Hace 3 Meses Aqui

We have been here in San Bernardo/Sasapud for 3 months now. As expected the newness has rubbed off and we are down to the normal rhythms of life with its usual ups and downs. At first it seemed like things happened without too much effort on our part. Now it seems like we have to really make a strong effort with a measure of thoughtful concentration to make helpful change happen.

We still deal alot with issues of daily life: being with the ever increasing boredom, how to bathe without a shower, keeping warm, how to keep the mice out, keeping the dogs out of the garden, and now, dealing with the dust driven by strong winds. Our best times continue to be connecting with the people and living things in our little part of the world. These photos show a couple of families we visited (Lucy wasn't as sleepy as she looks). One includes a retired pastor who still works for the benefit of his community and asked Lucy to put on a workshop to help the women learn something new. She is going to help them make tapioca pudding as there is plenty of eggs and milk produced here. The other family spins their own wool yarn by hand to make ponchos and handbags. Lots of wool produced in this valley as well. Rosa, the young woman in the last photo is receiving a scholarship from a Peace Corps volunteer committee to attend high school (colegio) as her father died a number of years ago. The animal in the picture is a "cuy", or a guinea pig as Norte Americanos know them. Cuys in Ecuador are a traditionally favorite food reserved for special occasions. We have tried them on twice -hard to refuse as they are offering you their best. But it is very difficult for me to know they are killing one of these little guys in my honor!

Lucy is finding her teaching and cooking skills in big demand. I'm struggling some because my skills seem less in demand. Yet one more lesson for me in patience and letting go of identity. The I Ching says that success usually leads to failure and failure usually leads to success.....two sides of the same coin.

That's all for now folks. If you haven't checked out our friends' in Wisconsin, Farmer to Farmer, at their website, you should. They are doing great work: www.farmertofarmer.org

Craig

Padre Rumi---sacred rock in the paramo

Hi Folks. I'm trying this post for a second time from Ambato as yesterday the electricity went off in Riobamba and my work was for naught. Thought I'd post a few more pics of Padre Rumi, the sacred rock that Lucy and I hiked to (at around 13,000 feet)a couple of hours from our house. Juan and his son Oscar were our guides. As you can see from the photos, this rock is a very strange phenomenon sitting 4 stories tall on the fairly level top of the grass-covered mountains. My favorite of this series is the couple working their steep field with azodones. The women appears to have a baby on her back which is very common here. In this indigenous culture, men and women appear to share equally in physical work as their strength allows. Believe me. These women are strong! Lucy insisted I put up a photo that includes myself, so there's one of the ol' geezer showing off the drip irrigation system I installed just before it started raining almost non-stop. That's all for today. Love to all.

Craig

It's still raining

Alli Chichi friends. I'm in sunny Riobamba again today and thought I would catch you up on what's happening in our lives. Out at our site it has been raining several times every day (all night last night). This is very unusual for this time of the year when usually it is dry and windy now with no rain until September. Perhaps more evidence of global climate change.

Lucy and I are fine. We have been busy. We did a very successful yogurt making workshop in Sasapud attended by 30 women and some of their curious husbands. We were assisted by Crystal, another PCV whom you will see in one of the pics posted today. Now we're getting requests by others to teach them how to make yogurt also.

I had fun experimenting with drip irrigation which I installed in our little garden. This had attracted a lot of interest until about a week ago when it started raining almost nonstop and people are starting to think how they can dry their land out. Lucy and I also started another map of the world on the wall in a classroom in Sasapud. Already were finding it a good way to meet more people up there in that remote town. Lucy is also teaching a sunday afternoon English class in Sasapud which was well attended last Sunday. The Indigenous seem to have little regard for the Spanish language but hold the English language in high esteem. Of course many see it as a way to access more opportunity, both educational and economical.

We also accompanied a couple of people from our community to visit another community south of here that neither had visited before. This was to reciprocate a visit another PVC initiated to our site with a woman from her community (Capulispungo)---A new inter-Ecuadorian solidarity project? Maybe they will actually start helping each other. The other community did make us grateful for where we are. It was even colder there and much windier. The soil is much sandier and in many places was completely eroded away. The people seemed downtrodden---poor not only financially but also in spirit.

You will see here a couple of photos of us trekking up to maybe 13000 feet to visit Padre Rumi, a sacred rock located in the paramo a couple hours from us. As you can see Lucy got a little help from a burro and then a horse. The paramo is beautiful, but maybe endangered as well from to much cattle grazing. As we understand it, it acts as a big sponge for all the winter rains and then slowly releases it to the water table the remainer of the year.

Enough for now. Our thoughts are with those of you who have suffered loss. May peace be with you.

Strange weather here too

I hope this finds you well and happy. Lucy and I have been reading news of home in Wisconsin where the weather has been challenging to say the least (baseball-sized hail and tornadoes). One friend of ours lost her barn. Here we have cold rain 4 or 5 times a day and it has been this way for the last two weeks. The sun rarely comes out and lots of crops are being lost to fungus and blight.

Despite the challenging weather, we're fine. Not to say there are no ups and downs but for the most part we feel we have adjusted. I think the most difficult adjustments are behind us. We have stayed busy with a number of things besides keeping house. Lots of families are trying to build houses when the weather cooperates. We have been helping Jose (notice Lucy with the women helping prepare concrete mix and Jose with his father, Feliciano in the pictures above). We have also been working on a map of the world which the community is now excited about. The last couple of days many have been painting the many countries of the world and asking endless questions (another pic above). The picture of the children is in Sasapud where we just had the luck of connecting with a group of women who want us to lead a workshop on yogurt making. I say luck because because of auspicious coincendences that led a man to be present who helped translate to Spanish for us as these women mostly speak Kichwa.

The last picture is of one of the ¨hungry ghost¨dogs that come by regularly to see if we have any food to share----which we usually do. My heart always goes out to these beings who are lacking in essential nourishment and of course, love.

my this find you well nourished in all that is essential.

Craig

alli tuta May 9, 2008

Hi folks! Things are looking up for us right now. Lucy and I are both healthy and we have moved into a more comfortable house. The first picture is of our house above the foundation "Inti Nan" from across the river. The second one shows Lucy on the steps we have to climb to get up to our home. I included a typical street scene and a couple of the vistas as we look down the valley from San Bernardo (at 10,700 feet) towards the town of Llin Llin. I'll post some people shots tomorrow. We are heading out to eat now here in Riobamba where we are shopping for household goods and a good matress. Hasta pronto.

Craig

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

It's official---now we are Peace Corps Volunteers

April 23 Lucy and I were sworn in as volunteers at the Ambassador's residence last week. It was an uplifted atmosphere with everyone dressed up. There were some terrific speeches and one of the volunteers even composed a song for the occasion. Lucy had to wear sunglasses because her eye was very red from a broken capillary. I wore them too in solidarity. The view from the residence was astounding with a valley leading out to Volcan Cayambe. This was the first day in weeks that the sun was shining and it wasn't raining. After we swore allegiance to our country and to the values Peace Corps stands for, we were lucky enough to receive a tour of the Ambassador's residence from the Ambassador's husband. Lucy and I and a couple of other volunteers are meeting with the ambassador near our site in a few weeks. The ambassador is retiring soon and is being replaced by another woman. There's a photo here of me with our beautiful language teachers.....Cisa, Teresa, Carmen, Alexandra, and Silvana. Chevere!

Presently we're studying Kichwa with Jose who you will see in later photos. Lucy's eye is looking better so we are going out to our site to live at the end of this week. We are feeling both anxiousness and anticipation for our life in San Bernardo/Sasapud. It will be a challenge to live there we know, but we also know the people are resilient and generous. We'll keep you updated.

kaya kama,

Craig