Manna Project International Ecuador - Craig Smith

A few pictures from Perú

2008-09-02T10:56:00.013-05:00

Enjoy!

Manna Project International-Ecuador: 2008-2009

2008-08-22T13:53:00.007-05:00

As you may have already heard, I am currently traveling around Peru (and find myself at the moment in the magnificent mountain city of Huaraz). Though I am thoroughly enjoying my travels here in Peru, I am a little to sad to have left Ecuador, my projects, and the people with whom I am working. I am comforted by the fact, however, that we have an incredibly talented and gifted group of new Program Directors to take over responsibility for the MPI-Ecuador site and look forward to the great things they will do in the coming year.

One of the most important activities that the MPI-E ´07-´08 team has accomplished in recent months has been a clearer definition of our approach to community development. We have come to realize that there are two principles approaches to community development. The first of which is based on the needs of the community. In this model a group of people, generally outsiders, be they government institutions, academics, or a non-profit like ourselves, enters a community and tries to help people. Upon arrival in said community these groups will look for needs (i.e. what is missing or where there are problems) and try to figure out what is the best way to fill these needs or fix these problems. Then, upon a clear understanding of where all the problems all, they will launch programs to fix the needs and thus help the people.

This has been the predominant model for community development around the world and sounds very clean and efficient, except for one minor problem. You enter a community with the basic assumption that it is a problem and needs to be fixed.

This model has forgotten about the most important aspect to community development: the community comprised of skillful and competent individuals, organizations, and institutions.

This brings us to our second model. One that first assumes that every community already has the strengths, assets, and ability to build and develop itself. Upon entering said community, the work begins by identifying these strengths and assets (and this is not merely limited to already established institutions, but rather also includes informal groups and individuals). Once an exhaustive map of the community has been created then our three axes of community development come into play:

· Empower individuals through programs that develop their capacities to advance economically and educationally, and to become leaders in their communities.

· Strengthen institutions by working alongside them to introduce best practices, connect them to national and international resources, and expand their services.

· Build networks by creating stronger links among community members, connecting people to local institutions, and promoting inter-institutional collaboration.

You will notice that you do not see activities here based on problems (i.e. no access to potable water or illiteracy); however, what you do see is a grass-roots based approach to community development in which our priniciple role as Manna Project International is one of a connector and a catalyst of sustainable and community-driven development. We know (trust me, you see all the data we have entered over the last months) that within the community there already exists countless strengths and assets. The goal now is to mobilize these strengths.

In many ways, we have already begun. One of the biggest industries for women in the neighborhoods where we work is that of sewing, tailoring, and embroidering. New Program Director Jocelyn Lancaster is currently working with three local women to organize an 8 week long workshop on these topics for other local women. What is great about this activity is that it does require MPI volunteers to have this skill, but rather the experts come straight from the community (and earn a little extra money in the process). At the same time other women in the community are able to gain a skill which not only is of interest to them, but also makes them more marketable when searching for employment.

A second activity that current PD Luke Lockwood has been working on is organizing a series of mingas in the various neighborhoods we work. A minga is an Andean tradition in which the whole community (men, women, and children) come out together for the purpose of completing some sort of neighborhood improvement or restoration project. We have found in our research that nearly every family has not only participated in mingas in the past, but would also be willing to do so in the future. By organizing these events, we see this as a great opportunity to work together with the individuals in the community as they build and strengthen their own neighborhood.

Finally, another finding that has come out of our research has been that a large number of the people have an entrepreneurial interest, but lack the start-up capital to bring their dreams to fruition. Exiting Program Director Zak Schwarzman with the help of new PD´s Eliah McCalla and Dunc Fulton have set about trying to connect these people not only with micro-loans from our local savings and loan partner Cooperativa de Ahorra y Crédito - Esperanza y Progreso del Valle, but also with money management and small business management training taught by Ecuadorian businesspeople and Ecuadorian scholars. Again this benefits both the individuals as they receive the necessary start-up capital as well as technical training to improve their chances of running a successful business, but it is also beneficial to the savings and loan cooperative because in addition to increasing their clientele they also are able to provide loans with a greater chance for repayment. In a related note, Zak has also connected the cooperative with the Red Financiera Rural (RFR), an Ecuadorian network of micro-lending institutions that provides both access to low-interest loans as well technical training for the handling and administration of micro-loans.

As always, I thank you so much for your support as we continue to work alongside Ecuadorians in San Francisco and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Ecuadorian Politics in Action

2008-08-18T10:59:00.002-05:00

In addition to running programs in the community with Ecuadorians, all Manna Project Program Directors are expected to take on other organizational tasks. Several of these tasks include (I should know, I just wrote the job descriptions for all of them) the Donations and Resource Manager, Short-Term Volunteer Coordinator, House Manager, Social Chair, and Chief Financial Officer, among others. My organizational job this year didn´t have as fancy of a name but was equally difficult and time consuming: Visa Guy. (To clarify, if I had been female my position would have been Visa Gal. We don´t discrimate...). In many other countries this would have a very basic position with 2 probable tasks: 1) Merely send someone to the ministry with a few bucks and to ask for a visa extension, or 2) Send someone out of the country for a couple days to return with a new visa. Though these may not seem to be the most convenient options, at least with those options you know what to expect....

What is especially difficult about obtaining a visa in Ecuador is the fact that laws change every few months (we won´t even go into the fact that currently Ecuador does not have a legislative body and therefore no new laws should be enactable). This in itself would make things complicated for anybody; furthermore, it makes things complicated for all the different ministries that work in the visa business. What this means is that every single government official that you ask always seems to give you a different answer. Despite all this, however, I managed to jump through all the hoops and actually keep everybody in the country legal until the end of July (I´ve even got Zak and Annie legal until December, Luke until May ´09, and Mark and Seth legal until July ´09).

By this point I was feeling pretty proud of myself, until my whole visa world (and as the MPIE Visa Guy it´s a big world) came crashing down on top of me. After having told all the new PD´s to enter the country as tourists and then apply for the visas within Ecuador (which we had found to be an easier process than applying from the US) the laws changed yet again requiring anyone entering the country as a tourist after the 7th of July (our PD´s entered the 11th) to only be allowed 90 days at which point they must return to their home country (aka the US in our case) and apply for a visa from there. (Oh, and by the way the 3-month visa that I was going to apply for to finish out my last 6 weeks in Ecuador no longer exists).

Since I had just written all those operational job descriptions I talked about earlier, the new Program Directors were here, and my visa world was crushing me, Mark decided to dole out next year´s operational jobs, and took the Visa Guy job off of my hands. Mark, brilliantly, went straight to the Minister of Foreign Relations to plead our case. Thankfully, she heard him out and, on the condition that we would never again apply for a visa within Ecuador (or until the laws change again in a few months....), agreed to grant visas for our 5 new PD´s when they apply in September. Now we don´t have their visas yet and things could most definitely go awry, but at least we have the Minister´s word that they will review our applications.

He was not, however, been successful in obtaining a visa for me. This left me two options: 1) Stay in the country as an illegal immigrant and pay a hefty fine, or 2) flee the country. I chose option 2 and it is for that reason that I write to you from Máncora, Perú (and without photos). I will be roaming around Perú for the next month or so until I go back to Quito on the last days of my tourist pass only to immediately turn around and fly back to the US completing my 13-month commitment to Manna Project International - Ecuador.

Furthest point on the planet from the Earth's center

2008-08-09T13:34:00.002-05:00

Volcán Chimborazoyep!

Visitors, Volunteers, and….Waterfalls

2008-07-29T17:01:00.015-05:00

The last several months have seen a great influx on North American visitors and volunteers to the Manna Project International – Ecuador site here in Valle de Los Chillos. In addition to the four spring break groups discussed in earlier entries we also hosted two summer groups of about ten college students and recent graduates that were both here for a full four weeks. In between spring break and summer, however, I was lucky enough to receive a visit from a former colleague of mine at Garinger High School: social worker Carol Rodd. Along with Carol also came gang prevention expert Fran Cook. When Carol first contacted me about a potential visit I merely assumed that they would be coming to tour

Ecuador

and our programming, but I could not have been more wrong. While did catch many of the tourist sites, including Otavalo and Cotopaxi among others, they proved to be an invaluable help in our programs as well as a continuing catalyst for our own organizational growth. Not only has Carol since continued to regularly support by sitting as a member of our MPI-Ecuador Advisory Board, but Carol and Fran both continuously asked us difficult questions about our mission and our strategy – in other words, what are we doing here and why are we doing it?

We had been feeling pretty good about ourselves and our work at this point, and it was quite a humbling experience to not be able to give a clear and concise answer to these seemingly simple questions. After their departure we continued to have many discussions about these vital questions and several PD’s have engaged themselves fully in defining just what exactly is 1) our mission, 2) our vision, and 3) our approach to carrying these out. Though I have not been directly involved in these discussions, I have been quite impress with their and know that when they finish in the coming weeks we will have a solid plan of action as well as a clear description to provide supporters and other interested parties about just what it is that we are trying to do here in Ecuador.

On a lighter note, my parents and my sister came to visit and they took me to the most astounding place on Earth: The Galápagos Islands. What is so incredible about the Galápagos is the never ending sequence of once-in-a-lifetime sights and experiences. I apologize for not being able to describe the awe-inspiring majesty of such a place in words and will defer to photographs (set 1, set 2, set 3).

Another set of visitors were the two groups of summer volunteers that were here from mid-May to mid-July. I have to apologize because I had a large amount of great pictures of them until, on the last night of second session, I accidentally deleted every picture off of my camera and lost them all…So sad L. Despite the fact that I do not have visual proof, the summer volunteers were a wonderful help. Among other activities they 1) taught intensive English classes in two separate neighborhoods here in Conocoto, 2) provided a new light and excitement to our art program, 3) supported our research efforts by conducting surveys and entering data, 4) organized an impromptu summer camp with activities ranging from dance to sports to English to cooking, and 5) volunteered in local medical centers.

You may be getting the impression by now of how busy we have been hosting other volunteers and visitors, especially after two straight months of having ten more people hanging around the house, but the fun did not stop there as the same day the summer volunteers left a whole new batch of Program Directors arrived! The PD’s are a really great, and diverse, group and am really excited to see the work they will accomplish in the coming year. Click here to see read a little about each of them. Currently the “newbies” are living in Quito attending language school and undergoing an intense orientation program into Ecuadorian history, teaching and learning, what service and development looks like with MPI-Ecuador, and Ecuadorian current events and culture. This orientation is being facilitated not only by MPIE PD’s, but also by board member and founder Luke Putnam and several Ecuadorian professionals and academics.

One of the very first things that I wanted to do when I came to Ecuador was a ride a bike from Baños towards the Amazonía along the famous “Ruta de las Cascadas” (Route of the waterfalls). Those of you who know me fairly well know that I am kind of a big fan of waterfalls and was thrilled to hear that the “newbies” were making their way towards Baños this past weekend and were also interested in the bike ride. We spent the day on Saturday riding some 20 kilometers past four major waterfalls and countless mini waterfalls. The Río Pastaza at this point is at the bottom of a close to 1000 meter deep gorge and as the rivers and streams reach the gorge they shoot out into amazing waterfalls. One such waterfall, known as El Pailón del Diablo (The Devil’s Cauldron) results from the Río Verde (no slouch in its own right) being forced from a width of 75 meters to a mere 3 meters as it crashes into the Río Pastaza 50 meters below. As you may have already figured out, it is considered a cauldron not so much because of the shape and more because of the sheer force with which the water crashes and plunges.

Click here for pictures of Carol’s visit; Luke, Laura, and I climbing Volcán Imbabura (15,100 feet); the summer volunteers’ last night in Ecuador; the new PD’s; and waterfalls.

Finally, if interested in making a material or monetary donation, please click here. Thank you so much for your support throughout the year!

Connecting Community Assets

2008-06-08T17:32:00.002-05:00

Here at Manna Project International – Ecuador we have now entered our busiest time of the year. This may not be the best aspect of the Manna model, but it remains a fact that the first several months for MPI Program Directors (year-long volunteers) is dedicated primarily to merely getting one’s feet wet. This includes orienting oneself to the culture and language, leading pre-established programs, and developing relationships within the targeted community. These are all vital tasks to the future work of each Program Director (PD) and Manna Project in general; however, they are not necessarily difficult or stressful tasks.

After the New Year, though, everything really begins to change. Not only are PD’s expected to maintain and continue all the work they have already been doing, but they are all individually asked to take on significantly more tasks. Some of these tasks are driven by the organizational model (i.e. planning and hosting four nine-day long spring break trips as well as two month long summer sessions), whereas others come from the individual drive and interest of the Program Director. It is really inspiring to me to see how other MPI-Ecuador PD’s have taken the initiative to create vital, though not necessarily easy or without stress, programming that will benefit MPI-Ecuador and the people we serve as well as Manna Project as a whole for years to come. I would like to give just a taste of some of these initiatives.

Zak and Mark are developing a consortium of young, campus-based, international service organizations that (1) externally will be a one-stop shop for young Americans interested in international service and (2) internally will provide for opportunities of information and best-practice sharing so all organizations can improve and grow.
Seth has been coordinating with Ecuadorian universities to develop a service-learning component where local education and psychology students serve and teach in our programming.
Abbie has been in conversation with Aliñambi, a clinic at a local school, and Health E Clinic, a US-based medical philanthropy organization, to help Aliñambi expand its services to the community as a whole.
Zak has registered a local savings and loan cooperative with a network of micro-finance operations that provides training and support in organizing, giving, and ensuring repayment of micro-loans.
I, with the help of Mark and Abbie and the students and faculty at Aliñambi, have been conducting a socio-cultural diagnostic assessment of the households in our community based on Asset-Based Community Development and the Social Capital Assessment Tool. The primary purpose of this research is to discover everything that is good and strong about the communities where we work. We hope to then take this information and connect interested people and organizations so that Ecuadorian community members may serve and work with each other. Our goal is to become the place that people come to not only when they desire a certain service or to learn a specific skill, but also when they are looking to volunteer, serve, or teach in their own community.

These are just a few of the independent projects born out of the passions and interests of the individual Program Directors, and I would like to highlight one theme that unites this diverse group of projects: They all come from the perspective that our best role as young, energetic, and inexperienced college graduates is one of connector. Though we all have unlimited ambition and desire to do everything we can for these communities and the people with whom we work, we recognize our limited capacity to really help everyone in everyway possible. It is for this reason that we elect to identify what individuals and organizations believe will serve them best and to then connect them with experts in said area. Additionally, as highlighted by the work of Seth and Zak, we hope to make this connection with Ecuadorian individuals and organizations whenever possible.

It is for this reason that I believe that our research with Aliñambi to be so vital to the growth and future of Manna Project International – Ecuador. One major section of this survey asks individuals to respond to six pages of abilities and capacities to identify everything they can do well. This section is then followed by four short, but extremely important, questions which asks individuals to identify (1) which abilities they are very good at, (2) which ones they could be paid to do, (3) which ones they would like to learn, and (4) which ones they would like to teach to others. We believe the answers to these questions can really improve the economic situation of the community. We hope to diffuse this information to the community so that if they need some sort of work done, rather than calling a carpenter or mechanic or repairman from a larger city farther away, they may be able to call on a neighbor who is also looking for work. Additionally, we are very interested in providing for technical courses: Already we have identified that many women are interested in knitting and other forms of tailoring, coupled with the fact that several women are experts in these areas and would be willing to teach a course on these topics. On the one hand this helps the teachers because they earn money from the students who register for this course, and on the other hand the students benefit because they learn a skill that will help them find employment. And, the key, Ecuadorian community members are teaching Ecuadorian community members.

As I mentioned earlier, we are collaborating with Aliñambi on this project. After we provided a 25-hour survey training course to the eleven student volunteer surveyors, they have already conducted over 130 surveys in just over a week. Many of these surveyors are in their last year of primary school and are currently considering the prospect of going on to secondary school. In Ecuador, secondary school is a privilege not awarded to all. As a means of incentive for these students to collaborate with us, we have offered to help them pay for their secondary school tuition and/or school supplies or uniform. It is exciting to see that several students who were not considering secondary school are now talking about looking at available schools in order to register themselves.

As with any research project, this one costs money. We worked with Aliñambi to come up with a proposal (if you would like to see it send me and email and I will be happy to forward it along) that currently sits at $4500. Aliñambi has offered to provide supplies and funds to cover $1000 of the cost. Another US partner, Health E Clinic, has offered another $1000 bringing MPI-Ecuador’s expected contribution down to only $2500. We are using the money from Aliñambi, Health E Clinic, and some of our reserves for the initial stages of this research, but we are need of more funds if we hope to do everything we have planned over the next several months. If you believe this project to be important and are interested in providing support we would greatly appreciate it. This will probably be my major project over my remaining months here in Ecuador and I am really excited about the prospect of conducting this type of research and then taking the data to encourage and support the community members to take the initiative to grow together.

Spring Break – Part II: UNC and Duke

2008-03-30T12:15:00.017-05:00

In addition to being one of the two leaders of the first Iowa Medical School group, I was lucky enough to also lead a mixed group for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. At first glance mixing students from these two rival universities may sound like sacrilege, but this group, composed entirely of freshmen, did not understand our shock at such a combination as many of them have a special service scholarship where they are required (giving the opportunity?) to take classes at both schools and together. The only thing I can imagine that even comes close to this Duke and UNC partnership would be that ESPN commercial from a few years ago with a guy, in a Michigan shirt, and a girl, in an Ohio State shirt, making out. I remember being completely grossed out by such a horrific display of humanity, until the caption comes that says “Without sports…this wouldn’t be disgusting”.

Seriously though, once I got over my initial confusion as to the formation of this group, I cannot say enough about the preparation and quality of work that they put into their projects. More than any other group, they stayed in constant contact with us from as far back as November as we organized their activities here. These students proposed two major projects, both of which were carried out more successfully than I could have ever imagined. Their first project was a health education campaign among our students in our principal after-school program. They planned three courses in the areas of exercise and physical fitness, nutrition and hygiene, and sanitation and parasites.

What impressed me the most, however, was not their understanding of these topics, but rather the manner in which they presented them to our 30 some kids between the ages of 4 and 11. Teaching is not an easy task, especially when trying to present to such a group as diverse as ours; nevertheless, they managed to create activities which not only engaged and entertained all kids at all times, but also were highly educational. Not only did they highlight the most important and useful aspects in each of these three areas, but the kids actually learned what they were taught. This learning was clearly evident at the end of the week: As an incentive to encourage kids to attend these presentations we offered a party for all kids who came to each of the three class sessions. Although this was a party with cake and games, the games served as a review of all the content presented throughout the week. The kids not only seemed to enjoy the games, but they also demonstrated a clear understanding of the content as they made their way through the various “party” games.

Their second project, and what will be most important for our long-term work here in Ecuador, was a “Community Profile” within the frameworks of Social Capital and Asset-Based Community Development. These are two complementary frameworks that really attempt to reevaluate the entire process of community development worldwide. Traditionally community development has been based on the idea of identifying what a community needs and then initiating programs and activities that respond to these. Throughout history the data has shown that such a model is completely ineffective. In order to effectively develop communities a paradigm shift is required; simply searching for problems and then reacting to said problems will do nothing more than provide a quick-fix those problems, not to mention you are left in state of only realizing what is wrong with a community. These approaches ask you, rather than to look at what does not work, to look at what does work. They ask you to start from what the community already has, rather than what it lacks. The real drivers of community development are not good-intentioned outsiders (often times with money), but rather committed people, organizations, and institutions from the actual community. These approaches, I have to admit, are relatively new and poorly understand by many and may or may not be effective; nevertheless, focusing on the needs and problems and then throwing dollars at these problem has proven ineffective and something else must be tried.

We are currently in the process of mapping the assets and strengths of the communities where we work, specifically by completing an Individual Capacities Inventory. We recognize that seven gringos cannot effectively develop a community, but a community with individuals mobilized to work for themselves and their neighbors in a way they want to while at the same time doing what they themselves say they are good at is the only way we see that communities can build themselves.

As you can see from my run-on sentences, this is something that we are passionate about. The MPI-Ecuador team had talked several times about the imperativeness of this paradigm shift, but had never really done anything about it until we were provided the impetus by this group of freshmen from the Triangle in North Carolina. We may now have added a substantial amount of work to our activities here in Ecuador, but we really believe that we have finally started down the road that will allow for the people in the communities where we work to use their strengths to build their (not our) community.

Finally, here is a link to more pictures from their week here.

Safe Arrival

2008-03-09T21:47:00.001-05:00

DUKE and UNC are here!

We are eating dinner, it was a long day of travel, but everyone seems really excited to be here!

Spring Break – Part I: Iowa

2008-03-03T23:33:00.013-05:00

One of the classic aspects of the Manna Project International model is the fact that we host university spring break groups. Our first group came for nine days in February from the University of Iowa Medical School. I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed with behavior and work ethic of this group, not to mention the extreme joy and humor they brought to the Manna house. I have to admit that I was slightly worried how a group of students from Iowa would be able to handle life in Ecuador, but Abbie and I (the MPI group leaders for this trip) never ceased to impressed by these students.

As these are all medical students, their principal project involved volunteering in local hospitals. We focused our efforts at three major urban hospitals in Quito: Hospital Tierra Nueva, Hospital Eugenio Espejo, and the Isidro Ayora Maternity Hosital. The first of these hospitals is actually private, but they are famous throughout the region for their quality of service as well as their affordability. Insurance through this hospital is a mere $3.00 a month, with which patients receive medical attention considerably superior to that which is provided in the public hospitals at comparable prices. Though this is a small hospital, they do their best to provide as many services as possible to local Quiteños. I get the impression that are students all thoroughly enjoyed their experiences at this hospital, being provided the opportunity to observe and assist in the Emergency Room, Surgery, Pediatrics, Psychology, Physical Therapy, Radiology, Dentistry, Obstetrics, and General Hospitalization.

The other two hospitals are large public hospitals that serve thousands of patients a day. Espejo is a specialist hospital located in one of the tallest buildings in Quito with just about every possible speciality available in Ecuador at an extremely low-cost. The Maternity Hopsital is also public and, due to its clientele, is a very exciting place to care for mothers and babies. Because so many of these mothers cannot afford quality pre-natal medical attention for themselves and their children, many babies are not born fully healthy and immediately have to go into intensive care. Although several of our medical students are not planning on going into maternity care and obstetrics, I think they really appreciated the experience of understanding just what it takes to bring life into this world.

With each trip we provide a weekend excursion that serves two primary purposes: (1) relaxation and diversion after a strenuous week of work and (2) a chance to reflect upon and evaluate the experiences gained and knowledge learned during the week. Iowa chose to take their excursion to Volcán Cotopaxi, a majestic glacier-capped volcano towering above Quito at 5897 meters (19,460 feet). What most of the group chose to do was drive up to 4500 meters and bike downhill some 28 kilometers through Cotopaxi National Park. I have to say that this was a great bike road surrounding by the amazing scenery of Volcán Cotopaxi, Volcán Rumiñahui, and the Limpiopungo Valley filled with Andean grassland and wild horses and llamas.

Fortunately for me, two students chose to not only ride bikes down the mountain, but also attempt to summit the mountain. Because we are so close to the equator, this climb must be done during the night; therefore we woke up at 11:45pm the previous night to complete this climb. We were on the trail by 12:45am and continued the climb, complete with gaiters, boots, ropes, and ice axes, for the next five hours. With about 25 people leaving the refuge together between 12:45 and 1:00, I was the first person (of only nine) to reach the summit just at sunrise at 6:00am. I will not deny that this is one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but I would not have been able to accomplish it without my guide. He did an incredible job of setting a very, very slow pace, but a pace which required minimal breaks. Although I have never walked on such a steep slope for such a long time, I never felt excessively tired or too sick to stop moving and I attribute this to the pace that my guide set for me. I will always remember what it felt like to reach the top: the view, of course, is breathtaking, but more than anything, you just feel like you are on top of the world. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but after completing a climb like this, one really feels like he or she can do anything.

I have included several pictures from the week here, but the entire album (along with pictures from the Carnaval parade) can be found by clicking here. Oh, by the way, did I mention that I did this on my birthday. Yes, I had a great birthday topped off by a night of dancing with my MPI Program Director friends and new-found friends from Iowa. I actually made it to the point of being awake for all 1440 minutes of my birthday (midnight to midnight)!

GO DORES!

2008-02-27T09:33:00.006-05:00

This does not really have anything to do with our work, but last week we finally managed to get internet at our house. I was so excited that I went back to check on the Vandy basketball and baseball teams, only to realize that I can get the game's Live Audio here in Ecuador! Anyways, last night Vanderbilt (#14 in the nation and 18-0 at home this year) hosted #1 Tennessee (first time in school history at #1). Highlights are included below (let's just say I'm happy with the result)!

VU Commodores Writeup/ESPN Postgame Highlights and Interview

ESPN Video Highlights

GO DORES!

The Year in Pictures

2008-02-25T20:19:00.003-05:00

This is a really cute slideshow put together by some of our counterparts in Nicaragua. Enjoy!

Manna Project International "2007 in Pictures"

Wait for the awkward alpaca picture....

¡Carnaval!

2008-02-25T18:27:00.003-05:00

This video shows one of the more than 50 groups participating in the Chillo Jijón (the large area encompassing many of the barrios where we work) Carnaval Parade:

Valparaíso, Chile

2008-01-28T12:07:00.000-05:00

The coastal city of Valparaíso (Valpo) made for the perfect location for us to finish our trek across the Southern Cone. We arrived in Valpo before sunrise on the 31^st of December. After resting in the morning we spent the afternoon grocery shopping and preparing dinner for New Year’s Eve. The V Region sits on the Valparaíso Bay and is composed of the cities of Valparaíso and Viña del Mar (both about 300,000 inhabitants) and surrounding communities. This region is famous throughout South America for having one the world’s best fireworks shows; remember in the Southern Hemisphere that New Year’s falls right in the heart of summer. After preparing our food we climbed up the hill overlooking the city and bay and spent a beautiful summer night relaxing and enjoying our picnic in a park. As we looked down into the bay we could see many boats as well as what appeared to be floating docks a kilometer or two offshore. There were actually about twenty of these docks stretched out over a fourteen kilometer distance. As midnight approached we, along with everyone else in the park, prepared to open the champagne and begin the countdown. At the moment the clock struck midnight the entire city went dark amid the screams of children and the popping of champagne bottles. After a couple minutes of joyous hugging in the dark the sky exploded into a wash of colors. Every single one of those docks was a platform for fireworks. From our vantage point we enjoyed the bright and shiny fireworks display from as many as ten synchronized platforms at once. Never in my life have I seen such a brilliant horizontal fireworks display. We sat in awe of the exploding fireworks that not only spanned the entire bay but also went around and beyond the heads on either end of the bay. This amazing show continued until 12:30 at which point we walked down the mountain towards the waterfront and danced until eight in the morning on the historic shipping dock.

Other than the New Year’s fireworks, the biggest summer draw on the V Region is the beaches of Viña del Mar. Not only did we start our vacation on an Atlantic beach, but we also finished our vacation on a Pacific beach. I’m sure you can imagine what it is like to relax on the beach in the middle of the summer so I will not go into much detail here.

Valparaíso city’s most famous tourist attractions are its elevators. The Andes Mountains start only a couple hundred meters inland from the bay and so once Valpo started to grow into a port city the majority of the population began to live up in the hills surrounding the bay. For this reason there is a series of about fifteen elevators throughout the city bringing people from sea level to the residential neighborhoods twenty meters away. All elevators were built over one hundred years ago and frankly are not very exciting. The stations have fallen into disrepair, they are more expensive than taking a public car or bus up the hill, and it is actually faster to walk up the stairs underneath the elevator than to take the elevator. Nevertheless, taking an elevator really gives one the opportunity to explore the real neighborhoods of Valparaíso.

During one such exploration in a random uphill neighborhood a lady came running down the hill at me yelling things that I would rather not translate into English. I tried to ignore her and keep walking, but she eventually caught up to me and interrogated me as to why I was breaking into her house. I had done no such thing (I actually hadn’t even walked onto her block), and told her that I was just wandering around and taking pictures. At this point she got really confused and asked why I would be taking pictures. I told her I was on vacation and wanted some memories from Valpo. She told me she thought I was Chilean (and a thief), but became very happy that I was from the US. Apparently she and her husband lived on Long Island, New York for close to ten years in the 1990’s. We got to talking and she told me all about how she loves Americans and how during her time in the USA they were always so wonderful to her. She talked about her family and how she has a daughter that has sole United States citizenship. I thought this lady was very pleasant and really enjoyed meeting someone who can be openly critical of our government but still love our people.

After a while this conversation began to run on and I was ready to go. I was just about to tell her that I had to get going and find my friends when a man comes sprinting down the hill with a terrified look on his face. I thought this was somewhat odd until I saw another man also sprinting down the hill with a knife in his hand. I heard the first man bang on someone’s door around the corner, but apparently they did not open it as I heard him and the second man yelling and arguing and struggling below us. At this point the lady I had been talking to invited me to her house to meet her husband and daughter. I was a little wary about going to her house, but I figured that was a much better option than walking downhill into the knife fight.

At her house I met her husband, who was equally gracious and loving of Americans. Once he realized that I spoke Spanish we also talked for a long time about their lives in the US and about my work in Ecuador. They even made me a sandwich, and I really like to eat so that was pretty awesome. It is very refreshing to know that there are friendly people that just want to share in their happiness with others. After we conversed for a while I met their daughter. She is an adorable little eight year old girl with an interesting identity (that she does not even really comprehend). Although she does not speak English, she is an American citizen, having been born on Long Island to legal immigrant parents. These people showed me all their old New York State driver’s licenses and work ID cards to help ease my concern of going to a strange Chilean home. This girl lives in Chile with Chilean parents and speaks Spanish, but she is not a Chilean citizen; her parents actually had to earn a resident visa so they could bring their daughter home. The question, however, is if having an American daughter and absolutely loving the people of the United States, why would this family return to Chile? Everything changed for this family on September 11, 2001. Rather than living in happiness and security, all of sudden this family began to live in fear and confusion. Their baby daughter was only a year old (she does not even remember the attacks on the World Trade Center) and she was (and is) the most important thing in the world to them. With the increased national pride rampant throughout the country, they began to hear stories of American citizens being separated from immigrants (documented or undocumented). Despite the life they had made for themselves in New York, they were terrified that they would be deported and their daughter would be sent to a foster home in the US. Eventually they felt that the only way to keep their family together was to leave the country.

Despite the fear instilled in this family by our country that eventually caused them to leave their entire way of life to completely start over again in Chile, this family still loves the United States. The father is already talking about how once his daughter graduates from high school that he is going to send her into the US Air Force so that she may continue her education, gain job security, and learn about her country.

Mendoza, Argentina

2008-01-24T12:31:00.000-05:00

More than any other city we visited on this journey, Mendoza has been engineered by man. On the face, the two most defining characteristics of Mendoza appear to be completely contrary to one another: (1) 60% of Argentina’s wine comes from here and (2) Mendoza is located in the middle of a desert. One does not realize this, however, upon walking around the city. Though only about 130,000 people (again a tenth the size of the last city we were in…), the city is inundated with parks, plazas, and tree-lined streets. I do not use the word inundated lightly either as this natural beauty would not exist without water. For thousands of years, humans in the region have diverted the waters of the streams and rivers coming down out of the Andes (strongest in the summer snow-melt season) into an elaborate system of irrigation channels that not only line every single city street in Mendoza, but also provide each and every vineyard the life-giving power of water.

Though nature fanatics would be struck by the stunning number of trees and parks that line this city, Mendoza is not a natural city. Though many modern humans would be saddened by the overgrowth of modernization and globalization, at a loss to the simpler, more traditional indigenous way of life, Mendoza has never been a simple traditional region. For thousands of years Mendoza has been engineered by man; historically by darker skinned immigrants from the North and Asia, and only recently by lighter skinned immigrants from Spain and Italy.

Our time in Mendoza was highlighted by two events: wine tasting and outdoor adventure. I will talk first about the later. We spent one morning rafting down the Mendoza River. Though we only spent about one a half hours on the river, we were in for quite a ride with a crazy guide. At one point some of our group tried to form a mutiny and put Seth, an experienced guide in Colorado, at the helm. Our revolt, however, was unsuccessful, though we did manage to survive unscathed despite the wild antics of our guide. Nevertheless, not every boat managed to make it down without incident. On the largest Class IV of the river, one boat absolutely missed (or hit?) the hole and flipped four times! All the other boats went into rescue mode and, since we were in the front, we took off screaming down the river in search of oars and people (fortunately we have experience with hard-paddling thanks to our days in El Chaco). The first item we came upon was a semi-shocked person. We pulled him into our boat and, I kid you not, he did not move or show any sign of awareness for a good ten minutes, which was slightly awkward since he was sitting on Seth who was trying to paddle. We did not have time to check on him because we continued hard downstream in search of oars. We managed to recover six of the seven paddles before relaxing and realizing that our new friend was actually alive.

That afternoon we climbed to the top of some cliffs and rappelled down. Fun!

Enough excitement for one town…The next day we decided to relax and take a bike ride through wine country. We rented some bicycles and spent the entire afternoon riding around from winery to winery. We visited mostly small, family owned vineyards that do not export. The employees at each vineyard were very gracious to us. They offered tours of the vineyards and wine-making facilities. They also offered detailed wine-tasting experiences and taught us how to examine the different aspects and qualities of wines. I really feel like I learned a lot about how wine is made and how doing different things in the production will result in a different kind of wine. The only drawback is that I feel very informed on wine in Spanish, but I am not quite sure how much of this I would be able to translate into English. Nevertheless, this was a very good day spent with very good friends.

Córdoba, Argentina

2008-01-23T10:09:00.000-05:00

Córdoba is the second largest city in Argentina; nevertheless, at the only one tenth the size of Buenos Aires it makes the third city of 1.3 million people that we have visited in the past ten days (Montevideo and Quito being the other two). The definite highlight of our time in Córdoba was the hospitality provided by our hosts at Tango Hostel. Their graciousness never stopped from taking us out to play soccer, pointing us in the right direction of an outdoor swimming pool, taking us dancing until eight in the morning, or merely just hanging out and getting to know each other. Their most gracious event, however, was the incredible Christmas dinner they prepared for us. There was a large conglomeration of Americans, Europeans, Australians, and Canadians all together with nowhere to go for Christmas Eve and Tango Hostel prepared a three course meal complete with pasta, pork, sushi, deserts, wine, and champagne at midnight. I have to admit I missed not having fondue, but I am really appreciative of how this hostel went all out for us at Christmas.

The region of Córdoba is most famous for being a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it was the center of the Jesuit evangelist movement of the southern cone of South America. As many of you know, I am rather critical of evangelist movements, but I have to admit I was impressed by the methods employed by the Jesuits in this region: Their two fundamental principles were education and sustainable agricultural production. The Jesuits came offering education, paying jobs, and food for the natives in exchange for their faith. This may or may not be a fair trade, but I am more accepting of this type of evangelism rather of the kind that forces one to convert under fear of persecution, violence, or damnation. Evidence of this Jesuit power is still evident in the many impressive churches, farming estates, and universities built by the Jesuits and still in use today.

Another highlight of our time in Córdoba was our visit to the village of Alta Gracia and the childhood home of Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Che is an interesting character that tends to be either idolized for his unrelenting pursuit of justice and equality or hated for the amount of killing and destruction he caused throughout the Americas. Interestingly this museum seemed to only focus on the former, inclusively treating the Cuban Revolution as a triumph of justice, rather than a bloody war which left a dictator that has since been in power for 49 years. Regardless of your opinion on Che, I highly recommend the movie Motorcycle Diaries which recounts a young Che’s journeys through South America atop a motorcycle. Not only is this movie stunningly gorgeous but one can really see the nascent passion for justice in this character that will eventually become “Che” Guevara. I have included a picture I took at this museum with the following (translated into English):

ethics coherence liberty

revolution ideals

equality courage dignity

sacrifice struggle

Citizen of the World

Buenos Aires, Argentina

2008-01-15T18:12:00.000-05:00

After leaving Montevideo we took our first of four night buses of seven to ten hours in length. Although the buses were expensive, they were relatively comfortable with wide reclining seats and we were able to save money by not having to pay for a hostel for these four nights. Upon arrival in Buenos Aires, we were blown away by the sheer grandeur of this city: at 13 million people it is the second largest city in South America (behind Sao Paulo, Brazil) and the economic and social center of the four countries making up the southern cone of South America (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Chile). At first, one is struck by the immensity of the avenues (and the traffic they contain) present in the city. Buenos Aires is home to the “world’s widest avenue”: At 21 lanes Ave. 9 de Julio takes a good quarter of hour to merely walk back and forth across. This avenue, however, is not singular in its grandeur. Throughout the city there are countless other twelve and fourteen lane two-way avenues, as well as nine and ten lane one-way avenues.

In addition to its wide avenues, Buenos Aires is equally famous for its Casa Rosada (the Pink House) where Argentina’s president (Cristina Kirchner) lives. This house is most famous for being the place where Evita addressed her citizens in the Plaza de Mayo. After Evita’s death, the Plaza de Mayo became even more famous in the 1980’s as Las madres de la Plaza de Mayo began their weekly protests, which continue to this day, in which they demand information about what happened to their “disappeared” children. Thousands of young people (with views not in agreement with the government) were abducted and killed with no record of their whereabouts and the government still refuses to disclose what actually happened.

On a lighter note, Buenos Aires has some of the best steak and ice cream in the world. Though one does not necessarily associate these two foods together, Argentina is generally accepted as the world’s greatest producer of beef, and we definitely ate our fair share. We even saw one steak that was three inches thick and two feet long and was cut with a spoon. After being back in Ecuador for a week now, I am reluctant to eat beef because I know it will not compare to that which we ate in Argentina. In addition, the ice cream, as I mentioned in the Uruguay entry, is influenced by Italian gelatos and was definitely worth buying every single day.

You’d figure that with lots of red meat and ice cream (and then add in the fact that people regularly stay out until seven or eight in the morning) people would be dieing all the time in Buenos Aires. Now I don’t know how true this is, but for those who can afford to die in luxury, there is one final resting place very popular with the tourists: The Cemetery of Recoleta. You can kind of think of this as the place to check out the “Deathstyles of the Rich and Famous” as it is one of the largest collections of elaborate and distinguished mausoleums in the world.

Another highlight of our time in Buenos Aires was heading north of the Parana River Delta, where we witnessed an unprecedented flood. We were not entirely surprised that a delta region would be flooded, but after talking with the locals we soon discovered that the roads are generally not covered in water. Nonetheless, we passed a very relaxing day exploring the river channels and enjoying a picnic lunch on the water.

My favorite neighborhood of Buenos Aires is La Boca, home to South American soccer power and defending Copa Santander champions (South American champions league) Boca Juniors. As great as this team is, and as fanatical the people of La Boca are for their soccer, the Boca Juniors are only the second most famous aspect of this neighborhood. La Boca is most famous for its brightly colored houses. One can walk for blocks and blocks in all directions and continued to be amazed by the brilliant colors that relentlessly dazzle the eyes.

Montevideo, Uruguay

2008-01-06T13:46:00.000-05:00

Our first stop on our (uhh…summer) vacation was Montevideo, Uruguay. Montevideo is a city of 1.3 million people (the same size as Quito) located on the northern end of the River Plate where it enters the Atlantic Ocean. What immediately struck us about Montevideo was the exorbitant amount of trees. Those of you coming from the Northwest and the Carolinas probably wouldn’t even notice these trees, however, as it is not uncommon for cities to have streets lined with shade trees. Nevertheless, Quito absolutely does not have shade trees; there are a few small shrub type trees here and there, but nothing like what we saw in Montevideo.

Once we got over the excitement of being able to breathe the oxygen filled sea air we made our way to out to explore the city. Montevideo is a beautiful city filled with parks and plazas (and not an overwhelming amount of traffic) in which people relax with their mate (a dense and strong herbal tea drunk with a special sifting straw). Although generally associated with Argentina, Uruguay has the highest per capita consumption of mate of any country in the world. One such park is Parque Rodó, a huge urban park right on the water filled with trees, lawns, statues and monuments, artisan vendors, and ponds. We spent several hours here, just reading and relaxing (oh by the way, Seth and I both read books 1, 2, and 3 of the Harry Potter series on this vacation).

Another such plaza is the Plaza Independencia (where the government palace is located) where we saw strong evidence of the progressive nature of the Uruguayan populous. One night in Montevideo we stumbled upon a large rally of young and old mate drinking Uruguayans. Always looking for excitement we decided to stick around and see what all the commotion was about. We were soon surprised to realize that this actually wasn’t a political demonstration in favor of (or against) any local politicians (as are so common in Ecuador), but rather a demonstration in favor of Hugo Chávez, the liberal president/almost dictator of Venezuela and fierce critic of the United States government. Not only were these Uruguayans showing their strong support for Chávez, but they continuously evoked the image of Che Guevara (Fidel Castro’s right hand man in the Cuban Revolution and protagonist/narrator of the amazing book and film Motorcycle Diaries).

After some time at the rally, which seemed to be more like a relaxed gathering of hippies than an organized movement for change, we decided to head out to dinner (Uruguayan and Argentine restaurants do not open until after 10:00 and regularly stay open until past 1:00 in the morning). On the way out of the plaza, however, we stumbled upon a plaque on the ground with the following quote (translated from Spanish) by Gustav Radbruch:

“The idea of Justice supposes an equal treatment for those who are equal and an unequal treatment for those who are unequal, in accordance with the same guidelines, but without being able to tell us who should be treated equally and who should be treated unequally nor how should be treated those who are equal and those who are unequal.”

Finally, one cannot talk about Uruguay without talking about the beaches. In Montevideo alone there are six amazing beaches each with their own character: one famous for windsurfing, one for its sunsets, one for its immensity, one for being the hotspot of Montevideo’s rich suburbanites, etc. Our favorite, however, was Punta del Este: a small point jutting out into the Atlantic filled with expensive high-rise condos and luxurious resorts. This point alone has four beaches, two on the calm River Plate side and two on the rough Atlantic side, perfect for both board and body surfing. We spent the day surfing and relaxing on the beach which was capped off by an amazing meal of fresh fish and pasta at La Fonda del Pesca, the only reasonably priced restaurant on the whole point, but is exceedingly popular for its superb food and gregarious owner and staff. The only thing that could have made this meal better would have been dessert, oh wait, they gave us a free piece of cake to share. And then, oh yeah, we got ice cream next door. Uruguay and Argentina have some of the best ice cream in the world due in large part to the extensive waves of immigration from Italy to these countries. I think I actually ended up eating ice cream everyday that I was in both Uruguay and Argentina.

Enjoying Everyone

2007-12-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

By the time you read this, I will already be on my way to

Uruguay

. We have finished our first term as Manna Project International –

Ecuador

and have now all taken off for our Christmas and New Year’s vacation. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back, but just to give you an idea, I’m dipping into some of my savings I made from being a teacher (teachers have savings?) and heading off to Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile for two and a half weeks.

Surprisingly, however, I don’t feel that I actually need this vacation yet. I really enjoy living in Ecuador and working with the kids and families in San Francisco. In fact, several days this week I spent over eight hours in the community simply hanging out and really getting to know the people. Just yesterday we had two major events in the community. In the morning we held our second parent discussion. We have a big restructuring in store for January and so we brought the parents to not explain these changes to them, but also to provide an open forum for them to provide feedback to us. The way our School Support Program is currently structured it is very difficult for us to teach because we always have kids working on homework and there really is not a specific time set aside for our lessons. We have decided that it would be better to separate the homework time from the class time. This way, kids who do not have homework will not become a distraction for those that do; furthermore, we will have an hour of focused class time every day. We will have two days a week of Language and Literacy instruction, two of Creative Arts, and one day of focused English class. Many of the parents were quick to point out, and I am sure you have as well, that there is no place for math in this schedule. In response, we explained that there will be math instruction everyday. As kids finish their homework, before the focused class time, we do not have the option of sending them home, nor do we have the option of simply allowing them to roam wild. It is in this time, between finishing their homework and starting the next class, that we will provide math and logic activities.

Our parents responded quite well to these proposals and we are happy to be moving forward with changes the community approves of and supports. We wanted to take it one step further, however. We then went ahead and gave them the opportunity to ask for whatever they wanted, even if there was no way we could provide such services. If we do not ask the community what they want, there is no way we can effectively serve the community. Several ideas mentioned include opening an athletics program (both for youth and for mothers), continuing with English class at an hour when more adolescents and adults can attend, looking to obtain a computer so as to offer typing and computer classes, and increasing our incentives for consistent attendance. Every month we provide an incentive of some form or another for all kids who have not missed more than three days of class and the parents had some wonderful ideas of what these incentives could be. They suggested taking field trips to several museums and a zoo in Quito, having a tour and the opportunity to talk to students at a university, or going on one of the many amazing short hikes in the area.

After the parent meeting we met as a group for lunch to discuss and digest these ideas proposed by the parents before heading to the second anniversary of the Cooperativa del Valle – Esperanza y Progreso (Valley Cooperative – Hope and Progress). Cooperative in Ecuador our in many ways like mini-banks (i.e. this one has 700 members with accounts from people in the communities surrounding San Francisco); however, there is one major difference: These cooperatives are not interested in profit, but rather developing the strength and solidarity of the community. Although I have really not mentioned it before, we absolutely would not be able to function without the support of this cooperative. Not only did they do all of our publicity and registrations in October, but they also donated the building in which we are working. The event kicked off with mass and continued with a speech competition from local high school students as to the importance and value of cooperatives in this type of community. After some incredible speeches we were amazed to find out that they would also be serving an enormous plate of fritada: fried pork with Andean corn, yum! The afternoon culminated with a performance from a local band accompanied by dancing in the street.

A much bigger party, however, was that of the Feria de Quito. December 6^th is the anniversary of the Independence of Quito and the whole city comes out for a week of song, dance, and bullfights. Pertaining to the latter, we attended two concerts. The second of which is what you would expect a bunch of gringos to attend: big concert at La plaza del teatro (National Theater Plaza) right in the heart of the Centro histórico on the night of December 5^th. What was most fun about this event, was more than simply the music however, was the face that thousands of quiteños were parading the streets not only on foot, but also on top of buses! The other concert, and the one I had more fun at, was a Vallenato (Colombian country dance music) concert we attended in South Quito. South Quito (all half of Quito) may well be the poorest urban neighborhood in all of Ecuador, and this park where the concert once was right in the heart of it. None of us had ever been to this part of South Quito before, but I looked at the map and figured I could get us there on the bus. After a while everyone believed we were lost, but I had faith and we made it! We were most definitely the only non-Ecuadorians in the entire place; nonetheless, or probably because of, we had a blast. Although the opening act was awful, the main band put on a very exciting and energetic show that really got the crowd into the performance.

My favorite part of the Feria de Quito, however, was definitely the toros (bullfights). Many people who do not understand bullfights believe them to be a gory and cruel event, but I truly believe that a properly performed beautiful is an absolutely beautiful thing. There are incredibly strict guidelines and rules that govern the entire process of wearing down and eventually killing a 500 kg bull. One such requirement is that when you bring the bull past you, you must keep you legs perfectly still. And the closer the bull comes to you the better; touching is definitely preferred. Another rule is that you must bring the sword over the bull’s head, in between the horns, and enter it directly behind the shoulders, through the spine, and into the heart in one full swoop. My favorite aspect of attending a bullfight, however, is watching the pompous bravado with which the toreros (bullfighters) parade around the ring. One such bullfighter was so confident is his own ability that after bringing the bull in for a pass he immediately went down on his knees with his back to the bull pumping his sword in the air as the crowd cheered in appreciation.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-30T11:03:00.000-05:00

Only once in my life had I spent Thanksgiving away from my family. You may or may not know this, but I really love to eat good food. I also love having big family get-togethers where we have the chance to catch up and play lots of games. Watching football is also great too!

Unfortunately, none of this happened on Thanksgiving this year. Nevertheless, Thanksgiving was amazing! I cannot say enough about how impressed I was with all of the cooks in the house. Often my mom and my uncle cook together for the holidays and they both always do an amazing job, but I really believe that our turkey came out perfectly. Hilary had the amazingly difficult task of cooking the (still slightly frozen) turkey without a thermometer in our too small oven that has no temperature gauge. Despite these challenges I cannot imagine how the turkey could have tasted better.

Hilary also cooked a chocolate cake and a pumpkin pie. I love dessert! SO GOOD!

In addition to these desserts, I ate even more of what I actually thought the dessert was. Zak baked a large loaf of pumpkin bread that really tasted more like cake than any cake I have eaten in South America. Absolutely wonderful!

What would be Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes and gravy? It would be lame…Fortunately for us Hilary also made an amazing batch of gravy from the turkey and John absolutely nailed the mashed potatoes. I don’t know how he did it, and I know I sound like a broken record, but they tasted perfect!

I am so happy to be living down here with such a great group of people (who really know how to cook) and I am really do feel thankful this Thanksgiving.

The Saturday following Thanksgiving we were treated to a special show. Danny Flores, an Ecuadorian that works with us in the after school program in San Francisco, also works with a youth group in South Quito. This youth group was putting on their first annual talent show. There were a variety of acts ranging from an interpretive dance, a young violinist, a hip-hop dance, a theater performance, and an indigenous Quichua dance troupe. Danny worked as the emcee and did a great job of stalling for time. We are in Ecuador where efficiency isn’t entirely valued giving us about a 10-15 minute break between each act for the next talent to prepare. At one point I even came on stage between performances and led the audience in a song (¡Parriba, pabajo, pal centro, pa dentro!)...

Danny’s principal contribution to the talent show was his direction of the theater piece. This was a hilarious comedy in which male and female gender roles were reversed. It starts off with the woman yelling at her husband because her breakfast is not yet ready. It then continues with the woman going off to the auto shop and fraternizing (sororitizing?) with her co-workers about how inferior men are. While the women are at work a pregnant man comes over for idle conversation with the husband. The show ends with the women going out, getting drunk, hitting on the hot waiter, and getting kicked out of the bar by the female owner. The woman then comes home and beats her husband because he asked her not to spend all the family’s money on booze and to try and save some for the kids. In the end, however, it was all a dream and the curtains close the next morning as the man is telling his wife to make her some breakfast.

What for me was the most terrifying performance was the local indigenous troupe dance. (Although for some reason no Ecuadorians seemed surprised). As the curtain opened there were about 12 little children dressed up in animal costumes, and one boy dressed as a hunter with a gun bigger than he. All the animals got up and started dancing: The birds flew, the chickens pecked, the bunnies hopped around, etc. It was all very adorable as they were bouncing around in circles, not really paying any attention to the hunter that was walking around. Until, all of a sudden, the animals surrounded the hunter. They closed in on him, took his gun, and took him down! While one bunny rabbit held the gun over his head in triumph five other little animals choked, kick, and beat the hunter. Afterwards, all the animals turned towards the audience and pumped their fist in victory. Meanwhile, however, the hunter is still lying on the ground and twitching! This, for me, was too much. The Ecuadorians, nevertheless, saw nothing strange or out of place in this scenario…

Apparently I am not as cultured as I hoped…

Climbing mountains and building relationships

2007-11-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

“This is the most beautiful view I have ever seen!”

~ John Newman, avid mountain climber and MPI-Ecuador Program Director from Colorado, upon reaching the summit of Iliniza Norte.

John, Seth, and I decided that we needed a weekend above the clouds and so we decided to take the short bus ride to the town of Chaupi, population 100. From Chaupi it was a 45 minute truck ride to the trail head at 3950 meters (13,000 feet). From the trailhead it is a mere 2.2km to the refuge but you are asked to allow at least 3 to 3.5 hours because you have to climb up to 4650 meters (15,300 feet). This comes out to over 2000 feet of elevation gain in about a mile and a half (or 8000 feet horizontally and 2300 feet vertically). This refuge is located right on the saddle between two of Ecuador’s tallest volcanoes (Iliniza Sur and Iliniza Norte).

Needless to say this was quite steep. We then spent a cold and restless night at the refuge before waking up at 5:00 to cook breakfast and be on the trail by sunrise.

As hard as the previous day’s hike was, the summit hike was considerably more difficult, though much more rewarding. This day we hiked from 4650 meters to the top of Ecuador’s eighth-highest peak at 5126 meters (16,900 feet). The first hour was a rough scramble through loose rocks and frozen sand. Once we reached the top of the first ridge we were absolutely blown away by the view. Looking to the north and the east we were surrounded by a blanket of clouds that was only broken by majesty of Ecuador’s volcanoes standing tall above the white surface.

As we continued for the final hour and a half up the (not as steep) rough scramble to the summit the views only got better and better. I don’t know if you have ever been above 16,000 feet (I never had, except for on an airplane), but there really is not much air up there. Breathing is not actually an easy task. We pressed on however, and were rewarded at the top. From the summit we were blessed with the most amazing view of the six of Ecuador’s ten highest peaks from one point.

These are, from North to South, Volcán Cayambe (at number 3, the only point on Earth where there is snow on the Equator), Volcán El Altar (number 10, but Ecuador’s most difficult mountain), Volcán Cotopaxi (number 2 and a most perfect cone), Volcán Iliniza Norte (8 and we’re on top), Volcán Iliniza Sur (6 and RIGHT in front of us), and the massive Volcán Chimborazo (número 1 and Ecuador’s only mountain over 6000 meters).

I have included several images here from the hike, but the entire album is also available by clicking here.

The following weekend we dropped all the way down to below 800 meters and the town of El Chaco and the Quijos River, site of the 2005 white-water rafting world championships. We also participated in a bit of a championship; however, this one was organized for novices. For the mere price of $5.00 per person we qualified for two days of rafting. Day Two was the long race and we paddled hard against five other boats and came down the final stretch in second place. We had managed to make it through the length of the course without losing anyone; nonetheless, on the very last rapid, in front of the entire crowd, I fell out of the boat! I immediately swam back to the boat and the guide turned us back towards me, but by the time I was back in the boat we were facing backwards. Our guide, always aware, immediately shouted “¡ATRÁS! (back paddle)” and we crossed the finish line cruising in reverse!

Enough weekend fun, now on to programs! This past Saturday (we did not go out of town) we held our first parent meeting for the families of the kids in our program. I was incredibly impressed with the turnout as fifteen parents gave up their Saturday and trudged through the pouring down rain to attend our event. We discussed several topics, but first we asked the parents to talk to us. We really wanted to know what they thought about our work with their children. I cannot say how happy I was to hear all the positive feedback we received from each and every parent present!

After the parents talked we went into the meat of the meeting. Raquel and Bea, certified psychologists from Spain and UBECI volunteers, led a group discussion on the three principal parenting styles: Authoritarian, Passive, and Cooperative. In small groups we not only defined these three parenting styles, but we also talked about how children are normally affected by each of the different styles. Sadly, physical abuse is incredibly common in our community (due in large part to the pervasiveness of “Authoritarian parents”).

We did not come to Ecuador to tell people they are not allowed to hit their children. We did not come to Ecuador to tell people they have bad parents. We did not come to Ecuador to tell people how to raise their children. We are here to educate. All of our parents love their children and want the best for their kids. Our goal is show the different ways children tend to act based on how their parents interact with them. Every parent agreed that they want their child to grow and act the way children of “Cooperative parents” act and could understand how they might be able to slightly change their parenting styles for the benefit of their children.

Raquel and Bea conducted a great discussion, but what most impressed me was how Raquel ended the discussion. In a small circle we were all asked to say two things: what we are going to leave at the meeting (as in, what we will no longer do or feel) and what we are taking away from the meeting (as in, what change we will make in our lives). I think this last activity was small, but absolutely essential. It is incredibly energizing to hear each and every parent say all that they will do for their children.

Finally, I want to give a special thanks to one volunteer who is staying with us this week. He has been an absolute joy to have with us. Just Tuesday night he cooked us an amazing dish of Puerto Rican chicken, beans, and rice. What most impresses me, however, is his dedication to our work and the people of Ecuador. Two weeks ago a new family moved into the community of San Francisco: a single mother and her two children. The younger child, at six years of age, has never been to school and is not even able to recognize letters or numbers. The older child, ten years old, also cannot read or write, but he can barely write his own name. These children have not been to school simply because they cannot afford the $10/month fee required to attend school. As soon as our friend found out about these children he immediately offered the $200 necessary to put both of these children through school for a year.

I really am excited about the progress we have begun to make in our community. We now have over 40 children registered in our School Support Program and more and more coming in every day. Already this week we have registered eight new kids. I am also excited about the prospects of starting an English class for adolescents and adults. We have started planning and recruitment for this course and plan to have our first English session on Tuesday the 20^th.

Videos

2007-10-25T13:05:00.003-05:00

Here´s a few videos from Ecuador:

This first one is of me falling off of a 100 meter bridge in Baños. Apparently there was something wrong with the ropes so they had me standing on the platform for a long time....

This next one is at the Guamani Market in Quito working with UBECI. Dani is leading the song and dance with the kids.

This final one is a little dark but I think still worth watching. This was when a bunch of little indigenous girls performed a dance for (and with) us in Chugchilán.

Finally, Zak compiled a video of all of us jumping off a bridge and put it on YouTube. Check it out here, but beware, it may not be suitable for minors.

Gringos in the air and children on the ground

2007-10-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

Since my last major update things have finally become to calm down and the MPI Ecuador team has started to form its regular weekly routines; nevertheless, this is not to say that we have not had our fair share of fun.

To begin with, several of us made the trek to the town of Baños (literally baths). A town on the eastern edge of the Andes famous for its thermal baths heated by the nearby, and active, Volcano Tungurahua. One such bath is fed by a thirty meter waterfall that leaves the mountain at 124 degrees Fahrenheit. We decided that one was probably a little too hot for us and went to the one on the other side of the mountain, tucked away into a river canyon with several pools ranging from 83 degrees to 105 degrees. Very relaxing…

Of course if a town is named Baths, the major attraction will be the thermal baths. There is another (apparently minor, who knew?) attraction that Baños is also known for: Puenting (literally, bridging). Puenting is an activity where someone ties a really long rope to the bottom of a bridge that spans a canyon 100 meters above the water, then swings that rope up to the other side, and then ties a person to said rope. This person is then, in turn, asked to jump off the bridge and swing back and forth on that really long rope before being lowered to the river bottom below. Slightly different from sitting in a hot spring…

Another exciting weekend excursion was to the town of Mindo on the western edge of the Andes, known for its cloud forests and waterfalls. My favorite part was jumping off of a ten meter waterfall, unfortunately I didn’t bring my camera when I was jumping into the water so the only really picture I got is of myself struggling with the mosquito net.

I’m happy to say that our regular programming has now begun. Our initial program is an after school, educational support program, which is co-sponsored by our partner UBECI (Unión de Beneficios y Educación con Colaboración Internacional). We work Monday through Friday from 2:00 to 4:30 in the community of San Francisco. The primary activity is for the kids to complete their homework. This may seem surprising in a program for little kids (our children are between the ages of three and eleven), but even in first grade most students have at least an hour of homework every night. In addition to providing an appropriate setting for completing their homework, as well as support when needed, we also provide the students with additional practice in various areas. Monday is language arts day, Tuesday we focus on social values, Wednesday is math, Thursday is art day, and Friday we teach English. Each of the Program Directors has separate responsibilities in the program and I have taken on the responsibility of being in charge of the math activities. In addition, I am also the primary teacher of the group of older students (eight to eleven years of age). After one week, there are about thirteen kids in my group and about ten in the younger group. We are continuing to advertise within the community to try and raise these numbers to close to twenty in each group. I have to say that I am very happy with the way this program has started. My kids are wonderful and I really enjoy going to San Francisco every afternoon.

A second program with which we have partnered with UBECI is their market program. Throughout South Quito there are neighborhood markets in which farmers from around the region come into the city to sell their food and other goods. These peasants have no other choice but to bring their children with them to the markets. UBECI provides an educational day-care service for these families with children between the ages of two and twelve in Chillogallo and Guamaní. We focus on activities that support the children’s physical and social well-being. Activities include songs accompanied by complicated yet doable physical movements, artistic creations requiring specific hand-eye coordination, and race style exercise requiring movements other than simply running or walking straight ahead.

Finally, I want to talk some about a four day excursion that we took to the region of Quilotoa. Quilotoa was a volcano until 1797 when it had its last eruption and completely blew its top leaving a circular crater where there is now a lake. Our first day we hiked all the way around the rim of the crater, which we completed in just under five and a half hours in order to make it back to the hotel by the time the rain started. In the rainy season in the Ecuadorian Andes (October-March) it basically rains every day at about two o’clock. For this reason we planned five to six hour hikes for the mornings throughout our stay in region of Quilotoa. Early in the morning, however, it is usually warm and sunny enough to where the high temperature of the day usually occurs around 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning before the clouds begin to roll in.

Our second day in Quilotoa we did the shortest of our three hikes (only about 10km) up to the top of a nearby mountain (about 14,000 feet). The most interesting aspect of this hike, however, was once we reached the top we realized that we were directly on the western edge of the Andes. From there we could look down several thousand meters and see an infinite flat bank of clouds all the way out to the horizon. Never in my life have I stood on solid ground and look down into a flat cloud that goes on forever. More interesting, still, was watching how these clouds crashed into the Andes. It was almost like watching the ocean crashing up against a series of beaches and heads. The clouds would hit the heads (mountains) and go straight up into the sky. Other clouds would flow into the beaches (valleys) and slowly move in until the valley became too steep at which point the clouds would jump up and do back flips in the air. These clouds then converge together above in a ballet in which the dancers are running and jumping and intertwining and splitting in all imaginable directions.

After our hike the six of us road the bumpy, muddy, and nearly vomit-inducing 23 kilometers to Chugchilán in a five passenger truck with a man and his wife in just under 45 minutes. Despite the means of transport, Chugchilán was wonderful. We stayed at Hostal Cloud Forest, where for only $8 we received a bed, hot shower, popcorn in the afternoons, breakfast, dinner, and the company and advice of the owner José Luis. This really was a wonderful hotel complete with hours and hours of Cuarenta, a local dance troupe, and maps and other hiking information.

I have to say the dance troupe was a complete surprise as we were all sitting around the fire reading our books when all of a sudden 15 seven to ten year old girls barge in wearing brightly colored outfits and all begin to say buenas noches to us. Totally shocked, we look up and greet them, and then look to each other trying to understand the situation. At which point the girls start rearranging all of the furniture and then turn the music on and just start dancing. Finally starting to feel somewhat comfortable and enjoying the show, all the girls come out into the audience and take us into the dance with them. I love to dance, but I have to say I was totally lost. Apparently nine year old girls are not the best dance coaches…I was just trying to keep up with her, but there were a couple of times when I really thought that she was going to throw me across the room.

Stay tuned for a couple of videos later this week!

24 horas en Ecuador

2007-10-18T19:04:00.000-05:00

Sábado, 13 de octubre del 2007

00h01m: After completing a six-hour long hike through the Andean highlands, western cloud forests, and even entering the western slope of the jungle; Seth, Zak, and I are currently down 6 to 3 in a 12 game (aka, one case of Pilsener) series of Cuarenta (an Ecuadorian card game literally called 40 because it is played to 40 points and with 40 of the 52 cards in the deck).

We find ourselves in the village of Chugchilán, a small community of some 600 families in the western Andes Mountains not far from Laguna Quilotoa. Quilotoa was an active volcano until 1797 when it had its last eruption and blew its top leaving a humungous crater with a lake at the bottom, which we hiked all the way around yesterday, much like Crater Lake in Oregon. After an absolutely fabulous dinner last night that consisted of soup, rice, vegetables, a pork chop, more rice, lentils, another pork chop, and more rice, the owner of Hostal Cloud Forest José Luis challenged our group to a game of Cuarenta with his partner Dennis. Dennis is a Peace Corp volunteer who has been living in Chugchilán now for close to two and a half years. In the recent town festivals José Luis and Dennis won the regional Cuarenta championship leaving us novices with almost no chance of success. Happy, however, we were, having won a third of the games after the first case of beer.

01h32m: José Luis bids us goodnight considering that he has to lead a horse tour to the cloud forest at 7am. Zak, Seth, Dennis, and I continue to play Cuarenta.

02h42m: I go to wake the girls up and we each pay Dennis $20 per person for our two nights, four meals, and several beers and waters at the wonderful Hostal Cloud Forest of Chugchilán.

02h59m: The drivers of both 3am buses leaving Chugchilán are asleep in the driver’s seats.

03h12m: Both buses are supposed to leave at 3am. One is labeled to be going in our direction. The other is labeled to be going the other direction. We are told to get on the one that is not labeled to be going in our direction. The driver climbs up onto the roof and ties our six backpacks to the roof with one rope.

03h28m: The 3am bus to Latacunga via Zumbahua leaves Chugchilán with seven gringos and eight Ecuadorian mestizos aboard.

03h42m: For the third time our bus stops to pick up indigenous Quichua speaking passengers. Our bus will continue to make stops for the first couple hours until we arrive in Zumbahua picking up indigenous folk to the point where every seat is taken, most with three people in two seats, and such that every imaginable place to stand is overly occupied by human bodies. The interesting thing about this stop, however, and what caused me to wake up, was that I looked out my window to the right and saw a sheep hanging by the ladder on the side of the bus. Not quite sure what was happening I scratched my eyes and looked around at the other passengers.

No one seemed alarmed by such an occurrence. Still not positive if I was dreaming or if there actually was a sheep hanging six inches from my body, I woke Hilary and asked her to look to our right. Like I, she also saw a sheep hanging directly outside the window. Calmed by her confirmation, and by the fact that the sheep continued to go up above the window all the way to the roof, I went back to sleep.

03h53m: I am awoken once again by something banging on my window. The bus is still moving about as fast as a bus can go in the middle of the night on a one-lane dirt road in the mountains. I try to be a good citizen as I say “Señor, se cae la oveja” (Sir, the sheep is falling). Hearing my call the driver looks back towards my seat and sees what I also see: a sheep hanging from the roof of the bus and bopping and banging with every curve, rock, or divot in the muddy road.

04h18m: The bus is stopped, more and more indigenously dressed and Quichua speaking people are filling the bus, and the driver is running behind the bus trying to catch the sheep that has completely fallen off the bus in order to reload it onto the roof…Two more times in the next 45 minutes will said sheep fall completely off the roof and crash into the ground, apparently unharmed.

05h07m: I begin to accustom to waking up every 15 minutes. We have reached the town of Zumbahua, only 51km (about 38 miles) from Chugchilán in just under three hours. Apparently every one is getting off the bus. I look to the right and the entire town is absolutely dead asleep, except for this one corner where there is a group of some 30 indigenous Ecuadorians, mostly women, nearly all of which with at least one 40 to 50 pound bag of grain or vegetables. Not a day goes by in Ecuador that I do not see a woman of at least 45 years with a very large pack strapped to her back by a blanket.

All of my friends awake and, seeing almost every getting off the bus, ask me if we are in Latacunga and if we should also get off. Totally groggy, I respond that there is no possible way that we could be in Latacunga (130km from Chugchilán) because the sun has not risen…

I look to my right and see two sheep being lowered by rope to their owner, a 65 year old indigenous lady. I now see why she put the sheep on the roof rather than brought them in her lap.

06h24m: The sun has now been up for close to half an hour and finally I can see something outside the window besides a sheep. To the north is a perfect view of the twin volcanoes Ilinizas at 5248m (17,300 feet). To the northeast is the most precious view of the perfect cone that is Volcano Cotopaxi (5897m or 19,400 feet).

06h57m: The guy sitting next to Seth tries to convince him that we have missed our stop and now we will never make it back to Quito.

07h01m: The bus reaches its final stop, the bus terminal of Latacunga where one can catch buses to every major Andean city, including Quito.

07h24m: After a good pee, we all board the bus bound for Quito.

07h48m: The Quito bus finally leaves the Latacunga bus terminal.

07h49m: The Quito bus makes its first stop.

08h04m: The Quito bus finally leaves its first stop.

09h17m: We get off the Quito bus in the middle of a freeway interchange, walk down to the underpass, walk out to the medium, and catch the bus to Conocoto.

10h04m: For the next few hours not much happens other than naps and consumption of John’s amazing quinoa (some of kind bean thing) soup.

14h58m: Zak said that we were leaving to go to the soccer game (Ecuador versus Venezuela in the first 2010 World Cup qualifying match) at three o’clock, so I decide to wake up from my nap. Unfortunately, only one other person is currently awake and inside the house.

15h22m: It starts to rain really hard.

16h33m: After an hour of travel in the pouring down rain we arrive at the soccer stadium, only to discover that not only have the general admission tickets been raised from five to fifteen dollars, but they are also sold out.

16h40m: It isn’t raining so hard any more, but no scalpers are selling general admission tickets.

16h42m: I see shawarma across the street and get really hungry and walk over and buy some. Yummy!

16h53m: Some guy sells us general admission tickets for twenty dollars a piece.

17h01m: Since the game is supposed to start at 5:00, half of us rush in to find some seats before it starts. The other half waits outside to find John. Nobody really seems to know where he is or whether or not he has a ticket.

17h03m: The general admission section is full so they won’t honor our tickets at the door. They tell us we have to go to the better seats ($30) in the middle of the field. Even though our tickets say northeast general admission, we end up sitting in the southeast palcos.

17h50m: The soccer game starts.

17h56m: The rest of our friends finally come in and find us.

18h24m: It starts to rain really, really hard again. In the first 30-35 minutes of the game Ecuador has shown complete domination. Venezuela has taken two shots on goal; Ecuador eight. Ecuador has controlled time of possession about three to one. The score, however, remains a zero-zero tie, and will stay as such until halftime.

18h26m: All of the food and beer vendors turn into poncho and plastic vendors.

18h35m: Halftime starts and I decide to go to the bathroom. The line is really long.

18h59m: I make it out of the bathroom and walk by a guy selling guatag. I don’t know what it is, but it looks like rice and potatoes and smells really good. I buy some for two dollars and go back to my seat.

19h14m: Venezuela scores on a free kick from the other side of midfield taking the lead one to nothing. This will hold up as the final score. For the rest of the game, Ecuador appears too scared to shoot and content with simply making awesome crosses and taking ugly shots.

19h23m: Zak asks me if my guatag is as slamming as it appears. I tell him that it is amazing, the rice and the potatoes and the sauce are all wonderful; nevertheless, if you don’t like calamari I wouldn’t recommend it. Zak immediately decides that buying seafood at an Ecuadorian soccer game is a terrible idea and elects against purchasing his own guatag.

19h50m: The game ends in a 1-0 loss for the Ecuadorians. It is still raining and the (one) gate is totally packed as the whole east section tries to leave, but no Ecuadorians seem really upset about the circumstances.

20h18m: We arrive in Mariscal (aka Gringolandía), a neighborhood that many seem to always complain about, and yet we always seem to go back. I don’t know why. A couple people really want some Indian food so we go to an Arabic restaurant.

20h19m: Seth realizes that he was pick-pocketed on the bus and no longer has his phone.

20h31m: Mark asks what I ate the game and I tell him I had some kind of a potatoes and rice and squid dish. He asked what it was called. I told him it was guatag. He told me that is cow intestine. I didn’t order anything to eat at the Arabic restaurant.

21h19m: The last bus back to Conocoto apparently leaves at 10pm from downtown Quito, so we decide to pay and hustle over to catch the bus going downtown.

21h27m: Some Ecuadorians tell us that they aren’t any more buses running.

21h28m: The bus we want drives by and doesn’t stop for us at the station.

21h29m: We ask the guy at the station if another bus is coming and he says that yes, one is coming right away.

21h38m: We ask the guy again if a bus is coming and he says that yes, one is coming right now.

21h46m: We ask the guy again if a bus is coming and he says that yes, one is coming right now.

21h51m: We ask the guy again if a bus is coming and he says that yes, one is coming right now.

21h53m: The bus finally comes and we get on.

22h09m: We arrive downtown assuming that we have missed the last bus back to the valley. John gets off and runs to the stop and asks the guy if there are any buses going to the valley. The guy says that there isn’t one here, but if we go across the street one should come by.

22h14m: We catch a bus going to San Rafael, the next town over from Conocoto.

22h39m: John, Mark, and I get off the bus on the freeway at Bridge 8 and decide to walk home from there. The rest of the group stays on the bus and catches a cab (for $2.00) from San Rafael. Mark, John, and I proceed to spend the next half hour walking home and speaking exclusively in Spanish. We walked really fast and I was tired because I had been on three 10km+ hikes at around 12-14,000 feet this week. Even though I only said three names, we made this really fast walk with a fourth person. Some Ecuadorian guy absolutely walked with us. None of us, or he, ever acknowledged each other’s presence, but he was there the whole time. After we turned down our street we came to the conclusion that even Ecuadorians are afraid to walk alone after dark.

23h32m: We start watching Animal House.

00h00m: I have been asleep on the couch in front of Animal House for over 15 minutes already.

Mi casa es su casa

2007-10-07T19:33:00.000-05:00

After several weeks of looking for houses, we are finally home. We have chosen to live in the community of Conocoto, a fairly large suburb of Quito with easy access to both the big city and to the communities of San Francisco and Santa Isabel where we are currently focusing our work. Though they are worlds apart, both Quito and San Francisco can be reached by bus in less than 30 minutes, leaving us at a happy medium between the excitement of the city and the tranquility of the country.

Because I was in charge of the house-hunting process, the group was kind enough to let me take first choice on bedrooms and I ended up in the largest of the single bedrooms. Currently we have two double bedrooms and four singles for the eight of us (which will convert to three and three upon the arrival of Luke at the New Year). My bed is not uncomfortable, nor is it way too big, nor would one say that the bedding is fitting of a 24 year-old man, but I love it: I sleep great every night.

Zak, Hilary, and John are currently in charge of constructing our shelves, so for the time being I am using lots and lots of hangers. I have got everything from coats to pants to dress shirts to short to t-shirts hanging up in my closet. I imagine that will change once our shelves are constructed.
The house is now (almost) fully furnished, complete with painted walls and indigenous style curtains, and to celebrate our finding and furnishing a house we threw a huasipichái (house warming party) on the 6th of October. The party was a rousing success with guests ranging from the ages of three to sixty-three and hailing from as close as across the street and as far as Scandinavia. It was a really great opportunity to spend time with other Americans and travelers living in Quito, while at the same time really getting to interact with Ecuadorians.

The other day I had my first foray into line-drying my laundry, which was a surprising success. The interesting thing about living in Quito, especially during the rainy season (October-April), is the striking difference in the weather between the mornings and the afternoons. I was up on the roof at 9:30am hanging my first load of clean laundry and the weather was beautiful: not a cloud in the sky, sun beating down (on my wet clothes), and a beautiful view of Volcán Cotopaxi. By the time I hung my second load of laundry at 11:30am one could already note the change in the weather in that Cotopaxi was no longer visible, the sun was almost exclusively blocked out by clouds, and the clothing was drying more like a dog in its gyrating style of dancing in the wind. Then at 12:30 I was forced to run up to the roof and pull all of my clothes down as it began to thunderstorm and hail! I managed to get all of my clothes in the house in time, but the storm did not let up until late in the evening.

All-in-all, I am especially happy with the MPI-Ecuador living situation. Every person is working to improve the house. Whether that means painting the walls, building shelves, buying food, putting up curtains, or maintaining and clean and orderly environment, I am especially impressed with the team effort everyone is showing. We always eat dinner together around the dining room table and share the clean-up responsibilities. We don’t have to share the cooking because John is one of the most amazing (and economical) cooks I have ever met. I have not yet had a John cooked meal that was not better than just about anything else I have eaten in Ecuador. Thanks John!

Finally, I wanted to provide my contact information if for any reason you feel like calling me or sending me some awesome stuff!

Craig Smith
Manna Project International
Calle Andalucía y Pasaje No. 1
Casa No. 3
Barrio Ciudad del Niño
Sector El Innfa
Conocoto, Quito, Ecuador

My cell phone number is
011 593 8 531 9972

And, the MPI House number is

011 593 2 234 2073

La Mitad del Mundo

2007-10-07T19:21:00.000-05:00

Below is a short video of an indigenous dance that several of us watched (and participated in) at the La Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World, aka Equator) complex. The red line running down the center of the square is the actual Equator.