Día de Los niños, beaches, animals, and more!

Hello hello!

I'm currently in the beach town of Canoa, it's about an hour and a half away from our site. You can read more about it below, but it's beautiful here!

Just finished week two of my Ecuador adventures. Sorry if my thoughts here are a bit scattered, I try to type up a bit each day so I can publish it when I reach wifi!

I have managed to (sometimes) get Keenan out of bed for 6:30AM workouts- shout out to november project. The workouts have mostly consisted of running down the Los Camarones road and hoping over the creeks, on the runs we usually see some cattle, large pigs, horses, and are occasionally chased by dogs. Then we do some circuits on the court next to our hut. Usually the kids come and run with us before the start school. They like to race against us! It's super humid even at 6:30AM, and running up the dirt road hills is exhausting, but trying to do a little bit each day to cancel out the amount of time I spend sitting in cars and in the soap shop.

Now for some animal sitings:

Confirmed: Keenan and I believe there is a bat living in our hut. To contrast the terrifying bat, I've seen some pretty cool birds in the forest.

Baby donkey came out 

Family of ducklings

That's a huge pig I saw on my run

Horse from my run:

Baby pigs

Ah! Saw a snake!!

You probably can't see them in this picture, but there were monkeys in the tree!

One of the cats had baby kittens!!!

And I found this cute kitten

I met Mario, betsys husband, for a while I didn't know if she was married or not, but it appears she is except he lives in Pedernales. He brought with him from Pedernales: granadillas (my new fave fruit), Ubillas (kind of like ground cherries), and macadamias (a fruit that looks like an apricot, but is super sour, and good). With the macadamias, they make homemade wine, I don't think this can compete with the sangria my host dad in Spain made, but this wine was super good. Here's a pic of how they make it:

Those little orange things are the macadamias.

This is the Ubilla:

Mario also brought with him from Pedernales, a huge gum ball machine. He found it on the street in Pedernales, and it's now in the living room of Betty's home. Everyone has been eating the gym out of it, I'm a little scared to but probably will. I mean, I've probably eaten around 20 bugs so far. 

Also wanted to let you know about my shower situation. Well, it's cold, and this is what it looks like. I have the pleasure of getting to shower with ants, and sometimes the spiders join me. I even got to shower with a lizard for a few days. Feeling super clean. Also, recently have been seeing some cockroaches in the bathroom on the toilet seats and in my room on the wall.

After my shower, I go through my morning routine of applying all of my bug sprays (one for my clothes, one for my skin, and one for my face), sun screens (one for body and one for face), aloe (for my burnt skin) and hydrocortisone (for the bug bites). 

Although there are A LOT of bugs, the bites haven't been as bad as I thought they would be *knocks on wood* I do have like 6 on my right foot though. 

Challenges I'm encountering:

I thought that I would be able to eat here, and the food is good, but the problem is that the food is always hot (soup, chicken, steamed veggies) and it's always hot outside and Air conditioning is not a thing here, not even fans. So it's super hot inside too. I often just have my peanut butter and fruits and some rice. But don't worry mom, I am eatting!

Another thing that I don't know if I ever will get used to is how slow things move around here, even slower than when I was in Spain. I'm trying my best to be patient! The ladies work on average 2 hours a day, so trying to motivate them to do more work is challenging.

There is a new puppy friend in the neighborhood, it's 2 weeks old and so freaking adorable.

 The owner is Galita, she is another women that works with the soap. She has 6 kids, but the youngest and the ones that live in the village are Kenya and Lorena.

Sunday: after a night of not sleeping at all (there was a fiesta near my hut with blasting music until 5:30AM), I Was invited to the party from some of the guys, who many have mentioned wanting to marry me (just so they can come to the U.S.), but I was too tired by the time the party started.

Sunday, Keenan and I went to Pedernales by ourselves for the first time. We did a good job navigating the streets and not getting lost. We then headed back to town and did our laundry. I was planning on doing the laundry in the river, but Betsy let us use their washer! And my clothes are currently drying on clotheslines in my hut. 

I then played a game of basketball with Betsy and some guys in the community. It was really fun, and tiring, and they play quite violently here. Fouls are not a thing.

Monday:

Woke up and worked out on my own! Then went to día de los niños (day of the kids) at the neighborhood school. Día de Los niños is basically a day that celebrates the kids. I would compare it to the last day of school for kids in the US, except this is a national Latin American holiday that always takes place on the first of June. I arrived to school around 9am and the teacher asked me to watch the kids while she went to do something. Some of the kids were fighting, which I tried to break up, others were just talking. I thought, why not take this as an opportunity to teach some english. So I told the class, anyone who wants, I'll teach them some English. A few kids quickly brought theirs chairs to the front of the class with their notebooks, many stayed in the back and continued to chat. I taught the kids some basic phrases like, hello, thank you, you're welcome, where is the bathroom, and then began to teach them the alphabet. One of the kids was super awesome and kept wanting to learn how to says things in English- the kid is going places. Finally the teacher came back and said we still had to wait more time until festivities begin, so we went outside and played tag with the kids. It was super hot out but fun to run around with them.

Then the día de Los anos festivities began as we transferred all the desks from one classroom/ building to another.

I really didn't know what to expect from this day, but it definitely was nothing close to what I could have even expected. First, there was a dance off, but not just a normal dance off, like they had partners (boy and girl) and were seriously dancing. I wish I could post videos in this blog, but these screen shots will have to do. As a reminder, these children are 5-9 years old.

Please take a look at the couple on the left, seriously getting down- definition of dirty dancing. 

After the dance off, where the teachers selected the most "sexy" dancers, this is not a lie, the professor actually said that, there was a modeling competition.

Boys and girls were paired up and had to walk into the class room linked arms together and then walk around the room and pose. Then the girls each walked around, shook their hips, and blew kisses to the crowd and the boys walked around and showed their "muscles" to the crowd. When I say crowd, I mean other kids. 

To choose the "niño/a del año" the kids each took a slip of paper out of a bag, and one of the slips of paper said winner, while all of the others said you lose. The boy winner got a soccer ball and the girl winner got a fake cell phone, as if everything else that happened that day wasn't sexist enough. But that's the culture here, and even though I try to be accepting of the cultures I interact with, I can't help but be nervous for these girls who I already see succumbing to the boys who grab their arms to dance with them. There is this thing here called "machismo" which is basically that men are always right and women are always wrong. Men are the breadwinners who can go out and work and provide for their families while women have to stay at home, cook, clean, and watch the kids. This is a difficulty for the soap project because Anthony is always running around and being an interruption. Even when Mario puts in his opinion about the soap project, it's very condoscending towards Betsy.

Día de Los niños culminated with all of the kids getting a handful of candy and then we ate lunch all together- chicken and rice and Ecuadorian versions of mozzarella sticks (not as good as the American type).

Here are some more pictures from the festivities:

This is the school, 50 kids attend, they are broken up into two class rooms, ages 5-8 and 9-12.

This is what a classroom looks like:

Lorena- the Niña del año and also the daughter of Galita. She's my new best friend, she lets me play with the puppy and she is adorable. 

Selecting the winner!

This kid dressed to impress and wore a suit- he was also a pretty smooth dancer and was trying to dance with the older ladies.

This is the modeling contest

Dancing with this kiddies

With the niños 

Then after eatting we headed back to work because Betsy went to Pedernales for the night she said she'd be back in the morning by 11, which I expected to be 12, but it was actually 3. When she got back she asked if I wanted to play basketball but I said I really wanted to work on some things with her. So, we sat down and talked about the history of their project, the challenges they face, why it's important to them, why they need the money, and more. Then I explained what a SWOT analysis is, (except it's called a FODA, fuertes, oportunidades, debiles, y amenazas) and we ran a FODA for their microempesa. Then we played basketball- my team won and we bet on beers, so that was a nice reward.

Only one of the high school students brought their list of names, so I didn't give them the cookies I brought. We talked about a FODA and then ate the other foods that some of the students brought and they wanted to hear american music and learn how we dance in the US. I played some of the music on my phone and attempted to teach a few of them how to swing dance, as this is the only kind of dance I kind of know. Also, the U.S. Really isn't known for a certain type of dance that I can think of.

Tuesday: worked out and then had crepes for breakfast which were great. Then we actually got to work fairly quick. We measured how much time it would take to peel and grind 2 lbs of seeds, and followed and timed the entire process through, which created 12 bars of soap.

After work, I taught Rosa and Betsy how to play some card games, we played Egyptian rat screw, which they really liked, and then some kids came and we played squares and tongues. I then taught them a little bit of yoga!

Wednesday:

Went into Pedernales-- BY MYSELF. I wanted to get their early to start doing some research, so I hopped in Angel's car. Keenan, Betsy and Mario would come later. After an hour or so at the Internet store, as I call it, Betsy stopped in and she said she would come back at 12 and we could look for some materials we needed. Well, I assumed 12 meant 1, so I was fine waiting until then, but when 2:00 came around, I figured I should start looking for another way to get back to Camarones. I was also super hungry. I left and went to a bakery and coincidentally ran into Keenan and Betsy, Betsy thought I had left with angel- so there must have been some miscommunication there... But thankfully I ran into them so I could get a free ride back in marios car. When we got back, we took a little hike up to one of the soap woman's houses which had a beautiful view!

Me and Betsy 

We then watched the Jimmy Fallon show (with Spanish sub titles) and had dinner. After dinner, the high school kids came and we talked about possible brand names (a few of them did their homework) and then they made a batch of soap. I treated them to cookies :)

Thursday

In the morning, Betsy told us she was going to Jama with Mario and asked if we wanted to come with, and she said there was Internet there. I figured I could get some research done there so we said sure. Betsy, Mario, Anthony, Keenan and I all fit in the front seat of a truck and drove to Jama which was about an hour away. Mario dropped Kennan and I off on the side of the highway and pointed us in the direction of town. After a 20 minute walk into town and asking various shop owners where we could find Internet, it was confirmed that there is no internet in the village of Jama. Pretty frustrated at this point, I go into a random place of business and just ask to use one of their outlets and the guy working was nice enough to let me. Keenan went off and explored while I did some readings and watched some lectures I had downloaded on my laptop. We met up at noon and then were walking back to the highway when we saw their truck and Betsy, Mario and Anthony eatting lunch at a nearby restaurant. I got some bread from a panaderia and bought some string to make some friendship bracelets and then we sat and waited for them to finish their errands. They had bought a ton of bricks which were loaded in the back of the truck- and they had Keenan sit back there on the ride back. I was a little nervous for him, but we all survived.

The town of Jama:

Back in Camarones, I chatted with Galita and Berna about the soap project and asked them some questions because Betsy left with Mario to go somewhere and we didn't know where she went...

Also, electricity is out again. This is about the 4th time this week. I feel so bad for these students that have to study in the dark- I can't even imagine. We had another candle lit dinner and there is no more running water so not sure when I'll be able to shower. Never thought I'd be saying how much I miss cold showers with bugs. 

Also, the high school students aren't able to come because there is no light.

Workers have come to Camarones and started to cut down a lot of trees because they think the trees are hitting the Power lines causing the electricity outages, we'll see if it helps!

So so thankful for the running power we have in the US. 

Nicole studying with the candle

Friday:

I went to Pedernales by myself this morning to do some work at the Internet store. I got a ride there and back from Angel, my normal driver. I of course grabbed some pan (bread) at the panaderia while in town.

Upon getting back I was planning to do some work with Betsy but she said she was going into town...

So, Keenan and I finished work early on Friday and headed off on our weekend adventure. We made reservations at a hostel in a near by beach town, called Canoa, with the other interns who were living at the site in the Lalo loor reserve. We took a bus to Canoa, missed our stop, and then had to take another bus to Canoa (which only cost 75 cents)

Then we finally found our hotel, settled in, grabbed a drink and checked out the wifi. Once everyone got here we went to the beach and watched the sunset.. Beautiful...

We then headed back to our hostel, and upon finding out that we were staying a hostel owned by spaniards, that had a restaurant in it, I suggested eatting dinner at our hotel. I mainly really wanted tortilla espanola, which really made me miss Spain and my host mom, but it was delicious!

We then walked around town for a little bit and just chilled in some hammocks by the beach!

That night was the first night in my two weeks here that I got sick, and I've never been happy to be sick, but I am happy that I was in a real bathroom in our hotel room.

Saturday I woke up and felt much better. We had breakfast at our new hotel (we switched to a little bit nicer one, the first one was $10 a night, the second $15).

Fave part of my new hotel: hammocks

We hung out in the hammocks for a while and then decided we should hit up he beach! We rented a few surf boards and I decided, as much as surfing scares me, I would give it a try. One of the girls I was with has surfed a bunch before so she was teaching me how. It was so fun! I got up on the board once for like 3 seconds, but was pretty impressed with myself. I was able to surf on my knees for a little bit longer. So happy I tried it!!

Then grabbed some Patacones for lunch, which are the platano verdes (a type of plantain) fried. Then just chilled on the beach until dinner time where we just ate a cheap dinner at our hotel and had some drinks, played some pool and ping pong and went to a beach hut for some music and dancing that was right next to our hotel. I was exhausted, so I called it a night early, but it was a good day of sand and sun! :)

Staying on the second floor:

Today was our last day in Canoa. We hit up the beach for a swim in the warm, beautiful ocean. Later, Keenan and I took a walk down the beach to visit a hotel that was currently purchasing soap from Betsy. After talking to the owner of the hotel, we learned a lot more about the project. I'm glad we talked to him and gained some valuable information. We grabbed some lunch and are heading back to Camarones soon!

Hope all is well with everyone in the states! Cheering on the Blackhawks from Ecuador and wishing you all a wonderful week ahead! :)

Sending smiles from Canoa,

Rebecca