Passport woes and Quichua schools

THIS PART IS MORE BORING, BELOW IS COOL SALASACA STUFF

Well, I am in Baños briefly to use what we will call the ¨real internet.¨ Salasaca, sometimes, has very slow Internet, sometimes, maybe.

I arrived in Quito and surprisingly there was absolutely no problem with the pump. They didn´t even ask me what it was! Which was good, because on the plane ride I was thinking about it, and the word for pump in Spanish is ¨bomba,¨ unfortunately, ¨bomba¨ also means bomb. So I didn´t know what I was going to say. Because ¨I have a bomba¨ would probably be translated as ¨I have a bomb,¨ instead of ¨I have a pipe.¨ Talk about lost in translation. But there were no problems.

There was, however, a HUGE problem with my passport. Turns out the Consul General of Ecuador in San Francisco was WRONG. Your six month maximum in the country isn´t the calendar year, it´s from the first date of entry. The guy and I argued a long time, and he was acting like he wasn´t even going to let me in the country! I was very stressed out. Finally, after yelling at me a lot, he stamped my passport for the 72 days I have left out of the six months, stictly admonishing me that I better not overstay.

So, now I need a visa. Luckily, they said at Salasaca that they would help me get a visa. I went to the visa place on Tuesday, an unlabeled office above a bargain retail store (impossible to find!). But of course, they closed at 12 on Tuesdays. So I thought I´d come back on Wednesday. WRONG! They´re closed every Wednesday, just because. So who knows how this is going to work out. But I am sure it will.

NOW FOR THE SALASACA ENTRY

From the roof overlooking my own apartment, you can see three volcanos when it is clear. Tungurahua is incredible. The snow, not present last year because of the eruption, has come back to sprinkle the brim of the volcano right below where the smoke is bellowing out in black curls.

I wake up very early. First, because of the news which is broadcasted over loudspeakers at about 6 am every morning. Landlords pay fifty cents to have the names of their renters who have not paid announced during the news. Supposedly, having your name and rent delinquency awaking the whole village is enough to embarass any one to pay up. Then there are the usual dogs and chickens. After some oatmeal, R and I begin the steep hike up to the school a few kilometers in the mountains. He flies, walking so fast though he is seventy-five, that I can hardly keep up with him, especially with this pounding headache from altitude sickness.

The children in the school are 4 to 14 years old. The school is bilingual (Quichua-Spanish), though they are trying to introduce English to become a true polyglot little place. I helped the littlest children today. They were adorable, but troublesome, like all children.

And, good thing I´ve been studying Quichua. I point to a hummingbird ¨what is this¨ I say in Spanish. Pishku!! they scream proudly. This is not a Spanish word. It´s Quichua for bird. ¨Okay, but what kind of pishku?¨ I asked in Spanish. Then I taught them colibri (hummingbird) and loro (parrot). And Mark, remember ¨mishki murukuna¨?! Today I helped the four year olds sort pictures into ¨mishki murukuna¨(sweet fruits) versus ¨hampi¨ (medicinal) plants.

We ate lunch seated with all the students. Lunch was lentil and potato soup, of course. Later we left to cries of ¨See you tomorrow (English), Hasta mañana (Spanish), and Kayakama (Quichua).¨ That was really cool, being followed by a small horde of children repeating ¨See you later, Hasta mañana, Kayakama¨ as though it was just one long way of saying goodbye.

I think this is going to be a really good experience, especially when I get a softer bed next week that doesn´t feel like sleeping on rocks like my current one does!

I will update the next time I have working Internet (maybe the Internet God will think of Salasaca one of these days).