After swearing in, I finished packing and said goodbye to my Tumbaco family (I’ll be visiting them a lot), and then picked up some things to make one last dinner at the training center (pesto…mmm). I left that evening and took a night bus to Guayaquil (most uncomfortable, awful thing ever). I then hung out in the food court at the bus terminal until I decided I couldn’t procrastinate anymore so I got on a bus to Cumanda where Jefferson met up with me. One of the first things he talked about was me moving out of my host family’s house (keep in mind that I hadn’t even moved in yet). Turns out my host family is the outcast of the community and Jefferson thinks I’ll be more successful if I move out (he already has three different places lined up where I could move). Well I already signed an agreement with my family so I’ll have to wait at least three months.
I met the mayor and vice mayor of Cumandá the other day. I went with Leonor to the municipality so she could complain about the conditions of the school. She definitely dragged me along to get some leverage, but I was ok with it because that meant I got an in with the mayor from the start. He told me that they have an irrigation canal project in the works to bring water from the municipality out to the towns near me. They told me I’m welcome to come into town anytime and work with them….awesome. Also, I guess there was a civil engineer PCV in Cumanda about 10 years ago that did some pretty awesome things and basically started their sewage system, so they were super excited that I am a civil engineer too.
That evening I was playing with some kids on the soccer field when I was summoned by some random lady to come to their woman’s group meeting. I was completely caught off-guard and they bombarded me with questions about how can I get them money to increase the lump sum of loan money in their community bank. Basically they were asking me to give them money. I explained that I couldn’t do this but I could help them start an income generating business but they didn’t seem to want to work much, they just wanted money. They did seem interested in community gardens, but when it came to buying the seeds, again they just assumed that I would be buying them. I tried to explain that they need to invest in things themselves so that they value it and take better care of it, but they didn’t really listen. The meeting ended with them basically deciding that I’ll just teach them English….ugh. The next morning, after I finished making a compost pile at my house, two men showed up to talk to me about the irrigation canal project. Again one of the first things they asked me was how can I get them money to continue with the project. They have a study of the need of the irrigation canal done, but no plans of how or where they are going to construct the thing. I told them that I could help them with the design of the canal, and possibly with writing a grant. They were only interested in the grant writing/money part of my help….another ugh. I met with Jefferson that night and told him about the money issues and he was actually super cool and understanding about it. He told me that people are used to getting hand-outs and just assume I’m here to do the same thing, but that he’ll straighten things out in the next town meeting.
I met with ACDI/VOCA the other day and they basically said that they ran out of money and are pulling all of the tech people out of our area. This means that I am now the sole person in charge of Buenos Aires. Since the people of the community know a ton more about cacao than me, this basically means that I’m there to facilitate and make sure that the group doesn’t fall apart.
I started my CAT tools; basically I just walk around and ask each family a bunch of personal questions. Normally it would be awkward, but people here don’t seem to care at all.
Random Thoughts:
· I have not come across any regulations regarding pets. A fellow volunteer bought a cat right before swear-in and brought it with to her new site. This meant a kitten on my lap during the bus ride to Guayaquil. It also meant the ornamental tree in the bus terminal was a litter box.
· BYOTP is a must, as most bathrooms lack toilet paper. Or you have to pay 15 cents for a couple of squares.
· On Good Friday, Leonor made Fanesca (I’ll have to admit I liked this version better because it wasn’t as thick). A procession of people dragging crosses came up to our porch and sang and preached a bit. We then joined in the procession and walked around town for a bit.
· My host-brother, Danny, moved back to Buenos Aires from Quito. They built him a new room in the back of the house so it looks like he’s here to stay. My family claims he moved back because he didn’t like his job in Quito, but in reality they are trying marry-me-off. I always have to sit super close to him at the table, and they occasionally leave us alone to eat by ourselves. My little host sister, Lizbeth, consistently asks what I think about him and she calls me sister-in-law. Patricia’s kids call me aunt. There is even gossip in Cumanda about how my host-mom is crazy and trying to hook the poor Gringa up with her son.
· The first time that I hitch-hiked by myself into town I was squished in the cab of a rickety old truck with two old men that only exchanged a few words about the thunderstorm the night before. Classic.
· The kids in my family are really into my Frisbee. In a few weeks, they’ll be pros. The dogs are absolutely terrified of the thing though.
· Apparently it’s dangerous to walk from town back to Buenos Aires, whoops.
· We haven’t had running water or electricity lately. Although bucket baths are fun, I smell an engineering project.
· My host mom’s ‘compost pile’ consists of soaked kitchen scraps infested with cockroaches.
· My family let me ‘cook’ dinner one night. I made salad with hard-boiled eggs and lemon juice as the dressing. Pepito asked where the meat was, Angie tried to pour vegetable oil over the salad, and Leonor was surprised I used lettuce. However, they said they liked it and everyone ate most all of it, but they also scraped the rice pot from lunch empty. I guess I should have included something else with the salad.
· A guy was murdered during a house robbery a couple towns down from mine, actually super close to the APROCAI building.
· My host sisters are constantly criticizing me for not wearing my hair down or wearing makeup or wearing short shorts. First of all it’s too hot to have my hair anywhere near my neck or have any makeup stay on my face longer than 10 minutes without sweating off. And second of all I get enough cat-calls already since I’m the only white person, so I think I’ll steer away from short shorts.
· I am a GIANT in Buenos Aires.
· Everyone thinks I’m crazy for running. They don’t get how I can keep running for longer than ten minutes at a time.
· I was asked one day while eating lunch if I wanted to see a snake. Thinking it was just outside I said yes. I go outside and am shoved in a car, we drive down the road, then we get in the back of a truck and drive into the brush, we get out and trudge through the banana forest (I’m in flip-flops) and yucca fields, we finally arrive in a random field where Pepito points under a log at a sleeping venomous snake. At this point the random man that is with Pepito, Danny, and I jabs a stick with a hook on the end at the snake to pick it up. He then runs over to a clearing, lets the snake go, then grabs it bare-handed and holds it up like a prize fish. Keep in mind this is an extremely poisonous snake that is about 5 feet long. He then puts it in a bag, ties it up and we head back to the truck. Turns out the guy harvests snake venom to make serums. Pretty cool.
· As the previous thought shows, most of the time I am dragged places without knowing where or why I’m going where I’m going. Most of the time it’s ok, except one day I was dragged into town to watch Angie go on Facebook for an hour.
· We ate the annoying rooster for Lizbeth’s birthday dinner.
· People who I’ve never seen before and who don’t even live in Buenos Aires know who I am and why I’m here…pretty cool.
· One of my neighbors owns a baby tiger.
· There’s this old guy in town named Remberto that actually seems concerned about the well-being of the environment and about the condition of the river…I’m going to become good friends with him.
· Leonor is always screaming at someone in the house. She has a really shrill scream.
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