Empanadas Laura

I confessed that I was indeed hungry. The rice that I had been planning to mix in with some leftover lentils and call lunch had burned. Ok, I burned it, it was me. But look what good came of it! My aunt Laura resolved to teach me how to make empanadas. "They are the easiest things to make. Even you can't mess 'em up!" she assured me, and it turns out I'm a natural!

Here's the recipie for all those, like Charlee, who want a little extra boiled oil and fried cheese in their diets:

Top of the Muffin to Ya!

My roommate Paige just came back from the bakery, which is where you go when you are hungry on a Sunday afternoon because there is nothing else open except for Panesa down the street or the Mall on the outskirts of town. And so I asked her to pick me up some Knees of Jesus, which are little buns with melted crumbly-ish cheese on top of the buns, so they look all burnt and bubbly and wrecked on the tops. Like the rodillas de Jesús? Yes. Yum! Paige complied because she's a sweety and the result was that I just had me a pair of Jesus Knees for a snack. But do you even know what else she came back with??!! Can you even imagine? Muffin Tops! Like in Seinfeld!! Here's a video for all you Seinfeld fanatics out there...Cathy, Dad, Karen...they really sell just the tops, the best part, of the muffins. Only in Ecuador. Because really, who likes the stumps?

for more information please reference the Seinfeld episode entitled "The Muffin Tops" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHtWEH0euh4 ...or visit me in Cuenca, Ecuador--home of the vanilla flavored muffin top!

Liz's Pictures from Colombia

Here is the link to my friend Liz's pictures of our trip to Colombia. I was there for two weeks, though only with Liz for the first five days =( before we had to say goodbye!! What a beautiful country, what beautiful people--so vibrant!...
---here's a link to see the entire album----Click here to view these pictures larger

Bus Hijacking

June 30th, 2009

So listen to my story of the recent hijacking—it´s soooo cultural. . .
Really it´s all my fault. I should have been all ready all packed to go the day before, so when i finished work i could have just gone straight to the bus terminal. But no. I would never do something as smart and organized as that. Instead what i would do would be get out of my last class, walk leisurely home, stopping to talk with rando's on the way and then proceed to invite three friends over to my house to say goodbye. That kiiiind of interfered with my packing time. (I was going to be gone from Cuenca for five little ole days to pick up my sister so maybe goodbye drinks were not in order. But maybe they were.) –So, i should have been on the bus by 6 at the latest, but instead caught the 8:15. NO big deal, right? But if i had been on the 6 i wouldn't have still been on the bus when 3 armed gunmen started shooting holes in the roof of our fun little bus and telling the driver to stay fucking calm and drive wherever the hell they told him to-- and nothing would happen. . .this all went down at 1030 and i was a measly half hour from my destination. Oh if i had just been on an earlier buuuus. . .i would have been safely at my friend Gaby´s house sleeping on her nice hard floor.
Anyway, back on our hijacked bus, our driver suffered a few blows but didn't die any excessively bloody death or anything, don´t worry. My friend Jon´s driver was stabbed to death back in October, so these guys were quite nice compared to other similar hijacking stories. Everyone’s got them—hijackings are very popular these days. Desperate times we live in. I´m still a big fan of public transportation, buuuut wish the driver's weren't so eager for the few extra cents that they earn by picking up just about anybody who happens to be wandering the streets at night. Anyone can flag down a bus and hop on. I´ve been thankful for a ride before, but so were our three hijackers, which i was not too thankful for. These dilemmas! Get someone to the root of the problem! “Ay ay ay.” That´s what the Spanish say... “Canta y no llores” (Or. Holy moley. Sing, don´t cry.) Or other times, “Queeeeee sera, sera.” (Whatever will be will be. . . .)
but I wasn´t feeling too understanding as they forced the driver to take the bus down this dirt road, into a nature reserve/national park/up a cliff/into the darker darkness of the night. When they stopped the bus they made us take off our shoes . they had already taken all the money and cell phones that they could bully out of us, but they called for our shoes just as i was trying to hide what I had left down my right boot! Money--$140--went in the bra, phones i stuffed into the seat cushions after the boot trick didn't work, and my ipod went down my pants. . . the money survived at least. . . We were pretty grossly strip searched as they herded us off the bus. Violated and robbed we were made to go lie down the road. The torturous part (Besides the fact that it was freezing freezing cold Andes highland wind cliff cold cold nighttime cold , and I was smartly wearing my crowded-sweaty-badly-

ventilated-bus attire) was that we couldn't even look at the stars. It was one of few cloudless nights up in the mountains and I even got an eyeful of the Milky Way in just the short stumble from the bus to the dirt. Then it was face down from then on. Spread eagle. I looked up a couple times without them noticing, but some others got kicked for that. Did i mention it was cold? That was all i could think about the entire time. The ground that we were hugging was like a refrigerator. They had the gall to spend who knows how long, 45 minutes, an hour going through every bag stuffed over the seats, every suitcase stored under the bus, and even every seat crevice for where I, along with some others, had tried to hid what remained of cell phones, jewelry, mp3 players and money. Some were luckier than I was. The guy who got his laptop and entire professional life taken from him was less lucky than me. At least the $140 in my bra somehow made it. And they left some of my packed underwear and socks, a few shirts and pants of mine lying on the side of the road.
Anyways, I never got to Alausi, or at least to the fiestas de San Pedro, where I was going to revel in bull fights and bull parades and see how they compared to the Saint Peter’s Fiesta in Gloucester and the greasy pole competition that we have back in my neck of the woods. Turns out I am thankful for New England traditions and that secure little car that I used to have. . .
I did make an attempt to get to Alausi, but after hours of waiting for someone to rescue us from high atop a cliff, and the police finally coming to get us, finding a new bus in a nearby town that could take us, and the remaining half hour of my ride. . i didn´t have the energy to walk the 20 minutes in the dark cold 330 am night without a phone in search of my friend´s house in this town where I was supposed to have landed 5 hours ago . So frowning and teary, i asked the woman at the lone gas/food establishment to use the phone to make a local call. But the lady—cruel—said the phone wasn't for my personal use. I tried to explain my situation, but, eh. No big deal to her. It happens here all the time so that´s when i really sobbed. I would have stayed there all night in the doorway with my bra full of money, but nowhere to use it if. . . a dude that i know from work didn´t magically appear!
Random!! But fantastically super coolio amazingly surprising just the rescue i needed! He got the driver of the night bus he was taking to the capital city of Quito to give me a lift. So i went to quito. For the next six hours i was sitting next to this crazy (but unarmed! Yay!) dude who talked for hours about how i should get a chip planted behind my ear so i never get hijacked or lost or anything again. And as a bonus, I’d be able to pay for groceries with the swipe of my face. It would be automatically deducted from my bank account! I´m human, i wanted to scream, but i just kind of clenched my eyes shut and tried to pretend I was dreaming. ON the upside, he had a good stash of Halls and Trident that he shared. He continued to talk for hours about life, dreams, and reggaeton music—his favorite. He woke me up maybe two or so hours later. He couldn´t sleep-- lucky me!!
Anyways, all in all I don´t recommend getting your bus hijacked. Although it really gives you a chance to bond with our fellow hijackees, and other random travelers, along the way. But really, it´s a real money and time sucker. That, and it's tiring. Take the express bus that doesn't stop to let robbers along for the ride. Or travel during the day. Unless you want a chance to put life in perspective, which i feel . . . well . .. i had never thought I was really going to die before. And now I have, so it served a purpose.
Don´t tell my sister, though! I didn´t think she would deal well with the ten hours bus ride back home if i told her. So she doesn´t know. We just talked about how crazy it was that the Hundureño president was kidnapped and taken to Costa Rica... That's not nice. Oh South America! . . .
Y qué más? What else. . .It´s a beautiful place otherwise. .

New Digs

I moved into a new apartment 5 days ago! It's a lovely little hole in the wall that i am proud to call my own. It's a bit expensive, lacking a bit of furniture, still a bit dusty, and a bit dark...but i love it just the same. Here are a few pictures...
After months of searching this place wasthe place fr a few reasons. First of all, the landlord is a friend of a friend, so i didn't have to give any money for a deposit and i didn't have to sign acontract for 6 months or anything like that. Which gives me the availavility to move out whenever i might need to. or want to. Secondly it was the cheapest deal with the most amount off furniture included. It came with a bed, fridge, and table and chairs included. that was much more than the emply caves i had been looking at. Apartments here don't come with stoves.
This weekend i had acouple people come over to know the apartment. I wanted to have some tea with hannah and lauren, but could only offer cold water. Improving on that a little bit for my Aunt Esthela, Marco y Lauri, Maria Fernanda y Valeria, y mi tio Bolivar I offered crystal light and cold water! Next house guests i have i might even offer them some chips and crystal light and cold water!

Birthday # 23

And I Pray

In honor of Viernes Santo (Holy Friday/Good Friday) guess what I did?! Learned some spanish Our Father’s and prayed with my grandmother. I was putting her to bed last night and she was telling me that I was a good girl. But then she paused and said, “But you don’t like to pray…” then looked to me for a response. And of course I didn’t want her to think I was a sinner, so I said, I don’t know how to pray…and quickly added, “In spanish.” Even though I don’t know how to pray, like for real, in English either. I think there are special words and poem things you are supposed to say. Or at least she uses that method. So She taught me how to make a cross with my fingers and cross myself and cross my forehead and mouth and heart. I said lots of words like Nuesto padre, pecadores, te ofrezco mi trabajo, mis palabras, mis obras. She was happier than a spring chicken after that little session!
I had fun too, but I hope this doesn’t turn into a new responsibility that I’ll have to study and practice and feel guilty for not doing…I’m already working on this language called spanish, and I don’t know if I can handle another called Catholocism…

Under this Same Roof

We coexist, but we live on different planets. Under this same roof, and yet a world away.

Through the Lense of Time

oil on paper, 2009

In la abuelita’s eyes everything is a bit altered. In la abuelita’s eyes every object is a jewel, an expensive treasure from her past life. These glasses are to be placed on her bedside table in case she should need them in the night. She hasn’t ever used them.
“Although I would like to clean the house, how can I deny her this palace of treasures? And must I insist that they serve no purpose? Or that a small crack and a loose screw devalue something so completely as to be thrown in the trash? That something old has less value than something new?

Dusty Details

oil on paper, 2008

I moved into a museum of family history and an altered universe when I set up studio in my 93 year-old grandmother’s house. Carmen Adolfina Carrión Coronel’s life in Ecuador has been a world away from mine in Northeastern Massachusetts—in distance, time, experiences and prerogative.

In examining the dusty details of her past life I have reconstructed experiences that she can’t remember she had. I’ve poured through albums and albums of photos that she can neither see nor remember. I’ve recorded hours of her stories. To ask whether they be fact or fiction would be irrelevant. One of my favorites include her selling the Virgin Mary a cup of honey while running away to a mountain town called Yungilla.

Carnaval in Baños and Ambato

Ambato and Baños were filled with espuma and fun. Everyone gets sprayed by this silly string stuff called kareoka. At least it's better than what happens in Cuenca. In Cuenca everyone throws water balloons at unsuspecting anyones. It is chaos. So we hightailed it to Ambato, the land of fruit and flowers. They had a huuuuge parade with floats just covered in fruit and flowers, murals of jesus in flower petals...and yet no fruit to eat... so i settled for pork because he was cooked with an apple in his mouth.

Speaking of killing animals, we went to a bull fight and Amy, a fellow teacher, cried. We probably should have just stuck to the chocolate fair and the art exposition, the parades and the kareoka, but we wanted the real experience.

Last picture is of the four of us. Amy, my cousins Maria Fernanda, Valeria, and then there's me.

Cuenca, Ecuador

Feliz, Feliz año nuevo!!Les estoy enviando un abrazo muy fuerte a todos los que amo y a los que extraño o con los que no he hablado hace mucho tiempo. Espero que sus navidades valían el estrés, y que pasaron algunos días de vacaciónes con sus familias. Esto es lo que he estado haciendo yo en los ultimas semanas. Después de un mes estudiando para recibir un certificado para enseñar ingles, tres semanas pasadas como turista en Perú, y muchas horas en bus, llegué a Cuenca, Ecuador a la una por la mañana en un martes noche/miércoles madrugada.
Dos hermanas de mi madre me estaban esperando para llevarme a mi nueva casita (la casa de mi abuelita—mi abuela de 94 años.) y para mi presentacion a mi familia ecuatoriana. Que cambió! Las proximas semanas fueron como una gran prueba! Fregué, me fui a la misa para rezar, comí mucho arroz, y escuché horas y horas de consejos sobre la clase de personas que debo buscar para un marido o amigo, y como debo vestirme, peinarme, y cuanto debo pesar. Cuando llegué no tenía un trabajo, amigos, ninguna sentido de libertad, ni pinturas o lienzos. Estaba en shock. Dentro de las primeras 48 horas me llamaron floja, y diabla cuando no regreséa la casa hasta las diez. Mi tía comentó después que no vale estar fuera de la casa...corre riesgo." Ella me dijo que si de verdad quería ver algún museo o el centro, podría arreglarlo con un tío o primo mayor. Yo solo quería explorar la ciudad la que mi madre llamaba su hogar...con mis propios pies! No detrás de un chaparon ! pero…no fue aceptable. Desde ese momento en adelante las cosas solo podia mejorar. Ahora la vidaes mucho mejor. Mi abuelita se acuerda de mi nombre, en primer lugar. Y nos llevamos muy bien, después de algunos meses juntas. En segundo lugar ya tengo trabajo, amigos de Ecuador y otros países con quienes pasar el tiempo. Y miren! Por fin estoy fuera de la casa por tiempo suficiente para enviarles este mail...y llega con mucho cariño, besos,y abrazos...

Me parece que Cuenca es una ciudad bella, llena de arte, arquitectura, una dicotomía cultural muy interesante y mucha comida nueva para probar. Las festivales religiosas son los mejores en el país y los ríos son de lo más hermosos. Dentro de poco veré otras partes del Ecuador, pero ahora todavía estoy explorando Cuenca.
Estoy tambien pasando mucho tiempo en mi trabajo que es en una universidad se llama Universidad Tecnológica America y en una academia de lenguasse llama Centro de Estudios Interamericanos. También estoy intentando pintar. Tengo mucha familia aquí también para conocer mejor. Tengo primos desde 0 añitos de edad hasta 40. También tengo tíos desde 36 hasta 73! Están en todas partes de la ciudad. Nunca puedo andar por el centro sin ver algún familiar. A veces ésto me gusta...y a veces nome gusta esto para nada! Tengo mucho mas que decirles....las navidades fueron muy chistosas...pero el locutorio me esta volviendo loca. Les mando mucho amor y el deseo sincero de éxitos, salud, y prosperidad en el 2009. x.x.x.x.x.x.o.o.o.o.o. Jamie W.

Cusco, Perú

Hola a todos y un beso,
No he mirado bien las noticias fuera de Perú, entonces me gustaría que me digan lo que esta pasando en los lugares en donde no estoy. ¡¡¡Solo se que Barack Obama ganó!!! ¡He votado por correo hace 2 semanas y creo que han recibido mi baloto! ¡Es porque ganó! Ahora tengo confianza en mi país y espero que pueda regresara con orgullo. Vamos a ver.
Pero todavía no voy a volver; no he llegado a Ecuador todavía. Estoy planeando salir el sábado. Solo me quedan 2 días. Ha sido una experiencia asombrosa y emocionante. He trabajado ahora como profesora, me he integrado en una cultura foránea y también he visto algunos sitios famosos en el mundo. Tengo mucha suerte. Pero, si, extraño el que no pueda tener agua en la ducha cuando yo lo desee. Pero hablamos de lo positivo.
Tengo ganas de empezar a enseñar ingles…solo…necesito un trabajo. Y llegar a Ecuador. Pero mis amigos y la gente que me aprecia me estimulan a quedarme aquí en Cusco. Será muy triste cuando me vaya.
La semana pasada algunos profesores desempleados y compañeros de clase fuimos a un treking 5 días. Y pasé a través de una variedad de paisajes peruanos…montañas con nevado, ríos, selva, y montañas con bastante vegetación también. Había una variedad de climas: sol, lluvia, lluvia, frío, lluvia, y calor. Algunos días fue difícil, otras fueron más difíciles aún. Pero logramos aclimatarnos a pesar de todas las dificultades. Fuimos 15 personas y solo 4 nos mantuvimos delante en todo el camino. Siempre recibimos lo mismo en cada comida pero aún así nos mantuvimos felices todo el tiempo. La experiencia fue espectacular y he adjuntado algunas fotos para que lo vean. También hay fotos de nuestro visita al Lago Titicaca donde hicimos un tour cace un mes. Es el lago más alto y grande en el mundo. Visitamos tres islas asombrosas: los Uros, amantan y Taquile. Todos fueron lugares con bastante historia. Probablemente conoceré Lima antes de llegar a Cuenca. Tendré que tomar un bus desde Lima que durará 14 horas. Les voy a contar lo que pasará en una semana.
Los quiero mucho, falta poco para que nos volvamos a ver,
Con cariño,
Jamie

Cusco has been very, very good to me

Hello and love to everyone,
I’m only moderately keeping up with what is going on everywhere I am not, so tell give me some news. I do know that the Patriots lost on Sunday, the Red Sox lost last month…but just a few short nights ago... Barack Obama won!! I voted absentee two weeks ago, so it should have got there. I hope they counted it. I can now say with some confidence that I will be back in the US sometime in the future.
But not yet. I haven’t even made it to Ecuador. I am preparing to leave Peru on Saturday. It has been an amazing, exciting, eye-opening, opportunity-opening experience for me. I have now worked as a teacher; I have integrated myself into a foreign culture, i have made life-long friends, and i have seen some pretty crazy world-famous/historic sites. I feel so lucky!! However. I still miss reliable water running through the pipes. If it were warm half the time I’d feel even luckier. But let me expound on the overwhelmingly positive.
I’m excited about teaching still, so my week of student work couldn’t have gone that badly. I made new friends and helped them understand the word “get” as well as lots of names of different occupations. Now I just need a job…in a different country, at that. And first I have to get there. It’s hard though, because my friends here and my newfound understanding of the Cuzqueñan people keep me here day after day. It will be more than sad when I go. The longer I stay here, the more reasons I find to remain.

Last weeks some fellow unemployed teachers and I took a grueling week-long hike through a variety of Peruvian landscapes: snow capped mountains, rivers, South American forests, Green rocky cliffs… and through a variety of weather too: sun, rain, cold, rain, heat, and even rain. Some days were tough—other days were tougher. But we always led the pack. Of course that’s because we have been acclimatizing to the extremely high altitudes for a month now. I was elated for the entire trip. Even when we got our bowl of soup followed by rice and potatoes. Every day. The experience was spectacular and I will attach some photos so that you can see.

Also there are a few from Lake Titicaca where we did a weekend a month or so ago. It is the highest lake of such a huge size in the world. We visited three amazing islands: Las Islas Uros, Amantani Island and Taquile Island. All were amazing places rich with history. I’ll probably be stopping through Lima and Mancora on my way to Cuenca, and spending a few days on a bus in between stops. But will let you know how that goes in a week or so. Until then…
Jamie

Sigue la Navidad

Extrañé mucho los estados esta navidad…el frío, la nieve, elviento...NO, NO NO! ja Me llevé sandalias y bloqueador para un pase deniño viajero en el que salí yo! Pero extrañé a cranberry relish(craisins no existen aquí) carrolers, ¿ uh. Como se traduce estascosas que solo existen en los estados...? el dia de acción de gracias,la musica de Tchaicovsky el casca nueces, la película A christmasStory...aunque un dia ví la película Elf en la tele. Casi un clásico.Pero la estación no la cogió bien y entonces el ruidogzzzgszzzzzgazzzzzzzz nos distraía un poco...y mi abuelita no puedever muy bien entonces esto le quitó las dos experiencias sensorialesimportantes para disfrutarse de una película. Seguí diciendo que Esuna peli muy buena, y trata de la navidad.! Pero lo dejamos dentro depoco.Ahora la epoca de la navidad ya ha pasado y regresamos a trabajar,en la escuela, y lo normal. Claro que esto no significa quedesfiles con el niño Jesús no pasan por mi casa cada semana. El 10 deenero todavía vimos seis pases de niño! Pensé que el dia de losinocentes fue el final de estas fiestas en Cuenca, pero siguen.Aparentemente, llegué justo en la epoca de fiestas. Con las fiestas deCuenca en Noviembre, la navidad para celebrar todo el mes de Diciembre,el fin de año, dia de los inocentes, carnaval...y viene mas! No puedoimaginar una alternativa mejor que 5 pies de nieve!

Made it.

Hi to all!!I have made it to Peru !! Successfully!! Without getting mugged, lost, denied access to any countries, without missing any flights or losing my passport. So far so good.

This past weekend in Miami warmed me up to the Spanish language again, listening to everyone around speaking in accents from Puerto Rico , Cuba , Brazil or elsewhere. Now I find myself in the real deal. South America . My Spanish is good enough to help my new housemate fix her phone and chat with the store owners...but not good enough to explain to a man in Miami Airport what a ¨Bailout¨ was. Don't know if my English is that advanced either.

But I wonder why all the coffee here is that instant stuff. I mean, wouldn't you think they would have really fresh beans or something? I drove past all the coffee plantations but they make more money exporting it...I have been drinking tea anyways. It is called Mate de Coca and it is supposed to help with the high altitude sickness (soroche).

Tomorrow I start class at 9am. They will teach me how to be a teacher. And I hope I have a good teacher to teach me how to teach. They tell me it's lots of work.I'll be getting a good night's sleep tonight, since last night's flight took away all but an hour of my beauty rest!


I'm doing great. Hope everyone is well,


Keep me posted on life in the states,


Love,


Jamie

Christmas Day

December 25th, 2008
For xmas day dinner, I was in charge of the turkey! Me! Let me tell you… I don’t know who signed me up for this, but I’m not ready for this holiday hostessing job. Since I live with my 94 year old grandmother and in the same town as 6 uncles or aunts, who come with 6 accompanying spouses, and 23 cousins more or less, you can imagine what chaos it was to have them all over our place for a meal…
For the 25th of December my aunt Esthela planned a get-together at grandma’s house, of course. It's a good venue. She also planned that I would cook the turkey, which was nice of her, and dropped it off for me to season a week or so before Christmas. Aunt Esthela said to marinate it with oranges and spice and… “whatever you think.” The problem is that I don’t often think about turkey cooking. And the problem worsened when I continued to not think about turkey cooking until Christmas Eve. I don’t know why I left it until the last minute, but it might have something to do with the fact that I hadn’t really, truly, fully accepted the fact tha I had to cook the majority of the christmas dinner myself. Eventually I did accept this fact conveniently when all the grocery stores were completely closed. At least the turkey was defrosted.
Christmas morning!! Yay? No. Christmas morning found me in tears. I couldn’t find a pot big enough for the gigantic turkey and still small enough to fit in the oven, we had no tin foil, we had no bread, no milk, no celery, no wine…The oven (Worked!! at least) but had no thermostat. The dial was so old that any indication that once might have existed, like words, numbers, temperatures…gone. They had long since dissapeared deep down below dirt, burnt crispies, and scratch marks. To the right or to the left were my options, so I turned it all the way to the right. It was 10 o clock already and the guests were coming at 1. What is it for a turkey? 350 in the oven until the little pop up thermometer in the bird tells you it’s done? Or without a popper, so many hours per so many pounds. Or cook it until the meat reaches 143 degrees on your meat thermometer? I wouldn’t know. Perhaps I never will.
Don’t know how it happened. (I hardly know what happened…repressing the memories) but it did. The turkey was golden and brown. It was moist and stuffed with breadcrumbs that I had hastily made with flour and milk, plus some random plátanos from the fridge, herbs from the garden and raisins. But it ended up smelling so good! I ended up getting the prized seat at the head of the table and getting an “ola” or wave. Like Red Sox game style wave. …My family basically fills a stadium anyways, so it was appropriate.
I think it was the moral support of my granny that helped me make it through. She was there, she really was. When I couldn’t find the pan I needed to cook Tom in, she handed me the biggest soup pot she had. Barely one leg might have fit in there, but it ended up being useful for the broccoli. And when I couldn’t find a lid for the turkey she suggested that I sew together our used tin-foil. I didn’t sew anthing, but I did find our save-for-recycling-pile useful for many things that day.
One more thing: Before we ate, Uncle Roy asked that we bow our heads in Grace. The phone rang. I tore my eyes from the stuffing and myself from the table. It was Eli! Chritmas greetings were in order and I told him about the meal that I had just barely pulled off (minus the rice, salad, and fig dessert which others had brought) I reveled in my success while, of course, the Carrión army dove into the bowls and platters and everyone poked each others eyes out with their elbows. I sent Eli the wish that his dinner was just as lovely as mine was going to be. Once I got back to the table--get this--the stuffing was gone. They ate my stuffing on me! All my stuffing was gone! Oh the sacrifice!

Dia de los Inocentes

January 6th , 2009
Tonight was cool. It ws a sweet parade that moved slower than a sloth, but lasted for hours. It was haloween on catholocism! There wer elots of little batmen running around. Lots of wiches, lots of those Scream masks, and some mimes too. As far as I can understand from my abuelita, The day commemorates when the king of Bethelhem had all the babkies killed because he wanted to make sure that 12 day old baby jesus never grew up to take over his throne. All those innocent babies! Died… and so now we celebrate. (?) The holiday consists of a period of 10 days between dec 28th and jan 6th in which you play april fools tricks on your friends or publish things lke obama is coming to see the pase del niño in cuenca in the newspaper, or put white soap in your kids’ oreo’s instead of crème filling. Then add a concluding parade on the last day. The parade was a major costume contest with teams from each univesity, from some large businesse, and other schools and many families and groups of friends too. Each group chose a theme and worked it. My favorite theme was Funerario del Futuro, or Funeral of the Future, done by the University of Azuay. It rocked. the giant trampoline also wowed me as did the people on bicycles who were simultanoeulsy drinking rum straight out of the bottle and crashing into each other. I stayed there for 3 hours but didn’t see the end in sight, so headed home. Grams was waiting . also it was raining.

Life so far...

Merry, Merry, Happy 2009!!!

I’m sending a big abrazo to all those that I love and miss or haven’t spoken with in far too long. I hope all of your hectic holidays were well worth the stress, and that you were able to spend any vacation days you might have had with loved ones.

So here is what I have been up recently: After a month getting certified to teach English, three weeks being a tourist in Peru, and some pretty intense bus rides, I arrived in Cuenca, Ecuador at 1 am on a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Two of my mother’s sisters were there to pick me up, and whisk me off to my new home (my 94 year old grandmother’s house) and into my long lost Ecuadorian family. And I was whisked. The next few weeks were Carrión family boot camp. I cleaned, I prayed, I went to mass, I ate lots of rice and was lectured on the class of people I should aspire to spend time with. When I arrived I had no work, no friends, no freedom, and no paints or canvasses. It was a shock to the system. My grandmother called me a disgrace to the family name a few times when I didn’t come home til 10pm. And my aunt commented later that, “it’s just not worth it to be outside of the house—there’s nothing out there worth seeing anyway.” She said that if I really wanted to see anything I could arrange it with an older male cousin or uncle. I just wanted to be able to explore the city that my mother once called her home…On my own two feet, not six paces behind a chaperone...however, this was not “proper.”

Since then things have changed quite a bit. My grandmother remembers my name for one thing. We have gotten to know each other quite well over the past month. For another, I am out of the house long enough to type you all this chock-full-of-love email. I have started work and have friends and family to spend time with.

It seems that Cuenca is a beautiful city filled with art and architecture, an interesting cultural dichotomy and lots of new foods to try. The religious festivals are the best in the country and the rivers are the most picturesque. I’ll soon get to see other parts of Ecuador, but for now I am settling in, working as an English teacher at a university called Univesidad Technológica de las Americas and at a non-profit language school called Centro de Estudios Interamericanos, and also trying to find the time to paint. My family is all here too, and there are plenty of them to get to know. I have cousins from 0 to 40 years old and aunts and uncles from 36 to 70 years old. They are everywhere! Like avocadoes! Like avocadoes all over Cuenca!! Which is nice.

Lots of love and sincere wishes for a healthy prosperous new year,
I miss you all tons, and hope to hear how each and every one of y'all are doing.
Best,
Jamie

Christmas Continues

I missed a lot about being home this year: the cold and snow (sandals and sunscreen for a Christmas parade?), my father’s cranberry relish (crasins no existen aquí), carrolers, that entire holiday we call Thanksgiving , Nutcracker music, the movie A Christmas Story… although one day I found the movie Elf on TV. That was close. It was on a station that didn’t come in very well at our house, but I watched part of it with my grandmother anyway. The loud gzzzzzzzzzzgzzzz noise was a bit distracting, and since the granny can’t see very well that took away both sensory experiences important for enjoying a movie. I kept telling her, “It’s a funny movie, though. And it’s about Christmas!” but the activity was short-lived.

But the holidays have pretty much ended and we are all back to school, back to work, back to normal. This, of course does not mean Jesus-themed parades don’t still crowd the streets every weekend. (Sunday January 10th we must have seen six Pases de Niño) I thought the Day of the Innocents was formally the end of the “Hoidays”, but we’re still going strong. Apparently, I’ve arrived in Cuenca just in time for an extended party season. With Cuenca’s birthday in November, Christmas parades all December long, New Year, Dia de los Inocentes on Jan 6 and more to come in the following months, I can’t think of a better alternative to five feet of snow.

The New Year

On New Year's Eve at around 7:30 pm my cousins and i decided to drive 6 hours to the coast.
We pulled over to the side of the deserted road. It was 12:04. We were a bit late for the new year, but I hadn’t noticed. I had been sleeping in the back seat alone while my cousin Bolivar drove and Rodrigo served as the dj. His musical choices had soothed me, obviously not your new years electronica. but real formal like we hugged each body and kissed on the cheek. Boli, Rodrigo, and I from one car, Raúl, Sarita, and Gabi from the other. I could see fireworks bursting off in the distance, but couldn’t hear the bang. The land was flat all around us and dark. No street lights here. We hadn't gotten to the streets full of buring dolls yet. What a random place to bring in the new year!
But eventually we got to Raúl's house... well worth it!