Category Archives: Ecuador

On Saturday Tim and I took a bus to Otavalo (a town outside of Quito famous for its artesan mercados). We had some serious Christmas shopping we wanted to work on. We got up pretty early but didn’t quite make it on the road when we had planned. Anyway we were on the bus by 8:30. Tim snagged some seats that appeared to have more leg room than the average seats and we were off.

Another passenger boarded the bus and tried to act like he was part of the bus personnel, he put a bag in the overhead rack and offered to put one of our bags above as well. Tim considered it and knowing that all the bag had was a pair of my old sweatpants (in case we stayed the night in Otavalo) he agreed. After he put the bag up he sat down in the aisle across from us. A few minutes later the guy asked Tim what time it was and he replied “8:30.” Tim asked him how long the bus ride to Otovalo was and he asked again for the time. Tim told him again and the dude said the bus should get there in about 2-2 ½ hours. The guy then went up to the front of the bus and when he came back to his seat faked a little trip and dropped about 30 cents in our laps. Real convincing. He tried to pick them up, and Tim just pushed him back and said “espera, espera” (hold on buddy, wait a sec). We collected his change and discretely checked our pockets to make sure everything was in place. Yep. He didn’t get anything off of us. What a sketchball he was though.

Once the bus got out of Quito they put a movie on. We were pretty exicted to see that it was “Home Alone:” very appropriate for getting in the Christmas shopping mood.

We got into Otavalo and spent about 2 hours scooping the wares and making our purchases. There are little stands EVERYWHERE on Saturday in the town. We have some pictures in coppermine of some of the stands. Everything was very colorful. Two hours is about all the shopping we can stand in a stretch (even if it is fun shopping). So we stopped at a little Italian restaurant for lunch and recharged. It didn’t quite fill Tim up, so he bought some bananas from a fruit stand to supplement. We bought a few more gifts and hopped on a bus home (we decided against staying the night). We left feeling pretty good about the number of people we could cross off our Christmas shopping list.

I wanted to buy a pineapple today, but the woman was going to charge me 60 cents instead of 50. I refused.

It all started innocently enough. I asked Marlene, the female half of our landlord couple, if there was a peluqueria nearby. She nodded and gestured “up La Gasca.” She said there were several, one of which was owned by two “gays.” So I walked up the hill. Soon enough, I came across a “Unisex” salon de belleza. I saw a woman sitting on a chair inside, so I tentatively approached. Through the glass front of the place, I could see a small TV mounted high in the corner. She was facing the opposite way, toward the mirrors, but her head was resting on her arm. I thought maybe she was asleep. But when I tapped lightly on the glass, she whirled around quickly.

I asked if she could give me a haircut. She said, “claro!” (of course). So I sat down and she adorned me with various towels and capes. Half-jokingly, I showed her my WorldTeach id and my censo. The WorldTeach id featured a very short-haired Tim, circa July; the censo picture was taken in early October. I pointed to the short-haired Tim and said, “not this. I can do this in my house. This is too short.” Then I pointed to the other and said, “this, more or less.”

When she started, I was actually wondering if she would take enough off. But as time progressed, it was clear that she was taking “enough” off. She kinda kept taking enough off, especially from the sides. She began coming the top of my head from front to back, and just when I started thinking she would cut it and make me look more or less like my WorldTeach id again, she stopped. She added some sort of “product,” as they say, and charged me $2.50.

Here I am.

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In the coppermine “home scenes” album.

Yesterday we had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast: we are so thankful for everything and all the wonderful people we know. Our worldteach family is wonderful.

Preparations: I’ve been daydreaming about having thanksgiving since late September. Everyone helped plan food and logistics and everyone brought lots of food. Bill helped me make the pumpkin pies the night before. Saturday morning Tim and I went to buy some last-minute purchases for the day. We got avocado for guacamole and on the walk home the bag broke and they rolled on the ground. Thank goodness they were just going to be peeled and mashed anyway.

The turkey according to tim: a little dry, but not bad.

The turkey according to Kristi (our subdirector): better than her mom’s

The meat thermometer: useless. It said the turkey was done in 2 hours

The apple pies, ala master baker Steph: Our landlord loved them so much they asked to take home a few slices

The pumpkin pies: Tim loves to quote Garrison Keilor: “The best pumpkin pie you ever ate wasn’t that much better than the worst.” So does it even matter?

The amount of food: true to thanksgiving tradition we had way too much food. It was great: turkey, stuffing, gravy, green beans, corn, applesauce, mashed potatoes, salad, fruit salad, egg and potato dish, homemade salsa, chips, fresh vegetables and dip, cheese, crackers, guacamole, bread, pies, applecrisp, mora bread, cookies, sangria, wine, soda, after-dinner drinks.

Space: We all squeezed into our first floor, it was standing-room only. Nice and cozy.

Clean-up: Everyone pitched in and helped do dishes and clean up. We had four big garbage bags of trash when all was said and done.

The day after: Some people came over and helped us eat some leftovers and we made fresh-squeezed orange juice and pancakes. We also listened to Christmas music.