Riobamba: SNAFU

Last weekend, the Ecuador Mannafolk learned a very important lesson: group retreats resemble two very important things - community development and Forest Gump chocolates. The former because the outcome is relatively uncertain and the latter because "you never know what you're going to get."

Shawn ("Chaaaawn" to most library children), our resident Social Chair, planned a wonderful 2-day group retreat in Riobamba, a small city nestled in the Andes about 4 hours south of Quito. We planned on leaving the house at 6:30am on Saturday (yes, this actually happened - shocking), arriving in Riobamba around lunchtime, taking a scenic hike to see the nearby Volcan Tungurahua and Chimborazo, and promptly going to bed. Sunday's plans included riding on the top of the famous train that traverses the Devil's Nose early in the morning, and heading back to Quito in time to catch the Super Bowl.

Now, remember, these were the plans... but alas, when we arrived in Riobamba it was raining. Take into consideration that Riobamba is fondly called "Friobamba" ("frio" = cold). Pues, all-day rain + cold does not equal a fun outdoor day. After a delicious lunch, the group walked around the market in the rain... then the boys went to take a quick nap (read: ~3 hours), while the girls continued to trudge around in the rain until we hit the jackpot: a gelato store in Riobamba. Of course, we indulged before heading to buy our train tickets for the next day. When we arrived at the train station, our savvy Spanish quickly allowed us to discover that the tickets were SOLD OUT until February 24th. Since we couldn't ditch work for 3 weeks to hang out in Riobamba until the train freed up, we had to sulk back to the hostel (still in the rain) and relay the news to the boys. None of us were thrilled, but we decided to make the best of it and planned for a hike the next morning before heading back to Conocoto.

Sunday morning, after a continental breakfast, we headed out to a small town called Pelileo by bus to start a hike to see the nearby (and currently smoking) Volcan Tungurahua. We found out that the walk was too long to actually hike, so we took a camioneta instead and got to take in the beautiful mountains from the bed of the truck. (Erik and Shawn also took in some water balloons, as Carnaval has officially started, which means any breathing human being is a target for being hit with various forms of water.) The views were beautiful, the group attitude was positive (despite the many changes in plans), and I think we all enjoyed getting out of Conocoto for the weekend.

And bonus points, we made it back in time to see the Super Bowl... 8 out of 10 of us were happy with the outcome. The New Orleans fans cried tears of joy, while the resident Hoosier just cried. But I guess you just can't argue with the underdog. :)

Here's to uncertainty, plan-changing, and annoying/funny Carnaval traditions (depending on who gets hit/does the hitting with water balloons/shaving cream),

Sarah

PS. Thanks to Erik for sharing his pictures!

Chet and Jackie show their varying degrees of enthusiasm after being hit with shaving cream through the open bus window. Happy Carnaval?

The group (damp and cold) at dinner on Saturday night

Bibi. Cows. Camioneta ride through the Andes. I'd say she's in her element?

Group in front of a cloud-obscured Tungurahua

The boys take a loving man photo

A smoking Tungurahua

What the Devil's Nose train might have looked like had tickets not been sold out...

(picture from my Devil's Nose train experience last summer)

Our In-House Shakespeare...

(Today's Guest Blog comes from the delightful, eccentric, and apparently poetic Haley Booe. Her many talents include: making the other female PDs exceptionally sore during Women's Exercise, whipping up a mad dish of pad thai with limited cooking resources, knowing every choreographed dance scene in every movie ever made, and putting up with me as a roommate. She also happens to be our fearless Spring Break Coordinator... which is now in its stressful planning phase, and thus, is - clearly - consuming most of her thoughts. Enjoy our very own Shakespeare, Miss Haley Booe.)

"Since Spring Break planning is in full swing, that's most of what I have been thinking about these days. So here's a little poem for my guest blog - a tribute to Spring Break, if you will. Please excuse the limited vocabulary... my diction is quite poor, since half of my day I spend speaking Spanish.

'Twas a month before Spring Break, and through the Manna House

Everything was hectic; planning was my spouse.

The schedules were posted, created with care

Every group's leaders made a great pair.

We counted to make sure there were enough beds,

We have to find towels, so they can shampoo their heads!

Through budgets and food and Quito maps,

We planned out our trips to buy Panama caps.

This week in the library there arose such a clatter,

When we have extra volunteers, a lack of bookshelves will not matter.

By February 19th, we must have all their cash,

For the groups will be here to build in a flash.

Building, painting, cleaning they'll do,

And community members won't know what to do.

We'll travel to Quito, and Mindo they'll see,

To show them the country we love; on this, we agree.

Culture, awareness, projects and Manna life,

Our volunteers will experience all without much strife.

And when it's all over, he hope we still will be,

Friends and coworkers with (most of) our sanity.

So stay tuned to see how it all turns out,

Spring Break season is here, there is no doubt!"

Haley poses for her official MPI website picture...

Chaochao,

Sarah

Different Strokes

Over the past month we have been filling out 'organizational matrices' to keep track of our goals throughout the next quarter for each of our programs. While we still have awesomely solid programs like children's Art and English classes in full swing, we also have many new initiatives and enhanced programs that are well worth pointing out...

Generally speaking: We've started calling our building space Centro de Manna to encompass everything that we offer, including the library, teen center, and third floor space used for Women's exercise, classes, and future preventative health center.

Library: We have $1,000 of new books !!! We're also in the process of reallocating the library space to focus on our goals of appealing to more adults and encouraging reading.

Education: We have a new adult English class in Barrio Rumiñahui, lead by Chet and Mike. We also added a world studies class, connecting South American-focused geography with natural science and environmental issues.

Teen Center: Shawn, Mike, and Erik are working on attracting more teens to bi-weekly movie nights and special monthly events, with a Valentine's day party coming up.

Women's Exercise: Haley/Jillian Michaels, with help from the other health constituents, added a new Wednesday morning class and is working on giving workshops to dedicated attendees who are interesting in helping lead exercise in the future.

Microfinance: Erik and Chet are designing a survey to get to know the small businesses in the community and assess the feasibility of creating a network between them.

Agriculture/Environment: Jackie is working on monthly AG charlas, composting and rain barrel workshops, and monthly field trips for kids to explore the great outdoors.

Nutrition: Krysta is working with local school Aliñambi on a project that includes community based nutrition education, cooking classes, and an agricultural aspect to connect participants to where their food comes from.

Preventative Health: We've been buying and setting up our Centro kitchen (expect pictures soon and a huge thank you to all of our donors!). Sarah, Sonia and Shawn have been working with the Conocoto Ministry of Health on planning the center and finding future staffing.

Mingas: Erik is working with local government officials on setting up public trash bins in Rumiloma, as well as other community projects such as potentially building a a local bridge.

Phew! - I know that's a lot of information, and you're probably feeling like you want to dip your toes deeper into our refreshing pool of community development. But don't you worry because we're about to embark on a new chapter of guest blogs. First up, Haley Booe tomorrow - this will be a special one, folks... I've heard already heard it rehearsed in the living room!

We also promise to go into more depth about these projects as they progress, and if there's anything you're dying to hear more of, holler at us!

Cheers,
Jackie

Un Montón of Books!

Thanks the work of last year's PDs, we won a grant for library books from Books for Life. The stipulation was that if we spent $2,000 on books, they would reimburse us for that $2,000 plus give us an addition $1,000 to be spent on books. Last year, they bought the first $1,000 worth of books and just last week we spent the second $1,000.

The PDs, along with help of Paola, a community member, broke up into teams to conquer the biggest bookstores we could find in Quito, with each group focusing on purchasing books to cater to a certain genre of library-goers. The book groups included children's, adult, teen, health/nutrition and agriculture.

Today, we moved the piles of books from the make-shift storage space underneath our stairs to the library. And since the library bosses (i.e. Mike, Jackie, Haley and Sonia) spent the majority of their afternoon entering all of the books into the electronic check-out system, the stacks of new books have made their way onto the shelves and are ready to be read! It is quite satisfying to see fully stocked library shelves!

Hasta,

Sarah

Un monton de libros nuevos!

Thoroughly organized Children's Books

Stocked shelves around the Children's Corner

Mike and Chet help keep the order (book-wise and broom-wise)

Sonia arguably made the most important purchase: Bibi and Spring

The little girl looks JUST like Bibi...

One small step for man, one giant leap for MANNA-kind

This week's edition of the guest blog comes from none other than our esteemed guest and compañera for the past week, Miss Dana Zichlin. In such a short period of time Dana won over our hearts through her deep love of crosswords and high tolerance for library games. We wish you all of the best in Guatemala and hope to see you soon, whether it's back here in Ecuador because you can't get enough of us, in Guatemala as 2nd year PDs, or back in Jersey (yes, that Jersey) for holidays. We love you!!

"It's been a whirlwind of a week here with team Ecuador. It seems like months ago that I was deciding whether to hug or handshake my soon-to-be new friends. Since then, I've really come to appreciate the time and effort that goes into running the library and its everyday activities.

Dana and Sonia bonding atop Pasachoa

I thought I would write the remainder of this guest blog in High Fidelity format...

Top 5 things I'm going to miss:
1. Family dinners over candelight
2. Bibi's where's waldo sunglasses (see below)
3. galapagitos (aka animal crackers version 2.0)
4. Riding in the back of a camioneta
5. The 'woo woo' hand snap (that I will never master)

Bibi & sunglasses, per item #2 above

Top 5 things learned:
1. Always label your food in the Manna house
2. Buses are closer than they appear
3. Headbands are just as effective as showers
4. Don't let the sun fool you, it will hail at any given moment
5. No matter how many options there are, children will always repeat your example

Top 5 lessons to take with me to Guatemala:
1. Everything sounds better in Spanish
2. When in doubt, assume it's a cognate
3. Moving from tourist to community member is the most important step
4. Don't make hollow promises
5. Everyone defines development differently

Today, I'm taking off for Guatemala to start the 'feasibility' part of the feasibility trip. Stay tuned for progress updates at www.mpiguatemala.blogspot.com

Thank you to all of the Ecuador PDs and Bibi for your individual suggestions, wise words, great senses of humor, and contagious optimism. You will all be in the back of my mind throughout this great adventure.

It looks like I have a lot to live up to...

- Dana"

For more information about Guatemala, the feasibility study, and future opportunity to apply to be a Guatemala PD (!), please tune into Dana's blog and the MPI website!