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The Manabi Coast
Driving down from Banos we had two flat tires -- 12 hours later we were sure happy to finally see the sea! It's certainly been a busy few weeks!! After leaving Malingua Pamba (again), I accompanied Drew & Lark to Banos where we all stayed at Posada del Arte, one of my favorite guest houses in town. I have only been a guest here once before, and this time I was in a lovely room and had three nights to enjoy the luxury. I went to the thermal baths twice in 3 days! We took a trip down to Puyo, enjoying the breathtaking vistas and interesting sights along the way. I caught up with a few friends and all too soon we were off again.
I had anticipated 8-10 hours to drive from Banos to Puerto Lopez on the coast. What I didn't plan for was ending up with a flat tire in a construction zone, and then discovering that the spare had gone flat as well! (Word to the wise, always check your spare before setting off on a long journey through sparsely populated areas!) I just realized that in my previous entry I wrote about this double flat tire adventure and how it led to an opportunity to appreciate the kindness of
Private Tagua Showing
While we were in Puerto Lopez, Marianne displayed her vegetable ivory handicrafts for Lark & Drew. strangers -- but it doesn't hurt to reiterate the power of road karma. I've helped many a traveller along the way and I am convinced that no good act goes unnoticed!
Drew & Lark & I had a great few days together in Puerto Lopez after which I set off (all alone) for the long climb back up the Andes. The most direct route has pretty crappy road conditions and it was raining almost the whole way. At one point there was a huge body of water on a bridge. I never would have dared to cross it except for the fact that I saw a small pick-up make his way across safely. If he could make then I surely could. Morci performed well on the 8-hour drive and I arrived back in the village before the volunteer dentists got there. I reconfirmed their lodging arrangements, the menu for their 3-day stay, and settled in to wait...and wait...and wait. As it started raining I became concerned that they wouldn't make it at all that night because of mudslides, but their bus pulled in just before dark and we had time for a
Village Dental Clinic
The village meeting hall was transformed into a clinic in a matter of hours...impressive to watch the dentists unpack and set up! quick tour of the village before they began to frantically unpack and set up the dental clinic.
It was truly amazing how the volunteers transformed a large, empty room into a complete treatment center. In a beehive of activity the portable dental chairs were assembled and the sterile equipment table laid out with hundreds of necessary items. I scurried around to find desks and tables so that each dentist could set up an individual work station with all tools within easy reach. They had arrived with 5 chairs but only 3 dentists, and it was the village president's job to line up two Ecuadorian dentists for man the other chairs. He had heard back from neither of the two who were supposed to arrive. We were to begin seeing patients at 8:00 am the next day!
To leave as much space as possible in the guest lodgings, I had made arrangements to stay down at my "co-madre's" place. I am godmother to two of the four daughters, but I'm comadre to the whole family in some ways. Of course it would be unheard of
Presidential Tooth Care
Paulino, the village president, gets a thorough check-up from Dra. Kim for me to stay alone (why would anyone want to to do that!) so the eldest girl, Jeaneth stayed there with me. They had made an attempt to create a cozy, warm bed but the mattress was so hard that I was up tossing and turning most of the night. Poor Jeaneth had to put up with the creaking of the wobbling bed frame, no doubt interspersed with my snoring during the few stretches of sleep I did get.
I had multiple jobs during the two days of the dental clinic. First of all, I gave out the numbers to indicate the order in which the patients would be seen, while at the same time filling out a form with their name, age, brief medical history and dental problems. I also assisted Nancy (a volunteer who is a retired schoolteacher) in giving a basic dental hygiene chat to everyone who was to be examined by the dentists. The registration and mini-class were given up at the school, but when there was a break in the action I ran down across the volleyball courts to the meeting hall (edificio grande) to check on
Local Medicine
Sara, a lovely Malingua girl, assisted Dr. Luis, the dentist who came over from a village several hours away to help out in the clinic. the progress of the dentists. One of the local dentists arrived a few hours after the clinic opened, the other didn't come until half-way through the second day!
I had posted a list of numbers beside the door which were to be crossed off as the next one entered. Sounds easy, right? Well, if I wasn't around to verify who was next in line, some of the higher numbers pushed their way in - jumping the queue. Whenever I could I ducked inside and I was often called upon to clarify or interpret. Several of the volunteers spoke rudimentary Spanish, the two female dentists had served in clinics in Latin America before - but the mix of Spanish & Kichwa was often too difficult for any of us to decipher. Fortunately, the local dentist was assisted by young people from the village who served as out Kichwa interpreters. At times we had a three-way chain of translation going on for the dentist to be able to communicate with the patient.
In addition to interpreting skills, I also had to run to find the bus
Waiting their turn...
I handed out numbers and filled out health forms for each of the patients. We treated 120 patients, aged 4 thru 64. driver whose job it was to fire up the generator whenever the power went out (several times each day). It was also my job to calm and soothe the young (and not so young) patients who were frightened or nervous. It was the first time that many of them had ever seen a dentist. At one point I held a baby while its mother was being treated, I scurried to give stuffed animals to scared children, held down the arms of one boy who was flailing as they extracted his rotted and abcessed teeth. I had to turn my head away when there was a lot of blood -- they didn't need me losing my lunch then and there!
During one of the lunch pauses I went to see Chiripa's pups. She had given birth just as I was arriving on my previous visit and now, 10 days old their eyes still weren't open. I bent over to take some pictures and little four-year old Pamela leaned in to look as well. Just then Chiripa (whose name means dred-locks in Kichwa) decided to be protective of her babies. She came running over, jumped
Dental Student Ryan Assists
We gave stuffed animals to many of the smaller children. Little Nataly has her doggie resting on her lap as Dr. Bill fills cavities. up and but Pamela on the buttock (I guess I was too big so she picked on someone more her size). Pamela didn't cry, but just looked stunned. I had her lower her pants to show me the wound and sure enough the skin had been broken. We washed her bum with soap and hot water and then she went down to my truck with me where I had ointment and band-aids. Poor little thing!
By the end of the 2nd day of the dental clinic, I was totally exhausted! I got on the road early the following morning and went only as far as the nearest large town, Latacunga (2 hrs away). The road up from the village was still under construction, and at one point I was unable to get traction on a stretch of recently laid gravel. I backed down off of the newly laid surface and a huge steamroller type vehicle pulled in front of me and motioned me to follow in his tire tracks. He tamped down the loose stones and that did the trick - I got thru with no problem. Nothing like having the road
Healthy Mannequin
I'm always in a hurry when I pass this guy on my way out of Latacunga -- this time I asked him to pose for a photo. He willingly obliged. made directly in front of you!
Arriving in Latacunga I unloaded my junk at a hostel, then dropped my truck off at a mechanic shop that had been recommended by several people. A full vehicle work-up (tune-up, oil change, etc) is called an ABC. I ended up getting an ABCDE !!! They replaced steering terminals (no more clunkety-clunk noises!), repacked wheel bearings, changed filters, belts, new shock absorbers, spark plugs, radiator flush -- you name it. Morci had a full physical with all lab tests. To my relief, the whole shebang (including replacement parts) cost just $220.
While Morci was getting fixed up, I went for a manicure / pedicure and took myself out for some Mexican food. I watched a few movies on my computer (thanks Diane for loading them on for me!!) and chilled out. The next day after I picked up my truck, I met up with Roger - a new friend I'd been trying to connect with for over a year! Roger and his daughter had been guests at Mandala just after he finished his Peace Corps service (he joined
Lipsmacking Good Pork!
Silly trash can seen in Latacunga where I spent a day getting my truck overhauled while waiting to meet up with Roger. PC when he was in his early50's). After Peace Corps Roger found various ways of staying in Ecuador. He was helping construct greenhouses up in a mtn village (not too different from the one where I was working). He's now rebuilding an old mud wall house that he bought for a song in a northern village. We had been reading each other's blogs and I felt like we both had similar reasons for wanting to live in Ecuador. After emails and phone calls, we finally coordinated a window of free time to visit together in person.
That morning I'd gotten a text message from a friend in Banos -- "Mama T Woke Up" -- the volcano was active again so we hurried down to Banos (just 2 hrs away) so I could unpack my junk and put together my suitcase for my trip to the US, and we could admire Mama Tungurahua. She was hiding behind clouds a lot of the time, but the second night I leapt out of bed after a huge shaking boom at 2 am and banged on Roger's door to wake him up. The clouds had completely cleared
Back to Banos --
--just in time to see Mama Tungurahua start smoking again -- the clouds moved aside for a late night lava show! and we sat together in awe watching the lava spew forth and flow down the mountainside.
Roger and I enjoyed some good Scrabble matches, nice meals -- a great dinner with friends and then we said good-bye to Banos. He was eager to get back to his house project in the village of Cahuasqui, and I was curious to see this place that he was so enthused about. We got an early start and had a pleasant drive with gorgeous weather and almost no traffic. Banos is 3 hrs south of Quito and Cahuasqui is 3 hrs north, but the six hour drive flew by with good company and great conversation.
As the road wound up and around behind the northern city of Ibarra we passed thru a number of charming villages. We had a short pause as they worked on the bridge so we could cross over it. It still looked pretty dodgy to me, but a vehicle larger than mine made it over safely so I gritted my teeth and sped across. As we continued, the road became steeper and curvier (there are
Roger's Place on the Hill
Cahuasqui is a gorgeous village where Roger is rehabbing an old adobe house (flat roof in the distance). some good 7-letter Scrabble words!) and we finally were looking out over Cahuasqui, perched on a plateau in the middle of an immense valley surrounded by a patchwork of hillsides lining gentle mountain slopes on all sides.
We stopped on the town square for a bowl of chicken soup and some yummy desserts that the town's tourism council was offering. Then Roger took me up to the town's one hostel, Natur Pacha. Mariana and her clan (husband Hugo, six kids and two grandkids) were all just sitting down to their lunch. Since it was Easter weekend, everyone was visiting from out of town. The daughter showed me to a room where I relaxed for a few hours while Roger went for a power nap in his rental room in town. The hostel has amazing gardens, and Mariana showed me around proudly pointing out each bloom.
When Roger came back to get me, he commented to Mariana that sometime she and her family should come see the house he was fixing up. He and I were both surprised when the whole gang began jumping into the
Roger's Dream House
Peering out the window (no glass yet), dreaming of the day his traditional mud home will be inhabitable. truck. No time like the present for a whole family excursion! Roger took the wheel so I got to ride in Morci's truck bed (which I had never done before!) We bounced and jostled over the cobbled roads, enjoying the lovely views. It is truly a beautiful place.
Roger took us up to the old house he had bought, perched high on a hill with endless views in every direction. He showed us the work he had done; "stapling" the thick mud panels together with rebar clips for more stability, extending the two-room original house with an adoble front room/kitchen/bath; rescuing, restoring and replacing the original clay roof tiles, etc. He shared with us his ideas - vision - hopes and dreams for the completed house.
We all spent the rest of the afternoon together, chatting, laughing, looking at photos of the volcano, telling jokes and enjoying one another's company. What a friendly and lovely family. That evening Roger and I played some more Scrabble and had some guacamole and tortillas for dinner. Cahuasqui avocadoes have an incredible, creamy texture and amazing flavor. Yum yum! Another bad night on a hard mattress meant
Visiting Roger's House
We all jumped into the pick-up and headed up the hill. Roger was driving so I got to ride in the back (first time ever!) that I spent some time the next morning napping (and choosing photos for this blog). When I touched base with Roger he told me that we'd been invited over to have lunch with some friends of his. OK!
We took a stroll thru town, down to Yanara & Olivier's house. She's Ecuadorian (granddaughter of Ecuador's most famous artist) and he's Belgian. They met at film school in Belgium over 20 yrs ago. They live in Quito but enjoy weekends at their lovely country home in Cahuasqui. We ate, drank, laughed & sang around a big table out in the garden under an arbor of passion fruit vines. It was like being in some French film! Their Uruguayan neighbor, Sofia took me across to see her house, perched on the hillside with unbelievable views from a huge, open terrace. Both homes have been built on and out from an original mud house, using traditional adobe, rescued doors and shutters, paving stones and roof tiles. Just lovely!
We decided that Roger should take care of Morci and buy him new shoes (four tires) while I'm in the US.
Traditional Mud Houses in Town
Cahuasqui's cobbled streets are still lined with old mud houses, plants pushing up between the clay roof tiles (tejas). Why should the truck sit in a garage leaking oil when it could be of use to Roger to help him get ready to move into his home-under-construction? (hauling materials, a new mattress & stove, etc) So, I caught a lift back to Quito with Olivier (great to practice speaking French!) and I'm now in my hostel getting ready for sleep. I need to be awake in six hours to get to the airport at 3:30 am for a 6:00 am flight so I shall bid you all good-night. Thanks for reading of my latest adventures!
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tamara
non-member comment
US-bound! Can't wait to see you soon, Jill. Thanks for the great updates.