Day 69 Tuesday 29 June – Visa renewal in progress

I finally managed to apply for my visa extension. It’s really amazing how little people in the administration know about how this works. Last week I was in the ministry of foreign affairs, who sent me to the ‘dirección general de extranjeria’; who sent me to migration office; who sent me back to the ministry of foreign affairs. The same girl that sent me the wrong way, now told me I should be in the other ministry building across the street. She didn’t even apologise, but I was too tired to get angry about it, so I just went across the street. But that one was closed after 12, so the guard said.

So today I tried again and succeeded. I had all the necessary papers ready and I can come back on Friday. With the long line, it did take me over an hour to do everything, but I could watch Japan playing versus Paraguay, not scoring any goals. After that, I went to Camari (the only organic shop in town) and scored some blackberries and made myself a nice juice with them at home.

Day 66 Saturday 26 June – Cinema time

Today I went to the cinema with Mariela. There wasn’t a big choice, because I vetoed “Sex in the City 2”. So the choice fell on Robin Hood. An attempt by Ridley Scott to make a bigger longer story out of the many myths and legends that combine the story. It wasn’t a bad film, really, but I am not particularly a fan of Russel Crow, who is misplaced as an English man in this film with his typical American face. Anyway, without giving out any spoilers. It’s about the period from before Robin Hood starts to battle the sheriff of Nottingham. There is some humour in it, but not much. And there is a lot of violence in it, warranting a remark by Mariela: “your culture is really violent”. I can’t deny that, but at least things have improved.

Day 65 Friday 25 June – The day I almost got robbed

I was walking down Wilson, on my way to the ministry of foreign affairs to renew my visa, when right in front of the café, a man starts talking to me. He has a note with him which he wants me to read, because he’s analphabetic. Then suddenly another man in a suit shows up from behind me, calling himself Jorge, and starts to help out. They explain to me that the man has a winning lottery ticket, but the note says that the bank shouldn’t give all the money to the man, but just a little. This supposedly happens a lot to analphabetic people, Jorge tells me. We walk to a little restaurant where Jorge offers us breakfast (a good way to win confidence) and the other man tells us there he offers us $5000 of his prize money each, if we accompany him, because he can’t read. Meanwhile they just got some drinks, no breakfast.

The man makes clear that in order to trust us, he needs to see that we have money to feed ourselves, so he knows we won’t steal the prize money from him. Jorge pulls a bank receipt from his chest pocket and shows it to me to read it to the man. It says about $ 6.700, which is a lot. Though the fact that he pulls a bank receipt from his chest pocket is strange, because he told me he is a teacher. Why would he have such a thing in his pocket? Anyway, the man goes on and tells us we should actually show him the money in order to believe us. At which point, Jorge writes a check of $ 4.000 and goes out to cash it. He returns with what seems to be a big pack of money rolled in paper (though it may have been just one bank note with other paper on the inside). The man gives Jorge his ‘lucky bag’ to take home the money again.

When Jorge returns again, and after asking me how much money I possess, they ask me to do the same: to get money from the bank and show it to them. It makes me feel uncomfortable, but I proceed just to know where this is going. I’m not in it for the $ 5.000, but if not for helping the guy, for the excitement. This time, Jorge accompanies me to the bank, presumably to make sure I actually withdraw the money, and then I pick up some more money from my house. He waits conveniently out of sight of any cameras.When we walk to my house, it becomes clear to me that Jorge doesn't know his way around, he doesn't know where my house is, though he supposedly lives nearby. When he tells me he's a teacher at la Central, teaching architecture, I tell him my girlfriends studies that. He fails to ask who she is though.

We go back to the little restaurant and I show him the money. This time is different though, he wants to see how much the money is. Jorge takes it from my hands and shows it to the man. They then take the 'lucky bag’ out again and Jorge puts my money in it. While he is sealing the bag well, the other man tries to catch my attention, but I keep my eyes on the money and see Jorge putting it inside his blouse really quickly, changing it for similar bag well rolled up. Handing it to me, I try to open it, but he takes it, quickly changing it for the real bag again and opens it for me. At this point I’m not yet exactly sure of what I saw, so we head for the streets, presumably so I can bring my money back home. There the same trick with the bags repeats itself; I notice it again and the two men realize they are not going to con me. They tell me to return the bag, guard my things and they leave quickly in the opposite direction.

I realize that if I hadn’t been alert, I would have lost a lot of money, so thanks to that. The two men had been very good actors from the start, however their story didn’t check out totally. Instead of me trying to gain the confidence of one of the men, they were going out of their way to win my confidence. Would have paid me a breakfast even (too bad I had a good breakfast already). I think though, that they would be good enough to con other tourists. Though the idea that a tourist should show he’s not going to steal is strange to me. They would have to have a lot of money to enter the country in the first place, with flight tickets of € 1.000.

While they were walking away, I had the idea to follow them, to see where they were going. But the idea of having this amount of money with me and following two thieves led me back to my apartment.

I dropped the whole thing and went back on my way to the ministry of foreign affairs, where they told me I had to go to a different ministry on the other side of town.

Day 63 Wednesday 23 June – Aikido

A very tough lesson of Aikido today, especially the warming up. We did the same rolling exercise as on June 14, but I learned that they are more exercises to practice falling. This may be a good exercise to bring home, to help us fall better. Then followed a number of exercises with walking on the knees, back and forth on the tatami. We did a big number of sit ups. And when we finally began with the techniques, I was already out of breath and tired. The techniques involved yokomenuchi with shiho nage and kote gaeshi. We rounded up with koshi nage. I’m doing a lot of stuff here we didn’t do much at home. The students are not rolling here, almost all of them are falling. Just like me. I’m happy that I get this chance to see a whole new way of Aikido. After the practice, we did the torture of the legs again. My partner was pushing me pretty hard… It’s going to hurt tomorrow.
On Monday as well, we practiced a form of ushiro ryotori attack, which was more like a strangling attack. We never used this attack before. But it is interesting to work with.

Day 62 Tuesday 22 June – Dinner with 2 uncles

While I was helping Mariela today in the café with her English homework. Two uncles of her showed up for a cup of tea. We talked a bit and they explained to me the rules of marriage in the Kichwa culture. The boyfriend has to offer a good drink to the uncles. Then again when you get engaged. And when you get married, there’s a party of 3 days with a lot of alcohol, food, you name it.

When they left, they invited us to have dinner at hotel Embassy, where they were having a dinner and some people weren’t showing up. So we accepted and went to the hotel after closing up the café. The food was alright. Not as luxurious as I expected from the looks of the hotel. Crema de asparago for soup and some rice, yucca and salad. The uncles and Mariela were mostly talking in Kichwa, which made me feel a bit uncomfortable, because I didn’t understand a thing. They taught me some words but it’s hard to remember when you can’t write it down. But I’m definitely going to learn a bit more in Kichwa, it’s an interesting language.

Day 61 Monday 21 June – To the chocolate factory

Today I went to the factory of Ecuatoriana de Chocolates (cacaoyere) with Elsy (of the café) to pick up some boxes of Kallari chocolate. I didn’t see much of the inside, but it was a nice trip and now I know where the chocolate is being made. Just like EScoffee, they hire the factory and the workers to make the products.

Day 60 Sunday 20 June – Sports in Cumbaya

Just like last week, we went to watch the sports in Cumbaya. Just one game of basketball of the girls is worth noting. Sarah played as well, but met with difficulties because of the altitude and a decreasing condition. They won though, by 26-14. The guys won too, but didn’t play: the opposing team didn’t show up.

Day 58 Friday 18 June – Going ahead

Today I talked to Leonore, one of the board members of Kallari. There may be a possibility for me to enter as a volunteer, but I they need to discuss this with all board members. Maybe they will talk about it on Monday, but most likely, it would be best for me to go to Tena myself next weekend. A minimum stay for volunteers is a month. Though I have the time, it is quite much. With the friends I have in the café, I should be able to come to an agreement.
I remain in contact with Alberto, my supervisor. Finishing my thesis before September 1 seems now like an impossible task. Of course there is a lot that can be written in Ecuador, but Alberto will be out of Dutchland much during august. More realistic would be to graduate before November 1. That will cost me a good deal of money, though. Studying one extra period and living without a job is expensive. Perhaps I should start looking for that dream job and start before graduating? Well, for now let's just focus on the task ahead in Ecuador.

Day 57 Thursday 17 June – Another goodbye

This night is a farewell party for Anne-Sylvie, so Sarah and I do some groceries at the supermaxi in the afternoon after having a lunch at the mall. Most of the malls in the big cities look very much the same. The same chains of stores and they all have a floor where a lot of fast-food chains are together. There are no ‘real’ restaurants to be found however. We both choose a different place to get our food and share a table (It’s like a square with tables, surrounded by fast-food companies). Sarah gets a fast salad and I a fast lasagne. We take an ice-cream afterwards.

In the evening, Mariela and I go to A.S.’ house. We want to take a bus, but at 8.30, there are none anymore, because of the centre filling with party-people. We take a taxi instead. Sarah is already there, but besides that, we are one of the first. There’s punch, food on the table and music. What else can we say about the party, besides that it was great.

Day 56 Wednesday 16 June – 2nd aikido in Quito

I’m having aikido practice now on Monday and Wednesday. Friday is a possibility as well, but I feel that 2 days a week is fine. This practice wasn’t entirely special or different. We learned one technique where the hand is locked when uke grabs the arm of tori, but I think we’ve done this before, without stopping and looking at the specific technique. After the training we followed up with stretching of the legs, like we normally do before the training. The stretching resembled a little the way we do it at home in duos.

I do notice that it is different to train at this altitude. I get more quickly out of breath. The positive thing is that we don’t get so sweaty like in Guayaquil.

Day 55 Tuesday 15 June – Helping a friend in need

Yes, I changed it. With some networking here and there, I was able to change the date of return for only $ 200 through my travel agency back home. I will return on August 19th at around 7pm. Not the exact date I hoped for, but the only possibility in August to return for the lowest cost. I hope you guys can go so long without me. About 64 days to go...

I had a little lunch with some left-overs today and was doing a bit of nothing at home. When suddenly R. called me, asking me to come down to talk to me about something. R. is a friend that also works at the Kallari café and is always joking around. But when I saw him downstairs he looked more serious than I’ve ever seen him. He said he needed my help with something. His cousin is in the hospital and she’s pregnant with some complications. He wants to borrow $ 60, which he will pay me back by the end of the month; and he would like me to come with him to the hospital. Though Mary would kill him if she knew that he asked me this, I say it’s okay. I know R. well enough to help, even though money is not my preferred way of helping others.

I get the money from my apartment and we walk to the hospital together, giving us ample time to get to know each other better. Which is easier now, because he’s not joking around so much. At the hospital, though, we find out that the visiting hours are passed and they won’t let us in to bring the money to R.’s cousin. We try the back door, but no luck either. The only option left is to wait a while until the guard at the entrance is relieved, which actually happened really fast. R. Showed me his house, where he picked up a phone charger for his cousin and then we went back. This time he got in, but I had to wait. I was wondering how the hospital would look like from the inside.

We take the bus back to Kallari, where I spend the rest of the day. Hmm, perhaps I’m spending too much time at the café, I gotta work more.

Day 54 Monday 14 June – Changes

I decided to stay longer in Ecuador. But for this I need to arrange a lot. I decided to do this today. But in the morning Sarah asks me to have lunch with her in Parque Carolina. Plans change. I do some groceries and cook a nice almuerzo to take with me. By then, the sun has disappeared a bit and it starts to rain as soon as we find a place to sit down. When we find a place with a roof the sun comes back. The weather changes even more quickly. We have our lunch and talk a bit in the sun. I tell her about my change of plans and that I need to go to Quicentro shopping mall to ask about changing my ticket. That’s a good chance to have an ice-cream for dessert.

At the LAN airline office they tell me a whole different story than I heard from my travel agency. It would cost me around $ 435 to change the ticket. So I send an e-mail back to my travel agency when I get home to ask how this is. Of course, they all are asleep by the time I send it, so I have to wait for the next day.

I spend part of the afternoon at the café and then have to go to aikido practice. But Mariela gets angry with me, because I didn’t tell her and because I’m being careless going to the north of Quito all by myself. I try to make it right and eventually arrive just a few minutes late at the training.

Even within Ecuador, aikido is different. We start with the usual exercises, but they are different and we take more time. Then the rolling exercises, where 2 people lie flat on their bellies while the rest roll over them – without really touching though. The techniques we practice are familiar: irimi nage and kote gaeshi. My partner points me at my posture, which I then put more firmly. The nice thing about training in different dojo’s is that you learn different thing in each. While I learned the etiquette in Guayaquil, for example, it is not that much stressed here. One thing I am going to learn here though is to fall. It’s all a bit wilder here. But the exercise was rewarding.

At my return, a nice warm meal was waiting for me and we watched some tele.

Day 53 Sunday 13 June – Watching live soccer

Ah lazy Sunday. I spent the day with Mariela and friends in Cumbayá, watching soccer games between different groups on the terrain of the university (San Francisco?). The ladies lost, unfortunately. Perhaps because Mariela wasn’t playing. The guys won 4-2. Chess game also lost. And I also played some chess with Mary, but we didn’t finish because we were going to watch soccer. She’s good though…

The rest of the afternoon I spent like a lazy Sunday afternoon. Not much worth telling in my blog.

Day 52 Saturday 12 June – Bicycle race in Parque Carolina

I first went with Mariela on a little tour through the city, because she had to run a number of errands. She showed me her university (Central de Ecuador) and I went with her to the dentist. This was in the old part of Quito and it is visibly poorer. At entry, she had to get a number and together with a lot of people we were waiting in a big hall. A gay assistant was calling out the numbers. While waiting, I was watching people come by for health check-ups. The doctor doing these was taking the thermometers to the bathroom every time to wash them with water. Not very hygienic if you ask me. Mariela was ready really quick and after the errands, we decided to have breakfast. Yes, at 10am, which is late for me. We first go to this place near my apartment, but decide to go to the CCI shopping centre near Parque Carolina instead to have brea… brunch.

After brunch we take a walk through the park and decide to hire some bicycles. They were really crappy by my standards with faulty brakes and a pedal missing, but we did cycle through the whole park and had a small race on the running track before returning the bikes. Somehow she was faster than me. Probably the altitude that makes me weaker.

During the day I didn’t really pay attention, so I got myself burned pretty well again. My face, neck and arms are truly red. I only noticed this when we were walking back to the Mariscal. I got burned even though a large time we spent lying in the shade near the water, talking.

Mary’s brother spent all his money yesterday, so he’s staying at her place again. We said goodbye and tomorrow she’s taking me to a soccer match between Kichwa groups.

Day 51 Friday 11 June – Cheering me up

Sleeping on the floor was alright, there were blankets above and below me and Sarah lend me a pillow. The reason I didn’t sleep that well after all, was more because of my own worries. I was planning to get up early in the morning to do some arranging, but I was so tired in the morning, I spent another two hours in bed. After revising my mail and having a bit of a breakfast, I went to the supermaxi for some groceries and to the laundry service. They are faster here than in Guayaquil (and cheaper), ready the same day at 4pm.

I kind of felt bad the whole morning, and I promised Sarah I would bake a pie. So this was the ultimate moment to do so. I put on some music and went going. Some essential ingredients were missing though, because they weren’t available, like real vanilla, but the result was fine in the end. During the baking, I got to cheer myself up with a hot tea, cake dough and chocolate. There is almost no better way. After the pie finished, I went to grab lunch at Shakti, one of my favourite places and bought some more souvenirs at the local artisan market. A nice handmade bag and some light trousers. Like a friend always says: good food happy people. And shopping helps a little.

The afternoon I hung out at Kallari with Mariela and her friends. I helped a bit in the kitchen a well and Mary jokingly said to one of the directors (who was coincidentally there) that I was a new volunteer. I should have told her that I may need Kallari as my case study, but I did that the next day. Now the directors are in Tena. But all is not lost there of course.

In the evening I invited Mary for dinner, so I made her a nice, but simple, spaghetti meal. We watched ‘When Nietzsche wept’ in Spanish and ate pie. Then, at around 10pm she took me home with her, because her brother said he wasn’t going to sleep at her place this night (and luckily he didn’t). And yeah, that was the best way to cheer me up.

Day 50 Thursday 10 June – Hello Quito :)

Why do I always sit next to a mother with a nagging child when I’m taking a long bus drive? Okay, it wasn’t as bad as the way to Guayaquil, but still. Sleeping in the bus was a hell of a job on its own. With the airco on and so many people, it was almost like a sauna in there with the moisture. And it wasn’t cool at all, despite the airco. At 6 I arrived at the terminal of Transportes Ecuador, which is well placed in the centre, just 5 minutes’ walk away from my new home. Nevertheless, I had to wait for an hour and a half, because I didn’t want to wake Sarah up so early. Good that I didn’t, because she was still pretty tired when I awakened her with my call at 7.25. Almost forgot that the nightlife is strong here in Quito. I am going to enjoy this.

At about 7.30 I was let in to the building. I’m living on the second floor of a small apartment complex. For the coming two days I don’t have my own room yet, but I can sleep on the couch with Cona the cat. It’s a pretty big place, with 3 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. A shared bathroom for 2. The owner who also lives in the building has his own bathroom. Still we have to take turns showering, because the heater can’t handle 2 showers at once. But here we will at least not run out of gas, because there’s a pipeline. Also, there is a really big TV with dvd player, this will be so nice.

When I arrived, I first had a cup of tea with Sarah and when she went out to work, I took a shower (so good to have a nice warm shower again after a month); checked my e-mail (I love wifi); and went downstairs, walked 50 metres down Wilson to Kallari, where I had a nice breakfast with pancakes and fruit and a coffee. I already love my new apartment, even though I don’t have a bed yet.

At breakfast, while sipping my excellent organic coffee, I wrote some new cards to send to the people who hadn’t had one yet and afterwards I went to the post office to send the cards and to ask about the prices for packages. Because I’ve been collecting souvenirs already, and thought of sending them by mail. Bad news is, it’s $38 for under 2kg. And rising fast with the weight. Gotta check out what the costs are of raising the weight of baggage on the plane.

At around 12 Mariela calls me and says she didn’t have classes, so I see her at my place and we talk a bit. Afterwards I have lunch with Sarah in Parque Carolina and the rest of the day I spend with Mariela in the café.

At closing time, however we don’t go together. Her brother is in town and sleeping at her place. I don’t like him very much, especially after Mary told me he’s an alcoholic that takes quickly to fighting. But I especially don’t like him, because he’s the reason I’m sleeping on the floor of my apartment tonight. My room becomes available only in 2 days, and the plan was that I could sleep at Mariela’s place. I could use her hugs right now and then this happens. It’s getting frustrating.

Day 49 Wednesday 9 June – Bye Bye Guayaquil

Time to leave. In case I don't get a chance to write about this day today. You will at least know, that I'm taking a bus today at around 22.30 with the direction Quito. I will arrive early in the morning, hopefully between 7 and 8, drop my bags in my new home and take a breakfast at Kallari (which will be just around the corner). Do some duties like sending a batch of postcards and so on. Just one more day in Guayaquil. Can't say I will miss this city. It is too big for me.

NB S.P. just let me know today via skype message (no he still didn't call me):
"i think i am not goinh to have time help you this time
i am very late with my work
sorry about it my friend hope to help you next time"

Nice, that's what you tell me after I've been calling for more than a week. I asked if he knew other companies, but he couldn't give me a direct answer. Don't know if he'll answer later, but I'm just done with this guy. My supervisor says I could ask his competitors to see why S.P. doesn't want me investigating his company... But I'm not sure if that's going to give any results. He could be just as busy as he says he is. Or he could be a jerk that never calls back.

I'm now giving myself a week to arrange something else. Though Kallari chocolate is the best option I have (and I know they take interns) I should discuss it with la señorita. Jeroen gave me some other possibilities in Quito, but they're all just a little less interesting for some reason. Miguel gave me a contact in the coffee business, but I don't know much about this company. At least I don't know enough to see whether it is interesting or not. The website is in Spanish, so I'm not sure they even export.

Day 48 Tuesday 8 June – Bye Bye Centro Cultural Aikido Guayaquil

Another productive day. First I did the rest of my interviews at the toaster. Then asked my last questions to Miguel and did one more interview. Almost done here!

In the evening I had my last Aikido practice. We skipped the meditation and went straight to exercises and leg torturing. The lesson today was a continuance of a day before, but I was able to follow it. We did a number of different forms of kokyo nage (katate dori en aihanmi). They were the usual forms but with irimi tenkan, ura, omote. Forms that look a little like Ikyo and forms that look like tenchi nage or pushing the chin up. A lot of them were new to me, and it is hard to remember them all. There were so many!

Meanwhile, I get a free lesson of Aikido Etiquette. When kneeling down with the students, first kneel right knee, sit down and put your hands – fingers closed – on your legs with your back straight. When bowing to Osensei or the sensei, left hand, then right hand on the ground and bow, saying “onegaishimasu, sensei”. Literally, this means “do me this favour (teacher)”, but could be translated as “let’s have a good game”. Then you get up, right leg first (right? It’s difficult writing this the day after).

At the end of the practice, Herbert address his thanks to me for training with them, and there were some pictures taken, which I will post here as soon as they arrive in my inbox.

Day 47 Monday 7 June – One down, where’s number two?

Yeah, a productive day today. I did three interviews today, including one at the toaster. In the morning, I started out going to Miguel to ask if he contacted la economista to see if there is time for interviews. He called her and handed me the phone. No problem she said, you can totally come over this afternoon. So I did and interviewed her. By then it got 5 O’clock and the maestros were done working. So I’m going back there to get some more interviews tomorrow in the morning. So if all goes well, I can wrap up the toaster tomorrow, and then I only need about 2 interviews in the office and some extra questions for Miguel. I may just wrap this baby up nice.

On the dark side, I totally feel like I’m getting dumped by my other case. The director is telling me every time I call him: “call me tomorrow” “call me on Monday” “call me in 30 minutes” “you know what, I’ll call you after my meeting” (he totally didn’t). I’m getting sick of it, but I need to stay polite, because I need this case. My only other option is to go to a factory in Tena, which is a 5 hour drive from Quito. Honestly, it’s a nice case, probably even nicer than the one I’m hunting now. But Mariela is just going to kill me if I have to move to Tena now. Almost makes me feel like sitting down and cry that ‘life isn’t fair’. But that’s just a little dramatic, don’t you think?

Truth is, we’ve been calling for a month with the hope that we now get to be a full month together, and I want that. I want to be in Quito, with Mariela and my friends. Have fun. Go out dancing. Do all the stuff I haven’t been doing in Guayaquil. And now I’m close to feeling myself forced in having to choose between my personal life and my studies. Yes, I know I’m here for the latter, but this just makes me feel bad. I was hoping to finally have a good time again in Ecuador, and now it’s getting jeopardised.

And my bottle of rum is finished… I need a hug.
Or I need at least a lot more people reacting to my posts... Where are you guys?

Day 45 Saturday 5 June – Barbacoa at the office

I started the day with asking Lenin for an interview. He agreed and would come to me later (but when he did, I had to get started on the barbeque). After that I went to the general manager and asked him for the rest of the interview. He had time at that moment. However, after a while Miguel stumbled in after he had been planting trees for his political campaign (now I get why sometimes the boys would shout Rendón Presidente) and besides making it impossible to ask certain questions, he also started answering for Ricardo in a joking fashion. I decided to wrap it up and maybe ask some separate questions later. I thanked him and went to the task of the barbeque.

Miguel told me he had asked his wife to take care of things, though he had forgotten to tell her I don’t eat meat. The general manager and Miguel laughed about it, but when I called her, she was sympathetic and told me she’d arrange something for me. She showed up later with some vegetarian ‘meat’ that I had seen at the lunch canteen multiple times before.

I started out with cleaning the tables a little, putting the stereo and some chairs down. Stalyn and Victor helped me with cleaning the floor a bit. Juan cleaned out the pool. At around 1PM there was a barbeque and meat and the place looked alright for a party. But we still missed some basic stuff like gas and a wine opener. Miguel set the tone by pushing Juan into the pool, getting himself in there as well. Juan just laughed at this and started swimming a bit in the pool. People started opening the crisps bags and eat those. Miguel told me to call everyone down, because it wasn’t time for working, but for having fun. Some people were still working in the office and that couldn’t be. I did so and it still took a while for everyone to come down. So after a while, Miguel went up himself to order everyone to come by the pool.

Then everything else arrived. Though some things were still missing, but that is the result of asking a vegan to organise a barbeque and then tell your wife to buy the stuff. Though I had invited most people, (some didn’t show up) the organisation wasn’t so very good. But it was about the fun and the time spent together. The meat was put on the barbeque; the wine was poured in plastic cups and the music was playing. Miguel made a game, doing a really absurd laugh and saying that the one to guess who it belonged to would get a bonus. I don’t think anyone guessed. But everybody laughed while he did this.

A while later Miguel did a toast. After thanking me for inviting the people, he said this was the first party of many more to come, as a way of strengthening the ES family. Then the party continued.

After eating a bit the younger men were starting to push each other into the pool, after Miguel had also thrown Paolo into it. Javier, Luis and Walter were the first to go in. Lenin and Stalyn went in voluntarily later. The general manager and Victor were cooking the whole time (the women from administration had helped with preparing the meat earlier).

Later at the party, even Victor, Nicolás and David were pushed into the pool, but not after their consent and the opportunity to empty their pockets of cell phones. The younger guys were not really fond of the wine, and gathered money to get some beer as well. Miguel just sat and watched with a smile on his face how everyone seemed to have fun at the pool. The gestures of throwing Angel, Ingrid or me in the pool were responded to with a ‘no’ and this discouraged the rest of further attempts. Even though probably neither of us would’ve been angry about this. I understand they didn’t dare throw me in the pool, since they didn’t know me well enough to know whether it would make me angry.

When later the guys spur on Paolo into pushing the general manager into the water while he’s is taking a picture with his blackberry, things take a different turn. When they help him out again, he definitely doesn’t look pleased. Later Miguel tells me the general manager was very angry and left after he fell into the pool. Miguel blamed the beers for this, making the young guys more drunk and this made them spur on Paolo into doing what he did. And that this destroyed the party. Indeed the pool was getting empty, we cut the cake and ate it and people were slowly leaving. Most of the meat and all of the wine was finished.

The boys cleaned up the place, I helped a little, and we took a company car to drive home and drink some more at our house. Now this is not clear to me, but supposedly Miguel called and said this wasn’t allowed. I’m not sure why, though at the moment of writing I recall the amount of alcohol involved… We drove the car back and each of us took a taxi or a bus to our own homes, and that was the end of the day.

Day 44 Friday 4 June – Spending money on a girl

Yesterday, Mariela called me to ask me for money. Something I had not expected, and I didn’t like the idea at first. However, I know how poor she is and she told me she needed the $30 for T-shirts for the women of a sports team from her region. I thought about this for a second and agreed with it. The only problem was, how to get her the money, because I have no idea of how the banks work here. ‘Luckily’, Sarah still owes me money, so I asked her to bring it over to Kallari. Problem solved, happy Mary. Of course, if we hadn’t been calling each other almost every single day for the past weeks, I would’ve been more suspicious.

Today was a bit of a useless day. I didn’t get to do any interviews at all. Everyone was really busy. Tomorrow I may do 1 or 2 I hope. And hopefully one with Ingrid today in the evening. But tomorrow is also the BBQ by the swimming pool. I invited almost everyone personally, I hope the word has travelled a bit since then. But at least the mayority is coming and that is a good thing to know. The thing is, I need to go buy meat with Miguel tomorrow… What a joke! “How many vegans does it take to organise a meatfest?”

Going back to the house after work was a real pain in the ass again. I always prefer to take a bus, but here’s where that goes wrong: The bus system in Guayaquil is one big chaos. There are bus stops along the roads, but they are usually ignored. One needs to hail the bus (by extending the arm at shoulder level, palm down and moving the fingers towards you). This presents a couple of problems: if it is dark, you are almost bound to spot the bus you need way too late. Second, if it is dark, the bus driver may not even see you. And if the bus is full enough he may just actually ignore you.

The other chaos component is that there is no central information about routes or times. Though the busses usually pass by every 20 minutes or so, there is still no secure way of knowing which bus you need to take. Ingrid already told me I needed to take bus #63 Verjeles to get back, but if that bus passes you by twice without stopping, what can you do? I could wait for the third; take a different bus that does stop for me; or take a taxi. Option number one could result in me getting frustrated when the third (and fourth and fifth) bus pass by without pulling over. Option number 2 is no option, because the information about busses suck. So I take a taxi. There is no wonder why the traffic in Ecuador is so terrible, but I’ll tell you about the traffic some other time.

Later that night I get cheered up by the all-time awesome-est episode of HIMYM: Swarley (series2-ep7). And I discover that the actrice of another great series, Morena Baccarin, plays a big role. I wonder if Ammer knew that. So I end my day with watching old episodes of HIMYM, drinking a cup of rum and wishing it was 5 days later, where I’m back in the bus to Quito.

Day 43 Thursday 3 June – 4th Aikido practice

The fourth Aikido practice in Guayaquil almost was in danger of non-existence. When I arrived at the dojo, there was nobody. I called Herbert (the sensei) and just as I was calling, the replacement teacher arrived to open the door. Herbert wasn’t coming today and this was for a number of students a reason not to show up. I don’t really understand why, because his replacement doesn’t wear a hakama for no reason, he is competent. Nevertheless, when a father showed up to bring his kid to practice and heard that Herbert wasn’t coming, they both left. Later I heard that he thought his child would be hurt or something. Remembering how the same boy was thrown around on Tuesday, I couldn’t imagine it any worse (even though he wasn’t harmed in any way on Tuesday).

Anyway, there we were, the two of us waiting for at least two others to show up, since a private lesson just wasn’t going to happen. Luckily for me, two others did show up. And this is still close to a private lesson. We started out like most days, but we skipped the torturing of the legs and we didn’t do any rolling either. I guess we skipped all that, because we weren’t going to use the legs that extensively today. We proceed after meditation with a form of kokyo ho, standing up. That is, a kokyo nage without the nage (throw), meant to relax.

We then continue with the basic techniques and spend quite some time on them. Ikyo was just a bit different then I’m used to. That, or it is explained differently. Starting with bringing uke out of balance by pushing the elbow up and walk forward, bringing the arm down. Here is where it really is different: you don’t continue the forward movement, but rather walk around uke and while turning him around, blending him with the mat (tatami). The Ura version is different in my memory as well. Pushing uke out of balance all the same, but by stepping into the back, doing an irimi tenkan, bringing him to the knees, kneel down with the knee closest to him in his armpit. At this point the hand of uke rests on my knee, and then kneel down entirely. This technique has been known to me before, but we never use it because it is slightly uncomfortable. Then move away, while still controlling the hand and let go.

Nikyo, as we do it everywhere, starts out the same, omote and ura. But when turning the hand in to the lock position, the arm of uke rests on the knee of tori, who is at that moment in a stable and relaxed position. This makes it that tori has all the time in the world to get the right grip. Now in omote, tori does the same as with ikyo: turn around uke and kneel down. Pushing uke’s arm down in a 45° angle and pushing the fingers to his face. The ura form is about walking out, pushing uke’s hand to your chest (not the shoulder), while holding the elbow down, and bend forward a little. This should hurt like hell, so Uke kneels down. Sensei shows us that if you wait too long with putting this lock on, uke can go down earlier and kick tori in the groin. And that would not be the desired effect. Anyway, after uke kneels down, you blend him with the mat and make the usual end control (pinky side in the elbow and turn.

The sankyo technique we did the hard way. Even with omote, grabbing the hand in a lock and pushing it to the face. Then hack down and step in front, pulling uke down on the way. The end control is done standing up. Ura is different. When the hand goes to the face, tori makes a tenkan, ending up on the other side of uke, but since this hurts, uke moves along. Then ‘push’ uke down and move in the opposite direction (standing in front of uke and moving towards him), dragging him down further.

When I tell sensei later that we do the basic techniques a little bit different in the Netherlands, he says I should teach next week. Being only 5th kyu, I’m not sure I wish to. Besides, I’m not even sure I still know the Dutch techniques that well…

Day 41 Tuesday 1 June – 3rd Aikido practice

I started doing my interviews today. The first one went quite alright. We didn’t have a really private place to sit, but I think it wasn’t stopping my interviewee from talking. We talked nearly 50 minutes and this gave me quite a good idea of how things go here. The other interview was with the general manager, but he had to go halfway, because something important came up.

After work I take a bus to the dojo. Stalyn joins me to show me the way. The busses still confuse me and I still don’t understand how the people who live here can make anything out of it.

We skip the meditation at the beginning and start right away with stretching. We stretch our upper bodies a bit more this time, but after that we torture our legs as well. When I get back, I may be able to do a full split… When we practice our rolls, we do a variety of them. Forward rolls while looking backwards, or with the legs together; or backwards while holding one foot.

There seems to be a preference for kokyo nage and irimi nage. Today we did a variety of these again. Including variances that are new to me. For example, holding the head of uke, making a turn and then throw. Or just simply pulling uke forward, turn him around and throw.

Lastly a technique where you step behind uke and grab him by the throat, turning around with one hand in his back, so he has to fall backward at some point, for lack of balance. We end with cracking our backs and the usual meditation and thanking.