Cleaning Up

It has been interesting to see how people view the oil spill in El Chaco. A lot of people are not angry about the spill, but rather pleased. Due to the spill many people have secured a job for the next 1-2 years. The oil company (OCP) is paying the clean-up workers about $650/month, which is a huge increase from the $10-15/day that most workers make. Many of the people who have farms along the river are also trying to make settlements with OCP.

Now basically all of the oil is gone from the river, however all the rocks and trees along the shorelines are stained with oil. All or most of the trout have died in the river and many ducks and river otters have also died. The farmers along the river have had to lead their cows to other pastures, since the water remains contaminated.

The spill happened below us, so our water was not affected, but many towns downstream have really been impacted by the spill. OCP has been working hard to clean up, however the damage has been done.

Other happenings:

April 26th is Election Day in Ecuador. With the new constitution, basically every position, from city council to president, is up for election. According to Ecuador’s law, campaigning cannot start until 45 days before the election- no political signs, commercials, nothing! It seems likes President Rafael Correa has a good chance of being re-elected.

Soccer season has started back up again. Here it is practically year round. I decided to play with a different team, Aucas, this year. I have more friends on this team and am hoping to get a little more playing time. In our first game we tied 2-2 after losing a 2-point lead. Maggie has stayed with New Star this year, and her team is actually practicing during the week.

A couple of weeks ago, we helped chaperon a camping trip with Jeff, another PCV in Chaco, for about 20 high school students. For many of the kids it was their first time camping and they loved it. For us, it was a camping experience without any of the camping “amenities,” but we had a really good time. For dinner, we grilled chicken, boiled potatoes, and shared a little bit of US culture by teaching them to make smores.