Market day

Walking through the Cajabamba market having all the people stare, bopping along to my american music, admiring the amazing mountainside and peaceful small town around me; I felt at home while embracing two conflicting cultures.
If you have never experienced an indigenous market in Ecuador, you really need to!! It is a burst of color, sounds and people. The pushing and shoving, the cars going down tiny streets already bursting with people, vendors shouting at you to come buy their products, the vast amount of stuff!! It´s enough to make your head explode sometimes! Which is why I only go to market every other week if I can help it, and not usually the Cajabamba market. I went out to buy a clove of garlic (which I bought for $0.25) and look at kittens. So as was enjoying the experience walking back to the animal section of the market, watching people stare, then poking their neighbor to tell them to stare at the gringa, I was enjoying my wonderful American music and appreciating the fact that I am in Ecuador, living it up!! I eventually meandered my way back to the cats and fell in love!!! This tiny little white ball of fluff that smelled only faintly of poo, and which snuggled immediately under my neck. I said I´d take it, even though I only came to look. Ha! Yea right! And now, 3 days later, let me tell you that kittens are kind of annoying!!!! They need to be held and touched all the time, and mine never likes to be away from me, meowing every time I leave it, or even just when it wants me to hold it. But the cuteness makes up for it!! I think I have settled on a name, Bug, however, Araña would be more appropriate. She has this habit of climbing up me, clinging with her nails, when she wants to be near me. She just scurries right on up until she is sitting on my shoulder. Kind of amusing.

Well, now for all you blog followers who have no idea what I have been up to…. Let me tell you. I have finally settled in to life here in Cajabamba. I actually like it now that I have moved into a nicer house! I am working in Santa Rosa still, usually go every Monday and teach them random things such as how to make Te de estiercol (manure tea), compost, and organic pesticides using garlic and hot peppers, and on Monday how to make sugar cookies!! We are working to find money to build a large greenhouse so the people from this community can increase their income and bring in new plants to the area that otherwise wouldn´t grow at that altitude. I am also working with my Foundation (Fundacion Rescate). We have a large goal/project in mind. It is a teaching farm here in Cajabamba. We want a farm with organic crops, chickens and pigs, in order to teach the people in the surrounding communities organic and sustainable practices. It would be a great undertaking, but with such great rewards!! Of course the problem we have with this is money: money to buy land and startup costs. SO that is what I am working no now: writing grants. Fun work, especially when you´ve never done it before!! So that´s a work update.
I have also been traveling a little bit. We went to Macas and celebrated Thanksgiving there with some other volunteers. We had turkey, stuffing, cranberries, apple pie, and lots of other great food!! It was really cool getting to meet some of the other volunteers I hadn´t had a chance to meet yet. There´s a lot of cool people in Peace Corps! I also recently travelled to LaAsuncion near Guaranda to visit Leah and ended up riding a pony in the lead of the parade for her town, for more details see Leah Anderson Smith´s blog. There have been some other small trips here and there, Cuenca for Halloween and Chaza Juan. But that´s about it on my adventures. I´ll try to write more often!! Love you all!!!

Activities and Thoughts from Ecuador

So after some pestering from my parents, I decided I had better update my blog. Much has happened since I have last written. However it also feels like nothing at all has happened. During the first of June I gave 2 charlas (talks/lectures) to the people in my community of Santa Rosa. The first was on composting and there were only 5 people there, because of a miscommunication of my counterpart. Because of this I made sure to get the number of a person in the community so I could arrange meetings in the future rather than go through my counterpart who then calls the president of the community who then talks to some of the people. Sounds kind of messy and unreliable-it is. So the charla went ok for my first one, they didn't really understand all that I was saying, it also didn't help that we didn't have all the materials we needed. So I set up a time for the next week to come and do the same charla again, and they would arrange for more people and the materials to be there. So I went back in a week, and it turned out sooooo much better!!! I was more prepared and more researched on the matter, and it wasn't like a charla, it felt like we were all just kind of hanging out, joking around, and doing this compost pile just for fun! It was great! Since then however, I have been slacking. I haven't been back to my community to see how the compost pile is doing or to further plan the garden and greenhouse we are going to make. I have, though, done some translating work with my foundation. They had a group of missionaries in and they needed someone to help, so I agreed, thinking it would help my spanish. I didn't realize until we were on our way to the first community that this would be a different kind of spanish that I had never learned or thought I would ever need. We would be talking about the Bible and God and blessing and stuff. EEEKK!! But I managed through okay, and even made a contact in another community nearby that I could possibly help in. So it turned out rather well I thought. Since then I have done a bunch of nothing, and it is starting to get to me. I have made friends with a family in my neighborhood. They own a tienda (store) that sells agriculture stuff and feed for animals, so I buy my dog food there. He gives me a good price on it because he wants me to help his daughter learn more english, they are big fans!! They are a really nice family and have offered to watch my dog whenever I go away, which is great!!! It feels good to start integrating more into the community, it helps me feel more connected here. It has been a difficult journey so far, and I just know it's just going to keep getting harder. I am going to have to push myself harder than I have been accustomed to doing if I want to succeed here. One of the other volunteers has stated previously that you have to find that one thing that makes it worth being here, and just keep thinking about that in order to survive. I haven't found that thing yet, but I'm going to keep looking hard for it!
On another note, I was standing in line at the grocery store the other day and I found myself staring at a small family. It was a mother and her two daughters, all with white skin and blonde hair. As I was staring at them I realized I was doing exactly what the Ecuadorians do to me (and it always irritates me so much!!). I began to realize that we are such an oddity here that when you do see someone that stands out, that doesn't look like they belong, you can't help but stare as you wonder what they are doing here. I always thought I was aware of the reason they stare at me, but I had never been put in their shoes before. I feel like I have been here long enough now that I think of myself as someone that belongs here and now when I see other extranjeros (foreigners) I always look a little longer wondering what they are doing here. Then I try to remember how much I hate it, and look away. So just a little lesson learned, put yourself in someone eases shoes every once in a while.

Floating...

My whole life has been spent floating down a stream, just allowing the water to push me in the direction that was the easiest. Whenever I came upon a branch in the stream, I never tried to fight the current to get to the other side, I just kept right on floating down the stream. But at this point in my life I am no longer “going with the flow” or floating down the stream; I am now swimming upstream, against the current, in the toughest experience I have had to face yet. I am in my third week in my site, and I am just starting to become accustomed to living here, even though I am still in a transitional phase waiting until I can move into Rebecca's place and actually feel at home. Things are starting to progress with work though. I have been talking with my counterparts and after our trip to Cuenca we will finally be able to start really planning for my next few months. I have communicated with them that for the first few months all I can do are interviews with the families to get some information about the resources and knowledge available to the people in my communities. This task is going to be difficult for me, because it involves pushing myself onto people and into their lives, but it is a necessary step in my integration and familiarization of these communities. It will also be a big help in developing my language skills, which are drastically improved from when I arrived in country, but still leave a lot to be desired.
I am spending a lot time in my new cement box of home, but trying more everyday to get out there and let my face become known in the community. Peace Corps says that all new volunteers have to live with host families for the first three months, but I was put in my community in an empty house that consists of three empty rooms; my bedroom which is 6 ½ feet by 10 feet with one teeny tiny window in the top right corner of my box, my bathroom which is actually kind of nice but had no toilet seat when I moved in and no hot water, and my kitchen with only a sink and nothing more. I spent the first week here doing a bunch of nothing, and the second week I got off my but and started trying to make my temporary home a little nicer. I still don't have a stove, but as I will moving into Rebecca's house soon, I don't see the need to purchase a gas tank for $50 when I will be inheriting hers. I did manage to obtain a bed, borrowed from my counterpart. This made my life here dramatically better, as I didn't have to sleep on the cement floor any longer!! This week I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to make my new home more homey feeling so I will be happy here. I am trying to make plans to construct a sofa, which will be a large undertaking for me, but with the possibility of a great outcome!!! I am also learning how to crochet and knit, with the hope that I can eventually make blankets!!! I am trying to keep busy so I won't think about the fact that I have 2 years ahead of me here. I have to take it slowly and think short term. I can do this. It is a challenge that I am not going to back down from.

Weeks Past

This has been long over due, but I finally have both the will and the time to write this and update everyone on the goings-on in my life. I will try to pick up where I left off, which was halfway through my site visit. The only eventful thing that occurred during the rest of my trip was the earthquake. I was laying on the mattresses on the floor of Rebecca's apartment and I felt the house start to move around me. It rather freaked me out, because I has never experienced that before. It wasn't a bad one, only 4.4, but it was still a little scary!!! After our site visits, we traveled back to Cayambe and our families for one last week. We spent the week enjoying our new friends and family and preparing for our 2 week technical trip. We left Monday morning the 5th of April for Riobamba. It is about a 3 ½ hour bus ride, but aside from the vendors constantly getting on the bus and yelling, it is usually a pretty uneventful trip. We got into Riobamba somewhat late and just spent some time settling in. I am going to just write a list of all the places we went because it was a rather busy trip.
Tuesday:Chambo, a city about 30 min outside of Riobamba, traveling by camioneta; we went to a farm of a man that is organic and has perfected the methods of planting crops in higher sierra climates. We also learned about grafting of plants to better the species and production. In the evening we visited a volunteer in Riobamba that works with local farmers and markets
Wednesday: ESPOCH, a local university, we visited a part of it that has a farm cared for by the students, with organic agriculture and small animal production. In the afternoon we went to another aspect of the school, the lab that works with microorganisms and organic remedies.
Thursday: San Bernardo, another volunteer site. We spent 2 days here learning about goat and goat milk production, small animal management, and gardens. It is beautiful country!!!
Saturday: We spent this day in Riobamba looking at the local markets, then we traveled to Chambo again, but this time to play with bees!!!! We went to a farm where a man raises bees and makes honey, actually uses all products of the bees and sells it in his store in Riobamba- ApiCare. It was a fascinating day, and a lot of fun!!!
Sunday: We went to my site, Cajabamba, to see the local market there, because it is a rather large market! After this we spent the rest of the day traveling to the future site, Salinas of Bolivar, of Patrick, another new volunteer in our omnibus. We didn't have anything planned for the evening, so before dinner Carrie and I decided to hike up the mountain that we could see from our hostal windows!! It was a really short hike and the view is amazing!!!
Monday: We went on a tour around Salinas to see all the local businesses, because Salinas is a tourist town, and specializes in making Chocolates, cheese, mushrooms, and other small products.
Tuesday: We visited greenhouses throughout the area most of the day. We went up to the Paramo above Salinas, riding in the back of a pickup truck- freezing our butts off!!! It was soooo cold! But also a lot of fun!!
Wednesday: We went to little town way up in the mountains, and worked in a greenhouse for most of the day, with some very interesting people!!! Then had and even more interesting and thrilling ride down the mountain that took about half the time it did to get there!
Thursday: Spent the day traveling to Chaupi and met up with another of the tech trip goups and had a fun evening visiting!
Friday: First went to La Libertad to see tire gardens then traveled to Quito and was reunited with the rest of our Ag group in our hostal!! Oh how I missed them!!!
We had an awesome week in Quito where in our off time we socialized and just had a blast!! Thursday we all became official volunteers of Peace Corps in a beautiful ceremony at the ambassador's house, which is by far the best house in Ecuador!!! After a nice bagel breakfast there we returned to the Peace Corps office for some more socializing and a barbeque. We also started a small soccer game which I could not say no to even though I was in a dress and high heels! (and I still kicked butt!!!) Then it was back to the hostal to rest and get ready for a night out in the mariscal in Quito!! I have to say we are either a very lucky or a very smart group, because nobody got attacked or robbed that night. I'd like to think it's because our parents all taught us well, always looking over your shoulder! Friday it was off to our sites, our first step out into the unknown!!!

Site visit- Cajabamba!!!

Hola everyone!!! I am currently on site in Cajabamba for a few more days. This will be my new home for the next 2 years. It´s an ok place, it´s not as remote as some places, and one of the organizations I work with has computers and I have access to free internet!! which is awesome!!! Yesterday I went with my counterpart to one of the communities in the mountains that is wanting my help to start an integrated farm (of which I really know nothing about,yet!) it was way up on the top, literally, of one of the peaks, and we spent the morning watching the local people bring their cows and a few sheep in to get vacinations from the gov. it was fun to watch, but I was really wondering what we doing there, and then at 9 in the morning they tell us guests to go into this room with tiny tables for a break. They bring in food for us, which consists of a bowl of potatos, and a slab of cuy rib laid out on top of it. Let me tell you, I was reallllll excited about it!! I forced what I could down, and luckily the cuy slab I got didn´t have much meat on it. After our snack, and some more vacinations, we traveled down the other side of the mountain to their little plot of land they want my help with; all of the men brought their hoes with them, and I was rather perplexed and worried they expected me to preform for them with all my knowledge of agriculture! But luckily, or unluckily, it depends, they all sat down to listen to my counterpart talk to them for an hour in the local language, quichua. Then he turns to me and says, ok now tell them about yourself and what you want to do here. I was quite taken by surprise as I was in the middle of a daydream. SO I said that I¨m Lindsay and I¨m with the Peace Corps and I´m very happy to be here and excited for the work to be done. Then I asked if they had any questions for me (stupidly) and one guy did have a question for me but he took forever to ask his question so that I lost track of what he said, then I couldn´t answer him and my counterpart tried to say it in simple spanish, I still couldn´t answer so I just said I didn´t have the words. I think this experience was the first of many embarrassments yet to come. Yay!!!
SO this all occured Tuesday March 23rd. Today is now the 25th. This morning I had a meeting with my other counterpart and their agency CEDEIN. It is a rather well organized organization. They supplied me with 2 books before I even got there (through Peace Corps) and they are doing so much to help the local people get their products out there and to advertize that they are doing this in an organic manner. They want my help with commercializing some of their products and getting them into more markets. While I am rather excited about this, I really don´t have much knowledge about this either! But this meeting allievated some of the anxieties I have developed being here in my site. I feel like I actually have a chance at being useful here, which is great!!! Well enough for now, more later!! Love and miss you all!! Lindsay
P.S. Above are the girls in my province of Chimborazo. Carrie, Cara, Me, and Rachel

March 16, 2010
Days in the Peace Corps, I am coming to realize, are full of confusion and new surprises; you never know what could happen next! Today was supposed to be another normal day with our entire group of volunteers, full of information about STDs and pregnancy. But I had forgotten that the US Ambassador for Ecuador was coming to visit with us! We received an interesting talk from her about her experiences and her advice for us as volunteers and as young people in a new culture who are all being seen as representatives of the United States. Her closing statement to us was with a story of an adventure she had in one of the many countries she had worked in. She advised us to leave a legacy wherever you go; to make such an impact that when someone does a certain activity or sees or smells something they will think of you and the amazingness that was you! This made a big impact on me. It made me think more about the effect I could possibly have here on just about anyone that I meet. Up until now I have been thinking a little more selfishly, about how this experience is going to affect and change me. I need to start thinking differently, in a more open and giving fashion.
After our talk from the ambassador, we had to rush to do lunch because we were just informed this morning that we were coming back to my farm for our afternoon agriculture session. Lunch consisted of Pollo frito con agridulce (sweet and sour chicken) at a China restaurant. It wasn’t bad, but it is also Chinese food in Ecuador, so what more could I expect?! Then we had to rush for a bus into my town for our ag session, which we were of course late for- true Ecuadorian style already! Now this ag session was the most interesting as of yet. We were learning about small animal production, which is my job title, so my attention was piqued. Edwin, my host dad, along with a few current volunteers, talked to us about cuyes and pollos (guinea pigs and chickens) and the care of them, what was the best method of cleaning and caring for them, what works, what doesn’t. Apparently the best way to clean a cuyes habitat is to take out all the poop/fertilizer and take a blow torch to everything. This will kill all the germs and parasites and anything else growing in there that doesn’t belong, and this method is much better than chemicals and insecticides, and is cheaper, always good! Next on the agenda: killing time! Now this was worse than I was anticipating. I figured there was a good way to do it quickly and relatively painless, but the way we were shown was pretty nasty. Its possible Bryan just didn’t do it correctly, but he was told to hold the cuy behind the head, on its neck, and jam its head into the cement. Now when Bryan did this, the cuy did not die right away, so he had to mask its head multiple times in the pavement. Throughout this process, I could not watch and it was a little upsetting for me, thinking that I’m probably going to have to do this at some point. They also said another method was to cut its throat, which seems better to me. After the cuy Maggie, my host mom, came out and demonstrated how to go about preparing the cuy for the next step of cooking it. Next up, a chicken! Which, by the way, is so much easier to kill!! All you have to do to kill a chicken is take a knife and chop its head off- simple right?! All of this was a lot to absorb for the day so a few of us went out for a drink in a little place in our town, which had some amazing tables and stools made out of cuttings of trees and varnished. It was a nice relaxing time hanging out and enjoying the company of fellow volunteers. We spent time talking about our possible sites for the next two years. We are all very excited to find out on Friday where we will be living for the next two years!! I’ll keep you updated as to where I will be!!!

New Places- Exciting!!!!!

2-20-2010 Sat.
Today is our first day in Cayambe. We had a long drive here (well, 1 hour 15 min.) But it seems much longer when you have to use the restroom! We traveled here after visiting el Mitad del Mundo. This is the center of the world, the equator. It was a nice little touristy place. We got on a bus that was rather interesting at the Hostal San Juan. It was a large tour bus type with spikes on the wheels, and shag window coverings. We drove to Mitad del Mundo, which took about 30 minutes. We arrived and got out to see a large statue with a ball on top and a bunch on monuments in front of it. We started walking to see all the sights with our guides that refused to speak English with us. It was rather difficult because I have to put all my energy into listening to pick out what I do know to be able to get anything out of it. We were taken on a tour around the plaza that had a bunch of different little shops. Then we were taken into the large monument, which had a bunch of different exhibits talking about the different people and cultures of Ecuador. At the top of the monument was a viewing platform, which had an amazing view of the surrounding area. There are lots of mountains and hills that are all throughout the area and it does look a little like a patchwork quilt. There are a lot of buildings and houses everywhere and on the hillsides, many of them have rebar sticking out of the top of the houses so that when they have more money, they can build another level onto their house. The one thing that really surprised me and kind of threw me off was the fact that you are not supposed to throw the toilet paper into the toilet, it goes in the trash. Let me tell you that takes some getting used to in order to break 23 years of throwing my toilet paper in the toilet where you think it belongs.
After we left the Center of the World, we walked a little down the road, to another Museum type place. This is the actual GPS determined center of the world, the place where the equator runs through it. We had a guided tour this time in English. He took us around the small site and did some demonstrations about gravity and the effect of being on the Equator. The first one was with an old sundial that was used many, many years ago. It is still accurate but it is off by about 15 minutes because the actual length of the day is not 24 hours and that was why Leap Year was invented- to make up for that lost time. The next demonstration was in order to show how when you walk along the equator you can feel the pull of gravity from both sides. Our guide had us walk on the line of the Equator with our eyes closed and thumbs up, heal-toe. I could feel the pull especially to the north because it is stronger. Another demonstration was with water, and it showed how the water flowed directly down when on the equator, because there is no pull from the sides. When poured in the Southern hemisphere it flowed clockwise, and in the North counterclockwise. It was very interesting, especially seeing it in a hands-on kind of way; I don’t think I ever would have learned the concepts of that without that way of learning. It was a very informative visit.
After this we had lunch at a little restaurant close by. It was very good, but I wasn’t very hungry. We walked in and there was an entire hand-crafted canoe filled with fruit, and not the normal fruit we’re used to seeing. There was tomate de arbol, and that is about the only one out of the many that I can remember. Lunch was then potato soup, then chicken and rice and a small salad. I didn’t eat much. Then it was back to the bus for a beautiful bus ride to Cayambe. We drove up and through and around the mountains on a pretty new paved road that was nicer than the roads in IN. We arrived at our compound and had one educational thing to do, converse in Spanish with one of our trainers, before we were able to play!!! I was so excited because we were able to play some real soccer!!! It was so much fun! I was rather worried at first because of the altitude, but I was fine, sort of. I even scored a couple of goals!! Then dinner and some Peace Corps volunteer socializing, then bed!

My new family (for awhile)

Sat. Feb. 27th, 2010
Today was my first full day with my host family. They are a great family, and they have had plenty of other volunteers stay here with them so they are quite used to speaking slowly and our customs, which is great. There is Edwin and Maggie and their 2 kids Pacha and Michaila. We live on a large farm in a little town outside of Cayambe. They have a very cute farmhouse that has 3 stories, but is still kinda small, especially in comparison to what we have back in the States. I have electricity and running water that can be hot. I have my own room which is bigger than at least one of the houses I have lived in. I wake up in the morning with a beautiful view of the Cayambe volcano and other mountains. The town itself is nice, small, but nice. There are enough stores and places to buy things, there are also cabinas (telephone booths, kind of), so at some point I will be able to call home; when we’re not busy learning to language and doing other Peace Corps training things. This whole experience is rather daunting now that I’m here and immersed in the culture and language. The culture part isn’t as hard to adjust to, but for me the language is giving me lots of problems. I just find it so difficult to remember all the words and just speaking is proving to be an enormous challenge for me. I’m trying, but I’m worried it’s just not enough. But, I have only been here for 1 ½ weeks, so I think I just need to give it time, and keep working hard.

First entry

Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Hola!!! Today was another day full of information. We spent the day in the auditorium listening to the Peace Corps people talk about safety and security, diarrhea, malaria, and technical things relating to agriculture. It was a long day. All of the information was very good, but I haven’t been feeling all that well lately and have been really tired, so it was difficult paying attention during the talks. We finally finished at 5 and a bunch of us went outside for my favorite part of the day: soccer!!! We have a lot of talented people here with us! My team was awesome!! We kicked butt and I was on top of my game, and made 3 goals!! So far I still feel like this isn’t real, that I’m just on vacation somewhere in the states. I’m a little apprehensive about going to live with my host family.

Aclimating

Hello everyone!!

SO I have finally begun a blog, this is the first time I have had fast internet and the time to do this, and of course I have forgotten the zip drive with all of my previous blog writtings on it, so you will all have to wait a little while longer to actually read how my new adventure has been so far.

As of now, things are still going rather well, I have a great host family and have actually been eating better/healthier here than in the States. Tomorrow we have a fun day planned. We have a soccer tournament amongst the comunities of volunteers and a little parade type thing, and then a barbaque. I´m really looking forward to the break from the constant influx of information and for something different and fun! Well I have to go. We, the girls in my community have to pick up our uniforms that we got tailor made for us for $8.50!! Can you believe it?! ANd then we have to run to catch the last bus to our town. I´ll post more later!!



Disclaimer: The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government of the Peace Corps