This Too Shall Pass...

As I sit in my hammock this morning before it is about 100 degrees outside, I am actually proud of myself for making it two weeks in my site. Considering I have 102 weeks to go, I probably should not revel too much, but since everyday has been a sort of a challenge, I will let myself celebrate just a bit.

I have heard from other volunteers that the trick to surviving is having something to look forward to every month. I saw surviving, not because we are being chased through the jungle by wild animals, or at least most of us are not, but living daily here really is a challenge. Everyday activities that appear to be simple, or at least would be simple in The States have become a complete chore for me here. For example, doing my laundry. While I am incredibly fortunate not to have to go outside and scrub my clothes on a rock here like I did in the Sierra, I now have to face the inconveniences of less than modern technology. So, we have a washing machine. But since I am in the Campo, and indoor plumbing is well, almost only outside, our washing machine hose is connected to nothing and there is no such thing as a spin cycle on this machine. So, to wash clothes I must put the water in by hand with a water hose and then let me clothes wash, and by washing I mean I watch them go around in a circle for about 30 to 40 minutes. After watching my clothes circulate, I have to take them out and put another load into the dirty, soapy water that I just used. After another load I drain all of the water out onto the ground, place my soapy clothes back into the machine and then add more water with the hose. I once again let my clothes circulate for 30 to 40 minutes and then put in the other load after the first set of clothes are finished. Needless to say, this is not the cleanest that my clothes have ever been, but it works…my pants are just a little stiff.

Another recent and relevant example is going to the doctor. I remember being in The States and getting sick, I would call up the doctor’s office, get an appointment, usually that day or at the latest the next, I would drive up in my car, be seen within an hour, go to the drug store, get my meds and be on my happy way. Well, here I live in the campo where the doctors are as sweet as can be, but not always as knowledgeable as you may need them to be. So the Peace Corps has specific clinics, hospitals, and doctors that we are allowed to see. Lucky for me, the nearest clinic or hospital that is approved is two hours away in Guayaquil. So, I have been suffering with this ear infection and in order to go to the doctor I had to take a two-hour bus, and then a $2.00 taxi to the emergency room on Saturday to see a physician. The advantage was that I was seen quickly, the disadvantage was that I had to pay for it and wait to be reimbursed by the Peace Corps after filling out some lengthy forms. Needless to say, I had to make the trip back as well with a horrible fever in a non-air-conditioned bus with people standing up the full length of the aisle for two hours. Thankfully, I had a seat.

Besides being ill, fighting with a washing machine, and having my many run-ins with various creepy crawlers all is not lost here. I spent last week helping out in the subcentro, or clinic, weighing and measuring the local school kids and handing out medicine. I also am learning other skills, one of which is injections, which I plan to keep “learning” for the next two years. I also went way out into the campo with my organization PLAN to help take photos of kids who are a part of their international big brother/big sister program and I had the chance to meet some adorable schools kids. I also spent a day in Guayaquil exploring the big city with my mom and meet up with some other volunteers for lunch and ice cream, so no worries I have still been enjoying myself and learning a ton as well!

Obviously, none of my problems are as grave as many of the people that I am here to hopefully help. These are just examples of adjustment. My host brother’s girlfriend gave me some great advice my first days here, that everything seems really hard and difficult right now, but that in a little while it will all be easy. I believe her; it is just tough to see the future when you are having a hard time getting through the present.

As for my Spanish… it is still a bit weak, but it is getting there. I have a trip to the beach to visit another volunteer to look forward to for this month, so that is covered and as soon as I am able to hear again, I plan to be back in the subcentro full force and hopefully getting things together to begin teaching English as well. I am constantly reminding myself and other volunteers that we have only been here for two weeks, and we have plenty of time to change the world.

*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)