Pictures
There are not pictures here anymore... it has stopped letting me post them or I don´t know how to make it work. Anyway, I put up pictures on snapfish.com... if you didnt get an email about them... let me know and I will ¨invite you.¨
Also, there are pictures on Facebook. If you do that or want to see my pictures more easily and regularly than do a facebook page. Good luck.
Wet and Wild... with a sore butt
You learn something new everyday, that´s what they say at least. On Saturday, I learned that although riding a horse bareback through the Andes sounds like an adventure, it really is just a way to bruise your tailbone while distracting yourself from the amazing beauty that is around you. If it doesn´t have a saddle, walk.
In other news, this weekend (really until Tuesday-tomorrow) is carnaval. It is the most fun holiday that I have yet experienced anywhere!! The basic idea is that during the day everyone (there are no exceptions) gets extremely wet. This happens by groups of people, sometimes kids and sometimes adults, banding together to chase people down or carry them out of their houses to dump water on them. If you are wearing dry clothes, you are fair game. So fun. Kids that leave near the highway just stand about by the road throwing buckets of water at open windows or people in the back of pickups (like me). Or if you happen to have water balloons (like me) then you pick off rowdy young people when the least expect it from your mobile base (again - the back of a pickup truck). Anyway, it is definitly a holiday that the US needs to catch on to!
Question for consideration today: How can I show someone that they are valuable? Would it take any effort or just a little intentionality to insure that someone (important to you... or just a casual acquaintance) feel appreciated? hmmm.
From Riobamba
I am writing from a city about 8 hours from home. I just finished a bee keeping conference, which was Super interesting and will be headed back home on a bus that leaves here at 10pm (I should get into Ibarra (the big city a little more than an hour from where I live) at about 5 am tomorrow and then I have some meetings to go to in the morning, before heading back to my little town).
During the day, I could see the tallest peak in Ecuador, which at 6,300m puts it a little over 20,000ft. It also happens to be the farthest point in the world from the center of the earth and-or the closest point on the eart to the sun. (Interesting, huh? Anyone want to climb it with me?)
Thought I would put some more pictures here from your enjoyment since I finally brought some with me to the computer. Sorry, they are not of my current adventures (bulls or bees) because I haven´t been good about taking pictures lately.
The Bulls and Bees
Fun story:
I went to the Fiestas at the bigger town that is about an hour a way (Mira - where I lived for about a month). The main attraction on this Saturday night, (the fiestas are all week, but the main events happen on Friday and Saturday) was something called El Novillo de Bomba. Apparently it is something that only happens in this one town and in a certain part of Spain (although the same thing without fire and in the daytime happens throughout Ecuador).
**I can see you stop and think, ¨Without fire... and in the day¨... that means that this incorporates fire and is the night? hmmm.
Yes. What happens is that around 5-6,000 people go to the local soccer field/ Bull fighting ring at about 9:00pm. They find a huge bull and rap oil-soaked rags around his horns and light them on fire. Then they light a huge bonfire somewhere on the field (I think mainly because it looks cool) and a couple hundred people enter into the ring to try and taunt the bull into chasing them.
It isn´t that dangerous if you are not drunk and maintain a small amount of inteligence. So that means that for many of the participants, it is very dangerous. I will say, it is a big adrenaline rush to come within a few inches of grabbing the bulls tail... at least... that is what they tell me. ;)
My schedule for this week:
I happen to still be in the big city on Monday morning, which very rarely happens, because of the Superbowl last night. (Was sad that my adopted city of Chicago came up short). Normally, I will just come in to Ibarra quickly on Saturday morning and go back home the same day - 3 to 4 hour round trip.
Monday:
- Visit an NGO (World Vision) and a micro-financing non-profit organization here in Ibarra to see if they can help out me of I can help them in a variety of projects.
- Take an hour bus to a bridge and then walk an hour into my town.
- Walk around town and try to arrange a meeting for later in the evening with a group of women for a foundation I work with.
- Do a little bit of cleaning and cooking (pretty much everything I cook is from scratch, becuase it is way cheaper... it also takes a while to make).
- Plan classes for the rest of the week. This week I only have three high school classes and a adult ed. class (teaching them to read).
- Work on writing out a few projects I have in mind. Need to finish the applications for funding.
- Do the meeting with the women.
- Hang out at the soccer field (really a basketball court), visit a couple of families, hang out with my neighbors and maybe play chess with my 16 year old buddy.
Tuesday
- Hop the only bus the leaves my town (5:45am). Then switch buses after a 30 ride. Another 30 min and I arrive in Mira.
- Meet with my counterpart and work on grant applications (cool guy that requested a volunteer from the Peace Corps and who helps me out sometimes).
- Attend a meeting on a re-forestation project that I want to help out with. It is a ¨planning meeting¨ with the technical team. They invited me, but I don´t know what they have in mind.
- Hop on bus leaving Mira. Switch buses (which means that I wait on the side of the road for 15m to 30m waiting for a bus or a pickup truck to pass and give me a ride). Bridge. Hour walk - don´t worry, it is beautiful following a river and then through the mountains. I will get there right about at sunset too.
- Play chess and make dinner with Daniel (teenage friend).
Wednesday
- Walk 20m down the valley to the next town and teach 3 classes on ¨Good relationships¨ to High School kids. It is the opening class for a series that will involve safe sex, abstinence, and HIV-AIDS info.
- Go back home and beg lunch from my neighbor - Rice and beans with fresh fruit juice and maybe some chicken or vegetables.
- Walk the hour to another community and teach some kids in 6th grade their alphabet. We play lots of games too.
- Meet with a group of women in the community who are doing the ¨community bank¨ program that I helped them start 3 months ago.
- Walk the hour back home... chess or dinner with my neighbors.
Thursday
- Relax, read, and clean in the morning.
- Work on the grant proposals.
- Walk around the community and talk with a couple of people about various ¨work things¨, as well as just chatting.
- Adult class in the evening.
- Hang out with my neighbors and best friends.
Friday
- Leave with two community members to go to a Bee Keeping conference. The trip is an hour walk and three bus rides that total about 9 hours. We will come back on Sunday evening.
**Going to try and help 10 to 20 people from my community get started bee keeping. Honey is really expensive here and it would be a great money making option for some of these families. We´ll see how it goes.
