Grande Cascadas, Detours and Doorways

As advertised, we had a pretty entertaining weekend here in the valley.   On top of having two fabulous Manna females in our midst, we also hosted the installment of a door to our apartment.  For those of you who don't know, we have a three-bedroom apartment that's attached to our house where a couple of PDs (myself included) reside and where we house our spring break and summer volunteers.  Before yesterday, we had to use a hand-crafted ladder to hoist ourselves over a wall to get into the apartment.  But thanks to some handy Ecuadorian carpenters and Bibi who sat in our house all day eating M&Ms while we hiked the waterfalls, the hobbit door was installed!  

From left to right: new mini door, scary old ladder

Meanwhile, us newbies along with Lori and Maria, ventured to the Las Cascadas de Pita, a scenic ecological reserve outside of Sangloqui with lots of waterfalls.  After two bus rides, squeezing into the back of our new friend's truck (a man after Shawn's heart), and a hearty Trout lunch we were told by a guide to walk down the hill and hang a right towards the Grande Cascada.  We spent the afternoon hopping rocks, climbing ladders, jumping through waterfalls, and swinging on branches.  Two hours later we were stopped by a large gate/water treatment pipe... slightly different than we expected from the Grande Cascada.  We called Serena, who asked us if we had been walking on the left bank of the river, and in fact we had been on the right side the whole time (oops).  Slightly disappointed, but still satisfied with the other less grande waterfalls, we decided to follow signs for the "salida" when we ran into another sign pointing towards the Grande Cascada (insert confusion).  Even though we were about to be late for our truck ride back, we decided to head towards the waterfall because, well, wouldn't you?

When we got to the waterfall, we found that in the dry season it was a little smaller than we expected.  Nevertheless, the hike and subsequent trek back to the valley (with a gorgeous views of Cotopaxi from the truck) was a lot of fun and a great way to spend time with Lori and Maria. 

Mike, Krysta, Shawn, Lori, Sarah, and Sonia on the way to Las Cascadas de Pita

Walking along the right (or wrong, rather) side of the river

In awe of Shawn's handstand

Lori pointing to the Grande Cascada sign 

We found it!!!

Chet empowering the waterfalls

Newbies making a Maria sandwich 

 - Jackie

The Board Members are Coming! The Board Members are Coming!

QUICK! DO YOUR HOUSE CHORES!

SWEEP THE FLOORS! MOP THE KITCHEN (multiple times...)! CLEAN THE OFFICE! PICK UP THE LIVING ROOM! MOVE THE COUCH OUT OF THE KITCHEN! CLEAN OUT THE FRIDGE! MAKE IT LOOK LIKE NON-SLOVENLY HUMAN BEINGS LIVE HERE!

After much begging on the behalf of Sonia (the house manager), our house finally looks like it is inhabited by normal people ("normal" is a relative term at this point). Thankfully we whipped ourselves into shape just in time for the arrival of Maria Domanskis, an MPI Executive Board member, and Lori Scharffenberg, the Executive Director and co-founder of MPI. Maria, who volunteered in Nicaragua in 2005-2006, is stopping by for a visit en route to the Galapagos, while Lori, who was a part of the original Nicaragua team in 2004-2005 (and has lived there ever since), will be staying with us for the next two weeks.

We're excited to host them, take them around our communities, show them what our PDs have accomplished in the past year, and what we hope to do in the future. They've been great sports thus far - tagging along to today's meetings and library time, which included numerous games of Blokus and Mancala with La Wendi, our sassiest 5 year-old who likes to make up her own rules (one guess as to who benefits from said rules). And I'm happy to report that they survived family dinnertime, which was chock-full of inside jokes, absurd anecdotes, and stories that would not be deemed appropriate for dinner conversation in most households... como siempre.

On the agenda for tomorrow is a hike to a waterfall somewhere in the valley. Let's hope Seth's directions are easy to follow, because none of us have been before... and we're leading the trip. Five bucks says a great blog post will come out of this adventure.

- Sarah

Maria's generous, and MUCH appreciated, food gifts
(hint, hint... parents who are coming to visit...)

The whole loot - Sweedish fish for the whole house, Peanut M&Ms at Sarah's request, Ranch Dressing for Krysta, and a bunch of art supplies for Chet's art class... jackpot!

Lori reads to La Wendi (who looks thoroughly amused...)

La Wendi sweet talks Lori into more reading - Green Eggs and Ham, of course

Maria, Lori, Mike, and I try to beat Wendi in a game of Blockus

Can Someone Mail Me a Gavel?

Transitions by nature require lots of planning, which leads to lots and lots of meetings. There are the programatic meetings and then there are the operational meetings, my personal favorite, where pretty much no topic is off limits. We discuss anything from whether putting a compost pile on the roof will collapse into someone's bed to lectures about how to use the bus coin jar properly (and tossing imaginary gold stars to those who utilize the pennies). If I had to guess, I'd say about 75% of the time that we're all together in the house is spent either in meetings, or discussing random operational topics. Therefore, I felt it was especially important to paint you a picture of what these meetings look like and why they are oh so important (and entertaining).

During the first of these meetings, we doled out operational roles and I landed the job of secretary. This means that I take minutes for each of our meetings which may seem boring to you, but in fact it's really great.  I can write down anything inappropriate or embarrassing that happens within the perimeters of the meeting and document it for everyone to see.  I also get to make side comments, like how outrageous it is that Bibi has never seen FernGully (don't worry, we're showing it during niño's camp).  I also get to send all of the meeting minutes to the MPI board members;  I can only imagine them on the edge of their seats while reading that we decided to switch which day the kitchen floor gets mopped.  

Because of the hectic schedule of the past couple of weeks, we've been having our meetings during family dinners. This means I end up sitting at one end of the table, fork in one hand, keyboard in the other, hunched over trying to shield my computer from flying rice and condiments while furiously typing.  Amongst discussions of whether we should buy an iron for the house and what exactly falls under the job description of "dishwasher," we do, in fact, discuss serious matters. One of the more serious topics at our latest meeting has been how the kids in the community are handling our infiltration of the library. We've been trying to spend as much time there as possible, getting to know the kids and how everything works. But like all smart kids, they realize that since we're new, they might be able to bend the rules around us whether it be getting extra art supplies or pre-12 year olds trying to sneak into the teen center.  It's challenging because while we want to befriend all of the kids, we also wait to maintain stability and a level of authority.  

As we venture into our two-week long niño's camp next week, we have the perfect opportunity to create a foundation of both friendship and respect that will be built upon for the rest of the year.  And, in between, we'll have our team meetings to continue to solve problems, plan events, and a few laughs when one PD darts another from across the table and his or her head slams onto a nearby plate until saved, hypothetically speaking, of course.

Playing games in the library

Mike guitar-ing and supervising video games

Hurray for ping pong! (and Manna!) 

If you want to see more pictures, check out our new Picasa photo album by following the link on the right labelled "Snapshots of Life in the Valley!"

~Jackie

Future Radio DJs?

August is a tricky time of the year in terms of programs. The previous season’s programs wound down in early July, which coincided with the arrival of new PDs, the writing of transition reports and the actual task of turning over. Thus, running the normal schedule of programs wasn't entirely feasible. So the question became: how do we keep up attendance at the library/teen center and build excitement about the programs beginning in September, while continuing to increase awareness about the library and expanding our base of patrons?

The answer: summer camp.

Thanks to the creativity and detailed planning of Seth and Dana, we are in the second week of our summer camp for teens. Each day from 9am – 1pm, Seth, Dana and a handful of new PDs are in charge of playing games, teaching cooking lessons and leading field trips for the teens. Today, Seth, Krysta and I took the 10 teens to one of the largest radio stations in the valley, which is based in Sangolquí. The people at the radio station have been unbelievably supportive of MPI, and volunteered to give the teens a talk about how a radio station functions, as well as a tour of the office. What we didn't realize was that we were all about to be thrown (kicking and screaming?) into a live radio interview...

The man in charge of the radio station (whose name I can’t remember for the life of me, and therefore will be called "radio man" from here on out) gave each of the teens the opportunity to introduce him or herself, say where he or she is from, and give a shout-out to whoever he or she pleased. At first no one was willing to volunteer, but after a few turns, the teens got the hang of it. They eased out of their shyness and insisted on harassing one another by saying, "So-and-so forgot to give a shout-out to what's-her-face and she's his special friend," in the characteristic teenage high-pitched nagging voice, to which the rest of the group responded with fits of giggles. To be young again. :)

Krysta and I were thoroughly enjoying the chaos from the corner of the interview room, until we heard the radio man mention that the gringos hadn’t said anything yet. I, of course, got dragged to the microphone first and promptly forgot everything - including how to form words and string together coherent sentences. The radio man caught onto my inability to speak and asked me (on live radio) if I spoke any Spanish. I responded with an incoherent stutter and a shrug. Krysta followed up my stellar performance by fluently and gracefully describing how excited she is to meet our fellow community members and explaining what we hope to accomplish during our year in the valley. Looks like Krysta just found herself a backup to PA school, while our teens were introduced to a potential career path. I, on the other hand, won't hold my breath.

Until next time,

Sarah

Confession: I forgot to bring the trusty MannaCam on the radio outing today. You have my sincerest apologies. I promise to be a better photographer in the future... but until then, here are a handful of pictures from our Despedida, or going-away party, at the library last Friday. Enjoy!

The entrance to the library
"Thank you for a spectacular year! We are excited to spend another year with you!"

An eager reader peruses the shelves in the kids' corner

La Reina Dana shows the boys who's boss in a game of Blokus

Bibi works her magic with the kids - just look at those faces!

A packed library = a very successful despedida

Feliz Cumpleaños, Quito!

A few weeks ago, 10 de Agosto was simply one of a dozen confusing historically dated street names in central Quito. But this August 10th is a bit different, being the 200th anniversary of Quito's independence and all. Sunday evening all nine of us new PDs wandered into downtown Quito for the the Bicentennial. From the minute we stepped off of the bus, swarms of Ecuadorians surrounded us, all headed for any one of the area's countless plazas. It was a nice change of pace to walk around streets closed for pedestrians only, rather than the usual custom of getting honked at for being too close to the edge of the sidewalk.

Sarah taking a beautiful picture of the PDs in Plaza Grande (From left to right: Shawn, Sonia, Haley, Krysta, Chet, Jackie, Erik, and Mike)

While heading towards Plaza Grande, we stumbled upon what appeared to be a dress rehearsal for the Ecuadorian Symphony Orchestra, whose performance was supposed to begin within 15 minutes. However, being accustomed to Ecuadorian time (a.k.a. late), we knew that likely would not be the case. Even though we were shoved pretty far back, we had a very decent view of the stage (thank you Ecuadorians for making us less-than-5'5'' constituents feel tall). By coincidence, we wound up right in front of the Ecuadorian equivalent of the White House just before Rafael Correa, who was just sworn in for his second term in office yesterday, came out to say hello to the crowd.

Sarah enjoying being squished into Chet

An aerial view of the crowd

Me laughing at Krysta's whistle for Correa

While making our way towards Plaza San Francisco, we were stopped by soldiers making a passageway for Correa to walk on stage (again, by sheer luck). We held our ground against shoving groups and watched as he strode past, shaking hands and patting niños on the head. After grabbing empanadas for dinner we met up with Bibi (see yesterday's blog for an interview with our exceptional country director). We spent the remainder of the evening plaza hopping, and eventually ending up at Plaza Santa Domingo

to watch the Conocoto Youth Orchestra (represent!) play an amazing set. We showed off our truly American dance moves, including but not limited to the lawn mower, the bicycle pump, washing the clothes, and milking the cow. As some looked at us in disbelief (including fellow PD Erik), most joined in. A group of adolescent Ecuadorians even came up to Mike to instigate a conga line that we all, of course, joined in for.

As midnight approached, we caught some fireworks in Conocoto and shimmied our way back home to get ready for another jam packed week in the valley. Not a bad way to spend the last few weeks of summer, eh?

- Jackie