but the cold water that I drink is always through my filter bottle, and I’m pretty sure I got sick from some raw cabbage I ate the day before.

To top off the experience, I was told not to drink water while I had diarrhea because that would make it last longer. When I flatly rejected this advice, I ended up having an interesting conversation with Santos about how each country or culture provides distinct advice about prevention and treatment of illnesses. He also performed a traditional “cleaning” on me, which involved spraying alcohol and perfumed water on me from his mouth, shaking a bundle of dry leaves around me while chanting, then blowing away the bad energy that had entered my body. Whether it was his healing or the immodium I took, I was better the next day.

As you may have guessed from my recent entries, I’m feeling some culture shock right now, and have been thinking a lot about Hawaii and Vermont. I am enjoying the work and the friends that I’ve made here, but I also spend a fair amount of time missing family, friends and familiarity. I think it is a phase of being here that will change soon (I hope), but in the meantime I am taking everything day by day.

School has continued to be a source of joy and stress. The kindergarteners are very sweet but it’s hard to get them to do anything besides color and play with puzzles. The first and second graders are a handful—at 25 they’re the biggest class in the school. Fifth and sixth grade presented their geography projects today, and I was impressed by their pronunciation. I love being around the kids but can't help but feel a little sad when I realize how much is lacking in their education. I would guess that they spend about 3 hours actually in the classroom each day, and of that are learning for maybe 2 hours. Many of them can't focus long enough to finish simple tasks, or read or write very well. Some of the teachers are very intelligent and dedicated, but others seem to view their job only as a glorified babysitting position. I am enjoying getting to know the kids and teachers at my school.


The view from above of Ati Pillahuasu, the elementary school where I teach English. The multistory buildings are homes of extended families.

Correa Wins by a Landslide

The campaign season wrapped up this past Thursday with parades of honking cars, concerts in the public squares and of course, boozing. “País”, the socialist party of current president Rafael Correa, threw a big flashy party up in Parque Bolivar, complete with scantily clad backup dancers. “Pachakutik”, the indigenous party, threw a smaller party with traditional Kichwa music down in the Plaza de Ponchos. Elsa, Pacha, Kent and I got dollar slices of pizza then went to check out the festivities.

One of Pachakutik’s fliers promised the construction of a monorail, pyramid and giant market complex. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like any of this will be happening soon since only two Pachakutik candidates were elected in the whole country. País for its part will continue to offer monthly welfare bonuses of $30, which, according to my host brother Alberto, have made Ecaudorians lazy. On Sunday, Correa won another turn as president, by a landslide of 60% (the next candidate had 30%). The election was of “good quality” according to the EU observers, but there was some violence on the coast.

One of the strangest political things I’ve heard recently (aside from the promised monorail) is that Obama wants to go to war with Ecuador. Whoa. To give some context, this came from an 8 year-old girl who had heard from her mom that Obama supports Colombia and therefore would go to war with Ecuador. It’s interesting to hear how news and politics are “interpreted”, to put it kindly.


Cotacachi Volcano on a nice clear day.

jueves, 2 de abril de 2009

The End of Chapter 1

The final week of Health Care Volunteer Vacations wrapped up with a group of med students from the University of Utah. They were the most fun, laid-back group of future doctors I could imagine, and I really enjoyed getting to know them. We worked in five communities above the town of Gualsaqui, still part of the canton of Quichinche but at least an hour away in the back of a truck that definitely wouldn´t pass emissions standards. We usually arrived at around 9:30 or 10 am, set up shop, and with the exception of one rainy day saw around 50 patients. Everyone rotated roles in running the clinic every day, and three of the med students would perform a preliminary consultation before running their diagnosis by one of the doctors. This provided a great way for the students to get the hands on experience they´d been hoping for and allowed us to see more patients. We still hope that next time more doctors will come, so that we can serve all of the patients that show up, and also so the non-doctor volunteers always have enough to do.

While patients were waiting to see the doctor, we would give public health talks about nutrition, family planning, sanitation and hygiene. In Achupallas, several of the middle aged women directed us to their teenaged children to talk about using condoms, which was a priceless scene.


Huayraspungo was the most distant community, way up in the mountains (and clouds) above Gualsaqui. These two women are wearing the traditional "anako" skirt worn by all indigenous women around Otavalo.

Dr. Rosado, originally from Puerto Rico, was one of the providers who brought the group of med students here. He was telling those of us riding in the first truck to look at the big mudslide blocking our way. We waited 30 minutes for it to be cleared away--a typical morning en route to a clinic.


Corey, one of the med students, spoke excellent Spanish from his two years of volunteer work with Hispanic communities in Fresno, CA. Here he is giving a public health talk to a captive audience sheltered in the back of one of our trucks.


On the way down from one of our clinics, we stopped to see a spectacular view of Laguna Cuicocha (Guinea Pig Lake in Kichwa).

My fabulous coworkers Kent, Anna and Dana.

The one downside of all the work running the clinics was that I wasn´t getting to see much of my host family. This all changed in April, when I suddenly had a lot more free time on my hands. I teach English for about 2 hours a day Monday-Thursday in the local elementary school, which has been a blast so far. I have Kindergarden through 4th grade one day a week each, and 5th and 6th grade three days a week since they need more preparation for colegio (high school). I try to keep the classes as fun as possible, with games, art and singing. I´ll be teaching there until mid-June, when school ends and I start teaching summer school for high schoolers.

When I´m at home, I try to help with chores like shelling beans, husking corn, sweeping and washing dishes. This also provides a great opportunity to chat with my family and learn about their world. They treat me just like a member of the family, with some exceptions like getting served food before everyone else and laughed at for the amount of time I spend reading or brushing my teeth, and I´m happy living with them. We always share some good laughs, especially over the antics of Condor, my 9 year-old brother, and the running joke that anyone of us who arrives at the house at night was out "mociando", which literally translates to having a romantic affair. Somehow it never gets old.


Blanca, the younger sister of my brother Alberto´s wife, came to live with us so she could help her sister care for her newborn baby.


Estela, my 23 year-old sister, is training to be a chef at Universidad Tecnica del Norte in Ibarra.


A beautiful sunset over Imbabura volcano from my house.


The animals have the run of the house until someone sees, then they get a sharp reprimand.


Moment of Zen: How fast was he running when he hit the wall?