It´s already July???!!! - 7/1/09

June came to a close crazy fast. My last week in Salasaka was pretty good. We kept practicing for Intiraymi at the school which was painfully boring, however, some familiar faces have shown up at Katitawa. These two hippie dippy South African girls, Tansy and Amy, and the wonderful Londoner, Eden, all came to work from Arutam. The two SA girls were still as strange as I remembered them, but they have definitely toned down the craziness a bit since I last saw them so they were quite nice to have around. And having Eden there was wonderful; she´s just so down to Earth it´s refreshing. The day of Initiraymi finally arrived and the kids did well, there was a large turnout, the local news station covered it, and I think everyone was pretty satisfied with the results. Lambchop was butchered and made into both a soup, which was uber foul including intestines, and also made into a roast with habas (beans) and potatoes. It was roasted on hot rocks in the ground and covered with a piece of metal and some branches. The roast was pretty good, but many volunteers, suspiciously, got diarrhea in the following days... so I don´t know if I would recommend following in these footsteps. After the performances, speeches, and food, the booze obviously followed; it wouldn´t be a Salasakan community gathering without a couple crates of Pilsener, some puro, and whiskey. We were all enjoying ourselves and apparently so were our very young students. I looked over at this seven year old kid downing a beer and others were lining up for their share. I asked the adults if this was normal and they just kind of smiled and shrugged. Such is life in Ecuador. Later that night we were invited to a friend of a teacher´s house for some coca leaves, coca alcohol, and chicha. Coca is used to keep people awake and suppress appetite as well as cure altitude sickness. If combined in huge huge quantities it makes cocaine which is why it´s so controversial (an illegal in Ecuador, oops), but it has to be something like 30 kilos of coca leaves to make one gram of cocaine powder, so its not anything to worry about. Chicha is a traditional Quichua drink made from chewed up fruit or corn that ferments. I prefer chicha over the other stuff which tastes like an anise plant just lit a fire in your GI tract. The next day we went to Salasaka´s town celebration of Intiraymi. I was told that there would be music, dancing, and a large bonfire - somethings were left out of the explanation. It started out really lovely. We were walking down towards the plaza and people were singing and carrying large tree branches; it literally felt like you were walking through a moving dancing forest. When we arrived at the plaza we joined in the enormous group of people surrounding the dance floor/stage area. This is when "the shit hit the fan". So we are standing in the crowd waiting for something to start (not sure what) when a group of men, wearing monkey masks and boxing gloves, started running through the crowd punching - and I mean really punching - random people in the head if they didn´t run out of the way fast enough. My friend Eden got boxed. It shocked the hell out of us, and yet, none of the Salasakans seemed the least bit surprised. That was kind of my "oh shit" moment and realization that the celebrations Ecua-style didn´t follow the regulations that would be the norm in the States, such as, don´t punch people in the face. So I was already tense; we literally had to keep on the lookout so we wouldn´t be punched. Then the monkey boxers got on horseback, rode their horses carelessly through the crowd, and continued their boxing brigade from there, adding a new level of danger, and for me, anxiety. Then, they let loose a couple of bulls to run through the crowd and people just had to clear a pathway or be trampled. But, my least favorite part was when they picked up a flaming object and tossed it into the crowd. Literally, not gauging where it was going to land or plan for anything, just chucking a fireball at a group of people like it was a piece of candy. was thinking that if I see a child running out of the crowd with his or her head on fire, I´m really going to need some therapy. Again, the Salasakans were unphased, laughed, and then continued on like nothing happened. I think I said "I´m not comfortable with this", at least 20 times. The next big event was the fire which was made up of the tons of lovely dancing tree branches we had marched toward the plaza with earlier. The fire was enormous; about two stories high and just blazing. Compared to what had been happening earlier, this put me at ease. As the fire died down a bit I got to crank my anxiety levels back up watching children running through the 8-10 foot flames of the fire; luckily no one got hurt. Finally, the music and dancing commenced, but I was so worn out from the stress of the prior activities that I didn´t last all night. In the end, I´m happy I went and experienced the Intiraymi celebration in Salasaka; if I hadn´t seen it for myself there is no way in hell I would have believed it. After I left Salasaka I went and met up with Sam, and Andrea, and many other Peace Corps friends which was so much fun. We spent the night in Wuito at the Secret Garden Hostal which was stellar and had an incredible dinner at a place I think called Cafe Mosaico, or something to that effect. The next day, Sam, Andrea and I went to Sam´s site in Pacto where we got to see where she lives and meet all the people she interacts with on a daily basis, and even take part in the aerobics class she leads every day. Her best friend and surrogate family member, Mary Lou, cooked us a phenomenal dinner and told us about her time with Sam thus far. The next day we met up with ten other PC volunteers at another site near Santo Domingo. We all went to an area in the jungle where the indigenous Tsachila group lives and they showed us some important aspects of their culture and a shaman cleansed us. It was pretty interesting and I liked being able to compare aspects of that indigenous culture to others that I have come to know. That night we all went back to the PCVs apartment, broke out a lot of drinks and food, danced, sang, and played games that Sam facilitated. It was a wonderful time. The next day Sam, Andrea, and Roberto (another PCV), and I took a long bus ride to Canoa on the coast. We stayed at a chill hostal on the beach, ate delicious foods, and mourned Michael Jackson´s death. The next day the weather was not particularly gorgeous. We hung out for about half the day then decided to make a move. Roberto and I went to Bahia de Caraquez to spend the day and then take a night bus to Ibarra where his site is and he has a 3 story house (so not peacecorps!). Sam and Andrea made their way towards Manta where they were flying back to Quito the next day. Our night bus to Ibarra was absolutely terrifying. I was knocked out on sedative-heavy motion sickness pills, but I would wake up every so often to the bus rocking dangerously back and forth and the clutch making a terrible grinding noise. But we eventually made it back alive. That afternnon Roberto and I took a hike down to a river and then later that afternoon, Thea, a friend of another PCV, came to join us for the night because she was in Otavalo and sick of being on the bus. Thea is wonderful; she´s crazy positive and down for anyhting. That night we went to a PCV couples´ house for dinner (Erin and Jacob) who were hilarious and just awesome company. The next day we went to meet up with more PCVs in a town called Tapacundo for another Intiraymi celebration. This one was a hell of a lot tamer than the one in Salasaka. This celebration consists of different groups of people dressing alike, singing a song over and over again, drinking lots, and dancing, doing what is called "the campo shuffle" to us gringos, all over town. The group I danced with was wearing traditional Ecua hats, goatskin chaps, and black leather jackets. I thought they looked pretty great. It was really fun dancing and then we also hung out by the little bonfires made of eucalyptus branches that dotted the main road. That was all very fun. Then a PCV who was a notorious drinker showed up and was just bouncing off the walls. People started to head home, but not this guy, and because Roberto promised to take care of him and make sure he didn´t et into trouble, I was forced to stay out later than desired. We tried getting this guy to go home which resulted in him crying, shoving Roberto a bit, yelling, and his eventual abandonment. He ended up not going to jail, sleeping on the street, or dying, so I guess it was okay. I headed back to Ibarra, went to some hot springs in Chichimbiru, and continued the role as Peace Corps groupie for a couple days. Now I´m in Quito enjoying some alone time and delicious oods for a couple days. I always thought I would just deal with traveling alone, but I¨m finding it really enjoyable. Friday afternoon I am returning to Ibarra to resume my groupie role. Friday night I believe there is dancing and clubbing in the works and then Saturday is a big ole, American style, 4th of July day at the lake, complete with fireworks and grilling out. Have a happy 4th of July everyone!