October 16,2009

“Ignorance is bliss.”
I was eating a nectarine the other day, looked at the sticker, and saw that it was imported from California. There are only a couple of things that bring me into the reality that I’m living in the jungle, the nectarine being one of them. Being able to hear the wind coming up the river shaking the tin roofs, shaking everything insight including my door and anything that is not tied down, as well as bringing torrential rain. The bat that now has made my attic its permanent home. My cat waking me up at 1am because its fighting with the black “wild” cat that has decided to roam around my house. The leave cutter ants that have their endless trail going right thru the path to the outside bathroom, then under my house and on to I don’t know where (my curiosity only goes so far). Waking up to what sounds like a small airplane, but really is only a bumblebee that is building a nest in the eave of my house. Sitting in my room and having a humming bird come right into the room and then zoom right out. Taking a cold shower, outdoors, in the hot humid day. Feeling the rumbling of thunder and wondering if the storm will hit. When the storm does hit and your outside working, running under a banana leave (that you will share with at least two people) to avoid getting soaked (because you will get wet). Lying down at night and hearing the deafening sound of the cicadas and crickets as I try to sleep. Waking up at 5am to be able to be ready to get on the 6am truck that will take me into town to get the bus into the city to do groceries, check e-mail and post my blog :).
Changing pace, the big news out in Ecuador right now is the protests that are in progress. One of the indigenous groups out here called the Shuar is doing the major protesting. I do not know details, but know that they are protesting the recent changes in environmental issues made by President Correa, especially concerning oil companies, mining companies, as well as water issues. Things have not turned out well. So far, a Shuar was killed during the protest. It has been unclear as to who killed him and both sides are blaming each other so I don’t think that will be solved anytime soon. Protests, of course, include closing of roads by putting rocks, tree trunks and burning tires. As well as throwing rocks. The President has ordered for more reinforcement in all the areas of the country where there has been major protests, not sure if that will help. Because of this, we have been restricted on traveling, for our own safety. In addition, teachers are on strike, they are protesting for better pay, benefits, etc. The kids in my community have already been out of school for almost three weeks because of this! I don’t think they mind but they are definitely not getting the education that they desperately need.
On a lighter note, I recently discovered that Misi (my cat) is not a female, but a male. How, you might ask, do you not know? Good question, I have never had a cat before and when I got him, someone told me it was boy and then someone else said, it’s a girl. We where like how do you know? They where like cause that’s where the boy part goes. Fair enough, I believed that. For those of you that never had a cat (like me), its not like a dog where its completely obvious. With a cat, you have to make an “effort” to find out. I did not make that effort. We will fast forward to 5 months later where I find out Misi is a he not a she. I was sitting in my room reading and Misi was sleeping next to me. He was sleeping belly up and I was pestering him (since the night before he had made such a fuss that I couldn’t sleep) and then his legs fall wide open and I was like that is most definitely not a girl part. Eureka! I’ve been living with a male and didn’t even know it.

August 7th, 2009

My House


View From My Front Porch


The School Across from my house


The Backside of my House

“We either find a way, or make one.”

So the very important news first, I am an aunt! Adrianna was born August 4th! I am a bit sad that I wasn’t there for the birth or that I have not seen her, but thanks to Skype, I will be able to see her soon.
The next bit of important news, I have moved! I know live by myself in my own little house near the school. I have also passed a huge milestone, I finished my “probation” period of three months and I can now officially take vacation and take in guests (I have been in Ecuador 5 months now, 21 more months to go!). If you would like to come out and visit now you can. Living on my own has its perks, I have been able to cook my own food, to take in visitors, to go and play with the kids as soon as I hear them, we play jump rope, Frisbee, indoor soccer and anything else they want to teach me. I am starting to fix my garden up. So far, I have tomatoes planted. They where growing under my house so I re-planted them, with the help of Galo. He is a 14 old boy/teenager who came by to visit. He has to be one of the sweetest boys I have met. After re-planting we played cards, I showed him how to play speed (a.k.a. velocidad), he is getting better and I’m sure he will soon be beating me like crazy. Well, the next day he visited again and this time he brought some friends, I made some popcorn and then they wanted to play cards. We played slap and they really enjoyed it. Then Galo and I showed them how to play speed and that went well. It is very interesting to hang out with the teenage boys, because they are still teenage boys and their sense of humor is, well like a teenage boy. Galo is just not like that at all, he blushes when the other boys make jokes. They were also trying to teach me Kichwa, which is just hard, but I’m trying and hopefully soon I will be able to make complete sentences.
We had the second town meeting (since I’ve been here) about two weeks ago and it was mostly to discuss the preparations for the community anniversary, which will be anniversary number one. It will be a total of three day; there will be the crowning of a queen, sport tournaments, chicha drinking contests and lots of Kichwa dancing. I was asked to be on the party committee and I said yes, of course. I will be in charge of overseeing the food preparation and making sure everyone brings what he or she are supposed to bring. I don’t know if I have talked about the town meetings, but they last all day. This particular one started at 7am and ended at 6pm. It is so long to sit thru and it’s all in Kichwa, some Spanish. The funny thing is that they have two people that are supposed to keep the “peace”, they call peoples attention if they are talking or joking during the meeting (which happens a lot). These keepers of the peace, if you may, go outside, get a stick with thorns on it and poke the disturbers of the peace with it. I think that is more distracting to watch the keepers of the peace trying to keep the peace than the actual disturbers.
Let me share and anecdoct, on the first morning at my house, I walked out to the porch, saw, and heard a man walking in the middle of the soccer field with his hands out stretched and moaning. I tried not to pay too much attention, so I went back inside my house. Then five minutes later Misi runs in, so I go out to see what spooked her and found the man hanging from the porch railing about to jump onto the porch. I say good morning in Kichwa and he is non-responsive, I say good morning again and he then moans and leaves. Well, I later found out he recently moved to Puca Chicta with his brother and that he is a mute and not all there. Which is somewhat a relieved because it was either he was a drunk or a zombie.
I have had my share of scary stories out here. I believe I mentioned that there was a grandma that passed away awhile ago, well according to Nelsi (she is my 10yr old neighbor), she (the grandma) has been seen on a path that goes out to the house she lived in which is further in the jungle, in a white dress. I unfortunately been caught going by that path at night; I just can’t help myself; I end up power walking by (although I really want to run).
Projects are starting to pick up. I will be working on four projects; raising chickens, raising guinea pigs, following up with the Tilapia ponds and making a community and house vegetable gardens. I’m very excited to get started on all these, although on most of them I am not an expert, but thanks to the internet and Peace Corps, I will be pretty close to being one.
I also wanted to thank all of you guys who have been sending me care packages, it has been so great to get little things that remind me of home or make my stay that much more comfortable, thanks!!

June 26,2009 - Privacy or Lack there of

“He who handles poverty badly will handle riches equally badly.” –John Steinbeck

These past weeks I have helped plant rice, which was a first. They make a hole with a stick and then you drop a couple of seeds in the hole and you don’t cover the hole. It was easy, but it took longer to clear some of the plants that had re-grown in the lot than it did to make the hole and drop the seeds in.
I’m getting ready to make the move over to my own house, at the end of July. My community held a minga to fix a couple of things at my future home. Like the roof that has a couple of holes, the termites that had made a home on the roof (they need to move out before I move in) and a “shower” was put in. I say shower but its just four sticks with black plastic surrounding and stones on the ground (so the floor doesn’t get muddy). Oh and the plastic only cover three of the four sides (privacy is not an issue here, for the community). I am working on getting the other side covered. In the future, I hope to have a minga of my own to build a dry compost toilet for myself, since as of now I have to share the bathroom with the boys from the school, not an ideal situation. I can’t wait to move in to my own place. It will be nice to make food for myself and not be surprised with different type of jungle meat or having soup fish for breakfast.
On the note of privacy, its been quite the experience. The indigenous do not have issues with privacy. They take showers in the middle of the day and not in an enclosed place. I have seen most of my community naked at some point. Women breastfeed their babies and just whip them out without second thoughts. I do love my privacy so I will need the fourth side of the shower. Just my American upbringing I guess :)
I’m hoping to get a community bank started soon, so that maybe the handouts won’t be necessary. It will be a great way to teach money management and get the community to save and buy things for the community from their own pocket.

June 12, 2009 Rooster Myth

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Cool Worm/caterpillar Seen on my hike

The stream we walk up to the waterfall

Meet Misi (my kitten)

At the stream making chicha

Brown butterfly, the inside of the wings are blue

“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise.” – Henry David Thoreau

Ok, so first off I just wanted to vent on something. Who decided to spread the rumor that a rooster crows at the break of dawn? People, it is just that, a rumor! As it turns out the rooster crows at whatever time it feels like crowing; one in the morning, one in the afternoon…it doesn’t matter the time.
I now have a cat. In the words of Sonya, ‘It will one day be a cat’. A kitten named Misi (which is Kichwa for cat). She happened to appear at the door of another Peace Corps volunteer’s house and since I had been saying that the only way to get rid of my rats was to get a cat…I now own a kitten! She has been quite the experience. I have never had a cat and do not even consider myself a cat person, so it has been interesting. Misi sleeps probably every two hours and when she wakes up, she is so hyper! Everything and anything becomes a toy for her and that includes me, which can be very annoying. Shoes, backpack, luggage, mosquito net, my hair, earring, power cord, headphones and anything that she finds entertaining (which I haven’t figured out what doesn’t entertain her) she will play with. The first week it was a ten-minute battle before going to sleep because she wanted to sleep in the bed with me. I of course wasn’t going to have that, no matter how cute she is. She finally gave in and the battle has decreased to about two minutes. The important thing is that I have not heard or seen a rat since Misi moved in :)
These past two weeks we have had two mingas (it’s the community getting together to do community projects). Both have been to put in PVC pipes to direct water from the top of the waterfall down to our community. The first minga we drove about 10 minutes in a camioneta (truck) to the trailhead. There we hiked for about 40 minutes to the bottom of a creek. Then we hiked in the creek for 20 minutes to the waterfall and then climbed up the hillside to the top of the waterfall (waterfall is not that big). By the time, we reached the top I was so tired I could barely move! I was actually quite proud of myself I kept up quite well with everyone. I wasn’t in the front (man do they move fast), but I wasn’t last either. The path is like most paths out here super muddy and unpredictable. I did not fall until I was in the creek (those rocks are slippery). I was not much help to them; I did not have tools or strength to help. Therefore, I help the woman that make the chicha server it and to make lunch. Which was not hard and I don’t think I was much help. So we obviously didn’t get to our community with the tube but we got quite far with it. This past week we put in more tube and got quite far and the community president believes that in two more mingas the tube should reach our community.
Overall things are going well. I have days where I find it difficult to see how I will be able to help the people out here, but I figure that if I’m able to help one person maybe one family that will be enough. There is a big issue that just keeps coming up and its one of the things that makes it hard to help the community become sustainable. It is the handouts that they get. I will leave it at that and will talk about more on the subject on a later blog.

May 29,2009 Monkey Soup

“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.” -Unknown

Its official, I have been in my community a whole month! The culture shock has been good and bad. I have gone back and forth on the u-curve of the culture shock curve many, many times, sometimes within minutes. For those of you that don’t know about culture shock, let me explain. Bear with me, the explanation will be very elementary because I don’t really remember concrete facts just the basic overview of the theory. Here we go, so, when you are put into a culture that is not the one you grew up in you experience, culture shock (news to everyone I know). There are different stages of culture shock including, honeymoon stage, annoyed stage, humorous stage, sad stage and I think there are more but you get the point. These emotions, of course, falling in a u-curve and surfacing because of the fact that you are dealing with a new culture. Knowing that you are in the different stages is important, just so you know its culture shock and its “normal”. I’m trying to embrace it all!
Oh, before I forget here is my P.O. Box out here in Tena in case you would like to write to me. Also, if you send packages make sure that they are less than 2 lbs., you declare no value and don’t buy insurance for it. But make sure it’s certified. If they ask what is in it just say used books or whatever. All this is because if it’s more than 2 lbs. they will charge us out here and it’s always a ridiculous amount. So the address is:

Lydia Montes
Casilla 15-01-224
Tena-Napo
Ecuador
South America

I have also been had to overcome my first “unknown” illness. Well, unknown to me as an American. Apparently it is nothing new in Pucachicta. They call it mal de ojo or papa china and it’s an eye fungus that is contagious. Well my host mom had it first, at this point I had no idea that it was contagious (my family didn’t think of telling me that it was and I didn’t ask). Your eye gets red and swollen and the whole ordeal lasts a whole week. Well I started noticing that more people in the community started coming down with it but I didn’t think anything about it. On Monday of week 3 I go out to help my family in there chakra with the planting of yucca, which is very interesting and probably the easiest thing to plant and so know I know why they eat so much of it! Well anyways my host dad’s brother-in-law comes to help as well and he also has the dreaded mal the ojo. Well I don’t think much of it, again, although I can’t help but think it looks very painful and not fun. That night I get a bad itch in my eye and I rub it (of course) and the next morning my eye is red. I think that maybe, just maybe, I had something in my eye that scratched my eye and irritated it hence the red eye (because there is no swelling). I let the day go by and the eye is still red and itchy (so I keep rubbing) and then that night the other eye starts hurting (you can only guess now what happens next). So, I have the infection on both my eyes because I didn’t know that whole contagious thing. But do not worry I call the nurse and she gives me the name for eye drops and I go into town and get them and am on my way to healthy eyes again!
Another first was Monday’s dinner of monkey soup. I arrived at the dinner table to encounter a bowl of unknown meat. I think from the comment made by my host dad my expression said a million words. He was like its “carne del monte” (meat from the jungle). I was like “What kind of meat?” He was like mono (monkey). The rest is history! The meat was actually not bad at all, it was no steak by any means, but it was good. I got a limb of some sort in my soup. The soup was mashed banana soup which is not my fav but it was ok.
Then later than night my “best friend” (the rat) showed up in my room again. This time, he made a noisier appearance and it was a closer encounter than before. It jumped down from the ceiling to my desk, which I was sitting at. Then sprang to my bed, luckily it was covered with the mosquito net so it kind of bounced off. I got my host dad to come in and he didn’t get it or kill it and it just ended up squeezing out thru the ceiling boards again. Guess this won’t be its last visit.
I also wanted to thank all of you that have written to me it’s been great receiving mail, both snail mail and e-mails. I do read your comments as well so keep them coming. Miss everyone back home so send me pictures and e-mails on what you’re up to!

The "Cuy" May 15, 2009

Wow so it has been two weeks that I have been in my community and the time has flown by! Things out in Pucachicta have been quite interesting. On day two in the community I began my assessment of the community. The assessment consists of visiting each of the families (there are 43) and interviewing them, with the hopes of getting information on what exactly the community needs. So on Saturday afternoon my counterpart asks if I wanted to start the interviews and of course I say yes. I had on some flat dressy shoes and didn’t think much about it. We head out down the main stone road and then he was like oh this family lives a bit more “adentro” (meaning more in the jungle). I was like ok, not thinking that just the day before it had rained really hard. So we start walking off the main road and onto a smaller, muddier side path. My shoes started getting stuck in the mud and the mud was seeping in and I could feel the cool mud on my feet. Good thing the path was very flat and it took like 3 minutes to get the families home and I was relieved. Once we finished interviewing that family, we where heading back and my counterpart asked if we should interview another family. I was like sure, more mud won’t hurt. So we veer off the same narrow muddy path to another muddy narrow path, but this one was not so flat. So needless to say I totally slipped and fell on my ass! Then the path ends and we are at the river bank and I see no house. Meanwhile my counterpart is taking his shoes off. That’s right he is taking his shoes of! We are crossing the river on foot! So then he thinks of telling me what we are going to do. He was like, ‘oh yeah we are going to cross here on foot and then when we get to the island there in the middle we are going to take that canoe over to the other side.’ I was like ok, let me just do this. Well, they walked across the river like they where walking on water and I looked like I was walking on sharp pointy, slippery rocks (which I was). Man was I a sight to see! Thank god it was only knee deep. Then we get to the island and we wait for the canoe. The canoe is a canoe that was seriously carved out of a tree trunk and a narrow tree trunk at that, it’s about 2 ft wide. Well riding that canoe was another experience that I will never forget I thought it would tip over many times. But we reached the family and we did the whole thing one more time on the return trip with no incidents.
Monday we went to the school because they had a community day of work where the community comes together to work on a project a.k.a. a minga. This particular day it was to finish the addition of a classroom to the school. On this day I experience the making of the chicha and the way to distribute the chicha. Chicha is a drink that’s very popular in the Kichwa culture. It is made out of mashed up yucca that is then fermented. So it has some alcohol content. I personally do not like it at all but it’s a big part of their culture and they find it rude if you do not drink it. So I just take a sip and then say thank you and hand the bowl back (that’s right they drink it from a bowl). The distribution is done to the men first and then the women. I was asked to do the distribution, at first I was quite offended because I thought I was being asked to do it because I was a girl. Later I realized that is a big deal to be the one serving and making sure everyone gets some chicha. So I’m glad that I didn’t protest. They drink chicha at least 3 times a day at these events. Everyone drinks chicha from the babies to the grown ups. I should also mention that whenever you visit a family that is the first thing you are offered. My host mom that day was also helping with making the food for the workers. It was going to be chicken soup and there I saw the slaughtering of the three chickens and the feather plucking of the chickens. I have to admit it was not my first time witnessing this but it’s the first time I see it and am then able to eat the soup without any problems. The soup, by the way, was great.
Then on Tuesday I’m asked by the family if I would like to go with them to their chakra, which is another way of saying piece of land. So I say yes but first ask if I should wear my rubber boots. They say that I should. So we head out about a 10 minute walk up the stone road then veer off onto another path going into the jungle. There we wait and meet up more people from the community. Then we begin the work. The work is to clear and acre of land. When I say clear I mean clear there is no distinction between maybe not cutting down a certain thing or not its just chop everything in the way. We did all this with a machete and a stick that was cut for the purpose of pulling back things to be able to chop better. I get blisters like in the first 30 minutes but keep on chopping away, it was really fun to use a machete. Then we get the first chicha break. My host dad was like let me see your hands and I show them and they where like omg you have to stop. One of the blisters had popped, like an hour before, but they where like you did good just go over and baby-sit the kids for a bit. Well the kids would not have that they did not know me and would just cry at the sight of me. That has to be the first time a baby cries when it sees me. So I decided to get out of there and go take a shower since all the kids are in school and most of the grown ups are out working. Things are a bit hard when it comes to showering, since everyone just shower out in the open and there are no closed shower. My host family put up a piece of plastic for me to shower in and even that is not enough privacy since it only has three sides. So I have to find on my own something else for the other side and then hurry and take a shower. Well that night for dinner my host family makes more chicken soup and invite the people that where out working with us to eat with us as a form of payment. Then after dinner they where chatting and they ask me if I like cuy and I tell them that I have not had cuy (I know it just hasn’t been possible to have it). Well they were like, after you left today we found a cuy and here it is roasting in the fire. I was kind of shocked because one, I had no idea that cuy lived in the Amazon and two, I don’t think ‘cuy’ had a tail. So, it might be that the cuy out here have tails or it might have just been a rat, I don’t know. I did not have ‘cuy’ but I feel that I could have had it already and not know it, since there are times I have had unidentified meat for lunch or dinner. I would rather just not know really.
Well on Wednesday night I discovered my new friend. I had heard him scurry around the roof all the nights before but never thought that we would meet. I was sitting in my room reading, when all of a sudden there he is, a rat running up the side of my room. So I don’t panic, I’m just screaming on the inside, thinking how the hell it go in my room. Granted the room is made of wood boards that don’t completely meet at points, but I had no idea how it got in. (Wait for it), then I see it scurry out from the bottom corner of the room where I thought there was a rag just laying on the ground, but turns out it was a rag that was stuffed in a hole. So I try to find something to cover the hole because as much as I like company I do not want to see that rat in my room again. I find some broken glass in my room (don’t ask I think the room I live in use to be a storage room of some sort) and I place it over the hole and there was enough to stack it so that it can’t be pushed up or anything. So that night I decide to tell my family about my “friend” and think that they are just going to freak out. Nope I got the opposite reaction. They where like oh yeah there are lots of rats that come around the house there are even times when we have hoards of them that come thru our fields (omg).
Thursday was another work day where the community had another minga. This one was one where an organization donated banana seeds to the community and the community just has to plant them. It’s much harder than it seems because it also meant we had to clear a spot and make the holes. It was a good experience just to see how the banana seed looks like and to be part of an almost community wide project.
This past Saturday I went out to the chakra with the family again and this time we colleted cacao.
On Tuesday we had a community meeting and that lasted from 8am till 4pm, no breaks! It was intense! On this night we where having dinner in the kitchen like always when all of a sudden Mario, one of my host brothers, runs up to the door and slams the door into the wall. I was quite startled because I was sitting right next to the door. The host dad was like what is it? He was like oh it’s a mouse. AHHHH! So he opens up the door and sure enough there is the mouse all banged up and then the family dog, Mariposa did the honors of taking it out of the kitchen, thank god for that.
It has been two weeks in my community and they have been an awesome two weeks full of surprises.

April 25,2009

I have recently returned from my technical training trip to the Oriente, which was awesome (to say the least)! We began our trip by traveling to Puerto Quito. Puerto Quito is a city that is near the coast and has coastal weather, which means hot and humid and man was it hot and humid! We stayed at a really beautiful cabin/hostel right next to the river. We visited an integrated farm there that grows cacao, coffee, bananas; they also had tilapia ponds, chickens and pigs. They grow a lot of other plants that are very common to the coastal region and that have medicinal purposes. We learned tons about organic pesticide, compost and how to take care of cacao trees. Were able to eat some cacao, which tasted so good! We didn’t eat the seed part, which is what is used for chocolate, but we ate the white, gooey outside which surrounds the seed and that is really tasty as well.
In Puerto Quito we learned how to make a Nivel “A” device which is a level. It was really cool to make and then go out and make ditches for irrigation with it.
Later in the week we left to the Oriente heading out to Puyo first. The first thing we did was visit Jardin Botanico Las Orquideas (a.k.a. Botanical Garden the Orchids).This place was beautiful! The man who owns the place started rebuilding the jungle 30 years ago by buying the land that was a huge field of grass. He began by rebuilding the soil and then slowly planting trees. In this “garden” he has a gallery/museum where he has documented all the different insects, reptiles and animals that have started to appear because of the fauna that now grows there. There where also so many different kinds of orchids! There where orchids that where so small that we where using magnifying glasses to look at them. Even those orchids had insects in them. There where orchids that smelled really, really good. He had various types of medicinal plants growing as well. We got to eat a lot on this hike. He had cinnamon trees growing and we got to taste the leaves and the bark and it tasted like big red gum it was great. There was also a plant that smelled like carne asada! It was so weird!
We also stayed out in a cabin in the middle of the jungle and it was a great experience. We slept to the sound of the cicadas, which have to be by far the loudest insect of the jungle! Out there we visited some communities that are working with an organization that helps them build coverings for composts as well as helping them with gardens. We also went to a sugar cane processing factory and saw how sugar cane is processed and made into panela (brown sugar).
In Puyo we talked to a Waorani woman who has an organization that supports Waorani woman and their artesania. The Waorani’s are another indigenous group of the Oriente, along with the Kichwas and the Shuar.
Later that day we went over to another park that was replanted. This park was replanted by the Shuars. One of the Shuars married and American who has also taken into his hands to take care and rebuild the park bring it back to original jungle fauna. At this park we also learned about dry toilets, soil erosion prevention and about the Shuar culture.
Then we traveled to Tena the next day and went to the Ruku Kausay Association and learned more about the Kichwa culture and more about cacao, naranjilla and then descended into some ancient caves that where really important to the Kichwa people. In these caves we walked thru stream, we swam in pools and sat under a waterfall! That had had to be one of the best experiences ever! We also had some grubs as snacks and they where not that bad. So the cave diving ended out tech trip and it was a great way to end an amazing trip.
This week we have finished up our training and are ready to be nominated for Volunteers and if all goes well I will be swearing in on Wednesday! Then Thursday I will be heading out to Tena to finally go and integrate myself into my site and start to put to test the new skills that I have acquired.

April 4, 2009

Well, we have been assigned to our sites and I’m going to the Oriente (the Amazons) the lungs of the world, in the Napo province! I will be living in an indigenous community that speaks Kichwa and Spanish, but I will have to learn Kichwa. It’s a language that is very old, that was spoken by the Incas. There are two types of Kichwa languages that are spoken in Ecuador, one spoken in the Sierra and the other one spoken in the Oriente, and they are very different from each other, so I’m told. I’m very excited to be able to have the opportunity to learn this language and to be exposed to the culture of the Oriente.

We where able to spend a couple of days at our future site, to get the experience of how life will be for the next two years and to make sure that we are prepared to make the commitment to the community. My experience was intense to say the least. We left Quito at about 9am and I arrived at my site at around 4pm. The whole trip was beautiful. We drove about 4 hrs thru the jungle with wonderful views. My site is about an hour an half into the jungle and away from the main city.My community is about 300 people but its hard to believe because i probably saw about 25 people the whole time I was there. The community is great the people are great, but they are extremely poor. I have not seen this kind of poverty and it was harsh reality to face and it will be hard to live with. But my projects will include trying to create gardens for the people to feed themselves ,as well as create some form of income for them. It maybe by cacao (which grows well there) or some other form. I still have lots of assesements to do.

I still have about 4 more weeks of training and everythings has gone by so fast! Next weekend we head out to do technical training in the Oriente. I will be very specific training relating to our sites and projects.

Today was also my first official class of Kichwa and man it was very difficult! It is not like Spanish and not like Inglish...so I have quite a challange ahead. Both with Kichwa and with my site and I´m looking forward to both.

It´s been great reading your guys comments! And I still have had no cuy (which is guinea pig)! I dont really want to buy it off the street...so I´m waiting for like a family to cook it or in some social gathering and tonight i´m attending one so hopefully they will serve some there. Keep the comments coming! And write to me when you can!

March 10,2009

Well, I’ve been in Olmedo officially one week and it seems longer. Not because I don’t like it here but because there has been so much that has happened and that I have done. Also so much that I have learned and it makes me so happy to be learning again in such vast quantity and quality.
So training began Monday March 2, 2009 and it’s just been great. I’ve been really busy. In out community we had to go look for a place where we would be able to start a hurta (garden), the kinder garden school was the first to say yes to the idea of starting a garden with the kids. Soon this project will need to take off; we still have to meet with the teacher to figure out what will be the best way to teach. This project should be well on its way this week.
We went to an organic farm on Friday and it was amazing to see how “green” this farm is. Nothing is wasted, I mean nothing. We had an organic lunch which was delicious. They served green rice, a spinach broccoli ‘cake’, meat balls, a green salad, blackberry juice and for desert we had bananas. It was delicious. We planted some cabbage, lettuce, an avocado tree and some citrus trees. We also witnessed the slaughter of a cuy, I will spare you the details, but it was quite interesting to say the least.
Saturday I had a cultural field trip with my host family to a city called El Quinche. There we visited the Virgin of Ecuador, La Virgen Del Quinche. They were celebrating an anniversary so they had a procession and a live band. It was very interesting and quite similar to the celebrations for the Virgen of Guadalupe. There was lots of food and of course lots of places where to get some cuy (a.k.a. guinea pig) for el almuerzo (lunch). After, we went back to Cayambe and there I went to see my host brother play basketball at his high school, where there where two other matches. My host brother’s team won 40-8…the other team was really short compared to his team so the match seemed a bit unfair.
On Sunday the other trainees and I attended a health fair here in Olmedo. It was fun; they had a band, dancing and food. The fair seemed a success, lots of people came, there where lost of people that where looked at and it was such a nice day that there where lots of people around. When I got back to my host families home, my host brothers and their cousins where waiting for us to go and play basketball. I have not played basketball since high school and let me tell you that I am not good and the altitude doesn’t help. I find myself gasping for breath with the first dribble. I think it has been one of the hardest things to get use to. Going up any kind of incline is ridiculous!
Later in the day on Sunday I got together with my group and we started working on our community map. It’s supposed to help better understand the community that we live in and also its practice for when we are in our own site. We walked all of Olmedo, which took about 3hrs. We also finally made it to the cemetery which is on the edge of town. It is located on a hill and you get the best views of Olmedo from there.
So we found a place in Cayambe where they sell decent hamburgers and pizza. It is great to be able to have somewhat of a comfort food while being so far away. This Saturday coming up we have a cultural field trip, which I don’t know where we will be going. Our facilitator has told us that there are about 5 different places that we are supposed to go to and he is not sure where we will go. But I’m sure it will be exciting and beautiful as most of our trips have been.

Day 7

So much has happened since last time I posted.

We stayed in a hostel in Quito the first couple of days there and it was great. Its a huge city. I got to get to know the rest of the volunteers and it´s been really good everyone is really great to get to know them. In quito we visited mitad del mundo (half of the world), and we had typical Ecuadorian food which was delicious! We left there on Saturday morning.

I´m currently living with my host family in a small town near Cayambe where I will be staying for the next 2 1/2 months. I have two younger brothers and the family is extremely nice. They have a lamb and calf that are hand feed and it´s great to be able to feed them. The town is located at the bottom of the extinct volcano of Cayambe and it´s very beautiful there. It chilly during the day and somewhat cold at night, if that makes sense. Tomorrow we start our first training class in language and I´m looking forward to that.

We came into town today to do some sight seeing in the bigger city and to use some fast internet :)

Thanks to all of you that are following the blog and for all your kind words.

Leaving to DC

Today is my last day in Cali and I can't help but feel sad. Although I'm very excited and happy for the road ahead and can't wait to meet everyone that will be a part of my life for the next two years, I will miss you all.

I will be leaving tomorrow morning at 6:25 am from LAX. I'll arrive in DC around 4 pm eastern time and it is then that the journey will begin!

I will update you all as often as possible.

Hasta Pronto!