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pre e------ -- Seven familiar faces were back in town recently to share their experiences in Ecuador with the residents of Port Perry. The young adults were part of the Canada World Youth pro- gram with Ecuadorian partici- pants who spent half of their ex- change working on Scugog Township farms and the other halfon Ecuadorian farms. Mike Varieur, Claude Andre Nadon, Jarod Dobson and Tri- cia Duncan stopped by the Port Perry Star to tell the newspa- per about their three month stayin Ecuador. And by the look on their tanned faces, each of them brought home the memories of an experience they will never forget. ot that the trip to Nanegali- to and La Armenia was a holi- day for these young people. Nothing could be further from the truth. For Mike and his Ecuadorian counterpart, their morning started with a seven kilometre walk from the host family's home to the naranjilias farm where they worked four times a week. Naranjilias are an orange col- ored fruit that tastes like a "really acidic kiwi," Mike told the Star. The fruit is native to Mexico and Ecuador, and is not availa- ble in Canadian stores because it would never survive the trip north. When Mike wasn't picking naranyjilias from its spiney fol- age, he was chopping trees on a mountain and cutting the lum- ber into boards. The boards would then be strapped to mules and transported up the mountain to a truck. "My experiences in Ecuador were all great," Mike said. "I can't say I had a bad experience in the three months. Even abad experience could be turned into agoodone." Although most of the partici- pants stayed in Nanegalito and La Armenia, Claude stayed at a dairy farm about 1 1/2 hours away from the other communi- ties. "It wasn't a normal farm (in Ecuadorian terms)," Claude said. "My hosts were an innova- tive family." The hosts had a solar plate used to generate energy, and were beginning to experiment with methane gas from manure for electricity. His hosts were the first farm- ers in the area to try feeding their cattle with alfalfa, Claude said. "Now, most farmers just use sugar cane which isn't very good feed," he said. Claude also helped with milking the herd of 15 cattle -- a chore that took over two hours, he said. "It was the first time I had ever milked a cow by hand," he confessed. Claude helped build an out- door stable to milk the cows in. Before that, milking was done in the pasture. Each cow produced seven to 10 litres of milk a day, he said. Because of the per quality of feed, the cattle were only milked once daily. Other jobs on the farm in- cluded clearing pasture on the hilly terrain with a machete. Jarod stayed in Nanegalito, and although his host family had a farm, he didn't spend as much time farming as other participants did. "(The farm) was 45 minutes away from Nanegalito by car," he said. The farm produced Trago, a sugar cane alcohol. Jarod used a machine to "squish" the juice out of the sugar cane. "We produced 180 litres of (the alcohol) every three days. When asked how it tastes, a broad smile came over all the participant's faces. Trago had passed the test with them. Jarod's host father worked with the Ministry of Agricul- ture, and Jarod spent some time with him going to different parts of the region telling farm- ers about government policies inreforestration. All the participants took part in mingas (Spanish for work party). Most of the mingas in- cluded using machetes to clean brush around the church, hos- pital, soccer field and other fa- cilities. For the eight Canadian par- ticipants on the exchange, part of spending three months in Ecuador meant getting acus- tomed to different foods. "We had to get used to eating rice for breakfast, and for lunch, and for supper," Tricia said. It didn't matter what else the host family may be serving, rice was always a part of every meal, even at Christmas when the main dish was guinea pig. "It (guinea pig) is quite good," Claude admitted. "It just doesn't look very yammy." Fried bananas were also a popular dish, but vegetables were seldom a mealtime item. But the Ecuadorians did be- lieve in eating every body part possible of most animals and it wasn't uncommon to find a pig's ear, chicken's foot or head in soup, the participants said. Christmas in Ecuador was a Canada World Youth participants who spent half of their PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, February 27, 1990 -- 19 Students return home from Ecuadorian farms 1% exchange working on Scugog Township farms, have re- turned from Ecuador. Four of the Candian participants vitist- ed the Port Perry Star to relate their experiences In South America. Pictured are (In front) Tricla Duncan, (at back) Claude Andre Nadon, Jarod Dobson and Mike Varieur. See story for details. different experience for most of the Canadian participants. Gone was the "hoopla and com- mercialism,"" Tricia said. A tra- ditional religious celebration was held. Some families exchanged gifts but the gifts were usually small home-made items, the participants said. As for the relationships be- ANNOUNCEMENT Mr. and Mrs. George Stewart of Oshawa, are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter Cynthia Jean to Michael Wayne McDiarmid, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey McDiarmid, of Nestleton. The wedding is to take place in September of 1991. tween the Canadian partici- pants and their Ecuadorian counterparts, stronger friend-- ships developed in South Amer- ica. "For most of us I think the re- lationships got better back in Ecuador," Jarod said. Tricia agreed, adding that the language barrier was really beginning to break down. ASK THE EXPERTS! Linda and Marylou Decorate with confidence at - "We went down there with more of a knowledge of their language then they had of Eng- lish when they came to Cana- da," she said. After spending a few days in Toronto undergoing reintegra- tion (adjusting back to Canadi- an culture) and three days in Port Perry sharing their experi- ences with many of the people they met while staying in Scu- poe Township, the participants ave now gone their separate ways. Mike has returned to Sudbu- ry. Before returning to school in the fall, he hopes to continue working towards his pilots li- cence. Claude lives in Montreal. Al- though he doesn't have a school picked out, he hopes to attend university to study political sci- encein the fall. Jarod has headed west to Ed- monton. He wants to find a job until September and then re- turn to the University of Alber- ta to finish his degree in psy- chology. As for Tricia, she told the Star she was a little apprehen- sive about going back home to Lachute, Quebec. "I'm scared to home. I'll have to make all those deci- sions (about university and what to study),"" she said. When asked if they would participate in an exchange pro- gram again, all four Canadians said they would but not right away. "It's very intense," Claude said. "It's not an easy project. I'd wait a couple of years before doingit again." And Mike, Claude, Jarod and Tricia all had the same re- sponse when asked what advice they'd give to other 17-21 year oldsinterested in taking partin a Canada World Youth ex- change: "I'd say 'Go.' " sikkens CENTRAL PAINT oe & WALLPAPER avai te 295 Ritson Road South -- OSHAWA -- 434-3939 BUDGET INFORMATION 1-800-267-6620 If you have any questions, want more information about the Federal Budget, or wish to receive the booklet "Where Your Tax Dollars Go", call toll-free, Monday through Friday, between 9am and 5pm. Telecommunications device for the hearing impaired: 1-800-267-6650. A ---- NC No Department of Finance Ministére des Finances i Canada Canada SIIETN SL ee