An Update on our MUCOV Travels (go on, read it)

47 days in Ecuador and going on 48

Here we are in the city of Loja and already thinking of the six hour bus ride we have to be on tomorrow morning on our way to Machala, El Oro. During these past six weeks, we went from Quito to Esmeraldas, down the Pacific Coast stopping in random places and eventually ending up in Ecuador´s President´s hometown: Guayaquil. After many buses, major sun intake, and lots of dehydration, we went to the capital city of Quito to pick up the new member of our team: our HD Camera (GIA) . GIA traveled from Florida to Colombia, stopping in Bogota and going to Medellin, getting lost in the airport, and finally making it to our hands. And we thought that simply getting it was the challenge until we started to skim through the manual… Thankfully, we are womyn and we know how to multi-task, that is, read electronics manuals besides our other 3 books, create a project from scratch, live it, travel, and still find a couple of hours to type this down.

It is Tuesday, or any other day, not very different than Monday, Wednesday, Sunday, or a Friday of the last month and half since we left Colombia. It is almost midnight and we have been trying to work on this blogging thing (we just went from not carrying about too much about bloggers to highly admiring the time and dedication put into this maintenance). And my…oh my, try sorting out the blog template with a slow ass internet while paying 80cents per hour (we already owe $3.00) and having the owner sitting on his desk giving us the, ¨I want to close my shop before tomorrow starts¨ look. Have you ever gotten one of those? Not fun.

We did not think we would be staying in Ecuador for this long but between falling in love with Ecuadorians, the breathtaking scenes, and crossing paths with all the womyn we have met, it is clear that leaving any earlier would be a crime against MUCOV. It is hard not to convince ourselves that we have actually conspired upon our own entrapment.

Yesterday we interviewed a young nun ( our search for a nun has been a live comedy and one you must ask about in the future), who shared with us her experiences and motivations but kept secret most of her sins. Today we rode (more like skydived) into the life of a mother and daughter who shared Herstories; ones of violence, strength, surgeries, death, infidelity, religion, and solidarity. Leonor and Karina left us with a lifelong feeling of great respect and admiration for all they have endured, but most importantly, for the love they radiated.

At 2pm, after a three our interview, riding in two taxis with our backpacks, a full bag of electronics, and some elongated smiles we had just started our day…

In short, Ecuador has been a combination of our determination to randomly defy cultural and social norms as our free-will stays one step ahead of the so-called destiny that refuses to live independent of our sixth sense, aka Intuition.

Here is the run-on summary of what we have been through, lived, overcome, seen, thought and eaten in this beautiful country that has trapped us between the never-before-seen 3-D surreal clouds that spread across a green only true to its Andean mountains and is reflected in the diverse beauty of its people: Womyn, smiles, Central Markets, Doubts, seeds, tires, roads, Good-byes, rain, weight, sweat, internet, holes in socks, backpacks, camera, fights, swollen feet, Spanglish, manuals, trolley buses, sewing, adrenaline, Chuta, Dollar Bills, Border, Gringos, Quimbolitos, mountains, interviews, diarrhea, feminism, Nepalese men, Catholicism, Palo Santo, egos, swimming again, Rituals, encebollados, cooking, toilet paper, writing, cold showers, and waiting for the next moment with a lot of hootspah (ask a Hebrew speaker). ..

To be continued in Peru…after we eat some ceviche

P.S.

¨I am happy! I discovered my Clit!¨

Quito, Ecuador

En Ecuador!

Entre la noche del 47 y la madrugada del 48

Estamos actualmente en la ciudad de Loja pensando en el viaje de seis horas que nos espera mañana para poder llegar a Machala en la provincia de El Oro (capital mundial del banano). Durante estas ultimas seis semanas en Ecuador hemos viajado entre la capital de Quito, hasta la costa noroccidental en Esmeraldas para bajar a lo largo de la Ruta del Sol, y finalmente llegamos a la ciudad nativa del actual Presidente Correa: Guayaquil. Después de muchos buses, sol, sal, deshidratación, y chiflidos de hombres de la costa, volvimos a la Sierra en un viaje de 10 horas en regreso a Quito. ¿Por qué esa vuelta de nuevo a la mitad del mundo? Es porque teníamos que recoger a nuestra tan esperada GIA, la nueva cámara que se uniría a nuestro equipo MUCOV. GIA tuvo que viajar desde Florida, hasta Colombia, llegar a Bogotá, pasar por el aroma de arepas, eucalypto, y sancocho hasta llegar a la capital Paisa de Medellín. Finalmente la recogimos en Quito, que en realidad fue también una experiencia llena de confusión, nervios, y un poco de incertidumbre, o sea fue al estilo MUCOV. Creímos que el reto era recibirla sana y salva hasta que repasamos el manual que parecía no hablar ni español ni ingles, ni Quichua. Por suerte, como mujeres, sabemos como enfrentar retos mientras realizamos y pensamos en otras mil,500 cosas a la vez…bueno mejor no exagerar y lo dejamos a 1,499.

Es martes, o cualquier otro día no muy diferente a un lunes, miércoles, o domingo de este ultimo mes y medio vivido desde que salimos de Colombia. Es casi la media noche y estamos empezando a manejar este mundo del blogging mientras se aumenta nuestra admiración por las personas que le dedican mucha paciencia y tiempo al mundo de los HTML. Bueno, todo seria mas fácil si el internet fuera mas rápido en este Cyber que nos cobra 80centavos por hora (ya debemos $3.00) y que además viene con muchas miradas del administrador que sin decir una sola palabra le hemos entendido su mensaje: Salgan de aquí antes de que empiece mañana!

Nunca creímos que Ecuador nos iba a recibir en su tierra tanto tiempo pero es inevitable no quedar encantadas con la belleza natural que complementa con una sutileza la diversidad de la cultura Ecuatoriana. Hemos cruzado caminos con mujeres que nos han mostrado un poco de su realidad, de su mundo, lo cual nos deja la permanente sensación de que estamos por buen camino, aunque a veces confundimos la derecha con la izquierda y el sur con el parriba. Al fin de un razonamiento interno, hemos aceptado que somos cómplices totales de la conspiración en contra de nuestra salida de este lugar que nos embruja tan solo con la mirada que nos regalan las nubes con su insaciable ritual de a cada instante acariciar el rostro de las montañas.

Esos momentos realizados sobre la Pachamama viven gracias a esta dosis de placer que le permiten enverdecerse cada vez más.

Ayer tuvimos la gran suerte de poder entrevistar a una monjita (o mejor dicho, una hermana religiosa, aunque este termino confunde un poco pues una hermana no siempre es religiosa, ni una religiosa siempre es una hermana). Todo ocurrió como una comedia, pero claro, al fin cuando nos atrevimos a tocar la puerta de su hogar, ella acepto que un par de desconocidas colocaran una cámara y un micrófono en su entorno para confesar, mejor dicho, contar sobre sus pecados, que pena, mejor dicho vida! Para actualizarles aun mas, hoy mismo sentimos que hicimos una entrevista equivalente a los deportes extremos pero en vez de hacerlo en el campo abierto, lo hicimos sentadas activamente (pues todos nuestros sentidos estaban acelerados), escuchando sobre la vida de una madre e hija. Karina una jovencita discapacitada de 18 años junto con su mami, Leonor, compartieron lo que es vivir en un mundo con: cirugías, violencia, muerte, infidelidad, lealtad, religión, y fuerza. La sensación en el cuerpo y mente después de escuchar lo que compartieron sobre sus vidas era de una gran admiración y respecto por estas mujeres que sobresalen en su valentía por su lucha de día a día.

A las 2 de la tarde, después de tres horas de la entrevista, viajar en dos taxis con nuestros bolsos pesados acompañadas de unas sonrisas que suceden cuando uno muerde un maíz entero, apenas si estábamos empezando el día…

Para resumir, Ecuador ha sido una mixtura de nuestra determinación de desafiar las normas sociales y culturales al azar, mientras que nuestro libre albedrio esta un paso en frente del destino. Y claro, todo esto funciona por nuestro sexto sentido conocido como la Intuición vugernal.

Esta oración-sin-fin que viola las reglas de la gramática se formo para poder ligeramente describir lo que hemos vivido, desafiado, visto, pensado, y realizado mientras aprendemos sobre muchas razones por lo cual l@s Ecuatorian@s aman a su país:

Mujeres, sonrisas, Mercado Central, dudas, semillas, llantas, calles, despedidas, lluvia, peso, sudor, internet, huecos en las medias, mochilas, cámara, peleas, pies hinchados, Quimbolitos, montañas, entrevistas, diarrea, feminismo, Nepaleses, Catolicismo, palo santo, EGO, nadar, manuales, rituales, Encebollados, Espanglish, coser, otra vez manuales, trole bus, adrenalina, Chuta, Dólares, fronteras, gringos, cocinar, papel del baño, escribir, duchas frías, y el esperar para el momento que ya llego con un chingo de hutspaa (pregúntenle el significado a una persona hebreo hablante) y mas manuales…

A continuación en Peru despues de comernos un cevichaso… pd.mensaje publico pa´tod@s Quito, Ecuador

HERSTORY: Analia Silva Maldonado (Quito, Ecuador)

¨I came out of the little Jail to enter the Big Jail¨

At first glance, Analia gives the air of a person who has never had trouble a day in their life: her face is lit into a soft smile, her brown eyes look attentively at her surroundings; She is soft spoken, and moves around the community house of Casa Femenista Rosa with a calm and peaceful air; she greets the people that come in and out with affectionate words. As we approach her, she is busy at her current job as the womyn in charge of managing the café of the Casa Rosa. She is a mother of three and a former domestic worker in Quito, Ecuador. Her earnest willingness to get interviewed and her interest in the MUCOV Proyect are immediate. As Herstory unravels, so does her world. Her dreams, challenges, pains, desires and successes are laid out for us to see and feel. Behind her calm exterior is a story of a modern warrior, conscious of the social limitations the world has presented her with, fighting for the survival of all that she believes she and her children deserve. With her soft voice, she conveys strength and sheer determination to share her voice with us.

The most defining experience in Analia´s life is the loss of her liberty. On October 3^rd of 2003, she was arrested for drug possession by the Narcotics Department of Quito´s Police Force. She spent 4 years and 8 months in jail. What drove her to enter this inauspicious world of drugs? ¨Poverty¨ she says, solemnly. ¨The Necessity for survival pushes people to commit crimes they never thought they could commit… In life you walk through different paths and you encounter different people…You see that these people are well off and you have the ambition to be well off as well. To give your children what you couldn’t have: education and better opportunities for life.¨ Analia´s choice arose from the need to build a different, better way of life for herself and her family. ¨The necessity that drove me to sell drugs created two opposing forces in me: the act of harming others in order to survive and support my family, ¨ expressed Analia. And veritably, the consequences of her choice came upon her the day she was arrested, when her daughter´s words to her only days before, rang in her ears: ¨Mom, if you get caught, what will become of me?¨ Her sacrifice came with the heavy price of hurting those she wanted most to protect.

But what are the social conditions that have created this daily struggle for survival? Why, as Analia says is there ¨a lack of opportunities that pushes a person to have to survive under these pressures and to commit crimes? ¨I left the big jail for the little jail¨ says Analia. ¨ I am NOT FREE. I am still a prisoner with the only difference being that I am now in the big jail. ¨Inside, ¨ she says, ¨at least I did not have to worry about shelter, or food. But outside, the fight for resources, for respect and equal opportunities for me and my family are a harsh and difficult reality charged with discrimination.The disadvantages of being a black womyn, my race and my age, the fact of not having had a career, of not being educated all of these work against me in this society.¨

And the strength heard in her words is the same strength that shines most through the soft smile that shapes her presence. And in her words, she explains why she continues to live with strength, with fuerza: ¨If I don’t pick myself up, who will? I can’t give to others if I don’t have strength for myself. This strength comes from the same rebelliousness of the people society marginalizes. I have to keep fighting¨.

Analia also gave a message to other womyn: ¨ we are strong, and cannot let anyone step over us. We have rights like all other human being¨.