Ecuador Goals: Year 2

I’m back in Quito for a second contract because I really like my life here.  Professionally, personally, financially, socially – it’s all good.  And a second year means a second list of goals for Ecuador.  Here goes…

1. Further improve my salsa dancing.  I’ll certainly keep going out to salsatecas – after all, I’m a regular now!  I’d also like to work on my styling and adornos.  And I’d love to be able to do some fast spins.  Those are fairly advanced, but I THINK I’m ready for the challenge.
2. Further improve my Spanish.  I need to make more of an effort to practice and use Spanish on a regular basis.  What kind of example am I setting as a language teacher?  Maybe I’ll try getting a tutor again…
3. Learn to make fanesca.  Fanesca is a thick soup loaded with grains, vegetables, and cod, and it’s only available during Lent.  It is, hands down, my favorite Ecuadorian dish.  I’m told it has dozens of ingredients and takes a long time to prepare, but I would love to learn to cook it.  This may be tricky since I’ll have a limited window of time to find someone who still makes this at home (more and more Ecuadorians eat out for this seasonal specialty).
4. Try yaguarlocro.  This is a soup made with blood.  Somehow I never tried this in my first 10 months in Ecuador.
5. Visit the Amazon region more.  I traveled all over the highland region my first year (because I live in this region, and most of my work was at universities in the Andes).  I made a few visits to the coastal region.  I spent 2 weeks in the Galapagos.  But I only made one little overnight trip to Tena in the Amazon region.  This is the area that I am least familiar with in Ecuador, and I’d like to remedy that.  More jungle visits, please.
6. Start a photo album of “things sold on the street.”  People sell all sorts of stuff in traffic here.  Some of it makes sense, like newspapers or sunglasses or cell phone chargers for the car.  Some of it is completely random, like avocados or framed artwork or fishing poles.  I’d like to start documenting what I see being sold at stoplights and street corners, because it will make quite the collection.
7. Attend a professional soccer match.  I don’t really get soccer, but it’s big here.  And it seems like a soccer game would be a great cultural opportunity for people watching.  Goooooooooooaaaaaaaaaal!
8. Hike more.  I went on a few hikes my first year, but I’d like to get out of the city and enjoy more of the great natural spots Ecuador has to offer.  I may join the South American Explorer’s Club so I can meet more hikers and go on more outings.
9. Park it.  My first year, I lived within walking distance of two of Quito’s biggest parks.  Sadly, I never even visited one of them, Parque Metropolitano.  So I’d like to have a picnic there.  The other one, Parque La Carolina, I visited several times a week.  However, I have yet to ride the paddle boats for rent in the little park pond.  So picnics and paddle boats it is!
10. Sit in the Papallacta hot springs.  I’ve actually been to Papallacta, but I didn’t go in any of the hot springs, which is what this town is known for.  Since it’s a fairly easy day trip from Quito, there’s no reason not to enjoy a little thermal soaking in the next 10 months.

Chasing waterfalls

I just got back from a week in the Dominican Republic with my good friend Maura.  One of the things I really wanted to do there was visit the 27 waterfalls.  So we did!

Step 1:  Buy a ticket, then get a life jacket, helmet, and guide.
Our guide was Gary.  He was great.

Step 2:  Hike for an hour or so through muddy forest trails to get to the top of all the falls (success!).  Try not to be eaten by mosquitoes along the way (fail).

Step 3:   Jump off some waterfalls.

Step 4:  Slide down some waterfalls.

Step 5:  Convince Maura the water isn’t as cold as it first seems and she will actually have some fun doing this.

Step 6:  Jump, slide, and wade your way through the rest of the waterfalls.

It was a ton of fun.  And as an added bonus, our awesome guide Gary even took some video of us going down one of the falls.  Vamanos!

Rediscovering America

I was out of the U.S. for approximately 447 consecutive days (a record for me!).  Now I’m seeing America through fresh eyes.  Things of note:

• Walmart has so much STUFF.  And it’s all so CHEAP!
• People keep telling me I can drink water directly out of the tap.  I remain skeptical.
• Drinking fountains!  I forgot all about drinking fountains!
• I don’t feel like a giant here.  All sorts of people are bigger than me and taller than me.  Even if I wear heels!
• Just about every business seems to have free wi-fi.
• I was throwing everything away for a couple weeks before I remembered that recycling is a really easy and common option here.
• Water takes FOR-EV-ER to boil at this elevation.
• I find myself still hoarding small bills, but I don’t need to, because the stores can all make change.
• I keep thinking I don’t have any $1s because I don’t have any Sacajawea dollars.  But I actually have all sorts of dollar bills.  (I guess all the dollar COINS are in Ecuador.)
• But I don’t even need to use cash – I can pay for almost anything with a credit card!
• Plumbing here can handle toilet paper.  And public restrooms HAVE toilet paper!  It’s magical.
• I have to remind myself to leave tips at restaurants because it isn’t automatic anymore.
• I was eating lunch at a little Asian joint, and the waitress brought my bill without my asking for it, WHILE I WAS STILL EATING.  My immediate thought was “That’s so RUDE!”  And then I remembered it’s not really rude here.  It’s efficient.
• I had forgotten how much I like the freedom of having my own car.  I can go anywhere I want, anytime I want, without waiting for a taxi or a bus.  And I can control the radio.
• Cars keep stopping for me.  I stand there, confused about what they are waiting for, until I realize they’re waiting for ME!  Imagine that – a car yielding to a pedestrian.  I’m worried this may lull me into a false sense of security when I return to Quito.
• These law firm commericals are everywhere, and they’re obnoxious.  Is our culture really this litigious?
• There is not nearly enough hugging or kissing in North American greetings.  It feels kind of cold.  Now I understand what my Latino students always complained about when they came to the U.S.

Ecuador 2011: recap and review

I made a list of 13 goals before I moved to Ecuador.  Let’s check my progress, shall we?

1. Really improve my Spanish.  Fail.  I mean, it IS better than when I first arrived (when I had a jumble of Turkish, French, and Indonesian tumbling out of my mouth).  My fluency, vocabulary, and grammar have improved, and I’ve picked up some Ecuadorian features of Spanish.  But honestly, I haven’t studied or practiced as much as I should have.  For my job, I almost always use English since I work with English teachers.  And most of my friends, including the Ecuadorians, speak English.  Obviously I get by, but my Spanish can still use a lot of improvement.  Que bestia.
2. Learn a few words of Quechua.  Technically I guess I accomplished this – I know 4 words:
   guagua = baby
   chuchaqui = hungover
   yaguar = blood
   cocha = lake
   Why these 4?  Because they’re commonly used among Spanish speakers or for location names.  I had been thinking more along the lines of “hello,” “please,” “thank you,” etc.  Oh well.
   

   This family speaks Quechua. I do not.

3. Become a better salsa dancer.  I’m proud of this one.  HUUUUUGE win!  I took classes at a dance school for 2 months, then hired a private instructor for my remaining 8 months.  I usually went out dancing at least once a week (sometimes more).  In fact, I’ve become a regular at TWO salsatecas!  I LOVE that the bouncers greet me and let me in free now.  I LOVE that I can show up at any salsa club and know or at least recognize other regulars.  I LOVE when a new guy asks me to dance, assuming I’ll be bad like most gringas, and then realizes I know what I’m doing and starts doing more complicated figures with me (and says something like “You dance well!”).  I LOVE when I’m dancing really well with a partner and a little crowd watches us (cuz that has happened – more than once!).  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE that I have worked myself into the salsa community. 
   
4. Visit the Galapagos Islands.  Did I ever!  I spent 2 weeks on the islands (visiting 6 of them) – partly for work and partly for fun.  This was a life goal – accomplished.
5. Take more people pictures.  A work in progress…
6. Go snorkeling.  Did this in the Galapagos.
7. Go hiking.  I went on a few hikes around Quito, and in Mindo and Cajas National Park.  But I’d like to do more hiking in the future.
8. Eat lots of Ecuadorian food.  Check, definitely.  This one was easy because I like most Ecuadorian dishes I’ve tried.  I’ve eaten several bowls of locro de papas (cream of potato soup).  I’ve enjoyed more batidos (fruit shakes) than I can possibly count.  I’ve had all sorts of ceviche (it’s much better on the coast than in the highlands).  And I ate cuy (guinea pig) twice.  I know a ton of traditional dishes, have learned about many exotic fruits that don’t even have English names, and recognize most offerings on restaurant menus.  I know my way around Ecuadorian food.
9. Learn to cook some Ecuadorian dishes.  Check.  I took an empanada cooking class, and I got an Ecuadorian cookbook when I attended a second cooking class organized by the Embassy. 
   
10. Visit local markets. Yep.  Went to the big one in Otavalo twice.  And went to local markets in Quito several times. 
11. Travel to Cuenca.  Double check.  I spent a weekend there for fun, and later spent a week there for work.
    
12. Not get malaria.  Not a problem living at 9000 feet, but I also managed not to contract any tropical diseases when I went to the coast or Amazon regions.  Whew.
13. Have some gosh-darn visitors.  Señor Adam visited for a month, and Señorita Maura joined us for 2 weeks.  And mi hermana Carolyn came for 2 weeks.  Win, win, win!

Inspired by a post some Peace Corps Volunteers in Ecuador wrote, here are a few other statistics to recap my first 10 months in Ecuador:

Workshops given:  57

Volcanoes seen: 11.5
Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Ruminahui, Tungurahua, Illiniza Norte, Illiniza Sur, El Corazon, El Altar, Cayambe, Imbabura, Pichincha, Cotocachi (well, part of it)

Chimborazo Volcano, the tallest in Ecuador

Provinces visited:  13/24
(Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Pichincha, Manabi, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Chimborazo, Bolivar, Guayas, Santa Elena, Galapagos, Azuay, Napo).  Granted, some of the provinces I didn’t visit are kind of off-limits to Americans due to FARC activity, drug trafficking, and other not-so-pleasant border issues.  But I hope to visit more provinces in my second year.

Dance clubs visited in Quito: 15ish (there was a lot of dancing these past 10 months)

Hearing loss sustained from all that dance club time:  What?

Books read:  20
Morning runs in Parque Carolina: about 2-3 per week

Illnesses: 5 or 6 head colds plus some sort of upper respiratory thing that had me coughing for a month (this is way more than usual for me.  I suspect Quito’s pollution and the custom of greeting people with a kiss on the cheek were contributing factors).  A few cases of upset tummy (about normal when traveling/living abroad).

Earthquakes felt:  3 (one in February, and two in October)

Number of men seen urinating in public:  Unfortunately, this is a weekly occurrence – I lost count way back in February.

Crime victimizations:  2 cell phones pick-pocketed on the bus (one in May and one in October) and 1 jacket stolen at a dance club (although I was stupid to set it down on a speaker instead of using the coat check).  I guess this would also be the appropriate place to note my friend Adam’s “comically non-violent” mugging when he visited, although I wasn’t with him at the time.

Cost of pirated DVDs: $1.25 – $1.50

Average taxi ride cost: $1.50 – $2.00 during the day (when taxi meters are in use), about $3 at night (when I have to negotiate with the driver)

Cost of a local bus ride:  $0.25

Average high temperature in Quito: about 68 degrees F, year-round!

Average low temperature in Quito:  about 50 degrees F, year-round!

Blog posts written about Ecuador:  27 counting this one

Number of times I felt lucky to live and work in Ecuador: nearly every day!

Colada Morada and Bread Babies

In Ecuador, November 2nd is Dia de los Difuntos (Day of the Ancestors), in which Ecuadorian families remember their deceased loved ones by sharing a meal with them in the cemetery.  Traditionally, this meal includes two special treats, which are available in nearly every bakery and restaurant from mid-October to early November.  The first, colada morada, is made with strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, pineapple, cinnamon, cloves, and oatmeal – all blended together into a thick warm drink.  It’s like a sweet fruit soup.  The second, guaguas de pan, are loaves of bread shaped and decorated like babies (guaguas means “babies” in Quechua).  They are often filled with jam (I had one with guava filling).  The Fulbright Commission, where I do some of my work, ordered colada morada and bread babies from a bakery so all the employees could enjoy these seasonal specialities.  Sweet!

A little bit of history repeating

Remember that time in high school when I wanted to dye my hair a rich dark brown and accidentally dyed it goth black?  I learned that semi-permanent dye in a color that is drastically darker than your current color will actually be darker than you expect.  I learned that such a dark dye will actually be permanent.  I learned that the best solution for accidental black hair is professional help at a salon, where they can strip out some of the color.  Unfortunately, it appears I did NOT learn my lesson.

After spending the past few years as a blonde, I thought it would be a fun change to go for a rich dark brown again.  So I chose a lovely shade of castaño – chestnut – which ended up being darker than I expected.  Really dark.  Aaaaalllllllllmost black.  After 2 days and several shampooings attempting to fade the color, I sought professional help.  But this time I had to do it all in Spanish.  Some salons told me the only thing they could do were highlights (um, no gracias).  One salon told me if they strip the color it will turn red and I would have to re-dye my hair (true for Latinos maybe, but not for this fair gringa).  One salon vacillated between suggesting I strip the color and see what happens, strip the color and re-dye it, or just re-dye it on top of the black.  We opted for stripping out the black and aiming for a brown shade.

Turns out they completely removed all the black, leaving me blonde again.  I’m fine with that.  Maybe it’s a sign I should stay blonde.  This misadventure cost me two days, $65, and immeasurable damage to my hair.  Lesson learned.

Hiking in Hatland

I went to Sigsig for a week of teacher training workshops.  This tiny town in southern Ecuador happens to be where the majority of the world’s Panama hats are made.  I enjoyed seeing indigenous women walking down the street with a handful of grassy paja de toquilla, or standing on street corners weaving the leaves into sombreros.

After my week of workshops, I stayed to go hiking in nearby Cajas National Park for the weekend.  It was lovely.

Sharon (Peace Corps Volunteer), Lauren (Fulbright researcher), me, and Lorena (Ecuadorian English teacher).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

La Fiesta de la Mama Negra

What Ecuadorian festival is a mix of Spanish, Indigenous, African, Ecuadorian, Catholic, and Pagan elements, with a good amount of black face thrown in?  The Mama Negra festival, held in Latacunga each September and November.

I was in Latacunga for an EFL conference that happened to fall on Mama Negra weekend, so I made a point to watch one of the many parades celebrating the “Black Mama.”   From what I can gather, the celebration is for La Virgen de la Merced, who locals believe protects Latacunga from the nearby Cotopaxi Volcano.  They honor the Virgin with days of parades, dancing, and drinking.  The parade starts off with this guy, setting off bottle rockets in alarmingly close proximity to people and buildings.  I guess that’s one way to clear a path for the parade.

So what does the volcano-protecting Virgin have to do with a prominent local businessman dressed as a black woman?  He (or she?) is the festival’s namesake, and the 2011 Mama Negra was the owner of a local dairy factory.  Why is he in drag?  And black face?  According to Lonely Planet, “a priest that wanted to earn favor by hosting the Virgin’s procession failed to provide sufficiently grand quantities of food and drink, and during the night an apparition of a black woman berated his negligence.  She terrified the priest and the rest of the town, so they introduced a new figure to the procession, that of the black mother astride a horse.”  Mama Negra carries a black baby doll named Balthazara, which I guess is the name of the black wiseman who brought gifts to baby Jesus.

Next we have a little more Catholicism in the form of El Angel de la Estrella (Angel of the Star), representing the Angel Gabriel.

Then came El Rey, a king who either represents a Moorish king, an indigenous king, or another one of the three kings who visited baby Jesus, depending on which internet site you believe.

Along with The King we have El Embajador (The Ambassador).  This piece is purportedly Spanish.

Up next: huacos (shaman).  Their job is to cleanse bystanders (which entails spitting alcohol on them in the wilder parades – luckily I witnessed one of the more somber religiously-oriented parades).  They carry deer skulls or antlers, but I don’t know what that symbolizes.  Probably something from indigenous mythology.

There were also several Camisonas.  They wear long night gowns and wire masks. They also carry snacks for the kiddos and whips to keep back parade spectators, though I never saw either of these in use.

There were Curiquingues (bird men – see?  they have wings).  Their job is maintaining the parade route, which they did by walking along the outer edge of the parade.  Better than whipping spectators, I suppose.

There were some Ofrenderas, women carrying baskets of goodies.  This has dual meaning: 1) giving thanks for a successful harvest, and 2) showcasing the city’s generosity/hospitality.

And bringing up the rear was the Virgin of the Merced herself, followed by a throng of devoted spectators.

But what was my favorite parade unit?  No, not the marching band.  My favorite part was this horse, with the little pirate kid stuck in one pocket…

… and this chiquita stuck in the other pocket.  I guess they start them pretty young on the black face.

The parade ended at the Iglesia de la Merced, where El Capitan and his company made a show of placing the Virgin back where she belongs.  (Pssst – the Captain is supposedly Mama Negra’s lover!)

And with the religious celebration concluded, the party could really get started.  The rest of the afternoon featured several bands, yumbadas (dance troupes), ashangas (roasted pig offerings surrounded by roasted guinea pigs, chickens, packs of cigarettes and bottles of whiskey), and a whole lot of alcohol.

You can learn more about the festival here or here.

12 courses (and I don’t mean English classes)

A few months ago I met an Ecuadorian chef at a dinner party.  I was charmed by how passionate he was about food, and excited to learn that he owns a restaurant in Quito.  But not a run-of-the-mill restaurant.  A restaurant without regular hours.  A restaurant not open to the public.  A restaurant where you must make reservations three days in advance to allow the chefs time to plan and prepare a multi-course tasting dinner for you.  I finally had the opportunity to eat here with my colleagues from the Embassy.  The place settings gave us a hint as to what we were in for: two-and-a-half hours and twelve courses of gastronomic delight.

1.  Bread

The bread came with 3 dipping sauces: a spicy passion fruit aji, a garlicy beet dip, and a pumpkin seed pesto.  I was in love with the beet dip, and I don’t even like beets!

2.  Appetizer

The most perfectly tender octopus ever, served with a red-pepper sauce.

3.  Soup

Sancocho, a plantain-based cream soup with shrimp.

4.  Appetizer

A crab gratin.

5.  Soup

Creamy avocado and cheese soup.

6.  Sorbet

Tomate de arbol with amaretto.

7.  Entree

Beef tenderloin in a shallot gravy, hominy souffle, and spectacularly sweet carmelized cabbage with balsamic vinegar and sesame seeds.  I especially liked the souffle and cabbage.

8.  Sorbet

Passion fruit with rosemary.  Sounds strange, but it totally worked.

9.  Entree

Quinoa-crusted shrimp and small potatoes stuffed with tomato and cheese.

10-12.  Desserts

A passion fruit custard, a blackberry mousse (DEEEEE-licious), and coffee-infused chocolate cake.  Three sweet endings to nearly three hours of edible enjoyment.

 

Operation Salsa: phase 5 (success!)

If you’ve been following Operation Salsa, you know that I started private salsa lessons in March with a local salsa DJ, Brian.  For our first meeting, we danced for a few songs so Brian could get a sense of what I could do, how I moved, and what I needed to work on.  After each song, Brian would say something like “That was pretty good for an American” or “That was good, for a gringa.”  I finally stopped him and said “Okay, here is my goal: I want you to say ‘That was good.’  Period.”

My personal goal, set at that very first lesson, was for Brian to judge me as being just plain good.  I didn’t want to be judged on a special scale for non-latinas.

It’s now September.  After a 2-month hiatus from lessons (due to my busy work, travel, and visitor schedule), Brian and I finally met again.  As usual, we started by just dancing to a song to warm-up, without focusing on any particular move.  This was our conversation after our first warm-up dance:

Brian:  How long has it been since we danced together?
Me:      For a lesson?  A couple months.
Brian:  You’re good!
Me:      For an American?
Brian:  No.  You’re GOOD!
Me:      What?
Brian:  You know I DJ four nights a week, and I dance a lot when I’m at the clubs too.  But it’s hard to find girls who are good.  Really good.  Who know how to dance, know how to follow and can do a lot of turns with me.  But you can.  You’re GOOD!
Me:      Really?!?!
(and then I proceeded to jump up and down, squealing and clapping my hands)

Finally!  No qualifications, no “gringa handicap.”  I’m just plain good!