One of my favorite bands since a good while back, THE ELMS, are putting out their new album in a short time, and I figured I'd let you check out the trailer for their new album (The Great American Midrange) which has clips from a few of the new songs. Enjoy!

Hugo Villalobos PintagThe best buddy a Peace Corps Volunteer could ask for.Hugo is no longer with us, may he Rest In Peace.We miss you already, Hugo...

Hace unas semanas estuve en Sevilla...

Pero, tal vez no la Sevilla que se imaginaban.

Sevilla de Oro, Ecuador

(Hay tantos amigos mios a los cuales me encantaría dedicar esa última foto

...pero mi gran amigo Owen creo que ganaría el premio. ¡Cuidado, chicas!)

So, here we go, two blog posts in one day after many months without even a single post! Breaking records left and right! These are some pictures from the wedding reception. The wedding reception (and the ceremony for that matter) was at the Quinta Lucrecia, right along the Río Yanuncay, a beautiful backdrop for a wedding. The pictures are in no particular order.

Cutting the cake...with some sweet lighting effects on my forehead...if any of you ever want to make a reception hall...mirrors are bad where you are taking pictures.

My favorite candid picture of the night. I love my wife!

First dance.

It took awhile, but I found the garter under there somewhere.

The toast.

And now...introducing...Mr. and Mrs. Moore

My second favorite candid picture of the night. Taken from the second floor which is also a balcony. If you can't tell from the picture, we all had a great time!

Well, hope you enjoyed the pictures...for those of you who didn't make it down for the wedding, feel free to buy a ticket to come visit us and see a bit of South America!

So, I left my blog on a cliffhanger...sorry about that one, you'll have to talk to our series scriptwriter about that one. But I'm back after many month away from my blog, but I'm hoping this post will be good enough to make you all happy you waited. So the wedding I alluded to as you surely guessed was my own with my girlfriend, Gabriela, who I've known since late 2007. We're so happy to have had some of you down for the wedding and we really enjoyed our wedding day! Well, I won't talk too long, just hope you enjoy the photos.

Killu, our official ring-bearer, in his tuxedo

Marcelo Fretes, our friend who happens to be a pastor. Thanks Marcelo!

Gaby's Mom, my Mom and Dad

Isaac, Secondary Ring Bearer (who didn't actually bear any rings) and Shima, the Flower Girl (Gaby's cousins)

The family.

Lighting a Unity Candle (we had our moms symbolically light each candle and we used those candles to light the unity candle)

Saying our vows. It looks like I was laughing, but I was probably just holding back the tears.

The ring exchange

Right after the bride was given away

Gaby with her grandpa

My mom and I waiting by the altar.

The bridesmaids and groomsmen (Dan, Luisana, John, Ana Belén, Nima, Samy)

Gaby, leaving the house to head to the ceremony, with help from her aunt Jenny

Before the ceremony (I know, we're a little out of order...thanks to blogger)

"You may kiss the bride"

Once again I return to the virtual world...Below I'll drop you some of the most recent pics from down here in Ecuador, but I guess I should first give you an update on my life. I have now successfully completed my two years of Peace Corps service, which flew by...had a great time in Licto, made so many great friends and was sad to leave it behind, but I'm also excited for what lies ahead. I extended my service with Peace Corps, but now I'll be in the CITY of Cuenca for the next year or so. Thankfully, my girlfriend Gaby has been able to move back to Cuenca as well (she used to live here before I met her). Anyways, I've got really cool work going on down here and I'm excited to be here.

The two weddings you'll see pictures of here actually took place here in Cuenca, and going to these weddings in Cuenca are really what motivated me to ask for an extension in Cuenca. Both weddings were between an American Peace Corps volunteer and an Ecuadorian (I'll let you know when the next American-Ecuadorian wedding will be taking place...next year work for you all?)

Gaby and I with our 'bored' faces...some something like that.

Our friend Ceci and her dad.

After the ceremony in the church

Beautiful reception hall for the wedding. Ceci and her husband Fernando Gaby and I, a couple of the last guests to leave the party

The other wedding: our friends Joel and his wife Mayra

The first dance

Gaby and I at the other wedding.

Gaby and two former Peace Corps volunteers: Lonnie and Sarah Gaby in Cuenca's central park

That's all for now, I hope to update the last pictures from Licto and the first ones from my house in Cuenca within a couple weeks. 'Til next time...

A month or so ago, I took advantage of a Peace Corps conference in Quito to visit my host family in Tabacundo. It also happened to be the date of the First Communion of one of my 'cousins or nieces or something like that', so I got to go to that and celebrate afterwards with the family.

Jhanice on the left with the First Communion-er, Nadia

Cute picture of a girl helping her grandpa down the stairs of the church

The cathedral in Tabacundo

Me, shanking hands with El Che. He's a lot taller than I expected...

Nadia, praying during the First Communion

The family, with the Godfather and Godmother on the left

A somewhat-more complete family. The matron of the family who is 80 years old had 17 kids, so this is actually only about 10 percent of the extended family.

Don't forget to check out the other blog I posted today...

Well, as some of you may already know, I've extended my time with Peace Corps for another year, but this time around it's going to be a little different...No Kichwa, no guinea pigs with peanut sauce, and a much lower proportion of smelly busses per day: I'm moving at the end of July to the city of Cuenca. Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador and (in my opinion) by far the nicest city to live in. But for now, I've got to get caught up on what's been going on in the last couple months that I haven't let you all in on. I'll start today with some pictures from the last months (and some older pics) in Licto.

The photos are a little out of order and some of them aren't mine (big thanks to my friend Eider from Florencia/Cali for a lot of the pictures of people in Licto...pictures I'd be too embarrassed to take)...

Inside Licto's colonial cathedral on Good Friday

A sweet old lady who wanders the street of Licto every day

Palm Sunday procession at the cathedral

An old guy from Licto...one of many

Cute little kid selling coconuts

Another old guy...

Palm Sunday

The quintessential hornado pig

Fruit seller in the market on Sundays...she always asks for help packing stuff up and gives me free fruit when I help her...but never takes the scowl off her face.

Yet another old guy...

And another...

Good Friday in Licto

Good Friday set-up inside the cathedral

Carnaval procession outside the cathedral

A friend of mine, on top of 'Mount' Tulabug...notice that he wanted his truck to show up in the background...He loves his truck.

Palm Sunday continued

Me, on top of one of the other big hills that surround Licto: El Sas.

Good Friday

I found it pretty hilarious that this guy had a keyboard and microphone inside the truck so he could provide live music for the Good Friday procession

Cristo

NOT the KKK, thank you very much.

Carnaval in Licto is a big savage at times...this year i got covered in purple paint in addition to the typical flour and egg.

I look happy, but only because of the moonshine they'd given me after covering me in paint

View from the top of El Sas. That's Licto down there. See my house?

Me, with visitors. This woman (American) and her husband came out to Licto while in the process of looking for a ranch to retire to in Licto (the guy on the right is the taxi driver, not the husband)

My good friend from Licto, Mickey on top of El Sas.

A little bit of everything in this post, but a pretty good variety of what goes on in Licto.

All play and no work makes Jack a lazy boy.

I'm getting REAAAALLY close to having this blog up to date now, with this blog getting me all the way into February and March, so here goes nothing... A couple months ago I took about a week off from work in order to take a break to the beach, a place I've only been to about 3 or 4 times over my 2 years in Ecuador. I know, it's pretty pathetic to only got to the beach once or twice a year when you live in a tropical country named after the freakin' EQUATOR, but living at least 7 or more hours from the beach makes it a little difficult to just drop down the beach for a day or two. My girlfriend (Gaby, for those who don't know her) and I, went to what is generally known as the most beautiful beach province in Ecuador: Esmeraldas. We hit a total of 5 different beaches during our week and had a wonderful time. The highlights: Sunset in the surfer town of Mompiche, my favorite beach of all. Living the good life.

This is not actually from Esmeraldas, it's from a bat-filled cave I found right outside my town...creepy. Some friends at my house one night when we grilled out and made a bonfire in my patio. Not from my beach vacation, either, obviously. Gaby, small. Trees, big. These trees line a secluded black sand beach next to Mompiche.

Gaby, sunbathing on the black sand beach.

Again, secluded...we spent two days hanging out on this beach and didn't see a single person. Another Mompiche sunset. Me, living the Peace Corps life.

Don't see many of these in the States anymore, huh?

Beach huts...the dream life.

Black sand. View on the way to the secluded black sand beach

Ryan, small. Beach cliffs, big.

These houses reminded me of pictures I've seen of Greece. Actually, just a town called Same (pronounced Sah-may)

Me, boogie boarding...way too cool to surf...or maybe just too poor.

Drinking fresh-made juices and fruit milkshakes.

Bus stop...Gaby promoting Porta, my cell phone company down here. Drinking juice...

Not from Esmeraldas...Me 'n' Killu

Killu's new preferred sleeping spot...under the bed.

A lady who sells stuff in Licto's market on Sunday's has a labrador and I offered to take care of him for a day...different kind of Lab than Killu, but they had fun playing anyways. Gaby and Killu.

Dogs at play stopping for a water break.

Way back in November, my brother, Aaron, and his buddy Sean came down to visit Ecuador, expecting a little adventure... I'm not sure if it was the type of adventure they were expecting, but then again they didn't even go as I expected. Nearly everything that you know CAN go wrong, DID go wrong on this trip. First...their luggage didn't make it for a day and we were stuck in a hotel room for nearly a whole day that conveniently had no windows. As you might notice in the pictures, it was rainy every single day they were here and in every of the 5 different regions of the country we visited. We ended up on some of the worst buses I've been on in Ecuador with some of the worst drivers. Not to be overlooked was the fact that the main airport in the country was closed for over a week (part of that week being the days they had scheduled to leave). Generally, an extra couple of days on vacation would be nice...but not when you've got appointments and other work to be taken care of that are desperately waiting for you back home. There were definitely some other mishaps and misadventures, but I'll leave something for Aaron and Sean to tell if you ever talk to them about it. Here are some of the pictures Aaron took on his brand new digital SLR camera...convenient that we had crappy rainy-light all week.

This is the typical 'dish' on November 2, the day of the dead. It's called a wawa de pan (baby of bread) and colada morada (purple fruit drink with various grains and other substances in it).

The main flea market in Guayaquil, the port town, and largest city in the country.

Me, holding hands with a statue on the famed Malecón 2000

Yep, Ronald even travels to Ecuador...

The Malecón (Riverwalk) 2000.

Famous lighthouse on top of Las Peñas.

Birds in Flight.

Tame squirrels in the Parque de las Iguanas.

One of the namesakes of the Parque de las Iguanas

Another iguana in a tree (I've blurred the edges to make it easier to see him)

A bunch of dogs on the beach. I like this picture because it shows (barely) all 3 colors of labrador in one picture. (the black in behind the chocolate on the right). The howler on the left is just trying to join in on the labrador fun.

A pelican hovering over the beach in Montañita.

A dog on the beach. Living the life...

View from outside our hotel room in Montañita.

This dog held this rock in its mouth for like 10 minutes...

Doing what dogs do: dig.

...And he's happy to be digging.

Me, scratching an itch...

Sean, looking off into the distance...

Miniature salesman.

The rock face next to Montañita.

The town drunk crying, yelling, and talking to himself.

A bird.

Can you tell we've change regions?

A cat guards its house.

Typical sight in my town. Old women working hard.

Moo.

Stray dog in Licto.

Skies over Licto.

Another typical sight in my town.

Looking down over the Rio Chambo.

Some of my students.

Grumpy Old Man.

If only this little punk would act this innocent and cute when I'm trying to give classes.

Region change, again. The Amazon Basin.

A huge waterfall that now makes its 4th appearance in my blog...

Aaron and Sean: "No, let's not leave our bags at the top of the hill with Ryan, we're tough guys and can handle 2 km of walking up and down hills and waterfalls with this stuff." They can't say I didn't warn them. Truth be told, Sean didn't complain as much as someone else.

Something new at the Pailon: climbing through a cave up underneath the waterfall. That's a LOT OF WATER.

Again, a LOT OF WATER.

Zoos in Ecuador generally look about like this...animal in cages who don't want to be in cages.

These guys don't need cages...not too fiesty, them turtles.

Me, with water falling on my head...you can barely see the water, but it was pretty painful on the head falling from 50 feet up.

Sign outside this cage: 'Don't throw rocks at the crocodile'. There are stupid people in every country of the world, I promise you.

Jumping off of a big cliff/waterfall.

A Galápagos turtle...not in the Galapagos...also not very happy about it.

Cute monkey...

I promise I'm not making fun off this guy...ok, maybe I am.

Roasting pigskin...sometimes I can't believe I eat that stuff down here.

Region Change: Shoe shiners in Quito.

The Basilica in Quito and a typical city street.

Shoe shiners at work. This guy must think he's really cool because he's paying $0.50 to have his shoes shined.

One of the many churches in Quito.

Now, THIS GUY deserves my respect.

Typical sight in Quito.

Well, that's the brief review of Sean and Aaron's triumphant tour of Ecuador. The photos of the trip look much better than it sounds, huh?

Well, again, I'm getting little by little closer to up-to-date status. My brother, Aaron, and his buddy Sean came to visit in November last year and we did a little tour of the country (the most comprehensive yet out of the 3 visitors I have had). It was also the worst weather for a visitor since I've been here. Overall, I think we overcame various frustrations (it wasn't just the weather that caused inconveniences...international airports being completely shut down, for example was one of the unforseeable problems.)

We started in Guayaquil, went down to the beach for a couple days, then went up to visit my town, went down to the jungle, and then up to Quito.

These are just the photos from our rafting trip in the Amazon basin, but next week I'll get some of the pictures up from the rest of the trip.

Here's one of us about to jump off of a native-made suspension bridge...Indiana Jones' style.

The aforementioned bridge

The only picture of both Aaron and I all trip, I think...

A beautiful series of waterfalls

Parked at a waterfall

Posing with the 'team', which included the three of us, a friend of mine, and a Irish-born, Ecua-resident guide

About to jump

Smile. Aaron, Sean, me, Meghan, the guide...name...I forget

Bridge...

I think we may have lost a member of the crew in this rapid...

Another rapid

Greenery

Sean, taking in the sun during our lunch break

Lunch, organized from whitest to darkest (L to R)

Well, those are the rafting pictures, I've got a ton of others, but they'll have to wait for now...

Well, I started to get somewhat caught up on my blog and then I slowed down... Here's an entry to finish off October...Only about 4 months behind now...Better late than never, though.

On the way down to Cuenca for the unofficial PC Halloween party, my friend Andrew and I made a detour to the Cajas National Park in the Central-South mountains of Ecuador. Cajas has elevation starting at 9843 feet and going up to 11483.5 feet. As you'll be able to tell from the pictures, it's somewhat barren in terms of flora and fauna, but that's part of what makes it so unique and beaitiful.

One of the most striking pictures, actually taken by my friend John when he was there.

Me, through one of the lower elevation parts with more plant life.

Andrew and I at the Laguna Mamamag, of which you can only see about one-third in this picture

Another shot, but this time it looks candid and serene… Same lake, just different angle

Same lake again, but different angle, again.

Me, with some alpacas (or llamas, no one here seems to know what the difference really is). If you’d like to know, here’s some background info

Me, doing some bouldering around the Laguna Torera

The sunset outside the refuge we stayed at.A view of the Laguna Llaviuco from a little way up to Mamamag

On the way up from the lowest elevation in Cajas to one of the higher spots…long day.

Laguna Llaviuco and an abandoned hacienda in the national park…not the ‘ruins’ that it’s listed as on the official map, but still interesting.

The 'long day' I mentioned consisted in Liking about half an hour to get to the point where this picture was taken up over the top of that ridge…AND BACK… in one day…not to mention almost getting into a physical altercation with a bus driver at the end of the day. Over 50 cents…No joke…

Another shot of the sunrise, sorry for the lack of order

A bird and an early morning reflection on the Laguna Torera (where the refuge is located)

Me, outside the refuge, early morning. (beautiful reflection, eh?)

Dew/frost on the grass after sunrise.

Andrew and my friend Belén who got us hooked up with climbing gear for the day

Climbing...the rock maintains a temp of about 35 degrees...brrr.

The aforementioned hacienda ‘ruins’

Me, in a wedge. My friend’s camera get a smear on it, so I touched up the photo so it would look like an intentional ‘soft focus’…let me know if it worked…

Sunrise, again.

Alpacas resting at night-time. They’re about like cows. You can talk right up to them and they jusr sort of look at you. Although, don’t get to close, as alpacas spit at predators in the eyes when startled. I've seen it done to unwanted male alpaca suitors (sort of the equivalent of women slapping men in the face for unwanted attention).

The polilepis tree, which is the main flora attraction in the park

A river runs through it...

Proof I've been there.

Yet another 'ruins' shot

A cliff face we decided to climb later in the day. Pretty high... took my breath away just to throw a rock off the edge and listen to it crash

It might not look that big but to get to the ridge on the horizon in this picture it would take probably a full day or more…

Some weird insect that looked like a scorpion and would shake back and forth if you got close to it. Any help from entomologist friends?

A camouflaged toad.

Me, looking dorky.

Well, that's it for Cajas...beautiful stuff. And the coolest thing is that the whole time we were there we didn't see a single other person. Truly untamed nature.

A preview of my next post: jumping off a bridge in the Amazon Basin while Aaron and Sean were here.

I've been reading a bunch of books lately relating to the concept of Jesus as a revolutionary figure for social justice for the needy and defenseless of his day and how he promises the same in this day, yet many people take Jesus as the ticket taker into heaven. Many people seem to have the idea that Jesus would be doing speaking tours in churches if he were around today. I think closer to the reality would be a Jesus more like the Martin Luther King, Jr. who said hard things that needed to be said, cried out for justice where there was none, and was persecuted and killed for going against the established, comfortable ways of his time.

Most people will tell you that Jesus can "save you from your sins," a statement which, while not untrue, I think leaves out the most important part of his message. I see Jesus' message as saving the world from its own self-destructive tendencies, on a personal and social level. Did Jesus tell the people of his day (who faced intense poverty imposed on them by the roman Empire) "Just accept Jesus as your personal Savior and deal with it!" No, that type of wording doesn't exist in the Bible, rather he said things like "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice/righteousness." (according to those more knowledgeable than I, those two words are the same in Greek) . When Jesus is given an opportunity to speak in the synagogue of his time, he chooses to read the following: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Not only Jesus, but at other points in the Bible, like Isaiah, there are cries for social justice: "Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause." (these words come right after God tell the people he doesn't care about their religious sacrifices and religious deeds as long as they weren't caring about these issues that God-followers should truly care about.

Those are just a few words I threw out there without much logical organization, but if any of this sounds right/Biblical/desirable/confusing/blasphemous, then spend a few bucks and buy this book, which puts Christ in (what I and many other believe to be) his proper place in history and in the 21st century: Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope.

In the reading of that book, I found the following anecdote to be especially powerful:

When addressing white Christian leaders, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was known to use the following quote by Jomo Kenyatta, the first Kenyan president:

“When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. The said ‘Let Us Pray.’

We closed our eyes, and when we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the Land” Then, Tutu would add to the words of Kenyatta by saying:

“Now, my brothers, based on this Bible you have given us, I call you to give us back our land!”

For an at-length review of the book, go here.

So, I know there are some spots missing between the end of October and the New Year, but for now I don't have those photos, so I'm going to do an update with some pictures from my time home over Christmas and New Year's.

My mom's dog, Pinot...so ugly, he's cute.

Christmas card-like photo with Pinot.

Drinking starbucks...enjoyable.

The Christmas tree. I swear we get a bigger one every year.

Again, the Christmas tree.

Well, I know it's not a lot of pictures, but at least it's something. I have had a great time here at home, but I'm also excited to get back to my other home and my (other) dog.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit behind on the blogging, but here's another update (which now gets me caught up through the end of September...).  These pictures are all from a week-long visit from a good college friend of mine, Rusty.

My friend Jairo jumping off a big cliff right before I made the plunge.

Rusty and I at the top of the cliff.Rusty, looking elegant in front of the cathedral in Licto.

A few street dogs in Riobamba taking a nap.

Cute monkey in the "zoo" (it was actually out in the open at the zoo)

Rusty, being scared of an ostrich.  I can't balme him, its feet were bigger than my head.

An afternoon snack at the zoo.

This is the mean little monkey that was loose at the zoo last time I was there and chased us around the zoo, scaring the crap out of us. 

Rusty, looking cool in my kitchen.

Rusty and I, in front of the cathedral in Riobamba.The majestic Chimborazo over some field outside Licto.

Again.  Majestic.

Me, on a street in Quito.

Rusty, in a plaza in Quito.

A church in Quito.  Sunday.

Another church in Quito.

The huge Virgin of Who-Knows-What in Quito.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the 2-minute tour of Ecuador.  Come visit any time!

From time to time I like to put a little stuff on my blog from my day to day life, so here goes...

One day I actually went out to the fields with one of my neighbors and the clouds on the mountains were really beautiful.

Another... notice one of those figures carrying like 70 pounds of manure is a 4 foot-something 50-something-year-old woman.

Cool picture of the sunset over the mountains. Calendar quality, eh?

Killu looking over a balcony at a friend's house...

The girl on the left is one of my favorite to work with (with one of her friends). Adorable!

A parents' meeting where I gave an impromptu inspirational speech.

Parents signing a contract saying they won't make their kids do 'hard' labor jobs or send them off to do street work without parental supervision.

Lastly, to top it all off, me, eating raw pigskin (they just run a blow-torch over it so it'll peel of easily), a delicacy in my town. (A sincere apology to all my Jewish and Muslim friends)

Well, there's another peek into my daily life. A reminder to anyone who cares, I'm swinging through the states for a few weeks for the end of December and beginning of January...Let me know if you'll be around Chicago or Purdue so we can hang out.

So, yeah, I'm EXTREMELY behind on this whole blog deal, but I promise I'm not giving up, I'm working to get caught up. So the reason I've gotten really behind is because I've had so much stuff going on (more work, more visits from home, more visits from other PC Volunteers, etc) that I haven't been spending much time on the internet lately. But here's the next edition in Urqu Kinraypi...speaking of the name of my blog...it means something to the effect of 'on the hillside' in Kichwa...it's interesting that I picked that name because I am the only Y&F volunteer from my group to get a Kichwa site. Plus, I'm living in the hills (mountains, actually) and not on the coast or in the jungle or whatever.

Well, here's the blog...

So, the first week of September I got my first visit from the States, and it just happened to be my very own mother. Everything went well and she was surprisingly flexible in terms of all of the frustrations of visiting foreign countries. With no further ado, here are the photos.

My mom and I at the Laguna Cuicocha, a big beautiful lake with two huge islands in the middle of it.

The huge waterfall Pailon del Diablo (probably seen it before in some of my pictures and you'll likely see it again, since I have taken a bunch of my visitors there).

Again...my mom, looking tiny at the bottom.

In case any of you didn't believe that I really eat Guinea Pig down here, now I have pictures and an eyewitness who speaks English. My mom even tried a tiny bit of it.

Pailon del Diablo waterfall from another view.

Laguna Cuicocha again (I've hiked the circumference of this lake!)

Three of the kids I work with in Licto, wearing the Chicago T-Shirts my mom had made for 40-some kinds in my town. (Thanks to CFG and anyone else who helped make the donation of these shirts possible!)

My mom and I with the professors at one of the schools I work at in Licto. (sorry it's off center...the picture taker was inexperienced and I forgot to crop it)

My mom and I at Cuicocha, Again.

The 'fast food' stand that my neighbors/adoptive family opened in August.

Pailon del Diablo from above

My dog, my house, me.

The bakery in Licto.

Some nieghbors having a mom-cooked dinner in my kitchen

My mom at one of the nice views in Licto

One of the parks in Riobamba (Sucre).

The Basilica in Quito at night.

Killu, obeying my command to sit.

Another Riobamba park and a monastery in the back (La Libertad)

Another park in Riobamba and the 400-some-year-old Cathedral

Me, at a typical street market, buying passion fruit (if I recall)

At the Plaza Grande in Quito (outside the picture is the presidential palace)

People selling stuff outside a church in Quito...passed out street dog

Quito's Basilica during the day.

Dinner with Mom.

View of the Quito's historical district at night.

So, those were the basic highlights of my mom's trip to Ecuador (out of order, I know...). If any of you are thinking of coming down to visit me and want a balanced perspective, feel free to get in touch with my mom and ask...

Til next time (I get time to update)...

In anticipation of visits to my house by my mom and by my friend Rusty (and various other visits), I decided to repaint my house at the end of August. You may have already seen pictures of my house, but here are some good before and after pictures to notice how much nicer my house looks now.

Unoccupied, old part of my house. Before.

Unoccupied, old part of my house. After.

Front door, inside. Before.

Front door, inside. After.

Front door, outside. After.

(Before, it looked about like the inside, before picture).

Bathroom. Before.

Bathroom. Doors painted, white base.

Bathroom. After.

Main part of the patio. Before.

Main part of the patio. After. (notice the pain already peeling at the bottom...)

I hope you enjoyed the tour, feel free to come visit, or even buy. My estimate (not kidding) for the purchase of this house would be something under $5,000. So you could buy a used car or a house in the beautiful mountains of Ecuador...you decide.

The first 6 months or so of 2007 I spent a lot of time organizing a 'gender camp' for some of the boys I work with. I solicited a little bit of money from the Peace Corps' Gender and Development committee and used a raffle and some other fund-raising to get together around $200 total for 9 people (if that sounds like a low budget for a 3 day, 2 night trip to the beach, keep in mind how big of a change you can make by donating a little money to kids in the third world). Finally, in July my camp came to fruition. A number of kids pulled out in the last week or so, but overall I am really happy with how the camp went. I gave a few talks on gender with the kids and did a number of gender-focused activities.

One of the big gender activities we did with the kids was focused around our meals (which also kept cost down). The kids had to wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, and cook the food, all of which are acitivities generally relegated to women in all sectors of Ecuadorian society. We discussed why men are just as responsible for household chores as women.

Another cultural issue is the lack of concern about littering. People love to throw their garbage on the ground as soon as they are finished with it, many times even inside their own homes (not so much in urban areas), so we tried to teach the kids the harm that is done to their country visually and environmentally by littering.

More cooking. Me...on the beach at sunset. We took pictures like this one of all the kids and we're going to do a project soon to mount them on a piece of wood with some sea shells glued to it.

Teaching about Stereotypes...notice that almost all of the boys are pushing up the skin on the back of their arms... Teaching about the difference between 'sex' and 'gender'. Do you know the difference? You should.

All in all, I feel like the opportunity for these kids to get to the beach (somewhere not a single one of them had ever been) was the biggest success of the camp. They may forget what we talked about, but they'll always remember their first time at the beach and the first time José Manuel got stung by a mini jellyfish. For me, one of the biggest problems for these kids is their disillusioned parents who think they'll never be able to do anything bigger or better than what their parents have been able to do. I don't know why, but beaches seem to be good places to dream about the future...Keep dreamin', kids, keep dreamin'.

Well, many of you have probably been tricked into thinking (by this blog) that all I do is have fun down here and I never work. And while it is true that I do get a little more vacation time than the average bear, I also do have work that I do. To prove it I took pictures...

But first, a picture of Killu playing with the school's guard dog, Jack (pronounced more like Shaq...)

Some of my kids and I went down to the river for a bit in the afternoon one day.

A bull and a river...quintessential Licto

A couple of my kids goofing around for the camera

10 seconds later...

Lourdes (one of my cutest little girls) and I on a little ledge over the river.

Another one...this time with bunny ears. Adorable.

Another take of the kids by the river

More kids swinging.

A Licto trick: putting a board between two swings creates one large swing.

You should see it when they get like 12 kids swinging at once

On the up swing with my kids (literally and work-wise)

These cute indigenous girls (Gladys, Nelly, Adriana and Maria) don't generally pose for pictures, so this was a special occasion, even if the background isn't the nicest. Notice that I'm wearing a chalina (indigenous shawl).

Hopefully next week I'll have some time to get another post up with some of the pictures from our trip to the beach a couple months ago (I'm way behind on this blog deal). 'Til Next Time...

Tulabug, if I haven't mentioned it before in my blog, is one of the big hills surrounding Licto. The people in Licto all say it is an extinct volcano...I had to climb it to see what I thought for myself. My conclusion is that it is certainly possible, yet not fully convincing. The two thinks that would lead me to believe that conclusion are the fact that the hill's top dips in quite a bit like a crater and the fact that there is black (volcanic) sand along the river right outside Licto. Whether you believe it or not, it's still a really beautiful hill with a nice view over Licto, Pungalá, Chambo, and Riobamba.

Killu playing in some disgusting water in a pond on top of the crater

Another Killu picture

My two good neighbor-friends, Huge and Cristian

Killu and a view over Licto and Pungalá

The view over all of Riobamba. I'd really like to hike up there sometime at night...

Hugo and I with Riobamba as a background

Killu, Riobamba, and I

Cristian, Riobamba, and I.

Some shy indigenous kids that laughed their heads off watching Killu play in the pond.

Hey, because of blogger being annoying, my newest entry is below the 'More Walden' entry (unless you're reading this on facebook or some other site other than my actual blog page). Thanks!

Sorry for the inconvenience,

- The Management...me

So, I finally finished Walden and while there was a huge middle chunk that was rather mundane, the conclusion to the book was a bit more interesting. Here are a few more quotes from the book:

I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. -p.214

I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. - p.215

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. -p. 216

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man's abode. -p.217-218

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board. -p219

I share these quotes with you not because I want to seem cultured or wise, but merely because I found my experience living in an ghost town in the mountains of Ecuador to be really similar to Toreau's experience. And despite the boring secions on the colors of the water of Walden pond and the dates of its freezing and thawing, I'm sure if I were to write a book about Licto, my descriptions of the mountains around my house would get equally as inane after a few pages.

Speaking of my experience, if anyt of you would like a window on the Peace Corps experience in Ecuador read this book by a PC-Ecuador volunteer in the 60's: Living Poor, by Moritz Thomsen

As I've mentioned before, I'm way behind on the blog entries that I'm posting and this one is going to be from over a month ago, but it'll be news to you all.

Some Inca or pre-Incan ruins, the birthplace of the big cheese 400 or so years ago...

At the river in Cuenca with Killu

Down at the river with my friend Belén

Another picture of the river

The buildings which gave Cuenca it's name after Cuenca in Spain with it's houses hanging on cliffs.

Killu looking to play

Yet another bridge/river picture

The banner of the school where I was working this past year during the parade for San Pedro festivities

The ever present flags...side-note, being one of these flag bearers is a big deal here.

A pretty sunset over the 'bull ring' during San Pedro

Son of one of my 'neighbors'...in other words, some kid.

Another picture of the 'bull ring'

A picture of the indigenous community where I work one day a week on a (typically) rainy day

An arm wrestling match, as part of the father's day party's festivities in Pompeya (comunity from the above picture). Notice how these kids were holding their hands for the arm wrestle...weird.

Three women participated in a speed-eating contest...somehow the same women who refuse to talk in public got up the gumption to eat a huge piece of corn in 30 seconds

Another picture in Pompeya...sheep and pigs, typical scenery.

Me, playing soccer with some of my kids. The kid who's about to kick has a heck of a leg...

The cake I baked and frosted for Father's Day. It's so strange here for a man to cook that I was getting cake orders after bringing this cake up for the Father's Day party in Pompeya.

Killu playing with my neighbor's dog, Kuka.

As you can tell, he's more excited to play than she is.

The school up in Pompeya where I work one day a week

Well, the pictures in the blog (other than the Cuenca ones) are a good insight into my daily life, which is probably one part of this blog that has been lacking. Hope you enjoy.

Also, for another book which helps get a good perspective on life in Ecuador (and even though it's not specifically Peace Corps like the book I suggested last week, it's more modern, written in the 80's), buy this book: The Panama Hat Trail

So, I've been really behind on getting blog posts out to you guys, but I guess that's a good thing because it means I've been doing a lot more 'doing' instead of just spending time writing about about the few things I've been doing. Anyways, over a month ago, I got the chance to go up to the Refuge on Chimborazo (need I remind you, the top of it is the farthest point from the center of the earth and the closest point to the sun during certain dates of the calendar.) The refuge is at something like 4300 meters or something like that, and the view of Chimborazo from the refuge is majestic. Here are some samples.

The group of young people I went with. Most of them are now college students who have been receiving Compassion International scholarships since they were little kids (the kids you probably have a picture of on your fridge.) In the orange jacket is my good friend Franklin.

Anoter view of Chimborazo

Me, teaching the Ecuadorians what a snow angel is. The response I got from one of them was 'But that's not actually an angel.' Seriously?

On the way up to the refuge

Another view

With my friend Suzi

Overall, we had a great time, but because I found out about the trip the day before I went up, I didn't have any sunblock and my face got extremely burned...it's all better now, no worries.

So for the last month I've been struggling through Walden by H.D. Thoreau. There are some parts that I really loved, but I seriously doubt the credibility of anyone who says they love the whole book. In any case, like I said, there are some great gems in the books, and I thought I'd share a few with you all.

"Be sure that you give the poor the aid they most need, though it be your example which leaves them far behind. If you give money, spend yourself with it, and do not merely abandon it to them."p.56

"Some show their kindness to the poor by employing them in their kitchens. Would they not be kinder if they employed themselves there? You boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity; maybe you should spend the nine tenths so, and done with it." p.56

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life" p.66

"Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail." p.66

"Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any noblenessbegins at once to refine a man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them." p. 150

I'll try and keep this entry brief, so that it doesn't get too negative, but as you can tell by the title, this isn't Happy Days. The trip idea of the trip was great. We'd take a group of 6th graders up to the Lagoons at Atillo, hike around a bit, head down to Macas (in the Oriente, surrounded by jungle) to see the sights, swing back through Puyo and Baños on the way back the next day. Things started a little rough. I arrive to the bus stop at 4 AM and end up waiting in the freezing cold and dark by myself until 4:45 or so when the bus finally arrived. Then, we head to Licto picking up kids all along the way (which means waiting at front doors for 10 minutes at a time). After very nearly getting stuck in the mud on the way out of Licto, we make it out to the highway and start making progress. Just a couple miles before Atillo, we come up to the following sight on the road:

This bus had been pushed back down the road by the mudslide in the previous photos. Notice that the door is blocked - everyone had to climb out the windows. So, after waiting at this mudslide for 4 hours and hearing many rumors about how the road-cleaning tractors were coming 'ya mismo' (right now), we decided our best hope was to turn around.

So, at around 12 noon we had finally reach...wait for it...RIOBAMBA...my starting point at 4 AM. From there we made it to Baños at about 2 or 3 PM, where we had the amazing opportunity to walk into the church, get back on the bus and keep going. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty church (below), but I'm not sure if that alone made a worthwhile stop for 2 hours.

Then, after Baños, we continued trucking and made it to Puyo around dark, just in time to eat dinner and go to sleep. Right before bed I was informed that we would be waking up at 4 AM again to head to Macas. As a result, I went downstairs to a restaurant and ordered a beer.

The next morning, we left around 5 AM (with the granted 1 hour late due to the Ecua-time-shift-phenomenon). A couple hours later we made it to a bridge, and stopped there for about 30 minutes (another dubiously worthwhile tourist attracion).

Probably the best part of the bridge were the enormous moths all over the bridge.

Here's the bus we travelled in. Not the most comfortable, but overall, I was pleased. (And the driver and his wife had lived in Spain which gave me something moderately interesting to talk about on the 'ride' to Macas).

And, now, the unveiling of the reason we travelled for two days: A view of a river.

nd a church with a giant, flying Jesus

Another view of the river.

After wandering around Macas for a couple hours, we hopped on the bus and headed BACK TO RIOBAMBA. A rnadom picture I took as we passed through Puyo (I think it might be in Shell, I forget).

Then, as a culmination of two days in the bus, we stopped in Mera at a 'dike' where we went swimming in the freezing cold water (the air was not much warmer). I mainly took this picture for the people who have read or know anything about the story of the 5 missionaries who were killed by the 'aucas' or Huaorani in Ecuador in the 50s. Mera and Shell were a couple of the key air bases the missionaries were working out of before their death.From there, we stopped again in Baños for about 5 minutes while the kids bought absurd amounts of sugar cane and various products made from sugar cane (apparently a lot of their parents wanted to sell it or something). After Baños we had a brief scare the the road was going to be closed due to yet ANOTHER mudslide over the road. Thankfully we made it through. By the way, that would have been the third time a mudslide has ruined my day. Thankfully I'm only batting an average of .667 mudslides every time I go to Baños instead of batting a thousand.

Once we got to Ambato, I decided I couldn't handle two more hours in the bus (we literally spent something like 24 hours in the bus over those two days), so I got off and spent the night in Ambato with some friends. In the end, this was yet another lesson in patience and flexibility that I have been blessed with in Ecuador. My advice, if you're lacking in patience come to Ecuador. Or just join the Peace Corps, since I doubt this is unique to Ecuador.

For those of you reading my blog on the webpage and not on a feed, go down below the Baños entry to see a new entry i just posted about Licto. Blogger is stupid and won't let me move it up to the top, I have to delete it and post it again to get it at the top. Anyways, check it out.

So, the other day I was drinking my morning coffee and reading the newest issue of Newsweek that had arrived from Peace Corps. As I flip through I see a picture of two women with the last name of my childhood pastor (Nemecek). As I get to reading, I find that (to my surprise), IT IS MY CHILDHOOD PASTOR! Apparently he decided that he was born as a woman in a man's body. Now, I've recently been talking with a good friend about how Christians tend to be extremely judgmental, and I'd really like to avoid being just another judgmental Christian, so please don't take this as me judging him/her, but this is definitely not what I expected from the guy who baptized my brother. To get the full story, read this article about how he got fired from his job for it.

So, there's not really any point to this post, I just thought some of you would find that article interesting/surprising. Feel entirely free to post comments on what you think about this article, I'd like to hear some different perspectives.

So a couple weeks ago I finally made it out to Baños, which is one of the two biggest tourist destinations in the country. It's basically a small town halfway down into the jungle where they have all sorts of adventure sports and jungle tours. I went with two friends and we rented bikes for the day (at a whopping $6) and rode down out of town toward Puyo and stopped at a couple cool waterfalls along the way. One of the other big reasons Baños is famous is because it's right next to the now-active Tungurahua volcano (which is why Big brother, I mean Peace Corps, won't allow us to spend the night there...). Pictures follow (thanks to Lilly and Lisa for the pictures since I was to stupid to remember my camera):

Here's a view of Tungurahua through some pretty flowers.

The main objective of our bike ride, the Pailón del Diablo waterfall. This picture gives a really cool perspective on just how big the waterfall is. And this isn't even the biggest one in Ecuador by any means.

A rainbow from the mist created by the Pailón del Diablo.

A huge hydro-electric plant on the river. You could tell I studied at an engineering university, by the fact that the girl were like 'Nice.' and I was flabbergasted.

Another waterfall, I don't have the name of this one handy...but it was also huge. The cool think about this waterfall was that you could pay the huge sum of $1 to cross the gorge in a precarious-looking cable-car. The girls declined, so I went by myself. Supposedly it crosses the gorge at a height of about 100 meters (over 300 feet high).

Me, showing off my fashion for the day. So, the story is that I forgot to wear good biking shoes and had to by packing tape to keep my shoes on while I was riding the bike. Sexy! (Nice helmet, too, I might add)

Me, at the Pailón del Diablo. I'm glad I got the first perpective picture because the waterfall doesn't look all that big in this picture.

Another picture of Tungurahua along with a waterfall. Purty.

For those of you who come visit me down here, Baños is probably one of the places we could or would visit while you're down here (it's only about 2 hours from Riobamba), so feel free to look up info on it if you're planning on coming down (or even if you're not). Take care, all.