Eyeglasses & Bingo in Río Caña

View from the Car

Sunday I went to Río Caña with a Rotary International group from Portoviejo. Only an hour and a half away, the landscape was strikingly different. The dry hills and dust clouds surrounding Portoviejo were replaced by verdant foliage. In orderly rows, the tall skinny trunks of yucca plants reached for the sky. Cacao, avocado, plantain, banana, naranjilla, orange, and mango trees encroached on the winding dirt road.

Cacao Tree (See the Yellow Cacao Fruit?)

Boys Spinning the Sugar Cane Grinding Machine

We made a sharp turn into a plot that housed a contemporary country home and a larger farmhouse no longer in use. The homes in el campo have a brick foundation and a steep staircase leading to the home on the second floor. Walls and floors made primarily of canya (bamboo-like material) comprise the home. Hammocks hang lazily in one room and a porch looks out on the temptingly cool creek.

Bingo Game

I climbed up the steep stairs/ladder of the old farmhouse to find a home with six rooms. The kitchen housed a stove fashioned of a wooden counter with a carved out center for wood and charcoal. One large room housed the men’s beds and the other the women’s beds. In a multi-generational home such as this, eight or ten people slept in each room.

Historic Sugar Cane Grinding Machine— Once Upon a Time
Extracted Sugar Cane Juice

In the morning, the Rotary group and a team of optometrists set up camp beneath the old farmhouse and fitted community members for prescription glasses. With other volunteers and high school Rotary exchange students I sifted through boxes of donated glasses to find the necessary prescription for each glasses recipient. Oftentimes, the exact prescription wasn’t available. In these cases, it was fun to help the recipients try out a few different specs to find the optimal pair.

Lunch was across the street…the volunteers seemed concerned that I wouldn’t like the traditional country food, but it was delicious. Three enormous pots simmered over a wooden stove in the kitchen. One was filled with a soup full of giant lentils, carrots, and huge hunks of pork. In another, simmered the breasts, legs, and hearts of multiple gallinas (country chicken). Enough rice to feed a small village steamed in the third pot. I winced a bit before drinking the lemonade that had been mixed up in a giant plastic bucket, but was assured the water was boiled. My stomach is hearty and it was delicious. When I was unable to finish my portion of rice (enough to feed a full family of four), I had to assure everyone that everything was rico.

In the afternoon, the Rotary club put on a BINGO game for the community. It was a hit and as far as I can tell a huge chunk of people turned out for prizes consisting of household goods, candy, and five-dollar bills.

I left Rio Canya a little sunburned and with approximately a bajillion bug bites. Still, I was overwhelmingly content. My stomach was full of fresh mangoes and star fruit. I had the pleasure of meeting kind, energetic Rotary members and the humble, generous community of Río Caña.