There is life outside of Tabacundo...Technical Trìp to Santo Domingo and Mindo

Hooooraaay! We got to leave the greater-Cayambe area for the first time! Dont get me wrong, I really enjoy Tabacundo. It is a lovely little town with friendly folks and my house is here, so thats good. But even so, it is nice to get out and leave. Even more so than that, we were going to be able to do charlas and dinamicas (which literally means chats and dynamic activities, but actually means an interactive educational activity, basically its what we do in jovenes y familias) with real live people! Yesssss! I was so excited.

First, we had to wake up really early and take the bus to Cayambe. Our Jovenes y Familias (Youth and Families) group was split into two groups, my group was going to Santo Domingo and Mindo. Honestly, I was a little bummed because the other group was going to Esmereldas which is on the beach and I wanted to go to the beach, too! Anyhow, we were supposed to take the public bus to get there. Well, the thing is that the day before we had this simulation of a bus being robbed by guys with guns, and of course, my backpack was one of the ones that was stolen. The point of the thing was to teach us about safety on public transportation, but really, we all know that I am paranoid, so it basically just freaked my freak! So when were were given the option to ride in the car with a PC staff person or take the bus (3 could go in the car) I decided I would take one for the team and go in the car. Really, the rest of the group was all gungho about the bus, so no hurt feelings.

The ride up to Santo Domingo took about 3 or 4 hours and it was a really beautiful drive. We basically were driving all around these cool mountain cliffs. We stopped at a cafe to get coffee and there was the beautiful view and a bunch of humming birds, it was lovely. So after lunch in Santo Domingo we went to an orphanage to play with some kids who were living there. We learned that here in Ecuador, it is relatively common for families to send their kids to orphanages when they do not have enough money to care for the kids on their own. So really, many of the kids are not orphans at all, and some of them go home to live with their families during school vacations. Anyhow, it was fun to chill with the kids, but man! They tired me out!

After that we got on a camioneta (which is a truck taxi where everyone rides in the back) to spend the night and the next day with the Tsachilas. The Tsachilas (pronounces sach-ee-las) live about 30-40 minutes outside of Santo Domingo. They are an indiginous tribe here in Ecuador that predates the Incans. Basically it is a people that is slowly being depleted but there is a group in an area known as El Poste that wants to revive the culture and invites visitors to learn more about the culture as well. There is a Peace Corps Volunteer at El Poste, so we made plans to stay the night with them. To say it was amazing would be the understatment of the year. It was so much more than words can describe. We participated in a traditional healing ceremony and listened to their traditional songs and learned their dances. (random side note, there is a party going on in the streets outside right now, no one seems to know what the party is for but that is how we get down in Tabacundo!)

The next day we did a charla about HIV/AIDS and safe sex because we were told that it is becoming a problem within their community. It was great, they seemed to be really interested and their leader-guy really thanked us for sharing our knowledge on the topic. He even repeated back the ways that HIV is transmitted, so we knew he was listening! After that, they took us through the tour they have set up for visitors where we learned about medicinal plants that they have growing in their forrest, we ate some purple sweet-potatoe-ish vegetable, learned more about their traditions and bought some of the crafts that they produce as a way of generating profit for their group. The Tsachila men paint their hair red with aciote plant, everyone wears these very small handwoven rainbow colored skirts, and they paint black stripes on their bodies with the seed from another plant. The body and hair painting is a tradition from when the people were almost wiped out by the yellow fever, and also so that that they stand out as a unique tribe of poeple. It really was quite and experience. You should google them...

After that, we took another bus ride to Mindo (or Mindo-Lindo as it is called, because it is so pretty!). Mindo was like another Ecuador! Its a tourist location, so suffice to say it was pretty posh... Our hotel was like a beautiful log cabin with lots of hammocks for lounging around and a pool! We did some charlas with local kids about self-esteem and with local teens about sexuality. Very Cool! We also visited a cafecine that a local volunteer there and this teens have built. It is really neat, it has photos of the oldest people in Mindo and is like a mini-historical site for the town. Our last activity there was to go on a "hike" through the jungle (I say jungle because that is what it was, I am not talking a forrest people, I am talking jungle it was tropical and made my glasses foggy!). Well, of course my first instinct was to not go. Come on now, Theresa in the jungle? But I wanted to do the right thing and be open minded and step outside of my box and all that good stuff, so I went. Wrong decision, should have stayed my ass in the hammocks! There was a waterfall at the end of the hike (which, ps, is 4 hours in total!) but I did not make it that far. I saw some water falling over some pretty big rocks, that was good enough for me. I really want to be that girl who gets down with nature and all that, but I am just not that girl and I never will be!

All in all, the viaje was totally awesome and super fun! We got to get out there in Ecuador and see some really cool stuff, we did some real charlas with real kids, it rocked my world! Oh, did I tell you about the cochroaches in my bed???? INSIDE of my mosquito net! Ahhhh! Lets not get into that one, kids. Lesson learned? ALWAYS bring a camera, even if it might get stolen on the bus! A stolen camera is worth as much as a camera not taken becuase you were too scared to take your camera with you. Life only happens once, so take pictures.