That blog title was just for my sisters, love you girls. Miss you tons. If anyone else recognizes it, that makes you the coolest person ever because I LOVE Molly's Pilgrim.
Yeah, so on to the post. Rarr, I hate being so busy that I neglect my blog. What a bad mother I am (to blogs and to birds...may they rest in peace).
So Thanksgiving in the Land of Ecua! Here's how it went down...
Thanksgiving does not exist in Ecuador. I would say that most people I spoke with did not know what it was, but for those who do it is called Dia de Accion de Gracias. They asked me what Thanksgiving is: is it a religious holiday? they wanted to know. Ummm...yeah, I didnt really like answering that question. Because really, there is no easy, elementary level Spanish (because of my abilities to speak, not theirs to understand) explanation for Thanksgiving. Basically what I told them that the story goes that the pilgrims went to the land that is now called the States, made friends with some "Indians" and they all sat down at a pretty little table and ate turkey. Then I explain that in reality, the pilgrims are what Latin America refers to as conquistadores, and that they stole the land from the native people, and that I am not sure if there ever really was a pretty table with turkey. But either way, turkey is my favorite meat i.e. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. On a side note, in training we had a really interesting session about the difference between the US view of "settlers" and "pilgrims" vs. the Latin American view of "conquistadores." Think about it: basically they were doing the same thing, right? Folks from Europe travelling around trying to see what was on the other side of the world. US America sees them as "settlers" who are the basis of the "equality" that we pride ourselves on. Latin America sees them as conquestors who are the basis for the inequality between the haves and the have nots. Same thing, different view point; or different thing altogether? You be the judge. Food for thought...but back to the turkey, cuz thats far more tasty.
So for Thanksgiving I travelled to Zaruma, a city further south in Ecuador in the province of El Oro. Yeah, basically I spent the weekend being jealous that my friend, another volunteer, who lives there while I live here in nasty ass Guayaquil. Zaruma was CRAZY beautiful. Its still on what is considered the coast, but its not crazy gross hot (we are in the "winter" here, which means (more) hot and rainy, fabulous!) and there are mountains! I think its actually considered to be in the transitional zone, which means not quite sierra (mountains) and not quite coastal. Yeah, so anyhow, its beautiful. And there is no crime and no drugs and no HIV/AIDS...haha. Thats a joke with my Omnibus, thats what the counterpart from Zaruma said during the site presentation. We were all like, yeah...so why do you need a volunteer? But the chick who got placed there is doing some cool work, working with a bunch of local schools. But I digress...Zaruma is beautiful. We rode on the top of this big ass truck to go swimming in a freaking waterfall. How cool is that???
Thanksgiving was, well, it was an EcuaThanksgiving. Se fue la luz y el agua. That means that the lights and the water went out. Yeah, on Thanksgiving. But it was fine! The volunteers who planned the get-together were concerned, but everyone else was like, No Worries! The stoves are gas, so the turkey and the fixins cooked just fine. We went to the neighbor's house to use some of their clean water supply that they keep. We lit lots of candles, and the volunteer who carved the turkey did so while wearing his headlamp (yeah, thats a flashlight that you attach to your head. We are a rugged crew).
No lights, no water, no problem. The day went just fine, and the food was great! Some of the volunteers made a gumbo with cuy. It was DELICIOUS! I am sorry guys, but I freaking love the guinea pig. I dont know why we keep them as pets in the States, cuz they are freaking tastey. They give me gas, but so does everything...yeah, I am sure you dont care to know more about that. The only thing that was missing was sweet potato pie with marshmellows! Thats my favorite part! I will have to make it for Christmas and Thanksgiving next year, lots of folks didnt even know what it was. Is it a Wisconsin thing? Or maybe its an African-American thing? I am not sure. Oh! Speaking of Wisconsin things...my accent. Yeah, it hasnt gone away. One of the folks at Thanksgiving who I hadnt met yet asked where I was from and when I said Wisconsin he was like, "Yeah, thats what I thought. Dontcha know Bobby..." Hahaha.
The Thanksgiving gathering was also a cross-program event. Here's the thing: I am going to give it to you straight. This is something that we PCVs in Ecuador dont talk about too openly, unless its just with people from your own program. There are two breeds of PCVs in Ecuador. There are the Odd-Omnibuses, and there are the Even-Omnibuses. Or as some (not I!) refer to it as the Green Groups and Peace Corps Lite. The Odds (Green Groups) come in January/February; they are the Agriculture and Habitat Conservation kids. The Evens (or Peace Corps Lite as some refer to us, although its totally not true!) come in June/July and are the Health and Youth and Families folks. So obviously, by nature of their jobs, there Odd groups tend to get a bit more dirty. You know, they work on farms and stuff. They start chicken farms and gardens (at least thats what I think they do...). The Evens do stuff like I do. Some of us live in big cities, some in more rural areas, but we probably dont get as physically dirty on a daily basis as the Odds (not counting the huge amounts of dirt that is currently residing in my lungs as a direct result of all of the city buses in this city).
You know what else we dont do in the city? We dont eat worms. Yeah, worms. One of the girls at Thanksgiving brought worms, which she cooked by boiling them with the heart of a Palm tree. I was like, "What the hell is that?" And she was like, "Worms, of course. What, you dont eat them at your site?" I was like, "Um, no. We dont eat worms in Guayaquil." You know why? Because we have Burger King, thats why. Would you eat worms when you could eat a burger? I dont think so, so hop on down from that high horse, girly. Then, when we were walking back to the hostel, some Odds were leading the way. I swear to you they took us through the muddiest freaking path that we could have possibly taken. And I really think it was just to laugh of us, and I'm not gonna lie, it probably was a funny sight to see. My Old Navy flip flops broke! I was so mad! I freaken loved those flips! And my EcuaPedicure? Yeah, it was ruined. They probably all though, "Pfft, freaking city-girl PC Lite and her stupid pedicure." But you know what? If you could get pretty flowers painted on your toenails for $1.50, you would, too. Dont judge.
So anyhow, Thanksgiving went well. It wasnt half as nice as it would have been if I was at home with my family, but it was as good as it can be when I am miles aways from home. I was worried that the holidays would be really hard on me here. My solution to that is to travel during the holidays and try to ignore the fact that it is a holiday. The upside is that its hot (thats the ONLY positive aspect of this weather) so its easier to forget what time of year it is. When I am pitting through my shirt after 5 seconds of walking outside, December is nothing more than a word or number that I write down. Its easy to forget (at least thats the mantra that I am going to keep repeating until I believe it....).
Miss you all tons.
Hasta luego,
Theresa
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