Ecuador

Sunday, October 25, 2015

We spent a leisurely Sunday with the family today, playing with the kids and listening to the Patriots game on a New York radio station via the internet. It had rained overnight, and there were many more bean and corn sprouts in the field than there had been yesterday. Today it was cloudy and significantly cooler than it had been yesterday. I was glad that I had taken advantage of yesterday's sun for doing the laundry.

We noticed a brilliantly colored yellow and black bird hanging around the casita. (Our birding friend Len later identified it as a Southern yellow grosbeak or golden-bellied grosbeak). It turned out that it was eating kernels off of the dried corncobs hanging from the casita.

For breakfast, we had scrambled eggs with tomatoe and onion, bread, jelly, and tea. We finished off the jelly and Tayanta stuck a spoon into the empty jar to rescue any jelly molecules that she could.

Sisa was writing in her notebook about how much she loves us. She really enjoys writing - a girl after my own heart. Yupanqui and Rosa had gone to town to get Yupanqui's school photos taken. They returned home defeated. There had been too many people waiting, and they didn't get a turn. This was at least the second time that this happened.

Yupanqui came home in a very bad mood. Not only had he not gotten his photo taken (again), but he came home to find us playing with Sisa, and ostensibly feeling like he had missed out on fun. Yupanqui has struggled with anger issues since he was a toddler. We noticed that on this visit, he seems to be trying to take control of it. On one occasion, he had bitten down hard on a wooden block, in an attempt not to lash out physically at others. This morning, he bit through the sleeves of the new shirt we had given him.

I tried to calm him by hugging him, sitting him down on my lap, and telling him that we loved him. In the past I would get frustrated by his violent behavior, but on this trip I was able to view it more empathetically. Perhaps a benefit of my yoga study. But he was not comforted.

Aida told him that he needed to take a bath, and that was the last straw. He started lashing out at her violently, and could not be subdued. I hate to use this analogy, but it was like he was possessed. He was totally irrational and you could tell that his sisters just wanted to get out of his way .

Rosa threatened him with ortiga, and you could see panic in his eyes. But it wasn't a deterrent...he was so consumed with rage that even knowing that he would suffer consequences could not change his behavior. He continued to lash out. So Rosa gathered some ortiga (urtica), a plant full of nettles, and swatted Yupanqui's hands with the leaves. He cried and his hands immediately turned red and swelled up a bit. But he stopped the violent behavior immediately. It was like someone had turned off a switch. He quieted down and started playing nicely with his sisters and with us. He was like a different person.

It was uncomfortable for us to watch in many ways, but Rosa explained that Yupanqui was afflicted with "mal aire" (bad air), and that the ortiga was a traditional herbal remedy. Although it stung Yupanqui's hands temporarily, it did seem like his rage immediately dissipated. Later on in the trip, we discussed this with Rachel, the local Peace Corps volunteer. The mother in her host family is a healer, and that is a treatment that she often prescribes. Whether it is a placebo, a medicinal treatment, or some sort of psychological conditioning, I don't know...but we witnessed a dramatic 180 degree turnaround in his behavior after his hands were swatted with ortiga. We are fascinated by the culture here and find customs like this to be very intriguing.

We gave the kids little whirligigs that I had gotten as schwag at work from a training company. They were a big hit, even if they would occasionally get lodged in a tree or on the roof, requiring a large stick to get them down. At one point, one got stuck on our roof. Antonio climbed up there to get it. While he was up there, he noticed a problem and adjusted the tiles. During several evening rainstorms, the roof had leaked a bit above my bed, causing us to lay a tarp over the sheets to protect the bed from water. After this adjustment, the roof didn't leak for the remainder of our visit.

For lunch, we had soup inspired by the cuisine of the Ecuadorian coast, containing yucca, banana, and corn. We also had fried eggs, salad, French fries, and rice.

The family has an Ohio State Buckeyes American football, which was given to them as a gift by some tourists who stayed at their guest house. Being Sunday, I taught the girls how to pass, and I teed the ball up for them to kick it. We had a lot of fun, but soon they went back to the soccer ball, with which they are more familiar. It was fun to follow that Pats and their dramatic victory over the Jets on the internet. The kids played with their cars on the lumber piles in front of the house.

Before dinner, Sisa and Rosa used hoes to prepare part of the front garden for planting. Craig and Yupanqui then helped them to plant cabbage until it got dark.

Once darkness fell, the family took flashlights outside and captured beetles, which they called "catsos". They had an entire bowl of them. They peeled the wings off and toasted them and served them with dinner. We were willing to try them, but we weren't sure that we would like them. But they turned out to be a tasty, crunchy snack. After our obligatory initial taste, we went back for more. Apparently, people who live in the city of Otavalo will pay $25 for a small bucket of this delicacy. People who live in the rural villages can simply collect them on their property. Rosa said that they are good for bronchitis. Dinner was soup, beef, green lentils, plantains, and rice.

After dinner, we watched a 20 minute Youtube video with the kids: "El Pastorcito de Otavalo Buscando El Dorado" (The Little Shepherd Boy of Otavalo Searches for El Dorado.) The Kichwa people of the Otavalo region of Ecuador have a lot of pride in their culture. It is evident in the fact that the public school uniforms that Sisa and Yupanqui wear to school are traditional Kichwa clothes. Kichwa is still the primary language spoken in most homes, with Kichwa children usually not learning Spanish until they attend school. Festivals such as Inti Raymi are taken very seriously. And there is a thriving film industry, which produces films depicting traditional Kichwa/Otavaleno legends and history.

This particular story was about a young boy whose grandmother told him the history of the Spanish conquest of the Incan empire, and how Pizarro ransomed the Incan king Atahualpa for a room full of gold to spare his life. Atahualpa delivered the gold, but the conquistadors killed him anyway. The boy and his friends set out on an adventure to find Atahualpa's gold in the legendary city of El Dorado. It was a cute video containing plenty of humor that the kids really enjoyed (it reminded me of a cross between The Goonies and Stand By Me.) We think that it is wonderful that the Kichwa people work so diligently to preserve their culture and teach it to their children.

As we were getting ready for bed, we found a tiny frog on the floor. We caught him and set him free outside.

It was a wonderful weekend all around!