Ecua-basket

So being back in Ecuador after our trip to the states has been tough in some ways. It doesn’t help that the Waorani Women’s Association office has been a little chaotic since I have been back. I don’t want to malign my companeras, but let’s just say that we’ve been…busy.

Jer and I did have a fairly relaxing weekend, however. We did a ton of reading and I played some hoops both Saturday and Sunday as part of the indigenous nations tournament. As I have opined on my blog before, the games here are very physical …and the refs don’t make it any easier. In the Saturday game the ref actually used his whistle…but only to call traveling or double dribble on occasion and NEVER to call a foul on anyone. Okay, that is a lie. He called ONE foul the entire game. Meanwhile, every shot I took I felt like I had one opponent hacking one arm, while another just tried to jump on me. There was soooo much hacking going on it was really ridiculous, but I guess that is part of the game here. I have to admit it is hard for me to adjust to. That and the fact that as soon as someone picks up the ball to shoot or pass, the defender immediately lunges for the ball (read: jump on that person) and tries to steal it. On Saturday we were pitted against the top team in the tournament, and we went into the second half leading. But, our pathetic passing skills, combined with the fact that our cherry picker couldn’t sink a chipshot to save her life, the fact that we are generally out of shape, and, well, combined with many other deficiencies… we lost. But only by two points. I blame the rebar rims.

On Sunday, our luck changed, and we won decisively. This, of course, was greatly aided by the fact that the other team didn’t show up, but we’ll happily take the tally in the G column (Ganamos! --we won!) During the timeslot we were supposed to play, a bunch of Waorani men and women and the tall ultra white gringita decided to play a pick-up game. At one point there were at least 14 or 15 people on the court playing, and the teams kept constantly changing…but it was fun cuz’ there was no pressure, and lots of laughs at the dumb stuff people were doing. Jer came to watch the game, and instead he was treated to watching a clusterbomb of people playing a game that vaguely resembled basketball. He later described it as “a basketball coach’s worst nightmare.” I thought it was a little harsh, but I’m sure that as a spectator it was pretty painful to watch.

BUT, during the weekend of b-ball, I am happy to report that I suffered no black eyes, spilled no blood, and I did not inflict any other injuries to myself, my teammates or our opponents. I did get a little bit more sun than I would of liked (sorry, mom) and every other muscle is sore today, but it’s a good sore. I figure I am burning off some of the 8 brazillion calories I ingested in the States in the form of good cheese, good wine, Sunchips, Williams & Sonoma Ecuadorian Passion Fruit Margaritas (gracias a Chris y Sarah! Que rica!) and dozens of Buckeyes at Tom & Hannah’s wedding (thanks mom!)

Well, tomorrow I head “adentro” with the Waorani women for an artesania workshop. Once again, I am leading the earring training, but this time I am prepared with lots of cordless drills (oh, that’s right, I never did post an entry about the drill disaster during my last trip… Yeahhhhh……We’ll save that for another day). This next trip to the community is going to be suuuuuuuuuuuuuper long and I am really not looking forward to the fourteen or more hours I will be on a bus. And I am not sure whether to eagerly anticipate or fear for my life for the part of the trip that involves a multiple-hour canoe ride. Whatever the case may be, I am confident I will have many an interesting blog posts to share. Hasta pronto.