Politics are interesting everywhere

Watching the American political scene from abroad is very interesting.  We had the opportunity to watch the first debate last week and hope to see the Palin/Biden this week.  However, sometimes I think we could just look up the most recent 60 Minutes interviews and see exactly the same thing that was said in the debates.  They certainly stay on message, don't they?

Anyway, here in Ecuador we also saw an exciting political week.  Sunday the entire country voted on a new constitution.  It was just modified in 1998 and now they were seeking the voters' approval to modify it once again.  Every adult citizen in the country is required to vote.  They enforce this somehow through the tax structure, I think, so you must have certification that you voted or you are penalized.  I wonder how different things might be in the U.S. if everyone was required to vote.  The other oddity was that from Friday until the close of polls on Sunday, all alcohol was forbidden to be sold.  I heard that if a citizen shows up drunk to the polls they can be imprisoned; and if an establishment gets caught selling alcohol during this dry period, they can lose their business permanently.  They sure want people to make a clear headed decision.  Even so, the decision must be a very difficult one because there were many changes to the 476 articles of the constitution.  A person may agree with some of the changes (e.g. opening up possibilities for gay marriage and abortion) but disagree with others (ceding more of the power to the Executive branch or President and reducing Statewide power), but they have to vote "Si" or "No" to all of the proposed changes.  

As you can see from the pictures, we had the opportunity to hear the President, Rafeal Correa,(he's the guy in the white shirt walking to the stage in the picture) speak in the Colosseum near our apartment about two weeks ago.  It was like a rock concert, well there was a rock concert both before and after his speech.  He is a young (well, our age) President with Socialist leanings, just like our own President.  We couldn't understand a word he said (and wouldn't have even if he spoke in English because the acoustics were pretty bad).  Anyway, we all enjoyed the dropping  balloons and the fog machine.  The vote passed easily on Sunday and now we will see the results of the changes, well maybe not by the time we leave. 

We started work this week.  So far so good, but this will have to be another post.

 Chao for now.

Beginning School and September Anniversaries

Got some thumbnails working on the photos! Click for larger versions of photos!

This past week we reached a few more milestones with our life in Ecuador. First, we re-established our link with the global world of the 21st century by getting our telecommunications fully restored. We have an internet and phone line in the ol’ departamento now, and so are re-connected to the virtual world. Our phone number here in Ecuador is … well, it is the same one that we had in Philadelphia, and yes charged as a local call. So feel free to give a call if you feel the need, or if you require emotional support with your tragic religious devotion / desire in regard to Philadelphia sports teams. Speaking of which, I see the Phils have climbed back into the wildcard race and still have a shot at the division. No pressure but if they fail to make the postseason I’m going to have to cut some people out of the Ukie Club.

Our second milestone was getting the kids in school. School started on Sept. 10. We got the date right, but the child wrong: we thought Julian would start on the 10th and Lizzie on the 11th, but it turned out to be the opposite. So, Julian got dolled up in his dress uniform (Mondays only) got to go home, whereas Lizzie, totally unprepared, had to attend classes. Lizzie was a bit upset at this turn of events: new student in a new school with a new language, and standing out like a sore thumb. However, by the time she came home she was in good spirits.

Apparently the hot dog lunch helped a lot as well as very friendly classmates, a few of which spoke fluent English. So, in contrast to the normal routine, Lizzie knocked down the doors of a new experience first and Julian road her coattails. Julian started two days later and managed quite well. As the pictures attest to, he is “playing” the-native-English-speaker-learning-Spanish-card quite well with the ladies.

The school is located a few miles outside of town on a mountainside, which supplies a marvelous view of the town. The kids get buses every morning at 7:00 and finish school at 1:30 and 2:10 respectively. We will have a better idea of how things will go by the end of the week with instruction all in Spanish, but all is going well for now. It may well be that getting all the school supplies for the year will end up being the toughest task. We had to go to about 10 different stores to finally track down all the supplies. The system here seems to be on the backs of parents – the schools supply little or no material, and a host of small stores sell everything from textbooks to uniforms to special pencils for graphic design.

An interesting sidelight to the beginning of school was seeing what seemed to be the doppelgaenger of our dear, departed friend Bruce Langfeld. A guitarist played a few songs to open the school day; and with his mannerisms and lyrical worldview (most of which I couldn’t understand) he might well have been (or be) the living spirit of Bruce.

As for the parents of these children, they are still on vacation and will not begin work until September 26 or so. I tell you, Ecuador is a hard slog every single day!

A few other noteworthy items. The anniversary of September 11 got coverage down here, but interestingly another September 11 is acknowledged down here in South America: September 11, 1973. Anyone? I’ll give you a few more seconds…. Yes, that’s right – the Coup in Chile that toppled the socialist president Salvador Allende (who committed suicide rather than surrender) and put Augusto Pinochet in power. I was a bit surprised that it was news in Ecuador, but I am slowly growing aware of a South American sensibility that seems to pervade the whole continent. Associated with this anniversary is the death of the great Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda, who was closely connected to Allende. Neruda died about 12 days after the coup. I’ve been considering getting a book of his poems (always a great way to get a rhythmic feel for a language) but am still waiting for a bigger bump in the language department.

The anniversary of the Chilean coup coincides with the growing political crisis in Bolivia. Again, think South America not just Ecuador. The eastern provinces have been the sight of protests and deaths lately. The eastern provinces are where the mineral and gas industries are located and they are none too happy with the socialist-oriented policies of President Evo Morales, who wants to nationalize certain industries and redistribute land to the poor and to the indigenous population. Just another example of states’ rights vs. federal government? Is Evo Morales Fidel Castro, FDR or the NFL commissioner? Washington is waking up to the whole conflict. What will WE do? 1973 revisited?

Now think this at the same time as you are watching Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb spare off in their little psychodrama.

September in Ecuador

September is upon us, in fact approaching the middle of the month, so time to check in and take a bit of stock. We have been here, at least me and the kids, for over a month now. The kids start school this week (Lizzie, has in fact, already begun) and Bridget and I will start our jobs later in the month. 

So, some reports:

1) World Cup Qualifications: Yea, I'm sure big on everyone's list, but top stuff down here. You can see the current standings here http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/futbol/tables?league=FIFA.WORLDQ.CONMEBOL. They have a whole year of matches left, so the standings will change, but still some surprises. Paraguay leading Brazil and Argentina by four points. Saw Paraguay play Venezuela the other night and they seemed like a pretty solid side. I missed their match against Argentina (tie) which might have provided a bit better assessment. Brazil is not looking good. As far as I understand they never do that well in the qualifications, but of course, have 5 World Cups. The top 4 teams advance to the World Cup Finals with a possible 5th team going as a wild card. So, Brazil in the number 2 position should have no worries. However, last night they tied Bolivia at home (half-empty stadium!) with a man advantage over the last 30 minutes. Their fans booed them off the field. After the humiliation in the Olympics against Argentina, Brazil seems awash. 

As for Ecuador, they gained a historic tie against Uruguay last night. Historic, because Uruguay is one of the great, albeit historical, soccer powers on the continent (won the first World Cup in 1930 and beat Brazil in 1950 - the famous "maracanzo" match which is still considered one of the greatest upsets of all time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/uruguay_v_Brazil_(World_Cup_1950) &

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pMmRFKKZfk) and, Ecuador has never won in Uruguay. Anyway, I didn't care much for the Ecuadorian play. The Uruguayans seem to play to space better and have a lot better technical skill. The Ecuadorians seem to play a bit more of a kick-and-run style and with sheer athleticism and moments of brilliance. Ecuador played much better in the second half, and celebrated the historic "tie." Still, I don't know if it makes up for the Graf Spee incident of December 1939 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/graf_spee_in_montevideo.htm.

2) Constitutional Referendum - September 28: That's right, some real political news besides the Abbot & Costello show of American politics. I'm not sure I've gotten a handle on everything here, but apparently there are three key issues: 1) greater executive (unilateral) power for the socialist-oriented president, Rafael Correa; 2) liberalizing marriage to include gay unions; 3) and allowing abortion. It is an interesting struggle. The religious conservative factions are against  the new constitution on the social issues; while the liberal, populist factions seem to favor the social issues as well as, perhaps, the greater executive power (perhaps Correa wants to pursue a course of nationalicization like his buddy, Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela)

3) Learning Spanish: Learning a language is like losing 50-0 in College Football and the other team keeps on going for 2-point conversions after a touchdown. I get maybe 5% of all conversations, 7.99% if I'm lucky. I'm shooting for 10% by October.

4) Beach Weekend in Montanita: We took a long weekend on the Pacific Coast at a little beach side place called Montanita (should be a en-ney but I can't find the keyboard for it). It took us 7 hours (one-way) by bus from Cuenca, which was a bit of a stretch but we roughed it out. We traveled like locals and got a chance to see the countryside as well. In order to get to Montanita we first had to cross the mountains to transfer at Guayaquil. Going through the mountains is quite spectacular and a bit nerve-wracking as the bus drivers don't really slow down even when they pass through the mountain mist with near-zero visibility. After you get out of the mountains, the cool weather changes over to a more humid coastal weather. We changed in Guayaqil and then got another bus for the coast. 

We stayed in a pretty nice hotel with a seaside view and a pool/jacuzzi. The beach has a spectacular view of "la punta" - a cliff wall that juts out into the ocean, and a little point on the top. 

The water was warm and the waves were, to quote Jeff Spicoli, "tasty." Julian took some surf lessons and did pretty well. Steve McGarrett would be proud: "Book'em Dano." 

The beach is a surfer's hangout and the town has a general laid-back, doped-out, surfer feel to it. Somewhere between Frankie Avalon and "Surf Nazis Must Die." The center of town has shops and restaurants that seem to be open to all hours. We took in a bit of the night life with Lizzie and Bridget getting the best of it talking to "Grasshopper Man" who made all things out of grass and wire.

And finally, what is a blog post without a cat. Here's "Sleazebag" who joined us at a restaurant - the only restaurant I could find that brewed real coffee (unbelievably hard to find in Ecuador, which lists Coca as one of its biggest crops) and which also served a tasty breakfast- a green plaintain mixed up with cheese and ham in a big fat ball.

That's all for now. Sorry for the primitive html editing. I'll try to figure out thumbnails by the next blog post, and maybe start to add some video....The world waits....

Americans Eat Cuy (Guinea Pig)

So for those of you who are impressed (aghast, dumbfounded, etc.) that we would pack up our family for a year in a foreign land (I think it was our friend Tommy who said, "How do you sit down with balls that big?), let me introduce you to the St. Claires.  We met this family from North Carolina at the language institute where we were getting Spanish tutoring and will ultimately be teaching.  (Have I mentioned that I haven't worked in almost a month, what an odd thing.  I have been doing a lot more dishes though., but I digress...)  Anyway, John and Kelly St. Claire are also taking a year off to travel the entire globe with their 3(!) kids ages 7, 10, and 12.  Talk about cojones!  They have very few belongings because they are basically back packing around the world.  South America (Cuenca was their longest stay, for 3 weeks), Japan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, South Africa and a host of other places I will be following on their blog: exploringthemarble.com.  We seem to have a fair amount in common including sending our kids to the local schools and getting over involved in the PTA.  Their kids are very sweet and very bright and got along really well with our kids.  Well, I think they liked the kids almost as much as they liked their electronics.

Anyway on their last night in Cuenca we went together for a Cuy feast at the local establishment Huaribamba for our Guinea Pig attempt.  Check out the pictures.  It tastes like pork a little but a little fattier, with a tough, crunchy skin.  Julian and Norm get the prize for eating the most Cuy.  Although Ainsley (12), Jack (10) and John (Dad) definitely get honorable mentions.  Kelly, Lizzie and Elliott (7) all tasted and then moved on.  I ate my shank and that was good enough for me.  However, for Thanksgiving I am thinking of making a Turpiglen.  Whose coming for Thanksgiving!?

Chao!

  

Trip to Cajas National Park

Ok, so for those of you who have been waiting, we apologize. We keep thinking we are getting internet access in our home any day now. So we have been waiting to post. But communications are our biggest problem here. We have to go to the internet cafes to use the computer and our phones have been troublesome too. So we are very sorry. Additionally, on Friday September 5 we went for a little vacation at the beach. That will be our next post.

However, on August 27 we went to Cajas National park. If you look at the mountains that are visible from our apartment window, we are looking at the Andes Mountains and Cajas, in particular. These are amazing mountains that probably reach to 12,000 feet. Again, it is not a warm experience to go there. Yet we fared better than another American family who went on a completely rainy day. We saw the sun from time to time. There were a lot of Alpaca roaming the park. Coincidentally, our guide who you see explaining the Quinoa tree to Bridget went by the name of Cuco. He is the cousin of a guy who is being sponsored by Carmen to go to CCP for music, also by the name of Julian. We got a kick out of what a small world we live in.

I haven´t a clue how to arrange the pictures the way I want to yet. So I will keep making small posts and adding to them. For those of you who would like to comment, you need to click on the Title to the right of the blog and then it will present you with the option to comment at the end of the post.

We really miss everyone and hope to be in better contact within the next couple of weeks when we get our internet and phone situations worked out. Julian starts school tomorrow and Lizzie starts on Thursday. Bye for now.