These past few weeks have been a blur for me. I have found a sort of routine here which has made the time really fly. It's strange to be so comfortable here sometimes, and because I'm so comfortable it makes me very homesick. I'm enjoying my time here a lot, but I am also excited to have some time back in the states. Being in this daily routine and watching the days and weeks pass without anything remarkable happening makes me kind of bored and uncomfortable. BUT, I meditated on it this morning and realized I am in a very human and divine place. I have no plan, no idea where I'm going next, and am constantly wondering who I am and want to be-- but all of these questions keep me grounded in a strange way.
Also being here for such a long stay has given me a deeper perspective on traveling as a conscious person rather than traveling as a tourist. Yesterday I met a woman from the states who has been living here in Ecuador for over year. As I kept overhearing her talking "Ecuadorians are like this, Ecuadorians are like that," I was thinking of how an Ecuadorian would feel hearing her over-generalizations and assumptions...then I was thinking of how many times I've done that in my travels. How many times have I left a country and later explained the people and their culture as if I was some qualified scholarly expert just because I had traveled there for some time? I don't want to think about how many times I've done that, actually. And furthermore, I've been a total hypocrite because I lash out at anyone who classifies us from the states as 'obese, lazy, stupid, close-minded...etc.' These generalizations were (and are) not only damaging to the people we are describing, but I was also spreading these stereotypes to the minds of those people who may never have the opportunity to experience the culture and country for themselves. I apologize if I have come off this way in any of my conversations or blog posts in the past- I am really going to make a conscious effort in the future to not only stop myself from perpetuating these stereotypes, but also to challenge others who may do the same.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Week of Adrenaline...
I think I had the most interesting week ever this past week. It all began when I got held up by a guy on the street. Overall, I'm actually kind of proud of how I handled the whole situation...I think. Once I realized the guy had no knife or gun it was a lot easier to be confident, even after he decided his weapon would be a piece of cement rock. End of the story, he didn't get anything out of me. What ensued after that night was what was really painful...
The next day I explained what happened to my boss at the hotel, and he decided he was going to teach me how to defend myself with his martial artist "expertise." He explained to me that I can actually defend myself with as little as a rolled up magazine. A hit to the eye and to the groin is all I need to do...as he then showed me how to do- a little more 'hands-on' than I would have liked and he ended up hitting me right in the eye with the corner of the magazine. I ended up in the doctor 4 days in a row with a cut across my cornea and a choice between a contact or an eye-patch...wonderful. Apparantly a magazine is a great weapon-- at least against a small white girl in a hotel library! A glue-sniffing ladrone--not sure how well a magazine will work, I wouldn't recommend it.
During all of this mess my best friend came to visit for a week, which was awesome! We went all around Quito doing her Christmas shopping, checking in the sites, and almost getting robbed. To be fair, there were signs warning tourists "robbery zone," but I couldn't help it-- I mean, what robbers go to a "robbery zone" to rob people? I imagined they would try to be a little more discreet than that! But lo and behold, the sign held true and if a policeman didn't step out of a building at the time we did, we may have been cut.
After Quito we went to Banos where we did all kinds of fun activities- rafting, biking, hiking through waterfalls, zip lining...unfortunately we both ended up getting tag-team sick. She was sick for about a day and a half, I ended up being sick for about 3 or 4 days. We still had a great time though and fit in just about everything we wanted to do.
Looking forward to November, where I have a 3 day vacation from work for the Saints day Nov 1, Day of the Dead Nov 2, and Cuenca Independence day Nov 3. Going to be a good month =)
The next day I explained what happened to my boss at the hotel, and he decided he was going to teach me how to defend myself with his martial artist "expertise." He explained to me that I can actually defend myself with as little as a rolled up magazine. A hit to the eye and to the groin is all I need to do...as he then showed me how to do- a little more 'hands-on' than I would have liked and he ended up hitting me right in the eye with the corner of the magazine. I ended up in the doctor 4 days in a row with a cut across my cornea and a choice between a contact or an eye-patch...wonderful. Apparantly a magazine is a great weapon-- at least against a small white girl in a hotel library! A glue-sniffing ladrone--not sure how well a magazine will work, I wouldn't recommend it.
During all of this mess my best friend came to visit for a week, which was awesome! We went all around Quito doing her Christmas shopping, checking in the sites, and almost getting robbed. To be fair, there were signs warning tourists "robbery zone," but I couldn't help it-- I mean, what robbers go to a "robbery zone" to rob people? I imagined they would try to be a little more discreet than that! But lo and behold, the sign held true and if a policeman didn't step out of a building at the time we did, we may have been cut.
After Quito we went to Banos where we did all kinds of fun activities- rafting, biking, hiking through waterfalls, zip lining...unfortunately we both ended up getting tag-team sick. She was sick for about a day and a half, I ended up being sick for about 3 or 4 days. We still had a great time though and fit in just about everything we wanted to do.
Looking forward to November, where I have a 3 day vacation from work for the Saints day Nov 1, Day of the Dead Nov 2, and Cuenca Independence day Nov 3. Going to be a good month =)
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Workshop on Indigenous Rights and Rights of Nature
This weekend ended up being all that I had hoped for. I'm not sure how much I helped out legitimately, but it felt great to be there anyways! The trip started with a long bus ride to Puyo in which I slept most of the time. When we arrived we went to the store to pick up some food basics (cookies and milk), got some rubber boots to trek through the mud, and then got picked up for another 2 hour ride to the edge of a road leading into the community. From there it was a half hour walk to get into the actual village.
We got in Friday around 5 or 6pm, so we had just enough time to have a small meeting about what was going to take place on Saturday. After that we went to dinner, and I'm still not sure exactly what it was we ate since we both forgot our flashlights and it was extremely dark. I think it was some kind of cow soup. At any rate, out of hunger it was delicious!
Saturday we started the meeting (and when I say we, I mean my co-worker and the indigenous leaders). It was really encouraging to see how excited and emotional everyone was about the threat of petroleum companies coming in and exploiting their land. The meeting went on for longer than 10 hours. At the end of the meeting it seems that everyone agreed that it was the best decision to create a legal proposal to protect their lands before the companies come in for the "consultation process."
When we got back to Puyo Sunday morning, we had just enough time to run up and grab some food to go before catching the bus back to Quito. Leave it to me to get whatever the lady behind the counter recommended. When we got to the bus we found out I had gotten a traditional dish called Menudo which is a soup with the different insides of animals...heart, lungs, intestines, who knows what else. I was so hungry I ate almost all of it, and now I can say I had it. I can't say I would order it again.
Anyways, now I'm back in Quito in the office getting ready to teach English to the son of the receptionist in the office. I'm training for a half marathon in the end of November so started running again and I feel great! Stopped taking kickboxing classes and now looking for a new studio- the trainer ended up being a creep who doesn't know what 'no' means. Lucky I know how to punch now, hehe. Until next time bloggers!!
We got in Friday around 5 or 6pm, so we had just enough time to have a small meeting about what was going to take place on Saturday. After that we went to dinner, and I'm still not sure exactly what it was we ate since we both forgot our flashlights and it was extremely dark. I think it was some kind of cow soup. At any rate, out of hunger it was delicious!
Saturday we started the meeting (and when I say we, I mean my co-worker and the indigenous leaders). It was really encouraging to see how excited and emotional everyone was about the threat of petroleum companies coming in and exploiting their land. The meeting went on for longer than 10 hours. At the end of the meeting it seems that everyone agreed that it was the best decision to create a legal proposal to protect their lands before the companies come in for the "consultation process."
When we got back to Puyo Sunday morning, we had just enough time to run up and grab some food to go before catching the bus back to Quito. Leave it to me to get whatever the lady behind the counter recommended. When we got to the bus we found out I had gotten a traditional dish called Menudo which is a soup with the different insides of animals...heart, lungs, intestines, who knows what else. I was so hungry I ate almost all of it, and now I can say I had it. I can't say I would order it again.
Anyways, now I'm back in Quito in the office getting ready to teach English to the son of the receptionist in the office. I'm training for a half marathon in the end of November so started running again and I feel great! Stopped taking kickboxing classes and now looking for a new studio- the trainer ended up being a creep who doesn't know what 'no' means. Lucky I know how to punch now, hehe. Until next time bloggers!!
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