Post-Ecuador, a De-Briefing

I've been back in Virginia now for three weeks or so; I'm finally enough removed from my experience that those reflections  Orwell spoke of in his book (that I read earlier in the trip) may be upon me. Through many conversations since I've returned, a few things continually pop up when people question me about my experience.

Our two options to get back to the hotel from the center of town: above, the giant hill, below, the enormous flight of steps. 

First, it was a lesson in group dynamics. A friend used this analogy, and I think it explains it well: it's rather like gaining six more siblings that you weren't sure you wanted. We lived together, ate together, worked together. We learned each other's strengths, became annoyed with each other's weaknesses. I learned that I need space in order to be happy the rest of the time, and that's ok.  Another piece of wisdom that I had become aware of before and was reinforced during the trip: not everyone is cut out to travel abroad, and an even smaller proportion has the right personality to work in a developing country. Patience is everything when attempting to make real progress in a place where efficiency ranks far down the list of defining characteristics. One has to be determined and persistant, but also willing to sit back and let things go when necessary.

Above: middle-upper class dwelling in Guaranda; below, a typical street view 

Lesson number two: I am happier at sea-level, and where it's warm. It was like hitting a wall of heat and humidity walking out of the Miami airport that night, and it's been pretty hot since I've been home. I'm loving it!

Above: collision of modernity and traditional ways of life; middle: usual way of selling the local liquor; bottom: scary trash cans all over Ecuador, I'm surprised not every man, woman, and child has a phobia of clowns.

                                            

          

Thirdly, language is more than just words. Language is something that has run as an underlying current through my high school and college experiences for the last several years; I think I am only beginning to realize its importance. We were learning Spanish in order to be able to question the farmers to gain the information we wanted, but in interviewing (and I discovered this when I was the guinea pig and did the first survey), language counted for a lot. The words we used in phrasing many questions just didn't communicate to them what we wanted; it required a lot of explaining sometimes to get across what we wanted to express. Language is important; there are lots of fine lines between meanings and contexts, and having been out in the field experiencing this, it makes me pay much more attention while reading studies that have been done in countries where the researchers are of a different origin. Yes, the information we collected will be (hopefully) valuable to future research, but that information wasn't possible without us learning to manipulate the language; often things were translated from Quechua to Spanish and Spanish to English. There's a lot of room for error there.

Views inside our favorite café, Siete Santos

The novelty of things like turning on the tap to drink water, having a continually hot shower, and not having to haul water up a mile long hill to drink have mostly worn off now, but the lingering shadow of gratefulness is still with me. While I-81 is a mess, it's still better than most roads in Ecuador, though I'd probably prefer the gas prices there than here. My eyes have been opened a little wider from this experience, and my hope is that they will stay that way, that my understanding of my daily life and the life of those thousands of miles away is a little deeper, and that there will be opportunities in the future to apply this knowledge for the betterment of someone else. Perhaps I'll blog again in the future should I encounter that opportunity, but for now it's back to reading about nonpoint source nutrient credit trading programs in the Chesapeake Bay (say that 5 times fast).

Hasta luego Guaranda, and adios Quito! 

En Casa

I realized that maybe I was leaving things hanging with the last post, so for those who are curious, I made it home  the evening of July 3rd, with a sinus infection and a  (probably, haven't fully determined yet...) dead computer. But I'm home!
I have many more pictures to post, and I'll get those up as soon as I get my computer situation sorted out. For now, the sweet corn tastes as good as I expected, I'm soaking up the sun like it's going out of fashion, and avoiding my GRE study book like it's the plague.

Homeward bound...but not quite there yet

Departure from Quito was a bit hectic yesterday morning. As a group of six (Albert is staying to travel in Peru), we arrived at the airport by 7:30 and checked in. Mishap #1: I managed to put a half-open waterbottle in my backpack; upon arrival at the airport I realized my computer was soaking wet. Lovely, but nothing I could do about it.

We made it to our gate without problems, though slightly annoyed that we weren't allowed to bring water into the waiting area. We had about a 2 hour wait, during which we were offered a $500 voucher to remain in Quito one night, as they had overbooked the flight. Lauren and I thought about it (had it been a cash voucher, it would have doubled my net-worth), but decided that after being away for 6 weeks, we should head home, so on board we went.

We arrived at Miami by 15:30, and made it through the circus that was customs by about 17:00. Robert had to dash to his flight and get them to open the door to the plane to let him on, but he made it nonetheless. Lauren also had a quick interchange, but as far as I know, she's back in DC. Jessica had delays in Charlotte, but made it home last night.

That left Trevor, Katie, and myself, sitting at the gate for our flight to Richmond. It was supposed to leave at 20:55; somewhere around 19:00 the delays began. Apparently the plane was coming from Nashville, and for whatever reason didn't arrive until 23:00. Then the pilot was pulled off the flight, with none to replace him. After waiting an hour for operations to attempt to find a new pilot, the flight was finally canceled. Thus began the rush to the front of the line for re-booking and meal vouchers. I managed to get a seat on a 18:05 pm flight to Reagan today, Trevor a flight to Richmond via Cleveland (which turned out to be delayed today...) and Katie a flight to Norfolk. After waiting an hour to get these bookings (and lamenting the fact that we should have taken the $500 voucher in Quito), we headed to find our luggage (at the other end of the airport, with the train closed of course) and then out to find the hotel shuttle. In the course of events, Katie and Trevor decided to stay the night at the airport, as their flights left this morning, leaving me heading to the hotel. 2:45 am finally found me in bed after an hour wait for the shuttle and rumors flying that there weren't enough rooms at the hotel for all those American Airlines had booked.

Lessons of traveling: patience patience patience. Fortunately the hotel here in Miami has a very nice pool, a soft bed, and bacon for breakfast. I only hope that my travel home this afternoon goes off without a hitch...wish me luck!