Yesterday was a seriously long day. Even though we rebelled and took the afternoon off. Lani, my roomate, and I put on our bikinis and sunbathed on the lawn until it got cloudy. In true lazy-day fashion, when Alex went into town, we had him bring us back two rotisserie chickens which we ate on the lawn. Then little kids and dogs climbed all over us and picked the chickens clean.
Then I went into my room and had some time feeling sensitive. It just occured to me how absolutely heartbreaking the world is sometimes, and everything just felt very painful, some things in my life and also the tradgedies of this generation, with natural disasters and the general anxiety young people have about the future. And I just let myself feel the suffering, like the books I have been reading have told me to do. And it felt very honest.
Just as I was drying my eyes, the Übermench calls out to me, Rachel, were you going to kill the chickens?
What chickens? Is today chicken day?
Yeah, hurry up.
So we go to the chicken coop. He points to one, and I run around like an idiot for about 3 minutes trying to catch it. And then I do. I pick him up, holding my hands over his wings, holding his body against my chest. We go over to the compost heap, because blood is full of nutrients. The chicken breathing perceptably against my body.
He hands me a kitchen knife.
So I just thwack down on the neck once and it´s all over, right?
No, Rachel, you have to saw it off. With strokes. Pull the feathers away so you don´t have to cut through them.
I am horrified. Sawing??? With a stupid kitchen knife? So much adrenaline.
You see, the reason I wanted to do this is because I am a meat-eater. I don´t want to be a vegetarian. But if I am going to be ok with eating meat, I want to be ok with what it means. It means that something alive, the way I am alive, is going to die. So that I can eat it. And if that process is too horrific for me, then I should not be supporting it. Because it´s so easy to be detached from the reality of meat when I walk into Stop & Shop and get a plastic-covered styrofome tray of chicken breasts.
Paul holds the chicken´s calm, really pretty trusting body. I pull the neck long, holding back feathers, the neck across a board. We shuffle around because I hold the knife in my left hand. I work out the contradiction that this chicken is definitely going to die, and that the kindest way to do it is to be aggressive with the knife, to cut hard and fast without hesitation.
And that is what I do. In two strokes it´s over, the severed head and the headless body both freaking out, the neck twitching in the compost, the wings flapping wildly in Paul´s hands. And then it´s still.
We let the blood drain and then carry it to the big kitchen where Lucia and Ruth show me how to clean it. We dip it in boiling water, and then pull all the feathers off, and the foot skin. Then we hold it over the burner so that any little hairs left on the skin burn off.
Then we slit below the neck and pull out the stomach, which is like one of those stress- ball things you can buy at museam giftshops with hard little balls inside. The balls being bits of undigested corn.
Then we cut it open a little above the tail end, and I stick my hands in and rip out all the guts. Careful not to break the dark green pouch the size of a horsepill, the spleen, with its bitter liquid. Iladio cuts open an organ people don´t have, shows me how the chicken decomposes the corn and grass inside this mother-of-pearl shelled box that lives in its belly.
Lucia asks me if I want to clean the ¨tripo¨, the large intestine, and I say no. Then she asks Paul. Now, Ecuadorians are huge jokesters. I am trying to learn. So I joke, no Paul doesn´t want to share the intestine cleaning job, he wants it all himself. And the ladies are laughing, and I´m thrilled. I made a successful joke!
Paul: Do you understand what they´re saying?
Me: Yeah, we´re laughing about how you want to clean shit out of chicken intestines.
Paul: No, Rachel, ¨tripo¨is another word for venereal disease.
Oh. There´s really nothing more humiliating than trying to fit in, especially in a new language, and no matter how hard you try, still being the laughing stock of the crowd. It´s really, really hard.
I excuse myself because I have to make pizza dough for dinner tonight. Everyone takes a job, cutting up and frying veggies, cleaning, picking things from the garden. Simon goes out to light a fire in the stove. And then from the window we see him get up and sprint across the yard to where the kids have lit a fire in a hole. They do this frequently, and unsupervised. Because in Ecuador safety is not a real consideration. Not the way it is in America. After living without a fridge for a month, for example, I eat unrefrigerated leftovers for breakfast. No problem.
Someone is on fire. Simon rips the kid´s burning pants off, brings him into the house, in the bathtub. Runs cold water on his body. Simon has completed 3 years of medical school. He has also just saved a child´s life. Alex and John go to get the parents. He needs to go to the hospital. Patches of his legs, and a huge swath of his back, are burned pink in relief to the brown skin of his body, layers upon layers of which have peeled away in the wounded parts. After the adrenaline wears off, he begins to scream. Where are his parents? I go to see what´s taking them so long. I find his mother in the kitchen. Alex told her, your kid is hurt, his pants were on fire. And she´s still cooking. I run in. He needs to go to the hospital! She looks confused. Hospital! Blank face. Why doesn´t she get it? Alex is better at Spanish than I am. Se quemo! I tell her. And then she gets it. She bolts with me to the volunteer house.
I cannot imagine discovering my child so hurt. She holds him, scolds him, asks God how this could happen. What a nightmare. I get them a glass of water. Someone has gone to get Stuart, whose friend Edwin happens to be visiting with his truck. Every time the kid shrieks I shudder. Alex asks me if I´m alright. I scream at him, No I´m not alright! And then burst into tears, apologize profusely for shouting at him. He´ll be alright, he´s just going to be in the hospital for a little while, he´ll be fine, everyone tells me. I´m not crying because I think he´s going to die, I´m crying because he and his mother are suffering and I can feel it and hear it.
They carry him to the hospital. He´ll be there for 3 weeks. At Ecuadorian hospitals, you have to pre-pay for all medication before it is given. There are not blankets or beds for family to stay in. He is taken from Cayambe to Quito, an hour and a half away. We all hope that at least this will encourage parents to take care of their children better. To watch them. Stuart bans fires made by children on the farm. (The children were playing with fire and a can of gasoline when the accident happened). Stuart has been chided by parents for disciplining their children, telling them not to do things. It´s culturally not done- you do not have authority over other people´s children. Everyone is shaken and grave. But he´ll be fine. He´s lucky.
Today we went to Otavalo, the biggest indigenous market in Ecuador. I got some jewelry and a scarf because I miss having pretty things here. In a few minutes I´m going back for the Ubermench´s going away party. We might go clubbing tonight. In a day or two I´m leaving for a mud bath in some hotsprings, and then to the rainforest for 5 days. Yesterday was really intense, but unlike usually, I haven´t really pondered it and turned it into some parable that signifies a life lesson. Maybe I´m not ready yet. Or maybe I´m becoming no-nonsense, not mulling over things. That´s the way people are here. I think it will stay with me, though. Really I think it will.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
2 things
1. The kids are, as I have mentioned, very friendly here. They go around saying hi to everyone. They have a really hard time pronouncing the name ¨Jack¨. Once, when asking Jack what his name was, another volunteer told the kids, ¨Cocksucker¨. So now the kids run around saying, ¨Hola, Cocksucker¨in their cute little kid Spanish accents. We practically shit ourselves laughing every time.
2. We fired up the oven today! Roasted brocolli for lunch, and banana bread for dessert!
2. We fired up the oven today! Roasted brocolli for lunch, and banana bread for dessert!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Granadilla
Granadilla are my new favorite thing to eat. It´s a type of passion fruit that simply doesn´t exist in the US. It´s a hard yellow shell that encases slimy seeds- as a friend of mine put it, it feels like a mouthful of semen. I think that is impolite and vastly underestimates and disrespects the spectacularity of the fruit. Ximena says that the seeds will collect in my appendix. However, that´s ok, because she has vitiated her medical credibility! This is how (dubbed into English):
We are all having lunch. Alex finds a worm on his lettuce leaf.
Rachel: You should eat that worm!
Everyone: Ewwwww!
Stuart: Alex, I´ll give you a beer if you eat that worm.
Alex: Ok! (Eats worm).
Later in the garden...
Ximena: I hope that that worm doesn´t lay eggs in Alex.
Rachel: Why would that happen?
Ximena: Well, worms like to live in the soil because it´s warm, and it´s warm inside of people, so it´s a perfect environment for worms.
Rachel: No, I am sure that it will be digested by stomach acid.
Ximena: I hope so...
Rachel: No, the stomach acid will kill the worm, Ximena. Everything´s going to be fine. (No Donnie, these men are nihilists, there´s nothing to be afraid of).
On another note, some words on my self-made vocabulary list: slip, toilet paper, fasten, stumble, by the way, grid, hang, lampshade, sage, turmeric, overripe, rotton, freeze, glue, stab, goad, perish, hover, slimy, itch, chin, gruff, free, slacken, loosen, untie, bud, trust, gossip, flirt, fuck up, fuck, gut, fail, faint, drip, drench, crave, pillow, lump, crush, scissors, trap, collapse, aftertaste, bony, sullen, numb. There are more words in the world than I ever could have imagined. And they have genders and conjugations.
Also, in case you wanted to know, I´m listening to Britney Spears on Youtube while writing this. With headphones, don´t worry.
We are all having lunch. Alex finds a worm on his lettuce leaf.
Rachel: You should eat that worm!
Everyone: Ewwwww!
Stuart: Alex, I´ll give you a beer if you eat that worm.
Alex: Ok! (Eats worm).
Later in the garden...
Ximena: I hope that that worm doesn´t lay eggs in Alex.
Rachel: Why would that happen?
Ximena: Well, worms like to live in the soil because it´s warm, and it´s warm inside of people, so it´s a perfect environment for worms.
Rachel: No, I am sure that it will be digested by stomach acid.
Ximena: I hope so...
Rachel: No, the stomach acid will kill the worm, Ximena. Everything´s going to be fine. (No Donnie, these men are nihilists, there´s nothing to be afraid of).
On another note, some words on my self-made vocabulary list: slip, toilet paper, fasten, stumble, by the way, grid, hang, lampshade, sage, turmeric, overripe, rotton, freeze, glue, stab, goad, perish, hover, slimy, itch, chin, gruff, free, slacken, loosen, untie, bud, trust, gossip, flirt, fuck up, fuck, gut, fail, faint, drip, drench, crave, pillow, lump, crush, scissors, trap, collapse, aftertaste, bony, sullen, numb. There are more words in the world than I ever could have imagined. And they have genders and conjugations.
Also, in case you wanted to know, I´m listening to Britney Spears on Youtube while writing this. With headphones, don´t worry.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Sorry it´s been so long
Things that have happened:
- Noche San Pedrino- The biggest street festival of the year. The same dancing as before, traditional dress. But this time it´s at night and everyone just keeps giving each other alcohol. I was still feeling sick during the day, just tired (getting over a head cold) and so I slept from 2pm to 9pm. I woke up, thinking I´d have a banana for dinner and go back to sleep, when the Ubermench says, hey you going to the party? Yeah, I´m going to the party. And so we get on a bus with some group who´s staying in the barracks housing on the farm, and who should I run into, but the guy I sat next to on the plane ride here. No joke. So weird. So we get there and there are fireworks and french fries and dancing and dancing. Of course we joined in, adopted by pueblo Rosario Lindo.
It is rude to refuse drinks in this country. I have never been so drunk in my entire life, not even when I was in a Manhattan dive bar making lascivious comments at an ex. Staggering through the streets at 2 am with the other volunteers. And I still didn´t get a hangover. Ha!
-Building the oven- We finally scavenged the metal to build the oven. Oh it is so beautiful. It needs to dry a week, and then we can bake in it. Oh I am in love. So happy. I´ll try to post a picture eventually. I only have shitty disposable film cameras, but my friends took pictures.
-The English Patient- The best book ever. Read it!
-Learning to make fried fish- Lucia, one of the women who lives on the foundation, taught me to make fried fish. You gut them and shave off the scales. Then you puree celery, garlic, onion, cilantro, a red pepper, salt, a little water, and cumin. Cut slashes in the fish´s sides, and cut each one in half. Cover it in the marinade, filling the slashes with the paste. Let sit if there´s time to marinate. When ready to cook, coat in flour and fry in oil in a frying pan. While they were cooking, Lucia and I talked a lot. She had all 5 kids by the time she was my age, hates her husband. I wondered why I deserved such confidence. She told me, don´t marry until you are 35 or 40. Keep your freedom. And all this in Spanish.
-Fainting!- I fainted for the first time last night. I woke up, ate rice pudding, fruit, later had more fruit, some popcorn, then more fruit, then chocolate, then more chocolate, then icecream cake. I took a nap that evening because I felt tired. When I got up, I went into the kitchen where Lani was making dinner. In the middle of a conversation, I felt super faint and dizzy, and the last thing I remember was putting my head on this guy´s shoulder. Then I was sitting on the floor, someone giving me a glass of water and trying to move me to the bed. No, I need to just sit here. No I can´t drink the water yet. I think I¨m going to throw up. And then I slowly began to feel better, ate some french fries, and was fine. Ate a delicious chicken strogenough dinner.
-Giant Spider in the bathroom!- Giant spider. I ran away.
-Freedom day- In honor of fourth of July, we are having Freedom Day at the volunteer house tonight. Everyone has to cook an American food. Which is hard, because there are about 10 of us and there are not that many American foods. I should have volunteered to make Gumbo, but I didn´t think of it until just now, so I´m making apple pie. That´s English, they say. Yeah, well, we´re mongrels, right? Other menu items are salsa, mac and cheese, peanut butter cookies, hush puppies, hamburgers, and coke. Oh boy.
I love you all!!!!
- Noche San Pedrino- The biggest street festival of the year. The same dancing as before, traditional dress. But this time it´s at night and everyone just keeps giving each other alcohol. I was still feeling sick during the day, just tired (getting over a head cold) and so I slept from 2pm to 9pm. I woke up, thinking I´d have a banana for dinner and go back to sleep, when the Ubermench says, hey you going to the party? Yeah, I´m going to the party. And so we get on a bus with some group who´s staying in the barracks housing on the farm, and who should I run into, but the guy I sat next to on the plane ride here. No joke. So weird. So we get there and there are fireworks and french fries and dancing and dancing. Of course we joined in, adopted by pueblo Rosario Lindo.
It is rude to refuse drinks in this country. I have never been so drunk in my entire life, not even when I was in a Manhattan dive bar making lascivious comments at an ex. Staggering through the streets at 2 am with the other volunteers. And I still didn´t get a hangover. Ha!
-Building the oven- We finally scavenged the metal to build the oven. Oh it is so beautiful. It needs to dry a week, and then we can bake in it. Oh I am in love. So happy. I´ll try to post a picture eventually. I only have shitty disposable film cameras, but my friends took pictures.
-The English Patient- The best book ever. Read it!
-Learning to make fried fish- Lucia, one of the women who lives on the foundation, taught me to make fried fish. You gut them and shave off the scales. Then you puree celery, garlic, onion, cilantro, a red pepper, salt, a little water, and cumin. Cut slashes in the fish´s sides, and cut each one in half. Cover it in the marinade, filling the slashes with the paste. Let sit if there´s time to marinate. When ready to cook, coat in flour and fry in oil in a frying pan. While they were cooking, Lucia and I talked a lot. She had all 5 kids by the time she was my age, hates her husband. I wondered why I deserved such confidence. She told me, don´t marry until you are 35 or 40. Keep your freedom. And all this in Spanish.
-Fainting!- I fainted for the first time last night. I woke up, ate rice pudding, fruit, later had more fruit, some popcorn, then more fruit, then chocolate, then more chocolate, then icecream cake. I took a nap that evening because I felt tired. When I got up, I went into the kitchen where Lani was making dinner. In the middle of a conversation, I felt super faint and dizzy, and the last thing I remember was putting my head on this guy´s shoulder. Then I was sitting on the floor, someone giving me a glass of water and trying to move me to the bed. No, I need to just sit here. No I can´t drink the water yet. I think I¨m going to throw up. And then I slowly began to feel better, ate some french fries, and was fine. Ate a delicious chicken strogenough dinner.
-Giant Spider in the bathroom!- Giant spider. I ran away.
-Freedom day- In honor of fourth of July, we are having Freedom Day at the volunteer house tonight. Everyone has to cook an American food. Which is hard, because there are about 10 of us and there are not that many American foods. I should have volunteered to make Gumbo, but I didn´t think of it until just now, so I´m making apple pie. That´s English, they say. Yeah, well, we´re mongrels, right? Other menu items are salsa, mac and cheese, peanut butter cookies, hush puppies, hamburgers, and coke. Oh boy.
I love you all!!!!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Quito
Last night, in anticipation for coming to Quito for the day, I looked in some guide books. And this may sound a little crazy, but I sort of just realized that I´m in Ecuador. And I´m no longer afraid of being a tourist- I am in a new place and want to disfrutarme as much as possible, to the extent that funds allow. So, in a few weeks, I´m going to meet a childhood friend who I grew up with in Quito, have a super nostaligc sleepover, and from there head out East to the rainforest for a guided exploration for 4 or 5 days. Then another weekend I´m going to go to Baños, which is a hot spring town where you can get mud massages. It´s 3.5 hours south of Quito. Just for an overnight. And I want to go clubbing in Cayambe. And I might go to the beach, but it´s a long long bus ride, and I live so close to the ocean at home and also I have been to tropical beaches a lot before, and thing it´s probably not worth the trouble. But yes, I am going to travel the gringo trail because I am not afraid of being a woman alone and I am not afraid of being American and I am not afraid of being a tourist. And then I will come home to my house where I can´t flush toilet paper and spiders sleep in my bed with me and little children come up to my window when I am napping and yell Estas dormiendo! Yes I´m fucking dormiendo, why do you think my eyes are closed and I´m in bed you little fucks? And I will be happy there.
Today Mike and I are in Quito. We went to the gringo bookstore and I bought The Diamond Age, Things Fall Apart, and Catch 22. This decision took an hour. We went out for INDIAN FOOD (Indian food!!), went to an open market (where I almost bough alpaca scarves in every color of the rainbow- write me if you want one and in what color), and then, my friends, we went to CREPES AND WAFFLES!
Crepes and Waffles is the best place in Quito. It is a very swanky dessert and lunch place. I got a chocolate mocha coffee delight with real whipped cream in a glass cornicopia and a chocolate ice cream ball rolled in chocolate sugar crumbs topped with real wipped cream on a plate with chocolate syrup swirls. For less than 6 dollars. It was a welcome respite from beans and rice. Very bougie, very cosmopolitan. Very very chocolatey.
Now I need to buy a knife for working in the garden (I lost mine) and maybe another coffee because there is no coffee in Tabacundo. Yes, I know I´m in the coffee continent of the world but it all gets exported.
On the bus someone slashed a gigantic hole in my bag because they wanted to rob me. But they got nothing! Why? Because I don´t keep valuables in my purse because I am surrounded by theives. I keep my money in my pocket and walk around with my hand in my pocket. And an extra 20 in my bra, just in case. And taser eyes.
You may have noticed that something has changed. What happened is that culture shock is over, and I have my personality back! I am no longer timid and blown away by everthing around me, I am interacting! I am judging! I am snarking! i AM BOLD! ( I didn´t mean to hit the caps lock key but I think I like that). Please don´t get the impression that I´m being a jerk, or a cultural imperialist. But I am feeling more involved in my life now. Less like I´ve forgotten myself and my memories and habits at home. Which was a great experience, very Buddhist etc, but my reality right now is that I am still Rachel. And I like that.
Quito has been a little like playing Myst, but unlike playing Myst, I have been winning. Mike and I have been walking around trying to find resteraunts and stores I found in the guidebooks, and we have found everything! We are totally winning Quito! Also we have not been robbed!
Let´s hope we also win the busride home from Quito along the mountainous cliffs. I will be constantly vigilant to make sure we are safe. It´s my job.
Today Mike and I are in Quito. We went to the gringo bookstore and I bought The Diamond Age, Things Fall Apart, and Catch 22. This decision took an hour. We went out for INDIAN FOOD (Indian food!!), went to an open market (where I almost bough alpaca scarves in every color of the rainbow- write me if you want one and in what color), and then, my friends, we went to CREPES AND WAFFLES!
Crepes and Waffles is the best place in Quito. It is a very swanky dessert and lunch place. I got a chocolate mocha coffee delight with real whipped cream in a glass cornicopia and a chocolate ice cream ball rolled in chocolate sugar crumbs topped with real wipped cream on a plate with chocolate syrup swirls. For less than 6 dollars. It was a welcome respite from beans and rice. Very bougie, very cosmopolitan. Very very chocolatey.
Now I need to buy a knife for working in the garden (I lost mine) and maybe another coffee because there is no coffee in Tabacundo. Yes, I know I´m in the coffee continent of the world but it all gets exported.
On the bus someone slashed a gigantic hole in my bag because they wanted to rob me. But they got nothing! Why? Because I don´t keep valuables in my purse because I am surrounded by theives. I keep my money in my pocket and walk around with my hand in my pocket. And an extra 20 in my bra, just in case. And taser eyes.
You may have noticed that something has changed. What happened is that culture shock is over, and I have my personality back! I am no longer timid and blown away by everthing around me, I am interacting! I am judging! I am snarking! i AM BOLD! ( I didn´t mean to hit the caps lock key but I think I like that). Please don´t get the impression that I´m being a jerk, or a cultural imperialist. But I am feeling more involved in my life now. Less like I´ve forgotten myself and my memories and habits at home. Which was a great experience, very Buddhist etc, but my reality right now is that I am still Rachel. And I like that.
Quito has been a little like playing Myst, but unlike playing Myst, I have been winning. Mike and I have been walking around trying to find resteraunts and stores I found in the guidebooks, and we have found everything! We are totally winning Quito! Also we have not been robbed!
Let´s hope we also win the busride home from Quito along the mountainous cliffs. I will be constantly vigilant to make sure we are safe. It´s my job.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Yesterday
5:30AM- Alarm to do yoga and meditation. I don´t think so.
6:20AM- Wake up and take shower
6:45 AM- Time I meant to leave for Gimena´s. Getting dressed.
7:45 AM- We made it to Gimena´s. I start making chocolate chip banan bread, first time I´ve gotten to use an oven since I got here. They do baking by weight, not cups, so I eyeball it.
9:45AM- Delicious.
12:00PM- We have cuy for lunch. Ginuea pig,the national delicacy. It is delicious, except its skin does not break down under teeth. Ever.
1:00 PM- Getting dressed for traditional indigenous dance. Purple pleated skirt. White embroidered blouse. Hair pulled back and wrapped tight in a ribbon. Slipper shoes with white flip-flop soles. Woven blue belt around the waist. If you couldn´t breathe with altitude before...
2:00 PM- Walk to Tabucundo with all the little girls dressed up, the 3 gringas, and Luis and two of Gimena´s brothers. The men are not dressed up.
2:30 PM- Waiting in the rain. Passing around chucha, corn meal alcohol. Smells like Kombucha, tastes like shit. And peach wine which tastes like cough syrup. The men play instruments, mostly guitar, and wear llama fur chaps over jeans.
3:30 PM- Dancing (which means shuffling our feet and twirling our skirts) and singing down the streets of Tabacundo. Each little community has its own group and own song. When I explain to Edison that I´m having trouble understanding the words, he explains to me that some of them are in Quichua, the indiginous language. Oh.
4:00 PM- Still dancing.
5:00PM- Still dancing.
6:00 PM- Still dancing.
7:00PM- We get into Louis´s car and drive to Quito with Katie, the volunteer who is living with them, and Milagros. I ask Louis how he and Gimena met, and tell him about my parent´s divorce. They met in high school. When did you know she was in love with you? When she offered to help me with my homework.
8:30 PM- We arrive at the part, get served big bowls of soup. People talk to me and ask me questions, occasionally trying to say things in English. I repeat what I think they said, which sounds to me like nonsense, and they nod, repeating it. I finally have to ask them in Spanish because their accent is so thick.
8:45PM: A plate of potatoes, rice, cuy, pork, and chicken.
9:00 PM- Dancing. Variations on salsa without partners.
9:30 PM- They are passing around a tray with glasses of whisky. Ok.
9:45 PM- Have more whisky! No thanks. More whisky! Really no thanks. God these people can drink.
10:30 PM- I look at the clock and realize I haven´t been up this late since my plane got into Quito.
11:30 PM- Cake and rum raisin ice cream. Gloriously artificial, like dimatap. 40 year old man obviously crushing on me, becomes the joke of the party when he calls me his cousin and I say no no you´re my grandfather. I have never had so many people pay so much attention to me at a party. Asking me all sorts of questions about myself. Make friends with the coolest 7 year old girl. Here name is Linda, which means pretty. I tell her Que nombre linda! My first pun in Spanish.
12:00 AM- More dancing. I keep trying to sit down and rest. I have never met a people so able to dance, so oblivous to tired feet.
1:00 AM- Gimena, Louis, Katie and I all sitting, tired. Gimena asks, are you tired? I say yes, thinking, oh good now we can go home. Instead she shows me a room where several people are resting on a bed. I fall asleep and wake up when people come in and out of the room.
4:30 AM- Gimena wakes me up to go home.
4:45 AM- Traveling along foggy cliffside roads. I do that stupid airplane thing, where I imagine that I have to be constantly vigilent to protect us from having an accident. Keeping nodding off and getting jerked awake by tight corners. Louis and Gimena keep waking me up by asking me if I´m awake.
5:30 AM- The yes game. I play the yes game when children speak to me in mumbly Spanish, or when I´m too tired to understand anyone. Mumble mumble Spanish mumble. What? Mumble mumble Spanish mumble. Si! It´s just easier. During the party with the loud music making things hard, I played the yes game with Linda and she brough me more cake.
6:00 AM- Home, go to sleep.
3:00 PM- Wake up.
6:20AM- Wake up and take shower
6:45 AM- Time I meant to leave for Gimena´s. Getting dressed.
7:45 AM- We made it to Gimena´s. I start making chocolate chip banan bread, first time I´ve gotten to use an oven since I got here. They do baking by weight, not cups, so I eyeball it.
9:45AM- Delicious.
12:00PM- We have cuy for lunch. Ginuea pig,the national delicacy. It is delicious, except its skin does not break down under teeth. Ever.
1:00 PM- Getting dressed for traditional indigenous dance. Purple pleated skirt. White embroidered blouse. Hair pulled back and wrapped tight in a ribbon. Slipper shoes with white flip-flop soles. Woven blue belt around the waist. If you couldn´t breathe with altitude before...
2:00 PM- Walk to Tabucundo with all the little girls dressed up, the 3 gringas, and Luis and two of Gimena´s brothers. The men are not dressed up.
2:30 PM- Waiting in the rain. Passing around chucha, corn meal alcohol. Smells like Kombucha, tastes like shit. And peach wine which tastes like cough syrup. The men play instruments, mostly guitar, and wear llama fur chaps over jeans.
3:30 PM- Dancing (which means shuffling our feet and twirling our skirts) and singing down the streets of Tabacundo. Each little community has its own group and own song. When I explain to Edison that I´m having trouble understanding the words, he explains to me that some of them are in Quichua, the indiginous language. Oh.
4:00 PM- Still dancing.
5:00PM- Still dancing.
6:00 PM- Still dancing.
7:00PM- We get into Louis´s car and drive to Quito with Katie, the volunteer who is living with them, and Milagros. I ask Louis how he and Gimena met, and tell him about my parent´s divorce. They met in high school. When did you know she was in love with you? When she offered to help me with my homework.
8:30 PM- We arrive at the part, get served big bowls of soup. People talk to me and ask me questions, occasionally trying to say things in English. I repeat what I think they said, which sounds to me like nonsense, and they nod, repeating it. I finally have to ask them in Spanish because their accent is so thick.
8:45PM: A plate of potatoes, rice, cuy, pork, and chicken.
9:00 PM- Dancing. Variations on salsa without partners.
9:30 PM- They are passing around a tray with glasses of whisky. Ok.
9:45 PM- Have more whisky! No thanks. More whisky! Really no thanks. God these people can drink.
10:30 PM- I look at the clock and realize I haven´t been up this late since my plane got into Quito.
11:30 PM- Cake and rum raisin ice cream. Gloriously artificial, like dimatap. 40 year old man obviously crushing on me, becomes the joke of the party when he calls me his cousin and I say no no you´re my grandfather. I have never had so many people pay so much attention to me at a party. Asking me all sorts of questions about myself. Make friends with the coolest 7 year old girl. Here name is Linda, which means pretty. I tell her Que nombre linda! My first pun in Spanish.
12:00 AM- More dancing. I keep trying to sit down and rest. I have never met a people so able to dance, so oblivous to tired feet.
1:00 AM- Gimena, Louis, Katie and I all sitting, tired. Gimena asks, are you tired? I say yes, thinking, oh good now we can go home. Instead she shows me a room where several people are resting on a bed. I fall asleep and wake up when people come in and out of the room.
4:30 AM- Gimena wakes me up to go home.
4:45 AM- Traveling along foggy cliffside roads. I do that stupid airplane thing, where I imagine that I have to be constantly vigilent to protect us from having an accident. Keeping nodding off and getting jerked awake by tight corners. Louis and Gimena keep waking me up by asking me if I´m awake.
5:30 AM- The yes game. I play the yes game when children speak to me in mumbly Spanish, or when I´m too tired to understand anyone. Mumble mumble Spanish mumble. What? Mumble mumble Spanish mumble. Si! It´s just easier. During the party with the loud music making things hard, I played the yes game with Linda and she brough me more cake.
6:00 AM- Home, go to sleep.
3:00 PM- Wake up.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Philistines!
My turn to cook lunch today. So what did I make? Potato leek soup, subltey flavored with garlic, fresh thyme, and salt, blended with farm-fresh milk, the cream still on top.. Also I made lentils and beets, which I boiled with fresh ginger. I made a glaze of peanut butter, honey, chili powder, and water to go on the beets and lentils. Finally, it was time to sit down and eat. All the other volunteers came in. And do you know what? Everyone (except, of course, the ubermench, bless his heart), served themselves soup, added the lentils and beets, and then poured the peanut sauce on top and mixed it all together! To my credit, as my horror-filled eyes bulged out of my head, I said nothing. But oh how my heart wept.
I guess we just can´t have nice things.
I guess we just can´t have nice things.
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