jugo con Hugo

Okay, so continuing on with the theme of random stories from the last few weeks…a big news story was that Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa was hosting a regional development summit with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez…in Puyo of all places!!! The day before they were to arrive, Puyo was hopping with Venezuelans, press, and paparazzi. The day of the summit, it felt like the town was under siege, as there were helicopters buzzing the city all day. The two leaders spent the morning sequestered in El Pigual, the high-end finca resort owned by our friend Doña Maura (who I shared a tent with on one of my trips adentro). They were supposedly signing agreements for some sort of education initiative to support a network of agricultural high schools among other things. In the afternoon, there was to be a public rally so to speak. The Waorani were invited to dance for the distinguished guests. Given that my entire workplace was going, I was not about to be left behind solita. Plus I admit I was moderately intrigued in getting a chance to sneak a peek at Correa and Chavez…I mean it’s not every day that they come to town…and I doubt either will be making appearances in Ohio anytime soon. The program was supposed to start at 1:00 p.m.. At 1:05 I was still waiting for my compañeras to get their poop in a group so we could walk to the Pavelón de deportes, the new multi-sports complex. I was worried we wouldn’t get a place to sit, as people had been lining up since 7 a.m to get in….or so the rumor mill went. Well, it was one of those great "hurry-up-and-wait moments." We get to the Pavelón and enter with a large throng of other Puyenses. I was expecting there to be subjected to a lot of security…bag checks, metal detectors, dogs…but there was nothing…not even  mean looks from the automatic rifle-toting military police. I figured that being from the same country as “the devil” himself would at least subject me to additional security checks. But no. We just sashayed right on in and grabbed a pretty good seat. Maybe that should have been my clue. It was just too easy to get a seat. Half the crowd was wearing t-shirts that had photos of Chavez, Correa and the mayor of Puyo Oscar Ledesma. They were pretty funny, actually. I was hoping to get my hot little hands on them just for the novelty of it all…but no dice. I also saw some people wearing bright red shirts with Chavez’s face with beret…a la Che Guevara…but mucho más feo. Well after waiting for more than 3 ½ hours in a hot, stuffy, airless complex with thousands of my newest best friends who were invading my increasingly smaller personal space …I was ready to leave. The “magic” was gone. But, just as I was about to call it quits, the music is cranked up and in walks Correa and Chavez in the flesh. The crowd went wild. I can’t really tell you much about what either of them said, because I admit by that point I didn’t care, was starving (skipped lunch because I thought we were running late) plus their accents garbled by the microphone and bad speakers made their Spanish virtually impossible to understand. Something about viva Simón Bolivar y la revolución ciudadana, down with capitalism, blah, blah, blah. I confess it was hard to pay attention. Also distracting me was a group of protesters who were sitting uncomfortably close to us. They were environmentalists protesting additional oil drilling on indigenous lands. Interestingly, they were not indigenous. Quiteños perhaps. European possibly. Anyway, they were blocking my view half the time…and then I got really paranoid that one of the many t.v. crews would capture my face, I’d be on the evening news, my Peace Corps bosses would see me, assume I was protesting, then kick me out of Peace Corps and out of Ecuador. Yes, I have an overactive imagination sometimes… So, after the short speeches, the Waorani did their dance, then the Kichwa came to do a cultural presentation, then President Correa interrupted and said something about having to leave to go to Quito because they had to take off in the plane before it got dark. Umm…ok. So they left. And then we all filed out. And that was that. End of story.

In random other news.
Am getting ready for our big trip to Lima...as in Peru, not Ohio. Actually, Lima is just a stop over on our way to Machu Picchu with Jer, my bro and sis-in-law. Am soooooo excited. Just joined the the South American Explorers Club, which seems to be a pretty cool organization that provides travel advice, discounts on trips and hotels, and a bunch of other cool services. 9 days and counting till the fam starts to arrive. Look out Lima, here we come!