*Mande? (What?)*

So, amazingly… and I’m not even sure how, I made it to site with all of my things, all of my things excluding of course the locker full of winter clothes and other unnecessary items I left in Quito. The Journey here was long… and I mean very long. It included packing up all of my things in Puruhantag into three bags, one of which was a small purse, surviving painful goodbyes with my family and the other families in our small town and then loading up two buses with the other volunteers to head to the capital in Quito. Upon arriving in the capital city we disfrutamos, or enjoyed, a nice meal and a trip to the middle of the world, or el mitad del mundo. The best part about this trip was that we actually went to the real middle of the world, and then we found out that the Peace Corps had actually purchased tickets for us to go to the “fake” middle of the world where the nice monument and park are. Needless to say, it was still entertaining, and expensive, but I felt like a super tourist at that point…

After an eventful day at the middle of the world, we spent the next couple of days being briefed about becoming real volunteers and meeting other important American diplomats who are working in Ecuador. Clearly, these talks varied from non-informative to extremely entertaining, but in all seriousness they were all informative, but we had all been lectured to death by this point. In-between our numerous servings of Papa Johns, Burger King, McDonald’s, Sushi, Snow Biz, and any other “American” food we could get out hands on, we actually learned a great deal about the work that is happening in Ecuador and completed various last minute errands.

Finally, on Wednesday, the big day arrived! We were finally sworn-in as Peace Corps Volunteers by the American Ambassador of Ecuador at her beautiful home in Quito. We also enjoyed an amazing last “free” meal of bagels, fruit, and non-instant coffee. Two of our fellow trainees/volunteers gave speeches that were very inspiring and heartfelt. Then we were off to our sites, after numerous crying fits.

Of course I was the first to say a week ago that I would not cry or be that upset when we all left to go to our sites. I repeatedly said that I was ready to go and needed some personal space, etc. etc. Without a doubt, I was the first one to start boohooing when one of my closest friends left in the first car out of town to head to the jungle. She is about 16 or 18 hours away from me, so the tears were definitely warranted. As each car or taxi drove away, I had a similar laughing/crying attack, which was actually pretty hilarious, but obviously sad as well. While I am definitely excited to finally be at my site, the moment we were all separated made this experience as real as I believe it will ever be.

So, we were the last of the group of volunteers that were leaving on Wednesday night to go. We hopped in our taxis around 9:30pm and headed to the bus terminal to leave for a bus to Guayaquil at 11:15pm. As much as I hate night buses, it was probably one of the better experiences I have had thus far, considering I sat by a close friend and was able to sleep for the majority of the ride. After traveling all night we arrived in Guayaquil around 7:30am, I enjoyed one last breakfast of McDonald’s and hopped on a bus to Colimes around 9:00am. I was completely stressed about my luggage underneath the bus, which was enclosed by a tiny bolt and nothing else. Yet, somehow I made it to Colimes with everything in tack, although very dirty, and met my mom at the bus stop!

Last night could not have been anymore like a movie. We hopped in the taximoto which is literally a cart attached to a motorcycle, which is ok to ride since I am not actually on the motorcycle ha. We arrived at the house and I opened all of my bags and realized that I had of course forgotten how much clothing I actually had, which is a good thing since I am not sure how well my clothes are going to hold up for the next two years. We then had lunch, which was rice, carne, or beef, and a green bean salad, which I helped chop up by the way! Already topping almost all of my meals in the Sierra (sorry). After lunch we sat and talked with the women in the community on the porch, and then began the weirdness of the night…

One of the neighbor’s kids comes over to the store to buy a drink while we are all sitting on the porch and proceeded to tell us that there is a dead man in the river. Of course I believe that I have misheard because A. My Spanish is horrible and B. Obviously no one is this calm when a dead man is floating down the river. So, I lean over and ask my mom to translate, AKA repeat the story slower, and she tells me exactly what I thought I heard. So, naturally I’m freaking out, because the same day I arrive so does the dead man in the river. Not exactly the omen you want to be following you around for the next two years. So, of course, since this is the Campo, or the country, everyone decides that this is worth a look. So, we all head down to the river to catch a peak at the dead guy. I, obviously, have made it clear that I do not want to actually see the dead man, but I figured what is a better way to integrate into my community than to head to a general meeting of everyone in town to see the dead man that has washed ashore.

Thankfully, I never saw the poor guy, but I of course heard the stories that he had no face since the fish had already found him. This of course leads into scary story time, which of course leads into me telling stories about New Orleans and haunted cemeteries and such, of which my brothers already knew a bit about since they watch a fair amount of National Geographic, thanks American T.V.

Despues, or after, as if this night had not already been weird enough, the power goes out in the middle of dinner. After living in the Sierra for two months, where often the power AND the water have a tendency of going out, I was not the least bit surprised, yet considering the circumstances with the dead man and my arrival, I was just waiting on something else super weird to occur. Luckily, the power came back on after about 15 minutes and then the fireworks started… signaling the beginning of the fiestas in Colimes. Needless to say, this was a better ending to the night.

After dinner I hung out for awhile and then watched a little bit of a movie with my mom and brother, James and the Giant Peach, which is obviously for kids but I still could not understand it, and then hung up my mosquito net and got ready for bed. I cannot say that this was my best nights sleep after the dead man in the water, power outage, and scary stories, but I definitely did enjoy sleeping in until 10:00am for the first time in a very long time.

On Friday night we went over to the cathedral after misa, or mass, to see the Image of the Virgen. So, those closest to me already know my stance on religion, so this may not seem like an activity I was very excited to participate in, but it is all about integration, right? So, we get to the church and they begin to bring out the Image of the Virgen, to start the parade. Naturally, I ask my mom if I can take a picture, and since I am standing on the side of it, it is not even a good picture, but she says that it is o.k. so I take out my camera to snap a quick picture. About 2.5 seconds after I take the picture, the Virgen falls out of her box and her kneck snaps off and the Baby Jesus in her hand breaks off as well... talk about enough bad omens for one week. And of course this had never happen before I arrived. Si es mi vida....

I am not sure what is planned for the rest of the week, but I plan on lying low and hanging out with everyone until Monday morning. Monday afternoon I have a meeting with the Health Promoters in town and Tuesday I have a meeting at the PLAN office in Santa Lucia. My mom got me out of work at the PLAN office by telling them that I had not arrived yet, so for that I am ever so thankful! I am excited because the big fiestas start next weekend, so that means lots more baile, or dancing, and hopefully a new outfit to wear as well!

I cannot believe that I am finally a real volunteer. I felt like this day would never come, but I actually made it after a year and eight months since I applied! I know that the real challenges are ahead, but I am ready for them, come what may.

~Viva la Costa~

Tiffany (or Estephanie)

Walk Like an Ecuadorian….

Looking back, I honestly cannot believe that we only have one more week of training left and then a few days in the capital city, Quito, and then we will officially swear-in as Peace Corps Volunteers! I can truly say that, at times, it has felt like two years instead of two months, but to actually have made it this far, I believe is an accomplishment in itself. I have heard from almost every volunteer that training is the most difficult part of service, which has definitely been a relief for me. While I really enjoy some aspects of training, it is pretty intense. We work a ton, sleep a little and occasionally have down time, but I believe it has seriously been a rewarding experience and I feel that I am as prepared as I can be to move to my site and begin my service.

This past week we traveled to the province of Manabi on the Coast for our technical trip. Manabi is one province closer to the Coast from Guyas, where I will be living. It is pretty hot there, but it is beautiful and there are fewer mosquitoes than in my site, but they are definitely still there! Basically, tech trip is an opportunity for us to practice giving charlas, or presentations, practice our Spanish, and learn more about what other volunteers around Ecuador are doing. There were four different tech trips, two for the health group and two for the youth and families group. It appears that our trip was the most intense, considering we were up every morning at the latest by 6:00 a.m, but usually 5:30 a.m. to take a bus at least an hour and a half away to give our charlas. Which means we also had to travel back to our hotel and prepare for the next day. One day we traveled six hours to give a charla, and therefore it was our worst. In total we gave 18 charlas… which is pretty impressive considering the highest number of charlas given besides for our group was four. Essentially, we had pleanty of practice!

The theme of our first charla on Monday was HIV/AIDS and we presented it to three groups of high school students. Our first charla was a bit rough, but by the end of it we were rolling. The next day we did a charla for a group of kids in middle school about recycling. It was pretty funny, and definitely reminded me of my friend Hannah, the recycling queen! Yet, I also realized that I am not very informed about recycling, so I definitely need to brush up on that before going to my site.

On Wednesday, we helped out a volunteer with a health event at which all of the women from her town and neighboring towns were offered free pap smears, which is obviously a huge deal in Ecuador. Some of the women there had never had a pap smear and already had numerous children or were older. It was so weird to think of something so simple that most women do every year as something that some women had never even heard of. We had two tables where we gave a quick charla about how to do a self-exam for breasts, which most of the women had never even heard of. The other group did a charla about la Ley Maternidad, or Maternal Law, which provides free healthcare to children under the age of five and for a major part of services related to pregnancy. Many women in this country are not informed that they and their children are eligible for free medical services and it really is an awesome thing. I definitely plan on working with this theme a lot in my site.

Friday, we had the privilege of joining an former Peace Corps language facilitator and counterpart to see what he is working on now and we also gave charlas to two groups of jovenes, or teenagers, about the importance to plan pregnancies and pretty much any other major decision of this sort. Needless to say, this was a bit of a touchy topic, and I can honestly say that this was the most awkward of all of our charlas. First, I felt that we did not have adequate Spanish to discuss a topic that is pretty intense in Ecuador, and I also felt that we needed to have more confianza, or trust, with the group before we just basically began criticizing their way of life. It was definitely pretty intense, but I believe the groups still enjoyed themselves.

On Thursday night, we finally had a break and we had a BBQ and a little fiesta, or party, at a place called La Finca. It was overall pretty awesome. One of the volunteers is a friend of the owner and he hooked up with amazing seafood and pretty much anything else we wanted. It was definitely nice to have a little break after working muy duro (really hard) all week.

Overall, I learned during out tech trip that my Spanish needs to improve… drastically, which I think will make giving charlas less intimidating and easier. I also learned that being prepared counts much more here. It is much more difficult to swing a presentation in another language. I am not really sure how I did not figure this out during college, but I am definitely aware of this now!

We returned from our tech trip on Friday extremely exhausted, but I had to rest up for Saturday since I had the privilege to dance in the fiestas with my family again. This time it was even more fun because my entire family was there, including the in-laws who were hosting the majority of it. We left the house to begin dancing a 5:00 p.m. and we danced until 5:00 a.m. in the morning… no lie. It was definitely an experience. We danced and partied so hard that by the morning, everyone had cried at least once. It was honestly amazing, and I can say I have pretty much never felt so welcomed. I even had a fan club of 4 jovenes, which were really cute and fun. I am really excited to see how the fiestas in the Coast are different, and fortunately they start the weekend I arrive, so I will get to experience them first thing!

Basically, the past week has been extremely intense but definitely a great experience! I am ready to knock out this last week of training and enjoy some down time with my favorite people before we all head to our sites! I cannot believe that swear in is so close! I would be lying if I said that I have not had a single doubt throughout training, but I believe just making it through this week has reinforced why I joined the Peace Corps and why I wanted to come here. I think this will honestly be one of the best experiences of my life… the good, the bad, and the occasional ugly. I absolutely feel like I am becoming a little more Ecuadorian everyday…