So today I was walking down the road, saying hi to everyone i passed. Most people just smile and say hi back, while some of the more outgoing people engage you in conversation. This particular elderly couple did just that, and we got to talking. Turns out, they´re a retired couple that moved to the the United States from Bolivia for a better life. After working multiple jobs for 20 years, 9-11 happened. At the time the woman was working at the world trade center as a cleaning lady and was so traumitized they decided to move...to Worthington, Ohio. For those of you who don´t know, thats about 5 or 10 minutes south of where I live. I could hardly believe it. So they still have the house in ohio, as well as a second house in my village of 800. We hopped in the back of their truck in a bunch of workers and animals, and had coffee and bread at their house and talked for a couple hours. At the end of the conversation, i got all their contact information. I plan on getting together with them stateside when i get back.
Small world, huh?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
so things are on the up and up here. I´m starting to really have fun. I just had to readjust and look for new forms of athletic and creative outlets. My preconseived notions of what i would be doing for fun ( ie running and playing a lot of futbol) turned out to be unrealistic. I haven´t played futbol once, and running is a rare treat. I´ve started to read a lot more, and just chill with the family. We have 4 puppies that just started to walk, and there so cute i could just explode...so i end up playing with them a lot. Also, i think im going to start milking cows a lot more. The milking itself isn´t that fun, but the hour walk in the mountains to get to the cows is fantastic. It also offers some one on one time to bond with my host mom. Then, after we finish milking, i find myself a realitively crap free zone to sit and look out over the valley in the the andes mountains. Its phenominal, especially when the sun is setting. Im going to try to get out of (boring, tedious) class early everyday so i can help my host mom milk in the afternoon.
So yeah, good times.
On friday I went on one of the most amazing hikes of my life. My friend´s host dad invited us to take a ride up to the woods in his truck, then walk around a little to experience nature. Sounded cool to us. However, no one was prepared for the 5 hour romp through the andes that ensued. Luckily, i had worn my hiking boots by chance...but others werent so lucky. We´re right at the end of the rainy season here, and the half made trail was about 6 inches deep with mud...which i absulutely loved. Needless to say we got filthy, and one girl who wore tennis shoes was less than a happy camper. I was just high on life though. The forest was dense, and i had to do a lot of scrambling. Every once and a while, the leaves would open up and offer a totally breathtaking view of the valley. Near the summit, i climbed a ´´puma paw´´ tree. Then on the way down, after walking past a billion horses and cows, the guide (a host brother) pointed out a tree with brilliant red and yellow flowers that apparently makes you trip your balls off if ingested. None of us tried it.
On Saturday I went to a surprise birthday party for a fellow volunteer in a nearby town. After defying death to figure out how to light the stove, we made empanadas and cookies. After surprising him and chowing down, we went to another bullfight. I again participated, jumping into the arena and running from the bulls like a drunken campesino. Only this time, there were much less people in the ring, so the only three gringos participating were rather conspicious. I wonder how many people in the crowed were rooted for us to get gored...
After the bullfight, we comenced to dance into the we hours of the morning...9:30 pm to be exact. After that, 4 of us commisioned a camioneta (a dude with a truck that may or may not have been as drunk as we were) to deliver us to our homes a little over an hour away. There was myself, another guy, and two gals. We let the gals ride up front, so we sat in the back and just watched as the mountains zoomed by us as the stars pierced the sky above us.
So that was a pretty amazing experience.
But its not all fun and games folks. There still are trying times. I´ve just learned to except that. Just like anything else, you have to endure a little discomfort to experience some really amazing stuff. It just so happend to be that down here, the two extremes are exagerated a little.
So yeah, good times.
On friday I went on one of the most amazing hikes of my life. My friend´s host dad invited us to take a ride up to the woods in his truck, then walk around a little to experience nature. Sounded cool to us. However, no one was prepared for the 5 hour romp through the andes that ensued. Luckily, i had worn my hiking boots by chance...but others werent so lucky. We´re right at the end of the rainy season here, and the half made trail was about 6 inches deep with mud...which i absulutely loved. Needless to say we got filthy, and one girl who wore tennis shoes was less than a happy camper. I was just high on life though. The forest was dense, and i had to do a lot of scrambling. Every once and a while, the leaves would open up and offer a totally breathtaking view of the valley. Near the summit, i climbed a ´´puma paw´´ tree. Then on the way down, after walking past a billion horses and cows, the guide (a host brother) pointed out a tree with brilliant red and yellow flowers that apparently makes you trip your balls off if ingested. None of us tried it.
On Saturday I went to a surprise birthday party for a fellow volunteer in a nearby town. After defying death to figure out how to light the stove, we made empanadas and cookies. After surprising him and chowing down, we went to another bullfight. I again participated, jumping into the arena and running from the bulls like a drunken campesino. Only this time, there were much less people in the ring, so the only three gringos participating were rather conspicious. I wonder how many people in the crowed were rooted for us to get gored...
After the bullfight, we comenced to dance into the we hours of the morning...9:30 pm to be exact. After that, 4 of us commisioned a camioneta (a dude with a truck that may or may not have been as drunk as we were) to deliver us to our homes a little over an hour away. There was myself, another guy, and two gals. We let the gals ride up front, so we sat in the back and just watched as the mountains zoomed by us as the stars pierced the sky above us.
So that was a pretty amazing experience.
But its not all fun and games folks. There still are trying times. I´ve just learned to except that. Just like anything else, you have to endure a little discomfort to experience some really amazing stuff. It just so happend to be that down here, the two extremes are exagerated a little.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
ok, with all the excitement returning from a sweet trip i left some stuff out.
I´m able to write again because we need to pay our families 228 bucks this week, and the atm is in the big city. It only lets you take out 100 usd at once, so we all need to go back three times. So Peace Corps pays us, then we get the money and give it to our families...in three trips. Pretty efficient.
Anyways...
bullfight on friday. Rather, mess with the bull and have it chase after you, then dive into the front row stadium seats for cover. I know. I was in the mix, along with about 200 drunken latin machos.
I saw two ritualistic kichwa bad spirit cleansings. In the first, the woman rubbed an egg all over my friend and then broke it and alalyzed the yoke. aparetly my friend was fine. thank god. The second was even more rediculous. They brought out a live guinea pig (cuy) and beat the shit out of it all over my friends body, untill the poor thing died. But only after releasing its bowels all over her. The medicine woman then cut the thing open and examined its innards and guts, which she took out and rolled around in her hands. She determined that my friends back was slightly sore. She said she say a high concentration of blood in the animals lower back region. I think she saw her arrive wearing her huge camping backpack. we also me a medicine man at the same health center.
Apart from that, it was nice to be warm for once in the past two weeks. Yesterday i returned to the land of perpetual drizzle, clouds, and 40 degree weather. However, im begining to deal with the cold better, and i can now have basic conversations with my family, which is cool. also, i plan on turning into a huge book nerd. so if you have any good ones, send them my way. BUT:
DO NOT DECLARE A VALUE ON A PACKAGE IF YOU SEND IT TO ME!
The more you declare, the more i have to bribe the post master. If you must, put down like a dollar.
thats it for now
peace and thanks
Chris
I´m able to write again because we need to pay our families 228 bucks this week, and the atm is in the big city. It only lets you take out 100 usd at once, so we all need to go back three times. So Peace Corps pays us, then we get the money and give it to our families...in three trips. Pretty efficient.
Anyways...
bullfight on friday. Rather, mess with the bull and have it chase after you, then dive into the front row stadium seats for cover. I know. I was in the mix, along with about 200 drunken latin machos.
I saw two ritualistic kichwa bad spirit cleansings. In the first, the woman rubbed an egg all over my friend and then broke it and alalyzed the yoke. aparetly my friend was fine. thank god. The second was even more rediculous. They brought out a live guinea pig (cuy) and beat the shit out of it all over my friends body, untill the poor thing died. But only after releasing its bowels all over her. The medicine woman then cut the thing open and examined its innards and guts, which she took out and rolled around in her hands. She determined that my friends back was slightly sore. She said she say a high concentration of blood in the animals lower back region. I think she saw her arrive wearing her huge camping backpack. we also me a medicine man at the same health center.
Apart from that, it was nice to be warm for once in the past two weeks. Yesterday i returned to the land of perpetual drizzle, clouds, and 40 degree weather. However, im begining to deal with the cold better, and i can now have basic conversations with my family, which is cool. also, i plan on turning into a huge book nerd. so if you have any good ones, send them my way. BUT:
DO NOT DECLARE A VALUE ON A PACKAGE IF YOU SEND IT TO ME!
The more you declare, the more i have to bribe the post master. If you must, put down like a dollar.
thats it for now
peace and thanks
Chris
Monday, July 7, 2008
So this weekend was sweet.
Fourth of July party...WITH AMERICAN FOOD!
and i could eat it because i took Cipro, which is a really hard core antibiotic and KOed whatever it was that i had.
On saturday we left for our tech trip, where we visited some AfroEcuadorian populations. I loved the towns, everyone was Really cool. And it was warm, and the people played soccer...two things I´ve missed thus far in my latin american experience.
Anyway, the entire weekend was awesome, but the coolest thing by far was the camioneta ride through the andes. We hired a truck driver to take us to a remote site, and for 15 minutes each way I was in a state of pure bliss. Definately the most fun i´ve ever had in an automobile. As we sped along, we stood up in the back and let the wind hit our faces. We were cruzing through the andes, up and down widing roads with 1000 foot drop offs 4 feet away from the truck. Basically the definition of exhilirating.
Then we went to the biggest market in all of South America in Otavalo. Everyone was pretty stoked, but it was just a bunch of stuff. Come on people, we have that in America. Apparently the urge to consume is just too strong. That being said, i did buy a hacky sack. And if im in a site with trees im gonna go back and get a hammock fa sho.
Fourth of July party...WITH AMERICAN FOOD!
and i could eat it because i took Cipro, which is a really hard core antibiotic and KOed whatever it was that i had.
On saturday we left for our tech trip, where we visited some AfroEcuadorian populations. I loved the towns, everyone was Really cool. And it was warm, and the people played soccer...two things I´ve missed thus far in my latin american experience.
Anyway, the entire weekend was awesome, but the coolest thing by far was the camioneta ride through the andes. We hired a truck driver to take us to a remote site, and for 15 minutes each way I was in a state of pure bliss. Definately the most fun i´ve ever had in an automobile. As we sped along, we stood up in the back and let the wind hit our faces. We were cruzing through the andes, up and down widing roads with 1000 foot drop offs 4 feet away from the truck. Basically the definition of exhilirating.
Then we went to the biggest market in all of South America in Otavalo. Everyone was pretty stoked, but it was just a bunch of stuff. Come on people, we have that in America. Apparently the urge to consume is just too strong. That being said, i did buy a hacky sack. And if im in a site with trees im gonna go back and get a hammock fa sho.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Shalom yáll. Here´s another one for ya.
So after we last parted, I went to a fesitival in a town way up in the mountains called Cangouya. It´s so high up, that their next door neighbors are inca fortresses. Pretty sweet, I know. And a bunch of drunken american archiologists were there to tell me all about the history, which made it even better.
Anyway, the party was a bunch of fun. Dancing into the night, and eveyone wanted a piece of the exotic gringos. And by everyone, I mean a drunken homeless guy just couldn´t stop dancing with my attractive blond friend. That, and this little girl couldn´t get enough of me picking her up above my head. I have as way with kids, you know. Either that or i was the tallest person she has ever seen, and the novelty was just too much. Anyway, it was super fun, and at one point this guy wearing some kind of pre incan devil mask came up to me and offered me a drink of the foulest smelling stuff i have ever come across. Anywhere else in the world, and i´d not only deny that in a heart beat, but also probably kick him in the shins and run home, then cry alone in my room. However, this behavior is not acceptable here, so i basically had to try it. It tasted even worse than it smelled, and the texture was even worse than the taste. So I braced myself, along with the little girl on my shoulders, and just kept dancin.
By the time the party was over, there were no more buses, so my friend and I had to pay some guy in a truck to take us home. We paid 11 bucks, wich is a fortune, but the place was about an hour away up in the mountains, so i guess it was worth it. After we dropped my friend of in her village, the driver turned and told me he didn´t know how to get no mine. No problem, i had walked back and forth a bunch of times. The hour walk should only take about 15 minutes, right?
Turns out, walking in the day and driving at night are 2 vary different things. We got real lost. After about half an hour of this crap, the driver had had enough. He yelled something in spanish, then slammed on the brakes and got out of the car. Sweet. I said to myself, im about to get thrown out of the truck, and possibly robbed. Luckily, he just took the longest piss i´ve ever even heard of, which at this point made me question his sobreity. Luckily i hadn´t paid him yet, so if he wanted his money he was going to have to stick it out and drop me off.
Which he did, but he was pissed. He wanted more money, which i didn´t have. I had him drop me off at my corner, figuring it was better to risk the crazy dogs than to have this guy know where i live. I think the decision was worth it, but only because i´ve taken to talking witha big rock after dark do defend myself against crazy dogs.
Anyway, that was saturday, and sunday was fun as well. Everyone in my town got up and danced all the way to Cayambe, which to them about 3 hours. I use the term dancing loosely. They definately favor quantitiy over quality here. For the 6 hour round trip they did the same 2 steps. I didn´t have the requisite attire (for example, my host dad wore a clown costume) so i just toke the bus. suckers.
anyway, remember that nasty drank i tried? We´ll it turns out its called chicha, which is kichwa for ´´this is garunteed to give gringos diahhrea´´.
And it did. In fact, i´ve shit twice since starting this blog, which is 6 days after the fact. I´ve been going strong since sunday evening, every hour on the hour for most of the time. You could set your watch to it. The pooping itself isn´t so bad, just the fact that its so frequent i havn´t really been able to sleep at all this week. Combine that with the fact that i couldn´t eat for three days, and you´ve got yourself an unhappy camper in one of those character building situations.
I did see a couple cool things this week though.
one. In the campo, fireworks are crazy. They don´t shoot them up in the air. They just build this big structure out of balsa wood, to which they attach about a billion of the home made wonders. Then they light them, and this guy runs around and spins the structure by its bottom. All the while, he is (along with most of the closly packed crowd) showered with sparks and shrapnel. I think the tall people get most of the bad stuff, which explains whey no one here is about 5 feet 2 inches.
two. crazy dog sex. The dogs here get it so regularly that they have to resort to crazy positions to keep themselves entertained. It´s like their gloating. Bastards. And it´s not only couples. The other day my friend saw an all male doggy threesome.
Anyway, as far as mental health goes, i´m doing better now. I´m not going to lie, crapping 60 plus times within a 4 day period in a third world country isn´t exactly the best pick me up ever, but all that time on the john has given me a lot of time to think.
I realize that comparing my living situation with others is kind of stupid. Even though i definatley have the worst living situation out of anyone in my training class, im sure somewhere there´s someone in a hut that has floors made out of broken glass and doesn´t have enough money to buy shoes. He probably also has dengue fever, which is a hell of a lot worse than pooping every once and a while.
I also realize how childish complaining is. I really can´t stand it when I hear someone who I know has it better than me complain. Imagine how the guy with glass floors feels when he hears me complain. He´s probably pissed to, so i should probably stop doing it. I bet you he has a pretty short temper.
That being said, i´m doing everything I can to get myself in a better mood, and I think its working. I realize that I´m not going to do any good here, or be any fun to hang around with if i´m down all the time.
Looking forward, this weekend is a cultural trip. It should be really fun. I wish i could tell you where it is, but i have no idea. Right now I´m focusing all my attention on not crappy my pants on the bus ride there.
A special thanks to
Jon
Mack
Carolyn
EMILY
mom
dad
brian
and tommy gill
Your emails really help. Keep them coming. And Tommy...just try to keep your head up, and thanks for reading my blog.
hasta luego,
kleece (which is chris in spanish)
So after we last parted, I went to a fesitival in a town way up in the mountains called Cangouya. It´s so high up, that their next door neighbors are inca fortresses. Pretty sweet, I know. And a bunch of drunken american archiologists were there to tell me all about the history, which made it even better.
Anyway, the party was a bunch of fun. Dancing into the night, and eveyone wanted a piece of the exotic gringos. And by everyone, I mean a drunken homeless guy just couldn´t stop dancing with my attractive blond friend. That, and this little girl couldn´t get enough of me picking her up above my head. I have as way with kids, you know. Either that or i was the tallest person she has ever seen, and the novelty was just too much. Anyway, it was super fun, and at one point this guy wearing some kind of pre incan devil mask came up to me and offered me a drink of the foulest smelling stuff i have ever come across. Anywhere else in the world, and i´d not only deny that in a heart beat, but also probably kick him in the shins and run home, then cry alone in my room. However, this behavior is not acceptable here, so i basically had to try it. It tasted even worse than it smelled, and the texture was even worse than the taste. So I braced myself, along with the little girl on my shoulders, and just kept dancin.
By the time the party was over, there were no more buses, so my friend and I had to pay some guy in a truck to take us home. We paid 11 bucks, wich is a fortune, but the place was about an hour away up in the mountains, so i guess it was worth it. After we dropped my friend of in her village, the driver turned and told me he didn´t know how to get no mine. No problem, i had walked back and forth a bunch of times. The hour walk should only take about 15 minutes, right?
Turns out, walking in the day and driving at night are 2 vary different things. We got real lost. After about half an hour of this crap, the driver had had enough. He yelled something in spanish, then slammed on the brakes and got out of the car. Sweet. I said to myself, im about to get thrown out of the truck, and possibly robbed. Luckily, he just took the longest piss i´ve ever even heard of, which at this point made me question his sobreity. Luckily i hadn´t paid him yet, so if he wanted his money he was going to have to stick it out and drop me off.
Which he did, but he was pissed. He wanted more money, which i didn´t have. I had him drop me off at my corner, figuring it was better to risk the crazy dogs than to have this guy know where i live. I think the decision was worth it, but only because i´ve taken to talking witha big rock after dark do defend myself against crazy dogs.
Anyway, that was saturday, and sunday was fun as well. Everyone in my town got up and danced all the way to Cayambe, which to them about 3 hours. I use the term dancing loosely. They definately favor quantitiy over quality here. For the 6 hour round trip they did the same 2 steps. I didn´t have the requisite attire (for example, my host dad wore a clown costume) so i just toke the bus. suckers.
anyway, remember that nasty drank i tried? We´ll it turns out its called chicha, which is kichwa for ´´this is garunteed to give gringos diahhrea´´.
And it did. In fact, i´ve shit twice since starting this blog, which is 6 days after the fact. I´ve been going strong since sunday evening, every hour on the hour for most of the time. You could set your watch to it. The pooping itself isn´t so bad, just the fact that its so frequent i havn´t really been able to sleep at all this week. Combine that with the fact that i couldn´t eat for three days, and you´ve got yourself an unhappy camper in one of those character building situations.
I did see a couple cool things this week though.
one. In the campo, fireworks are crazy. They don´t shoot them up in the air. They just build this big structure out of balsa wood, to which they attach about a billion of the home made wonders. Then they light them, and this guy runs around and spins the structure by its bottom. All the while, he is (along with most of the closly packed crowd) showered with sparks and shrapnel. I think the tall people get most of the bad stuff, which explains whey no one here is about 5 feet 2 inches.
two. crazy dog sex. The dogs here get it so regularly that they have to resort to crazy positions to keep themselves entertained. It´s like their gloating. Bastards. And it´s not only couples. The other day my friend saw an all male doggy threesome.
Anyway, as far as mental health goes, i´m doing better now. I´m not going to lie, crapping 60 plus times within a 4 day period in a third world country isn´t exactly the best pick me up ever, but all that time on the john has given me a lot of time to think.
I realize that comparing my living situation with others is kind of stupid. Even though i definatley have the worst living situation out of anyone in my training class, im sure somewhere there´s someone in a hut that has floors made out of broken glass and doesn´t have enough money to buy shoes. He probably also has dengue fever, which is a hell of a lot worse than pooping every once and a while.
I also realize how childish complaining is. I really can´t stand it when I hear someone who I know has it better than me complain. Imagine how the guy with glass floors feels when he hears me complain. He´s probably pissed to, so i should probably stop doing it. I bet you he has a pretty short temper.
That being said, i´m doing everything I can to get myself in a better mood, and I think its working. I realize that I´m not going to do any good here, or be any fun to hang around with if i´m down all the time.
Looking forward, this weekend is a cultural trip. It should be really fun. I wish i could tell you where it is, but i have no idea. Right now I´m focusing all my attention on not crappy my pants on the bus ride there.
A special thanks to
Jon
Mack
Carolyn
EMILY
mom
dad
brian
and tommy gill
Your emails really help. Keep them coming. And Tommy...just try to keep your head up, and thanks for reading my blog.
hasta luego,
kleece (which is chris in spanish)
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