Cuento de Chris viendo llover en Mondaña

After making my way back to Quito from Baños, referred to as Baesa in my previous post, I spent another week there. As soon as I was starting to feel Quiteño, getting around easily, recognizing where I was going and how the bus routes worked, it was time for "welcome to the jungle".

My last week in Quito was mostly spent finishing up some business, getting to know the latest arrivals that I would be working with and trying to organize some planning for teaching purposes. I also got the opportunity to visit one of the wealthiest universities in Ecuador, La Universidad de San Francisco, also known by the locals as San Pancho. I went with Amanda, another new Yachana instructor, as well as accompanied by a new friend, Daniel, the study abroad coordinator there and a big time Yachana volunteer. We walked right through the security checkpoint without being asked a single question. According to Daniel, this was mostly because of our white complexion. The president of Ecuador has apparently waged an informal war on the university. I take it that the first shot, however, was fired by the university when their security guard refused entrance to a black student because he didn't have his id card with him. Obviously, this provoked quite a bit of national polemic. The part of Quito where this university if found is astonishingly white and exceptionally privileged for Ecuador, and, as Forest Gump said, "That's all I've got to say about that."

The library at San Pancho was somewhat useful and I was able to find a few materials that might be useful for teaching. Fortunately, I have brought with me some materials, books, etc. that I should be able to put to good use. One fantastic thing about Latin America is the complete disregard for intellectual property rights, any book, dvd, cd, etc. can be quickly reduplicated and put to good use. I don't feel so bad about it in this case because the photocopies of my books will be used for a very good cause.

My last day in Quito was rich! Mónica, the person I stayed with for the last two weeks in Quito, is, among other things, incredibly nice, accommodating and genuine. She took me out to lunch on Thursday, to a place where they had incredibly delicious hamburgers and followed that up with a visit to a place called Corfu, where you can find some of the best iced cream in Ecuador. My favorite flavor is Ron Pasas, literally Rum Raisins, it sort of tastes like eggnog and I combined it with the classic, Dulce de Leche. That alone

On to the jungle book. We were very fortunate to have met Daniel, not only because he has been an incredible coordinator and organizer, but also because he owns a very nice Ford Ecosport (the slightly smaller Ecuadorian version of the Escape). With the poor mini SUV loaded down with around 500 lbs. of cargo, tied tight to the luggage rack with nylon twine, we headed off to the jungle. The way there was not too bad, lot's of expected twists and turns through the mountains and great views of sharp drop-offs and road wash outs, but all of that's about par. The only bad part was when the nice paved highway turned into river rock hell. The "little Ecosport that could" charged on through huge dips, high rocks, sizable water holes, etc. Mostly due to the considerable weight we had loaded on the poor thing, there were several bottom outs and a yanked out brake line, those are mostly for looks, right?

We drove quite literally to the edge of a river, the Napo, one of the biggest tributaries (I believe that's the correct usage/term) of the Amazon River system. The is the river that I'm now living no less than 400 meters from. We loaded up the biggest canoe I've ever seen in my life, had to be about 30 ft., with all of the luggage. At that point, I was really beginning to regret taking a four-wheeled upright suitcase into the Amazon jungle, weighing around 60lbs./40+ kilos. no less. In ten minutes we were to the other side. We managed to drag all of our belongings to the cabin that we would be staying in for a few days; we had arrived to Yachana Lodge.

The following is a list of some of my primary reactions: "Wow, this is beautiful, I'm breathing very well with this awesome air, damn, it's hot, where the hell have I gotten myself?, Oh damn, what now? and, even still, it really is amazingly unique and beautiful here." I can honestly say that I have never experienced a place on earth like this. On canoe approach, looking at the river banks, I was wondering to myself where any civilization would fit into the picture; Yachana is craftily and carefully hidden right in with the landscape. The jungle growth masks everything. The lodge is very nice, the dining area is incredible, complete with a full service bar that I will, as the founder was sure to remind all of us teachers, will not be drinking from ever. They have computers, very well designed stone walking paths, diverse plant life, a very friendly staff, many of whom are graduates of the high school, decent internet (satellite, which I am using now), and a mascot, a little baby otter that follows everyone around waiting for it's next fish serving. The cabins at Yachana can best be compared to those of any state park in the States, it's basically like camping out.

After spending a few days at the lodge, planning, having several meetings and being generally spoiled by the incredible food, accommodations and service, it was time to go to school, Yachana Technical High School.  To get to the high school from the lodge, you must walk through Mondaña. It's a "town," if you can call it that, of around fifty people, that has a few small houses, a medical center built and donated by Yachana, a general store that I have yet to see open and a one classroom school with a big covered basketball court adjacent to it. I think much of this was built by, "let's save the world by changing everyone's culture and getting them to adopt our's," Peace Core gringos, especially the big gaudy, always deserted, basketball court. Fortunately, that is not what Yachana is about. I've been told that there are both a doc and nurse on staff in the health clinic that can administer anti-venom, should the worst happen and someone gets bitten by a fun-loving poisonous culebra (snake). From Mondaña, it's about ten more minutes, trudging through the mud and up in down hills in blister causing, yet mud and water resisting, rubber boots.

If my reaction to the lodge was a bit of a freak-out, that was nothing compared to how I felt after getting to the high school. Not all of the experience can be great. My room at the high school, at first sight, reminded me of a Goosebumps book I read when I was a kid. The design of school dormitories are, there is not much better way I can think to describe it, laid out like cell blocks. There is a girls wing and a guys wing, an upper corridor and a lower corridor and the rooms are all lined up with the doors facing outward. I've taken to affectionately calling the corridor I'm staying on, "D Block". I won't lie, I've had the Folsom Blues the first few days.

I have felt much better about the entire situation today, I just needed to get over the initial shock, the "oh shit factor" was high at first. I've gotten very comfortable in my room. I have everything unpacked for the first time in weeks, I got the floor well swept, I have shelf space, and I've rigged up my toldo, or bed net, which I am sitting up in my bed typing under right now. You should see the size of the bugs here! On my first night in this room, I did battle with a hissing cock roach that was almost as big as the shoe I used to kill it. I've made friends with the new generator that provides power for all of the school buildings, I'm really not sure if it's quite enough for all of the demand they're placing on it. Just tonight, I made a night trip with the school chef and a machete (remember what culebra means?), up to the water tanks to unblock the pipes. I kind of like these little odd jobs and I feel very adept to doing them.

Apart from unblocking water tanks in the middle of the night, the chef serves up quite a bit of rice with everything. I've heard a lot of complaints about the food so far, but it's, if anything, filling and doesn't really taste bad. Tonight we had rice mixed with beans and small cuts of beef along with a sweet tamale served up in a banana leaf and a hot cinnamon juice to drink.

After days of talks and planning, we finally met with the students today. I guess I'm just getting old, because they all look and sound very very young. They all seem anxious, happy about life in general, motivated, ridiculously hardworking, tough and determined. After a morning's worth of interviews with them, I'm feeling very excited about teaching! Tomorrow, at 07:00, I teach my first course/session of literature and humanities at Yachana, I'm definitely all about it.

I'd like to end with a comment about the rain. Márquez wrote that, one day, it started raining in Macondo and it never stopped. Well he must have been thinking about a place like this because it just starts raining sometimes and you can´t tell if it will ever have an end. It might be one of the things I love the most so far, it´s just a smooth, replenishing and refreshing rain that seems interminable. I could just sit and watch it all day.