Okay, so perhaps my last email was a bit dramatic, but it was still the feeling at the time. The whole first week here in Ecuador was go, go, go until about Friday night when we arrived in Loja. Granted it has not slowed down too much but even a little is good.
We left for Cuenca on the 10th and stayed until the 13th. In those 3 days some awesome things happened - and some not-so-awesome things too. First, the awesome things.
AWESOME THINGS
1. We visited 2 schools outside of Cuenca proper in the more rural countryside populated by the indigenous peoples of the area. The first school was kind of blah but the second school was amazing. There were 2 teachers and 2 classrooms and about 30 students in grades 1 through 7. The 2 teachers teach all of the subjects on a rotating schedule of direct instruction and independent work. They really did not have much for the students but they give them everything they have. Just like in the US, they have a big problem with the students not doing their homework because they go home and watch TV. Apparently a lot of the parents are uneducated so they cannot help their kids practice their reading or do their math. Some of the better students the teacher pointed out told us that they make sure they always do their homework because they want the kind of opportunities that the city children have. However, the school director told us not many children will grow up and leave this area,. The kids were pretty precious and some of the older ones put on a dance performance for us. It was a story about a fox (a little boy in the 3rd year) and a hunter (a boy in the 7th year) and the incredible hunt between them. The little one had been practicing quite a bit and died with quite the dramatic flair.
2. At the same school I had finally managed to make Heather^s camera work with my portable printer. (Thanks to one of my co-workers who suggested I invest in a portable printer and to Polaroid for making a printer about the size of a digital camera for $50.) Many of the students were dressed up for the dance performance and their parents were there to watch so I grouped some families together and took pictures of them. They thought seeing the pictures on my camera screen was cool until I actually printed out a little 2 x 3 for them to have. They were totally amazed. Some said it was the first picture they had of their family and others were excited to send the small photos to their parents so they could see their grandchildren for the first time.
3. The Canadians were again following us and were preparing in Cuenca to distribute about 200 wheelchairs. I am not sure if it was planned or by accident, but our group was waiting for our silly city tour/shopping day at the same time the Canadian group was preparing to distribute wheelchairs so we jumped in and helped. I am pretty sure none of the Canadians spoke any Spanish so even my clumsy sentences were enough to ask people what size chair they needed and to make sure they felt comfortable. The Rotary Club of Tomebaba has been working with this Canadian group for about 2 years to organize this mass wheelchair distribution across the country. The Ecuadorian club members have been carefully screening applicants to make sure they have a true need for the wheelchairs. At the club the people received certificates and their new chairs then posed for a quick photo. Some came in carried by family members and some where on homemade wheelchairs. Helping with the wheelchair distribution was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done. I might even have to stop speaking ill of Canadians.
NOT-SO-AWESOME THINGS
(This section needs to be kept short so as to not take away from the awesome things.)
1. While out for a run, I was attacked by a vicious monster (or perhaps some stupid dog bit my leg) and then he gathered like 20 (or maybe 3) of his friends to chase me down the street. Thanks to my awesome marksmanship (or sheer luck) I was able to ward them off with giant boulders (or maybe some fist-sized stones) and escape with my life.
OTHER THINGS
Of course other things happened in this last week too! We went on a shopping day around Cuenca where we got to eat a local delicacy (faint of heart, look away now) - guinea pig! Sorry, but it was actually pretty good. We also got to eat at some pretty fancy restaurants - although I am still trying to figure out how a super classy/expensive restaurant can say they serve local indigenous food when it costs so much and no indigenous people have probably ever been there. We went to another Rotary dinner (but the food was lacking and our presentation still did not work right). We also stopped in a couple little towns and looked around a bit at local life and culture. Our families here in Loja are great as they all live on the same block so we are not isolated. That was a hard part for me at the other homes. Well...that and the fact that I was the only one taking time to do all the pictures and update our group blog. Our first night here was kinda harsh as we first went to a presentation by a local group trying to get funding and then went to dinner. Dinner at 7 would not have been so bad but most of us did not eat on the bus ride here and we were starving. We went to some fancy hotel with a restaurant who apparently did not understand the idea of bringing us some bread. It was about 8:30 before we were finally served our dinner. We had left Heather behind when we went to the meeting and then left my host family behind for dinner. Then ended up showing up to dinner around 9:30 so the night continued to drag on despite everyone desperately wanting to go home. Yesterday we went to a small town outside of Loja to visit the countryside which included eating at some fancy spa hotel and then spending some time at the club president's village estate. It was a pretty relaxing day despite the biting flies and Maddy having an allergic reaction to something she ate. She is fine though as we had 2 doctors with us and enough epi pens for everyone. Last night Heather and Sherrilynn got roped into going out for a dinner with the cowboys who are in town and stayed up dancing until 2am. I actually liked getting my paper done and being in bed by midnight (although I kind-of got left behind).
Today we are going to see the cowboys then who knows what. Tomorrow morning we fly to Quito for the next 5 days and we will actually have some free time. We had to talk them into letting us fly instead of making the 13 hour drive. Our only concern is that they will not let us take all of our bags on the plane. Only time will tell.
My pictures are only at the group site for now and since my camera is not working most of my photos are under Heather's photo album. The link is picasa.google.com/ECUADORGSE09. Enjoy!
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