Yes, I understand that I have not blogged in a VERY long time and A LOT has happened since my last post. In this blog I will recount the Rural Experience. 2 weekends ago the BC Gringos paired up and lived with indigenous host families. We had absolutely no idea of what to expect as we drove through the rural countryside in the back of a pick up truck. Suddenly, Colleen and I were instructed to exit the vehicle with our belongings... we had arrived. A woman named Luz Maria greeted us and guided us towards the entrance of her home. Upon entering we were greeted by two of her daughters who we shared great conversation with while Luz Maria was preparing dinner. As we were about to sit down, Segundo, the father of the home returned from work. Segundo, works in Quito during the week (2.5 hours away) and returns home every weekend. Luz Maria and Segundo also have two other daughters who study in Quito and, like their father, escape the chaotic city life every weekend and return home to Santa Barbara, Ecuador.
Every member of the Alta-Alta family spoke both Spanish and Quichua (the two official Ecuadorian languages), Quichua being the native language of many indigenous Ecuadorian families. Quichua is mainly considered an oral language due to the lack of written Quichua books, newspapers, etc. and approximately 15% of Ecuadorians speak Quichua as their first language. Interestingly enough the English words condor, llama, and jerky (beef jerky) all originate from the Quichua language. Lastly, the words in the language are SO long it's absurd... for example "Hi" is Rimaykullaki (wtf).
After dinner the first night Colleen and I were exhausted and knew we would have to wake up very early the next morning so we headed to bed and had one of our lovely 3 hour pillow talks. The next morning we woke up at 6:45, ate breakfast, and then headed to the minga. Santa Barbara is a town that is based off of what seems to be socialism. Every family of the town is required to send two family members to the minga (land of crops) every weekend. If they fail to do so, their electricity will be turned off. In the minga, Colleen and I (along with Toryn, Pat, and Kevin who were in the same town) used what I think was a hoe? to make dirt mounds around some corn. After noticing that town members were trailing me fixing all of my mounds I realized that I was not cut out for manual labor. In the middle of the work one man offered us chicha which is an extremely sweet, sugar-cane based, drink. We all took a few sips and realized that not only was it absolutely foul but also that the dogs had been drinking out of the same bucket of chicha. Let's just say I was very happy when the minga work was over.
Colleen and I then walked around the village for an hour taking pictures and playing with many a little puppy. The people of Santa Barbara grow all of their own vegetables, raise all of their own cows, pigs, chickens, etc. Thus, the food that they eat is incredibly fresh and healthy. Many times throughout the weekends if Luz Maria needed an ingredient Colleen and I would go into our garden and pick it! This made me realize that one day I too would love to have a little garden in my backyard. For lunch this afternoon we ate the infamous cuy. In Ecuador, it is a tradition to eat guinea pig. We had the opportunity of learning the entire process from the selection of the cuy, the de-hairing, the gutting, and the cooking. Below are a few pictures that may make you want to either vomit, cry, or punch me in the face for animal cruelty... But, it's all part of the experience. While the cuy did taste like chicken I could not stop thinking about my 4th grade pet guinea pig, Baxter.... safe to say that was the first and last time I will eat guinea pig.
After lunch the five of us walked into the closest town with one of my host sisters where we went to the indigenous market, ate some tostados (sorry Amanda) and learned more about the indigenous culture. For entertainment, teenagers in this town play a street game involving a rotating top and a string. However, I couldn't tell you what exactly this game entails. Tostado reference: I have failed to mention the abundance of street food in Ecuador. No matter which part of Ecuador you are in there will be at least 5 people trying to sell you street food which ranges from corn to chicken to empenadas. Amanda, our coordinator, warned us against eating this food because she believes it is unsanitary and will, in her words, "give us stomach amoebas that will eat away at our organs". She even had the audacity to force Pat and I to throw out a bowl of tostados (best food ever) three weeks ago because she legit thought death would ensue.
We then ate dinner with the entire family, and went to sleep... again, after a long long pillow talk. The next morning we woke up and prepared for a 30 person family lunch for that afternoon. We picked potatoes from the field, sorted corn, and peeled beans for hours. When the time came for us to finally eat Colleen and I were both starving and the food was incredible. Homemade cheese, meat from the pig they had killed the day before (picture below), fresh vegetables, etc. Unfortunately, after lunch we had to pack our bags and say goodbye to the Alta-Alta family (pictured below).
My feelings regarding the weekend: It was very difficult for me to not use my Nicaraguan rural experience as a comparison for this weekend. In Nicaragua I lived without running water, electricity, a toilet, shower, etc. Everything was cooked with fire, there was no refrigerator, and I slept under an insect net on a thin "mattress" if you could even call it that... It was, without a doubt, a truly rural experience. My experience in Santa Barbara, on the other hand, was only rural in comparison to a major city like Quito. We had electricity, televisions, computers, cell phones, hot running water, etc. The side house that we stayed in was substantially nicer than their house, however, there were times during the weekend when we were watching Glee and Harry Potter. You know it's not a truly rural experience when your host sister adds you on Facebook before you leave their home. Thus, while I did enjoy my time with Colleen and the Alta-Alta family, I do not believe it had as great of an impact on me as did my experience in Nicaragua where I showered with a bucket, went to the bathroom in a maggot-filled hole, and spit my toothpaste into dirt next to a pig. Our gorgeous room (below):
Before getting onto the bus with all of the other BC students who would be eager to hear about everyone's weekends, the five of us decided to play a practical joke on everyone. We would enter the bus melancholy as ever. We would tell everyone that we didn't wish to talk about our experience and that we needed time to cope that the devastation of that weekend's events. After a while we would "break" and tell them the made up story of our weekend that involved my host sister getting trampled to death by a bull in the field and us having to mourn her death all weekend while the boys dug the hole in which she would be buried. If you are a decent human you can understand how this prank went completely wrong and resulted in the most awkward apology ever. Here I am about to be in tears telling this story to everyone on the bus... not knowing when enough was enough... but the story kept going... and I kept lying... and the sadness that grew upon the faces of my eager listeners inhibited my ability to tell them that all of it was a lie. We had gotten ourselves in too deep and it was Kevin who had to face the group a while later and tell them that it was a complete fabrication... needless to say... the group was livid. Who does that? Who makes up a story about a six year old being trampled to death by a bull? What is wrong with us? Regardless, this story still makes me chuckle.... sue me.
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