This is Home!

I am finding myself looking at this city very differently now. I am reminded that this will be home in a few months and that I will be part of this collection of humanity. So many people look familiar to me; the passport control officers, the baggage handlers, the receptionists at the hotel, the servers at the restaurant. Or perhaps I am looking at my surroundings in a new way, or paying more attention. 

Eric's favourite bookstore is 'Libri Mundi', just a few blocks away from the hotel. We looked for books for Maya, with each page presented in both English and Spanish, and a couple of them with Quichua as well. I am committed to helping Maya learn as much Spanish as possible in the next few months, so this is a start. We looked for a good coffee shop. I have yet to adjust to Ecuadorian coffee, so a cappuccino or espresso is a must to start my day. Eric wanted me to look at a nearby apartment available  for rent; it looked wonderful, but we were unable to contact the landlord.

We joined our group for the afternoon, with a stop at my favourite museum in Quito, the Banco Central. It has an extensive collection of pre-Incan artifacts. Our guide was very enthusiastic and did an excellent job of describing 11,000 years of Ecuadorian history. I was reassured, because he reiterated so much of what I had presented in my lecture about pre-columbian art and history, and added more perspective and unique insights, so that I found myself more and more enthusiastic. I could have spent many more hours in the museum, and that will be one of my plans for when we return here to live. 

We took the bus to the colonial centre of Quito. The main plaza is is flanked by the 'White House' where the president works and could sleep, but he prefers to live in his home in another part of the city, the Archbishop's Palace, two lovely old hotels, the ugly concrete city hall and the cathedral. The city is a international world heritage site, because it is well preserved in the style of the colonial era. Ruminahui, Atahualpa's Quitan general, had razed the Incan city to prevent the Spaniard conquistadors from conquering the city. He also took all the gold of the city and hid it,  fought the Spaniards valiantly, and it is possible that his gold was never found. There is a legend that the gold  is is still hidden in the Llanganate mountains south of Quito. The Spaniards used Incan stones for the foundations of their new city, and these are still visible at the base of the buildings, above which adobe bricks were used for construction. There are many churches and religious complexes in the city. Fransiscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, almost all the orders are represented. We visited the most spectacular church, the Compania, which was home to the Jesuits. Every surface inside the church is covered with gold. It reminds me of the Jesuit church in Rome, which it was modeled after, but the profuse use of gold makes it unique. Although remarkable to look at, I find the church unsettling, I cannot imagine praying there. 

The church of San Fransisco was being restored, so we could not enter it. We were able to get in the back way through the choir stall and peek over the balcony to see the renovation process. Initially the ceiling was to be restored, but the renovation process revealed that a major crack in the foundation arch required repair, and then the columns attached to the arch. Finally, archeologists discovered skeletons under the church floor. Ultimately the project expanded to a much more extensive renovation process, which will take years to complete. 

Back Home in Quito

We have finally arrived in Quito!!!! It has been an unusually long day of travel. The alarm woke us up at 3:30 and we were out of the house 4 AM. Flying to Miami was uneventful, but we arrived by 8:30 with seven hours before our next flight. I decided that a trip to South Beach made sense. It was too early for the beautiful people to be about (they were sleeping off their nighttime activities), but it is a pleasant walk along the beach. The architecture is warm and inviting. I can understand why the place is so popular with tourists.

I enjoy Miami airport, with its disorganized chaos. We were lucky with security today. Usually I am in the line for over an hour, and we were warned not to arrive later than noon to make sure we would have enough time for the expected wait. Instead, we jut breezed through. We met several of he group members who were to be with us for the next ten days. They are friendly and excited about the trip.

It feels different to return to Quito. This place is to be home, and I just left Quito a month ago. Going through immigration, picking up our bags, Xraying our bags; everything feels familiar. I wonder if I recognize random people in the crowd and working at the various stations. i wonder if I remember the passport control person. Everything goes easily, no bags are lost, we fly through each step of the the process.

We are staying at the Hotel Quito Colon, which is the place I stayed when I visited Quito for the first time perhaps five years ago. It is a flashier hotel than I am accustomed to. The students stay at the Hotel Sierra Madre, which is smaller and quiet and quaint, but this is an altogether different sort of trip. When we take the students, our schedule is very tight and we are running constantly and sleeping very little; this trip is less intense and more casual, which I am truly looking forward to.

So this is home. It is so convenient that the dollar is the currency here. Eric warns me that Ecuador may give up the dollar which could be good for us, or not. It may destabilize the economy and the country. Is this advantageous for us and our year here or not? i am not sure. The weather is wonderful. it is clear and fresh. Apparently although it is the rainy season, it is not expected to rain. We are warned to bring several layers, that the weather will be changeable and very sunny and warm in the afternoon. We will take a city tour tomorrow and visit my favourite museum, the Banco Central, which has an amazing collection of pre-columbian art. I get lost in the museum, caught back in a time long ago in Ecuador. As our guide stated in the bus on the way from the airport, there have been Ecuadorian people here for 13,000 years.

The people look familiar. I wondered over and over at the airport whether I was just imagining that the faces were ones I had seen before. I am sure no-one recognized me. I am feeling more at home amongst the local people. I look so different and foreign, but this will be my home and I will be less and less a foreigner. I enjoy listening to the language. It is beautiful and lyrical and inviting. I almost feel ready to speak Spanish to everyone and leave English entirely out. Erika's boyfriend David met us at the airport. Again, I felt welcomed and part of this place. This will be the place we come home to.


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Travel Zen

So this is it, I am packed and it is not midnight yet. I am trying to decide whether to sleep or not, since we are up in a few hours to catch an early early flight to Miami. The flight is soooooo tedious, with a five hour layover in Miami and late night arrival in Quito. I looked for better connections, but nothing quite worked out for us. I have to give in to the 'life is the journey' experience. Actually, once I get on the plane, I enter my a new way of being. I am less irritable, less rushed, better able to sit and wait and be in the moment. I become quite a different person. I am not in control, I have no choice but to go with the flow. In Ecuador especially, nothing quite happens as expected. Flights are delayed, time becomes an entirely different element. When we are with the students, we warn them to expect long delays. Whatever the agenda is, it is subject to change. Our schedule may or may coincide with that of our guide, and in the end it is his will that prevails. We are making adjustments constantly, and if we are casual about it, all is well. Luckily the students seem well able to tolerate the waiting and the glitches. They fall asleep in the bus, on the plane, in the waiting areas, wherever they may be, and don't seem particularly bothered about the delays. I hope our alumni travelers are just as patient.

So what will I do for five hours in the airport? I will read, work on some project on my computer, perhaps rent a movie and watch it, probably eat some inedible food, likely walk the length of the terminal. Before I expect it, we will be boarding our plane to Quito. I like Miami airport, because it is such an unexpected place. If you listen, you do not hear English spoken; Spanish is the primary language, and the energy is intense. More often than not, the eating establishments offer Cuban food. I am always stuck in Immigration, where I am addressed in Spanish, and everyone in our 'holding cell' is from a Spanish speaking country, including me I suppose, since I live in the United States as well. And I like the language, it has rhythm and a musical quality and is pleasant to hear. Of course, as of yet, I undertand only a fraction of it.

I am bringing a Spanish textbook with me and hope that I will have time and motivation to work on it. I was planning to take a course this spring, to work on my grammar, but I am traveling too much and will miss to many sessions. I believe that if I put my mind to it, I will start get more focussed and make as much progress as in a class.

My sister arrived this afternoon, and Maya took over, explaining her schedule and how things are done in the house. By the time I came home, Monica was comfortable and ready to take over. I wonder if Maya will be taking care of her...Maya appears to see this as a great adventure. Monica brought her Havanese, Kasper, who takes every opportunity to hump Elmer. Elmer tolerates him. We are all still missing Pippi, Elmer particularly.

My alarm clock will ring at 3:30 AM. Yikes!

Resolutions

Every time that I travel I resolve to get organized early and pack a few days ahead of time, and despite my best efforts, I find myself scurrying around until my flight departs packing and repacking and bringing far too much. After so many trips, I ought to have learned that traveling light is the way to go. Oops. I will put it all together after working all day tomorrow...

My sister flies in from Boston in the afternoon. This will be the first time that she will have time with Maya, and I hope they will enjoy each other. Maya will like the attention, since Monica will pick her up early from school and Maya will have more time to chill and to play. When I return from Ecuador this time, I want to reduce my working hours and have more time to be with Maya. We both have to learn more Spanish to prepare for our year away. Maya's new school has already suggested that Maya learn as mush Spanish as possible before she starts school in September, it will be easier to adjust. I have not really paid much attention to the fact that I must be fluent to enjoy my year in Ecuador. I just assumed that I would learn by osmosis and I will suddenly find myself competent in the language. I am realizing more and more that I need to pay more attention to learning the language now. My life is far to packed with activity to take the time to learn...or at least that is my excuse. I resolve to focus my energy on learning the language when we return. It is a beautiful and expressive language. Quito is known to have excellent language schools, so that may be an option when we live there.

Recovering

I am finally recovering from a nasty nasty cold. I gave in and prescribed myself a Zpack, even though it is most likely this was a virus, a powerful one at that. I do not want to be ill on the trip. I will not need any vaccinations for the Galapagos. I have had a yellow fever shot and typhoid pills for past trips, and malaria prophylaxis is not necessary for this trip. Of course, it is just not fun to be sick while traveling so I am hoping that I am over

I am starting to pack. I hear that the weather will be very hot while we are in the Galapagos, and I am looking forward to the heat. It has been cold in Baltimore and colder in New York, and I have had enough of winter. Quito will be pleasant. Of course, in January it rained almost daily and it was unusually cold, so I am not sure how it will be when we are there.

Our itinerary starts in Quito for a day and then a trip to Otavalo for the market, and five days in the Galapagos, back to Guayaquil for a short visit, and then the group goes on and Eric and I return to Quito to make further arrangements for our stay. We have met with a lawyer and have an idea of which visa we will need. We will revisit some schools and make a decision to move forward on that. Perhaps we will look at more apartments and think more carefully about where we will live and what sort of transportation needs we will have. This is most likely our last trip to Quito before we move permanently. That sounds so final. I am beginning to get eager for the move. All the preparations make me anxious. Eric has emptied the house and it looks wonderful. Whey did we not clean it up and live like this before? I feel sad that now that the house is neater and more organized and the holes in the walls are patched and painted over, and the closets cleaned out and half the books and the furniture removed, we are not staying to enjoy it. I feel more peaceful with this spare look. The clutter was irritating. I am determined never to accumulate as much as I am accustomed to. Of course, while we are in Ecuador, we will not have much, and we can be sure to live more simply and have less stuff.

I have participated little in the clean-up. It has been Eric's project and he has been putting in late hours to accomplish his task. I have used all sorts of excuses, and of course I have been ill and Pippi has died and I am tired after work etc etc, but in truth it is my ambivalence about moving that has motivated all the obstacles to doing anything to move the house forward. Eric is exhausted and irritable with me. I hope he understands. I am feeling more enthusiastic now that the house is moving forward, although I am not keen to sell it. I feel that if I have no house to come back to, there will be no compelling reason to return.

I am so eager to close up everything and leave. The preparations are overwhelming and the anticipation is disconcerting. I almost feel as if I have said my goodbyes and it is time to go. I am telling the last group of patients about my imminent departure. It is necessary to give my patients alot of warning, but now that I have announced my plans, I feel awkward seeing them again and again before I go. I am sure they will be fine, even if I left tomorrow. I have found doctors for almost every one of them, and they will be well taken care of. But I will miss them. They are my daily concern, and I care very much for each of them. When I tell them, they are encouraging and excited for me, and mostly gracious and encouraging about the move., but I feel guilty for leaving them. I have no problem leaving everything else in Baltimore, and if something happens that should keep me in Ecuador, I will be delighted.

Not formally working for a year sounds wonderful. I feel very lucky to be able to just live life without an agenda, to be able to wake up in the morning and pursue whatever direction or task or project or absolutely nothing at all. Sounds like a great adventure.

Culture in Ecuador

I travelled to New York and back yesterday afternoon. I waited for the Chinatown bus and when neither the 3:30 nor the 3:40 PM bus showed up,  I dashed over to the train station and caught a very comfortable seat on the Acela express. The bus is $20 each way and the train is far more expensive, but I did not want to miss Tara's play. She has been rehearsing nightly for over a month, and I promised to see it, knowing that I had obligations Saturday morning and evening and Sunday afternoon and could not get to New York any other evening of the week. Sunday night was the only possibility. 

The play was called the 'Mapmaker' and was set up as a movie within a play. I found it disconcerting that the main character was supposed to be East Indian, but was played by a black man with a very odd accent and mannerisms. I found him so strange and out of place and distracting. That along with the movie set and the odd movie crew characters interfered with me actually listening to the play. I was more interested in my daughter, and waited for her to appear on stage. She had only a few lines, and was entertaining and funny, so the adventure was worth all the effort. I am not sure I paid much attention to the rest of the play, so I had little to say about it afterward.  Tara and I had only a short visit before I boarded the train again. I rested on the way back and decided that train travel was quite wonderful. I have been taking the bus to New York because it is such a bargain, or my car which is easy and inexpensive because I get such good gas mileage, but the train is the way to go, except for the expense. 

There is limited train travel in Ecuador. People drive or take the bus. There is a short train ride over the Andes that is a tourist attraction. The tradition is to sit on top the train and experience the roar of the air whipping by and the precariousness of the track high in the Andes. I believe it is near Riobamba and we will be sure to experience it one weekend.

I am not sure what the cultural life is like in Ecuador. Tara is interested in volunteering, so I have been looking into theatre troupes. I asked several people in Quito what they do in the evening, and I was told that eating out was the most usual form of entertainment, that there was limited music and theatre. Big names did not usually stop in Quito. There was much excitement about 'Supertramp' coming for a concert in February. Supertramp? I did not know they were still alive! 

There is a music tradition. Mauricio played some Ecuadorian music for me, and it was beautiful and compelling. We will have to explore more when we are in Quito.

Crossing the Equator

The 'Crossing The Equator' ceremony is for those who are crossing the equator for the first time. So it makes sense that I experienced the initiation ceremony as a newcomer to the Galapagos and to the equator. I enjoyed playing the role of a pirate, wearing a patch on my eye and a red bandanna and making loud and raucous pirate noises. It was a hoot to see my husband half naked carrying a trident and wearing a crown as King Neptune. His princess was a lovely young Indian woman who looked regal in her queenly attire. We all had a script, but I have no recollection of the words or the import. There was some sort of ingestion of mysterious liquid, and ultimately pouring of water on those participating in the ceremony. Drinking and dancing followed late into the evening.

The ceremony originated in the early 1900's as a initiation ritual for new sailors who had not yet crossed the equator. Essentially it was a hazing event, the new sailors demeaned and harassed by their more experienced colleagues. Ultimately it was the hazing nature of the ritual that resulted in its discontinuation. There has been no mention of the event these past two years on the Santa Cruz. Apparently some passengers had been disturbed by some aspect of the reenactment, so much so that the whole event has been nixed, not even discussed.

Eric thought of bringing costumes and coming up with a script so that we can arrange our own ceremony. I am not sure the alumni we are with will have any interest in participating, I would imagine that the students would be more enthusiastic. In the end, I want to celebrate the crossing in some way, not public, not loud and raucous, but actively and reverently. I believe we cross the equator several times during our trip. 

I am sitting at a conference on eating disorders this afternoon. Although I will not be working as a psychiatrist in Ecuador ( it takes far too long to get a license to practice medicine), I wonder how much eating disorder exists there. I do not believe there is a tradition of psychiatry in Ecuador. My impression is that seeing a psychiatrist is not generally accepted and that there is a significant stigma associated with seeing psychiatrists. Last year at the American Psychiatric Association meeting in Washington DC, I tried to attend all the events related to psychiatry in South America. These were limited and poorly attended, suggesting that psychiatry remained sidelined and irrelevant.  I hope to learn more when I am living in Quito.