Rips in Ecuador

This picture happened because Sue Wild wanted a picture of us in front of the temple to put on the chapel bulletin board.

Actually, I think the picture of the young Otavalan couple would be better. She made the wedding dress and did all the handiwork herself. The handiwork doesn't show well, because it is embroidery all in white, with small beads as well. Her younger sister is dressed in what is typical sunday or formal dress in Otavala, with a hand embroidered top and black skirt. We see whole groups of Otavalans coming to the temple with the women all dressed like the little girl.

I have told you of all the interesting sights in Ecuador, but let me tell you about the temple. Debbie and I spend a fair amount of time in the baptistry. A typical day will see 1,000 to 2,500 ordinances done in the bautistereo. That is combined baptisms and confirmations. Bus loads of people arrive from all parts of Ecuador and some from Peru and Columbia borders when our temple is closer than theirs. We have had Saturdays with 30-35 youth in the baptistry with their leaders, and the two waiting rooms full with 20-30 youth in each one waiting for their turn. This past week we saw people arrive with thousands of personal file rather than temple files. On Tuesday we accomodated one stake with a 5 am endowment session. That meant being at the temple at 4:15am. (up at 3:15) & a total of 7 endowment sessions that day. On Friday we had so many people for the first session that we ran an extra session, so two started at 8:00am and then the regular sessions at 9, 10, 2, 4 and 6.

With all of the baptisms, somebody has a lot of laundry to do. We do it. We wash, dry and fold it, and restock the shelves. We do the same for the initiatory. When the regular workers get behind, we help with folding other items as well. Generally on a Saturday when there is a big crowd in the cafeteria, Debbie and I go to work in the kitchen for an hour or two until the rush is over and the regular employees can handle things.

We have learned the veil ceremonies in Spanish within the first 2 weeks, and I enjoy being a veil receiver. Debbie is often a presenter. They have tried, but I refuse to be an officiator in an endowment session. Not only do I not want to do it, but I think it is better for Ecuadorians to be seen up in front of Ecuadorians. That is my story and I'm sticking to it. I prefer my behind the scenes work.

Generally there is no chance to get bored in the temple. And always it is a great place to be. Even though I am not conversational in Spanish, I seem to have made a connection with the other temple workers. I enjoy my associations there and even though there is a certain repitition, there is still plenty of variety, and I look forward to what each day will bring.

With people travelling for up to 8 hours to get here, and many making a financial sacrifice to be here, it is an honour to be a part of their special and sacred experience. I feel as though I am standing on the edge of eternity (which in fact, we all are). It is a thrill to look across the parking lot at 6am on a saturday morning and see 6 tour buses parked there and hear the excited chatter of men, women and children in their Sunday best milling around and anxious for the door to open. They are grateful to the people who help to make it happen, and their spontaneous "gracias" , for just being there makes it all worth it.

Elder Ripple

The Beach

This is the beach we went to last Monday with Patty, Evie and Steven Squires, shown in the first picture.

Next is Debbie in the surf.

The next is looking down the beach to give you an idea of the size. It was big. The last picture is of a snow cone vendor. He has a stash of ice, which he takes a chunk of and when he turns the crank it spins it against a blade that shaves off the snow. It was parked almost in front of us.

Mothers and Babies

This is actually more of the Otavalo market. The indigenous people just take a blanket and tie it into a snugglie, and carry their babies on their backs. With them on their backs they go right about their work of setting up shop, or doing whatever. You rarely hear a peep from them. When they do make a peep they get switched from the back to the front. I am sure Nestles doesn't find much of a market here for formula. These mothers seem to have a pretty clear idea what to do with their God given lactation equipment.

As I have said before, I am very impressed with the parenting skills I see in Ecuador. It seems to be a cultural thing for parents to do right by their kids, and it seems to come back with compound interest from the kids to the parents. Most of the indigenous people are not able to read, since they don't get to school, so I don't think Dr. Spock gets the credit. With little to no education, they seem to get what really matters right. That goes for the city dwellers as well as the rural people.

Notice how warmly the people are dressed. The temperature was all the way down to 80 or 85. Still warm by my standards.

Pete

Otavala 3

More market scenes. Note the heavy clothing many people are wearing. We were wearing short sleeves and were very comfortable. Up in the mountains, the weather was just like a nice spring day in the low 80's and high 70's. Ecuadorians find that cold. What they call just right is a bit warm for me. It is mostly too warm in Guayaquil for me.

Otavala 2

More Otavala maket. This fellow is all set up, and sitting back with the Wall street Journal checking out his investments. He is not smiling.

Actually, some Otavalans are very entreprenurial, and have market connections all over the world. The fellow we got the blanket from spoke fairly good English, and had just gotten back from BC where he was making connections to market some of his goods.

Note the braided pigtail and fedora. Those are worn by men and women alike. The women sometines wrap their pigtail with bright cloth.

Picture 2 shows the big bales that stuff is packed in and lugged around with tump lines across the forehead. Note the table and pipes yet to be assembled. and here and there small children helping.

It is almost assured that traditions are passed along. The indiginas live remotely and help weave and work in the fields and herd cattle, llamas and sheep. They rarely get to school. Hence, they get their education by doing, and know no other way. They just fall into the same patterns of living as their parents. Prejudice is alive and well. The city dwellers look down their noses at the indiginas and their colorful dress that sets them apart. The indiginas, for their part seem to not care what the city folks think, and I think they are proud of their dress, traditions and ability to do what they do to survive. They ought to be. They certainly have my respect.
Pete

Otavalo 1

One of the highlights of the trip for Debbie and I was Otavalo and the market. There was a lot of color, colorful people, culture and beautiful handcraft packed into one place. It is almost overwhelming. The first picture is an overview of the market on Saturday morning. This is taken from the balcony of our hotel room. At about 4:00am we could hear them arriving and setting up. All of the stalls are made of pipe that fit together to support the tarps. It was a racket through which there was no sleep.

The next picture shows people still setting up. Most of the goods are lugged around by hand in huge bales using tump line (a band across the forehead, then lean foreward and lift. There are some hand carts as well. The bulk of the goods are caried by hand from trucks outside the area. The market extends up and down the side streets as well.

The third picture shows some women selling fresh corn and beans that have been shelled out. Right now they have enough for awhile. Later in the day they will resume shelling it out.

The last picture shows some of the hand woven goods. They use wooden looms and weave upside down, working in various colored threads from the back side. We have seen them work, and it is amazing. They get intricate patterns and use no plan or map to work from. We bought a blanket woven of alpaca that is about 8' by 6'-6" that was woven on a two person loom.. It would have taken from 3-5 days depending on how intricate the pattern for a blanket that size. The man asked $48 for it. If I had wanted to dicker I could probably have gotten it for 40 or 45. We gave him 50. I don't have the heart to beat a person down who is already getting too little for the work they do. From the look of the size of the market , and how few customers there were I expect that most of the merchants carried most of what they brought to sell home with them, and some must have carried all of it. I happened to be in the market at the end of the day when they were taking it all down, and they would almost accost anybody that looked like a potential buyer. They would offer wares at terribly low prices and then start coming down as they saw us walking away. It is heartbreaking really. They work so hard, and do such beautiful work and get so little for it. Pete

Construction in Guayaquil

This is the the current progress on the bathroom addition that I have been working on for our friends the Valaroses. Alfredo and Marianna are in the doorway, and their daughters Paula and Isabella are in the window. The front wall is 8' high with a reinforced concrete beam at the top that is socketed into the house wall at the left. Note the metal grills over the windows. In many places, especially of poorer people, that is all that is used. It keeps out thieves but lets in air and light. The window that goes from the house to the bathroom will get cut out and become a door. We have a metal grill to put over the bathroom window that the girls are standing in. Since there is almost no wind in Ecuador, the rain comes straight down, and doesn't blow in. The back wall is a little over 10' tall and also has a reinforced concrete beam at the top. There is 1/4" rebar sticking out at the top to tie the rafters to the concrete with. The rafter goes between two pieces that are then bent over the top. A couple bent nails stops it from sliding. The wall to the right will be cut off even with the top of the rafter once I mark it. A diamond blade on a mini grinder cuts block like cheese.



Speaking of thieves, Isabella was robbed at gunpoint coming home from college on Monday. A guy got on the bus when she was coming home in the evening, and there were only 5 on the bus. He took her book bag with text books, calculator, purse and a cheap necklace she was wearing. He held a gun to her head and told her he would kill her if she made a sound. She didn't argue.

Sister Paula is in the hospital. She got bit on the leg by some kind of beetle and it has caused a rash to break out on her arms, plus gastrointestinal problems and other things that I don't remember. She is under observation and treatment. It is kind of a fluke I think. I havn't heard of people having this problem 'till now.

Today, Alfredo, Isabella and I went to purchase some wood to make rafters and ribbons to attach the concrete tile roofing to. We took a taxi to a place that had lumber but none long enough. We took another taxi to a place Alfredo knows. You would love it. It is sort of a sawmill lumber yard. The lumber is very rough. Not cut evenly. They have a powerful saw with teeth that are so dull they wouldn't cut at all except for the brute power of the motor. The table for the saw is about 4' square and made of rough boards. The fence is a block of wood that gets nailed to the table. They cut up a cant that was 5 meters long and made pieces that are roughly 2x4. The 2" dimension varies from under 1.5 inches to over 2". It was done by eye. They got 4 out of the cant.. I could have had 5 if they had used the guide, but they didn't, even though I got Isabella (my interpreter) to explain. So they got another cant that was bent like a banana and cut one more. I told them "no bueno". I held it up and showed them it was too crooked. So, they took the same cant and cut another one. Duh. It of course was the same. We hunted around and finally got a straight piece and got it cut. I know they thought I was too picky.

We loaded it on a beat up old truck and tied it on. Alfredo and I got in back and Isabella got in front with the driver. They gave it a push to get it rolling down the hill and popped the clutch to get it started. We stopped and got in a line at a gas station to get $3.00 worth of gas, and we were off with our solid mahogany rafters. The cants we cut up looked like old railroad ties that have been in the weather for 20 years. When they were cut, beautiful mahogany or something like it. Each 2x4 must weigh 50 lbs. I expect it is some exotic hardwood that we would pay a fortune for in NS. It is too heavy for mahogany actually. It could be epay, which they use in Hawaii because the termites won't eat it.

I sure wish I had my camera with me. I have a rule that I should have my camera with me wherever I go. I keep breaking my own rule, and am sorry every time. This ,so called, lumber yard was a classic. Most of the wood gets used by builders for concrete forms, so they don't care what it looks like. Everything is higgeldy piggeldy, a mountain of scrap and sawdust to climb over and around.

Pete