Ecuador Update 4: A very special birthday celebration (2.15.07)

I barely slept last night. Shortly after going to bed, I started getting a sinus headache that only got worse as the night went on. By the middle of the night, my head hurt so bad that I was nauseous. Because I was on the top bunk of a tall bunk bed with no ladder, in a strange place, in the dark, in a room where Mike, Jay and Jeff Erwin, our videographer were asleep, I couldn't bring myself to get up, get down and rummage around looking for medicine.

With twelve people needing to get showered and dressed in two bathrooms (and one of the bathrooms is outside), to breakfast by 7:30 a.m. and on the road by 8:00 a.m., Mike got up in our room at 4:00 a.m. to start the shower rotation. Jay followed. By 6:00 a.m., I finally got out of bed to find some medicine. Mike was awake and kind enough to hand me a flashlight to aid my search.

As more people were getting up, I found others were experiencing similar symptoms, if not to the degree of mine. About forty-five minutes later, I started to feel the first tinges of some relief. The jarring rides, the dust, the altitude and the lack of sleep must be taking their toll.
We gathered for breakfast. On the table were cups of fresh fruit Margarita and Marco had prepared for us. Also on the table were bread rolls, butter and something new to most of us for breakfast - fresh homemade caramel to spread on the rolls. After everyone finished off some scrambled eggs, we said our goodbyes to Marco and Margarita and their Akita puppy Eva. Eva didn't pay us much attention, as she was chewing on a small lamb's skull. Life is just different on the farm! Our time at La Posada was a joy, and a bargain at only $22 per person, including meals.

We hit the road to return to Pujili to convene before leaving for the next stop. As slow and arduous as the climb up to the Salamag community was, the journey down the mountain would blow away any theme park ride for speed, turns and near misses. Even Ellie our local interpreter was getting car sick.

After a quick stop in Pujili and a stock up of more soccer balls to give away, we took the thirty minute journey to the Insinch de Tovares Infantes community. We arrived a little early and more buses of kids arrived after we did. The purpose of today's event was a birthday party for World Vision sponsored kids in this community. One day each year, World Vision hosts this party, which included some games, a DJ playing some traditional music, a clown show, a short performance by Big Daddy Weave and gifts. We met Pilar, the World Vision director for this community, who gave us a rundown for the afternoon.

The guys kicked a soccer ball around with some of the kids until it was time for things to start. All the kids were then gathered around for Big Daddy Weave to play them a few songs. A good time was had by all.

While the kids watched the clown, we went into one of the community buildings to be shown an economic development project World Vision was doing there. Sophia, a university intern majoring in Industrial Engineering, joined by another intern Santiago, demonstrated a process where they are making honey and other products from the cuyabo plant. The cuyabo plant is similar looking to an aloe vera plant, but is very large - five to six feet tall. It can have a flowering stem in the center that reaches a height of twenty feet and contains the seeds for the plant.

A hole is bored through the base of the plant, above the ground but just below the base of the leaves. Liquid gathers in this cavity. This liquid is gathered through the hole and cooked to make the products. A large rock is inserted into the hole until it's time to gather liquid again.
In the community kitchen, Sophia and the ladies from the community who do the processing showed us how they cook down the juice and what they make from it. The first is a honey product. They made some waffles for us to dip into the honey for tasting. The honey is sweet and dark, a bit like a thin sorghum. We then tasted a jelly they make spooned on to some graham crackers. This was very popular! Second and third samples were taken. Finally, we were offered small cups of a cider type drink with what appeared to be oats in the bottom of the glass. Again, it was sweet, very delicious and the oats added a nice texture and nut flavor to it.

After congratulations to all for their innovations, we headed outside. It was time to distribute the gifts. Jeremy and Jeff climbed into the back of a pick up truck to hand out back packs to all of the kids. It was a fitting last experience with the kids of Ecuador.

Instead of staying for lunch, we decide to head out so that we might have time to see the equator and buy some gifts for our families. For lunch, we stop at Gus, a local fried chicken chain. Gus can make some chicken! It was very fine fast food and hit the spot.

Passing through Quito, we make it to the equator. We enter the park around it, do a little shopping and take some pictures on the equator line in front of the monument. You could feel everyone starting to relax and recover a bit.

That night, we returned to the first place we arrived when we landed at the beginning of the week, the Hotel Dann Carlton. We dropped off our things and meet in the hotel restaurant for a final dinner with our hosts from World Vision.

Ecuador Update 3: North to Latacunga (2.14.07)

Sleep deprivation is getting to be a little rough for some of us. Our schedule has had us going to bed late and getting up early. When we are sleeping, we hear dogs barking in the night through the thin glass windows. Then, last night someone's car alarm went off at midnight and never stopped. It was still going when we checked out this morning.

Fortunately, we woke up to a new sight. The clouds had moved out and the mountain peaks around Riobamba were a spectacular sight that we saw for the first time, especially the volcano Chimborazo, whose snow-capped top rose high above all others.

We left at 7:30 a.m. and drove north two hours to Latacunga. There we dropped off Helena and Paula, two of our interpreters who had been with us the last two days. Our interpreter Ellie remains with us. We drove fifteen minutes more to the town of Pujili to visit the World Vision office there. Cesar, the head of this office, gave us a presentation on their work. We were joined by a new interpreter, Maria Fernanda, who translated the presentation for us and will be with us the rest of the trip. We are also joined by the office staff and about eight girls, ages 15 to 16 who were all sponsored children and now volunteer for World Vision. It was a powerful thing see and hear from those who had been helped now committed to helping others.

After the presentation, Cesar, Fernanda, Anita, who also works for World Vision, and Sophia, a university intern, climbed into the vans with us to head for our next stop, an alpaca and water project in the Salamag Chico community. Each day we go higher! We pass 13,000 feet on the rugged mountain roads there. Just five minutes from the community, while trying to cross a small creek, we bottom out and get stuck. With the aid of some local people and the people in our vans, rocks, dirt and logs were pushed under the tires and the van given some good shoves. Within fifteen minutes or so, we were back on the road.

After a brief visit to those projects, we headed to a school on top of another ridge in the community to see the school lunch program there. When we arrived, the elementary school children were having a hot lunch of chicken, rice, carrots mixed with remolacha (similar to remolade sauce), and Ecudorean tortillas, which are nothing like Mexican tortillas. They are a mixture of cooked potatoes and cheese that are then fried.

After lunch, the kids came out and played soccer with Big Daddy Weave and the new soccer equipment Big Daddy Weave gave to the school. Mike and Jay fiercly protected both goals, while Jeff, Jeremy and Joe were in the middle of a couple dozen kids mixing it up. I t was great fun watching everyone go all out in the big soccer game. That is, until someone kicked the ball out of bounds, which at this school means it went rolling down the side of the mountain. One of the girls, probably about ten years old, went running for it as we watched the ball go down, down, down until it was out of sight. The kids used another ball until sometime later, she returned with that new soccer ball!

It is carnival time here, which means the kids might pull a prank or two. On our way out, one of our guys was sprayed by water and a group of young girls came up behind me and doused me with a big handful of flour, which went all over my back and right into my open camera bag. It took a few minutes to clean that mess up!

We left the school to have lunch with the Guayanma community. More mountain roads until we reached a point the vans could navigate no further. A truck came up from the community to take some the rest of the way while some of us walked the last part.

Whenever I mention a visit to a community, I'm usually talking about anywhere from one to five small concrete block buildings, sometimes with glass in the windows, sometimes not, with concrete floors, and a metal roof. One or more of the buildings is the school, one is a community building and one a gardening building. The people don't live here. They walk from their homes, which are far enough away as to not usually be in sight of the community, and which are either mud brick one room dwellings with thatched roofs or small concrete buildings with tin roofs, or something that's a hybrid of both styles.

The people that come to the community are usually dressed in brightly colored wool and/or alpaca shawls and ponchos, wear the traditional felt hat, and might wear brightly colored beads and woven belts. They are by race usually either indigenous people or mestizo, which is a mix of spanish and black and which is the primary race of Ecuador. They speak Spanish or the native language Quichua (pronounced KEE-choo-ah). There are about fifty to one hundred people present in each of the communities we visit.

We are led to the community building, which is a bit dark on the inside, only lit by the window light. The women cook somewhere out of sight and we are served by men. Plates come out with boiled brown eggs and small boiled purple potatoes and golden yellow potatoes. A seperate plate filled with salt is set on the table for dipping. Then we are served a metal bowl of chicken broth with a piece of boiled chicken - a leg or thigh or some other piece in it. It was delicious. Certainly more familiar tasting than the guinea pig the day before! Unfortunately, some of our crew were not feeling very well at that point. The combination of high altitude, long rough, twisting rides and unfamiliar smells left them feeling poorly.

After lunch, we step outside to be addressed by the president of the community. He speaks first in Spanish, then in Quichua, telling the people the importance of working together, about being united, and about how much they appreciate this special visit by us and how much they appreciate what is being done here. Through our interpreter, we reply with our gratitude, the privilege we consider it to be here, and our commitment to work and pray for their community.
After our goodbyes, there is some discussion among us about whether or not to go to our last stop of the day due to those feeling ill. With a little time spent in fresh air and not in motion, however, the guys that were not feeling well are now thankfully starting to feel better. We decide we can make it.

We arrive in the last town, known as Guangaje. The reception here is bigger and in some ways more unusal than any yet. People surround the vans, reaching in as the door opens to shake our hands even before we can get out. They throw handfuls of tiny yellow flowers our way. A band of four older men - one playing a handmade bass drum, one playing a handmade snare drum and two playing wooden flutes - play loudly to welcome us. As we get out, the people press in close to us, wanting to shake our hands or merely look at us up close.

While waiting for things to get more organized, the digital camera I'm using and its display become a big hit. I would take a picture of a group of kids, then turn the camera around so they could see themselves on the display. They thought that was pretty great. They would shove through, trying to be in a picture to see themselves. Mothers with babies strapped to their backs with shawls pressed in to get pictures of their babies.

We know we're supposed to go into a church and somehow end up in one as part of a flowing mob. It turns out to be the Catholic church and we're supposed to be in the Protestant church across the road. We file out and the crowd follows. The Protestant church is a block building about fifty feet long by twenty feet wide, with the same concrete floor and metal roof as other places we've been. There's nothing in it except some simple benches that line the perimeter and a desk at the front. The people stand or sit on the floor.

The leader of the church says they will have their choir sing for us. Two songs are sung by small children, then two by adults. All of the songs resemble the chants of native Americans, and are sang with passion. Big Daddy Weave then returned the favor by playing two songs for the people there. They were well received as the people clapped along. As we were leaving, Jeff even played his drum with the band of older men as we made our way out.

The whole day has been an amazing experience and we are all pretty exhausted at this point. We head for the location of our stay for the night. The winding roads take us to La Posada de Tigua. It's a former hacienda owned by a sweet, caring couple named Margarita and Marco. It is a 200 hectacre farm that has been in Marco's family for many years. In fact, when Marco's father owned it, it was a 30,000 hectacre farm. In 1965, the government took the land to distribute to the local people and left them these 200 hectacres.

The rooms are hacienda style with bunk beds and two to four people to a room. There is one bathroom inside and one outside for us to share. The hot water in the outsiide bathroom is heated by an alcohol burner that must be lit.

Before dinner, Marco and Margarita ask us to join them for a warm cider type drink to relax and prepare for dinner. We then go to the dining room where Marco and Margarita have prepared and serve us a lovely meal with food grown and produced on this farm. Everything was wonderful. All would agree that we needed this comforting, relaxing moment in the week.
We gathered in the living area after dinner for Big Daddy Weave to serenade Margarita and Marco on this Valentine's day. They were very touched. Exhausted, but more relaxed, we head to bed. Tomorrow is another early start, with our destination the Insinch de Tovares Infantes community for a birthday party for World Vision sponsored children.

Ecuador update 2: Above the clouds (2.13.07)

We left the Hotel Zeus in Riobamba at 7:30 a.m. this morning. We drove forty minutes to the town of Palmir. This is the site of the local World Vision office for the projects we are going to visit today. They gave us a presentation on all of their activities in the region, from clean water projects to agricultural programs to education initiatives.

One of the interesting agricultural works is the alpaca project. Because the people live at such a high elevation, the vegetation is sparse and tender. World Vision has been providing alpaca to help conserve the environment and provide a more profitable resource for the local people than the sheep they have been raising. Alpaca eat a seventh of what sheep eat, just eat the tops of the plants and don't pull up the roots as sheep do, and have feet more like dogs so more vegetation survives under foot.

Our next stop is a school in the San José community. The trip there has us leaving the paved roads and hitting the much more rugged dirt and rock roads. The going is slow at times, navigating ruts, rocks and gulleys. In some places the road is like soft volcanic ash, like powder, that will cover us all before the day is over.

After some time, we reach the school. It is at an altitude of 11,500 feet. On the drive there, we were literally looking down on the clouds below us. On arrival, I could feel a sense of joy there. Though rustic, it was bright and colorful, and the kids and parents there seemed happy, even though we had been taken to the wrong school at first and they had been waiting for us 1 1/2 hours after school was over. The local director tells us that the students range in age from toddlers to age 14. We also learn that these kids walk 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to school, which starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at noon. We were able to view the library-combination-6th grade classroom and the seven year olds class. In the classroom, the director presented Big Daddy Weave with some colorful woven belts they had made, and all in our party with some small woven wool baskets with a yarn string to be worn around the neck to carry food.

We arrived in sunshine, but halfway through the visit we were covered in the middle of a cloud that had rolled through. Through this cloud, we walked outside to hear a presentation from the children. With banners flying, they marched in and sang us a song, accompanied by an adult on classical guitar. They all offered their thanks for the work World Vision has done there. The Big Daddy Weave guys brought the school a soccer ball and some other inflatable balls that they presented to the director. In closing, they brought us some boiled brown eggs, roasted potatoes and sliced tomatoes to hold us along the way.

The roads may have seemed rugged before, but they got even more so on the way to our next stop. Our van arrived in the community of Galte Laime with the van Big Daddy Weave was in nowhere in sight. They had unfortunately gotten lost. Those of us in our van decided to wait inside the van until they arrived. We now know what living in a fishbowl must be like. Visitors, let alone foreign visitors, are a rarity to this community that exists at 12,400 feet, is probably an hour's drive from the nearest paved road, and with the small school the only building in sight. Children gathered around the van, rapped on the glass and studied us with a look that said they hadn't seen anything quite like us before.

With time ticking away, the local director felt that we needed to begin and hope that Big Daddy Weave's van would show up soon. We sat on small school chairs on the front porch of the school. The local people gathered in a large circle around us, their clothes bright and colorful and most wearing the traditional felt hat. A group of girls about twelve years old sang us a song, a type of hymn, while an adult played a small portable keyboard. They were followed by a group of boys about the same age who were dressed as girls. Why, we don't know. Most played a drum, with one playing a pan flute and another a harmonica, doing a kind of stomp dance and singing. One boy had a live chicken hanging by it's feet from his belt while another had a live guinea pig hanging from his belt.

At about the middle of the boys' song, Big Daddy Weave arrived. Again, many thanks were given by the community. They had also made a special effort to cook for us. At a table in the classroom, they set out small silver bowls containing peeled roasted potatoes topped with something that was a first for all of us - roasted guinea pig. This was accompanied by a cup of a thick drink made with a type of grain.

During lunch, we asked where people buy their goods. We were told they must walk to the nearest paved road to catch the bus to Riobamba, and that they may do this once or twice per month. Considering it took us an hour to drive there, that is quite a walk, especially when you consider that they must carry everything they buy on the walk back.

As we said goodbye and walked to the vans, we were definitely feeling a bit more winded in this altitude. But, we weren't through ascending. Onward and upward to our next stop, the alpaca project.

The roads became even tougher, steeper and more rutted, and in some places, not looking very much like roads at all. After some driving to what felt like the top of the world, we stop to discuss what to do since we're not seeing any buildings or a farm. One of our local guides tells us that from here, we are not going to the alpacas. They are coming to us, and to watch the ridge above us.

Sure enough, in a few minutes the alpaca appeared, driven by a couple of the local men. We walked up to see them and take a few pictures. They are a very gentle animal and were fairly unconcerned with us.

By this time, it started to rain. We begin the long drive back to Riobamba. We are all pretty worn out from the altitude, the dust, the jarring rides and the emotional and spiritual experiences we've had today.

Upon arrival at the hotel, we close the night with pizza at Monaco Pizzeria across the street. It's very good, but tastes especially good tonight as we rest and visit with our new friends who have led us through the day. We make a short stop at the Cabinas Telefonicas (a business with inexpensive per minute phone booths) to call our families. Then, off to bed. Tomorrow, we leave Riobamba and head north to Latacunga.

An update from Ecuador (2.12.07):

We landed in Quito last night at about 10:45 p.m. After breakfast this morning, which along with eggs and sausage, included a type of barbecue beef in a spicy tomato sauce served over rice, fried plaintains, popcorn, roasted hominy, shrimp cocktail and local fruits like papaya.

We then headed to the World Vision office, the agency that brought us here. They gave us a presentation about Ecuador and the work that World Vision is doing here. We learned that 80% of Ecuadorans live on less than $1 per day, among other things.

After that, we bought some bags of paper thin slices of fried plaintains and some drinks to start our road trip. The plaintains chips were crispy, salty and delicious. They will hold us until lunch.

The five guys from Big Daddy Weave, their booking agent Greg, me, a World Vision rep from the head office in Seattle, a videographer, three local interpreters and two drivers climbed into two vans and headed south. We're headed for Riobamba, about five hours south of Quito. About two hours into the trip, we stopped for lunch at El Café de la Vaca. It is in about as picturesque a spot in the mountains as you could want. The food is also very fresh, as the specialty is steak and the cows are fed and mlked right by the front door! They started us with some fresh cheese
made on the premises, something similar to fresh mozzerella. The cheese is served with a very hot, creamy pimento and peppers sauce to put over the top - a very good starter. That was followed by a tasty, creamy plaintain soup with potatoes and cabbage. The main course was a filet mignon in a pepper mushroom sauce and fried potatoes. Everything was very, very good. To give you an idea of the economy, that steak and fries was about $4.00. I finished with a cup of chocolate especial, which is hot chocolate with cinammon, marshmallows and fresh cheese in it! Definitely a first for me, but it was surprisingly good.

As I write this, we have been on the road to Riobamba for two more hours and still have 44 kilometers to go. The trip is slow with many steep inclines and passing through many towns and villages, but there's not much better way to see the country. It is beautiful and simple. The dwellings where we are right now are generally small block buildings, many without windows.
We have seen cows, sheep and alpaca driven along the road, people washing clothes in the river, and many people waiting along the mountain roads for the buses that pass by.

We're excited about what is in store for us this week. More tomorrow!

Photos from 2.12.07. Roll your cursor over them for labels. Click on them to see them larger.