Continuation

This is a continuation of my last blog. On Friday, I went to FRATES to finally meet with Umberto. I caught the 6:15am bus and arrived at FRATES a little after 7:00. It was a glorious morning. Umberto and I exchanged pleasantries and then got right to business discussing FRATES. He admitted that things looked much worse than he had expected, however, I don´t think either of us are going to let that dampen our spirits.

Umberto is a very generous man and apparently an excellent cook as well. While here, he apparently cooks for anyone who works out at the facility. He made crepes for Guillermo, Marcelo (the carpenter), Santiago (Guillermo´s son), and I. They were fantastic, he also made a wonderfully nice pot of coffee. While he was busy cooking, I was busy helping Guillermo and his son install a faucet in the building with the bread oven - this was a half day task that Guillermo did incorrectly the first time around. I enjoyed working on the project with them - the best part was teaching Guillermo how to properly use vice grips - he didn´t know how to unlock them. It was rather humerous and his son and I were making fun of him. The vice grips were a big hit - I asked Umberto to bring them from the States when he came - to Guillermo and Marcelo the vice grips could be the universal ¨magic¨ tool. They were amazed at what one could use them for. I wonder if they know what Duct Tape is - that may be too much for them to handle in one week, so I´ll wait to show them the duct tape until next week.

After helping Guillermo with the faucet, I spent some time cleaning up one of the walk-ways hauling a mountain of brush and weeds away. The rest of the time, Umberto and I spent discussing the multitude of ideas we both have for FRATES and I allowed Umberto to vent some of his frustrations. I am very positive about the possibilities out there, however, it is going to take a long time to implement all the changes and ideas we have in mind.

I left when the bus came back, around 3:00. The bus ride back was rather interesting. I had another ¨what the -ck¨ experience. The bus stopped to pick up a women and her son along the road. Next to the woman was a large rice bag that was tied up. The strange thing was that the bag was moving - something was alive inside. Apparently the woman had stuffed a live pig into the bag and wanted the bus driver to help her load it into the cargo compartment of the bus. The driver wanted nothing to do with this so he drove off without her or her pig. A live pig writhing around in a sealed bag - I wonder how long she expected this pig to live - or maybe this was her idea of a humane death - suffocation combined with the tossing and banging around included with a bus ride on this dirt road.

A few minutes later, down the road, the driver stopped without any warning. He proceeded to turn off the bus and then got off the bus and walked over to a nearby stream. The guy who takes the money on the bus also disembarked and headed to the stream. The two of them took off their shirts and bathed in the stream for a good 3-4 minutes as the bus full of curious on-lookers watched. They returned to the bus with no explanation and we were underway within minutes. I wonder, what prompted a stop at that particular roadside stream at that particular time. Maybe I am looking at this incorrectly, they should be applauded for their spontaneity. The true question should be: ¨why not stop for a good bath?¨ Next time, I am going to ask them to stop there to see if I can get off and take a quick rinse - just because I can.

I finally returned to Puyo and was looking forward to going home to have a good shower and to meet Sue at 5:30 for our tradition Friday afternoon beer at our favorite little bar. I walked by the office to see if anyone was there - I was carrying a check for $2500 from Umberto to give to Bolivar and I really did not want this in my possession any longer than it needed to be. Bolivar was in his car getting ready to go home. We chatted for a bit and then he convinced me to go have a beer with him and some chochos and tostados. I decided that it was a good idea and we went to his favorite bar outside of town. We had a good conversation about FRATES and Umberto and he invited me to go with him on Saturday to FRATES to meet with Umberto. Seeing as how Umberto is only here for a few weeks I couldn´t justify not going so I said yes and asked if Susan could go - and she was invited as well.

Bolivar dropped me off at the apartment. Sue and I are currently watching Katie´s (Peace Corps volunteer in Puyo) dog, Tigre. I didn´t have time for a shower, so I changed my shirt grabbed the leash and the dog, and headed to the bar to meet Sue. On the way there, Tigre decided to take a rather large dump on the sidewalk. I was now facing a decision. In the States I would have cleaned up this crap, but here, I had no bag with me, and it is rather common and accepted for dogs to crap wherever they are so moved to crap. So….I decided to let this mountain of dog shit keep its current location. Sue and I had our beer and a plate of French fries and hot dogs (salchipapas). We went back home and I finally took my shower and went to bed early. After two early mornings in a row I was completely wiped out.

The next morning we met Bolivar and his friend Wilmen (a board member of CODEAM) outside of our apartment. I am now a firm believer in what goes around comes around. As I was walking towards Bolivar´s car to get in, I stepped in a large pile of dog shit - I completely deserved it though, based on yesterday´s actions. The problem was that I didn´t notice stepping in it until about 5 minutes after we got in the car. I was then faced with the dilemma of whether to keep my discovery a secret or to say something to Bolivar. We had to stop for Wilmen to get phone card so I used this opportunity to tell Bolivar what happened and to remove the dog shit covered floor mats to clean them off. Bolivar was not upset and he helped me clean of the mats and my shoe. The best part about this story is that Bolivar told me we should go wash our hands (which I agreed with) then he proceeded to ask the store owner if we could use his bathroom, in the process saying hello and shaking hands with everyone in the store. Now, everyone, unknowingly, had a little piece of my dog shit with them - I like to share.

Finally we were underway. On the way out we talked about politics, which was fun. Bolivar and Wilmen ranted about homosexuals and asked what we thought. Instead of getting into a debate with no end in sight, Sue and I said that we respected their views, but to us, there were more important political and world issues than homosexuals. This was an effective strategy in deflecting their inquiries.

At FRATES, we met with Umberto and had about a four hour conversation about the facility. It was such a long discussion that was more circular than anything else. Bolivar and Umberto would disagree on something, then find common ground, then go back to the thing they disagreed about. I felt bad that I dragged Sue out there because I know that she was anticipating a fun trip, but she was a sport and she offered her comments for the good of the discussion. We all agreed to suspend the discussion for a later day and to make some lists of our concerns and ideas. Sue and I are headed out to FRATES next weekend to spend some time out there with Umberto and to discuss our role with the facility in more detail.

We came back to town around 3:00 - and then started to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary by opening our only bottle of wine and have some wine and cheese. Tonight we were headed to the El Jardin for dinner. Sunday is really our anniversary, but Sue has to go to Quito for a meeting so we decided to celebrate a day early.

On the way to El Jardin, we ran into Chris Canady. He runs the ethnobotanical park in Puyo. We chatted with him for an hour about his projects with composting toilets. The Waorani are interested in using them inat some of their communities. Nothing like an hour long conversation about toilets before you go have dinner.

Much to our dismay, there was a large group of Americans at El Jardin that evening. Sue and I didn´t have the wonderful ambiance we were hoping for, but the food was excellent - and that is why we went there in the first place. We stopped on the way home to make a phone call to my sister-in-law, Stacey, to thank her for the beading materials she sent Susan. Sue plans to use them with the Waorani women.

Sunday came, and it was the second ugle Sunday morning in a row for us. A ton of rain and it was chilly. We decided to head into town to use the internet and to buy a few groceries before Sue left for Quito. When we returned, I took Tigre out for a walk and was accosted by a group of about 10 dogs. Somehow, we had managed to get surrounded by a pack of dogs, all barking, growling, and converging on us. The apparent owners of these dogs came outside of their homes to see what the commotion was all about, but none of them called their dogs off - they just watched as though this was a fun game of ¨how´s the gringo going to get out of this one¨ I was in no mood to play games, so I wielded my umbrella as a weapon and went after the closest and most fierce dog. After three good hits, the dog wimpered away - this caused 3-4 others to flee and the rest of the dogs to stop their attack. All this time, Tigre was wagging his tail as if this going to be fun - dumb dog. I don´t like animal abuse, but this is one time I felt hitting an animal was justified. I made a mental note to invest in some pepper spray - we´ll see who ends up being the boss of my neighbourhood.

Later in the day, I witnessed another dog issue. Two dogs who had recently mated, were still ¨stuck¨ together. When a dogs mate, the male´s penis swells and often gets stuck inside the female. This can often cause them to be unitied for 10-30 minutes after intercourse. These poor dogs had some serious issues. For one, they were now facing opposite ways. How they managed this was beyond me, but the thought of it sent a chill down my spine. Second, a third dog apparently saw this as an opportunity to engage in the mating ritual - so he was attempting the rare, but in Ecuador often, act of ¨double-mounting.¨ Third, there was a 4th dog waiting his turn near by. So, these observations made me question my belief in Evolution. How can this process of mating and then being stuck together - completely vulnerable - be the best method? How could natural selection choose this? Sue offered that perhaps the dogs enjoyed this and that is why it works that way - to me, the dogs did not appear to be ¨enjoying it.¨ So, I turned my thoughts to Creationism - is this what the ¨Creator¨ had intended, was this the intelligent design? I ruled this out quickly though - for if it were the intended process of mating, then the ¨Creator¨ is a frigging idiot - because this design is far from intelligent. So, if any of you can shed some light on how penis swelling of this kind came to be, please let me know.

Later in the day, Tigre and I walked Susan to the bus station so she could go to Quito for her meetings. Then, I went and played Ecua-volley with Bolivar, Wilmen, and Walter (one of their friends). Bolivar has been asking me to play every week for the past 6 weeks and I finally decided to go and check it out. Normally, Ecua-Volley is played 3 on 3, but the rest of their group failed to show this week, so we played 2 on 2. We played 4 games and I won all 4. The first two Bolivar and I were on a team together the second two it was Walter and I. I had a great time and was invited to play again. This game of Ecua-Volley is very interesting. It is a cross between volleyball and beach volleyball and it is played with a soccer ball. You have to serve using only 1 hand and it must be underhand. You get three touches a side and there is no rule for carrying the ball. Games are played to 12 and there are two games per match. You switch sides after each game. I like the game because the rules are more forgiving than volleyball because you can hit the ball any way you like, however, a soccer ball is really hard and my arms and hands are a little bruised.

Ciao for now,
Jeremy

---

---