Excursions and discussions

Hi all,

Sorry all for the lack of updates! Things have been pretty busy here the past two weeks. The five of us became friends with Ricky, one of the guys who works on the farm at the convent, along with his older brother, Jim (or Jimbo as we like to call him), who is visiting from Belgium. On Friday the 10th, Kate and the five of us took a bus to Intag to meet up with Ricky and Jim, who were already down there. As we snaked our way up and down mountains during the 2+ hour bus ride, the views outside our windows were truly beautiful. Our destination in Intag was a small lodging complex that boasted piscinas, or thermal pools. The 5+ piscinas were like small swimming pools, each a different size and a different temperature, depending on the natural source of the water from the surrounding area. We spent all of the afternoon and evening in and around the piscinas just talking and relaxing with friends. That night we had intended to camp outside in a tent. However, the campsite was infested with fire ants which, unfortunately, also got into the tent (Jimbo got bitten on the face), so we ended up spending the night huddled together under blankets on the volleyball court. The next morning we all jumped in one of the warm piscinas as soon as it opened to warm up and soothe our bug bites from the night before. We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon around the piscinas and beside the river that flowed next to the complex, before taking the last bus back to Otavalo.

These past two weeks have been a struggle for many of us health-wise with flus and ear infections (who knew you were only supposed to stay in the piscinas for 45 minutes at a time?), but thankfully, we are all healthy once again. For the past three weeks we have been walking to Araque, about a 45-minute walk from the orphanage, to have discussions with the women who work in the daycare center there. Each discussion has been focused on a different topic (sanitation, nutrition, sexual education), and we had our last discussion Thursday with the women on HIV/AIDS. The night before each discussion we prepare the information we will present and also prepare visual charts and diagrams that we can use while we’re talking, and that the women can keep to use with the children in the daycare center. The information we present is very basic, covering the foundations of each topic, but we feel the women have gained some knowledge they didn’t know before from each discussion. It was always interesting to hear the questions from the 2-5 women present during the discussion, and just be able to engage in a discussion about different health topics.

Last Friday the kids had off from school, so the Padre suggested we all go to Peguche to see the waterfalls there. We walked with the kids through a beautiful park with stone paths to the main waterfall, and then headed to the piscina in the park. Many of the kids and even Faima jumped into the piscina, clothes and all. It wasn’t very warm outside so when they all finally crawled out, we loaded back into the vans so they could get back to the house to dry off and warm up. Sunday was Father’s Day (in the US and Ecuador), so the Padge chose to bring all the kids to a lake that is about an hour and a half drive away from San Pablo. We spent most of the time sitting at outdoor tables at a restaurant, picking meat from fresh-caught tilapia cooked in their outdoor oven and served whole. Mmmm mmmm mmmm.

The last week of our project is pretty jammed-packed so stayed tuned! Thanks so much for reading.

The Juvis

The Magical Weekend

It’s been an eventful few days here in San Pablo.  Great news: Sebastian took his first steps and we are all very excited!  The day after his monumental feat (pun intended) we headed off to Quito with Padre Alfonso.  Our first stop was the children’s hospital where Padre Alfonso needed to pick up lab results and medicine for the kids. After waiting with him for a little while, we left to explore all that the wonderful Quito had to offer. We started walking toward the center of town and on our way, stopped at the largest park in the city. While there, we decided that since we weren’t taking care of children for the day, instead we would act like them. Aside from the picturesque foliage, the park also had adult sized play structures including the largest seesaw that we had ever encountered. Needless to say, we took full advantage of it. After we had finished our parkour (Google it, Andrea), we continued on to the old part of the city. First on our list of sights to see was the basilica. Kelly, AJ, and Abbey ventured inside and made their way to the top to experience one of the best views of Quito in the city (the highest point in northern Quito), while Faima and Kristin went to a nearby café and enjoyed some bonding time and awesome milkshakes. Next we explored the rest of the old city and then took the trolley to meet one of Faima’s friends from high school, Kika. Kika then took us on a tour of Quito, first showing us some of her favorite places to chill. One of which was a small photo gallery and the other was a jazz bar, which she told us was in one of the oldest buildings in the area. Then she drove us around so we could see Quito’s underground street art scene. We were very impressed with several of the murals. Next she took us to a place where we could see “the magical hour”. This was around dusk and we sat down with a cold Pilsener and watched as the sun faded away and all of lights in the city came on. After that, we headed back to Kika’s house for some delicious cheese followed by a delectable pasta dinner. The house was located in a small, gated area in which 7 families decided to buy land and each build their respective houses. The houses were all beautiful with architectural styles mixing modernism with an indigenous style that made for some of the most visually appealing abodes that we had ever seen. Kika’s neighbors invited us all over for some barbecue, salsa dancing, and hanging out later that night. We had a great time, but several of us decided to call it a night early as we were very tired and had been up since 5 in the morning. Kika offered her house for us to crash in for which we were very thankful. The next morning we made breakfast, cleaned up, and headed out. We meandered over to the supermarket to buy some groceries, and then made our way over to the bus stop, which turned out to be a little more difficult than it sounded. Eventually we did find our way back to San Pablo, and if we thought Pepe’s haircut was the only thing we’d missed, we were sorely mistaken. Apparently earlier that day, one of the horses managed to fall in a muddy ditch and get stuck conveniently right next to a beehive.  Before we got back to the house, in an effort to smoke out the bees, the other volunteer, Kate had burned her arms and face (she’s alive) but had managed to light the hive.  With bees still swarming Julian, Don Eliseo, Oscar, AJ and the husband of one of the señoras that works in the house managed to free the horse from the ditch.  We celebrated with some delicious pizza that we made ourselves!  The next day was our lasagna cook off- Kelly and Kristin vs. El Padre and Faima.  The first team made lasagna with red sauce and the second team made lasagna with white sauce.  After an intense few hours the judges (kiddies) ruled it a delicious tie! After an intense weekend we relaxed with some wine and baked brie with jam.

Hasta luego!

Juvis

We have adjusted to life in Ecuador very well in the first week and a half. Although we haven’t been working on the farm as much as we expected, we did get to help build a fence and spread compost a couple days. Mainly we have been helping keep the house clean (which is quite a feat with 21 kids) and providing care for all the kids. In the past week JUVILUS has taken in 3 more kids. The youngest, a little over a year, only weighed 8 pounds when he arrived. He already looks better, though, and we are hoping he will gain a pound a week while we are here! The other boys, Alex and Jheiko, are both 11, and seem to have made a smooth transition with life in Ecuador. We have adapted well to our homemaking duties, and even baked homebread the other day. To our surprise, it turned out really good!

Through many conversations with the Padre after the kids go to sleep (around 7:30), we have been able to learn a lot more about HIV and how it is regarded in this society. Sadly, many people have very negative and uninformed views about HIV. JUVILUS began in Quito around 13 years ago, but was violently forced from the city when people found out the children were infected with HIV. Here in San Pablo a few years later, the kids were forced out of a private school when the nuns found out they have HIV. Many of the kids also have tragic personal stories about how they ended up in the orphanage because of the virus. Luckily, there are many people in Ecuador who want to offer care and support for these children.

This weekend there were 2 groups which threw parties for the kids. Although they had good intentions, their visits helped us appreciate what we are doing here much more. Because of the length of our stay, we will be able (and already have been able) to form deeper relationships with the children and really know and love them well. Today the oldest, Julian, showed us how to ride the two horses on the farm. AJ even dared to ride bare-back for a while, which he is regretting now. This morning we went to Otavalo, the largest indigenous market in Latin America, and almost lost each other. The market on Saturdays is crazy, and we were overwhelmed by seeing so many other Americans. The city is much cooler on other days when you can get a better sense of what it is really like.