|
I came out of the bathroom this morning to find Craig on the computer playing "Morning" from Peer Gynt on YouTube, a la Ren & Stimpy. He is feeling infinitely better today, so we are very grateful. Here's to a new day!
One of the baby chicks seemed sick this morning. He was shivering and gasping. He kept finding his way into the house, seeking warmth. Poor little thing! For breakfast, we had fried eggs with French fries, fresh blueberry juice, and coffee. Antonio and Marcelo placed the main ridge pole for the roof, as well as several other rafters. Everything they do on the third floor looks precarious, and this was no exception. They were balanced 30 feet up in the air, doing the whole process by hand. It was very impressive! Craig gets dizzy just looking up at them! The family was listening to the radio, and a traditional Andean instrumental version of Kansas' "Dust in the Wind" came on. Once again we took notice of the way that indigenous Andean artists put their own twist on pop culture. This was followed by the ubiquitous "El Condor Pasa." Lunch was soup followed by pasta with veggies. Each kid slurped their spaghetti like "Lady and the Tramp." Then the kids played outside in the sun while I did my afternoon work. We heard the music from the Cosmic Cat ice cream truck passing by the house, and Sisa and Aida ran out to purchase cones for each of us. We followed. While we were there, a nice couple bicycled by. They are from Quito but living in Cotacachi. They chatted with us and were quite friendly. The man was giving his large dog a ride home from lake Cuicocha on the bike, and it was hysterical! We had a wonderful visit with friends when I finished with work for the day. Anna Taft, founding director of The Tandana Foundation, came over to see us. She spearheads grassroots projects in Ecuador and Mali. We participated in one of Tandana's volunteer vacations in Mali in 2009. We were thrilled when we found out that she is currently nearby in Ecuador, since we haven't seen her since our Mali trip. Our friend Rachel, the Morochos Peace Corps volunteer, works in some of the same spheres as Anna, but the two had never met. We invited them both over to the house for a visit. Rachel walked down from her host family home, and had only been here a few minutes before Anna arrived by taxi. Anna speaks Kichwa as well as Spanish. The look on Aida's face when Anna arrived and called out a Kichwa greeting to Antonio, who was working on the roof, was precious. The family was very impressed to meet an American woman who could speak their native dialect. Anna could converse fluently with Abuelita, which was very cool. Sisa gave Anna a hug. She has a very big heart and immediately had the reaction that any friend of ours is a friend of hers. Yupanqui and Tayanta were a bit more shy, but still curious. We explained Tayanta's eye problems. When Anna heard that Tayanta needed strabismus surgery, she mentioned that a colleague of hers is conducting a free strabismus surgery clinic next week. She promised to try to get us some information, Rachel is a big help to the community, and she is close with the family. We took Anna on a tour of the property and then the four of us chatted for hours over cups of coffee and tea. We had a lot of fun. We reminisced with Anna about our time together in Mali. Anna talked to Antonio about native tourism in Morochos. Rachel and Anna were able to exchange ideas and advice about volunteering in these rural native communities. The kids sort of orbited around, stopping in once in a while for a hug from Craig or myself, or Rachel, and listening to our conversation in a language that they don't know. Anna is flying back to the States tomorrow, so she had to get back to her host family's house in a neighboring village. Her taxi had trouble finding the house to pick her up, so the four of us wandered down the road until we encountered him. We invited Rachel to stay for dinner. We had soup, choclo mote, salad, and pineapple juice. We enjoyed chatting with Rachel and had lots of laughs. It was really great to get to catch up with these two wonderful ladies who do such awesome work here! Thanks for making the trip to visit us! Before bed, we watched the Patriots beat Miami streaming on the internet. |
 Tayanta and Sisa  Rachel, Craig, and Anna  Rachel, Steph, and Anna  Craig, Anna, Steph, and Rachel 
|
|
 |
|
 |
