martes, 6 de octubre de 2009
Blame it on the a-a-a-a-altitude
Two months down? Insane. I have two and a half to go but there are so many places I want to travel still - and I love my weekends spent in Quito also. Classes are really inconvenient, especially since I need to save my absences for my November visitors: Tim, Ty, and Kelc first, then Jess!!
Last week my friend Andrea in my Católica class invited me to a novatada on Friday. Having no idea what that was, I obviously said yes. She tried to explain it but only came up with an all day party with lots of people and lots of tragos (drinks.) Sold.
I looked up "novatada" and it means "hazing." Basically, the academic departments at Católica are like social groups in themselves, everyone is friends and has class together all the time. Thus, they have to initiate the new people into the program each year. This novatada was for Sociology, and I take an anthro class, so I was just in it for the fun.
I got my IES friend Samantha to come too, more or less by saying "I don't know where or what it is, just meet at 10 and bring seven dollars." Who wouldn't agree to that? We met up with a group of at least 50 other people then loaded onto 2 buses. Everyone was going nuts on the drive there, so we knew we were in for something good.
The novatada was taking place at this complex in the valley outside Quito with a pool, picnic tables, etc. I only knew four people there, my favorite boys from class and Andrea, and Samantha knew no one. However, it's Ecuador, so within a few minutes we had new friends.
Over all it was a really fun day. I love meeting Ecuas my age and in general they're all really nice people.
Speaking of dangerous liquids, I'm not sure if this is big in the news at home but there's a huge struggle going on right now with oil companies in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In the past few years, the indigenous people who live in the northeast have been fighting with Chevron/Texaco over land and resource rights. In the past week there were some big protests, mainly in response to a proposed water privatization law that would seriously infringe on their access to water. The protest got violent, and it's really interesting to see the two sides of the story. A teacher of Shuar descent was confirmed dead, and the indigenous groups claim at least 2 more deaths and many injured at the hands of the police. The police, and President Correa, claim that at least 40 unarmed police officers were injured by the protesters, and the teacher was killed by their own weapons.
There's a lot of discrimination towards the indigenous population in the entire country, and it's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out. Correa welcomed the indigenous leaders to discussions in Quito, and they welcomed him to come to their region near the border (where the oil action is), causing quite a standoff that hasn't been resolved. Correa is a populist, and supposedly represents the average people. He even speaks Quechua which is the main indigenous language, but it doesn't seem like he's going to support them this time. All about the $$$$$. Which is why I think it might not be very prominent in U.S. media..not that Ecuador's oil problems are a huge global concern, but the Texaco people aren't exactly indigenous Ecuadorians.
This weekend we're going on an IES field trip to the Amazon, way to the east almost near Brazil (COOL.) I'm sure I'll get some more info about the oil battles firsthand - in a really safe way of course.
I have some good pics but my internet does not want to upload them at the moment, so stay tuned!
Ecuador vs Chevron is in the news. This is a huge deal that an oil giant like Chevron does not want to take responsibility for contaminating drinking water and killing people in Ecuador.
ResponderEliminarTo find out more, see this blog: http://www.thechevronpit.blogspot.com
Yes Honey, blog inappropriate.
ResponderEliminarIt's the college equivalent of nah, nah, you can't catch me.
loverealmom
Wellllll you CAN'T catch me RM. I'm very evasive.
ResponderEliminar