Jump in

I seem to have hit a point where incredible opportunities are coming so fast I just can’t take advantage of them all!

One I did manage to jump on was an invite to visit Carlos and his family last Saturday. Carlos is the guard I have probably known the longest here and we have passed many a good moment chatting about life, the weather, work, activity during his post, religion, healthcare, and much more. His station is right on the way home from the lab and I swing by to chat virtually every bike ride home.

Before I get to the visit I must relate an interesting story. In my 5 months of knowing Carlos I’d never once heard him mention if he had a wife. I knew he had kids, so I kind of assumed she might have passed on (Carlos is 60+) and didn’t want to bring up a rough subject. Finally I just had to find out for sure.

Me: So, uhh, Carlos, do you have a wife?
Carlos: Of course!
Me: How come you never mentioned her before?
Carlos: Because you never asked.
Me: Right.

I asked Yosselin (my lab work partner extraordinaire) about this and she said it’s pretty common for Ecuadorian males to never talk about family, too tough for that☺

The previously laid out conversation got us talking more about Carlos’ family and he at one point suggested I come visit – my answer – heck yes!

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The journey to his place took about an hour and three different buses, the lower classes of Ecuador often get shafted with heinous commutes and compared to some Carlos’ isn’t too bad. Upon arriving I met his wife Maria, and two younger daughters who are nurses’ aides and were just leaving for work. Carlos has six kids in total ranging in age from 18-44 and a bunch of grandkids, many of whom left with their grandparents for the day.





(Carlos, Maria, and Billy – a grandson - in the living room)



After a hearty breakfast of bread, eggs, juice and chocolate milk Carlos took me on a tour of his neighborhood, or barrio as they call them here. Almost all of his kids and their families (if they have them) live within a 5-minute walk from his apartment; families in Ecuador are tight to say the least.






(A photo looking down on northern Quito from property Carlos’ eldest son bought and is constructing a house in which a large amount of the family will all move into.)



After our trek Maria prepared a lunch of ceviche, this coastal tradition is one of my favorite Ecuadorian dishes and I will endeavor to post the recipe at a later date. It’s delicious if you’re wondering.






(Ceviche!)


During and after lunch I had a long talk with Carlos and Maria about the current and past challenges facing families of lower resources. A lot of it came back to education, or rather the lack of quality education available to the lower classes.

After our talk we relaxed in the living room, chatting some and playing with the kids, man I love kids!



(Billy and a four-month-cousin whose name I do not recall, children so happy and innocent with no idea the struggles ahead of them due to their place in society.)



And yet, despite the odds stacked against them, Carlos’ family and many others in similar situations I’ve come to know seem happier in general than many of their first world counterparts. Why is this? My friends in Ecuador are proving to me that while money is a necessary evil, it most certainly can’t buy happiness, not even close.

Meet Fernando

I want to tell you the story of a man and his family.




(L-R: Fernando, Cliotilda, Lucia, and Cristina.)



I met Fernando Arteaga about a month ago, he is a street guard in my neighborhood but I hadn’t met him till more recently as he is not on a street I normally travel. He found out I was helping another guard with basic English acquisition and asked if I could do the same for him. Of course! Thus started our friendship. As time progressed I came to learn he had been born in a northern province, in the city of Ibarra, but had spent most of his life living and working construction in communities near Quito. He changed to working as a guard when his knees became too bad to continue in his previous profession. In his current job he works 24 hours straight and then has 24 off with over an hour each way for his arduous commute. I also discovered that he has a small side business selling nutritional supplements to local people but can’t really expand this endeavor due to a lack of capital. Just last week Fernando invited me to come visit him and his family and this past Saturday ended up working well for both of us.

Fernando wasn’t kidding about his commute! It took well over an hour to get to his house. I was introduced to his family, his wife of fourteen years Cliotilda, and his two daughters Lucia and Cristina. Lucia, the elder at age 17 (Cliotilda’s child from a previous relationship, adopted by Fernando), informed me her dream is to be a doctor. She also told me she had to stop school at age 10 to help out at home. Then there was vivacious Cristina, 8 years old, still in school and dreaming to be an engineer one day. A family friend, Monica, was also visiting that day with her young son Dario. We all took a neighborhood tour where along the way we bought fish for lunch and a few other items at the local market. Cliotilda prepared a delicious lunch of batter-fried fish with rice and a particularly tasty aji.

Somewhere in the visit the girls got more comfortable with me, as well as fascinated with my digital camera (I don’t think they’d ever seen one up close), and we ended up taking a good number of pictures, and after every picture they would all crowd around to see the picture on the tiny display screen!







(Having fun with the camera.)







(Their house, rented for $100 a month. L-R: Cliotilda, Lucia, Cristina, and friends Monica, and Dario)







(Cliotilda really wanted a picture of herself with her bible; over lunch we had a long talk about how her faith is an important part of what keeps her going.)






(Me with Lucia and Cristina.)







(Monica and Dario.)







(Cliotilda in her kitchen proudly displaying her delicious lunch!)





I left with Monica, after a 6-hour visit, as she had to go to work and I wasn’t quite sure which bus I needed to take. It turns out she is a nurse in a local clinic and this common interest of health provided an instant bond and enlightening conversation. The whole visit had been one of those random adventures that turns into an incredibly powerful, humbling, and informative encounter; I feel very grateful for all I experienced that day.


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Upon reflection of all I had come to know about Fernando and his family my first thought was, what a potentially great candidate for a micro loan! A micro loan is a loan, often without interest, given in quantities small enough that most banks refuse to service the people who need them. These loans are used to jumpstart businesses and give people in poverty a chance to work themselves out of it, versus pure charity, which often just creates dependency. I asked Fernando if he was interested and the response was an enthusiastic yes! I immediately contacted people at Kiva.org (an internet based Micro Finance Institution – MFI) and through them got a hold of a MFI called Mifex that is based in Guayaquil. I was super pumped to tell Fernando until I got the news that Mifex currently restricts their business solely to Guayaquil and nearby coastal areas; they do not work in Quito and didn’t know of anyone who does.

That was it, I had tried but there just didn’t seem to be anywhere else to go… Yet, it didn’t feel right just letting it all die on that one email. I don’t know much about economics but what if I could come up with the money through family and friends? I knew he couldn’t need too much; this is Ecuador after all! From MFI research I had discovered the success or failure of the whole micro loaning process rests on the shoulders of individual case workers who travel to applicants houses, work, wherever, get to know family, friends, bosses, landlords, etc. all to predict whether the applicant would be likely to carry through on their monthly repayments. This is more or less what I had already done!

I decided to get more information I initially asked him to write me out a plan of how he would use funds should he receive them, but he had not done so when I checked in a while later. I was a bit peeved, did he want help or not? The irritation lasted until he told me his “writing wasn’t so good” and could he dictate it to me? I felt a little stupid for thinking he had just blown me off.

The nutritional/health products that Fernando sells range from powdered drink-mixes chock full of vitamins and minerals to a special shampoo used to revitalize ones scalp and hair. He buys what he can and then sells it at a slightly higher price, an example being his “Biocross” nutritional drink mix, which he buys at $15 and sells at $20. However, he never has enough capital to expand his business through buying in larger quantities, when almost all his combined earnings are going to rent, food, and small necessities. He currently sells out quickly whenever he can buy new product. For example, during the last two weeks he sold all but one of his items (26/27 items sold). He has told me his dreams for the future are to be his own boss, to one day own his own house, and to give his girls a better life than he’s had. Fernando believes a small loan can give him the boost he needs to reach his dreams.

I next started talking to people who know Fernando but aren’t family. Monica fit the bill perfectly and from our first meeting I felt she was the kind of person who would tell me what she really thought. She is also very levelheaded and thus I decided her opinion of Fernando would be a valuable one to have. She told me he is a devoted father, neither smokes nor drinks (o so common among the destitute), a devote Christian, and that in her mind, after years of knowing first Cliotilda and then Fernando, that the payments would be made in full and on time.

I’ll be honest, even after a visit where I go to know his whole family and was able to see them all interact as well as hear testimonies from those who know him – all pluses for Fernando, I’m still not 100% sure he would repay. But, you know what, I think he deserves a chance. We have a choice each day, do we believe people as a whole inherently desire to do the right thing and just need a chance, or is everyone just looking out for numero uno no matter the consequences? The worst that happens is that he can’t or won’t repay, which with the amount of money under consideration amounts to a drop in the bucket and the money still goes to a family that can use it. The best? A man and his family’s lives are kick-started to provide a better future for them all.

Lucky for Fernando a generous friend of mine thinks the same and in a few days I intend to the present Fernando with a contract to sign and his loan!

Some questions and answers

So, I recently received an email with some particularly probing questions and after answering them I realized, hey, this would be great blog material! Enjoy.

What does it smell like there?

Gosh, what part of the country? Smells that jump out to me while in Quito, hmm. That smell right when it starts to rain, bus exhaust, phenol from the lab (that stuff is heinous, even with a mask!), roses, street-food.

What is your favorite food?

Well, I’m pretty easy to please food-wise but a local favorite is locro soup. This tasty concoction has quinoa (a native Andean grain rich in protein), potatos, cheese, some other stuff, and a big wedge of avocado. It’s great!

What are the night sounds like?

I usually sleep just fine but sometimes drunk men are shouting, dogs will start a bark war, planes fly over constantly (we are virtually right below the approach for Quito’s international airport – just like back at PLU so no problems!), and my bed creaking. This isn’t what you may be thinking; I just have the creakiest bed in the world! If I don’t stuff pillows in key areas to kill the creaking it will make noises just from the movements I make while breathing!

What do your host parents like to do when they are not working or tending house?

Dimas is a big sportsman, with running and baseball his two favorites. He’s open to new ideas too; I got him into mountain biking! Karla likes to talk to her huge family on the phone and go walking. They both love to spend time with Julian, playing, teaching, you name it!

What is important to the guard(s) you have befriended?

The guards work 12 or 24 hour shifts with equal time off as they are on, no weekends and only one two-week vacation per year. Thus, they basically sleep and eat on their time off before having to start again. I’ll be frank, their set-up sucks. And they get paid a pittance. I would say family and friends are most important to them. They are far too busy to have any hobbies or things they enjoy outside work. Yet, despite all this they are some of the nicest people I have come to know here in Ecuador. Amazing how some people who have the strongest cases to go bitter choose the opposite instead.

How awkward do you feel as the token gringo?

Most of the time in Quito I don’t notice it too much anymore, there are a fair amount of tourists so tall white folks are more common than one might imagine. There is one area where I still feel quite awkward. Every time I go around campus at UCE I just get stared at like no one’s business. Unlike the private universities where foreigners are common, I haven’t seen a single other gringo student in my 4 months there. They aren’t stares of hate or anything, just of, wow, you’re way different than everyone else here, what are you all about? That I periodically shave my head and wear neon green crocs may not be helping:) It is an incredibly powerful experience to be so different after a sheltered upbringing of conformity.

Are you respected for what you know school wise?

I do feel respected, both in the lab and in class. However, it has been a challenge using a language I am not well versed in after being so used to being adept at expressing whatever I wanted. I consider myself a decent public speaker but going to Spanish has been a whole new ballgame. At PLU I was one of those people who sat towards the front and never hesitated to contribute in class. Here, I sit towards the back and hope the professor doesn’t call on me. It’s giving me a lot more understanding for people who get shy in front of groups. That said, I’ve found I can’t let the mistakes get to me; if you’re too afraid of making mistakes you’ll never get the practice you need to improve! I just don’t want to do too much of my practicing right now in front of a class of 70 medical student and a very demanding professor:)

What is the biggest high and most frustrating experience you have had at the lab?

The biggest high would be running my first ELISA for Chagas and finding several strong positives. To carry out a complicated test like that for the first time and have it work, and give you useful data to make a difference in people’s lives, well it’s pretty cool. The most frustrating would be going on right now. We are trouble shooting our Onchocerciasis PCR and ELISA protocols but keep getting contamination from a source we can’t seem to find. But, this is real science, and I’ve come to see that means lots of hard work, constant set-backs, and every once in a while a moment of triumph.

How much do you feel you were prepared or not for the experience?

In all the ways I could have prepared I felt like I was ready/did a good job. Reckon I could have had the Spanish at higher level but it has ramped up exponentially and hasn’t been a problem. However, there are a lot of things you can’t really prepare for, you just hope the person you’ve become is enough to handle the tasks that arise.

How often do the frustrations of cultural differences get in your way or require an attitude adjustment?

I went through a period about a month or two ago where I was just getting “annoyed” with a lot of things. For example, do the drivers really have to honk at me so much when I’m on my bike… on the sidewalk? And, is it really necessary to eat rice twice a day… every day? I was assured, yes, it it:) Since then I have been able to adjust to these and numerous other differences, our ability to mold ourselves to new situations is really incredible. Then there is the fact that even with all the wonderful people I have met, the cultural and language barriers have kept me from connecting with people on that deeper, personal, and purposeful level I have come to see I cannot live without. Who knows, maybe this will get better in time, but for now I email a lot and just kind of do without on that front.

Thank you Jan for the questions and if anyone else wants to barrage me with a great set of questions such as this feel free, just know reply timeliness varies:)

Take care.

So, this one time at the airport...

So it’s been a while, I know, but I have some good excuses. First off, I joined the PLU study abroad group for five days of during time here in Ecuador. The trip brought back many memories, as it was the same excursion two years ago with Dr. Teska that implanted the idea of returning after graduation. Spending time with PLUers again was great, what a fun, out-going, and thoughtful group, makes me proud to be a Lute! Here are a few pics; El Angel, where we were, is an otherworldly landscape and incredibly beautiful.






(An amazing view, note the endemic espeletias in front, a unusual plant to say the least!)






(Looking up the valley in which our lodge was located.)




Returning from that trip I immediately got back into the swing of things at the lab. In all honesty I was a bit vacationed out after 2 weeks with my family and close to another week with the PLU group. I though I’d have some time to blog then but found out the immunology final I thought I’d missed due to traveling had been postponed, again, which meant I could take it!... Only problem, in my assumption of not being able to take it I hadn’t studied in 3 weeks. Thus, the past week included a large amount of studying. And then when I went in last night to take it I saw a poster declaring it had postponed, again! Of course no one cared to tell the gringo… Así es la vida:) In all honesty it is incredibly difficult to find out when class is canceled, when exams are, what is the next article to procur, etc. They just do things way differently here and growing up in a system that prides itself in timeliness, efficiency, and exactitude the change coming to Ecuador has been, well, night and day really.

So I have a story, which while it happened about a month back, must be told. It concerns the picking up of my family at the airport, or more exactly, what happened while I was waiting.

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It was raining and everyone knows when it rains in Quito it is almost impossible to catch a taxi. After 20 minutes in the rain, walking futilely towards the airport, I finally hailed a cab down and hopped in. Glancing at my watch I knew it would be a close call whether I was going to make it in time.

Arriving late, I paid the cabbie extra in my gratitude and ran in to check the flight listings… only to see my family’s flight from Houston had been delayed 2 hours! Well, at least I wasn’t late but what was I going to do for 2 hours in the airport near midnight? I busted out my Spanish word flash cards and started studying but before long was interrupted by an Ecuadorian gentleman standing near me,

“Where are you from?”

And thus I met Jhinson, an approximately 30-year-old car mechanic from Ambato who makes $100/month. Turns out he was there with 30 of his family members awaiting the arrival of a sister-in-law who had been in South Africa for the past year. We chatted awhile before he had to run off and check on his mother. I wondered if that was it, boy was I wrong!

Wandering around later (one can only study vocabulary near midnight for so long, especially when they are very excited for something) I ran in Jhinson again, and was introduced to his mom. We chatted for a while before I headed off again.

Tired of wandering I went to the upstairs area where one can see the arriving passengers walking in down below (kind of like a strange zoo exhibit really) when guess who I saw, Jhinson! He came over with his mom and a brother and all of sudden about 20 more members of his family crowded in, I was surrounded by people all wanting to know what I was doing in Ecuador, how old was I, did I like it, was I married, did I have kids, and on and on. Then a girl close to my age was shoved to the front and given a spot at the table.

“She speaks English, talk to him in English.”

“Ok…”

During our “English talking demonstration” she informed me that sometimes she feels her family is just a bit too overbearing. I wonder why:)

Next up a young boy was told to sing me a song. I assured them this was not necessary but they were quite pumped up about having him sing. So he sang. Imagine the scene. A tall gringo surrounded by an entire Ecuadorian family, a little boy singing his lungs out, and everyone in the airport watching us. It was amazing really.

When my family finally arrived I was pointing them out to my new friends. My mom asked me later, “who were all those people?”

“Well,” I replied, “I’ve got a little story for you.”