Quitofest!

These are some pictures of a big concert i went with Claire. There were tons of local bands and others from all around Latin America. We spent the night listening to the music and then walking around el Centro Historico with people we met at the concert. Its absolutly beautiful at night!

Sí o No?

Sat, Sep. 27

Today was the first ‘normal’ Saturday that I have had since I arrived in Ecuador over a month ago. I woke up relatively early, for a Saturday, to finish my midterm- a very big accomplishment as it was a three part essay written in Spanish-which I promptly sent off to the professor by 9am. I had made plans with my friend Leo yesterday to go jogging this morning around the park across the street from my house. He came and we met Claire in Parque Carolina for our run. Being as I still can’t last very long in our high altitude we lapped it once and then sat down in the grass to rest and toss the Frisbee. As we were starting to play around a little boy, maybe 6 years old came up and asked if he could play, ‘Quiero jugar!’ Thrilled, we began to play with our new amigitio, Yon Marques, and were quickly joined by three other friends and a cousin: Eva (age 2), Jefferson (5), Paúl (4) and Maribel, (probably also about 6) The 8 of us played a small game of fútbol and I think that all of them could have beat me, even the smallest one, with a blindfold on. I was playing golie and when I let the third goal through Yon let out a big screamed in frustration, ‘Courtney!!’ All I could do was laugh! Haha

The game was followed by hours of handstands, wheelbarrow races, swings, ring around the rosie, songs, tickle fights and laughter. We were even joined at one point by another little girl whose grandmother asked if we would mind letting her join in the fun. After a while, sitting with Jefferson tightly wrapped up in my arms we began to ask the kids about their parents. I hadn’t really thought anything of it, but after a few hours of not seeing an adult I had begun to wonder if the kids we just alone in the huge park. It was neat to have Leo there also to help when I couldn’t quite understand everything they were saying. Yon Marques pointed out his father to me as one of the many men across the street selling sweets and other random trinkets to the oncoming traffic. He said that his papí no longer loved his mamí, although they still slept in the same bed. Yon asked me if I loved my husband, and I told him that I wasn’t married, but I hoped that someday I would love him very much. ‘That’s good’ he responded. Leo at this point began to ask the boys what they wanted to be when they grew up. Without skipping a beat, Yon, the six year old, told us that he was to help his father sell things because they had a lot of debt to pay off. Claire had been passing around the dried fruit that she had just received in a package from the states and so Yon’s speech was complimented by a ‘Que rico,’ o ‘Que delisciosos estos’ in between every other sentence. They where kids..chiquitos..but like so many of children in Ecuador, already so old. We left the park with huge hugs from each child and a promise to look for each other in the coming Saturdays. Its funny how with kids you only need 10 minuets and a soccer ball to be best friends. Just to play. Glorious.

But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them. Matt 19: 14-15

Leo and Claire spent the day at my house, doing homework, messing around with some salsa moves and just hanging out. Later that night I started talking with Leo about the elections that the country is going to have tomorrow for the new constitution. We talked about the difference between the political and social structures here in Ecuador and in the United States. The US knows no poverty like that of Ecuador. Americans, it seem, always have some sort of opportunity, whether this a soup kitchen in New Jersey or a job training center down the street from some friends who live in Chicago. There are places in Latin American where the people have no options, no outside connects, no dreams of change..only the reality of there lives in that moment which may or may not include shelter and food for the day. 50% of Ecuador’s population and 88% of those whole live in rural Ecuador, are considered poor. That is to say they, for a family of four (which most, if not all are much larger) incomes are under $357 per month. 61% are reported as not having enough for basic necessities including food, shelter, education and health.

I don’t think that I have talked much about the political situation yet in this country, but Ecuador is in the midst of a huge campaign for a new constitution that would push the country towards a more socialist society. Everyone here reads the news papers and the 6 news stations are the channels most frequently visited by Quitaños. Even with the excess of 446 articles there are many people who have also studied in detail the new components of the consitution to formulate strong opinions. Si o No..everyone will have something to tell you about the right way to go. The gratafi in the streets, posters lining the buses, radio commercial and even concerts benefiting either postions are insane. There was actually a rock band playing one night, singing a song with lyrics saying something to the extent of “I’m going to cry cry cry if the ‘no’ wins…du nu nu..You are so blind blind blind..” To explain a bit, on a very basic level, Rafeal Correa, the current president of Ecuador has formulated along with a constitutional committee, a constitution that moves Ecuador towards the left. If the ‘sí’ wins, Correa continues with his new laws, the rich people lose money, there are more programs for the poor, more fixed prices, etc. If the ‘no’ wins Correa resigns, replacing the assembly with its former members who were corrupt in every sense of the word, and things stay, more of less, the same.

I personally find Correa himself fascinating. Leo, a strong supporter of the ‘sí’ one day told me his life story. Growing up in a very poor family the president worked hard to make it to a university, received his degree in Economics at San Francisco and then headed off to the states to follow up with a PhD. In Champaign IL Correa completed his schooling before returning to Ecuador to teach at the same University. Among other things Correa lived for a year in a very small, highly underdeveloped community without even running water near Cotopaxi, engaging with the people there and learning about the poverty in his own country. The man speaks fluently Spanish, English, French and Quetcha. When I was in a research library a few weeks ago, I had unknowingly chosen to study in the same place Correa was scheduled to speak that afternoon. I was thoroughly impressed with his public speech and appearance. The last president who tired to go leftist died in a ‘mysterious plane crash’ coming back from the States. There is no denying that Correa has guts for the changes he is trying to make. As far as I can tell there is no reason not to trust the president who appears to have been, thus far, true to his word. However there are lots of new promises being made in his campaign that push many people to believe him to be a liar.

My family, for example would defend the ‘no’ with all of their lives. My mom will rant about how the people are blind and they don’t know what they are doing. They don’t seem to have much grounding for this opinion however other than the highly propagandized tv broadcasting. When I was listening to Correa speak I was so stunned at the arrival of the president that I sent my mom a text telling her that I was physically 3 meters from the president of Ecuador. The only response I received was ‘pégale.’ That is to say, ‘slap him for me.’ All I could do was laugh.

There are many complications and things to consider, but from what I can gather the ‘sí’ stands for some sort of change. No one would tell you that they are satisfied with the country as it is now and the ‘sí’ represents a hope for the next generation. It might not be perfect, but as Leo says, ‘it’s something..if you can’t think of anything better, let me know, but for now, we have to keep dreaming.’

Leo walked me through, as many people have, Ecuador’s political history in the past 20 years and the corruption and pain it has faced. We talked about immigration, racism, the catholic church and the kids we had met that same morning. He told me that when he was in middle school his father left for the states to work, the same situation that faces almost all families in this country. The impossibility of receiving a work visa forces desperate men into illegal work bussing tables and cleaning facilities after hours in a country where they often can’t communicate with anyone. Mr. Ortgega was gone for two years and Leo said that it got to the point where he asked his father not to email him anymore because every time he would open a message he would begin to cry. Better not to read at all. I thought about Ricardo, about the millions of immigrants that have families waiting for them, depending on them to make enough money our ‘land of prosperity’ so that they can return home.

It’s a scary though to venture outside of my secure democratic, capitalist world. ‘Socialism’ in the states is a tainted word, but maybe here it is a different world, in need of a different solution. In a system where policeman never enforce traffic laws, people have no incentive to obey regulation, children travel hours in bus to arrive at school in dirty, used uniforms and infants work on street corners juggling for money, someone needs to get involved. If this be the government, at this point, I say, let’s give it a try. Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day. Sí or no? We’ll find out…

Salsa

Fri, Sep. 26

San Francisco, as I have said before, is a commuter college. Most of the students live about an hour away from the university. This year there has been a huge initiative to start ‘Campus Life’ which includes lots of different clubs and opportunities for students to get to know each other outside of class. My favorite part of the week has become Wednesday and Friday afternoons when the Salsa club meets. Two weeks ago I was invited to be a part of the advanced group that stays an hour after the normal club. There are five or six professors (students) who come to teach from 1 to 3 and then from 3 to 4 we learn all the crazy hard moves and just dance. We have been working recently on Salsa Cubana in a rueda which is a bit of a different style. All of the pairs dance within a circle (the rueda) and there is one leader who is calling out passes. Each call, be it enchufa, enchufa moderna, pelota uno, prima, dame, sácalo, quince, treinta, setenta, setenta y uno, hermana, enchufa evelyn, cruza de brazos, etc, means something different. Most passes have you change partners, but regardless, everyone is doing the same thing in the same counts. When we warm up at the beginning of class it feels like speed dating because we are just going through all the passes, changing partners every 15 second and it’s just enough time for you to greet each of your friends. I’m always laughing.
My favorite pass so far starts with a normal spin and ends with everyone holding hands spinning in and out and then a change of partners. I’m going to try and film it one day because words just don’t seem to do it justice.

Kenner Rushco

Wed, Sep. 24

I love it here. I can’t imagine life right now without a hug each morning from the kids that arrive ready to swing on trees, glue things on paper and sing ‘Sol Solicita..’ while dancing in a circle. As I begin to know the kids and we remember each others names (I have become Profet Courley..Courtney just seems too difficult for everyone) I feel more and more attached to my work here at the school. Each day I seem to glean more and more responsibility and the teachers are becoming more comfortable putting me in charge of other things. Most of the time I’m just playing with kids, passing out papers, manning the gate or rounding up the troops, but none the less, I’m a part of the system.
On of my favorite students, Kenner Uscho, is one of those kids who is never in a bad mood, always ready to sing at the top of his lungs, and usually has to be repetitively called out for having to much to say or taking too long to return in from playing outside. Often times Kenner is the last child to be picked up and we get extra time to chat or play with the toy truck in the front yard. Although I’ve met Lorena, his twelve year old sister who picks him up, I don’t recall every seeing either of them with a parent or other adult. They usually just walk off together, Lorena talking his backpack and Kenner running along ahead. Today Kenner told me that I should walk home with them as I was getting ready to leave by the time Lorena came to get him. I happily agreed and began the long journey up the hill with the two kids. Lorena, who was fascinated by the fact that I spoke English, told me that she took care of Kenner every day and only attended school on Saturdays. She said that they had a ton of other brothers and sisters but I’m not quite sure where they were, maybe waiting at the house. She liked soccer, math and history, and seemed, for the most part, just like a normal kid. But her ragged clothes and eyes that seem aged beyond her years told me otherwise. I walked with the two of them to their house, said my goodbyes, and headed for my bus that daily takes me back to my other life

Festejamos!!

So birthdays are a really big deal here in Ecuador. When someone finds out its your birthday, even if you just met them, they give you a big hug and say, 'festejamos'..'lets party.' Friday morning I was woken up my mom and sister with flowers and presents. They sang happy birthday in English, always funny, and told me I should go back to sleep. haha I did get to sleep in a bit and then headed to school for my one class. On fridays there is a salsa club that meets at the University. After class I met some friends and we joined in the lessons. We're learning right now Salsa cubano and how to do different moves changing up pairs with different passes. Usually there are four couples and when the leader shouts different commands we do different spins or moves to change partners. Really fun. After dancing, my friends Leo and Pablo took me to a resturant that is famous for its Ceviches..a soup with onions, shrimp that is very tipical of the Ecuadorian coast. Later that night they picked me up to meet some more people downtown to go to a discoteca. My frist experience in this type of ecuadorian nightlife. I learned that its not exactly my scene..but it was fun to be dancing and be with friends.

Fuya Fuya

9/14

This weekend was the first trip for my andinismo class, and my first excursion out of Quito. Saturday morning 17 of us met at the Train Station to catch a train and then a bus to Otavalo. Otavalo is a really neat city about an hour and a half (more on a bus) outside of Quito. The group was really great, and it was fun to get to know a group of people really well. If you go away for the weekend..and climb a mountain together.. you automatically get really close. J In Otavalo we dumped our stuff at the hostel and then headed to the ‘cascadas’ (waterfalls) where we were going to do some repelling. We took a long path to this beautiful sight with lots of falls and hiked all the way to the top. From there we rolled up our pants and traveled through the water to this cave where our leader began stripping off all of his clothes. Everyone sort of followed suit and Diego led us underneath some falls where we had the biggest water fight I have ever been a part of in my life. Fully soaked and freezing, we went back to the drop and set up for the repel. The whole trip was a very different feel than things in the States. Very little precaution is taken and you just sort of go. We were crossing bridges about 2 inches thick, jumping vallies.. and no one even instructed us how to repel..we just sort of went with a carabineer and no helmets. It was amazing to be walking down the side of such a powerful waterfall with water splashing all over your face. After every one had gone we started back to the hostel... walking through the beautiful city at dusk with our packs and gear.

That night we all ate together at the hostel. There was an amazing live band playing traditional Quetcha music. As soon as the food was done and the wine came out everyone started to dance. We tried to learn some of the traditional moves, but more or less we were all just messing around. The other people (some Europeans) staying the hostel joined in a bit later and we made a big line of bridges to dance through. By the time things died down it was about 10. I figured that since we had an early wake up call..and a full day of hiking ahead of us, we would call it a night..but no, not in Ecuador. Every pueblo and city in Ecuador has their own fiestas..and it just so happened that Otavalo was in the middle of some great parties. We walked a few blocks from the hostel and found another band playing more or less the same sort of music. There were people everywhere dancing, eating, selling things and just typical Ecuador fiesta-ing. The good thing about this country is that all guys have rhythm haha..we got back to the hostel at about 1:30 the next morning.

Day two we all loaded into a big truck..and drove down a windy path up to the base of Fuya Fuya. From there we hiked to the top..well into the clouds and then basically ran down once we got there. Lots of amazing views, great pictures and near accidents (haha)

I return home very dirty, exhausted and amazing that is has only been 2 days..

La Republica

Sep. 7

Like most days here, I woke up this morning not knowing exactly what the day would hold. Every other Sunday Quito closes off its streets for people who want to try the ‘Ciclopaseo’ and basically ride bikes across the whole city and back. Claire had mentioned something about it, but because I couldn’t get my hands on a bike, I decided that I would try to find a church. It has been interesting to see that apart from being at Wheaton, I have to be much more intentional about seeking out fellowship. Everything I know about my faith is in English..I read my bible in English, pray in English and even think about God..in English. Unfortunately between a desire for Spanish, finding friends, classes, work and family.. chruch had been kind of on the back end of my priorities. But, praise God, as always, He was subtly leading me exactly where he wanted me to go. Carlos had told me about a church called ‘La Republica’ that is very near to my house. It is a missions Alliance church (Abby! I thought of you!) that holds a huge congregation in a very beautiful building. I called his wife, Rebecca, for directions and walked over about 9 thinking that this was when the service started. It was a short walk, but it turns out I was there an hour early. Here is when I began to realize..once again, the way in which God is always watching out for me. The first person I could find to ask about the time of the service turning out to be the head of the Welcome committee for the church. Gorge showed me around, introduced me to everyone we passed and even took me to meet the pastor. After a while he passed me off to some younger folks who continued to indroduce me to what seemed like the entire congregation. Alex, one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met, and her boyfriend Andres, sat with me through the service, made sure I knew what was going on, and then took me out to lunch with a bunch of others afterwards. I’m going to join her small group as well which meets on Thursday nights..It seems like it is going to be really good. (the pic is at the house of the biblestudy...i posted this later than i wrote it..with Alex)

Week Two…and I don’t ever want to leave!

Sat. Sep. 6

I think I’ve finally become a part of a group at school. Leo and Diego, my first Ecuadorian friends have slowly introduced me to the rest of their crowd and intermixed with a few gringos here and there I meet up with them in between classes, to grab lunch, and usually to catch the buss home. Leo makes fun of me because I stear clear of most white people in fear that they will want to talk English..something I’ve really enjoyed not doing for the most part..aside from these writings. On Friday I left from Lumbisi to meet a group of them at the University. Me and another girl watched a bunch of the guys play soccer for awhile then all of us piled into Diego’s car to drive back to Quito. Most of the time everyone takes buses, but occasionally someone will borrow a car and take all of their friends home. With 5 people in the back seat we were laughing the whole time. All of the Ecuadorian guys I know are super funny..and they are always surprised that I jump right in and make fun of them even though I’m the one struggling. ‘Siempre te burlas! O Te caigo bien’ they say. Every says my Spanish is really good..and although I know they are just being polite, I can tell that everyday it is getting better.

Anyways, One of Leo’s friends from high school was visiting for the weekend so the plan was to meet up with them in the ‘Mariscal’ (Quito’s downtown full of restaurants and bars) after I had a chance to shower and clean up a bit. Apart from the night I went out salsa dancing (another long story) it was my first time to ‘go out.’ As my night at Serseribó, a famous salsa club, had been kind of a disaster, Leo and I were looking for a place where he could teach me a bit of his crazy salsa skills. The boys showed me around a bit, but because it was only 4:00 not many places had dancing yet, we settled at a little bar with a patio overlooking the street crowed with people. After awhile two other girls that Javo knew joined us and we spend the afternoon talking and laughing. (oh yea..Leo’s friend from HS is named Javier for all of you who know the significance of that name! haha) After awhile a Salsa song came one and even though there wasn’t really a space for dancing we ran inside to use the music for what it was worth. It was so fun to actually be dancing with someone I knew and he was very patient making sure I got all the steps. It was so great too because in the states if someone started dancing in the middle of the bar people would react..but here, it was just normal. I think I’m ready to try out the Salsarias again, but I made Leo promise that he would come and bring more guys for us to dance with! I’m thinking about signing up for privet lessons too once a week.

I went that night to sleepover with Claire and meet her family. Javo lives really near her so it worked out great to travel together. Its about an hour north to her house on bus and its really dangerous to be alone at night. The boys were really careful and a bit obsessively paranoid that I be safe. They made me call Claire about 3 times to make sure she would be right there at the bus stop Javo said if he didn’t see her right with the bus stopped he was going to get off with me. They always make me text them when I get home too just to be sure. (This is for you mom..I promise I am very well taken care of!) Claire’s siblings are much younger than my sisters and it was so fun to get to hang out with them for the night. Stephi, her sister, is the age of the girls I had this summer and I really enjoyed trying to keep up with her fast Spanish and teenage culture. It is so interesting to talk about our different experiences living with families and get to meet and share that part of our lives together.

Today, having caught up a bit on sleep, I returned home in time to meet Leo and Pablo to go to the Ecuador-Boliva soccer game at Olympic stadium. I didn’t think I was going to get to go..but the day before Pablo assured me we could scalp some tickets outside the stadium..he was right. I know I always rave about these boys, but I LOVE that most of my friends have turned out to be Ecuadorian because I get to meet lots of people, do things the right way and never have to do much planning. Pablo had two of the bright yellow jersey’s so he brought one for me to wear..except for the white skin, I totally fit in! They also brought sun screen because they knew I would burn not being used to Ecuadorian sun. They never let me carry my own bag, warn me about anything I might not expect culturally and never get tired of teaching me new words or phrases. Sometimes I call Leo ‘Profesor’ because he’ll randomly quiz me on vocabulary or things I had learned the day before. Pablo on the other hand just makes fun of him and we joke back and forth about his goofy English accent. I taught him yesterday the phrase, ‘You crack me up’ because I was dying laughing the whole time.

Soccer games, they say are the only place where it is ok to use bad language publically. The crowd was CRAZY! They are always screaming at the ref ‘arbitro’ and oh my goodness..when Ecuador scores, its like Christmas morning. Everyone yells ‘GOOOOOOL’, jumps up and down, hugs all of the people around them..and this goes on for about five minutes. My favorite cheer was ‘Vamos Equatorianos, Esta tarde, tenemos que ganar…’ Ask me and I’ll sing if for you when I get back! Haha Well, Ecuador dominated Boliva and we left in a crowd of people honking horns and screaming with excitement. Pablo dropped me off at home again…I think I’ll be asleep by 8:00!

These are a few pictures I thought I'd add. My room, Soup (haha..with the WHOLE chicken..head and feet), Teliferico with Claire, Some Ecuadorian Friends (Pablo on the left, Leonardo on the right) and some Llamas....

I spend the weekend all over the place. Friday with a family who I connected with through Ricardo, Saturday with Claire and another gringo exploring old town Quito and the Teliferico (like a ski lift up the mountain) and Sunday with Ecuadorian friends playing in a park. We hiked, picniced and I taught them a lot about Frisbee..very fun.