Tabuga- Beginning My Stay Here

Day 1:

After taking a 5 hour bus ride to Perdenales, the closest “city” to Tabuga, then another half hour to Tabuga, my friend Jennifer, the other volunteer here, and Kari, our adviser, got off the bus to a beautiful coastal view surrounded by just beach, mountains, and very run down wooden houses. We were told where we lived was called Las Cañas, and met our host families. As we walked through, I was a little nervous seeing all of the houses because some were simply huts made of bamboo or wood of some sort. Jennifer was dropped off first, and I lived down the street about 3 doors down, and across from one of the towns two “tiendas”, or shops in English. I had a really heavy bag, and a man on a horse pulled up and said something really hard to understand. Kari told me he wanted to help carry my bag. I gave him my huge body bag, and the poor horse carried both of them to my house. All the boys came out and helped carry it up. Apparently, my house is the place to be in Las Cañas neighborhood, because all of the teens and kids were just hanging out in the little house on the hammocks. They showed me my room. Apparently, their aunt, who is 19, just had a child who was 3 weeks old and was living there, but now in a different house. I had a really nice room, and it made me feel really bad that I was taking an entire room. They did not care, and did everything they could to make me comfortable. 

My room

Neighborhood

My host family is amazing. I have a really awesome sister named Fabiela who is 19. She apparently is the pride and joy of the town, and has been Miss Tabuga, their Reina 2 years in a row. She is one of the most promising teens here, and super cute! I also have another sister named Jimena who is 17, and then a host brother who is 18 named Ricardo, and another brother, John Carlos who is 15. Their mother’s name is Monica, and their father is Vincente. I didn’t realize until later, but they are related to everyone in the neighborhood. It is really a HUGE family. I LOVE hanging out with them, but their Spanish is a bit hard to understand.

Later, Jennifer and I got the tour of the town and met some of the people. I got to see the Library, and the school along with the high school. 

The next day, our full day:

Jennifer and I met Kari at 8:30 to see the closest town, called Perdenales. We waited for the president, missing the 9:00 bus. It took another hour and a half to catch the next bus, so we were just sitting there talking. When the bus came, we went to Perdenales and used internet for a bit. When we returned, my family made me a HUGE lunch and then I ran off to the Library. When I got there, there were a few kids, and a few more ended up coming later. I played connect four with an 8-yr-old named Valentina. She was pretty good, but after a bit got bored of the game. A few more kids came in and we played Monopoly Junior. It was really fun, and it got them thinking and counting. During the game, many more kids flooded in. 

Kari made a rule that in order to play, the kids need to bring in 5 plastic bottles. Apparently, the town is littered with plastic bottles, and they do have recycling here. To encourage the kids to clean up litter, they must bring 5 plastic bottles to the library to recycle. Kari also made up a game where you roll a die and the first person to say the product of the two numbers got a popcorn kernel, and the other went to the back of the line. The first to get 15 kernels wins a prize. The prizes are simply a shiny pencil or a little toy or notebook. The kids LOVED this game, and were really fast. 

Kari told me that their school system is horrible, and they are always on vacation. There are 5^th graders who can’t read, and many kids can’t add or multiply. These kids actually love coming in and playing, and have greatly improved their math skills. This game is used for addition as well for the younger kids. It is funny how much you can teach these kids that they are not learning in school. Their school textbook is the only book they own, so the books in the library really open their eyes to many new things. I can’t wait to work some more and develop new games for them!

View from my window

Under the house, there are tons of dogs and chickens running free

Day 2:

I got to meet the sister of my host dad, Leo, and her two adorable kids. Together, they helped me learn some new words for things around the house. I decided to start a spiral of new Spanish words. When I showed my host family photos of me in the US, they bluntly stated how much skinnier I used to be, and how I should lose the weight again, all while feeding me the most fattening fried plantains, fried meat, fried fish, and rice.  Ecuadorian honesty is something you have to get used to here for sure.

Day 3 & 4:

Yesterday, we went to the beach with Fabiela, her cousin Jamie who is 10, and some of the Ex-Peace Corps Americans that work in the reserve and in town with Kari. Jason, one of the Americans, went surfing, and I played in the water with the kids. The kids here are so cute and happy, I love playing with them. My professors Joe and Cath came with their wildlife photographer friend named Eric. Cath went surfing, and Kari was learning. It was a very good day with strong sun.

At night now, we watch a movie in Spanish with English subtitles for me from the Hammocks. So far, they have liked “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Town”, but not the movie “The Kids Are All Right”. That one was a bit progressive for them with all of the Lesbian scenes.

some of my neighbors

Neighborhood kids and their chickens

One of the roosters that wakes me up

A pig under our neighbor's house

They do not have much to do, so we watch a lot of Spanish TV. My family is one of the richest because they have a toilet and a TV/DVD player. I found out that everyone make 7$ a day for their work here, so having me pays them about twice a day’s work for an extra bed and food. When I found this out, I felt a bit better. Our American minimum wage PER HOUR is higher than that! My family does not have forks, or a fan, and definitely not air conditioning. They use DVD cases for picture frames, and have never eaten at a restaurant. When they asked what my favorite food was, I said pasta. They had to ask me how to make it because they had never made it before!  I have decided to make them pizza, pico de gallo, and chocolate chip cookies. I want to show them some new food.

 My host mom is so kind, she goes out of her way for me all the time. I had an eye infection, so I went to Perdenales to buy drops. When I got back, they had a little boy run drops over that they had bought me as well. I felt so bad because I already had drops. Also, last night, I was really, really sick and was throwing up all night, probably from something I ate. Let’s just say I was a “double spouted fountain of fury”, and Fabiela and Monica stayed up all night giving me tea and aromatherapy. It was rough because there was no running water, so they were using buckets to wash down everything. I felt terrible, and miserable, but they were so happy to help. 

The people here are so happy. There are many sad situations like girls getting pregnant and dropping out of school, or having a parent leave or ignore them, but overall people are just happy. A lot of the teen moms are going back to school now, so it is turning out to be a very good thing. I have learned and witnessed all this and more in only the first four days! I can’t wait to see what else I experience!