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!