EcuadorSabbatical

Off we go. Another beach vacation that does not quite turn out to be the beach vacation we planned. It is summer in the southern hemisphere and therefore it is in fact winter. There is no sun and it rains and drizzles and the sky is unrelentingly grey. Our day started with wonderful Quito sunshine. We flew past Cotopaxi and Chimborazo and turned tight toward the Pacific and on to Manta. Maya and I were so very excited in anticipation of warmth and sunshine and sand. We chose to save the $70 trip to Puerto Lopez and take the bus. Our taxi driver from the airport offered to drive us for $35, but we still (why oh why?) insisted on the bus. We were delighted to find a bus headed for Puerto Lopez at the makeshift 'bus station' (a gathering place with buses) waiting to leave, but then we found ourselves waiting some more to collect additional passengers. And waiting and waiting. The world cup was being televised but I was no longer interested, so I did not pay attention to who was pl...

I have lost my enthusiasm for soccer.  In truth, I rarely watch any sports. The exception is the World Cup every four years, and I always cheer for Italy. I remember watching every game during my internship year at St. Mary's Hospital in Montreal, I went to the Rosebowl when Brasil won against Italy after overtime and a shootout, I was in Berlin four years ago and watched almost every game through to the final, with great enthusiasm and excitement. Ecuador was at the World Cup that year, and it was fun to cheer the team on with all Ecuadorian flags and fans. This year, I started watching every game, but when France imploded and then Italy failed to get through the first round, and of course Ecuador never qualified anyway, I am struggling with who to cheer for. And it is too difficult to watch the teams I care about do so poorly. Ecuadorians are quite happy to see the South American teams do well, but I am not quite there yet. I am avoiding television screens, which are turned on to...

To celebrate the end of school and our impending move forward in our lives, we decided to join the Otavaleños and their celebration of Inti Raymi and St John the Baptist. I did not have a schedule or agenda, I just knew that activities would be in full swing, if not in Otavalo itself, certainly in one of the surrounding communities. Maya and I did not rush out of the house. We slept in, ate breakfast, practiced violin, waited for Gustavo to come, and finally took a taxi to the Carcelen bus station in the north. We chose the wrong bus, in that I wanted the bus that did not stop every two minutes on its way to Otavalo, but although we were assured that we would get to our destination in record time, the trip took over two hours. We met a young Korean American girl named Sunia, who had arrived a few days prior for a month long trip to Ecuador, and ended up spending the day together. Maya's primary goal for the trip was to visit the pie shop, so once we arrived at the bus station, we w...

It was the last day of school for Maya and my last Spanish lesson. It feels as if the year ended with a whimper, not a bang. Maya took the bus this morning armed with 30 strawberries to share with her class for an end of year party. She came home subdued, neither thrilled nor disappointed. It felt like just another day, partly because we had to rush across the park to get to orchestra and then violin lesson, which continue for a few more weeks. I had not planned to end Spanish class this early. I would have preferred to continue until we leave. I have this desperate wish to learn as much as possible and know more and more. I was not ready to say goodbye to Amparo, so I am planning to see her again, perhaps with her son Andres; if not for a lesson, we will get together socially. I am not at all good at saying good-bye. I talked to Luis, the owner of the language school , about when I will be back in Quito. In fact, I have said good-bye to no one. I am not quite ready to leave, to quit,...

I was thinking about who I would miss when I leave here, who I have become close to, who I will stay in contact with. In truth, we have been here too short a time to become fast friends with anyone. We have good relationships with Eric's colleague Santiago and his family, with the dueños of Sacha Lodge/Casa de Suizo, and Isabel and her family. I see the Canadian women most regularly (one gravitates toward those one has something in common with, although I have not lived in Canada for over twenty years), and have a closer relationship with Maria, whom I see regularly for lunch and sometimes on the weekend when our children play together. I am disappointed that we have not made more Ecuadorian friends. They are friendly and helpful and appear open to friendships, but there is also a certain reserve that keeps them at a distance. My impression is that family always comes first and when they walk past the high walls that surround their homes, they leave the outside world behind and do ...

With our year in Ecuador coming to an end, I find myself thinking about how this experience has changed me and my family. Our lives here have been so remarkably different from that we knew, that it is difficult to compare 'before' and 'after'. I have learned that we are adaptable, that we have been challenged and have overcome obstacles and disappointments and roadblocks and prevailed. I am amazed at Maya who was excited about coming here, struggled for months at her new school, but has learned a foreign language and has grown and matured and adjusted. I wonder if it is so difficult to leave because we faced such a bumpy transition. I learned that even far away in another world, we are who we are (wherever you are there you are) and don't change much. My family tells me that I am so much less stressed here, and there is no doubt that my life is more relaxed, but I still get anxious and angry and happy and sad and find it impossible to give up control entirely. I am ...

I could hear the rain falling before I woke up, which was not reassuring, so I took my time getting up and moving. It was cold and wet and miserable, and the mountains were shrouded in clouds. One option for the day was to get up early and catch a bus for Cochasqui, where a full day of winter solstice festivities were planned. It is one of the biggest indigenous festivals of the year, and later in the week, the holiday of St John the Baptist and St Peter and St Paul morph out of the more traditional Inti Raymi event to extend the celebration. But with such miserable weather, it was difficult to get enthusiastic about wandering about in the cold for the day. Maya and I took advantage of a momentary lull in the raindrops and sped over to Corfu for breakfast, where we settled under some braziers and warmed up while watching the Italy-New Zealand World Cup game. It was so much warmer than in the apartment. We have neither heat nor AC, and usually have no need for it. But our clothing is co...