Wednesday, September 28, 2011

A few of weeks ago was the Reconnect conference for those of us in my training group. The 35 of us who remain of the original 42 returned with a counterpart to Tumbaco, sight of our training. We volunteers stayed with our host families from training, which was absolutely wonderful.  Mine always makes a point to remind me that I have a second home there, a message that has definitely set in. Reconnect happened to coincide with my birthday, for which we ordered Pizza Hut and ate cake, though disappointingly, no one attempted to shove my face in the cake as is the custom here for the cumpleañero.

Basically all of the volunteers expressed some degree of frustration with how things are going in out respective sites. According to everyone in the Peace Corps, staff and volunteers alike, this is par for the course after 4-5 months. Some people were annoyed with their living situation; others with their work situation or the language barrier many had hoped to have overcome by that point. Ecuadorian culture and its complete lack of regard for punctuality and machismo were other common targets of people’s ire, as was rice (though not by me of course).

Aside from the airing of the grievances*, there were also workshops in project planning and cross-cultural communication (how to work with people who live in small towns in the campo) that we attended with our counterparts. I went with Daniel from the Office of Environmental Management in the municipio. I came away impressed with him and his knowledge and motivation. That said, I also have been growing increasingly skeptical about working with the municipio because of the budget situation and how it has derailed essentially all of our office’s plans, and the general lack of direction that they have provided me on what they would like me to work on.

I was in no hurry to return to Arenillas so I went to Gringolandia Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador with a few friends. It’s on the way home from Tumbaco in the sense that half of the country in only an hour or two out of the way because I have to travel 12+ hours to get to any official Peace Corps meeting. We stayed in a sweet hostel, went to an English language bookstore, and watched football on the satellite hookup at an American owned bar that caters to the expat community. It was a nice break, but it felt weird to be there.

I returned to some bad news, my friend and neighbor Victor had been hit by a car and was in a coma.  He passed away last Thursday.  Victor was one of handful of people who I feel like went out of his way to make me feel welcome here, inviting me to things, introducing me to people, and letting me use his workshop to build my furniture. I am not exaggerating in saying that at least 15 of his family members are also my friends and neighbors as well. He’ll be missed.  The funeral process here is a three-day event. There was essentially a three day wake that began when the body was brought back from the mortuary, and lasted until it was carried in a procession to the church for the mass. There were chairs set up outside in the street, and when the body first arrived at 11:15 at night the whole community was present. The custom here is that there has to be someone present to accompany the body at all times over the three days. After the mass, the body was carried across town in another procession. First the flowers, then the people carrying the casket, then the rest of the walkers, followed by the cars and motorcycles. It reminded me of a second line, but lacking the music. A few more dedications were read at the cemetery, and the casket was placed in an above ground crypt. From there everyone returned to the house for one final night of mourning and reminiscing.

On a happier note, it’s the fiestas patronales of Arenillas this week. Every town in Ecuador (Latin America? The Catholic world?) has a patron saint, and a big celebration on that saint’s day. Festivities kicked off last weekend with the Pregón, a parade of the different schools and institutions in town. Everyone is in costume, mostly traditional indigenous wear, and prepares a dance or other performance. I was at Colegio Technico, the big high school, last Thursday talking with Renee, one of the other PC volunteers here in Arenillas. We were invited to learn the dance that the group would be performing the next day in the Pregón, and think nothing of it, accepted. Next thing we knew they were inviting us to be in the performance and handing us our costumes. I’ll post the video when I get a copy. Other events on the official festival calendar for this weekend include: a city wide dance in the park, a 4x4 rally, and what I believe is a foam party held at a discoteca, sure to bring glory to our patron saint.

The power has been out here as I’ve been writing this. I just went outside for a moment and found out why this is. The power company is cleaning off all of the moss and other plants growing on the lines. They’re doing this by throwing a weighted rope over the line, grabbing it by both ends, and sliding it along the length of the cable, thus scraping of the plants. Asi es la vida.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Apartment

I present to you, my apartment.  I ran out of memory while going to the laundry area so that part got cut off.