From Chicago with Love

Final Thoughts

jasmint23 — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 11:16:00 GMT

After spending 11 days in Cuenca and 15 grateful days in Ecuador I think that I have come to better understand what it means to experience another country and appreciate their values and traditions. The class I’m taking here in this beautiful country is over intercultural communications, when I first signed up for this course I solely picked it cause we were going to Ecuador. But I was the one who landed on the Daily Double and absolutely loved learning about the indigenous groups of Ecuador and being able to compare side by side the benefits and downfalls on Ecuador vs. United States.

When we visited the CEDEI school, the Centro de Salude No.4, Cajas National Park and dozens of museums, I’ve been able to seen first hand what being from Cuenca is all about. Each visit had it’s unique attributes but helped me understand their culture better. At the CEDEI school they must be doing everything right to be running a 1st-9th grade school all in my location and still not have any problems with bullying, or theft. As well as their number of students that are “overweight” is less 7 children. When we first visited the CEDEI school, you could see children with disabilities and non-disabled children playing I thought to myself, if I were in any other country you would see the children in two separate groups and the children with disabilities are always with other children with disabilities and they never interact with other normal children.

At Cajas National Park, we could see where the Incans used to travel and experience what they went through to bring goods to consumers in Cuenca. The beautiful landscape and trails were just one of the ways to show us how the Cuencanos go to and from places. Walking and being surrounded by all 100s of different plants and trees that were so interesting to see, also doubled for medical purposes as well. Many flowers can be used to tea, to weave items or to simply dye the fabric used to make different textiles because using chemicals is damaging to “mother earth.”

Everyone one of the aspects are made possible by the indigenous people who keep their traditions alive everyday, whether it was wearing the outfit that is significant to their community or keeping ceramic pieces that were made to eat from or just to be there. All of this shows their true culture and beauty as a whole here in Ecuador. I can honestly say that I’ve truly experienced a lot with my time here in this beautiful country and I am going to be very sad saying goodbye and returning to the states.

Cajas National Park

jasmint23 — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 09:48:00 GMT

Today was yet another early bird morning day, and I wasn’t at all sure what I was getting myself into getting onto the bus Thursday morning. As we departed all I could think of when I went to Nicaragua and we hiked a dormant volcano and it was an all day project. I seriously had never been more sore in my life until I woke up the next morning and realized that when I was walking to breakfast turtles on the beach were crawling faster than me. When we stepped off the bus for our first hike they told us it was simply to gauge where we stood as a group to see how we would size up for hike number two later. Plus it was to help us acclimate to the altitude because we were going to be at about 12,000+ feet above sea level.

When we began our mini hike I felt good but still a little nervous because in the back of my mind was THE hike right after this one. After our tour guide, Andre, gave us a rundown on what was gonna happen, we began walking. Once we got past the house at the entrance of the lake area, I was in awe of the abundant amounts of greens I could see, all right before my naive eyes. Along the hike we pasted a beautiful waterfall and we got to cross it over a covered bridge that made for a very popular picture stop for most of our group. After making it to the halfway point and the base of the lake, I felt like I was so captivated by the nature that I was snapping photos myself left and right. I just couldn’t believe that all of this was apart of mother nature, not man made, except the paths to help ensure a safe hike. My favorite part about this first hike was that we got to pass an abandoned brewery, too bad we couldn’t go in, but it also made for a perfect Instagram opportunity. We weren’t sure why exactly the brewery closed down, but I’m assuming due to prohibition is why it could be vacated.

We finally finished our first hike and then broke up into two groups to complete The hike for the day. My group took the route through the forest, with Cristian, and not around it like the other group had down. This route was a little more harder but definitely worth it because for one we basically went exploring literally through the trees because a huge tree blocked the path that we needed to be on. I’m not complaining it was pretty awesome, trying to find a new way to cross through and it was worth the group bonding we went through. When we made it out of a cave in the forest and to the other side of a cliff we settled for lunch, after zip lining, where we had lunch at Cajas was THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD. I wish the photos I took could do justice to what I had actually seen. Eating in such a peaceful spot was an amazing experience for me. Over looking the rest of Cajas National Park left me in awe at how beautiful this world really is, but how gorgeous Ecuador and everything that was Ecuadorian was. I just couldn’t believe it.

Waking up Friday morning was really difficult climbing all 30-some stairs because I was sore but every ounce of pain was satisfaction to me for being able to hike up and ascend Cajas National Park.

Día Libre

jasmint23 — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:57:00 GMT

Our first real “free day” couldn’t have come any sooner! About 9 of us decided to be a little adventurous and go zip linning to Cuenca Canopy, I’m not a fan of heights so I thought trying new things might have been a good thing to start doing. Zip linning was probably one of the coolest experiences I had, aside from being whacked in the face with a tree branch while being upside down. But after the only incident I couldn’t help but only take in the views or hillside houses, beautiful mountain views and amounts of vivid green everywhere I looked. I was pleased to say that I think I made the best decision by joining the rest of the girls in this choice. After the vigorous hike we had made from one of the lines back to our starting point, we were welcomed to hot chocolate and an Ecuadorian corn tamales. The most delicious Ecuadorian tamale I had even tasted.

After zip lining a few of us got to go to Piedra de Agua, which was basically a spa with mud pools, massages, steam rooms and other soothing pools, it was beautiful in the pamphlet we had gotten. It was surly created to cater to tourist. When we arrived we were greeted by a woman and spoke in English. It was nice to have after traveling for so far to having a familiar language welcome me to a relaxing area. We didn’t really end up staying very long after a while, maybe 45 minutes tops due to in climate weather.

Overall even though we were only allowed to pick one activity, getting to experience both options was really cool. Now I can say that I’ve zip lined and visited a hot springs in Ecuador!

Media and Healthcare

jasmint23 — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 23:15:00 GMT

Over the last couple of days, we’ve been making trips to highlight the couple of topics we have discussed in class this week. The first was to Unsíon TV Station, I had never been to one to get to experience it. But when I had gotten there it was definitely more than what I was expecting out of a TV station in Ecuador. Also I was curious to know what we would being gaining access to, to see, seeing as we briefly talked about the role the media plays to the public. We learned that the government has a pretty big hand being held down upon some areas which limits the amount of information the public is hearing she they turn the television set on at home. When we were touring the Unsíon building we found out that it is a fairly new building and that they are only 10 years old and it is a privately owned station, which means that Cuencanos watching Unsíon aren’t going to get biased views or only half of a story because the government doesn't own a single part of the station. Which I thought was very interesting because you would think that President Correa would want to limit that kind of access to Ecuadorians.

I found it very strange to know that that was a valid option here in Ecuador, whereas in the United States we have freedom of speech, where journalists can express whatever they want have it been positive or negative through newspapers, TV, radio and other forms.

On the following day we got to step inside a level one hospital, which is the lowest level and means that absolutely no major surgeries are allowed to occur inside. If those measures need to be taken than they must prep them to be transferred to the nearest hospital for surgery. When we first walked inside I was expecting the hospital to be more welcoming with comfier chairs, literature to stay occupied and maybe so children's toys in the waiting room. I also thought that the hospital would be bigger and not simple one flood for how big the community that the hospital encompasses. We are used to hospitals that are stories high and more welcoming that what we experienced. But a benefit we heard was that the hospital was owned by the government which mean seeing a doctor was free and so were the medications. So the take it upon themselves to make sure that everyone knows that the hospital is free and they shouldn’t be worried to come and receive help. The only time I can think of where our hospital systems are like that in the United States is for Native Americans. By the look of the hospital inside and out, I would have assumed that the life expectance for an Ecuadorian was much lower than that of an American. We found out that they have an expectance of only two years shy that of Americans.

But besides the more traditional approach to medications we also learn there are holistic ways to approach someones illness. Almost, if not everyone is family oriented in Ecuador and so an holistic approach is a easy way to incorporate your entire family to be in on the decision you need to make when seeing a shaman. We got to observe a shaman come to the school and show us how it all happens, all while using natural plants, herbs, and even rocks and wood to begin the ceremony. I don’t condone seeking medical attention this way, but it was a wonderful learning experience, and I’m glad I got to witness how many if not all indigenous Ecuadorians go about their healthcare.

Why.

jasmint23 — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 10:01:00 GMT

In class we’ve been talking about identity and who we all are. The majority of the visits we do and places we go, my professor has asked us collectively, what are the identities here in this area, where can you find the different identities and how are they shown? All are questions that honestly dangled over my head for a couple of days in the museums and also the first day of class when we discussed it. I was really just lost, until we discussed it in more dept. When we talked about identity being either avowed versus ascribed; where something avowed is when you are basically awarded a privilege or merit. Where are being ascribed, it’s your born into something; you have no control over it.

When we discussed being avowed something, it reminded me about a class on took on equity, and who we are as individuals in a particular place. And I thought well, if someone asks me “who I am” I would instantly say what nationality I was. Thus when presented with a question, “who are you?” many ideas come to mind. In class we listed traits that describe ourselves, for example, sister, daughter, female, care-taker. After making this connection I could see how that my host family has many of the same identities as well. I’v got a family made up of different identities: my host mother is a mom, daughter, provided, and grandmother as well. Making these connections helped me realize how many stereotypical categories the class as a whole had about the Ecuadorian culture and people here. They may look different, but they are just like me and you, inside and out.

Along with the pre-determined attributes we had towards the Cuencanos, you could tell we diffidently could see the marginalization within the indigenous groups. The indigenous people aren’t even considered part of the dominant group. They make up so much of the population, the government doesn’t even recognize them. You could see a good representation of this when we went to visit the Mindala Workshop, he told us that many of these artifacts are found off of his streets and that are handed down from his father to him now. You could tell they were scared to even be sharing what their beautiful indigenous group has to offer. Because if they ever get caught, all of their artifacts could be taken aware and send to the Quito Museum.

It’s really terrible that all these indigenous groups want to share their traditions and culture and if they express themselves too much they can be punished by simply loosing everything they stand for.

El Año Viejo

jasmint23 — Wed, 1 Jan 2014 04:07:00 GMT

So last night was “El Año Viejo” and after I meet my new family, I got to go home for a little bit to unpack and relax. Around 8:30 pm my mom told me that we were going to be leaving soon to go to her uncle’s home to celebrate the new year. I couldn’t quite take a nap because of all the emotions I could feel going on in my body. When 7:00 pm came around my mom came to my room and asked if I wanted to disfraz with them tonight, at first I was like “oh sure” but I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about until my sister Karen came home with my costume for me to wear tonight. I had no idea what this entailed but I would soon find out.

When we arrived at this big’ole house at the top of so hill I felt undressed until I saw all cousins and other family relatives dressed up too. After everyone had filled into a seat, we waited until the music started and we watched as each person did a little dance along with a music video that played. Half way through, my mom told me that it was a skit they put on every year that resembles a show thats popular on tv here in Cuenca. I’ve seen a type of sow just like it and I thought to myself it was really funny, but that I couldn’t bare to get up and dance in front of all the family I had just met. Like a solid 45 people were all there sitting/dancing, young or old!

After the dancing portion we went outside to start our countdown and begin to light all 5 of our dummies for the New Year. As the countdown struck 0, and we lit the dummies everyone was up in arms, kissing each other on the check and embracing one another. As I turned to do the same to my abuela I noticed that she was crying. I wasn’t sure why until I saw that just about everyone else, that were in their 50’s and up, were tearing up too. My mom told me that’s because although we were burning away the old year, we also remember those that are no longer with us and hope for better years.

We then went home around 1:30 am, after eating dinner and dessert. In the morning when I finally had a day to sleep in, I got up with my mom and barred the 45 minute walk to school to learn how to get there on my own Monday morning. I’m just not one for a sweaty walk right before getting to class that early.

Later that afternoon we went to visit my abuela and both my other sisters, Sandy and Karen were there with their husbands. We were visiting to make a traditional bread that my abuela makes, but can no longer make herself. I got to step back and observe how they interacted and it’s just like my family when we all get together for a family gathering. We like to talk and enjoy one anthers company, and that’s exactly what they did. I felt like I was right in place when I was there with them.

Photos: Ecuador

jasmint23 — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 14:15:00 GMT

D-Day

jasmint23 — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 11:12:00 GMT

Getting up today was a little hard knowing that today was D-day, and we were getting our host families. I had feelings of anxiousness and nervousness because I wasn’t really ready to leave all of my new friends just yet. We all had gotten kinda close that it’s weird not having anyone to constantly to be talking to. Anyways we got up as usually at 7am to have breakfast and board our 6 hour long bus ride to Cuenca to meet our our new families for the next 12 days. About an hour into our drive we stopped in to see the oldest church in Ecuador, which was built in, I believe, 1534. It was called Iglesia de Balbanera and it was one of the most beautiful churches that I have seen that are also 480 years old! It was so small, yet very cute at the same time. As we were walking up to the church, there was a middle aged man and probably his wife or sister who must have been helping his mother walk up to the church to walk in. After I had scurried into the church to admire it, only way out the older woman, who must have been in her 80’s was just making it to the first row of pews. She was a little out of breath, breathing quite heavy. You could tell that they made this special trip up to see this wonderful church because it had significant meaning to it. When she finally sat down she started to make the sign of the cross and pray in the row to show respect. I wish I could have taken a picture but that would have just been down right disrespectful.

After we made our way back to the bus and onward to Cuenca to continue to have butterflies in my stomach for 4 more hours. Once we arrived at CEDEI, and I hopped off the bus I had heart in the bottom of my stomach. I was so nervous, but I don’t understand why because I felt more comfortable with my spanish than most of the students in my group. I thought to myself, I know just as much spanish or more than Jenny, Christine & Kelsey, and they’re our translators! This was it, I was meeting my mom and separating form my friends for the next 2 days, here goes nothing!

After meeting my mom, I felt so much better knowing that we clicked so quickly on the drive home. We instantly talked about where I was from - Chicago, and then where I was really from. I found it funny cause she already knew my last name so, Torres, kinda gives off a Hispani background. So I told her my mom was from Guayaguil and she quickly became happy, I knew she was gonna be a cool mom!

Salasaca y Riobamba

jasmint23 — Mon, 30 Dec 2013 05:15:00 GMT

We left Quito pretty early to make our way to Hostería La Ciénega. A what used to be mansion now a hotel. I personally wish we coulda stayed a night there, but there's something about mansions that I associate with being haunted, so I'm glad we visited it durning the day! We got coffee, hot chocolate and tea plus also got a little concert of a group called Cotopaxi, they played music of the Andes. They played their own music and I'm pretty sure they played some music from Momma Mia and a Celia Cruz song too haha. But it was awesome, it reminded me of the type of music my mom has at home.

Shortly after leaving the Hostería La Ciénega, we had a shortish drive to the Salasaca community, where we got to see another weaving center but of the indigenous people. Who all still wear the traditional skirt with a wrap, blouses with the detailed stitching and a wool hat. Their daily outfits are usually accompanied with a stick with alpaca fur on it and all day long, everywhere they go they are spinning it to be used to make garments. It's a little hard to explain so here's a picture.

After the weaving demo, we got a typical lunch with corn, potatoes, veggies and a different type of beans that I wasn't used to but all tasted delicious. Following lunch we got a demo of a traditional dance that is played at parties or more usually known for she they elect a new mayor, they do this particular song and dance. I was too much of a chicken to try the dance so I just watched.

After Salasaca, we headed back to Riobamba to stay at Hostería Bambú. I still haven't been able to tell the difference between a hotel and a hostel, so it was still cozy and super traditional.

Old Quito

jasmint23 — Sun, 29 Dec 2013 15:06:00 GMT

For today we headed towards Quito, our forts stop was to the equator, 0°, 0°. Standing half in the northern hemisphere and half in the souther hemisphere was pretty awesome, how many people get to say they were standing in two at once! Had a littler history lesson and learned that basically in grade school when we were learning about the world, it's rotating on the wrong axis. So instead of having Antarctica on the very bottom below South America, it should be on the right side and North America should essentially be on the bottom of the globe.

After all of our typical American touristy photos we made out way to the beautiful and ever famous museum of Ecuadorian painter Guayasamin. Upon arrival we were given a very detailed but quick tour of each of his paintings. His paintings were both familiar to me but also had great detail to them with a strong story for why he created them. What was also interesting to me was that the majority of he museum had paintings of people but they were skeletons. My favorite painting had to have been La Ternura. It depicts a skeleton mother embracing her skeleton child, with her head on the child's head. It also was called "As Long As I Live I'll Always Love You", this painting was dedicated to his mother and all mothers in the world. His mother died at a very young age, and when she was alive she was an inspiration and biggest supporter to his career. His father was the complete opposite and wanted him to do something important with his life.

Although the museum was amazing in every way, we didn't have much time to stop at each painting and really admire them individually. Nor did we have time to really purchase anything as well. Then we made our way to the capital of Ecuador and got a city tour. We visited two churches, one that held a saint for every providence in Ecuador. The other which was known as the Church of Gold. Our tour concluded at the top of a very high hill with a statue of the in labor Mary Magdelin. It is the tallest structure in all of Quito and if any other building was to be built, it may not be taller than Mary.

A pleasant wake up call

jasmint23 — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 14:08:00 GMT

At 7am we started our day with a rough but exciting wake up call to let us know that we had 30 minutes until breakfast was ready. Rolling outta bed, I slowly got ready for the day. Breakfast was part Ecuadorian part American, in my opinion: homemade rolls of bread with butter & marmalade spread with eggs and ham. I had my first taste of Ecuador with pretty thick fruity juice made with papaya. It was sweet and a little familiar to me too. After breakfast we had a short orientation about CEDEI and then we were off to explore the market in the centro of Otavalo. Once we began walking down to the market I was in a sensory overload with not only the beautiful items we could purchase but the culture in Otavalo. The way people dressed was so different to me but also interesting. There was so much culture in each piece of clothing, so much detail, you knew it was hand-made.

Being a tourist, we are automatically programmed to want to take pictures of everything we see. As we walked up and down and around in circles of the market I took pictures of structures to food to hand-made items for purchase. A part of me made me feel guilty photographing the otevalenos but with each person you saw on the street you knew each on had a different story to tell.

After exploring every alpaca-made scarf, sweater, pancho & blanket shop and even seen why some of my friends have become vegetarians or opted to no longer eat meat, I quickly learned why. We made our way back to the hotel to get some suggestions on local restaurants with good food. Lunch was a little interesting, we had a chicken broth soup with a potato ball and odds and ends of a chicken, like a foot...although it was strange, it was very delicious. But I definitely did not eat the foot, I don't think I could be that adventurous on the first day. Since lunch is the biggest mean for ecuatorianos I was hit with another plate for lunch. This one I was a little more accustom too, white rice (w/o salt), white beans and fried chicken and a side salad plus a white juice that was made of Quaker & a spice. All for $2!

After dinner we made out way back to the hotel and then pilled onto our motorbus and headed to Cuicocha where we got to either hike the mountain for 30 minutes to see the island for free or take a boat ride for $2.75 around the island for 45 minutes. If you knew me, I really dislike strenuous activity and in the moment hiking = strenuous activity. So the boat ride it was. After the boat ride we bused Peguche and visited two textile workshops: Mindala Workshop & Andean Instrument Workshop.

The Mindala Workshop was where we met a man and his father who used different techniques, but primarily the traditional weaving technique of making scarves, blankets, bags/purses, bracelets, & clothes. The clothes the women wore are specific to their community and very distinct. Each are pretty similar, maybe they share the same jewelry or small detailed design. He also showed us the many different instruments that are specific to Ecuador and then those to other South American countries.

The Andean Instrument Workshop was was probably my favorite one, we got to see how the instruments are actually made, well just the Ecuadorian flute. Which is made from a particular bamboo that's grown in Ecuador. Afterwards we got a small concert where two people played a tradition Ecuadorian song.

T-4 Days

jasmint23 — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 21:30:00 GMT

To me culture is who I am, where I come from and who I will always be. I talk about my culture with a lot of pride, becuase it's me, plain and simple. I come from a Cuban, Puerto Rican, Ecuadorian family and I love all three parts of it equally. My mother is 100% Ecuadorian and my father is half Cuban, half Puerto Rican. So I would say I have 3 different cultures, but they all melt down to being hispanic for me. I think that culture is what make you, YOU. It's where you come from and what represents you. One of the biggest values that comes from my culture is family, no matter what happens in your life, no matter what's going on, family will always be there. Friends are another big value for us, family will always be there through everything, but what better way to share your life and accomplishments than friends?

The traditions we value are small, but a big one my family strongly values is eating meals together, we all have busy lives and when we get older, they just get busier and busier. That's why eating meals is one way we get to all sit down together and talk and spend some quality time together while eating too :) One other tradition is church, we make it our priority to go every Sunday morning to attend mass and take the time to talk with God and communicate with him. We have strong values in our faith and love for God and each other.

I'm not sure that I really have any assumptions because of the background I have. I don't really have any assumptions about the Ecuadorian culture to be honest, i live in this culture and experience it everyday, granted I don't live in Ecuador so I can't say I know how every Ecuadorian acts and behaves but I don't think it's at all, any different than what I experience in my on home.

Ecuadorian food varies depending on where you reside, either the highlands or the costal region, you'll get a couple diffrent types of dishes. In the highland ares, you usually get traditional foods that are revolved potatoes, sweetcorn, cheese and avacadoes. Typical dishes include llapingachos, which is a small fried patties of mashed potato and cheese, often served with a fried egg. It seems to be a dish with a lot of sodium but I know from experience it's a really good meal :) They also have Guinea pig "cuy", which is a pretty famous, traditional dish, usually for special occasions. The costal foods are make dishes with ingredients such as plantains, yuca, coconut and rice. They also have a very wide range of tropical fruits like papaya, pineapple and starfruits. Plaintains are a staple in the costa and are used in a lot of different ways, like platanoes (which are smashed), chifles (sliced very thin and deep-fried; like chips). One of my favorite types is Bolones de verde, which are balls of unripe plantain mashed with cheese.

The typical seafood dishes of Ecuador are Encocados, they are fish or prawns in a rich coconut sauce, usually served with with rice and patacones. Ceviche is raw seafood marinated in lime or lemon juice with chili and onions, so it's pretty spicy, in my opinion. But one of the most famous dishes, which I do not favor at all. Encebollados are also a great local food, but very well known outside of Ecuador. It consists of seafood in a tangy, tomatoey soup with mashed yuca, onion and coriander. My mother told me that they are said to cure a hangover and make a pretty darn good breakfast.

For me, i've personally tried a handful of these dishes, I can't say that I love them all, but I've tried new things haha. In my family we typically eat hispanic dishes, but we do live in America and eat American foods too, but we like to stick to what we know how to make the best! So for me the Ecuadorian dishes are pretty similary to what I would say I eat at home.