The name of the game is... flexibility

Saludos a todos de Ecuador! And I apologize for the long silence. As the title of this blog would suggest, nothing has gone quite as planned and as a result I haven´t gotten a chance to use the internet more than twice since I got here on March 12. That´s not to say that all of the little surprises and hiccups we´ve encountered in our plans have been bad. In fact, they´ve led to some fun adventures. Let me begin...

The first big snag in our travel plans occured when our flight from San Jose, Costa Rica to Quito, Ecuador failed to land in Quito. Instead, it took us about 10 hours (by bus) south of Quito to Guayaquil. This change in destination in and of itself was not altogether too traumatic... however, when one considers the fact that neither the pilot nor the flight attendants informed the flight´s passengers of the change in destination until we landed in Guayaquil (and then did so solely in Spanish - not in English), one can see how my revelation that I was in Guayaquil and not Quito was a bit of a jolt to my system. In retrospect, it was a very funny situation: Our plane started to descend into Quito, circled the city for about 15 minutes, then suddenly reascended. Of course, no one knew what was going on, and the flight attendants weren´t saying anything, so people began to start rumors... the man sitting next to me told me that there was a security problem and the plane could not pass airport security. The couple next to Molly conjectured that the plane couldn´t land because of fog. Others were saying that the plane had a mechanical failure that could be corrected only in Guayaquil. Whatever the problem was, we never got an answer from the airline. Instead, we landed in Guayaquil, got a cheery "thank you for flying Copa Airlines, welcome to Guayaquil" from our pilot, and disembarked without fully understanding where we were or what we were to do. We ended up getting a voucher from the airline for a hotel for the night and a flight for the next day. Actually, let me clarify: we got a little slip of paper - a piece of paper that was in no way official looking - with the words "in transit" written on it that was to serve as our voucher. Por dios...

Luckily, everything worked out and we arrived in Quito with relatively few other problems (unless you count delayed buses, delayed flights and the Ecuadorian penchant for breaking in line as problems. Actually, at first I was mad at the Ecuadorians for breaking in line and stealing my seats on planes, buses, etc. I have now, however, accepted it as a way of life and even started breaking in front of people in lines. Hey - when in Rome, right?) Tyler - wonderful, patient Tyler - was at the airport waiting for us and made sure that we got to our hostel and were safe. Tyler is great. Without Tyler, this all would have been a lot more difficult.

Once we were settled in Quito, we encountered our SECOND major hiccup. Tyler recently left the Peace Corps, and has become embroiled in an epic battle with Peace Corps, the American Embassy, and the government of Ecuador to try to change his passport from his Peace Corps passport (which he has to turn in to Peace Corps) to his personal passport so that he can remain in Ecuador. When we arrived in Quito, Tyler recounted his story to us and revealed that he was probably going to have to make a trip to Colombia to try to exit the country, switch his passport, and re-enter Ecuador. Which left Molly and I in a predicament: We were either going to have to go it alone to Esmeraldas and try to establish ourselves there without Tyler, or accompany him to the border of Colombia... where there have recently been problems between the Ecuadorian and Colombian governments. Not to mention the FARC. I guess you always have to consider the possibility that a short trip to Colombia could end in years chained to a tree in the Colombian jungle while the FARC seeks ransom for your life.

We decided that we should, for the time being, stay in Quito so that Tyler could continue to work out his passport problems but to postpone making the decision about Colombia until after my 23 birthday, which was on March 14. It was nice to put off the worries and stresses of travel to celebrate my birthday... and celebrate we did. On the eve of my birthday, Tyler and Molly and I all met up with some other Peace Corps members to have drinks and ended up ringing in March 14 at a John Lennon themed bar and then proceeding to a Casino until almost 5:oo in the morning. Needless to say we slept late the next day - my birthday!- before venturing out to the historic district of Quito for some sight-seeing. We ended up at the Quito´s enormous basilica, climbing up ladders to the uppermost reaches of its towers to take in the amazing views of the city. It was simultaneously wonderful and terrifying. The views were some of the best of the city and the surrounding Andes mountains; however, I count myself among the mentally ill for having actually climbed those ladders to the top. I was shaking for probably a half hour after the experience. I am actually really glad I got to do something like that, something that was both daring and beautiful, for my birthday. That night, Molly, Tyler, and Tyler´s Peace Corps friend David took me to a very nice dinner to celebrate my birthday. We ate in a restaurant called Pims on a hill overlooking Quito. It was quite spectacular to get to sip on a glass of wine and watch the fog roll in and smother out the lights of the city (and it explained a lot about why we didn´t land in Quito two nights before - the fog was intense). My friends got cake and sangria for me and the restaurant played happy birthday, and we lingered in the restaurants sharing stories over a few bottles of wine until we heard from some others and decided to join them out for a night of dancing. It was a really fantastic birthday even though I was so far away from home.

My birthday was also great for another reason: I had a language break-through. David´s girlfriend is Ecuadorian, and she came out and brought a friend along with her and I ended up having a full-blown conversation with them in Spanish. Now, I know my Spanish wasn´t perfect and they were speaking slowly, helping to supply volcabulary I hadn´t learned yet, but the beauty of it was that we connected and were understanding each other in Spanish beyond the simple "Hello! how are you, what´s your name, where are you from?" I felt very proud of myself... though I have since regressed a little. I am having good Spanish days and bad Spanish days, but I am learning and working and hopefully when it´s all said and done, I´ll be a better communicator.

We spent the next day in Quito again, recovering from the previous night´s festivities and making decisions. We couldn´t put off the decision about Colombia any more - Tyler had to go and try to fix his situation. Mom, Dad, Jim and Robin... sorry to tell you about this over the blog, but... Molly and I decided to go with him. So on Sunday the three of us headed north to the Colombian border, beginning chapter three in our book of lessons on the complications of international travel.

Getting to the border was uncomplicated. We hopped a bus to Tulcan, one of the border cities of Ecuador, and then hailed a cab that took us to the border. We went through Ecuadorian immigration, then walked through some kind of no-mans land to Colombian immigration, got our stamps, and crossed the imaginary line that is the border between Ecuador in Colombia. Our idea was that we would go into the nearest city in Colombia, have some dinner, and then cross back over to spend the night in Tulcan. This was a foolish thought to have, and I think we should have realized from the problems we had already encountered that nothing could be so simple. After dinner, when we returned to immigration to try to LEAVE Colombia... well, we couldn´t. They wouldn´t let us back through immigration. To begin with, they wouldn´t switch over Tyler´s passport, which was the whole reason we had come in the first place. For some reason, they would not put an entry stamp on a passport with no exit stamp, or an exit stamp on a passport with no entry stamp. All of Tyler´s stamps were on his Peace Corps passport, and so the immigration officers refused to deal with Tyler´s personal passport. And another thing - we were unaware that crossing into Colombia meant we had to stay for at least 24 hours. So much for a night in Tulcan, Ecuador. We were stuck in Colombia for at least the night.

Luckily, the immigration officer recommended a hotel that we found with relative ease and we passed an uneventful night over the border in Colombia worrying about the next day, worrying about what would happen at immigration, and worrying our parents would somehow find out we were in Colombia and alert the FARC of our location so that they could handle our punishment somewhere in the Colombian jungle.

The next day was a very long one - but for the sake of brevity (because there is still a lot to write about), we managed to get back into Ecuador, but without accomplishing any of our goals in coming to Colombia. Tyler was (and still is) in Ecuador on his Peace Corps passport.

Back in Quito on Tuesday, Tyler headed off to the Embassy and several immigration offices to try to sort out his problems (as I type this post, Tyler is actually there again, seeking the same help he was seeking a week ago). Molly and I headed off to the internet with the goal of rearranging some of our travel plans. Several hours, lots of complications, and way too much money later, I succeeded in changing the details of my trip. I will be leaving Ecuador about 2.5 weeks earlier than planned. I am still headed to Peru, but with a very different itinerary. Deleted from the itinerary are: significant time in Lima, the Inca Trail, and Choquiquerau (¿spelling?). Added to the itinerary are: a boat ride down the Amazon to a jungle lodge, Lake Titicaca, and more time in Cuzco. I had a lot of really hard decisions to make, as I had to cut out a lot of plans I was excited about, but in the end, I am happy with the changes... and I´ll be seeing everyone in the U.S. about 18 days earlier than I imagined!

Molly and I spent the day timidly exploring Quito on our own. We didn´t wander far outside of the Mariscal district where we were staying, but we got to spend some time shopping in an artisan market and running errands. When we finally met up with Tyler and discovered he STILL had not accomplished what he needed to with his passport, we made the decision to head to Esmeraldas on a night bus without Tyler. And so we did. Overnight, we journeyed for more than 6 hours by bus, out of the cold, thin sierra air and into the thick heat and humidity of the coastal province of Esmeraldas.

We arrived to a rain-soaked Esmeraldas at 6:45 in the morning, and were greeted by Rachel, another Peace Corps worker, who took us to Tyler´s house to get settled. Because of the sudden changes in Tyler´s plans associated with his leaving Peace Corps, the house was a bonafide mess, and despite our exhaustion, we spent the day cleaning the house and getting situated. We swept, mopped, did dishes, cleaned up mildew, chased out bugs. We went out into the city to by food, necessary items, a bed. We even got to meet Lukas (who helped us to get the aforementioned bed), who I will be working with at Manos Unidas. By the end of the day we were exhausted, but had accomplished a lot toward making a nice little temporary home for ourselves in Esmeraldas. David (from my birthday) came over to spend the night with us and help us prepare to leave for our Semana Santa trip to Mompiche, a beautiful beach about 2-ish hours from Esmeraldas.

Thursday morning, Tyler made it to Esmeraldas and he, David, Molly and I left bright and early for Mompiche to celebrate Semana Santa. We met up with some other members of Peace Corps, and from Thursday to Sunday we enjoyed the suprisingly un-touristy beach town, swimming in the ocean and getting battered by the huge waves; laying on breathtakingly beautiful hidden black sand beaches; and letting loose, dancing, and partying until the sun came up each morning. I am not sure what to say about Mompiche; it was just a really great time. I will say, though, that the beach is unlike any other I´ve ever seen. At least, the black sand beach was unlike any other. Somehow Tyler and David knew about this hidden black sand beach that was about a 20 minute walk away from the beach that everyone else knew. Each day we´d walk out to the black sand beach, and we would literally have the beach to ourselves for the afternoon. The sand was smooth and soft and fine, black and glittery and beautiful... and it felt good just to rub it all over yourself, squish it in between your toes, or just watch it sparkle in the sunlight. Moreover, the waves at this beach were huge and menacing... and it was fun to go out and test yourself against them, occassionally letting them wash you all the way into shore. I have some pictures from Mompiche, and when I have the time, I´ll post them and I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

Another great part of the Mompiche trip was that Molly and I also got to know some other Peace Corps workers. I have to say, the Peace Corps workers we met were some of the coolest people I´ve ever gotten to know, and now that I´ve gotten to talk to learn more about them and their experiences, I´m thinking more and more I´d like to do Peace Corps at some point. Don´t freak out, Mom and Dad. I´m just thinking about it right now. But I admire the fact that they have come here and become a part of the communities they are trying to serve, promoting cross-cultural exchange and understanding. I think it would be a great experience to live in another country for a few years, learning the language and customs, working to really try to make a difference in people´s lives, and just... coping. Because after everything that has happened in the last several weeks I think I finally get how valuable an experience it is to learn to simply cope with everything that is going on around you. I am definitely a better coper now that I ever have been before.

I´m back in Esmeraldas now, and will hopefully be starting whatever small service project I´ll be doing sometime this week. I´ll be calling Lukas to meet and talk about it soon. Tyler´s back in Quito trying to end the war over his passport once and for all. It may require another trip to Colombia (one I won´t be going on this time), but the end appears to be in sight.

I´ll try to post more frequently in the future, but my free time has been hard to predict lately. I think now that I will be in Esmeraldas for a stretch without leaving, I will be able to get to the internet more regularly. I´ll also try to post my pictures from Ecuador, though as I am looking at the computer I am using right now, it looks like it might not be possible to do it today. Check back soon to look for pictures... I´ll try to send an email to let everyone know when I eventually get them up.

Also, I applaud everyone who made it to the end of this ridiculously long post. In the future, I will try to make them more managable, but today I had several weeks to account for, which made it difficult to be brief. Cest la vie... wait, that´s French. Así esta vida...