Be warned: its going to be a long one.

I’m writing this the Saturday that we returned from our site visits. Since I wrote last we’ve celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, cooked for our Family Appreciation Day picnic, appreciated our families at the picnic, learned of our sites, and visited our sites for a week. So much to write about!

First of all St. Patrick’s Day is not a celebrated holiday down here. Are you surprised? In the spirit of bringing American culture to Ecuador Kendra and I still celebrated. I told my family I was heading over to Kendra’s for the evening. When I responded to their question inquiring what I was going to be doing with “I’m going over there to drink” I got some funny looks. Funny is an understatement. I actually got disappointed but I-can’t-tell-you-what-to-do-looks. The people down here are the definition of passive aggressive. They’ll never tell you not to do something verbally but will make sure you know they don’t approve in every other way. I told them about Dad’s wild friend Charlie and his festive annual parties, showed them the picture of Lucky wearing her leprechaun hat, told the tale of green beer and car bombs. I guess there are just some cultural bridges that will never be crossed. Come February when everyone celebrates Carnival I’m sure I’ll be just as confused and probably soaked with water and paint as per tradition. So Kendra and I had a blast as usual. Pilsner is not even close to Guinness but when its all you’ve got you have to deal. I might actually become a wine drinker down here just because of the terrible beer selection. The grocery stores carry Pilsner in cans, bottles, bottles with twist off caps, Pilsner light, Club, Heineken, Budweiser, oh and Pilsner. I can’t wait to have a real beer when I get home to the states. Maybe in Quito the week of swearing in we can find something a bit darker than Heineken. No, I’m not an alcoholic, just a beer snob. Poor Aaron the wine snob isn’t faring any better. Ecuador isn’t really known for its beer or wine. Oh the little things you take for granted when you’re in the states.

Those crazy gringas celebrating St. Patrick´s day in secrecy

Saturday the 20^th was our host family appreciation day. It was held in Ayora where a bunch of our classes have been held. We were informed that we would be given 2 chanchos but would ultimately be responsible for the rest of the food, drinks, decorating and entertainment. I thought I’d put a spin on the regular boiled potato dish and volunteer to make potato salad. Ecuador has tons of potatoes. You go to the open air market and there’s a whole row of people selling potatoes of all different varieties. You’d think with all the varieties of potatoes that maybe they’d cook them in an equally various fashion. Not so much. Potatoes here are in soups, or boiled and thrown on a plate. Oh, or fried and served with fried fish or fried chicken (which Kendra and I ate at a fútbol game, leading to a week of sickness for me). So potato salad; something the Clark/Javor Family does well. We were cooking for a bunch of people. All the families of all the 54 volunteers. We’re looking at maybe 250 people. They eat a lot of potatoes so 25 pounds of potatoes should allow everyone to have a little. 25 pounds of potatoes, 30 eggs, a large package of seasoning (vaguely labeled “sabor” meaning flavor), about 15 onions, 2 cloves of garlic, a tub of mayonnaise (gag me with a spoon) and a large package of mustard. Aaron also had his heart set on making hummus so he got some chochos, oil, garlic, chickpeas maybe, and fresh veggies to chop up and serve with it. We had a large cooking fest in my house Friday night in preparation for Saturday. My family was getting a little weird and I think it was because we kind of monopolized the kitchen (not without asking- I did ask if we could use the kitchen and got the go ahead). Soon they took the pot of soup upstairs to eat dinner on the floor of Mom and Dad’s bedroom. I told them that we didn’t need to be doing all the cutting of veggies in the kitchen and that they can have dinner in the kitchen like usual but they preferred to eat on the floor of the bedroom. To each their own. They weren’t keen on the fact that we were working on a bottle of wine while we were cooking either. Drinking down here is something you really need an occasion for. I got raised eyebrows like maybe I shouldn’t be drinking when I offered them glasses (which they politely declined). We as volunteers are intensely prepped for what we’re going to experience with our host families as far as customs and dietary changes. We’re constantly reminded to go with the flow as well as be polite and be flexible. When you’re eating chicken feet soup you’d better eat those chicken feet or risk offending someone. Something tells me that our host families aren’t given the same talk. At times I feel like we’re the ones that are bending to fit in. At the same time, to a society that we’ll never fit in with. We are always going to be looked at funny and judged and laughed at because of our Spanish. Sometimes it really gets to me. I’m trying to be so flexible and to not raise my eyebrows when my family disembowels a sheep in the driveway. But when a group of 5 people shares a bottle of wine while cooking I’m left feeling like I have done something really, very wrong. Those feelings will abate sooner or later. It might just be a reflection of the community I’m living in as well. They’re strict on girls here. We still had a good time cooking and ended up with a large pot of potato salad, 2 bowls of hummus, and 2 bags of carrots and broccoli to bring to the gathering the following day. A job well done if you ask me.

My group (sin Laurel) with the supplies for the picnic

Saturday was the day of the picnic. My family dropped off the food at the gathering which is great because I wasn’t too psyched on carrying a huge pot of potato salad a half hour down a dusty road. What, that doesn’t appeal to you? My family was on the way to a memorial mass. I was still unsure the day of the picnic, Saturday, whether they were planning on attending or not. I know I’m like their 8^th volunteer but there’s free food! Sounds good to me and probably every Ecuadorian! When I had told them about it early in the week I learned that Mom was going to be at the market until 2 so she couldn’t go, and Dad’s got some class on animal care (I think he might be the “vet” for my town based on the big fridge of bull semen we’ve got in the living room), and Liliana has some kind of class in Quito. Yeah it’s a Saturday. Who has classes on Saturday- who knows. Later in the week the stories changed to now there’s a memorial mass that they have to go to. Mom’s leaving the market early to go to the mass, and all of a sudden Dad and Liliana’s classes have been canceled. When they were dropping off the food I asked if they were planning on coming by after the mass. They told me that it was going to last a long time (until 1) and I explained that the celebration actually goes until 3:30 so they would still have time. At this they just laughed. I’m getting the impression that they don’t want to go…so be it. I’ll still have a good time. And I did! I danced with 17 other “aspirantes” or trainees doing a typical Sierran type dance, costume and all. Our hats looked like giant bowls. I could have used mine to carry the potato salad over. They would be super handy to wear when its raining. You could store a week’s worth of water in one of those babies.

Kendra and I before the du-rag and shawl piece

We were dressing for the big shin dig and its just one layer after the next. A 2 piece skirt, a blouse, the hat, the belt that holds the skirt up, then a sash thing over the shoulder, oh and a necklace and bracelet as well. And then we learn that there’s a pirate/du-rag head piece thing that goes underneath the silly hat (that does not actually fit to the shape of your head). Damn we were lookin’ fine. And the boys had pants, a shirt, and poncho. Lame. We had to get to the place early on Saturday so we could put all of this garb on. And then wear it the entire day until they had us do the dance after lunch. I guess when it takes so long to put on you have to make it worth the time and just wear it for a really long time too. The families seemed to enjoy the dance. Gringos in Ecuadorian vestimiente. Quite a sight. All in all it was a fun day. After we did our dance we each grabbed someone from the audience to dance with. Integrating! Fun fun. Oh and Mom did show up after all! She just wanted to grab her pot and bowls. Just swinging through. I told her that she had just missed the dance.

Participants from my pueblo, our facilitator Fernanda, and Eddie who just happened to be with us

She didn’t seem too bummed. Later all of my dreams came true. Andrew, the guy in charge of placing us with our families brought the mail and the package of peanut butter had finally arrived! Chunky, Creamy and peanut butter cups!! Sick dude! I also had a package from Aunt Sling. There was a nice pictures of cookies and milk and I opened it to find 4 individually wrapped oreos all of different varieties: peanut butter, golden double stuff, regular flavor spring colors, and mint. I’m going to eat them with the peanut butter. That was the cherry on top of my Saturday. Thanks family! I guess you really don’t realize what you have until its gone. Oreos and peanut butter just aren’t abundant enough here.

Me and my booty

And how have I forgotten to include the activities of Friday! We all headed to the casa de mujeres per usual. At last the fateful day that we find out our sites. I was really interested in seeing where everyone thought they were going to end up. I was almost sure I’d be in the Sierra because that’s the region that I really wasn’t too psyched on. I was ready for 2 years of sweating and malaria ridden mosquitoes. Kendra figured that she’d be close to Quito because of her eye problem. She figured the doctors would want her close for checkups and everything. Aaron had the feeling he was going to be in the Sierras as well because Eduardo leaked that he’d be making cheese and we all know Sierrans love their queso fresco. Once we got to Ayorra we had to sit outside for a little bit and sweat it out, talking to friends about the possibility of ending up on the other side of the country, 30 hours by bus apart, and never seeing each other again. Finally we were let inside to find a giant map of Ecuador with all of the provinces marked with tape and rose petals. We were sat down and given an idea of how the site presentation would begin. All of our names were in a hat. One gets pulled at a time. Your name is called and you’re led to your province. You’re given the paper which has your name, site name, and province. I was called in the last 1/3^rd of the group. There were a lot of people on the coast so I was feeling optimistic for the oriente. What up insects every day, all day? Finally my name is called and I see my future site, Imbabura. I’m thinking, yes Imbabura I know I’ve heard that before, where is it? Is it one of those really remote areas? Or really high in elevation? Why do I know it? Before I know it I’m being led up the center of Ecuador. Higher and higher. Maybe they’re placing me in Colombia? We part the crowd and I see Aaron, Jake, and Roxanne waiting in the province of Imbabura, northern Sierras. Surprise, surprise. I wasn’t super psyched. All I knew is that I was in the one part of the country I really didn’t want to be in. Reppin Imbabura! People were getting really into throwing rose petals: Aaron (why can´t I get away from this kid!?), Roxanne, Jake, and I

At least the kids heading to Imbabura are cool. Aaron’s great. Jake seems pretty cool. Roxanne I don’t really know all that well but she’s from California so she’s gotta be pretty go with the flow. Jake was equally as disappointed as I. We did a little commiserating together later. Lauren of course ended up on the coast because she had her heart set on the Sierras (she hates hot weather) and Kendra is about 7 hours away from Quito, inland coast region. Go figure. So morale was not super high on my part. No tears though. We had heard from other volunteers that usually there’s at least one person in every group that cries when they find out our sites. We have a group of tough cookies, I didn’t see any tears. We were ushered to sit back down again and divide up into Ag and Natural Resources for a more in depth site presentation. We were given folders on our sites and all I could think of after reading about this place is wow Mom’ll be relieved. I’ll have a bathroom, I’m not in a malaria zone, I’ll have cell service, there’s another volunteer currently there, and I have 1,700 people in my community compared to the 250 that Lauren has. So much for that roughin’ it Peace Corps experience. I was bumming a bit. Then I looked at the name of the volunteer already there and remembered talking to him at the picnic the previous week. Ok so at least there will be someone that I can speak in English with when I get there. And I know (or think I know) that he’s a pretty cool dude. Things are looking up. Lauren and I still agreed that we’d switch sites in a heartbeat. She’s off the beaten path, has a latrine, no cell service, and hotter than a snake weather. Sounds like paradise. Making the best of the situation I text Ryan, the volunteer already in my site. I’m starting to get amped. I see that I’ll be working with an ecotourism group (hey if they’ve got tourism its got to be beautiful) and I see that the elevation is lower than Cayambe and hopefully warmer. I really wasn’t totally sold on my site until I got there.

We found all of this out Friday. Friday night we cooked and talked about how we felt about our sites. Saturday was the picnic. I really got into the dance now knowing that I was possibly going to be doing it for the next 2 years. Sunday we leave for our sites. Bring everything you need for a week. You’re going and you have to make a community map, seasonal calendar, and 24 hour clock for the men, women, and children. And finish your work plan with your counterpart. And move in with your host family. We were warned that this upcoming week was possibly going to be the worst part of our PC experience. Bring it on. I received word that the other volunteers that are in Cotacachi (a little south of my site) wanted to meet us newbies for lunch. Sounds like fun. These volunteers are from Omnibus 99 and on their way out. Jake and Roxanne are actually replacing their volunteers, Shelley and Kenji. Before we know it we’re in Cotacachi. It really wasn’t a very long ride at all. Maybe 45 minutes to Otovalo for a bus change and then another 30 minutes to Cotacachi. Cotacachi is a pretty little town. It is a big retirement spot so the prices are kind of jacked up. I feel bad for volunteers in that area because the people are used to the retirees bearing gifts. That’s not what a PC volunteer is going to do but it doesn’t change that expectation. We had a nice little lunch/breakfast. Got some questions answered.

Then it was time for me to head up to my site where the whole tourism group is waiting and excited to meet me (or so Ryan says). I caught the bus to Ibarra and then switched busses. Its and hour and a half ride to my site from Ibarra. Really not too painful at all. At this point I was starting to get excited and nervous. We seemed to be on the bus forever and I was SO paranoid that I was going to miss the stop. Fernanda had told me that morning that I needed to make sure that I got a bus that was going to stop there because she said that some of them just pass right through it. I was soon to find out that these statements were far far far from the truth. In reality my site is the end of the line. The busses stop there and then park there for a while. There’s only one road in and its full of switchbacks and terrifying bridges that if you happened to fall off, you’d never been seen again because they might just be covering the great abyss. Finally we arrived, my blood pressure a bit higher than usual. At this point there were only 3 of us on the bus. Ryan was there to meet me. We headed over to the tourism agency were I got to see some SICK pictures of the Páramo, where they take extranjeros, foreigners, on guided trips. I met my counterpart, German, and some other members of the agency. A couple girls in high school walk in, some guys follow. Before I know it I’m sitting with about 8 other people. 16 eyes on me. Way better than the 30+ people I was expecting. This is a new organization and it isn’t quite legalized yet. The ministry of tourism still needs to come in and do a capacitación. They can still do tours and everything, no worries. So first things first, I learn a little bit about the organization, what they offer (bikes, horseback guided trips to the Páramo, garden tours) and then go on a tour of German‘s garden. It’s an incredibly impressive garden! He‘s got everything you could ever want, including avocado trees. I actually saw my first tarantula too. There aren’t many animals but they do have huge tarantulas. You don’t seem them every day but they look pretty out of place when you do seem them. I half expected to see a dragon fly overhead. I wish I had my camera with me. After the garden tour I headed up to the hostel to drop my stuff off. We are greeted by Pikachu, the dog. He’s wary of foreigners as all the dogs in Ecuador are. He even gets a little bravo, or fresh, with Ryan, whom he knows. I will later arreglar this problem by bringing him pancitos every time I come home. After a couple of days my problems are solved and I’m the cool blonde girl that always has bread. Mariana, Mom #2 isn’t home but her son Giovanni is so I got to meet him. He’s about 13 or 14 years old. A typical 13 or 14 year old boy. I dump my stuff in one of the rooms in the hostel. Very fancy. Its not quite the same setup as in Paquiestancia. I’ve got my own bathroom and everything. Tre cool. After we dropped everything off there we went to have some dinner at German’s house with his wife and son, Andy. They’re a very tranquilo family. Just my style.

After dinner I was informed that we’re heading to a birthday party. For whom? Oh, a 5 year old that goes to the school where the community garden is. So its been awhile since I’ve been to a 5 year old’s birthday party but it was pretty fun. We had headed over somewhat late, about 8:30 but the festivities were still going strong. Kids were running all over the place. It was Jordy’s birthday. At first he just seemed like another kid but he’s grown on me over the past week. He has absolutely no fears of strangers. He’s completely free of inhibitions and a scream to be around. The theme of the party was Ben 10. Yes in English Ben Ten. En español: Ben Diez. Not quite he same ring to it. I’ve never even heard of this guy. Oh well. Promptly after arriving we were served large plates of rice with large beers to go with them. Maybe eating right before coming over was not the best idea. The festivities continued and a piñata was brought out. Sooner or later most of the families with the other kids left. Grandpa was a little deep into the sauce at that point and the pressure was on for Ryan and I to get our drink on with him. Ryan and I are trying to make an escape but Grandpa’s got us cornered with 2 more full beers. I was instructed to just put it behind me, he’ll forget about it. And he did. He was much more concerned about starting the dance party. He finds a CD and throws it in the player. We have no option other than to get up and do the good old “campo shuffle” with Grandpa. Meanwhile Jordy is still whipping around doing who knows what. It was nice typical Ecuadorian music except the CD was probably old enough to vote. It kept skipping and I was torn between “campo shuffle” and break dancing. Very entertaining to say the least. Grandpa soon disappeared for awhile and we tried the escape route otra vez. No dice. Grandpa gets ahold of us once again, this time to go smoke some cigarettes. Ok Grandpa let’s go smoke some cigarettes. For this event we were downstairs in the house. One step closer to the door. The cigarettes are smoked, some more beer is drank and finally we are free! This site is totally different than where I have been living. Drinking (maybe it was just the occasion) seems to be a much more relaxed activity. As we were sitting at the table there’s another woman sitting there breast feeding her baby. Grandpa passes her a glass of beer which she downs. Where’s that health volunteer? I make my way back up to the hostel. At that point its 11 PM and I’m pretty tired. My room in the hostel is great. My one complaint: the bed is SO loud! The frame is just super creaky. Doesn’t make a difference whether you’re in the middle or on the edge. I’ve tried it all. Later in the week I was able to sleep through the night more or less without waking up every time I rolled over.

I wake up around 6:30 on day 2. Only a half hour after the first family member rises. No they don’t get up at 4 every day to milk the cows! I finally met the rest of the family. Mariana is a sweetheart. She knows some words in English and sounds like she has a mouth full of marbles every time she attempts them. I meet Nyeli, the youngest daughter. She’s about 9 years old and very shy. I try talking to her and either she doesn’t understand or just doesn’t want to talk to me because she just stares at the empty space next to me and then walks away. Dad would freak out if he was there. I think its ok here for kids to just ignore adults. She actually did some talking back to Mariana the rest of the week. I meet Ugo, Mariana’s husband. He’s something. He’s constantly smiling; everyone calls him the man with the frozen smile. He also has a very thick campo accent that I have a super tough time with. And he likes to say everything super fast all in one breath. So this is what its like communicating with me when you don’t speak English? Later on in the week I asked what the opposite of asleep was and he replies “cama” or bed. I gave him a funny look and luckily someone else at the table understood what I was asking and corrected him. He thought it was hilarious. I told him that we have a mutual non understanding of each other. Soon after breakfast of a pancito and café (which my family here is able to say that they must not work if they’re only eating pan for breakfast; yeah this family isn’t judgmental) I head off to work with German, Ryan, and David. They’re working in the plaza right now. Ryan was able to figure out (with his PACA tools!) that the kids in here have very little to do after school. They need something to keep them out of trouble so they have designed the plaza to be converted from a large open field to a field with a little soccer field, volibol courts, a basketball court, and green space with native trees and medicinal plants. I’ll help plant the trees and plants when the time comes. Until then they’re just building a retaining wall against one side of the plaza. Dad, if you could see me now. I’m lifting rocks. They’re mixing cement and we’re building a retaining wall.

Workin with the men (German on the left my counterpart, and David on the right), getting funny looks but providing the example. Sí se puede!

Its so nice to be out in the sun all day. Its about 70 degrees every day and its almost always sunny. We’re surrounded by large mountains that just offer a tremendous 360 degree view. No its not the coast, but its paradise. After we finish work for the day we head over to the Jardin de Infantes, or kindergarten. There’s a garden right next to the classroom that PCVs maintain so the kids can have salads with their lunches. Its harder to change the ideas of the parents and make them cook salads at home. Why not just give the kids salads when they’re at school? The parents of the kids are forced to put in one day every month of helping out in the garden. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of excitement amongst the people here. The parents are only coming because if they don’t they’re going to be fined $5 which is big here. It’s a very cute garden. I’m looking forward to greening my thumb a little in the next 2 years and really learning the basics of planting and transplanting. Some day I’ll have a garden of my own and I’m interested to see how well the organic gardening works here. We’re going to find out!

The whole week was fantastic. I interviewed my family about their schedules during the day and the big events for the year like holidays, months of planting and harvesting, and seasons. I rode a bike around with Brenda, one of the members of tourism agency for a tour one day. Later on I walked the streets inventorying where all of the tiendas and municipal buildings are. I met the head officials of the town, the teachers, and doctors at the Centro de Salud. Everyone is incredibly warm. They all want to know how I’m feeling about the town. Am I feeling at home? How does it seem to me? Do I know how to ride a horse? I’m very excited to go back in a month. Oh! And maybe the most important part: 2 heladerías! Ice cream stores! The ice cream isn’t made with milk, just fruit juice, sugar, and ice but its still wonderful especially when you’ve been out in the sun all day. This site really does seem like a perfect match for me. There’s even a karaoke bar. With some music in English. I’m psyched. And I tried cuy for the first time as well. Its alright. I’m sure it will grow on me. Its kind of like chicken. Not as much meat and a little greasier but the flavor is similar. There’s actually a woman’s group, a cooperative, who raise cuyes to sell in Ibarra. The cuyes here are larger than normal. Must be something in the water. Wednesday night we went up to San Francisco, one of the 4 neighboring communities. Its about a half hour ride in the back of a truck. The road is wonderful. We pass fields of cows, corn, artichokes. We get there and have to wait for a bit, I’m presuming because we came in the middle of dinner. We pass the time by visiting a garden of one of the residents. There are rows and rows of “moras”, generally berries, I’ve seen both blackberries and black raspberries being referred to as moras. Finally the other group members show up. The people in San Francisco aren’t a part of the group but they actually have their own agency (larger or smaller than our group I do not know). We’re asking them if they’d like to join in with us for the capacitacion with the Ministry of Tourism. That’s all I got. The further away you get from cities the thicker the accent gets. It was a good first example of a townish meeting. The meeting only lasted maybe 20 minutes and before I knew it we were back in the truck.

Some ladies pasando tiempo en San Francisco

While we were in the meeting the sun had gone down and man its cold up there without the sun! The altitude makes all of the difference. Here its probably low 60’s at night while up there it had to have been in the lower 50’s. I can’t say enough about. Right now we’re lacking rain but the sun is beautiful every day. Its like being in a frying pan at high elevation. The sun is always on you but its never more than 75 probably. I love it. I’ll be a bronzed beauty in no time. And its not really typical for the people to wear shorts but I’m going to start a trend. Some days it is just too hot to be wearing long pants. Overall there are some large differences between where I live now and my site for the next 2 years. My site is much larger and lower in elevation. Both improvements. Also the people are less formal; less by the book. Mariana has short hair that she can’t put in braids like almost everyone else in the Sierra! When I was telling my family in where I live now about the birthday party their reaction was “you didn’t drink did you” and then when I said that yes, someone brought me a beer to drink, so I drank it they were shocked. What, a woman drinking?! They’ve really got me on lock down here. I’m ready to leave for my site! I was doing my laundry in the evening and they told me that I should finish in the morning because if I don’t I’m going to get the flu because its too cold to be washing clothes at night. Being respectful, I went with the flow and will finish it in the morning. I’d love to drop these people in CT in the winter. You want cold? The kind that leads to the flu? Try out CT in January. I think they’re just maybe jaded from having so many gringos live with them and know that we gringos cannot do anything. Anything that we try to do to help out with they will somehow correct or do over again. After awhile you get used to it but at times it makes my blood boil. I was a responsible, healthy person before I got to Ecuador, not an invalid. Oh well, at this point I think the damage is done. Maybe they’ve had some invalid gringos in the past and now I’m left trying to prove myself.

Simon Bolivar, the main street inmy site. Jordy can be seen riding his bike. He made sure he was within shouting distance of me for my entire walk home.

Before I know it its Thursday and my week is coming to an end. There was a party planned for Friday in Ibarra to celebrate the volunteers from Omnibus 99 who are finishing up their service and all of us newbies from Omni 103 who are just beginning. Everyone from the Imbabura province was in attendance. There were maybe 15 of us. It was a blast. We had tacos (yes Mexican food!!!) and I brought a box of good ol Clos wine from Chile. Its the same wine we used to drink every night with dinner in Patagonia. Finally after the stores had closed and we couldn’t buy more beer or wine it was time to go out. I went to my first discoteca, or club, and it was so much fun! Yes we looked ridiculous dancing because we’re gringos but I haven’t gotten my dance on in full swing in a while. Not having those climber ragers to get my dance out resulted in a full on dance fest Friday night. We went to 2 discotecas and returned back to the apartment around 1:30 or 2 am, by far the latest I’ve stayed up in Ecuador. It was a blast. Unfortunately there were a few of us staying over at the apartment without a crazy amount of space. There were 6 of us staying and one futon mattress on the floor. 3 of us managed to squish together on the mattress while the other 3 (smarty pants kids) brought sleeping bags and roughed it on the floor. The next morning we had some leftover beans with eggs and bread and batidos (Ecuadorian style milkshakes with fruit and milk). From there Aaron and I walked with Alex to the consolidation hotel (if there’s an emergency there are consolidation points in every province, ours being in Ibarra). Some sweet digs. I wouldn’t mind getting consolidated and getting to hang out there. After we saw the hotel we walked over to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Otovalo and then back to Cayambe from there. After talking to Aaron about his site without cell service, cabinas, and any phones able to call cell phones I’m feeling pretty good. My site looks like a resort town compared to his. Ryan kept telling me that I had the best site in PC and I think that the more I talk to others about their sites the more I tend to agree. Sure I don’t have lush jungles or abundant insect life but I have a warm and safe community that is just the perfect size with plenty of work.

Upon arriving back I find out that only 4 of the baby pigs are alive. Momma chancha keeps stomping and killing them (it’s the ciiiiirrrcle of liiiiife). Hopefully the 4 that are left are nimble. The unnamed cat who is pregnant is just getting bigger and bigger. Here they don’t use the phrase “bun in the oven” when someone is pregnant. I told them that the cat has “galletas en el horno” or cookies in the oven. They’re still in there. She’s just getting a little bit bigger, hungrier, and whinier. I doubt that she’ll “dar la luz” before I leave unfortunately. Who knows though. Maybe she only has 1 or 2 galletas in her oven and will have them soon. We just realized that she was pregnant maybe two and a half weeks ago. When I asked how long the gestation period was I was informed that its maybe 6 weeks/2 months. And then Liliana told me right before I left that she was probably going to have them this past week. So its anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 months. I guess she’ll pop them out when its time.

Lazy Sunday morning activities

I’m also greeted by a new puppy who looks a little like Coyote. Good news, Aaron and Lauren: one more dog added to the neighborhood gang that chases you every time you venture into Kendra and my area of the world after dark. There are so fewer dogs in my future site. Its refreshing. No perro palo necessary there.

Coyote and I playing in our usual fashion...it looks worse than it is.

Neighbor kids playing in the dirt in their fancy clothes

We’re winding down in training! We have this last week with our families for Semana Santa and then we leave for 2 weeks of tech training. I think at least part of it is going to be down in Cuenca because I got a call from the office asking if I’d like to participate in a 15k race that our training group has the option of participating in. I graciously declined and assured that I would be much more useful on the sidelines cheering everyone on. After the 2 weeks of training we return to Quito for the last few days of preparation before swearing in. The actual ceremony is on the 22^nd and then we’ll leave for our sites from there. I’m only about 5 hours from Quito. So ideal. I think everything’s going to work out. 2 years might just fly by. My psych level is high!

Custumbres custumbres! Tonight I went to the after party of a baptism. Yeah that’s right, in Ecuador baptisms have after parties. They didn’t call it that but that’s what I’m calling it.

We didn’t go to the ceremony because there was a minga going on. A minga is like a community service project. The community will agree to get together at a specific time for a specific activity. I’m not sure what the occasion was today. In other news our chancha had babies yesterday! Originally there were 12 but today one died. I was looking at all of them chowing down this morning and then mom got up and one didn’t move. And then she proceeded to sit back down on it. She’s not doing so hot. My family spent the afternoon today administering medications to her because she’s refusing to eat, entonces the babies aren’t getting to eat either. They’re pretty cute I have to say. I checked on them this afternoon and there was a real live pig pile going on. I might have to use that phrase more often now having seen an actual pig pile. Also, they do use the phrase “eat like a pig” down here. Also if you don’t want to make a pig of yourself at a meal you can just say “no quiero hecho un chancho.” Ok, enough of the pig phrases.

Not only did the chancha have her babies yesterday but we also had the sports day with all of the trainees back at CAAP. A bunch of volunteers came because this was also our opportunity to meet our big brothers/sisters. Unfortunately my big sister was unable to attend because overnight travel was temporarily banned for volunteers. In my understanding it’s the rainy season (that’s the story anyways) and the roads tend to get washed out, making traveling dangerous. I mooched off of other peoples big brothers and sisters and got my questions answered. We also had a futbol championship. 10 teams and we made it past level 1! Unfortunately Kendra was not in attendance. The doctors had her in the hospital for 3 nights pumping her full of steroids for her eye. I hope it gets better soon! Wearing sunglasses all the time must either be a real pain in the ass or super convenient, allowing you to sleep/creep on people all day without them knowing it. So we made it past level one. I am not used to this altitude still. I was sucking wind the entire time. Luckily they were only 20 minute games. Oh, and I got one of the 3 goals. Siiiick. I didn’t realize that we were playing championship stylie so I gorged myself at lunch and then had to go play again. We did not win round 2. Buuuuut the team that we played against ended up winning it all. Either way we all looked super awesome in our custom made shirts that only cost $4.25 each! From left to right: Reinita, Queso, El Volcan, Lorenza, Golosa (with a z), and Chiquita (Fernanda, Aaron, Laurel, Lauren, me, Kendra’s spirit). It was a super fun day. And we didn’t have potatoes, nor soup, nor rice for lunch. Such a sweet change! Its like a flashback to summer in the states!

We trekked into Cayambe to hit up Gran Aki after the games. I’m making breakfast for my family tomorrow: llapingachos. Its a dish with avocado slices, chorizones, a salad of beets, carrots and cucumbers, a fried egg, and also these potato pancakes which are called tortillas down here. I had to hit up Gran Aki and the market to pick up some goods. And of course ice cream. A trip to Gran Aki isn’t complete without a stop at the neighboring ice cream shop. After returning home we had some dinner. Well I had dinner while my family disemboweled a sheep. Third one for the day actually. I wondered why I was the only one eating and why everyone else was outside; I look out the window to see the sheep hanging from her feet and Papa in elbow deep pulling out all of the internal organs. The head was sitting on the ground with the hooves. Liliana came over to collect the goods from Papa which she then proceeded to wash on the same stone that we all wash our clothes on….yeah! That’s why the dogs love me! Maybe I’ll wait to wash my clothes tomorrow until someone else does. This is a Friday tradition. Kill some sheep. Clean off the organs. Cook them up early Saturday morning to sell at the market with the meat. Sell the skin and wool in Cayambe Sunday.
Lauren and her Ecuadorian fam fam

After I finished eating (somehow) I skiddadled off to Lauren’s house to make cheese. I like spending time with other families. I can talk about the same things that my family has already heard. Its like starting all over again! Back to the simple topics of conversation. Lauren’s mom let me try the cheese water (the water that separates out from the milk when you put the coagulant in it). I was about ¾ of the way done with the cup (by the way it just tastes a little like milk) when her sister tells me, don’t drink too much it will give you diarrhea. Awesome! To make my Friday night even cooler! Before I left for the night I realized that she was just making conversation; I would have had to drink the better part of the bucket to have serious consequences. Thank goodness. Lauren’s family is very entertaining. She has 4 siblings so there is always something going on. By 9:15 I had decided to head out. I grabbed my dog stick, or perro palo as I like to call it. The one thing my entire family said to me before I left for Lauren’s: be careful around the dogs. Good advice. My heart nearly failed me as a rounded the corner by the church. There are 2 St. Bernard crosses that like to hide in the shadows and jump out at unassuming gringas walking home after making cheese. I presented my stick and told them to buzz off and continued on my way. The entire walk home dogs are coming out the woodwork to bark at me. A couple started to advance toward me so I did the good ol pretend-to-pick-up-a-stone-to-throw-at-the-dog trick. Gets them every time. Its terrible that people actually throw rocks at dogs here but I’m glad that they’re expecting it so I don’t actually have to throw a stone to get the reaction that I want. I made it home eventually. About half way there I decided that maybe it’s a good idea to whistle so that I don’t catch any dogs off guard. There’s nothing worse than walking by a house and having a dog just charge you because they didn’t hear you coming and now have to make up for lost time. The whistling was good. I did some talking to Coyote when I got to our driveway hoping that he’d recognize my voice. Good boy recognizes his chew toy when he hears her. He’s only 7 or 8 months old and wants to play all the time but has no toys. I want to get him some rope or something. Anything would be better than my leg. My right is his fav. He never bites bites, only play bites but sometimes if my pants aren’t that thick or if he somehow gets my ankle those teeth sure do hurt.

Before going to class this morning I helped my family load up the truck for the market. Anything besides being in the house! I don’t care how rich you say those organs are: they smell terrible! I impressed Mom when I carried the tub of meat out by myself. I’m slowing trying to prove myself to my family. The tub o sheep: a good start. When I asked what next: oooh the table! Oooh no problem! We went to Ayora for the morning for more medical consejos. Only a 4 hour day which was nice. And we got our last vaccination! Yeah 3rd rabies shot! And we got our anti malaria meds because our site visits begin a week from tomorrow. Which means that we find out our sites on Friday….I’m amped. Anyway, we went to Ayora in the morning and then I got some fashionable gelly shoes that all the ladies have down here. They’re nice and flat, not that I’ll ever be able to look most Ecuadorians in the eye. I like them. They’re a nice alternative to my hiking boots and Sambas. We hurried back to Paquestancia because there was a bautizo underway. The ceremony started at 2 but my papa informed me that we would be going to the reception only because of other work that had to be done. I did some reading and started to prepare my vegetables for breakfast tomorrow. Around 6:30 we ended up going to the reception. The music was already bumping at this point. It started eerily the same as the velario (or wake). We entered rooms and were served mass amounts of food and soup which ended up in fundas to take home. After that the dancing began. Or continued. As Kendra, Aaron, and I entered the room people started altering their dance moves so that they could turn and get an eye full of the gringos that just walked in. I’m used to it, that’s fine. So we stood there for maybe a minute and then got invitations to dance. And drink. Drinking is different in Ecuador. No one brings their own drink. There is no BYOB in Ecuador. People walk around with beers and boxes of wine with cups and offer you a little bit by bit. A mouthful of wine here, a gulp of beer there. And not good wine. Wine that is flavored like apples, and pineapples, and strawberries, that you can buy for $1/liter. I’m expecting a headache tomorrow. It was a super fun time. There was a band and we were all getting our dance on. I understand how your fish in your fishbowl feels. I kept seeing flashes, because everyone is taking pictures of us. These 2 little boys stood, jaws on the floor, starting at me for probably more than 5 minutes. I understand the curiosity. If I lived in a community with a bunch of blonde haired, green eyed people my jaw would drop the second a brunette walked in. Its totally valid. Legit. It seemed like even the bugs were confused. Moths kept landing on my face. I know I’m taller than everyone else and have very white skin, somewhat like a light, but come on! Mom, you can rest easy. My mom here is just like you. I was whisked away very promptly at 9 PM. Bedtime. Kendra wanted me to stay and walk back with her family because they live across the street but Mom was not having it. I was ok with it. Totally ok. I had had enough of dancing and boxed wine. Not to mention I’m making breakfast tomorrow. Hopefully it will be a little more successful than the French toast. About a week ago I decided to show the fam how we do breakfast in the states. And they started cooking lunch about an hour after we ate. Great success…at least they claimed to like it. I’m making Ecuadorian food tomorrow. They should be down with it. One of these days I should pull the cobwebs (not really) out of the oven and try making pizza. My dad loves to say pizza. But its PEEPsa. I think sometimes he’ll just start conversations about it just to say the word. PEEPsa is on the menu to make before I leave.

The unnamed kitty cat.

Oh boy my first blog entry! All of the words are showing up with red underlining and I just realized its because I switched the spell check on my computer to Spanish….
Where to begin? Tomorrow is the beginning of week 3. I’m not counting the week that we arrived. We’ve been living with our host families for a little over a week now. Its been quite the experience. Let’s go back:
When we first got to Ecuador we were quickly shuttled off to hotels in Quito; the agriculture kids in one and the natural resources kids in another. We met the language facilitators and Jeanette, the training manager. This was all Thursday. Friday we took a trip to the Peace Corps headquarters, also in Quito. We had our language interviews, pictures taken, immunizations started, bank accounts applied for, host family forms filled out, and training allowances dispersed. And then lunch. And then a long talk from a couple guys from the embassy about “current events”. I could not keep my eyes open. I felt bad because I’m pretty sure no one could. Mornings start early here. They’re called madrugados (early mornings duh). And I was and I was feeling that they started early before I even came to live with the host family that wakes at 4 am to feed the cows….more on that later. After the talk on current events we had a talk about personal safety. The first of many as it turns out. Its totally ok, they’re completely necessary. Sometimes a little scary. Especially the ones about bus hijackings and kidnappings. Ecuador is not the United States. It is no more dangerous than the States but things are just different. So, personal safety talk number one. Afterwards we returned to the hostels for our second and last night. I made some friends and drank some cheap beers (which, by the way, do NOT compare to John Harvard’s).

Some studs...you know.

The following day we went to the Mitad del Mundo, or the meeting of the world. I didn’t realize it was going to be such an experience. I figured we’d go to some park and have lunch, coincidentally on the equator but no: we were brought to a museum with outdoor exhibits and an indoor setup with the different types of people and environments found in Ecuador. It was the MOST FRUSTRATING THING trying to go on these tours when they’re speaking in Spanish all the time, and not slowly like the facilitators, full speed ahead Spanish. I think now, 2 weeks later, I would be able to understand so much more but it was sort of a rude awakening language wise. I did learn many things and had a very enjoyable day. I got to see water drain straight down over the equator and then swirl clockwise and counter clockwise on either side of the line. I balanced an egg on a nail and got a certificate for it. Turns out that you can’t walk in a straight line with your eyes closed on the equator either. And the story is that you weigh 3 pounds less as well. Its quite the place! After leaving la Mitad del Mundo we headed north to Cayambe and el CAAP where we stayed for the next week.
This week was just a whirlwind of food and classes. We tried all kinds of Ecuadorian food like epanadas, queso fresca (which Cayambe is known for), and platanos fritos. We learned all about personal safety, personal health (including diarrhea and malaria, I know you’re jealous), transportation safety (sit on the right side of the bus over the tire or bust), PACA tools, training guidelines, and language. Every day began with breakfast at 7 and then class from 8 until a cafesito around 10:30. Followed by more class until lunch around 1. Followed by more classes and then another cafesito around 4 or 4:30. Finally we would get some more food around 7! It was very cool to be around plenty of other people as like minded as I am. Most of the other volunteers are young, I would say most are fresh out of college, some a couple years beyond college. I know of 2 volunteers doing the MI program. Despite my feelings of knowing these people forever, I still felt a little like I was back in 7th grade during meal time. We’d all be in line, get our food and turn to face the whole room of half full tables. Yeah! At this point I had made some very good friends. This is Omnibus 103! All 55 of us! I’m amazed at the number of kids from CT. Out of 55, 4 are from CT. Pretty spectacular. I guess CT is a pretty cool place, producing some pretty cool people. After 5 days of intense eating and classes we were sent out into the real world. My papa came with a truck, how cool. Or chevere. That’s cool in the Sierra region. Its probably the word in my vocabulary used most frequently after “OK”. Anyways, Friday afternoon a representative from our family arrived to escort us to our new “training sites.” During the previous week we were divided up into 10 different language groups. I must have really screwed up my initial interview because I was placed into the lowest group. The facilitator of that group realized that I knew a little bit more so I was relocated into the Intermediate Intermediate group. I was pleased with the level because that is exactly the bottom level necessary to be at by the end of training to be allowed to serve as a volunteer. So if I don’t improve my Spanish at all in the next 7 weeks I’ll still be able to serve as a volunteer. I’ll improve. I’ll knock some socks off. Our language group was destined for Paquiestancia. Our soon to be family members came to retrieve us. And spoke no English. And continue to speak no English. What up immersion

A balanced egg on the ecuator:

Full sized fork here...its like corn but on steroids, they call it choclo and yes, eat it with cheese:
The first weekend was a weekend to spend with our host families. When we got to the community Friday night I went with Papa to meet Mama and Liliana my new sis. They were getting the milking done for the afternoon. After milking we drove to a pasture where the earth was open exposing a broken pipe. And soon began the process of fitting a new pipe into the old one. There’s fire, there’s fitting, there’s more fire, maybe some sandpaper, and then maybe some glue to hold them all together. But wait! The fit isn’t right we need to start over! I’m sure they exchanged some words about the gringa but I was none the wiser. Once the pipes are fit into each other water needs to be poured over them to set them I guess. They rapidly called for water and having no containers everyone just used their hands. I got a big ol hand full but managed to lose it all on the way from the stream to the pipes. I told them that “mis manos tienen huecos” (my hands have holes) and that got some laughs. Maybe integration won’t be that difficult after all. Saturday morning I learned that they wake up at 4 am because they have 12 cows that need milking. And not only do they have 12 cows, they also have a pregnant chancha, a non pregnant chancho, several sheep, a dog (Coyote or Gigante), a tiny kitty, and maybe 60 cuyes. We haven’t eaten one yet and I’m ok with that. I can’t imagine that they have a whole lot of meat on them. Anyways, they wake up at 4 to milk the cows and this being Paquiestancia (when you look up “cow town”….selling milk provides about 80% of the town’s income) they have fancy machines that they stick on the cows to get the milking done with. Its all very fancy. Technology at its best. After the milking (I missed it, I was allowed the luxury of sleeping in until 6:30) we had breakfast and then the process of setting up at the Saturday market. My papa showed my the inside of the refrigerator when I first got there Friday night- chock full of sheep. And not sheep in a container, just a leg here in the door, some ribs on the bottom shelf, the shoulders on the top shelf….I figured this family must just really really love sheep meat. Turns out that they sell it at the market. I breathed a little sigh of relief, not that I have any thing against sheep meat. Its actually pretty tasty, a little sweeter than cow (and less duro according to Liliana). So Saturday morning is the time for the market. Fernanda (my language facilitator) had us (the group of 5 including me, Lauren, Kendra, Aaron, and Laurel) start interviewing people using the PACA tools: Community Map, 24 hour clock, Gender Matrix, and Seasonal Calendar. I took on the task of finding out aspects of the seasonal calendar. Everyone I asked looked at me like I was growing another head. They all kept telling me that they had just 2 season, the dry season and the wet season. Thank you, I know that. I somehow managed to get across that I was also interested in events throughout the year besides the seasons like when crops are planted and harvested, seasons of disease, school year, and holidays. After a little frustration I was able to get a pretty full calendar. I learned a very important word: deletrear. To spell. The accent in Paquiestancia is hard to understand at times although probably not as difficult as the accent on the coast. Here a lot of the words end in sh or psh. Perro is actually persh. Needless to say I got the job done. My group members likewise got the job done. That was the big event for the day. The rest of Saturday was spent settling in and trying to talk to my family.

The view of Cayambe (the volcano) from CAAP:

Sunday was an ugly day for the most part. I was starting to feel a little homesick. I broke down and pulled out the cry face for my family. I’m such a chatty person and its really tough to be in a situation where what you’re saying is reduced by at least 50%. I know that this will improve with time. In another week I’ll be heads and tails above where I started out. Time is just moving a little slow. I need to appreciate this time where I have 5 other volunteers living at most 15 minutes from me. I see them every day and speak English with them every day. In less than 2 months I’ll be at my site and surrounded by Spanish every day of the week. These are the days! Sunday I went into Cayambe with my family. They sold the skin of the sheep that they butchered 2 days earlier. It’s a weekly occurrence. Kill a sheep Friday, sell the meat Saturday, sell the skin Sunday. How’s that for a schedule? Writing this the second Sunday that I’m with the family I still feel like I’m on vacation. I’m starting to adjust. I’m getting the hang of asking people for directions when in Cayambe. I’m getting better at listening. I still find myself tuning people out when they’re speaking Spanish. Its really hard for me to seriously listen to people speaking in Spanish when they’re speaking to a large group of students (more on that later).
Monday began the week of cultural activities in our communities. My compañeros and I met with Fernanda every day of the week and reviewed parts of the language (ser/estar, present progressive, technical vocabulary, por/para) and culture (customs, ethnicities, typical dishes). Thursday we went into Aroya which is about a 30-45 minute walk depending on how long your legs are (according to Kendra’s family we can make it in 20 minutes because of how long our legs are). All 55 of us reunited again! Of course there were more vaccinations to be had as well as site presentations. In Spanish. Good practice for the charla (from the verb charlar: to chat) that we’re going to have to give on some aspect of the environment/agriculture to the local school in Paquiestancia. It was great to see everyone again and hear the stories of the difficulties with the language, food, and culture. After talking to some of my fellow trainees I feel like I have it easy. I’m the 8th (maybe 7th?) volunteer that my family has had in their house. They know that we don’t eat intestine soup in the States. They know that we don’t eat a whole lot of white rice with every meal. They know that we like our alone time every once in awhile. Some of these volunteers have some stories…

Some aspirantes cutting a rug in Nono:

We had una viaje cultural planned for Friday and Saturday. Grupo Paquiestancia went with two other groups to Nono (yes yes) a small town about an hour and a half south of Quito. It was a very pretty little town. It seemed a little bit bigger than Paquiestancia; at least the school did. We went to the school to talk to the kids about recycling. They matched one trainee with 5 kids. It feels good to have 5 blank stares at you all at the same time when you’re trying to conjugate the verbs in your head in a timely manner. The language will come with time. Until then all I can do is laugh at myself. Thanks Mom and Dad for the sense of humor. After we talked to the kids about recycling we went to check out this person’s garden. We ate some strawberries right off of the ground even though instructed not to. Its super hard to not eat strawberries right after picking them. We’re not supposed to eat raw fruits or vegetables that grow right on the ground or in it because of the possible amoeba content. I figure that we’re all going to get sick sooner or later. Might as well test the waters now while I’m under constant supervision by people in the PC instead of at my site…laying in a deathbed for days. They tasted even better. I love amoebas. Bring it on. The man who lived at the house with the garden was talking to the group after we finished harvesting. I realized that my head was not there. I’m daydreaming about home, the next meal, washing my clothes…you name it. This distractedness has become a terrible habit but when in the states whenever I hear Spanish I know that no one is talking to me so I don’t bother listening; its easy to tune out languages that you don‘t fully understand. I have to keep reminding myself that this is my new language! Time to start listening all the time! After the garden experience we divided into 3 different groups and went to visit elderly people. Nono is known for having a large population of elderly folk. It was the most terrible experience thus far for me in the Peace Corps. It was SO SAD. This woman was living in a “house” with one window, dirty clothes everywhere, and about 30 flies. The walls were moving (full of rats?) and this poor old woman is living in there by herself. When we first got there she broke down crying because she is predeceased by her entire family. She really has nothing. She’s been living in Nono in that little house for 50 years. I just couldn’t believe that there was no more effort by her community to provide her with a little bit more. Who knows where she cooked or went to the bathroom or anything. She lives in this one room house that’s smaller than an average sized bedroom. There was hardly enough room for the 5 of us to stand in there with her. So sad, I get a little teary right now thinking about it. I would not want to live to that age if I were going to end up like that. Makes nursing homes look like palaces.

Later that night after dinner we learned a game from some of the local kiddos. It wasn’t super fun but I guess its something to do. Shortly after, Nono had a little festival. It wasn’t something out of the ordinary, it just was at a different time of the year for them. A festival just out of place on the calendar. A band played and there were people with sacks over their heads with faces drawn on the front dancing. And PCT’s dancing. The band led the dancing PCT’s down the street to the park where there was a large fire (not really fire, just a lot of smoke because most of what was burning was live branches). Walking down the street one would think that the church was burning. The park was right next to the church and all one could see was billows of smoke wafting up from somewhere. And man those kids love smoke! Every little kid in town was racing through it. I thought my eyes were going to fall out of my head from all of the smoke but they couldn’t get enough! From that point on there was a lot of dancing and festivities. The band played for several hours. I don’t know how they did it. I guess they’re used to the altitude. There were even people on horses that had trained the horses to “dance”. It was terrifying. The horseshoes kept slipping on the concrete and creating sparks and the horse would get super close to everyone and they (the horses) were kicking up their legs and everything. Absolutely terrifying. I don’t think the horses wanted to be dancing. My moves were sweeter, sorry horses. Finally around 10 the festivities ended (so late!! Normal bedtime is around 9 here.) and we ended up going to bed around 11 after discussing how the evening had went/what we learned.

One of the sack people in the parade:

Saturday started at 6 where we learned how to milk some cows sin machinas. I actually got milk to come out! I’m glad I don’t live on a farm because I felt like I was invading the cow’s personal space. I felt a little perverted, like I was doing something I really shouldn’t be doing. I’m sure it just takes some getting used to. It was however quite the workout for the forearms…could keep me in shape for rock climbing. After milking we had some breakfast and then learned how to make cheese. Its not that difficult- all you need to do is heat the milk and put some coagulant in it, I’m not sure what its called… and then shape it and let the water drain out. I brought some home for my family in Paquiestancia. After cheese class we went on a hike to another garden. It is amazing the way they garden in Nono. The hills that they cultivate are so steep! You look out onto a hill and see crops. It should be forest but its cleared and planted with squash and tomate de arbol. I tried taking pictures but I don’t think they’re really going to accurately portray the slope of the hill. It blew my mind- CT is so flat! Soon we returned from the hills to eat a quick lunch and catch the bus back to Quito to catch a bus back to Cayambe to catch a bus back to Paquiestancia. All the while being conscious of our backpacks and who might be following us (thanks Julietta for the safety and security tips)!

MOO Fernanda working her magic!

The ride to the milking site in the back of a camonieta. The first of many rides I´m sure.

Steepest hill ever to plant crops on....

The other side of this hill is just as steep at this side you´re looking down at: AMAZING!

Careful vaca you´re close to the edge! Suitable pasture...? Questionable. Sweet view of Nono though behind the cow.
That brings me to Sunday, today. This morning I worked with Kendra on a huerto project. I guess originally we were actually going to plant a garden but we don’t have enough time (?) so we just had to write what we’d do and how much it would cost and the like. We headed into Cayambe to get our internet and ice cream fix. Internet and ice cream check. We met up with Lauren, Laurel, and Aaron and had some lunch at a cafeteria. I got some crepes with strawberries and chocolate. Wonderful break from the norm of potatoes and rice. And sheep. Later Kendra and I sought out in search of guantes and sacos. The guantes are a must for hand washing clothes (which I’ve done twice). Without them your knuckles are very likely going to be torn up on the piedra you’re washing your clothes on. I know from experience. Last night when I washed them there was blood. No mas! I’m prepared now. Hand washing my clothes has been an adventure. They’re definitely coming out clean but I’m having a hard time rinsing out all of the soap. Hand washing clothes wastes so much water! I took my clothes off the line today and had to shake them a little to get them loosened up. Originally my freshly dried, hand washed clothes made me think of reenacting and I think that’s because of how they seem “starched” when they’re dry. Some day I’ll master it. We searched high and low today for traditional sweaters, or sacos. Turns out they’re not in Cayambe. I told my papa that I was looking for a traditional sweater and he suggested Maxmax which might be the Ocean State Job Lot of Ecuador. He told me that they have everything, which for the most part is true. I think asking him for advice is somewhat like asking my grandpa for advice. Maxmax has everything! Yes, but nothing of quality that I’d like to buy. He’s just trying to be helpful. I think Otavalo is the happening destination for what I’m looking for. We’ll see if I ever get a chance to go there. Some other trainees in other towns have gone to Otavalo already; they tell me that its just a large market. My family insists that its just for tourists and very expensive. Maybe some day…

This was taken 2 days after the originial burn. Take note of the ankle bone underneath all the swelling.

About a week and a half later...peel time.

Another interesting, actually terrible, event that has happened thus far happened back at CAAP. I received the worst sunburn of my life. It was awful. Right on my shins. They were exposed for maybe a half hour. I didn’t realize they were so burned until later that night. I took a shower and experienced the usual sunburn pain but the next day walking was difficult. My legs had swollen. Where usually I have a dent in the front of my leg where you can feel my shin bone there was only fluid. I could not feel my ankle bone. I’ve never experienced something this awful. I took pictures. Its peeling now and looks disgusting. Its slow to peel because of how deep it is. My whole body is peeling. Every day is something new. Places I didn’t think I even burned! Today after taking a shower I was putting lotion on my arm and a whole bunch of skin started just coming off. I’m quite the snake here. I’ve gone through about 8 layers of skin on my nose thus far. Doesn’t matter how much sunscreen I put on it. Call me Rudolph. Some day this gringita will get a rockstar tan that lasts the next 2 years. I’m still waiting. Sitting here waiting…and peeling dead skin off of my legs.

Doo doo doo looking out my front door (3/11 morning)