The Workshop

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I made it through the taller (workshop) unscathed and with many stories to tell. So, I guess I´ll jump right into the story of my 3-day adventure. The plan on Monday was for me to be picked up on the road near my apartment at 4:30 am. I got out there at 4:25 and waited for Pablo and Carolina, both work for Fundación Natura - Pablo is based in my office at CODEAMA and Carolina is based in Quito. Fundación Natura was the sponsor of the workshop. Now, I knew full well that they would be a little late - Ecuadorians always are, it is part of the culture here. They finally showed up at 4:55am. I got into the car and they said there was a problem. They forgot some documents in the CODEAMA office and didn´t have a key. So, I called Andrea and we got the phone number for Karina, who had the keys for the office. We then called Karina and drove to her house to get the keys. We went to the office, got what we needed, and then returned the keys to Karina and left town headed for Riobamba.

The whole time as we were driving out of town - I was thinking that two other people were supposed to be going with us - at least that was the plan as I knew it. I said nothing though and just listened to the two of them chatting about the workshop. About 20 minutes later, they realized that they had indeed forgotten people back in Puyo and we did an about face and returned to pick them up. I just chuckled under my breath.

As we drove to Riobamba, I tried my best to get a little more sleep. During the night, I slept very little due to the QVC-Live going on in my backyard. We got into Riobamba and had a little breakfast and got to the workshop miraculously on-time. As I walked in, I saw two other gringos. They were from Florida International University and were presenting at the workshop - Tom and Elizabeth. They are my age and both have PhD´s. They are part of an organization called GLOWS which is a global organization whose mission is to protect water and watersheds. Anyhow, Day One of the workshop went fairly well. At the beginning we all had to introduce ourselves and I did a fine job in Spanish and ended my introduction by telling everyone to pardon me because my spanish is trash - they all laughed and all agreed that I was correct in my self-evaluation. Even though the presentations during the day were in Spanish, I knew the technical terms well enough and have taken a couple grad classes related to the topics discussed.

During one of the coffee breaks, a young Ecuadorian woman who was a student at the local university came up and introduced herself. She asked me a lot of questions, few of which I understood. Then she asked where I was staying that night - seeing as how I really didn´t know I told her such. She offered to let me stay with her and her friend. I immediately saw where this was headed and politely let her know that Fundación Natura had a hotel room for me, but that I wasn´t sure which hotel. She smiled and walked away.

That night, those that were staying in the hotel, went to dinner and then we all went to bed, it had been a long day and we were all very tired. The next morning, I skipped breakfast and took a walk through Riobamba. It is a decent-sized city, around 200,000 people. The architecture was really nice and it made me feel like I was in a European city. Riobamba is surrounded by mountains and the surrounding area has a rather dry climate - this part reminded me of the Front Range in Colorado. The whole place was beautiful.

We left Riobamba around 8:30 am. Most of the attendees rode in a chartered bus headed for Baños, I somehow lucked out and was able to ride in Fundación Natura´s truck with Pablo and Sara - Sara also works for Fundación Natura. Pablo and I are slowing becoming good friends. He took me under his wing the whole time. Seeing as how we are office mates, I think its great that we get along so well.

About 20 minutes out of Riobamba, we realized that we again left people behind. This time it was more of a hassle, because we had a train of 5 vehicles that were following each other and had to communicate with everyone what was going on. Again, I laughed to myself - somehow, things always seem to work out though, so it is all good.

On the road to Baños, we reached 13,000 feet and passed by Volcan Chimborazo. It was breath-taking to say the least - it was also very cold at 13,000 feet. Still, even at that elevation, people live and farm the slopes of the mountains. We then drove through the town of Pelileo which is known for its Jeans. You can buy a great pair of jeans for under $5 - the styles are all the same you would get in the States and most of the time they stitch GAP, Abercrombie, and other designer labels on the jeans. You really can not tell the difference other than the Ecuadorian jeans are probably of better quality - ironic huh?

We finally got to Baños and spent the rest of the day in the field learning sampling techniques. We also got to ride a gondola across Río Pastaza and over a waterfall to do some sampling in a pristine stream. The ride over was intense. I was expecting it to be like a ride on a ski lift. Instead, the gondola goes into a free fall as you zoom across the huge gorge then it slows as it starts up to the other side. Finally, they turn on the motor that drives the cables pulling you up to the other side. I was greeted on the other side by a friendly monkey that jumped on my shoulder and swung from my arm. He was pretty darn cute.

After learning all about sampling and the like, we rode back over the gorge and headed to lunch at a roadside cafe. As with most restaurants in Ecuador, you don´t really order food, each restaurant serves a plate of food and you get a choice of meats, usually. The choice today was chicken or fish. I kind of like not having to hassle with a menu. Now of course, more touristy restaurants and up-scale restaurants have menus - but the norm is a set menu for all.

After lunch, since the weather was not cooperating, we went to our hotel in Baños and had presentations until the weather cleared. Then we went to a small stream that runs through Baños and is mildly polluted. We saw that there was nothing living in the stream and that the water quality was horrible. It was a stark contrast to the first stream we sampled. We then headed back to the hotel for dinner.

After dinner, the plan was for everyone to head into Baños to a bar. We packed into cars and trucks and headed to a bar. Here is a riddle for you: What do you get when you cross 30 ecuadorians, cervezas, and music? Answer: An immediate dance party. We basically took over the bar and all of us drank and danced until 1:00am. It was loads of fun. I tell you, the dancing here is so rich. We dance in the States, but it is nothing like Latino dancing. There is a purpose to every move and everyone seems to have the ability to dance. Meanwhile, Tom and I, two tall gringos stuck out like sore thumbs, but we danced anyhow and everyone loved it. I drank a lot of cervezas as well. I was sitting with two professors and one of their students and we kept drinking glasses of beer. Each glass we would raise and toast ¨Salud¨ to health. Now, the humor in this is that the two professors kept telling me that I should drink slower that I would get drunk - yet they kept filling my glass every chance they got. I didn´t care, because despite our like of dancing ability, gringos can hold their alcohol ten times better than an Ecuadorian. After three beers, the professors were slowing and I was just started to get warmed up. It was all good fun and a great experience. The young woman I mentioned earlier in this blog, Gabriella, was an incredible dancer and was fun to watch. She and one of the trainers at the workshop danced together all night twisting, turning, and spinning.

The place was hopping so much, that a few people from the bar across the street came to join the party. Then some other guys from the States came in to check out the scene. One of them was wearing a Princeton sweatshirt and the other two were dressed as though they just did a J-Crew photo shoot. They came up to Tom and I, the only two gringo guys in the bar and asked what was up. We explained who we were and who the group was. They just chatted about their adventure in Ecuador....blah....blah....blah, and they were trying so hard to act cooler and smarter than they actually were. They were telling the Ecuadorians that they all went to Ivy League schools and were tops in their class - they were going to have awesome jobs blah....blah....blah. Tom and I saw through their guise and asked the guy wearing the Princeton sweatshirt what the campus was like in Massachusettes - he told us all about it - then we reminded him that Princeton was in New Jersey - he and his friends promptly left.

Another Gringo came in and looked the part of being a total player. He immediately was scouting out the young Ecuadorian women and started dancing with them. I didn´t even bother trying to ¨save¨ the girls from his onslaught, they could take care of themselves. It was comical to watch though - poor guy didn´t stand a chance. He went to the bar and got a beer and sat down at our table and watched all of us have fun. Later he tried again to hit on the girls - he learned another valuable lesson. Bottles of beer left on a table that is not your table are fair game for anyone. Ecuadorians don´t drink beer out of the bottle - they share bottles by pouring beer into small glasses. We all assumed that his bottle was one of the many that were ours. He came back and saw that half his beer was gone and went into a tirade and hissy fit. I calmly walked over to him and told him that he was making an ass of himself and that he clearly didn´t understand the culture - if he went to the bar and got a glass we would all be glad to share our beer with him. He did so and we shared. Hopefully, there is now one less ignorant gringo in Ecuador.

We left the bar and went back to the hotel to get a little rest before our final day of the workshop. I got up the next morning, feeling more tired than ever, my clothes smelled of smoke and sweat. Luckily, I had another clean shirt and a pair of pants that were only moderately dirty. I went and had breakfast and then took a short walk by myself. There is an awesome gorge in Baños where the Pastaza river cuts through a mountain of lava - it is beautiful and well worth the view.

Today, the goal of the workshop was to come up with a plan for monitoring the watershed. I was in the Puyo group and we talked about strategies - well, they talked about strategies - by this point, my brain was fried on trying to understand Spanish. This was so frustrating. I had good ideas for our monitoring plan, but was unable to communicate them. I made a few comments, but for the most part, I just zoned out. I was a little disappointed because I hate not being able to communicate effectively. Nothing has to happen with our plan for another 2 or 3 months, so by then, I should be able communicate a little better.

At the conclusion of the workshop, a few of us went to a small EcoZoo in Baños. It was cool and had a lot of mammals and birds that are native to Ecuador. After that, I got into a car with Pablo and a couple of university students and we headed back to Puyo. I got home at 6:30pm and Susan was headed out the door to go to an Aerobics class with Katherina. Yeah, I know what you are thinking.....Aerobics in Ecuador.....in the Peace Corps....Interesting huh? She came back at 8:00 completely exhausted. I was tired too and went to bed shortly after she came back. She had to get up at 2:00 to catch the bus to Coca for her trip into Woarani territory. She´ll be gone for 5 days. I am envious of her trip - I am sure it will be a great experience for her, but....she´s going to get eaten alive by bugs.

Peace,
jeremy

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