Ecuador, Part One: Quito, Quininde, the Cupa Community and Atacames

Well since I didn't have regular access to the internet until now, this will be a long post covering our first 5 days in Ecuador.  I have been writing in my journal, so I am basically typing it all up now.

11/2/2012

Wow!! Well, our journey technically began last night when our plane arrived 45 minutes early in Quito.  Normally, this would be a good thing, except that we were on a different plane than Carrie and had a game plan to wait for her at a specific spot prior to customs, since our planes were supposed to arrive within 15 minutes of each other.  Afraid of changing the plan, we sat and waited nervously, envisioning our bags sitting and waiting there unattended. The airport was packed, and the idea of not being able to find Carrie on top of not understanding what people were saying was the less appealing option.  Of course Carrie's plane was late and the customs line was growing.....so by the time we got through, it was already midnight and over one hour after we arrived. Carrie found her bags and sure enough, ours were nowhere to be found.  All I can say is thank God for Carrie who took charge in Spanish and literally demanded (politely) after 5 or 6 misdirections that the United office be unlocked because we REALLY needed our stuff. HURRAY, they were there!!!  Relief.  Outside of the airport we saw children working, selling candy, cigarettes, etc...or women with babies on their backs doing the same.  We were picked up by Maggie from Map International, one of the organizations we are partnering with in Quito.  Being that it was Day of the Dead, she informed us that the hotel we were planning to stay in was booked....of course.  So, we drive up and down some sketchy looking streets and finally settled with one that Maggie felt comfortable with.  This is when I really had to take my deep breaths and trust Carrie and trust God that we would  be safe in a place that by our standards looked anything but safe.  The room was basically just two twin beds and a bunk bed, and a bathroom.  Nothing warm and cozy about it.  We used our bottled waters for brushing our teeth and couldn't flush toilet paper down the toilet- two practices that have become standard for us by now.  Out the window you can see that other buildings made make shift security fences by using cement with broken glass sticking out of it. But, the "Hostal" wasn't so bad, the nice owner served us a decent breakfast and about 7 hours after we arrived, we were picked up by Maggie and a taxi driver to head off towards Quininde.  Let me tell you, if I didn't have my Dramamine, I would've puked everywhere. The car ride was nothing short of a roller coaster experience, I wouldn't be surprised if he was going 100mph on mountain and cliff sides....I was truly flopping around and the tires were screeching.  I'll admit, he knew what he was doing and the scenery was stunning. Endless green, palm tree forests, bamboo, green for days.

Our first stop was to visit Carrie's friend Eduardo; such a nice guy, as was his wife and sweet little son.  She met him while working at the Orphanage.  Eduardo took us for a drive in his town of Quninde. Enter culture shock.  He showed us the river where people swam and bathed in did laundry in a river with BOAs in it...yes, the massive deadly snake.   The smell of gas fumes in the air was nauseating. There was trash everywhere on the streets where people stood around and I couldn't help but feel as if I was going to get robbed any second.  Granted, he did warn us to keep our cameras away and be careful.  The primary roadkill was dogs....so many skinny and vicious dogs everywhere. It was really, quite the experience. Nonetheless, Eduardo and his family had such pride for their hometown and were so incredibly sweet.  They seemed genuinely happy and were all smiles, especially in regards to their miracle son who was conceived after 9 years of infertility.  We all packed into his TINY car to go to the Cupa Community, where Carrie, Matt and I would stay for the next two nights.  Culture shock increases.

We stayed at one of the nicest homes in Cupa, with a woman named Tatiana and her two children. At first it was really hard to tell how many kids were hers because there were like 8 different kids running in and out at all times of day.  But between her, and her brother's wife Maria, and Tatiana's sister, they would be in and out of each other's homes.  So, Tatiana's home was the only one with a bathroom.  But let me tell you, thank you Kaia for those squats, because they came in handy when using the bathroom.  In order to flush, you took the milk jug in the big barrels of water next to the toilet, filled it up with water, and poured it into the toilet.  You throw the toilet paper away in the trash can which sat right below their toothbrushes :(  Ahhh.  In the entire home, all of the floors were cement, and the ceilings were steel.  The walls were not finished, meaning there was about a 5 inch gap in between the ceiling and the wall.  Meaning....geckos crawling in and out, and at night when it rained, you saw the rats darting across....The day we arrived, Tatiana's home was robbed.  She was planning on having a fiesta for us, but since she couldn't afford to, while we napped, Eduardo had gone to the grocery store to buy her groceries so that she could prepare us a nice meal.    So we enjoyed, fried plantains, rice, tuna and potatoes.  We were so hungry at that time that it tasted amazing.  As we eat, the tiny little piglet runs around squealing and it is the most hysterical thing ever. Him and their pet cat both had their ears pierced, which was hard to see.  Especially on the cat where it obviously took multiple attempts.  Dogs were constantly barking and I don't blame them, they spend all day every day chained to a tree.  They serve the purpose of home security.  I guess...After our meal, we were to walk to the cemetery (Day of the Dead). About a year and half ago, Maria's 5 year old son had set fire to the bamboo hut where she, her husband, her two children and baby lived.  The baby was in the hut at the time, and he didn't survive. Heartbreaking.  We were told  Maria has never since been the same. Tatiana's adorable 5-year old niece held my hand the entire way to the cemetery.  It seemed everyone in the tiny community was there, but more for a celebration of the lives lost, than a depressing mourning.  Yes it was of course sad, but beautiful in a sense as well. They were all there together, lighting candles and playing music, some drinking....As it got darker, lightning started and then came the rain. Time to go home. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE.

For Spanish speakers, my name is ridiculously hard to pronounce, so they named me Monica. Haha!! We end the night with our baby wipe showers, put up our mosquito net, and pass out on the bed in one of the bedrooms.  Tatiana and all the kids all slept in one room so that we could have our own room.  God must have answered my prayers to keep my heart calm and stay trusting of Him, because despite being in a situation that in every way countered my idea of comfortable and safe, I felt just fine.

11/3/2012
Despite dogs barking all night and roosters starting their crowing battles at what felt like 3AM, we finally woke up to the squealing piglet who helped himself into our room at around 9AM.  I had my most difficult meal of the trip so far during this breakfast.  Tatiana prepared us a fried eggs and this massive ball of plantains,cheese and some pig meat. You never knew if what you were biting into was going to be super crunchy, or super soft, and it took everything in me to eat it..... So far, this trip has already been incredibly eye-opening.  I am blown away by the contrast in the true luxury we live in and how little these people have.  We walked around to 8 of the 15 different homes that had previously been given water filters by For One Another.  It's important to note that this particular project is not typical for FOA, as the government here insisted on choosing the homes in Cupa for where the filters should go, which was very stressful for Carrie....Anyway, they were excited to see Carrie again, reported that the water tasted sweet, was so clear, and they felt better as a result of drinking it. Yay!  Meanwhile, Matt entered the location of each filter into our GPS tracker so that we can eventually create a map of FOA's work among other things.  But wow, conditions of the homes we visited were so much worse than the home we were staying at.  People with literally no roof, starving animals everywhere, illiteracy, and of course no bathrooms or baths.  One of the women who received a water filter in Cupa ran a fruit stand where Carrie insisted we tried the fresh coconut. The milk was incredible, nothing at all like the coconut milk I've tasted at home. So fresh and delicious! After you drink it down, they cut out all the coconut meat for you to snack on, also super tasty. That was a highlight!  We headed back for home. How funny that we could just walk around the community, knock on people's doors, and they welcomed us and our questions.  It's not quite the same in the U.S. By the way, Carrie politely mentioned to Tatiana that we were not meat eaters.  Our next meal was fried chicken. HAHA! The concept of not eating meat is totally foreign.  I tried to get the visual of out of my mind of the two men on the motorcycle, the one on the back holding 2 dead chickens in each hand....We ended this night so peacefully with chairs out front while the kids played soccer, had water fights, wrestled, and then eventually made their way over to us and somehow we all ended up dancing. Let me tell you, these people BLAST their music like nobody else.

When it started to rain, we made our way back inside. The 16 year old boy, Livington, logs into his Facebook account. HAHA. Didn't expect to see that!! They have no working toilet but they do have Direct TV and Facebook accounts.   Matt was teaching the kids English, Carrie was reading and people, I'm telling you, they follow me...in walks the TINIEST kitten I have ever seen in my life.  This baby was seriously the size of the palm of my hand.  It was less than 3 weeks old and of course malnourished. All the others had died and the momma did not seem to be producing milk.  Sigh. You all know this was hard for me.

11/4/2012
Today we left Tatiana's house and caught a bus to Atacames, a beach near the Colombian border.  Apparently for the locals, this is a pretty touristy spot.  We are in a hotel right on the beach and the three of us paid like $12 each to stay here. Granted this hotel by our standards is not "NICE", but it feels great to us right now, cold showers and all.  Never have I ever wished I could exercise or eat a green salad more in my life! Haha. When showers are limited and nothing seems clean, exercise is not as doable as I had hoped for.  Bye bye Kaia body, for now....

11/5/2012
Last night we had a mild fiasco before falling asleep. As we laid in our beds, Carrie says, "Is that a gecko?"
Umm...WHAT? So I, naturally, freak out and turn on the light and sure enough there is a little gecko on our ceiling. Yes, tiny and harmless like the Geico guy, but seriously, the idea of a creepy crawly by my face at night turned me into such a baby! How was I supposed to sleep? So as I dart from bed to bed shrieking profanities, swearing that it Matt didn't catch it, that fool would fall off the ceiling into my mouth, Matt is standing on a nightstand with a trash can trying to trap it and Carrie is laughing hysterically....awesome.  Eventually, Matt trapped the little guy and put him out, and THEN we had a great nights sleep to the sound of the ocean. So peaceful, post gecko, quite the contrast to the barking dogs and crowing roosters.  On our way back to Quito, Carrie realized how close we were getting to the orphanage where it all began for her.  This orphanage is where she met Jonathan, the little boy who stole her heart, who she fought tooth and nail to adopt, who calls her mom. And Carrie got so excited that she asked the taxi driver if we could please make a stop at the orphanage before we go to the hotel.  So we pull up to it and Carrie gets out to speak to the security there.  The lady comes back and tells Carrie that Jonathan has been moved.......heartbreaking. Updated mission for tomorrow: find Jonathan and make sure he is safe.

Overall right now, while I experienced some conditions which we deem as poverty, the most outstanding thing is the generosity of the people, the beautiful sense of true community, and all the endless smiles we saw.

And now we are back at our hotel in Quito, getting ready to leave to go pick up Mick, who is joining us from California to help. More to come. Phew!!!

Eduardo and his family

Quininde

Tatiana's home, where we stayed in Cupa

Showing us how it's done

The beautiful girls dancing

The boys playing

Me and the kids writing our names in English

Two young girls walking to the river

 One of the women who received a filter when this baby was still in her tummy!

People bathing, washing and doing laundry at the river in Cupa

Maria cutting us a super unripe mango, which they eat with salt

Tatiana leading us to a home with a filter for follow up

Near the river in Cupa

A man sitting in his hammock outside of his home in Cupa

 Another woman we visited to follow up on her filter, most of her home did not have a roof

A family's filter inside their house!

 CHONCHITO!

The bedroom we slept in at Tatiana's house

Me and the teeny tiny kitten

Matt teaching Tatiana and the kids English