La Casa de W-- W´s home

Bueno!
This morning has been such a super morning and so crazy and interesting and worthy of what a fellow volunteer, Tracy and I have decided to call Ecua-points, that I just had to come and write about it immediately.
Thank goodness I have time!.... but be sure to excuse me if this seems like rambling or has lots of mistakes... i just had to share my excitement and I am not here to write like a novelist. Tracy will also be writing something about this in her blog which I will add at a later time to fill in any details I missed!

So this morning we had reserved time to go visit some of our HIV/AIDS patients that we work with at the Redima clinic, doing what we call home visits. This is my favorite part of my work at the clinic so I was very excited. Tracy and I met at 8:15 this morning and walked over to first visit not knowing if we would have time to make it to another patients house because this one loves talking. Well, we arrive to find Washington there waiting for us and food already cooking in the kitchen. We then were introduced to his Dad, Segundo Lopez, who began to talk with us after greeting us with a nice warm hug. While our intent was to come and visit Washington, Segundo invited us to sit down, and after bringing us our breakfast of what could best be described as a plantane patties or pancake with cheese in the middle, Segundo sat down beside us and started talking to us while Washington was still in the kitchen. I know Tracy and I were both thinking that Washington would enter at any moment with his own plate of food and join in the conversation... but insted the morning continued on quite differently. Segundo immediately insisted that we mix up our coffee and add plenty of sugar because one must eat these plantane pancake dealios with coffee because the two flavors compliment one another. I am not going to lie... I was not excited to drink coffee and I just about asked if I could drink tea instead. BUT I sucked it up and told myself to try it anyway, and made sure to add extra sugar (a decision that was well supported by Segundo). The sugar coffee ( I only but a lil less than a teaspoon of coffee to 4 teaspoons of sugar) really wasnt all that bad and did go pretty well with the patties! Tracy and I sat there conversing with Segundo while enjoying our plantane patties. The only time we saw Washington during all of this was when his Dad called for him to bring us more food.... thank GOD he only put one more on our plate because these patties are fried and so are plenty greasy.... it was funny because a few seconds after Washington put the third pattie on my plate I swear his dad Segundo read my mind when he said... Ya les van a engordar!!! which more or less translates to...You guys are going to get fat!! To which both tracy and I responded: Ya sé !!! or I know!!!!
I dont know how on earth I did it but I did get that third one down and seriously felt as though I had eaten enough for the DAY!
Segundo took our plates into the kitchen once we had finished and told us to speak to eachother in English while he cleared the table... So, we did... and each time he would enter to take another plate he would comment on how he didnt understand at all what we were saying and how we could be talking about him and he wouldnt even know it.... ¨but,¨he would say, ¨I like it... I like hearing your accents¨
We conversed with this man all morning. One thing that was really interesting was that upon hearing Segundo talk to us in the morning I did note how much easier it was to understand him than his wife or his son Washington. The reasoning for this was explained after Segundo commented on how well Tracy and I spoke Spanish, to which we responded with gratitude. He then explained that he was from the Sierra and doesnt like how the people here from the costa speak. (sierra is the northern region by quito and we live in the costal region in Guayaquil)
He went on to explain how in the Sierra they dont cut off the ends of words like they do here in las guyas and that in the Sierra they simply speak much more clearly.
(this conversation was super interesting and explained a lot to me. It also made me feel pretty good because I have been told by SEVERAL people here that I speak like someone from the Sierra... which makes the people here in la costa laugh.... but anyways...)
As the mornign went on Tracy asked a very good question of Segundo... how he and his wife met.
His response to this was quite long and had only one reference to meeting his wife.... instead he spoke of his life story.
He explained that he grew up in the Sierra region by the time he was 8 years old, both of his parents had died and he was left an orphan. So, he moved to Guayaquil where he lived on the streets eating the left over banana scraps found along the shoreline and sleeping on the street covered with newspaper. He lived like this for a couple of years, trying to find work, but without luck, until he was about 10 (if I remember right) when the owner of an Italian Restaurant agreed to offer him work. He worked there for 4 years working from 8 am until 4 am for no pay apart from food to eat and a place to sleep.
He then explained that one day when his restaurant boss sent him to the market, he was stopped by a police officer and had a conversation that clearly was God reaching down to offer him his help. This officer asked where he worked, how old he was, where his was from, how much he earned and why he was working at this place. After Segundo answered all of the above the officer found explained that he actually knew an uncle of Segundo´s and went back to the restaurant and demanded that the owner pay Segundo for his four years of work there. Much to my surprise, the owner actually did give him the money. Segundo then left and was able to buy clothing for himself and was cared for by this officer, eventually finding work as a police officer. Some years later he changed jobs and worked in the dining room of a college, which is where he met his wife.
Why do I share this life story with all of you? Well, because I found it fascinating and incredibly inspiring. This 76 year old man (just had his birthday Sept 1st) was so welcoming to me and Tracy. He told us repeatedly that we had a home here in Ecuador with him and his family and we were more than welcome to come by and talk with him whenever we wished.
Upon receiving such great hospitality and kindness from him, we asked where he learned to be such a kind and caring person, if he had so little time with his parents....
He explained that it was genetic and he got it from his parents... it was something deep inside of him and something he made sure to pass on to his children.

We continued to converse the rest of the morning, talking about our families, health, languages, foods, different types of people, work, and more.
He told us to be sure to tell our parents that we have a welcoming home in Ecuador and that when they come to Ecuador they are welcomed in his house as well. He likes to hear people speak English so he said that they could speak in English too :)
Anyways....
Segundo eventually said that he needed to go buy his wife some medicine. THis was actually perfect timing for us because it was about 11:50 and Tracy needed to get back to my house to catch the bus to her afternoon job. As we left we were each handed a bag of goodies that contained Guyaba Jam, two mandarine oranges and a banana. Just as we were leaving and saying goodbye to Washington and asking him why he didnt come out and join us while we were talking with his dad, his dad came in the room and insisted that we stay algungos minutitos mas... just a few more minutes and have some caldo de pollo or chicken soup with them. We explained that we really didnt have time but he insited, and here is where the adventure began!!!!
Tracy and I sat down and waited for the soup, which we were told was already ready. We should have know that in Ecua time this actually means it will be ready in 10 or 15 minutes, but we had no choice but to wait and so we waited and at 12 15 we got our STEAMING HOT bowls of soup. It was so hot that we explained we really didnt have time to eat it bc Tracy had to catch the bus at 12:45 and still had to change clothes. But this didnt matter.... their solution was to simply eat it faster. Segundo, the father, sat beside Tracy rooting her on as she grabbed her spooon and blowed vigorously over her soup trying to have hope of not burning her tongue. Washington then decided to help out by turning a fan on to help cool the soup. So the two of us sat there trying to shovel spoonfuls of this steaming hot chicken soup into our mouths so that we could catch the bus. After about 3 minutes them mom comes into the room and adds some wierd dark chunch of what may have been some type of meat to the soup. And Segundo again started rooting for tracy to jsut make sure she eats this piece (my guess is is was one of those inside parts of the chicken like a gizzard or something... I have no clue) Tracy is really brave and did just what Segundo said, and shoveled in that mysterious blob eating it up.
I suggested that we get a container to bring the soup home with us because we really did need to leave, and I was very realieved to see that the mom did bring us an empty margarine dish to put the soup in.... this brought me such relief because I was SO SCARED to eat that Unknown piece of meat!!!!
So !!!! after having Segundo cheer us on yet a third time while drinking up what was left of the broth, tracy and I left for the bus... where segundo´s wife (washington´s mom) told us to be sure we payed no more then 10 cents even though a normal bus fare is 25!
So... Tracy and I gave it a try and after getting a wierd look by the bus driver, we simply said that we are only going a few blocks and sat down.... the bus driver didnt say a word! SOOO we definitely won some more Ecua points.... living as an Ecuadorian and paying less than half of the bus fare because we werent going far at all! :)

Well I really hope that this write up can capture at least a tad of the excitement that this morning entailed.
If it all just seems like a bunch of random jibberish, just trust me that it was all super interesting, hilarious, nerve racking, intense, and very Ecua (Ecuadorian)!!!!!!

I wish blessings on all of you and thank you for all of your prayers and letters!!!

I would like to end this post with a prayer

Lord, Thank you so very much for this beautiful morning and for sharing your love with us through the family of Washington.
Lord, I pray that you send your blessing down upon all of the people of Ecuador and around the world who are suffering from HIV/AIDS. Help them to know your love. Please help those who are knowledgeable of HIV/AIDS to share what they know those who are confused by the myths that exist about HIV/AIDS.
I pray that through this sharing people can find hope for change.
Amen.