Okay, so I realized I hadn´t written in a while and I figured I should. It´s not as though nothing has happened in the last two weeks. I had a date with an Ecuadorian boy. Then I dumped said Ecuadorian boy. There is a lot more I could say about that....but I won´t. You´ll have to ask me when I get back.
I also went to Otavalo market and bought a whole bunch of cool handmade things. Otavalo is about 2.5 hours from Quito and is a mainly indigenous area. The market is enormous, everything is cheap, and everything is handmade. We´re going back in 9 days and I plan to buy even more stuff! That will be part of our 3 day stay with indigenous families which I am pretty excited about.
I gave my first workshop in a school all by myself and several more after that - on the subjects of sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, and love. That was fun. I am getting a quite a vocabulary to talk about sex, haha. The weather in Quito has been really nice and sunny lately but no change of season and a real dearth of flowers and green space. I can´t believe I´m missing spring! This weekend I might go to Mindo. My house is quieter now because my brother left to go to France for two weeks but I like it, especially in the mornings. I should probably take advantage and try to sleep in while I can. Once he comes back my mom will scream at him every weekday at 6:45 that he is going to miss the bus.
And....I WANT TO COME HOME. I know it is only a month till I go to Galapagos but that seems like a long time right now. I really don´t know if I´m gonna make it. Ugh. Last week I was so busy and happy but now I am bored again. Boredom = homesickness. I should probably try to find something to do, huh?
In other news, I am getting really sick of being sexually harassed everywhere I go. There is one guy in particular who I work with who I really think is a creepy sexual predator. Next time he says something inappropriate I´m afraid I might snap. I honestly am SUPER uncomfortable with him but it is a cultural difference so I think I´m expected to just deal with it. And it might be more awkward if I tried to tell him he makes me uncomfortable. Oh well, for now I will just deal with it.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Addy´s First Camping Trip
This past weekend I went camping for the first time ever. No one in my group could believe I had never been camping before (and I was actually pretty flattered because they were admiring how well I managed the hike - I was up in front the whole time :) Obviously I have been hiking and I like hiking. I´ve just never spent the night out in the wilderness in a tent. One of the main reasons for this is my fear of bugs. This trip was ideal because we were high up in the mountains and although that meant that it was cold, rainy, and hard to breathe, there were NO bugs!
The trek itself was actually really hard. We all had giant packs on our backs and mine wasn´t even one of the heaviest ones but I had a sleeping bag, sleeping mat, extra clothes, sandals, tennis shoes, four giant cans of tuna, a 2 liter bottle of water, and some other foods strapped to my back. My neck and shoulders hurt bad. We hiked about 5 miles each day but Saturday we were climbing up mountains a lot more so it was a little tougher. I don´t know how exactly to describe the terrain because it´s not like anything I have seen in the United States. We were in the mountains but they were not rocky mountains. Instead they were mushy and swampy and they had virtually no trees - just tall grass and scrubby brush. Even the most experienced backpackers on our trip said it was the muddiest hike they had ever been on. There were sink holes that sucked in your leg up to the knee! All of us were completely dirty and covered in mud by the end of the trip.
The camp site was near this beautiful lake that we could see for the first time from far above in the mountains. It was cool to climb down and watch it get bigger and bigger. Overall I really enjoyed the experience but I definitely wouldn´t call it relaxing. I was exhausted by the end, especially since I barely slept in the tent. I was super uncomfortable and freezing despite my extra layers and sleeping bag. I will definitely go camping or backpacking again but I´m not sure I´m ready for a week long trek and I definitely wouldn´t want to go camping every weekend. Also, I peed in the woods, but number 2 will have to wait till my next camping trip...
In other news, I got my first taste of the stress I will endure when I return to the US. Don´t make me come home! I don´t want to worry about plane tickets, registering for classes, Honors theses, or finding an apartment for this summer! I´ve gotten so used to not being stressed out: no anxiety or panic attacks or not being able to fall asleep at night. I´m not ready to go back to that!
I want to see my lovely family, but I don´t want to return to any of my responsibilities. What do you think? Can that be arranged?
The trek itself was actually really hard. We all had giant packs on our backs and mine wasn´t even one of the heaviest ones but I had a sleeping bag, sleeping mat, extra clothes, sandals, tennis shoes, four giant cans of tuna, a 2 liter bottle of water, and some other foods strapped to my back. My neck and shoulders hurt bad. We hiked about 5 miles each day but Saturday we were climbing up mountains a lot more so it was a little tougher. I don´t know how exactly to describe the terrain because it´s not like anything I have seen in the United States. We were in the mountains but they were not rocky mountains. Instead they were mushy and swampy and they had virtually no trees - just tall grass and scrubby brush. Even the most experienced backpackers on our trip said it was the muddiest hike they had ever been on. There were sink holes that sucked in your leg up to the knee! All of us were completely dirty and covered in mud by the end of the trip.
The camp site was near this beautiful lake that we could see for the first time from far above in the mountains. It was cool to climb down and watch it get bigger and bigger. Overall I really enjoyed the experience but I definitely wouldn´t call it relaxing. I was exhausted by the end, especially since I barely slept in the tent. I was super uncomfortable and freezing despite my extra layers and sleeping bag. I will definitely go camping or backpacking again but I´m not sure I´m ready for a week long trek and I definitely wouldn´t want to go camping every weekend. Also, I peed in the woods, but number 2 will have to wait till my next camping trip...
In other news, I got my first taste of the stress I will endure when I return to the US. Don´t make me come home! I don´t want to worry about plane tickets, registering for classes, Honors theses, or finding an apartment for this summer! I´ve gotten so used to not being stressed out: no anxiety or panic attacks or not being able to fall asleep at night. I´m not ready to go back to that!
I want to see my lovely family, but I don´t want to return to any of my responsibilities. What do you think? Can that be arranged?
Thursday, April 3, 2008
One thing the United States has got right!
Yesterday for class we had a very interesting lecture on a topic that I had requested; women´s sexuality and reproductive rights. I have some workshops coming up in the schools on contraceptives, STI´s, and pregnancy in adolscents and from what I gather attitudes here in Ecuador are pretty different, so I wanted to deepen my understanding of where things stand right now. First things first, abortion here is ILLEGAL. Women can serve up to 3-4 years in prison and doctors can get up to 6 years for performing an abortion. People rarely end up serving these sentences because there is a thriving black market that is kind of tacitly tolerated. An illegal abortion will cost you anywhere from 150$ to 1000$ with no guarentees of safety or sanitation and no recourse if you are mistreated. Obviously this is A LOT of money in Ecuador so needless to say the majority of women are forced to perform their own abortions using sharp objects and chemical cocktails. If they become infected from these homeade procedures they are afraid to seek medical attention because they are afraid the doctor will know what they were doing.
There are a few exceptions to the law. When a women´s life is threatened, when the fetus has a congenital deformity "incompatible with human life," or if a mentally retarded person is raped, an abortion may be permissable. Notice that these exceptions do not include minors or regular rape victims. So basically, a 12 year old who was raped by her uncle still has to have to the baby. WOW Ecuador, I am really impressed. In fact there is a case right now in which, after years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, an indigenous teenager became pregnant. She tried to give herself an abortion various times but failed and ended up killing her baby when it was born. She is in jail right now. Her own father who incestuously raped her is not. WOW Ecuador, WOW.
Furthermore, women who are forced to have their children are often ostracized by society if they are unmarried or if the father of their child abandons them. Single moms are not popular. Also teenagers who try to get contraceptives are called "dirty sluts" by the pharmacists. Apparently rape within families and by partners (husbands and boyfriends) is extremely prevalent in Ecuador and thus difficult to prove. I was breifly impressed when I thought the morning after pill was available here in Ecuador, but then I found out it had been recalled and that certain daring pharmacies and clinics give out quadruple doses of other medications to create the same effect.
I also lost what little respect I had for the "leftist" president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, when I read his comments that he has never understood all this "my body, my choice" nonsense because obviously no one has the right to destroy an innocent life and he would be first in line to vote NO on legalizing abortion. This is not the first I´ve heard about Correa´s sexist anti-woman rhetoric. It´s not good enough to advocate good economic and labor policies if you don´t support the rights of half the population!
I´m glad to see that America is exporting the very best of our ideas: the evangelical movement is thriving on the coast of Ecuador and they are threatening to block the new consitution if it does not mention God and expressly prohibit gay marriage and abortion. Woohoo!
For once though, I am extremely proud to be an American woman. We have got at least one thing right - for the moment anyway, a woman has the right to choose.
There are a few exceptions to the law. When a women´s life is threatened, when the fetus has a congenital deformity "incompatible with human life," or if a mentally retarded person is raped, an abortion may be permissable. Notice that these exceptions do not include minors or regular rape victims. So basically, a 12 year old who was raped by her uncle still has to have to the baby. WOW Ecuador, I am really impressed. In fact there is a case right now in which, after years of sexual abuse at the hands of her father, an indigenous teenager became pregnant. She tried to give herself an abortion various times but failed and ended up killing her baby when it was born. She is in jail right now. Her own father who incestuously raped her is not. WOW Ecuador, WOW.
Furthermore, women who are forced to have their children are often ostracized by society if they are unmarried or if the father of their child abandons them. Single moms are not popular. Also teenagers who try to get contraceptives are called "dirty sluts" by the pharmacists. Apparently rape within families and by partners (husbands and boyfriends) is extremely prevalent in Ecuador and thus difficult to prove. I was breifly impressed when I thought the morning after pill was available here in Ecuador, but then I found out it had been recalled and that certain daring pharmacies and clinics give out quadruple doses of other medications to create the same effect.
I also lost what little respect I had for the "leftist" president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, when I read his comments that he has never understood all this "my body, my choice" nonsense because obviously no one has the right to destroy an innocent life and he would be first in line to vote NO on legalizing abortion. This is not the first I´ve heard about Correa´s sexist anti-woman rhetoric. It´s not good enough to advocate good economic and labor policies if you don´t support the rights of half the population!
I´m glad to see that America is exporting the very best of our ideas: the evangelical movement is thriving on the coast of Ecuador and they are threatening to block the new consitution if it does not mention God and expressly prohibit gay marriage and abortion. Woohoo!
For once though, I am extremely proud to be an American woman. We have got at least one thing right - for the moment anyway, a woman has the right to choose.
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