AREvista (Third Edition)

The third edition of AREvista has hit the streets of Arenillas this week. For those that can´t get their own copy, we have a digital copy for you to enjoy.

If the photo link doesn´t work, you can find a copy here.


(Editor's note: Due to technical issues, some of the fonts might be modified.)

New fruits

So I saw this fruit in the market the other day.

It looks like the zapote (damn, you probably don't know what that is either).

Anyway, it's called mamey and it's delicious.

You need a knife to cut through the skin and a tube of toothpaste nearby when pictures are taken. Mamey has a pretty big pit, but everything between the pit and the rind is edible. Its flavor reminds me of apricot.

Things crawling on my bathroom door

It's been around for a few days now, long enough that I can start thinking of names. Any ideas?

Either way, I don´t know if it's male or female.

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I took this picture early in the morning. I walked to the bathroom to poop and saw this frog on the door. I went back for the camera and snapped the above image.

So what happened after?

I had to poop, but there was a frog on the door. I know that it's a frog and that it doesn`t care what I'm doing. But it's uncomfortable for me.

So I went back for my broom to poke him off the door. The thing about the frog is that he was really stuck to the door. So it took some prying before getting him on his way.

I ran into the frog a few days later. This time, I didn't even realize it was the frog until I had already stepped on him/her.

You see, I was walking in the dark between my kitchen and my living room. I saw something roundish on the ground, maybe a piece of garbage. Who knows?

So I stepped on it. As I was stepping down onto it, I realized this wasn't plastic or an insect. Plus, the frog realized the danger it was in as soon as my foot weighed down on him/her. It scampered off.

Then, last Friday night, I had some friends over for dinner and had briefed them about the frog situation. It's not that abnormal for volunteers to talk about their encounters with animals. Actually, it's pretty common. Some talked about run-ins with snakes, angry dogs, etc.

One of my volunteer friends stood up to go to the bathroom and discovered the frog on the wall. When the volunteer went back to poke the frog, it took some preemptive action and pooped on the volunteer's hand.

The most disappointing thing in all of this is that s/he never once ribbitted. (sp?)

Maybe it's mute.

How do you say Roswell in Spanish?

Last week, an interesting story appeared in a local newspaper, "Diario Correo". They typically put all of their stories on their website, but this one must have slipped by the online staff.

¡Que lastima! (What a shande)

I`ll paraphrase for you.

For tomorrow, 20 January 2010, Kill, the alien son of the Yaguana Granda family, is planning to arrive on planet Earth, according to José, who on the night of 7 January 1996 lent his wife's womb to be impregnated by four aliens on the banks of the river.

Prior knowledge

Last 24 November 2009, José told this newspaper in an exclusive interview that 13 years after his encounter with Laxti, Nortu and Sasqui, they had promised to bring his son back 20 January 2009.

The family said that their last contact with the aliens was 3 October 2008 at the same spot where the aliens had abducted his wife.

Yesterday, José said that you have to let what happens happen and that the date might be off because the aliens don't operate on the same calendar system that we do on Earth.

Place

Yaguana still insists upon the exact date and place of the encounter and that he and his wife are preparing for it. In the last three weeks, they have gone back to the place where she was impregnated to prepare themselves and receive energy from the rocks there.

He said he's not joking around and isn't doing this just to gain attention. What he wants is to create a consciousness among intelligent people about the reality in which we are living.

Thirteen years

The parents are happy for the appearance of their son and to receive new messages and assignments from Laxti, Nortu and Sasqui. José always refers to those three as brothers.

Fourteen years have passed since the encounter, ten minutes outside of town. The aliens come form the planet Ecton: Laxti (capt.), Norku (Co-pilot, notice different spelling of name from before) and Sasqui (second co-pilot). Thirteen years ago they took José's wife up into their flying saucer and using a complicated method, impregnated her.

There is a bit more, but I think you get the idea. I know that a few days have passed since the encounter was supposed to take place, but I haven´t heard anything.

A few years ago the dude took a lie detector test and passed. Accordingly, everyone in town believes him.

I think of myself as doing the same thing as José, telling other intelligent people about the reality that we live in (sarcasm). I'll keep you guys posted if I hear anything new. And if something does happen, I see a lot of tourist potential.

It`s kind of like the Wells Fargo Wagon

(If you haven`t voted yet, please help me choose the next book I read by participating in the poll on the right column)



So the MagicSex truck came into the market this morning.

The MagicSex truck is an herbal supplement megastore on wheels that passes through my town every few months. And when it swings by, you would think they are giving it away.

Now, from my experience, Ecuadorians are very susceptible to purchasing from the guy selling nutritional supplements. You see this on the bus, on the street, door-to-door, wherever. Heck, some dude came into our office one day trying to get us to buy some supplement.

But the MagicSex mobile is a different breed. Maybe it's the green and yellow paint job, maybe it's the insane collection of herbal remedies in the trunk, maybe it's the two-megaphone sound system. [Aside: I will attach a megaphone to my car when I get back to the U.S.] Anyway, whatever it is, it is ridiculous. Plus, MagicSex doesn`t just sell MagicSex products.

They carry a full line of supplements that will improve, prevent, or cure any condition imaginable. I contend they probably make up conditions just to scare their potential customers into becoming their customers.

Lesson learned: If you want to get people to come to your program, give them ridiculous names, as well. Then people might go by accident, expecting something completely different, and realize that whatever they accidentally attended is worth their time. Either way, they'd probably still be disappointed.

Choose Ian`s Adventure

I have amassed quite the library in my house and need a little guidance about what book to read next. Help me out by voting in the poll on the right column (For those reading this RSS style, go to the website to vote).

Vote or die.

Fresh milk

When walking through downtown Guayaquil, one might think they are in any large Latin American city.

You have the big government buildings, museums, large markets, crosswalks, clean parks.

You might actually start thinking that you are in a more developed country.

Then you turn a corner and see a guy walking two goats through the city center.

But he`s not just walking the goats to give them exercise. He is an entreprenuer.

You see, in one hand he carries the goats` leash. In the other, he has a sleeve of shot glasses.

He stopped in front of a store, put the cups under the goat`s udder, and poured a glass of milk. Then, he walked toward the store and sold the fresh goat milk to the shopkeeper.

And then he continued on his way.

I was in a cab when I saw this scene play out, so I wasn`t able to ask the vendor follow-up questions or order my own glass. Plus, I was in Guayaquil, so I didn`t have my camera handy. But you can imagine the outstanding ridiculousness of the moment.

School`s out for summer?

On the first day of school in the States, I guarantee that the majority of students could tell you when the school year ends. (or give a pretty accurate guess within two days)

In Ecuador it´s a different story.

When I left for my two-week vacation, I asked people in town when classes end.

``January or February``

Now keep in mind, I asked this is at the end of December.

So I came back from my vacation in the first days of January and saw kids in the street in the middle of the day. I wondered why the kids weren`t in school if school didn`t end until some time near the end of the month.

Well, it turns out that classes are already over. The kids are just finishing up their final exams.

In some high schools, they actually finished classes before the new year.

But I can`t really blame the kids on this one. I think the education system is at fault.

I don`t know how far in advance they plan the school year or how much notice they give to the kids. Two days before records day, the kids don`t know that they have the day off.

I`m not complaining about this. It was just very funny to come back from my trip and expect to have another month to work with my students only to find out that they are done with classes until April.

Blog back from vacation

In Ecuador, they don`t celebrate new years. They celebrate the old year.

In fact, they don`t even call it año nuevo. Instead, they go with año viejo (literally ``old year``).

They burn relics from the old year as soon as the clock strikes midnight. I wasn`t here for it, but everybody says that it is pretty ridiculous.

That`s an aside.

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Hearyoni has retured reenergized and readjusted from its vacation.

I apologize that all visitors to my blog have had to look at dengue-suffering Ian for the last three weeks. That is one of the worst Ians.

A combination of a vacation, limited internet access, time with my family, trying to readjust to being in Ecuador, and mango in my computer have prevented me from updating.

Until now.

So where have I been?

Well, after eight months at my site, I finally took my first vacation days and met my family in Costa Rica. It was awesome. We had a great time, and I should probably provide a more thorough recap of the trip but the mango in my computer has put that machine temporarily out of service. (Lesson learned: don`t eat mango by your computer)

Since I have to pay for all my computer time now, I don`t want to use all that time for an all-out vacation recap. Suffice it to say, it was a great time in Costa Rica.

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So there is an island off the Ecuadorian coast called Isla Costa Rica. It is a very small island with a lot of fishing industry.

When I told some of the kids here that I spent two weeks in Costa Rica, they wondered why someone would go to Costa Rica for two weeks. I then explained that I was in a different Costa Rica, and that there are several reasons to go to the country Costa Rica.

I got back on Sunday night and hit the ground running this week. It has been a very productive week. The kids have been working hard on the next newspaper edition, and I have spent most of the week coordinating their activities.

I promise to be back on the blog soon.