Back in Guayaquil
19.11.2007
It's already nearing the end of November; Christmas decorations are out in full force in the streets. They Guayaquilenos take it pretty serious all right - it's not yet even Thanksgiving and I can see fake trees and blinking strings of lights in nearly all houses. Time has been steadily ticking away. It's hard to believe I'll be leaving in less than a month.
I did make the decision to stay for the duration of my fellowship. At the time of my last blog I was seriously considering coming back early; safety concerns plus the useless factor. I have to say it was more the latter. But since then I opted to stay and to find the hidden gem in all of this. I think I already know what it is ** (and no, it's not what you're thinking!).
Today I'm absolutely exhausted. I thought staying up til 4am dancing was a record. Well, we beat that again - 7AM I went to sleep on Sunday morning. Dancing has got to be the national exercise/pasttime here. They never seem to tire and the music never gets old either - salsa, merengue, reggaeton, other Latin dances. Stuff I would not listen to at home, but it's grown on me here! So I'm still recuperating from that. I felt young and carefree Saturday night but now I'm paying for it dearly.
Time is not my own here - I'm basically surrounded by work from 8AM sometimes until 10PM. It's not that I'm actively working all those hours because we stop for meals and "5 minutes" (joke for a 5 minute nap that turns into something much longer) but being around work makes the day long. In some way it's good since there's not much else I do here, especially once it's dark and the thieving goblins come out, but I realize how it does your head in, not getting away from the thought of work.
I've also been reminding by more than a few people to journal, blog, write about my experiences here, lest I forget, or so I can look back to this someday. That is priceless, but so tiring!
Posted by ptastic 19:28 Archived in Ecuador Tagged volunteer
