After the long travel back from the Amazon, it was back to a normal work week. We had reached the end of the Level 1 occupational therapy students rotating through at CRECER, so it was nice to go back to our usual dynamic with the kids and not having what seemed like a million people inside the building. Within the past few weeks, we gained another volunteer from Australia for 2 months as well as 2 Belgian students who are completing their equivalent of fieldwork all around Ibarra. Those three are wonderful additions to CRECER! Aside from CRECER, I’ve been compiling my doctoral assignments and continually drafting my capstone program on core skills for caregivers of adults. I never made a to-do list and instead have been working on things little by little… because of this I keep finding new documents that need to be completed!! Whoops. I guess that’s what happens when you’re having such a wonderful time in Ecuador with friends. Speaking of which, Corri and I found some new pie de limón at this cafe we had been meaning to try for ages, and good thing we didn’t find it earlier! $3 for a slice, we would have spent so much money.
On a weeknight, we headed over to our friend Peter’s house for dinner; we ran into him at El Quinde and instead of going out to dinner, we decided we should make sushi together, though mostly he did it. Peter is the one from the United States but has relocated pretty permanently to Ibarra, and he hasbeen beyond welcoming and helpful in all things related to Ibarra spots and meeting new people. I also completed my loan exit counseling…. what a rude-awakening that was. I wish I could live abroad after graduation and find some international work, but that amount that I have to pay back in student loans restricts me from doing that, sadly. So instead of thinking about that, Gina and her mom treated Corri, Hannah, and I to a day at the spa (along withthem of course). We found a spa right in Ibarra where we got massages and champagne- my first time at a spa! Remember Jim from the Mompiche post? He was so generous and gave us girls some money to treat ourselves, and we thought this was a perfect opportunity for spending that money. At home, Corri, Hannah, and I had a girls night of watching Into the Wild. Though this movie is sad and profound, it also got out brains thinking about possible future travels together…
At the end of the week, I headed up alone to Esperanza in order to say goodbye for the final time. The same morning, Corri had her Skype interview for her pediatric OT fellowship, and she killed it 🙂 Up at Esperanza, I was welcomed by all the older adults and told to give a speech to the center. I talked about how much I had learned from the staff and those older adults, even though I arrived here to give education from my end. The staff members and a few of the adults also had words to say; most of them started to cry, so that made me cry, and it was a big cycle of tears and happiness. I could not have asked for a better experience at this older adult center. In retrospect, I would have loved to spend all my time there, but there was no way to know the needs and project ideas before coming to Ecuador. All in all, Esperanza is a very special place with very special people.
All of last Sunday (2 Sunday’s ago), us students and Elaine all headed up to a co-worker’s family farm around 30 mins outside Ibarra center; Marcela had invited us there to thank us for our time at CRECER, and we had a great time spending the day with her family. They had us walking around on their mountainous land, climbing up to waterfalls, hugging trees that give off good energy, and laughing along with Marcela’s 10 year old brother who knows about 5 words in English- all from rap songs. We ate delicious locro soup (potato, avocado, cheese, yummm), wings, and fries for lunch. Elaine brought some brownies, and we washed everything down with some vino caliente. We got some time to play family soccer and volleyball- the first time in a while I’ve played those sports. It was all in all an eventful yet relaxing day, and we can understand why Marcela spends so much time up at the farm!
Meanwhile, this past long weekend, Corri headed on a girls weekend back to Mompiche, the coastal village that we went to during Carnaval. We took the same bus route there, a total of 8 hours overnight and getting dropped off on the side of the highway at 6am. This time, we refused to walk the 4 miles to the beach and instead paid a guy $1 each to take us. That day was pretty overcast and on/off drizzle, so we spent a lot of time napping, relaxing, and eating so much pizza between the two of us!! We went back to the same place as last because it’s the best pizza we’ve had in Ecuador. Since we were the only ones there, we got to talk to the owner. He made fun of us for saying we lived in Ibarra, because we pronounce it EE-BAR-UH. But in reality, we should be rolling our R’s to make it sound more authentic. For some reason, every time we said Ibarra those 5 days, we got made fun of. So eventually we told everyone back that if they tried to say Corri’s name without rolling the R’s or any difficult word in English, they would encounter the same problem! Good grief it’s hard to roll the R’s, people.
The next day we spent all afternoon at Playa Negra. For some reason, no one was there and it was 80-85 deg, sunny, and big waves throughout the day. We had some quality books, music playing, and lots of time in the water. We applied 50 SPF sunscreen every hour, but we somehow ended up burnt still. Especially Corri! Last time we were in Mompiche, it was cloudy the whole time, so we felt blessed to have all this sunshine. The next day we went to Isla de Portete, but the day after feeling burnt, we couldn’t handle the intensity of the sun again. We swam for an hour, had lunch, and ran back towards the water afterwards because the sand was so hot. In doing this, a woman approached us and said we could sit under her umbrella and chairs for any amount of time for $5- holy cow were we excited!! The rest of the afternoon we got in some shaded reading, napping, and continued swimming. This woman was really an angel from the beach… not sure we would have survived in the blaring sun otherwise. After lots of fresh fruit juices, another night of a giant pizza, some weird teenage boys sitting next to us and telling me my feet were weird, and blissful sleeping to the sound of the ocean waves, we decided to head out mid-morning on Monday because it was down pouring. We said goodbye to our hosts because we stayed at the same place, and headed to the bus. I first forgot to return the key, so had to go back; then I realized I forgot my phone in the cabin so I had to go back in. I had zero minutes to spare but still made it on the bus out!
We planned the same return trip home of 8 hours, but it turned out to be much much longer. Once we got arrived after the first 2 hour leg to Esmeraldas, we were told there we no buses to Ibarra… hmm.. at least not until 11pm. It was 1pm then, and there was no way we were waiting 10 hours in a terminal. So, against our will, we headed to Santo Domingo after persuasion from some bus company, and that was a 3 hour leg. Once there, we were told “yes” to Ibarra for this bus, but in fact it was stopping at the south terminal of Quito after 3.5 hours, then another 1.5 hours to the north terminal of Quito. We hopped off there, got a ticket to Ibarra, and endured the last 2 hours together. I really do love the bus rides, but we were expecting 8 hours and instead ended up with ~13 hours, each bus playing movies at 9000% volume, full with people, and immensely windy returning through the mountains to our higher altitude. In the end, a good memory with lots of laughs about our long long day with the buses. I felt like we did a mini tour of Ecuador.
My time at CRECER ended last week, and Gina and Caroline left last week as well, with 2 weeks free before they start their next level 2 fieldwork. We had a farewell lunch all together last week, and it was strange not going into the center on Monday, and I will definitely miss my favorite kid. Corri leaves today as I’m writing this, and we have had the past day and half full of puzzling, making fresh smoothies + guac, eating our favorite ice cream, and spending quality time together. It’s going to be a very sad night once she leaves at 8pm, as her, myself, and Hannah have already teared up thinking about her leaving. Fortunately, she has a lot to look forward to. It’s amazing how close you can become to someone in only three months… I’m hoping to see her this summer, though –> there’s always a “next time” plan.
Next post will be my last as I write up my final thoughts on my project, my time in Ecuador, friendships made, and where I hope to go next. Time has truly flown. I’m going to soak up as much as I can these next 4 days- cheers to the last meat sticks!
