Holy cow these last few days have been…
interesting. It all started on Wednesday when I thought it was a good idea to
eat street food in a little town called Simiatug. To get to Simitaug we had to
travel 4 hours each way in the back of a truck and on a bus resulting in a very
car-sick Jennifer. The crazy, cramped rides mixed with the not-so-intelligent
choice to eat street food turned into a very sick next few days.
Thursday morning the women of Pulingui
wanted to share with us the art of shearing a sheep and then preparing its
wool. Already feeling nauseous all day, I participated in the actual cutting of
the wool very little. Since the people of Pulingui do not use any electronics,
normal electric shears were out of
the question. Instead we used very basic (and quite dull I may add) scissors.
This particular sheep that they were shearing was very pregnant and they
assured me that she wanted a haircut, even though I was not convinced… I was so
nervous when my fellow interns were given a chance to try that they would
accidentally hurt this poor sheep. That is why I only cut one little inch, checked
that I drew no blood, and ended my sheep shearing career right then and there.
The wool was surprisingly greasy when we were cutting it, and housed every bug
imaginable (so I guess they may have been right about the sheep wanting that
stuff off)…I was more tan a little grossed out.
After the sheep had received a very choppy
haircut, the women showed us how the wool was cleaned, prepared, and spun. None
of us were very good at the spinning, but I definitely rose to the top of the
class when it came to weaving ponchos and scarves (thanks to my Montessori education).
I did get offered a weaving job with the women (which, if you are keeping up,
is my second job opportunity here…so someone tell my Miami career advisor that
I have all the career backups I need).
While I lasted through the cutting and the
weaving, my health over the next few day deteriorated. Being sick in a foreign
country is difficult…Being sick when the nearest bathroom is an outhouse is
even more difficult… But being sick when you are too deathly afraid of the dark
to actually walk to the outhouse…THAT WAS MISERABLE! One evening I was so
afraid that I went and knocked on my poor host mother’s door in the middle of the
night and she walked me to the outhouse barefoot and half asleep. (Now don’t
worry, I am not afraid of the dark because Pulingui is not safe… it’s merely
because I am a baby).
Feeling better on Friday afternoon, my
fellow interns and I decided to take a trip to the nearest city, Riobamba, to
enjoy the luxuries of civilization and stay at a hostel for the night. (These
luxuries I speak of are of course hot water and Wi-Fi). I think that was the
best $14 dollars I have ever spent, and I could have sworn that hostel felt
like the Ritz Carlton. But, of course, this trip was way too good to be true,
and a few of my fellow interns started getting sick one after another. I,
confident that I was stronger than them all, pushed for us to still enjoy our
time in civilization, so we watched the Ecuador World Cup game, went out to
dinner, and then… BAM! The next day I spent 11 hours in a hospital room hooked
up to an IV because I ended up having every infection under the sun.
Luckily, the hospital in Riobamba was
really nice, and even though I complained incessantly about how much I hated
the IV, the doctors and nurses took incredible care of me. Now, many medicines
later, I am slowly on the mend and starting to get my appetite back. At least I
have a good story to tell…
Lots of love from Ecuador, (And pictures still to come!)
Jen
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