Soccer, birthdays, and hiking

As of now the project has kinda hit a stand-still but that doesn’t mean I am not enjoying my time out here. This Sunday Susanna and I got to play soccer with the Santa Rosa women’s team against another town in the region. It was a small field, 8 people played for each team, and it was basically open to any age just as long as you can get together enough people to field a team for your pueblo. I think the age range on our team was about 13-40 years-old. I actually am officially part of the team with a laminated player’s card, complete with my photo (taken from a photocopy of passport that I have with me (don’t worry, I have another)), and under the name Kelly Nicole (because Adamski’s just too difficult I guess). At the start of the game I was probably the most nervous I have ever been before a soccer game because I really did not know what to expect, but it was sweet and lots of fun. Some of the dads/husbands were on the sideline and would give us tips on how to score, which was really reminiscent of my younger years playing. At one point I took a shot and accidentally hit another player in the leg. Apparently it was painful for her so I felt a little bad about that. Then I saw her breastfeeding her baby on the sideline and felt really bad. But that’s Ecuador. We ended up winning the game and I assisted Susanna’s goal, as we were both forwards together in the second half. I should have two more Sundays here so a couple more games to look forward to! After our game ended we all got into the back of a pick-up and went to watch the men’s Santa Rosa team play, which was pretty fun too. I should also clarify that these Sunday soccer games are a pretty big deal and basically everyone goes out to root for their respective town. The men’s game was especially crowded and everyone was cheering and yelling and screaming (yeah, the women scream a lot when something good or bad is about to happen. I still haven’t quite figured that out). There were also a couple chickens strolling through the game as it went on. Cool thing is now I am starting to get to know more people in the community and learning names which is really nice.

Before heading back to the house we, as in Lupe and Oswaldo (my homestay parents) and I, stopped in at their relative’s house to celebrate their niece and nephews birthday. This was probably one of the stranger birthday dinners I have attended. We first all sat down and drank some purplish grape-flavored (maybe?) gelatin-y beverage while snacking on plates of popcorn, ritz crackers, and strawberries. The father gave a speech and he got really emotional doing so and started crying. Once we finished that we were served soup and another plate of food as “merienda” or dinner. Finally we ate cake, that was actually not that bad, except for the fact that they followed in true Ecuador tradition and smashed the birthday boy and girl’s faces in the cake first. I was lucky to not get one of those face slices, but that was pure chance.

So after a pretty eventful Sunday, Monday I went with Oswaldo and another guy Wilbur to hike the other side of Reserva Neblina Norte, starting with a climb up from the road. The start was pretty steep but at least at this point we were on a trail. Once we reached the top after about an hour of hiking we started the descent with the main purpose of finding the naturally growing palms on the side of the mountain. Making things a bit more difficult is the fact that palms don’t naturally grow alongside trails, meaning the three of us just plowed down the side of a mountain with Oswaldo in front with the machete clearing the way. The grade was so steep so we would be grabbing at branches, vines, and roots to stay on our feet, though at some points I just gave up and slid down a bit on my butt. And at one part we encountered these super prickly plants so we all got a few spines in our hands that were a bit painful. All and all it was pretty ridiculous, really fun, and I got to measure 10 palms in the area, some pretty huge. That means I also got to use this little contraption Sylvia showed us back in Tiptini on how to measure angles to the tops of trees and use that measurement to calculate the height. So I made my own with a protractor, floss, and a pen and am pretty proud of how it turned out. Now I just have to remember trigonometry and I’m set.

So a good start to the week and I already have plans to visit 2 of the 8 palm places in the area this week.