Ecuador 2.0 so far – friends, family, fútbol and fiestas

Well,  I´ve been in Ecuador for over a week, now, and it still kind of feels like I´ve just arrived.  I haven´t yet carried out my plans for establishing myself in Quito for the summer, which include signing up for salsa lessons, registering for workshops at the Alianza Francesa here in Quito, and checking out the South American Explorers clubhouse down in La Mariscal, a neighbourhood also known as ´Gringolandia´.

But what I have done so far includes getting to know my wonderful new host family in Quito, visiting my old host family and students at the school where I volunteered in Ilumán, visiting the legendary market in Otavalo, eating cuy (guinea pig), crashing a party and participating in indigenous San Juan dancing, successfully navigating Quito´s bus system on  my own, making pineapple jam with my new host grandma, and watching more fútbol than I ever thought was  possible!

I have also been playing quite a bit of soccer, not just watching it. Eight-year-old Tadeo is a worthy opponent, even if he does have the tendency to stretch the rules of the game to his advantage a bit. I even have a lovely red-and-purple toe to show for my incursion into the wild world of fútbol, having launched a powerful kick at the wall instead of the soccer ball I was aiming for. Maybe it´s a good thing after all that I can´t currently upload any photos (having forgotten to pack the card reader for my camera…)!

I´ve really been enjoying getting to know eminently gracious Maria Elena (whose name is usually pronounced  ¨M´Elena¨, which makes things a lot easier), Tadeo, 4-year-old Bruno,  their father Marcelo, who is a TV journalist, and, of course, Cecilia, Maria Elena´s mother, whom I met in Ilumán last year. Cecilia took me on a tour of colonial Quito (el Centro Historico) a week ago, and it was fun meandering about with her. We watched a musical protest at Quito´s City Hall, got our photo taken  inside the Presidential Palace, and toured a church and abbey called San Fransisco, which had lots of sacred art displayed in its rooms and corridors, including much art of the Quito School, which apparently was much more well-known and influential than I had supposed.  Cecilia is a really vivacious – some might even say outrageous -  woman, and I´m really lucky to be staying with her and her family! Cecilia is very outgoing, for example, greeting the staff at medical clinics and convenience stores alike with good-natured extravagance: ¨¡Buenas dias, mi bellas damas! (Good morning, my beautiful ladies!)¨

On Monday, I´m planning to return to Ilumán for Inti Raymi, an indigenous winter solstice festival of the sun which has roots in Incan times or even earlier. It includes a ritual of purification where participants bathe in the Cascada de Peguche at midnight, and a huge fiesta the next day involving much dancing and brighly-coloured traditional costumes.  Esthella, who was the host mother of one of the other girls in our Internship group last year, has invited me to come to Inti Raymi with her. I´m really excited!!

Last Sunday, I was drawn toward the source of some loud San Juan music that was emanating from somewhere not too far from my host family in Iluman´s house.  I found that the music was coming from a partially-enclosed tent-like structure attached to the back of a house, where many indígenas were dancing, a few were drinking, and  everyone was generally partying it up. I watched timidly from outside the tent until a woman beckoned me to join a small group of people dancing San Juan in a circle, and then I danced with them for a while. When the music ended, I snuck away, somewhat ashamed for having crashed the party, which had turned out to be the tail-end of the celebration of a youngster´s confirmation into the Catholic church. But I ended up being confronted by an older woman who asked me who I had come with, so I confessed I had arrived, well, sans invitation. I can´t wait until Inti Raymi, where I will be an invited guest at one of Ilumán´s biggest fiestas of all!

But why did I decide to go back to Ecuador so soon after visiting it for the first time (last May), you may ask? Well, when I was originally planning this trip, its main purpose was to spend as much time as possible with someone I had met in Ecuador last year, and with whom I had corresponded quite a bit by email (which involved learning quite a bit more Spanish on my own, in order to be able to commnunicate with him better).

It had seemed to me that he and I had been becoming closer, and he had stated a number of times that he really hoped I could come back to Ecuador soon so that we could spend more time with each other, get to know each other better.  I started to really go out of my way in order to make this trip happen, being extremely careful with my money and putting a great deal of effort into planning and preparing for the trip.  However,  a couple of weeks before I was scheduled to fly to Ecuador, this person began making requests and suggestions that seemed a little unusual, such as suggesting it would be a good idea for me to buy a car in Ecuador (and then sell it when I left the country) and asking me to bring him basketball shoes, a netbook (computer) and glucosamine (a non-prescription medical supplement) from Canada, which, he assured me, he would pay for.  When I alerted him to my concerns and questions about his motives and behaviour (while trying to be honest but respectful to both myself and to him  throughout), he ended up asking me to neither call nor email him anymore.

OUCH!

I had really respected and trusted him, as he had seemed very much to be a thoughtful, caring and compassionate person. I had encountered men in Ecuador who clearly were not the kind of guys you´d want to have anything to do with. But this person seemed different.  So his request to break off contact was quite unexpected. I can only surmise that a) he wasn´t the good-hearted person I had thought him to be, and was trying to take advantage of me, or b) he was very offended by something, likely my doubts about his intentions, but wasn´t willing to help me understand his point of view. Either way, this wasn´t the kind of behaviour I expected of him, nor did his behaviour show him to be the kind of person I would want to spend time with.  Better I found out before I arrived.

But, anyway, my flight was non-refundable, and also I really was looking forward to seeing my friends and former host family in Ecuador, as well as being enchanted by so many aspects of Ecuador itself, so I decided to continue with my trip as planned. Which is turning out to have been a very good decision! I just need to get moving with my Salsa lessons, French workshops, and exploring of this amazing country! Wish me luck!

Hasta luego,

Sarah

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