A Whole New World

Untitled

Date: Jan 11, 2011

Maybe I have Seasonal Affective Disorder and the abundance of sun in January just set me wild. But on Wednesday afternoon, as I walked up the steep hill that lead me from the community playground to my house (or my host family's house, rather), I felt an inexplicable bubbly happiness that surged from the bounce in my steps to my mile wild smile. I know that sounds cliche, I think it's a little ridiculous too.

Later in the afternoon, as I came back from Jipijapa with my host mother, I met Sandy at the play ground for a mural brainstorming/doodling session. Her host relative/friend, Jorge, also came to hang out with us and a slew of giggly girls. While drawing, we chatted with Jorge about his work in the bakery and on evening fishing boats. We traded card games and as a fruit truck rolled by, he encouraged us to try a guaba, which looks like a string bean on steroids. He cracked it open and inside, there were circular (bean shaped) pellets that looked like pieces of cotton candy. He demonstrated how to eat the cotton-like skin off the big black seed inside. It was one of the most unique fruits I've tried, but I liked it. While on the subject of fruits, Jorge told me that his favorite fruit was fruta china, which is a melon that is often eaten in China. I had no idea they could be found in Ecuador. It's conversations like these that make my trip so exciting and fulfilling. We just sat in the park and talked about our lives and I learned and enjoyed our conversation so much. It was really interesting to listen to him talk about his learning about Chinese culture through Kung Fu movies and make these cultural connections that I had never know existed. It was also just really nice to have the time to relax and share with people in the community and bond through chats. I felt like I was in another world.

The same applies to my host family. Given my obsession with all things related to food, a lot of conversations with my host mother and host sister-in-law took place in the kitchen. Sometimes, it was fun just to sit and watch Shrek in Spanish or telenovelas with them and chat about our lives. It was through conversations like this and their welcoming smiles that I came to feel like a member of the family in such a short amount of time. On the first day, the way they eat the S sound in their speech until an entire sentence might as well be one long word made it hard to understand them. However, on that Wednesday afternoon, as I let myself in and greeted my host sister-in-law and my host mother, who replied with a soft smile, hola mi hija (which sounds like mija), vamos a comer, I felt like I was coming home.

My new family:

Around the Cancha

First Day of School

Date: Jan 10, 2011

The fist day I stepped through the chained gate into the cement play area, called the cancha, I immediately became the focus of a hundred gawking, brown eyes. The children ages 7-12 were everywhere, uniformed by blue bottoms, white shirts, tan skin and dark hair. I tried to respond to their unblinking stares in a confident smile, but underneath I was trembling with nerves. This was my first time teaching, and it was going to be in this whole new world.

I remember elementary school as a 3-story brick building, resting on an expansive lawn. Inside would always be cool and quiet; the walls covered with learning posters, and the doors closed to passersby.

This school, “Guayas,” one of the elementary schools of Puerto Cayo, was one story, with a simple rectangular row of 6 classrooms around the dirty cement patio (the cancha). The walls were incomplete fixtures that allowed the hot humid outside air to move in and out of the room freely, much like the steady diffusion of students that would step into my room, stare for a while, and then prance out, maybe belonging to my classroom, maybe to another?

I could still hear the dogs, pigs, chickens, old trucks, and old women from across the dirt road, as I introduced myself to the teacher of the classroom I would temporarily be a part of. She was eager to meet me, then seat herself in the back corner of the room with a coffee and magazine.

“Buenos dias!” I yelled.

“Buenos dias.” Some responded with a mumble, and some with an enthusiastic bellow. In any case, it was a start. My partner Allison and I frolicked through the lesson plan, saying our strange English words, acting as a talking whale and an uninformed youth in a skit, pulling out dirty beach objects from a plastic rainbow bag and finally giving a homework assignment with the promise of reward! It was exhilarating.

At the end, the children asked us if we’d return. They asked us about the mystery prize. They followed us to the doorway of their class, pleading us to stay! What an amazing sensation-- to be so desired by a group of little strangers. And yet I felt the same magnetic pull towards them. Their eyes were now smiling rather than gawking, and I felt less like an alien and more like a friend, or maybe just a friendly alien.

It was the best first day of school I had ever had. Alas, this semester would only last for three more days.

Exploring Puerto Cayo

La Playita

Date: Jan 4, 2011
Location: Puerto Cayo, Ecuador

Tuesday day, another beautiful day in Puerto Cayo. No clouds in sight, it's another splendid day, sunny and perfect. A perfect day to continue our work.
As always the Environmental Education group taught English at the local school. While the rest of us were teaching the fishermen and the restaurant workers.

The kids are in chaos. Today the Environmental Education group performer a dance about compost, and the kids loved it so much, you can hear kids humming the lyrics everywhere you go. The Environmental Education group are celebrities among the children. Marketing group has to step up! Marketing group met briefly and a few of us photographed hotspots, while the rest of us focused on our online campaign (FB and wikipedia).

Meanwhile, another venture for the afternoon. A selected group decided to visit a hidden gem nearby. The name: La Playita, translated as The Beach. Not a very creative name, I must say, but the name says it all. This was THE beach, THE place to be. Hidden behind a perilous path:


After a long hike, the groups efforts paid off. They came up to a stunning view. A cove, hidden from the rest of the world, completely isolated. The only other people in sight were a few surfers, taking advantage of the perfect waves.

Surfing pose:


Playita has everything to offer. From isolation from the rest of the world, to beautiful water with perfect waves, and even caves and nature to explore. And exploring we did:


Playita, playita, one day I shall return.

Business and Pleasure

Work and Excursion

Date: January 3, 2011
Location: Puerto Cayo, Manabi, Ecuador

My alarm read 7:00am. A quick breakfast and I was on my way to the Junta for our first group meeting and English lessons. As our planning had established earlier last week, we were each assigned to one work group (Marketing, or Environmental Education) and one daily English tutoring session(to: fishermen, restaurant workers, or open to the community). Clearly marketing was vastly superior to its rival work group. We quickly set up a brilliant plan that would outshine any of the Environmental Education's work.

I got a chance to teach English to the fishermen. It was as much a learning for me as it was from them, I learned about their different fish types in the area, their fishing customs, and the locations of their fishing spots. English lessons went well. And our first test run occurred right away. That afternoon, we set out, two of us, on a fishing trip with the fishermen. To be able to experience first hand the entire process was satisfying. Most notably, the wildlife was simply stunning. Not only were their nets catching all sorts of fish (mainly small) and crabs, but we also saw eels, star fish, blow fish, prawn shrimp, and even a sea horse. On top of all that, the boat was surrounded by a flock of a dozen seagulls all waiting to try to eat whatever fish the fishermen could not sell/bring back to port. Meanwhile, we talked for hours and hours. The fishermen told us their tales of large hauls of fish they used to catch. Those times however, they said sadly, are over. The industrial boats are coming in closer and competing with the local fishermen, who have much smaller boats, and equipment. These industrial boats are slowly chocking the local fishing economy, in favor or a corporate agenda. These marked my first true bonding experience with a local Puerto Cayan.

Fishing:


Pelicans:


PS.
Our work plan for marketing was pretty straightforward: Our goal was to digitally record the town and our trips, while at the same time planing a major publicity campaign. However to do so, we first had to do some research. We had to find the popular locations in the town and come up with a list of assets to publicize.

The Invisible Monkeys

Day Trip

Date: Jan 2, 2011
Location: Cantagallo, Manabi, Ecuador

While one group went to Isla de la Plata, the rest of us tested one of Puerto Cayo's future attractions (but still in the works): A Monkey Excursion. This was the first time that they had planned this trip with tourists. We were the guinea-pigs, but that didn't stop us.

The plan was simple- we had a car, a guide, and a monkey hotspot. Oscar was our guide, and we all piled up on a pickup truck towards Cantagallo, where we entered monkey territory. After a bumpy ride we got off at a ranch and within minutes we were walking down a path in the jungle.
As we walked our guide retold us the history of the jungle, and the names of the local animals and plants. We walked quickly and kept a lookout for monkey tracks and monkey sightings. But after a lengthy hour hike, our hopes of monkeys were low, but we were far from unhappy. The rich wildlife in the forest was enough of a spectacle for us to enjoy, and we headed back to Puerto Cayo smiling, and enjoying the beautiful sunset, as seen below.

Sunset:


Entering the forest:

Isla de la Plata

Day Trip

Location: Isla de la Plata, Manabi, Ecuador
Date: January 2, 2011

It's Sunday, and its our free day in Puerto Cayo. What better to do than explore everything this region has to offer? One of the future goals of Puerto Cayo as we were told, is to organize trips to Isla de la Plata*. Isla de la Plata is a famous tourist attraction, known for its beautiful reefs and extraordinary wildlife. It is a "mini-Galapagos" or also known as Galapagos without the expenses. A group of 6 of us set off, we took the bus to Puerto Lopez, and waited for our tour guide. We set off, on an hour boat ride, and finally arrived to the island. Here we went snorkeling, hiking, and explored the island's secrets.

The most startling attraction at Isla de la Plata: the Blue Footed Booby. I'd heard stories, I'd seen pictures, but seeing in front of my eyes, I cannot help but stare in awe... at their feet. The color is just so bright, its unreal, and the contrast to its black/white feathers only makes the feet stand out. More so, there are hundreds of these birds. Each with their own nest, usually with the female and its offspring. The cute fuzzy babies, stand as tall as their mothers, but their feet only turn blue when they reach adulthood. See picture of the day.

The rest of the trip was fun, until... the boat ride back. The combination of tiredness, and a bumpy boat ride back wasn't ideal. The only thought to console us, was Puerto Cayo and the adventures that lay in store for us the following day.

Picture of the Day:

Fun fact: The bluer the feet the more attractive the male. Nature at its finest.

*Side note: Puerto Lopez is the only location authorized to make trips to Isla de la Plata. This is something that Puerto Cayo wants to change, especially since the island is closer to Puerto Cayo than it is from Puerto Lopez. Their hope is to organize day trips to the island from Puerto Cayo and in return it will bring more tourism to their town.

New Years!

Hello 2011!

Location: Montañita
Date: Jan 1, 2011

Happy New Year! Yesterday we went to Montañita to celebrate and it was a perfect Ecuadorian New Year’s experience and probably the best new years of my life. During the day, we went to the beach, which was full of music and young people who had come from all over to celebrate. The vibe was fun, young, yet also laid back in the coastal Ecuadorian style. It was obvious that artists had come from all over to fill the streets with their work. I think our group alone caused an economic boom in the batido sector (Batidos are the best smoothies ever.). Our group basically stuck together during the night. We went to the beach for the ball drop and watched as Ecuadorians symbolically blew up life-sized muñecas and leapt over bonfires to usher in the new year and a new self. We enjoyed the rest of the night dancing away in discotheques and meeting people on the beach.

Next Stop: Back to Puerto Cayo by night.

With love,
From Puerto Cayo

Picture of the Day:
Close up: