TENA, ECUADOR

JUNGLE FEVER

2013-03-31T12:41:00.001-07:00

Last January 2012 my husband got dengue fever. Dengue is a mosquito contracted illness accompanied by symptoms such as high fever, delirium, night sweats, extreme joint pain, cold chills, and a red spotty rash. I have never thought about being a widow until he suffered through that illness and subsequently lost 30 pounds in a matter of weeks. He said it was a plague he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy.

Living here in the jungle town of Tena, we take the risk of contracting mosquito borne diseases every day. If that is not a trade-off you are willing to make, then don't move to the jungle. If you are not afraid of life (and death) then this could be the place for you. Personally, I'm not afraid of death at all. It's the suffering I don't care much for.

That's why I got a wee scared when yesterday I woke up with a massive headache. I thought it could have been from all the yucky sulfites I had in my wine the previous night, but the headache got worse. Much worse. By the evening, my temp had risen to almost 101 and I was wrapped like a mummy because I felt nothing but cold chills. My bones ached and I developed a strange cough deep from within my lungs. My friend came over and started wiping me down with cold clothes to lower the fever I don't remember much more after that.

This morning my headache is almost gone, but my neck and shoulders still ache. My throat is extremely sore, the cough is still there, and my skin is cold and clammy. So what do we do when we feel like this in Tena? We make potato salad for 30 people, go present shopping, and then attend an anniversary party. (Yes, our friends are celebrating 34 years and there's no way I can miss it) Here in Tena, you are not really sick unless blood is involved. And even then, it depends on what part it's pouring out from. Add to that, dengue is an illness that can't be prevented with shots or treated with anything except Ibuprofen. If you have the type of dengue that causes hemorrhaging, well, good luck with that. The emergency room here in Tena is a joke.

I once went to the Tena emergency room with an elbow joint that had mysteriously swollen to the size of a grapefruit. Not only did I have to wait for over an hour to be seen, once they saw me they were more concerned in taking my temperature and weighing me on a scale. Afterwards, they led me to a dark room where they took an X-ray without giving me any kind of radiation protection. They never did figure out what was wrong with me.

I'm not sure what I have now is dengue or not, but I do know I had some symptoms of it and there are four different variations of it- from mild to severe. If what I had was indeed mild dengue, I do not want to tempt fate and get the more severe one. But I'm also not going to get scared away and move from here just because dengue, malaria, or hepatitis might be lurking around the corner. No way. I got parties to go to.

CARNIVAL 2013

2013-02-13T15:44:00.001-08:00

The calm after the storm?

Ecuador, among all other Latin countries, observes holidays and celebrates carnivals that your average gringo just can't wrap their brain around. I mean, come on, Mardigras actually makes sense. Ok no, it doesn't, but it seems more reasonable than the Carnival that rolls around down here each February, the week prior to and ending on Ash Wednesday. Carnival has a religious/pagan background like most holidays. However, instead of people praying in church, or setting up mini mangers of Jesus everywhere, the people of Ecuador have taken up the ritual of spraying and/or dumping water on unsuspecting passersby. If you cringe and try to outrun the mob, they'll usually increase the chase speed and make sure you get your full due. If you're a gringo, you might as well either wear your bathing suit or stay indoors the entire time. This year, I opted to stay indoors. The one time I ventured out, I got sprayed. That broke my 5 year record of being dry for the duration of this utterly stupid holiday.

In 2008 I was soaked to the core by bucket-wielding teens ( I think dressed in all black leather with matching masks) from a rooftop. I just happened to be riding in the back of a pickup truck that day and their aim was spot-on. My sister, who happened to be visiting at the time and was in the truck with me, somehow remained bone dry. She had a good laugh over that for weeks. No, years. The idea of dodging water guns, spray bottles, water hoses and buckets filled with unidentified liquids appealed to her in some sinister way. She vowed that if she ever visits Ecuador again, it will be during Carnival.

Monday was no different than 2008. Well, maybe a bit worse since it was close range. For that reason, I took it more personal.I was accosted this time, not by teens, but by a six year old with a foam spray can. With pure devil in her eye, she walked right up to me in the store and sprayed my tank-top. I shred her to pieces with my angry eyes. Her mom scolded her for spraying me. I felt an innate urge to stick out my tongue at her. But never mind. I had shopping to do:
milk
Dorritos
3 bottles of beer
ketchup
I went to the counter to pay. Little Dora the Explorer was still there hiding behind the cigarette display, can in hand. She raised her little scrawny, malnourished arm up to spray me again. I couldn't help myself. I snatched the can out of her hand and with all my raging fury, I sprayed her with her own weapon of mass destruction from head to toe. As she screamed and cried, I took no prisoners and I asked her "Oh, you don't like this, do you?" I walked out with a smile of triumph on my face. Then I felt really bad. The saying "If you can't beat them, join them" doesn't really apply to six-year-olds whose culture you don't fully understand. Well, at least she'll never spray me again. Ever. In her life.

I've been hiding in my bunker now for five days. I couldn't even tell you how the weather has been here in Tena except for the Armageddon-like thunderstorm we had the other night. But now the locals are trading in their spray guns for rosary beads and heading to church since it's Ash Wednesday. They are praying for forgiveness for all the water massacres that they committed over the past week. I can finally see the light of day and walk down the street without fear of little girls. I can buy my Dorritos in peace. So there's the low-down on Carnival. If this holiday appeals to you, please come visit Ecuador during this time that my family and friends have come to absolutely dread.

A TYPICAL NEW YEAR COMES AND GOES

2013-02-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

It was another grey day here in Tena with rains that just wouldn't let up. It was the last day of 2012 and I would have been perfectly ok staying at home alone that night. I had a nasty cold that had hit me over and over for the previous 3 weeks, torturing me with chills and non-stop sneezing, and it seemed to be winning the battle over my immune system. It was hot and humid and I was in the same jeans and hoodie I had been in for the past 2 days. So you can imagine how hard I dug my socked heels in when my family and best friend here were annoyingly trying to convince me to go to a camping party on the other side of the river. In theory, a camping party with friends on the river seemed like a blast. After all, staying home would have nothing to offer me except the loud all-night revelries of my next door neighbors and the constant booms of home-made fireworks. Our friends had even lent us a tent complete with camping gear. But the fact remained that I was sick, I was sick, and I was sick. Oh yeah, and it was raining and camping involves sleeping outside and that's not ideal for sick people. So no, I wasn't going. No way, no how. All I wanted was my pjs, hot tea, and Netflix in bed.

Within the hour I found myself standing on the corner in the rain with my family and friends waiting for a taxi. My friend had made a deal with me: she and her son would go with us for snacks and games, then we could catch a ride home with a friend who had a car and also would not be staying overnight. It sounded fair enough. I could sit in the corner and have a free meal while my husband and daughter bonded over setting up the tent. My friend promised to sit with me the entire time to help ward off would-be conversationers. When you are really sick, the last thing you want to do is try to have a pleasant conversation in another language while your head pulses with pain as you struggle in translation. Uuugh!! Yes, I would go, but I wouldn't LIKE it, I told myself and everyone else on that corner in the rain.

After paying the $3 taxi to Puerto Napo and entering the posh gated property of our freind's home, I immediatly found two chairs in the corner and claimed it for myself and commiserating pal. Within seconds of sitting down I was bombarded by other campers, some of whom were visiting from other towns and I had never met, kissing my cheek and asking me if I was staying the night. I smiled weakly and told them my friend and I were here to say hello, but would be catching a ride home later. That answer seemed to appease them. I was glad I had the company of my friend beside me, who also would rather shave her eyebrows than to sleep on the ground outside.

The rain let up ever so slightly over the covered porch we were under. The tents were up all around us and popcorn was being popped. Games were being commenced. Deep in my heart I wanted to enjoy this night with my family and new friends. I love camping and I was horrified at myself that I was passing up this opportunity to sleep in the jungle. But I felt my nose stopping-up more and my joints aching. It was at that moment that my friend and I realized that no one that was there at that party who owned a car would be going back into town! It was getting late, busses had stopped running, and the logistics of getting a taxi from Puerto Napo on a rainy New Year's Eve would be mission impossible. It was about that time that our new Colombian friend sat down with us and wanted to teach me a card game called cuarenta. No.

To make a long story short, a couple guys there with motorbikes took pity on us. My husband agreed to camp with our daughter and my friend's son, and we hopped on the back of the motorbikes and sped off into the New Year's night. I should have listened to my gut and stayed home. But there I was clinging for life over potholes in the drizzling rain and my nose was now running. How can I ever forget ringing in 2013? I won't. At least I got to sleep in my own bed!!

Anyway, here it is February, 2013. Nothing much has changed here in Tena except the addition of a new Venezuelan restaurant on the riverfront. It's called Bululu and it's amazing. Soup, main, drink and dessert for $3.50 and it's way more tasty than anything I could conjour up at home myself for that price. I think I've eaten there every day this week. I even took my friend there-- the one who was my partner in crime on that very stressful New Year's Eve.

Enjoy the pics above: One of my hubby & friends and the other of the pork chop special at Bululu.

FIREWORKS

2012-12-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

Nothing says "It's the end of the world!! (Just kidding)" like a display of fireworks. Well, I assume that's why there were fireworks tonight. But this is Tena, Ecuador. We have random firework shows about once a month. The last time it happened, we were on the way home from the main grocey store at about 8p.m. We stood frozen on the corner with our heavy shopping bags with the kids squealing each time one went really high and dazzly. The only reason we could come up with for a fireworks show was that it was a Thursday and the weather was nice. Today is Friday and the sky is nice and clear also. But today must be more special than that, because I ran into a couple of parades today and a brass band that set up a stage in the middle of a side-street diverting all traffic to the other street where the parades where happening.

Anyway, I really want this blog to be geared more towards foreigners who are wanting to move here, so I'll try to be as insightful as possible. First of all, those who have been keeping up with my restaurant list, you'll be pleased to know that Iguana is up and running again for business. They are located in Bella Vista bajo across from the park and now offer indoor seating as well. This is the best burger joint in town and also has a few other items apparently never heard of before in Tena, such as nachos.

Secondly, for those of you who celebrate Navidad, I should put in a few words here about how to have a proper non-white Christmas here in the jungle. Let's go over it step by step: If you are not wearing a santa hat 45 days in advance as you run your everyday errands, please back up and redo these steps. If you are determined to have a Christmas tree, better go cut one yourself from the jungle. A banana tree might do nicely. I have never seen a Christmas tree sold here in Tena. If you want your banana tree to be decorated, have your old ones shipped from your home-country. Decorations here are far and few between and expensive. Now the good part: gifts. Super Tia, our main grocery store, is the place to buy gifts for your loved ones. Forget oversized sweaters and Itunes gift cards. Head to Tia to buy (and I'm not joking here) a large 20 gallon tuperware filled to the brim with foodstuffs. Noodles, cans of tuna, cookies, cooking oil, instant coffee, jelly. You know, items you might need if it were, let's say, the end of the world. This will set you back about $19.99 and covers all ages, genders, and relationships. Christmas Eve in Tena should be spent in a karaoke bar that has the music up loud enough to drown out the firework blasts outside.

FRIED WORMS

2012-11-20T06:52:00.002-08:00

Finally I have time to sit and blog again after a ten day vacation in which we had a visitor from my hometown. I love having visitors because I get to see Ecuador through their eyes, like I'm also seeing it for the first time. Through them, I see how cool this country is. I also learn that visitors aren't shy about magnifying all the quirks and idiosyncrasies about where we live. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I realize how jaded I've become and complacent with the trials of everyday life. For instance I realize the level of sanitation in kitchens aren't up to par with US standards. So do I avoid all restuarants and decline any dinner invitation that comes my way for the fear of getting dysentery? No, I enjoy the flavors of Ecuador (though there are not many) with my mouth wide open. (And I never forget to pack my Ecuadorian version of Alka-Seltzer in my purse just in case.) My visitors, meanwhile, ask "Are you really going to eat that?"

We ate these worms, called Chontacurros, for lunch last week.

One example of the food topic we encountered while Seth was here was that of eating worms. No, silly, not Gummi Worms. Real, live, wiggly, jiggly (more like undulating) worms, as pictured above. Once a week, we have a helper who comes and cleans and cooks for us. Her name is Lola, she's a beautiful native Kichwa who lives in the midst of the jungle, and she has become one of my best friends here. Well, knowing that Seth would be there during her weekly visit, she thought it would be funny to play a joke on him. That in itself is why she is one of my best friends. As lunchtime rolled around she started preparing really good-smelling treats. Seth's mouth was starting to water and he couldn't wait to try her bolos de verdes soup. She placed a spoon in front of him. Then a napkin. Then a delicious glass of fresh juice. Then his soup was served. The soup she had given us was normal, but in Seth's bowl she had put a chicken head just beneath the surface of the broth. He actually didn't freak out, but in a serious tone he asked if it was an iguana head. We fished it out of his bowl as we laughed and fed it to some starving dogs outside.

Next was the "main course". She brought over a closed plastic container to the table. With slow mysterious moves, she unveiled what looked like live maggots the size of fat baby carrots. They were crawling all over each other like wrestlers in a fight-cage. The dare was on. Joe promised Lola he would eat one. I promised Joe I would eat one if he ate one. And we ordered Carlie to eat one if we would eat one. Seth vowed to do nothing except get it on video.

Lola made her way to the gas stove after cleaning the worms in fresh water. After heating up the oil sufficiently over the high blue flame, she threw the wriggling worms in the pan-- surely the worst form of animal cruelty ever. Within seconds, the worm skins started to pop open and sizzle. Guts oozed and turned brown and crispy in the grease. The air began to smell like a greasy road-side diner. And just like that, plates were served. Joe, Carlie and I, after cutting the crunchy black heads off, all lived up to our promises. Seth almost fainted.

The worms, something I would probably never eat again, tasted vaguely like sausage or beef jerky. Not too horrid. But how many people can actually say they have eaten fried worms? We all raised our juice glasses and shouted "Sacharuna!", which in Kichwa loosely translates to 'wild jungle man'. Actually, Carlie and I would be Sachawaurmi, the female jungle Jane. Eating fried worms was definitley my highlight of Seth's visit. Seth says his highlight was going on a class III rafting trip with Joe and the guys in the middle of the night.

Yes, having visitors come see how we live life here in the jungle south of the equator is really quite interesting.

NEW AND OLD FRIENDS

2012-10-30T10:02:00.001-07:00

New friends

In two days, we'll officially have lived here an entire year! That's really exciting for me considering all we've been through. There have been times here when we thought we'd give up, but the friends we've made along the way have really encouraged us to stick it out. These friends have become life-lines to us and we have deep affection for all of them.

Next week, my childhood friend Seth comes to visit. I'm really excited to have someone from my hometown come see our new life here. I wonder what he'll think when we tell him we don't have hot water showers, or that we walk in 100 degree heat everywhere, or that his chances of getting some kind of "issue" that will make him puke is near 90%. Seth will be here a week from today. We can hardly wait!!

BACK FROM VACATIONS

2012-10-19T08:10:00.002-07:00

Our cabin, #8 right by the pool. It was nice, but had a bat in it!

Flor de Canela Resort. Puyo, Ecuador

As you know, Joe went on a rafting mancation deep in the jungle more than seven hours away from Tena. When he got back (bruised, bleeding, mosquito-bit and sunburnt), he Google earthed to show me where he had been: about half hour from the border of Peru and a 3 day hike from any close civilization. He had been gone four nights and five days without any creature comforts such as electricity, a toilet, a shower, real food, or Fantasy Football updates. Below, Joe outlines the highlights of his trip:

Me: "So, Joe, give us the ten biggest highlights of your trip".

Joe: "Uh...just ten?! Hmmmmm...".

Being launched out of the raft five feet into the air before splashing down and being sucked under the current close to a rock wall and then being trapped under the raft when I tried to resurface.
Seeing bats fly a foot from my face during the day, wild parrots fly overhead, huge kingfishers, and an osprey.
Sharing sips of rum and coke out of an old gallon-size water bottle with eleven other guys.
Drinking fermented chicha in a native Shuar indian's lean-to shack with his family.
Jumping out of the raft and free-riding a wave chain of 6ft waves without getting eaten by a boa constrictor.
Camping in a 400 ft tall canyon during a violent rainstorm that threatened to overflow the river and sweep us all away.
Camping under skies so clear, unpolluted, and dark I could see an astroid belt and cosmic dust as if I could reach out and touch it.
Laughing at Tim's mancation motto: "What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas" although we were worlds away from any kind of city at all.
Learning how to do an Eskimo roll in Pancho's kayak.
Being part of the documentary that the tour group was filming.

So there you have it: Joe's top ten. I'm just glad he survived it to tell the story.

Anyway, after seeing his great pictures and bandaging up his battle wounds, I packed up and left for my much-needed vacation. Joe was too tired to come with us and also had to work. So my friend and I took our kids to a resort in Puyo, a 2 hour bus ride away. It was nice, but I don't have ten highlights about it. I'm not sure I have three. Add to that, it was overpriced and the jacuzzis didn't even have water in them. The best part was when we turned off the lights in our cabin. A bat flew over our heads and in a matter of seconds, all four of us were in the same bed screaming each time we thought we heard flapping.

After a night in the 2 star resort, my friend and I parted ways. I wanted to continue our adventure in some cabins on the river Piatua in Santa Clara that I had heard about and she wanted to sleep in her own bed after the crazy night with Dracula we had just survived. In the end, I realize I should have just gone home with her. My "adventure" consisted of eating a liver and rice lunch at a roadside hut, wading in a river that I had to cross a swamp in my flip-flops to get to, hardly sleeping in a cabin full of jungle roaches that crawled on the walls above my head all night, and waiting an hour the next morning for the bus to hurry up and get us the heck out of there. Carlie wanted to go home too. She was freaked out by the large green parrots in the trees overhead that had listened to our conversations and memorized them. Soon we heard "Hola, Carlie. Hola!! Hola, Carlita, come on. Come here." That, and the fact that the owner had no breakfast to offer us, and we were ready to go home even if it meant by foot. Just FYI, so you can avoid our same miserable experience, it was called Finca Don Napo.

So now that we are back from vacations, we are back to normal jungle life. Life here is now just as routine as it ever was for me back in NC. However, our friend from the States is visiting us in 2.5 weeks and we'll kind of be on vacation again. We'd like to take him to Papallacta and Banos. We'll see...

By the way, Tena has gotten a new restaurant. It's a Mexican place serving decent chimichangas and awesome frozen lemon margaritas. Trust me, it's way more fun to eat there than to be on vacation.

SOMEWHERE OUT THERE

2012-10-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

Pancho, Joe and Tim about to leave for the river trip

It's 12:30 am here in Tena. I doubt I'll be able to sleep tonight. One reason is that I have a ~~pile~~ mountain of clean laundry on the bed that should have been folded and put away yesterday. I've already scooted it to one side, then to the other, and tried to sleep next to it and on it, but it didn't work. However, the main reason I can't sleep is because my husband is not here and even if you threatened to take my chocolate bar that I have hidden in the back of my freezer, I could not tell you exactly where he is right now. How did this happen and why did I allow it?

I can really only answer one of those questions since he is grown, and I can't "allow" or "not allow" him to do things he wants.
It happened because Joe is friends with Tim who works for/owns River People, Tena's oldest and most reliable river rafting outfitter whose office is located on 15 de Noviembre. Tim invited Joe and Pancho to come along with him on a tour he was taking a group of people from Quito on. At 1pm today the boys loaded up Tim's car while I watched, pretty much helplessly. Although I'm very excited for Joe, I can't help but feel a little bit worried for him. Ok, and maybe a bit of jealousy added in that mix. After all, this is not the regular rafting trips he does with Tim that's over in a few hours. No, this one will last three nights, three days and will involve camping in a cave among other cool shenanigans. To even get to where they are starting this trip involves a seven hour drive deeper into the jungle. As much as I love to camp, this would totally be the highlight of my life...if I was invited to tag along... which I wasn't.

I let Joe borrow my pink Cannon camera. I know the boys are going to bully him mercilessly about the pink camera, but it's the only one we have and I begged him to take lots of pictures on all that I'm missing out on. I also think they will tease him about wearing his glasses and bringing his contact case and solution to the jungle trip. Real men travel blind. I also think they will question why he brought several types and sizes of swiss army knives that are too dull to cut ice-cream and are really only good for maybe picking at a hangnail. The saddest addition to his little travel knap-sack was his Teva sandals that literally have no soles. They tore clean off about four river trips ago. The way he just stood there as Tim and Pancho loaded up the boats, paddles, coolers, and supplies, I could tell Joe was even questioning himself why a boy who grew up in treeless, waterless Indiana was going on a three day class five jungle/rafting trip with broken shoes and a pink camera. I can't wait until he gets back so he can tell me all about it!

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?

2012-10-08T17:05:00.002-07:00

No one ever said Tena, Ecuador was the culinary capital of the world. It's not even the culinary capital of Ecuador. Basically, if you live in Tena like I do, eating is strictly for survival.

Long gone are the days where I linger over Sunday french-toast brunch at my favorite downtown restaurant in the States. Popping over to Whole Foods for a midday salad and protein shake is a thing of the past. Even something as simple as the hot apple pie from McDonald's is just a pie-pe dream. The closest McDonald's to me is five hours away by death-bus and their menu differs from the American version anyway.

So here in Tena, just like around the world, us families ask the age-old question "What's for dinner?" Here's how it usually goes for us: If I have food in the fridge I don't mind cooking. But keep in mind this is Tena. I don't have pre-cut, pre-washed, pre-pared, pre- anything. So my fridge, if I have food , usually looks like some kind of rabbit patch with all kinds of fruits and veggies. If I have the energy to wash, chop, and create, I may make soup or chicken and rice with a salad. If I don't have food in the fridge, I still have to do all the above PLUS walk in 100 degree heat or pouring rain to the Super Tia (our local grocery store) and carry back all the bags. And as far as variety or international options at the grocery store? Picture your local Circle K.

So above, I've outlined what we usually do for meals here when we cook. But what do we do when the thought of cooking sounds about as fun as stepping in dog poop? We go out to eat, of course! Here's just a couple of our couple of options that I actually feel safe eating:
Papa's a la Bruto. calle 15 de Noviembre, ($)- Serves up hot burgers, fries, milkshakes, and chicken sandwiches. Lately, the restaurant (more like a burger stall than a restaurant) hasn't been getting as much business, so they've cut down on menu options. Want a chicken sandwich? Yeah right. Want a cold beer? Forget about it. If you want to people-watch while you eat a cheap burger that won't leave you in the emergency room after drowning in grease, this is the place to be.

Iguana. barrio Bella Vista Bajo. ($+)- Want food? Keep dreaming. Closed for remodeling until no further notice. When it was open, it was by far the coolest place in Tena for burgers, hot wings, chicken sandwiches and ice-cold Pilsener. The best part is that tourists have no idea about this gem. One word of advice: want nachos, the fourth item down on the menu? That was just a joke.

Lucy's. calle 12 de Febrero ($)- Want reheated left-overs from lunch? Come have Lucy serve you up some chicken and rice. Or pork-chop and rice. Or beef and rice. Sometimes her food is really good and hearty. Sometimes it's not. Either way, the restaurant is spotless.

The Pizzaria on the malecon ($$)- Below-average pizza by Papa John's standards served in a restaurant full of tourists, this is the best we got. When it's either burgers or typical chicken and rice, pizza is always a treasured option. My faves are the hawaiian and the tres colores. Popcorn and salsa are served as a free appetizer.

Cositas Ricas. calle 15 de Noviembre ($$)- A new higher-priced option here in Tena with cloth napkins and covered tables that I've only tried once. I recommend the chicken sandwich and fries. Portions are enough for two. Varied menu, meaning more than chicken or burgers on offer. Although the atmosphere is stuffy and has no view, the food gets high marks from our family and other friends who've tried it.

Although there are a few other dining options here in Tena, they are either not in my budget (Such as El Marquis or Chuquitos on the river) or I dare not eat there and risk getting trichinosis. I will highly recommend a local cevicheria (seafood joint) if you ask me, but we don't really eat there due to Joe being allergic to shrimp.

So there you have it, folks. Its what's for dinner. Burgers, pizza or chicken, your pick. If this was a blog entry about karoke bar options, it would be two more pages long.

THE LIFE LESSON LIST

2012-10-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

I know, shoot me! I haven’t kept up with this blog since the summer. It’s now October. My friends back in the States are enjoying pumpkin spice lattes, bonfires, harvest moon porch parties, and wearing all their new fall line fashions. I’m still here in the jungle. It’s still 100 degrees each day and my wardrobe still consists of tanktops, flip flops, and pony-tail holders. Life in the States goes on. Life here in the jungle seems to have stopped about a century ago. And because nothing ever happens, I have seemed to run out of inspiration. I’m going to have to dig deep, folks.

One thing that has changed has been my schedule. I homeschool with another friend and her son on Mondays and Wednesdays. Lola, my home-help (I don’t dare say maid!), spends the night with us on Wednesdays so she doesn’t have to return to her house far in the jungle at night after her meetings. On Thursdays, we practice English and she cooks and cleans. Friday nights and Saturday mornings are used for our Bible studies. The other days, I either try to get some much-needed rest and do absolutely nothing, or I’m out in the preaching work for 6, 7, or 8+ hours on foot. It’s a hot, dusty, muddy existence here and it’s become my new normal. I think if we returned to the States now at this point, we’d feel incredibly out of place.

In talking to my friend today, I realized I’m just a few weeks short of having lived here a whole year now. Here are some things I’d like to share that I’ve learned during this 2011/2012 year:

1. Within the past year, we’ve moved 5 times. I’ve learned the art of packing. No, I’ve mastered it!

2. Wear some bug-spray to help prevent dengue, but allow yourself to get enough bug bites that you build up bug immunity.

3. Treat everyone with compassion. You have no idea what it took for them to face the day.

4. Poor is being in debt. I have never met a poor person in Ecuador. Living in a one-bedroom shack on the river with your own chickens and garden is freedom, not poverty.

5. The variety of foods that Jehovah created was a gift I never truly appreciated until now.

6. Humans were designed to overcome almost any physical or mental trial and depending on your inner strenghth, you can do so with joy.

7. Someone always has it worse than you.

8. Walking is the best way to stay in shape. Walking in the rain is the best way to feel alive. Walking with wet clothes is the best way to get a rash and pneumonia.

9. Sleeping well with dirty feet is nearly impossible.

10. Don’t go anywhere without your umbrella, or else it will rain.

11. If you bring the large umbrella, it won’t rain. If you bring the mini-umbrella it will rain sideways.

12. If it looks like it’s about to rain and you need to get home, you better hail a taxi now. Once it starts to rain, all the taxis will be taken.

13. Never leave home without your own reusable grocery bags. If you do, you will be picking up your purchases off the dirt after the regular plastic grocery bag has broken in half.

14. Never buy your veggies at the grocery store. They cost more and they taste worse. Exceptions to this rule are lettuce and potatoes. Don’t buy cheese anywhere. It’s just gross here in Ecuador.

15. If someone, say a Bible student, offers you food you eat it no matter how gross it looks. To refuse their food is the ultimate insult.

16. Just because you never went to school doesn’t mean you are worthlessly stupid.

17. A skill is MUCH more valueable than a degree.

18. Reliance on Jehovah is MUCH more important than a skill or degree.

19. My parents were right! You truly can do anything you set your mind to.

20. My friends were wrong! I’m not as high-maintainence as they thought.

21. Electricity is not a necessity…unless you work online like we do!

22. You can always find water somewhere to at least wash your hands. You do not need 24/7 access to running water to survive. No, you don’t. I promise.

23. Gas is way more important to me than electricity. Knowing how to start a fire is more important than either.

24. Taking daily cold showers I’ve learned that not only do they suck, they also lower your immune system.

25. I realized I haven’t had my hair even trimmed in a year and a half. Somehow I’ve survived this also.

26. My desire to be beautiful will never cease just because I’m sweaty and dirty every day of my life now.

27. Argue a point just to prove you are correct, and you may lose the respect of more than one person. Agree on a point even though you know they are wrong, and you may gain a loyal friend for life.

28. Keep your bathroom floors and toilets spotlessly clean. You may end up with your face in or on it if you eat something disagreeable.

29. Don’t complain about anything to anyone who’s lived here longer than you; they don’t really want to hear it.

30. If you ask for advice, you better follow it or they will be offended.

31. Trust your body, not a doctor. Sleep, eat, exercise and take medicine only if you feel like you should. After all, our health is our greatest treasure.

32. A house is only a home if you have a couple of wild lizards in it that you call by name.

33. True love involves helping that one to overcome his/her greatest fears.

34. It’s hard as crap to learn a new language!

35. Never expect a Latino to actually show up on time, be where they said they will be, or to do what they said they will do. Basically, yes, they are all liars. Deal with it or move back to the States.

36. A true friend visits you when you are sick. A true friend lets you visit them when they are sick.

37. Cleanliness is relative.

38. Alcohol and high altitudes make me sick. Cheap alcohol in any altitude makes me sick.

39. Owning a motorcycle is the fastest route to suicide. So is eating food from street vendors.

40. If you want to have some real fun, dance with a Latino. If you want to get laughed at, dance for a Latino.

41. It’s actually a good idea to have a few spider webs in your house, but not such a good idea to have a bee nest in your shower. (Personal experience)

42. Greet everyone you make eye contact with.

43. If you greet your neighbors by name, you are less likely to be robbed.

44. Spaniards were a horrible, oppressive people and ruined the Ecuador of yesterday. Americans are a greedy and narrow-minded people that are ruining the Ecuador of today.

45. Time truly does heal all wounds, at least 90% of the way.

46. Regret really wears you down after a while. Let it go.

47. I’ve learned that the jungle provides everything you need for survival. I’d almost be afraid to leave it here, because I’ve discovered so many natural cures, foods, and teas.

48. I realize we haven’t traumatized my daughter by moving here. We’ve given her a gift that will profoundly shape her life for the better no matter where she lives in the future.

49. I’ve seen a whole new side of my husband, and I fell in love with that one too.

50. Physically, I haven’t done as well as I thought I would here, but in every other way I’ve achieved way more than I thought possible. I’m so glad I tested my limits. I should have done this 17 years ago.

This is actually just a hint of all that I’ve learned over the past year about life, myself, and relationships. And if I’ve learned this much in one year, imagine all that we’ll learn during forever. That’s going to be a much longer list.

QUITO

2012-06-25T08:49:00.003-07:00

Mall San Luis, Quito

A "smaller"
home in Shannon's neighborhood

Hi everyone!
Sorry it's been so long since I've put an entry in. Over the past few weeks I haven't been in optimum health and was basically bed-ridden for quite a while. I even had to spend eight hours in a doctor's office getting an IV drip and liquid med drips for the parasitic infection I was suffering from. It was pretty awful, but recent tests show that I'm 100% better now, so don't feel too sorry for me.

Last week, a few days after being attached to IV's, we had to go to Quito. Joe and I had to go to the American Embassy and renew our passports, although just a few months ago I spent almost $100 having to add pages to my passport. This time, we were set back $110 EACH. Not cheap, but something we only have to do every ten years. The passports will be made for us in New Jersey, I believe, and will be sent back to Quito in 10-15 days where we will have to go back and retrieve them.

We have friends that live in a suburb valley of Quito that invited us to stay with them while in Quito. They have a 10 year old daughter named Shannon who idolizes Carlie and calls us on my phone or Skype every 5 minutes to chat with her. Shannon is Irish/Ecuadorian and goes to an all English school in Quito. She seems more Americanized than Carlie and recently got back from Disney World with her mother, who only speaks Spanish. When we arrived to Shannon's home, which is connected to her grandmother's 'hacienda' in a beautiful gated community, Shannon presented Carlie with a cool hot-pink watch. I don't think I've seen someone so in love with my daughter since the days when we lived with her BFF Lily. Carlie squealed with delight over the watch and upon seeing Shannon's room filled in every corner with toys and Barbies. Joe and I also squealed in delight as Shannon's parents poured us a glass of wine while grilling out chicken and chops on the outdoor grill on the patio. "We ought to have business in Quito more often", we said to each other.

The next day we went to the mall to kill time while Shannon's dad was having his car fixed. As soon as it was done, he said, he could give us a ride back to Tena since he had to work there the next day. (He's a river rafting guide) Shannon was thrilled. She would be staying in Tena for almost a week with Carlie at our house. The mall was one I had never been to before in a very affluent area and for a moment I thought I was in California, not Ecuador. (See above pic of San Luis Mall) Joe and I walked around window shopping at stores such as Swatch, Converse, and a KFC in the food court. The only thing we bought was chips and a drink at the MegaMaxxi (like a Walmart or BJs) After an hour or so, we realized if we lived here we'd be very materialistic. Anything our hearts desired could be bought at this mall. Back at home with Shannon's Ecuadorian grandmother, the girls were playing Wii and walking their four dogs (plus our two) to the neighborhood park. Joe and I started to miss the simplicity of Tena. Well, not really.

The car was finally out of the mechanics at 6pm. We hit the road to Tena by 6:15 and were home in about four hours. At dusk we drove up the side of a mountain where we could see the lights of Quito sparkling down below and a sliver of a moon rising above the Andes peaks. As our car climbed deeper towards the dark jungle, the view of the stars was impeded by not so much as a cigarette lighter. I saw more stars and planets than I saw camping at the Grand Canyon. I stared at them so hard and they seemed so close, I actually smacked my face against the window a couple times.

Back in Tena we are resigned again to no malls, no gated communities, no fancy restaurants, no Wii, no outdoor BBQs in the grassy courtyard with a fountain in the middle, no nothing. But we remain happy here as a family and will try to hang on for as long as our passports and visa red-tape will let us.

TIME TO WASTE

2012-05-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

It was 6am on a Monday- the day we like to sleep in after getting up so early on the weekends. We were awakened out of half-sleep every ten seconds by "SLAM!... WHACK!...SLAM!...SCRUB, SCRUB." Our landlord was right beneath our open window washing clothes by hand despite the fact she has a real washing machine. She whacked each item against the cement slab, to get extra water out I presume. Each whack was deafening against the tranquility of our slumber. Joe and I wanted to whack her a couple of times. By the time she was done, the chicken clatter outside was too loud to get back to sleep anyway. Joe and I kept peeking our eyes at each other angrily under the sheets. It's not a dream. We still live here in Tena, Ecuador and there's no escaping it.

By 8am, the phone was ringing. It was a friend who couldn't get her speakers to work on Skype. She offered Joe and I coffee and cake in exchange for fixing it. It was an offer too good to refuse, so we went over to her house after eating cold left-over quiche from the afternoon before. And the day before that. Now that I've learned how to make my own crust, there's no shortage of quiches at my house since the rest of the ingredients are super cheap. We also made coffee to fully wake us up from the "WHACK!" alarm-clock. We only had enough milk for one cup of coffee, so Joe and I looked angrily at each other again. I added water to the milk and boiled it in the small kettle. When it was hot enough I added some powdered milk I keep on hand for emergencies such as these. Now we had enough milk mixture for two cups of coffee. It was good, but a little lumpy at the bottom.

After fixing our friend's computer we headed home. Joe had a Bible study to prepare for and I was going to blog. Carlie had planned to watch a movie. After all, Mondays are good for napping and wasting time. But after chatting with my friend/neighbor for a bit on Skype I thought I'd take her over some aspirin for her son who was home sick. That ended up being a nice trade too, because in return she made us sandwiches for lunch.

After getting back from her house I thought maybe I could find a little time to waste. After all, it was humid and sticky outside and I was getting sleepy. A nice game of Angry Birds on my phone would be perfect. But upon arrival, Joe was hungry and insisted I figure out a meal plan. He was wanting something with noodles, but that would entail me walking 15 minutes in the heat and drizzling rain to the local market, the thought of which repulsed me.
"What about quiche?"
"No."
So since we had rice, (also good to have on hand for emergencies and picky eaters), I mixed it with a chopped veggie mix that I sauteed and two cans of tuna. Angry Birds would have to wait. Everyone devoured it and was working on seconds when I sat down to relax. But then Joe reminded me it was Monday, the night we play soccer with friends at a rented field. We changed into our League shirts, walked down the street to pick up Joe's Bible study kids, and then walked 15 minutes to the field. Usually we have a big group, but tonight no one ever showed up. It was just us. Joe and I kicked the ball around a bit with the kids, but it wasn't much fun for me. I have a muscle injury in my left thigh which prevents me from running or kicking or having any fun regarding soccer or running away from zombies that might chase me. So if my goal was to waste time today, I accomplished it at the soccer field.

ALMOST FAMOUS

2012-05-17T19:44:00.002-07:00

I've seen lots of different reality shows where a panel of judges decide the fate of a stage full of hopefuls. The judges are usually famous or at least well-known faces in the spotlight. This morning in Tena, Ecuador, Joe and I were those judges. I'm not sure if that reflects how well known we are here, but it was pretty cool. And the fact that we were judging an eighth grade spelling bee doesn't make it any less cooler.

We were at National High School by 9am this morning sitting at a table with bottles of water in front of us, just like real TV judges. The kids would be spelling in English words like boat, milk, shorts, apple. There were about twenty contestants in clean uniform mouthing the words as we pronounced it to them. Some spelled the words quickly as if they had gotten the word list the night before. Others had us repeat the words several times over and still had no clue what we were saying, even after putting the word in a sentence. Maybe it would have helped if they understood the sentence.

Carlie sat behind us and I could feel that she was shocked that such easy words were being given to eighth graders. I knew she wanted to get up on the stage and spell all of those stupid words backwards. A confident smiley girl ended up winning and I didn't get to see her receive her prize, because like a true TV reality star judge, I had to run out and take an important phone call on my phone. It was the internet company calling me. They weren't going to install our internet since we weren't home.

SAD AND HAPPY

2012-05-17T18:59:00.001-07:00

This week has been by far one of the saddest weeks of my life. This week we lost little Lexi, an orphan that had been living with us not quite two months. She blew out of our reach just as quickly as she blew in; like a dandy-lion seed in the wind. Her family hired a lawyer and a judgement was made to remove Lexi from our home and return her to the aunt. One moment we were eating hamburgers together as a family and watching her play at the park; the next morning her clothes and toys were in trash bags and she was whispering "ciao" to sleeping Carlie. I only pray that she remembers us and can one day enjoy a life filled with love, hugs and kisses- even if it's not with us.

One a happier note, after half of a year of literally begging, we finally got real wi-fi internet installed in our apartment. I can now type this whole blog entry without having to run down to the corner store and paying $20 for extra minutes on our pre-pay modem.

COLOMBIA: PART II

2012-05-09T16:35:00.002-07:00

Already comes the end of our short jaunt to Colombia. We leave Nelson and Ruby’s for Quito tomorrow at 6am. In many ways I like it a lot better than Ecuador. For one, the food is way better. Yesterday Ruby took us to a large cafeteria where there were rows and rows of desserts, breads, cakes and cookies behind glass counters. I got tres leches and real Colombian coffee. Ruby made us beef over rice and veggies for lunch yesterday and the beef was much more tender than the skinny cows from Ecuador. I also enjoyed the arepas for breakfast-- corn pancakes quickly fried in a bit of butter served with cheese and scrambled eggs. What a treat!

I also like the people better here. They are much kinder to strangers, whereas Ecuadorians are only that nice after they get to know you a bit. The people in service jobs really go out of their way to make the customers happy, even thanking the customer profusely for letting them serve you. I told one waitress ”gracias” after she was done serving us. Then she basically said, in rough translation, “no, thank you, it was a pleasure to serve you.” That was such a nice thing for her to say, I said “gracias” again. Then she said “gracias” again. We could have been there all day exchanging thank-yous. Anyway, the people of Colombia are truly outstanding, albeit noisy. If it weren’t for the saving grace of my earplugs, I would have had to endure the karaoke party that was going on next door until 4am this morning. Each night around 11, the neighbors turn on loud music and then all the dogs start barking. Colombians love dancing and music even more than Ecuadorians. Who thought that was even humanly possible?

The last thing I like better about Colombia is the landscape and ambiance. We drove through areas today that could have just as easily been parts of Europe complete with narrow streets filled with horse-drawn carts. In fact, we toured a village today about 35 minutes outside of Pasto that looked just like a village I have been to in Holland. The enchanting wooden houses with brightly colored shutters on the edge of a serene lake was something out of a story-book.

All in all we have had a wonderful visit here in Colombia, but there were two highlights in particular that I would like to recount. One was visiting the village at the famous Encanto Lake this morning and having panela tea by a pot of hot coals that a young boy brought to our table to warm our hands. The second highlight was having family worship night with Nelson, Ruby and another sister they invited over. It was even better since we had popcorn and toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. First we practiced singing the songs for the service meeting and then we went over the questions for the oral review. It was hilarious because we brought our computer and accessed the Watchtower CD rom to help us find the answers. But our CD rom is in English, so Joe and I took turns translating it to the group in Spanish. Imagine how it was, with our broken Spanish, trying to explain the deep aspects of Jeremiah and other things that are just as hard to explain in our own language. After we’d translate, Joe and I would ask them if they understood us. They sat there staring at us as if we had three heads. “Mas o menos,” (more or less) they answered and then made up their own version of our explanation.

We live about 15 hours away from dear Nelson and Ruby here in Pasto, Colombia, which is in the shadow of an active volcano. Who knows if we’ll ever make the long trip up here again to see them. It might be in the paradise before we meet again. But we’ll never forget them for the love and Colombian hospitality they showed to us over the past two days and three nights. Tomorrow we start the long journey back to the steamy jungle where there is nothing to see, nothing to do, and nothing good to eat…and yet I miss it. “Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”

COLOMBIA!

2012-05-09T16:23:00.002-07:00

Just a few weeks ago we found out that we could add three more months to our tourist visas by traveling to another country and then reentering after the expiration date that’s stamped in our passports: May 1^st,
2012. We also had the option of staying in Tena and just paying a lawyer $1,000 and having him do all the paperwork. We chose to do a border run. After much debate over Peru vs. Colombia, Colombia won out due to time restraints. Peru would take us almost a whole week’s travel time just to get to the border. If we went to Colombia we could be there and back within one week’s time.

We heard an elder in our hall might be traveling to Quito, Ecuador’s capital, where we could catch a taxi and bus onward to Colombia. Quito is almost a five hour bus ride from Tena, and any chance we could take to hitch a ride in a car would lesson ride time by at least an hour. We wanted to travel on Friday, but Gary was supposedly going up on Thursday.

“Well, I’m not really sure if I’m going tomorrow,” Gary said when we called him the night before. It was all a last-minute thing, since the whole reason he was going up was to visit a brother in the hospital. “I’ll let you know,” Gary said non-challantly. I wasn’t feeling well and went to bed. I figured if he didn’t know by 9pm if he was going or not to Quito the answer was no. I was wrong. He called the next morning around 6am. “Be ready in an hour.” In one hour we packed all our stuff for our week-long trip, all Lexi’s things for her stay with Tim & Monica, and the dogs’ stuff for their stay at Jessamyn & Hugo’s. We even had time left over to make egg sandwiches and coffee. Gary came and picked us up in his jade green Ford SUV and we were off. A few hours later we were in Quito with all our suitcases and were told by the owner of the hotel that it was full. No vacancies, even though we had just spoken with her hours before and reserved a room for three. There we were, dumbfounded and hotel-less in Quito. She didn’t even offer an apology. Fortunately we had a plan B hotel mapped out, so we lugged our stuff by foot a few long city blocks to the other hotel. We were welcomed by Miguel who has hosted us at Hotel Andino at least four or five times now. Yet again it was a lovely stay, although he was having trouble with his gas lines and I had to take a tepid shower in the cold city of Quito. I never thought I’d actually miss the heat of Tena, but Quito feels downright freezing when you’re not used to it.

The next day, Friday, Miguel called Taxi Lagos for us. For just $8.50 a person they drove us 2 hours north to Otavalo, the town we lived in during 2007. We had planned to stay two nights with our friends Josh and Rachel Fettes from Wisconsin, who have lived in Ecuador for about six years. When we called and made arrangements to stay with them, they were glad to have us come, but informed us they would be leaving on Saturday for the beach and we could have their apartment to ourselves for as long as we wanted. The first day we spent hanging out with them, the second day we spent hanging out with their wi-fi, Direct TV, and all the food in their fridge they told us to eat or it would spoil.

Today, Sunday, was one of the longest days in my life. The events that follow are all thanks to the clear and concise directions that my friend Andrea in Cuenca emailed me and I printed out. Our final destination would be at her in-law’s house in Pasto, Colombia. I have never met her in-laws, nor have I met Andrea face-to-face. I work with her and she and her family are all Witnesses. That’s all you need in this organization. Now back to the road trip:

We cleaned Josh and Rachel’s apartment, ate breakfast, packed up and were at the Otavalo bus terminal by 10am. In hindsight, we should have left Otavalo by 7am. From Otavalo, we took a 35 minute bus ride to Ibarra- a much larger city where we could make the connection we needed to Tulcan, the last city on the Ecuadorian border before reaching Colombia. When we arrived, we had just missed the bus to Tulcan. The next one wouldn’t arrive until an hour and a half later. So we killed time by eating lunch at the food court (nasty) and window shopping inside the terminal (boring). Finally we boarded the bus to Tulcan. The driver was a fast one and I thought he might make the three hour drive in thirty minutes. He was zip-zooming around all the little towns past Ibarra and further north, climbing altitudes I’ve never been to before. At one point there was nothing but steep drop-offs on one side of us and you could see all of the Imbabura province. It was beautiful, but scary all at once. After we ascended to an altitude even higher than Quito’s, the bus came to a crawl. For the next 20 miles, we were behind bike-riders who decided to take up both lanes of highway. We couldn’t go around them. Our bus driver honked and cussed the entire time. After we finally got around them, our bus driver zipped and zoomed again to make up for lost time. We made it safely to Tulcan in just under three hours.

From the Tulcan bus terminal we took a taxi to Parque Ayora. Here we met up with shady looking “cambistas” or money changers. There were about 20 of them, all holding wads of American dollars and Colombian pesos in their grubby hands. Here we exchanged $75 USD for like 5 trillion pesos. A pack of gum in pesos is like a million. Weird. From there we took a taxi to the Colombian border. We walked into the Ecuador immigration building and got our exit stamp within five minutes. Then we had to walk across a short bridge under a sign that said “Bienvenidos a Colombia.” We walked into the Colombian immigration building and got an entry stamp. Too easy, I thought.

In the immigration parking lot we hopped into a mini-van, or “collectivo” full of other passengers. It would be a seven minute ride into the first Colombian town called Ipiales. I wasn’t so sure we’d make it, as the back right tire on the van was so wobbly I think it was rigged together with a safety pin and duct tape. After one minute of driving, we ran out of gas. The driver simply got out, walked to a friend’s house, and came back with an old paint can filled with gas. We were on the road again.

Minutes after this circus act, we arrived at the Ipiales bus terminal where we had to buy tickets for Pasto. The tickets were like a billion pesos, or $13USD. Our mode of travel this time was another collectivo but a nicer, newer, red one. It was more like a mini-bus and sat 20. The hour and a half drive to Pasto was a gorgeous one-from what I could see. Half of the windows were painted red for a sun-shade and the bottom half was tinted. I guess they have other routes that go to the sun because the passengers weren’t allowed to see much. But from what I could see, we were driving along a gorge with a river below. The drop below our little red tour bus cannot be described in meters or feet that you can comprehend. Basically it was like we were teetering on the ledge of the Grand Canyon; that’s how high up we were. The views through the red and tinted windows were amazing- it almost looked like we were in the French Alps, but I was just ready to get off of the bus, especially since now it was dark and had begun to drizzle. I was relieved when we finally saw the Pasto city lights in front of us. However, my joy turned sour very quickly as we got trapped in traffic due to road work and an accident. After nine hours of road travel by several modes of transportation, we finally made it to the Pasto bus terminal.

At the bus terminal I called Brother Nelson and his wife Ruby. Nelson is a taxi driver and told us he would pick us up in twenty minutes at the main entrance. Twenty minutes turned into forty. Because it was dark he had trouble finding us. Waiting outside in a cold drizzle is no fun. Waiting outside in a cold drizzle at night in Colombia after nine hours of travel waiting for someone you’ve never met before to come pick you up is pretty awful. Imagine our relief and delight when Nelson and Ruby finally found us and gave us big bear hugs. We were finally about to get into their taxi and go to a warm awaiting bed, but not before a bum gave us all a big long story about how he needed money to get back home. Ruby kindly said no, and we were on the road again.

Ruby and Nelson live in a three story home with a one-car garage. Funny thing is, when you open the garage and park the car, you realize the car is basically in the living room. The hood almost touches the back of the couch. Strange, but after the day we had he could have parked the car on the dining table and we would not have cared. We collapsed in sheer exhaustion on the couch while Ruby made us a small dinner: rice mixed with veggies and tuna with fried plantain. We devoured it like it was never on the plate at all. Then she fixed us lemon and panela tea (a type of sugar) and we all sat around and got to know each other a bit. Afterwards, they led us up to the third floor and unlocked the door to our own private mini- apartment. It has all that we need besides a kitchen. After putting our stuff down, they led us up yet another flight of stairs, a fourth level, to a terrace with a nighttime view that took our breath away. We could see all of Pasto by the twinkling lights. Nelson pointed in the direction of Bogota. Then he pointed in the direction of “la selva” (the jungle) “where I will turn and wave to my new friends there in Ecuador.” (in reference to Joe and I)

Being more than tired, we’re off to sleep now. Nelson will be taxi-driving people around tomorrow while Ruby has promised to show us a bit around Pasto. I’m looking forward to eating some authentic Colombian food. I’m not looking forward to the drive back home to Tena, Ecuador.

LEXI

2012-04-18T07:38:00.002-07:00

The past two weeks with our new little visitor Lexi has been joyful ones for the most part. It’s also been transforming for her. Lexi has gone from a shy, sad child who never spoke to a happy, loving child who now says even some words in English. “Hello! Hello!, she calls out as she walks down the street waving. She wakes up singing songs in her crib and calls out for “Carlita” or “Papi Joe” to come get her.

The past two weeks has also given us an inside hint to how bad the abuse was in her prior home. Once I bent down to wipe a crumb off her face and she turned and flinched, expecting me to slap her across her face. She heard a baby crying outside and she explained to me in Spanish that the baby’s mother must have hit it. I was wrestling with Carlie on the bed and pretended to spank her. Lexi shot out of the room like a rubber-band, hiding her eyes from the “abuse” I was dealing out to her beloved “Carlita”. Little things like this make us truly sad that she has endured such badness in her short 3 or 4 years of life. (No one knows her true age)

Day by day we’re also coming to know her as the little girl she is inside when abuse is replaced with love. She thoroughly enjoys coming to the Kingdom Hall with us, where she is showered with more love and attention in two hours than she’s ever known in her whole life. Apparently she’s been to church at least once in her life or known someone that goes because after the prayer she tried to make the sign of the cross. She now remembers to pray before every meal with us and even reminds Joe to say her bedtime prayer. She loves to swim. She eats like she was never fed, although she’s not a skinny child! She wakes up in the morning begging for coffee and bread. She folds clothes, washes herself in the shower, takes dishes to the sink when she’s done and throws dropped food in the trash after she eats. She’s my little Cinderella.

Lexi also has some quirks. What child doesn’t? She likes to “breast-feed” her stuffed animals. She likes to sit in the kitchen and watch me cook, explaining in Spanish each ingredient that I use and then telling me the food is ready even if it’s not. She likes to change clothes at least 3 times a day and puts her prettiest dresses into her crib so she can look at them before she falls asleep for her nap. This is because she’s never had such nice clothes before and it really makes her happy to try on things that aren’t ripped or moldy. She can spend hours staring out of the windows quietly watching the world pass by. If a dog barks or a boy rolls by on his bike, she announces it. She loves to draw. Last week I bought her a notebook and she’s already filled it with page after page of colorful circles. She has been caught trying to put on “eye-shadow” with one of her crayons. Lexi is good at naming food items and animals, but does not know her colors or numbers. It’s easy to see no one has ever tried to teach her anything but neglectfulness.

We joke with friends that she’s gone from pauper to princess overnight. She now has her own bed, own room, toys, beautiful clothes, a pair of silver earrings, more than one pair of shoes, someone who bathes her, cleans her teeth and does her hair, she has her own books. She goes to the pool, eats at restaurants and cafes, is held and kissed on by dozens of new “family” members from our congregation, inherited a “big sister” and two Chihuahuas that make her laugh- she is now a real kid and not treated like a wooden Pinocchio with no heart or feelings.

Lexi will probably be living with us until at least the end of July. After that we’re not sure what will become of her if we put her back into the orphanage, where she will sleep in a dorm-type room shared by at least six other girls and eat tuna sandwiches every day. We try not to think about that for now, and enjoy for the moment being a family of four.

LEXI MOVES IN

2012-04-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

This has been by far the strangest week of my life by far. Those of you who read my blog have a hard enough time keeping up with our crazy lives, but this takes the cake.

Monday was fine and dandy. We had arranged to go by bus to Papallacta for the day with our friends the Salinas’. I’m really glad we’re friends with another family who both speak English and have a kid that Carlie likes to play with, despite the fact that “he’s an icky boy”. Anyway, Papallacta, which is a resort destination with swimming pools heated by volcanic water is 2.5 hours from us. But the bus decided to drive at a snail’s pace and it took over 3 hours. We got there around 11ish and helped ourselves to the mountainous region’s delicacy- fried trout from the fresh rivers surrounding us. Coming from the hot humid jungle, we were all freezing in the cold misty mountain air. It was a perfect day for the hot pools- after one more cup of hot coffee at this small roadside diner.

We rented floats for the kids and after changing into our swimsuits in what felt like 30 degree weather, we hopped from pool to pool for the next 4.5 hours. Termas Papallacta, a resort surrounded by about 20 different hot pools of varying temperatures, is a haven for gringos and the Ecuadorian elite. Just to enter cost $7 for adults—at least twice than minimum wage here in Ecuador. Cabins with private Jacuzzis and fireplaces can be rented for the $200 range. Meals at the casual lunch restaurant would have put a family of three over $40 just for lunch, not including 12% tax and tip. We relaxed in the pools as it drizzled a cold rain on our heads until we decided it was time to head back. Hugo and Jess were headed from there to Quito to get some paperwork done, and Joe, Carlie and I were headed back to Tena.

What would be an hour wait for our bus back to Tena took five minutes. As we were waiting for the next bus after missing the prior one by seconds, a green SUV stopped at our busstop and honked the horn. It was Gary, from our congregation. He was headed back to Tena from Quito himself and offered us a ride when he saw us on the side of the road. We were back in Tena in 2 hours and treated him and Eleanor to pizza as thanks for the ride. It was a wonderful relaxing day, but nothing could have prepared me for the phone call I got the next morning.

I can’t go into detail about the following events simply because there are no details. I know about as much as you and I will divulge what I have been told. Tuesday morning I got a phone call. Joe was at the bank and Carlie was in the next room playing Barbies. The phone call directed me to “talk to Joe about it” and “see you in a half hour”. Joe walked in the door as I hung up.

To back up a bit, you have to realize that Joe’s been working as a volunteer with an American foundation. Doing so has procured Visas for us to live here longer legally in Ecuador. The foundation helps parents who can’t take care of their children by taking them for a specified amount of time while the parents get their lives straight. The foundation is in the midst of setting up an orphanage on the other side of town, but it’s not complete yet. Meanwhile, about 10 children are living all in one home with an American family from South Carolina. On Tuesday morning, another child, a three year old girl was brought to them by her prostitute mother and the police. The mother had tried to kill the girl twice in one week- once by drowning and the other by suffocating her. The abusive boyfriend wanted her to do it. The other children already living in the home have even worse stories. The American family has no more room for another kid until the orphanage is ready, yet there is a long waiting list of more children. Three are babies that aren’t yet born and the mothers already know they don’t want them. And thus begins the story of how Jamilex, or Lexi, as we call her, entered our home and lives.

Within minutes of meeting Lexi, almost age four, Joe and I decided we could take her back to our home and provide some stability for her. We were briefly told her background, given some old clothes from her mom, and told she might be living with us for three months or more. No background check on us was given, no papers were signed, nothing. Within a half hour we were already back at home and figuring out what I would cook for lunch…for four people.

Later that day I brushed her little curls, washed her face, and I went on some Bible studies with another pioneer. Lexi held her head low and silently sobbed for an hour straight. I have no idea what her little life was like before she met us, but I was determined to make it a lot better starting now. We went for ice cream afterwards and she pointed to what flavor she wanted with the finger which the nail has all but fallen off. She doesn’t talk, and when she does it’s an inaudible whisper most of the time. Her dull eyes are sad and plaintive, and her mouth is usually turned downward. That night we put the mattresses on the floor and all four of us slept together. Lexi slept long and deep like the weight of the world was finally off her little bruised shoulders.

Wednesday Joe and Hugo spent the entire day hooking up our dryer. I figured it was time to get it running since I’d be doing laundry for four now. Lexi’s clothes were stained with mold, ripped or cut above the belly button by her mother to make it look more sexy. I bought her some more clothes in addition to the donated clothes the foundation gave me; clothes with tags that said LL Bean, Baby Gap, and The Children’s Place. Lexi is now in the care of a family who can provide nice clothes for her, three hot meals a day, a soft bed in her own room, and lots of love. After fixing the dryer and going with Jess to get Lexi some clothes, the Salinas’ invited us over for pizza. Aedyn had Lexi laughing a bit, showing her rotten tooth in the front. She ate her pizza, asked for water in a low voice, and went back to playing with Carlie and Aedyn. It was a great “family night”. Lexi seemed to come out of her shell a bit. When we got home, Lexi undressed herself and then folded and put away her own clothes.

Yesterday was the Memorial. I spent the day cooking, cleaning, and getting prepared just as I do each year, except this time with a bit more anxiety. What would the friends think of this new little girl sitting with Carlie and me? (Joe was passing the emblems) What questions would they ask that I didn’t know the answers to? Lexi played with Carlie’s stuffed animals and colored a bit before taking a four hour nap. Upon waking I put her in a white dress with flowers as it began to rain. “This is all too weird,” I thought. After the Memorial we went to Gary and Eleanor’s for snacks. Lexi ate an adult size portion. Although she isn’t skinny by any means, I’m starting to see she wasn’t fed very much in her previous life.

Today was hot, sunny and no rain clouds in sight. Finally no rain for 8 hours straight! What a great day to take the kids (plural) to the pool. We ended up with a nice group: me and “my girls”, Jessamyn and Aedyn, and Eleanor and her grown “girl” Abbey. Abbey has a way with kids like Cesar Milan has with dogs. Kids immediately adore and cling to her. Since moving here, Carlie has put Abbey on the highest pedestal. One tickle and splash in the pool and Lexi was the same- like a bee to the honey. Abbey took her down the slide. Abbey let Lexi ride on her back like a dolphin. Abbey let her splash her in the face 100 times. Abbey shared her chips with her. Abbey let Lexi feel like a real kid again. Then Abbey sat out a while with her beer and Jess took over. I could see on Lexi’s face that she was beginning to feel the strong net of love and support that’s surrounding her. Inside I was feeling a mix of strong emotions, but mainly confusion. How do I really feel about this new kid in my home? How will I feel a month from now? How will it be to look her in the eyes and tell her she has to leave our family and go live in an orphanage with other unwanted kids? If we give her back after three months, will we feel a big hole in our hearts? Am I being fair to Carlie? Later in the evening, after a shower and putting on her Minnie Mouse pj’s, I held her as we sat on the terrace and watched the sun set over the palm trees together. One moment she was whispering to me how she’d like to go swimming again and the next moment she was fast asleep.

WASH DAY

2012-03-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

We have just come to the end of day three living in our new apartment, or Sherbet Manor as it’s known by us and our friends. This is how it began:

I woke up at around 5:30 to the sounds of a hard rain and a million chickens, ducks, geese, parrots and turkeys- all of which live on our street as pets/future dinners. I made some “fowl play” joke to Joe and drifted back to sleep. But I had a nagging feeling that wouldn’t let me sleep much longer. The feeling you have when you first move into a new home and you have a million things to clean, find a place for and put away. So by 7am, I was up and dressed…in yesterday’s clothes because I’d yet to find my other clean clothes in the random suitcase.

My first plan of attack was to clean the kitchen better from the previous night’s last minute dinner with friends. We had invited the Salinas family over spur of the moment because they live so close, and because we owe them about 1,000 dinners for all they have done to help us here in Ecuador since day one including helping us move into Sherbet Manor. But at the hour they were supposed to arrive for taco salad night, our drains in the guest bathroom decided to explode and ooze dirt, grime, hair and who knows what. When I say “drains” plural, I mean the shower drain, the sink drain and the strange bathroom floor drain which serves no other purpose than to drain the drains should the other drains get clogged. So I call my landlord, Sra. Paz, to come look at the explosion. Sra. Paz has no idea what to do so she calls her grown daughter, Liz, up to help. Liz just wanted to flirt with Joe until her mom reminded her what they were there for. Liz tries to dial a plumber but her phone is not working. I offer her my phone but she doesn’t know the number and her phone made all her contacts invisible somehow. So she screams out the window to a neighbor below. He comes up to our place too. So at this point we have Joe in the shower barefoot trying to plunge drain #1 with Liz trying to get in the shower with him when I turn my head. Sra. Paz is sitting in my living room asking my why doesn’t Carlie go to school here. And we have some guy who I assume is our neighbor who is also barefoot trying to plunge drain #2. (Drain #3 would correct itself once 1 and 2 were fixed.) Somehow we managed to get all the drains unclogged, go to the grocery store, cook dinner and have a wonderful evening with friends all at the same time.

My next plan of attack this morning was to walk to the hardware store located barely a block from our house. I was going to finish paying on a washer and dryer that I had on “lay-away”. The store is fairly large as far as hardware stores in our town go with three and a half levels of oddities to look at. We now call it the Lowe’s of Tena. The owners, a husband and wife, know me very well as I have bought stuff there for the four different homes we’ve lived in here. I even placed a campaign tract with the husband. He’s friendly but I can never get the wife to smile. Anyway, I went in and paid the balance. The truck driver that always hangs around outside to take customers home was ready and waiting for me. As he loaded the set, I noticed the dryer didn’t have a air vent tube. I asked him about it. He claimed that it did have one and when I asked to see it he showed me the washer tubes. Obviously he makes a better truck driver than the Maytag guy. So then I asked the owner. He told me it doesn’t come with it, that it would be a separate purchase. Anxious to get home and wash and dry clothes I said ‘Ok, I’ll buy it’.

“Oh, well we don’t sell it.”

“Why not?”

“Because we’re a hardware store, not an appliance store.”

“But you also sell appliances.”

Blank stare and weird crooked smile.

By now, several of the young guys who work there have grouped themselves together in the corner to stare and giggle at the foreigner who’s crazy enough to ask for all the missing parts.

“Just buy this tube. It’s only $8,” the owner says. He holds up a hard PVC pipe, not the aluminum flexible tube that I need. They show me that it will indeed fit on the hole in the back of the dryer.

“But the dryer is going into a small wooden shed. Where/How is the hot air from this large tube supposed to exit?” I ask, not grasping what they want me to do with this make-shift dryer vent.

“Isn’t there an opening somewhere in the shed?”

“No. Well… just a screened window,” I say.

“Then buy this tube for $2.” He holds up a short elbow-shaped tube and proceeds to indicate to me how it will connect to the other larger $8 tube I’m supposed to buy and then it will be able to go up and out of the window.

“How high is the window?” he asks.

“I have no idea,” I say, trying not to sound exasperated because what fool measures how high the windows are before you buy a dryer?!?

At that moment a light bulb goes off in my sleepy brain. The dryer is gas. I will need to buy a gas tank.

“Do you sell gas tanks here?” I ask the owner as he’s still holding up the two pipes.

“Yes. $58.”

“I need to buy one then.”

“We only have the tanks. No gas. There’s no gas anywhere in Tena”. He explains that there’s a gas shortage in the entire jungle but that if I come back in the afternoon, he’ll have some. I tell him I’ll go measure how high the windows are from my dryer (eye roll*) and I’ll be back later with the exact measurements and for my full gas tank.

The driver, who as I’ve mentioned isn’t the smartest tool in the shed, drives me around the corner remarking how close I live to “Lowes.” Then he proceeds to go into the story he’s told me numerous times before about how he misses his “ex-woman” who he has children with, but he found God after trying to commit suicide (as he shows me the slit wrist scar*) and she still parties every weekend in the discos and…yadda yadda. Apparently she lives on the corner of my street. He drives past her house and beeps the horn. She comes outside but pretends she doesn’t see him. He continues to drive past her on to my house but not without first begging me to plead his case in his behalf to her and ‘talk about the Bible with her.’ I just wanted to get my washer and dryer home, not be involved in a soap opera.

Back at our apartment, Joe and the truck driver unload the machines. The driver tells Joe that the way the shed is set up, it would be better to simply cut a hole in the wood shed and make the tube shoot straight out. Joe asks Sra. Paz if we have permission to saw up her shed. Horror spread across her face, but it soon disappeared once she saw my brand new sparkling washer and dryer.

“Oh!” she exclaimed “They make my shed look so elegant! Sure! You can cut a small hole for the tube!” She immediately grabbed a broom and started sweeping out the old shed as the truck driver left. Within 30 minutes she had completely emptied it of all her junk that she had kept in there for years and wiped the walls down with bleach water. If she was going to have beautiful machines in her shed, her shed must look the part! Then she put a small wooden table in there to rest my clothes basket and detergents on. “But, try to find a pretty table cloth for it,” she gushed as she began to sweep the entire yard around the outside of the shed. She was getting so excited, it got me excited and I walked back to Lowe’s and bought her a $2 floor mat for the entrance of the shed. It’s green with a dolphin on it and I could tell by the look in her eyes it was the icing on the cake. She began to clean the rest of the yard and by the end of the day she had raked all the leaves, swept the dirt driveway and had a bonfire with all the dead branches and rubbish- all because her new gringo tenants have placed beautiful machines in her shed.

As she was raking and sweeping like a bumble bee, Joe was setting the machines up. Sra. Paz also has an old washing machine and Joe had to move all three machines around until they could fit and still have room to close the door. But the way the dryer is now situated, Joe says we’ll have to buy some kind of extra-long tube for the gas tank since there’s hardly any room for the tank. Also, since there’s 3 machines, technically you can only have two machines plugged in at the same time since she only has one outlet in there. But since all the plugs are large three-pronged plugs, only one can be plugged in at a time. So Joe also wants to buy connectors/extension cords. Then Joe got to thinking about the PVC pipe for the dryer. He’s worried the PVC will get too hot and give off toxic fumes. Then he went to put the washer tube down into the other tube where the water drains out. It didn’t fit because the washer tube isn’t flexible. So Joe had to saw part of her pipe so that ours would fit in.

“This is a whole lot of fixing to make it work, “ Sra. Paz giggled. I left Joe and went to get a few groceries at the bright green corner store. We hadn’t eaten breakfast or had coffee yet and Jessica was coming over in 15 minutes to pick up the keys to our old house. I tried to shop quickly, but the store owner wanted to know all about what country I’m from and how she wishes she knew English so she could help her daughters with their English homework. She gave me a sideways look to see if I’d offer her family English lessons. I asked her to weigh my chicken instead.

I showed up back at our apartment at the same moment Jessica did. She stayed for about 20 minutes and told us how she’s enjoying working in the Chinese language group in Quito. She gave us her presentation in Chinese, but I could still hear her Spanish accent. After breakfast Joe went in search for a tank of gas for the dryer. None to be had. Everyone told him to come back after lunch. Meanwhile I had to work my shift teaching online. It was getting hot and I was in the middle of hanging clothes on the wooden clothes rack that we had to cut in half, then nail and glue back together because it wouldn’t fit through our front door.

After work, I cooked up a hearty chicken and rice lunch which Joe was “too hot and tired” to eat. He had just come back for the third time searching for gas. It never arrived. Carlie was bored and asked if a witness neighbor, Aedyn, could come over to play her version of baseball. Within minutes of his arrival, somehow every kid in our neighborhood found out about the game and invited themselves over to play too. Joe was the umpire and Sra. Paz pulled up a plastic chair and became a cheering fan. I took the time to do some laundry in my own brand new washer sitting inside of a cleaned-out wooden shed. As I hung the last sock of the mountain-load of laundry I did, it began to thunder and lightning. I had to take all the clothes down and hang them under the roof. Then I went inside to finish hanging and folding clothes. I could hear the kids leaving for home, but overheard one boy complaining he won’t play with Carlie and Joe again because “They don’t talk like we do and I can’t understand them.” Sra. Paz tried to comfort him by saying “The don’t, because they can’t.” The kid felt better, but I didn’t.

Inside Carlie and Aedyn played Barbies. Carlie dressed them up and Aedyn pretended to shoot them dead, as well as Maisy and Jones. I wonder how long they will play so well together. Later in the evening Carlie showered and Joe relaxed reading my Kindle. I washed the dishes again in my mini-sink (it’s the tiniest sink I’ve ever seen and barely deep enough to wash a fork). I want the kitchen to be in order for Lola tomorrow. Lola helps me cook and clean on Thursdays and our whole family is excited to have her crepes for breakfast tomorrow at 8am.

After I put the dogs ‘to bed’ Carlie said she was hungry. So I made her and I some popcorn and we sat in our plastic chairs and talked.

“What was the best part of your day today,” I asked her as I’ve been asking her since she was six.

“Right now,” she replied. I agreed.

And so went our third day living here at Sherbet Manor.

Sherbert Manor

2012-03-20T14:54:00.001-07:00

Paint scheme of our new apartment? Only in Ecuador.

Not too much has happened in the past few weeks since I’ve blogged last. So instead of wowing my small but growing audience with all the latest adventures, I’ll now bore them to death with all the minute details of our life.

We have had about a month and a half of solid rain. When I say never-ending rain, I mean it’s raining when you wake up and raining as you fall asleep. And many nights we’re awoken out of deep sleep because the rain is so hard and relentless. Of course rain has meant knee-deep mud, clothes that never dry on the line and mold on our shoes and clothes. If we put anything away that’s the least bit damp (which is everything) it’s bound to have mold on it next time we get it out. Case in point: Joe had a talk the other night and his blue suit was covered in mold spots. I got out my black belt to wear with my black shorts. Moldy. My leather sandals, moldy. The mold settles over Tena like London fog and people walk and work outside continuously rain or shine. Or rain and harder rain. We have had a minor turn of events these past few days with some strong sun. Enough to dry my clothes on the line this week. But by late afternoon the rain returns to cool off the day’s remains and it rains until we awake the next morning. Going anywhere without bringing your umbrella is like going to a job interview without brushing your teeth; why would you do that to yourself?

Speaking of jobs, Joe got hired at Open English this week, the company I’ve been working at for six months now. Since we have next-to-no internet here where we live 25 minutes outside of Tena, we’ve been commuting into town and working at a friend’s place. The back and forth commute and busses and taxis and sharing one computer and making sure one of us is with Carlie has simply worn us out. We know that we could not continue at this pace if we are both to work online. How strange it is to have a job that is made for staying at home, yet we have to leave home to do it. So we made the HUGE decision this week to move….yet again. We will move back to the center of Tena on/by April 1st.

Our new home will in no way, shape or form compare to the awesome house we have here. We now live in a charming brick house in the country with pineapple and banana trees in our back yard and a river in our front yard. Our new home will be an apartment in a crowded family-oriented neighborhood with chicken coops in the backyard and mud puddles in my front yard. Our house now has a large welcoming porch with a bright yellow hammock. I lay in it daily and listen to the river rush by. Our new apartment has no place for my hammock and nothing but kids on bikes and cars whizz by. In my front yard now I’m growing different types of palms and hibiscus. In the new yard there is too many rocks and sticks to grow anything green. In our house now, I hear nothing much in the way of noise besides birds chirping in unison. In the new apartment I’m sure we’ll hear our landlord downstairs and her grown daughter listening to their radio or TV all day and night.

So it seems that this new apartment might not be such a good move if looking at all the external things. But inside it will have a strong internet and bright pink and peach walls that I will learn to love. The walls are so pink and so peach, Joe and I have decided to name our new home “Sherbert Manor”. It has three large bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large living/dining area and a small kitchen. It also has a mini terrace where the dogs can hang out and bark at the kids who ride by on bikes.

This will be our last and final move in Tena. Joe and I have decided that if we have to move again, it will be to some other city where we will 'get it right the first time'.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

2012-02-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

Moving is never fun. We’ve now moved five times in the past four months- three of those times we’ve moved in with other people. You’d think we’d be used to it by now or have a system going that makes it easier to pack and unpack, but moving gets harder each time, not easier. On a Tuesday night a few weeks ago we packed up our things yet again. A flatbed cargo-carrier type truck, driven by a local brother, picked us up at nighttime and we rode to our new home lying on the back of our mattress looking up at the stars.

Now that we’re in our new home about 25 minutes outside of the center of town, we’re having difficulty getting a clear internet signal. Without fast internet I can’t work. Without work we can’t continue to live in Ecuador. We may be moving again soon back to town. I don’t even want to think about it. Meanwhile a local telephone company is coming tomorrow to see if it’s possible to get phone/internet out here. Fingers crossed, folks.

My mother-in-law is here visiting from Indiana. Unfortunately, Carlie and I both got miserable colds when we got back to Tena and we’ve both been sick ever since. I’m not sure if Carlie had a cold or flu, but two nights ago she had a 104 degree fever, so it was pretty bad. I feel guilty that my mother-in-law has been spending her vacation so far cooking, cleaning, and taking care of us, but yesterday I was so sick I hardly got out of bed. I couldn't say two words without sneezing on her.

Today, while Joe and Sue were making me hot tea, I realized I hadn’t showered in 3 days. I was shooting for four when a brother came over to help with some electrical jobs he had promised to do last week. Sue laughed at me and told me to go freshen up. I brushed my teeth, but that’s all I had the energy for. I went to go rest some more on the hammock when all of a sudden a sister from our hall and another brother drove up in our driveway. They had come over to tour our new home and say hello. Our house was a wreck and I didn’t feel like saying hello, but I did. We even invited them in for cookies. About 15 minutes later, my friend Abbey from our congregation literally pops out of our bathroom. Somehow I had turned my head long enough for Joe to let her in and I had no clue. She happened to be passing by and had to use our restroom.

That was it. With four extra visitors in my home I decided it was time to shower and make myself more presentable. I was glad I did because when I came out of the bathroom we had yet two more guests: Abbey’s mum and dad. ( I have to say mum because their British.) So everyone stayed and had coffee and cookies and took turns sharing the only four chairs we own. Abbey and I also whipped up some guacamole with taco chips and we all had a wonderful afternoon speaking in two languages to each other.

When everyone left, Joe made taco salad for dinner. After dinner we called the owner of the house next to us. They haven’t officially moved in yet so it’s sitting empty unless her grown kids come over to swim in the afternoons. Joe asked if he could watch their satellite TV to catch the Super Bowl and if I could take a hot bath since we only have a cold-water shower and I was sick. So tonight we did two things we haven’t done since we were in the States and used to take for granted: watch football and take a real bath. I stayed in the bath for an hour and only got out to see Madonna at half-time.

Tomorrow Sue, Carlie, and I are taking a girls-only trip to Banos, a tourist town 3 hours away, for two nights. It’s famous for its active volcano and thermal baths. I know we’ll have a lot of fun, but I feel bad for Joe who’s chosen to stay behind and work. Sue says she’s having fun on her vacation so far, but I know our time in Banos will be a highlight for her. And I won’t have to entertain drop-in guests for two whole days.

MONKEY ISLAND

2012-01-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

The pool we swam in at Monkey Island

It's both a blessing and a curse to have 8:30am meetings on Sundays. For those of you who aren't morning persons like myself, it's almost impossible to be up, showered, dressed, Watchtower studied, walk to the busstop and be to the meeting before the second song. But Joe basically grabs us girls by the ears and we somehow make it before it's all over. By the last song and prayer, I'm ready to peel myself out of the hard plastic chair and enjoy the whole rest of the day in the intense Amazon sunshine.

So last Sunday we decided to take Aedyn and Carlie swimming after the meeting. A sister in our hall had suggested taking the kids to a resort that has a nice pool that you can use for the day for $2 a person. It's called Isla de los Monos (Monkey Island) and it's about 30 minutes outside of Tena, past a smaller town called Archidona. So our main complication would be to figure out the best and cheapest way to get there.

The busstop for Archidona is way on the other side of Tena, so first we had to take a taxi to the busstop. Then, once we arrived in Archidona by bus, we had to flag down another taxi to drive us right to the door of the resort five minutes further down the road. It took about 25 minutes for a taxi driver to finally pick us up because it was New Year's day and most were still at home drunk/drinking. But finally we got to the resort and it was worth the trouble.

Aedyn had been there before, so he showed us which trail led to the chlorinated pool and which trail led to the river. A server came up to our table and took our order. In Ecuador, there is no such thing as recreation without food or drinks. We ordered ice-tea and patacones, a type of smashed banana that tastes more like french-fries when fried. We ate and swam, swam and ate. We got in about two or three good hours of swimming when the storm clouds came creeping in. But by then the kids were tired of swimming in the fountain squirters and jumping off the big rock into the sparkling water below. They were ready to explore the other trail by the river.

We made our way through thickets of bamboo and orquids down the trail past the honeymoon cabins, being careful not to step on the leaf cutter ants. We finally arrived at a clearing in the bamboo where there were two swings, which of course Aedyn and Carlie raced to. Joe and I looked at the churning silver-blue river below which he surmised was a class 3 in rafting terms. We marveled at the gigantic boulders in the middle and imagined how they must have rolled and crashed with a great thunder from the foothills above.

Back at the resort, we asked for a tour of one of the cabins. The owner's son took us out back behind the reception building to some family cabins that slept 10. Monkeys peeped down from the trees above as we walked. Some even threw seeds and sticks at us as we passed. The cabins themselves were basic but I could imagine this would be really fun to rent with friends. It had beds to sleep 10, a private bathroom, fans for the heat and mini-fridge. The cost was expensive for Ecuador: $55 a person per night, but included all 3 meals a day and use of the pools.

The highlight for the kids were the lush surroundings and the animals on the premesis. For example, in the reception area we got to see a boa constrictor in a tank and tortouises in a man-made indoor marsh area. In large cages outside of the family cabins we saw every kind of exotic bird and parrot imagineable. Of course there were also the monkeys roaming free after which the resort is named. One brave male scooted on the sidewalk right past us marking the trail with his underbelly. In the entrance area of the resort was even more animals. Here we saw (in cages or protected areas) a wild boar, a tapir, jungle crocodiles (that have a special name but I forgot) more turtles, more exotic birds and one lone baby monkey in a huge cage. It looked as though his family had died and he was the last of his kind. He sat there clinging to the fence with this forlorn look in his eyes, crying softly to Carlie and Aedyn when they cooed back at him. His eyes looked like Puss' on Shrek when he was trying to get people to feel sorry for him. We gave the baby monkey a piece of grass to hold. He grabbed it and shoved it straight in his mouth like real babies do.

As the sun still shone on one side of the sky it began to lightly sprinkle on the other. The owner's son had suggested we could take a Quito bus back to Tena without having to get a taxi to Archidona first, so we waited...and waited...and waited. Finally a Quito bus came flying by. And passed us. Then another. After waiting in the sun-rain an hour, a third bus finally came and took us back to the Tena bus terminal. Then we had to walk 10 minutes or so back to Jessamyn's house.

All in all, it was a great Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of trouble getting to Monkey Island and back, so we probably won't be going there very often, but it was lots of fun. If you come visit us, we promise to take you there so you can meet the baby monkey yourself.

THE HOLIDAYS

2012-01-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

Super Tia always has good "Ofertas" or sales

The holidays have come and passed in all their pagan glory yet again here in Ecuador. We can tell commercialism has made its mark even here in the Amazon. On every corner you could find carts and stands selling tinsel, fake mini table-top Christmas trees, tiny ceramic baby Jesus’, light kits, Santa hats, and whatever else the commercials said you need. Jessamyn said just a couple years ago the locals barely knew what Christmas was. Now all of a sudden there’s parades down the main drag with child angles surrounding adult Jesus with a crooked felt beard.

The thing we really got a kick out of was the Christmas box sets for sale at our local grocery store, Super Tia. For $45 you could buy a large Tupperware filled to the brim with non-perishables. I was wondering why people didn’t buy their own plastic box and fill it with whatever they wanted so they could make it cheaper. Lack of imagination I guess. Joe received one of these gift sets from his boss. He had bought one for every teacher in the school for an end of year bonus. Rummaging through our own Tupperware was like hitting the jackpot in Vegas. Here’s what was inside: a bottle of wine, a bag of flour, a bag of rice, a bag of sugar, a bag of cookies, a bag of toffee, a box of chocolates, a can of peaches, a bottle of cooking oil, and bag of orange flavored gelatin powder. As a bonus bonus, his boss also gave us a frozen chicken and a T-shirt that has a picture of a parrot and says “Tena” across the front.

The bottle of wine got opened first. It tasted like flat coke that had expired in someone’s garage. After two sips- the last to confirm its grossness- we poured it down the drain. I think I heard a faint scream as it oozed down the pipes into the river outside. The next item to be opened and meet the same fate was the gelatin. Carlie and Aedyn couldn’t wait to make some fake Jello, so without adult supervision, they poured the powder into a bowl, poured cold water on top, and without stirring stuck it in the freezer. All in all, it was a very practical and much needed gift. We even used the tub it came in to give Maisy and Jones a bath. Christmas day was business as usual. All the stores and restaurants were open and taxi’s still giving rides around town. We took a taxi to Brutus’ Burger joint by the bridge and had burgers the size of a Frisbee. The next day, I cooked the gift-chicken and rice. It was great.

New Year’s festivities are quite unusual here and take days of preparation. First, a newspaper scarecrow must be made and outfitted with a mask of someone you don’t like so much. Maybe a neighbor or relative you can’t stand. Stores around town sell mask faces of international governmental officials or other faces that are better suited for Halloween costumes. When we lived in Ecuador before, it was common to see George Bush masks everywhere. On New Year’s eve, these scare-crows are burned to signify…something that makes sense to the locals.

Second, the food must be prepared for the upcoming feasting. Two nights before New Year’s, we couldn’t sleep due to all the hogs in our neighborhood being slaughtered. I’ll never get those pig screams out of my head. Also the beer shelves in Super Tia are emptied by all the alcoholics in town, which there are many. The drinking continues for the next three days straight.

New Year’s Eve: all of Tena is out in the streets eating and drinking after they’ve had their naps. They know it’s going to be long night. As the sun sets, the music gets louder and continues on full blast until 10am the following day. Drag queens, called viudas, parade around in short skirts on street corners collecting money from “voters” who determine the best-dressed. We all stayed home that night and cooked something from our gift Tupperware and went to bed with earplugs. At midnight I was awakened by fireworks and gunshots, but easily fell back asleep. The next morning, as we walked to the Kingdom Hall, we saw viudas laying in the middle of the street with hang-overs and mascara smeared down their cheeks. Music was still thumping out of the bar across the street.

LIMBO AGAIN

2011-12-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

To keep you all updated, I finally got my censo ID card after waiting in a tiny crowded office in Quito by myself for four hours with a hundred guys named Jesus or Carlos and two transvestites with a better figure than Dolly Parton. (The five o’clock shadows were a dead give-away.)

Back at the ranch here in Tena, Eleanor has gone to Atlanta for a month to visit her daughter thus leaving me in charge of one of her best Bible studies. Her name is Leo and she's Ecuadorian. She’s about 29 and has a baby boy we call Gordito. (fatty). We meet for the study in the back of the furniture store where she works. We get in a paragraph or two between customers. She asks really thought-provoking questions to me instead of the other way around, for example “Why are there only three people getting resurrected in this picture when the Bible says many will come back to life?” Ummm. It’s just a 5x7 picture. Imagine there's millions more behind those bushes.

Gary, our one of only two elders, has had a kidney infection since Eleanor left, but word on the street is that he’s at the crib watching movies all day and drinking Club, the local beer, relaxing until she returns. He's Irish so he's allowed to do that. He also claims he’s on a diet but I ran into him Monday coming out of a local restaurant chewing on a toothpick. He missed the meeting last night, which is too bad because afterwards we went out to eat at Iguana with about 30 brothers and sisters. Even 90 year old “abuelita” came out for a beer and hot wings. She used a fork. Unfortunately, there was only one cook and one waitress, so it took like 3 hours for the food to come. By the time it did, they were out of the only item we had ordered: fries. So the owner went home and got some more potatoes for us. Meanwhile, I kept getting all sorts of stares from the teenage sisters sitting across from me. Today in service I found out through Jessamyn that it wasn’t me they were staring at. It was Pancho, the new 21 year old in the hall that has all the sisters drooling. Yes, he’s pretty cool because he speaks some English, he’s a kayak guide on the local rivers and he’s a super nice and spiritual brother, but other than that he’s your average goofy young boy. And him and Joe are best buds.

Today was finally sunny. It had been cool and rainy for the previous four days. When I say cool, I mean low eighties. Friends in the hall were complaining about how cold it was and shivered when they saw me wear a sleeveless blouse to the meeting. My laundry had been on the line that whole time getting rained on over and over. Finally I just gave up and scattered wet clothes all over the house to dry on backs of chairs or whatever. But today the sun was out full force and our service group only made it until about 9:45 when it hit the high 90s. I went home and hung some of the wet clothes out to finally dry, but now we’re having a bad storm and I’ll have to try again tomorrow. So goes life here in the Amazon rainforest.

I can’t really get into much detail right now mainly because many things are still up in the air, but to make a long story short our landlord knows a family who wants to rent our apartment and offered to pay $50 more a month for it than us. Our landlord saw dollar signs so she knocked on our door yesterday with a list of fake reasons why we’re bad tenants and wanted us to immediately move out. Needless to say it was a very stressful day for us, but Jehovah is taking care of the situation. This weekend we’re moving back in with Jessamyn and her son Aedyn until things pan out. She got us in contact with a witness couple from Spain who is moving back to Barcelona in three weeks. They own property and two homes right outside of Tena in the jungle boonies and needed to either quickly sell or rent it. And there we were homeless and desperate.

The houses are small, the first a tad over 1,000 sq. ft and the other even less. But they are amazing. The brother built them both with his own hands and it’s something I’d be proud to live in forever in the paradise. The larger home is what we will rent when they move on January 16th. (Yes, our lives will be in limbo for three whole weeks) It has two bedrooms, a tiny office/laundry room and one bathroom. Carlie’s room has a loft where her mattress will be and she’s super excited about that. The home has a covered front porch with hooks for a large hammock. The backyard has a small but inviting pool surrounded by acres of land flowing with pineapples, bananas, yucca, and things I don’t understand in Spanish. It will even come with a real cocker spaniel named Cookie that won’t be flying to Barcelona. The thing I’m excited about is the bathtub. Tubs are a true luxury here and 90% of the homes in Ecuador only have stand-up showers. So I’m thrilled. The home is down a dirt road right across the street from a clean river that the friends swim in on Sundays. Another cool thing is that behind our fence, adjoining our property are two homes that Gary and Eleanor have bought and are remodeling. So in a few months they’ll be our next-door neighbors along with their son and daughter-in-law Tim and Monica. Across the road is also another Ecuadorian witness. So soon we’ll have our own little JW colony and all the stress I’m going through this weekend will be a thing of the past.

For anyone interested in owning a piece of paradise, the smaller home is for sale for just $30,000. You’d have to come see it in person to see how adorable it is. Our home with the pool and gravel circular driveway is $70,000. We get to rent it for a year, but after that it’s back on the market. I’m really hoping to find 70K between now and then. Donations anyone?

FIRST FIESTA

2011-12-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Quito again. My passport is finally re-registered and I have to pick it up today at 2pm. Tomorrow I need to get my censo, or ID card. This whole process has cost me hundreds of dollars and tons of frustration. In the end, all it will have gotten me is yet another way for the government to keep track of me and that's it.

Anyway, I'm sitting here in my hotel room stalling until all the other hotel guests have eaten their free breakfast. Then I'll go down and have a nice quiet breakfast with just me and the friendly owners who have gone out of their way to make sure my stay here is a comfortable one. So I guess now is the best time to blog about the congregation fiesta we had this past Sunday.

First of all, I must relate the reason we had the party. When we moved here six weeks ago, that very first weekend was our two-day assembly in Puyo. At that assembly a brother who is barely 4 feet tall and in his 80s was baptized. He is the cutest little thing you've ever seen and claims that his eyesight is bad so all the pretty sisters will stand closer to him. Well, he was so happy to be baptized that he decided to mark the occasion by buying a pig and having a congregation BBQ picnic. The pig cost him two months wages, so at the party there was a contribution box to help him recoup his huge expense. The day of the BBQ was scheduled for Sunday at 2pm and there was lots of planning to be done.

First a list had to be made of who would be attending and what side-dish they could bring. All this pre-planning merited a pizza party, so about 15 of us went over Gary and Eleanor's house to eat pizza and discuss the party plans. That's when I received my assignment: I was to bring a BUCKET full of aji, the home-made Ecuadorian version of Texas Pete as a condiment to the BBQ. The day before the party I had Olivia come over and help me make it. First she went out and bought me a $9 bucket that had a lid. Then she bought the ingredients:
15 tomate de arbol (a fruit called tree tomato)
10 red onions
a bunch of cilanto and celery leaves
a head of garlic
about 30 red chili peppers
1 carrot
5 juiced lemons

We had to make it in batches and put in the fridgerator because the bucket wouldn't fit. Then before the party I just dumped the batches into the bucket, sealed the lid, and Joe carried it to the busstop. Imagine all the looks we got: we had met Rita and Woody, another gringo couple, at the busstop carrying a big salad and a bucket full of aji. People had no idea what was going on as we loaded it all onto the bus that would be taking us to the Sangeles' home across Napo river.

The Sangeles': Martin and Natalie Sangeles are a couple in their late 30s from Quebec, Canada. They've been living in Tena for 12 years. Before Ecuador was using the U.S. dollar, they were using Sucres and you could buy land here for the price of taking your kid bowling in the States. So the Sangeles' were in the right place at the right time and were able to buy about ten acres of land right on the Napo river for next to nothing. Martin is a window washer by trade but a carpenter by hobby. He built a beautiful 2 bedroom home for him and his wife, 2 mini-cabins complete with bathrooms, kitchenetts and tv's on the river for when their Canadian friends come to visit and a playground complete with a wooden castle for any kid who comes to visit. Their land has a swimming pool, an outdoor wet bar, a small pond for thier geese, a chicken run and coop, a boat landing to the river, a greenhouse with nice garden and any kind of fruit tree you could imagine. They are the Trump's of our congregation, but a very humble and wonderful pioneer couple. Really, really nice people...but you can't help but be the tiniest bit envious-- their huge brick wall that separates their property from the main road has a decorative iron boa constrictor on the front gate, the epitome of coolness.

So the day of the party we took the bus to the Sangeles', but the bus only goes as far as the bridge, so we had to carry all our stuff and the bucket of aji in 100 degree heat over the river and about 1 more mile further to their boa constrictor gate. All the kids were already in their bathing suits when we arrived. Martin, (pronounced Marteen) being the awesome Canadian that he is, had hollowed out a bobsledding-type hole in his steep cement boat landing that ends in the Napo river. Then he lined it with plastic, made it more slick with a bar of soap, somehow inserted a flowing water-hose in the cement at the top and, Voila!! a water slide Emerald Point Wet N' Wild would covet. After a few other kids tried it out and lived, Carlie soaped herself up more with the bar of soap and went down with her hands in the air. It's times like this that I'm still pinching myself because I can't believe we live in the Amazon. I can't believe my Pop-Tropica playing Carlie is going down a home-made water slide into a river that flows into the Amazon river!

Anyway, the rest of the party was great! The food was amazing (espcially whoever brought that tasty aji) we had fun dancing Spanish line dances, including the Macarena and we laughed till we almost cried playing silly Ecuadorian games. The best game we played was when it got dark and Martin turned off all the outdoor lights. We were surrounded by jungle trees barely lit by the moon and we couldn't see two feet in front of us. Before he turned out the lights we were given a small piece of paper with the name of an animal. Mine was gato. (cat) When the lights went out you had to meow or make the noise of the animal that you were given and find the other gatos in your group. My group had 5 gatos. Imagine the noise and confusion of 80 people making animal noises in the dark and you had to find only your "species". Then the lights came back on. With your newly formed group, the game changed into a crazy version of American Idol, and you had to come up with a group song. Of course you could only sing it in meows or your corresponding animal. Then everyone else voted for the best "song". Our group meowed to a Latin song "Tres Polliotos" , which thankfully I already knew the tune. But other groups were more creative. The dogs barked out a reggaeton rap. The chickens clucked out a love song. The cows mooed a opera song complete with a director. When it was time to vote by applause, Matin reminded us all who had hosted the party and prepared the pig. Yes, it was the little old brother who had bought the pig, but it was Gary and Martin who had shot it between the eyes with a nail gun, slit it's throat, bled it properly and then roasted it to perfection in a fancy outdoor glass oven. In the end, the dogs won and were given a prize. I didn't see what the prize was, but we all celebrated with more dancing and chocolate cake that Jessamyn had made. It was one of the most fun parties I've ever been to, and definitley the most interesting.