La Josefina

September 2, 1999

Dear Mom and Rita,

    I wish you could see me now, really I do. This place I am in, the little town called La Josefina, it is just amazing. . .there is absolutely nothing here (and nothing within a 3 hour walk or so), but I am enchanted, and I am really feeling something special here. They dropped us off here Sunday afternoon (myself and Danielle, another PCT), and initially I was pretty nervous, scared about being put in the middle of nowhere for a month. It's a pretty trippy feeling. . .

    But today -- 6 days later-- I feel just the opposite. This little town, in the middle of the tropics of Ecuador, has made us feel quite comfy, and we're having a beautiful time. . . 

    First of all the land is so beautiful and we are surrounded by rivers (such that every afternoon when we go for a walk, we have to tromp through the river). There are animals everywhere (definitely more chickens than people, cows in the middle of the road, butterflies abound), and it is Green GREEN GREEN (though the mom lady in my house insisted today that we are in "dry season").

***

July 11, 2022

Here we are in La Josefina -- again -- a place I fell deeply in love with 23 years ago. It is the dry season, which means it is less wet, but never exactly dry.  The humidity level hovers somewhere around 93%, so we are all a little bit wet and sticky all the time. All good; we are quickly getting used to it. Our first wash of clothes will be dry (fingers crossed) within three days. And when I say dry, I mean dry enough.

It is definitely green Green GREEN.  

I'm twice the age I was when I first was dropped off here, and I'm obviously not alone this time; my husband and kids are here with me. I would love to capture my kids' initial impressions of La Josefina in detail, but mostly they  seem to be having a good time --  playing soccer with the local kids, fussing some about food choices, and rolling with this crazy life plan we have created for them. And perhaps, deep down, I don't really want to know. As long as they seem happy, I'm happy. Brynna did say today, "from the outside all the houses look like they are falling down, but on the inside they are all beautiful and cozy." Truth.

La Josefina has grown a fair bit in two decades. There are more people, more businesses, and more motorcycles. The road from the entrada is now nicely paved (it had long been rocks and mud), as are the two main roads in town. A full church replaced the simple building that previously served as a chapel. And in the last few weeks an enormous tin roof has been lifted over the cancha-- a community court used to play basketball, indoor and Ecua-volley most afternoons.

I know more now about the reality of life in La Josefina.  It's not always an easy place to live. There is endemic poverty.  Poorly run schools. Underemployment. Domestic violence. Alcoholism. Limited access to healthcare. Machismo. But there are all of these things in many communities, including our own home community in Santa Rosa. I see them all the time at the hospital. I see them more clearly than I did 22 years ago.

La Josfina is still just as beautiful. Yesterday on a short wander to a friend's finca, we managed to pick and eat delicious oranges, munch on fresh cacao, suck on an aracao (I have no idea what this fruit is called in English, I've never seen it in my life), pick up some yuca to be used later, for a meal and find some ripe mandarinas. The fruititarians in my family are in heaven.

The kids helped carry eight brand new chicks (hatched the day before) home to keep warm and safe from the elements and  have adopted two to hand raise. They named them Sherman and Shadow. It's pretty sweet to watch them tend to the chicks and build lego structures for them to traverse. 

And as I write this, around 9pm on a Monday evening, the grillos are chirping, my kids are sleeping, and I am listening to the excited shouts of folks cheering on an informal men's volleyball match on one court and a women's indoor match on the adjoining space.

Tomorrow we paint our little house. 


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