6:15 am -- Wake up and shower. Try not to scratch at the bug bites. Read a little. Look out the window (fearfully) to see how hot it is going to be. If it is slightly overcast, it will only be moderately hot. If the cloud cover has already burned off from the sun, I'm in trouble.
7:00 am -- Eat breakfast (eggs, milk, fresh juice, and bread with cheese). Wait for Jennifer's grouchy morning greeting and grooming and whining.
7:30 am -- Dr. Torres drops me off at bus terminal/hospital/clinic. I am greeted with: "Ambato, Ambato, Ambato, Ambaaatttoooooo. A Macas, a Macas, a Macas, a Maaacaaaaas. Banos, Banos, Banos, Bannoooos." These are the bus-men who shout out the destinations of their vehicles. Clearly, since I must be a tourist, I should be headed to Banos, Ecuador's go to gringo-tourist location. Unfortunately, though I am a tourist of sorts, I am not (usually) headed to Banos. I daily disappoint the bus-men.
7:45 am -- Catch the 25 cent (crowded) bus ride to where ever I happen to be going.
8:00 am -- Start work (taking signos de vital, holding hands during shots, explaining medication, etc.) Have problems understanding Spanish. Make a funny (harmless) mistake. Provide comic relief to the nursing staff.
1:oo pm -- Attempt to navigate the daily problem of where to grab almuerzo. One wrong step can send me to the farmacia with a prescription for Cipro. Usually consists of some sort of soup with a plate of rice and meat (or pasta). In all, sets me back $1.50. Sweet.
2:00 pm -- Return to work after a long walk around whatever town I am in. Ecuadorians seem to take EXTREMELY long lunches and I, having grown accustomed to my hectic UCSD dine-and-dash schedule, find myself with anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour of "free time". This would be fantastic if there were a bookstore to sit in or a park with shady trees to take refuge, but alas, these don't exist in Puyo. Work, after lunch, may or may not be the same clinic I started at in the morning. Sometimes, I visit two different clinics. Sometimes, I visit one clinic and work at the orphanage in the afternoons. It all depends.
5:00 pm -- Leave work and wait for the bus.
5:15 pm -- May or may not be waiting, still.
5:25 pm --Catch a bus and hope it is not raining. When it rains, people close the windows and the inside of the bus steams up from the body heat and dampened clothing of the passengers. Babies may or may not be breast-feeding at this time. At least 5 people have a terrible sounding cough at any given time. Crowded. The road is winding.
5:50 pm -- Arrive at the bus terminal, catch a friendly yellow taxi and say, "Buenas. El Jardin de Gabriela Mistral, por favor" because the house where I am staying does not really have a street name.
6:05 pm -- Dropped off at El Jardin after a short and friendly conversation that goes something like this (on my end), "No, haha, I'm Korean, not Chinese./I'm a pre-medical student working in Ecuador./I've been here for a month. I have a month left./Yes I'm enjoying Ecuador very much./One dollar?"
6:10 pm -- Take a short walk to the front steps of my house, greet the family, jump into the shower to rinse off, apply anti-itch salve to the bug-bites (old and new).
7:00 pm -- Dinner.
7:45 pm -- Play with the kids, watch a movie. Oddly enough, this point of the day is where I learn the most Spanish.
9:30 pm -- Goof off on the internet
11:00 pm -- Bed time, finally.
2:00 am -- Scratch, scratch, scratch.
And then, repeat! The days go by fast. I love it.
This weekend marks the first that I've actually stayed with my homestay family. When Adrienne, Eve, and James (I miss you guys!) were still in Ecuador, we would habitually retreat to the gringo haven of Banos, much to the mild chagrin of Vivi. But now, alone in Ecuador, I'm embarking on a new adventure: A Weekend with the Torres(es). But not just any weekend, it's Dia de los Muertos, which means we all have Monday AND Tuesday off. Score!
Friday: Come home to an empty house. The kids and Vivi have gone to the pool. I am free to surf the internet in peace for several hours. The family returns and, exhausted, Vivi (understandably) cannot muster the energy to cook a huge meal for the 5 of us. We go to a local dinner place and eat together. I feel like an intruder on their family time, but they are very gracious and include me in on everything. The kids and I watch El Rey Leon (The Lion King), it is their first time! Mateo does NOT like the part where Mufasa dies. He is upset. The film ends. They loved it. Time for bed.
Saturday: Wake up at 6 am (out of habit and, in part, because of the neighborhood roosters) and spend the next 4 hours holed up in the room watching the remaining episodes of 24 (Season 4), which, for some reason, were downloaded on my iTunes. Hooked. Go to the indique in Mera (think dammed up river for swimming). Jennifer's swimming instructor and their family have joined us. The water is freezing and absolutely lovely. Mateo has decided to be difficult today and refuses to go into the water (he is still wearing his Superman pajamas). The indique is crowded, with people in various degrees of undress (undergarments suffice as a swim suit, here). There is a woman with a bar of soap, bathing. As soon as I get out of the river, bug bites. I am sunburnt, but I had a good time. Next, Vivi's crazy driving back to the house, a shower, dinner, and Tierra de Osos (Brother Bear). I think these nightly movies will become a ritual.
Sunday: Vivi's friend, her son, and her niece have come to visit for the weekend. There is breakfast and then we all pile into one car (eight people) with the kids in the trunk to go to Rio Verde. I misunderstand where we are going, because Vivi said something about shopping (I think we are going into the Centro). No go. We are climbing down to Pailon de Diablo (a waterfall). I did this "hike" (it's not that bad) with Adrienne, Eve, and James last weekend, but, due to my state of unprepared-ness, was forced to do it yesterday in flimsy flip-flops. Also, with 3 small children...tough. We make it back up and pile back into the car to Rio Negro, where we catch up with Tio Diego y Tia Yuli. I like Diego and Yuli. They are going fishing and we will join them as soon as we eat our plate of trucha...which FINALLY comes at 4 pm, nearly 2 hours after arriving at the restaurant. Vivi is NOT pleased. There is no fishing. It is starting to rain and is actually quite chilly. There's a lovely little brook that runs past the restaurant and Gabriel (Vivi's friend's son) plays around on the stones in the brook. Expectedly, he falls in, and is completely soaked. (I am still laughing from the memory of his face, his mother's face, and Dr. Torres' face). He does not have extra clothes. It is freezing. Gabriel, who is 8, is forced to wear Mateo's spare set of clothes. Mateo is 3. What ensued is possibly the funniest sight I've experienced in Ecuador. Short shorts. I wish I had a camera. Vivi, Mateo, and I stop by a huge outdoor market and buy papayas, pinapples, mandarins, strawberries, beets, etc. We return home, I teach Mateo to dance some Madonna moves (fierce), and we have dinner: atun. I just want you all to know, I will not be eating canned tuna for at least 6 months after I return. I can't handle it anymore. I don't know what it is. I go to bed early, exhausted.
Monday: Still working on it!!!
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