Fear not though, the timely reactivation of the previous workers’ strike today means I now have time to catch up on the reading and blog as well! This time around the guards know to let everyone from the Centro Biomedicina in to work, as we have our own keys and thus are relatively unaffected. I say relatively because, for example, things like the toilet being plugged and the Internet being down don’t get addressed… This can be mildly annoying at best and gag inducing at worst.
The strike was reactivated because, from what I can glean, the workers’ demands in salary increases were not met to their expectations and thus they won’t unlock the classrooms. I asked why profs don’t have keys and was told it’s a theft issue, when only one person has the keys then if something goes missing blame is easily assigned. The whole situation is really just bad for everyone. Professor can’t teach, they and workers alike don’t get paid, students don’t learn, and everyone gets pissed off. After learning of the dismal salary Manuel (a MD/PhD I work with) receives I am starting to think maybe the university just doesn’t have the money to increase salaries… It seems to me that the corruption and blame are higher up the totem pole and as a state university this problem should be taken up with government education officials, not university personnel. Ultimately it is the people at the bottom that suffer most, as always.
Today in the lab there were a couple of big changes. First off, we had a new gal, Maria, join us; she is going to help with routine lab work and ultimately hopes to be inspired in her pursuit of a topic for her thesis. In Ecuador one completes their thesis after all undergraduate work is finished, quite different from the US! We also, finally, ran an ELISA test on the serum samples from Arajuno (a pueblo in Pastaza). We were able to run 80 today, with about 120 to go, and the first batch yielded one definitive positive and another possible, both of which we will retest tomorrow. It was a good break from decapitating flies and actually quite exciting. If we can confirm the positives with another test then we will need to inform the patient(s), although Manuel informed me little is likely to be done as chronic Chagas disease can only be treated for the symptoms that manifest (it is not possible at this point to “cure” a person in the chronic stage) and the health care system is spread so thin in the orient. Sadly, the results of our research have far more implications for those that have not been infected; protection, education, and prevention are the ultimate goals. Until the day a cure or vaccine is developed this is the best that can be done.
Last Saturday was the adventure portion of our two-day Fulbright orientation. We were bussed to Cotopaxi (didn’t get a good view due to clouds), walked around a lake, ate a lot, sang Karaoke on the bus, and the highlight, a train top journey from near Cotopaxi to the outskirts of Quito. Also, at the park entrance a man was waving at me and it took me a moment to realize it was Dimas! I’d forgotten he’d told me he and his running group were going to Cotopaxi that morning to do some high altitude training; as if the 10,000 feet of Quito isn’t enough☺ Top pics below:
(A view of our "train")
(Some of the brave souls who made the journey on the top, rain and all! Please note the amazing woven ponchos.)
(Me)
(A cow we almost ran over, it tried to escape by running back over the tracks, cows... where it promptly fell through the bridge. The train workers managed to pull it free but there seemed to be a problem with one of its legs. I hope things improved, a cow is often the most valuable possesion for a rural family.)
Oh, and how could I forget! I ran with Dimas tonight, we met at Parque La Carolina and I somehow couldn’t find a taxi there, so I ran – extra running! But I digress, the interesting part was on my way there I ran through a bunch of wet concrete, yes, very wet. I thought that only happened in movies, apparently in Ecuador as well. I’d like to think it wasn’t completely my fault; it was dark, it looked the same as normal sidewalk, the “barrier” to keep people out was all of 6 inches tall, I was running… I wonder if my footprints will be immortalized in Quito forever.
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