Hey guys so I have an update to tell you on the mail situation. Apparently the government here passed a law recently that will result in me paying upwards of about $42 to receive a package from the states. Total BS I know but you work with what you're dealt. Good thing is this isn't immediate from what we can tell. This is assumed to take effect in the next month or two so if you had been thinking of mailing anything larger than a letter or postcard this way, now would probably be the best time to send it. I have posted the address on the blog event.
If you need it again, let me know. Now, as with everything gov't related there are a few potentially positive conditions:
- Though we're told this could take effect in the next month or 2, sometimes things move reeeally slow here which, in this case could work to our advantage in the fact that this might not take effect for awhile. It's hard to get a confirmation of when. We've been told by the PC office that it's really just trial and error (mostly on the part of the PCV's) so they'll know when we tell them we just had to pay out the wazoo for a package.
- We've also been told that this is mostly conditions for things ordered from the internet (like to receive Amazon packages and such). What does that mean? PC still actually isn't 100% sure that this could even affect us if it's a matter of just receiving packages from home. The news we received apparently wasn't very clear. So yes, this whole message might not even in fact matter in the near future. But again, we've been told by the PC office that it's really just trial and error (mostly on the part of the PCV's) so they'll know when we tell them we just had to pay out the wazoo for a package.
Really everything in Ecuador is trial and error. If things change I will certainly say something but otherwise, sending within the next week or two would be lovely. And if you had no intentions of ever sending anything, then blessings to you, completely disregard this message, and carry on about your beautiful day!
Thank you thank you thank you!!
Friday, August 1, 2014
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Next Up, Tech Trip Number 2: La Costa!!:
This past week was our second tech trip to the coast to
learn a little more about the cultural style of the coast (compared to the
sierra we’re already familiar with) and to learn a bit more from current volunteers
about what our sites and time of service could look like. It was a long week
filled with LOTS of travel (taxi, bus, car, you name it!) but overall it was a
fun and educational adventure. As with the first tech trip, once again we were
split up from the Youth and Families group and sent a different direction.
However, unfortunately, they also split some of our CH group up too. I missed
being with everybody all at once like we were before (although the smaller
group of 10 did make things a little easier), not to mention, the other group totally
had the better route!
Our group started about 2.5 hours away in a town called
Santo Domingo. Though I loved the hotel experience we had there and the PCV (Maggie)
we visited (as well as her counterparts) were a lot of fun, I wasn’t so much
sold on the city itself. It was miserably hot (and this coming from a Georgia
girl) and the city itself just kind of had the feeling of grimy and grungy. I
feel we only scratched the surface though before we were in a bus again (this
time for 5 hours) and traveling off to the next city of 24 de Mayo/Sucre (yes,
here they use dates as titles for cities, streets, what have you). This city
was a bit smaller for my likenesses and preference, the experience was complete
opposite from the last place! The town itself was pretty cute (and for whatever
reason didn’t seem as hot) but that hostel was not my favorite environment I’ve been in so far! It was an
interesting set up complete with no air, plenty of bugs, no door to our
bathroom or light inside of it. And of course, this would be the place we
stayed two nights in. It was
definitely an experience! The food in this town, however, was phenomenal and if
I don’t miss anything else about the coast, I’m definitely going to miss that
coastal flavor (in that town at least). One of my favorite parts about my visit
there was meeting a friend of Fatimah (our PCV guide) and chowing down on some
of the delicious empanadas she made us! Usually these little Latin sandwiches are
made with flour (or “harina de trigo” if you will) but these just happened to
be empanadas verde made entirely from green plantains! Such a treat for my
glutard self! I want to learn how to make them (although something gives me the
feeling they aren’t as easy as I’d like them to be).
After a couple days there, we went to a little town called
Jaboncillo about 30 mins away. It appears the further our trip progressed, the
smaller the towns were getting! And this little town was about as “campo” (like
country/countryside) as it gets! Mariah, the PCV who lives there, seems to love
it! Although I personally think I would be bored outside my mind! (One of the
many moment I’ve said a short prayer of thanks for my midsize town of El
Quinche only 1.5 hours from the capital!) In this little town there was a
school, a subcentro (smaller medical center for minor complications), a tienda
or two, a church (that doesn’t even have a regular priest but rather gets a
visit every 15 days from a traveling campo priest who makes his way through the
rural villages). Other than that, there wasn’t much else this little village
had to offer and Mariah said that her grocery shopping had to be done in one of
the slightly bigger surrounding towns (surrounding being about 30 mins at
least) you get to by one of the only 5 buses that travels through in a day. As
for the inhabitants, I believe she said there were about 50 families (or
houses) in the area. We hung out at the school for a bit in the morning but as
this place was so small, there wasn’t even a place for us to stay. So off we
went to our next destination about an hour or so away called Pajan.
The size of Pajan was somewhere in between that of Sta
Domingo and Sucre. There were tons of tiendas all along the artistic streets
(though for whatever reason only half of them ever seemed to be open at one
time, a curious concept that proved to be frustrating at times), an adorable
park (with a giant mural statue thing of a parrot) in the middle of town, and
the sweetest little hostel we stayed in across from it. In this city we learned
a bit more about the political/governmental/municipal side of things and got to
see some great entrepreneurial projects from different groups (Emily Blalock, I
thought of you the whole time). Then on Friday night I had my first Ecuadorian
4th of July. Our PCV guide for this town, Lauren, invited us over to
her host parent’s house for a cookout and even though we didn’t get our
fireworks fix (unless the sparks from the welding project across the street
counts…fireworks are unfortunately illegal here, even sparklers) we still had a
lovely time eating some great “North American” food and hanging out together on
our last night. The next morning was an early 5:30 wakeup call to begin our 14
hour travel day spread across 3 different buses. Always an experience of
course! Overall, it was a lovely week outside of the training center walls
getting our hands dirty (literally and figuratively).
In the Tsachila community
Traditional indigenous dress for the men (worn by our tour guide)
The seeds the crush to make the paint that is in his hair
Traditional indigenous dress for the women. He is playing something that sounds like a rainmaker and a xylophone is in front of him
Kristen trying her hand at the drum
Volunteers?
View from the top of the medical center in 24 de Mayo
The mosquitoes reeally liked my feet...the feeling was not mutual!
A group of entrepreneurial women in the community of Pajan who use these fruits they find in their campo community to make jewelry, bowls, dolls, and other items to try to earn some money for themselves.
They took some painting classes to learn how to make these beautiful flowers.
What's a 4th of July without watermelon?
4th of July feast...Ecuadorian style!
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Papa Yata…aka The Hot Springs…aka More Adventures with Shelley:
Because of all the volcanoes around here, in certain areas
around the country, there have been little pools that have formed or been
created with naturally hot water from these mountains. They are known as hot
springs (or Aguas Terminales) and are basically just a source of naturally hot
water. Some of the host families had taken their trainees to visit these places
so word had spread around or Omni of this cool attraction to check out. Shelley
and I decided after visiting the Teliferiquo that we wanted to visit the hot
springs together next. She mentioned it to her parents to get a little more
information on it and they offered to take us both. The particular springs we
went to are called Papa Yata and are about an hour or so from Tumbaco up a
windy (and a bit dangerous) mountain road. Needless to say, we were glad we
opted for the family car option and not the public bus route! In this area (I
didn’t catch the name of the town) it is actually winter there when it is
summer where we are (so strange, I don’t even know how to explain it). So
basically the air outside was freezing! But fortunately the water was quite hot
enough! It only cost a few dollars to go into the area and there were several
different pools and environments all around (regular pools, showers, a pool
with a slide, a Jacuzzi, and one ridiculously freezing cold pool you apparently
are supposed to jump in and then get right back into the warm pool immediately
after…yeah, no). While we both enjoyed this new environment (and for me, it was
nice to just get back into water again!!), I think we had our fill for a little
while. Here are a couple pictures from this adventure:
The freezing cold pool! (All the rest were hot)
The hot pool
The water was feeding in through this tube. It's green from the minerals (we think/hope)
They convinced me to try the cold-hot method...
Shelley's mom showing me how it's done
Sooo cold!!!
This is good right? Cuz that's as far as I'm goin!
Eso!
Teleferiqo
Being the capital city, some parts of Quito can be pretty
touristy. Since I am actually living here longish term, it is difficult for me
to feel like a tourist (compared to short term trips I’ve taken in the past
where there has always been at least one or two touristy days outside of the
work I was there to do). Souvenir shopping for instance, I haven’t really felt
the need to engage in. But then there are opportunities to hike mountains or
visit areas or both that I am more than happy to oblige in. One such place is
situated near the historic district of Quito high above the entire city called
the Teliferiquo. You have to take a taxi to get to it (rather than the typical bus
system) and then climb a few steep flights of stairs to get to the center. Once
you’re there, you ride a sky bucket (or gondola according to my Midwestern friends)
up to the almost top of this mountain. From there they have a few amazing
lookout points, a couple souvenir shops, a couple coffee shops (with some of
the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had), a chapel, and then a few trails with the
option to hike Guagua Pichincha (“Baby Pichincha”, the “smaller” mountain) or
regular Pichincha (for the more adventurous…or owners of hiking boots; the
latter of which I am not). I went with Shelley, one of my closest friends here,
and once we got off the sky bucket, we decided to do a bit of exploring and try
our legs on the guagua. After my adventures with Ilalo, I was a bit hesitant
but seeing that we’re about the same speed and level, I figured I would try to
tackle it with her. It was so much fun!! We almost made it to the top but
decided to save the last little bit for another day. Also, there is a horseback
riding option for those who would rather have something else do the work for
them. This I would love to try if I get a chance to go back in the future (I
mean, it is in my “backyard” after all). So heads up, if you come for a visit, we
might be makin a trek! ;) After we finished our little adventure, we took the
buckets back down, visited a cute little craft shop, and realized we were only
a few minutes from one of my favorite spots in the city: Café Mosaico! I couldn’t
wait to share the goodness with her and she enjoyed this lovely little Greek
secret just as much as I did. Here are a few (maybe several) pictures from our day:
Overlooking Quito before even getting on the gondola
Shelley!!
In the bucket. It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights!
They had bike racks on the backs of some of the gondolas for the more adventurous/fit/not me
Gorgeous day for hiking!
Horses were an option too
Mountain ponies!
How far we've come
How long we still have to go :/
Did it (mostly)!
Next time!
Gettin artsy
They had these little welcome "signs" in the grass on the way up and down
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