Ecuador 6: What time is it?
This trip I spent a lot of time with Juanita's cousin Lilia and her family. Her husband is the one who died and was really well respected and loved in Catacocha. One day when I was visiting them, I was staring really hard at her cousin's shirt, thinking it looked really familiar. It looked familiar because it used to be mine. When I sent a couple boxes of clothes down two years ago, Juanita distributed them far and wide (there's not much Ecuadorians love more than American clothes). The man ended up with a 1998 Nike Volleyball camp shirt of mine. I loved seeing kids wearing clothes I sent, but my absolute favorite was Moncho's green Gamma Phi Beta sorority t-shirt that he sported almost daily. He loved the color. I will be sending more boxes down in the future...more on that later.
Later that day we visited Gabo and Edu's soccer practice at the local school. On the drive down, we saw girls walking to class. Many students attend night school so that they can work during the days and support their families. Obviously they take a lot of pride in soccer here, so families will save up a lot of money to buy shiny cleats and new uniforms. After we watched practice, we walked up the hill to a cemetery. There, we met Lilia's in-laws and we visited the grave of her husband Galo. It was very moving to watch as they read from the Bible and prayed for Galo, then Lilia spoke to her 'precioso" and put fresh flowers there. It seemed like a private family moment I should not have been there for, but they were totally fine with me.
When we went home, Lilia made empanadas, my favorite food in ecuador. Pancho, a mentally retarded man without any family, lives in a little room in their home and is totally charming. He was serenading us awhile with some intense operatic-style numbers and he has an incredible voice. It's always a different time for Pancho- his watch doesn't work, so if you ask him what time it is, he looks intently at his watch and then tells you, confidently, a random time. It was really funny- it was 2:30 and then a few minutes later it was 10:00. People don't really care about time here the way Americans do, so it doesn't matter much anyway. Even though he is older than Lilia, she always gives him the blessing before he leaves. I was also blessed before leaving- i think it's a neat tradition.
Later that day we visited Gabo and Edu's soccer practice at the local school. On the drive down, we saw girls walking to class. Many students attend night school so that they can work during the days and support their families. Obviously they take a lot of pride in soccer here, so families will save up a lot of money to buy shiny cleats and new uniforms. After we watched practice, we walked up the hill to a cemetery. There, we met Lilia's in-laws and we visited the grave of her husband Galo. It was very moving to watch as they read from the Bible and prayed for Galo, then Lilia spoke to her 'precioso" and put fresh flowers there. It seemed like a private family moment I should not have been there for, but they were totally fine with me.
When we went home, Lilia made empanadas, my favorite food in ecuador. Pancho, a mentally retarded man without any family, lives in a little room in their home and is totally charming. He was serenading us awhile with some intense operatic-style numbers and he has an incredible voice. It's always a different time for Pancho- his watch doesn't work, so if you ask him what time it is, he looks intently at his watch and then tells you, confidently, a random time. It was really funny- it was 2:30 and then a few minutes later it was 10:00. People don't really care about time here the way Americans do, so it doesn't matter much anyway. Even though he is older than Lilia, she always gives him the blessing before he leaves. I was also blessed before leaving- i think it's a neat tradition.
posted by MissBliss at 10:44 AM
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