The following is an update from Juanita. I wasn't sure who she was emailing so I just forwarded this on to everyone. So sorry if this is a repeat for you.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
juanitaruthone@juno.com <juanitaruthone@juno.com>Date: Wed, Jan 11, 2012 at 7:56 PM
Subject: Juanita's first Ecuador message
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Hi Family and Friends,
Greetings from Cuenca, Ecuador! My first week here has been a very busy one and quite adventuresome, although not necessarily in the way I had anticipated. But I digress…
I flew into Guayaquil, Ecuador on Sunday night. The check-in agent at Dulles was kind enough to overlook the overweight aspect of my individual bags, but I still had to pay $185.00 for checking more than one bag. (International flights used to allow two free bags.) Customs in Guayaquil just waved me through with big smiles without searching any of my luggage. An agent from the Guayaquil Ramada was there with a sign saying "Anita One" but I knew it was for me. A quick ride and check-in and I was in my room overlooking the city's Malecon – its lovely and popular boardwalk which at sunrise the next morning was full of joggers and bikers.
I caught a shared van at 10:00 for the ride to Cuenca. I told them I needed to sit next to the driver because I knew we would be going along many crooked mountain roads. The first hour of the ride was through a low, flat agricultural plain in which the houses were built on stilts since the area frequently floods. We passed acres (hectares) of bananas, corn, rice, and crops I didn't recognize. Roadside stands offered oranges, limes, papayas, bananas, corn and some sort of melon
.
As we began climbing into the mountains, we saw lots of signs promoting "Sport fishing" and a number of restaurants offering "fresh river trout." As we gained altitude, there was such a changing variety of trees that I wished I had known how to identify more of them. I asked the driver, but like many of us living anywhere, residents so take their native plants for granted that they don't know their names.
The road between Guayaquil and Cuenca climbs to 13,000 feet so I quickly began to feel the light-headedness and shortness of breath of altitude adjustment. The road also passes through a huge national park which is home to a cloud forest and a wide variety of animals and birds. Our van driver had made the 8-hour roundtrip on a daily basis for many years, so he knew every turn in the road! Thank goodness, because at times the clouds were so thick I could barely see two cars ahead.
The Hostel Macondo was to be my home for three nights while I searched for long-term housing. It is a charming place that I would recommend to anyone. Built in a Spanish colonial hacienda style, its rooms wrapped around a beautiful flower-bedecked garden with fountain. After settling (but not fully unpacking since this would be a temporary residence) I took a taxi to CEDEI (the Center for Interamerican Studies) where I will be teaching English. I discovered that I was the first among the 19 expected new English teachers to arrive, (over enthusiastic?) so I would pretty much have my pick of the housing which the English director, Veronica, would take me to see the next day. My goal for this day was to procure a cell phone that would function in Ecuador and become my local number. I got a Nokia which I'm still trying to figure out. My number is 069031705. I'm sure that if one were to call from the states there would be several numbers in front of those. However, I expect to use Skype for make verbal contact back home.
Back at the Hostel Maconda, because we all shared a kitchen, as well as the patio, I quickly met some other just-arrived patrons. Only one was another CEDEI English teacher – a Canadian named Maureen. However, because three U.S. colleges are currently at CEDEI for 6-week courses in Spanish and Latin-american cultures, their professors were all staying there as well. (The students live with host families.) One of the colleges is Salisbury from Maryland's Eastern Shore. I also met a lovely woman about my age who just came down with the intention of retiring here – no family, no job. Her name is Ruth Anne Seibel and she, Maureen and I quickly formed a convivial group with whom to venture.
House-hunting day was long and challenging. Cuenca sits in a fairly-large valley surrounded by mountains and crisscrossed by four rapidly-flowing rivers. The heart of the city "El Centro" is relatively flat (the operative word being relative). Veronica had shown me a descriptive list of available rooms and apartments. I chose several to visit that she said were "close by" – ten to fifteen minutes walk. We quickly discovered that her "15 – 20 minutes" was my 30 – 40 minutes. I would walk 1 ½ blocks and then have to stop to "windowshop" while I caught my breath and took a sip of water.
I really liked the first place we visited – after a 45-minute walk in which she kept saying "we're almost there." After looking at half-a-dozen other places (some closer, none as appealing) I decided that I would take this one because I could take a leisurely 35-minute walk DOWN hill in the morning (meeting my cardiologist's goal of a 30-minute walk daily) and then take a taxi back UPHILL at the end of the day.
My rent is only $140/month for a large bedroom with private bath (the other three rooms in the home share two bathrooms for $120/month). My bedroom also has a window wall that overlooks a garden and whose windows are under a large overhang allowing me to have them open for fresh air even during the daily heavy rains. So, I figured that even if I had to pay $2 daily for a taxi ride home, I was still getting a bargain. The rent includes all utilities including Internet.
The landlady, Yolanda, is a "soltera" (single woman) who works at a local TV station and has hosted many CEDEI teachers over the years. She takes English lessons at CEDEI and enjoys the company of people from different countries. Our apartment is on the second floor of the building with other families above and below us. This is a pretty typical layout here in the city.
Friday was our Orientation day at CEDEI during which we met most of the staff, all of the new English teachers and some returning ones, toured all three locations and wound up with a pizza lunch. Pizza is VERY popular here.
Saturday was my day to move into Yolanda's, thoroughly unpack and get oriented to my new neighborhood. I found a small grocery nearby and stocked up on a few items for breakfast and dinner (bread, juices, fruit, yoghurt and cereal). The large meal is taken at midday when many businesses close and hundreds of little cafes serve an "almuerzo" which is a 3-course meal – delicious homemade soup, entrée of chicken or beef, rice and mixed vegetables, with a fresh-squeezed fruit juice. The price ranges from $1.70 to $3.00. That definitely is my main meal of the day and usually quite tasty!
On Sunday we had a morning meeting during which we received our teaching assignments. I was given one 3:00- 4:15 p.m. class daily at the main location dubbed the "Centro" and a 4-hour class to teach on Saturdays at an urban location called "Paseo" to which I will have to take buses each way 50-cent roundtrip. Since that is only 10 hours per week of teaching, I also signed up for Tutorials which would be 2-hour private lessons on demand.
That afternoon three of us new CEDEI professors -- Maureen, a BIG black retired professional basketball player-turned high-school teacher named Felipe and I -- ventured out to the huge modern Mall del Rio for some shopping and checking the place out. In their food court Felipe and I both enjoyed a rice and shrimp dish that would do New Orleans proud. Maureen went for a Burger King cheeseburger!
Monday was our first day of teaching. Since I am by nature a morning person I would have preferred having a class earlier than 3:00 (which has become a favorite nap time) so I spent my morning taking the leisurely-paced downhill walk (stopping twice in parks to enjoy the Spring-like weather and my favorite sport of people watching. I also had to get my picture taken for official IDs here and had various minor purchases to trace down such as batteries, mouthwash, mints, etc.
After my almuerzo, I debated whether or not to take a taxi back to the house for a legitimate nap or just to "chill" at CEDEI. I chose the latter and settled in a quiet corner of the garden where I could watch the hummingbirds flit between the fuschia, booganvilla, cala lilies and orchids. I was even able to rest my head on a table for a quick cat nap.
My class consisted of four adolescents – two 13-yr-old boys and two 16-yr-old girls -- an awkward mix under the best of circumstances. But we managed to get to know each other (through peer interviews and partner introductions -- girl and boy) with much shyness and laughter.
After class I accidentally tripped in the computer lab, falling forward onto the rough concrete floor and busting open my left knee. The fall stopped with my scrapping my face on the floor. Immediately I was surrounded by fellow teachers -- two of whom are EMTs in the states. The staff rushed up with a first-aid kit and Mike Olson cleaned and tightly wrapped the knee while Lisa cleaned and medicated my face.
An ambulance quickly arrived to take me to the hospital. The stretcher was an interesting device made in Italy which came in two vertical sections that slipped under me to connect, enabling them to lift me right off of the floor. They tied me tightly to the stretcher because I had to be carried down three flights of steep, narrow winding stairs. Mike joked that I would learn what a couch feels like being moved into a multi-stair apartment! It was both funny and slightly frightening, rather like a scene in an old European movie!
One of the staff members, Christian, who I had met earlier and connected well with, accompanied me to the hospital and into the emergency ward. I received 14 stitches across my knee and he bravely held my hand while I occasionally yelled. They did inject the knee with an anesthetic before stitching, but apparently didn´t use a topical anesthetic prior to the injections so I did experience a few moments of intense pain in which I screamed loudly. But he called me a real trooper because other students who previously got hurt cried a lot, but I didn´t cry at all.
Anyway, we brought me home to bed and my landlady made a wonderful soup for me. She also lovingly awakened me at 3:00 a.m. to take medicine and go to the bathroom. Other than that, I slept very well (with a few weird dreams), so I was surprised upon awakening at 10:00 a.m. to find my bandages, p.j.s and sheet all bloody. I called the school director who came and took me back to the clinic. Interestingly enough, once they removed the bloody bandages, the wound appeared clear and stitches all in place. The doctor pressed along both sides of the stitches and no more blood appeared. We decided that perhaps my blood pressure may have arisen during the night due to the shock, and that I probably bent the knee several times (we know about restless legs, don´t we?).
So the knee is now re-bandaged and I am to avoid bended it quickly or frequently. The stitches will come out in 15 days.
Although I like where I am living, I will probably move next week when a shared apartment much closer to the school becomes available. The school has canceled my afternoon classes for the rest of this week. We are hoping that I will be up to teaching the 4-hour class on Saturday.
Meanwhile I will just rest at home, sleep, read and eat. I did, along with fellow teacher and housemate Christina, take a taxi into school this morning for a teachers' workshop -- one of four required of us. I taxied right home thereafter and have slept most of the day.
Other than that, things are going well and I expect to be better in time for when the dancing classes begin one week from Friday.
Love to all. Please don´t worry, but you certainly can send me loving thoughts and prayers...and I would welcome your news…
Love, light and laughter,
Juanita Ruth One
CEDEI, Depto de Ingles
Casilla 597
Cuenca, Ecuador
Juanita Ruth One
Holding the World in the Light of Peace
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