Life is a funny thing. One never knows what it is in store. Two days after landing in Quito, I found myself eating pan amb tomaquet (bread with tomato) and dancing Sardanes, traditional food and dancing from Catalonia. By chance, we discovered there is a 'House of Catalonia' in Quito, and we phoned out of curiosity. We found ourselves drag into a series of events and celebrations the day after the phone call. Arnau is delighted with the coincidence.
Leaving aside this anecdote, things are working more or less as planned with the fieldwork. Apart from an annoying misunderstanding about the visa register procedure that will force me to go to Quito to avoid being fined. It actually involves a 10-12 hour bus journey (if no roads in the highlands have been damaged due to the rainy season), and a 4-6 day stay in Quito, right after entering the field. Hope it will not complicate things further.
I must confess I am actually enjoying myself. The weather is wonderful, the landscape is beautiful and people are nice and polite (although I anticipate it is going to take a while to go beyond that politeness). We have even run into a person we met while we were in Cuenca last summer! It was such a nice surprise.
The next days are going to be essential, and I going to negotiate my entrance to the field. At this point, I wonder why textbooks and articles always skip this part. The researcher is either about to enter the field and planning, or s/he is already in the field. I think they have missed such precious days in between. I will tell you about my experience soon.
