De Empezar - July 6

I haven’t been too great about posting blogs, so rather than try and chronicle the last 2 weeks or so, I thought I’d just mention some of the highlights.

My group took our first cultural trip to Mascarilla – an Afro-Ecuatorian centric area about 2 hours north of Cayambe, in a valley, so its tropical. Mascarilla is known for its masks, the dance – la bomba - and futbolistas. I made a mini mask (see picture), but it cracked in the sun. I posted some pictures of the real masks too. There are only a few hundred people who live in Mascarilla – it is a rural town, and appeared to be pretty poor – but because of the handmade masks and other artisans its on the tourist map. In Mascarilla they also have big organic farms and grow bananas, papayas, mangoes, peppers and more. We also saw aloe plants, another plant used as insect repellant, and another plant that shampoo is made from.

I went to my first ever bull fight at the Plaza de Torros with my familia. Picture a big ring with about 70-100 men in it, all drinking, and a bull being taunted. It makes for a pretty good show. Some of the braver men ride the bulls out every once in a while rodeo style. In the 4 hours or so that I was there, I witnessed about 4 bull-to-person contacts, and the Red Cross had to rush into the ring to carry men out on stretchers. I’m still not sure if anyone died that night or not.

I got sick (puked a couple times and had a fever) for the first time last week. I felt awful for about 24 hours, only being awake for about 6 of those 24. Luckily my body is muy fuerte and I was back to myself in time for July 4th festivities. Well, actually July 3rd – we celebrated Ecuatorian style with a futbol tournament and a “Reina Competicion.” My friend JCov was La Reina! As part of the competicion, each language group came up with a cheer and the potential Reinas had to answer why they’d make a good volunteer in their site – in Spanish of course. This may sound pretty basic, however, keep in mind that my language group rides the short bus, so our victory was huge, at least to us.

A few of my favorite Cayambian things:

• Bizcochas with Nutella – Cayambe is known for its bizcochas, which are like pieces of bread that melt in your mouth. The Nutella is a North American thing…
• Fresh juice every morning. This morning I had tomate de arbol, but my favorite is mora (raspberry). And when I say fresh, I mean fresh. We bought the tomate de arbol at the mercado at 6:45 am during our every other day family run.
• Desfiles todos los fin de semanas. I’ve finally posted some pictures from a couple of the parades I’ve been to in Cayambe. They are literally every weekend, and sometimes during the week.
• Mountain Cayambe – I don’t even know if that’s really what its called, but it is such a beautiful, snow covered mountain that you can only see when its clear. On days when its cloudy, you wouldn’t be able to tell that the mountain/volcano existed. I’ve tried posting some pics of it, but my camera sucks and the photos don’t do it justice.

I still can’t believe this Wednesday will mark the 3rd week I’ve been here. I think once I hit week 4 it will feel more permanent and “home” will feel further away. Its hard to explain how it feels now…I’ve had such a tight schedule and need to learn so much that it doesn’t feel like my own life, so its hard to feel settled and like this is home. My host family is great and so are the people in my language group that live in Cayambe close to me. But its like I rush through every day, to go to bed, get up, and do it all over again. Its like I’m at camp or something. I guess this hand-holding breaks the reality in more easily and gradually. But I think in 2 weeks when I head to my site I will get a wake up call.