neighbor ladies

woot! sorry i haven´t updated in so long. it´s because i was actually out and about in this fantastic country and not in the internet cafe.

To start, we went on a fun family paseo with all of our scholarship kids. We packed 54 people and a dog (there´s always a dog) on a really tiny bus and sang reggaeton songs all the way to the river. The kids had a riot jumping off of things, playing soccer, and "learning to swim". Really they were walking on the bottom with their hands, but I tried. The moms all sat on the beach gossiping and making me eat. The kids wouldn´t come out of the water for lunch and so someone had to eat the food. It was so humbling to be there with them. They offered me everything that they had, which I know is not much at all. We had a wonderful time, and it was like nobody was poor for the day. We were just families and friends at the river, all half-naked and happy.

For Halloween I went to CUENCA!!! Cuenca is the most beautiful, lovely city in all of Ecuador. It was fiesta time too, so we got to see it all dressed up. There are huge churches, parks with GRASS, rivers, coffee shops, art markets, and all kinds of cheeses- gouda cheese, baked brie, mozzarella. Yes, I am desperate for the cheese section at Central Market. I miss going with Lauren to pick out a new cheese, some wine, and olives to eat while we watch "Moonstruck". Fernanda and Efrén say that there are lots of cheese here in Ecuador. There´s campo cheese, soft cheese, hard cheese, table cheese, cheese for soup, cream cheese. But really (besides the cream cheese) it´s all just campo cheese and they are torturing me!

The best part of being in Cuenca was seeing Día de los muertos! We went to the cemetery at midnight. There were people everywhere with flowers, candles, and singing. The cemetery was enormous, like a small city. The real riot was out on the street though with all the vendors. It´s solemn on the inside, and a party in the street with all kinds of food and drink. It´s a 2 day festival so I got to see it here in Ese too. We got a beer at 11am and went to visit Fernanda´s sister´s grave. The street kids were all painting graves to make a buck and the food vendors were out in full force. We ate dead bread and colada morada, a special fruit drink only for Day of the Dead. It was fantastic to see it here in Latin America. It is my favorite holiday by far.

Enough with that though, now we get to the exciting stuff. The same weekend as Day of the Dead (because of course it would be the best weekend ever) I found this great apartment. We´re calling it "the sub", because it´s like a little bubble over all the madness of the city. It´s got windows on all sides and is on the very, very top of an apartment building down the street from where I´m living now. You can even see where the river hits the ocean.

Well, there are these little old women across the street that sit outside all the time. 3 little old afro-ecuadorian gorditas that sit in a semi-circle on their porch and stare at everybody passing by. I walk past them every single day at least twice. And every single day at least twice for the past two months I have said hello to them. They would not answer me!!! Every single day: "hola!", "buenas!", "buenos!", y nada. I even tried screaming it, in case they were just hard of hearing. No, they were just not answering me. Fernanda said they don´t answer her either so she just stopped. Damnit, I said to myself, if I have to saludar them for 2 years I´m going to do it until they answer me.

Finally, this past week, la viejita, the oldest one with white hair and glasses, finally started responding. "Hola niña," she says, and smiles. But the brava one and the really gordita one just kept staring at me. Then, yesterday, when I was walking with Jessi the most fantastic thing happened- they talked to me! We were across the street when I heard la brava yell,

"¡Oye! ¿Y usted va a arrendar esa casa o no?" (are you going to rent that house or not?)
"Si, ojalá." (yes, i hope)

To Jessi I said, "quick! let´s go over there, they´re actually talking to me!" grabbed her arm and ran across the street.

Only the brava one was talking to me, the little old one just kept smiling at me.

"¿y porque todavía no lo ha hecho?" (why haven´t you done it yet?)
"es que no puedo alquilarme hasta diciembre" (i can´t move until december)
"pero, ya pues, arriendalo ahora" (just rent it now)
"si, lo voy hacer" (yes, ok i will)
"¿y es allá, tan arriba?" (and it´s the one way up there? she points)
"si"
"¿y porque no eso de abajo?" (why dont´you rent this one downstairs?)
"porque es demasiado caro, no puedo" (it´s too expensive, I can´t)
"¿cuanto cuesta?" (how much?)
"$150"
"¿y lo de arriba?" (and the one on top?)
"$120"
"a, ya. ¿y de donde es?" (and where are you from?)
"estados unidos"
"¿que haces aquí?" (what are you doing here?)
"soy voluntaria" (i´m a volunteer)
"¿y porque estás aquí?" (and why are you here?)
"em..." ([i didn´t understand if this was a different question or not])
"¿te gusta aquí?" (do you like it here?)
"si, me encanta esmeraldas" (yes, i love esmeraldas!)
"¿y vas a arrendar alla arriba?" (and you´re going to rent up there?)
"si, vamos a ser vecinas" (yes, we´re going to be neighbors [big smile])

She looked at me for a little while...and then she laughed! She laughed, and said "yes, yes we are going to be neighbors"! Oh, and her smile made my world. She´s missing a front tooth.

La viejita told me that I should pass by more often then and talk.
Don´t worry, I thought, twice a day every day.