First Week On Site

May 1st
Lucy and I are in Riobamba doing some shopping and staying in a hostel where we have a comfortable bed and hot shower. Our fears about the difficulty of life at our site were realized staying there for the first week. San Bernardo is at an elevation of 10,700 feet and our other site, Sasapud is at (por lo menos) 11,000 feet. It is cold and rainy and we have to trudge up and down muddy paths every time we leave our room. Our room is cold and damp---too cold to sit and read. We do warm up in bed with three heavy wool blankets on us. We eat in a primitive outside kitchen where the family likes to cook with a wood fire which is very smoky. The smoke seems to have aggravated a cold I had so I am now hacking and coughing continously. We had headaches at first due to the altitude but those have stopped. We have no cell phone coverage unless we hike up the hill 20 minutes.
That's the bad news.....the good is that the people are wonderful. They seem to take all the adversity in stride. They are always smiling and laughing and carry themselves with dignity. They remind me a lot of the Mayans in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. While some do speak Spanish, they prefer to speak Kichwa which means Lucy and I need to learn much more. Poco a poco. Last Sunday we attended one of the many evangelical Christian churches in the area. We were introduced up front and then shook hands with the over one hundred people in attendance. Unlike service in the U.S., the sermon was short with many different group singing their hymns in Kichwa (two hours total). We were warned not to be to open about our religious persuasion (Buddhism) as they would probably shun us. We decided to be honest about who we are, emphasizing we are from a Christian background of course! Turns out that people have been very accepting of us, even though one of the first questions they ask is if we are ¨evangelicos¨. I think being an older married couple is a big plus. We went up to Sasapud a couple of days ago and were introduced in a big meeting of about 60 people. People seem freindly and genuinely interested in us.
So now we are trying to change our housing situation. We are hoping to rent a two room place that get more sun where we can cook with gas. We are looking at spending good money on a mattress that won´t leave us with a backache. We haven´t decided on a refrigerator, partly because they are almost nonexistent in San Bernardo, and partly because it is so coool we are not sure we need one.
I confess to getting a little excited about all the dairy activity in our region. There are cows grazing everywhere, along with sheep, burros, and pigs. There are many small cheese factories. I'm already thinking of ways they might improve their dairy-centered agriculture. One big problem is there is no rain in the summer and all the abundant pastures dry up. Some sort of way to store silage would make sense. Of course they have very little money (if any) to invest. There's too much rain to think about drying hay. The climate is perfect for small grains with lots of barley and oats being grown. Alfalfa does well here too. Rotational grazing would definitely enhance their milk production as well as help to prevent soil erosion which is a tremendous problem. So much to do, it´s hard to know where to start.
First we are just going to get to know our two communities....sorry no pics this time but we´ll put some more on soon so you can see that despite the poverty, it is very scenic where we are. Thanks to those who have commented here on the blog. As I sit here there is a big parade going by with lots of drums and civic groups chanting slogans....never a shortage of animo here in Ecuador....My you be happy and peaceful.......
Craig