New Year, New House, New Work, New Experiences

I know it's way past the start of the new year, but as I have experienced a lot of changes over the past month, I thought now would be an appropriate time for this post.  Compared to a month ago, I would say I now have a completely new life.

I'll start with my housing.  As many of you know, I was searching for a new place for quite awhile, mainly because Carcelen is so far outside of central Quito.  Well, about 2 weeks ago, I left Carcelen, or "the boonies" as it is referred to by many, and moved into a new apartment with Matele, a single mid-aged woman who has experience hosting exchange students.  I already love it!  Matele is so sweet and the perfect host mom.  Whether it's eating dinner or watching the Office together, I love the company and the extra spanish practice.  The apartment is also in the perfect location - easy access to many buses to get to work and see friends, close to two of the biggest parks in Quito, about 4 blocks from the main grocery store, and in walking distance from about anything I need!  While I'm still keeping an eye out for an Ecuadorian family with the possibility of moving another time, I'm very content in my new home and the idea of staying here for rest of my time in Quito.  (Thanks mom for the advice to be open to all options - if it wasn't for you, I may have passed up this wonderful situation!)

Along with my changes in living situations, I made a big change in my work schedule.  Now, instead of working mainly with one foundation, I am working with four!  I continue to work at the ACF shelter Mondays and Wednesdays.  As the work at the shelter can be pretty tough and emotionally draining, I've found this lighter schedule helps to keep my energy and spirits high.  On Tuesdays, I am now working in a school for children with disabilities.  Along with a friend, I teach a photography class in the afternoons.  I've found this work to also be challenging, but I love seeing the kids' faces light up at the simplest things, like learning to turn on a camera.  I'm excited to see how the class develops, as both my friend and I have little experience with photography and even less with teaching.  I'm still working with Nacion Urku on Thursdays, and I'm still loving it!  Starting in a few weeks, we will start teaching the kids swimming.  I can't wait to get back in the water, even if it's just to teach lessons for a few hours a week!  And finally, since the Timmy Santo Domingo Brigade, I have taken a great interest in working with Timmy Global Health, signing up for every translating opportunity I can from now until when I leave.

These changes will bring new experiences, all of which I am very excited for!

My First Timmy Global Health Brigade

Upon arriving back from Colombia, I had one week in Quito before heading off again, this time to Santo Domingo to help out with a medical brigade as a translator.  The brigade was part of Timmy Global Health (http://www.timmyglobalhealth.org), a foundation that brings doctors and nurses from the states to provide medical care to various communities in Ecuador, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.  I left early Sunday morning to meet up with rest of the group.  There were 4 doctors (2 ER doctors, a cardiologist, and a pediatrician), 1 pharmacist, 3 RNs, and about 15 nursing students from Manchester Community College, along with 3 other translators.

After a 3 hour bus ride, we arrived at an old BEAUTIFUL convent, which would serve as our housing for the week.  After getting settled, we headed to our first clinic site to get a community tour.  It was pretty shocking, as most people were basically living in shacks.  After the community tour, we returned to the convent to sort out medicine and prepare for the start of clinic.

We held a clinic Monday thru Friday, each day serving a new community.  Clinics were held in various locations: a local health center, community centers, and on the last day, huts outside in an indigenous community.  In the clinics, I worked as a translator.  For the first days, I worked in the history station.  I translated for a nursing student as we questioned patients about past medical issues and current problems.  On the fourth day of clinic, I got the confidence to translate with a doctor and, to my surprise, was fine!  I loved being in the consult room, as I was able to see how the doctors were treating all the problems that I had heard the patients complaining of in the history station.  And I even learned a few things myself (I can tell you the albendazole dose needed for any patient to treat parasites)!

Overall, it was an amazing week.  I can't wait to return to the communities in 5 weeks, but this time, with my parents as doctors!

Our housing for the week!

A look at one community

The makeshift consult rooms

Our nightly duties - pill counting

Our final clinic site

FInal day at clinic - Translating for Dr. Joe

The whole group!

10 Days At Caseteja

Happy New Year!  Bare with me as I try to make up for my lack of posts over this past month.

I'll start with Colombia.  I spent the final days of 2013 and the start of the 2014 in Colombia with Pablo (the nephew of Cristina, one of my mom's co-workers) and his fiancé, Paola, and had a wonderful time!  We stayed at Paola's parent's house (and I use the word house loosely) with her dad, step-mom, two younger brothers, and grandfather.  The house was in the middle of nowhere, just off the only road that connected the few small towns close by, and was surrounded by what seemed a bit like a jungle.  It's pretty difficult to describe the house itself, as it was like nothing I've ever stayed in before.  There were 4 different little detached buildings that made up the house: the kitchen and living room, the master bedroom and 1 kid's bedroom, 3 guest bedrooms, and the bakery.  The "living room" walls were trees and the floor was gravel.  The main light source was natural light.  Both bathrooms in the house were outdoor bathrooms, maybe one of my favorite parts of the house!  My bathroom was absolutely wonderful, with live plants, little birds on one wall, and even a parrot that would whistle at you when you were showering :)  Even a simple shower could be a fun experience!  The family had 6 rabbits, 3 parrots, multiple birds, 1 monkey, 3 dogs, and a large fish pond with over 100 fish.  And the bakery, Paola's family runs Caseteja, which is a bakery type of rest-stop.  All the sweets were made right there at the house, meaning there was always something to help with and always treats to be tasted.

Our days were spent relaxing at the house, helping out in the bakery, playing with Paola's younger brothers, reading in the hammock, and occasionally, taking day trips to local towns.  Our daily excursions included trips to the local river, Curiti (a touristy town right along a river), and Paola's grandmother's house (where we needed to take a detour to the local hospital due to a cat bite).

One of my favorite parts of the vacation was New Year's Eve, which we celebrated a bit differently than I am accustomed to.  First, we started off the evening by making our "Ano Viejo" (Old Year).  It's basically a scarecrow representing your regrets from the year that you burn at midnight.   The whole night was spent dancing and enjoying the time together with family.  While dancing isn't my favorite activity, I definitely improved my salsa skills :)  At midnight, after burning the Ano Viejo, we ate a huge dinner together, and then headed off to bed.  It was a great way to bring in the new year!

Pablo, Paola and I at the airport before heading off

The living room, where we spent New Year's Eve

The bridge, over the pond, leading to the house

The outdoor shower (the picture doesn't do it justice)

Dancing on New Year's Eve

Our ano viejo

Juanda (Paola's youngest brother), Pablo, Fernando (Paola's grandfather), our ano viejo, and myself

Helping out in the bakery

River adventures!

Christmas In Ecuador

Merry Christmas!  Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few weeks, but I'm going to try to sum up what I've been up to.

Two weekends ago, Saturday the 14th, I went on a day hike with Nacion Urku, the foundation that works with the at risk children in South Quito.  Unfortunately, not many kids showed up, probably because we hadn't had classes the past week due to Fiestas de Quito.  However, the kids who did show up had a great time.  We hiked a volcano close to Quito.  It was a pretty difficult hike, especially because it had rained in the morning so a lot of the trail was very muddy, but the view at the top was completely worth it.  Once I get the pictures from the other counselor, I'll post them.

On Sunday, my Christmas celebrations began when visitors from the US Embassy came to the Nido for the day.  We decorated a Christmas tree and then watched Elf with the girls.  Though it was a small event, it started to get me in the spirit of Christmas.  

On Wednesday, we took the girls to the Mitad del Mundo ("Middle of the World") museum.  I was probably more interested than the girls, as I've been wanting to go t

here since arriving in Ecuador.  I was able to stand with one foot in the Southern Hemisphere and one in the Northern Hemisphere.  

On Thursday, the shelter held a Christmas party for the girls and some of the office professionals. As I had been feeling pretty homesick all week with Christmas approaching, this day was just what I needed.  The girls sang lots of Christmas carols and put on the play of the birth of Jesus, we played some Ecuadorean style Christmas games, and had a big family-style lunch.  It was so nice to spend the day with so many people...definitely helped a bit with the homesickness.  

I spent this past weekend finishing up a few last things for Christmas and the New Year.  On Sunday, I went to Colleen's (one of the Fulbright girls who also stayed in Ecuador over Christmas) to make some Christmas cookies.  We made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and kolaches (Polish cookies that my mom and I usually make during the holidays).  They both turned out great!  We then decorated Colleen's Christmas tree while listening to some traditional holiday music.

Monday, Alas de Colibri had another Christmas celebration, but this time at a local park and with all the workers of the foundation - there are about 50 in total.  I spent the day playing basketball, equivolle, and soccer.  I loved the opportunity to get to know the other ACF workers better, especially those that don't work in the Nido. 

And so we are at Tuesday, Christmas Eve.  I spent the day at the Nido, just like a normal day.  After work, Lili, Jorge and I went to Jorge's grandmother's for Christmas Eve dinner.  We had turkey, rice and a yummy salad - not quite the decadent meal I'm accustomed to, but still very tasty.  We stayed at the house until midnight, so we could make one final toast and wish everyone a Merry Christmas right at 12:00.  

Today was definitely not my traditional Christmas.  Both Lili and Jorge needed to work, so I woke up to an empty house rather than presents under a Christmas tree.  I spent my morning watching some Christmas movies.  At noon, I headed into the city to have Christmas lunch with Daniella's family (Daniella is the niece of one of my mom's coworkers at CVIM who I met upon arriving in Ecuador).  There were so many people at the lunch - probably around 30 people .  We had a wonderful lunch, again not quite my traditional family dinner, but just as yummy.  After lunch, the family opened up their presents.  There were quite a few young children, so it was very fun to see how happy they got after opening each present.  It was great to be "adopted" by the Barriga family for a few hours and spend some of the day with others.

Tomorrow, I plan to have a relaxing day before heading to Colombia on Friday, where I will spend 10 days with Pablo (a nephew of my mom's coworker) and his fiancé, Paola.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and happy new year!

With the visitors from the US Embassy after decorating the Christmas tree

At the Mitad del Mundo!

One of the party games...Each team had to dress someone as the "Christmas Star".  If you don't get it, I didn't either - as I've learned throughout my time here, sometimes you just have to go with it!

The nativity scene

Christmas cookies!

Las Fiestas De Quito

Quito's independence day was this Friday, December 6th.  For the past 2 weeks, Quito has been filed with school parades, festivals, and concerts.   I ended up having a four day weekend, so I was fully able to enjoy all the festivities.

On Thursday, I went downtown to the historical district of Quito.  There was a huge food festival with lots of traditional Ecuadorian food, and even better, it was all extremely cheap.  I was able to taste lots of dishes like hornado (like pulled pork but much better!) and locro (potato soup).  I then went to the Christmas party of Dunamis, the foundation where we take the girls from the shelter to learn various skills to increase their chances of getting jobs.  A local missionary helped with the party, so there were LOTS of other Americans.  One of the Americans even dressed up as Santa and gave all the girls Christmas gifts.  At night, I went with a friend to a free concert with lots of Ecuadorian artists.  Even though I barely understood any of the words, it was a great evening.

Friday, I spent much of the day in my neighborhood.  Many of my neighbors were grilling on the streets and all the men were playing ecuavolley(the Ecuadorean's version of volleyball - it is played 3v3 and you can kinda catch the ball).  It is extremely popular.  Some cops and even cab drivers, who bet their day's earnings, showed up to play as well.  Friday night, I went to La Ronda, a little artsy avenue in the historical district.  It was absolutely packed!  The funniest part of the night was when I returned home around 1, my neighbors were still out partying.  They ended up dancing and playing music until around 4 or 5 in the morning!

On Saturday, I went to Otavalo, an outdoor market in a little town about 2 hours north of Quito.  The market was enormous and had practically everything you could ever imagine.  We wandered around for about 3 hours, and we all finished the day with bags full of Ecuadorean things.  I got a new sweater and a few gifts for my family for Christmas - hope you guys enjoy!

Sunday, I had a relaxing day after the past 3 busy days.  I went to lunch with two of John's friends from the US.  They live in Pomasqui, a town also in the North and about 10 minutes from Carcelen.  It's always nice to find more Americans, especially living so close to me!

(Sorry for the lack of photos.  Since there were soooooo many people around due to the fiestas, I didn't feel comfortable carrying around a camera.)

Quilotoa

This weekend, I ventured to Quilotoa, a lake in a huge volcanic crater, with Lauren, Colleen, and Lisa (Fulbrights who are actually my age - or closer than anyone else I have met). We left Saturday morning after my tutoring, and unfortunately, the trip took much longer than expected. First, we had to take a bus to South Quito, which took about 2 hours. Next, we took a 1.5 hour bus ride to Latacunga (the town where the Mama Negra Festival was). In Latacunga, as we were all starving by this point, we had lunch before continuing our journey. It was nice to see Latacunga without all the festivities of La Mama Negra - many more stores were open and we were able to see the beautiful architecture of the town. We then boarded another bus, which took us to Chugchilán, the town with our hostel. This 3 hour bus ride was absolutely terrifying - we flew along curvy roads through the mountains and I honestly thought the bus was going to fall off the road. However, the long trip was fully worth it, as our hostel and Quilotoa were BEAUTIFUL.

Our hostel, the Black Sheep, reminded me a lot of the hostel in Cotopaxi that I stayed in. It was deep in the Andes with the most beautiful views. Soon after arriving, we had a wonderful vegetarian dinner of eggplant parmesan (possibly the first vegetarian meal I've had since arriving in Quito). As we needed to get up bright and early to begin our hike on Sunday, we were fast asleep by 9:30 in our cosy cabin with a nice fire warming the place.

We woke up on Sunday to a wonderful pancake breakfast and soon after 7, our camioneta (pick-up truck) arrived to take us to Quilotoa. This ride was probably one of my favorite parts of the weekend. We rode in the back of the truck, holding tightly to the frame and hoping to catch all the beautiful views as we sped through the mountains. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures as I was using all my strength not to fall out of the truck. After the 45 minute ride, we were all freezing, but the views were definitely worth not being able to feel our fingers.

Quilotoa, the lake itself, was beautiful. We eagerly began the trek down the crater to the lake - this was the easy part. At the bottom of the crater, we rented kayaks to check out the crater from the water. After eating our packed lunch from the hostel, we started the hike up out of the crater - this was the hard part. It took about 1 hour, which isn't long, but we had to basically climb one wall of the crater solely on a sand path where you constantly lost your footing. Plus, you had to make room for horses, carrying those too lazy to hike out. We were ecstatic to finally finish the hike.

After finishing the hike and having a snack, we rented a van to take us back to Latacunga, where we were able to catch a bus to Quito. Luckily, the return trip was much quicker than the first trip. I was back home about 4 hours after leaving Quilotoa. Overall, it was a great weekend with wonderful company, great hiking, and wonderful sights.

The morning view from our hostel

                                                    Our hostel was literally above the clouds in the mountains

Our first view of Quilotoa Lake

The trek down the crater

At the bottom of the crater - we picked up one more person at our hostel to join us for the day

Kayaking - The water was a beautiful teal

At the top of the crater

The post climb victory jump

La Festival Mama Negra

This weekend, I traveled to Latacunga for La Festival Mama Negra.  Latacunga is a small town about 2 hours south of Quito, located very close to the volcano Cotopaxi.  The Mama Negra (Black Mother) festival is held each year by the indigenous people.  They praise the "black mother" for protecting their city, especially from the volcano Cotopaxi, one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes.  The festival and parade were nothing like anything I've ever seen before.  As you would expect, there were bands playing music and many people dressed in traditional Ecuadorian clothes dancing throughout the streets.  However, included in these dancers were men dressed as women.  It was pretty hysterical.  There were also men dressed in all white with sticks who traveled throughout the crowd "purifying" people.  They would dance around you, hit you with the sticks, and chant things like "Long Live Latacunga" while another man would spit alcohol on you.  Being a gringa, I definitely stuck out in the crowd and was chosen multiple times.  In the eyes of "La Mama Negra", I am now as pure as can be.   Like parades in the US, dancers and others walked the streets handing out candies, pins, and other small things.  However, unlike the US, these people also walked around with flasks and bottles of who-knows-what type of alcohol, attempting to force shots on everyone in the crowd.  You just had to keep your mouth closed and run in the opposite direction whenever you saw someone coming with a bottle.  

On Saturday, after the parade ended, we left Latacunga to go to Cotopaxi.  We spent the night in a beautiful hostel in the country side - after leaving the main road, we drove for about 1.5 hours on a dirt road before we got to the hostel.  It was definitely worth the drive as it was absolutely gorgeous.  The sunset, the mountains, the garden - everything was wonderful!  On Sunday, we rented horses and went for a 3 hour ride up into the mountains.  I had a wonderful time - just now I have a very sore back and legs.  Upon returning to the hostel after the horse ride, we were able to relax in the jacuzzi and read by the fire.  It was some much needed relaxation before returning to Quito to start another busy week of volunteering.

One of the many "women" in the parade

Some "women" line dancing throughout the streets

A couple in traditional Ecuadorian dress

More parade dancers

The "purifiers"

The masks of the "purifiers" - yes, it was a little bit frightening

More dancers - I loved all the beautiful colors

Look at the beautiful colors of Ecuador clothing!

Myself, Jo and Kathy - 3 of the 5 weekend travelers 

The sunset from our hostel in Cotopaxi

The wonderful view from our hostel in Cotopaxi

Horseback riding in the mountains

We even got to look like Ecuadorian cowboys with our chaps!

The five of us on our horses