Carnaval and fun in Quito

Flew to Quito on Saturday, February 18, the official first day of Carnaval, to spend the 4-day weekend with my friend, Kate Hill-Tapia, from Pittsfield, who arrived in Quito on Friday to be with her in-laws.  It was great being with Kate and seeing all of Rene's (Kate's husband's) relatives again.    I had a wonderful time with them.  

On Saturday, we went to Nayón, a town just outside of Quito, where they sell every kind of plant and flower imaginable.  Most people would take photos of the flowers, but I took the picture below

because it made me think of Pittsfield & at the time I was with Kate from Pittsfield.  (For any reader who is not familiar with SABIC, it is a very big Saudi Arabian corporation in Pittsfield that manufactures, among other things, plastics.  I have tutored English to several Saudi Arabian employees from there & was flabbergasted to see dirt or fertilizer or something wrapped in a plastic bag from SABIC!)

Saturday night was my first experience with Carnaval in Quito.  There they don't douse people with powder or water, only espuma, the mousse-like spray that people shoot at others (from at times a significant distance) from aerosol spray cans.  You can buy espuma anywhere--on the street from vendors, in small shops & big department stores.  Below is a display of MANY cans for sale in a grocery store.

On Saturday night we drove through part of the old colonial city of Quito, with 2 of Kate's teenaged nieces and one 8 year old nephew, a perfect age group with whom to experience Carnaval.  They shot the espuma at passers-by on the street.  I will say that they were respectful & did not aim at people who looked like they couldn't handle it, but at the same time they certainly surprised quite a few.  A number of people retaliated by shooting their own espuma right back, including several who got their spray cans right into the car, while we were stopped and sprayed the entire interior & all of us inside.  It was VERY funny.  On Sunday night we walked along La Ronda, a beautiful old street, with 17th century buildings, no cars, but lots of people ready to aim there espuma at anyone daring to walk there.  Kate said, as we walked deeper into the street, that we were entering a war zone as the espuma-firing was pretty thick & heavy, but it was fun.  We stopped and ate, what looked & tasted like fried dough & drank canelzo, a sugarcane alcohol with hot cider & cinnamon.  What a great night!

On Monday, 15 of us (all but me were family & that did not include everyone) drove in 2 vehicles to Cayambe,

where we bought & ate bizcochos, a light, tasty biscuit, which is the trademark of Cayambe.  I saw them being made by hand & then put in special ovens.  From Cayambe we drove on to see the beautiful Lago Cuicocha.  Here's a photo of me with just a fraction of Rene's family, with his mother, Doña Mercedes, front & center in front of the lake.

We then went to Cotacachi, where you can buy many beautifully made leather goods.  It was a long, full day, but a great one.

I had to say farewell to Kate and family on Tuesday.  Before doing that, Kate & I took a brisk walk through part of the colonial area of the city.  It is beautiful and was especially nice to walk around when there were few people out and about, due to the holiday.  I spent the remainder of Tuesday with Nancy, the woman with whom I lived during the month of September.  The parade that we wanted to see was over, but we did have a great time catching up with each other.

Carnaval, etc.

Carnaval officially begins on Monday, but it is definitely in the air already.  Everywhere you go there are spray cans of a mousse-like substance, called Espuma, for sale and thousands of various kinds of water guns, mostly large ones, at every market as well.  I understand that children & teens like to use the water guns, the spray, and throw water balloons at every passer-by & some have already started.  We had sort of a party in each of my  classes today as trying to do anything serious was out of the question.  I wasn't prepared for the spray, the powdery substance, or the water in my first class, but I came armed for the 2nd one.  In both classes we played musical chairs and a relay race.  Lots of fun.  Lots of laughter.  My students stayed about an extra 1/2 hour in the second class as one of the students brought her computer &   played music so everyone hung around & danced.
A photo of some of my students from the evening class:

Playing musical chairs.
And yes, we did have wine, but 2 bottles goes a long way when there are 15 students!

I have decided that making a commitment to volunteer at the program for children of the vendors at the big outdoor market is not realistic for me because I want the flexibility to do what I want when I am not teaching or prepping for teaching.  So instead of that, I now am teaching English/helping to improve the English of 2 people.  Both are informal, when-available arrangements.  One is Hugo, the tour guide, who wants to improve his English & the second is Karina, who, with her husband has an Internet cafe close to where I used to live.  She & I became friends as I was there everyday.  I no longer go there, but want to continue our friendship.  I went to the Internet cafe today, where we worked on her English, but laughed until we cried today.  She is always smiling or laughing & it is contagious.    

An update regarding my students is that they decided that they wanted to give presentations to give them more practice in speaking English.  As I have previously said, I shouldn't be surprised, but have been by the topics that they have chosen and the breadth and depth of their reporting.  Some of the topics so far have been:  teen pregnancy/single motherhood, homosexuality, the impact on Cuenca by foreigners who make Cuenca their home,  the death penalty, the Yasuní Rainforest Project, and others.  Sometimes I wonder who is learning more, my students or me.

observaciónes

As I walk to and from work everyday (from my new home, near the industrial park) I find myself taking note of everything that is new.  Normally I would not be very interested in an industrial park, but I find it fascinating to see everything coming to life when I am walking to school at 6:30 AM for the 7:00 AM class  that I teach.  There's everything from a mattress factory, a furniture factory or warehouse, Honda, a big plant where it looks like they put together and sell lumber (I love the smell of the fresh wood that's been cut), an appliance manufacturing place, etc.  I know that I shouldn't be, but I find myself surprised to see expansive, modern-looking buildings and warehouses where everything under the sun is manufactured, stored, sold, and carted away in 18-wheelers, which are in abundance in and around the industrial park.  Of course along the way to the industrial park are little stands and carts where local women cook traditional food for the workers.  And today there was a man walking a pig on a rope.  I wouldn't call the rope a leash because I do not believe that the man & pig were out for a stroll or for the pig to do its business.  I can't help but wonder if the pig was on its way to be slaughtered.  It's still all new & perhaps I'll lose interest, but for now it's interesting.

Another observation, which I've not yet written about, is the fact that every building--house, store-both large and small, school, factory, office, etc.--is walled or fenced-off, boarded up, locked with multiple locks & protected up the wazoo.  I only have 3 keys to get into my new house.  For my previous one, depending on which door I entered, I had 4.  Most public buildings have 1 or 2 or more armed guards at the entrance.  For the school where I teach, I have a key to the office that I use and to the bathroom.   There are always at least 2 guards at the entrance, wearing bullet-proof jackets.  They usually seem very bored as it doesn't appear that they have much to do, which maybe is a good thing.  The only thing that I have seen them do is open & close the gates to the entrance to let people & cars enter & exit.  They also store the only set (to my knowledge) of keys to the classrooms.  There are 3 floors to the school and each floor has its own ring of keys with one key for each classroom on that floor.  I don't know why the classrooms are locked from one class until the next, but it's always a process to get the keys to unlock the classrooms.   Occasionally no one seems to have the keys, perhaps because the last person to take them mistakenly brought them home or the cleaning person has them.  One time my students & I were stuck in the hallway as no one seemed to have the keys.  I went to the guards several times & eventually one of them discovered that the keys were in his pocket!

Last, but not least, I am including a photo of my bowl of chicken soup that I had at my previous host family's house.  It does look like a hand in the soup, but it is actually a chicken foot.  I am not interested in eating the chicken feet, mostly because, from my perspective, there's nothing to eat from the foot other than skin and bones.

new experiences

As of now I have gone out 3 times with my new friend/tourist guide, Hugo, who wants to improve his English, while giving me tours of places that for me have been little secrets about Cuenca.   Last week he gave me information about the statue in the Parque Calderón, central park of Cuenca, which I must have walked past dozens of times, but never took note.  He also took me into 2 magnificent colonial houses, explaining their history, who lived there, what happened in these homes, etc.  Theses are not places that anyone off the street can enter--you must go with a certified guide.  I had no idea what these places were like & really never looked at them beyond the superficial.  Hugo keeps opening my eyes to things that are right in front of me.  How lucky I am!  Today I went with him to Turi, which is a lookout, way up high, looking down on Cuenca.  I had been there before, but missed things that he pointed out.  We also went to the ceramic studio of Eduardo Vega, whose work I have seen all over Cuenca, but seeing his studio and his work on display, gave me another dimension of this well-known ceramacist.

The biggest event in my life is that I made the very difficult decision to move to a different family's home. Suffice it to say that the previous family, with whom I lived for over 4 months, wasn't the right fit.  I do believe, even though it has only been a matter of days, that my current living situation is more my style and will meet my needs.

Last Saturday I went with my new host 'mother' to visit her brother and his family.  He is an unbelievable wood craftsman.  Part of his house is his studio where you can see some of the amazing work that he has done.  He studied at the Univ. of Connecticut and is a master wood craftsman.  He recently purchased a huge machine that is in his workshop which he uses to design wood for furniture--like the backs of chairs, headboards for beds, designs, wall hangings, cabinets, a play set for his daughter, etc.  First he makes his design using specific software on his computer, which somehow through 2 other computers communicates the design to the machine that cuts the wood.  I am/was in awe.  His wife is an equally talented chef.  We had patacones that she made.  She is hoping to open a restaurant here soon & he is making beautiful chairs for the restaurant.  What a delightful experience this was.

visit to the beach

Last weekend I went to the coast for the first time.  Now I have been to all of the regions in Ecuador.  The beach was lovely, but for me the best part was that I was with a lovely Cuencana family.  Magui, who is the wife/mother of the family, is a friend with whom I have previously spent time.  I have also spent a little time in the past with her husband, Fausto.

Last Friday night at 11:00 PM, Fausto picked me up at my house & brought be to their home, which is about 15 minutes away.  (He had to pick me up that late because he was coming from Gualaceo, where they have another home.)  It made sense for me to spend the night at their home because that way we saved  probably a half an hour as I live out of the way of the direction we were heading.  I slept (briefly) as we (Magui, Fausto, their son, Adrian, whom I would guess is about 20 years old, & I) left their house about 4:15 AM Saturday morning.  We traveled about 5 hours, which was longer than it should have taken, because somehow we made a wrong turn and got lost in Guayaquil, the biggest city in the country.  It didn't bother me in the least that we were lost because when I wasn't sleeping in the car, I had my eyes peeled on the scenery.  We traveled through a number of temperature zones.  It was hot in Guayaquil and of course on the beach.  The beach was in Ballenita, about an hour beyond Guayaquil.  Magui and family have a lovely apartment, not only overlooking the beach, but about a 5 minute walk there.  It was very resort-like.  The apartment building has a very large pool and a sauna.

Magui and I walking along the beach in the morning, then she & her husband, & I went into the town for a seafood lunch.  All of us were tired so we took a nap after lunch and then Magui and I swam in the pool.  She and I swim about the same amount.  Although I have swum 2 other times since I have been here, I haven't been to the Pittsfield Y in over 5 months, and therefore am not in my usual good swimming shape. Nevertheless I had no difficulty swimming for close to an hour.  From there we went to the sauna, which was a reminder of the shaman experience for me, which did make me a little anxious.

From there we went out to dinner & then to bed early.

The next day, Sunday, was similar to Saturday--to the beach (where I witnessed robbers examining their loot of cell phones & wallets), to the pool for more swimming, & then to the sauna.  The anxiety was less this time in the sauna.  We left about 4:45 PM, but it took much longer to get home for several reasons: traffic, stopping for dinner, & almost running out of gas.  Magui had asked her husband and son, who was driving, very early on in our trip home, if there was enough gas.  They both said yes.  I could see that the gauge said that tank was 1/2 full.  When we were about an hour or so outside of Cuenca, at about 10:45 PM, traveling on a very windy, steep road in very thick fog, making visibility poor, where there were no lights, no stores, nothing, I noticed that the gas gauge was just before E.  I saw no point in saying anything because there was no place to get gas.  When Fausto leaned over 2 times to look at the gauge & then told his son to pull off the road at a shack, Magui asked why & was less than pleased that we were on empty.  Of course there was no gas at this shack, but the man said that 3 kilometers ahead there was another place to stop.  I doubted that we would make it, but we did get to a run-down building, where Adrian honked to no avail.  Magui got out & knocked.  Eventually a woman, who had probably been asleep, came out & to the rescue.  She had a pail with some gas and a spout for pouring it.  We got the gas & traveled on our way.  Magui, at this point was very funny, talking about hombres who say we have enough gas when we don't & then have no shame when we are traveling on fumes.  The same kind of words could be said in the U.S. or perhaps anywhere in the world.

It was a weekend to remember......

lots of good NEW things happening!

A friend and I were walking along the river last Sunday & didn't know that our picture was taken for an article in the local newspaper, El Mercurio, about closing the road along the river to change the traffic pattern.  The photo was on the front page!  My friend & I didn't even know that another picture of us was also on the back page of the front section. Kind of by chance that I even learned about the photo as I do not buy the paper.

My classes are going so well.  I adore my students.  They're so bright, so motivated, so interested.  What a pleasure.  I do believe that all the work that I am putting in to make the classes fun, interesting, and a good learning experience is paying off.  I often leave the school feeling high.  A funny thing happened today in my morning class that has nothing to do with teaching:  A fairly large spider was crawling on the table/desk that the students sit at & it crawled under one of my student's backpacks.  This student is a young man, who appears to me to be about 20 years old.  He looks quite strong and able-bodied, but when it came to the spider, he sort of freaked out, jumped up and away from the table.  Yours truly, who is >3x his age, slipped off her shoe and dispatched the spider effortlessly.  I think that everyone was surprised.  I was even able to illustrate the use of an adjective clause after this feat of bravery:  Claudia, who took off her shoe, killed the spider.  Adjective clause is who took off her shoe.

Sort of by chance and knowing the right people, I spent a part of this morning with a man who is a friend of someone I recently met in Quito.  He's a very nice individual who would like to get together with me regularly for me to help him with his English and he in turn will help me with my Spanish.  That will be fun.  He is a tour guide in Ecuador so knowing English is very important in his work.  He wants to practice his English on me, which is quite fine by me.  In fact, today he took me to a Panama hat factory, that I have never been to.  It was a fascinating place.  The hats are magnificent.  He did most of the tour in Spanish, so I wasn't all that helpful with the Spanish, but we had fun and I think this may be a good opportunity for both of us.  Before we went to the hat factory he treated me to a fruit salad--one of the best things I have eaten here---loaded with fresh fruit and wonderful yogurt.  Mmmmmm.

This afternoon I went to Fundación El Arenal to learn about volunteering there.  It's a special place very near one of the large fruit & vegetable markets that provides, among other things, enrichment experiences, help with homework, social skills, etc. for the children whose parents sell their fruits and vegetables at the market.  Many of the children work selling produce at the market, but this organization provides other opportunities for the children.  They need volunteers to do a number of things.  They would like volunteers to work there 2-3 mornings or afternoons/week.  For me, I think it's best if I can volunteer 1day/week.  They will get back to me to let me know if day/week meets their needs or not.  Regardless, it was heartwarming to see the good work that is being done there.

On my way back home from Fundación Arenal I got a phone call from one of my few Cuencana friends inviting me to go with her for the weekend to her beach home.  I have not yet been to the coast, so of course I said yes.  Should be a fun!