Week in Quito

Ann and me. Notice the sprawling city in the background.

Photo Ann took. Cool church.

El Panecillo

(Notice she has wings. Most depictions of the Virgin Mary don't have wings. Quito's Virgin is special.)

This reminded me of Kim.

So I didn’t do a very good job of taking pictures this week but a lot happened. A good week. Saturday, I hung out with Ann (we call each other cousins, even though it’s more complicated than that). Aunt Patty introduced us. We went to Panecillo, a big statue of Mary atop a mountain that overlooks the city. Originally we wanted to climb Pichincha and ride horses but it was rainy. Alas, it shall have to wait. We tried to compensate by climbing to Panecillo but the “Tourist Security Division” of the city Police told us it was a bad idea and gave us a ride. We went to lunch at Uncle Ho’s (who sells t-shirts that say “I heart Ho’s”) and then went to meet Ann’s host family. Santi, her host-brother, owns a restaurant setup next to the EcuaVoli (higher nets, three people per team) courts in Parque Carolina so we hung out there even though the games were called off due to rain.

Sunday, I went with some friends to a Super Bowl party hosted by the Marine house on the US Embassy Compound. It was really fun even though Colts fans were vastly outnumbered (and heckled.) But there was pizza. And English. I wasn’t complaining. And now I have friends at the Embassy.

My art class takes field trips around the city to museums, churches, etc. This week class was held in the Historic Downtown at the Iglesia de San Francisco. I have to say though, when you combine my professor’s vast vocabulary with my seriously lack of knowledge when it comes to art, I really miss a lot of what’s going on in that class. I did, however, understand his rant against gum chewers and pigeons with their acidic poop for ruining the church exterior.

My EcuaMami hosted a baby shower for her nephew’s wife yesterday. It was pretty similar to the baby showers I’m used to except A.) Everyone was speaking Spanish. B.) Everyone was served my Rebe, who wore all white and C.) Instead of gifts, a card was passed around and people signed it and slipped in some cash. It was given to the mom-to-be at the end of the party. It seems cash is gifted at weddings, as well. I have to say, it’s definitely more practical. And the unwrapping process was a lot quicker. Anyways, there were games, diaper cakes, talks about breastfeeding. The usual. It was really nice to get to talk to so many different Ecuadorian women, though. The more people I meet, the more universal everything seems. Once you get over the language barrier, we are all the same really. It was almost like being with my own family.

This week I started volunteering with Extreme Response. IES offers a service learning course but I didn’t have room in my schedule so I am just doing it on my own in my free time. Yesterday was my orientation and today was my first day. I’m working at a daycare center located at the city dump, caring for kids whose parents make a living by sifting through trash looking for recyclables. The dump is actually full and now functions as a transfer site to the new dump an hour and half outside the city. City trash collection trucks come and dump trash into a huge pile. People immediately jump into it ripping bags apart while bulldozers push the trash into the next set of trucks. The bulldozers don’t look out for the people; people lookout for the bulldozers. Needless to say, it’s dangerous. But they are proud to say it’s been a little over a year since the last death.

It used to be that the kids would work in the trash with their parents, often being fed from the trash. Now children are no longer allowed in the dump itself. The daycare feeds them lunch and snacks each day, for many the only square meal they get. Extreme Response put a clinic on site at the dump and got all the children medical care. They are also working on getting on the children birth certificates and all of the documentation necessary for them to be enrolled in school. Extreme Response’s goal is to break the poverty cycle so that none of the children in the daycare grow up to work in the dumps like the several generations before them.

My role, however, is to play with the kids during the day. The kids are infants through six-year-olds. Some are really aggressive, others silent, and other just want hugs and to be held and picked up. It’s really stressful; I’m not going to lie. My Spanish still isn’t perfect and we have problems communicating. The daycare center is small, there are lots of children, and there aren’t many staff members. None of the staff members really talked to me and I was left alone to be in charge of all of the children several times. Mostly, though, I just read aloud. Some listened, others played. This is definitely going to be an experience. I will keep you posted. I’m working there every Monday and Fridays when I’m not out of town traveling.

This weekend, I’m going to the Amazon. It’s one of the trips that IES is hosting so it’s going to be a packed weekend. Lots of good stuff planned. Jungle, waterfalls, caves, rafting, shamans. Good stuff. I had to buy a lot of stuff to get ready though. I needed hiking boots which cost $130 on average at the mall. My EcuaMami knows where to shop though. She drove a half hour away to this little hole in the wall store that sold really nice hiking boots for $30. Plus she talked them into taking another $2 off. Basically, I’m convinced she’s magical. She saved me $100.

Okay. On to the…

FACTOIDS!!!

· Ecuador is implementing a new transportation plan, named “Pica y Placa,” which begins in March, in effort to save energy. “Pica y Placa” means “Peak and Plate.” The last number of each license plate corresponds to a day, for example my EcuaMami’s plate ends in a 6, so her day is Tuesday (for example, not actually sure). But anyways, on Tuesdays, her car can’t be on the road during peak commuting hours both in the morning and evening. It’s a two and a half hour chunk of time, twice a day. People will either have to go to work really early or take public transit. Daniela says she’d have to take four different buses to get to work. This doesn’t really affect me except that it’s already hard to fit in the Ecovia. We’re like sardines. Quito isn’t the first city to try this, but I couldn’t help thinking about how people would flip out if this was tried in Chicago.

· I found a Bagel Shop named Mister Bagel. Its own by an American named Hugh Gillis and I always want to call him Bruce Willis.

· My host sister, the one who lives in France, is a genius. She worked for NASA and now UNESCO. She is fluent in three languages. I live in her old room and her bookshelf is intense: Socrates, Allende, El Cid, Shakespeare, Sophocles, Homer, Neruda, Tolstoy. No light reading whatsoever; I looked. The amazing part is that when she was studying in the US, in Miami, some homeless man threw a huge rock at her car as she was driving by hit her in the head. Her skull was literally caved in. My EcuaMami flew up and lived in the US for her recovery. She lost her short term memory, couldn’t walk, and couldn’t read. Doctors weren’t sure if she’d ever be able to walk again. But she is seriously brilliant. After five months, she was almost fully recovered. That was five years ago. The funny thing is Marcela, my EcuaMami, expressed no bitterness at the US. Actually she said she was glad it happened there, because the quality of the medical care. I just thought that was funny. I think I’d be bitter at Ecuador if that happened to me here.

Okay, so I think that’s all for now. It’s late and I’m getting tired. I can sleep during tomorrow’s bus ride, though. Five hours.

¡Hasta luego!