The youth of Arbolito go on tour

Last Sunday all the teenagers and young adults from our neighborhood Arbolito went on a day trip to the beach. It was put on by Nuevo Generacion, the band I play with at church. There were about 40 to 50 of us in total all packed into a commuter bus used for the daily short inbetweens of Duran and Guayaquil (public buses - plastic seats, hand rails along the ceiling). There were more people than seats so we borrowed a pew from the church and used it for extra seating in the aisle. We left at three in the morning and I imagined there would be a lot of sleeping going on in the bus, resting up for a long day under the hot equator sun. Nope. Reggaeton the whole way! We rode it 4 hours to Montanita, a beautiful surfer beach due west of Guayaquil. Apparently we were pulled over by police at least five times en route and had to pay some unexpected tolls under-the-table to our friendly men in uniform who keep us safe. I don´t know the laws around here concerning public buses being used for private use but I guess it isn´t something a couple of bills can´t assuage. So that was nice. I did not know any of this was going on until afterward. I was trying to sleep and to not get my face drawn on in lipstick. A hard two-some to do at the same time. Needless to say my attention was preoccupied.



But we reached the beach around eight o´clock. We set up camp at the southern part of the drag away from some of the crowds. Nothing but fun in the sun from there on out! We played a little beach soccer, a few were burried in the sand, actually the wet sand closer to the water was used like snowballs which I had never seen before, we strolled up north to see the surfers and the tide pools among the rocks, and we ate some very delicous food on the cheap.



I think my favorite part of the trip was just seeing all the young people of the town acting like young people. In town we see each other in less relaxed settings. We work with some in running after-school programs, we see others in church, others we see while they are looking after their younger siblings. Just this neighborhood in itself makes everyone more guarded, a little more stone-faced. At the beach with no parents (though two teenagers who came were parents themselves) everyone was able to enjoy themselves without reservations or self-consciousness. I found my self making associations within these moments to sentiments of my own continuing experience of youth. I rarely am able to see comparible aspects between their upbringing and mine, but on Sunday I was emersed in the glorification of the universal right to youth that too often is deprived of so many who grow up in environments such as this.

We left the beach at three or four in the afternoon and got back before dinner. There was less mania on the returning bus ride. I slept a little and no one tried to mess with me. Back to Arbolito, Duran. It was quieter. Everyone had seemed to get it, whatever it was, out of their systems. It was fun while it lasted.

quick review

So, I know I said I was back on the blog-train last month, but I got off I guess. I´m back on though? Time flies by so quickly. It feels like I blinked my eyes and it was a month since I last posted something. Actually it´s been like I blink my eyes and six major events have happened, four retreat groups have been here, and my personal perspective has melted twice and formed new solid states. I´m trying to keep it liquid though or at least flexible. I´m getting there.

December saw Christmas and New Years passing:
Christmas eve we went to our neighbor Pastora´s house for dinner after mass.
Christmas day we went to Damien House asnd visited the patients living with Hansen´s disease.
Afterward we went to the house of the director of Damien House, Sister Annie, for a big
Itanlian dinner.
New Year´s eve we built a 7 foot tall wood and paper michae muñeca and stuffed it with fire
crackers and burned it down (don´t worry its a cultural tradition. We´re not pyros). Then
we went dancing at a neighbors til early into the morning.

January:
George Washington University (our first non-religous retreat) and Boston College have come
through and have been really amazing. It was a pleasure to get to know them.
Iona comes tonight and Manhattan College comes Sunday.

I´ll end it here cause I need to run. I´ll try and give a more analytical or reflective post soon. till then.