Much to my surprise, there is no school today. Apparently, there was some need for the teachers to do something at their headquarters in Riobamba, and I guess they didn't feel it necessary to let me know. Or maybe I put out the wrong kind of vibe. Anyway, I have spent the morning huddled by my internet connection, taking care of some odds and ends that require long wait times at the speeds available to me.
As I was sitting here, I thought I'd respond to the question posed to me yesterday evening regarding whether the universe pays you back for doing the right thing, or being on the right path. Here's an experience from Tuesday, which ties in pretty well with the last blog.
As you will recall, Joaquin entrusted me with a bottle of brutal homemade trago that wound up being consumed, in its entirety, by the futbol players. Consequences were unattractive. But Monday evening, Joaquin found me in the plaza to tell me that he needed the booze to offer to the crew of people working with him to dig holes for light poles. I can understand this, since the holes had to be five feet deep in soil that has enough rock in it to be a pain to dig through. But, of course, I no longer had the alcohol he had donated to the futbolistas. Since he couldn't go, I guess he felt that I should be the one to make the trip to Chunchi to get more.
Going to Chunchi, as going to Alausi, is no big deal. getting back is always a drag. In addition, Joaquin was not working near his home in Tolte, but in another sub-village of Pitishi called Achaisi, about halfway down to the train station, maybe 45 minutes walk. he was also not working near the main road down, but in some unknown location above the road. But, feeling that I should deal with things one at a time and wanting to maintain his excellent good will (although risking the possibility that he would think i was a doormat), I went on to Chunchi, found the store that had sold us the rotgut, was told they were all out, bought a bottle of Zhumir, which is the commercial version of moonshine, and actually managed to catch a bus back to Tolte, all in the space of about two and a half hours. That is near record time, but keep in mind that Chunchi is less than 10 miles away.
So now I was back on the Tolte road heading down to Achaisi, a community that may or may not have 7 full time residents, but where several residents of Tolte have property. As I walked along, I noticed a young woman ahead of me carrying her baby on her back, as women do here. They wrap a shawl around their shoulders and under the baby's bottom, tie tightly, and march along. The baby never slips out, which is sort of amazing. But in this case, I did find a little white bonnet on the road in front of me. I picked it up, caught up with the woman whom I have seen before, but whose name I don't know), and handed it over, for which I was rewarded with "Dios le pague," (May God reward you), the Ecuadorian phrase for "Thank you."
I continued along my way, wondering how I would find Joaquin when I got to Achaisi. A truck came up behind me, and at the wheel was Pablo, the carpenter, who was meeting his wife Martina for lunch in Achasi. She was working with her mother and a child at a field task that i was too distracted to identify, but looked awfully demanding. Pablo not only brought me to Achasi, but also told me what route I should take to find Joaquin, how to avoid the fierce dogs that guard one of the houses. Finding the route took some additional shouting and hand-waving on Pablo's part, because the entrance involved some climbing of the sort that I find frightening. But, armed with my bottle of booze, I made it up and onto the main path of Achasi and started looking for Joaquin. After 15 or 20 minutes of walking, and with the help of the hole diggers, I found his wife in a little house that must have been a family residence in the past. I handed the bottle over, and she told me where Joaquin and Augustin were working. As I walked in the direction, I realized I was in a mountain meadow of pure rural beauty. Naturally, I never would have seen it had I not gone on this fool's errand. Joaquin directed me back to the path, and I made it down without being bitten by the dogs, who decided to attack this time. They did seem crazy, but stuck to a certain distance from the house, and did not chase em down the road. I was in time to catch a ride back to Tolte with Pablo.
So there you have it. A trip that would have been impossible without guidance, and difficult without a ride, became fairly easy. Was it because I retrieved the baby bonnet, or because I was delivering booze? The world will never know.
A few unrelated notes follow, so if you want narrative coherence, stop reading now. If you really care about teaching English in Tolte, you can take your chances.
This week, I have been teaching the children words for clothing. They are particularly fascinated by teh word "sunglasses," I think because the sight of someone in sunglasses seems so exotic. No one here uses them, in spite of all the dust and UV light, which is probably why so many people have vision problems as they get older. But this is information for some other time.
The kids have done a pretty god job learning the words, and yesterday I got into the phrases "Take off" and "Put on" as a way of forming sentences. I had brought some of my stuff, and they put on my cap, sunglasses, sweater, and jacket. It finally occurred to me that what they needed was some physical connection, so I put the jacket and sunglasses on one line, and the sweater and cap on the other. I split the class into two relay race teams. The first person had to put on the jacket and glasses (or the sweater and cap), run back to the next person, who had to get the clothes on, and run to deliver them to their original places. Repeat as necessary until everyone has had a turn. All I can say is that i wish I had video. I don't know if it will help them learn English, but it sure brightened my day.
In other news, the adult English class has been struggling to maintain its existence. The past three times I gave the class, no one showed up. But last night I had six of the young folks in my computer room, and things were a lot livelier. One left pretty quickly (he looked like he'd rather be out on a motorcycle), but the rest stayed long enough to make a pretty good class. Of course, I'm going to be away in Quito and Portoviejo next week, so I'll lose momentum again, but I think that over the next seven months, this should get going pretty well. And maybe the universe is paying me for continuing to offer the class every Tuesday and Thursday. If you build it, they will come...
Quito and Portoviejo: Quito to get my visa extended so that I can spend the full school year in Tolte, and Portoviejo so that I can visit my cousin Amy Summer, interchange high school student (although she has already graduated from American high school and accepted to Wellesley College, talented young person that she is). Portoviejo will be my first exposure to the Ecuadorian coast, reputed to be quite different in nature from the Andean highlands where I live. Also far away. I'm not sure how far Portoviejo is from Quito, but it will take me 10-12 hours to get back to Tolte on buses that go from Portoviejo to Guayaquil to Alausi and then to Tolte. Considering the difficulty of getting out of Alausi, I might be better off going back through Quito. We'll see. If you don't here from me for a week or so, it's because I'm on the road.
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