12.21.2009

Hola todos:

Another day, another power outage. It has been about 2 hours since the power went out, so I figured I'd use the time to write a blog. Luckily my computer's all charged up! It's actually quite peaceful to be without power for a few hours during the day. Everything gets quiet, children go out in the streets to play, and the rattle and hum of the day stops. I used to complain and get restless, but I've learned to use this time to work on being reflective--reading, writing, and thinking about the next step in my research.

Ahh yes, that brings us to my research. It has been a bumpy road to research land. I have literally tried everything in the book to carry out household interviews and to gain confidence among farming communities so that the farmers I interview will shell out information about their lives. Man, it's a tough job! However, I think I finally found a decent alternative to my original (and completely unfeasible) plan(s). There is a community of 350 families, about 2 hours outside of Quito approaching the
Amazon region, that is in the early stages of forming a Fair Trade cacao cooperative (these guys are different from those of La Providencia that I spoke of in my last blog--that plan fell through,as usual). I learned about these guys through a contact I made at the Yanapuma Foundation. For a 'nominal' fee, Yanapuma is going to set me up with a host family from the cooperative. I'll be able to live and work with small farmers, attend their meetings, and figure out what sorts of benefits, if any, a Fair Trade cooperative might bring them. Hopefully this plan will work and I'll find my way to collecting some quality data. Fingers crossed!

That's pretty much where I'm at for now. Besides filling out Ph.D. apps, I spend my time hanging out with my Host Family, speaking tons of Spanish, and drinking a boat load of juice. It's nice, but I'm ready to get my hands dirty and get going on this data collection business. It is almost January after all, and I'd like to have something ...anything!..to show for my 10 months spent in Ecuador. I'll say, tho', that my Spanish has improved exponentially. At times I still don't understand Host Sister or Host Father and his Italian accent, but for the most part, comprehension is alot easier than it used to be.

Oy, the heat is gettin' to me--it's nearly 98 degrees and the humidity is quite oppressive! The rainy season is soon to start, although I've only seen a few drops here and there. The Guayacos have prepared me for a season of crickets, mosquitoes, and heat.
Sounds fun, huh?! I'm still in disbelief about some of the cricket
tales I've heard. Supposedly these crickets are giant, they fly, and
they come en masse (you might think, "Oh--Locusts!" But no, they are crickets!) --that is, they cover your windows, your doors, infiltrate your house, your clothes and your shoes. There is no avoiding these crazy crickets. Rich or poor, rural or urban, these crickets are coming for us.

I'll let you know what happens :-)

I'm including some pictures of me and my Host Family at the local market. These markets are immense with fruit as far as the eye can see. The prices are amazing and the fruit--delicious. For example, I bought 24 succulent oranges for 2 dollars, 4 giant mangoes for 1 dollar, and 18 mandarin oranges for 50 cents. Unbelievable, no? I will really miss the fruit when I return to the U.S. Lately, we've been cutting mangoes from our mango tree in the backyard. The juice we make
from these mangoes is absolutely delightful. No chemicals, no
nothing--just pure,unadulterated mango. It's heaven!

Power's back! And with that note, I think I'll have a nap. Nice talkin' to ya! :-)

Bahia Bahia!

For some reason I've been putting off blogging the same way I would put off studying for a biochemistry exam. It may be because it's extremely difficult for me to sit at my computer in 90 + degree heat, or perhaps it's just because I haven't felt the urge to reflect lately. Not sure. But, I'll tell ya'll one thing--the heat sure does wipe me out! It has been in the 30's here (centigrade), with humidity reaching up to 90% at times. Dang.

I don't know where to start, since I've had so many adventures since I last blogged. My most recent adventure was a trip to Bahia de Caraquez, in the province of Manabi. From Guayaquil, Bahia is about a 7 hour bus ride up the coast. The roads are really bad, and the ride is a bit unpleasant. However, I managed to make it there safely and find a $6/night hostel as soon as I got into town. This place was really cool, run by an Australian expat who knows how to make a great American breakfast.

The night I arrived, I went out to eat dinner--sola, as always. Somehow I managed to make friends with the blonde surfer dude who was sitting next to me studying Spanish. His Spanish sucked, but hey, we've all been there. Turned out he was 51, dating a 24 yr old Ecuadorian, and had been living in my hostel for 2 months! Sketchy? Maybe, but I am certainly not one to judge.

Normally I am not a social person at all, but when I travel alone I seem to make all sorts of crazy and fun friends. There were only 3 or 4 of us in the hostel, including a South African that I ended up talking with over breakfast. We talked about what it's like to live in Africa (even tho' she claims she's not part of Africa)-- apartheid, violence, racism, baboons, refugee camps, all that good stuff. It was uber interesting. For example, she tells me that a normal occurrence in her neighborhood is to see people stained in blood screaming on the streets. She seemed unfazed talking about it, which means she has probably been desensitized for a while. Armpit hair and all, she was one interesting gal.

My initial reason for heading out to Bahia was to work on an organic farm outside Bahia. In the end my plans fell through ($230 for 2 weeks volunteering on a farm seemed a li'l outrageous), so I hung out in Bahia. It seemed harmless at $6 a night, and the beach was beautiful. (I should mention that I've added in some pictures of my Bahia adventure to this post--including some pics of the beach, cacao, a cat I fell in love with, and the local towns).

Ohh--right now I'm in Guayaquil and my family is preparing lunch. So hungry! I think today is pork chops with tamarind sauce. Yummy!

So, anyway. I decided to take a tour in Bahia of a giant lagoon and nature reserve called El Humedal. The tour agency told me that I'd get to see snakes and caimans and all this cool stuff. Turns out, since Ecuador is suffering one of the worst droughts in history, El Humedal is all dried up--not a drop of water anywhere. As soon as I arrived I realized the tour agency had screwed me just a bit. Oh well, these things seem to happen quite often here. It was actually quite sad to see a giant lagoon in such bad shape. But hey, that's the payback we get for destroying our environment, right?

My tour guide was a 21 yr old student who knew a bunch about the natural world--including the names of birds, insects, flowers, and even different species of cactus. Since El Humedal was all dried up, we hiked around and then sat and talked for a while. I told him about my research and that I was interested in learning about Fair Trade cacao farmers. The next set of events is crazy and I still don't really understand what happened!
Here we go:
Tour Guide tells me that he has a huge group of Tour Guide friends that are coming to visit El Humedal, a local church, and an organic cacao farm, and invites me along! I accepted, as a gracious gringa always does, and as soon as I knew it, a big bunch of Tour Guides were ascending upon El Humedal. These were no ordinary tour guides tho'. They were primarly interested in promoting ecotourism to help prevent the destruction of the environment. The majority were quite young, but very friendly and engaging. Most of them wanted to practice their English with me, which was fun. We rode in a truck that had seats on two levels *and* on top! Yup, I rode on top of a truck. It was awesome--the views were spectacular as we rode along the countryside. I tried to catch a few pictures up there but they all came out rather blurry.

We ended up at a local cacao farm, where we watched the process of harvesting cacao and making (very delicious) chocolate. It was nothing short of amazing! And the smell of the factory was absolutely delicious. The best part of the whole experience was being introduced to the head of La Providencia, a local cooperative that is in the early stages of establishing Fair Trade practices. I've been warmly invited to return to La Providencia to help promote their cause among local farmers and to interview local families. I just got off the phone with my contact there, and I'm headed up again tomorrow! It's a long haul, but well worth it.

There's so much more, but it's lunch time. Hopefully ya'll will enjoy these pictures.

Will blog again after lunch! :-)