My Thanksgiving was productive to say the least. I spent the entire day working on my house. It is almost finished and looks really nice. Livable even. All I have to do is paint the trim of the bathroom and move everything in. My goal is to move in tomorrow. I don’t think that it should be a problem. After I finish writing this blog I am going to go to Machala to make more purchases. It is costing me a small Peace Corps fortune (which is significantly less than a regular fortune), but it is worth it to turn this place into a home.
In the evening I went to Machala to eat dinner with my fellow volunteers. One of them had cooked a lovely dinner of chicken stuffed with ham, cheese, and spinach, mashed potatoes, and for dessert, apple pie. It was a lot of fun. I must admit, I wasn’t exactly the life of the party. I was so tired that I spent most of the evening sitting there like a zombie. Still, it was fun and nice to do something special for the holiday.
Friday, November 28, 2008
November 26, 2008
I am completely exhausted. Every muscle in my body aches. Even my bones ache. I would kill for a hot bath and a massage. Here is why:
Over the weekend one of my volunteer friends wanted to start painting her apartment. Being the wonderful person that I am ;-) I agreed to help her. 7 hour on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. That’s love! We got a lot done, but I was so tired on Saturday that I decided to bail on my friends who were planning to go dancing. I really wanted to go out, but I was so physically exhausted that I knew I would be 0 fun. Oh… and then on Sunday night the neighbors BLASTED their music until after midnight. I was seriously in tears!
Monday my Peace Corps boss came to check in on us volunteers and approve our housing. She didn’t have very much time; just long enough to peak into the library, approve my house (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!), and take me and another volunteer out for an amazing seafood dinner. It was really great to see her.
So since my house has officially been Okayed, I started to fix it up Tuesday morning. I got there at 9:30 in the morning and didn’t stop until about the same time at night. In the afternoon the same volunteer I helped out stopped by and eventually a group of children discovered where I was living and piled into the house to ‘help’ and hang out. I seriously blinked and my house was suddenly filled with about 10 children. I really hope this is not a sign to come. I would love visitors, but no more than a few at a time. Oh… and not in my room. I girl has to have some privacy!
Today I spent tutoring English, aching all over, and continuing to fix up my place. I am almost done painting it all. Now I just have to scrub/bleach/disinfect EVERYTHING!! Tomorrow I plan on going to the mall and buying just about every disinfected that I can get my hands on. I also need to wash my clothes… God I hurt so much!
Oh… and Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I decided to skip Thanksgiving this year on the basis that I will not be eating my mother’s turkey stuffing—which is the best stuffing EVER—so why even bother celebrating at all? I am fine with it. Thanksgiving has never been a very important holiday to my family. After all, I did spend the last four Thanksgivings working. I did have the opportunity to go to Quito to eat dinner with an embassy family, but Quito is so far away and I am currently concentrating all my energies on fixing up my new home. My goal is to officially move in on Saturday. At this rate, I will make it… but what condition will my body be in?
Over the weekend one of my volunteer friends wanted to start painting her apartment. Being the wonderful person that I am ;-) I agreed to help her. 7 hour on Saturday and 6 on Sunday. That’s love! We got a lot done, but I was so tired on Saturday that I decided to bail on my friends who were planning to go dancing. I really wanted to go out, but I was so physically exhausted that I knew I would be 0 fun. Oh… and then on Sunday night the neighbors BLASTED their music until after midnight. I was seriously in tears!
Monday my Peace Corps boss came to check in on us volunteers and approve our housing. She didn’t have very much time; just long enough to peak into the library, approve my house (YAY!!!!!!!!!!!), and take me and another volunteer out for an amazing seafood dinner. It was really great to see her.
So since my house has officially been Okayed, I started to fix it up Tuesday morning. I got there at 9:30 in the morning and didn’t stop until about the same time at night. In the afternoon the same volunteer I helped out stopped by and eventually a group of children discovered where I was living and piled into the house to ‘help’ and hang out. I seriously blinked and my house was suddenly filled with about 10 children. I really hope this is not a sign to come. I would love visitors, but no more than a few at a time. Oh… and not in my room. I girl has to have some privacy!
Today I spent tutoring English, aching all over, and continuing to fix up my place. I am almost done painting it all. Now I just have to scrub/bleach/disinfect EVERYTHING!! Tomorrow I plan on going to the mall and buying just about every disinfected that I can get my hands on. I also need to wash my clothes… God I hurt so much!
Oh… and Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I decided to skip Thanksgiving this year on the basis that I will not be eating my mother’s turkey stuffing—which is the best stuffing EVER—so why even bother celebrating at all? I am fine with it. Thanksgiving has never been a very important holiday to my family. After all, I did spend the last four Thanksgivings working. I did have the opportunity to go to Quito to eat dinner with an embassy family, but Quito is so far away and I am currently concentrating all my energies on fixing up my new home. My goal is to officially move in on Saturday. At this rate, I will make it… but what condition will my body be in?
Monday, November 17, 2008
November 17, 2008
Life has been busy and since I recently lost my flash drive and haven´t been motivated to buy another, my blog writing has slowed.
On Friday I had another ´Libros and Arte´ (Books and Art class). This time seven children showed up. I was very pleased. For the occasion I busted out a witch wig my mother had sent me in one of her random packages for the librarian to wear while she read the story. (Btw… the story is about a witch). The wig was a huge success!!!The children loved it! However… so did the town police officer. He happened to walk into the library while we were reading the story and thought it was so cool that he insisted on wearing the wig around town. Eventually, I got it back. I was so impressed with my mother for thinking of sending the wig to me. I really do get all my creativity from her (cause it definitely doesn´t come from my dad!)
On Saturday I spent the morning helping set up for the library celebration that was to be held that evening. However I was feeling pretty depressed and wasn´t of much use to anyone. I don´t know if it was that I was hitting the five month mark or because Christmas (my absolutely favorite time of year) is coming and I´m not at home, but I was really mopey. I sent a text to one of my Peace Corps friends and she called me up and really made me feel a lot better. It is amazing how fast Peace Corps Volunteers bond. We are each others´ lifelines.
Anyway, after my friend cheered me up it was time to get ready for the town celebration. I got all dressed up because the mayor of Machala was supposedly coming (he ended up sending his second in command) and I had to make a speech. The speech went ok. I didn´t shake as much as I did the first time, but I was still really nervous and struggled with a few words. All in all, I think it went fine. Then two PC friends showed up (although not in time to hear me speak) and I was able to show off my library and introduce them to all the people I have been working with. Unfortunately, some apparently important lady started questioning me why my fellow PCVs haven´t been working in the libraries and raising money in their sites. I was pretty offended on my friends´ behalf. Especially because she had proceeded this interrogation by demanding to know why I hadn´t yet started a theater group (she knows I used to do theater). “I´m sorry lady,” I felt like saying, “I have been busy building this lovely library.” Needless to say, she didn´t really make a good impression on me.
Sunday morning I met up with the previous volunteer´s ex boyfriend who is a really nice guy and teaches English. For Christmas he is required to teach his students five English Christmas songs. Since I love Christmas music, he called exactly the right person. I brought him to the library and played a bunch of Christmas songs for him. He really liked ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and ‘Rudolph’ because they have stories behind them. Apparently no one knows who Rudolph is in Ecuador. I think this is a huge shame.
In the afternoon I had promised a little girl in my site that I would help her with her homework. She is in fifth grade and really struggling because she doesn’t know how to read. I brought her to the library so we could have some privacy (thank goodness I have a key) and proceeded to help her. At first I thought she couldn’t read because she had fallen behind on the fundamentals long ago and no one was available to help her catch up. Soon, however, I realized her problem was a lot more serious. She struggles with letters, had no idea what sound each letter makes, and had a difficult time naming numbers higher than 10. Furthermore, she struggles with recalling information that we went over only a few minutes ago. Homework that should have taken a student 30 minutes to complete took us SIX HOURS!!!! I was really impressed that kept at it. I was ready to quit, but she want to complete it all. Of course I could have made things easier but telling her how to spell words or giving her answers, but that would not have helped her. Near the end, her mother came searching for her (it was really late after all). We talked for a few minutes and I agreed to tutor her daughter as often as she needed it. Our next session in tomorrow, but I’m calling it quits after an hour.
This morning I tutored another girl in English and then helped out my counterpart with a self esteem charla. In the afternoon, during another charla, I got the brilliant idea of starting a ‘Question of the Week’ contest and giving out prizes that my mother has sent me. I spent the majority of the afternoon decorating the box making signs, writing out the instructions, and decorating the box that people will drop their answers into. Winners will be announced this Friday!
On Friday I had another ´Libros and Arte´ (Books and Art class). This time seven children showed up. I was very pleased. For the occasion I busted out a witch wig my mother had sent me in one of her random packages for the librarian to wear while she read the story. (Btw… the story is about a witch). The wig was a huge success!!!The children loved it! However… so did the town police officer. He happened to walk into the library while we were reading the story and thought it was so cool that he insisted on wearing the wig around town. Eventually, I got it back. I was so impressed with my mother for thinking of sending the wig to me. I really do get all my creativity from her (cause it definitely doesn´t come from my dad!)
On Saturday I spent the morning helping set up for the library celebration that was to be held that evening. However I was feeling pretty depressed and wasn´t of much use to anyone. I don´t know if it was that I was hitting the five month mark or because Christmas (my absolutely favorite time of year) is coming and I´m not at home, but I was really mopey. I sent a text to one of my Peace Corps friends and she called me up and really made me feel a lot better. It is amazing how fast Peace Corps Volunteers bond. We are each others´ lifelines.
Anyway, after my friend cheered me up it was time to get ready for the town celebration. I got all dressed up because the mayor of Machala was supposedly coming (he ended up sending his second in command) and I had to make a speech. The speech went ok. I didn´t shake as much as I did the first time, but I was still really nervous and struggled with a few words. All in all, I think it went fine. Then two PC friends showed up (although not in time to hear me speak) and I was able to show off my library and introduce them to all the people I have been working with. Unfortunately, some apparently important lady started questioning me why my fellow PCVs haven´t been working in the libraries and raising money in their sites. I was pretty offended on my friends´ behalf. Especially because she had proceeded this interrogation by demanding to know why I hadn´t yet started a theater group (she knows I used to do theater). “I´m sorry lady,” I felt like saying, “I have been busy building this lovely library.” Needless to say, she didn´t really make a good impression on me.
Sunday morning I met up with the previous volunteer´s ex boyfriend who is a really nice guy and teaches English. For Christmas he is required to teach his students five English Christmas songs. Since I love Christmas music, he called exactly the right person. I brought him to the library and played a bunch of Christmas songs for him. He really liked ‘Frosty the Snowman’ and ‘Rudolph’ because they have stories behind them. Apparently no one knows who Rudolph is in Ecuador. I think this is a huge shame.
In the afternoon I had promised a little girl in my site that I would help her with her homework. She is in fifth grade and really struggling because she doesn’t know how to read. I brought her to the library so we could have some privacy (thank goodness I have a key) and proceeded to help her. At first I thought she couldn’t read because she had fallen behind on the fundamentals long ago and no one was available to help her catch up. Soon, however, I realized her problem was a lot more serious. She struggles with letters, had no idea what sound each letter makes, and had a difficult time naming numbers higher than 10. Furthermore, she struggles with recalling information that we went over only a few minutes ago. Homework that should have taken a student 30 minutes to complete took us SIX HOURS!!!! I was really impressed that kept at it. I was ready to quit, but she want to complete it all. Of course I could have made things easier but telling her how to spell words or giving her answers, but that would not have helped her. Near the end, her mother came searching for her (it was really late after all). We talked for a few minutes and I agreed to tutor her daughter as often as she needed it. Our next session in tomorrow, but I’m calling it quits after an hour.
This morning I tutored another girl in English and then helped out my counterpart with a self esteem charla. In the afternoon, during another charla, I got the brilliant idea of starting a ‘Question of the Week’ contest and giving out prizes that my mother has sent me. I spent the majority of the afternoon decorating the box making signs, writing out the instructions, and decorating the box that people will drop their answers into. Winners will be announced this Friday!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
November 13, 2008
I am writing this letter from the library in my site. The Municipal finally followed through with their promise and installed internet. Now I have free internet. YAY!!!!
Life is going well. On Tuesday I met with this painter who works for the Municipal of Machala and he agreed to paint the library if I paid for the materials. I requested that he paint it blue with a few murals. The librarian and I (ok… mostly, the librarian… I didn´t know) forgot to run it by the right people and I ended up pissing off the librarian´s boss´s boss. Fortunately, I ran into him and the grocery store and was able (I think) to smooth it over. He agreed to come by the library Wednesday morning (interrupting my English tutoring schedule) to see what the painter had in mind.
Wednesday morning was spent tutoring children in English and sucking up to the librarian´s bosses to make up for my earlier faux pas. Barely any of them brought their English books or homework (why am I not surprised) so I spent the time going over numbers, letters, and the ever important verb: to be. One girl asked me to help her with her long division homework and, to me horror, I find myself trying to teach a girl long division who didn´t even know what 6-5 was. Seriously! Why do teachers let some children get so far behind? It was impossible to do because she didn´t even understand the concept of division. I asked her to divide six pencils into 2 groups and even that was a challenge. Sigh…
Today was spent washing my clothes, tutoring more children, shopping for my new house, and hanging out at the library. The library is currently in chaos. Everyone is getting ready for Saturday. The Municipal is throwing a big celebration to officially present the computers and pianos to my town. The painting is going well. My original vision of a light blue library has gone down the drain. The artist´s creative vision, has taken him over and now it is only murals. Everyone seems happy, though, so I´m letting him go at it. The librarian is ecstatic and won´t stop hitting people—her way of expressing joy… I’m beginning to get bruises. My only request is that there is at least one mural of computers and one of pianos. The artist seems to understand this (although the murals are yet to appear).
Tomorrow I hope to start painting my future home. My host dad and the artist painting the library have agreed to help me. I hope it turns out!!!! Right now about three children are learning over my shoulders and trying to understand this letter (I´m not worried). They are amazed that I can type without looking. Must go now because it is getting kind of distracting.
Life is going well. On Tuesday I met with this painter who works for the Municipal of Machala and he agreed to paint the library if I paid for the materials. I requested that he paint it blue with a few murals. The librarian and I (ok… mostly, the librarian… I didn´t know) forgot to run it by the right people and I ended up pissing off the librarian´s boss´s boss. Fortunately, I ran into him and the grocery store and was able (I think) to smooth it over. He agreed to come by the library Wednesday morning (interrupting my English tutoring schedule) to see what the painter had in mind.
Wednesday morning was spent tutoring children in English and sucking up to the librarian´s bosses to make up for my earlier faux pas. Barely any of them brought their English books or homework (why am I not surprised) so I spent the time going over numbers, letters, and the ever important verb: to be. One girl asked me to help her with her long division homework and, to me horror, I find myself trying to teach a girl long division who didn´t even know what 6-5 was. Seriously! Why do teachers let some children get so far behind? It was impossible to do because she didn´t even understand the concept of division. I asked her to divide six pencils into 2 groups and even that was a challenge. Sigh…
Today was spent washing my clothes, tutoring more children, shopping for my new house, and hanging out at the library. The library is currently in chaos. Everyone is getting ready for Saturday. The Municipal is throwing a big celebration to officially present the computers and pianos to my town. The painting is going well. My original vision of a light blue library has gone down the drain. The artist´s creative vision, has taken him over and now it is only murals. Everyone seems happy, though, so I´m letting him go at it. The librarian is ecstatic and won´t stop hitting people—her way of expressing joy… I’m beginning to get bruises. My only request is that there is at least one mural of computers and one of pianos. The artist seems to understand this (although the murals are yet to appear).
Tomorrow I hope to start painting my future home. My host dad and the artist painting the library have agreed to help me. I hope it turns out!!!! Right now about three children are learning over my shoulders and trying to understand this letter (I´m not worried). They are amazed that I can type without looking. Must go now because it is getting kind of distracting.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
November 8, 2008
Thursday morning I went, as always, to the library to help with tutoring when I learned:
- My counterpart didn’t receive my frantic phone calls and texts saying that I wouldn’t be able to tutor on Wednesday like I promised because I was trapped in a protest
- The librarian didn’t invite the children to my reading course like we had planned because I never showed up to go with her
- The two men actually did die (the other volunteer saw it on the news and texted me)
- Some mother in my site savagely beat her 8-year old son and my counterpart had to go take photos of the child to show the police
- I was to give a computer lesson that day
Needless to say, I was a little overwhelmed. It all turned out ok… I guess. I got through it.
In the afternoon, I decided to make a sign up sheet for English help. I refuse to teach English—I am not equipped to do that nor is it my job, but I have no problem helping children with their homework. The deal is that I will help children one-on-one for half and hour each on Wednesdays in the library. We’ll see how it goes. The librarian and I then went to invite children for my ‘Libros y Arte’ (Books and Art) class. Everyone seemed pretty keen on coming.
Friday morning was my first ‘Libros y Arte’ class. I was really nervous. In the end, only three kids showed up. I was kinda disappointed, but I know that it is normal for people to not show up. I should be happy that three came. Hopefully more will come next week. We’ll see.
This morning I went to a meet my friend online. We hadn’t talked in awhile and it was great to hear her voice. She has recently moved to the D.C. and mentioned to me how hard it was to move to a new city and not have friends nearby that know her with the intimacy that comes with time. I replied that I definitely knew how she felt—only I’m in a country where no one has known me for longer than several months and most people don’t speak my language. She asked me how I deal with it. I responded, “I write a lot of e-mails.”
When I returned to the house today I realized that the people next door are hosting another cockfight tournament. I have to listen to drunken men cheer on roosters ripping each other to bloody shreds for the next two days. Crap!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
November 5, 2008
Today sucked. Sorry about the language Mom… but it did.
Yesterday was amazing. In the afternoon I went to Guayaquil for an election party thrown by the US Consulate. It was very fancy. I hadn’t seen such finery in a long time. A lot of really important people were there (besides me, of course)—both Ecuadorian and American. I met the only Ecuadorian gold medal winner, started a big-shot club with the president of channel 8 (his idea, not mine), exchanged phone numbers with the head of the US Embassy security in Ecuador and made him promise to come to Machala and hang out with us, and got invited to go to the Consulate General’s house for Thanksgiving.
The best part of it all, however, was when CNN announced Obama’s victory. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After the party ended the remaining PCVs and I went to McDonalds to celebrate. We then returned to the hotel where we watched the CNN until we passed out from exhaustion.
Today I woke up and had my first hot shower in over two months. It was amazing!!! Another PCV who is near my site and I then decided to return to Machala together because we both needed to be back in our sites in the afternoon. We paid a little extra and hopped a direct bus so we would get home quicker.
Well… about forty minutes outside of Guayaquil I saw a camioneta (sort of like a pick-up truck) pulled out in front of our bus and … CRASH!!! Everyone in the bus was fine, but the camioneta was not so fortunate. Three people were in the car, including a little girl. I saw the girl and she survived but was pretty banged up. The front passenger and the driver were not so fortunate. I am pretty sure they both died. I didn’t get a good look at them (nor did I want one), they were rushed off pretty quickly.
Eventually all us passengers got off the bus and began to wait for another bus to come for us. That is when things got worse. Apparently this was the second fatal accident in the same week and people living around there got really angry. They decided to start a protest. They refused to let traffic pass and two dump trucks came out of nowhere and dumped piles of dirt on the road. The army suddenly arrived but didn’t do anything and left just as quickly. We ended up being stuck there for hours!
When I finally got back to Machala, I went straight to my dance class. After doing nothing but sitting around all day I needed some exercise. After about an hour I happened to glance out the window when I saw… ANOTHER CRASH! Fortunately this one was only minor… but seriously! I feel a little shell shocked.
Yesterday was amazing. In the afternoon I went to Guayaquil for an election party thrown by the US Consulate. It was very fancy. I hadn’t seen such finery in a long time. A lot of really important people were there (besides me, of course)—both Ecuadorian and American. I met the only Ecuadorian gold medal winner, started a big-shot club with the president of channel 8 (his idea, not mine), exchanged phone numbers with the head of the US Embassy security in Ecuador and made him promise to come to Machala and hang out with us, and got invited to go to the Consulate General’s house for Thanksgiving.
The best part of it all, however, was when CNN announced Obama’s victory. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After the party ended the remaining PCVs and I went to McDonalds to celebrate. We then returned to the hotel where we watched the CNN until we passed out from exhaustion.
Today I woke up and had my first hot shower in over two months. It was amazing!!! Another PCV who is near my site and I then decided to return to Machala together because we both needed to be back in our sites in the afternoon. We paid a little extra and hopped a direct bus so we would get home quicker.
Well… about forty minutes outside of Guayaquil I saw a camioneta (sort of like a pick-up truck) pulled out in front of our bus and … CRASH!!! Everyone in the bus was fine, but the camioneta was not so fortunate. Three people were in the car, including a little girl. I saw the girl and she survived but was pretty banged up. The front passenger and the driver were not so fortunate. I am pretty sure they both died. I didn’t get a good look at them (nor did I want one), they were rushed off pretty quickly.
Eventually all us passengers got off the bus and began to wait for another bus to come for us. That is when things got worse. Apparently this was the second fatal accident in the same week and people living around there got really angry. They decided to start a protest. They refused to let traffic pass and two dump trucks came out of nowhere and dumped piles of dirt on the road. The army suddenly arrived but didn’t do anything and left just as quickly. We ended up being stuck there for hours!When I finally got back to Machala, I went straight to my dance class. After doing nothing but sitting around all day I needed some exercise. After about an hour I happened to glance out the window when I saw… ANOTHER CRASH! Fortunately this one was only minor… but seriously! I feel a little shell shocked.
Monday, November 3, 2008
November 3, 2008
I just returned from an amazing trip to a small town about four hours northeast of Quito. A large group of us volunteers all got together there for a Halloween bash and a white water rafting competition. On Thursday evening, two other volunteer’s, one of the volunteer’s Ecuadorian ‘man-friend,’ and I took a long (and uncomfortable) overnight bus to Quito. Once we arrived, we met up with two more Ecuadorian friends of the other volunteers, spent a lot of time waiting around for them (I was not impressed), grabbed a bite to eat, bought some drinks for the party, and took an afternoon bus to the site.
It was evening when the six of us finally arrived. After we said our hellos to everyone, us girls piled into the room where the other two Machala girls were staying and started getting ready for the party. Since my costume was so simple, I spent a lot of time helping out the other girls. It turns out that I am very good at putting on fake eyelashes. Who knew? Once the five of us were ready, we made another volunteer run ahead of us and make them play a Spice Girls song for our grand entrance. We were definitely a hit!!!
The next morning, we all struggled out of bed and down to the river where we waited forever for the competition to start. There were eighteen teams in total. The run was only about 2 minutes long with two teams going at a time. Each team was to raft twice. The fifteen teams with the best times would raft a long route the next day. Our team (composed of five girls, the Ecuadorian ‘man-friend,’ and the guide) won both heats. We were really proud of ourselves, especially since we were up against teams full of really strong guys. I guess it turns out being light is an advantage!
Sunday morning we all went back to the river where we, once again, waited forever for the competition to start. This time there were only three heats of five teams. My team was the last heat to go. When our heat was on deck, all the volunteers that were going to race piled into the back of a garbage truck (yes, that is right… and no, I don’t want to think of what was in the truck before us) and drove to where the race was to begin. It was a really beautiful ride through the Amazon until we turned onto a dirt path and had to duck down every five seconds to prevent being whacked by branches. When we arrived at our destination in started to pour. Since there was no shelter, we found some banana leaves and huddled under them together for warmth. It definitely was one of those moments when you wonder ‘How did I get here?’ Fortunately, the torrential rain didn’t last longer than 15 minutes. Eventually, the boats arrived and we all carried them to the starting line.
Well, I am extremely proud that our mostly-female team kicked every other male-dominated team’s ass. We won first place in our heat!!! We screamed ourselves hoarse celebrating. When the winners finally announced the overall winners, we won THIRD PLACE!!! The prize was six t-shirts and $100 between us. YAY!!!
Once we divided up the prize money and said our goodbyes we raced back to the hostel to shower, change, pack and catch bus to Quito. Once we arrived in Quito we had enough time to stuff our faces with Mongolian BBQ before we had to catch another long (and uncomfortable) overnight bus ride back to our sites.
It was evening when the six of us finally arrived. After we said our hellos to everyone, us girls piled into the room where the other two Machala girls were staying and started getting ready for the party. Since my costume was so simple, I spent a lot of time helping out the other girls. It turns out that I am very good at putting on fake eyelashes. Who knew? Once the five of us were ready, we made another volunteer run ahead of us and make them play a Spice Girls song for our grand entrance. We were definitely a hit!!!
The next morning, we all struggled out of bed and down to the river where we waited forever for the competition to start. There were eighteen teams in total. The run was only about 2 minutes long with two teams going at a time. Each team was to raft twice. The fifteen teams with the best times would raft a long route the next day. Our team (composed of five girls, the Ecuadorian ‘man-friend,’ and the guide) won both heats. We were really proud of ourselves, especially since we were up against teams full of really strong guys. I guess it turns out being light is an advantage!
Sunday morning we all went back to the river where we, once again, waited forever for the competition to start. This time there were only three heats of five teams. My team was the last heat to go. When our heat was on deck, all the volunteers that were going to race piled into the back of a garbage truck (yes, that is right… and no, I don’t want to think of what was in the truck before us) and drove to where the race was to begin. It was a really beautiful ride through the Amazon until we turned onto a dirt path and had to duck down every five seconds to prevent being whacked by branches. When we arrived at our destination in started to pour. Since there was no shelter, we found some banana leaves and huddled under them together for warmth. It definitely was one of those moments when you wonder ‘How did I get here?’ Fortunately, the torrential rain didn’t last longer than 15 minutes. Eventually, the boats arrived and we all carried them to the starting line.
Well, I am extremely proud that our mostly-female team kicked every other male-dominated team’s ass. We won first place in our heat!!! We screamed ourselves hoarse celebrating. When the winners finally announced the overall winners, we won THIRD PLACE!!! The prize was six t-shirts and $100 between us. YAY!!!
Once we divided up the prize money and said our goodbyes we raced back to the hostel to shower, change, pack and catch bus to Quito. Once we arrived in Quito we had enough time to stuff our faces with Mongolian BBQ before we had to catch another long (and uncomfortable) overnight bus ride back to our sites.
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