Wow August 1, 2011 that means I have been here in Ecuador for about 6 months now. It has been quite an experience. The first 3 months were Peace Corps training and the rest have been at my site. I work in my community and try to start projects. Doing anything here is of a different mentality. I am Spanish by heritage but have been raised all of my life inside the USA. There is some culture shock and it makes me realize how similar but different we really are. For example in sports, in America we are used to playing sports for fun. We work out for exercise and mental health. In this country sports are for gambling. All sports from the national soccer team to children’s soccer games. The bets range from 300 dollars to buying the next bottle of soda. But they always bet. There is no sportsmanship when there is always money on the line. Sports lose their pureness. If you are not playing for money then what is the point. The custom starts from very young I see 7 year old betting on soccer games even if it’s only for the 25 cents in their pockets. If I want to play soccer in my game I have to put in a dollar for the privilege no matter the game. If I win I get 2 dollars. I miss sports in the states.
So what do I miss from the states? The biggest one is of course my family but the small stuff. Food variety is not common here. There is only Ecuadorian food. In America we are spoiled we can go out on a Friday and find a wide variety of foods from Greek, Mexican, Thai, fast food, Italian, Indian. Here today you will be served Ecuadorian food and tomorrow as well. For the most part that consists of rice, plantains and chicken or fish. It has been growing on me but it’s hard to eat tons of rice every single day. I try to eat as much vegetables as I can but it’s not easy. I have to go a 45 minutes on a bus to the next town in order to buy groceries. I am limited by the amount I can carry in my backpack. It is quite cheap though. You can get 15 oranges for a dollar, bananas are .5 a piece, a head of broccoli is .50 cents, and tomatoes are 10 for a dollar. Food is amazingly cheap but some things are ridiculously expensive photos processing is .50 cents a photo, a fax is .60 cents a page. Everything electronic is really expensive. If a camera costs 100 dollars in the states here it is 220. Blenders can cost 65 dollars. These articles must be really hard to acquire for somebody from my area. The average salary is 7 dollars a day for a field worker in my community. Life is hard here.
I am somewhat living a hard life but it’s not that bad. The walls in my house are made out of bamboo and my roof is nothing but a piece of zinc tied with some wires. The frame was made from local trees in the area. I have a light bulb, a portable stove and most impresingly a really good refrigerator. It is hot as hell here and I don’t have any air conditioning. Not that a bamboo house can with hold air conditioning. I have a bed the mattress sucks it’s pretty old and has very little padding. I have to sleep with a mosquito net of course. I don’t get paid much at all, it’s just a little stipend for rent, food, bus fare, etc., but I’m really well of compared to my neighbors. I at least have a steady income every month. Even if they work they probably make about as much as I do but they have to support a pretty big family. I on the hand only have to support myself. This gives me the luxury of being able to leave my site and get to see the wonders of Ecuador. Ecuador is amazing country there is everything here. Mountains, jungles and beaches are part of the terrain. The biodiversity is amazing. This past weekend I was able to visit this city called Puerto Lopez. There I went on a boat ride to this island and on the way we saw humpback whales. I saw a whole bunch of whales at least 10 of them. The male whales were doing their courtship by jumping out of the water, waving their fins and smacking their tails on the water. It was an amazing display. I also witnessed a huge seal, 4 green sea turtles and amazing sea birds. I would have enjoyed it more if I did not get super sea sick. I think I threw up like 4 times. The funniest thing is on the way back I was quite happy that I had not thrown up yet but when we were right about to reach land I could not hold it and yakked my lunch in to the sea for the fishies to eat.
There are tons of beautiful places to explore in Ecuador. I usually try to leave my site on the weekends to go see different places. Well in order to integrate into your community you are recommended to stay there as much as possible, so I try to balance it out but it can be hard though. The site that I live at does not have much to do so I get restless to leave on the weekends. I make it a goal to only leave on the weekends and not every weekend.
Being in Peace Corps for me is an emotional roller coaster for sure. Sometimes I feel really happy and other times I am really low. At times I have told myself that I want to quit or move somewhere else but I have not. Life can be frustrating here at times. Even though Ecuador has some amazing places I would not consider my site to be one of them. There is no water here so everything is pretty dry. I am surrounded by deforested hills covered with dead corn. I am ambitious and would like to do many things but progress can be very slow. There are lots of frustrations. I expect a lot out of myself and of those around me. I am a perseverant person and am always striving to do my best and help others. I am one of the few here that have that mentality. Many people here are very self interested and do not care about doing community projects or helping others. Sometimes there is not much to do and I miss a lot from home. I am pretty disconnected from the world there is no internet where I live, there is barely cell phone reception. Boredom and loneliness are a bad combination. It’s funny how you can have some of the worst days of your life followed by some of the best days of your life. I feel myself growing as a person haha or maybe I’m just growing old.
What would make my stay here better? I think stayng more in contact with people would make it better for me. I try to write letters to people back home. In fact I am trying to write more letters so if you send me your address I will write you a letter from Ecuador or send a postcard. We can become penpalls. Happiness is getting a letter in the mail. I would love to get in touch with old friends especially those I have not talked to in a while.
My address is:
Luis Olguin (Cuerpo de Paz)
Casilla 13-02-19
Bahía de Caraquez,
Manabí Ecuador
Well good night to my followers
Sincerely,
Luis
Great insightful, honest post Luis!
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