Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Drywall on my Ceiling
So, now that we are back in the States, all the interesting things that happened to us in Ecuador are still happening to us. Except now they are happening in English so I understand them a little bit better. If you have some time, and think that a discussion about the drywall on the kitchen ceiling could be interesting, check out this link.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
The Return of the Cuy
We arrived back in Alexandria last Saturday night. Opa and PoPo were there to meet us and our 12 pieces of luggage at National Airport and cook us a welcome home stuffed shell dinner (one of Maya and Jonah's favorites).
Now, we've been home almost a week. Sad to say how easily one becomes accustomed to the old routines again. It's like someone hit the pause button on Alexandria and only released it when we got back.
Our last day and a half in Quito was spent running around doing last minute things so we didn't have a chance to linger over the things that we liked about the city. There was no last visit to Parque Metropolitano to admire the views, no final leisurely stroll through the narrow streets and pretty squares in the old town. Maya and Jonah didn't get to terrorize the pigeons in the plaza fronting the Iglesia de San Francisco again.
Instead, we spent the hours doing what any self-respecting American would do - shopping.
It wasn't until we were flying over the city that had been our home for the better part of three months that it really hit me that this was it - we were leaving Quito and I might never return there. Truly, it is a sad thought.
I spent some time during the last few weeks of our adventure trying to figure an answer to the question I knew we are bound to hear again and again - how was it?
"Good!" just doesn't seem to cut it.
Not even an enthusiastic "Neat-o!" really delivers the message.
As I tried to explain in an earlier post, our plan this summer was to find out if we could live overseas generally, and specifically, if we could do so with children. We haven't really learned the answers to those questions. But I think we've gotten a little closer.
First of all, we learned that we can live overseas. And we still want to, but not right now. What we learned was that we really like the life that we have right now in Alexandria. We have a great house (with a beautiful new front door that I had completely forgotten about) in a great neighborhood. Rebecca really likes her work and we are close to our families, who love and support us. The people and families who live on our block and in our general area really create the sense of community that we thought we were lacking. We knew we liked these things, but it took being away from them and from our home to realize that right now, it will be hard to find something as good as what we already have.
Second, we learned that we can live overseas with kids - but not the two monsters that we have right now. Maya is five and Jonah is three. We figure that in five to seven years, they will both be much better behaved and more inclined to want to do things other than be carried. Probably this is a pipe dream, but, if I can steal a line from Ernest Hemingway, isn't it pretty to think so?
Finally, I personally learned a lot - both about stuff and about myself.
The old adage that you can't teach an old dog new tricks turns out to be false. The greatest apprehension I had when Rebecca and I decided in the Fall of 2007 that we would spend the summer of 2008 in Ecuador was that I didn't know a lick of Spanish. Frankly, I had pretty much given up any hope that I would ever learn another language well enough to communicate with someone without having to draw pictures in the dirt. But, look at me now. Although I had to ask a lot of people to repeat themselves, I managed to 1) not get us lost; 2) not eat anything really gross; and 3) not get punched in the face.
And the realization that my old, tired brain can handle another language well enough made me realize that it isn't really that tired. I had just put it in a jar on the top shelf. This trip has inspired me empty out the jar, stick the brain back in my head and learn a few more things.
At some point early in our trip, I decided that I wanted to become an EMT. After Rebecca told me what an EMT actually has to do, I decided that a first aid class might satisfy me. But we'll see.
I read (figuratively) about the first thirty pages of the epic that is South American history. I want to learn more. We thought that the U.S. Cavalry sucked in how they treated Native Americans, but they have nothing on the Conquistadors (read about Pedro de Alvarado sometime. Hell, read about Francisco Pizarro - the conqueror of the Incas. He was a mean bastard too).
But probably the biggest thing that I learned is that even when you are thirty-eight and married with children, life does not have to be predictable. We met so many people who are chasing their dreams or acting on impulses that I couldn't help but realize the possibilities that are open to me. I feel very fortunate to have options and to have done something that made me realize that the dreams I had ten years ago are still attainable.
Oh. The other thing that I learned is that no matter where in the world you are listening, The Kinks rock.
Now, we've been home almost a week. Sad to say how easily one becomes accustomed to the old routines again. It's like someone hit the pause button on Alexandria and only released it when we got back.
Our last day and a half in Quito was spent running around doing last minute things so we didn't have a chance to linger over the things that we liked about the city. There was no last visit to Parque Metropolitano to admire the views, no final leisurely stroll through the narrow streets and pretty squares in the old town. Maya and Jonah didn't get to terrorize the pigeons in the plaza fronting the Iglesia de San Francisco again.
Instead, we spent the hours doing what any self-respecting American would do - shopping.
It wasn't until we were flying over the city that had been our home for the better part of three months that it really hit me that this was it - we were leaving Quito and I might never return there. Truly, it is a sad thought.
I spent some time during the last few weeks of our adventure trying to figure an answer to the question I knew we are bound to hear again and again - how was it?
"Good!" just doesn't seem to cut it.
Not even an enthusiastic "Neat-o!" really delivers the message.
As I tried to explain in an earlier post, our plan this summer was to find out if we could live overseas generally, and specifically, if we could do so with children. We haven't really learned the answers to those questions. But I think we've gotten a little closer.
First of all, we learned that we can live overseas. And we still want to, but not right now. What we learned was that we really like the life that we have right now in Alexandria. We have a great house (with a beautiful new front door that I had completely forgotten about) in a great neighborhood. Rebecca really likes her work and we are close to our families, who love and support us. The people and families who live on our block and in our general area really create the sense of community that we thought we were lacking. We knew we liked these things, but it took being away from them and from our home to realize that right now, it will be hard to find something as good as what we already have.
Second, we learned that we can live overseas with kids - but not the two monsters that we have right now. Maya is five and Jonah is three. We figure that in five to seven years, they will both be much better behaved and more inclined to want to do things other than be carried. Probably this is a pipe dream, but, if I can steal a line from Ernest Hemingway, isn't it pretty to think so?
Finally, I personally learned a lot - both about stuff and about myself.
The old adage that you can't teach an old dog new tricks turns out to be false. The greatest apprehension I had when Rebecca and I decided in the Fall of 2007 that we would spend the summer of 2008 in Ecuador was that I didn't know a lick of Spanish. Frankly, I had pretty much given up any hope that I would ever learn another language well enough to communicate with someone without having to draw pictures in the dirt. But, look at me now. Although I had to ask a lot of people to repeat themselves, I managed to 1) not get us lost; 2) not eat anything really gross; and 3) not get punched in the face.
And the realization that my old, tired brain can handle another language well enough made me realize that it isn't really that tired. I had just put it in a jar on the top shelf. This trip has inspired me empty out the jar, stick the brain back in my head and learn a few more things.
At some point early in our trip, I decided that I wanted to become an EMT. After Rebecca told me what an EMT actually has to do, I decided that a first aid class might satisfy me. But we'll see.
I read (figuratively) about the first thirty pages of the epic that is South American history. I want to learn more. We thought that the U.S. Cavalry sucked in how they treated Native Americans, but they have nothing on the Conquistadors (read about Pedro de Alvarado sometime. Hell, read about Francisco Pizarro - the conqueror of the Incas. He was a mean bastard too).
But probably the biggest thing that I learned is that even when you are thirty-eight and married with children, life does not have to be predictable. We met so many people who are chasing their dreams or acting on impulses that I couldn't help but realize the possibilities that are open to me. I feel very fortunate to have options and to have done something that made me realize that the dreams I had ten years ago are still attainable.
Oh. The other thing that I learned is that no matter where in the world you are listening, The Kinks rock.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Picturebook
We are back in Alexandria. I am working on a sum it all up post, so stay tuned. In the meantime, hope you enjoy these pictures.
The Beach - Canoa
Running around in circles on the beach in Canoa:
Banana break:
Maya, invoking the spirit of the sea from the bow of a local fishing boat:
and then plunging to her death (figuratively, of course):
Jonah does everything his sister does (but not as well):
Seaside dinning (thanks for the picture Maya!):
Making friends with local kids at the beach:
and at a swimming hole outside of Canoa:
Picking out dinner, delivered by the fisherman - straight from the sea to our bellies. Lobsters on the left. Giant crabs front and center:
Feeling good in the courtyard at Olmito's, the hotel where we stayed in Canoa:
On our balcony at Olmito's:
Maya's knight without shining armor:
Rio Muchacho Finca Organica, north of Canoa.
Ecuador has the highest rate of deforestation in the world. The area where the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm is located has the highest rate of deforestation in Ecuador. The finca has been operating for about ten years and the co-founders (Dario and Nicola) try to engage the locals (who all farm) in more efficient and self-sustaining farming methods. Rio Muchacho has adopted the perma-culture method of farming. Perma-culture means that each aspect of the farm complements the other. For example, the cows and pig poop is composted. The compost is picked clean of bugs by the chickens. The cleaned compost is then given over to the worms. Once the worms have worked through it and pooped it out, the worm poop dirt (which is apparently the best fertilizer you can have) is used to grow the crops. The crops go to feed the people who live and work at the farm and also to feed the cows and pigs. And the cycle continues. There's more to it than that, but that is the twenty-five second summary.
Maya adored feeding scrap food to the pigs, who truly do live up to their name:
Jonah loved picking bananas and feeding the peels to this donkey (who was named "Donkey"):
Maya and Crystal visit the cuyes (guinea pigs), by climbing inside their hutch and terrorizing these animals, who clearly aren't used to being picked up and cuddled. At the finca, rather than cute pets or tasty dinners, the cuyes are only used for their poop, which falls from their hutch into the worm beds below, mixed with cow poop and pig poop, and left for the worms to eat.
Milking the cow (I actually knew the grip to use):
Love to the fishies in the river:
Jonah's birthday cake: lemon cake made with local lemons, frosted with chocolate grown at the farm, decorated with edible hibiscus flowers picked outside the kitchen. You can see that he's a bit overwhelmed by the whole affair:
We took a horse-ride
to a waterfall
where Maya had a great time:
and Jonah fell asleep on the smooth ride home:
The local harvest and harvesters:
Farmer Jonah:
and Maya with her harvest:
Roasting cocoa beans:
grinding them
and eating the chocolate syrup
which made Maya's second front tooth fall out:
Making cheese, a wet piece of curdled milk that couldn't win honorable mention at a cheese show even if it was the only entry (no offense meant to any Ecuadorians who actually like this stuff).
The giant Matapalo tree
Climbing the giant Matalpo tree
In the courtyard of the communal dining area
Rubber boots are a vital component of farm attire. I never went anywhere without them:
There were animals on the farm in addition to the domesticated ones. This tree frog was on our bathroom door one night. Do you know the difference between a frog and a toad? I do:
And this reptile was trying to cross the road on our way out of the farm. A real-live boa constrictor.
Dario Proano, one of the farm's co-founders and a devout vegetarian, pushed the boa in a new direction (i.e., out of the road), so it could live to kill and eat another animal.
After the farm we went back to Canoa. But we were out of cash so we had to go to Bahia, a one-hour bus and panga journey, where the closest ATM machine was located.
This is Jonah with Miguel, a 100 year-old Galapagos turtle who lives at an Eco-school in Bahia. Notice the trash strewn about the courtyard:
A few days later walking on the beach in Canoa, we came upon a sea turtle that had washed up after being struck on the head. It had a cracked skull. Some locals conjectured that it was caused either by a propeller from one of the local fishing boats, an angry fisherman and an oar, or even by a shark bite. We tried to push it back into the surf so it could swim away, but all it wanted to do was die on the beach. It could barely move and kept trying to get itself out of the water. Sad, but it was neat to see the turtle close up (and touch it). We didn't have our camera, so no picture.
After the farm, Jonah's new love: carrots!
The Beach - Canoa
Running around in circles on the beach in Canoa:
Banana break:
Maya, invoking the spirit of the sea from the bow of a local fishing boat:
and then plunging to her death (figuratively, of course):
Jonah does everything his sister does (but not as well):
Seaside dinning (thanks for the picture Maya!):
Making friends with local kids at the beach:
and at a swimming hole outside of Canoa:
Picking out dinner, delivered by the fisherman - straight from the sea to our bellies. Lobsters on the left. Giant crabs front and center:
Feeling good in the courtyard at Olmito's, the hotel where we stayed in Canoa:
On our balcony at Olmito's:
Maya's knight without shining armor:
Rio Muchacho Finca Organica, north of Canoa.
Ecuador has the highest rate of deforestation in the world. The area where the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm is located has the highest rate of deforestation in Ecuador. The finca has been operating for about ten years and the co-founders (Dario and Nicola) try to engage the locals (who all farm) in more efficient and self-sustaining farming methods. Rio Muchacho has adopted the perma-culture method of farming. Perma-culture means that each aspect of the farm complements the other. For example, the cows and pig poop is composted. The compost is picked clean of bugs by the chickens. The cleaned compost is then given over to the worms. Once the worms have worked through it and pooped it out, the worm poop dirt (which is apparently the best fertilizer you can have) is used to grow the crops. The crops go to feed the people who live and work at the farm and also to feed the cows and pigs. And the cycle continues. There's more to it than that, but that is the twenty-five second summary.
Maya adored feeding scrap food to the pigs, who truly do live up to their name:
Jonah loved picking bananas and feeding the peels to this donkey (who was named "Donkey"):
Maya and Crystal visit the cuyes (guinea pigs), by climbing inside their hutch and terrorizing these animals, who clearly aren't used to being picked up and cuddled. At the finca, rather than cute pets or tasty dinners, the cuyes are only used for their poop, which falls from their hutch into the worm beds below, mixed with cow poop and pig poop, and left for the worms to eat.
Milking the cow (I actually knew the grip to use):
Love to the fishies in the river:
Jonah's birthday cake: lemon cake made with local lemons, frosted with chocolate grown at the farm, decorated with edible hibiscus flowers picked outside the kitchen. You can see that he's a bit overwhelmed by the whole affair:
We took a horse-ride
to a waterfall
where Maya had a great time:
and Jonah fell asleep on the smooth ride home:
The local harvest and harvesters:
Farmer Jonah:
and Maya with her harvest:
Roasting cocoa beans:
grinding them
and eating the chocolate syrup
which made Maya's second front tooth fall out:
Making cheese, a wet piece of curdled milk that couldn't win honorable mention at a cheese show even if it was the only entry (no offense meant to any Ecuadorians who actually like this stuff).
The giant Matapalo tree
Climbing the giant Matalpo tree
In the courtyard of the communal dining area
Rubber boots are a vital component of farm attire. I never went anywhere without them:
There were animals on the farm in addition to the domesticated ones. This tree frog was on our bathroom door one night. Do you know the difference between a frog and a toad? I do:
And this reptile was trying to cross the road on our way out of the farm. A real-live boa constrictor.
Dario Proano, one of the farm's co-founders and a devout vegetarian, pushed the boa in a new direction (i.e., out of the road), so it could live to kill and eat another animal.
After the farm we went back to Canoa. But we were out of cash so we had to go to Bahia, a one-hour bus and panga journey, where the closest ATM machine was located.This is Jonah with Miguel, a 100 year-old Galapagos turtle who lives at an Eco-school in Bahia. Notice the trash strewn about the courtyard:
A few days later walking on the beach in Canoa, we came upon a sea turtle that had washed up after being struck on the head. It had a cracked skull. Some locals conjectured that it was caused either by a propeller from one of the local fishing boats, an angry fisherman and an oar, or even by a shark bite. We tried to push it back into the surf so it could swim away, but all it wanted to do was die on the beach. It could barely move and kept trying to get itself out of the water. Sad, but it was neat to see the turtle close up (and touch it). We didn't have our camera, so no picture.
After the farm, Jonah's new love: carrots!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Canoa to Puerto Viejo to Manta to Quito, with a couple of crybabies
The last seventy-two hours have seen us travel lots of kilometers by truck, panga, taxi, bus and airplane to four different cities and three different hotels. As you would expect, it has been pretty miserable - primarily because of the kids. They whine and cry starting from the minute that they wake up and lasting every second that they don't get exactly what they want.
That's not entirely true, but Rebecca wanted me to stop painting such a rosy picture of life with the kids on the road. Truthfully, I'm looking forward to getting home just so I can send them to Opa and PoPo's house for the weekend. We all need a break from each other. I really pity those parents that have to spend all day every day with their kids because they don't have parents or family nearby to ship the kids too a time or two a week.
While Maya and Jonah have been pretty good a lot of the time, they also make things so much more difficult a lot of the time. And while the ice cream bribe is still a 100% success in getting them to do what you want, I've been trying to employ it a lot less (it doesn't do mornings).
Below is a photo from our hotel room in Canoa. We really loved the place that we stayed - Posada Olmito. We really loved Canoa. Rebecca and I have recently seriously considered coming back in a few months to look into buying some property. We are certain it is a good investment, but didn't have the idea early enough to make it happen this time around. Plus, we had the kids with us.
One of the things we liked was that the guy in the below photo (wearing the number 11 shirt) delivered fresh bread to us every morning. He rides around town starting at about six-thirty a.m., honking his horn to let you know he's coming. Because town is pretty small, you can hear him coming for awhile. If we could actually sleep past six-thirty, it might be annoying. But, Maya and Jonah rarely make it that late. So, we'd always be awake. Rebecca and Maya would stand on the balcony of our room (or hang out the window), flag him down and make the exchange. He'd toss up bread and we'd toss down seventy or eighty cents - depending on how many loaves. Then we'd have fresh bread and jam. It was something to look forward to at that ungodly hour, at least.
Here's a couple of other photos of Canoa. In order, they are 1) the courtyard of our hotel from our balcony - looking towards the ocean; 2) Maya's photo of Jonah looking out our window and munching his morning bread; 3) a view of the beach and ocean from the entrance to our hotel.
Anyway, we spent our last night in Canoa (Tuesday night) much like we spent the previous four nights - partying. Rebecca discovered this Ecuadorian knock-off of Kahlua and we imbibed an entire bottle while watching the sun set over the Pacific with our friend Brian.
We spent a lot of good times with Brian and images of him will definitely be scattered through whatever brain cells we have left that have bits and pieces about Canoa. Here he is in digital.
After breakfast at our favorite restaurant in town - the Coco Loco (Maya and Jonah liked it because there were these two puppies there that they could play with)
we took a final walk around Canoa on Wednesday morning (accompanied by lots of whining from Maya and Jonah and yours truly (I was "tired")).
Then we hitched a ride out of Canoa on the back of a large rack truck that had four or five propane tanks in the back resting on a bed of wood chips. Nothing like traveling for free and in style.
By the way, say goodbye to that hat of Rebecca's. She left it on the bus a few hours after I snapped this photo.
Once we got to Bahia, we planned to take a $30 taxi ride for two hours fto Manta, but the other hitcher in the truck talked us into a more economical solution - a bus ride. It would have been great, however, the bus didn't go directly from Bahia to Manta - we had to first travel two hours to a dump of a city called Porto Viejo. To get to Manta we had to take a taxi an additional half hour and ten bucks. Add the ten to the $8 for the bus ride and we didn't end up saving that much. And the $12 we did save we promptly blew on an $85 hotel room.
The one perk to the hotel in Manta was that it had a pool. On Thursday morning (today, as it were) when Jonah and I went for a swim, there was some weird thing going on with this beautiful, well-endowed women and two men and a camera. The weirdness involved her laying around the pool area in a very small bikini top (do they make a thong for tits? If so, this was it) and a butt thong and the men video-taping her. When Jonah and I weren't swimming, we were comfortable in the shade eating sunflower seeds. We spent all morning at the pool.
Combine this free show with the free wireless internet that made Rebecca so excited, and there was a little something for everyone.
After a quick lunch, (where Rebecca also brought a panama hat from a vendor that came into the restaurant)
we made it to the airport in time for our flight to Quito. For the next two nights we are at a pretty cool place called "Posada del Maple". I'm sitting in the hotel common area taking advantage of their free wireless while Rebecca is probably sleeping upstairs.
Earlier she was talking to another family that is staying here that is two months into their year long travel through South America with their five year old and and two year old. They are convinced that they have the worst behaved kids in Ecuador.
That's not entirely true, but Rebecca wanted me to stop painting such a rosy picture of life with the kids on the road. Truthfully, I'm looking forward to getting home just so I can send them to Opa and PoPo's house for the weekend. We all need a break from each other. I really pity those parents that have to spend all day every day with their kids because they don't have parents or family nearby to ship the kids too a time or two a week.
While Maya and Jonah have been pretty good a lot of the time, they also make things so much more difficult a lot of the time. And while the ice cream bribe is still a 100% success in getting them to do what you want, I've been trying to employ it a lot less (it doesn't do mornings).
Below is a photo from our hotel room in Canoa. We really loved the place that we stayed - Posada Olmito. We really loved Canoa. Rebecca and I have recently seriously considered coming back in a few months to look into buying some property. We are certain it is a good investment, but didn't have the idea early enough to make it happen this time around. Plus, we had the kids with us.
One of the things we liked was that the guy in the below photo (wearing the number 11 shirt) delivered fresh bread to us every morning. He rides around town starting at about six-thirty a.m., honking his horn to let you know he's coming. Because town is pretty small, you can hear him coming for awhile. If we could actually sleep past six-thirty, it might be annoying. But, Maya and Jonah rarely make it that late. So, we'd always be awake. Rebecca and Maya would stand on the balcony of our room (or hang out the window), flag him down and make the exchange. He'd toss up bread and we'd toss down seventy or eighty cents - depending on how many loaves. Then we'd have fresh bread and jam. It was something to look forward to at that ungodly hour, at least.
Here's a couple of other photos of Canoa. In order, they are 1) the courtyard of our hotel from our balcony - looking towards the ocean; 2) Maya's photo of Jonah looking out our window and munching his morning bread; 3) a view of the beach and ocean from the entrance to our hotel.
Anyway, we spent our last night in Canoa (Tuesday night) much like we spent the previous four nights - partying. Rebecca discovered this Ecuadorian knock-off of Kahlua and we imbibed an entire bottle while watching the sun set over the Pacific with our friend Brian.
We spent a lot of good times with Brian and images of him will definitely be scattered through whatever brain cells we have left that have bits and pieces about Canoa. Here he is in digital.
After breakfast at our favorite restaurant in town - the Coco Loco (Maya and Jonah liked it because there were these two puppies there that they could play with)
we took a final walk around Canoa on Wednesday morning (accompanied by lots of whining from Maya and Jonah and yours truly (I was "tired")).
Then we hitched a ride out of Canoa on the back of a large rack truck that had four or five propane tanks in the back resting on a bed of wood chips. Nothing like traveling for free and in style.
By the way, say goodbye to that hat of Rebecca's. She left it on the bus a few hours after I snapped this photo.
Once we got to Bahia, we planned to take a $30 taxi ride for two hours fto Manta, but the other hitcher in the truck talked us into a more economical solution - a bus ride. It would have been great, however, the bus didn't go directly from Bahia to Manta - we had to first travel two hours to a dump of a city called Porto Viejo. To get to Manta we had to take a taxi an additional half hour and ten bucks. Add the ten to the $8 for the bus ride and we didn't end up saving that much. And the $12 we did save we promptly blew on an $85 hotel room.
The one perk to the hotel in Manta was that it had a pool. On Thursday morning (today, as it were) when Jonah and I went for a swim, there was some weird thing going on with this beautiful, well-endowed women and two men and a camera. The weirdness involved her laying around the pool area in a very small bikini top (do they make a thong for tits? If so, this was it) and a butt thong and the men video-taping her. When Jonah and I weren't swimming, we were comfortable in the shade eating sunflower seeds. We spent all morning at the pool.
Combine this free show with the free wireless internet that made Rebecca so excited, and there was a little something for everyone.
After a quick lunch, (where Rebecca also brought a panama hat from a vendor that came into the restaurant)
we made it to the airport in time for our flight to Quito. For the next two nights we are at a pretty cool place called "Posada del Maple". I'm sitting in the hotel common area taking advantage of their free wireless while Rebecca is probably sleeping upstairs.
Earlier she was talking to another family that is staying here that is two months into their year long travel through South America with their five year old and and two year old. They are convinced that they have the worst behaved kids in Ecuador.
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