Catching Up

March 18, 2010 Thursday

So I realize I haven’t written in about three weeks. That seems really strange. So much has happened I don’t even know where to start.

I think I fell in love. haha I was just trying to get your attention!! Or was I?

PC reads my blog and so do some “serious” people, so a lot of my “good” stories have to be left out or edited. But I have had some good times hanging out with the other PC trainees. I have been unofficially “adopted” by another group that is like a 30 minute bus ride from La Chimba. Training is really cool I think. There are some bad things to it such as having to do so many tedious prep projects and being treated like children and told what we can and can’t do everyday. But it really does not bother me as much as it bothers other people. This is only temporary.

For those of you who may not know too much about PC, right now I am in a training mode for 9 weeks. I have just completed week 4. During training, language and culture is the main emphasis during the first couple of weeks. So given that we are in the advanced/superior language level, a lot of the work we have to do is kind of whack. But like I said, it really is no big deal.

The second part of training deals with technical training in our field of “expertise”. So this coming Friday we will found out where exactly we will be in Ecuador for the next two years. I’m kind of excited but I just willing to take whatever they give me. I’m sure I will love whatever I get. Once we find out where our site will be, we actually travel to our site and stay a whole week getting to know the community. I think we come back for about another week and hang out with our host families in our training community and then we go away for another two weeks for technical training. And then I think we spend the last week in Quito, where we get ready to be sworn in as Volunteers.

So now that I’ve explained that, I will continue with some stories.
So three weeks ago we had a culture trip with a couple of other groups. We were split up into 3 groups and each got to go to a different place where we got to experience different things and cultures. My group got to go to the “Chuta Valley”, (I think that is the name). Pretty much it is to the north of where we are right now and it is well regarded for its past as important salt mines and also for its rich history of Afro-Ecuadorian history.

For me personally, the trip itself was so-so. Salinas, the place we went to, was going through a transition where most of its income came from tourism instead of actual revenue from crops. It used to be a place where salt was mined but after the mines were nationalized, people gave up their history in the salt mines and turned to more economical forms of business. One of these more economical forms of business became sugar canes because the soil in the area was salty which was very good for the sugar cane crops. We got to have some amazing food though and got to see some “Bomba” dancing. We even got to participate in it as a youth-band played some really cool music from it. Later we ended up actually playing indoor soccer with the band. The girls team did really good but let’s just say us boys played well too. It got a little rough but luckily no fighting. Haha
Pictures from Salinas:

This is as we were leaving Ibarra, up to Salinas on the train ride.







The train ride up to Salinas.


One of the facilitators, Rosa.




We went through these tunnels.




The place I was at.


These are piles of dirt I guess where the salt used to mined out of. This is what is left.


This is the youth band from Salinas. We were dancing away.




These girls did some dances for us in different traditional outfits.


Alberto and I. On the way back we had to get a truck to take all 15 of us back. The views were amazing.


Back in our training sites, I hung out a lot with other people in some sites near me. Like I said, I got adopted to another community because I just always hung around the Cari-crew (Caricu). I actually become known in their town and Jamie from La Chimba. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but whatever. My host family knew not to expect me early when I would hang out with Cari-crew. But of course, late for them is 8:30 which I would always be back by then. We would mostly hang out on Lucy’s roof. Good times.

One night, a whole bit of us ended up hanging out in Cayambe for St. Patties day. It was the best St. Patties I’ve ever had. I guess the only St. Patties I ever even celebrated. I made a couple of local friends so it was cool.

This past weekend a couple of us gathered and went to some hot springs near La Chimba. My parents took us and the ride up the mountainside was beautiful. We could see the snow-capped volcano, Cayambe, on our way back down. The springs were so warm while the rest of the ambient was cold. Most of us didn’t put sunscreen because we forgot that clouds don’t translate into sun-protection. As a result we were all sunburned pretty badly the next day but it was so worth it. Here are some pictures.

El Volcan Cayambe


Some friends that went with me to the Hot Springs.


The view fromt he Hot Springs.


The guys.



The beautiful volcano Cayambe.


The ride back home.


My friend Lincoln and I on the ride back home from the hot springs.


We also had a BBQ where we got to meet other PCV already in Ecuador and got to play against each other in a soccer tournament based on communities. La Chimba was picked to win, but we lost to Olmedo in the first round. It was a big upset but I looked at the bright side and saw it as more time to mingle with the PCV. Haha. It never hurts to have a lot of acquaintances; you never know when you will need them. We also had a beauty pageant for each community. The girl below in the red was hilarious. As a tie-breaker, they had to answer a question in Spanish. Given her limited Spanish, all she could say that made sense to her was “Mundo Paz” (world peace). This is a horrible direct translation. Haha here are some pictures from the game and some of my friends.
PICTURES

Haha


Two of the Reinas from the groups, including our´s to the right.


Farren..haha


The final contestants.


Olmedo crew


Caria-crew friends


The Pesillo group and then some.


Reagan and I.

We also had an appreciation dinner for our families right before we took off to our sites. It was really fun and each community brought different types of food to the lunch so I was having a blast with the brownies. We decided to bring salad, but after having to wash it and seeing first hand the bugs in it, I decided to pass on eating it or telling everyone about it. Luckily no one got sick the next day.
After the lunch, we had some entertainment of traditional dancing and then the Olmedo group, which is filled with artistic talent, pulled out the instruments and played a recognizable local song and the famous “La Bamba”. It was a great success! Here are some pictures of the lunch!
PICTURES



The dancing group.


My grandmother



My grandmother dancing.

Olmedo crew doing its entertainment.


On the Ferris Wheel.