A mad dash across the country

I formed a plan for moving all my stuff plus my cat Misi and my rabbit Moo from point A (Alao Llactapamba, Chimborazo) to point B (Pucará, Imbabura).  It was complicated figuring it all out but in the end not a thing went wrong.

Step one:  Pack up all the stuff and bus it to a volunteer's place in Riobamba.

Step two:  Next day, bring up animals plus their stuff.  Spend night at volunteer's place, but...

Step three:  Wake up at 2 a.m. Drag stuff downstairs for a taxi.  Take a 3 a.m. bus to Quito, get a porter to move stuff around, get bus to Otavalo at 6 a.m.

Step four:  Pile into the hostal, eat pie.

And that's how it went.

Today was just loooong though.  It was rush, rush, rush.  Out of one vehicle into another.  Misi cried the whole time but there wasn't anything I could do.  Moo was perfectly fine.

I was relieved to finally get to the hostal, relax, and investigate the many things I've heard about Otavalo, except then Misi began crying nonstop.  It was pretty bad too - to the point where I thought maybe my gracious hostal hosts might retract their offer to let me keep them in the courtyard and kick us all out.

So I went to the vet just down the street to ask for help, and they had me bring Misi in.  They checked her out and there seemed to be nothing wrong with her - just, as I emphasized, she was scared and stressed about moving.  So they gave her an oral injection and a pill to calm her.

An hour later, she was still howling.  But sort of...blinky.  Droopy.  Aha!  It kicked in.  I went off for dinner and came back to find her waking up yowling, passing out, then waking up again crying.  I feel terrible but hopefully soon she'll be settled with me in our new home.

So we pack up again and head out tomorrow morning.  Finally!  I'm still so happy I made the decision to change sites.  It was definitely the way to go.

And finally, I got all the talent show videos up from our last training (Midservice).  Some acts are amazing.  Some are hilarious.  Some are...well, they are.  Enjoy!

1

Waiting!

Wow, another post??

I´m here in Quito enjoying nearly boiling hot, skin-beating showers and delicious American-style bagels. 

The day was not totally perfect like that.

Yesterday was the breaking point.  I paid my host half a month´s rent ($35) because I was fairly sure I would move soon.  She at first smiled and said thanks and then...counted.  She asked where the other half was, and I explained why it was so.  She argued I had to pay for the previous month, and suddenly things got pretty ugly.  So ugly that I had to call my program manager to have her explain that I pay for the month in advance - always had.  So my host agreed but hasn´t talked to me at all since.

I went upstairs and immediately began packing.  That was it.  I´m DEFINITELY moving to Pucará!

This morning woke up super early to drag my heaviest bag (the one loaded with Peace Corps books and climbing magazines...of course...) and my travel bag downstairs to catch the 7 a.m. bus, but the 7 a.m. bus didn´t come.  Another one about 7:30 got me to Riobamba.  Took a taxi to the terminal (who was using a meter!  shocking.  Fares are always $1 wherever you go, so he raced to get me there when the meter struck $1 on the dot) and got a bus to Quito. 

That´s where we leave the ´good day´ part to return to later.

Going from south Quito to north Quito is not fun.  It usually requires using trolebuses which are often packed.  Thankfully, mine were not so bad.  Except I got on the wrong one, pretty much three times.  Ecuador PCVs out there, don´t laugh.  I´m terrible at cities.  Two mess ups were easy.  One not so much.  That was the one when I realized I needed to be on the blue line, not the green line.  So I thought I could get off at one closely-located stop and walk to the other line.  Hah!  Apparently I still have much learning to do about Ecuador.  I did, however, find that stop and get on the right bus, sweaty, tired, annoyed.

And back to ´good day´!

I dumped my ton of books at the hostal and walked to the Peace Corps office.  Had a great talk with my program manager about changing sites and all the details, got some paperwork signed, saw the doctors about the previously mentioned disease, and left feeling pretty good.  And it was 5 p.m. which means... BAGELS!  Mister Bagel, that wonderful RPCV-owned joint near Parque Carolina.  I was told it would close at 6 so I took a taxi that overcharged me and didn´t even go the whole way.  Horray!  But I got my bagels.  Lots of delicious bagels.  And walked back.

So... until next week!  It´s a busy next few days...