Ramblings

As my time here draws to a close, I want to share as much of my experience here as possible before this blog becomes history. That means, hopefully, 3 more blogs in 11 days...

Two great anecdotes to start:

Yesterday was ¨Kid´s Day¨. It´s like Mother´s Day or Father´s Day but for kids. As my host dad said, ¨Isn´t every day kid´s day??¨ Regardless, everyone celebrates and it acts as just one more excuse not to do anything in school.

At my host father´s school, the ministry of education decided that a good way to reward the kids and teachers would be with a day at the pool. At 7 in the morning, all 200 kids and 10 teachers walked the half-hour to the nearest pools. I asked my host dad how everything went when he got home yesterday afternoon. His response:

¨It was great, except that no one swam.¨ ¨Why?¨ I asked shocked, assuming something went wrong. ¨Oh, because none of the students or teachers can swim,¨ he replied matter of factly...


Today, we had a patient way out in a community about two hours into the mountains. We were going to pick-up him up for follow-up at the hospital. His mother only spoke Kichwa but we had our friend and driver Joaquin to translate. I was getting strange vibes throughout the conversation from the mother of the boy and her neighbor. They kept shooting me the evil eye. Joaquin at one point started to laugh. He then explained that there was once a gringo man from Spain in this community who had ¨done bad things.¨ The ladies had told Joaquin that they didn´t trust me because I looked evil like that other gringo! At that point, I tried to explain who we were and why I was not evil. No luck. As we parted ways, I received only the evil eye again in response to my Kichwa good-bye.

Ok, now on to some stories with pictures.

There is a weaver in a town next to Otavalo. He is famous among locals and tourists alike because he is one of the last in Ecuador to still weave everything by hand. His name is Miguel, his weavings, which range from wall hangings to hats, are amazingly beautiful and also staggeringly expensive.

He gave me a demonstration one day so I could fully appreciate all the work that goes into making one of his creations. The technique was ridiculously complicated, and tedious doesn't even begin to describe him sitting there 12 hours a day for a month (the time it takes to make one pancho).

That being said, my visit did not involve any shopping whatsoever (a wall hanging costs $200...my conversion here has become the number of Ecuadorian lunches I could buy with the value of any given item; in this case 120, or maybe a more fun conversion is the number of Ecuadorian beers I could buy; in this case 600).

I did try some things on though...

Right near Miguel's weaving house, there is a notorious waterfall called Peguche. The town of Peguche at the base of the falls used to be a indigenous slave plantation. Peguche also used to be an ancient sacred place for the Kichwa during times of celebration. For these two reasons, it is still considered one of the most important sites in Otavalo, not to mention that it is still used for festivals on the four days of the changing seasons.

Speaking of sacred sites, my house is on a hill just down from the sacred tree called Lechero.I have posted about it before, but it has become a routine visit for me. Often with my family and friends, we will hike up to Lechero for a picnic or a game of tag or just to sit and watch the lake and volcanoes.

On the way up, I tend to harass the sheep or whatever other livestock is present. Now that I think about it, I harass the animals I meet everywhere in Ecuador. Maybe there is still something to my previous supposed calling as a veterinarian...

This next picture is of a sacred Kichwa demon...no, just kidding. It's an Iron Maiden (heavy metal rock band from Germany that´s popular in Ecuador for some reason) demon in a cafe in Quito.

On this same visit to Quito, I got my camera back from the repair shop (the one that broke way back in February) and celebrated by taking lots of photos to make up for some lost time. Here's some Canadian pride represented in Quito.


An example of another animal that I couldn't resist hugging. He belonged to a friend of mine who I ran into in the street.

I end up getting stuck babysitting more often than one might guess or than I want. In one situation, my friend Joaquin invited me for lunch with his family. Then, he proceeded to disappear leaving me with his kids for the next two hours. The kids all thought it would be really funny if I put the baby on my shoulders because "then he'll be taller than you" they claimed. The morose expression I have here is actually because I had a sucker in my mouth.

A little ways back, I embarked on a journey North to a region called Chota. It is famous because at some point in history, an entire band of escaped African slaves made their way inland and settled in this valley. As a result, the entire place is African in culture, agriculture, customs, dance, music, and even some language. It is gorgeous and resembles a desert with pockets of lush valley where bananas and coconuts are grown.

It can best be described as some sort of alien oasis. If you didn´t know better, you would have little way of knowing you were in Ecuador.

On the same trip, I travelled further North towards the Colombian border. There lies a partial cloud forest with volcanic hot springs and beautifully preserved forest.

The hostel was so cute, although looked as if it hadn´t received a guest since it was constructed in the late 80s.

The frisky and playful dog made up for any lack of people.


This picture was lost with one of my previous cameras but I got a copy recently. Remember my post from the soccer tournament where I ended up playing in the mud.

I entertained the rural onlookers with my many treacherous slips, slides, and face-plants into the mud. The laundry place charged me triple because they had to run it through the machine three times.

Lauren and I visited the nearby lake for a bit of past-time fun.

We rented paddleboats and took a slow cruise around the lake, perpetually in the shadow of Imbabura (the volcano).

I guess the weight difference between Lauren and I meant that my side kept going under. Luckily, I don´t think there was ever a risk of sinking (not that it would have mattered with the complete and utter lack of sea life due to contamination and dumping by local residents).



We end of playing lots of Monopoly, Scrabble, UNO, and cards (the four games I brought from the States) at my house. They love, I mean a sick obsession, board games. I don´t mind most of the time and it helps my enthusiasm that I usually win.

Kami can´t play normally because she´s a little too young still. That doesn´t stop her from attempting to remain the center of attention.


These are two cute neighbor girls who I walk past everyday going to and from town. One day last week, they spotted my camera that I always carry. Since then, every single time I pass, they ask for a photo to be taken of themselves. I have probably now taken 10 photos of them and explained each time the necessity of smiling. Still, the one girl (guess which one) does not get the concept and continues to look as if I just punched her dog in the face (actually, that doesn´t really bother people here too much).

Lots of Love until the Next Post and until I return mid-month,
Kent