Landys In Ecuador: School and community in Guadalupe

We moved to Guadalupe just short of 2 weeks ago. Guadalupe seems vastly smaller than Quito and therefore a lot safer. There are four main ethnic groups living in Guadalupe (five, if you count the four gringos featured in this blog). Aside from traditional clothing worn by the locals, we really have not been able to distinguish different ethnic groups and everyone seems equally friendly. Family kinship is integral to the lives of the people here. There doesn't seem to be much of an economy other than subsistence that maintains the basic needs of food, shelter, clothing and some entertainment. Extended family networks seem to ensure a social safety net, access to childcare and cooperation for all of the physical labor involved in agriculture and domestic animal care.

Emmett and Annalise have made fast friends. Both enjoy much more freedom than we would allow at home. There is an ubiquitous presence of children and adults who know each other on the local streets. Emmett walks a mile with his friends to play in the river and really enjoys hanging out with his friends playing soccer in the covered concrete playground in the center of town. Annalise has friends who braid her hair and with whom she goes to the community center for painting classes. They both like to buy empanadas on their own from the lady who operates a cooking stand at the center of town. After it gets dark I usually go outside and ask whomever where "Emmito" and "Annalisa" are and one of the kids will know where they are.

It is hard not to feel integrated with the community here. Most of the houses do not have windows so we hear whatever activities or music our neighbors are indulging in. The neighborhood feels very lively. Except for Sunday morning when some people seem more formally dressed in traditional clothing for church (especially the white embroidered blouses worn by Saraguro women and black hats and knee-length pants worn by Saraguro men) it is hard to distinguish weekends from workdays. Even though on most days we hear music blaring until late at night, our neighbors still do their six am chores every morning. Kate and I like to stroll through the neighborhood after dusk and enjoy the cool air.

Emmett and Annalise will start school next Wednesday. We choose a small two-room school called, "Inta Pakari". This school was founded to preserve and promote the "Quichua" culture. Quichua is a native language spoken by various indigenous tribes and the Quichua themselves are an ethnic group rooted in agrarian culture. Emmett and Annalise will have 1-2 hours of "Quichua" language/cultural education each day. There is a lot of parent involvement at Inta Pakari (I helped paint the school for 4 hours yesterday). We felt that the smaller school size would provide more individual attention for Emmett and Annalise. Aside from the need to progress with math concepts, we really don't have any concern about our children falling behind their peers at home (we brought down Bryant school math curriculum workbooks). We anticipate that Spanish skills and a year of foreign education will pay life-long dividends. Our other choices included a large public school that we heard partially has an agricultural curriculum (Amanda, the clinic nurse, reported that students receive instruction on the use of machetes). Last week we heard that the Ecuadoran school system is planning systemic changes to consolidate schools which may involve closing some schools and transporting rural students by bus which reinforced our preference for a smaller school. The third choice was the one-room school located on the mission compound. The mission school primarily serves Shuar children. The Shuar primarily are a hunting and gathering culture and therefore do not seem to have such extended clan networks. The local Mestizos children attend the local public school. Mestizos make up most of the population in Ecuador and constitute the emerging middle class in urban Ecuador. Historically the Mestizos have a mixed heritage of Spanish and native blood.

We are delighted with the hospitality everyone has shown us. Since there are not many options to distract us (television, exercise/workout, take a car tide or go shopping) adapting to the rhythm of life here has been a blessing. The climate and especially the humidity has helped me adjust to a slower pace and also helps to blunt my nervous energy to get things done. The slower pace and how much longer some chores take seem to help the days go by quickly. We are establishing a sense of routine and competence in meeting our basic needs. Kate has been cooking delicious dinners with local ingredients and we are establishing a somewhat varied cupboard. Shopping has been a learning curve. On Friday I travelled to Yantzaza for a shopping trip. The journey was 3+ hours round trip and entailed hitching a ride in taxi pick up truck bed to a corner bus depot (same price of a bus ride but more convenient, if you can flag a passing taxi); then transferring to a bus to get to Yantzaza terminal; then taking a $1 taxi ride to the supermarket and then the reverse to return home.

One feature as foreigners living amidst an economy without much technology or luxury is that we can afford to pay $30 per week for a local woman, Angelita, to do our laundry by hand and prepare lunch for us during the week when Kate works. Each day Kate walks across the footbridge to join us for lunch. Angelita usually prepares delicious soups and a vegetable such as plantains. . We are told this salary very much benefits a local family and feels like a wonderful luxury for us.