Nuestra Minga
A minga is an event where a community comes together to complete a project, kindof like a service day or service event. The object is to better the community in some way, shape, or form. A couple weeks ago, we held a minga at the Casita de Chocolate to clean up and organize. Some of the teachers and high school kids from our Saturday refuerzo program helped out. We put the kids to work cleaning and moving furniture around (but afterwards they got to climb up on the roof and pick mangos, so they were pretty happy about it).
Site Visit
Peace Corps admins routinely visit volunteers at their sites to observe activities and meet with our counterparts. It’s a good time to check in on project development as well as get everyone on the same page as to how things are going along, how best to proceed with current/future projects, and what resources are available to us going forward. My site visit went well, and I am excited for some projects we’ve got in the works for the upcoming vacation season.
Open House
Earlier this week, my organization, INFA, hosted an open house. Representatives from 14 different parts of Guasmo Sur set up tents with activities, posters, and information on what INFA has to offer in their specific neighborhoods.
The event took place in La Playita, a small strip of beach along the River Guayas, which runs through the barrio. La Playita is a few blocks of beautifully developed riverfront, with food stands and outdoor seating, public restrooms, a sandy beach area, and a lookout tower that affords a view down the river and out across the shrimp farms. It is amazingly clean, these five blocks or so, especially when you consider you can walk one block over into the barrio and be back among the trash-strewn streets (which is the most common complaint among barrio residents – perhaps a future minga?).
Looking upriver from the vantage tower, you can see narrow boats that have been jerry-rigged into a type of motor-powered canoe. My friend Paquita tells me these are the fishermen who ply the contaminated riverwaters every day, going out and coming in according to the tides. Further down, the massive metal hulks of ships at dock in the port are visible. Downriver affords a view of La Playita, followed by a stretch of lush vegetation clinging to the riverbank, and finally a hodgepodge of stilt-legged houses jutting out over the water’s edge. These houses rise up crooked out of the haze and humidity and are held up, it seems, by hopes and dreams.
The open house event was a huge success, and I got to speak to dozens of parents and families about my work as a volunteer, getting valuable feedback from them as well. But I came away impressed with what a city of juxtapositions Guayaquil really is: a beautiful beach in the middle of the barrio, the slums in the south, and if you follow the river northward, millionaires in their mansions. It’s a thriving place, and I’m excited to be here.
Christmas Parties
Molly and I hosted a cookie decorating party on our terrace this past weekend. It started with a baking bonanza, in which we baked an estimated 12 dozen or so cookies (hard to gauge what with our eat-as-you-make-‘em technique).
Tomorrow will be a big day, as we are hosting a Christmas party for the kids in the barrio, after which I will be packing up and heading to the airport to go home to Atlanta for the holidays.
New Apartment
A new development in my apartment search: a place opened up in my host family’s building, which means I get to live here with a family and still have my own space – and PCV neighbor to boot. Score! Or, as the soccer commentators here say: Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!
So I will be coming back after Christmas to furnish and move into my own apartment. And I plan to have a futon, so Guests: Ye Be Welcome. Satisfy your South American wanderlust in Guayaquil.
Next post will be from north of the equator…abrazos a todos!
