Carchi, FARC and Vote '08 in Ecuador!

This past week I had the chance to a lot of work on my project on organic food. I met with a professor who runs an Integrated Pest Management class at the university, went to see the farm the university students manage, and had the opportunity to go to Carchi, the northern most province of Ecuador, quite near Colombia. In Carchi, the Farm and Field School (an international farming education program) had a field day, in which the members of the school from the different towns of Carchi put together a program to teach and explain different sustainable farming techniques. The stations included information about the ecosystem of the area, how to deal with pests like the white worm, and how to go about choosing a good potato seed-nearly all farming in their region, high in the sierra, is potato farming.

The people in the school also put on a skit about the highly toxic pesticides use, which, some years ago was used by many in Carchi. Many farmers got sick and the environment was damanged, so now programs like the Field School offer information about farming alternatives to pesticides. The skit portrayed a man who wanted to spray his potato crop to eliminate a plague, but was unaware of the dangers of the pesticide; and so proceeded to open the pesticide bag with his mouth, mix the contents with his bare hands, and refuse to wear protective gear. His final lines were" my stomach..my head they hurt" and the he dropped to the ground. The skit was really funny, but now farmers in Carchi are aware of the dangers of pesticide use, for humans and the environment.

Carchi is very close to Colombia, and I was told that many youth in the villages are take part in guerrilla youth movements of the FARC, which is a deemed terrorist group by the United States and also Colombia, that resides in the Colombian jungle. The FARC has been getting a lot of attention lately because just recently 4 more hostages were released, and 2 months ago, 2 women were released. Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela has been the mediator of these releases. FARC stands for Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is a marxist, Bolivarian inspired group, who claims to fight against strong Western influence in other countires including Colombia. It's a interesting situation, and most guide books and certainly our univeristy program tells students "stay clear of the north." I asked a farmer (though I know that situation would be different for an American) if things ever get rough or dangerous around the town and he said no, though he does notice includence from the FARC.

Finally, because we have internet in our house (well worth 40$ a month) I'm able to not only keep up with family and friends through skype, but also with the world news. Last semester, I didn't know what the hell was going on besides in Ecuador and at the university, so it's good to be back in the loop. CNN, the site I go to when I only want to know about American news, updates election news so regularly it's crazy. It must be really exciting to have such a close democratic race and I would have loved to see Obama when he came to Madison. It is funny, however, to be in a different country and see how much money and time and talk is put into the campaign. I usually laugh when I see updates about Hillary saying things like "shame on you barak" scolding, almost as if she is his mother. CNN en español also provides pretty up to date coverage, but it's interesting because they seek out hispanic interviews. If I see the a news title like "Obama, Clinto tangle/showdown/challenge/square dance... whatever in Texas" again...that's American politics I guess.