October 20, 2006 4:00 PM

I realized today how terribly out of date my blog has become, and I’m going to try to catch everyone up on my comings and goings.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles…

Over the first weekend in October I took a trip to Cuenca, a lovely colonial city in the south of Ecuador. Now that makes it sounds like it was a very relaxed process to get to, be in, and travel home from that city. But this being South America, that’s not really the case.

Shadi and I left from Otavalo on a Thursday after school. We bussed it down to Quito and then made a bus to Riobamba minutes after we arrived. And four plus hours later (~11:30 PM) we made it to our first destination. I should mention that the only reason we did make it there is that the bus driver’s assistant ran back to get Shadi and me after the bus already started to pull away. There’s no way to know where you are unless someone tells you.

Thankfully a cab was waiting at that late hour to take us to our hostel for the five hours of sleep we could look forward to. And why would we be getting up at 5 AM you ask? El Nariz del Diablo. Or more accurately, the train to Nariz del Diablo. One of the biggest tourist attractions in Ecuador is a 6-hour train trip that leaves Riobamba, heads through the mountains and down a series of switchbacks over a mountain known as The Devil’s Nose. What makes it such an attraction, aside from the amazing views, is that everyone rides on the roof of the train.

Shadi and I picked up our tickets at 6:00 AM and joined the other crazy gringos on the roof. Actually, it wasn’t only gringos, there were scores of locals who sold stuff on the roof of the train. Throughout the journey we’d pick up new people who had different things to sell, mostly food, which we gladly purchased.

The train ride was amazing – it meandered through beautiful country showing a different side to Ecuador than I’d seen. For such a small country (about the size of Nevada) the biodiversity is staggering. You can drive any direction for two hours and find something totally different. The area the train passes is much more green and lush than what I see everyday up north. And it was a lot of fun to wave to kids along the tracks.

We arrived at Alausi, or final destination, at around 2:00 PM at which point we immediately caught the bus to Cuenca. And by immediately, I have to mention that there wasn’t time for a bathroom break (after 6 hours on a train with no bathroom) before the 5-hour trip to Cuenca. Shadi and I thought we were going to DIE by the time we reached our hotel in Cuenca.

Both Shadi and I agreed that because we’re kind of roughing it out here in Ecuador that we deserved a bit of luxury during our weekend vacation. So our hotel in Cuenca was one of the nicer ones available. When we saw the two big beds facing the television, complete with cable, we weren’t sure we’d actually leave the room. But we did. On Saturday we spent most of the day walking around Colonial Cuenca. We had no real destination in mind, we simply wanted to get a feel for the city. And it really is beautiful. Some of the architecture is reminiscent of New Orleans. And it has some of the most beautiful churches in Ecuador.

After a long nap and seemingly longer showers (this hotel actually had hot water, a real luxury down here) we decided to check out the night life. Keep in mind that my life here has dictated a strict 10:00 PM bedtime, so the idea of going out for a late Saturday night was pretty novel. With the help of our guidebooks we found a great place for food, drinks and music. I started off the night with a passion fruit daiquiri, followed by a blackberry daiquiri, followed by… I think you get the idea. The live band churned out great Latin tunes for hours and Shadi and I had a great view of the dance floor from above.

We finally rolled back to our hotel around 2 AM – late enough for it to be locked shut so that we had to drunkenly bang on the doors until we were let in. Once in our rooms, for whatever reason, I felt the need to make some phone calls. I don’t know why I have an inclination toward drunk dialing, but unfortunately for Jon and my mom I do. Neither answered (thank god, as I don’t know how much those calls would have cost).

Very hung-over on Sunday, Shadi and I essentially stayed in bed watching sitcoms (actually in English, not dubbed). I made an unsuccessful trip out to try to recover the credit card I left in a store the day before. It’s amazing how quickly you break some habits. At home I’m totally crazy about checking to make sure I get my card back after a transaction, but after 2 months of not using a credit card I forget how the whole thing works.

We sadly checked out of the hotel in the afternoon to make our way to the airport to get back up to Otavalo. Rather than take a 12-hour bus journey, we thought we splurge on the $48 plane ticket that would get us home in 45-minutes. This seemed like a good idea at the time. We figured if we could survive the crazy bus trips we’d taken, surely a short plane ride would be nothing. Yeah, famous last words.

The plane was very nice – modern, clean, the airline seemingly efficient. Unlike the busses, there were no live animals on board. All seemed copasetic. However, I can honestly say that I have never been on a plane that flew faster or banked harder when turning. And at one point both Shadi and I swore we were looking at a mountain peak just off the side of our wing (it turned out to be a cloud). And the descent in the airport in Quito is about the scariest thing ever. Quito itself is at 2800 meters (~8500 ft), but it’s in a valley surrounded by mountains that are quite a bit higher. So when a plane flies into Quito, it practically brushes the mountain tops in order to be low enough to land in the valley. At normal speeds this would be scary – at mach 20 it was a bit petrifying. I wanted to kiss the ground when we landed.

Anyway, it was a great weekend, and having some time away from Otavalo was exactly what the two of us needed.

Last weekend, Shadi and I made a trip to a nearby town called Cotacachi which is famous for its leatherworks. And now it is famous for how much money it can get two gringas to spend in a 3-hour time period. Between the two of us, we went home with five leather jackets, three handbags, and 3 scarves. I should mention that all of this cost less than any one of our jackets would at home. So I don’t feel too guilty about the shopping spree.

The best part of the day though was when Shadi went back to a store we visited earlier in order to buy the last two of our jackets. After deciding on her purchases she realized that she didn’t have enough cash to buy them, and she hadn’t bought a credit card, as most merchants won’t accept them. So the guy who owned the shop (along with his sister and mother, both of whom we met) ushered us through his house and out to his garage in order to take Shadi to the nearest ATM. These folks really wanted the sale. And afterward they invited us to join them for lunch, which we turned down. When would you ever get such treatment in the U.S.?

I was meant to go to Quito this weekend for dinner (food with flavor), movie (not dubbed), museum, etc, but I came down with a nasty bug late Thursday night. At first I thought it was the chicken I bought off the street from a lady who cooks out of her garage, but when the fever set in I knew it was the flu that’s been going around. So once again, I’ve been stuck home sick in bed. Thankfully its effects seem pretty short-lived as I’m doing a lot better today after a really rough day yesterday. I’m hoping to actually be able to eat solid food and leave the house tomorrow.

This week Shadi and I gratefully welcomed two new volunteers to Muenala: Rowan and Amy. It’s great to have the extra help with our very high-spirited students. But the extra numbers are short-lived as Shadi finished off on Friday. After mentioning her so much you may think that I’ll feel lost without her. Well, we’re not rid of each other yet. I will be meeting up with Shadi on Thursday to embark on what should prove to be our biggest adventure yet.

I leave for Peru on Thursday to hike to Machu Picchu. I’ve decided that I’ve worked really hard over the past 11 weeks and therefore I’m giving myself a vacation. It’s a five-day hike (Salcantay Trek, if you want to google it) in the Andes that joins up with the Inca Trail on Day 4 and then into Machu Picchu on Day 5. It should be totally amazing, although I expect it to kick my ass. What’s crazy is that I have to spend more time traveling to get to Cusco, Peru than I actually spend hiking. Shadi and I will be traveling by bus to Lima, Peru (via Loja – 12 hours – to Piura – 8 hours – to Lima – 14 hours), then we catch a flight from Lima to Cusco (to avoid that 26-hour bus ride). And then we have to do it back the following Saturday so that I can be back in school by Tuesday. And of course in between those two long journeys is the 5 days of hiking. I expect to be pretty much wiped out by the time it’s all over. But then again, I’ll only have a little more than two weeks left on the project by the time I return. It’s amazing to think how fast the time has gone, especially when it felt like it would be forever when I arrived here.

And as for life in the school (you know, the reason I came here in the first place), things are really going well. I’ve been working with the 3^rd and 4^th grade for the past five weeks, and it’s been great. I still have days that I think I’m not doing a good job, but they are fewer and far between at this point. And I’m really getting a lot closer to my kids every day. Each hug I get I appreciate so much considering how long it took to get to a point where my kids wanted to show that kind of affection. And I’ve managed to get them to work really hard in school, so I haven’t had to sacrifice the educational goals I set in order to have them like me. So now that I’m in the home stretch, I’m finally feeling pretty confident about what I do everyday. It’s a good thing I allowed myself so much time here or else I could have gone home feeling like a total failure.

Ok, that should catch everyone up. Sorry for the communication blackouts on this end. But honestly, I’m so bloody tired most of the time that I can’t get myself to update my blog, or email, etc. But I promise to try harder in these final weeks.