Washignton, DC Part 1

I am finally sitting down and having some time to write on here for the first time since being back.  I have been back a total of 12 days.  In some ways it seems like I have been here a lot longer, in some ways, the time is very short, and I feel like I just arrived.  Either way, it is not that long, and musing over the actual perception to reality difference is a bit too meta to really be interesting.

I arrived on Tuesday the 17th on a 15 hour flight from Dubai.  It was rather unremarkable.  I slept a lot, I ate 4 times, and watched a number of movies.  When I arrived, customs and immigration was the quickest at Dulles that I have ever experienced.  It took less than 45 minutes to go through immigration, gather my luggage, and pass through customs.  It was refreshing.  Usually, because of the ineffective way Dulles shuttles people from the international terminal to the main airport terminal, there are bottlenecks that are frustrating and interminably irritating after traveling from far-off parts of the world.  Luckily, I was greeted on the other side by the smiling face of Winnie Auma, our Uganda country director and my good friend from Village Enterprise.  By brother picked us from the the airport, and we began a crazy day.

My brother treated us to lunch a local diner, and I was thrilled to eat a delicious club sandwich.  Winnie ate biscuits and gravy for the first time (yeah I know, like the fattest American food, but it is legit).  Then we went to his house where we prepared for a meeting by having a skype call with Ellen in Uganda.  Then we took an Uber black car into the city, all the while I was deliriously pointing out monuments to Winnie.  This whole time I was g-chatting with Lee who did not know I was in the US, and I was pretending I was in Kampala getting ready to come to the US.  Surprises.

The black car dropped us at FHI 360 where we had a preparatory meeting for a presentation we would be giving on that Thursday.  From there we went to a meeting with the funder of our randomized controlled trial (impact evaluation) that is running on our program in Uganda.  We met Konstantin in Dupont Ciricle (I was afraid Lee would catch a glimpse of me in the circle like one of those tabloid photos of bigfoot) so I was trying my best to cover my face.  Winnie, Konstantin, and I went to the meeting and then we walked down to Konstantin's office where my brother again met me for the grand surprise!

Evan, Rebecca, and I all went to Kapnos in the 14th Street area of NW where Lee was waiting, none the wiser that I was going to be showing up with Evan and Rebecca.  It was so nice to see Evan and Rebecca pull up in front of Konstantin's office.  It was surreal to be in DC, and I had only been there for 9 hours at this point, but I was excited to see Lee's face.  We agreed that we would all walk into the restaurant, and I would come in last, somewhat hidden by Evan (I am easily hidden because I am dainty).

Evan and Rebecca walked in first, and they both said hi to Lee and hugged her.  She was beautiful in a floral dress, sipping a glass of champagne and absently thumbing through her hair.  I was last in line to say hello and at first she simply said "hey!" and then it set in that I was there, and not supposed to be there, and surprising her, and that I was there, and for the next 10 minutes she laughed, while crying, and just saying "oh my god."  It was a pretty spectacular reaction.  We had a lovely dinner all four of us, and then we went back for my first sight of OUR APARTMENT!

The apartment is lovely.  It is just the right size, there are tons of windows that throw beautiful light on every space, and it is so nicely decorated.  Lee worked hard and did an amazing job of setting the place up.  It is compact, but spacious, and not cramped.  It feels like our place, and it is such a comfortable, welcoming space.  The building is lovely, and directly across the street from Meridian Hill Park.  We are a close walk to the 14th Street strip, U street, Shaw, and Columbia Heights.  It is ideal.  We unfortunately did not even have time to do nothing and enjoy each other because we both had to work a lot.

The next two days were filled with meetings, conferences, presentations, and courting potential funders, and current partners.  But finally, over the weekend we had time to just be together.  It was amazing to know that we could go to dinner, and not feel like we had to go all the restaurants we needed to.  We could go out, stay in, go for walks, and not feel  like there was pressure to try to do everything all at once.  We shopped for the apartment, went out for tacos with a dear friend who I hadn't seen since Christmas, went to the National Zoo, and generally enjoyed being together with no hurry for the first time in two years.  We cooked meals, made grocery lists, and planned dinners.  It was such a nice thing.

On a cultural note, the grocery stores here are insane.  After coming from Hoima where there are 11 things to choose from.  The grocery store here just makes me stop in my tracks.  In 3 or 4 grocery trips, I have generally ended up with at least 7 random things (mostly cheeses or cheese products), and spent much more than intended.  The tropical fruits in the store are stupid expensive and not ripe, there are more cereals than anyone could possibly eat, I can begin to describe how amazing it is to have whole grain and health food options.  It is all overwhelming.  And, no one tries to sell it to you!  You just go and casually pick what you want.  It is overwhelming.

On another cultural note, everyone looks like me here.  I know that seems obvious, but there are so many white 20 somethings who have facial hair and preppy clothes in this area.  At the grocery store, the park, the bars, anywhere, there are so many of me around.  I never confronted either my sameness, or that I could be so different based on the context.  It is pretty amazing.  The crowds of people, cars, options, and general transition have led to a few panic attacks, but those have been manageable, par for the course I suppose.  Even if I am not actually dying, I feel like I am, and I think about how I could just be buried under varieties of cheese and hot sauce and suffocate under the pile, and then the panic seems all at once more tangible, but less threatening.  Cheese is a double-edged sword.  More on that later I s'pose.  

Running through Foreign Lands

Yesterday I had a profound realization.  Well, a couple, and all in the span of 38 sweaty minutes.  It was a big run for me for a lot of reasons. 

In general, running in Uganda has some element of adventure associated with it.  The roads leave a lot to be desired, when they are there.  There is a constant gaggle (I will get back to gaggles…) of small children running, laughing, pointing, generally creating chaos around you when running.  Often there are myriad wild to semi-tame dogs that take interest in the activity.  There are adults that sporadically take enough interest to cast a lazy call of  mzungu (white guy), and sidelong stare to indicate their general sense that what I am doing defies logic.  Then there are geese.

This is where I go back to gaggles.  On one particular running route that I follow in Hoima, there is a gaggle of geese that torment me.  It started about 3 months ago.  I first came running down there on a rainy morning.  There were two geese, a white goose and a speckled goose.  As I approached them, jogging slowly along, they began to crane their necks and ruffle their feathers.  I moved to the other side of the road and kept going.

The next few runs I didn't see them.  But then, about a month ago, I was running, and as I got to that section of road, there were at least a dozen geese, grazing the road where I was supposed to run.  At first I thought, "they are geese, they should see I am a superior animal, and get out of my way, like chickens do."  This was VERY incorrect.  The geese tightened into a pack, craned their necks, opened their beaks to expose razor-like rows of something akin to teeth (do geese have teeth?) and HISSED at me!  They lifted their wings and jabbed their goose heads toward me.  My heart was racing (I realize writing this how pathetic it is, don't worry).  My heart was racing (I was running after all) and so I darted to the side of the road, and sprinted past them.  I also hissed back.  I don't know, it seemed right at the time.

Then, yesterday, again I was running, and not only did I time my run such that I encountered every school child in Hoima leaving school for the evening, but the geese (more like geese-stapo) were in the road again.  So after enduring 30 minutes of heckling by children (I mean I doubt they are judging me, but I don't speak the local language, and really, they are of course judging the giant white man running nowhere in particular) I got to near the end of my road and again had to meet the geese.  They are intent on adding an additional component to my work outs by adding shots of adrenaline into my runs.  This time, the side of the road was blocked, because someone turned the shoulder of the road into a garden for growing sweet potatoes and cassava.  I couldn't trample the garden.  In my head I imagined running through the garden, killing all the sweet potatoes, and a mother and 14 children all weeping, fists balled up against their eyes, wailing "what's to become of us?"  So I made the choice to run through the geese.  They moved.

So all in all what has happened?  In sum, nothing.  I dealt with running through crowds of curious children and geese.  I saved a Ugandan family from starvation by not trampling their garden due to an unreasonable fear of domestic fowl (someone once told me that geese bite), and I lived another day.  It is often curious running in East Africa.  There is always something that reminds me how excited I am to run when I get back to the US.  At least I can take solace that in Rock Creek Park there will be no attack geese, and the whole city of DC will not be alerted to the fact that one white guy is running.

But really, why does the owner of the geese just let them out like that?

On Liberation and Decentralization

It seems like a common policy move for good governance initiatives in developing countries is decentralization.  It is touted as a catch-all solution to the needs of a country, simultaneously empowering local leaders while improving service delivery to poor, often remote constituents. I would not argue that it is an ineffective tool, but perhaps it is not right in all settings.

In Uganda, decentralization began after Yoweri Museveni took power from the military Junta that followed the great and terrible Idi Amin.  In an effort to improve transparency and efficacy of government action, a large-scale decentralization was put in place.  This article by political science students at Makerere University provides good background and context for the policy.  The government took action in the mid 90's by passing a law to enact decentralization, and that is when it began to take hold. 

One of the primary issues with decentralization is that there is not always sufficient training in rural and underserved area to take on the new administrative burdens that come with decentralization.  Well trained bureaucrats are reticent about leaving Kampala, and as such, people working in local governments do not have the same levels of education or capacity that their counterparts in the capital have.  IFPRI's paper about service delivery and decentralization touches on this nicely.

So, what do you get when you have local officials overburdened with bureaucratic tasks, not fully supported by the central government, and lacking capacity?  You get a lot of frustrated Ugandans who see potential for elite capture, nepotism, and the opportunity to milk the system.  It is an unfortunate scenario, but it is true.  Of course not all locally elected officials are this way, many serve the district and their country honestly, with a lot of integrity.  I am writing about this, however, because of the most recent example of some bureaucrats who did not act with the same decorum.

As part of the Village Enterprise program we help form business savings groups.  Business Savings Groups (BSGs) are similar to Village Savings and Lending Associations (VSLAs), except we are starting them with income generating units.  Those are the village enterprise businesses.  Each BSG is comprised of 10 businesses.  Each business is comprised of 3 business owners.  That means each BSG has 30 members.  As a good practice, we encourage the BSGs to register with the subcounty.  This ensures them some legal arbitration if there are disputes in the group, and it often facilitates the group's access loans from formal financial institutions.

Recently, I went to visit a BSG near our office in Western Uganda, and I was told a very sad story.  The BSG went to register at the subcounty, and the officials in the office charged the double the amount required for registering.  They looked at our businesses owners, saw how they were dressed, and knew they were rural villagers.  As such, they told them the price was double so that they could use the extra money to line their pockets, assuming the business owners would be too illiterate in general, and especially in local law to know they were being swindled.  However, when this was reported to their business mentor who had been training them for months, he went straight to the subcounty and was able to get their money back.

People are poor in Uganda, and a government worker in a local office makes a very low salary.  However, there is entitlement that comes with that sort of position, and a perception of power and prestige.  In the case of this BSG, all those things were wielded to milk the BSG for extra money.  Poor were stealing from the extreme poor.  Now, I am not advocating that taking away decentralization as a policy would remedy this.  In fact, I am sure it would be even harder to get our BSGs registered and backed as official organizations if there was no decentralized government.  However, decentralization with no checks, balances, or training leads to corruption and vice.

I am thinking about all this as today is Liberation Day in Uganda.  The NRM took power from the military junta and returned to a democracy.  This is a loose interpretation of democracy, given that the current president has been the president since Uganda was liberated 29 years ago.  It seems like there is still a lot of liberation to be done.  So, we keep after it, one day at a time.

BSG in Training

A Wonderful Winter Wedding

My wonderful older brother Evan got married to Rebecca on December 31st, 2014.  That was the main impetus for going back to the US from Uganda this Christmas.  It was a wonderful wedding, a fantastic ceremony, and such a great opportunity to see so much family, and so many friends.

First, I feel like usually, no one really likes planning New Years Eve.  So thanks to Evan and Rebecca for taking care of that for all of us.  Second, everyone tries to make epic, fantastic plans for New Year's Eve, and they are often not as great as expected.  Notable exceptions are now 1. a wedding 2. mistakenly ending up at a very local bar in Diani, Kenya.  In both cases I did no planning.  Third, it is great to get both friends and family on New Year's eve.  Usually I have had to decide, but this year, this awesome wedding brought together both worlds.  It was wonderful!

Let me start from the beginning of the vacation.  I went back to the US on the 19th.  I got to see Lee briefly in DC when I dropped off Theo the dog.  Unfortunately, I spent most of the 36 hours I was there pretty ill, and trying not to fall asleep at 7:00 pm, thanks to jet lag, and flying back to the cold and dark of mid-winter in the northern hemisphere.  After flying to DC and resting for 36 hours I went out to California.

I got to see my very close friend Bethany, who I have known since middle school.  Beth has been there through a lot, and it was so cool to get to see her in San Francisco.  I finally got to meet Joel in person, and we all ate some terrific Mexican food in the Mission district in San Francisco.  My parents were with us and we all walked around the mission, and went to Mission Dolores Park.  It was a great afternoon.

I spent the next few days in Merced for Christmas.  I felt warm, carefree, and so at ease seeing my family and spending the holidays with them.  Evan and Rebecca flew in very late on the 23rd.  We went to a very funny, homemade church service on the 24th.  We upheld the Doty traditions of Christmas cookie frosting, and getting to hang a few ornaments.  It was made even better having my sister and nieces there, too.  I was so happy to see Julian and meet his lady Sibel as well.  Christmas is just made better with more people.  On Christmas day we ate, played games, went walking, and went to the movies.  It was so satisfying.

We went up for the bachelor party on the 26th.  We spent two nights at the stunning Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite.  We had a great time doing man things.  We went for a 10 mile hike and drank scotch and had a wonderful dinner at the lodge.  The rest is top secret.

From there we headed down to Los Angeles at 5:30 in the morning.  I picked up Lee at the airport and we drove straight to Disneyland.  My brother and Rebecca were having a pre-wedding fun day there.  Lee and I met Evan and Rebecca at the park along with my sister and nieces, my mom and dad, my cousin Harvey and his wife Lis, and their son Levi, Evan and Rebecca's friends Carlos and Pamela.  We all had lunch at a great Mexican restaurant in Downtown Disney.  Lee got to meet a lot of people right away, and was really thrown into the mix doing it all at Disney.  I am so impressed by her aplomb.

I was thrilled to see Harvey, Lis, and Levi.  It was great to get too see them relatively soon after the summer.  They are so much fun, and some of my favorite relatives.  It was a blast to sit with them at lunch and catch up.  I always feel like I can get right back into step with them, and we've never missed a beat.

We all went into the park and all of us rode Soarin' Over California.  A giant theater ride with seats that are elevated and move as though you are flying in a hang glider.  The seats hang from long mechanical arms, and the effect is very real.  My parents, Evan and Rebecca split off to go to bed, get coffee respectively.  But Lee, sis, the girls and I continued to ride some fast rides.  I tested Lee's aplomb by dragging her on the big roller coaster in California Adventure, as well as the tower of terror.  There may have been some genuine anger at moments, but we made it, and are stronger for it.  That night we crashed into bed at our hotel in Hollywood around 10:30.

In the morning, Lee, my parents and I had a really nice quiet breakfast.  We were able to talk and catch up without lots of other people around.  I am so glad that they got to see each other, and that we could all be together without too much else going on.

Things progressed in this way, an extraordinary stream of people and visits until the wedding rehearsal that afternoon.  It was quick and well orchestrated.  That night was the grooms dinner, which was a real highlight.  So many friends and family came.  I was SO happy to meet more of Rebecca's family and to finally introduce Lee to all of my family.  It felt like the pieces were coming together into a lovely, family puzzle.  It was so special to have all of these good people in one place.

The next day was the actual wedding.  I don't know that I have ever had so much fun at a wedding.  Even the pictures were fun!  It was a cold day for LA on the 31st.  It was clear and crisp and sunny in the high 50s.  We took photos at UCLA.  Lee of course looked stunning.  Evan and Rebecca were glowing, and their photos show it.  UCLA was a stunning, austere, and lush backdrop for winter wedding photos in LA.  It was a great choice.

There were family photos at the synagogue leading up to the ceremony.  Then the men split and we toasted Evan, enjoyed scotch, and had some time to just bullshit before we danced and sang him into the sanctuary to sign the kituba with Rebecca.  There they signed their documents, and by that time it was about time to get set for the ceremony.  I was compulsively feeling for the ring box this whole time in my pocket.  At one point the photographer came and asked for the rings to take some photos with the documents.  I followed her into the room and watched the whole time. She said "wow you take your job seriously." I said nothing.  I wanted to intimate my seriousness.

The ceremony was beautiful. It was in an outdoor courtyard full of olive trees.  The olive trees were draped with lights.  The Chuppa was lovely, and in part knitted by my aunties Beryl and Lindy.  It looked amazing.  I realize how many superlatives I am using, but the whole event just inspired superlatives.  I had a blast.  During the ceremony the Rabbi did a wonderful job.  The blessings were beautiful, and I was happy that my dad and Michael both got to read blessings.  It was great.  I cried, though I tried to look tough while doing it.  My mom cried, but I had to avoid looking, otherwise it would have been real waterworks!  Then we walked out and Lee asked me if I was crying, which made me cry more.  I have a lot of feelings, ok!?  My big brother got married!  But I was so happy she was asking me, and she was the one on my arm.  I am so thankful Evan and Rebecca asked her to join the celebration in that way.

The reception was beautiful.  It was like a California princess ball.  The decorations were great.  I also got to sit with my cousins Brook and Cassy and Harvey and Lis.  It was cool to have them all meet.  I could hardly eat the fabulous dinner.  I was nervous about my best man's toast (which went off very well, and I didn't even cry) and I was on a lot of adrenaline just excited to be there.  The we danced the horah and lifted Evan and Rebecca and danced them in their chairs.  Let me just say that I think Rebecca's side lucked out getting the daintier of the two of them.  Evan was not so...dainty.  But it was so great.  I loved dancing in a ciricle with my dad and brother and the groomsmen and the Waterman men.  It was such a nice melding of family and culture.  I was honored and thrilled to be there.

I was continuously swept off my feet by how beautiful Lee was, and how special it was to spend New Years together two years in a row.  Especially having her at this event it was amazing to see how it can be when we are together all the time.  We danced all night to a live band.  We took breaks for desserts, drinks (many with Harvey and Lis), shots (thanks Abby and Cooper...) Water, spending tie with family, dancing with mom and neices, too.  All the dancing at least kept me warm (I was cold ALL THE TIME) so that was wonderful inspiration, too.  Turns out dancing in a crowded room in a tux is similar to African weather.  We counted down midnight all together and rang in the New Year in wonderful fashion.  It was one of the most wonderful New Year's Eves I have had.  I will always remember it.

Eventually we left the synagogue around 2:30, and made it back to Hollywood at 4:00 and again crashed into bed.  It was such a terrific night, and I was amazed, honored, and proud to be a part of it all!  Mazel Tov!

Bride and Groom

Back in Uganda: Kicking off 2015

I am back in Uganda after three and a half wonderful weeks in the US.  I am thrilled to be back in Uganda.  It was such relief to step out of the plane into the warm, supple air in Entebbe, and not need a sweater for the first time since leaving on December 19th (except for two gloriously warm days in Santa Monica).  I briefly hung out in Amsterdam on the way to the US, and that was the first temperature shock.  But the worst was 9 degrees in DC at one point.  9 is just not enough degrees.

It is a great feeling to be back with the team here.  I was out in the field the last two days carrying out disbursements of our second grant.  The recipients were part of our RCT, and were in a village that was randomly selected not to receive our full program, but instead just a cash-equivalent version of our program.  Needless to say it was a pleasure to be back out in the field.

It was an odd experience being in the USA on Sunday, shopping, going to target, eating Mexican food, and being American.  I woke up in Dubai on Monday night, and by Wednesday I was deep in the field in rural Uganda.  This is one of the sets of juxtapositions that has interested me most as I have been working in Uganda now for a year and a half, (only returning to the US in the last 6 months).  It is really astounding how much freedom we have as Americans to move in the world.  It is amazing that the excess of Dubai can coexist in some fashion with the sever underdevelopment of rural Ugandan villages.  It is also to move from one day to the next through both settings.

I think this time it forced me to think about why these sorts of inequalities persist, and where real change can come from.  With Village Enterprise we are doing incredible work.  We are fomenting economic growth in the lowest strata of the Ugandan and Kenyan economies.  We are helping to build a base of economic growth that hopefully will lead to people creating sustainable business so people are equipped with the resources to eventually move out of poverty.  But we can't do it all. We have many partnerships, and really, I think that developing more, and stronger partnerships is going to be important in development.  NGO, Institution, and Aid collaboration and organization is going to be about the only thing that might promise real change.  Siloing projects, organizations, and people from one another only ensures repetition (sometimes of bad projects and programs), lack of communication, and waste of resources.  But who can work on aid collaboration?  It is like a giant process evaluation, a very meta, but very needed job.  I would love to see where some of the best efforts are if anyone has them.

Regardless, I am happy to be back in Uganda.  I am happy to get to go to the field, and I am looking forward to visiting our Kenya office next month.  I am also looking forward to our innovation summit where I learn from our staff about how much I still have to learn from our program.  The next two months are going to be very exciting and move so quickly.

Hiking in Santa Monica on Tuesday

In Dubai the following Monday

In the field in Nyamundeija for Disbursements

Home Leave V: Banos and Puyo, the Last Stops in Ecuador

Since we had arrived to Puyo at night, it was surprising to me to wake up in the morning and be surrounded by steep green mountains jutting into the mist.  We were in a narrow valley, surrounded on all sides by verdant peaks.  Banos is a small town nestled in the foothills of the Andes on the Amazon side of the mountains.  It is an outdoor adventurer's paradise, and as such a major gringo locality.  That has its pluses and minuses.  Pluses: a range of fantastic food, both local and international.  Minuses, it is a bit more touristy.  But the town survives on this tourism focused around the rainforest, rivers, canyons, and mountains, as well as the natural hot springs, from which the name is derived.

Banos de Agua Santa

We had a delicious breakfast at our hostel, which in and of itself was a fantastic place.  We stayed in a hostel that was a working art studio and sculpture workshop.  It was open and airy and massive with large fireplaces and many rooms clustered on two floors around the workshop.  The woman cooking us breakfast helped us to iron out a plan to get up to the swing at the end of the world, and so after eating we set off to find a taxi.

A taxi took us up a steep winding road to the top of the mountains.  He let us out, and we had to hike another 250 feet up or so to a small tree house that is built on the edge of a mountain ridge.  There is an active volcano very near the swing at the end of the world, and the tree house was built as an observation point.  Now, naturally, it serves as a place to swing out over a dramatically steep and deep valley floor, and feel the earth drop out from under your feet.  It was a magical thing to swing out over a valley floor hundreds of feet below.

Lee on the swing!

We hiked down the mountain to a terrific restaurant, and then eventually all the way down to Puyo town.  It is an extremely steep and intense trail, but often provides breathtaking views.

Hiking down down to Banos

That evening we went to the hot springs.  That was an interesting cultural experience.  There were so many people that you had to basically stand or squat pressed against all of Ecuador.  We had to rent swim caps to avoid getting hair in the water.  So we looked like a lunch lady convention had made it to the hot springs.  The water was hot and soothing, though it smelled metallic.  There were very cold plunge pools fed by the nearby waterfall, so we would soak until sweating in the hot pools, then jump into the cold water.  Apparently it is good for circulation.  When we left, after all that hot water and good circulation, I finally didn't feel cold in Banos (so far everywhere had been cold).

The next day we hiked to Pailon del Diablo, a stunning hike and gorgeous waterfall.  We took a bus for about 40 minutes to a small town in between Banos and puyo.  The trail head was a quick walk from the bus.  We hiked for about 40 minutes to the valley floor, before ascending to the waterfall.  once we reached the waterfall (nestled in mountains so green and lush that it was astounding) we had two options, climb through a tiny tunnel, army crawling to a platform where you can stand behind the waterfall and watch it roar down, or stand on the viewing platform.  We decided we had to scramble up the rock birth canal to the top of the falls.  It was very worth it.  The sound of the water was deafening.  It was impossible to stay dry, but so mesmerizing to stand behind such force.  The cave climb was amazing too, dripping rock, squeezing on all sides with occasional cut-away views of the jungle-enrobed valleys and the falls.

El Pailon del Diablo

After the waterfall we went back to Banos to gather our things for our quick trip to Puyo.  We rode in the back of a truck with two exceedingly nice, and overly curious Canadians and an Argentine.  We chatted them up, then went to our hotel when we arrived.  We gathered our stuff, then hopped on a bus to Puyo.

Travelling towards Puyo, the mountains gradually began to recede, and the rainforest began to grow denser and closer on all sides.  After an hour and a half, the Andes and dissolved into a shadow behind us, and we were in the flatter Amazon basin, right on the edge in Puyo.  We walked to Lee's house where she had been living with the ARP.  I got to meet her coworkers, see where she had been living, see the place in person where she had skyped, and get a tour of her little compound.  We spent a little time there, then we went to drop our stuff at our hotel and head to dinner.  We went out that night to her local bar and I was able to meet some of the friends she had made there.  It was awesome to see that she knew the bartender and had become a local at Desigual.

In the morning we woke up very early to take the bus out to the school where she had been working in a village called Esfuerzo.  We rode the bus with some college kids volunteering for her organization.  I slept as we drove out deeper into the rural amazon countryside.  I woke up and was excited to finally meet these people I had heard so much about.  I met Olguer, the school director at Esfuerzo.  He was a lovely man.  he showed us the gardens, the chicken coops, gave us fresh eggs, and told me all about his work in Ecuador.  It was so neat to be able to just jump into conversation with him, and feel like I was really meeting a friend of Lee's in a different cultural setting.  It was amazing.  I met the kids she worked with and the kind Andean doctor who helped her when she was sick.  People were genuinely curious about my work in Africa, and had a lot of questions for me.  It was fantastic.

I helped in the classroom teaching a lesson about public health, hand washing, parts of the body, muscles, and the skeleton etc.  We played games and the kids were so adorable.  They asked me endless questions about my life and about teacher Lee.  I was lucky to meet some of their parents who were there to practice traditional dances with Olguer, and then at around noon, we headed back to the main road.  This time we walked.  It was hot and humid walking back to the bus stop on the main road.  Just as we were all approaching, the bus passed, leaving us 50 meters from our ride back to town.  Luckily, after not too much waiting we hitched a ride into Puyo.

Lee in the classroom

Lee and I stopped for local brew and local food (steamed fish in a banana leave, and chicha).  Then we cleaned up at the ARP office, packed her stuff and went to meet her ARP colleagues, Puyo friends, and school directors for Volqueteros.  Volqueteros are plantain chips with tuna, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, and ahi.  It is a good snack.  We all chatted for about two hours before we had to part ways so Lee and I could get back to Banos to leave for Quito in the morning.  It was such an immense pleasure to meet Olguer and Carlos, the two school directors I had heard so much about.  I was so happy being with Lee and seeing how happy she was.  It was funny to be in this little town in the Amazon, but the people were fantastic, and I am already looking forward to going back to see them all again.

Downtown Puyo

We went back to Banos on the bus and spent time rearranging and packing our things.  Then we went for a fabulous dinner of tapas at a Spanish restaurant in downtown Banos.  In the morning we took an early bus back to Quito.  We stayed at Lee's favorite hostel which had stunning views of town from the rooftop terrace.  We went out for that dinner and I had the requisite dinner of Guinea Pig.  It was a bit like greasy rabbit, or game-y rabbit.  It was an interesting food, called cuy in Spanish.  It is an important traditional and available source of protein in the Andes.  While perhaps a bit off-putting in the presentation, the meal itself was awesome.

Guinea Pig (cuy)

We went to bed early as we had to be up at 4:30 to go to the airport for our flights to Bogota, then Cartagena!  That will be for the next instalment.

Home Leave IV: Cuenca, Ecuador

The trip to Cuenca from Puerto Lopez was relatively easy.  First, I slept through a majority of it, second, it was not in the middle of the night with a multitude of unnecessary stops in the middle of, seemingly, nowhere.  We took the bus from Puerto Lopez to Guayaquil's terminal terrestre (bus station).  The Bus station is located on the outskirts of the huge metropolis, right next to the airport.  The bus station itself was like an airport.  It was new, modern, several floors, full of food options ranging from local food restaurants to KFC, Taco Bell, and Mc Donalds.  It was busy, frenetic, and chaotic.  After that of Quito, it is probably the biggest bus station I have ever been in. We switched buses there and hopped on a bus that would take us up over the Andes and into the high mountain valley where Cuenca sits.

The voyage from Guayquil to Cuenca was beautiful.  We passed cacao fields, passion fruit farms, sugar cane plantations, and banana plantations.  As we continually sloped up the vegetation changed as we passed through rain forest, to high altitude tropical forest, to tropical tundra.  We topped out at about 14,500 feet before the road sloped back down towards Cuenca.  That high up there were beautiful, surreal meadows with mineral-infused lakes in many different colors.  The air was cold.  The ground was covered in sparse grasses, and rock formations jutted up, barren and cold into a bright blue sky.  It was a fantastically beautiful bus ride.

We arrived in Cuenca and it was cool and breezy.  Cuenca sits at about 8,500 feet.  It is named for the confluence of rivers that meets there (cuenca means confluence in Spanish), all of which are fed by snow melt from the higher mountains.  The town itself sits at the valley floor, divided by rivers and surrounded on all sides by verdant mountains.

The river walk in Cuenca

We took a taxi to our hostel, which was housed in a pretty, old colonial building.  Upon entering we walked into a very hip café-restaurant where there many young Ecuadorians sipping cocktails and beers and chatting in hushed tones.  We tried to gracefully pass through the maze of tables and chairs with our giant backpacks (largely unsuccessful) to the desk where a girl with a partly shaved head, adorned in black and lush leather greeted us, and showed us to our room.  The room was small and simple, but clean, and decorated in bright clean tones.  The bathroom was large, with a beautiful tiled shower and copious amounts of hot water.  The 75 degree days and 45 degree nights were much too cold for my African-adjusted body!  The hot water was necessary.  We were in the middle of the historic colonial city center (the whole thing is a UNESCO world heritage site) and we were paying $15 each per night.  If you want to go, its called La Cigale, and worth every penny.

Our balcony at La Cigale

We had reservations that night at a monastery that was turned into a chic restaurant.  We went down for a plate of meats and cheeses and a cocktail in the café of our hostel, and then set out into the night to find the restaurant called Todos Santos (all saints). Cuenca's historic center is beautiful at any time, but at night it glows in the light of street lamps, cobblestones shining in the low lights, winding streets and alleys all the more lovely, mysterious and inviting.  Beautiful neoclassical stairways lead down from the old town to the river, well-lit examples of various stages of colonial architecture.  We sauntered in the crisp air, bundled in scarves and jackets, feeling like we were in fall in the East Coast, even if it was 60 degrees.

Dining room at Todos santos

We found the restaurant and it was spectacular.  The food was amazing, and the ambience was something out of a movie.  Heavy wooden beams were left exposed in the centuries-old dining room.  Panoramic plate glass windows opened to views of the river, and the city lights stretching out into the darkness.  The stone stairs leading down to the dining area were worn from hundreds of years of use.  The tones were muted and hushed, and the handful of other diners spoke in casual whispers and appealing mumbles.  It was simultaneously old and cavernous, while still being a warm space, inviting lots of wine and wonderful food to be consumed over many hours of dining.  We ate meticulously prepared Ecuadorean traditional dishes with fusion flares of Spanish, French, and Peruvian cuisines.  We ate the softest, most tender pork

The next day we spent sightseeing.  We wandered the hundred year old plazas, ate ice cream in the squares by fountains, we enjoyed bursts of warm sun and sprinkles of rain.  We had a nice coffee at a café outdoors in the afternoon.  We enjoyed beautiful architecture, bustling streets and lots of window shopping in the many stalls.  We had to avoid some serious rain showers during which time we examined a beautiful mosaic mural depicting the history of Ecuador.  It was so nice to just get lost, and find our way many times over.  We stumbled upon a vibrant and fragrant flower market in front of an old church.  The colors and scents were a brilliant chaos, perfectly suited to the maize of the historic center.

Flower market in Cuenca

Our last day in Cuenca I woke up early and went for a run.  I wanted to see how much more difficult it was to go jogging at 8,500 feet.  It made a difference!  I ran along the gurgling river, through the streets of the new city, and back up through the maze of the historic center.  We spent the day doing more walking, ice cream eating, and touring the city.  There is so much spectacular colonial architecture to see, that you can fill whole days with that.  We went for lunch in the municipal market where we ate traditional Cuencan food on benches lined with Ecuadorean families.  It was pork slow roasted and tender with hominy, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and sweet plantains.  We wandered around looking for fresh juices and tamales after lunch.  Then we saw a man fall off a curb and face plant, breaking his nose sending blood everywhere, gathering a crowd of onlookers.  We called an ambulance and made sure he was cared for, and then we set off again, as there was not much we could do.

So we walked up a broad boulevard to the base of a mountain where you can drive for spectacular views of the city.  The walk was much longer than we expected, which was nice because we were preparing for another overnight bus that evening.

We hired a taxi up the mountain and gaped at the stunning views of all of Cuenca.  Red roofs stretched on for miles, The flanked by green mountains jutting towards the sky. Sunlight was streaming through the clouds, and it washed everything it touched in a fantastic golden hue.  It was cold and breezy on the top of the mountain.  We were trying to hail a cab home, as our taxi driver had assured us itd be no problem. However, not a cab was to be found.  So we hitchiked back down the mountain in the back of a pickup truck.  They left us back at the main boulevard leading to the old town where we had no problem getting a taxi. 

We took the taxi back to La Cigale where we were snagged our luggage we had left, hired another taxi, and tossed everything into the trunk so we could make it to the bus for our 8:00 pm bus to Los Banos de Agua Santa, about 7 hours from Cuenca.  This overnight bus required a stop in the middle of the highway to switch buses in Ambato in the middle of the night.  We arrived early in Banos, around 4:00 am.  Luckily our hostel let us in to sleep.

Next stop, the Banos and Puyo adventures!