ECUADOR - My June/July 2003 Trip Journal -- by Donna R. Carter
Page Nineteen
~^~ Visiting Carmen in Guayaquil ~^~ Tuesday ~^~ July 15, 2003
I got up early in the morning at the Moncayo's, and made my breakfast. When Sonya got back from the gym she said she wanted to go with me to the airport, so I waited for her to get ready.
We were walking down the street and she suddenly realized she didn't have her comb. She had to go back to get it. And her sunglasses. And her glasses. I laughed. I stopped in a corner store to get some gum for the altitude change in air pressure on the flight.
She got all her stuff and we found a cab coming up the street instead of having to walk all the way down (okay, so just 3 or 4 blocks) and we took the cab to the airport, where Sonya ended up having to just basically give me a kiss "good-bye" and see me on my way because there is no waiting area to sit with anyone anymore.
I took my ticket to the Icaro counter and got my boarding pass and seat (next to the window, please, so I can see the mountains when I go down?) I got a window seat just in front of the wing.
I *finally* got to see Chimborazo, standing tall above the clouds, with a peak view of Tungurahua, and even El Altar and Sangay! I know that pictures of stuff like that never turn out very well, but I took a picture anyway (okay, I took a whole roll, probably)
When the plane touched down in Guayaquil, I disembarked and went directly outside (there is no national waiting area at all - just a hallway to an exit door directly to the street!) There was a lot of construction going on at the airport, though. I went out into the street and looked around for someone from Children International, but I didn't see anyone. I wondered if maybe I should call, but from where? and to whom?
Shortly thereafter, I saw a Niñez Internacional truck coming through the peaje (toll booth) and I waved to catch their attention, crossing the street to go meet them.
Denise was the "translator" (not that I needed one) and Raúl was driving the truck. First, we went to the Children International neighborhood offices and they showed me around the main office, the medical and dental clinic areas, and then we got back into the truck and drove up and around to my sponsored child, Carmen Jesenia Barros Saltos' house.
Let me describe the route to you: The road is not only dirt, but it goes up hill steeply, and curves around and there is a deep rut that goes winding down all across and back across the road, with water running down it and grass growing here and there and big stones and potholes. No way we could have made it up in anything other than a 4WD.
We wound around some more up and down some more and through streets that had garbage piled up that was being picked through by stray dogs. Children were running barefooted, houses were made of whitewashed mud and/or split cane. The split cane houses were above the ground on stilts.
I was glad that it wasn't raining, because beyond the hard dirt road, everything was just caked dried mud... Piles of caked dried mud and garbage. If it had been wet, it was the kind of caked mud that would have gotten instantly deep and very slippery.
We got to Carmen's house and it was a split cane house, up on stilts, with a little porch in front. Carmen and her mother were waiting for us on the porch, and when they let us into their house, we sat on the simple couch in a hallway sized "livingroom." The corner of the house was the "dining room" and the kitchen was another wall of the house. 3/4 of the house was split into two bedrooms. There was no bathroom - the field behind the house served that purpose. The whole square footage of the house was probably about 18 square feet, and Carmen, her mother, father, brother, and sister, all lived there.
I gave her the bag of clothes that I had brought down that Melissa had outgrown. They fit her perfectly! And she was so pleased to have some things that were all the rage in fashion there (a jogging suit) as well as some practical shorts and short sleeved shirts.
Having already known I was planning to take them shopping, Carmen's mom was dressed in her best dress and matching shoes (I looked rather under-dressed in my jeans and t-shirt). Carmen decided that since she didn't have appropriate shoes for the jogging suit, she'd wear one of the shirts, and a pair of her own jeans. Wow, she filled the shirt out a bit differently - slightly more developed that Melissa, the shirt ended up being shorter, and her jeans weren't higher waisted, but she loved the shirt anyway.
We were on our way to go shopping and I realized that her hands were about the same size as Melissa's as well, and I knew that my pinky rings fit Melissa. I had recently purchased a ring in Otavalo, but I rather impulsively asked her to try it on. It fit. I gave it to her.
We drove down to the SuperBahía (open market) to buy Carmen a school uniform which consisted of a simple cotton button-front shirt and a pleated navy skirt, and a pair of saddle shoes. Prices... you would think that it might be a bit expensive, but the shirt and skirt together only cost $8. The shoes were $16 because we got some with rubber soles instead of plastic ones. I got her a backpack (a very nice one for only $8!) and there was a place to get a nice pair of sport shoes ($14) for her to wear with the jogging suit, and a pair of higher waisted jeans which she felt comfortable in, for only $10.
I found a long ribbon of Ecuadorian flag stripes and I got it to border my office at home.
I had asked her mother what they needed most and she said, "A stove top" ... I gulped. I didn't know if I'd have enough to afford that. But then we went to the Bahía and found a very nice stovetop (you connected it by hose to a propane tank) for only $40! I was, I think, just as happy to be able to give it to her as she was to get it!
We went out to lunch at El Malecón - a fancy new boardwalk in Guayaquil along the Guayas River. Of all the places and food varieties we could choose from, they opted for typical Ecuadorian fare, and we had lunch on the boardwalk overlooking the river.
It was about 3:00 when we dropped them back off at home, and I gave Carmen the notebook and pens and bags that Melissa had chosen for her. They were very happy, and I was glad to have met them and hopefully made their lives a bit easier.
I stopped briefly again at the main office before they drove me to the airport where I had to wait for a couple of hours until my flight left back to Quito.
I took a cab from the airport (not an airport cab - I knew better than to get fleeced that way again!) and got back to the Moncayo's in the early evening. It was a very long day and I didn't do much but go to bed and get some extra sleep before my birthday the next day.
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