Almost a week since Ecuador

Well, it's been almost a week since we've returned from Ecuador and each time I share with someone our experiences, I get a warm - fuzzy feeling. The trip was so amazing, for so many reasons. One was just simply anticipation. For at least 5 years, I have been yearning to take this trip. Sister Cindy has visited the parish about 3 times since that first trip and each time, asks me: "When are you coming to Ecuador?". Finally, I was able to go. For me, this trip was all about experiencing the work that is done by the Working Boys' Center. Each year, the children and their families in our Faith Formation programs save coins for the WBC. So for me, to see, first hand, how our pennies, dimes and nickels help to support that work that they do was incredible. Seeing how the people live happily with so little was a real lesson for our group.

The other was the warm welcome and greetings that we received. Seemed to me that every Ecuadorian we encountered was happy to see us! From people driving by us, whether we were walking or driving by in a bus, people would honk and wave, shouting "hola!" out their windows to us. I got so used to the greetings, it became a habit! Almost every child we meet at the Center greeted us with hugs, some jumping into our laps or arms to be held some just snuggling up to us on a bench. Or some, like this little guy, playing and joking with us!

Or, when we visitied Casa Damien in Guayaquil and Sister Annie greeted us with hugs and kisses at the airport and took us back to the clinic. She set a beautiful example for us or hugging every single patient she saw. She explained that one patient had gone home to God, just the day before, so the patients were a little sad, but that when they saw us, it would brighten their day. We visited with the women and men and all were happy to see us.

Living in community with not only our twelve other St. Matthias group members, but also the groups from New York, New Jersey and Wisconsin and the long-term volunteers. Learning their stories, and being able to share these experiences with them was amazing. Watching and listening to our kids saying, "wait, say that again...you have a funny accent" and "what kind of shoes are those?" observing them make these observations about the differences in speech and dress amongst groups of teens in our own country while being present in a foreign country was eye-opening. Watching them learn and play other games and be "unplugged" from the technology of their normal daily lives was great as well.

I think that we were all changed in some ways by this trip. For me, this change is a greater appreciation for my friends and family, a change in my attitude. It was all about going with the flow (being on Ecuadorian time), doing what was asked of us (even if I didn't agree with the methods) and learning to be grateful for everything, the experiences that I have had.

This next weekend, July 17 - 18, we will be sharing some of our experiences with the parish. Please come and listen!

Reflections on Ecuador

I was not able to access the blog on the trip, but I would like to say that I am stunned by the beauty of the country of Ecuador and of its people. Our experience was one of service, but we were the ones shepherded, fed, guided and affirmed not only by the Working Boys Center staff and volunteers, but by the Ecuadorians we met on the city buses and in the markets and on the streets.

There is a sense of being closer to God in the high mountain valley of Quito. There is a connection to the earth, the surrounding mountains and volcanoes, the sun, the mists, the food grown there, the variety of trees and shrubs and birds and how the people live. Many still dress in the clothes of their pueblos, women wearing long braids, skirts and fedora hats always carrying something, a child, a bag, goods to sell. There is a strong identity with "home" even though they had to leave the mountains a come to the city to survive. There are at least 10 different indigenous cultures all mixing with well dressed business people in central Quito and all seem to be kind to the "gringos". We were easily identified as being taller than most of them and of course carting our totes and back backs.

At the Centers we were humbled by their kindness when we were there to help them. This was especially true when we flew to Guayaquil and visited the Hansen's disease clinic, Damien House. Our just being there made the patients happy. They gave speeches of gratitude and appreciation for our visiting. They eagerly gave and received hugs and hand shakes and sweet Madre Annie a woman full of joy, set the tone for all of us: be joyful for the gift of the present moment. Her mantra was that these people deserve to live with dignity and to die, not alone.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have gone on this trip and I will never, forget the people we met nor the impact this trip made on each one of us. We were always aware of representing our parish and being supported by their prayers. So God bless and thanks to our St. Matthias Parish for their support. Laurie

Ecuador Post script

We returned safely from Quito and today Katy and I began the process of picking up our daily lives here in San Francisco. The first things that I noticed were all of the daily blessings that we take for granted. We were able to have showers this morning with as much hot water as we wanted. My closet has so many outfits in it that I almost can't stand to look at all of my options. In every room of our house we have abundant possessions--more than we could ever use or need. Life is easy here, supported by technology, and those who come from other countries to work in our yards, and clean our homes. Today I remember fondly the clear blue sky of Ecuador, the breathtaking views of the mountains and the warmth of the people. I remember the smiles of the children who came to play with us and give us hugs. Wearing the bracelets that we bought from the women at the Hansen's clinic, I hold those who touched us in prayer today. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to go, in order to see.

Many thanks to Sabrina and the staff at St. Matthias who made this journey possible for Katy and I. It was wonderful to live in community with you all these last 10 days. We shared stories, laughter, pictures and experiences. May we continue to listen for the movement of the Spirit in our lives as we connect what we experienced in Ecuador to our lives in Redwood City. Peace, Vivian

Sunday - July 4th

Sunday was a leisurely day - we had nothing planned for us on our itinerary but decided to take the bus to the other Mitad del Mundo museum (the more touristy one). We decided to meet at 9:45 and meet the bus. The ride was about 1/2 hour long and cost us each $0.35. We got the complex, purchased our tickets and went inside the complex. There were lots of different "attractions" - exhibits that you could walk through, plus lots of shops and restaurants. As soon as we entered, there was a BBQ pit set up with guinea pigs roasting on a spit! This photos's for you Anne! Here cuy cuy cuy!

At 11:30 we all gathered in the planeterium for a show about the stars, constellations and how the middle of the world was mapped. After that, we walked around the through some of the exhibits and shops. Maria and I decided to eat lunch in a lovely restaurant. The dining room was on the 2nd floor about some shops. It had windows which looked out onto the square where there was dancing and music. We both had llanpingaughos (they are like potato pancakes filled with cheese), mine came with pork chops, her's with chicken.

After lunch, we decided to head back to the Center. However, we planned to stop at the Mall first. Since it was Fourth of July, we were all feeling like we were missing the festivities back home, so we had gotten together with the Jersey Boys and planned a BBQ for that night. The teens hangout and walked around while the adults stopped at the Mega Maxi, the supermarket (it's kind of like a Target with a full-service grocery store) to pick up hot dogs, hamburgers, buns, chips, soda, etc. for dinner. Laurie spotted the Tony Roma's across the Mall and picked up some ribs for us.

As we were leaving the Mall, we noticed that it had started to rain. It wasn't raining hard, just drizzling a bit. We divided up the bags amongst the whole group and headed home. The Center is just about 5 blocks up from the Mall so it was no big deal to get back.

When we got back, Maria and I had a last minute meeting with the teenagers about how to clean their rooms, packing, what to bring to the airport, what to leave behind, etc. Then at 5:00 pm, Fr. John celebrated Mass in the living room for our three groups (Jersey Boys, Wisconsin group and us). 

Following Mass, we began cooking. Dinner was ready by about 6:30 pm, we all sat down in the dining room for our last meal together. 

After dinner and clean up, some of our group played "Catch Phrase", then Maria and I sent the teens to finish packing and getting ready to leave.

Madre Miguel and Padre Juan came in about 8:30 to say goodbye and collect our keys to our rooms. We expressed our gratitude to them once again for their hospitality and these wonderful experiences that we were able to share.

Vicente arrived at 9pm to take us to the airport - we boarded the place at 11:30 pm to begin the journey home!

Saturday - July 3rd - Otavalo

Yesterday, we set off bright and early (well not really that early) at 9am for a day trip. We went with the Jersey Boys and the group with Wisconsin. We boarded the bus, with Guillermo as our driver and his two granddaugters with us, Kimberly and Michelle. In total, there were 39 of us. We were headed to Laguna de Cuicocha, then Otavalo. On the way there, we stopped at a vista point. It was simply breathtaking!

After about 3 hours of driving, we finally arrived at Laguna de Cuicocha. Like I said above it is a lake that has formed in the crater of a volcano. There is a lovely visitor's center there and an opportunity to take a coat ride to the other side of this island. There the boat stops and the bubbles come up to the surface. Our guide explained that those bubbles are the volcanic gases from the volcano.

Here we are on the boat!

Following this tour, we stopped at the snack bar and got canelazo (cinnamon tea) with empanadas with cheese inside. They were delicious. We reboarded the bus for the 1/2 drive back to Otavalo (we had passed through Otavalo on the way to the lake) for shopping. This town has a huge market each Saturday were people from the surrounding areas bring their handicrafts to sell. There is also a large Farmer's Market type area where people sell fruits, vegetables, chickens, meat, etc.

We had about 2 hours at the market to shop til we dropped! Laurie and I bought lots of stuff to bring back to St. Matthias to sell - July 17-18 will be the mission co-op weekend where we will share our experiences from the trip and offer these items for sale (we will send the money back to the Working Boys Center and Casa Damien to help support them).

The Otavelenos have a distinct style of dress. The women waer black skirts, with white cloth underneath. The have these beautiful embroidered blouses, then they wear blue, black or white pieces of cloth draped over one shoulder and tied under the other arm. Sometimes, the women will have a piece of cloth on top of their head as a kind of make-shift sun visor.  I asked one woman if I could take her picture, but she refused. I sneakily took these photos, trying to capture the feeling at the market.

We met back at the bus at 4:30 pm to begin our journey back home. We got back around 6:15pm. Dinner was at 7:15 pm. When Madre Miguel and Padre Juan arrived, Laurie asked them to join us for our meeting after dinner. They gratefully accepted. During the meeting, we presented them with the prayer scarves that Laurie had crocheted for them. We also expressed our gratutude to them for sharing their home with us and welcoming us to share this wonderful experience.  

Today, we are going to Mitad del Mundo (the Middle of the World) -the more touristy museum (the other day we went to the indigenous museum). We will stop at the Mall on the way back and pick up some hot dogs and buns and things to grill for our Fourth of July celebration.

We leave tonight for the airport at 9pm. I am feeling anxious to get home, but sad to leave this beautiful country and people.

Friday - July 2nd - La Marin

Hi There! I have been getting a little behind in posting - so sorry about that. It's hard to find the time here to post. So here's what we did on Friday...

On Friday -  our group was split into 3 parts for different activities. Steve, Sue, Alex, Chris and Katerina stayed here to conduct a soccer clinic for the boys and girls. Vivian and Katy stayed behind to help Maggie, one of the long term volunteers. Maggie and her husband Mike have been here for 3 years teaching, they are getting ready to go home. Vivian and Katy were helping them laminate some posters for an anti-bullying campaign that they have started.


Maria, Fr. John, Laurie, Lauren, Victorina and I took the city bus to the downtown center, La Marin to work. When we arrived, Roberto who is in charge of maintenance wanted to watch the Brazil v. Netherlands world cup game. Brazil lost (sad face)!

After the game was over, Roberto took us into the kitchen to clean. There is a large pantry, with several 50 pound sacks of rice, flour and sugar stacked on several sets of metal shelves. There were also a large industrial sized refrigerator. Laurie cleaned that. The rest of us scrubbed down the metal shelves, while Lauren and Victorina scrubbed down a set of wire racks. It took about an hour to complete the work and Roberto was working right along with us directing us and lending moral support! This is the same guy that the adults worked with the other day - he was a difficult task master and earned the nickname "Kitchen Nazi".
By about 12noon, we were free. I have been looking for a map of Quito to bring home with me. So we decided to walk to a few shops to see if we could find one to buy, unfortunately, we didn't have any luck. We did go to a panaderia (bakery) for snacks. Victorina, Lauren and I each got a drinkable yoghurt (my new favorite snack along with pan de yucca). Victorina got an Inca Cola, and I got this yummy pineapple pastry. My yoghurt and pastry was $1. We decided to head back to the center then, so walked to the bus stop to wait for the bus. The ride was very long, about 1.5 hours, but we got to see parts of the city that we hadn't seen before.

When we got back, Maria, Laurie and I went to lunch at the Cafe. The rest of the afternoon was relaxing, just kind of hanging out... some took a nap.
 
At 5:00pm we went up the hill for the 6th grade graduation at the Center. It was a lovely occasion. I was so impressed by the children, some of whom memorized and delivered a speech to the audience. It is a custom here to wear capes instead of gowns for graduation, so that was kind of cool to see too!
 
 

This photo is of Miguel (one of the Jersey Boys) and a little boy from the Center, during graduation. Before graduation began, Miguel had been playing with him, I guess he got all tuckered out and fell asleep. I just thought the scene was so beautiful, so had to take a photo.

Before dinner some of the teens and I played a game called Catch Phrase. It's a great game, sort of like charades but only with words. The game consists of an electronic device where a phrase or saying pops up on the screen. If it's your turn, you have to describe the word of phrase to the others without actually using any of the words that appear. It's a lot of fun!

 

We went to bed early because we were heading to Guayaquil really early the next morning.

Guayaquil - July 1st

Today we left early and flew to Guayaquil which is closer to the coast and is the major shipping port for Ecuador. Our flight arrived at about 9am. Sister Annie Credidio was there with open arms (literally!) to meet us. She greeted us all with hugs and warm smiles. We piled into her car and a van that Casa Damien uses to go tour Casa Damien and Nuevo Mundo school.



The dirve to Casa Damien was short - about 10 minutes. Immediately surrounding the airport are lots of car dealerships, hotels and generally it is much more affluent looking, however, the furtr you get from the airport, the more the poverty shows through. The residential clinic she runs is located in a bad part of town so there is a gate and a security guard, complete with bullet-proof vest.

Upon arrival, we greeted the people sitting at the gate with hugs. Annie showed us into her office to leave our stuff. She then told us a little about Hansen's Disease (formerlly known as leposy - the term is no longer used because of the stigma attached to it). The disease is bactrial in nature and is not contagious. One does not contract the disease by hugging or even kissing. The Foundation was established to provide dignity to people living with this disease as they are often shunned by their families. There are about 40 patients there. Just the day before, one of the patients died, so Annie explained that folks were a little sad about that. She said that our visit would raise the spirits of the patients.

 

First we visited with a women patients. They welcomed us into their home, we sat in the living room and everyone introduced themselves to each other. One women gave a very moving speech, welcoming us to Ecuador, blessing us for the work that we are doing. The teens shared some of the things that they are enjoying about the trip. Next, they took us into their rooms, each woman had set up a little shop in their rooms with handicrafts that they had made. Everyone purchased something to support the women. One woman, Mercedes, wanted to sing a song for us - it was a beautiful song which spoke of the dignity, and liberty of Guayaquil.
 

 
Next we visited with the men. They had created beautiful hammocks which several of us bought. They were so sweet to us. One man made a speech and welcomed us to his home -he said that his home is our home. Another man talked directly to the teens and shared his wisdom with them: look towards to future, get a good education, etc. Very lovely.
 
We visited another room which housed 4 men, all over 90 years old.
 
 

Next, Annie ushered us into the art room where we had lunch. We had cookies and chips, then potato pancakes with cheese (called Llapingauchos, in Ecuador). Then we had pan de yucca, which was delicious and some little empanadas, some had meat inside, some cheese. They were great. We also had fresh, drinkable yoghurt.
 
When we finished our lunch, we took a drive through the town of Duran. It is across the river from Guayaquil and is a very poor area. There are almost no paved roads, the houses are made of cane or bamboo, and most of Annie's patients come from this area.
 

 

Following this, we visited Nuevo Mundo school. This is a school which serves two populations. Children from wealthier families who pay tuition send their children in the morning, then children of poorer families attend in the afternoon. The school is beautiful.

 

 

Next our drivers took us to the Iguana Park, downtown. They had iguana's everywhere! There were also turtles and squirells gallore. It was a wonderful park with lots of families and locals enjoying the scenery.
 
 

 
We had to cut our visit short because we had to get back to the airport. We arrived, I went to check everyone in and there was a slight problem; for some reason, the airline didn;t have a return ticket for Vivian! We had to buy one, then I will take it up with the travel agent when we return home. The flight home was totally uneventful. We got home in plenty of time for dinner, which was nice.
 

City Tour - June 30th

Today we went on a city tour of downtown Quito with the group from New Jersey. There are four groups here right now: Regis, an all boys school in New York, St. Peter's Prep, an all boys school in Jersey City (I've been calling them the "Jersey Boys"), GYM group from Wisconsin, and us. There are a lot of groups to coordinate, Madre Cindy is usually the group coordinator, but she's in the states raising money for the WBC. So, with all that is is totally understandable that there are some mix-ups that have been occuring. For example, this morning, we arrived to the Office to catch our bus. We all thought that the Jersey Boys were coming with us this morning, that Regis was staying here, and that the Wisconsin group would be going on the house visits with Marianna and Teresa on public transportation. However, the schedule they had was different. After about 45 minutes of negotiation and communication with La Marin, we figured things out. Wisconsin group would go with Marianna and Teresa on the public buses to visit houses. The Jersey Boys and us would go on the city tour with Marcia and Regis would stay here. Vincente drove us downtown in the small bus.

He took us directly to La Basilica del been Vota Nacional which is run by the Oblate's. We were able to view the sanctuary from the balcony. Our tour guide explained that the church is built in the Neo-Gothic style, but all the decorations inside are Ecuadorian in origin. There are isises and orchids in the rose window, and no gargoyles. The teens all wanted to climb to the top in the bell towers which they did. While they were doing that, the adults stayed on the third floor in the gift shop and observation room. We concluded our tour there and got back on the bus with Vincente.

He drove us to la Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus which is a Jesuit Church. This is where the Working Boys Center got started, in the attic. This church is gourgeous inside. It features 52 kilos of gold (120 pounds). They started building it in 1605 and it was completed in 1765. Besides the gold, is made of volcanic rock from Pichincha, wood from the cloud forests and Ecuadorian marble. It is Baroque architexture, rich people attended the church, but it was largely built by Ecuadorians. We were not allowed to take photos inside because a few years ago the Church was robbed, the thiefs got away with a 5 ft. tall solid gold monstance. They were caught, but the monstrance had already melted down. They found out that the thieves had visited the Church and had taken photos of security, etc. before planning the robbery, hence, no photos are allowed.

The first Ecuadorian saint, Marianna de Jesus lived from 1618-1645, was declared a saint in 1950. She is entombed in the altar. During her life, Quito had many earthquakes and pestilance. She prayed that the city would be relieved and she offered her life to God. When she returned home, she got sick and died, but the pestilance was lestend and the city prospered.

Our Lady of Sorrows is the patron of the Jesuits in Ecuador. There is a picture of her hanging behind the altar. In 1960-something, some boys were in the church and they saw the picture blinking at them for 15 minutes!
 

After the tour of La Compania, we took a walk through La Plaza de la Independencia. The Presidential Palace fronts the plaza.
 

There was a protest going on, complete with police in riot gear. We walked through and then on to El Centro del Muchacho Trabajador in La Marin. They served us lunch, then we reboarded the small CMT bus and came home.
 
At CMT #2, Rodolfo put us to work. Some of the group were in charge of making some posters for the school. The rest of the group were give the task of painting some classrooms. When we had finished, we attended the Kindergarten graduation which was VERY cute. Each of the classes performed a little dance or routine of some sort.