(Friday, January 21 Day 214)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."


Phrase of the day: La sistema de correo no fracaso; solo es poco despacio... The mail system didn't fail; it's just a bit slow.

Understatement. But I'll take it!
Big Auntie's Christmas cookies are still delicious! Yes, even after 2 months somewhere inbetween Falls Church and San Isidro!

I've been sick for almost a week, but I am much better now. For the first few days, my host mom swore it was Dengue Fever. Thankfully she's not a doctor! It was pretty rough, but I was still on cloud nine from the weekend earlier when I was able to talk with many of you. A good learning experience too, right? I'm not sure what's with this place, but it doesn't seem to be a fan of me. I think I've been sick more days here in only 7 months than in the past 5 years back home. Weak.

Back to my packages! I got my cookies from Big Auntie and more of my favorite foods from my parents. Chocolate covered pretzels, wasabi mix, and Big Uncle's classic dried apricots! (Mom, don't send anything more though!)

I could barely get out of bed some days, so I'll tell you a little about the kids here in town...
They like swings and they love playgrounds. We made this little park out of bamboo and wood for the most part. It has the tire swing, a see-saw, and a volleyball "net". Before Rajib says it, it is right next to the street. No worries though, hardly anyone drives on it!
Many enjoy playing in the rain, even in-between classes. (I don't see how the teachers like having muddy, wet kids in their classrooms?). It did look really fun though.
Side note: Speaking of rain, it may be time to bathe outside whenever it's pouring. The water from the river isn't exactly helping me get clean anymore.
And they all like to push the limit. Naturally, I had to show them how to make a better ramp. (No injuries, whew!)
Yes, they're just like the kids everywhere else in the world! Surprise, surprise, I know.

(Wednesday, January 12 Day 205)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."

Phrase of the day: Interesante, pero por que solo no me pregunto por ayuda?... Interesting, but why didn't you just ask me for help?

Goal #2: Teaching people that it is okay to make mistakes and to ask for help. (Goal #1 is still opening up an ice cream parlor).

For the past few days I have been in Cumbaya at a project design and management workshop. I took the president of the local youth council, Susana, with me, and we worked on developing a recycling system for San Isidro. Yeah, quite possibly a bit bold for our first project together, but we'll see what happens! It was good to be back in the higlands though; I like it 1000x more than the coast. This was the view from the roof of where we were staying.

Susana had forgotten to bring her camera, so I let her borrow mine while we were there. Clearly I didn't learn anything the last time I let someone from town borrow my camera. Yup, when I got it back, it had been reset and all of the pictures were erased. Fantastic.

I wasn't exactly pleased, but what to do? (that was for you, rajib, ha). And it also wasn't a huge surprise, thankfully. That's just kind of how things are here. Many people seem to be ashamed when they don't know something, and instead of wanting to learn, they'll just make something up. And that goes for everything, from why a person is sick to where to put oil in a car. It can get pretty ridiculous.

But anyway, back to Cumbaya. The workshop went well, and I got to see other volunteers and meet their community members. Some had great counterparts, and others not so much. The best part was naturally seeing the volunteers, as usual. The Tabacundo girls and Claire bought me strawberry ice cream when they went out, which was really nice of them (and delicious). My favorite part was probably looking at stars on the roof! That just isn't possible in San Isidro because of the cloudiness in the evening. There was also this ridiculous high school next door to us.

It had an indoor swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, soccer fields, climbing walls. Suposedly most of the kids drive BMW's, so just a tad bit different than the rest of the country.

I'm back in town now, trying to plan the recycling system more thoroughly. My first brunch now that I'm cooking for myself; An apple, wheat bread with cheese and jam, and granola with milk (Yes, I know I didn't actually have to cook anything for this meal!):

And my first dinner; cheese empanadas topped with sauted carrots and tomatoes:

Not too shabby to start off, right? Riiight...

(Friday, January 7 Day 200)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."

Phrase of the day: Adios cabana madera; Bienvendios a mi casa nueva... Goodbye wood-hut; Welcome to my new home.

Sorry I haven't emailed many of you back in quite some time. I've been pretty busy moving in to my new place, a small apartment below the home of my previous host family.

So far I've only moved in all my things, put things in order, and had the place painted. I haven't fixed it up completely just yet, but that will happen little by little each time I get paid. I'm hoping to make picture frames and put those up in the next few weeks.

The living room before (looking in from the outside door):

The living room after (looking at the door from the kitchen):

The bathroom before/after (it still needs work, like a door perhaps?):

The kitchen before (yeah, chose those colors??):

The kitchen after (don't mind the messy table, I'm still in the process of fixing things):

The bedroom/shower before:

The bedroom/shower after:

Next to my bed I put in some hooks, a plastic shelf, and my "closet". I'm working on a wooden bookshelf for my bedroom too.

And by "room" always, I just meant space. Really there is only one door in the place, the front door.

I did get to use my wood-working skills (or lack there of) to make a frame for my window to keep the mosquitoes out.

So far it's working pretty well.

Speaking of mosquitoes, I put mosquito netting on all of the windows and cracks in this place. You know me and bugs; no gracias.

Some of the highlights, besides my future picture frames, are my dish drying rack with lid (to keep the bugs out):

And all of my food! I have Nestle Fitness cereal, granola, pasta, pretzels, nutri-grain bars, and an entire tupperware container filled with oreos, skittles, starburst, and chocolate. (Actually, the chocolate is in my little fridge). Ridiculous. No one send me anymore candy, please. I'm going to have so many cavities when I leave here, ha.

Who ever thought living on your own would be a good idea? I don't think I've been more lonely in my life... but that will be a good thing. I will start working out again, and I will get my projects on track! If not, I'll see you home sooner than two years, haha. Oh my, cannot wait to be home!

(Sunday, January 2, Day 195)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."

Phrase of the day: Isla de la Plata, tiene suerte que Clark estaba aqui... Silver Island, you're lucky Clark was in town.

Yeah, his name is actually Chris. But he reminds me of Clark Kent(aka Superman). This could be because I was watching a lot of Smallville episodes, which Brian Brown put on my super-sweet netbook, when I met him. He's the one on the left.

He's a cool kid from Kansas City, who, unfortunately, decided to end his service here a few months ago. Thankfully though, he came back to visit for New Years. Seeing as how he was in town, I figured I could shell out the $30 to tour Isla de la Plata, "The Poor Man's Galapagos". (Normally I wouldn't have a problem paying for new experiences, but it isn't whale watching season right now).

We took a two hour boat ride out to the island. It was by far the craziest boat ride I've been on; the water was extremely rough and a few people got sick. Luckily I did not. This boat was cool, but thankfully not ours.

When we got there, we ate a snack and headed up to the first landing.

Our guide was named Cherry, and he was just as ridiculous as his name.

Speaking of names, they mean nothing here. Sorry if I've already mentioned this in the past. It still baffles me though. Almost as much as you're baffled by the fact that I'm using the word "baffle". (Probably incorrectly, at that!) Ha. So yes, names mean nothing. Among other crazy names, there are kids named Coffee and Coca-Cola. Seriously. Anyway, this is one of the views from the first landing.

We continued on our 7km hike, stopping along the way to take pictures of the island.

I made sure to snap a few of Clark and Cherry too.

The landscape reminded me of when Me, Rajib, BB, and Slick went to Zion National Park in Utah. It was very dry, but nice.

We saw the infamous Blue-Footed Boobies, which the Galapagos Islands are known for. They were interesting. The older they were, the more blue their feet were.

I'm not really a bird person, so the cliffs were my favorite part.

Unfortunately there was no where good to jump from. Although the water was just asking for it! (No worries bubs, I'm not crazy).

Cherry on the other hand... well this is him doing the Blue-Footed Boobies-Dance.

We also saw the red-footed boobies and other bird species. Brent, Me, Clark, and Claire.

After the hike, we had a quick lunch on the boat and headed out to do a bit of snorkeling. As usual, I was scared of sharks the entire time I was in the water.

The island was nice overall. I'll definitely be back in the fall for the whale watching.

(Friday, December 31, Day 193)

"The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps."

Phrase of the day: Puerto Lopez, sea mas tranquilo?... Puerto Lopez, could you be any more chill?

It was time for a much needed break from the usual. Things are still somber in town, so what better time to leave than New Years Weekend? And what better place than Puerto Lopez. Puerto Lopez is a small beach town located a few hours North of Guayaquil(the largest city in Ecuador) and South of Manta(where I had gone for the rugby tournament). During August to November it's mating season for the humpback(?) whale right off the coast. I will definitely go back in the fall.

I traveled in the bus for most of the day New Years Eve. And by "bus", I actually mean "buses". 4 to be exact. San Isidro to Bahia. Bahia to Portoviejo. Portoviejo to Jipijapa. Jipijapa to Puerto Lopez. At first I was thinking "shoot me", but it was totally worth it. There were more than 20 volunteers in town, and Puerto Lopez is my new favorite town on the coast. In the evening the whole town was along the beach strip, hanging out in the many beach bars.

Some of the locals were almost dancing on the sidewalks, but the volunteers brought it to the streets. It was pretty ridiculous. I even jumped in on this circle dance, which we all learned in Cayambe.

The tradition here in Ecuador is making (paper matche?) dolls, usually of old people, and burning them. It's meant to symbolize burning away the past(not burning the old people in town, haha). This doll was Buzz Lightyear from the movie Toy Story. I guess someone really didn't like the movie?

We danced around until 5am or so, and then went to bed for a few hours. I was definitely done way before then, but I had to make sure everyone made it back to our not-to-shabby hostel, Hostal Itapoa.

The highlight was definitely breakfast outside in the mornings.

They give fruit, actually good bread, jam, and hot chocolate made with homemade chocolate.

The place is run by a nice guy from New York named Raul. His mother is Ecuadorian, I think, so he's living here now, trying to make a difference. He has two nature reserves in the north of Ecuador, and he gives classes once in a while at NYU.

After breakfast, it was time to check out the beaches. On the way there, this guy stopped Ronald. Why you may ask? Because he's black. Really, that was the only reason why. Me, Ronald, and this guy were by far the darkest people in town.

After lunch, we decided to go to Los Frailes beach, a beach within the only coastal national park in Ecuador. It was pretty nice.

There were some sweet rocks to climb at least!

Yeah, I definitely miss great falls with the guys(and girls).

Naturally I just played in the water, while the other kids read and what not.

For dinner we went to the Whale Cafe; American owned, and fantastic as ever. I think I ate there at least once a day. I got my fill of pad thai, pizza, pasta, tomato salad, brownies, apple pie!, and homemade ice cream!

Happy New Year!