Bellavista, Manabi

Well hello!

It has been a while since I let you know what I’ve been up to. It’s been mostly traveling, as I said before. But instead of going to the places that I said I was going, as usual, plans changed.

Jeff had a conference in Santo Domingo and called me to go swim in the pool at his hotel. I went. But we never swam. We ate a place called Ch Farina. Then we watched bad TV and discussed ridiculous dreams. In the morning we went to Amarylis’ house at the university to eat breakfast and see what she has been doing in her site. Her counterpart is hilarious. She told us that the only English she knew was “Kiss my ass.” (Not true.) I hope to go visit Amarylis again.

From there, Jeff and I rode the bus to Quito to meet Eva. We stayed at the Sur and went out to Mongo’s in the Mariscal for drinks. Then the three of us went in search of Shakira Concert tickets because we heard that there was a concert in Quito the day after Halloween. But it was actually Nov 30.

So the next day we went to Pacto to spend some time in Eva’s site. Her site is pretty rural, thought not as rural as Mercedes Cadena. Pacto has a central square. There is a market day every Sunday in Pacto. Eva does not eat like an Ecuadorian. She shops at Super Maxi in Quito. Super Maxi is kind of like Target. And you can buy most things you could in the US. Every single night at Eva’s house we prepared some really good food. The first night was Indian food, using the spices my mom sent to Eva. The next night we had a roast. And the night after was tacos. During our time in Pacto we went on a hike to Progresso. At the end of the hike was a beautiful waterfall with really cold water. Even though I have abhorred cold water for the past couple of months, this was quite welcome, since Eva’s area is sort of like a jungle zone, pretty hot.

We also went to visit Janet in Los Bancos. I find the name of this town kind of funny because there are no banks at all there: neither money nor water. And then Janet, Eva, Jeff, and I went to Mindo to do some tubing. But we got there at night and went out drinking, singing karaoke (Honesty by Billy Joel is the only thing Jeff sings), and dancing. So when we woke up in the morning, we found we had barely enough money to get back to Pacto and then to Quito. So Janet went to the Halloween celebrations in Cuenca and we went back to Pacto.

The next day we met Brian in Quito. From there, we spent Halloween at the Marriott pool. That night we went out to Latitude for unlimited tapas and wine. Apparently, the more I drank, the more I felt that the waiter was limiting my wine intake. And then I passed out on the table. We went back to the Marriott and I passed out. All of a sudden I woke up and puked and felt better again. So I went out in search of my gang. I met them in front of the hotel and we went to a gay bar called Matrushka.

In the morning we had to go to the Peace Corps Office. After that we went to the bus terminal and chose to go to the hot springs in Papallacta. The temperature in Papallacta was pretty low, so the hot springs were the perfect thing.

The next morning all of us went to the police station to wait for the bus to Tena. Tena is in the real jungle. It is located on a river. While we were waiting, a policeman came out to talk to us to see if we wanted to buy this iPod and Brookstone iPod speaker. Eva offered $30. But I didn’t hear her, so I offered $50. We ended up getting both for $50. And the iPod had about 2000 songs on it. It was good that we got the iPod because Jeff had recently broken his iPod by putting a chair on it and standing on the chair to fix something on his wall.

So when we got on the bus to Tena, it was really, really full. So we all had to stand. Eva and Brian got car sick. We got there and met Joseph, a PCV from Omnibus 95, who I think is cute. We went to a bar and had cocktails all night. In the morning we went to AmaZOOnicas, preservatory for animals. The name of the program is Selva Viva. From Tena, you have to take a camioneta to a neighboring town. There, you have to take a canoe to AmaZOOnicas. We saw the largest rodent in the world. It was the hamster the size of a hog. I forget the name of it. I was looking forward to talking to the parrots and holding the giant python, but our guide told us that parrots only talk when they are bored to the point of depression and pythons are very sensitive to germs and parasites when they are shedding. Apparently the parrots were not bored and the python was shedding at the time I was there to visit. But we had fun all the same. There were monkeys, tucans, cheetahs, turtles, huge spiders, etc. I loved it. Oh, and there was a sloth named Quasimodo at the restaurant we had patronized the night before. Very cool.

Then we all came back to Riobamba. From Riobamba, Jeff and Eva went to Guaranda and Brian and I went to Huaquillas. Huaquillas is what travel books like to call the dump connecting Ecuador to Peru. It is well known for its strip club, El Taliban, with a mural of Osama bin Laden with an AK-47 and the crashing Twin Towers in the background. Very morbid, but I was interested in going to see what it was like. No such luck. But if you go there thinking in terms of being a volunteer there. It is super nice. Brian works with his counterparts at the Municipio. He has a friend named Isreal, who has a wife named Diana and a daughter named Aixa. They own a booth in the market area selling baseball caps and are a lot of fun to hang out with. One of the days I was with Brian, we went to Machala, the closest large city to Huaquillas and also the capital of the province, El Oro. We hung out with Ashley, a PCV from our Omnibus. Then, a couple days later, Ashley, Jesse, Elizabeth Funsch, Brian, and I went to the island of Jambeli to party on the beach. Good times!

Then I came back to Riobamba to pack for my site visit to my new site, Bellavista. It is in province of Manabi, an hour south of the provincial capital, Portoviejo. Then I went to Quito to the Peace Corps office to meet with Xavier and Argentina to get the specifics of where I was going and who I was to meet with in Portoviejo and Bellavista. While I was at the Peace Corps office, someone stole my camera and $40. I am super upset about this because the Peace Corps office is supposed to be a haven where you can leave your stuff and not worry about it. Obviously not.

So I went to Portoviejo on the night bus. When I got there, I met a bunch of people at the Plan International Office. I will be collaborating a lot with them in the next two years. I was told that the only place to live in Bellavista was a room in a family’s house. I saw the room and bathroom and it was fine for if I was going to live there for a week. But I need me time and space of my own. So I asked around about places for rent. There was one place that was really crappy looking, but had all the necessities, so I was about to pay $40 a month when I found out about the Medical Clinic, Subcentro, having a whole lot of unused space. It has everything. And it is tiled. And it is free! I went back to Portoviejo the first night, but the rest of the nights I stayed with the host family in Bellavista. I think I am in love. The community is a lot like Eva’s community. And it is hot everyday. But you don’t need repellant or a mesh net to keep the bugs off you at night. If I had had my camera, I would have posted some pictures. But I don’t. Anyway, I met the nurse, Rosita, who lives and works in Bellavista. She and I went around the community vaccinating people older than 68 years old for the flu. I met her sister, Maira, who owns a store in town. I met Rosita’s brother, Elmo, and his wife and daughter. Elmo is a teacher in the school in Bellavista. I loved meeting them all. Everyone made me feel welcome and at ease. Especially my host family. Cristobal and Ines are the parents. Their daughters are Evelin (19), Liliana (17), and Karen (16). With them, I feel like part of the family. Karen painted my nails and Liliana made me a bracelet. Evelin, who everyone calls Katy because of her middle name, showed me so games she had on the family computer. I think this is the first time I have felt at home with Ecuadorians. I am glad this is going to work out for me.

I could write so much more, but I really doubt many people are even going to read this much in one go. I’ll more later.

Chao Chao! (That is really how Ecuadorians spell it!)