Feeling fruity

My supervisors were joking that they structured my whole time with Tandana as a prep course for the Peace Corps, and though it was obviously not their intention to have me bouncing around health centers without much to do, I do think these couple months in Ecuador will prove very relevant to my placement in Belize. Lacking in much of the experiential substance I was hoping to get from volunteering here, I am learning a lot and really enjoying day to day routines in and around Otavalo, largely because I know I´m only living this way for a short time - in mid-March we run two+ weeks of health clinics and then I´m taking off to travel.

The main square in Cotacachi

This past weekend I stayed around here, splitting my time between my host family, tackling Peace Corps logistics, and local eateries. The picture on the right is from Cotacachi, a neighboring town that is an American retirement hot spot. I overheard to men with thick southern accents discussing their gold mining endeavors here. Strange.

Granadilla = nectar of the gods

The food here has potential to be amazing; the land is incredibly fertile and the variety of fresh fruits and veggies that come from within a few hours is astonishing. That being said, starches reign supreme at most dinner (and breakfast and lunch) tables. One day I had spaghetti with potatoes and a bit of meat, served on top of white rice, with bread as a side, with myself to blame for that part as I had bought rolls in the hopes of eating them for breakfast. Needless to say it did not work in my favor. Aside from expanding my stomach and increasing my potatoe eating abilities, I frequently have cheap and delicious smoked pork, awesome fava beans, endless avocadoes, and a variety of fruits leaving my taste buds confused but wowed.

Appreciating my host family continues...

The awesome Oyagata Manuela family

Otavalo

The hair braiding fun never stops

To anyone who reads this today - happy valentines day! I am celebrating by trying to bake banana bread in my family´s oven which has no temperature gauge. I hope everyone is feeling loved today, and everyday. While treating myself to a tourist-spot crepe with chocolate and fruits, I overheard a couple (from Seattle, such a small world) talking rather pretentiously about how much travelling has changed in the last 20 years, how hard it is to go anywhere without seeing tourists. I´ve been thinking a lot about my Peace Corps placement in Belize, how I expected anything other than being sent to a country with English as the official language and world class scuba diving. Is it the exotic nature of a place or moment that makes it special? Related is how often I reflect on what I expected from these few months in Ecuador and what I am experiencing, and how the rapidly and rather effectively developing government, and more specifically health infrastructure, play into that. At the end of the day I keep coming back to the unique qualities of every experience, both determined by the context on that given day and the person at the helm driving the whole thing. Had to blabber a bit... Anyways, wish me luck with completing health tests here in Ecuador - I have already had the pleasure of visiting the smallest exam room on planet, so we´ll see what the next round of appointments hold.