Huasalata

This weekend was such an amazing experience. We had our first group excursion (with all of the U of I kids - about 10 of us- and some of Maria's international volunteers from all over the world, about 10 of them) to a Salasaca indigenous community called Huasalata. Its one thing to hear about poverty and development issues, but it was such a completely eye-opening experience to be there and see it. They had absolutely no access to health care, and this girl's mother was incredibly sick and they had to take her to a town hours away to even find a doctor. Most of the kids were undernourished, didn't have toothbrushes, etc. And there was very little education. No technology really, so they farmed with cows and horses and burros plowing the fields. The women had to hike down a mountain twice a day, cut about 50-60 lbs. of grass for the cattle to eat, tie it up in a bundle, and carry it back up the mountain on their backs (they told us if they take the cows down there to graze they'll get stolen, and the burro can only make it about 1/4 the way down so they have to do most of it.) And this is just one of their many chores. As we're walking by, a couple of us asked if they needed help, and they said yes, so we helped them with cutting the grass (with a scythe) and bundling it up and carrying it up. We were terrible at it of course, really slow and weak - I put the bundle of grass on my back to carry it up, and literally couldn't move because it was so heavy. It was really sad how quickly these women aged from so much hard work, too. But at the same time, it was uplifting to see how much happiness there was in the community - Our advisor knew several of them pretty well, so we really got to talk to a lot of people a lot - they played traditional music for us and taught us some traditional dances. Some of the kids hiked with us, then all jumped in the river and had a huge waterfight. Most of the group spent hours playign with the kids (while we were carrying the grass up the mountain). We found out that they really don't get tour groups that often, and really would like more, because it brings much-needed money to their community while allowing them to keep their traditional lifestyle alive, so we offered to make them a brochure and put it in the Mariscal (the touristy part of Quito), and a webpage, and spread the word among the international students to get more volunteer/tour groups to go there, and maybe sell some more of their tapestries. A couple of them are coming to the University on Friday to bring the sick mother for some tests (which our program advisor's foundation is paying for), so hopefully we can get them done by then to see what they think of them.

Also, this community was in the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my entire life (my camera died, but I'll steal pictures from someone else). We hiked down this beautiful lush green mountain to a river, took off our shoes and crossed, then hiked back up the otherside barefoot (probably not a good idea?), and the whole thing was just the most beautiful lush green canyon ever. It was amazing.

And now I'm back at school. Which is fine too, but not nearly as exciting. :)

Classes start...

So I’ve been in classes for almost a week now, and I think I’m getting close to finally figuring out my schedule – its been such a mess. But now that its more set, I feel a lot better about everything: though I think it’ll be more work than I had hoped. My classes are mostly Americans, with a few Ecuadorians here and there, but I guess that’s ok, though its not what I was hoping for. My volleyball class is all Ecuadorian though, so that should be good.

I love exploring Ecuador, there’s always so many cool things going on, and the weather has been absolutely perfect every day here. The first weekend here, we rode this Teleferico (like a skilift) to the top of the mountain overlooking Quito, and there were beautiful views (I’ve got to figure out how to post my pictures!). Last weekend, we finally went out the La Mariscal, the touristy district where all the bars and discotecas are, and we made some Ecuadorian friends so that was fun. Then we went to La Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the Earth, the Ecuator), which was really cool: all those myths about water going down the drain in opposite ways on either side of the Ecuator is actually true – we saw it happen! It was really cool. Then all 10 of us jumped in the back of this pickup truck that our waitress called (For $.25 each) and he drove us up this mountain to the top of this volcanic crater. It was supposed to have really beautiful views, but it was late afternoon, so instead we were literally in the middle of a cloud. If you looked 10 feet out, it looked like you were staring into this blank white abyss. It was really cool. We walked partway down the trail into the crater, and you could hear the animals of the indigenous community that lived in the bottom of the crater – can you imagine living in that? That was a shocking realization.

My family’s great, though they still don’t understand why I don’t eat more and why I don’t eat meat. (The grandma talked extensively yesterday about how it was bad to be vegetarian, because God put all animals on Earth so that people could eat them…?) But the family’s very welcoming, and definitely want me to do everything with them, so that part is definitely a full immersion experience, and I’m learning a lot from them: about language and about culture. Sunday, I spent all day with them at my host brother’s futbol game, went to Mass in a fancy colonial church (still in our sweatpants from the futbol game?), went and played in the beautiful Parque Metropolitano all afternoon, and then played futbol in the park by their grandma’s house. It was a lot of fun.

Off to get ready for school now… PS: I have skype now too, so if you have it, find me on there! I think my name is sara.gibbs.

Sarita arrives

So I arrived in Ecuador last Wednesday, the 3rd. It was quite the trip, traveling for 24 hours straight with an 8 hour overnight layover in Miami in a very shady hotel where I don't think any of us slept more than an hour or so. When we finally got here, my suitcase didn't arrive with me (even though they said it would). My host dad picked me up from the airport, and took me to meet the rest of the family, and they were amazingly friendly and warm and welcoming, saying I was a part of the family and calling me Sarita (little Sara, kind of an affectionate term). But strangely, they were definitely not the family I was told I would have. So the first night there, with no sleep and no suitcase still, I got to have the incredibly awkward conversation with them explaining that I thought I was in the wrong house. But in the end, what happened was that my host family had cancelled on me at the last minute, and their exchange student had cancelled on them, so I was switched to live with them. And I got my suitcase the next day, so it was all ok.

Since then, its been a whirlwind of activity. My host family's great, with a mom, dad, and 10 year old boy and 12 year old girl. They're an incredibly active family, always doing a million things at once, and wanting me to be a part of everything. Its really nice to feel so included andto get such a great immersion experience, but it was slightly overwhelming for the first few days. Ecuador is absolutely beautiful - we were told it'd be cold and rain a lot, but its been bright, sunny, 70's during the day and 50's at night, and absolutely beautiful. The mountains are amazing. I can't wait to go hiking. I live in Cumbaya, a little mostly upper middle class town outside of Quito, thats much safer and much warmer (its in a valley) than Quito. So I feel pretty safe walking around here and exploreing by myself, though Quito still scares me. Its about 20 minute bus ride from Quito though, and the busses aren't reall ysafe at night, so its hard to meet up with my friends from the program, since they all live in Quito. I had a rough time navigating the busses here the first couple times (they don't really mark anything, and I don't really know when its safe to take them and when not, so its been a little confusing), but its getting easier every time.

Classes started today, and I just finished my first one. They speak a really clear dialect of Spanish here, so I could understand everything that was going on. The class was about half Americans and half Ecuadorians, so it should be a nice mix. I also now have free internet access at the school, so will be able to answer email regularly, so please write and keep me updated on everything in the states! Miss you all!