water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink!

Last night, it started raining here in Archidona around 7 p.m. and did not stop until this morning around 8 a.m. It also rained in Tena, the capital city and in the surrounding communities. I woke up a few times last night noticing the strength of the rain, but thought nothing of it. Laurel, who lives in Tena, called me around 7:30 this morning to let me know of the destruction the rains had caused there. The water rose higher than it ever has before. It completely covered the roads and flooded many of our favorite restaurants there by the river. Houses and belongings were being brought down the river which eventually took out the bridge to the zoo on the island where the two rivers, the Pano and the Tena come together. There is still a family stranded there waiting for the waters to reside. The bridge was made with steel-reinforced concrete, which you can see by the picture above. I went out to survey the damage this afternoon and it was truly incredibly. The roof of a dance club by the river was completely destroyed, stores with their merchandise strewn across the road, everyone helping and doing what they could. To top it off, there is no water in the pipes and the river water is too muddy/dangerous to use. It's ironic. Two girls died here in my town because they couldn't get out of their house fast enough to escape the rushing water. No schools here in town had classes. It was truly a sad, interesting day. Tena has alot to clean up and rebuild in the coming days. The waters have started to reside, but as of this afternoon the Misahualli river that runs beside Archidona and eventually into the Pano river was still very high. Everyone out here from Peace Corps is safe and accounted for, thankfully. It just started sprinkling in Archidona....

As long as exciting things keep happening down here, you lucky readers will have something to waste your time on! After I got back from the weekend with the dentists - completely exhausted (I went to bed at 7 p.m. on Monday!) - it was back to work at Runa. All of the 'tecnicos' from the Archidona office have been working for months building our new tea drying racks, garden, and firepit behind the office. After all of this work, Wednesday was the big day - the inauguration of the new equipment and the chance to get the important people from governmental agencies to come see what Runa is all about. Fundacion Runa has a main office in Quito and two field offices here in Archidona and down south in Puyo. From the field offices, there are 'tecnicos' that travel into the communities to teach them how to plant the guayusa and give them technical assistance along the way. Each farmer plants 625 plants in 1 hectare. In about three years, they will begin to see more income from selling the leaves of these trees to us. We buy at .35 cents a pound - almost double the going rate. Also in three years, Runa will see increased primary materials because the plants will be ready. We bring the leaves (from the farmers in Napo and Pastaza provinces) to the Archidona office to pre-dry the leaves, dry them in our industrial dryers, crush them and then ground them even smaller to be ready to put them into tea bags. Right now the business is online (http://www.runa.org/) but in the future we hope to move to small organic food stores like Whole Foods and also into small cafes and coffee shops. The founder of Runa is Tyler Gage, a 24-year-old graduate of Brown University. I've gotten to spend some time with him in these few weeks I've been working here and he is a remarkable person. To be so young and already have such a successful business is amazing and I definitely admire him and everyone that has been working for Runa. Tuesday night, all the staff was treated to an amazing dinner at Huasquila Lodge, north of Archidona in Cotundo. It was a nice way to start the inauguration and realize all of the great things we are doing. Wednesday was a long day - we were up at 7 a.m. to start setting up the tables, chairs and promotional materials outside. At 9, we all headed to the minicipal government for Tyler to give his presentation. After a successful presentation and much publicity, everyone headed to the office to begin the festivities. We had plenty of guayusa to drink, traditional dancers, a toast and then all went to lunch. In the afternoon, a few more people showed up to see the open house, and I was exhausted. Lydia, my friend that also helped with the dental translatng, had traveled up that morning from Puyo. Lydia lives in a community where they have Runa guayusa and helps the farmers in the area of technical assistance and also has school gardens. It is cool to be working for the same foundation but in different levels of the tea-making process! After a quick nap, we headed back to the office to see if we could help with anything, but everyone was already heading to the karaoke bar across the street! The owner of the bar is helping us out with the drying process so it is a place they frequent often. After plenty of Pilsener, singing, and dancing, we headed to eat. Thank you to the only restaurant open in Archidona late-night! I am very lucky to be working for such an organized, driven foundation. Thursday and Friday were holidays leading up to Easter so there was no work to be done. I hope everyone had a relaxing and happy Easter!

Translating

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to work with a group of dentists from the United States who had come to Ecuador on a medical mission. They came through The Judith Lombeida Foundation and the Children's International Dentist Project and worked here in Ecuador in conjuction with the Ecuadorian Air Force. My friend Lydia Montes, who lives down south near Puyo, came up to be the other translator from the Peace Corps. We met the group on Thursday for lunch at the Air Force base and then headed to the first site, Santa Rita. Santa Rita is a small Kichwa community just outside of Archidona. After set-up, Lydia and I returned to Archidona and watched the SandLot, a movie that is frequently quoted here in Tena cluster but I couldn't remember watching in my childhood. Friday morning, the commander of the Air Force base here in Tena picked us up on my street corner in Archidona and we headed out for the first day of our two-day mission in Santa Rita. We saw about 85 patients - pulling teeth, filling cavities and teaching the kids and their parents about good hygiene. I worked mainly with a dentist from Colorado Springs and his wife. Because it is a Kichwa community, my little knowledge of Kichwa helped me out quite a bit. We returned to Tena after the long work day and had dinner with Tena cluster. Saturday morning we met the Air Force bus in Archidona and headed back to Santa Rita. Our second day went by faster and we broke down the rooms around 330 to head home after the closing program. The dentists we were working with treated us to dinner at The Marquis (steak!!) and then we went dancing with some of the dentists and Air Force men. Sunday we met the bus in Tena and headed out to San Pedro which is my friend John's site. We set up the equipment and got to work. It was a smaller school so we could see all the students in one day. All of our machines kept tripping the breakers so we had to work around it. John came out to show his support before losing his soccer game in the Sunday tournament, 9-0. We packed everything up around 3:00 and Lydia and I headed back to Archidona to get ready for the closing dinner and program at the Air Force base. We had dinner and watched a video of the past three days then headed out to receive certificates (from the foundations and the air force!) and see some indigenous dancing. It was an incredibly exhausting weekend but I felt really good about being able to help these dentists out with the translating. This week, it's back to work because here at the Foundation Runa tomorrow we have the inauguration of the new dryers where we dry the guayusa leaves. Busy busy! Take care.

SK

I actually updated my blog!

Hola a todos:

Sorry for not updating in 2010...and half of 2009. I'll start where I left off:

In December, Mom, Dad and Michael came down for about two weeks. We spent a few days in Quito touring the Old Town, bartering for goods in Otavalo, visiting the 'middle of the world,' taking a gondola up an extinct volcano to take int he views of about five snow-capped volcanoes surrounding the city, eating good food, celebrating the holiday and spending time together. After a week in the busiest city I've ever been in, we boarded a bus and made our way to the jungle. The hosteria we stayed at reminded me of summer camp. It's a huge island that rescues monkeys and other jungle animals and rehabilitates them. We spent the weekend there and relaxed a bit and then I sent them to a hostal in Tena (the only one with air conditioning!) We visited the caves, the zoo, walked around Tena, took a trip to the Super Tia, hung out with Tena cluster, and enjoyed each other's company. it was a really great trip and I guess it was fun to be a tourist/tour guide for a bit. My family enjoyed their trip but did comment on how poor the country is - something I think I've started not to notice since living here.

I moved into a cute, safe new house in the city and had to give Nina (the bigger white dog) away. She's with a good family a few towns over and so I know she's happy. Beso is still small and awkward and most likely not going to grow more and is a good dog. My neighbors and the people in my barrio are extremely nice so I've made some good friends here in town. January went by quickly and we moved into February: Carnaval. Ecuador has more parties and holidays than the United States will have over a period of twn years. Carnaval is probably the craziest holiday. We had over 700 people at the caves one day over the long weekend and the last day we got to play. Carnaval = water balloons, silly string/shaving cream, mud, flour, etc. It wasn't much fun trying to wash flour out of my already wet hair but I will say that joking around that day with everyone, pushing people in the pool, throwing flour, etc. was one of the best days I've had here so far, although I did somehow lose my shoes...

March has arrived and with it some big changes in my Peace Corps life. I no longer work at the caves and have shifted my attention to wokring with kindergarteners in the mornings and Fundacion Runa in the afternoons. Working with the kids is incredibly fun - it's like having 70 automatic best friends that all want to hold your hand. I teach environmental education and English. You would not believe how hard it is for a three year old to distinguish between 'apple' and 'purple.' In the afternoon, I head over to the offices of Fundacion Runa (http://www.runa.org/) It is so nice to be in an office setting and use the skills that I came here with. The people I work with are all great and I'm so happy with my 'new life.' Last week, all the kindergarten teachers in the area had a soccer tournament. My team lost 2-1 but that one point on the scoreboard was all thanks to yours truly! It made me realize I actually enjoy playing soccer. Strange, I know. After the match I headed to Quito/Cayambe for our 'little brother/sister' picnic with Omnibus 103 - what a fun group of people! A good time was had by all and it was great seeing everyone from 101 as well. This week I get to help translate for some dentists that are coming to the smaller Kichwa communities to give check - ups and perform surgeries. We'll see how much dental vocab I can cram in before Thursday! At the end of April, my friend Jaime from training is coming to visit, then it's May which means...HOME! I'll be back in the states May 13-26th so I expect to see all of you there!

Much love,

Sarita

A Day in the Life...

Cave Warriors Marcia, Monica, me and Martha

Indi/Bebe/TROUBLE

Wow. It is amazing how much life can change in a matter of weeks! I am all moved into my new house and I love it. Living in the city made a huge difference. The people I live near are ridiculously nice and helpful and I’ve already made new friends. The new house has an amazing yard so Beso and Nina are content. Beso is still small enough to slip under the fence. After losing her for days at a time I finally got the incredible idea to put some chicken wire so she can’t get out. Somehow she still manages to do it so I’m still working out the details…Nina escaped yesterday and came back a different color. I bathed her and she proceeded to roll in the mud. Thanks, Nina. Last week I worked with my new counterpart, same organization. We worked all day planning projects, investigating resources and learning from each other. Wednesday, the foundation had our weekly minga. We (almost) all headed to the farm in the morning and then went up to machete the weeds around our recently planted yucca. It is always a friendly atmosphere on the farm and I even got to practice my Kichwa. They always forget that I’ve learned how to say ‘you’re about to make me angry’ in their language. It’s fun to whip that knowledge out and surprise them! Being that my hands haven’t had much experience with a machete, I got a blister after an hour and went back to the house to help Mama Teresa with the soup. I ended up not feeling very well, probably from being out in the sun so long. Here, they call this feeling ‘mal aire,’ not to be confused with malaria. They all swore that I would feel much better after a cleansing of yucca leaves. I never think they’re serious about these things and then Papa Pedro walks in with a huge handful of leaves and starts cleansing me of my ‘bad air’ like the shamans do. Honestly, it made me feel better. I don’t know if I just wanted shaking a bunch of yucca leaves to magically cure an illness, or if their ancient beliefs could be compared to modern medicine, like, for real. We may never know. Wednesday night there was a CD release party in Tena. The National Park put out a new CD with songs about the region and since Laurel and Dan work up there we were lucky enough to be invited! The band played a few of the songs and everyone danced and had a great time. We’ve had quite a bit of rain these past few days so washing my clothes has to be planned well. I can’t believe it’s already basically December. I’ve been waiting for this month since February 24th and it is HERE! This means the Eldredge family will be reunited in 22 days. The countdown begins!

Headin' back to the jungle

I met with the doctor this morning and I don't have tuberculosis! I do, however, have strep B and the PCV inevitable, amoebas. Those are probably the underlying causes for the other strange illnesses I had. Leaving today to go back home to my puppies :) Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

Looks like you get a free weekend in Quito...

Just an update: I've been in Quito for the last few days dealing with medical issues. Basically, we know that I have erythema nodosum (google it.) we just don't know why. I have had every test known to man including a chest x-ray and tuberculosis test. I hope to return to my site on Wednesday, given the test results are negative. I must say, the medical care provided by Peace Corps is wonderful. Probably better than I had back in the states. Its been a fun 'vacation' in Quito, I've gotten to see alot of people and eat some amazing food (sushi!) but I'm ready to get home. It is cold in Quito. And it's really high up altitude-wise so it's hard to breathe. But, it's a fun city nonetheless. I will continue to keep you all updated!