First 2 weeks in Loja

We’ve only been in Loja for 2 weeks, but we’ve put tons of miles on our shoes already! The city is pretty walkable- we only live 8 blocks from our counterpart agencies, 3 blocks from the Sunday market, and the Supermaxi (a supermarket) is a 10-minute walk. Things we can’t walk to are an easy bus or taxi ride away (25 cents for the bus, or $1.00+ for the taxi). Adam and I have taken the bus a few times to get out to places like Parque Jipiro and to some of the barrios.

Waiting for the bus to come...luckily it comes almost every 5 minutes...better than California public transport at time huh?

The door to the city of Loja

We’ve also used our rain jackets a fair amount because we have had several days with constant drizzle (not heavy enough to pull out the umbrella, but enough to make your clothes damp). The sun does come out, which is great. For example, today is capris and t-shirt weather...not a single cloud in the sky. Overall, the temperature is pretty mild…not too hot and not too cold so we can’t complain. Though Adam is sad he missed summer in California.

Overall, we’ve been both busy and not at the same time. As new volunteers with Spanish levels of 4 yr olds, we feel pretty useless in our offices. But we have managed to do a few things. Here is a recap of what we’ve done so far as volunteers-

1. We got committed to teaching English and Computer Classes to an orphanage, a day care, an after school program, and a home for children/youth recovering from alcohol and drug addiction. We’ll see how they all go since we have no experience. We start in a few weeks! Yikes. We probably will only do this for about a month before we phase into other topics like self esteem, leadership, service projects, and arts & crafts.
2. We sat through some not so interesting charlas (workshops) about how to handle food safely. It was for Municipio employees so we just tagged along.
3. Did home visits with my counterpart agency (Centro de Proteccion de Derechos, aka CPD). Sometimes we give a workshop (communication, discipline with love, family strengths) and sometimes we just visit to see how a family is doing (a child might have a learning disability, a parent might have a terminal illness, there might be some discipline problems, etc.).
4. Adam and I have gone to several community bank meetings with his counterpart organizations (Centro de Apoyo Social Municipial de Loja, aka CASMUL). Sometimes they are as far away as 2.5 hours by car on a dirt road, like the town we went to yesterday.
5. Adam visited the 2 telecentros (computer labs) run by the Municipio. They are in need of some new equipment but don’t have the resources.
6. I’ve organized a bookshelf and folded over 1000 brochures. Adam has cut and stamped coupons for a community bank fundraiser. I’ve also hole punched a few things! We have skills!
7. Sat around. Twiddled thumbs. Stared into space. Made shopping lists. Nibbled on snacks. Made origami. Thought about foods I will gorge on when I am back in the U.S.
8. Helped out with a charla about alcohol prevention for jovenes (youth) in the barrio Sauces Norte. One of the women that I work with, Alvania, did most of the charla. I ran a few activities and fumbled through my Spanish. I couldn’t understand a word that the jovenes were saying, but they couldn’t understand me either!
9. Adam helped his colleague Andres recover lost photos from his work computer, only to find a virus that Adam successfully got onto our external hard drive. Luckily they figured that out pretty quickly. Adam is certain it came from some porn that someone uploaded onto the computer. There is no internet in his office, so someone had to have brought it in!
10. We went to Parque Jipiro to support one of the communities that was selling traditional Ecuadorian food as a fundraiser. It was fun- tons of people are out and about right now for the fiestas that happen all during September. There was food, entertainment, and crowds. Across the street from Parque Jipiro is La Feria (the fair). We haven´t gone yet but maybe next weekend!

My impressive folding job. Took me about 2.5 hours to fold 1000 brochures

Parque Jipiro- it´s like walking into a mini golf course. Pagodas, mosques, checkerboards, and temples all scattered through the park.

Mmm...Pinguino on the go! In the U.S. you know this brand as Good Humor.

Picnicing Ecuadorian style- brings pots, pan, large propane tank, stove, mattress and also build a fire in the middle of the park to roast your meat. Once Adam and I get settled, we´ll give this a try!

View driving out to one of the towns in our canton...took 2.5 hours on dirt roads! But it was gorgeous.

Right now there are also fiestas going on so we hear fireworks all the time…starting at 8am and well past midnight. In the late evening at the Plaza Central, they have concerts and castillas (castles) of fireworks. This goes on for about 2 weeks straight. The other night we went out with a group of volunteers from Loja province to see the fireworks. All I can say is “Peligroso!” (dangerous in English). They shoot off the fireworks right in front of the crowd (and it is a HUGE crowd) and flaming debris comes flying from the sky into the hordes of people. And when it is windy, the sparks shoot all over the place, not just up into the sky. It is pretty spectacular, amusing, and frightening all at the same time. I have never seen anything like it. That would definitely not fly at Disneyland, where they cancel the show if the wind is blowing just a little. I didn´t take any photos because I was worried about pulling my camera out. But just envision people, with big giant cups of beer, scattering everywhere while chunks of flaming fireworks come flying from the air.

Overall, life in Loja is pretty comfortable. One of our fellow volunteers, Liz, who was an evacuated volunteer from Madagascar, talked about how in Madagascar, volunteers used to share ¨Life is Tough¨ stories. Essentially, the rougher a volunteer had it, then the more bragging rights the volunteer had.

Adam and I are ok with not having bragging rights. We live in a cute, tranquil and clean city of 180,000. We can buy A1 steak sauce and whole wheat flour, and balsamic vinegar at our local SuperMaxi. We can get ice cream sundaes and frozen cappuccinos for very low prices from the many dessert shops in town. We currently live with a host mom in an apartment equipped with a microwave, refrigerator, toaster oven, a washing machine, and a dog that wears a sweater. We can go across the street and eat shawarma, or bad Ecuadorian Chinese food. We have our pickings of at least 50 different internet cafes so we are able to communicate with family and friends. We are spoiled.

Our stash of condiments...kind of ridiculous, right?

Starting my morning off with coffee and Harry Potter

Me and my frozen cappuccinos...2 for 1 sale at the Nice Cream Shop (really one of them is Adam´s)

The only things that we can complain about are: no tofu at the Chinese restaurants, no Hershey Kisses to bake peanut butter kiss cookies, and we aren’t able to pick up the wireless internet from the neighbors. So pretty much we would lose the bragging war if we talked with Madagascar volunteers.

I have had a few moments where I am a little sad that we´re not living the rough PC life that people imagine before coming. You know, the small little village in the middle of nowhere, where volunteers live simple lives of vegetable gardens, sitting on porches with the townspeople, and reading books by candlelight. But Adam helps remind me that we are going to have a great experience and do a lot of great things while we are here… and we don’t need to take a cold bucket bath to have that experience. And I agree.