Last Saturday I set off on a half-day trip to start a health-based project in one of the communities surrounding Cahuasquí, but yet is still part of Cahuasquí. The community is called Pugarán and is a one-hour truck ride, two hour horseback ride or a three hour hike. All of there times are important because I will be going the latter two very often. I spent the past two weeks or maybe even more getting things prepared for a meeting with the entire community (35 families) to explain who I was, that I work for the United States Peace Corps, what the United States Peace Corps is, and what my plan of action was for Pugarán. I had written-up a Census of sorts to explain to the community, the president of the community was working with me and was going to organize the people in Pugarán and I had already rented two horses for myself and a friend, Roberto, who was going to accompany me. Now, with everything planned ahead of time, lets see what actually happened….. The plan was the leave on Saturday April 30 at 13:30. At noon is started to rain. Nothing can be done about that so we must push forward. Roberto and I went to get the horses at about that same time that it started to rain and the gentleman who told me that he was going to rent me two horses told me that he had already rented them for the day. Without an apology and just a blank stare I left, fairly upset. I had no idea what to do know. I was expected in Pugarán at 15:30 for the meeting and had no horses. I called my host father, who has 3 horses but are kept an hour or so hike away from where he lives, to see if by the off chance the horses where closer and I could borrow them. The horses where far away, but my former host brother was close and my host father told me he would bring the horses to me. WHAT LUCK! Although it took a while we had the two horses at around 14:00. No big deal. With some luck comes a little more and the rain broke and the sun came out. Things where starting to look up. Roberto and I left on horse, bareback, at a little after 14:00 for the trip to Pugarán. Although the roads where terrible due to the rain and there were many remains of landslides, the trip up was a blast. We made it to Pugarán before 16:00 and were still making goodtime. We met the president of the community who told me the meeting was going to be for 16:30, before a Church Service at 17:00, a baptism. With a little time to kill we went to the president’s sister’s house to eat some fried pork. Delicious. This is when I got the news that Pugarán had been without power for the past thirty hours, therefore the president was unable to make an announcement on the loudspeaker about my meeting. Therefore, no one knew about it. Bummer. After waiting around the community meeting hall to see if people would come, I was surprised to see that actually 8 people had come. The president of the community suggested that I do the meeting after the Baptism, but that would be at 18:30. My meeting would last half an hour so our two hour trip back to Cahuasquí would begin at 19:00 in the dark. I did not like this idea (due to the dangers of riding in the dark) so I told the president that I would return another day for the meeting. He was very sorrow, but who would have thought that the electricity would have gone out and there was going to be a Baptism the same day that I came up. BAD LUCK! I told him not to worry about it because I was planning on traveling many more times to Pugarán so one extra trip was not a problem. And besides, it’s always fun to ride a horse. As we started our trip back all the people who I encountered were very grateful to us for coming up and one women told me that she was so happy that I was going to be doing work in here community because she felt that all the organizations, foundations and governments around the world and in Ecuador had neglected them. This made the whole trip well worth it. We left around 17:30 and I could not ride the horse. I was very sore from the trip to Pugarán and without a saddle I was in a lot of pain. We decided to walk the horses down to the river and then ride up the Cahuasquí (it is easier and less painful to ride a horse up hill than down hill). The trip went fine walking down, a little longer than riding a horse, so when we reached the river it was dark ad there was not a light to be seen. With just the light from my cell phone, we slowly made our way back to Cahuasquí were we arrived around 20:30, around a three hour trip. Although the trip was not successful in many ways, I find success just in my presence in the community. Showing them that I was willing to make a trip to listen to them, find out there needs, and then see what we can all do together to reach those needs meant a lot to them. Although it has a hurt a lot to site down for the past couple of days I will make the trip to Pugarán again very shortly, but this time with a saddle.

Cahuasquí lies about 45km to the northwest of Ibarra, the capital of the province of Imbabura. However, due to Cahuasquí’s positioning in the mountain and with numerous stops, the trip takes two hours by bus. While in the United States I can not remember taking a two hour bus ride just to visit a city a two hour trip away, but when internet, mail and a meal other than rice, potatoes and chicken is on the line it really does not seem like a big deal. The road is well done and takes you on a little tour of the Canton of Urcuquí passing through Imbaya, Urcuqui, Chiryacu, Tumbabiro and Pablo Arenas before you get the fantastic view (weather permitting) of the Island in the Mountains, Cahuasquí. Although the view is breathtaking, there are still two obstacles to overcome on the single road into town before reaching the Fertile Heart of Imbabura—two bridges over a roaring river that appear as though they could collapse at any moment. BUT GOOD NEWS!! The government of Ecuador is building a new bridge to replace the older two. Construction is under way. The construction has been going well for the past two months or so. Only every so often do they have to shut down the bridges to prevent traffic from passing and this only lasts for part of the day or at most a complete day. Normally this does not cause much disturbance in the daily lives of the people who live in Cahuasquí or those who need to travel to Cahuasquí for business, but today was an exception. Today, April 4, 2011 there were two medical emergencies in the local health center. The first involved a baby of a year and three months and the other involved a thirty-seven year-old pregnant women. Today while walking into the heath center to discuss a potential project with the doctor in the health center there was an unusually amount of people in the health center. After interring I was told by the nurse that a young baby had a 103°F temperature and a terrible cough. In the health center, although the medicine is free, there is usually not the right type of medicine or not enough of it. With nothing to be done, the doctor called the ambulance to come to Cahuasquí. However after calling the doctor realized that today there was no passage on the bridge. With the pregnant women also needing a trip to a hospital in Ibarra, the doctor decided to wait to take both the bridge at once and pass over them on foot. While waiting, I saw something that one would imagine seeing in a home or in a religious center—the doctor and nurse ran to the convenient store to by eggs in attempt to heal the baby. They rubbed the eggs on the young child’s head in attempt to reduce the fever and then neck and chest to heal the cough. The doctor then took the egg outside and threw it away. Such is the way of life here in Ecuador: a country continuing to move towards modernization, but yet holding firm to its customs of yesterday.

(Pictures to come with faster internet)

As the pólice truck climbed higher up into the mountains the temperature dropped rapidly. It was only an 2 hours ago that I was walking around Cahuasqui shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables when my day took a drastic turn. But such is the life here in Ecuador. While looking for avacados (only about twenty cents a piece) the daughter of the president of Pugaran (a community an hour away from Cahuasqui, but still governed by Cahuasqui) came running up to me. I had met this shy girl a couple times before so this as rather startling to see her running towards me. While trying to catch her breath she asked me if I knew where the doctor was. I asked if everything was ok to which she replied no. She told me that someone in Pugaran had been shot (record player screeching to a holt…). After searching at the doctors house and around town we were still unable to find her so we when to the dentist´s assistance, Chelita´s, house who lives in Cahuasqui. Chelita called the doctor who was walking around town with her mother. Together, Chelita, the Doctor, the daughter of the President of Pugaran and I went to talk to the police officer. While listing to the daughter explain what had happened to the police office I was able to better understand the situation. I twenty year old male was chasing a wolf in the fields and forest in Pugaran with a shot gun. The wolf had been killing live-stock and other farm animals and was losing his family a lot of money. However during the chase, the wolf turned on the young man causing the young man to change direction and run away. During his retreat, the young man tripped on a large rock and upon landing discharged his shot gun into his leg. This happened at about 12:30pm, around five hours ago. In the old, beat up police truck we were careening around cliffs on a dirt road damaged by the recent rain. Despite the conditions of the road and the truck we were able to find the patient just as it got completely dark at around 7pm. Out of a community of around 80 people, 25 to 30 of them were surrounding the young man, supporting him and his family. It was amazing to hear that around 33% of the community was out late at night to support one of their own who had now been suffering with bullets in his calf for over seven hours. After the doctor cleaned the wound, we loaded the patient into the back seat of the truck with his father, and I sat in the flatbed of the truck with the patient´s mother and doctor. Then hour drive back felt a lot longer sitting in the fridged air getting tossed back and forth during each turn, but I guess I cannot complain with the current weather right now in the northeast United States. I talked to the young man´s mother to try to help the time fly by when I learned that the young man was one of fourteen children, three of which has died at young ages. Her children ranged in age from two years old to 28 years old. She did not really seem upset at the situation, more in daze. Five minutes after we arrived at the Cahuasqui Health Center the ambulance which we called arrived to take the patient to a hospital in Ibarra. Again, with more time to pass I started up a conversation with the patient’s father. His father told me that his wife´s father was already in a hospital in Ibarra and after this incident was really worried how he was going to pay for all the transportation to and from Ibarra and any lodging that they might need to pay for. Again, this is an extremely poor agricultural family with eleven children. It was just really sad to me (for lack of better words) that while his son was in agonizing pain, all the father could think about was how this was going to affect them financially.

It wasn't that I didn't want to write in my blog or that I didn't have anything to say. I just didn't really know how to say it. As I write this blog, I am still not entirly sure how to express my thoughts and experiences over the last couple months, but I feel as the new year starts so can a new chapter in my brief blogging career.In October of 2010 I started and failed my first attempt at a project as a Peace Corps Volunteer. The principle at the high school in Cahuasqui had to idea to start at program after school to help students with homework. When I worked as a social worker in Boston I was able to see first hand the positive effect that after school programs have on youth and teens so I was all for this idea. After talking to the students and getting many positive reponses I was very excited and already saw success in my inicial project.My sence of success was only boosted when the first day 15 students came to the program (out of a school with 110), but as the days and the weeks, the number of students dropped to when finally I was the only one showing up for homework help (and I don't even get homework). Although initially feeling the failure hurt, I still believed in the program, but I just needed to find a better way to organize it.During a Peace Corps conference with my OMNI BUS in mid-November, I had a wonderful talk with my program manager about my after school program and my work in the Peace Corp in general. The main theme of our 25 minute confersation was sustainability and how even if I successfully ran an after-school program by myself, when I leave in two years the program will fall apart rapidly leaving nothing for future students. The talk made me realize that to create a successful and sustainable project I can not to anything on my own. I need to find and use people in my community with whom I can collaborate and work.When I returned to Cahuasqui I met with the President of the Padres de la Familia del Colegio (the organization of the parents of the high school) and talked to her about the program ater school to help the students who need extra help on homework and also provide more activity and recreation for the other students. The president was very receptive of the idea and thus called together a meeting of all of the parents in the high school to provide me an audience to explain my role as a volunteer and my idea of an after shcool program.This is where we left off when the semester was coming to a close and the students were entering exams. I was upset not to be able to follow through with the momemtum the project was gathering, but I am ready to try and spark it up again. I hope now with the parents support and more support from the high school to be able to start a successful after school program that has the pieces in place to continue when I leave.As the News Years past and the two weeks of fiestas (a blog soon to come about the fiestas) things continue to move slow with the after school program, but if the people in the community who say they are on-board actual are, then eventually there might be an after school program.

4 months in site and half a year in Ecuador...Man how time flies.

Last weekend I went to Buenos Aires (not Agentina) for a weekend with my host family. My host mother is from there and it is a beautiful town with a primary forest. The town does not get cell phone service so there are public phones that when anyone gets a call it is announced to the whole town that you have a call. In Buenos Aires I went to the Paramo which is the mountains above tree line. We went to a man made lake and went fishing for trout. It was a beautiful day that ended with a 5 hour hike back to town.

Now, the last week Cahuasqui has been really busy. Tuesday and Thursday I went around with the health center staff to all the smller barrios (La Florida [only 8 families], Pugaran, Wuanibuela and San Francisco) around Cahuaqui (still part of Cahuasqui) and gave Rabis vaccinations over 300 dogs and cats!! The vaccinations are paid for by the government because Rabis has been a huge health issue. It was so much fun and I actually got to give some of them. One of the towns was a 2 hour drive away and only has about 8 families (50 or so people). The towns are so beautiful and I am thinking about trying to so some work there because no other volunteers have and there are definate needs in these communities.

Also, on Thursday I gave my first lesson (Charla) to the whole high school (around 100 people). I gave it on self-esteem and I would say over all is went well. I know the director of the high school was pleased and then students seemed to have a good time...I just hoped they learned something!

I miss the USA, but then when I am in a bus driving in Ecuador and by barley turning my head can see three volcanoes (two snow covered) I miss the USA a little less.

Paz

This is where I am going to be living for the next two years of my life.

I have now been at my site for one week and things have been, well, slow. Schools are on vacation so I can not meet with the high school students and trying to integrate into a community with no structure is harder than I imagined. However, that is not to say that I have not been trying nor that I have not been integrating and found some success.

With little structure I make it a point each day in the morning, afternoon and night to pasear (to walk around aimlessly). While this usually results in countless salutation and simply getting my face out into the community, it has also lead me to some great experiences. For instance, the other day I was walking around down by the farms and a man called me over. "A donde vas?", he asked. Where are you going? When I told him I had no idea, he laughed and then called over his younger sister who brought me 10 tomatoes. She then asked what I was doing today and when again I said I had no idea, they invited me to pick and collect tomatoes with them on their farm. With little else to do and a desire to integrate into this agrcultural community, I said I would love to. We collected tomatoes until lunch when I was invited to go back to their house to eat. I ate rooster meat from the campo, which was delicious and then we all headed back to collect more tomatoes until 4pm. I think they tought my tomoatoe collecting skills (or free labor) was so good that they invited my back the next time the collect!

Here is one more story that I find to be a funny cultural experience here in Ecuador. I went to play soccer on wednesday with some of the kids in the community, but the field was being used by the All-Mother Cahuasqui team practicing before their big game on Friday. They play against other mothers from surrounding pueblos. I was lucky enough to be able to play with them and it was a blast. However, about 45 minuutes into the game I was passed the ball from our goalie and then looked around for my team. Teams were made of 6 played each and I could not find any our offensive players. That was until I looked at the sideline and saw both of our offenders breast-feeding their kids on the sideline. Oh Ecuador.... Other than that I have been eating a lot of carbs and walking around aimlessly. However, I hope these walks will create new and interesting stories I can soon share with you all. I hope all is going well in the US of A.

Peace and Love

Central Plaze and church in Cahuasqui. A rooster and me. This here rooster is going to be in a cock fight this sunday. Wish `em luck!!

OF TRAINING! I am back from my site visit, I just got back from my technical trip and I now have just one week left of training. I am very excited to be finishing up training, sad to be leaving my Ayoran family and definitly starting to get nervous about living for 2 years in an Ecuadorian community and training to do something positive and worthwhile. However, it is also possibly the only time in my life where I will be my own boss and have endless options.

My site visit was unbelievable, I met the volunteer who will be leaving in August, I met a volunteer who moved to Cahuasqui 3 months ago, and I met my counterparts at the tourism agency, the principle at the high school and the doctor and nurse at the community health center. Through these initial contacts, I have already identified numerous possible options for work. Now the goal is to find the place where my passion intersects with the community's needs. For the technical trip I was lucky enough to go to the coast of Ecuador for my first time. We went to Guayaquil (the biggest city in Ecuador), Salinas (a touristy beach town), Las Playas (a not so touristy beach town) and a small city called La Libertad. I traveled there with seven other volunteers and three facilitators. In each place, we gave charlas (educative talks) about self-esteem, good communication and sex-ed to high school classes and youth groups. It was very tiring, but also very fun. It felt good to actually be doing something instead of training all day.

Now, I am going to attempt to upload some photos...ENJOY!

The dairy factory my host family owns.

Volcanoe Cayambe. This is what I see everyday when the sun rises during aerobics class. AMAZING!

My little brother, Angelito, and me with a big pig!More pictures to come later. I miss and love you all.Ben

Here is the moment I, and possible you, have been waiting for. Last Friday I found out that in one month I will be spending the next two years of my life in a town of 1,800 people called Cahuasquí. The town is also called ¨La Isla in El Cielo¨ because the village sits on a plateau which drops off on the sides. I will be following two other volunteers who worked on a community park and a garden for the local high school. For now, besides those two projects the rest depends on the community and what they identify as potential projects. As my main assingment is to work with youth and families I will be focusing on those two groups while interviewing the community on their needs.

I will be going to Cahuasquí tomorrow (Tuesday July, 19) for a 5 day site visit. I have already spoken to my Ecuadorian counterparts who work at the high school, my host mother, and the other volunteer who is currently at the sitr and about to finish his two years of service. Please look for into Cahuasqui and tell me what you think!! http://www.cahuasqui.com/

Other than that, my days have been fairly regular. Here is my daily schedule:

4:45 - Wake-up

5:15-6:15 - Aerobics class with my aunts and 35 other women

6:30 - 7:30 - Shower and eat breakfast

8:00 - 12:30 Spanish or technical training class

12:30 - 13:30 - Lunch

13:30 - 17:00 Spanish or technical training class

17:00 - 20:00 Hanging out with my host family, having a cafecito and eating dinner

20:30 - Bed

Hope all is well at home, I miss everyone dearly and will write again after my site visit. Thanks for the posts, keep em coming,

Ben

So, this past month has been a long party in Cayambe for San Pedro. The party as celebrates the native people of Ecuador. Last night as I am walking back to my house with my 14 year old brother we see about 20 people outside my house. Four or five of them are playing guitar and the rest are dancing. As we open the door to the house they all crowd in, push the coffee table and sofa to the side and start to dance and party in the house. I felt like I was in high school having a party at my house (not like I ever did) and felt like I was going to get in trouble with my mother.

I had my brother run over and get her and fix the situation. When I finally get outside I see my mother has bought the group a case of beer and is passing around a glass of beer to the party. She explained to me that the people coming into the house was a tradition and was no problem...dodged one there. After speaking with my mother I had no choice but to join in the dancing, singing and a little drinking (it was a school night) and had a blast.

Although I have only lived here about 2 weeks I find that the people I have encountered in Ecuador are living for the now and not that tomorrow or the ten years from now. Most people I have met have rarely left their province and only one or two have ever left Ecuador, but talking to them they are happy. Again, I try not to generalize and realize the serious problems facing Ecuador, but in the same light have to recognize the joy the people I have met get from dancing all night with family and friends.

So, next time you have a gathering, don´t be afraid to turn on a little music, pass around un vaso of beer and just let your feet do the rest.

I love and continue to miss you all. Stay tuned as I hope to get some pictures up soon!

Benjamin

6/19/2010 - I have arrived in the town where I will be spending the next 9 weeks. It is a smaller town outside of the city of Cayambe and is called Ayora. The town is exactly what as I was hoping for and my host family is everything I could have imgined. My direct host family consists of a mother, father and two boys, 14 and 4 years old. However, in Ecuador, families continue to live together or near eachother their entire lives so that aso means my host family has grandparents, aunts, uncles, and many nieces and nephews. My family owns a dairy factory and makes amazing cheese and yogurt. I arrived in town at 1pm and by 2pm I was already invited to a family party to celebrate the confirmation of a family friends son. The party was incredible. The party started by everyone sitting around the edge of one large room listening to Ecuadorian music. Then we had a champagne toast and then the food came. The meal started with a delicious soup, which honeslty was enough for the meal, but then the plate of food came out. It was the BIGGEST plate of food I have ever seen. Potatoes, rice, salad and three different kinds of meat. A large piece of pork, a whole breast of chicken and an enormous portion of Cui. What is Cui you ask? Guinea Pig...YUM! I had to try it...and I didn't really like it. After barely putting a dent into my plate bags were sent around and everyone put their platic plate of food into to take home to eat for what must be the next week. After dinner the music was turned up a bit and the alcohol came out. Pitchers were made of whisky or rum combined with water with gas. One pitcher and one glass to be shared by all. I went around the room and pored a small amount into the glass for one person to drink. I don't think those pitchers were ever empty for the next 8 hours. After the drinks went around everyone danced for as long as the pitchers were full and circling the room. I had an amazing time, felt like I was immediatly part of the family and I get to say that I have tried Guinea Pig. It was the perfect first day and I cannot wait for another day. I hope all is going well at home and I miss you all dearly. Peace and Love

6/16/2010 - I HAVE MADE IT TO ECUADOR. Yestday, Tuesday, I met with sll of the other volunteers in Washington DC for what the Peace Corps calls staging. They crammed in a bunch of information from 12pm until 7pm. Other tiring, it was so much fun being able to meet the other volunteers.I really love the idea that all of us volunteers have come from completly different regions of the US, different backgrounds and different interests, but we all ended up being assigned to Peace Corps Ecuador.Today, Wednesday, has been a very long day of traveling. We woke up at 5am to get to the DC airport early because there arearound 64 of us that had to check out baggage. We flew from DC to Miami and then from Miami to Quito. Similar to the boring aspects of staging, the negative aspects of flying were made better by getting to meet and talk to other volunteers. I have not met all of the volunteers yet, but everyone I have met has been incredibly friendly, funny and good to talk to.Right now I am staying with the other Youth and Family volunteers at a hostel in Quito listening to some music in a room shared with two other volunteers. Driving through Quito, hearing spanish, and eating a delicious meal of chicken, rice and salad have all confirmed and reconfirmed my decision to join the Peace Corps and make the trip down here.Alright, I am off to bed to wake up at 6am for a long day of paperwork and medical screening and shots. I miss you all at home (especially Maia my dog), but all is well. Keep me posted about life at home and I will keep you all posted about my life in Ecuador. Peace and Love

Alright, here we go. This is my first post ever on a blog, so bare with me. Tomorrow I am getting on a 9am flight to head down to Washington DC. where I will be for one day getting introduced to 'what is the Peace Corps?'. Then, on Wednesday, I will be starting the segment of my life that could generally be called "Ecuador". I will be training to work with at-risk youth and families for 9 weeks in or around a town in the Sierra (Highlands) of Ecuador called Cayambe. If my training goes well then I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer and assigned a post elsewhere in Ecuador for 2 years.

I have said countless goodbyes and given so many hugs and kisses that it is now time to get on the plane and start "makin' moves" (MTMIII). After packing and repacking, I ultimately have no idea what I am bringing anymore, but realize once I get on that plane it doesn't matter.

I do not intend for this blog to be solely a chronicle of my daily life, but I hope to teach readers about Ecuadorian culture and also learn from readers who comment about similar experiences they have had in the world. I want this to be an interactive blog. Now, I would like to leave you all with a quote that good friends of mine left me:

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? (Vincent Van Gogh)

Thanks to all my friends and family for your constant support. I'll see you all soon!