Here I am....What I left

**note: I am so behind in posting that I am actually in Peru at the moment, but I wrote this a week ago when I was in Ecuador. Been traveling like a mad woman on over night buses....**

Here I am in Ecuador, the next phase of travels has begun. I am full of new energy to go and move and see and cover ground!  I spent two days in Quito, without much ambition to see the city, since I am tired of uber-urban at this point. But I met a lovely French couple at the airport and we stayed in the same hostel and ventured around a bit. We did go to the Mitad del Mundo (Center of the World).  A small town about an hour outside of Quito that is supposedly right on the equator, right on the center of the world. There is apparently some debate about the measurments, but by the sight of this place and the way the entire town is built around the monument, no one really cares if they are a few hundred meters off....I will post pictures when I load them!

Today I hiked to the lake at the bottom of Crater Quilotoa, a huge mountain-crater 3 or so hours south of Quito.  (I am making my way to the border of Peru, should be crossing Friday).  My heart has not pounded so hard in ages (maybe since my first monkey conditioning class) as it did on the way back up from the botton of the crater.  The 13000 foot elevation was seriously fizzing up my oxygen supply. Again, pictures when I load them!  The highlight, however, was actually my ride back to the town of Latacunga, where I am staying.  I rode the whole 3 hour journey in the back of a pick up, the massive Ecuadorian Andes and their surprisingly cultivated and steep hillsides spreading out before me-- well, behind the truck as we zoomed forward and I looked back.  It was amazing! and free!  

What I want to write about before I get too far away from it, is my experience in Medellin with Conexion Mujeres. This organization is a non profit that provides legal, pyscological, and employment assistance to women and occassionally men, who are victims of violence, displacement by guerrilla or paramilitary groups, or who are in at-risk situations.  Currently, their biggest project is an employment contract with the city of Medellín to employ a crew of 55 street sweepers.  This is a common job in all big cities.  To keep massive Colombian cities semi- (note, semi) clean, it is the job of dozens of crews to cover the streets with mobile garbage bins and brooms and whatever else they need to pick up trash.  Conexion Mujeres, runs one of the Medellín crews and they meet each morning in the workshop a couple blocks away from the office.

Over the course of my time with Conexion Mujeres, I got to know the crew a bit.  I would walk past the workshop in the mornings on my way to the office and there was always a friendly flurry or Buenos dias! between myself and whoever happend to be waiting outside with their morning cigarette or tinto (coffee with lots of sugar).  I am still struck by how instantly everyone was so friendly and welcoming towards me.  And that friendliness only increased once I began to teach short workshops before work a few mornings a week.  The first week I taught self-Shiatsu (automasaje) to the crew! What an experience.  Sergio, my buddy in the office, helped me painstakingly translate a set of instructions I got from my Shiatsu course into Spanish.  I wanted everyone to have a copy of the exercises so they could continue on their own.  It was more or less a success, these three days of morning self-Shiatsu, with the crew half-humoring me, and half actually interested and following along.  Sergio´s support in shouting out the correct instructions in Spanish was crucial, as my attempts to describe body parts, symbolic Chinese names, and directions proved far too advanced for my good, but not-good-enough Spanish.  And in front of 50 people!

It was really special to share this with the group.

The following week I taught basic English phrases.  Attendance was much smaller but much more devoted to this workshop. Amazing the the intricacies that arise in any situation the first time you try something out.  I never thought that teaching English would be that complex.  Well, it wasn´t easy.  The fact that we were crammed into a corner of the worshop while the noise of the morning arrivals was going on all around us didn´t make it any easier.  But how to explain things?! What is the best way to convey the variations in how you can greet someone? And my brain was getting confused by actually being allowed to speak English and I kept just saying things in Spanish.  But what a joy to see the group puzzling so determinedly over how to say , Fine, thanks, and you?  It was a lot of fun and I was truly sorry to leave at the end of the week.

But the farewell was beautiful.  My leaving coincided with an annual celebration of the hardest worker.  After a few presentations and the awards, myself and the other volunteer, spunky and big-hearted Ana from Holland, made our own mini presentations on our lives in our respective countries.  I made a powerpoint full of pictures of the Bay Area and got to tell the group how much I love where I am from. It was well-received with oohs and ahhs  (Something I have noticed in every place I have been so far on this trip is that when I tell people I am from the San Francisco area, unanimously people respond with a mix of awe and admiration!  Everyone I have met, not only knows where San Franciso is, but has a positive perception of SF and wants to visit one day!) Another co-worker, the tough-loving and sharp lawyer Diana is also leaving at the end of the month, and this news brought tears to everyone, but in true Colombian style, it immediately became a ruckus of indignant shouts and commotion coming from a place of 100% love!  The celebration ended with brownies and the crew going to work while we in the office had our final lunch together.  We always have lunch together, like family dinner. It was cutting it close after our hugs and kisses and promises to stay in touch so Lina graciously drove me to the bus station with Sergio coming along too. I caught the airport bus just as it was pulling out.  Ciao y mil gracias Colombia.