Mary Maier

Today we constructed a huge container for all the plastic we collect from the beach. After working yesterday and today, we had about 30 sacks filled with plastic and sorted by type. In the afternoon, we dragged the bamboo to the road to the beach (I had one 30 foot piece on each shoulder) and cut it with machetes. After digging some holes, cutting down some trees to use for posts, and going back to the station to get the nails and hammer, we finished the container and put all the sacks inside. The big question is whether the sacks will be returned when the plastic is collected, because they are worth $.25 to $.50 each. Afterwards, the Germans played football on the beach and I swam and rolled in the sand with Cuco.

Flea has been killing chickens almost every afternoon and has probably killed about 6 or 7 so far. As soon as we hear the chickens screeching and flapping their wings, someone yells for Flea or screams, but Flea is so fast that all you hear is one last horrible screech. Occasionally the chickens aren’t completely killed. This morning some of the boys had to kill the rooster, which was missing a good deal of feathers and perhaps a part of its neck. We had it for lunch along with rice, beans, and fresh fruit juice.

Because Flea was chained up, the puppies took their first trip out with the volunteers. We went to the beach to clean and analyze the trash. The brown puppy, the more outgoing one, jumped and whined the entire way, while the timid black puppy just walked alongside us. They followed Cuco’s (the big, old dog) lead when barking at cows and eventually I convinced them to come into the ocean with us. The brown puppy came bounding into the water but whined and only swam a little bit, and the black puppy was extremely hesitant and only put his paws in.

The tide was going out and the current was quite strong, so I swam against it in the shallow water for exercise and didn?t move at all.

Today Freddy took us to Esmeraldas, the capital city of the province. The bus ride was 2 hours and $2. Once we arrived, we took a taxi to a huge clothing market. It reminded me of the food market in Barcelona except everything was clothing in typical Ecuadorian styles: bright colors, too tight of a fit, and knock off brands. It was like a jungle of clothing stalls. I wanted a Barcelona (the Ecuadorian team) jersey in my size and Freddy bargained the price down to $8.

Next we took a taxi to the beach, from which you could see about 5 huge boats on the horizon, probably waiting to be filled with oil. We had a $2 lunch of fish soup and a typical Ecuadorian “segundo plato” of rice, plantains, beans, fried fish, and some salty shredded vegetables. After that we took our final taxi ride back to the bus station. The divers here are fearless and dart in and out of traffic on roads without lines. On the way back to Muisne, we passed the Chevron oil refinery, complete with its permanent and horrific black cloud overhead. The entire city of Esmeraldas seemed to smell of fumes.

So much walking today. In the morning we went to Bunche to work at the daycare center but found that it was closed. The women that worked there wanted to go to Muisne to talk to the mayor to get funding for the kitchen, so we walked back to the station and then got a car into Muisne. when we arrived, it turned out we were going to work at the beach. We walked across the island to the plant nursery and filled 200 bags with dirt (about 1 hour of work between 3-4 people). When it was time for lunch, we went back across the island and bought oranges for 15 cents to suck on while we walked. Our lunch at CafeCine was my favorite meal here: spaghetti with chicken, rice, and a soup with corn, plantains, potatoes, cheese, and vegetables. Of course, there was no electricity when we stopped by the internet place. Once we were back at the station, we walked to the beach (halfway to Bunche) and stayed there until the tide came up to where we were sitting.

We had an excellent breakfast over the weekend of banana pancakes. They seemed like 3 parts bananas and 1 part pancake stuff. There was also a caramel/honey/syrup type of goo to put on top. Vicente put hot sauce on his.

Friday or Saturday night, Bunche celebrated San Antonio. We walked to Bunche with Freddy’s family around 9pm without flashlights. Once we arrived at a relative’s house, the boys bought us seats and we watched drumming, singing, and chanting. The family passed around trays of drinks, candy, and more drinks and candy. Pretty soon there were 10 kids crowded around the other “gringa” and I, each wanting to play a hand game called “picachu” or touch our hair. We went to the “indoor football” court, which is outdoors, when the kids got overwhelming, and took photos together. Feeling to embarrassed to danced, I peeked in the discoteca with Alvaro while it rained outside. On the way home we tried to avoid mud puddles as we walked in the dark.

Katy and I walked to Cabo San Francisco, another town with a beautiful beach and cliffs, all through the morning. We went in search of “mandarinas,” which I suppose are mandarin oranges. There were no cars so we walked for about an hour and 20 minutes each way, over the mountain. The road was muddy and most of the time you could only hear the slosh of our boots, the panting dogs, and the birds in the forest. In Cabo there weren’t any mandarinas or fish so we waited at a store for a ride back to Bunche. Inside people were watching a World Cup game. The dogs sat around me and fended off other dogs while they eyed the table with a heap of pork and skinned chickens for sale. When we walked back to Bunche, Flea saw one of her puppies. They ran around and played and played, both seeming absolutely thrilled.