Noviembre

On Tuesday night a group of 100 "gringos", as we Americans are fondly called here in Ecuador, gathered in Finn McCool's (an Irish pup) to anxiously await the results of the election. I can't describe how strange it is to be huddled in an Irish pub in Ecuador and for one of the first times in my life, feel a sense of pride and patriotism towards the US. It was amazing to see Obama take the stage as the next president and even more amazing when we walked outside the pub at 1 am and realized that no one else in Ecuador probably even knew what had happened.


Election night was a wake up call that it is already November! Where has the time gone? I am started to feel pressed for time as lots of 15 page papers in Spanish loom over me in the next few weeks. However, there is always still time for adventure and exploring. Two weekends ago I had the opportunity to travel to Timbopukura, an entirely indigenous community located in the province of Cotopaxi with my public health professor. Although we spent an hour of our journey standing precariously on the side of the highway due to a tire explosion, visiting the community was amazing! I spent the afternoon exploring and learning about agriculture and community medicine. Over the course of the next semester I am going to be implementing a mini public health initiative in this community. 70% of children under 5 in Ecuador have childhood onset anemia due to a lack of iron in the diet. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health has decided to implement a nation wide project to provide an iron supplement in powdered form to mothers so they can give it to their children in an effort to diminish the percentage of anemia. My public health professor is very involved with the initiative and so I am going to implement a pilot study for the larger project in the community of Timbopukura. I am really looking forward to working with the community health aide, Alejandro, who lives in Timbopukura to implement the project. Alejandro not only provides all health services to the community, using both Western and traditional medicine, but he is also the community midwife. I know that I have a lot to learn from him about his community and indigenous health care in Ecuador.

Of course, not all travels are school related. Last weekend I ventured to Banos, the outdoor adventure capital of Ecuador. We rode bikes through the countryside to visit a series of waterfalls. The scenery was amazing, lush green mountains with gigantic waterfalls, but the bike riding itself was semi-terrifying experience due to broken brakes and cars zooming past at what felt like 80 miles an hour. Following a full day of bike riding and hiking we enjoyed an evening at "Cafe Hood" an extremely eccentric restaurant with Ganesh painted on one of the walls, Italian servers, and surprisingly delicious chicken curry sandwiches prepared by an Ecuadorian chef. Our weekend of adventure continued as we repelled down a series of waterfalls the following day which culminated in a 45 foot drop down the largest fall. Needless to say, I came back to Quito and could barely walk up the stairs from all of our activity.

A few random side notes:

1) I joined the salsa dancing club at USFQ and finally found the non Laguna beach student crowd. We are working on perfecting our rueda (salsa dancing in a circle where you continually switch partners) for a performance at school at the end of the semester.

2) I am teaching my almost 3 year old host sister some English but I don't think I am doing the best job because every time I ask her what color something is, her response is pink. Maybe she just likes the way the word sounds...

3) November 2nd, Dia de los Difuntos (All Soul's Day), is an important celebration in Ecuador. The day is filled with a variety of traditional foods, including colada morada, my new favorite drink. It is a cider like beverage but made from blueberries, blackberries, and pineapple. Delicious!

I miss you all and hope that all is well. Much love!