Chachimbiro and SUSI Friends 7/29/18

Ok, so maybe all I do here is party. Not really, but that seems to be all that makes its way into my blog. The rest is just a repeat of what I’ve done on 3 previous research trips, so I can’t imagine it’d be all that interesting to read about….or for me to write about…

Sunday 7/29/18 was Jenny’s birthday (28), so the whole family made plans to go to Chachimbiro (“Chachi”). 

Despite knowing the long car ride on twisty mountain roads that was ahead of me, I was super excited! I had gone to Chachimbiro in 2009 with Jason and an Ecuadorian student named Natalie, and I have very fond memories of this trip. For most of the two and a half hour bus ride, I distinctly remember hearing crying children and animal noises that didn't make any sense because they seem fairly consistent despite the fact that we were traveling. It was on this trip that I learned people often travel with their small farm animals by bus. Imagine my surprise when a woman got off the bus and the bus attendant helped her remove some small pigs from the storage space underneath the bus, where we normally keep luggage! So that was quite the experience, but Chachimbiro itself is also super cool. There are hot spring-fed pools, saunas, and generally water slides. (Enjoy these photos circa 2009, when I was a baby and had a bob:)

The site we went to also had sky cart thing that went across the valley on a cable and a zip line. Somehow, I let Jason talked me into going on the sky cart because I thought it would be like the one in Waldameer. Boy was I wrong! I was pretty convinced I was going to die the entire time. Needless to say, Jason did the zip line without me. Still, it was an incredible experience to see the valley from above the mountains. People here have been saying how much Chachi has changed over the years, so I was really looking forward to seeing it again with my host family. 

We all stopped and had lunch together first, which was kind of a nice way to break up the trip. Carla's 3 year old daughter Julie and I bonded by being silly together (I've won over the girls, but the two 2 year old boys are still a little unsure), so she was incredibly disappointed when she found out that Carla's family wasn't going swimming with us. Both of her little ones have colds, so she didn't think spending the afternoon in water was the best idea. I will admit to being a little surprised because the people here generally attribute the hot springs as having healing/restorative properties. In fact, one of the reasons Jenny wanted to go to Chachi was that she had a cold the same week I did, but her cough has still been lingering, so she was hoping the hot springs water would help her feel better.

We ended up going to a different site in Chachi, as there are many different haciendas, hotels, resorts, and pools. I was so excited to be out of the car and to go swimming again, that I forgot to take a single photo the entire time! Thankfully, Jenny sent me some photos her husband John took (which is why I’m sooo late in posting this). The neat thing about hot springs-fed pools around here is that there tend to be several different pools of varying temperatures, so there's something for everyone. I first went with Jenny, her husband John, Joseph, and his wife Yvonne to a cooler pool that had two water slides. John went down the steep one first and filmed the entire thing with his waterproof GoPro. I decided to ease into it, and went down the windy, twisty slide first. I’m a big water slide fan, so I thought it’d be good. That was a mistake. It was clearly meant for small children; it was very slow and boring, to be perfectly honest. Thankfully, the group was supportive, so ran back up to try the steep slide. It was certainly a fast ride, but it was a lot more fun!

From there, we went to the main swimming pool. For most people, it would probably have been the perfect temperature or a moderate temperature, but for me it was a little bit too warm, especially if I tried to swim around or play. I guess that’s my former swim-team member showing…I’m accustomed to cool pools! To the left of this pool, there were two small circular pools: one that was scalding hot and one that was absolutely freezing! I think I managed to dip a toe into each of them and that was about it! I was amazed that people (including my host dad, Pepe) seemed to enjoy both of them! To the right of main swimming pool, there was another pool slightly smaller than the main one. It was the absolute perfect temperature for me, but it was deserted. I made it a couple of steps into the pool before realizing the reason: it was filthy! So that was a no-go. Back to the crowded, slightly-too-warm pool for me.

True to my nature as a fish (or a mermaid, depending on who you ask) I ended up staying in the water longer than anyone else. When we arrived, Joseph and Ivonne’s son Josesito had been sleeping, so Cristina ‘sacrificed’ and offered to let him sleep on her lap like any good grandmother would. Everyone else had gotten out of the pool, gone to the sauna, showered, and changed by the time Josesito woke up and Cristina was able to go for a swim, so I was more than happy to stay in the water and wait for her. She had a bad experience swimming when she was younger, so she's not super water-confident. I think she was grateful to have someone with her, even though she's tall and the water was not that deep, so she would have been okay. I’m actually surprised by the number of people here – adults and children alike – who are not water-confident. I don’t say this as someone who spent several summers in swim camp who is being petty and critiquing their stroke technique; I say this as someone who learned at a very young age to respect water but not fear it: it’s shocking to me how many people I’ve seen at various pools in Ecuador who don’t know basic water safety. It makes me sad and appreciative of the great programs we have at home to teach kids water skills.

But back to the swimming…, I was happy to have the excuse to stay in the water as long as physically possible! We were only allowed to stay in the water until 7. We had taken our watches off, so Cristina and I had no idea what time it was when we finally got out around 6: 40. We were showered, changed, and leaving at 6: 55 p.m. I joked with the family that we had a whole five minutes to spare, so we should get back in the pool. (My family can testify that I would’ve done it, too! We once went on a vacation to an indoor water park, but due to unfortunate timing, I had a double ear infection. If you think that kept me out of the water or made me take it easy, then you don’t know me. First one in, last one out, baby.)

As if that wasn't enough fun for the day, I had actually started out the day with a coffee date with Miguel, who I haven't seen in person since the SUSI program in 2012 (he was a student and I was a mentor)! Even though Ecuador is if a fairly small country, and we had both wanted to get together previously, it just had never worked out. This trip, the stars aligned. He's actually living in a community a lot closer to Otavalo for a month in order to train teachers for Enseña Ecuador (Teach Ecuador), which is local version of Teach for America. 

For those of you who don't know, SUSI was a US State Department program in which 20 college students from Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador, spent 5 weeks in the US. Many of the students had never been on a plane, left their countries, or been to the US before. The idea was that the students had the potential to become future leaders in their communities, if only they were given the opportunity. They took classes at St. Bonaventure University and we took field trips around the area and even to Chicago, New York City, and DC (I didn't get to go on the last two because I had to move to KY to start grad school). I was one of four mentors who lived with the students and helped them with everything from daily Walmart runs (and I mean Every. Damn. Day.) to navigating cell phones to picking out presents to cooking to homework. It was an amazing, exhausting experience and we all became bonded for life. Every time I'm in Ecuador, I try to visit with my SUSI students as much as possible. I've been lucky that André, Andrea, and Mauricio normally live close enough to where I am researching that we are able to get together. Even though we're all generally the same age, they sort of feel like my kids and many of them called me Mom during the program. It's sort of fun when I'm here in the roles get reversed, with them taking care of me and worrying about me. Still, whenever we meet up and I hear about all the amazing things they're doing with their lives, I can't help but feel so proud at all they've accomplished! Maybe our program had nothing to do with it, but they certainly did a good job in choosing students with bright paths ahead of them. During the program, Miguel was very shy and was our youngest student. It was incredible to see how much he has come into his own in the six years since I last saw him. He's super smart (always was) and has found the perfect job and it's so rewarding to see him so happy! We're in the process of planning another mini SUSI reunion and we're trying to see how many people we can round up. Stay tuned for a future post on that, as it's sure to be highly entertaining!