Bananas.

(I've put in some pics of the house where I'm living along with some pics from our terrace). I have to keep reminding myself of where I am to avoid being overwhelmed by frustration. This morning, I was all set on working on my project and making calls to big Ecuadorian banana dudes to start things up, but other things just kept getting in the way (I know, I know, this happens in the US too…but really). Frustration #1: I come downstairs (well dressed in my pajamas) to work on my computer and I realize that Host Family has left me at home with 2 big dudes working on the 2^nd floor of the house and on the roof! This was a bit distracting, to say the least. I have no clue what they are doing up there, but jeez, are they loud!! Frustration #2: One of the worker dudes comes downstairs and asks me to lend him a dollar. Yes, I understood him correctly. No idea if this is customary. But hey, I gave him the dollar anyway. Frustration #3: I get an email from the Fulbright Commission telling me that my payment (we get a payment every month) will not be sent to me until next week. I’ve been here for almost a month and haven’t received a penny from Fulbright. I know that things around here are slow, but jeez! After paying for housing and a modem with money that I brought from the States, I have about 30 bucks to my name. Hopefully FB pays me soon, or else I’m, as they say, SOL. Frustration #4: I attempt to call Big Banana Dude #1 using Skype on my computer. He answers, I talk, he talks, and then he hangs up. I call back, he answers, I talk, he hangs up. Repeat. I quit. Frustration #5: I call the Fulbright Commission to see what’s up with my passport (oh, did I mention they have my passport, too?) but they can’t hear me! No wonder Big Banana Dude #1 kept hanging up! Looks like Skype just doesn’t work well calling phones within Ecuador. And, alas, I don’t have any money to buy a cell phone since I’ve spent all my money on a modem for my computer so that I could use Skype to make calls! Bummer. Frustration #6: I still haven’t heard from my Professor Dude at ESPOL in Guayaquil. PD was going to help me make contacts on the farms and help me out with interviews. I’ve called and emailed multiple times with no response (update—FB says they will try and contact him to set us up for a meeting). I’d like to make my project as ‘official’ and rigorous as possible so that I can use the data I collect here in Machala for a Ph.D. thesis down the road. With no PD, however, it’ll be difficult. A Wise Man once said that I should start thinking like a policy maker and not an epidemiologist. For some reason I can’t seem to shake the need for statistical rigor in my work. It’s possible that WM actually knows what he’s talking ‘bout and that I need to chill. We’ll see how it goes. There are some professors in the States at the Yale School of Public Health (and with the FAO) that are working on introducing the ELSCA (the food security survey I will use) into Ecuador. They’ve invited me to a training workshop in Quito from 10/12 to 10/17--the timing really couldn’t be any better. And, I’ll get to be in Quito on my Bday! Woot.

So that’s my story. I’ve been pretty drained this past week so haven’t been very motivated to blog. Most of you know that I got really sick on Thursday. I won’t go into details, but damn! These Ecuadorian bichos (bugs), as they say, are not messin’ around. And the worst part is that I have no clue what I did to welcome such a bug into my system. It could’ve been the fried chicken (2 nights in a row), salad, cilantro washed in dirty water, street food, who knows? I’m still convinced Host Mother is trying to kill us all by washing the dishes with clothes detergent instead of regular dishwasher detergent. I’m not sure what her motivation is, or the reason she won’t buy regular dishwasher detergent, but hey, I’ll go with it. We wash the dishes here with water from the faucet (which is unpurified and hence, not potable), so that may have been the cause. However, I’m convinced that this doesn’t make anybody sick, or else everyone would get sick all the time! Right? Right! (note: I did puke on the street without getting any weird looks. The next day, I saw another woman puking on the street! Guess that kind of thing happens a lot).

Whoah. Just had another encounter with big worker dude. He’s only 23! He came down and sat with me, asking me where I was from, what the US is like, why I’m here, etc. I told him that I was doing a field study on food security of banana farm workers. Guess what? He used to work on the farms! He says that none of them have any money to feed their families and they are all going hungry. I wonder if this is true for the majority of workers? This li'l bit of info makes me even more excited to start up my project! I’m just hoping that the workers don’t offer up information with the hope of getting some sort of reward or compensation. These surveys are tricky! Oh, how I regret not taking Bea’s Survey Research course.

Well, I’m going on my 3^rd attempt to talk with Big Banana Dude #2. Hopefully he’s in his ‘office’ (which is really just 4 walls and a chair), and that we can chat and get this thing goin’! Wish me luck!

Adios, amigos. :-)

Bugs, etc.

Day 6. (Pic to the left is me amidst CACAO! They cultivate the beans and then dry them by laying them out in the sun at a certain altitude--Pic below is Host Sister--she's awesome!). As I’m writing this, there are 3 tiny ants crawling on my computer. I’ve never liked killing bugs, but I am a bug killing machine here in Ecuador. Stupid ants. I hate them. Get off my screen!!!!

Thank goodness I brought a toothbrush holder. I had been brushing my teeth and placing my semi-yucky toothbrush on a little nightstand that I have in my room. No sooner did I realize that there was a stream of thousands of ants crawling up the wall to the nightstand to get to the toothbrush! These darned ants were eating away at the leftover toothpaste!! Gross!!! Anyway, like I said, thank goodness for the toothbrush holder.
We just got back from the family’s office and a quick trip to the market. I’m still trying to figure this family out. I’ve only been here for 6 days but so far I’ve figured out that they like to take trips back and forth to the family’s cell phone store. There is a lot of waiting involved in this process—waiting for the family to get ready, waiting for the car to start up, waiting for the guy to come and unlock the office, waiting for the computer, etc etc etc.
(The below pic is cacao and guayaba). There is one computer in the office that functions well—it has a pretty good internet connection but nothing high speed like we have in the States. The host father lets me use the office computer and I’ve (secretly) learned how to turn on the AC in the office so that I don’t sweat my behind off. It goes like this—host father drops me off in the morning to use the web and picks me up 3 or 4 hours later to come back home for lunch. It’s a pretty great routine, minus the hopping on and off of the computer (I get interrupted by people working there, but I don’t mind). Host father is only here from Friday-Tuesday morning (he goes back and forth to Cuenca each week), so I don’t think the routine will last. So far I’ve managed to email my ‘rents, friends, and profs at home. I’m still waiting for my Blackberry (yup, I bought one—only for the internet access) to arrive. No idea when that’s going to happen. I’ve learned in the 2 weeks I’ve been in Ecuador to be VERY patient. Things here take a while.

Onto the market! (Below you'll see the chicken testicles that the family made me try. Boiled, unseasoned chicken balls. Yup.)

While driving back from the cell phone store, host father mentioned something about buying shrimp at the market. I was expecting a small Shaw’s type deal or Stop n’ Shop, but this market was unlike any other I’ve ever seen (disclaimer: I’ve probably seen a few markets like this one on ‘No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain’ or ‘Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern’, but never in real life). Walking into the market I saw pig and cow heads, intestines, pig’s feet, brains, and something that looked like liver or kidney. The smell was something quite pungent. Past the meat section were fruits as far as the eye could see—papayas, guanabanas, guayabas, tomatoes, limes, lemons, mangoes (although it’s still not mango season), watermelon, strawberries, pineapples--every type of fruit you could imagine! It was very fragrant and colorful in this section until we finally reached the fish section. I was surprised at how fresh everything looked. Host father bought a kilo of very big shrimp for 5 bucks. Good deal if you ask me! The great thing I’m learning about Ecuador is that most of the food is very fresh. For example, on the way to the cell phone store host father and I stopped at his ‘property.’ No idea what this property was all about, but there were some men working on some trucks, a little house, and tons of trees. He told me to wait in the car, went and talked with some dude, and returned with 3 different types of fruit that I ate right there in the car!! The first was…..jeez I don’t know the name…a long funny looking thing, almost like a banana, that was REALLY sweet and yummy with a funny black looking seed in the middle. He also came back with agua de coco (coconut water) which is my new favorite thing here. The other day host sister and I were walking by a fruit stand when she asked me, ‘Te gusta el agua de coco?’ I was very worried and said ‘no’, since I thought that the stuff was water from a faucet. However, host sister assured me that it was from a fruit, and 35 cents later I had a delicious drink in my belly. The meat here is very fresh, too. They will literally kill the animal right there in front of you, skin it, cut it up, and sell you the meat (I have pictures to prove it). They use the entire body of the pig, chicken, or cow, which is good but sort of gross at times. I am not used to seeing all these animal parts, but I suppose it’s probably better to be closer to the food and to see what the heck you are eating.

ANTS GET OFF MY SCREEN!

Host mother has returned from her job as a teacher to prepare ceviche for us (Note to readers: I’ve noticed here that they spell ceviche with a ‘V’ and with a ‘B’. For example, a sign might say ‘Cebicheria’ instead of ‘Cevicheria’. Not sure which form is grammatically correct although I’m inclined to think that both are acceptable). I haven’t yet had ceviche here in Ecuador. I’ve been warned multiple times not to buy ceviche on the street, but I’m pretty sure host mother will do a good job of preparing things hygienically (let’s hope).
3 hours later: Lunch was wonderful. I even helped make the ceviche and squeeze the orange for the juice! I asked host mother about the deal with ceviche here. She tells me that the vendors on the street do not cook the fish that is put into the ceviche, instead, they pour on lime juice which is thought to ‘cook’ the fish. I’m still confused about the jugo. Do they make the juice with ice? If so, why didn’t I get sick in Quito when I had so much of it? I’m hesitant to buy juice here on the street, since I’ve been told that it’s a very, very, very bad idea to eat ice here in Machala (and in all other parts, but especially in Machala since it’s more dirty than most of the big cities here). Who knows.

This is turning into a MLB (Mighty Long Blog) so perhaps I’ll call it a night. Ciao, amigos!

Exhausted.

(Note: The pic to the left is the spider that accompanied me to the restroom).
Right now I’m sitting in the kitchen of my host family, listening to Ecuadorian radio. The light keeps flickering and the radio is going in and out, so I anticipate another power failure in the next few minutes. It’s day 3 here in Machala, and by now I’ve grown accustomed to the thousands (maybe millions) of tiny bugs crawling over everything—in the kitchen, on my skin, in my bed. I saw my first Ecuadorian cockroach yesterday and let me tell you, those things are not messin’ around. For those of you who don’t know, I have a massive, unrelenting fear of cockroaches. The Fulbright people neglected to tell me some of the most important things about living in the tropics. For example, not only do the cockroaches crawl, but they fly! Yup, you heard me right--giant, flying cockroaches. And they are not shy. They will come at you in full force. I hope to never see one again, but I’m told by my host family that once December comes, all bets are off (The rainy season starts in December and all the cockroaches and ants come out from their hiding places searching for dryer lands). Oh! I just heard on the radio about the big Banana Fair coming up on Sept. 23. We’ll talk bananas a bit later.

Breakfast was good—the host mother made yucca, which I had never had before. I thought I was digging into a plateful of refined carbs, but to my surprise there was a very thick layer of quite tasty cheese in the middle…….
(note to reader: I was interrupted by my host father when writing the above blog entry. I’ll describe what happens next, even tho’ it’s from recall a few days later.)

It’s day 5. I’ll write more later or tomorrow about my crazy banana experiences. We just got back from a trip to San Isabel (which is an hour from Cuenca) and it was absolutely exhausting. Granted, it was beautiful and wonderful until about 10pm when people started to get rowdy. Most of you know I don’t drink and I’m anti-social on a good day (read: Dork), so this was an exhausting process for me. However, most of the night was really great. Picture a white Jewish girl from the Midwest salsa dancing with Ecuadorian folk. Hey, I improvised. I took a ton of pictures that I will somehow try to upload even tho’ I don’t have the cord to my stinkin’ computer and there are no card readers within a 1,000 ft radius.

Oh, and the driving. Um, that may be a whole other blog entirely. Picture 6 people in a 5 person car speeding down endless super curvy roads at 80 MPH with nothing separating us from the 3,000 ft drop below. At first I was scared out of my mind but 20 minutes into the ride I figured my only salvation (no seatbelts) would be a death grip on the ‘Oh Sh*t’ handle, so that’s what I did for the entire 2 hours in the pig (coche). Just kidding, we weren’t driving in a pig, we were driving in a car (carro). The end.

Well, it’s hot here, and I was attempting to blog but it’s just not happening tonight. Ciao, folks!

PS: I added in some photos of the party we went to

Alimentacion

The food here is so good. I think I'm eating better (and more!) than I did in the States. Hard to believe, I know. I tried to turn my short time here in Quito into somewhat of a culinary adventure,and I think I've done a pretty good job of it (the scale could verify this). Check it out! The first pic (btw, if anybody knows how to add captions to photos let me know...I'm doing this blogging stuff all en espanol so it's a li'l confusing) was my 1st meal in Quito. Hells yes I ordered room service. Deal with it people. Pictured is an ensalada primavera (Spring salad) with toronja (grapefruit), naranja(orange), lechugas (lettuce), y aderezo de aceite balsamico (vinegar dressing). The soupy looking dish is just that, soup! It's called Ajiyacu Quiteno, which is a local dish, made up of potatoes, fresh mozzarella, avocado, and choco beans. No idea what choco beans are. If anybody knows, let me know! You can see that there is also a bit of alcohol to add to the soup--not sure what kind. And, of course, some ice cream to boot. Now, this was no ordinary ice cream dish. There was magnificent chopped fruit on the bottom--pineapple, watermelon, papaya, and strawberries. I'd always assumed that putting an acidic fruit (like pineapple or lemon) together with a milk product would curdle it in time. But, no curdling here! Just pure deliciousness. Whoever thought of putting those fruits together with ice cream is a genius.

One of my recent meals was at an outside cafe named Azuca. I read later that this place is a Latin bistro known for its international flare. I should say that this meal was preceded by a full day of walking through Quito's historical district, so I thought I should go big or go home. I decided to order a 'plato fuerte', an entree, of rice and seafood--I can't remember the exact name but it was something like 'Arroz afrodisaco'. Not too sure what the aphrodisiac part was all about....! I was expecting a simple plate of rice and shrimp, but I was happy to see that it came with a calamari salad, fried sea bass, mussels, clams (which were all closed, so I didn't eat them) salad, fried plantains, and grilled bananas. Que rico! Mind you this was all for about $6 USD. It was awesome. I've found though, that here in Quito they automatically add a 10% tip as well as IVA tax to the bill, so the prices on the menu can be a bit misleading.

Yo dudes.

Hola todos:

This is my first attempt at 'blogging'. Hmm. What to say? If you don't know already, I'm here in Ecuador on a Fulbright Scholarship for about 10 months. Today completes my first week here, and let me tell you, it has been an adventure. I arrived last Sunday with a massive headache, probably due to the altitude. It took me a good 3 or 4 days to acclimate to the thin air here (Quito is the 2nd highest capital in the world, next to La Paz, at almost 10,000 ft above sea level). I decided against taking a sulfa diuretic called Diamox; instead, I drank a *ton* of water and nearly overdosed on Advil. Fun times.

I've been in sensory overload for the past week. There is *so* much to take in at once--the scenery, the people, the food, the pollution-- it is overwhelming at times. The scenery is OOC ('out of control' for non-texters). Sometimes when I'm walking on the street I'll step aside from the foot traffic and stop to look over at the mountains for some time. I don't think the pictures do it a lick o' justice.

Besides the $5 pick pocket incident and the overly friendly doorman, the people here have been very warm and welcoming. The other day I went exploring Old Town Quito and decided to stop for a juice (more about the juices later) at an outdoor market. Juice Lady was probably one of the nicest people I've met in a long time There weren't a ton of people around, so she sat with me while I drank my juice and we chatted. She gave me the 411 on Quito--where to go, where not to go, what to do, what not to do. It rocked. So did the juice.

The pollution takes some getting used to. Alot of the buses and cars here are really old, so they drive by and leave you in a plume of exhaust. Combine that with the altitude and the steep hills and you've got a recipe for good times. I'm sure I'll miss it all when I leave.

One thing that I will really miss are the amazing juices! Although, I'm almost certain they will have juices on the coast. I drink at least 4 a day. They are amazing--no added sugar or added anything--only pure pulp from the fruit. My favorite so far is probably papaya, although the guanabana comes in at a close 2nd. Juice Lady taught me all about the different fruits that they have here, some of which I'd never heard of, including but not limited to: Guanabana, taxo, tree tomato, mango, papaya, coconut, blackberry, watermelon, orange, limon, and pear. So far I've tried guanabana, papaya, tree tomato, blackberry, and watermelon. I could drink the juice here all day every day for the rest o' my life. Word.

My ADD is kickin' in so I'll have to write more later. Pictures will be posted sometime in the near future, I hope. I leave for Machala, which is on the Pacific Coast, on Wednesday. From then on I plan to be uber busy starting up my project, which is a study on the food security levels of banana farm workers on Fair Trade farms. I'm hoping to have regular internet access down there, but who knows.

Until then. :-)