This past week I spent most of my time ‘work’ time going out to a bunch of banana growers farms (2 that were new). I have this little survey for the landowner and his workers as well and really the most important part is to get the workers id numbers and signatures incase of emergency/accident we would have their information. However none of the workers ever know their numbers so it makes my trip essentially pointless. Its fun meeting the people but we drive like 30-40 min for like a 15-minute session and then come home.
But this week has been better because on Monday my counterpart introduced to me Julio who is working on two projects, one of getting computers and internet to all the schools in Cumanda and the second of reforestation. Ha and actually both of these projects are frustrating in their own way. Everything is frustrating because I can’t help but think about how efficiently I could do this in the states or if I could just do it on my own but its silly to think that way because here it’s the Ecuadorian way. I do a lot of waiting. I am glad to be working with Julio though and am glad to be apart of other projects.
On Friday evening, my 13-year-old friend and I made pizzas for our families. A lot of them had never even tried pizza before, it blew my mind that these kids didn’t know how to make a pizza or even how to eat it really. I was really never making them but fortunately they turned out great. For toppings we had ham, pineapple, hot dog chunks, pepper and onion. Hot dog and pineapple was the favorite. We ended up having tons of left-overs and the little kids wanted to take them to the main corner in town next to the volleyball courts and sell the rest because on weekend evenings there is a guy on that corner that sells pizza there (only pizza in town) and they wanted to do it too. We decided to save them for ourselves instead.
On Saturday we had a “Minga” at my house to clean up the yard and the temple that’s below my house. A minga is basically like a church clean up day where if there’s one hosted in your area or you get asked you obliged to join BUT if you host a minga you have to provide lunch for all of the workers. Melita hosted the minga so she made lunch for all of us, but once again, it was supposed to start at 8am and the first to show up arrived at 11. It was fun to work with everyone and I got to meet some more neighbors and we got a lot accomplished. Afterwards a group of us went over and played volleyball. Which they call equa-volley and rightfully so because the only rules in common to the volleyball I know, is three touches and then get it over the net. Other than that you can push, shove or catch the ball in anyway you please. Their method is defiantly a lot easier. Saturday evenings they have an indoor soccer league that plays games at the high school so I went with my neighbors to watch the games. They play 5 on 5 and with a miniature ball on a covered basketball court, I was in absolute awe at how well they played. And by they, I mean the men’s teams. They had one girls team and it was hilarious to watch.
Sunday was my day to relax and there’s always a big produce market in the town across the river and I was looking forward to making a big list and then having a nice lunch to myself. Instead I spent the morning chatting with my neighbor’s cousin who decided to wait two hours until her cousin came back just so that she could see their new baby chick. Besides changing my plans, I really didn’t mind because she told me what all the fruit trees in my yard were, when to harvest them and then we picked some lemons/limes. After she left, I went to the market where I ended up meeting up with the other volunteer who lives in the town across the river and hung out with her for the rest of the day. Her two years will be completed in August and she made my day by telling me she’d sell me all of her stuff aka fridge for super cheap! Sooo happy.
This morning at 4 am I had the pleasant surprise of waking up to a creature crawling across my neck, which I instantly grabbed and threw off (this is underneath my mosquito net by the way) and being the hopeful person that I am, convinced myself that it was a harmless moth or spider. But no, I couldn’t see anything but I could just hear this obnoxious fluttering as my creature buzzed around the inside of my net. So I lean over, turn on my light and it’s a giant flying cockroach. Literally, I put my sheet over me like a cape and dove on to my floor where I sat for about 5 minutes contemplating how to get him out of my net while he crawled all across my bed, my pillow, even my bear. I don’t remember what I did but somehow managed to knock him onto the floor and he crawled underneath my bed. Not wanting to move my bed for the sake of waking of the teenage boy who shares my plywood wall, I decided to let the cockroach be until I hear this wretched scratching noise as he scurries across my floor and some how he finds ANOTHER one of his friends. So now I am chasing two cockroaches around my “kitchen” still with my cape on, Raid in one hand and my dustpan in the other. I managed to slice the head off of one of the roaches with my dustpan but the other one I sprayed and sprayed and he would not die. It did slow him down so I was able to beat him a few times with the dustpan until he ran out under my door. This morning I was happy to see that he was upside down on my front porch but by time I got home from work today his legs and whiskers were twitching so I smooshed him with rocks. Talk about an incredible determination to survive.
Also, apparently it’s okay to put dead cats out to be picked up by the garbage truck. Today was the completion of my third jog in Cumanda and every taxi/car that passes me still slows down, honks and motions for me to get in. Nope, I’m not in an emergency and no I do not want a ride. Its called exercise. Not all of us can eat a balanced meal of rice, yuca and plantains and stay thin. My highlight of today was running down the sidewalk while my 6 yr old friend (who can now count to ten in English) chased me and was screaming with laughter. It really is the little moments like that that keep me going. For every frustrating thing, I’m glad there’s something unexpectedly pleasant that happens. Just like on Sunday when I found the bag of Easter candy that I bought in DC right before I left. Such a smart buy!!
Welp, this is really long and unorganized so if you’ve made it this far, I’m impressed and thank you, hope it was somewhat interesting. One of my friends just sent me this quote and its what I will end with because its been the first and last thought on my mind these days…
Be present. Its not the past or the future that matters, its being in the now.
Miss you! Praying for you!
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