It felt a little bit like I was living on the set of Slumdog Millionaire, except this is no movie. This is real life. Poverty is not always what people imagine--hungry, incapable persons living under a scorching sun--poverty is plenty of food, but food that is of poor quality and nutrition. Poverty is plenty of available work, but work that is dangerous, and brings in the handsome sum of less than two dollars a day. Here in guayaquil, we are staying with host families that live in a very wealthy quarter of the city called Samborondon. Outside of this sector, on the way to Duran, are the squatter communities that we are trying to help through the nonprofit organization Hogar de Christo. And then I learned that there is a class of people living here that have even less than the squatters...I just, um, can't explain how I feel about that. People always say that life I the US is so fortunate, but I had heard that all too often to really believe it before finally coming here and seeing it.
We spent the greater portion of today building a bamboo house for a woman that had purchased the "kit" from Hogar de Christo a few months ago (for about $800...and these houses will last around three years, during which time the families can reinforce them for greater durability and longevity) but had no way of building it. The houses are built on stilts here because the rainy season guarantees flooding across Guayaquil. These one room houses can support up to 10 people, though that seems like a miserably cramped lifestyle to me. The most exciting part of the project was that we also were able to add a composting toilet--the only one around this area and a strong symbol of the beginning of improved sanitation in the developing parts of Ecuador.
But enough on toilets...
There are a few things you should know if you want a picture of Guayaquil:
1) as in the rest of Ecuador, lunch is the biggest meal of the day
2) a taxi ride across town only costs $4
3) the doors on public buses remain forever open...and vendors of ice cream, water, and candy hop on and off as they please
4) the richest man in Ecuador lives only a few neighborhoods away, and children of important figures here go to UEES (Universidad Espiritual Santo), so to get onto the very campus without a guide, you need to scan your fingerprint
5) Chifa! Chinese Ecuadorian food. Trust me, it sucks, don't risk your health for it.
6) most of the old town burned years ago...except for a small portion of downtown...aka, not a whole lot of authentic Guayaquil to get a taste off
7) iguanas are everywhere! University of Washington has squirrels and UEES has iguanas. A park in the middle of the city is absolutely filled with them, and visitors who (despite the signs prohibiting it) try to cuddle them
8) all neighborhoods here in Samborodon (that I have seen at least) are gated. They are little havens of safety in what is by far the safest part of Guayaquil
9) it is not at all uncommon here for people to have live in housekeepers...which brings me to my host family.
I got ridiculously lucky with my family--it is such a unique scenario, and one that I am really having a lot of fun being a part of. I live with Gretta (my host mom), Jose (dad), Jose (28 year old bro), Mika (exchange student from Japan), Emanuel (cousin), Maria Eduarda (adorable, 6 years old, the housekeeper's daughter), and the sweet sweet housekeeper, Solanda. Solanda made me a pile of patacones (not sure on the spelling, but they are double fried plantains--super yummy) for breakfast yesterday and refused to let me help with any dishes. I am getting spoiled down here.
Spanish is coming really quickly for me now, except for when Emanuel spoils me by speaking in English. Regardless, I don't see how I couldn't have picked it up during the four hour long conversations that follow dinner each night.
Morocho! Ecuadorian street food, aka empanadas and this warm and cinnamon-y milkshake of a drink (made with corn and...I honestly have no idea), is muy muy rico.
The Barcelona football team was here for a soccer game...and they lost, which made for some happy Ecuadorians. I am sure you know that the excitement about football here reaches considerably higher levels here than it does in the States, but opposing fans will fight in the streets and clog the roads until Samborondon no longer seems nearly as wealthy as it actually is.
After work yesterday, we went to an artisan market and ate Chifa. And then later on in the evening, I went to the benediction of a new Madonna/waterfall/outdoor extension of the local church. My host mom gave a speech, a famous ecuadorian soprano sang a short program, and then everyone prayed the rosary in spanish (from what I can tell, religion other than Catholicism is as rare here as blonde hair).
In short, this week is going by much much too fast. Guayaquil is definitely going to show up again in my future. No doubt about that. But for now, I have a fresh crab dinner awaiting me (and the best part is that the crabs here are purple! So elegant, right?). Ciao!
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