A Cultural Difference (Roasted with Spices)

Okay, I'm starting this post with a forewarning. If you don't want to see a cooked guinea pig, then do not go to the bottom of this post. Have you scrolled down already?!? The third goal of the Peace Corps is for volunteers (and trainees!) to share about host country culture. Guinea pig, cuy, is a very traditional Ecuadorian dish, so I'm just trying to share a little piece of Ecuador with you. More on this in a bit!

So, I've been in Ecuador three weeks. No time at all really, but the days of training seem to pass at a snails pace. Oddly, the weeks have been going by quickly though. It has certainly been another seven days full of enlightening experiences. As I'm typing this, I already feel as though my English skills are failing me. I catch myself mixing Spanish and English more and more; unfortunately, my Spanish doesn't seem to be getting any better. Compared to three weeks ago, I understand much more, but I still am a bit mute when it comes to speaking. Poco a poco. 

This week began with my first presentation in Spanish. My group and I went to a colegio, high school, and an escuela, elementary school, to teach students about water conservation. I've done a lot of environmental education about fresh water in the U.S., and, now, that seems extremely easy compared to getting up in front of a room full of 17-year-old students while trying to speak a language I'm not even close to being fluent in. Oh well, so goes training. Overall, the presentations were actually quite fun. The students definitely laughed at our gringo Spanish, but they seemed to learn at least a couple of facts from our activities. At the elementary school, the students were already quite knowledgeable about environmental issues; they had a huge vegetable garden on the property and all of the students in the class I taught had bunches of freshly picked cilantro on their desks. Hopefully, I'll be able to start some school gardens when I get to my site! Speaking of gardens, on Thursday I had a gardening training facilitated by some current volunteers. We created raised beds in the backyard of the training center and planted lettuce, broccoli, radishes, carrots, and cilantro. It was really nice to get out of the classroom for a little bit, as we have been having a slew of sessions (as always) about security, health, culture, technical info, and Spanish.

Teaching about fresh water availability, while wondering if the
children understand a word of my Spanish.

Teaching sixth graders about water conservation...in Spanish.

Besides teaching on Monday, the week was relatively uneventful. The weather has been beautiful. Rain comes and goes, but there has been a lot of sun this past week. Some days, I walk home with other volunteers. The walk takes about an hour on the beautiful bike path that runs between the training center and Tumbaco. Dodging mountain bikers, dogs, cows, motorcycles, and whatever else comes our way always makes the walk more entertaining, as if the spectacular views weren't entertainment enough. I'm heading to el oriente, the jungle, next week for a week-long technical trip to do presentations and to speak with representatives from NGOs, national parks, and other protected areas. I'm so excited to see another part of the country. However, since I'm heading to a part of the country with malaria-infested mosquitoes, I had to start taking anti-malaria medication last week. Side effect: crazy dreams. As if my life wasn't odd enough right now, I get to add ridiculously vivid, slightly twisted dreams to the mix. 

One of the many views on the walk home from the training center.

Here's the part you've been waiting for. It's difficult for me to even begin to describe the surreal experience of eating lunch while being surrounded by five people munching on guinea pig legs. Actually, I still feel a bit queasy when I think about it. Cuyes are reserved for special occasions, as they are expensive to raise (they eat a lot of alfalfa). Today was my host brother's birthday, meaning special occasion, meaning time to eat cuy. During training, we've been learning about cultural perspectives and how people see other cultures based on their own preconceived notions. As much as I would have liked to see this experience from an unbiased perspective, I could only grasp my United States upbringing in seeing fried pets. And, it's not as though people eat a piece of guinea pig on their plate; they are served an entire guinea pig--from buck teeth to head to claws. Of course, I was sitting at the table eating potatoes and broccoli, while they all poked fun at me (jokingly, I think!). Rosa thought it was very funny to face her guinea pig at me to pretend that it was watching me. Hysterical. That is, until she chopped the head off with a knife and started eating it. Oh Ecuador, you are a continual source of amazement. I promise--no more photos of fried guinea pigs; I just had to share this experience with a photo because words couldn't do it justice! Next week: pictures of the Amazon! And, no fried or roasted animals, hopefully.

My host mom's guinea pigs.

My host mom's guinea pigs--roasted and spiced. Buen provecho!

Is this real life?

Not as much to report this week—training is pretty intense between multiple group projects, Spanish lessons for 4 hours a day, and an array of security, regulation, and health sessions. This week, I did get the chance to leave the training center to go to Quito twice. On Wednesday, my group and I traveled to see the Peace Corps office in the city; it’s quite the trek, three bus rides, to get over there. The office is really nice, as are all of the staff. Of course, while at the office, we had yet another safety talk with our head of security. She discussed robberies and theft on transportation in Ecuador, which is quite the problem, especially if you are a gringo. Unfortunately, on the bus ride back to the training center, one of my fellow trainees experienced this first hand when she got off the bus and realized her jacket had been slashed. She’s fine—just short a cheap cell phone and five dollars. Sneaky, sneaky thieves.

The weather has been extremely beautiful this past week with lots of sunshine. Several of us decided to walk to the neighboring town of Cumbaya (yup, that’s the name of the town) during the day on Saturday to enjoy the lovely scenery. There is a bike bath, the ciclovia, which runs for miles through and between towns in the area. Lots of mountain bikers, runners, and walkers take advantage of the path, especially in the mornings. I’ve only driven through Cumbaya on the bus on the way to Quito, and I can’t believe how nice the town is. The town square is beautiful with a fountain and palm trees. After our walk, we all decided to opt out of eating at a restaurant serving white rice (two weeks in of eating white rice for two meals a day, and I’m already trying to avoid it!), so we found an Italian restaurant and enjoyed delicious pizza. It was such a relaxing day after a super stressful week!

A view from the ciclovia on the way to Cumbaya

More nice views from the ciclovia

Town square in Cumbaya

Fellow trainees and me!

About to enjoy pizza and beer (sin arroz--without rice!)

However, Saturday didn’t end with lunch in Cumbaya. The entertainment always continues when I get back home. I need to preface this story by saying that my host family always says that I eat “como un gato” (like a cat). Meaning: I don’t eat much. I’ll let you decide if you know any cats that eat the sheer quantity of food that I was given on Saturday.

I walk in my house in late afternoon after my outing to Cumbaya. I’m greeted with hugs and a rapid flood of words that I sort of half know. Rosa asks what I did with my friends. I tell her we had a huge lunch, and I’m very full (take note of this). Next, my host brother asks if we’re going to make cookies. I remember my promise about making chocolate chip cookies, so I say yes. Rosa watches over the whole process to ensure that I do in fact know how to use a spoon to mix ingredients. (Side note: same goes for sweeping, dusting, making my bed, and ironing—all of which I now know how to properly do.) I make the dough, I put the cookies in the oven, and I am about to walk out of the kitchen. But, Rosa calls my name from the dining room and tells me that my soup is waiting for me on the table. I reiterate that I just ate lunch. Nope, doesn’t matter, I have to try a little soup. A heaping bowl of soup later, I’m nearing food coma status. Next thing I know, I’m sitting in my room studying and my other host brother, who is a truck driver that drives to the coast every week, comes in with a mango and hands it to me. I don’t really know the protocol when you are handed a piece of tropical fruit in your bedroom, so I say thank you and try to continue studying. He is still standing in my room next to my bed, so I realize the protocol is to follow him into the kitchen. My two host brothers and I split open mangoes and laugh as bright orange mango juice drips down our arms onto the ceramic floor. I eat one mango. Do I want another? Oh my god, no. I sneak back to my room. Ten minutes later—I hear the bells chime six from the church in the center of town, and in comes Rosa. She wants me to make a salad for dinner. You’re kidding, right? I’m back in the kitchen. Salad, rice, eggs, and beans. For situations like this, the training staff taught us how to say, “Ya no avanzo.” (I can’t continue.) It never works.

One final note: My host family loves my chocolate chip cookies, and the word vender, to sell, got thrown around a couple of times. I hope they were talking about the cookies. Either way, I’m glad I could add something to the food fest.

A Week of Firsts

Whew, it has been a crazy week (wonderful, but so busy)! Peace Corps has every Monday through Friday planned out from 8-5, then I spend about an hour and fifteen minutes walking home, and, sometimes, I have homework to do afterwards. On weekends, I have host family obligations--more on that in a bit. So, I've decided during PST (Pre-Service Training, there are a million acronyms in the Peace Corps) I'll try to update my blog every Sunday.


So here's the update...


This week has been a blur of training and absorbing Ecuadorian culture. I've been spending most of my time at the Peace Corps training center. Each day begins with a chaotic bus ride at 7:20 in the morning; when I say chaotic, I mean no maximum capacity, landscapes rushing by, a serious core and forearm workout in order to remain upright, and continued movement while trying to get off the bus. It's definitely an experience in itself. After the enthralling bus ride, the rest of the day seems rather dull. I've been attending lectures about culture, health, safety, Spanish, and technical training about environmental education and natural resources management. The two most interesting training sessions: the security briefing by a special agent from the U.S. Embassy and the intestinal illnesses talk from the extremely enthusiastic Peace Corps nurse. I'll let your imaginations dream up the contents of those chats.

My second home: the Peace Corps Training Center.

Besides training, I've been spending a lot of time with my host family. And by spending time, I basically mean eating copious amounts of food. And, I have to say, the food here is so good! I could write paragraphs about the food, but I'll limit it to just one for the first week. My favorite dish so far has been humitas--ground choclo (the type of corn here) mixed with butter, sugar and egg wrapped in a corn husk and steamed. Then, wait for it, fried in butter. Think: fried, sweet tamale. Delicious. My host mom, Rosa, and I go to the market every Sunday and stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. The markets are incredible here! For breakfast, I have fresh juice (pineapple, melon, naranjilla, mandarin, or tomate de arbol), a roll, and tea. Lunch and dinner usually consist of a combination of white rice, fried eggs, soup, vegetables, beans, lentils, and/or noodles. There's definitely an abundance of starch. On weekends, the day is basically centered around food, with lunch being the main meal of the day. Yesterday, my host family and I ate a huge lunch of soup, rice, vegetables, and beans. So, for dinner, we had tea and chocolate cake. Chocolate cake for dinner!

A fruit stand at the central market in town=delicious!

Yesterday, I had to tackle the task of washing my clothes on la piedra. (La piedra is the stone that people wash their clothes on here.) Basically, you take one piece of clothing at a time, lather it with soap and water, scrub it on the rock, let it sit for half an hour, then take that piece of clothing, douse it with water, and squeeze it until all of the water comes up. So, Rosa taught me how to wash my clothes, and two and a half hours later, I finished washing 6 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, one skirt, a handful of underwear, and a set of sheets. Where's the washing machine at? No, not really, it was actually kind of pleasant washing my clothes in the morning sunlight. I think the best part though was that my bright purple underwear was splayed out on the clothesline in front of the dining room window while we ate lunch. Not embarrassing at all, nope.

La Piedra

Success!

My host family has a garden, actually more like a small farm, in a neighboring town. Rosa and I went to see the farm and to feed the pigs yesterday. She goes to the farm everyday in the mornings. The garden is very beautiful; there's corn, potatoes, lettuce, beets, beans, and three pigs! Los chancos, pigs, are gigantic and crazy. There's also a ton of alfalfa that Rosa grows to bring back to the house to feed the cuy, guinea pigs, several of which will be eaten in a couple of weeks for her son's birthday. I've tried lots of new things this week--food and experiences--I can't wait to try more, but maybe not any cuy!

Rosa and her chanchos!

The view from my host family's garden

One of the many beautiful flowers blooming here!