This weekend was definitely the best time I have had thus far in Ecuador! I will start with this weekend since it is the most exciting:
On Friday we traveled to Mascarillas, which is an Afro-Ecuadorian community near Otro Valo, which is North of Cayambe. It is actually warmer there since it is in a valley and the sun is very strong, but it was definitely nice to enjoy 75-80 degree weather instead of the 50-degree weather to which we are still becoming accustomed.
As soon as we arrived early Friday morning the activities began. We watched a short DVD that gave the detailed history of the people of Mascarillas. They were slaves brought over from Africa that were shipwrecked off the coast and then preceded to travel north and they are now in this valley, which is significantly far from the Coast where most of the other Afro-Ecuadorians reside. The name of the town literally means “the best” which I thought was pretty neat. The people there are incredibly kind and gracias. They are definitely amazing dancers and have some of the best jugadores de futbol (Soccer Players) in the entire country. We had the privilege to watch and play with some of the young local soccer players in the community gym. We also had the pleasure of learning and watching the beautiful women of Mascarillas dance “La Bomba”, which is a type of music and dance that is characteristic of the Afro-Ecuadorian community. The children there were also adorable and I am not sure who was having more fun, us or them!
In general, it was an amazing weekend and I honestly could not have asked for a better time. My favorite activity, besides dancing of course, was hiking down to the river. Although I complained the entire time about the mosquitoes, which were eating me for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I thoroughly enjoyed our little nature hike. When we finally arrived at the river it was very beautiful and it reminded me of just how much I miss the Mobile Bay and the beaches as well. While it was impossible to swim in the river due to the numerous piedras, or rocks, (plus it was freezing!) it was definitely refreshing to stick my sandy, mosquito bitten feet and legs in the water.
Another interesting fact about the people of Mascarillas is that they are amazing artists. The town is known for its masks and other arts and crafts. One of the ladies from Mascarillas demonstrated how to make a clay mask. Obviously, it looked easy whenever she was working on her mask, but when it was our turn it was definitely much more difficult than it had appeared. My mask was very sad. And when I say that it was sad, I do not mean that it had an unhappy face… it was just plain sad. I am obviously not very artistic with clay, but it was fun to play with anyway.
That night Jennifer (one of the many volunteers named Jennifer in our group) and I stayed with a local family with four children, one hijo (son) and three hijas (daughters) in a huge house in the center of the town. To be honest the bed that we had for the night was incredibly comfortable… almost as comfortable as my bed at home I the States! This is worth mentioning because most of the beds in Ecuador do not have much support… it is often like sleeping on a stack of wood, but it definitely beats sleeping on the cold floor! I did not have a chance to try out the shower to see if there was hot water, but I imagine that there was not any considering there were two washing stations outside for just this one house and that water was freezing… but it was refreshing after much time in the heat.
On Saturday we had the pleasure to go out and see the hombres (men) of the town working to make compost, which they sell for profit. It takes about eight months before the compost is actually ready to be bagged and ready to sell. I am not sure how profitable the compost is, but it seems to be working well, but it takes so much time to produce, but this is apparently why it is of much better quality than the compost we make in the States. Even though it was a Saturday, the men of the town were working hard. Later we learned about the local herbal medicine practices that cured the common cold, breathing problems, etc. The women of Mascarillas also showed us how to do trensas, or braids, which are definitely in style in Mascarillas and really all over Ecuador. After a packed day we headed back to Cayambe after lunch and then back to each of our towns.
Yesterday was also really fun. I have the opportunity to dance in the local Desfiles, or parades, in which is the larger town across the street from our town. I wore the traditional dress, which was beautiful, but also pretty tight since I am significantly larger than most of the women here. I even had to buy the largest size of shoes that the store carried since my feet are so huge! We danced form 10:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. in the rain and in the sunshine. It was pretty awesome and since it was fiesta of course there was vino, liquor, and cerveza involved, which is also always a good time! My madre, y mi sobrino (nephew), y yo danced together. The rest of the family came out for moral support, which was also nice. There were tons of groups and tons of people who came out to watch. We probably walked at least five miles, but it was definitely worth it! Needless to say my feet and my legs were incredibly achy last night and I went to sleep immediately after dinner, which meant I missed out on the fiestas, or parties, last night, which I hear were pretty fun as well!
Fue un fin de semana muy especial! (It was a very special weekend!)
Everything back in my pueblo, or town, is going well (minus the mean wild dogs in the calle, or street). My family is great and I am having an awesome time. Training is still going well and I am definitely learning a ton everyday. At times I feel like my brain may explode, but I definitely need to cram more vocabulary and other information in there before it does. Technical training is going well also, the sessions are long, but they are definitely very informative. Our language facilitator, Fernanda is really awesome and she makes our language classes really fun. Also all of the staff for our grupo de salud (health group) are awesome as well. Overall todo esta tranquillo! (Everything is calm/good).
I will hopefully post every Sunday or Monday, so stay tuned for my next adventures! I miss you all! Send email (or even snail mail ha) :D
Tiffa
On Friday we traveled to Mascarillas, which is an Afro-Ecuadorian community near Otro Valo, which is North of Cayambe. It is actually warmer there since it is in a valley and the sun is very strong, but it was definitely nice to enjoy 75-80 degree weather instead of the 50-degree weather to which we are still becoming accustomed.
As soon as we arrived early Friday morning the activities began. We watched a short DVD that gave the detailed history of the people of Mascarillas. They were slaves brought over from Africa that were shipwrecked off the coast and then preceded to travel north and they are now in this valley, which is significantly far from the Coast where most of the other Afro-Ecuadorians reside. The name of the town literally means “the best” which I thought was pretty neat. The people there are incredibly kind and gracias. They are definitely amazing dancers and have some of the best jugadores de futbol (Soccer Players) in the entire country. We had the privilege to watch and play with some of the young local soccer players in the community gym. We also had the pleasure of learning and watching the beautiful women of Mascarillas dance “La Bomba”, which is a type of music and dance that is characteristic of the Afro-Ecuadorian community. The children there were also adorable and I am not sure who was having more fun, us or them!
In general, it was an amazing weekend and I honestly could not have asked for a better time. My favorite activity, besides dancing of course, was hiking down to the river. Although I complained the entire time about the mosquitoes, which were eating me for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I thoroughly enjoyed our little nature hike. When we finally arrived at the river it was very beautiful and it reminded me of just how much I miss the Mobile Bay and the beaches as well. While it was impossible to swim in the river due to the numerous piedras, or rocks, (plus it was freezing!) it was definitely refreshing to stick my sandy, mosquito bitten feet and legs in the water.
Another interesting fact about the people of Mascarillas is that they are amazing artists. The town is known for its masks and other arts and crafts. One of the ladies from Mascarillas demonstrated how to make a clay mask. Obviously, it looked easy whenever she was working on her mask, but when it was our turn it was definitely much more difficult than it had appeared. My mask was very sad. And when I say that it was sad, I do not mean that it had an unhappy face… it was just plain sad. I am obviously not very artistic with clay, but it was fun to play with anyway.
That night Jennifer (one of the many volunteers named Jennifer in our group) and I stayed with a local family with four children, one hijo (son) and three hijas (daughters) in a huge house in the center of the town. To be honest the bed that we had for the night was incredibly comfortable… almost as comfortable as my bed at home I the States! This is worth mentioning because most of the beds in Ecuador do not have much support… it is often like sleeping on a stack of wood, but it definitely beats sleeping on the cold floor! I did not have a chance to try out the shower to see if there was hot water, but I imagine that there was not any considering there were two washing stations outside for just this one house and that water was freezing… but it was refreshing after much time in the heat.
On Saturday we had the pleasure to go out and see the hombres (men) of the town working to make compost, which they sell for profit. It takes about eight months before the compost is actually ready to be bagged and ready to sell. I am not sure how profitable the compost is, but it seems to be working well, but it takes so much time to produce, but this is apparently why it is of much better quality than the compost we make in the States. Even though it was a Saturday, the men of the town were working hard. Later we learned about the local herbal medicine practices that cured the common cold, breathing problems, etc. The women of Mascarillas also showed us how to do trensas, or braids, which are definitely in style in Mascarillas and really all over Ecuador. After a packed day we headed back to Cayambe after lunch and then back to each of our towns.
Yesterday was also really fun. I have the opportunity to dance in the local Desfiles, or parades, in which is the larger town across the street from our town. I wore the traditional dress, which was beautiful, but also pretty tight since I am significantly larger than most of the women here. I even had to buy the largest size of shoes that the store carried since my feet are so huge! We danced form 10:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. in the rain and in the sunshine. It was pretty awesome and since it was fiesta of course there was vino, liquor, and cerveza involved, which is also always a good time! My madre, y mi sobrino (nephew), y yo danced together. The rest of the family came out for moral support, which was also nice. There were tons of groups and tons of people who came out to watch. We probably walked at least five miles, but it was definitely worth it! Needless to say my feet and my legs were incredibly achy last night and I went to sleep immediately after dinner, which meant I missed out on the fiestas, or parties, last night, which I hear were pretty fun as well!
Fue un fin de semana muy especial! (It was a very special weekend!)
Everything back in my pueblo, or town, is going well (minus the mean wild dogs in the calle, or street). My family is great and I am having an awesome time. Training is still going well and I am definitely learning a ton everyday. At times I feel like my brain may explode, but I definitely need to cram more vocabulary and other information in there before it does. Technical training is going well also, the sessions are long, but they are definitely very informative. Our language facilitator, Fernanda is really awesome and she makes our language classes really fun. Also all of the staff for our grupo de salud (health group) are awesome as well. Overall todo esta tranquillo! (Everything is calm/good).
I will hopefully post every Sunday or Monday, so stay tuned for my next adventures! I miss you all! Send email (or even snail mail ha) :D
Tiffa
