Sam I Am kicked off our fourth week rounding out an eleven hour bus ride. We rolled into Otavalo at 6:30 in the morning for a free day to enjoy the city. From the bus terminal we groggily stumbled the eight or so blocks to our hostel. Luckily, we found it to be equipped with hammocks, delicious breakfasts, and the best damn showers we have encountered in Ecuador thus far.

After a lazy morning of snacking and Spades we decided to make our way to the Peguche waterfall. We have been informed that on a normal day at Peguche you can enjoy the beautiful sights in peace and even whisper your secrets to the falls and be cleansed. However, last Sunday we were still in the heart of Carnaval so we had a different experience entirely that included crowds, an excess of foam, water fights, and the occasional explosion of colored flour. Our superheroes once again made an appearance and were kind enough to provide the public with photo-ops upon request. The rest of our day was spent roaming the world-famous Otavalan market, Plaza de los Ponchos, and indulging in more good food.

Monday morning brought the start of two weeks of homestays in Agualongo and our work with the Tandana Foundation, an organization devoted to building relationships and providing support for the towns of indigenous Ecuadorians around Otavalo. Anna, the founder of Tandana along with a few other volunteers met us at our hostel for orientation. We had a quick crash-course on life in Agualongo and our schedule for the next two weeks including a brief lesson in Kichwa, the native language of Ecuador that our homestay families speak in addition to Spanish. From there we made our way to Agualongo. We were each dropped off at our homes to meet our families and then promptly made our way to the community center for a welcoming ceremony followed by a slightly chaotic game of soccer. Unsurprisingly, us gringos did not come out ahead.

Immediately after our day took a turn in a quite different direction and we headed to Las Palmeras Hotel where a small gathering for volunteers and visiting donors was being held. The party was hosted at the hotel owner, Nik´s, home. Nik is a rather eccentric older Englishman who splits his time between Manhattan and Otavalo. He got to know Tandana through volunteers staying at his hotel and included the construction of a medical storage facility for the foundation when he built his new home.

Tuesday we participated in a local minga, which meant the nine of us spent the morning picking up trash around Agualongo along with the other young people of the town. A minga is an alternative to taxes that most of the indigenous villages use around Ecuador. A project is selected and planned that every family must contribute to, whether that be sending a member to help work or providing refreshments for the volunteers. Our afternoon was spent taking inventory of the medical storage facility at Las Palmeras in preparation for our health clinic work for this upcoming week.

Wednesday morning was spent weeding and planting seedlings at Muyo, a tree nursery dedicated to the rehabilitation and reforestation of indigenous plants in the area. From there we spent a long afternoon in a cooking class hosted by Claudia, a former scholarship student of Anna´s who is now opening a cooking school with her family. We made llapingachos (fried cheese potatoe dumplings), carne colorada (steak curry), rice and pea empanadas, and quimbolita (an angel food cake made by steaming heaps of batter wrapped in giant leaves). It took us about five hours to make dinner for twenty people and the results were certainly worth it.

Thursday and Friday were converting the old kitchen into a new library at the local school. Some group members sanded and painted the room while the rest meticulously covered books with contact paper to ensure they would have a long life span in the library. There was a lot of book covering. We had a quite pleasant afternoon on Friday harvesting Frigole (beans) at the house of Campos´ homestay family. We spent about twenty minutes filling our bagswith beans before plopping ourselves down in a potatoe patch in the middle of the corn fields and eating as much choclos (raw corn on the cob) and caña (the sugar-cane like substance in the center of corn stalks). We were joined by a few young children of Agualongo who put us to shame with our swiss army knives by peeling the caña with their teeth and chowing down on about five full cornstalks a piece. Luckily, our brief bean-harvesting work still provided Campos´ family with enough beans for the rest of the year!

Saturday morning brought another minga. The project was tiling the community center floors, however, the level of organization involved was minimal and after scrubbing away at the cement ground and soaking a few tiles we ran out of ways to contribute. Then we had a free afternoon to enjoy some timein Otavalo. Saturday is the biggest day for the outdoor market so many of us returned home with a new accessory or article of clothing. In Nick´s case, a full new outfit of traditional Ecuadorian attire in the form of red-striped overalls and a bright green fedora. We´re all seriously considering following suit. It could be a good look for Sam I Am.

Our week has been very busy, but very enjoyable. Our familes have all been very kind and welcoming and each day we have plenty of opportunities to practice both our Spanish and Kichwa.

Hope all is well where you are, much love to our friends and family.

Your blogger for the week,
Daniella