The 3 Day War & Mama Rios

In my last blog I left off with holiday fun, a loved one visiting (not much has changed for this time around!) and a broken toe. I used those Winter Crutches for a few weeks, boots and all, and after some arm-chafing and uneven foot sunburn, I threw them to the curb the day before the most ruthless holiday in Ecuador: Carnaval. It´s harder to run for your life with crutches.

All around the world the entrance into the Lenten Season is celebrated differently: elegant masks at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, district-assigned costumes at Fasching in Germany, and even seven hours away from here you celebrate La  Fiesta de las Flores y las Frutas with peach-flavored wine in Ambato, Ecuador. Here in Guayaquil, Carnaval starts the Sunday before Ash Wednesday and is a 3-day holiday involving paint, a LOT of water, eggs, flour, other throwable ingredients, and crossing lines of personal space, boundaries, and friendship.

We had heard from neighbors, “Oh, it´s a great time of playing with friends, eating, dancing, and getting wet!” and we all knew we wanted to take advantage of such a fun-sounding holiday. So we attempted to prepare, arming ourselves with tiny water-guns and a couple bags of colored dust that turns into paint with water. We thought we were ready. Needless to say, we were not. We got rocked those 3 days, each day getting progressively more intense, more draining, and far dirtier. I hadn´t realized how truly out of shape I am until the night of the first day.

Lucky for us, I purchased a water-proof (now called Carnaval-proof) case for my camera before coming to Ecuador so we were able to capture some of the moments: some happy, some sad, some hysterical, and some that will just down right make you feel bad for Greg. I believe pictures are the best way to tell the tale.

Day 1

We set out to get our guard,

 Welly, and Greg still got it

Community.

Went to get 3 eggs at the store, 

that´s all. I got 3 eggs, they just 

weren´t in a bag.

A baby blue chick!

That night, all clean, we 

celebrated Monica´s birthday.

Day 2

The day started similarly to Day 1.

Our afterschool program kids!

“My name´s Eli and I don´t play 

Carnaval…” *bananas to the face*

My hijado (godson), Denys

End Day 2

At Christina´s house we crashed 

her pool party. Literally.

Day 3

Rosa, 91, thought I got paint 

on her face. I did no such thing.

Day 3 and Coli still 

had the best reactions

I´d have felt bad for the guy if he didn´t 

foam everybody in the face for 48 hours straight.

Even Suleika played!

Jessica´s fam. At this point the sun was 

going down and teeth were chattering.

We ended the holiday with

a pretty spectacular sunset.

That week was a wonderful one. No work, just play, and the only thing that brought it down was the fact that my mom came 3 days too late; I wasn´t able to smash eggs on her head or give her a well-deserved make over.

  

Mama Rios came to visit last Friday for 5 days. We weren´t sure, much like with Emily, whether or not she´d make it down, and I was ecstatic when she told me she found a ticket. It was great to see her, and I think I forget too often that my mom´s a pretty awesome person. We spent 3 days in Mount Sinai where I was able to introduce her to neighbors (neighbors who, every time, thought she was my sister and could not get over her youth) my volunteer community, Ecuadorian food, and she even worked WITH me at Hogar, helping me out with the design of my map. 

(Some pictures have a hamster in them. His name´s Humphrey. My goddaughter has a project, like Flat Stanley, where they send their paper friend to a friend or family, and my job was to have him experience Ecuador. Mission accomplished.)

The family, minus the father, Marino

We played the longest game
of UNO with Belgica´s kids.

Although my mom brought nothing but sunshine 

(0 for 5 on rainy days) she still had to learn how to 

maneuver through Winter-Time Monte Sinai

Bolivar was helping Josias, his son, 

practice walking on the roof when 

we visited so we got to join in

Susana, Josias, Terri, Bolivar, Me, and Leyla below

The other days we were able to take a “quick” trip to Puerto Lopez, a town about 4 hours up the coast. I put “quick” in quotation marks because my mom visited the weekend of Election Day. Sunday being the day to vote meant everyone in Mount Sinai had to travel to the place they last had a registered address or to where their family lives, and for some that meant 6 or 8 our trips. Our sector was going to be empty for most of the day. It also meant that all buses all weekend were full, but after much effort and a lot of help from our guard we got there safely, elections happened, and Rafael Correa was re-elected.

Saw ancient ruins at Agua Blanca, a nationally-protected indigenous community

Those, ladies and gentlemen, are grasshoppers…the size of my feet.

The circus was in town! So we went. It was terrible.

We visited Isla de la Plata,, an island nicknamed “The Poor Man`s Galapagos.” It is not the season to see many animals, but despite the odds not being in our favor, we lucked out and returned from the tour with blue-footed boobies, sharks, turtles, and dolphins checked off our list.

A baby booby!

It wouldn´t have been a trip in Ecuador
without something happening. Our bus
broke down on the way back to
Mount Sinai

I mentioned earlier that my mom´s a pretty awesome person. She often outdoes herself when it comes to surprises and projects. Well, while she was here she surprised me by celebrating my birthday the whole week. My birthday´s not until March 13. We got to celebrate with tuna empanadas (my mom´s idea...Delicious!), cake, and Greg´s family the last night she was here.

Props to the woman…she perfectly executed
 an Ecua “Que lo muerda” face smash.

Greg´s fam. Thanks for the cake and empanada hints!

And lastly, my mom—along with bringing awesome things like Flaming Hot Cheetos—helped us to finally complete a dream we´ve had for months. I mentioned a long time ago that Jaime (a volunteer from the other house) got The Settlers of Catan, a board game I fell in love with in college. Well, after much discussion, our community embarked on a project and again requested the help of my mother. First the Multi-Sweater Christmas Card and now…The Settlers of Sinai. You really blew us away, Mama Rios.

Completely in Spanish, this version comes equipped with cane houses that can be upgraded to cement houses, new resources (cane, cement blocks, chicken, water jugs, and rice), Mount Sinai businesses for victory points, and borders corresponding to the main roads outside of Sinai. And if you look closely, my mom decided to Photoshop my face on a peasant.

A practice round without borders. With the help of Wilson, an artist

 and Hansen´s disease patient from Damien House in Duran, we were

 able to buy tiny Hogar houses

After her seemingly-too-short trip, my mom left and I went back to work. My time is mostly spent on the map project while continuing to attend meetings and events in our office. Friday we had a celebration in honor of the rights and value of women in Mount Sinai. Somehow, I got signed up to pass out fake roses and perform at the event. They wanted me to sing in English (thank goodness) so I just explained the lyrics of John Mayer´s Daughters to them beforehand.

Also, the same day my mom left, Ana´s family came. They have been extremely kind and over the past few days I have had my fill of some amazing Mexican dinners. Between the posole (ya, Aunt Josie, I had posole too!) and the carne asada tacos, there has been a mix of homesickness and thanksgiving for Ana´s family´s hospitality, as it`s reminded me of just how much I appreciate my family and my family`s culture.

It was a busy February and with half of our families coming within a 2 week period (Heidi´s family got in Monday!) I think we are all trying to enjoy our last taste of freedom before “Retreat Group Season” starts. “Freedom” may be a bit of an exaggeration, but March begins a long string of back-to-backs and packed months of university and high school students and I imagine once it hits we will be busier than ever. Until then I will be soaking up neighborhood time, flinching at the site of a bucket of water, and walking my map´s route with umbrella or sunscreen in hand.

Realizing I could have saved a bag of paint for my mom! Ugh.

Miguel

The Holidays: Waterfalls, Sickness, and Crutches

One New Year´s Resolution: Blog More Frequently. Great start.

I truly apologize for the large break in writing. Perhaps this means I should have blogged more, but the past month in a half has been busy and eventful to say the least. Nevertheless I owe everyone an extremely belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Fun Fact: There is only one sweater. Thanks, Mom, for your skills!

So, where have I been? ¿Como he estado? What´s good? ¿Que pasó? Well here´s my life in a nutshell since you last heard from me.

A week and a half before Christmas my girlfriend Emily (and Nick, for one day) visited! It was wonderful to have her here, to be able to show her my life down here, and I was so glad she found a way to come. We spent 3 days in Mount Sinai, visiting and introducing her to people and places, and were able to spend 2 days in Baños, a small valley town about 6 hours away. If she learned anything while she was here, it´s that crazy stuff happens and rarely we´re in control. Between being given the wrong bus ticket to Baños, having to find our way from a random town TO Baños (and did so by running into two South Africans who were headed the same way), hearing bomb-like noises only to find out the volcano (Volcán Tungurahua) had erupted the day we arrived (had to wear masks for the ash), cooking in the dark when the power went out our first night back in Mount Sinai, and Emily´s flight getting cancelled because of the same volcano eruption we had previously been miles away from—I´d say we had our fare share of surprises. And yet, although it may have seemed that so much went wrong, I wouldn´t have had it any other way. Saying goodbye, again, was difficult, but having loved ones there right before the holidays was, I think, a blessing and I´m so grateful for the visit.

The first day in Baños we biked La Ruta de Las Cascadas (Route of the Waterfalls). Masks were a necessity.

The highway through the valley, with an unrivaled view, 
spans over 38 miles and passes over 30 waterfalls.

Although we didn´t do the entire route, we passed some amazing sights

The second day we did Canyoning (rappelling down waterfalls).

The last one was something like 70 feet. The guide let us do it twice.

During the week I took her to the afterschool program I work at on Wednesdays. Happened to be the Christmas party!

The last day Emily was here, Nick visited after 
ending his six months in Guatamala! What a crazy feeling 
being reunited in another hemisphere.

The holidays came and went, along with some homesickness as I spent my first Christmas without the Rios fam. Here, like many Latin American countries, the 9 days before Christmas are celebrated by La Novena with las posadas, where we visit different houses with song and costumes, imitating Mary and Joseph´s search for an inn. It all leads up to the most important day of the holidays, Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) where we attended 3 masses (where they used real-life new-borns as Baby Jesus) and ate along the way as large dinners are tradition late that night.

The night, however, was not the only eventful part of Christmas Eve. The morning was a busy one. Somehow, I was asked to be Santa Clause for a neighborhood party. They called me the modern, flaquito (skinny) Papa Noél. I left from the party straight to sing Christmas carols to all our close neighbors. With guitar, very hot Santa hats, and our voices, we passed out our Christmas cards.

The neighbors were all about Santa on a moto.

Then we spent the 25^th with the whole Rostro de Cristo community: the volunteers from Duran and our boss Darcy. We slaved in the kitchen, cooking all day for a wonderful Xmas dinner.

Two days after Christmas started a 2 week-long struggle. I was extremely sick, turned out to be a stomach infection, and it lasted through New Years. That week, although not ideal, made me realize how extremely lucky I am for two things in particular: my volunteer community and sufficient access to healthcare. On a Saturday when no one was around, our guard took me in our van to drive to the hospital that is about an 45 minutes away by car. Not only do I always have someone here to watch out for me, but I always have a means of transportation. Our neighbors, if extremely sick, would need to take a 2 hour (or more) bus ride to the nearest public hospital, and could not afford the hospital I went to. It is a reality that I will never truly know. And as for my community, well, Ana spoon-fed me rice porridge that week. Enough said. I couldn´t be more grateful for the care, support, and concern my community was willing to give.

Nevertheless, although I missed the New Year´s Eve mass and dinner after, I made myself feel well enough to celebrate at midnight. Here in Ecuador, it is common to make paper maché statues/figures of various things (robots, cartoons, people, etc.) called Año Viejos, and then burn them at midnight. It represents all the bad things from the year before and usually involves blowing them up with gasoline and fireworks. I´m glad I pulled myself together for the tradition.

We celebrated with our Guard, Omar´s family, and Elias was excited, to say the least.

Omar´s Hulk and our Yogi Bear were the 2012-13 victims.

Our street lit up that night.

We bought ours, but many neighbors make them. 
This particular neighbor showed us what´s up.

Speaking of celebrating with Omar´s family, January brought little Amy´s first birthday! We celebrated at their house and the Duran volunteers came too.

This is me beating Cristobal (Creighton Alum) in Musical Chairs.

 

January also brought the other aspect of our volunteer year: Retreat Groups. Rostro de Cristo is a program that not only allows post-graduate volunteers to live and work with Ecuadorian communities for a year, but they also bring groups of students from various colleges and high schools around the country to Ecuador for week-long immersion trips. We, in turn, get to coordinate these trips, one at a time, and take them through their experience here in Ecuador. The groups are split between Mount Sinai and Duran, and each volunteer is responsible for coordinating one or two groups throughout the year, taking them to worksites, visiting neighbors, building relationships. Our first two groups, back-to-back, were Villanova University and Manhattan College (Ana and Greg´s groups). College of Idaho comes this Sunday and my first group (Fordham Prep, an all-boy high school) will come in April. 

Visiting Omar and Eli´s family with Villanova

Manhattan College was lucky enough to arrive the day of our 
Parish´s Anniversary Festival. Indigenous dancing and singing ensued.

They were asked to perform at the concert. They chose Lean on Me. Well done.

We chose Party In the USA. Absolute train wreck.

Reading to the English students at Nuevo Mundo, a 
school and worksite for the Duran volunteers

January ALSO brought a start to el invierno. Winter means rain here in Guayaquil, and in Mount Sinai that means no school for the children (“winter break”) and impassable roads. Although it has been mild so far, February will inevitably start to get ugly. Flooding has not begun, but the mud has become intense. Boots are recommended, but will soon be a necessity.

Lastly, this past weekend was our second All-RdC Retreat. It was at a retreat house in Playas, a beach town about 2 hours away, and it was a wonderful weekend to relax, reflect, play Settlers of Catan, take on 10-foot waves, and just gather where I´m at personally now that we´re 6 months in. Yeah, the retreat marked the halfway point! Wow.

If you look closely, I believe that is me on 
Jaime´s shoulders playing chicken with the waves

After the retreat I realized that I didn´t want to get into this “Oh my gosh there are only 6 months left I need to start being a super-volunteer” mode. Sure, looking back there are things I hope to change, to strengthen, and to be more intentional about. But no good is going to come by trying to get busier and constantly worry about my productivity. Right now, at my job, I am working to make one of the first functioning street maps of Mount Sinai, and I am really enjoying the project. Neighborhood time, when I´m healthy, has continued to be life-giving, and I feel like our house community is getting closer. If I start counting down in this second half of the year, I´m going to forget how to appreciate today, so I do not intend to think about August too often. So as for now, I will just continue to hobble day by day. Oh yeah, after the retreat I also got crutches (Broke my toe on retreat by accidently kicking a bag of watermelon). 

I call them Las Muletas del Invierno

Ciao for now and thank you for your support!
Miguel