Up and Down

Everytime we think it must be over - She starts up again. And vice versa. Mama is an unpredictable one.

At least we seem to be getting more used to it. During the last couple of nights, Pete and I have had very blissful sleep, despite reports that She had let off some good shakers in the middle of the night. To us, it seems much quieter compared to what we had on the weekend. And by "quiet", I mean that we still get a couple of good booms, but they are much farther apart (up to an hour) and don't usually generate a "woah-that-was-a-gooder" response from anyone.

However, Mama's activity (as recorded by volcanologists), seems to be increasing. An interview played on a local radio station yesterday said that her activity levels were rising, but a little less then they rose on Friday. That's good, I guess? No one seems to be willing to commit to any sort definitive answer about what to expect. And we have learned by now not to even rely on comments from Bañenos. One man's concern is another's man's joke.

This morning they tested the alarms (thank Gawd we knew about it, otherwise - how scary!) and all seem to be working fine.

We are trusting our own instincts, and so are staying put for the time being. Because Mama T is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, all of the top "volcano institutes" are watching her. If there is sincere danger to our little town, I am sure we will know about it. And we will follow all directives when issued. But until then, we are staying put and witnessing one of the most incredible and unique events we could have hoped to experience on this trip!

The Show Must Go On!
Despite the school's being closed due to Mama's activity, the doors at La BIB have been wide open, and we even threw a little party on Tuesday!

Remember as a kid, after celebrating Mother's and Father's Day, asking this inevitable question - when is Kid's Day? To which would always follow, the inevitable answer - every day is Kid's Day!

Well, Ecuadorians do not apparently subscribe to this theory! June 1st of every year is Kid's Day, and the eager kids are even awarded a day off from school. And what better time for La BIB to throw a party - to celebrate the kids as well as take everyone's mind off of the burping volcano in the background.

We had three-legged races, potato sack races, musical chairs, and even a dance competition! There were lots of prizes, and we were FULL of kids, more came then we anticipated.

Getting ready for musical chairs!

It was a really fun afternoon, and I do believe the party well served it's purpose. Once again, we are pleasantly amazed at the good that this little organization does for the community.

Thanks to all that have already made donations to La BIB! For any of those who haven't had a chance to donate yet, follow this link to do it!

Magical Moments

The kids continue to surprise and amaze! I can't decide what my favourite activity with them is. I love drawing and coloring - as soon as I sit down and pick up a crayon, a group of them will patiently wait to see what I draw so that they can try to emulate it. Reading with them is also so much fun, and I don't even mind that I now almost know "Huevos Verde Con Jamon" (Green Eggs and Ham) off by heart. Maybe because I think it's funny that Sam I Am is now Juan Ramon.

Pete and I are also both enjoying the adult English classes more than either of us expected. Three nights a week, we are assisting (and in some cases, leading) classes that are given to the general public. They are very willing participants who are eager to learn, and I have even done a couple of private lessons outside of the regular classes.

English is hard! The classes are making us look at our language in a whole new way. Do any of you know what "count and non-count nouns" are? Or, what about how to use verbs in the "future perfect" or "past progressive" tense? Yeah, I didn't think so. But now we do! Each class is such a challenge for us - in order to be able to help them with what they need to know to build the language, we need to do lots of homework ourselves.

We are also amassing quite an eclectic group of people staying in the apartment, with 2 new arrivals this week and another joining us next week. One of my favourite things about traveling is the diversity of people we are meeting and the opportunities we have to discuss deep topics as a group whilst enjoying cheap beer and good food. And it's even better that one of our new roommates travels with his guitar, and we can break from the meal and deep discussions to just have a good ole fashioned sing-a-long.

And in between all of this, we continue to work hard on the other projects we each have on the go, even creating some additional projects on our own. We have still yet to find time to explore the town and area, but will make more of an effort to do so this weekend and next.

These are magical, live-changing days. And we are so thankful that there are many more to come!

You had to know THIS was coming!

I was going to wait to post this, maybe after a couple more weeks of "wooing" you with stories about what a great organization this is and how fabulous the kids are. But, I have been getting a couple of requests for info from some of you already on how to help, so I am stepping it up and making my plea early.

As with all of these types of places in South America, La BIB runs on donations. Most of the money comes from current and former volunteers that can see first hand exactly how much their money can do - making arts, language and literacy projects happen for a needy group of people. In a town where the kids previously had never been able to hold a book - La BIB has given them this opportunity and will continue to give them more...with your help!

Why donate to La BIB? Because you can. And because you lovvvveeee us. And because it's easy! Follow this link for more info. Or email us if you have any questions!

Here is a couple of pictures of the cute kiddies to "woo" you even further...

Pete playing Jenga (and with the resident mascot - Bibi!)

This little rockstar is named Nicole. Remind you of anyone??

Privileges

It's true. It has to be! The cutest kids in all of Latin America have been shipped to the pueblo of Baños and are attending the after school care program at La BIB. And we are a very fortunate pair to get to enjoy them for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Most of them are latch-key kids, who would otherwise be wandering the streets after school while their parents continue to work. Thankfully the doors of La BIB are wide open, providing them with opportunities that previously (and remarkably!) were not available in town. For instance, up until La BIB opened it's doors 2 years ago, most of these kids would never have even held a book before in their lives. Unimaginable to most of us privileged gringos, but sadly true.

It hasn't taken long for a few of them to already have wedged themselves into our hearts. There's Indira, one of the older girls, who is always eager to practice her English and is also most helpful (ahem!) at correcting my Spanish. There's Enrique, who wrote the sweetest poem to his Mamita in the mother's day card we constructed together. There's Karla, whose shy little smile gets me every single time. And then there's chubby little Jocelyn, who gives the best and longest good-bye hugs at the end of the day.

There are many, many more. And while we bounce between reading books to them, playing memory and helping with crafts, we get to know them a little more each day. After only one week here, our departure date, as far down the road as it is, is a sad thought already.

After a very busy week, we are enjoying the quiet of the weekend - relaxing some but also eagerly working on other projects that we have taken on for La BIB. The looming beauty of this town will have to wait to be adored, but it doesn't hurt to see the gorgeous mountains and a waterfall out of our window while we work. We are, indeed, the privileged gringos.

We will add pictures soon! We've been too busy this week to take any!

Settling...settling...settled!

And just like that! Free time is now a rare commodity for these formerly carefree travelers!

On Monday we moved into our new home for the next two months. We helped move furniture around, unpacked our bags (that took about 2 minutes!), and we were settled.

Pete is a giant in the wee kitchen!

It's basic but cosy, with a bathroom and kitchen that we're sharing with other volunteers, and with a price that can't be beat ($250 for the month). It is also a nice perk to be living just above where we work, and just below the organizers who thus far are taking very good care of us!

Just three days in, and our time has been quickly filled at La Biblioteca Interactiva de Baños (La BiB) - starting at 10am with various meetings on getting projects started, and finishing after 8pm when the adult English classes wrap up. In between we are helping keep the library clean, reading, playing with and making crafts with kids, teaching English as well as starting to work on some of our many projects! Pete will be helping to update the website (once he learns all the computer nerd language behind it!), and I have several items on the go, including editing some videos of recent events at La BiB.

Already we both feel like very welcome contributors to this worthy cause, and are so excited to be a part of it. Not only for the fact that we are helping to encourage the learning and creative minds of people of all ages, but also because it is truly our pleasure and honor to become acquainted with the organizers as well as some of the amazing people in this community.

I encourage you to take a look at this website to better understand what we are committing our time to. (And you'll have to look at it again later once Pete has prettied it all up!)

Different - for better or for worse!

There have been so many times in the past 8 months where Pete and I will look at each other and say: "Wow, that's sure different!" Whether it's because of the fact that people in Argentina are responsible for building their own sidewalks (imagine the variety), or the fact that each and every city in South America somehow has a damn rooster population magically situated beside every hostel we've stayed in. Stupid roosters.

These interesting aspects become even more apparent when we spend more time in a place, and really get to participate in the daily life of the locals. Some of it is for the better, others for worse, but in so many cases, it is vastly different from anything we are used to!

Case in point #1 - Milk distribution. Yes, milk is available in the supermarkets, but it is only "dead" milk (does not need to be refrigerated). Not entirely on board with ingesting it in this form, we instead are buying our milk from the back of a truck! Every morning, a pick-up truck drives down our street with large vats of fresh cow and goat's milk for sale. We take out our own container and get one litre filled for $0.50. This is obviously fresher then fresh, and so is way healthier, and also way cheaper. I don't know if this sort of service exists anywhere in Canada - it is definitely a difference for the better!

Case in point #2 - Disturbance of the peace. You can damn well bet that if in Canada I was woken around 6am everyday by a group of runners who were also loudly chanting, the local police would be getting a call from me to put a stop to it. So, what do I do here when these running chanters ARE the police? Baños is home to a police school, and part of their training includes running early every morning - I get that. But why chanting? And why down the main streets in town? I miss my cosy, largely undisturbed neighbourhood in the Canadian suburbs for this reason.

I guess we gotta take the good with the bad. At least there are no roosters waking us up. Yet.