Elections, coffee, and potatoes

Rain always makes me think of home, which makes me want coffee, which is how I arrived in the only local-style bakery with an espresso machine in town. Supposedly the coffee I'm drinking comes from the Intag valley, just on the other side of the Andes. It tastes like that's probably true. Unfortunately locally sourced coffee is pretty hard to come by, as the vast majority gets exported, local communities being priced out by higher paying coffee lovers (ie seattlites). There does seem to be seedlings of a movement toward locally sourced goods; you often see government stickers saying "made in Ecuador is the best", a push by the socialist government to continue boosting exotic growth.

Harvesting Quinoa in Panikindra

The economy has grown significantly and fairly consistently over the past couple of years, a reality that has been interesting to see play out in the nationwide election (that took place this passed Sunday) for local mayors, councils, and community/regional leaders. The president's party campaigned like crazy, with public money, though a handful of opposition parties were also very visible, with obnoxious parades and flags throughout all the rural communities. Voting is mandatory here, making every household worth the trip, an interesting dynamic coming from the often politically apathetic USA. It reminded me of growing up in a house engaged in local politics - I thought every 6th grader new about the city council exit polls.

Locally the president's candidate lost, due to what seems like backlash from the party in power changing the rules so as to remain in power longer (very familiar story, though a lot of people maintain the president is still helping the country tremendously). The impact of the election on my host family will likely be negligible, though potential exists for a massive change - my mom gets a
monthly govt check for having children attendnig school, my father works in construction on projects ubiquitously funded with govt dollars (yes the economy is US dollarized) and various candidates promised a paved road coming up through Gualsaqui, which would drastically reduce travel time, though impact on ability of community members to afford a car would be nill.

Harvesting taters

My last week, really just Sunday and Monday (now two weeks ago) epitomizes the divergent life experiences I see as I move from my host family to more urban areas. On Sunday I stayed at home and helped harvest potatoes all day. Aside from getting eaten alive by tiny black devil flies, it might have been my favorite day thus far in Ecuador. We stopped for a lunch (of potatoes plus some avocado) neighbors came to help out, and we all ended the day exhausted and very dirty. On Monday I accompanied a volunteer group coordinator to Quito to scout out activits for a group coming for a couple weeks. We perused the botanic garden and then made a reservation and tried out a super swanky Italian restaraunt, where the patrons and staff alike were perplexed by two very dirty gringos. The neighborhood, the menu, the whole day was so very far removed from my host family's conception of Ecuador. It left me thinking about the extreme economic stratification in the states, and wondering how the socialist politics of the current president will play out for both the monied many with private businesses as well as persistently impoverished indigenous communities that the government seems intent on courting and supporting in their culture practices, if only to appeal to tourists.

In Panikindra with Mercedes

On Tuesdays I have been shadowing Mercedes, this inspiring and badass nurse who shifts seemlessly between chatting in Kichwa with indigenous midwifes to policy talk with the health ministry. Last week we ran around, serendipitously catching rides to different communities to convince local healers to attend a training in a few weeks. Many people thought we were Mormon missionaries when they saw us walking up the hill, kind of hilarious, kind of terrifying. Yesterday we went to some of those same communities with a mobile Pap smear van to do cervical cancer screenings, an outing funded by a local branch of the soroptimist foundation.

School in Achupallas

With the promise of beers with Tandana friends in the afternoon, I set off to teach nutrition class with a peace corps volunteer in Achupallas, a community 2hrs up the hill from me. Every other time I've made ascent I've been able to hitch or pay for a ride, however no such luck this time. Aside from the altitude, a couple pretend attack dogs really got my heart racing. However the morning hike was well worth it, as the dogs were all kept at bay with pretend rock throwing, the kids were really sweet as usual, and I got to translate American disco songs for the teacher carpool on the way back to town.

Some of the bounty/bane of my existence

Finally, amidst taking pictures of my adorable host siblings, I often end up thinking about the potential and very real negatives of my presence in my family and community as a stereotypically Western face who is only staying for a couple of months. I just stumbled across this article on facebook - https://medium.com/p/b84d4011d17e - and it articulates very well this phenomenon, something I have and continue to think about a lot inlight of continuing to be a white face in a developing community with the Peace Corps in June.