So, I am here in Tena, one of the largest cities (and really it feels like a town) in the Amazon region of Ecuador. My new host family is wonderful - my host sister is eleven, Karina; she is super friendly, but talks really fast. My host dad travels a lot, so I have not met him yet. My host mom, Rocio, is also my supervisor at the hospital. She is a clinical social worker and so far it has been really interesting to observe her work - I just wish I knew more Spanish. My room overlooks one of the largest streets in town, but at night I can open the doors and there have been cool winds and thunderstorms - a welcome relief from the heat. Our first night the storm was strong enough to come through the skylight and we had to move the table while we were eating dinner.
At work there are two other students from the program, Allie (from Grinnell) and Emily (from McAlaster). I have been helping to take people´s information and it is challenging to spell the names correctly. It has been truly eye-opening in terms of the struggles and poverty that many people in this community experience. Often the social worker comes into the picture at the moment of crisis, meaning that the situation is ususally pretty bad. I spent part of today in emergency and the patients need to purchase their own saline and gloves when they come in. We watched a minor toe operation and a doctor diagnosed this kid with a parasite from water. Each day here will be very different and I am working on learning all the new Spanish vocab for medical and social work related words.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Monday, March 26, 2007
highlights...
so much has happened since my last update….so I will stick with the highlights.
-Cuenca is maybe my favorite place so far in Ecuador….narrow streets, colonial buildings, parks with fountains, a beautiful river through town, incredible markets with everything from fake puma shoes to hand woven sweaters….and the city is very close to national parks with some of the most incredible scenery.
-explored Inca ruins with long, stone walls with no grout surrounded by mountains and indigenous towns.
-nora’s cousin in the States is married to a man from Cuenca, so we visited his parents and sister. They were incredible welcoming as if we were long lost children and the mother prepared an enormous, traditional meal with mote, ensalada, chicken and potatoes.
-back in Quito we took the Teleferiqo (sort of like an enclosed chair lift) up to 4100 meters for the view of the city before hiking higher until we were literally above the clouds. On the way down we got caught by a huge storm preventing the carts from moving….when we finally started the descent, it was so foggy that the wires looked suspended in mid-air.
-went with Nora and her host mother for the best / cheapest haircut of my life ($15). It turns out that Jimmy, the haircutter, travels with Miss Ecuador and the former Miss Ecuador was in the chair next to me getting her hair done, all of which cracked me up. It is not too short, maybe a little below shoulder-length, but it looks a lot less scraggly.
-night tour of Quito with my family in the central historic district to see the churches with lights, then up to the huge statue of the Virgin of Quito for the most amazing view of the city.
-Leaving tomorrow for my internship in Tena, a town in the Oriente, or Amazon region. I am excited for the work and to spend time with my new family, but also sad to leave my Quito family who I am comfortable with at this point. I will be living and working with the clinical social worker, Rocio, her 12-year-old daughter, and I think the husband. I am excited about the opportunity to speak only Spanish and curious about the work in Tena’s large public hospital.
-Cuenca is maybe my favorite place so far in Ecuador….narrow streets, colonial buildings, parks with fountains, a beautiful river through town, incredible markets with everything from fake puma shoes to hand woven sweaters….and the city is very close to national parks with some of the most incredible scenery.
-explored Inca ruins with long, stone walls with no grout surrounded by mountains and indigenous towns.
-nora’s cousin in the States is married to a man from Cuenca, so we visited his parents and sister. They were incredible welcoming as if we were long lost children and the mother prepared an enormous, traditional meal with mote, ensalada, chicken and potatoes.
-back in Quito we took the Teleferiqo (sort of like an enclosed chair lift) up to 4100 meters for the view of the city before hiking higher until we were literally above the clouds. On the way down we got caught by a huge storm preventing the carts from moving….when we finally started the descent, it was so foggy that the wires looked suspended in mid-air.
-went with Nora and her host mother for the best / cheapest haircut of my life ($15). It turns out that Jimmy, the haircutter, travels with Miss Ecuador and the former Miss Ecuador was in the chair next to me getting her hair done, all of which cracked me up. It is not too short, maybe a little below shoulder-length, but it looks a lot less scraggly.
-night tour of Quito with my family in the central historic district to see the churches with lights, then up to the huge statue of the Virgin of Quito for the most amazing view of the city.
-Leaving tomorrow for my internship in Tena, a town in the Oriente, or Amazon region. I am excited for the work and to spend time with my new family, but also sad to leave my Quito family who I am comfortable with at this point. I will be living and working with the clinical social worker, Rocio, her 12-year-old daughter, and I think the husband. I am excited about the opportunity to speak only Spanish and curious about the work in Tena’s large public hospital.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Cuenca
I am in Cuenca (3rd largest city) right now tryping in an internet cafe next to our beautiful hostal. I am with Nora, her parents and her brother for our week-long spring break before the internships. We went first to Baños for a couple of nights to hike and go to the hot srings. On the bus I sat next to an indigenous woman, Eva, and she offered to teach me Quichua if I would teach her English. She wanted to listen to some of my music, so I played her some Los Lobos, which she said she loved. Eva is from a town called Salasaca, famous for weaving, and she is studying economics in Quito so she can run her own business. She invited me to visit her when mom comes. In Baños we took a night bus ride up to see the active volcano, but it was so foggy that we could not see much of anything. On the way back a couple of guys were trying to ask us what we were doing that night, but I thought they asked why I was looking straight ahead in the bus, so I responded "i am not so good with the altitude" which is now an ongoing joke on the trip. Basically, that phrase works for just about anything. The seven hour bus ride to Cuenca was breathtaking - winding dirt roads through the Andes with indigenous women getting on and off and people jumping on in towns to sell all sorts of snacks. Cuenca is a colonial city with a beautiful river, flower market and huge churches.
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