Tongues

The first picture is for Alex Hamilton and anyone who can remember this experience. The second picture is from the other weekend at sunset at Puerto Lopez. The third is Katie with a new friend at Parque Amazonico.

This weekend was spent calmly in Tena. Thursday night, Katie and I met the two PT students from work out for a drink. The place had swings we could sit on at the bar, so we had no problem returning there on Saturday for a little bit.
We tried to go to the Parque Amazonico on Saturday but the rain kept coming and going so the visit got postponed til Sunday morning. It was a nice place to walk around for a bit and we checked out the animals - some in their cages and others were free to roam around. One of the men working there said the ones in cages are there because they are either a bit more aggressive or they will fly away. The monkeys jumping around in the trees overhead or running across my foot were good and safe. If you say so!
I also visited the local pool on Sunday with Gaby, Juan Francisco, and some of Gaby´s friends. I can really only understand people when they are talking right to me at this point but have hopes that will change with time. Needless to say, there is plenty of time for reflection.
Yesterday was another successful spanish lesson.
This morning, Katie and I took the bus to work. Turns out, it´s pretty easy. It costs 18 cents but if you give them more, you´re not likely to get change back. I am not sure if I would recognize my stop on the way home but we´ll save that for another day.
Today at lunch, I was very grateful for Katie´s curiosity. She asked the PT students what kind of meat they were serving. Their response? Cow tongue. wowzers. I thought very briefly about trying it, but was not able to bring myself to do it and had to cover it with my napkin. Another gentleman at our table commented that he couldn´t eat it today as this did not taste as good as usual. I wouldn´t want to start off with a bad one, right?

Weather: Usually 75-85 degrees, that includes day and night according to the travel alarm clock my dad gave me. I am almost certain it is hotter in the sun but I keep it in my room so I don´t have numbers for it. It is also very humid. It has rained at some point every day I have been in Tena thus far though rainy season has not yet begun. I get different reviews from where I read but someone I asked the other day reported that rainy season is March through July. Being on the equator, the sun rises at about 6:30am and sets about 6:30pm - and that will never change.

Carnival

So my goal was to post every Tuesday. Yikes…off to a rough start there! So last week we started at work. I will go into more detail about that as I get more kids. Right now, we just finished with a holiday so there haven’t been many kids coming.
Carnival began on Friday and lasted until Tuesday. It is a big celebration right before Lent begins filled with festivities, parties, fair-type atmospheres and water fights. Katie and I had an extra 3 days off of work so we took this chance to travel to the coast. We left late Thursday night and traveled overnight to Guayaquil, a 9 hour bus ride. From there, we caught a 4 hour bus ride to Puerto Lopez. After the initial comparisons between a beach in the U.S. and Ecuador, we enjoyed our time in the sun. The beach town there was not filled with resorts and tall hotels like in the U.S. Rather, it is a typical town feeling.
We had some initial issues with reservations at hostels but after a bit of time, had a place to stay for the next 3 nights. Our second night, we came home to find 2 very large cockroaches in our room. Needless to say, I was not a fan. I couldn’t figure out if they were giant beetles or cockroaches but alas, we had not invited them for an afterparty. We told the owner and she fumigated the room. We left for a few hours to hang out with some Americans we had met at our hostel. When we returned, the room still smelled awful and there was a new cockroach there! Katie was brave and did the flashlight hunting for more as well as smashed the one in our room. We spent the night snug under our mosquito nets with our faces in our towels so we could breathe.
The next day we went to Montenita, another beach town on the coast, where we got to watch the surfers, which I enjoyed. It’s quite impressive. After soaking up some sun and finding ourselves a little red after a few days at the equator, we trecked back the 13 hours on the bus to Tena. During Carnival, we were lucky enough to walk away with only a few buckets/balloons of water thrown at us and some foam. We are an easy target, being gringas. We were able to avoid the eggs and powder, for which I am thankful.
We started back to work yesterday, where I saw a total of 3 kids. I have been working on the occupational therapy evaluation and progress notes and hope to start using those next week. There has never been an OT at this clinic before so I am trying to start from scratch. This is proving a challenge with my minimal pediatric experience.
Home in Tena: Gaby’s place is on the 2nd floor right by the airport, which is actually just a landing strip never used. People walk across it all day long, including myself. Once on the second floor, it’s kind of like a “C” shape. Juan Francisco’s room is to the right, making the top. Then the kitchen, bathroom, family room, and Gaby’s room make the main part. My room actually has a separate door and lock off the porch so it’s nice because I lock my door, while they do not. There is hot water that gets warmer, we’ll say, as you turn the water down. (at work, there is no seat on the toilet so everyone must squat). Also, toilet paper never goes in the toilet as the system cannot handle it. There is a big water jug in the kitchen for drinking water. Gaby and her son are great though I don’t see them all the time, depending on our schedules.

Last night, I went to my first tutoring session to advance my Spanish skills so I am hoping those go well!

Deep breaths...

I would like for this one to have a more enticing title but I am writing facts here. So, for those wondering, I am officially moved into Tena, Ecuador. However, I did not travel as planned. My flight to Atlanta was delayed and there was no way for me to make my connecting flight to Quito so I had to leave instead on Thursday. This ended up being fine because the other volunteer, Katie, had to delay her flight a day as well because she was sick. So, despite brief delays on Thursday also, I made it to Quito. Thankfully, I made a friend before the flight because he helped me to translate to the airport employees when my baggage did not make it. I found Katie and the woman who picked us up and we went to her house where we stayed for 2 nights.
The next day, she took us on some errands so I could finish the paperwork needed to complete my visa, and then to the Center of the World as well as an inactive volcano. Quito was a busy city but the woman we stayed with was very accommodating and helpful. We went to her son-in-law’s bar, Beertropolis, for a drink before going to get my luggage! It was quite different, I believe, then the way it would be in the U.S. as I only had a copy of my passport and had already turned in my customs forms, but I was happy to have my things.
The next morning we travelled by car to Tena. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains but the roads were very curvy! We were brought to our houses. I will be living with Gaby, a 30 year old woman, and her 5 year old son, Juan Francisco. They are both very sweet and Gaby speaks English very well. They have a dog as well, Myra. We took our first trip to the grocery store to learn what was good/bad to buy. That evening, Katie and I went with Gaby and her friends to a Quechua beauty pageant where traditional dance and dress was demonstrated. We were exhausted at the end of the night, having gotten up at 5:40 (note: breakfast was supposed to be at 6am but was not until about 6:45.
A festival celebrating the anniversary of the discovery of the Amazon Rivers took up most of Sunday, where I went with Gaby, followed by mass with Katie and her host mom.
Yesterday was the first day at work. The kids are super cute and appear to be pretty low level. I was able to set up the room I will mostly be working in but still have to figure out how my evals/progress notes will look. Wish me luck!
All in all, I was very overwhelmed initially but had to calm myself down. This is, after all, what I have wanted to do for so long. I had forgotten, similar to my experience in Nicaragua though, that all the changes come at once plus a language barrier. I am feeling much better now and adjust with each day, as I know it will come easier with time and I will get a grasp on how to communicate with people I miss back home.
I will try to post some pictures soon…

Up, Up, and Away!

Well, tomorrow I will be up, up, and away. My bags are pretty much packed, filled with scrubs and toys. My parents had a very nice going away party for me and I got to say my goodbyes to friends and family. Cathy, Steve, and Ciara were able to come in from Chicago so it was great to see them. I can only imagine all that Ciara will be doing/learning in the next year. I was able to get a little practice interacting with a child before working in pediatrics so that was good too!

My flight leaves tomorrow at 2:25pm I believe. It is a 2 hour flight to Atlanta, and then a 5 1/2 hour flight to Quito. There will be a woman there to pick me up and I will be staying at her bed and breakfast for a few days until I make the 5 hour bus ride to Tena, where I will be living. Hopefully, in the next few weeks I will be able to answer some of the questions people have been asking!
Next post will be from Ecuador :-)