It has been a while since I have updated here. So many things have happened that I´m not going to be able to cover them all. The overwhelming feeling I have here though is that it is not so different from Canada. There are the blatant differences but those don´t make that much of a difference when it comes down to it. I don´t feel like I´m thousands of miles away from home.
The people here are for Ecuadorian standards fairly well off. Peguche is near to Otavalo where a lot of tourists come to shop in the huge market there. I am working with a group of indigenous women here who want to start a community tourism business. There idea is that groups of women from other parts of the world will come and stay in their houses and take spanish lessons, artisanal lessons, and tour around. The most important part of the experience will be that they will live and see how indigenous women live in Peguche which has a very strong indigenous community to the extent that most people speak Kitchwa as well as Spanish. We are going to be putting together a package for womens groups to look at and hopefully setting up a web page.
Spanish is going well and I can communicate quite well with most people. It does get quite exhausting though.
We went to quite a few tourist places on Saturday with all three groups. We saw people rapelling down through the waterfall in Peguche which looked like a lot of fun. We then went on the most terrifying bus ride of my life. Up the switchbacks on the mountain. It was like driving the Trout Lake road in a Greyhound bus but in a moderately populated area with kids and dogs and houses and other cars all over the place. We went to the Condor Park where they rescue and rehabilitate birds of prey. If you haven´t seen a condor they are huge. They have a wingspan of 3 meters. I would not want to meet one in a hang glider some day. From the Condor park we went to Cotacatchi which is a leather producing city and then to Cuicocha Lake where we had a tour. 4 of us went on one boat and the rest went on the other. I was one of four people on the boat with PANDA, the only social group for gay people in Quito. It was a riot! It was mostly gay guys and they wanted to know all about Canada. They were dancing all over the place. I guess it is one of the few places that they feel safe, because being gay in Ecuador is a no-no. They were in a big group so they were really comfortable. Anyways, my internet time is running out. I´m still figuring out my post program plans but I´ll let y´all know when I know. I love you all and miss you. I wish you could all see this beautiful country,
Anna
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Peguche!
Hey everyone,
We arrived friday to our host community of Peguche. We spent a couple of days in Iluman which is one of the other host communities. It was pretty amazing there and we had a chance to get accustomed to the food and the weather.
Peguche is absolutely beautiful. It is in a valley with Otavalo, Iluman and several other small communities. We are right in the shadow of Imbabura, a dormant volcano. We are going to climb up next weekend to a sacred site on Imbabura.
My family here is wonderful. Candice and I are living with Consuelo and her sister Marisol who has a two week old baby boy. Next door live her grandparents and across the yard lives her uncle Jesus. Jesus´ sister Luz Marina lives up the street with her husband Marcelo and their daughter Shelley. Luz Marina and Marcelo are the host family for Allan and Raphael so we see eachother all the time. Most days we eat with Consuelo and Jesus and Abuelito (which is what we call Consuelo´s grandfather.
The Spanish is coming along nicely but I still can´t communicate all the ideas that I want to. We started work today but there wasn´t much for us to do because it is the 10th anniversary of the school that we are working in. There was a presentation that took forever and then the kids and parents had soccer and volleyball tournaments. We made friends with some girls from the school and they helped Candice with her Spanish homework.
Overall my impressions here are good. Peguche is a beautiful town and the people are very friendly. It is very safe here and the people really look out for eachother. The food is really good too. Lots of corn and potatoes. We have fresh juice every morning for breakfast. Melon or blackberry or tomate de arbol (a kind of sweet tree tomato.) I have to leave it at that. I love you all!
Anna
We arrived friday to our host community of Peguche. We spent a couple of days in Iluman which is one of the other host communities. It was pretty amazing there and we had a chance to get accustomed to the food and the weather.
Peguche is absolutely beautiful. It is in a valley with Otavalo, Iluman and several other small communities. We are right in the shadow of Imbabura, a dormant volcano. We are going to climb up next weekend to a sacred site on Imbabura.
My family here is wonderful. Candice and I are living with Consuelo and her sister Marisol who has a two week old baby boy. Next door live her grandparents and across the yard lives her uncle Jesus. Jesus´ sister Luz Marina lives up the street with her husband Marcelo and their daughter Shelley. Luz Marina and Marcelo are the host family for Allan and Raphael so we see eachother all the time. Most days we eat with Consuelo and Jesus and Abuelito (which is what we call Consuelo´s grandfather.
The Spanish is coming along nicely but I still can´t communicate all the ideas that I want to. We started work today but there wasn´t much for us to do because it is the 10th anniversary of the school that we are working in. There was a presentation that took forever and then the kids and parents had soccer and volleyball tournaments. We made friends with some girls from the school and they helped Candice with her Spanish homework.
Overall my impressions here are good. Peguche is a beautiful town and the people are very friendly. It is very safe here and the people really look out for eachother. The food is really good too. Lots of corn and potatoes. We have fresh juice every morning for breakfast. Melon or blackberry or tomate de arbol (a kind of sweet tree tomato.) I have to leave it at that. I love you all!
Anna
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Hola from Quito
Hey everyone.
We all got to the hotel in Toronto alright and left Monday morning at 7 for the airport. We arrived in in Quito last night at around midnight after standing in lines all day!!! We are staying in a beautiful little hostel in what is affectionately called "Gringolandia." It is the part of Quito where most of the foreigners live. We are really well taken care of. The juice here is amazing, i have tried Tomates del arbol and blackberry so far. I´ve got to be careful though cause I´m not sure where the water they use comes from.
We are going to Lluman tomorrow for our orientation camp with the two other groups and were pretty excited.
Coming back to the group was pretty good. I felt like I was coming back into my own skin. We are in a pretty overwhelming environment though. In the old part of Quito today there were street vendors everywhere. People were also selling everything from candy to shoeshines to umbrellas to lottery tickets. There were a lot of police around keeping an eye on everything. We were all standing in a group at one point and a kid who was probably 10 years old started to walk up to us. The police officer who was watching blew her whistle because I guess she thought he was a pick pocket.
The city is pretty beautiful. It is packed tightly up and down the hills and has some of the steepest streets I´ve ever seen. I´m looking foreward to being in our host community where it is not so busy. I feel like a great big tourist here. Not having a connection with the people other than those supervisors connected with the program. I´ll keep you all updated as often as I can.
Love love love,
Anna
We all got to the hotel in Toronto alright and left Monday morning at 7 for the airport. We arrived in in Quito last night at around midnight after standing in lines all day!!! We are staying in a beautiful little hostel in what is affectionately called "Gringolandia." It is the part of Quito where most of the foreigners live. We are really well taken care of. The juice here is amazing, i have tried Tomates del arbol and blackberry so far. I´ve got to be careful though cause I´m not sure where the water they use comes from.
We are going to Lluman tomorrow for our orientation camp with the two other groups and were pretty excited.
Coming back to the group was pretty good. I felt like I was coming back into my own skin. We are in a pretty overwhelming environment though. In the old part of Quito today there were street vendors everywhere. People were also selling everything from candy to shoeshines to umbrellas to lottery tickets. There were a lot of police around keeping an eye on everything. We were all standing in a group at one point and a kid who was probably 10 years old started to walk up to us. The police officer who was watching blew her whistle because I guess she thought he was a pick pocket.
The city is pretty beautiful. It is packed tightly up and down the hills and has some of the steepest streets I´ve ever seen. I´m looking foreward to being in our host community where it is not so busy. I feel like a great big tourist here. Not having a connection with the people other than those supervisors connected with the program. I´ll keep you all updated as often as I can.
Love love love,
Anna
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
