Things wot I av learned

I am sitting here on the plane; exhausted but bored. We are refuelling so one very long hour stuck on the plane. Lights on so can’t sleep, no internet so can’t email and have already read half my book. What’s left..mm..thinking?

   What with time differences I will arrive back home in about 24 hours. Lots of time to reflect on all the deep and significant things I’ve learnt over this year. In the spirit of self growth I write this letter to me. (wow don’t I sound grown up?!)

  

  Dear Victoria of 2010,

     Good news; after 30 long years of ghost like paleness you will finally get a tan (take lots of photos!)

  

   Don’t get freaked out by the “flying your corpse back home” insurance bit-you do make it back home alive, yay. Don’t worry about what clothes and shoes to bring out; everything gets mouldy, rots and falls apart in the hunidity (yes you will look rough-get over it!) Don’t worry about “over using” the internet, it’s normal to want to speak to friends & family. Don’t forget to bring chocolate and tea bags-these will buy you friends and make you the most popular missionary in the country.

  

      Do practise a photo pose! Ecuadorians LOVE pictures and want to pose like models; a polite smile won’t be enough. Do pack that box of hair dye, the sun will make you go grey (why does nature hate me?!) Do get every injection the travel clinic recommends even if they are expensive-I don’t want to scare you but you will get seriously ill and those injections are a life saver. Do try to remember to pack sunglasses-nobody with a brain cell turns up to South America without sunglasses!!!!

    

       Relax; this will the most difficult but amazing year of your life. Yes you will change but I think..I hope that’s ok.

               Love

                      V xxx

P.S. Pack tissues-you will cry when you leave Ecuador.

practically perfect in every way

I love detective series and one of my favourite quotes from "Morse" is; "Coffee is instant, death is instantaneous!"

  Salvation is instant but WE are a process. It is long, hard and there will be relapses. We are no longer a perfect creation but we are being perfected every day.

damp dogs and thermal troubles

My plans for this week were for Amy and I to go to RioBamba and do the mountain train. But...this is Ecuador and nothing EVER goes according plan. Instead of the train it was decided that we would take Claire's parents away to the beach but...on Wednesday we had an earthquake. Not a huge earthquake but bad enough to be a nuisance! It turns out hitting the beach straight after an earthquake is not a great idea-apparently pesky things like a tsunami or flooding tend to kill the party spirit. So unto plan 3-go and visit Banos, a small town up in the mountains next to a volcano.


     Banos was wonderful!!! We had sunshine and clear blue skies. Blue sky woohoo!You probably think I'm raving madly but blue skies is something I haven't seen in months and months. Santo is hot but it is always cloudy and humid; we have no breeze, no clear skies and no sunshine. Thursday we found a hotel, had a walk around the town and bought souvenirs. Late afternoon we got a taxi up to the "Cafe del Cielo" (Sky Cafe) which is on top of the mountains. 

    From there we had stunning views of the mountains and valleys. We watched as the sun set over the mountains, 

 the stars came out .....

 and the town below slowly lit up; it was gorgeous.

   Friday morning we went White water rafting! Oh wow! Hour long trip to the river in a wooden van/bus with no walls or doors gave us an early adrenaline rush before we'd even started. Slightly awkward moment when I realised I had put on my (horribly unflattering) wetsuit on back to front but all was well. 

The before photo (still dry)

We had a safety talk which is a novelty over here; my favourite moment was when being instructed on what to do if you fall out of the boat "pass us the oar first before we help you, this is very important..the oar cost us $45!" The rafting was great. On top of trying to stay in the boat and follow instructions we had an extra element of fun-a pet dog. Lovely and friendly animal but when you are madly paddling to stay afloat you do not need a dog sitting on your lap and wanting to be hugged! At regular intervals we would all have to sit inside the raft or you fall out-several times I leapt into the boat to find the dog curled up in my place.

The after photo-a touch damp!

   We finished off our trip by bathing in the thermal pools. Had a small fight with a pool attendant who wouldn't let Amy and I into the HOT pool (45C) because our clothes were in an orange box and you needed a yellow box for the hot pool.Why?! But once we'd finished arguing, explaining and finally caving in to the totally ridiculous rules it was lovely. Sitting in a hot pool whilst the sun sets and it became night was magical.

you can never go back home

Somebody recently told me that living and working abroad is a great privilege.  We have the chance to immerse ourselves in a culture, fully share the experiences of that country and gain extraordinary friends and family. However, this amazing  opportunity comes at a price-after our time abroad we can never truly be "at home" in one place again. Is this true?


  When I decided to come to Ecuador I knew I would have to sacrifice many things but nobody told me about possibly losing my sense of home. If this is true then is it a price I would have agreed to pay?

Daily trials

What is my life like on a daily basis? Well mostly I am very lucky; I'm in a house in a safe area. I have regular meals, a shower with hot water and a room of my own. I really shouldn't moan......but...


1. Until last month we had no regular water supply, we had to buy it off a tanker. This meant we frequently ran out of water (usually when I was in the shower with shampoo in my hair!) No water means you can't shower, have no clean clothes and filthy plates lying around.


2. Our gas supply is the good old gas bottle. Nothing wrong with that perhaps until the gas runs out like it did tonight. We had a tiny amount left which meant I had to decide between having a hot water shower and eating a snack or showering in cold water and having a cooked dinner. Which do you choose? Plus the gas somehow doesn't work for washing machines so your clothes get washed in cold water which basically means they aren't really clean ever.


3. No electric kettle. Yes I know that sounds petty but having to boil up the water in a metal kettle or large pot over a gas stove every time you want a hot drink or food gets tiresome.


4. No drinking water. Tap water is not drinkable so you either buy it in huge bottles or you use tap water and boil it (see problems 2 and 3!)


5. Ants! No, not big evil tropical ants but tiny microscopic ones which get everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE! Ants in the shower, in your clothes, in your bed, running all over your laptop and of course in all your food and drink. First 2 weeks when you catch an ant in your food&drink you look disgusted and wonder whether to bin the food. 2 months-you merely sigh, heave the ants out your cup of tea and carry on drinking. 1 year-you search your food for ants and wonder why there isn't any ants? Last week we found ants in my box of cereal; after a long look we decided there was more bran flakes than ants so I kept the packet!

Los Tsachilas

This morning started in true Ecuadorian style when William (my host dad&pastor) banged loudly on my door at 9.03 and shouted "ready to go?" No I was not ready to go! I had got up a whole 60 seconds earlier (had been unwell so up all night.) Today we had planned to visit the Tschilas Indians at 10 but as usual time isn't important 9 is the same as 10 or 11 or even 3pm. There should be an Olympic event in getting ready fast because I have to be in there with a chance; I managed to get dressed, do my hair &make-up (yes even in the jungle mascara is vital!) pack a bag and make a frantic phone call to speed up Amy and be out my room in 5 minutes.


   Once we were all dressed, fed and then suitably delayed we were off! We drove out of town to some gorgeous and lush forests where the indians have their communities. The Tsachilas are an indigenous people to this region hence the name Santo Domingo de Los Tsachilas. 

The visit was fascinating; we were shown round by Emmanuel who is the shaman and one of the leaders of the community. He showed us various herbs they use as traditional medicines, hallucinogenic plants (no we didn't have a try) and how they capture snakes and preserve them in oil again for healing purposes. Apparently if anyone has a bad back then don't bother with Paracetamol it's pickled Coral snake oil you want! 

Crushed Achiote seeds which they pain their hair with

We saw an underground mini temple/sweat lodge thing and ended up with a few of the indians playing music and dancing. Was lovely until they dragged us up and made us join in. 4 blushing Brits bouncing on the spot and pretending they weren't really there-slightly lost some of the native mystic!

us having a try

P.S For anyone who has written to me and wondered what or who the Tsachilas in the address was-hope this clarified ;)

A typical town in Ecuador. Forgive the dreadful shaking but I was hanging out of the window and the roads are *rough*