We're Back!

And that's that! I feel strange not putting a period on the end of the sentence that was this trip, but I also don't quite feel like doing it yet. The whole group is still ringing with the experience, and by putting it in the past tense and declaring it "done" I feel like I'd be dampening that echo. So maybe I can find a way to squeeze the end a bit without completely knotting it.

The afternoon was grand, with students charging around Quito as they had been doing. The weather was glorious, which finally allowed for a grand view of Quito from the spires of the Basilica. Doubtless your students have shown you their pictures, which are incredible. I didn't make it there, as I was meeting with my Ecuadorian friend, Elenita, whom a few of the students and Ms Getzen met. We bumped into the boys, playing with their soccer ball with new friends Nelson and Guillermo in front of the hotel...It looked like they'd had a great afternoon together. It was a sad and yet still excited bunch that piled into the vans at 6:00 to go to the airport.

I chatted with our van driver all the way. He had some fascinating stories to tell about how he'd come to Quito 40 years before as an illiterate kid from a black town on the coast where the only access was by rail line, and how he'd gotten a job as a rich man's driver / bodyguard simply by having an impressive physique, and had parlayed that into a shot at the Olympic team as a sprinter and a short career as a boxer. And now he drives the van, with three kids in professional careers in Ecuador and abroad, and still looks like he could take care of himself if push came to shove. I got his phone number and his address, as when I asked him if he knew of a novel written about the fiercely independent people of his province and their resistance to government control in the 19-teens, he had no idea what I was talking about, and I promised I'd send him a copy of the novel. Neat guy.

But of course that all faded from my mind when I realized my suitcase wasn't in the van when we got to the airport. I thought it might have been lost in the semi-confused scramble to get them all out of the vans when we pulled up, and scanned quickly all the red bags people were walking or standing with around the exit (offending one particularly sensitive man, whom I, in a less-than-generous state, called a nina and told to calm down). I figured it was still standing downstairs in the courtyard of the hotel. When I couldn't make the phone number for the hotel work, I jumped outside and into a cab to dash back to the hotel before someone walked away with it.

Talking to the cabbie, I worked it out that the suitcase contained only clothes, my pillow, and my souvenirs, all of which are replaceable. And then we started in on Cuba (I told him about the poster I didn't want to lose), and he had some very interesting thoughts on that subject. His wife had been operated on in Quito by Cuban doctors, who were all very pro-Castro, and who didn't want to leave Cuba and went back to it when their time in Ecuador was done. He thinks Cuba has the atomic bomb. "Why else would the US not have wiped them out by now?" Interesting thought.

I ran in to the hotel and up the stairs and sighed a huge relief when the attendant at the desk smiled at my arrival. She immediately got up and walked toward the storeroom where I'd been keeping it all afternoon, wagging her finger at me disapprovingly and smiling. The staff had carried it back upstairs almost as soon as we had left. When I walked out with it, the cab driver pumped his fists in the air and howled triumphantly. We both laughed with relief.

Back to the airport, where I again exchanged information with the cabbie, who was a pretty neat guy. When I walked in again, I noticed four of the students standing in a close circle, holding hands. One, Laurie, turned and saw me and ran excitedly over, positively jubilant at seeing me with my suitcase. "We were JUST praying for you!", she said. What I had seen was a prayer circle! That's a very nice feeling, I have to say.

Check-in, followed by a long wait before we took off. As we rolled down the runway, Matt G leaned forward and said, "Mr Johnson, I think I'm going to cry." All I could think to say back was "That's a very good thing." And off we flew.

Lots of waiting and sitting and puffy eyes, endless transfers and baggage checks and a few close calls before we all rolled in to Lenox at 1:30 PM yesterday. Thank you to all the students and to the parents, who supported us all so well in the whole endeavor. And to Ms Getzen and Ms Gernat for donating their time and making things so much easier. We're still resonating with the experience. Welcome back, all, and welcome to the club of Those who Know Ecuador.



Tess, in the shirt that Emily and Laurie rounded up for her



Quinn in the jersey that made Guillermo so angry at Shyam

Mid-Day Saturday

Got up and got in line at 9:30 to get a free tour of the Presidential Palace. Some Ecuadorians tried to cut in front of us, but Robin and Gail were having none of it. (I was across the street, buying a fruit salad.) Nice to see they´re unafraid of conflict now!

The tour was fabulous. Rafael Correa, the current president, was already popular amond this group, who followed the election last year, but his stock went up even further when we found out that the tours weren´t even given before he became President, and that previous Presidents would just keep the gifts they would get as they traveled around the world in their official capacity. Correa decided that they are the property of Ecuador, not his own, so now every one he gets finds its place in a display case around the (fabulously decorated) banquet room.

The palace is enormously impressive. We even saw the podium where we had seen Correa, in a Youtube video, announcing that he was going toi change the deal Ecuador had with the oil companies to be more in Ecuador´s favor. The students remembered it because the soldier standing at attention while Correa spoke had to try to slip his ringing cell phone out of his pocket and shut it off while it sang ¨Guantanamera¨, clearly audible over the microphone.

We split up to pack up and such (we have to be out of the rooms by noon, though they´re letting us leave the bags in a sotreroom until 6:00, and we´re all meeting at Guillermo´s for one last lunch together. That´s where I´ll have to give my speech, I guess. Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow about this time!

Almost Home

Sadness abounds on the last full day in Ecuador.

Up and at ém at 9;00, to take cabs up to the cable car that runs to the top of Pichincha. We haggled some with the taxi drivers, who wouldn´t take us up that high without some extra money added to the fare (and our driver´s radiator splashed him with boiling water when we arrived, which made him pretty angry at us, though it got him no more money), and up the mountain after no wait in line whatsoever on what was really a pretty cloudy day. Ten minutes later, we were on a misty mountain top with spectacular views of the banks of mist right in front of us. The kids did some shopping at the stores in the observation building (shopping has been very big with this group), and then we walked on up the mountain a ways before descending again. It was fun, but we only got one small shot of a small section of Quito from up there. Ah well.

Down to the hotel in a van that specializes in transporting tourists from the top, at a buck a head, to wherever they want to go, and then we re-grouped and headed down to the touristy section of town so we could have some shopping options, and so Kaitlin and I could go see a doctor about some bug bites. We got some medication for them, and rejoined the group, which had made some purchases. Back on the trolley to the hotel.

Down-time until 5:50, when we walked up to the boroque church a few blocks away to hear Mass. As it started, the priest invited us (somewhat chidingly) up to the front, so we went; and during the Mass, he chided us again for not responding when they did the call-and-response. He was really kind of churlish, which we felt was odd, since we made up over half the attendees. I think he probably thought we were just there as tourists, to gawk and be disrespectful. But the Catholics in the group went up and had Communion, so by the end I think we had won him over.

From there we walked to the La Ronda neighborhood, the most beautifully restored old neighborhood in the city, to eat supper in the 309-year-old house where the adults had eaten the night before. The food was OK, and slow in coming, so the students weren´t as taken with the place as we had been, I don´t think, but we had a grand time on our last night here, all around the same table, which we really haven´t done much of on this trip. We got some views of the virgin statue atop the Panecillo, and then headed out to meet up with Guillermo, the friend the boys have made. (They actually called him on the waiter´s cell phone during dinner to tell him we´d be late, and he called them back at the same phone. Probably a little irritating to the waiter.)

After depositing our stuff at the hotel, most of us (Hannah was feeling a little under the weather) walked up to the Plaza del Teatro with Guillermo and his son and nephew to see an open-air concert. We stood around a long time waiting for the music, but we were entertained by Guillermo and family trying to coach Matt G on his Spanish pick-up lines. We listened to one terrible rock song, then went with Guillermo to a restaurante he knows with a fabulous view. It was breathtaking, but we were pretty tired, so we headed home, and had the culturally authentic experience of being frustrated at how Ecuadorians take as long as possible to walk from one place to another, savoring the company. Americans? They decide to go home, and they go. Some handshakes and photos, and to bed.

Tomorrow! It´s almost here! We´re sad and excited...Hasta manana!

Food. Art. Food.

When we rolled out this morning, having agreed to meet up at 8:30, the sun was nowhere to be seen. If it´s especially cloudy and hazy, it doesn´t seem prudent to trek up to the top of the mountain by cable car, because the view is bound to be spotty at best. So we decided to do the vegetable market instead.

We wanted to trolly to the market, and paid to do so, but the trollies were all too crowded, so we grabbed some taxis. The great thing about taxis is that the students get to chat with them on the ride (Matt L is particularly adept at this, I´m told), and get their thoughts on everything from emigration to recent politics. The bad part is that they often aren´t completely up-front and fair about their pricing. I arrived and found out that the cabbie for the first group went back on the pricing he had agreed to with me and instead shook them down for $4. It was something that ticked us off, but not a great loss. Something you have to put up with, I guess.

The vegetable market was a big hit. The students (and adults) tried any number of new, strange fruits and vegetables, including mote, a huuuuge-kerneled, soft, bland corn that´s served in little plastic bags; pitahuaya, which is a gelatinous grey sweetness surrounded by a horn-like peel; pepinos andinos, which, as Matt L put it "tastes like a cross between a melon and a potato"...I bought a knife for 85 cents (just found out that the Spanish keyboard has no "cents" symbol), to facilitate the peeling of the fruits, and we charged around buying a dime´s worth and sampling for quite a while.

The students seemed fascinated. Chocolate sold in disks a foot high that look like cross-sections of trees; a dozen rozes for a fraction of the cost of roses at home (the boys were well versed in the price of roses, as well as being the first to buy flowers); hand-woven baskets that cost essentially nothing...It was real, relaxed fun.

One of the things you can get points for on this trip is appearing on Ecuadorian television. And sure enough, while we were at the market, a TV crew showed up to try to do a story on food for some reason. And the Americans immeidately ran off to stand conspicuously behind the person being interviewed and make faces at the camera. Unfotunately, we never got to see today´s news broadcast, so we´ll never be able to award the points. But they definitely gave it the ol´college try. As Matt G rolled his eyes like a madman, Shyam S jumped up and down, and Emily R and Megan F pretended to make lengthy, heavy dicisions over which tomatoes to buy, a little tear rolled down my cheek. It was a very proud moment.

We walked back to the trolley when we were finished, hoping it would be emptier in the other direction. Ms Gernat spotted a likely spot for buying coffee, and pretty soon everybody (almost) had gone in to buy some, as well as other souvenirs. It was a very good turn of luck to find that place. And then we leapt aboard a nearly-empty trolley and were home much faster than we had been able to come in a taxi. The trolley has its own lane, you see, and only stops at its stopping places. It´s a great system. I love it. Hate the thieves on it, but love the system.

We had a long break for lunch (in the place of your choice, again, provided you aren´t alone), during which I zoomed back to the mall and exchanged something from the day before. My cab driver said Presidente Correa is different from all the other corrupt presidents they´ve had before, and that he is a big fan of him, but that he fears he will be assassinated. Food for lots of thought.

We were to try to go to the Guayasamin museum at 1:00 (Oswaldo Guayasamin, 1919-1999, a Quito native from a poor mestizo family, being arguably the greatest Latin American painter of the modern age), but the website said it was closed from 1:00 to 3:00. So when we reconvened at 1:00, it wa sjust to say "See you at 2:30."

Guess what Laurie E and Emiliy E spent that downtime doing. That´s right: Going to museums.

I love this group.

We took cabs to the museum, where we had a FANTASTIC guide. Well-dressed, professional, young, guapo (hey, I´m not blind), eloquent, with great presence and Spanish that was very clear and easy to understand. And Guayasamin was an unbelievable artist. I have a new favorite, in fact. We learned about the various periods he went through, and ended in front of a portrait he painted of his daugher.

Laurie E and I were still talking to him - about a portrait he painted of Fidel Castro, which we saw a reproduction of, hanging behind the gift counter. He painted Castro 4 times, and we learned that the friendship between the two (both atheists, as well as socialists) was such that whenever Castro came to Ecuador on state business, he stayed at Guayasamin´s house. Amazing tour.

But as we were talking to the guide about the Castro portrait, he said "Oh, there she is," (in Spanish), and gestured back at the portrait we had been looking at, then over at a lovely woman in her fifties. It was Guayasamin´s daughter, who is one of the trustees of the foundation. That was a very surreal moment, looking back and forth from the portrait to the person.

Matt G and I couldn´t resist and plopped down more money than certainly I had been thinking on spending for a full-sized reproduction of the Castro portrait. It was painted for Castro´s 70th birthday, and portrays him with the hands that are typical of Guayasamin´s style and philosophy. The whole thing has such a fantastic story to tell about art, Latin America, politics, and the currents that run throughout this whole New World, that I was irresistably drawn to the possibility of the conversations it will inspire in class. I can´t wait to see parents´faces when they come to conferences and see it looming in the classroom. (Actually, check that. I can wait.)

Back to the hotel in taxis, where, following the advice of Ms Getzen, who has been indispensible in reading the mood and timbre of the group, I declared that it would be an Unstructured Evening. Every man for himself (as long as he´s not alone) for entertainment and food. I think it was very well-received.

I found a place to eat with the adults that we are going to spring on the students tomorrow, and I will wait until then to tell you about it. To bed!

Backtrack Day

Where to begin? Let´s begin at the end, to give things the proper perspective:

Everybody is settled in at the hotel except Laurie, Emily E. and myself. We are in the internet cafe where they´ve made friends with the staff, since when we got back from the dance performance (Jacchigua - they have a website, which I dont want to take the time to link to right now), they were hungry. the dance performance was phenomenal. Some 90 dancers are involved in the production that does all sorts of traditional indigenous dances with brilliant precision, choreography and theatrics that are out of this world, and a live band that alone is worth far more than the price of admission. (Which was $25.) The last number - a gigantic production that had the whole audience wide-eyed - involved the women coming out into the audience and inviting people to dance with them. They came staight for me, and I obliged, rising and dancing with them as un-self-consciously as I could. When it was over, I got a hand from the students, but also found out that the dancers had invited Matt G up to dance as well, and that he had performed at least as well as I had. I was really sad to have missed it. Couldn´t believe the place was only half full - those of us who were there gave them a standing ovation. When we bought the tickets, they were so pleased to see a group that they gave us a little doll of an indigenous woman as a souvenir. I bought the CD with absolutely every song on it, performed by the same musicians. I am VERY pleased about that whole evening, as did everyone seem to be.

The boys are trying to talk us all into having breakfast at the llittle place owned by the friend they made yesterday. I´d be glad to go along, but I almost think it would be better for me to keep my nose out of it and let that be their friendship. It´s something they´ve forged themselves and will hold on to for a long time.

We had spent the afternoon at two malls in the north of Quito, which the students were really happy about. Lots of good work was done, by students and adults, and the whole strange cultural trip of being in a place that is at once so familiar and so unfamiliar was, I think, extremely valid as a learning experience. And they also got to shop.

And many of them got extremely wet walking between the malls because they had not brought along the rain gear that was on the packing list and was to be brought everywhere in the shoulder bag because it´s Quito in February and it rains absolutely every day. Nothing like experiential learning.

Lunch prior to the exploration was also had in the food court at the mall, where cebiche can be had in fast food format. That is what Gail and I went for, but certain other students opted for KFC and Burger King. Nothing wrong with that, I guess.

Prior to lunch at the mall...two people got things stolen fom them on the trolley. Some easily avoidable mistakes were made - we were waiting for a less-crowded trolley that all three groups would board at once, but a wire got crossed and one small group got on to a crowded trolley without the others. (We all knew which stop to get off at.) The rest of us waited for the next one, which wasn´t full at all, and even got seats.

When we met up at the pre-arranged stop, we let the miscommunication slip into memory and walked toward the mall - which was when Ms Gernat and Laurie realized their bags had been cut into and some things taken. They were upset, partly at themselves, since they´d known for a long time that they were not supposed to keep anything valuable in their bags on the trolley. We decided to go back to the hotel and regroup and allow them time to call their credit card companies and bank and get everything canceled.

We then had a pep talk in the hotel and re-dedicated ourselves to safety. What had been seen as suggestions were now again re-confirmed as imperative: No one is to carry anything of value in their shoulder bags. No one is to have more than $20 in their pocket at any one time. All larger amounts of money are to be in a money belt - the student´s own, or another student´s. Things like that.

And since we ended on such an up note, and since we got right back on the horse and went back to the mall in the trolley after the pep talk, people´s spirits are still extremely high. Laurie is right now chatting with her friends in the internet cafe and laughing a lot with Emily, and all seems pretty darn fine. She didn´t lose much money and has another ATM card. I feel bad for the lost items, but it isn´t dampening our spirits.

Too much.

Hasta manana!

A Night On the Town

So after the Internet cafe where I wrote the last entry (if you are checking this on Wednesday morning and havent since Tuesday morning, you should read this entry and the previous one!), I met up with everyone at 7:30 to tell them that the movie I wanted to go see was at 9:00. I expcted many to prefer to stay in and rest after such a long day, but everyone immediately said they wanted to go. And since it was in a mall, they all wanted to go RIGHT NOW.

So off we went, waiting for a relatively empty Trole at the station. We sped southward and found that the mall itself closes at 8:00, but that the movie theater in the mall stayed open. So we bought our tickets and went on in.

¨Cuando me toque a mi¨is the name of the film, a recent Ecuadorian production that has won some awards at film festivals. It´s basically about Quito, and the students recognized the very steet our hotel is on - although the hotel doesn´t appear, for the characters to have walked from where we saw them in one take to where we saw them in the next, they would have had to pass right in front of it. The huge church they saw driving in from the airport, the big plaza where we go for the Internet cafe, etc - they picked them all out. There´s no fooling this bunch.

And many of them understood A LOT about he movie. It´s a somewhat difficult piece to follow - I myself found that I liked it more at the end than I had during, because I could see what they had been trying to get to and retroactively make more sense of some of the juxtapositions and transitions. We discussed it a lot on the way home in the bus (the trole stops running at 11:00).

During their dinner break, Matt, Ernesto and Shyam made yet another fast friend in a restaurant, joking about being the three musketeers...It´s a great story, they´ll have to tell it to you. I´m just so proud of this group, proud to be associated with them and with the strict, active attention they´re paying to this new and exciting environment. They are squeezing every drop they can out of this experience, you can see it in their eyes every time they come back from some time on the town.

Parque Carolina tomorrow, followed by shopping at the mall, I think. It´s time - they´ve earned it.

Hasta mañana...

Everybody Loves Luis

Wow! Sorry about the delay there, dear readers - we were both so busy in the great wild expanses of Mindo, and so inconvenienced by periodic losses of electricity, that I was unable to narrate any adventures whatsoever. But here goes a quick rundown, which will be old news by the time many of you read this, judging by the numbers of students I now see seated at the telephone booths here in the Internet cafe:

Luis, the guide we hooked up with in Mindo, had every one of us charmed to absolute death the whole time we were lucky enough to be associated with him. He took us (many in new boots, rubber, bought from the most charming older couple on Earth for $7 because of the mud thats kind of everywhere) across town to see a hostel that has as its specialty a series of hummingbird feeders where a dozen species buzzed and zoomed all around us constantly. It was breathtaking. From there we went to the butterfly farm, where they raise them for release into the wild as well as for tourists to walk through and marvel at in the big tent. We saw one being born, we had them eating watermelon out of our hands...Great stuff.

From there we did another grand hike, which involved crossing an enormous valley some 400 yards across on a cable car called a tabarita. The most breathtaking scenery many of us had ever beheld. And then a long march down to the river and back up, making for a hike of some three hours in length. Gorgeous - waterfalls everywhere.

Back to the hotel for some down time, during which a certan segment of the group found (with Luis, volunteering his off time) a place to play soccer with the locals. In the rain, but it wasnt cold out, so they had a great time. A few of the students ran back to tell us about it, and I ran back with them to watch, then couldnt resist and ran back to the hotel for my shoes (I was in sandals) and joined in myself. It was fantastic - kids calling for the ball in Spanish, making jokes, showing off American soccer skills to the Ecuadorians, who are no slouches themselves...Grand time.

Back to the hotel and we spread out for supper, after which Luis drove us out to another hostel whose specialty is tree frogs. They started out with 2 species on their property and then ehnanced the habitat for the frogs and now have 17 living there. Cabins surrounding a pond, bajillions of tree frogs to sing you to sleep at night...Not a bad way to spend your time in Mindo.

The bravest few of our group (7 or so) donned their freshly bought boots this morning at 5:15 to go and see el gallo de la peña, a bird endemic to the region. Red and squawking and unbelievably pretty. From there we trooped back to the hotel to pick up the sleepy heads, and all of us charged into the mountains to do more general birdwatching with a guide recommended by Luis. We saw parrots and some little brown birds, and then a glorious toucan with a yellow bill, green eyes, red tuckus, and red feet. Gorgeous. You can take photographs throgh a telescope, it turns out, and some of them are fantastic.

Back to the hotel, where Luis and I settled up and the students made for the pool and / or the soccer field. Fewer Ecuadorians thist ime, but just as much fun. Then check-out at 1:00, lunch, and away on the bus at 2:00. back in Quito now, hoping to see a movie tonight. I just have to figure out where and when it´s showing. I thought I had brought that information with me, but it´s not in my notes.

Things we have learned:

Few pleasures in life rival the acquisition of dry socks.

Armadillos can run surprisingly fast.

Possums, seen in the rain in the beam of a flashlight, look like they have no hair on their bodies at all.

The rainy season in Mindo is THE time to be there.

Luis´family owns half the property in Mindo.

One pleasure that rivals dry socks is hot showers and plentiful towels.

It´s great to be back in Quito!!!