Fruit in Ecuador

     The fuit here is amazing! I cannot even begin to explain the real flavor of fruits here. I didn't eat very many fruits before I came here--I was more of a vegtable type of gal, but now I eat a few a day.

First, HOMEMADE fruit juices are abundant and common in every household. I had a lot of different kinds when I first arrived, but I love water, and therefore, my host mother only makes it a couple of times a week. Many of my friends here have a different juice every morning with breakfast. There is blackberry (my favorite), passionfruit, grapefruit, pineapple, apple, tree tomato, guana, guaba, and many more with fruits that we do not have in the states.

     Aside from the juices, fruits are worked into meals and are just amazing in flavor. The weird thing is--when you see a fruit before it is served to you, it does not look ripe, or looks bruised. I was hesitant at first to eat the fruit. But then I realized that that is what fruit is SUPPOSED to look like. It's all natural in the markets here and no preservatives or strains to have bigger fruits. I thought that the nasty looking fruit would be subpar to the fruit in the states but it is the complete opposite! The fruit here is natural and just tastes SO much better. I will never be able to eat a banana the same way in the states again. It's weird to think with all of the rules to keep fruit under certain regulations, and genetically modified strains to avoid certain diseases or make the fruits bigger, that they taste SO BAD and lose their original flavor.

      The apples are my favorite here. You can get 5 apples for a dollar and other fruits for just as cheap. There are always street vendors around selling fruit and it is a nice little snack if you are out and about. The fruit in the states will be tasteless to me when I get home. They can never match the juiciness and ripeness of the fruits here in the natural state.

Poverty

     The poverty here is not so easy to deal with. After the initial shock you can shut it out, but if you simply take the time to notice the people around you here in Quito, you cannot ignore it. I go to what is usually said to be the nicest university in eucador, and so I only encounter poverty when I'm around in the city or on my daily bus rides.
     On bus rides here in Quito, people have street corners where they get on the bus as it is stopped at the light and get on pushing their goods to sell. It's almost always food--homemade chips, candy, drinks, ice cream, yogurt, and when it's not food, it's ilegal pirated DVDs that you can buy anywhere on the streets. What pains me to see is that it is the same people. every. single. day. all day. This is their job, their life. They spend their days hopping on a couple hundred buses a day, yelling the same slogans, and trying to sell their goods. At first I was a bit naive and thought this is interesting and I can buy stuff if I want. But then, after two or three weeks, I realized THIS IS THIER LIFE. They don't have an office, probably not a car, and probably live in a poor neighborhood. Their goals are selling goods that are under a dollar--each sale is petty change to me, but probably adds up for them.
     And maybe they have to support a family... it just becomes too much. Sometimes it makes me feel bad for living my life the way I do. I was able to ignore them for a while, but then you forget about them and I watch and try and smile at them, sometimes buying something if I need it. But the hardest to see are the children who sell newspapers and candy. My heart just absolutly breaks for these kids, who are not in school as they should be, instead spending all day selling goods to probably give the money straight to their parents. And sometimes they get on the bus and start singing songs to get money and sell candy. I usually buy from them, but all I am doing is adding to the cyle of poverty.
     And the kids in the city, who walk around with shoe shining kits, scarves, and food to sell are even worse. They are always wearing old tattered clothes, and their faces are dirty--something that I can't help but wonder if is part of their act and their parents make them look worse off than they are. They are always dark skinned, and the farther south you go in the city you go, the more povershed children you find. It's interesting to standing back and watch them work. They know what they are doing. A lot of them hang out and try to work around the historical center, the old beautiful part of Quito that is close to the poor neighborhoods. They wait for groups of gringos (foreigners) to come through and just bombard you, thinking you have money--which in comparason to them is true, begging, and putting on their sad faces.
     It is hard to watch and I become torn of whether or not to buy anything. If I buy something, it gives them reason to stay on the streets, not go to school, never leave their neighborhood, and contribute to the cycle of poverty that exists. But at the same time, I wonder if they really are as bad off as they seem, or are they just trying to make money and know what they are doing? I've come to my own reasoning to only buy food, water, or other tokens from them if I need them. Or if they are performing and singing as they are just took cute to resist at that point.
     But also, on each corner there are street performers. Usually adults dancing, twirling ribbons, juggling, breathing fire, or some other sort of magic trick as cars wait at the lights. Most of them are pretty lame, but sometimes the jugglers are pretty good with people standing on shoulders throwing pins back and forth with their partners. My friend was dating a guy who dances on the street here and the dynamics of being a street performer are not so forward. Each performer has their own main intersection and there can be fights if someone else shows up and works other corners at the same time. How you obtain the intersections as your own, I do not know. But as a kid, this friend once collected $100 dollars in a day dancing on the street--his parents just took the money. They made him start doing dancing when he was 13 years old. Now he makes between $20-50 a day, which helps him get by. He basically lives in a tin shack, but is the happiest person I have met during my time here in Ecuador. He is working on getting out of the cycle and goes to classes on Saturdays.
      So there is hope, but for every kid that gets out of the poverty, I still know their are a five who didn't. I appreciate every cent I have now, and I try to be concious of what I am buying and where it comes from. 

Yachana

Ok, so it has become the final countdown of my days here in Ecuador. I just got back from the Amazon where I volunteered at a local high school for almost two weeks. It was by far--the best time I have had in Ecuador so far.

I really enjoyed getting to know the students of the high school. They were kinder and embraced me more than students at my high school ever did in four years. They would just come up to me, speak some English and then we would switch over to Spanish as they told me about their lives there at the high school and back home from mostly rural areas of Ecuador.

During my time there I:

• had a chance to go to a local market by taking a canoe down the Napo River
• swam in the river multiple times, including chalecking--wearing a life jacket and taking a canoe up river and then floating down it with a group of people
• helped build a terrace with the students in the main area of their high school
• met some of the locals from the community as I sat down and had a beer with them
• went to the community clinic when I got sick. The clinic is part of the foundation and the only one of its kind unless you go hours north or south to a city hospital
• attempted to teach English to the students, but mostly just played games and did little projects with the classes (how do you explain the difference between 'of' and 'from'?!)
• learned some new Quichewa words and phrases--also learned that the Quichewa class that I took last semester is Quichewa of the Sierra (mountains) which is different from the Quichewa of the Jungle
• Attempted to play soccer with the students, but in reality just ran up and down the field after the ball
• learned how to take cold showers--quickly
• stopped killing bugs, because there will always be another one to replace the one you just killed
• found out that insect repellent is really bad for your body over time, and that Johnson Baby Oil does the same thing. So you will be all greasy--but bugs leave you alone while you are not harming your nervous system
• candles work just fine when the generator that provides electricity stops working
• that I still get nervous speaking Spanish with adults, but it was like talking to friends with the students
• that the jungle is the most beautiful place in the world

I can honestly say that volunteering in the Jungle was the most positive experience of my life. I am very timid here in Ecuador as I am scared to speak up if I am not sure of what the conversation topic is. Also, volunteering here is completely self-sufficient. So there was not someone there telling me what to do, I had to do everything on my own. Being out there, away from the city, a big community, by myself, with people I do not know and who do not speak my language--I learned a lot. I am considering coming back after I graduate and maybe teach or find another job. I just could not get enough of the life out there.

So now I have three more days here in this wonderful country. While I am preparing to leave, I am going to be posting blog updates that I wrote while I did not have access to internet.

Back in the Amazon

Before coming back to the amazon, I was in Misuallhi helping out translating for a medical brigade. It just so happens that the brigade is from my university abroad for winter term--small world. So I was the brigade for a few days and really enjoyed our time as we went out to rural areas around Tena and provided much needed medical care. 

Now, I'm in the amazon currently, a few hours north of Tena at a place called Yachana (which means school in Quichewa). Right now I am having the time of my life volunteering for a high school that has it roots in a eco-tourism foundation that is here to help the people of the surrounding communities.

I came here in November with my study abroad group and I loved it so much that I came back for two weeks. I came the high school with a project, but arrived and found that they need an English teacher for a week (and are lacking three other teachers that did not return). I said I would teach--but I did not know it was such an undertaking. I teach everyday for 3-5 hours depending on the schedule for three classes. They gave me no materials and I had no idea what the students had learned already about the language. So the first day was rough. When I had an idea about each class, I started thinking of ideas and lesson plans. I usually play games with them that involve vocabulary or phrases for most of the class (pictionary, draw a map of your town and label the places). It has become easier as I have a group from the nearby Yachana Lodge (also part of the foundation) helping me out for a few days.

Life here is interesting. We live by the sun. So every morning I get up at 5:30 and eat breakfast. Then class till 1:30, then afternoon chores around the high school and the surrounding farm. And I am in bed by 9 every night. The students are so kind to me and help me with my Spanish as I help them with English. My Spanish has reached new levels and I cannot believe how much it has improved.

I am enjoying it here through all the sweat and the bug bites (the amazon is so beautiful). And I don't want to go back to Quito or the States--I have a week and a half left here! It's crazy to realize that is it January already!

Cuenca and New Year's Eve

Ok a bit has happened recently--here's the update.

Montenita ended up great! The beach city was welcoming, laid-back, and SUNNY! I went dancing the last night I was there and was hanging out with some locals there. The only downfall--I dropped my camera in the sand. And I just got this camera three months ago (my first one was stolen on my third day here). Whoops. Down two digital cameras in Ecuador now. So pictures will be very limited from here on out.

After, I came back to Quito before Christmas--I wish I had something to say about the holiday here. It was just like any other day. A lot of places were open and running and it was a nice and sunny day. Christmas here is really just a day to spend with family, point blank. In the United States we value getting that perfect present and having a perfect Christmas--here that does not exist. A day with family and then back to off to regular life. Christmas carols and lights (especially nativity scenes) are very prevalent, but I think only because the copy the United States to some extent.

Then I went to Cuenca, a beautiful world heritage site in the far south of Ecuador. I went with a friends who is here for a year, and we to Ecuador's third biggest city saving us a 10 hours bus ride for a $100 round-trip flight.

We ended up in this sweet little hostal run by a woman and her two sons. The historical part of Cuenca is a city full of narrow streets, red roofs, balconies, and many little cafes and restaurants. And there are about a dozen churches scattered in between. My friend, Becca, and I walked around to all the churches, walked along the rivers, went to the museums displays of indigenous clothing from across the continent and other art, went to an overlook of the city, and went to the thermal springs.

What was a damper on the trip was that I became really sick in Cuenca. It started out with a cold, then that was gone and replaced with a headache that felt like someone was carving a statue out of brain, and a stomachache that wouldn't let me go very far. It hurt to lay down. My body's muscles were so tired of laying down that laying down was just uncomfortable. Eventually, after three days, it got so bad that I was in tears and the lady who owned the hostal took me to the hospital. It was not serious, it was just to get medicine. The ended up taking me to a military hospital and I was examined by doctors in uniform with white lab coats on--I felt like I was in a government experiment. I got some medicine and felt better within hours. And two days later I feel much better--I will never take a healthy day for granted again.

And then was New Year's in Quito! Here they make Nuevo Anos--effigies that represent politicians, deceased family, and other scenes from the old year. Then, they BURN them at midnight. And a lot of these displays are pretty big. You create them and burn them with your family and community. Also, on the streets, all the men dress up as women and stop every car that passes by them as they dance for a few cents and flirt with the drivers. This makes the traffic on new years very slow.

I was still sick, and I did not want to go out and drink, but went with my program director and two others to South Quito to a house that was a friend of my director's. There we hung out till midnight as they burned the effigy, then danced for hours afterwards. It was very calm, but I enjoy the tradition here more. New Year's Eve is a reflective time with your family and community and not all about drinking as it is in the States for people my age.

I'm in Quito for a few more days then off to the Amazon!