Asi Es La Vida...

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.

posted by Steve @ 4:41 AM