The campo trip was certainly an adventure. I am no longer afraid of outhouses or random bugs flying into my food. However, I am now scared of shrimp in weird ceviche style sauce. On our last day in the campo, Robert and I ate this shrimp dish, which in the end made us both sick. Since, Robert is Ecuadorian it didn’t really affect him as much as it did me.  The following Tuesday, I was feeling so weak that I went straight to the doctor in Tonchingue. He then ordered me to go to Atacames to take some exams. Laura accompanied me on my lovely adventure to the doctor.

            So the doctor in Atacames checked my blood and urine and yup… I had an infection. But the doctor told me that I should have taken a salmonella test because when “people from the first world come to the third world….” Basically, our immune systems are weak sauce.

            I went back to the clinic to get my blood drawn again and of course the Uruguay vs. Netherland game was showing on the TV. As the nurse was my drawing out my blood, I was praying to God that no one would score so that I wouldn’t react and have blood spurt everywhere. Luckily no one scored during those scary 30 seconds. As we waited for the blood results, Laura and I walked around the boardwalk of Atacames to find Laura some black shorts. In every store, bar, etc there was a TV showing the Uruguay vs. Netherlands game. So it was pretty easy to follow the game, while walking down the boardwalk. (Boo Netherlands won.)

            After about 30 minutes, we returned to find out that I didn’t have any weird creatures in me. So the doctor prescribed me some antibiotics. He also prescribed me some shots so that I would not fall ill again during the rest of my time in Ecuador. And of course I had to take the shots in my butt. Like really?! (I had to come back 2-3 more times to finish all the shots.)

            That week I stayed in the office, while Laura went out to the campo to do more organic inspections and practice using her machete.

June 29th - July 3rd - Internal Organic Inspections

FONMSOEAM every year has to renew its organic certification. That means LONG walks through mud and river in the Reserve Mache Chindul to meet with farmers associated with FONMSOEAM.

The best part of the trip is the free fruit from farmers and naps on the hammock.

Many more long walks ahead….

  As our friend José says, Ecuadorans have no shame when it comes to flirting with women. So I decided with this post to share some interesting conversations I’ve had.

At Johnny’s

“Your legs are not meant to play soccer; they are meant to be loved,” –Johnny.

“That’s machoismo.” –Me

“No, it’s not. Which male actor do you think is handsome?” –Johnny

“Gael Garcia Bernal” –Me

“That’s feminismo.” –Johnny

On the bus ride back from the campo

 A young man sits next to me with a fighting rooster in his lap.

“What is your name?” He says in ENGLISH. Grrr

“Me llamo Debbie,” I respond back in Spanish.

 “Do you like cockfighting?” –Rooster boy

 “No.” –Me

 “Are you single or married?” –Rooster boy

 “I have a boyfriend,” I lied. 

 “Does your boyfriend like to share?” –Rooster boy

 “No.” –Me

“Are those boots your boyfriend’s?”–Rooster boy referring to my campo boots

 “No. They’re mine.” –Me. He looks back in shock.

 He later leaves after I told him I was going to take a nap. Then soon right after a man with an adult duck and baby ducks took his spot. Luckily he didn’t flirt with me.

My friend – talking about the evil inorganic food in the US

 “Debbie, you need to marry an Ecuadoran right away and move to Ecuador.” Some Ecuadorans (not all!) believe that inorganic chicken cause homosexuality.

On the streets… on a daily basis…

“Hola mi reina” –Random dude on the streets

My favorite song as of this moment.

“Don’t you have wireless internet where you are?” a friend

“HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. I have dial-up connection through a USB stick that I have to pay $3 for 24 hours worth of internet.” me

Today, my friend gchatted me this question and my first thought was — Wow. How do I answer that?

            Well last Thursday, Laura and I had to ride on the back of a pick-up truck to a meeting in our dresses, because the buses were on a strike. After the strategy meeting with GTZ (The German version of USAID) and FONMSOEAM, Laura and I swam in the ocean with the German intern, Stefan. Then, we ate pizza with yummy ham. (I can only eat so much rice and seafood. I am turning into a pescetarian by default.) I tried mora milkshake, which was also yummy. :) Then we came home to no water.

            On Friday, the water came back on and I was lucky to take a shower before it was off again. (SIGH) Later that night, we went dancing with our more age-appropriate friends. I thought it was cute/hilarious that my friend, Carlos was still dancing salsa-like to electronic music. All the Ecuadoran boys know how to dance, well except for José. (We later told Rocio about his horrible dancing skills and she was like “Are you sure he’s from here?”) At the end of the night, I was soaking with sweat. Thank you humidity. That night I had to wash myself with bottled water.

            Saturday, I woke up with a lovely stomach flu. We planned to go to Mompiche beach on Saturday morning, but our friend Sandra couldn’t make it. So we decided to go to Playa Escondida instead. We literally hitched a ride to get there (It’s normal here.) and the driver was really nice to not charge us. We soon discovered that Playa Escondida is not a typical beach… it’s an ecological reserve. It is full of coral, crabs, and tide pools. It’s very beautiful and the Canadian woman that owns/preserves the land gave us free entry since we’re volunteers. Once we came back, I went straight to my bed hoping to get rid of my stomach flu as soon as possible. Around 6pm, Laura asked if I wanted to get dinner, and I forced myself out of bed to join her. We went to Spondylus and I share a plate of chicken with Laura. Then, we spent the rest of our Saturday evening playing cards with preteen boys at Spondylus.

              Sunday = water and internet!

            Monday, we should be starting our internal organic inspections. Hopefully.

This song is always on the radio!!

I almost had a heart attack when I saw the most awesome cereal known to humankind in one of the small stores in our town. Now, I don’t really care for cereal but Chocapics is different. Its just amazing chocolateness in every single bite. Coca-puffs doesn’t come close. I first discovered them in the Azores and I didn’t see it again until I was in Spain. I had it pretty every day in my home-stay in Spain. Luckily, I had a 10 year-old Spanish host sister who loved chocapics too! Sadly, I have never seen it in the United States, but now that I have found it here in Ecuador, I plan on eating it every day. 

I am chilling on the ground floor of the hotel, which is like an open restaurant and so far 4 people have passed by and said hola! The first hola was from Veronica, our teammate from the soccer game last night. The second one was from Rocio’s husband from the Spondylus restaurant. The third one was from Carlos, the computer guy from the libraría, and the fourth one was from Manuel, who lives near the FONMSOEAM office. It is not even noon! Hehe. =)

Teamwork is about knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Obviously Laura is really good in soccer and I must say that I am kind of decent in dancing. According to our friends/co-workers, I am a pretty fast learner when it comes to dancing salsa and meringue. Pero… no puedo jugar bien. Last night, we were invited to play soccer at this one random location in our town. They play soccer every day during the day, and every Friday nights. The men play first, and then the women play. Laura and I were on the “yellow” team. (We wore really old Brazilian soccer jerseys.) After playing the first half, I was replaced. Fail. The Brazilian jersey didn’t give me much luck. Hehe. But that’s okay because both Laura and I were invited back again to play. Hopefully, I will get better? 

Being organic is not easy. Not only do you have to worry about stupid snails, but also about the paperwork for the organic certification. Right now, Laura and I have been helping with getting ready for the internal organic inspections. The promotores (Pastor, Santiago, and Robert) have to visit 269 farmers in over 20 different communities. We helped Vicente with writing the budget and getting the paperwork ready for the promotores. Soon we will be accompanying them with the fieldwork. They’re kind of like our big flirty brothers. We’re pretty excited to see the different communities. Adios flip-flops and hola rubber boots.