Thursday, April 30, 2009

I’m getting down to my last days, and Jessie (from the SIT group) is coming to visit tomorrow so today was my last day solita in Principal. I still have a lot to do tomorrow and I set up two cooking things for Jessie since she’s making a cookbook so we’re going to make lunch with two ladies Friday and Saturday and hopefully they’ll make traditional things. The lady on Saturday, Señora Cecilia, is supposed to be the best cook in town. Jessie’s making a cookbook of Ecuadorian recipes from Ecuadorian women and including their personal histories for her independent study project. I’ll finally get some real meals, which will be really nice since I’m starting to get my appetite back. I probably still have a parasite, but its not bothering me so much anymore. I just want to eat a lot of chocolate and potato chips.

I’ve been having really good days, especially since I finally met the Peace Corps volunteer here, Anna. With her I’ve been able to see a lot more since they see me as her friend rather than a random American girl with a camcorder. Today the ladies were making chicha (a traditional corn-based alcoholic drink with apples) in huge witch cauldrons since there’s a fiesta this Saturday night, after I leave. It was really cool to see – they just have the cauldrons over an open fire and throw in all these apples and corn stuff and cane sugar and whole plants for seasoning. They stand around it, stirring with big beams, and the smoke goes everywhere. They gave me some to try when it was ready, and it was pretty good, really chunky since they hadn’t strained it yet. It has to stand around for a few days to ferment before it becomes alcoholic.

Today a few people have asked me about the swine flu, and I hardly know anything about it yet. I understand it’s a big deal, but I’ve been here in Principal without television, internet or newspapers, so I’m in the dark. I played with these two girls I met on the street for about two hours tonight, and they were nine and eight and had already heard about the flu, but all they really knew was that it scared them. Evidently sometime yesterday they reported a suspected case in Guayaquil, the biggest city, and that’s only about four hours away from here. I don’t think I’m much more likely to get it here than in the States though so it’s not something I think I should worry about.

I’ve been hanging out on this old lady’s porch a lot. Her name’s Justina and she’s “more than eighty” and she’s lived here all her life and almost never leaves. She’s always on her porch weaving a hat or getting the pajas (the straw things) ready, so I can usually count on her being there if I don’t have anything else to do. She says everything with the diminutive, it’s really cute (like manzana – apple – would be manzanita, casa – casita, pequeña – pequeñito, etc.). It’s actually apple season here and Principal is a big apple producer, and I’ve been given so many apples by random people, it’s amazing. Usually it’s just one or two but I’ve also got to pick some and bring back a bag. They are all natural – they never use pesticides or anything here. The farming here is really interesting. Most people live in “town” and walk out to their farms everyday and some of them are pretty far away, way down the valley. Most people have cows. I’ve been walking a lot on their paths (they mostly just use footpaths since they walk everywhere, but there are gravel/dirt roads in town for cars), and they are always amusing that I’m just walking. They always ask where I’m going.

Tomorrow I have to do everything I haven’t gotten around to yet, like filming a tour of the town and making sure I have clips of people saying the basic facts about the cooperativa since I obviously learned most things just talking to them without the camcorder. I also have one of the lunches set up for tomorrow, and Jessie should be coming around 10:30. She’ll stay in the hostel with me.

By the way, Mommy and Daddy, I saw a map today that had Principal on it, so you might be able to find it on a map if it’s a detailed on of Ecuador or of just this country, Azuay. It’s a little southeast of Cuenca. Find Cuenca and then Chordaleg and follow that road a little further.