Peru...a little late

It turns out blogspot (as well as Facebook) is banned in China. So my plans to update the blog during the downtime in China went to hell in a hand basket. It is refreshing to think this blog is too hot for the PRC, though. I'm going to do quick summaries of the last three countries (Peru, China and Cambodia) before going on into the India experience.

Our visit to Peru was a one week enrichment activity, mainly consisting of hiking the Inca trail for four days, culminating in Machu Pichu. It was the first time I've ever hiked with porters, which made me feel a bit like an imperialist, but wow does it make life easier. Not only do they carry more weight faster than my 18 year old students, they also set up and break down camp, as well as cook and clean.

The major physical challenge was getting over the Warmiwanusca pass. At 13, 780 feet, it was far higher than anything I'd done before. I was constantly winded, but rarely felt like my legs were tired. I guess all the biking in SF finally paid off. I had bought two walking sticks, which made me feel old, until I was on the down hill. It really helped my knees, and confidence.

While Manchu Pichu was impressive, it was very crowded with tourists that had taken the bus there. It was also hot and mosquito saturated, so the experience wasn't everything I had hoped. Honestly, I was more impressed by the smaller Inca ruins near the trail, there were so few tourists it makes me wonder what else is out there just sitting on someone's ranch.

The Ecuador Grand Finale

We wrapped up the reforestation project this week. We wanted to plant 4,000 trees, but ended up with about 3,500, mostly because some of the seedlings were too small. I noticed the rainy season coming on-the night rain lasted longer into the morning, bringing cooler temperatures. Hermania, my host mother, told me she remembers when she was a girl that the rainy season began in September, and lasted a couple months longer in the end. I wonder if the shorter rainy season is due to the massive deforestation, or a result of climate change. Ecuador is on the border of two oceanic currents, so small shifts in ocean temperature are felt here more than most places.

We played a final soccer game with the Tsachila host families, which was a success. Many of our students played for their high schools, so we weren't totally embarrassed by the locals. In the spirit of reforestation, they cut down six balsa trees to make rickety goals using only machetes. To their credit, neither fell down during the game.

On our last day, Alfonso, my host father, suggested having a party. Myself and the other leaders were a little dubious about the 1-7 PM schedule, figuring it would involve a lot of standing around,, but they pulled out all the stops. We had a rain forest walk with a local shaman and his son, explaining the use of many of the trees. I, along with all the other men, got my hair dyed using the traditional achiote process. We learned how to throw a spear and make some of their traditional foods. For dinner we had fish steamed in banana leaves- really good! Then we danced to their traditional music. The party was such a success that another band crashed and played music for an hour or so. There was even a news crew, so apparently it'll be on national TV here.

We're now in Quito wrapping up the last details before we fly to Peru on Tuesday. We're going to hike the Inca trail for four days to Machu Pichu, something I've thought about doing since college.

The all mighty dollar

In an attempt to avoid the slings and arrows of the currency market, Ecuador changed over to the American dollar as it´s official currency in 2000. Most of the people I´ve talked to say it was for the better, although it does make it difficult to export to neighboring countries. During the switchover, a lot of people lost money due to the low exchange rate given, inflation, and miscalculating prices. For me, it´s been nice to not have to constantly exchange prices in my head, but I suspect things cost a little more than they would otherwise, especially in Quito.

The change here is an odd mix of US and special Ecuadorian coins. Particularly popular are well worn gold $1 coins, which I think I´ve only seen a couple of times in the US. My usual strategy in the State is to give exact change, or at least try to keep my larger bills. It´s the opposite here: no one has change so I try to stockpile it. Merchants will take your $10 or $5 bill and run down the street trying to get change. It gets even worse in Bua, the village where we´re staying. It´s almost impossible to break even a $5. The bus has actually given us discounted fares (to the nearest dollar) rather than give up valuable change. I´m still not sure I understand that strategy.

Spanish and Safiki

It´s interesting to speak Spanish with the Tsachila, since it is a second language for all of us. Within my host family, the adults will speak Safiki (their indigenous language) to each other, but use Spanish with the school aged children. The elementary school is bilingual, in name at least, but many of the teachers come from other communities and can only communicate in Spanish. It reminds me a bit of immigrant families I have known in the US. It always makes me a little sad to see a situation where children can´t really communicate directly with their grandparents. While Safiki doesn´t seem likely to go extinct any time soon, it definately is in decline and will require a concerted effort to maintain over the next generations.

Beyond that there are some differences between the Spanish here and in Mexico, where I first learned Spanish. There are two ways to say you in Spanish: the formal Usted and the informal Tu. In Mexico, I used Tu with everyone except the family grandfather. Here, I use Usted with anyone over ten years old. It´s not a big deal, but it changes the verb tense, and a lot of my quick responses need to be readjusted, so I speak slower and am often a step behind. I suspect the use of the formal Usted may have something to do with the power dynamic of the Spanish and mestizo speakers in relation to the Tsachila: Most of their initial interactions were so formal it shaped the way they speak to each other.

In Costa Rica last summer, I noticed a similar tendency to prefer Usted, especially among the well educated. Someone explained that Usted was their traditional way of speaking. If you used Tu a lot it implied that you were watching too many Mexican telenovelas (soap operas)!

There are also some interesting changes in word choice here. Words for bag, pocket or farm are all different from what I learned in Mexico. Safiki words creep in, especially for plants. Oddly, some words, such as those for backpack and excuse me, are different in Costa Rica, but back to the Mexican word I first learned. Usually people can understand me no matter which word choice I use. The difficulty usually lies in my not understanding their response because they have used the local synonym.

Bahia de Caraquez

We spent the last weekend in Bahia de Caraquez, a town on the Pacific coast. It was pounded by mudslides during an El Nino in the 1990´s, after which it declared itself an eco-city. They focused on reforestation of hillsides, but then expanded to have only bicycle taxis in town and full recycling and compost of waste. We visited with Planet Drum, a San Francisco based NGO that works on reforestation. It was an interesting juxtaposition, because the focus seemed to be on the trees, whereas our focus has been on community development. At the request of private land owners, we mainly plant trees of economic value, such as cacoa and orange trees. I think I was in the distinct minority in appreciating this approach, mainly due to my ecology background. Unfortunately, the most recent mayor has abandoned most of the eco-city efforts, but the town´s reputation is still in the guidebooks, so many eco-tourists come away disappointed.

On the food front, a few of the students got to eat BBQ larva. They were pretty proud of themselves for getting it down until an eight year old girl ate it raw, and still alive!

The food

Well, after a week, the students have gotten comfortable enough to start complaining. The main issue is the food. The Tsachila seem to subscribe to an anti-Atkins diet, almost all carbs and no protein. Popular foods include yucca, plantain log (boiled, mashed and reformed plantain), and bananas. The people are often worried there's not enough food so every meal always has an extra heap of white rice. For lunch, the leaders eat in the elementary school cafeteria, which meets the same standards of taste and nutrition as school food around the world. Having a little bit of advanced warning, I brought a bottle of Texas Pete's hot sauce to "give" to the family I stay with. I use it on almost everything, which gets me through. They think I'm crazy, which is fair enough.

Our main mode of transport is in the back of trucks. I'm pictured here with a few of my students. Note the pants tucked into the socks look. I started doing this biking in the city, but have found it stops most, but not all of the bugs from biting my legs. The students thought it was hilarious, but I've noticed more of them doing it in the field- I guess I'm fashion forward. There's only one paved road, so it's easy to hitchhike. One of my students commented that for his generation, hitchhiking is really unusual, not like back in my day. My co-leader Stephen has clung on to that, and continues to ask me about how things were in my day.

The other picture is from ultimate Frisbee. I've gotta admit I was never very good, and I'm slower than most of the students, but it's fun. We usually play after afternoon seminars, then send them to their host families dirty and tired.

Bua

We arrived in Bua, the small Tsachila village, a couple of days ago. The students seem to be integrating well with their host families, and we´ve been staying in the cultural center. Everyone in the community is bilingual Spanish-Safiki, so we´re all trying to get a few words of the local language, too. Yesterday was our first day of service work, 300 trees planted in one morning! I´m not sure the speed and enthusiasm will last four weeks, but we´ll see.

I found out about the Tasachila men´s dying their hair red (see pictures on the TBB website). This started as a shamen´s prescription to stop the Spanish diseases, such as smallpox. It seems to have worked! In any case, the practice was dying out, but has seen a revival as a result of the cultural center´s work the last four years.

The Tsachila

My co-worker Stephen has put up a flicker site with many pictures from orientation. He's much more artistic, so it's worth a look:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42829697@N06/

Yesterday I found out more about the Tsachila people. They were nomadic forest dwellers until the 1960's, when mestizo agriculturalists moved in and started clearing the forest. Most now engage in some sort of agriculture. It is a passive culture, usually moving away from conflict and adults traditionally spoke back to back. Their cosmology was centered on the human relationship to the forest, so there has been an extreme culture shock in the last fifty years with the introduction of agriculture and the building of a paved road.

The group leaders will be staying in the cultural center, whose mission is to preserve their culture. The students have home stays in the neighboring villages. We're re-foresting areas that have been degraded by agricultural practices in an attempt to try and rebuild some of their traditional culture. Having studyed a bit of botany the last two years, I'm excited to talk with people that understand trees in such a radically different way.

CR to Quito

We just wrapped up a very busy two week orientation for the students. Highlights included a rain forest hike that ended in jumping off a waterfall and into a pool, as well as surfing (I got up a couple of times), a mangrove kayak, and snorkeling. We also found time to teach a seminar series on development and a few team building activities.

We flew into Ecuador yesterday. We'll spend a few days in Quito, then go to the project site in Bua, which is on the Pacific coast. We'll be doing a re-forestation project for four weeks with the Tsa'chila people, an indigenous tribe. I'll be co-teaching a new seminar series on natural resources and the environment.

That's all for now!
John

Ready to go!

About two months ago I was offered a job with Thinking Beyond Borders (http://www.thinkingbeyondborders.org/) to lead a group of fifteen gap year students around the world, along with two other staff members. The students have all just graduated high school, and deferred college for a year to do something very different: travel, engage in public service, and learn about issues in development first hand. My role is to co-teach a seminar, advise and mentor, and help out our in-country partners.

In the last two months I've had to get extra pages for the passport, get multiple vacines and prescriptions (rabies was the worst), read everything assigned to the students, try to finish a seperate research project on wetlands ecology, put most of my stuff into storage, and selectively pack for ten months on the road. After two weeks of intensive staff training in Vermont, I've taken the Labor Day weekend off to see my family in DC. On September 9th, I will fly-first stop Costa Rica!