Shana Tova

First off, I would like to wish each and every one of you a shana tova u’metukah (A happy and sweet New Year).

This is my first Rosh Hashanah away from home. Even though I wasn’t with my family, I spent the holiday with 20 of my closest friends in this hemisphere.

Last week, I had a Reconnect meeting with some of the other volunteers in my training group. Then, we all decided to go to Riobamba for the weekend to catch up with most of the rest of my training group.

I wasn’t with my actual family, but with my Peace Corps family.

In the words of the immortal Buzz McCallister: OK. Enough of this gooey show of emotion. All right, everyone. Let´s dig in.

Riobamba is a town in the Sierra. It has a reputation for being very cold and being very high (in altitude). It is surrounded by four volcanoes. One of the volcanoes, Chimborazo, is the closest place to the sun of anywhere on Earth. The city has a pretty colonial center, although not nearly as big as Cuenca or Quito. It is famous for the Nariz del Diablo train that leaves from a station in downtown Riobamba, although it is frequently out of order or out of season.

During my South American adventure last summer, I spent the night in Riobamba as I traveled from Baños to Cuenca. I didn’t actually see daylight in Riobamba that time because our bus got in at 10:00 PM and left at 5:00 AM.

I brought my mahzor with me and did my own thing in the hotel while the rest of my friends recovered from a night out. Then in the afternoon, I went to a river in town for tashlikh and invited whoever wanted to share in the experience to join (Tashlikh is ceremony that you do by a flowing body of water. You throw some piece of food into the water, traditionally bread crumbs, as part of the process of repentance).

After musaf (I'll ask for new chazzan next year), I spent the rest of the morning procuring apples and honey. This took me to an organic farmer’s market and then to a store that specializes in supporting small farmers (the size of the farm, not the people).

I had Chinese food for lunch. Nothing says Rosh Hashanah like Vegetable Lo Mein. I hadn’t had chifa ("Chinese food") since getting to Ecuador.

After resting for a bit, we went down to the river. The thing about Riobamba is that there isn't a big river that runs through town. The woman at our hostel said there was a small river about a kilometer away. If that didn’t work out, we would have to settle for the man-made paddleboat pond in the children’s park or, if we really wanted flowing water, the shower.

We set off for the river. We asked some people for directions. Before showing us the way, they gave us the “I have no idea why you would want to go to the river. It’s kind of dirty” look. Following the standard rule of asking five people for directions before actually arriving, we were able to find the river.

From afar it looks pretty pleasant.



Right on the outskirts of town, surrounded by mountains, trees, and some farmland. Well, if you want to keep that image of the river, don’t click on the image to see it in full size. It´s not exactly the mighty Huron or the mightier Franklin branch of the Rouge River.

Either way, it’s a flowing body of water.

I explained to my friends that throwing the breadcrumbs in the river doesn’t actually cleanse your sin palette. It is a personal event, part of the process of repentance. That you are thinking about your actions from the previous year and how you can improve in the upcoming one.



Hooray, floating bread crumbs.

Then I broke out the apples and honey.



You might not be able to see it in this picture, but a certain overly-excited Ian did manage to get honey all over his shirt and pants.



Hemispheres might change, but some things don’t.