Hello hello! Excuse the spelling once again! I can't get the spell check to work, have a short amount of time and have terrible English now!

For those of you that don't know, I am doing a third year (perhaps fourth) year extension with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. I have been in country for about a month now. The first three weeks, I spent in the first portion of the training for the new group while liveing in Santo Domingo. I lived with a warm and loving family. The father had died of a sudden heart attack 9 months before I got there. He was the staple of the family and since his loss, the relationships had kind of fallen apart. The mom had told me several times that she didn't feel like she would ever be happy again and the two girls (16 and 21) cried several times about how much they missed their Dad. They all continue to wear only black and white to suymbolize being in mourning. The brother is 23 and looks like my real brother, Matt. He is a party boy and spends all day working and sleeping and then goes out every night. Anyway, I felt that it was really helpful to be living with my family to bring some change into the house and form some new memories including laughing. I ended up getting really close with the women in the short time that I was there and am missing talking with them. Next week, they should be visiting me.

My host brother and sisters and another shot of my bro so that you can see that he really does favor Matt!MY SITE

I am living in La Romana, a city of probably 200,000 people about 2 hours east of the capital on the beach. The city boasts a high employment rate due the well developed tourism industry in a famous resort just outside of town Casa de Campo. Apparently some of the richest people in the world own Villas in the 7,000 acre resort. Regardless of the availability of jobs, etreme poverty still exists in the city as well as higher prevalence of HIV and AIDS due to the sex tourism industry.

I am living with my counterpart's family--about 15 people in a neighborhood called Barrio George. It is named after the hurricane that came ripping through the coast about 10 years ago leaving huge amounts of people homeless. Prior to the storm, the government had begun constructing housing complexes and had not installed water or sewage systems neither completed the homes. Only the cement structures stood but lacked windows and doors. After the hurricane, people took over the entire claiming it as their own. It wasn't untill recently that the government handed over the property rights to the area.

We have no running water or paved roads in the neighborhood; my house has windows and doors that are made of wooden panels and we have electricity for a limited number of hours per day. It hasn't been hard to get used to, but the neighborhood is dangerous at night as well as removed from the main center which means that one has to arrive home before dark. One thing that does drive me crazy are the flys! At any given time, there are around 20 flys swooping around in the living room landing on my arms, my legs, in my eyes and the food. They are so out of control because of the amount of trash sitting in the area. A trash collection serivce doesn't exist. As a result, parents send their children out tugging heavy bags of the household's waste across the street. The place is covered in piles of trash right in the community center. At any given moment, one can see children sorting through the dump piles with their bare hands and feet; stray dogs tearing apart the bags and dragging food scraps around; and even rats. I am hoping to be able to work with the neighborhood to develp a sanitary wast disposal system. The following pictures are of my room

Last night I went to church with my host sister a few blocks from our house. The church (as well as the other 2 in the neighborhood) was a shack the size of most people's living rooms in the states with about 30 people crowded inside while people squeezed together outside the doors. It was made entirely of tree limbs and sheet metal and painted pink. It indicated the level of income the church members make. Regardless, the service was amazing! A band played and several musicians went to the front followed by a powerful message from a young woman. She yelled out to the crowd about the story of Job and that when things are uncomfortable and difficult, we are still in God's hands confomring into what he wants us to be. I am puitting the entire story into a nutshell but it was what I needed to hear. My street, the apartment is on the left.Our apartment is on the bottom rightAnother shot of the apartment.MY JOBSome of the people that work in the office. A perk: My foundation lets the local foundation for people with disabilities (including visual) work in our office--meaning that I am going to get the chance to work with blind people if I want! I am working with a foundation started by individuals living with HIV and AIDS in order to combat the discrimination that they faced in society. Many of the people today living with the illness have their rights onstantly vioplated without even knowing it. So, we educated them regarding those rights as well as how to live with the virus as healthy (both emotionally and physically) as possible. We conduct this through house visits, support groups and informational meetings. A wealth of other services are provided as well. I was brought in to offer counseling help to those living with and affected by the illness as well as to work with a youth group in prevention. I will go more into detail about my responsibilities when I get more time. FIRST EXPERIENCESThe day prior, I had gone on home visits to check in on patients living with HIV and AIDS and was really disturbed to see the living conditions that they majority of them face. When we got to the first person's house, we found a young man lying on his dusty cement floor because he was so hot. He lived in a sheet metal shack and as you can imagine it is very HOT in the carribean. One nearly bakes a home made of metal. He was making spagetti using tree limbs to fuel the fire to boil the water. He was really sick but hadn't gone to hospital to recieve treatment because he didn't have the 90 cents that it would have taked to cover transportation. From there, we visited a 28 year old woman dying of AIDS in the local hospital. She was just skin and bones and had zero muscle or fat mass and laying in a bed with 5 other women with other serious health problems. The girl was actually happy to be in the hospital because her parents neglect her while she is at home. They don't give her anything to eat during the day becuase they are so poor. The upsetting thing is that in the inpatient ward, there are no nurse that check up on the patients throughout the day--once in the moring. Food is not provided as well as bed sheets, soap, toilet paper or anything else basic that we in the states would expect as a standard service. Anyway, I was talking with the young woman in her bed when the woman I had gone with peeked her head out of the bathroom and called me in to help her. I opened the door to the small bathroom and in reiked of urine and the floor was wet with water. There was my friend and an 80 something year old woman crouched over on the ground naked crying and praying to God to help her. She had fallen on her face while trying to go to the bathroom by herself (because everyone is on their own in the hospital and has to rely on loved ones to stay with and care for them). My friend asked me to lift her up because she couldn't. I picked the woman up and we bucket bathed her with old bottels filled with water and then took her back to her bed, where she had to lay without sheets because she had had an accident in hers and didn't have any extras. Throughout all of this, I was fighting back the tears so overwhelmed by how miserable these women have to live. I can't even imagine what the clinics are like in the poorest countries in Africa. And all I kept thinkinga bout was my Granny who died in a hospital last year in Mississippi. She had felt horrible and was overwhelmed by everything and had an air conditioned room, tv, nurses, food and snacks, WATER, doctors and medications. It was devastating to see what people have to live through just to die. I went back to visit the AIDS patient this morning and she told me with a dissapointed look on her face that she had to go back home today. She said that she gets so depressed and lonely at home and didn't have anything to do. My foundation agreed to buy her a book to read and will deliver dried rice, beans, oil, powdered milk and sardines so that the family has food to give her. I am going to be able to visit her as well. As we were leaving today, we found out that she had TB and has not been recieving treatment for it! First of all, she has nearly no immune system response left and has been sitting in a hot damp room with 5 other sick women and their familes for a week. This is pretty much a small look into a sytem that lacks essential resources and information and well as follow up and consistency to combat basic health problems here in the city. On top of the poor services and opportunties available to the tons citizens, the youth are not recieving sex education in order to prevent HIV, STDs and teen pregnancy. Part of my job is working with a youth group giving sex ed as well as teaching the laws that protect individuals with HIV and AIDS in the country to combat discrimination. Yesterday, I went to a school to with my host siter to teach and was told not to mention condoms to one of the classes. It lead to a discussion with her about how irresponsible and rediculous it is to deny the youth who will soon become at risk for contracting HIV of the information. Little by little I guess! But I thanked God that I can speak Spanish now and will stand my ground on issues that I feel are important. This was outsied of the school where kids stick their hands underneath the steel door to buy candy and bags of water from neighborhoos women. Well, I have to get going now so I can try to figure out how to get home. That reminds me--in Peace Corps Domincan Republic we are permitted to ride motorcycles with a helmet because they are major fomr of public transportation. My Grandpa, Mora is a cute seventy year old many with one tooth right in the front. He drives us to and from work on his motorcyle--3 to the seat. I am THE ONLY ONE in the ENTIRE CITY who wears a helmet and I get made fun of by all the random people that pass us on the street. People literally trun around backwards to stare at me when they pass becasue I am the freak show. Last week, Mora took me and my 8 year old niece to get our hair done (another story I will save for later). My little niece was in between Mora and me. Two cute guys pulled up on their motorcycle and were laughing as they shouted that I should give my helmet to the old man. Imagine, an elderly person a child and I am the one with the helmet. I looked like a real jerk!

Take care and I hope to bring more pictures and stories soon! God bless

As hard as it was for us to leave our island paradise, we reluctantly packed our bags and caught a boat to a dock where drivers wait to take backpackers to the Panama-Costa Rica border. Our boat driver was a dirty pervert that insisted that I sit up front with him. As they loaded our bags in the boat he put mine up front so that I would sit with him. Lindsay was supposed to up front as well with her pre-chosen boyfriend—a man old enough to be her grandfather. I refused and we sat two rows back. I took a shot of the front seat so that you could imagine us squeezed between these two babes!

We got off the boat, and jumped in a van that took us to the border where we put on our bags and climbed up a hill to a sketchy tattered bridge of scrappy wood with only one lane for crossing. We took a few pictures and scurried across the bridge just as a huge semi embarked. Once we arrived to immigration, the “tornadoes” realized that we didn’t have our return plane tickets with us to prove we would be there for a week. But nothing changes a no into a yes like a smile and “Por favor…” We were off again.

We piled into a taxi jeep with a few other travelers but in so tight that there wasn’t room to even move. I began to freak out at the driver—a tool I have learned from Ecuadorians to be used when you are being had by a vendor, government official, police office, you get the picture. The driver soon agreed that it would be impossible for us to ride for an hour in the jeep as he proposed. He put us into another where we could all breathe and move our feet and we headed off to Puerto Viejo, another Caribbean coastal village. We had no idea where we were going to stay once we got in, but accompanied the travelers that we met to assist them in finding there room. We ended up staying where they did and shared a tent.

We stayed 3 days and rode bikes around the area, played rummy, went running, enjoyed the beach and the food—which what amazing! The waves were were really strong too, something that we did not expect.

One thing that surprised us about the people is that many of the afro Costa Ricans spoke what they call broken English. When the government began agricultural initiatives in banana farming, a large number of people immigrated from the West Indies to the coast of Costa Rica. Because the area was scarcely populated prior, the afro Caribbean cultural is maintained and strongly identified with still today. Reggae music is very popular in the area, something we also saw on the Atlantic coast in Panama as well.

We continued up north opting to do a day rafting trip which was really fun! We arrived in Arenal, a small town north of the capital and stayed there for two nights. The town is located at the foot of an active volcano that can be commonly seen erupting and spewing lava and is one of the 10 most active volcanoes in the world. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see the eruptions due to the clouds. We still managed to have a great time though!

The highlights included meeting a Peace Corps Volunteer there who we hung out with pretty much the whole time. We visited a hot spring resort for several hours. And I also met a Cuban guy who lived there and was my salsa partner during our visit—had to get the dancing fix! ; )

Reluctantly, we continued onto the last stretch of our trip to San Jose to visit Laura, my sister in law’s family before heading back to Ecuador.

SAYING GOODBYE TO MY AURORA FAM!!!

Sadly, I am leaving Santo Domingo in a week. I have been trying to say goodbye to everyone. The people that I will miss most will be my family in La Aurora, the first family that I lived with once I arrived to my site. We had a barbeque last week and went to the river as part of our last time together. Here are some pictures of us on the way to the river. I’ll miss my uncle Leo’s old shabby truck that he uses to deliver milk in.

I have also slept over at their place a few times in the last week. They only have one bedroom and two beds, so we were able to have our slumber party and watch movies and talk. It has been really hard though. Every time that we have seen each other for the past two weeks at least one of us ends up crying. I feel so much love from my mom and in a way that I never have felt. I have grown so much in my relationship with God through this family and the studying that we have done together. They have helped me to see what it truly means to have a living God in our lives.

They have never tried to take advantage of me and have been there for me thoughout the good and bad during my time here. They always have been there with open arms. It has meant so much to me to have a family away from home that worries about me, gets excited when I visit, takes care of me, accepts me for who I am but calls me out on what I do wrong. I am so grateful that God crossed our paths!

Below are photos from our visit in San Jose, Costa Rica to my sister-in-law, Laura's family. We stayed two nights with her parents and little sister and had such a good time. I was so grateful to have been able to meet them as well as to have been able to communicate with them. They were such sweet and caring people that went out of their way to make us comfortable and accomodate us. Matt don't worry though--they did not stop talking about you the entire time that we were there! My brother is the equivalent of a Greek god there.

Serious Pose

When we first arrived to the house, Laura's dad walked out of the bathroom pointing out that his entire outfit that my brother bought him. He was a firecracker--funny and exciting (also a friend of Bill and Bob's).

The sister was so cute. We did about 15 photo shoots with her—we´d pose for a picture and she would toss her hair back, giggle and say. “¡otra (another)!”

The mom was really sweet—we were able to talk a lot during the visit. She made us the typical dish gallo pinto, which is black beans and rice served with maduro fried ripe plantains and sour cream. It was great considering that we NEVER eat black beans in Ecuador!

He insisted on driving us to the airport on our last day. The three of us climbed into his tine truck cabin and were off. Laughing, he told us how my brother called him “kkad racie (crazy in a Spanish accent)” while he drove last time. He did scare the pants off of us a few times though. He got so into telling us his stories it was as if he forgot he was driving. I told him to pose for a picture to give to my brother and he almost crashed us. Lindsay yelled at me to stop taking pictures. Later in the airport, she told me that she wanted to kill me! We had a great time with the family and considered it to be the best part of our trip. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time that I was able to see the family.

Saludos de parte de Katarin

Quick Story: MACHISMO

A QUICK EXPOSURE OF WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE A WOMAN IN ECUADORI spent the morning running around town because of the false guidance of the municipality officials. They are so unorganized. But at least we got everything resolved in that the man that made the complaint against our land had no grounds. Apparently while I was gone, my blind people were chased off the land twice by the same people (that have been trying to invade our land) with machetes that want the land. They claim that it is theirs, that "blood is going to run and people will die" and that they know hit men. Don't worry, I am staying away from the land until all this is resolved.

While we were waiting in one of the government buildings, I made a phone call in English, which immediately made me the freak show as well as gave an opportunity for all the old perverts to hassle me. A talk radio host ran over and pressured me for an interview on his recorder about my work as a volunteer. After 2 weeks of speaking English, my accent is a lot stronger and I was nervous and really dislike being interviewed by the press. So I made a few mistakes! RRRRRR!

The interview started out with the normal who are you, why are you here. Ready for one the proceeding interview question? "You are very pretty, so why would you be here helping blind people?" What? ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! Why is is that women are only capable of being dolls here. The role of a woman is to maintain herself and her home. And if you are somewhat attractive, you wouldn't even think of working, let alone for others? You would find a rich light-skinned man to marry and have kids with."This is an inappropriate interview question, and what I look like has nothing to do with what I do. Just as everyone else, I am going to age so I don't rest everything on my my physical appearance. There are things much more important in the world than that!" After a shocked reaction from the interviewer, he terminated the interview shortly after when I wouldn't respond to his advances.Then he proceeded to ask me for my number 5 times and after saying NO, told me that I was going to give him my number. You can imagine, I wasn't very friendly ending the meeting. This type of behavior is all to common here from men of all economic and professional backgrounds. A lot of times men only agree to help me in hopes of getting something out of. Officials working in the municipality have been very forward regarding their objectives as well. More machismo experiences to come as well as further analysis...

I just got back from a 2 week trip with my best girlfriend, Lindsay from Panama City to San Jose, Costa Rica.

I got into Quito a day and a half before our trip to organize a few things before leaving. Somehow, we still weren’t prepared enough because our taxi woke us up at 4:30 am. Somehow we didn’t wake up to my alarm. Thank God Lindsay told the hotel staff the night before to call us a taxi; otherwise we would have missed our flight.

Well that is what we thought… We get to the airport, but to enter you must have a copy of your flight itinerary. I had printed two copies for Lindsay and I but neither one of us could find it. We threw our gigantic backpacks on the ground in front of the walkway and began to tear through them. After a few minutes I found mine and we were able to pass through.

We arrive to the ticket counter to find out that our flight has been delayed six hours and that we will have 8 hours to play in the shoebox airport. I should mention that we slept for 45 minutes the night before. After the airline handed over a breakfast voucher, we headed out to eat and pose for a few pre vacation shots. I lost Lindsay somehow in the teeny airport and began to freak out but found her in the bathroom. To relieve some of my pent up tension, I did handstands against the bathroom wall for a few minutes. Lindsay decided that I am a freakazoid and I coined the term tornadoes for us because we manage to tear through every situation like the Tasmanian Devil.

We made it on our flight and landed to Bogota late. We were sure that the plane left us, but sure enough waited for us. As we entered the airport, we were greeted by a tiny lady that grabbed us and said “vengan conmigo (come with me),” just as she turned away and began to run. We had to chase after her passing through secret doors and then were ushered onto the packed plane. On our previous flight, Lindsay jokingly said that the next flight we would be seated in the bathroom because our seats were so far back. Guess what! We were in the very last row next to the stinky bathroom. We also had a preview of Panamanian men as they harassed us as we walked by making our way to our seats. They were about as bothersome as in Ecuador but much more crude.

PANAMA CITY

I called a hostel in Panama City from Quito that morning and made us a reservation. The guy offered to pick us up from the airport and would be holding a sign with our names on it. When he repeated Lindsay’s name to me, I had no idea what he said but didn’t feel like spelling it to him, so I confirmed what he said. I told Lindsay that we were in for a surprise when we got to the airport. As soon as we walked out, a scrawny guy was standing there with a piece of paper that read Megan & Ken. I don’t know how he got Ken from Lindsay! On our way to the hotel, we had a “lovely introduction” to the man we would later call turrets who hates the world. The day prior, citizens of an Ecuadorian coastal town had burned two Colombians alive in the central park that had just murdered a man while robbing him. Our driver proclaimed that Panamanians are not judgmental and they let everyone do there thing.

Then he went on of several lunatic raves about how ALL Colombian women are prostitutes (later he would tell us that we looked like them for wearing shorts) and all the men are hit men and drug traffickers. That is about the same of what citizens say in the city that I live in, where about 15,000 Colombians reside. Sadly, Colombians are misrepresented all over the world.

Our first night, we went dancing after a sushi dinner. We went to la calle Uruguay where all the best dancing is supposed to occur. We get to this really pretty club and begin to dance are practically the only ones. In Latin America, people generally dance in male female pairs. Men crowded around the dance floor like hungry wolves waiting to attack the pray. We felt so uncomfortable but really wanted to dance. So Lindsay has a great idea, “the first one to stop moving loses.” Once we had a purpose we were laughing hysterically at our competition while dancing. After about an hour, an old bald guy jumped out onto the floor and began to dance merengue with us. It was hilarious considering that we were outnumbered by men and ended up sharing our old man dance partner. All considered we had even more fun. We ended up dancing till 4 am that night.

Early the next morning, we headed off the Panama Canal to tour their museum as well as watch cargo ships pass through. We spent a large portion of the day there and really enjoyed ourselves. The Panama Canal is a made man canal joining the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. It is significant in that it cuts transportation routes by about 10,000 miles (the route to travel around the southern tip of South America. Ships pass through a lock system using water from a nearby lake that raises the ship through higher elevations as it passes through and lowers it back into the ocean on either side.

On the way there, turrets who hates the world pointed out a cargo ship to us from the road. After being yelled at by him for not being able to see it, he almost crashed the car pointing at it. For some reason, it was our fault that he almost crushed us. Go figure! That was one of several events of us being his verbal punching bag. The highlight was when he told me that a taxi should cost half of what it really did. The taxi driver ended up chasing us into a store yelling at him for not paying enough. I of course yelled at him back and we created a tense scene in the Asian market. That is when we decided that he wanted to kill us! Needless to say, we were very excited to leave him behind. My favorite part was when he asked me what I thought of him after a series of his contradicting derogatory remarks against every social and racial group he could think of.

We also visited the historic district of the capital as well as walked along the boardwalk. Just across the way rests the new modern skyline filled with glass skyscrapers. Kuna Indians dotted this path selling their widely recognized Mola art, which are several pieces of colorful fabric sewn together and form a design by cutting away pieces. The final designs are used as front and back panels of women’s clothing but widely sold to tourist to be framed or make pillows out of. We stopped and bought a few from a really sweet and fiery Kuna man who had a pet cat Niño (kid). I was amazed that his cat stayed with him as a dog would and didn’t attempt to run away. We later noticed in both Costa Rica and Panama that the streets were populated by tens of burly beautiful stray cats that were very friendly. They would run up and lay in my lap while dining outside.

Overall, I liked Panama City a lot. It was definitely more developed than Ecuador. I would live there for a year or two.

What do you think of the mannequins in Panama City? BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA

After Panama City bit a huge chunk of change out of our pockets, we decided to head ASAP to Bocas Del Toro, a series of islands on the Caribbean Sea that host coral reeves and wildlife. The tv series Survivor was fimed there. We took a long frigid bus ride that we believe took so long because all the energy was being used to freeze the bus. Passengers had their heads wrapped and arms crossed in effort to keep warm. We could not understand why if everyone was obviously uncomfortable, why they kept the air on so high. We arrived to David, and stayed at a hostel run by a crazy former Peace Corps Volunteer. It actually felt like we were under strict watch by our cabin camp counselor.

We woke up at 5:15, exhausted after several nights of just a few hours of sleep but made it to catch a bus that would take us to the boat port to Bocas. We passed through steamy jungle and arrived to our destination. Like many tourist spots in third world countries, one had to embark the boat in a very poor area. As we waited on the dock, Lindsay saw feces floating in the polluted water that carried a strong stench. All of the latrines were constructed over the water. You can imagine what this does to the wildlife and those using it for consumption.

After a 20 minute boat ride, we arrived to our island paradise and quickly checked into a hostel. People usually stay on the main island and head out to other islands for the day. We did exactly that and were there for about 3 days if my memory serves me correctly. We spent a lot of time lying out on the white sandy beaches, swimming in the lukewarm bathtub clear water, going for bike rides, running, and touring around.

We met a funny couple from New York on a tour that we took. The guy was like a comedian. When we arrived to a beach, he thought that the homemade goal for soccer constructed using sugar cane was to play limbo!

Another fun day was our travel off the beaten path to an island mainly populated by African descent people that migrated from the West Indies about a hundred years back to work in banana farming. Their first language is broken English spoken with the same accent that you would hear in Jamaica for example. We jump roped with some kids, hung out with a cute granny and her family at a tienda and ate some amazing Caribbean spiced shrimp at a restaurant on a dock. Later we went dancing on this island as well. Reggae dominates the musical scene in both Costa Rica and Panama.

We also saw several kids fishing with strings attached to bottles along the docks. Below are two boys competing to catch a fish first.

Another interesting story: We randomly ran into a volunteer we know in Ecuador that is backpacking south and central america. He came with us for two days to Bocas! Stay tuned for the Cost Rica portion of our trip!I stayed with my sister-in-law´s family in San Jose. They are in love with my brother. My brother´s father-in-law wanted to send a shout out to my brother. Apparently, my brother Matt made him call him "heavy weight." So, here he is doing so.

Another hello for Matt and Laura

I was able to go back to the jungle after my mom left to visit the Kichuwa community again. This time, I came out without any injuries—thank God, but my friend got terrible sick with some sort of liver infection. He is better now. After catching 2 taxis and 3 buses in 11 hours, I arrived to Aaron’s site, Arajuno in the evening.

He asked me if I had a major problem with spiders because his house was somewhat infested with tarantulas. He warned me that earlier that morning he had caught two and would get rid of them before I entered his house. I hesitantly said that I wanted to see. Big mistake! They were as big as my hands and you can be assured that I barely slept that night with the paralyzing images in my head of them climbing on my face.

A butterfly resting on a leaf in the Amazon. We took off early the next morning and began the three hour hike in. I took some videos of the jungle.It was much more overgrown as well as filled with butterflies and the humming and buzzing of insects. A negative effect was the increase in annoying bugs. We were swarmed by bees the entire hike that are attracted t dark colors. If you stop while in the jungle, they begin to sting.The initial sting is terrible but quickly goes away.

Once we made it to the soccer field, we found it to be dead. The steamy jungle behind the carved out soccer field.We headed to the family’s house who took care of us last time and found them slumped over with miserable expressions on their face. They quickly perked up as we had small talk. I asked them how Rigoberta (their daughter) was. She and I had been frequently calling and messaging each other and were planning to meet their but I wasn’t able to contact her after my phone got stolen. The gloomy mood returned as the man said “Que pena, Megan (what a shame)!” Her one and a half year old daughter had died the day before and they had just hiked back in after returning from the wake. The baby had been vomiting and had diarrhea and as a result of dehydration died. Apparently, in the rather large town where the young woman lives, at least two infants or toddlers die per week due to it.

The woman began to cry and we talked for a bit before changing the subject to more pleasant topics. We hiked over to another family’s raised wooden shelter to visit and pick lemons, peppers and papayas. We climbed into the house and took a seat on the wooden benches in the barren room. The woman quickly brought out chicha (a traditional drink made of bowled yucca that is then mashed and chewed on, then later mixed with water) in huge bowls and served it to Aaron and me. Following that was the entrée—boiled yucca and about 20 caterpillars that were cooked on shish kabobs over the fire. Keep in mind that I was a level 5 vegan before Peace Corps. That is I didn’t eat anything that casts a shadow. Just kidding! But it was not my favorite meal.

A typical woodfire stove where the indigenous cook their meals. They rest the pots on the wood sticks just above the flame. The palm thatch roof provides ventilation for the smoke to exitthrough.

Below is another stove used by the kids to cook.

After waiting out a heavy afternoon storm, we hiked back to the original house where we were. By this time, the kids had all received news that we were there and were waiting. We all cramped into the wooden house where the women began to make chicha. Below are some photos of the process. They mash up the yucca on a carved out slab of a tree trunk. Following, the chew up and spit out the yucca back onto the slab. The yucca is stored in a container and mixed with water just prior to consumption. They have to prepare it every seven days or so.

We went outside and played with the kids for a while. I am still loving the video capabilities on my camera, so I took a few videos of the kids singing and dancing. In some of the videos, they are sing in Kichuwa, their native language.

This one is so cute! The kids are screaming, "Aron y Megan son amigos (Aaron and Megan are our friends)!"

Just as the sun was beginning to set, we all ran down to the river to bathe before it became too dark to come back. The kids really missed Tuli on this trip because she swims more than anyone. Goofing off at the house where the children sleep.

Following dinner, rice and jungle beans with water and oat powder, we sat around talking by the faint candle lights. The man told me of shamans in their culture and that his father had the power to change into animals—jaguars in particular. He also told of women being naturally better at healing because they are closer with nature.

As he was telling me of the beliefs of the natives, I was overwhelmed by the sound of the frogs calling out just outside the house. I mentioned that I loved that sound and we continued to converse. Minutes later, there was a commotion as one of the children ran in screaming, “Hay una culebra afuera (There is a snake outside)!” It turned out to be an extremely poisonous and aggressive snake. We all stood out on the steps watching the man creep over to the snake, where its head was raised and ready to attack. With one swift slice, he cut off the head of the snake with a machete.

They walked over and showed us the two pieces of the snake that had to have been about a meter long. After climbing up the steps and back inside, I asked the boy why he was out there at night and he replied saying that he had gone out to catch a frog to show me. I was immediately overwhelmed by a stressed panic followed by gratitude and relief that he was not bitten. The boy would have died following a snake bite because we were so far in and night had recently fallen. I would have felt horrible if something had happened to him while he was looking for the animal to show me.

Shortly after, Aaron and I headed to the school house where we slept on mattress pads on the floor. I could not sleep that night imagining snakes and spiders that were probably roaming and creeping around us. It down poured on the tin roof creating a deafening noise. All of the sudden, I felt my bed jerked and immediately called out to Aaron in the pitch black who was on a mattress next to me. But the rain was so loud that he could not hear me and I couldn’t see anything. I sat up and in a terrified state screamed out to Aaron…no response. After a few minutes it calmed enough for me to wake him to turn on his weak flashlight. He immediately jumped up and looked all over but nothing. He determined that it was him half sleeping and confused about where he was. He thought he was in his house and struggled to get out of his mosquito net.

The next day following a breakfast of tuna and rice, the kids gave us a performance and thanked us for coming out.

As we were saying goodbye, two of the women asked me to be comadre (god mother) to their children. Aaron was made godfather to the girl. I humbly accepted and following a baptism ceremony where the father poured water on the forehead of the two toddlers while baptizing in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit became a godmother for the first time.

The baptism of our goddaughterThe baptism ceremony

My godsonMy new godchildren!We said our goodbyes and headed out. Because it had rained so much the night prior, it was really muddy and tiring. We arrived dirty and tired at 12pm and I headed back home. The Amazon taken from the bus windowBecause of such a heavy rainy season and constant landslides on the road, we had to take another route and I arrived at 3 am. The normally 4 hour bus ride took 8!

Here are some random videos and photos:

My mom told me that to be fair for putting dance videos of her up that I had to put a video up of myself dancing.

This is Trent, my site mate in a dance competition with Tsachila women and Ecuadorian men at Kasama (the Tsachila holiday). He won!

This is a video of a typical bus ride in my beautiful city of Santo Domingo. It demonstrates the chaos of the streets really well. Notice that in the middle of the ride when I say, “say it!” Someone had just thrown trash in the bus that almost hit Ariana.

This is another video of the bus stop in Santo Domingo.

This is a picture of clothers drying in the late afternoon on our roof.

The following pictures are taken of the sky around sunset. The clouds are filled with moisture from the Pacific that cause heavy rains overnight. The storms are responsible for the flooding and landslide disasters that have prompted Ecuador's president to declare a state of emergency.

Here is a rare glimpse from my roof of a snow-capped mountain early in the morning. Mind you that I live very close to sea level in a tropical environment.

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ATACAMES

Well, one thing that I love about living three hours from the beach are day beach trips with my brother, Alex. We leave the house at 5:30 am and arrive back home at 10 pm completely negros (black) from a day of roasting. It is funny considering that a three hour bus ride to somewhere is now considered short to me.

We arrived to the beach and immediately plopped down on my scratchy sheet and began to slather on the oil. By the way, speedos are in style for men of all ages and sizes here!

My bro purchased some nice shades for $3 and we shared a coconut milk drink all without leaving our sheet. We even were serenaded... Another perk of living in Ecuador: you don't need to go to the market, it comes to you.

Later we got henna tatoos and danced on the beach a bit with some amigos. By the way: weare not a couple. Everyone and their mom thinks that we are married. I seriously think of him as my brother or my girlfriend.

Just as we stepped out onto the boardwalk to begin our walk to the bus, we were interrupted by the clatter of horse shoes against the pavement. Out of nowhere came a herd of crazy drunk men with pistols tucked into their belts on their horses. Apparently, they had come from a fiesta in another pueblo. They stopped traffic, were on the beach, on the sidewalk, everywhere. They would pull up to a parked pick up truck and pass a liter liquor bottle around chugging it as if it were water. The scene looked like a old western film adapted onto the set of a carribean movie like "How Stella Got Her Groove Back." A few times, we almost got our faces taken off. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but does demonstrate the chaos of the street.

The malecon is a narrow road that runs along the beach. On the right side is the beach and tens of bars made of bamboo and palm leaf thatched roofs. Each bar attempts to blast out the next with salsa, reggueton, kumbia, maerengue, and some hip hop. On the left side are restaurants where meseros (waiters) stand outside and hassel passerbys shoving a laminated menu in their faces mumbling everything that is on the menu. It is a great pressure technique. The sidewalks are jammed with people spilling into the road walking at the pace of a snail. Cars and trucks also crawl by packed full of nosy people and blairing music on their loud speakers. Since very few people own cars, it can be considered a car show of the haves to the have-nots (which the gap is very apparent in Ecuador). Stray dogs roam the streets looking for discarded food and trash. It is a wild place that never seems to sleep. The following picture is blury but I think it shows the busyness of Atacames.

The horses trot like mice very quickly lifting their hooves. I have seen this many times in festivales here in Ecuador. I have always been curious as to what causes them to trot so. After asking a dirty old man on his horse why the horses moved so quickly, he told me that it is from the type of shoe that they have nailed in. I asked him if it hurt the animals and recieved a simple "yes" response as if to say "obvious." The horses has traveled from another pueblo and had been moving around for the entire day. Because they are animals, it doesn't matter if it hurts them. Disgusted, I turned to walk away. Just as his horse almost kicked me, the man asked me if I wanted to get on and ride with him. Yeah right! One thing that never fails to amaze me is that men regardless of their age, behavior or marital status hit on women ALL THE TIME!

GARDEN SEEDS

I thought that I would show some pictures of the results of the butterfly & humming bird garden seeds that Mary Kay, my stepmom sent. It is amazing how fast plants grow here, especially in rainy season. My brother was so motivated that he spent the morning planting more seeds in hopes of creating a minerature jungle. We just have to keep the neighbors from stealing them now.

LA PERLA BLIND HIKE

I was so impressed with the reserve that Arianna brought me to. I wanted to be able to go with her one more time before she had to leave, but with my blind people. Last year, I took them camping and hiking in Mindo (a cloud forest) and they absolutely loved it. I did post about it in May of last year, I believe.

Anyway, I was unable to round up a big group, but managed to bring Carlitos, the son of the president. He went blind about two years ago and is so shy and timid. I am always trying to work with him in meetings with the others because he will do everything possible to aviod talking. I will call on him and ask him a question, but he will not respond. The other group members begin to talk for him. He nervously smiles and waits till the others get tired of waiting for him to talk, and move on. I don't let the others talk for him and encourage him by telling him that what he has to say is just as important as anyone else. I have noticed that if I hold his hand or put my arm around him, he will talk to the group. We definitely have a lot to work on, but I have faith that he will gain the confidence to speak and participate as a leader.

I also brought my little sister, Diana. She lives in my house and never really leaves. She only has one friend, who is her classmate and neighbor. Nobody really invests time in her, so I try to always bring her along if I do something with my blind people. She is also interested in birds, so I had my dad and stepmom send me a book of the birds of Ecuador. It is so cute becuase you can sometimes find her on the roof with binoculars and the book. In the city, only about five bird species are present, but according to our guide, 250 species can be found in the reserve where we were.

I wanted to get her out of the house, but also into an environment where she could personally grow. Hopefully she will see the importance of helping others and be inspired to do so. I always try to stress that everyone holds a valuable place in this world. We can work to better it or live fore ourselves. I don't think that youth are empowered to make postitive changes nor told of their importance as members or participancts in their own communities. Anyway, Diania absolutely loved the hike and all that she learned and said that she will deffinitely go again (hopefully this weekend) when I take the group of blind people.

Vincent, a boy from Belguim that is part of a foreign exchange program here. He has to complete a community service project while in Ecuador, so I encouraged him to help the blind. Our guide was excellent at meeting Carlos' needs. He explained everything so well and had Carlos explore many plants and trees with his touch and smell senses. He even caught a little frog on our hike and had Carlos hold it.

Below is a video of Carlos exploring the environment:

It was a great orientation and mobility exercise becuase we had to duck under trees, step over fallen trunks, pass on narrow and rocky paths, and cross streams. The kids got to learn a lot about the environment and the negative effects humans have on it. I was also glad to get them out into nature. My Dad and Mary Kay always took us hiking and camping as kids. It is something that I always liked. I think that it can positively impact youth in their development in alot of ways. The exposure at a young age spikes an interest and makes it not so intimidating later in life.

At the end of the hike, the kids got to see the rescued animals.

It was so cute--when the caretaker got this giant rodent to come out of hiding, the monkey began to groom it looking for parasites to eat. The other photo is of the roots of a tree that form from the trunk several feet up. They shoot down into the ground.

WEIRD PHOTOS SEQUEL

We added to the group of weirdos and took another photo of the handstand competition. We tried to get Rambo in on it, but he was unable to stay up. After several failed attempts falling down and knocking against the tree, he opted to take the picture.

We also took a picture of Arianna rescuing me as well as me rescuing Rambo. I feel like I have a Jennifer Garner lip thing going on in this one.

ARIANNA GOING AWAY DINNER

Sadly, there won't be any posts including Arianna until her wedding. We did her going away dinner at my place last week. We had spinach lasagne, broccoli, garlic bread, an ice cream cake and Coke Zero (like the zero calories would have made a difference after that).

The final portrait was taken...

An akward prom picture was also necessary...

Well, my mom will be here next week! She says that I should clarify that it is my biological mom that will be visiting since I have so many moms. We will be at the beach for a day and spend the rest of our time in Santo Domingo with my families and blind people. We will also visit Cayambe, becuase my sister had a baby a month ago. Take care!

WINTER STORM CLOUD PICTURES FROM MY ROOF

TRIP WITH MY AURORA FAMILY TO PUERTO LIMON

My mom and sister seem so depressed and bored now that they are both confined to their house. Before my mom's accident, she was very active. She worked in the barrio in the morning recieving payments for the upkeep of the well that provides water to its inhabitants. At lunch, she returned home to make lunch and wash clothes, then would go into Santo Domingo to sell clothes door-to-door. She always told me how much she loved to work when I first arrived to live with her. Following a year of relearning to walk and still not completely gaining her independence after the fall from her second story window that broke her leg, she is still very much impeded in her daily activities

We were supposed to go to Loja (a town in southern Ecuador) at the end of February to see her native land. Because of heavy rains that lead to flooding and land slides in the roadway, we were unable to make the trip. Instead, I took them out of the house two days last week. One was to a great park that is just outside of Santo Domingo that overlooks a valley below. The second place we went was to my other best girlfriends's site, Puerto Limon. We hopped on a bus, baby and Tuli in hand to head to the town about a half an hour away.

Once we arrived, we ate lunch and headed to the river. Tuli was the first to make it in and immediately grabbed a stick to fetch.

We spend the day swimming and taking pictures. It was the gordo's first trip to the lake and he ended up loveing the water. When my sister bathes him, he cries and absolutely hates the water. The aversion seemed to disappear as he spent a lot of time in the water.

We also went tubing down the river with a bunch of kids from Lindsay's site. One the way I taught them to scream yoo hoo!!! That initiated and hour of ten 13-15 year old kids screaming. I told Lindsay that she know would never have to feel far away from me again. Here she is below. She and I are going to back pack from Panama to Costa Rica next month. We are going to meet the family and friends of my sister-in-law (who is from Costa Rica) while in San Jose too, which will be really cool.

My friend Lindsay

ARIANNA AND LA PERLA

Sadly, Arianna will be leaving Ecuador at the end of the month. I am really going to miss her. She is one of my favorite people of all time to waste time with. Examples: last week we drew a map and tried to fill in all of the locations where Real World was filmed; we made a list to name the fifty states while holding a competition to see who has visited more, drew a map of the US and included regional names. We are also champions at Would you rather? and "cliff."

Near her site is an ecological reserve called "La Perla," which she has visited throughout her time here. It was owned by an American woman who moved here and fought for the environment as deforestation of the area really gained momentum about 40 years ago. We commenced our hike with the typical adventurer tourist picture to show you that we indeed where here.

Prior to urban development of the coastal region it was primarily tropical forest. Within the time frame of 40 years 98% of the land in the Santo Domingo area has been cleared! Much of the coast are grasslands now or used for agriculture. It is nearly impossible to imagine that the line was convered entirely by the jungle. According to our guide, high temperatures reached into the mid sixties prior to land settlement. In present time, temperatures can reach into the mid 80s. Now, coastal birds have migrated inland to the area that never had before because of the attraction due to the rise of temperatures. Countless species of animals and plants have gone extinct as well.

Ecuadorians in general are not environmentaly conscious. People especially in the coast, throw trash on the ground. Last week, I was walking home for luch along a major road when I saw a truck stopped just ahead of me. A little boy jumped out of the bed with his hands full of trash. He ran over to the only green area that there was to dump it in the tall grass. The entire roadway is covered with cement and ugly block houses stacked on top of each other with trash sprinkled on the paths. But the reasoning of the adult driving was to stop to dump trash in the grass.

Fungus

This occurs in the house where I live now. Behind it is a beautiful little area full of palms and other plants and trees that are the home to several bird species. My mom is constantly throwing trash off the roof into this area and sees nothing wrong with it. Also, more than 40% of the area has been cleared within the last six months by neighbors entering with their machetes and gasoline. Initiatives for this are that thieves hide in the forested area to avoid being and that someone is preparing to invade the land. Deforestation is a serious threat in South America. I remember the indigenous people that I went to work with in the Amazon telling me that there are no more wild animals to hunt as well as major climate changes that have effected the area because of loggers and oil drillers.

Well, I don't know exactly if it is due to the isolation that volunteers face, but Peace Corps Volunteers are a very weird bunch. I never realized it until I had been around people visiting my cluster mates. We say and do so many strange things that I don't necessarily realize until an outsider is looking at us like freaks. Anyway, one of my strange obsessions has become to practice handstands in my house. I have actually gotten really good!

Subsequently, when my friends visit, they have to have handstand wars with me. It is hilarious trying to teach others to overcome the fear of breaking their neck on the cement floor beneath them. Last week, I made my family do handstand wars with me. Arianna told me that I could include it in my quarterly work report listed as "arm strengthening vertical realignment esercise" with the objective to see the world from another perspective. They were terrified and therefore determined that gringos must have a natural ability in gymnastics. They are unaware of my heel mark covered walls upstairs apparently.

To get us back on track, Arianna is an enthusiastic competitor in the hand stand wars. She also likes to take strange pictures. So, on our hike through La Perla, it occured to me to have a hand stand war picture demonstrating our eccentric personalities. As soon as I did my hand stand, I looked at the ground and there were tens of centipedes crawling all over and underneath my hands! The guide was screaming not to worry so we went ahead and took the picture. We handed our camera over to our guide who Arianna has come to know as Rambo. He showed up with a rag tied around is face and in cargo pants. Throughout our hike, he shared stories of him carrying gringas and gringos on his back through the jungle becuase of their shattered bones and dislocated shoulders for climbing up vines and swinging from them over rock beds like Tarzan. A typical man as many women might say! He was fun especially because he did not act freaked out by our bizarre behavior. So we continued to pose for more pictures. This one was my favorite one. It looks like I rescued her from the FARC and she is in her prisoner uniform that they made her wear, a Che shirt. Rambo became a subject in the album as well. This is our jungle prom picture (he is my female date). The cane in my hand is actually used to handled snakes. I am also wearing his rag.

Finally, this is a video of the foliage. I particulary love this short clip because it really shows the mood of the trip. We stopped for a second and Arianna is zoned out doing who knows what. The camera then finishes on Rambo who is posing with his I am amazing expression. I will try to put one more video on later today or within the week.

STORY OF THE WEEK Well, I thought that I would include a story to give you a little bit of insight into what it is like living here. There is a baby that my mom takes care of where I live that has to be the scariest baby that I have ever seen. Its eyes are black and you can't see any of the white. The baby is so intense too and never smiles, just stares. A few nights ago, the mom pulled its high chair up to my window and asked if I would feed my dog close to the window so that the baby could watch and be disctracted while she fed her. I left my dog there eating, no problem. The following night, I arrived at my house SO tired and a litle grauchy. I changed my clothes and layed down in bed and began watching the news. All of the sudden, the mom pulls the high chair up to my bedroom window so that I can be the freak show to entertain the baby while she fed her! Then, my sister came up next to her and began to greet me in Engligh saying "jhallo (but with a German sounding accent)" to me. This is the hobby of many Ecuadorian men to say to us when I am walking with my gringa girlfriends in the street. Then she began banging on the bars trying to get Tuli to jump on my bed. Although they may be annoying at the time, my tolerance and patience has increased so much while being here. When I meet up with my cluster mates, we always share stories like these to laugh becuase we all go through them. Arianna told me today about a trip she took with her family to the Bahamas. Her family is filipino and white and they entered into an all African descent market store. A little girl discovered them in the aisle and was absolutely amazed by them. She followed them all over the store and asked her mom if she could feed them (like animals in a oetting zoo) while opening up her cookies. HAVE A GOOD DAY! MY MOM IS COMING TO VISIT ME THIS MONTH! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEB ON THURSDAY!!!

Well, it has been so long that I forgot my password. I just spent 15 minutes trying to get into my account. A lot has happened since my last publishing. I went to the states for a month in September. I got back and never had time to write. As more time passed, it exhausted me to even think of all the writing I had to do. My service ends in August and I am planning on extending into the Dominican Republic for a third year. After that, I want to return to school in Miami for social work. Below are some pictures and news of big events that have occured in recent months. Above is my beautiful bilingual hija (daughter) Tuli. Excuse the mistakes as I have not corrected anything.

TRAINING IN AN AGENCY FOR THE BLIND IN PENNSYLVANIA

The president of the World Blindness Outreach (the foundation that was here in July giving free eye surgery)paid for me to fly to Pennsylvania for five days and train in an Agency for the blind and visually impaired.It was nonstop, but very well organized. I stayed in the home of the Vice President and she scheduled for me to spend one-on-one time with several specialist. The main objective was to learn as much as I could in orientation and mobility. My second day, I spent learning to use the white cane and other orientation techniques. We did a lot of blindfold activities, which were scary at times. My respect and appreciation for the visually impaired gre in many ways on the trip. Walking down stairs was the scariest for me by far. Clearly, I am no expert, but acquired understanding as well as ideas to apply with my group. I also met with social workers and even went on a social work visit. Interesting enough, the parents of the blind girl where from Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. This trip made it clear to me that I wanted to stay in the field of social work.While in PA, I also met with social workers as well as visually impaired individuals working for the agency. The agency is self sustaining and actually produces many goods including helmet liners for the soldiers in Iraq!I am so grateful for the opportunity because I was able to see what an organization of the blind look like at full capacity in a developed country. The contrasts were glaring, but I was able to learn so much more in an environment where blind and low vision individuals are functioning at full capacity. Also, I was able to converse in English with the professionals who had degrees in the area.

I was in Pennsylvania in October. The grandson of the woman that I stayed with and I carved pumpkins so that I could show Ecuadorians our Halloween traditions.

LAND DONATED TO THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BLIND

On a more positive note, World Blindness Outreach has agreed to umbrella Luz Y Sombra while we try to raise money for the construction of a multi use facility where the group can realize its activities. The group has nowhere secure to store their belongings nor meet the basic needs of the members. In December after nearly two years of petitioning, the municipality finally donated a small piece of land for the construction of the center that serve the blind in all of their endeavors! This was a huge step for us as we have been in and out of the municipal government building more times than the bathroom! The government here is very very corrupt and does not put much priority on serving the community outside of their own network, let alone citizens living with disabilities. This is a picture we took to send to the local newspaper. I made the posters to stress the fact that the blind are people too, and that the only thing different about a blind person is that he or she cannot see! Another poster is thanking the Mayor and the municipality for the donation and giving people living with visual disabilities a chance to advance in society.

The posters in Spanish read: "My heart sees what my eyes can't," and "It is not what we lack, but what we have."

This was a very important event, and the local news even came to do a story on us. Here, Sofia is being interviewed. I tried to hide but of course was unable to dodge the news and had to do an interview. I was so nervous that I could here my voice shaking. I talked about what I do for the group as well as their capabilities to do anything that a sighted person can. My brother and I later stayed up to watch the news that night. I freaked out and was so embarrassed when I saw myself and he surprisingly said that I didn't even seem like a foreigner. I tried to make an analogy of how strange it would be if he were living in China and saw himself on TV giving an interview in Chinese!

We spent a few days burning trash and cleaning up the land. It took us such a long time to get the land because it had been invaded by a couple about twelve years prior. The municipality gave the couple another place to live nearby. Invasions are quite common. Once a group notices a piece of abandoned land, they set build their houses out of sugar cane, steal electricity and can have an entire community constructed within a matter of days. Once the municipal gave us the land and we had cleaned it, someone else tried to invade it within three days! We showed up at the site to find the sugar can structure already set into place. We tore it down and the local officials warned them not attempt to build on our land again. That day, a barb wire and wooden fence was put up to separate our land. Several days later, we returned to find that a resentful person had knocked it down. Because of this grave problem, we are in a rush to raise money for to construct a building for the group.

Please contact me if you have any ideas on how to raise money or want to get involved.This poor old man is one of the people that wants to take the land. He is nearly deaf and losing his sight. We asked him to join the group and watch the land so that others do not move in. You have to scream (I am not exaggerating) for him to understand you. Here, the president is introducing herself. He is so brittle that his fingernails have fallen off and the area is now filled with dirt.

Here is a blind professional from Quito playing Ecuadorian music on his accordion. We invited a politician to our land in order to request assistance in building the center.

WORKSHOPS WITH THE BLIND

I have continued to work with the group giving workshops in leadership and self esteem. I have noticed that the group cohesiveness has weakened some the more opportunities that are created for the group. Because of that, it is important to continue to work with them in this manner. I have to constantly remind myself as I become frustrated or judgemental that almost all of the group members have an elementary school education and have been continuously excluded from society. They have no prior experience working as a group. I also run support group meetings with them now, where they are able to talk about their experiences and feelings (a concept that is also totally foreign at times). During a leadership workshop that I gave. They started out in pairs sitting back to back and had to stand up with their arms locked together. Once they mastered that, we made larger groups where they learned that everyone must do his part. Communication skills were enforced as well as they quickly realized it necessary to count before trying to stand.

Xonia, is a new member of the group who recently lost her vision. For one of the workshops, we decided to eat fried plantains and shrimp for lunch to celebrate the work. It was also a lure for the other members who may have otherwise ditched the meeting. In Ecuador, one can always be assured that people will come if food and dancing will be part of it. BLIND EDUCATION

Through petitioning, the National Federation for the Blind is paying a low vision teacher from Quito to give the group members computer classes five days per week for three hours. After the semester, I am going to be giving an English course. We also inaugurated the first ever school for the blind which continues to function teaching Braille and mathematics.BLIND BANDOne of the most exciting accomplishments was the $12,000 grant that the Belgium embassy gave to the association to purchase musical instruments and two computers. The band has already played at two public events. It is really amazing to see the talent that they have. For my birthday, the group threw me a party and the band played all of the music, including Happy Birthday sung in English.

Below is a video of the band playing at a photography competition event.

MOM AND OUR TRIP TO MIAMI

I visited my mom in Denver. My trip consitsted of running all over visiting old friends and a lot of salsa dancing! We later traveled to Miami together for the first time. We absolutely loved it! We spent a lot of time on the beach. It was really funny because we ended up on the gay beach without even knowing it! It was a 20 ft length on the beach marked by rainbow flags. It was hilarious because we were surrounded by all of these single men with George Hamilton tans. Since absolutely NO ONE believed that we were mother and daughter, we were laughing at the fact that it looked like we were a couple.

Our self-appointed nicknames on this trip were: Ebony and Ivory! My mom looks so pretty here, on a boat tour of the multimillion dollar mansions in the Miami Beach area. I managed to get us on a $100 air boat tour of the Everglades for free, something that my mom and I both have always wanted to do.

Of course, no tour of the Everglades is complete without an alligator demonstration.

And of course, who is the lucky audience member that gets picked to have to hold the 20 lb alligator? You guessed it.

ST LOUIS AND MY DAD AND MARY KAY

Also, I went to St Louis to visit my dad and step mom, Mary Kay. We had a great time just hanging around the house. We also went to the arch, Oktoberfest, and "The Taste of St Louis." One of the highlights was the food. I definitely don't get to eat a lot of vegetables anymore. Mary Kay is an amazing cook and kept the exotic meals coming.

My mom flew into St Louis the night before I left so that we could travel to Miami together. We all four (my dad, step mom, mom and I ) watched the movie Birdcage in preparation for our tropical vacation. It took us about four hours to get through the movie though because we kept pausing it to talk about funny and insane family memories. I hadn't laughed and cried that hard for that long since I don't know when. Mary Kay whipped up an amazing dinner of grilled vegetables and cheeses as well as a date cake that my dad made. They have been studying the art of cheese production for a few years now. As I write this, Mary Kay is attending a cheese course for the weekend in New York City. She is so knowledgeable on the process of making it and the different components as well as the history. It is really interesting. You may remember from their visit in December of 2006 where she learned to make cheese with my Cayambe family.Here is my beautiful stepmom and her masterpiece! She knows how to make good food. She has just begun a cheesebasket business in which she specially packages a selection of cheeses, fruits and nuts as well as includes a brochure informing about each cheese and what wine it best combines with. Mary Kay also has begun to give cheese tasting parties and will hopefully begin teaching in St Louis soon. If you are interested, you can email her at: mkm57us@yahoo.com

As you know, I had to throw in some MUNROE SHOTS.

My dad is so freaking cute! I had to force him to pose in front of the car like a weirdo.

I almost forgot to mention the formation of the PIT Team. The night before I flew to Pennsylvania my Dad, Mary Kay and I stayed up all night finishing a document that I put together to solicit donations from the World Blindness Outreach. It was insanity, but the office resembled a Kinkos store. Mary Kay didn't sleep and my Dad and I took a nap for maybe an hour. The next day, I called my Dad from Pennsylvania and he had declared the PIT Team! My last night in St Louis before Miami, we slep for maybe an hour too. My dad loves to bother me about me suitcase. My room usually ends up looking like a bomb exploded in my suitcase. The nagging is enough motivation for me to leave it as is. My last night in Denver, I didn't sleep either and my mom stayed up with me worrying that I wasn't going to get it done. They are EXCELLENT NAGGERS.

WORLD AIDS DAY

World AIDS day is Dececember 1st. My brother and I decided to give two high school assemblies. He taught information on HIV and AIDS and I gave a presentation on self esteem, acceptance and saying "no" to sex. I really wanted to motivate the kids by encouraging them to develop themselces and not waste time comparing themselves to others or focusing on the things that they aren't or don't have. Children are not raised with the encouragement and support to "be all they can be" or that "you can do anything that you set your mind to."

This has been a huge focus of mine throughout my service here, to mentor young people encouraging them It was great! I am especially grateful for adults who have invested their time in me when I was younger. We all need direction and it is especially important for a young person to recieve the right kind of support.

This day was especially important to me because I was thinking alot about high school and how insecure I was. I remember always trying to be somebody else and feeling pressure to grow up. So, I used this time to talk about that as well. I got really into it and did an activity with the youth practicing positive self talk. My brother demonstrated by acting out what I would say while looking at himself in a mirror. I began saying things like "my muscles are so big, etc." My brother got a little embarrassed and the kids loved it. It was great though because it began a dialogue in which I saw once again how little people know about HIV and AIDS here in Ecuador.

My brother began taking his antiretrovirals five months, meaning that his T cell count fell below 200. A normal person has between 800 and 1,200 CD4 T cell count. A person living with AIDS begins taking the medication once their immune system can is very weak and can no longer fight against every day infections that a noninfected person's can. Every month my brother has to go to Quito to recieve his medication provided free by the government.

At first glance, this may appear to be a great service provided by the government, but their are many flaws. First of all, a person may only get his medications in Quito or Guayaquil but must pay his own fare to arrive as well as miss a day of work or taking care of the children and house duties. The trip takes up an entire day at least and many are unable to go because of the difficult circumstances. Furthermore, there is no assistance provided in paying for the required medical exams that one must undergo if he or she is to be truly proactive about his or her health. Also, many fear confidentiality risks and avoid going because they do not want to be recognized.

The staff is poorly trained and many cannot overcome their own ignorance and fears of the disease to correctly treat their clients. An example, a nurse working a local clinic discovered that her neighbor had HIV. One day the client returned to his home to find that it had been burned down by terrified neighbors because of the nurse fearfully telling their community about its "disease-stricken" member. THat is just one of several disgusting stories that I have heard of the discrimination and abuse of those living with HIV or AIDS here. People even say ignorant things to me when I mention that I work with people living with HIV or AIDS. I am sure that discrimination occurs just as much but maybe less openly in the states.

So, in order to begin shedding light on the individuals living with HIV and AIDS as well as giving them a voice, I decided to sell antidiscrimination stickers created by my HIV/AIDS group in the street to passerbys with a few young girls. All of the money that we made, we gave to the group. The stickers said that to discriminate against a person living with the disease meant to be part of it.

Leading up to it, I participated with the Ecuadorian Red Cross in a march through the downtown to create awareness. We stopped traffic and were able to reach a lot of people.

Painting the red ribbon on a participants face.

XMAS PARTY FOR THE BLIND

Christmas began to come closer and I thought that it would be great to organize a Christmas party for the blind people to celebrate all of the work that we achieved that year as well as to integrate the families. I found a group of guys that were looking at doing some sort of community service for Christmas and got them to purchase the ingredients to make a rice a chicken dish as well as candy bags for the kids. I also got a guy who worked at a phot processing shop to donate prints and made a presentation of all of the activites that we achieved that year for the families to see that their loved ones were achieving and experienceing many great things.

The lawyer who does work probono for the association came and played the clown role with the kids. He made them dance and when the music stopped, posed each dancing pair. The object was not to move after he positioned the kids. Here are some cute pictures: We spent the majority of the time dancing. I have made the group into dancers and salsa lovers. When the volunteers who donated the food came, I made them pull out all of the women to dance. By the end of the party, I was soaked in sweat.

CHRISTMAS WITH MY PEACE CORPS CLUSTER MATES

My three best friends live nearby Santo Domingo. We decided to have a Christmas party where each person brought a dish or two. Some of the food included: green bean casserole, chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, stuffing and baked chicken. We also played secret Santa and were given a limit of six dollars. That afternoon was amazing! Afterwards, we watched movies and listened to Christmas music and played beauty shop.

VISIT TO PUYO FOR NEW YEARS

My girlfriend Ariana and her fiance, Pier and I went to the Amazon for new years. Of course I brought Tuli along too. This is what it is like in the bus for us. Ecuadorians have a fear of dogs. It seems that every person that I talk to can tell me of at least one story of being bitten by a dog. It is hilarious watching their face as they step over Tuli. Whenever I am with her in public I have to constantly say, "NO HACE NADA!" She won't do anything to you in response to the constant "¿Es brava (Is she mean)?"Arian, Pier and I decided that we were third wheel soul mates on this trip. It was the most fun that I have ever had while being stuck with a couple. They quote stupid movies too! Ariana and Pier even learned the Napolian Dinamite dance to perform for a family party. Another noteworthy bit, Ariana is from a wild and crazy family too! We love to tell each other ridiculous stories of family trips and blood battles between siblings.

We went rafting into the Amazon basin for an afternoon. Here is our stereotypical nerdy tourist shot before getting into the raft. We went in two rafts down the rough river which was very techinical in places (class 3 and 4). Ariana and Pier's raft ended up flipping and Ariana got stuck underneath it for a bit. We had stopped to eat chocolate when all of the sudden the empty raft floated by with six bobbing heads behind it. Luckily everyone got back in but had to float a ways in what they said was a pretty terrifying experience. Pier said that part of the way Arian was holding onto him taking them both under. We laughed about it later.

This is Baños, near where we began our rafting trip. If you have heard about the volanoe Tunguraua erupting, this is the town effected by it. It actually began to smoke just after I headed back to my site and Peace Corps Volunteers were no longer to travel on that road. Below are barbequed cuyes (guinea pig), a common food in the sierra.

Over new years, I went to the Amazon with some volunteer friends and Tuli. We ended up having an Eucuadorian style new years. Basically, a coworker of a volunteer invited us to stay with her family. After an hour long ride on a rocky dirt road we pulled up to a two store wooden house. An older gentlemen slowly limped over towards us using his cane. We later learned that a snake had bitten his leg during a jungle trek about ten years earlier. Prior to the roadways, inhabitants were forced to hike for hours to nearest ton through dense forest and mud. From the are that we were staying in, community members hiked seven hours each way.To make a long story short, the girl who invited us was not there and had just recently returned to town. We were officially stranded until the next day when one of the two daily buses may pass by. The gentelmen was the girl's father and explained that they bus would likely not pass because he would be hung over from celebrating new years. This ended up being a blessing for me because the family were spiritual Christians. I was nervous before about going out to the site because I had figured that there would be alot of drinking and inappropriate men. God is good! We weren't around any alcohol and got to share stories of spiritual experiences that we had had as well as how much our lives had changed after meeting God. They had had complete 360 degree life changes like me.

The next day, our bus did not come so we began the seven hour walk to the road, hoping that we would pass a house with someone that owned a car. After two hours of walking and singing 90s rap songs like: Gangster's Paradise, 24 k Don't Go There, Shoop, and several others that I can't remeber. We also played "Would you rather?" Finally a bus passed and we were on our way back to town.

WORK WITH THE QUICHUA IN THE AMAZON

Afterwards, I headed out to another volunteer´s site 2 and a half hours northeast in Arajuno. On the way, I was overcome with excitement and gratitude that I was in the Amazon rainforest like I had always said that I wanted to go to. The views from my bus window were incredible. I was surrounded by dramatic sloping hills that went on for miles. I spotted my friend and jumped off the bus next to a landing strip that was next to the center of the tiny town in the middle of no where. That night, I stayed in my friends place similar to a tree house. To enter, I had to climb a shaky ladder. I still had Tuli with me and she never mastered coming down but could quivkly reach the top. I also enjoyed a hose bath out in the open air.The next day, we began a three hour hike into the jungle to reach a Quichuwa community. We had to wear rubber boots becuase the mud was so thick. The first hour was directly up a mountain and I thought that I was going to die. We were walking on paths that the indigeous had been using for thousands of years perhaps. All of the sudden, I found myself standing in a soccer field in the middle of the jungle. My friend explained to me that alot of jungle communities have soccer fields and that it is quite humerous to see from an airplane. We entered a two room thatched roof wooden house. About ten people used this house and slept on the floor. A baby was being rocked in a hamock. The inhabitants spoke Spanish and Quichuwa. They immediately gave us a huge bowl of boiled bannanas and broth with a small piece of chicken in it. For the few days that we stayed with them, our diet consisted of boiled yucca, bannanas, rice and tuna. The Quichuwa make a drink called chicha in which they chew on yucca and spit it out. Later it is mixed with water and served as a beverage. At first I felt very uncomfortable because I am more used to the coastal culture, which is more outgoing and less inhibited. The Quichuwa are much more reserved and the women much more shy and quiet.

Although I initially felt this way, it quickly faded. The adults are not very affectionate with the children so I quickly became the kids jungle gym carrying them around and holding their hands. The maternal side of me has deffinitely come out during my time here in Ecuador. These two little girls were like my little babies the whole time.

We began to play soccer with the kids barefoot seeing that we only came in our boots and everyone else walks around barefoot. Big mistake! I kicked the soccer ball and felt and instant shooting pain in my big toe bt continued to play because I wanted to quickly win acceptance from the group. A few minutes later, one of the children pointed to my toe and said that I was bleeding. My big toenail was completely loose and oozing blood. It had easily come off after being smashed against my boot for several hours while treking up to the community. I was forced to sit out the rest of the game.

I quickly made up for it when they finished playing. We went running to the nearby river, where the children swim and play several hours per day. Much of my visit was spent swimming with the children. One activity that I had us play was "the battle of the bands" using only natural objects found in the jungle. We formed teams of girls verse the boys, and made costumes using palm leaves and vines wrapped around our heads. We painted our faces and body with the muddy sand and performed our skit. It was so much fun!

Tuli played with us the entire time. She was jumping off rocks into the river with us, swimming, playing soccer, you name it. The kids loved her. Most people only think of their animals as gaurd dogs and rarely feed them or are affectionate with them. Pets don't have names, don't respond to being pet, and can't do any tricks. Tuli is very intelligent and great with kids. The kids quickly adopted her into the pack. We had to climb up a small dirt cliff out of the river and Tuli was the first one that they passed up to the person helping people out of the water. The kids called her Benji and Princesa and did not want me to take her with me when I left.

She was so cute on the trail too. She would go ahead a bit but always run back to make sure that I was alright.There were about twenty kids between the ages of five and fifteen. The school house was divided by two walls and the teacher was a twenty-two year old man from the town that we come from. He would hike in and out of the community weekly. Obviously, the educational conditions are insufficient for the students to obtain the tools needed to obtain professional opportunties outside of the community. We taught the children a few English classes. I taught them the "Hokey-Pokey" and we sand "If you're happy and you know it." We gave one simple lesson to the adults and I taught them to play musical chairs. They got so into it that two older women even broke a chair trying to win the game. Remeber that I told you how shy and quiet the women were. It was crazy how quick the competitive streak came out. There was no electricity in the community. So as night would fall, we lit candles and would sit outside watching the sky darken. I would curl up with all the little kids and teach them hymns and talk about how much God loves them and that he was inside their hearts. These moments will probably be some of my happiest most fulfilling times of my life. The sky became so black at night that it seemed that I could reach right into space. I have never seen so many stars before. It was so peaceful knowing that I was so far from the everyday problems of the world, the terrible newsflashes of war and hunger. The tranquilty and peaceful life of the jungle deffinitely attracted me.

By the time the last day rolled around, I could barely walk because my toe had gotten so infected from running around barefoot without the proper treatement. The women had been cleaning it using hot water and a leaf with healing properties. I was ery concerned about how I was going to make the difficult hike back down. The family tried to convince me to stay another day and ride a horse down a river in the other direction to a bus that would take me to another town six hours from where I needed to be. I took four IbProfen and managed through the jungle in good time using a walking stick. By the time that I got back to Santo Domingo, my foot was swollen from my ankle down and in excruciating pain. I was afraid of losing my toe. I began taking antibiotics and stayed off my foot for several days. The toenail eventually came off but I am completely healed now.

Remember how I said that the people were not very warm? The woman that fed us ended up crying and hugging me when we left. They have called me a few times since I left to get me to go back. The volunteer has already left his site, so I will have to go back alone and hike in with a family member if I do go back. I am hoping to find the time to do so.

BLIND TRIP TO THE BEACH

Last weekend, we took a day trip to the beach. Fifteen blind people and their family members came along. I was able to get the trip payed for through grant translating project I did for the municipality. Instead of recieving payment for the work, I asked for them to pay bus rental for our trip. It was great because all of the group members are very poor and would not have otherwise been able to go. I especially loved it when the coastline became visible from our bus and the kids became so excited! Once we arrived, Tuli (my bella dog)tumbled out of the bus and ran to the water. She spent all day swimming and jumping in the waves. As soon as we all got onto the beach and our things situated, we decided to take a dollar boat road around the bay area. The blind loved the sensation of the boat crashing against the waves and bouncing against the water. A few of the mothers made lunch for everyone: rice, boiled plantains, potatoes, and a piece of chicken. The entire day, the majority of the blind people stayed in the water jumping in the waves for the entire day.

Here is the president's mom enjoying the beach. She does not swim but spent the majority of the day laying in the sand.

The kids here are brother and sister. The little boy is blind, and his mother helps the group in so many ways. She is always present at meetings and ready to help.

This is a picture of all the blind people and the family members that went along. Here are the blind people that I work with on a regular basis.

The cute kids of the group members!

Unfortunately, a few of the men got very drunk towards the end of the day and made the bus ride home very unpleasant. Binge drinking among males is very common in the culture. Every town or neighborhood, however small always has a place for men to play cards and drink. Men will drink for days making it quite normal to have to step over drunks in the street. So, my zero alcohol rule was not respected as it was coming from a woman and on a recreation trip. I found myself a little angered on our way back home as I was sitting in the front of our bus, with all of the women and children listening and watching the men dance in the aisles and behave inappropriately. Women stay silent and a man is always excused for his actions because "he was drunk." Sexual assault an violence against women has occured to the majority of Ecuadorian women. One reason that it continues is becuase of the inferiority of the female gender and the high prevelance of drinking and acceptance of the behavioral changes as a result. I am not writing this as a judgement, rather I am documenting my feelings and experiences as well as the cultural aspects of Ecuador.

BOTANICAL GARDEN IN SANTO DOMINGO Santo DOmingo has a minerature botanical garden. One Sunday, I headed with the family to check it out. It was very beautiful and surprisingly well kept in comparison to the expectation that I had. Here I am with a baby monkey. It was really upsettting to see its mom chained byu a metal collar that was up and on display for the visitors. Sadly, one can buy a monkey here for about five dollars on the black market. Poachers hunt and kill the mothers are steal the babies to later sell.

BLIND TRIP TO THE POOLSofia, the president swimming at one of several of our trips to the pool we have made. Almost all of them know how to swim and are not afraid of the water. On a trip before this, one of the guys nearly drowned. My friend had to jump in the water with his clothes on to pull him out. He became disoriented under water and could not fell the floor under his feet. Afterwards he said that he was terrified and not going to swim again. You can imagine the pleasant surprise it was for me when he showed up to go to the beach with us. Although he spent much of the day sitting in the sand, he did get into the water a few times. MY SISTER'S NEW BABY: ALEXThis is my new nephew born in October. Mary Kay bought some baby clothes for him. Maritza was so excited to have ropa americana (american clothes) for little Alex. We found these bear booties in a dollar store in St Louis. Everybody couldn't get over how cute they were. My sister was in her first year of college when she got pregnant. She dropped out of school to marry her boyfirenmd and take care of the baby. She is living in a one room apartment that is part of the house where I first lived. Her only activities now are breast feeding the baby, washing clothes, cleaning the house and cooking for her husband who rarely comes to their house. I have been encouraging her to go back to school. It is a shame that she got pregnant so young becuase she is such an intelligent woman that could make alot of positive changes in Ecuador.

By the way, my mom finally began to walk without crutches last month after one year of not being able to walk because of her broken leg.

VISIT TO CAYAMBE

In November, I went to visit my Cayambe family for Thanksgiving for a few days. Here, I went out with my mom and her secret boyfriend to a market. He came to get us and then said that we had to stop by his farm just for one minute to give the cattle water. The one minute turned into two hours! The westerner in me still sometimes believes people when they talk about time as well as gets annoyed when things don't work as as planned. We ended up driving the ancient tractor down the main highway to a creek to pump water out and later haul it back up to the land and empty it into another tank.

GATITO

Unfortunately I no longer have Gatito. He ran away when I took him back to my old neighborhood. He began spraying my stuff and was probably sick. I miss cuddling up to him. Tuli misses mauling him too. They were a strange pair. She would chew on him but he loved it.

That is all for now! Thanks for the patience. I hope that you are happy and healthy and that God is using you!

I know that if I don't publish these photos now, I am not going to get around to it. I am planning on going back to the states for about three weeks in September and have been trying to wrap things up in work. Because of that, I haven´t had time to write. So, I am going to keep it short, but put these pictures out.

Here are photos from my computer class with the blind. The inauguration is at the end of this month for the first ever school for the blind in Santo Domingo. The president of the association, Sofia, has worked extremely hard to accomplish this. She will be responsible for teaching the Braille system and other associated skills. I will be working there one day per week in the psychological component of motivation and self esteem as well as mobility (teaching how to use a walking stick). On my visit back to the states, I plan on visiting several schools for the blind to learn the latest techniques and such.

As for the small business, we are still in the midst of organizing and developing business relationships. I found a group of university students that have to do a social work project this month involving helping a needy population. They will be working on finding clients in large organizations such as high schools, government buildings, etc.

Sofia, the president of the association reading Braille

The group has been present in two trade shows: one, in Santo Domingo, the other in Quito (the nation's capital. The government lent space free of charge in both. There, they were able to get their name out as well as display photos and explanations of our activities.

Other news, I got the privelege to assist in a medical brigade from the states last week. A foundation by the name of "World Blindness Outreach" was in Santo Domingo offering free cataract and eye muscle surgery to people who had come from all over. The was a woman that had come from Colombia by bus for three days non stop! It seemed that the majority had reached the point of partial and full blindness as a result of waiting so long for treatment. Many would not have otherwise received the opportunity for treatment otherwise. My job involved preparing patients for surgery and their folders. It was a great opportunity to be able to talk with so many people seeing as they were nervous and all. The staff was also great. I met a Christian man from Nicaragua that was full of the holy spirit. It was a spiritual refreshment that I was really needing. I was beginning to feel dry after being so caught up in work and myself.

One of two surgery rooms.

Cataract surgery.My women's group has already finished their first workshop of embroidery as well as the first of a two part class on fabric painting. They get so excited for the class and have begun demonstrate higher self esteem as they see that they are capable of creating art.

The Gringo doctors brought toys to the kids. I brought some to the kids in my old neighborhood that live in the bamboo shacks. They were thrilled! My mom and sister from my old neighborhood! Us playing with the presents for the kids before giving them out.

This is a woman that I am tutoring in English. She was selling a car to make more money to support her family while studying. Unfortunately, her car was stolen and now she is left with a huge debt. She has been looking for work, but is unable to find anything that will be substantial.

The two pictures are of my sister from my new house (I know I have a lot of moms and sisters), Mikaiela. I took her along to help out missionaries here that were building a church.

The foundation that I work for helping people with HIV and AIDS began a new group. Many members didn't know what HIV was when they were diagnosed. Here I am giving a charla on acceptation.

My backyard--ecological reserve! My brother and I went to a dinner party for a distant relative. You already can guess who was the Latina dancing from start to finish!

I am so frustrated! I spent two days researching and creating a workshop that I have to give tomorrow. I just got to the Internet cafe to put some final touches on it, and my flash drive is broken. Yesterday, as the office was closing I asked to print out my presentation but the woman with the printer had already turned off her computer. Now, I am going to have to redo the entire thing. I love technology! Ok, enough of the woe is me baby talk.

Here is a picture from the roof of my new house. About a month ago, I moved out of my old barrio for security reasons. I had to take one of the most dangerous buses in Santo Domingo to and from my house daily. Much of the time, i didn't finish working until the evening and would have to catch the bus alone. The buses in Ecuador are notorious for robberies and assaults because it is the easiest way to work. Many consider it their WORK robbing buses and so forth. Also, just past my neighborhood, a series of brothels are located on the roadway. As a result, there are always drunk and dangerous men going to are coming from them. It had become part of my daily life dealing with the harassment of men on the bus and the fear of robbery or assault. Well, the more time that passed, the more likely it was that I would become a victim of the violence in the buses. And, that is exactly what happened. I was in the bus at about 8:30 at night when a man entered. The bus was dimly lit and few people were on the bus, because I lived so far out. I caught his attention, and as he slowly made his way over to me, my heart sped up and the feeling of being trapped began to overwhelm me as well as the hope of getting to my destination as fast as possible. He shoved incense in my face in attempt to sell it to me while slurring his words in a drunken stupor. Without looking at him, I said no thank you. He began to bother me and tried to touch me while saying disgusting things. Nobody did anything (one day, my bus was completely full when a man punched a woman in the back and chased her off the bus. The bus continued on as if nothing had happened) and there was nothing that I could do. Here in Ecuador, we don´t have a system like 911 to call for help. All I kept praying for was that he would get off before me. Thank God--he did. But as he got off, he slapped me in the face and began yelling at me. Another passenger looked over at me and laughed. Unfortunately, violence against women is widely accepted here and much of the time no one does anything to stop it.

On top of that, I had a peeping tom and my neighbors suspected that someone was planning on robbing my house for a paint marking put on my gate. I called PC about what had happened and was told to stay at another volunteer's house until the problem was solved. The country director came to Santo Domingo with the safety and security director to make sure that everything was alright as well as approve a new place to live.

I began looking for a place in the center to live and they were all as rustic as I was living, but with shared space of people that I didn't know. Wednesdays, I work in the foundation OrphAIDS doing individual counseling appointments with the people infected with HIV. A guy that I have been working with consistently came in for our weekly appointment and invited me to his house to eat lunch made specially by his mom. After we ate, he asked me to look at the apartment that they had just finished on the second floor of his house that I could rent. He is an architect and designed a beautiful 3 bedroom place. I explained to him that PC only gave a small amount to live on, and that it was out of my budget. Later that day, he called me and told me that his mom liked me so much that she would except the amount that I could pay. He insisted I live with him and said that they could take care of my dog when I have to travel. I didn't feel that it would be appropriate because I already had a relationship developed with him as his counselor and felt it would be bad for our relationship. But, after contemplating it, I began to think of the benefits that could be. He is a person very much wanting to change and better his life. This way I could be more available to him (I must mention that he gay, so there wasn´t the fear of him trying to later initiate a romantic relationship).

PC approved me to live with him! The director told me that he could not believe that I was approved to live where I was and that he would have pulled me out of where I was regardless. I love my house now! I eat all my meals with my new family, as well as have joined a gym with my new "brother and sister." We have become pretty much best friends, spending a lot of time together--we went to the beach together, the rivers, dancing, gym, out to eat, lay around at home. he is great person that is very intelligent and has a lot of insight on many issues. Moving on, I began training my blind people for a national athletic competition of the blind in Manta. The competition consisted of distance and timed running, swimming, soccer, a card game called "40" and chess. Here I am with the president of the group of the blind and her son. With little time to prepare, we met in a nearly unoccupied stadium jog and stretch. They held on to my arms or ran towards the sound of my voice or clapping. I brought Tulip with me of course. It made her so jealous that they were running close to me that she tried to separate them from me by jumping on them.

We practice "indoor soccer"at a catholic high school nearby my house. Before we were able to obtain the special ball used by the blind, we wrapped the ball in several plastic bags so that they could her the sound of the ball. We received the special ball in the final week before the competition that has a noise maker inside of it. It was the first time that the majority of the group had played indoor soccer, and we only had a short time to prepare. During practice, I was the goalie and screamed, "dos (two)" over and over so that team two knew where to go. It was funny because sometimes they would kick the ball so hard at me that I would scream.Before I knew it, we were off to Manta. I met the ten people at the bus station were we walked single file line, holding onto the person´s shoulders in front of him/her to the bus. The group never gets to go on vacation, so they were really excited, making jokes and laughing the entire time. People jump on off the buses in Ecuador selling food, watches, cds, perfume, you name it. Part of their strategy is to shove their product in your face. The cultural appropriate response is to ignore the person and not look at neither them or their product. During the entire trip, the vendors would be pestering them without any idea that they were blind. Later, when they finally realized it, they got a kick out of the fact that there were so many blind people together at once.We winded around the bumpy dirt roads, passing through the area of Ecuador that is covered in banana plantations, listening to kumbia music blasting on the blown out speakers. We arrived in Manta after a seven hour bus ride and tried to make our way around the terminal, which is not handicapped friendly.

More than 200 blind people were present at the event from organized groups from all over Ecuador. Timed running competitions took all morning. One person runs alongside the blind person while they hold onto a band in order to maintain the blind person. I ran with the president and another girl from the group. After we finished, she couldn't stop saying, "¡Que chevere (that was so cool)!" Everybody was so excited to be at the event, as it was their first time. They were able to see the fruits of their labor, as well as participate in an organized athletic event. After facing discrimination they were able to prove the stereotype wrong that a blind person can´t do physically challenging things.

After lunch was the soccer competition. By this time, I was really frustrated from having to take ten blind people all over place to place. I was feeling a little crazy for a while and had my mom call me so that I could vent. I walked away to have ten minutes to myself and tried to put myself aside for the weekend so that they could enjoy their time in the competition. I had to remind myself over and over, "This is their weekend!" Luckily, I was able to get over myself and went back to being mom.

When we finally arrived at the hostel that night, I was dead tired. I laid down to go to sleep, and I am not kidding, heard in my head, "Magon! Magon! Magon!" I had become accustomed to them calling my name so much all day, that it was strange and awkward to be in silence not taking care of anyone.

The next day were the timed swimming competitions that three men from my group participated in.

Unfortunately, the group didn´t win the soccer game that they played the day before, so we had nothing to do that afternoon. Everyone had to remain in one place because the Ecuadorian air force provided transportation by bus. After two hours of waiting around for the activities to end, I felt really sorry for my group. Manta is a small town located on the coast. The US military has a base there to control drug trafficking. Drugs are smuggled out of Ecuador from Colombia because of the lower risk of being discovered. It is known for its beautiful beaches. I wanted to take advantage of our being so close to the beach, so I began to look for RESOURCES!Well, I found a wild Manaba (people from the province known for being crazy and loving to dance) that was a judge in the competitions who had a little red truck. We had two hours until we had to be back at the hostel, so we loaded the back of the truck with the ten blind people and set off for the beach. He was so nervous! I realized how used to being with my group I was that it didn´t make me nervous or was not strange to have ten blind people riding around in the back of the truck (a product of living in Ecuador for a year as well). We made it to the beach at dusk and walked to shore with our shoes in hand. Sofia and Veronica were so happy and excited to feel the warm waves knock against their legs. We stayed for a short while listening to the olas (waves), and headed back to the truck to make it back to the hostel to change for a dance that night.

The same guy brought us to the dance, were we were the craziest group. We danced in a congo line while I tried to get others to dance--Dad, sound familiar (Ellen`s wedding perhaps)?

The final day was the distance running: women 2 k, men 2 k, 3 k, and 5 k. I decided to run alongside one of the guys in my group in the 5 k. As I have mentioned before, Latin America is fueled by machismo and part of the reason why women´s roles are considered to be weak and incapable of doing things outside of domestic duties. Young men from the air force were available at the event to run alongside the competitors. When I told the officials that I would be accompanying in the 5 k, everyone began to make a huge deal out of it and said that it was impossible because I am a woman. All of the men began to bother me saying that I wouldn´t be able to make it and so forth. It became a bigger deal than the fact that blind men were going to 5 km. Rodi, the guy that I ran with heard everything and told me that he believed in me. It was really sweet, especially because he has faced the same type of discrimination. The time came for everyone to load on the bus that would run. It was jam packed even the aisle full of people. I was the only woman. My heart was pumping to show all of them that a woman is just a capable, and that in the US woman run 5 Ks, as well as marathons alongside men all the time. I arrived in 23 minutes and went to run of to the side, but everyone started cheering and the women holding the ribbon for every runner made me run through it. Afterwards, I was shocking told "good job," by the men present and that they didn´t think I would be able to do it. Afterwards, I told the judges that for the next year, women should have to same option to compete in he 5 k run if the want to. He responded that it would be a good idea.

Lastly, I have continued to work hard with my group from the foundation OrphAIDS. Every Friday, I give them business workshops. We are in the process of organizing a small business so that those without work can have some sort of income. Shortly they will receive training in making t shirts. The hope is that once they obtain the ability to fabricate such that we will apply for a grant available through Peace Corps, in which we can purchase the machinery as well as other supplies to get the business going. It has been tough trying to organize and motivate them, as they have had three years of talking about a business but haven`t begun. But I have begun to witness little by little, changes in their behavior--arriving on time, contributing during our meetings, etc. On Wednesdays, I am available in the office for individual counseling sessions with whoever wants to come. Last week, things were really heavy. The majority of those in the foundation live a life in fear of the day will become ill, of others discovering that they have HIV, not to mention an array of personal problems. I have been applying cognitive behavioral techniques and exercises with my work with them, and have begun to see measurable differences in a few of them. A few weeks ago, I went to Quito to accompany my "brother" get some tests done for people living with HIV. Afterwards, I went on a hunt for psychology technique books to use. One that I found was a book on relaxation. So, in my weekly individual and group meetings, I have been giving them relaxation therapy training in all types--breathing, muscle tensions, imaginative, etc. You can really see a difference in their attitudes after we finish. So many of them pass so the majority of their time worrying that they are literally unable to quite their minds and just be in the moment. So, this has proved to be a skill that could greatly benefit their lives if put into action. Another part of my work with my group has been to organize diversion activities. Below are some phots from a trip we took to the river one Sunday. We had to cross an Indiana Jones bridge made of rotten sugar cane to get to the place where we would bathe.This is the daughter of a woman in the group, Nicole. She is so cute!

Well, that is pretty much all that has happened in a nutshell. I have intended to write more, but things have become so busy for me. It is a product of being a Peace Coprs volunteer in an urban area. The amount of work can be overwhelming. My mom in la Aurora that broke her leg is still unable to walk. Six months have passed and she still expects another six months of recovery. It makes me grateful for the quality of health care that we have in the states. Her birthday was on Friday, so I went to visit her. I gave her a manicure and peduicaure and dyed her hair for the first time in her life (black to cover the gray). I also gave her some potted plants, since all of hers have died that she was fixing when she fell and broke her leg. My sister Maritza is six months pregnant with a boy.

My mom is hopefully coming out to visit me next week! I am prying that all will work out so that I can tote her around for a few weeks. I found a picture of Tuley from when she was a baby. She always has to have a stick in her mouth.

By the way, I ended up redoing my workshop in time to give it on Saturday afternoon. I think it was my best workshop that I have given so far! I was asked by my foundation to give a workshop to the youth group that volunteers in HIV/AIDS prevention on self esteem and motivation. So, we talked about individual and group participation as well as influential people, and the fact that everyone of them has the capactiy to influence their community, if not the world. They also worked in small groups answering questions on the leadership of MLK, Gandhi, and Jesus and later presented to the rest. I love working with youth in this area, being able to watch their expressions as they begin to realize the personal power that they possess.

I just got back lastnight from a three day trip to the beach with my two best girlfriends in Peace Corps. We went to Montañita, a small village that is known to have the best waves in the Ecuador that surfers come from all over the world to ride. The village is really neat--structures are made from bamboo and sugar cane with palm leaf thatched roofs. Hippies and gypsies from all over South America cover the streets selling jewlry and other artesans to tourists. I hired a surfing instrutor for ten dollars for two hours. It was really difficult but I am not turned off to trying again. We traveled as cheap as possible (four dollars a night) so as a result I am covered face to toe in flea bites from the bed I slept in. I brought Tulip with me of course! We traveled six hours overnight by bus to catch another four hour bus to Montañita. She loved it though. It was her first time in the ocean, and she wouldn´t stay out of the water. She was off her leash the whole time roaming the sand covered street meeting other dogs. By the second day, she was gaurding the hostal restaurant.

Here are photos from a recent trip of mine. I organized a trip to Mindo for my association of the blind. The objective was to provide an opportunity for group members to go on a low cost camping trip to Mindo--my favourite place. The importance of protecting nature and the forests of Ecuador was incorporated as well. Mindo is well known for its large number of bird species. It actually competes with the Amazon! We left Santo Domingo early Saturday morning in a bus provided by the province of Pichincha. Two hours later, we arrived to the small town two hours away located in the transitional zone of the Andes mountain range and the coast. There we found a local official and received an informative talk on the current environmental and economical conditions of Mindo. After a large lunch, we once again climbed the bus anxious to be driven to our destination camp site. The bus bounced along the rocky dirt road until we haulted to a stop. The bus driver attempted to cross a stream, but was unsuccessful.

So, we were left to unload all of our things and make it to the camp site on foot. The walk was quite difficult for all of us becuase we had to carry everything. It included crossing a small bridge made of sugar cane with no railings as well as the removal of our shoes to walk through a stream. We arrived tired, but quickly set up the tents before dark, as it was quickly approaching. I set out a bench for the people to listen to all of the sounds as the toads and insects were beginning to call out. The sun had just set and the sky was almost black. Lightning bugs began to illuminate in all directions. The boys built a fire where we sat around and played games into the late night. One of the group members is musician, so we sang songs and listened to him play spanish style. The next morning, I was awakened in my tent to the sound of two of the blind guys screaming because the dog was licking their faces! It was a funny way to start off the day. We went on a short but difficult hike to a waterfall that involved crossing over large rocks, mud, and a bridge made of a wooden plank. Everyone really enjoyed the adventure and the different stimulations of touch, smell and sound.When we reached the waterfall, everyone got in one by one. They had swim races and carried each other around the bath portion of the water while others were content under the pressure of the water beating on their backs. After about an hour, as quickly as possible, we collected our things and headed back down the trail to where our bus was waiting. Look how beautiful Tulip is!Before I knew it, the trip was over and we were heading back to Santo Domingo. Everyone was tired, but we still managed to salsa dance in the aisle along the windy road (imagine on every curve, everyone toppling on top of each other) . All in all, it was perfect. The people of my group never have the opportunity to travel for fun because of the cost as well as having someone to guide them. The trip was accomplished at almost no cost for them, and they were able to be out surrounded by the serenity of the sounds and smells of nature. Here are some random pictures for you of a marriachi band that stormed into a bar/restaurant that I was at with some Ecua friends and a volunteer. And if you know me, you know that I can be a little crazy sometimes. My gringa girlfriend and I ended up dancing to the music with some weirdo men that asked us to dance. It was hilarious because the band said that they were going to play a few songs and that my girlfriend and I could take a picture with them afterwards. So, we continued to dance becuase we were anticipating the end. My friend pulled me aside and said, "Megan, if you continue to dance, they will continue to play!" After advising my girlfriend of that small but important piece of information, we sat down and waited for the conclusion that followed soon thereafter.

I know that I have really been slacking on updating my blog recently. I fell very ill last week. It all started on Saturday at a celebration of the Tsachila (the indigenous group in my area) called "Kasama." It is their new year, and the only celebration that the Tsachila have. Long ago, the Tsachila did not believe in bathing--except for when fishing in the river. As it was explained to me, the significance of this holiday represents the new beginnings of life after a year of sin. It is a day, in which the people ask others for forgiveness and look forward to the future. People come from seven comunas (the different communities of Tsachila) and compete in contests such as dance, music, peeling plantains by teeth, drinking of a fermented drink, and many other activities.

Well, as many of you remember me as the vegan animal rights weirdo, you can all say good-bye to here. I ATE CATEPILLAR! Several missionaries were in from the states and I was due to translate for them. I was toting around a cute little blond lady with wide blue eyes and a smile that never went away. I took advantage of her innocence and told her that she had to eat caterpillar for the experience and that I would do it too.

The Tsachila spear three live caterpillars on kabob sticks. The little animals are placed directly on the coals where they squirm as they are cooked to death. The kabobs are served on a banana leave with salt, lemon, and a boiled plantain. It didn’t have much of a flavour or meat, and was definitely not satisfying. The woman that I pushed into eating it had me take lots of pictures and seemed rather amused after asking me if we were on Fear Factor!

That day at the festival, I came down with a minor headache that lasted throughout the day. I figured that it was due to the sun and paid no attention. The next morning, I awoke with a headache but much worse in pain. Later that day, a fever soared to nearly 103 degrees accompanied by head and body aches and chills. My fever dropped that night and I felt much better. In the middle of the night, I became violently ill with stomach problems. All symptoms maintained until I decided to go to Quito on the fourth day of being sick to have exams done. The results: I was infested with amoebas (tiny parasites or animals) so bad that they were mating! The nurses gave me two types of medicines and it should take a week for them to take full effect.

Amoebas are just a part of life here in Ecuador. Every Ecuadorian has amoebas and usually don't have complications from it. Foreigners, like myself, who are new to an environment lacking basic sanitary conditions (drinking water especially) that suffer the effects of it. I have been sick off and on since I got here. It is funny to say it, but I have become accustomed to stomach illnesses at least three times a month!

Anyway, after being out of work for one week, it has been tough trying to get myself going again. Actually, being sick was a blessing in disguise. I had become too busy that I was leaving my house early in the morning, and returning at night without much time to rest. Mondays were my only free day of the week, but usually were occupied in the barrio. It was my own fault for becoming too busy, but I am trying not to become too wrapped up in things this time around.

My Santo Domingo mom is still in Santo Domingo, but the physical therapist has not returned to do treatment in almost two weeks. My co-worker assured me that he would find out what happened this week in order to resolve the problem. It has been so nice having her back here. When I visit, we lie around in the room that she is a prisoner to, and talk about God, and our plans for life. She is such a strong woman in her faith. We sing worship songs together. She confided in me that she wants the neighbourhood to see her bedridden singing songs to God, to show people that God brings comfort and love in his power, even in times of trial. She also told me that it would be worth breaking her leg and being confined to a bed since January if someone were to come to Christ. I love her so much, and am assured moment by moment that I am where I am supposed to be.

I remember being afraid of where I would end up before I left for Ecuador. I hadn’t trusted God that that he would send me to a place where loving followers waited with open arms. I was afraid that being here all alone would mean that I would resume old destructive behaviours. But my mom and aunt are strong women not afraid to call me out on what I am doing. I am in a place where I feel like I am able to grow much more spiritually than in the states. That is all that my mom has told me, is that she wants me to grow in Christ for when I return home. What a blessing!

I have lost motivation to continue writing, but I promise I will update more soon.

I am going to visit my family in Cayambe this weekend.

I had an interesting experience this morning, and wanted to write about it while still fresh in my mind. As previously mentioned, I am hoping to help the blind open a business where they can sell their products alongside those of people living with other disabilities, as well as handcrafted items made by those incarcerated in the local jail. My friend, Juan has been involved in bringing AA meetings to the jail in the past, and has the contacts to make it possible.

This morning, Juan and I went to the jail to talk about possible opportunities. The jail is out in the country surrounded by green hills loaded with yucca and plantain trees. We passed under the sugar cane pole that serves as a gate and were greeted by men in camouflaged uniforms and machine guns.

I was extremely uncomfortable by now. When I was interning at the youth jail in the states, I was always nervous before going in. Now, in a third world country where women are routinely violated and spoken to vulgarly as a cultural norm, I was extremely nervous. I don’t think that I have shed enough light on what it is like to be a woman in this country. Walking in the street, I am routinely harassed by men of all ages and social economic classes. They hiss and say obnoxious comments under their breath. Trying to work in the professional world can be difficult as well. It has been a common experience for me to be sexually harassed by co workers, or leading directors of groups and organizations that I am trying to collaborate with.

The legal system here is not stable either and very corrupt. It is common knowledge that if one breaks the law, he can pay an officer a small amount of money and be let off. On the other hand, the legal system is very harsh on those once they enter it. Once arrested on a charge, one may stay in jail until their trial/court date, which can sometimes be years. The notion of a fair trial is not a right guaranteed to those in the system. Imagine being in a situation like that, and being innocent of the accused crime.

Anyway, the psychologist that we were there to visit was busy in a meeting. I told Juan to watch the expert work—in many situations, I have used the pretty gringa smile to make my way past a hurdle. I asked the guard, who was huge with a scorpion tattoo on his neck if there was any way that we could enter to get to know the place. After explaining that I am a volunteer from the US and desire to help the jail, he let us walk right in after leaving our ID cards.

Can you imagine going into a jail and being permitted to walk around because you are a foreigner? This is a common experience for foreigners in this country doing my line of work. What may take a foreigner to do in one week (mind you it would take a day in the states), takes and Ecuadorian one month. Unfortunately, foreigners are attended to much quicker and possibilities are made more readily available to them.

So, we walked down a windy deserted road passing horses and silent rolling hills for about ten minutes. We arrived to a large building towering over us the chaotic chatter of men’s voices echoing throughout the place. If you have seen the movie Brokedown Palace (with Claire Danes) I believe, the site reminded me of that jail. There were no windows, just bars allowing for the hot air the pass through the concrete building. Colorful clothes where hanging from lines on the roof of the building. A guard was sitting at an iron gate looking out at us. Behind him, I saw three floors of men gazing out at us within another area with bars from the ceiling to the floor separating them an atrium behind the entrance. On both sides of the inmates were the same sized enclosures of more inmates. The inmates had no uniform—mainly shorts and flip flops or whatever their family brought them.

Honestly, at this point I had no desire to enter. I knew that once I entered behind those gates, I would not necessarily be safe as I would feel in a jail in the states. But because I was with my Juan, I felt alright. If a woman is with a man in Ecuador, she is not the subject of harassment, disrespect or leering that she is when alone or with other women.

We entered the jail. The feelings of discomfort and fear were nearly overwhelming as three floors of criminals lined up at the bars looking at me. I tensed up, remained quiet as to prevent people noting my accent. Even my hand shake changed to a firm grip and light shake. Hand shakes here are usually a mild grip and no shake. In that moment of stress, I dropped all the cultural norms that I live by and follow here.

To make a long story short, a man came to bring us through another iron gate. We were now in the atrium separated by the bars of the common areas where the prisoners were. The man then took us to a courtyard area where we were surrounded by prisoners washing their clothes on rocks and freely moving about. No guards were present with us. I was not harassed by any of the men to this moment. The man showed us hammocks that the prisoners had made within two days that would be a product sold in the center.

Then, he invited us to enter the common area where I all the prisoners were behind the tall bars. We entered into a loud area where some where playing pool, others were watching movies, and others making bread. Many were loitering the area. We climbed a flight of stairs and passed the dark iron doors with a tiny opening covered in bars for vision in and out of the bedrooms. I followed the man into a room which had bunk beds covered in pink sheets, a TV, DVD player, cable, an oscillating fan, toilet and shower. Then I focused on a political campaign poster hanging on the wall of two politicians in suits smiling, and their names below. I realized that the man that was guiding us around was an inmate crooked politician that now is incarcerated.

I was told that he is a millionaire, and that there are many in this place. Family members can bring inmates money. In jail, they are able to have access to the same amenities. I was astonished, but once again reminded of the lack of order here and that money really operates everything. The prisoners are actually very organized and have minimal problems such as drugs or gangs within the facility is what I was told.

We walked around and I was shown a painting room, library, two wooden workshops and a bakery. The prisoners buy materials with their own money and are able to work on projects such as these. Many inmates that already have certain manual skills when they enter the system teach others. The jail also receives outside help from workshops given voluntarily. Juan and my desire is to find a way to get their products out of the jail and into a store where they may be sold. The incarcerated population are commonly pushed aside and forgotten not only in Ecuador, but also in the states. I know that only a small percentage change, but Juan and I want to give those the opportunity of a second chance.

We were accompanied by one of the two psychologists that work there for the four hundred inmates. We talked of many possibilities for work including a recycling project and a banana plantation. We’ll see where this project goes, although I will not (by choice) be spending a lot of time in the jail. I trust God, but not the individuals or guards in that place.

When I returned to the center, I met with the president of “OrphAIDS” and told him of where I had recently been. He warned me not to trust anyone there because there are no rules to protect me, and that only money governs it. He did say that it seemed alright because I went with a friend who I trust. The last thing that he told me is that are many millionaires there just as the man I met today, including a big time Colombian drug lord.

On a positive note, I was able to convince the foundation to pay 50 dollars for the kids at the orphanage to receive a two day cultural class where they will learn dance, guitar, painting and drawing, and theater. Clearly, it is not enough to really develop a skill, but they will at least be able to try out new activities. But hopefully it will be the beginning of the cultivation of a new ability in some. I am off for now to go see my blind people. Have a great day.

Happy Birthday Ellen!

Things have been so busy lately that I was hardly in the house. I now think about reading how the work of a PCV is seven days a week and how true it is now. Last weekend, I had a "Mexican Fiesta" at my place, where about 15 volunteers came over. We made amazing black bean and steak burritos then went out dancing. It was nice to have gringo land at my house for a while. Plus, my best girlfriend stayed over for two nights.

I finished my first charla with the sex workers in Santo Domingo. I stumbled through it soaked in sweat, but somehow made it. I give the same charla six times every month. There were about thirty five women--old and young. We broke into small groups where they did activities of choosing positive characteristics of themselves in relation to the letters of their name, and writing five things they like about themselves. They shared their answers with their group members. There was a woman from my barrio that I have never met. The doctor gave a charla on HIV before I spoke while showing a map of HIV positive cases of the area. The woman asked him to show her my barrio.

The majority of the women work outside of their barrio and their husbands are the only ones who know about their work. In Ecuador, prostitution is legal for those who are 18 or over and are registered. Once registered, the worker is issued an id book that looks like a passport. Every two weeks, the woman is required to go the health center where she receives either a vaginal exam, a charla on HIV/AIDS or other STDS, or is tested for syphilis or HIV. Her ID book is stamped and she is later required to show it to authorities or her customers.

There are two ways that prostitution is legally practiced: a woman rents out a room in a compound on a monthly basis, and is able to keep all of her earnings. The average length of a day’s work is 10 hours! The second is that a woman will work inside of a compound and give a portion of her earnings to the owner. Men visiting these places are for the most part, an accepted part of the culture here. A common rite of passage for a boy that turns 14 or 15 is for his father to bring him to a brothel to lose his virginity and "become a man."

House wives have the highest percentage of HIV positive results in Ecuador. Last year, sex workers were the only occupational group that declined in the number of cases. Pichincha, the province that I live in has the most thorough system for tracking and educating/testing sex workers. It is for the availability of information that sex workers are not more frequently testing positive, as well as the fact that they use protection. So, most sex workers who test positive are infected by their husbands. Once a positive result is found, the client is put into contact with the organization that I am working with outside--OrphAIDS.

On Friday, I gave the first of a series of six workshops on business concepts to my group of people with HIV/AIDS at OrphAIDS. They were very participatory and maintained interest throughout the entire thing--which really surprised me. I am not sure if I previously explained their current situation. The government provides the antiviral medication without charge to those who have tested positive with HIV. But, the individual must travel to Quito for it. Many choose not to, or unable to make the trip because it is difficult to leave work/family or they lack the financial resources to cover it.

So, the self help group has wanted to start an income generating project to help other members, but lacks the financial resources as well as the organization to do. Peace Corps has two grants that will provide up to $3,000 and $7,000 to the initiation of a business with a detailed work plan, the volunteer’s supervision/involvement, as well as the training in business concepts before. I plan on giving them the workshops to begin planning and organizing as well as learning basic business concepts. I never particularly liked or studied business, so I am using manuals provided by PC that are already outlined and ready to go.

Afterwards, the director and I invited them to come early for the next meeting to have a BBQ and hang out. It is so important that they also have a place to have fun in a group that everyone knows an individual has HIV and it is no big deal. We are also thinking of organizing a slumber party, a trip to the beach, and a night of going out dancing. I love this group of people though! Thus far, of all the groups that I have worked with, they are my favorite. They seem to be full of the most light and are the warmest and most welcoming.

I am also individually meeting with those that have HIV to discuss better ways to cope, and work with the current problems that they face in their lives. For many, I am one of the few safe people in whom they can trust. Their stories are amazing--and I can´t believe what so many have been through and continue to experience. Many leave a secret double life--the person with HIV and the person without.

As for my group of the blind: we were really busy! I gave my first typing class, which you can only imagine how hectic it was. First, the computer program that we used is only a demo. After 40 minutes, the audio shut off. Each student would be sitting at his/her computer and have no idea what happened. I ran around restarting the computers to turn it back on. Second, they were all at different levels: two of the students could type full sentences, while others had never touched a keyboard. So, a few were really demanding in their desire to learn how to maneuver the computer. My head was spinning. By the time the class ended, I was exhausted! It was great though to be able to see this group in action. One man is blind and only has one hand that lacks three finger tips. But he was eager and just as capable. Here is a picture of the president of the organization helping a boy practice writing in braille. She is reading from a book out loud to him. He writes what he hears, and she later proof reads it.

Yesterday, my friend (who is also a friend of Bill W.´s) is coming to teach them how to make cleaning products. He has his own business selling cleaning products that he has mixed himself. The group wants and needs something to generate and income, and have expressed interest in the cleaners. Many of the members came out as well as their families. It was really exciting because the group is very motivated! We have already begun planning to make samples and ask local companies to buy our products. Here are some pictures of the charla. Juan and I would like to find a place where we can sell products of people that are handicapped in some way or incarcerated.

That is about all that is going on here. I still have my women’s group in the barrio and am trying to motivate them. It just seems to be the standard there that they don’t want to do anything that involves a lot of work. Today, I am going to invite them to the center to receive a free charla from the city government’s business office on forming a small business. But, nearly every time that I have invited anyone from my barrio to do something that involves work or leaving, they say they will but are MIA when the time arrive. This frustration is one of the tallest hurdles that stand in the way of a volunteer’s work here. It is totally common to say that one will accomplish a task or be somewhere on a certain date, but does not do the work, or show up. But, I am loving my new work, and not experiencing this quite as frequently.

Yesterday, I participated in painting a huge banner for HIV/AIDS/reproductive rights. Between four organizations(one I work with)we painted the banner to be sent around Ecuador to be used for educational purposes. We showed up at 8 am in the central park, where we drew out and painted our message. The majority of the participants were youth volunteers. Highlights included: me being interviewed for the radio. I will never watch another interview on TV of a person speaking English as their second language without being nervous for them. A marching band showed up simultaneously and begun playing salsa. My friend, who is 6´1,red hair and glasses, no shoes and I decided to give a freak show to the central park--we salsa danced next to the band. He joked that it is pretty bad when the weirdos are staring at you. It was so funny!

Tomorrow, I am going on a camping trip with them to unwind from the week´s campaign, swim in the river, and evaluate their work. I will bring Tulip and hope that my tent withstands the heavy overnight rain of rainy season on the equator.

Today, I went out to the orphanage for the first time of my foundation "OrphAIDS." I met a British girl who is out there volunteering for a few months. Unfortunately, she doesn´t speak very much Spanish and has no one there to give her guidance. So, I offered to go out and help her write a work plan. It proved to be very rewarding, as I have organized many events that will be happening soon. The government is going to send a dance instructor out to the orphanage for the kids while they are in vacation. Also, the English girl, Natalia and I are going to give a workshop on HIV/AIDS, followed by the painting of a banner to demonstrate what they learned.

As for the orphanage, 20 kids live their--two whom are HIV positive. The orphanage pays "parents" to live with and take care of the kids as a family. Their are five families total living there. The kids leave the compound to go to school, but otherwise are inside with little to do for entertainment.

Well, have to get going. Have a great day!

P.S. They finally operated on my Santo Domingo mom last week. She should be returning here in two weeks. She lay in the bed without being able to turn on her side for over two months with a femur and hand.

I went to my first quinceñera a few weeks ago. Here is the dance floor that they made out of sugar cane, and a plastic top.

I apologize that it has taken me so long to update my blog. Things have been extremely busy around here lately, and I haven’t had much time. First of all, I had to do a lice treatment today. This morning, I went to a soccer game with a girlfriend from the barrio. Bored out of our minds, she began to mess with my hair and found my new Ecuadorian family. I was pretty nervous and embarrassed about it, but am over it. I am just trying to roll with the interesting illnesses and all as they come.

Next, my grandmother died a little over a week ago. I am incredibly grateful that I was able to see her before she passed. It has made things a lot easier being so far away from my family during a time such as this. I do worry about my mom, but I know that God has a plan for her. I hope and pray that she will not fall during this, but will be strengthened and really fall into God’s arms. I have been tossing around the idea of not returning to live in the States. But after the loss of my Grandmother, I have realized just how much I want to be close to my family as well as the friendships that I had before I left.

Another reason that I don’t want to stay for the rest of my life is because the standard of living is so low. As you may remember, my Santo Domingo mom had fallen from the second story and broken her arm and leg. She has been in the hospital for two months now, laying in a bed waiting for surgery. The medical staff has not been giving her any treatment either. In the hospitals in Ecuador, the individual is responsible for purchasing and bringing his treatment to the hospital. There is an overwhelming lack of supplies, hospital space, well-educated doctors and nurses that make one and his/her family’s life extremely difficult if medical treatment is needed for any reason.

When I returned back to my barrio, I had such a lack of motivation and drive. I was full of pity and fear, and had to start all over. The fruits of my labor are starting to show as things begin to materialize around me. Yesterday was the first class of an embroidery class that I organized for the municipal to give to the women of the barrio. I was sure that only a few women would show up, but thankfully I was wrong! Twenty three women came with all of their sewing materials.

The strongest barrier that I have come up against has been finding people motivated and willing to collaborate. A large part of the culture here is the fact that people will not decline, even if they know that what is being asked or offered is impossible for them. In other words, people will say they will be there, but when the time comes, maybe five percent of the people that agreed actually come. The idea of organization, punctuality, and remembering dates and times is also not a part of my community’s functioning. So, after months of many let downs I honestly assumed that this would be yet another. Thank God I was wrong! Hopefully the course will continue to have good attendance and an income generation projects will emerge from the group of women.

As it may have been a little obvious, I had become extremely frustrated and resentful towards my barrio. I had let my expectations and western ways of thinking take over, which led to judgment. I found myself at a fork, which is where I believe is a normal place that maybe every Peace Corps volunteer finds him/herself. It hit me that I have already been in my site for six months, and I didn’t feel like any effects were being made. I don´t want to continue to knock on the same door for the rest of my service to a house that doesn´t want to open the door.

It was either to give up in anger and resentment and let the rest of my time float by without making much effort (unfortunately, this happens in PC more than you would like to think), or look for other opportunities while still remaining available to my barrio. I chose to look out and find motivated people who truly want to better their lives. Following what I believe were spiritual promptings, I have come into contact with wonderful people lacking the push and organization to make changes, but truly have the need.

My first new project is with a group of visually impaired. They have their own facility including two classrooms and an office, but absolutely no one to help them. So, I will be working with them several days a week helping in paperwork and cooperation with the local government and other organizations that can provide us with assistance. I am also going to be giving them a computer course and swimming lessons, charlas of all themes. We are hoping to obtain a grant that would provide money to purchase musical instruments and Braille materials to learn to read Braille as well as form an orchestra.

And starting March 12, I will be giving charlas of values and self esteem to the women who are sex workers in Santo Domingo. They are required to go to the subcentro (public health clinic) every fifteen days to receive a charla and do an exam. The doctor who works with the women respects them very much and wants to use my experience in therapy groups and recovery and education in psychology to reach the women. The subcentro had two psychologists, but both have left for Quito. He is giving me the reins to do what I want to do, and has the best interests of the women at heart.

From there, I met a man from OrphAIDS (a British foundation provides support to those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS) who I will be forming a work-plan with next week. Friday, I went to meet about 15 people living with HIV/AIDS who have a self-help group. When I arrived, I was greeted by many smiling faces. The majority of the people are emotionally doing very well and talked of their faith in God as being their strength--wow could I relate! The group meets every two weeks, but is not structured. I asked the group what their needs were and how I could serve them. The desired assistance is teaching business concepts as well as how to form and administer a business. A large part of the group’s functioning relies on helping each other to obtain the financial support to purchase medicine/vitamins, exams, and travel expenses to Quito for them. The goal is to create an income generating project that will accomplish this. Also, one day per week I will be available to all for individual counselling sessions, and work in the group to improve relations among its members.

I am working more outside my barrio now because not many want to collaborate. But I am still very present, and working with those that are open and willing. My original counterpart has not been living here for the past few months, but I have found great support from many who are motivated, and follow their words with actions. My hopes are to get a few interested girls in my barrio to work with me after I gain the trust and acceptance of the sex workers, giving charlas of self esteem, HIV/AIDS, etc.

I am just so excited about the possibilities that lay ahead in working with these groups of people. Putting my complete trust into God is my main objective right now. Because if not, I scare the heck out of myself asking what I am going to do for these people or if I am capable of helping. The way the events have unfolded and the need that has been shown to me has made it obvious that I am where I am supposed to be at.

Here is the chance for you to help if at all possible. I am beginning to look for available resources, and if any of you have connections or ideas, please let me know. First, any resources for the blind: computers, any materials in Spanish Braille, information on guide dogs. Secondly, a copy machine is desperately needed in OrphAIDS. I will be looking for grants and other financial resources that are available to the visually impaired and people living HIV/AIDS, but if any of you have any ideas, please don´t hesitate.

My email is: meganmunroe@yahoo.com

Thanks! Until the next time! And please give me an update in your lives.

Saying goodbye to my Grandmother.

When I took my parents to Cayambe, a store owner dressed me in the typical indigenous dress of this area to demonstrate to my parents.

This is a picture from the porch of the tree house that I stayed in when both my parents and Elaine visited. Mindo is probably my favorite place in Ecuador.

Mary Kay looking off the porch of the tree house.

My Dad riding a horse that we rented for half an hour at the top of the teleferiqo. It was so funny because his feet practically dragged on the ground.

When Elaine came to visit me, we went to visit my Cayambe family. On this day, we went avocado picking. Below is my Cayamber grandfather.

Elaine and I on top of the teleferiqo in Quito. It is on the side of a hill that one must travel up by cable car. Once at the top, it is possible to see several of the volcanos in Ecuador. Behind us to our right is Cotopaxi--the tallest volcano in Ecuador, as well as below.

Neighborhood kids playing in the volleyball field. The white building on the right is a community center where the workshops will be held.

This is my womens group that has now begun the workshop of embroidery.

When my Santo Domingo mom broke her leg, we brought her to the main hospital´s emergency room. This picture shows the "cast" that they made for her leg and hand out of a cardboard box, tape and a sheet.

Tsachilla indigenous group in Santo Domingo. This picture was taken when my parents came to visit.

My golden retriever puppy, Tulip/Tuli/Tulipan.

Well, I have no idea what happened to my blog, but I am unable to load pictures on.

Just to finish off the Cayambe portion of the trip, we went cow milking up on the hills. Afterwards, we headed down the cobble stone rode in the bed of an old subaru truck to my Cayambe mom's childhood home in the country. There, we made cheese with the milk from that morning. Mary Kay and my Dad especially enjoyed this portion of the trip because they are interested in starting in the cheese business. Mary Kay has been extensively studying the process of cheese making all over the world and from all ages. She pretty much did everything, following the guidance of the others. I was a translating machine at this moment, and my dairy processing vocabulary expanded.

Continuing with my parents' trip, we also visited Mindo, located on the western slope of the Andes in a cloud forest. It is tropical and beautiful! We stayed in a tree house that overlooked the roaring river and rolling hills in the distance. Activities included: our personal birdwatching guide, in which we saw over 30 species, zip lining, and salsa dancing. Our guide took us out that night to a cute little bar/snack place with a braided palm leaf roof. My Dad and MK received personal lessons. Highlights included my dad kneeing his dance partner in the crotch and MK dancing her butt off with a long haired Latino! We had so much fun.

From there, we went to Santo Domingo, my domain. We didn't have much time, but walked around the downtown to see our amazingly large vegetable market and such. From there, my Ecua friend took us to a seafood lunch and later we went to a Tsachila community to attend an informal education on the culture of the Tsachila. our final day was spent in my barrio with my family (Santo Domingo)in their third world kitchen making traditional food using plantains. The girls really took to my parents, and it was amazing to see both families together. Upon first meeting, there was an obvious feeling of awkwardness due to the lack of communication. But by the end, they were hugging and laughing, which is a language of its own. I was impressed by Mary Kay's ability to communicate and form intimacy with my Cayambe and Santo Domingo family. She is such a warm hearted woman!

The two of them took the trip like troopers: early mornings and late nights, long bus rides, riding in truck beds, having to sit through my bartering (even if it's two cents, it's the principal)flying over a forest in a harness attached to a cable, and what family can't live without the occasional snapping moments. I feel like I was able to get to see my parents on a level that I had never before. It was especially neat for me to see how others respond to the every day living conditions of many Ecuadorians. When we arrived to Quito on their last night, MK said that she just didn't feel right staying in the Marriot. She had been touched by her experiences along the way. I was super sad to see them go, but so grateful to have the time that I did with them. They are amazing people with a true interest and curiosity about other cultures.

Random news flashes:

-My dog died. Apparently he died the night that I left him when I went to see my parents of something similar to kennel cough. He had it for only two weeks and after two visits to the vet and medicine every 12 hours, still died. I am still really disappointed.

-Good news: I got a new dog; a 4 month old golden retriever puppy named, Tulip. She is my little brat, but is already a mountain dog. I took her to Mindo with me last week, and she hiked and cruised around town without her leash. I am definitely her mom.

-My Santo Domingo mom fell from the second story of her home face first onto the dirt-rock bottom. She was messing with her plants outside of the window in a skirt and lost her footing. As a result from the fall, she broke her nose, hand and femur in two places.

I received a call from her daughter that day to go to the emergency room (keep in mind a 5 story hospital for the forth largest city in Ecuador). When I arrived, she was screaming as doctors were wrapping her hips in a sheet and tightening it with surgical tape. They had put her leg in cardboard and wrapped with gauze, as well as her hand. One has to bring his/her own medications to the hospital if they want treatment. All that they had her on was a NaCl drip that wasn't even opened.

Because of their lack of resources as well as doctors, it was suggested that she be sent to Quito where she could obtain an operation "immediately." The only thing was that there weren't any "ambulances (which is just a van with a driver and no medical supplies or training)." Luckily we obtained one after several hours. Upon arrival in Quito, we had to solicit the help of people standing around in the parking lot to lift her from her stretcher into a hospital bed! It was absolutely ridiculous.

You can only imagine what was to follow. But, it basically consists of being laid up in a bed for 3 weeks without treatment or a set date for an operation. She is still in the hospital as I right, stuck in her bed. The medics did find her to have anemia though, which prevented them from operating on her.

-Last night, I went to a karaoke bar in Santo Domingo with some Ecua friends. We had just ordered our songs that we were going to sing and were nervously waiting to perform when two huge blast echoed through the stairwell that lead up to the bar. Immediately after a young woman and man ran with a terrified expression up the stairs in to the bar. There was no escape. I was sure that someone was running up the stairs to open fire on all of us, and possibly be a target for being gringa.

The man was crouched over and grabbing his stomach when I saw blood pouring out of his abdomen. My friends rushed me into the little one room bathroom with my girlfriend, where we silently waited for what could be anything. Luckily, the gunman left and the guy that was shot was taken to the hospital in a taxi. When we came out, there were people gazing out the window chattering in confusion.

The worst part was that the bar owner, went into the bathroom, grabbed a mop, and mopped the blood up on the top floor, and half the people sat back down to continue singing like nothing had happened. I am sure that the guy shot died that night because there are no resources in the hospital, especially at night.

-I went to the U.S. Unfortunately my granny is very ill and likely does not have much time left. My mom called me two weeks ago to tell me that she was in the hospital unable to move and had been diagnosed with lung cancer. We made the decision, thanks to my Dad and MK, and I went back to MS to see her. I went to 4 airports in one day and then traveled 10 hours be train to get to her, and did the same to get back. I only had 4 days with her, but it was enough. We read the Bible, prayed together, sang hymns together, and even laughed a little. It was a difficult trip for me, but I am so grateful that I was able to say goodbye.

As we were saying goodbye the morning I left, we shared a paralyzing exchange of eye contact in which it was clear that we would not see each other again. She told me, "Know that I love you, pray for me." I lost it at that moment and laid on top of her holding her. That was one of the hardest things that I have done.

At the same time, my Granny has already accepted Christ, and I know exactly where she is going. I know that God is in control of everything, that not even one leaf falls from a tree without his permitting it. He is a faithful, strong and loving God that promises beauty for our ashes. We have a God that beautiful that only He can and desires to turn everything from bad to good. I thank my God that I was able to have so many moments with my Granny. I thank Him for blessing the time that I had with her there. I thank him that my Granny was able to see me come to Christ from atheist after many uncomfortable conversations of trying to convince me that God is real.

Well, I made it through two weeks of nonstop traveling and am beat from it. I am in Quito because my Santo Domingo mom fell yesterday from the second story of her home onto a rocky surface, therefore breaking her femur in two places, her hand and nose. They made her a cast of cutouts from a cardboard box secured by gauze. There were absolutely no resources available in the main hospital emergency room (we are talking a five story hospital). If one wants treatment, s/he must go out to a pharmacy and purchase it him/herself. The basic medical knoweldge was definitely lacking as well. Becuase of the necessetiy to operate on her leg, we decided to take her to Quito to seek adequate treatment.

The next problem that arose was finding an ambulance (which contains no doctors, just a driver of a van that says amblance). There weren't any except for one by the Red Cross, who charge $120. That is more than a month's salary in Santo Domingo, and was impossible to do. But, thanks to my compassionate dad and stepmom (who were cooking in my Santo Domingo mom's kitchen lastweek), they offered to pay the ambulance ride. But at the last minute, we were able to find an ambulance for free (taken care of by connections of the family). We arrived in Quito, and faced sobbing families of victims who had recently died. And in order to pull Vilma out of the stretcher, we had to enlist willing people in the parking lot to move her. You are on you own in the hospitals here. We are still waiting for ehr to get the procedure today, and being Saturday, noone is working in the hospital (they operate M-F schedules).

Anyway, I ask for your prayers in the recovery of Vilma!

Other sad news--my dog died! When I left him with his previous owners the last time that I had a trip, he contracted an illness like kennel cough and died within two weeks. Apparently, he died the night that I had to leave him to meet my parents in Quito. I have seen more illness and death in the months that I have been here, than in my whole life leading up to Ecuador. It is such a harsh environment in terms of health conditions for all!

Moving on to brighter news, I had a great time with my Dad and stepmom during their visit over Christmas. I got to use the embassy pass to pick them up at their gate. So, being the Munroe that I am, I dressed up in a poncho and straw hat while holding two foot long sunflowers for my stepmom. I felt like an idiot waiting, but it was worth the laugh.

They were troopers--jam packed days and long bus rides! We spent their first two days in Quito, visiting the historic district of Quito, climbing the bassilica (my Dad was too afraid to go all the way, but MK climbed to the top), and a cable car that goes to the top of a small mountain and overlooks Quito and the volcanoes.

From there, we went to Cayambe to visit my family there. It was so good to see them and have improved Spanish so that we could easily communicate. We arrived on Christmas eve, and my mom prepared a large turkey dinner (an Ecua catholic tradition that they eat at midnight). We ate early, and went for a walk at eleven just in time to see local families carrying a figurine of Jesus to the Catholic church

First off, Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope that you have a great holiday and that you are able to share it with those most important to you. I am anxiously waiting in Quito for my parents' arrival. It's as though I am a little girl again watching the last hours roll by on Christmas eve. I am really excited to have family that will be able to experience where I live, what I do, what I see, etc. They are to arrive at eight o'clock this evening. We will have eight days of trecking around northern Ecuador.

The first two pictures were taken from a recent trip to the river with my Ecua family. It was so hot that I thought I was going to die. On days such as these, Ecuadorians pile into the back of a truck bed and bounce along a windy road inhaling dust from the worn in paths to nearby rivers. I began giving the girl in the blue shirt swimming lessons, which was really difficult in the shallow, current driven water.

I brought my dog (who is SO sick right now) with us. It was his first time that he actually entered the water, and guess why: to see me! A current took me down aways, where I continually annoyed every Ecuadorian enjoying their soak or washing laundry on a rock by calling "PiPo" for twenty minutes. He hesitantly dipped his paws in, but quickly retreated back to the rocky shore line.

"Ve (look)!" one of the Ecuas called out--PiPo's cute little head was scooting across the river in the current heading toward me. When we got onto the shore of the other side, he was really scared so I had to be his life coach back to the other side. It was my opportunity to show him that I would save him becuase he couldn't quite make it fast enough past the current. The people I was with thought it was so weird for acting like his mom.

The next picture is of my really cute neighbors coloring at my place. The boy in the yellow shirt is so cute that it hurts to look at him. His name is Antoni, and he frequently keeps me company from his window, which is right next to my house. The other is of a giant moth in my house.

This is my favorite class that I teach, because it consists of all girls who aren't as afraid to talk. A boundary that has frequently stood in the way is the timidity of Ecuadorians when it comes to participation and sharing personal thoughts and values. Luckily though, the girls have taken advantage of having the gringa that comes to talk to them about sex every week. I have answered random questions about men's pleasure after they have a sex change, to how many times a man can have sex a day. A trusting and open relationship generally doesn't exist in the home (as I previously wrote that I have yet to find an Ecuadorian girl who knew what her menstruation was her first time), and the abundance of resources that we are exposed to in the states just don't exist here.

In this particular session, we were discussing gender roles, stereotypes and discrimination. The girls had never heard the work stereotype and it was extremely difficult for them to grasp the concept as well as the difference between stereotyping and discrimination. Such concepts were so new and diffent to them--especially the idea that their gender effects the amount of power and opportunities that are available to them, as females in a culture so strong in machismo. The interesting point to me is that it is so commonly acknowledged by many, but exists as the chains that hold women down without any anger or resentment (let alone movements against it). This theme is something that I hope to dedicate more time to in promoting awareness, followed by action.

Moving on, I have begun working with the women of the invasion, who are an energetic and fun group. My latest project that emerged from my recent encounters with them has been to produce family gardens throughout the barrio. After a recent charla (educational talk) on nutrition, I learned that the majority of the families here are not eating fruits and vegetables and had never seen a food pyramid or were aware of food values and nutrition. Many also don't have knowledge in gardening to produce their own, even though one may grow an abundance of fruits, vegetables, grain year-round.

So, I frantically began working against the slow paced lifestyle as well as the coming rains to get a garden going before my week travel with the fam. My idea was that we start small in my house so that the women not be so intimidated by gardening. It began with a minga, effort to clean trash and/or vegetation in my jungle of weeds with machetes and shovels. I failed to know that a man had come through fumigating my lawn with what seems to be acid, as it is quite obvious afterwards.

After the minga, we constructed three beds made of the wood from the chicken house of the previous renters. We wanted it to be a simple and using as little resources as possible in order to be practical for the average family in my barrio to mimic. Although it sounds like a quick process, it involved stalking many community members trying to get everyone together at the same time or people to complete the tasks promised. This has been a recurrent cultural norm that has been my greatest frustration coping with.

Miles, an agricultural volunteer came out to my site and gave a charla with little notice. It was great! He had a wealth of information and ability put to good use as we prepared the land and planted the seeds. The women showed up with all their kids, who even got involved digging or making signs. There were even a few squeals as the women discovered living creatures in the soil and threw them on each other. The seeds planted were: radish, onion, black eyed peas, carrots and cucumber. A few of the women anxiously took the leftovers and were thrilled at the idea of replicating in their homes.

The final touch were the banana leaves placed on top of the beds where they will remain for six days to keep in the moisture. The garden is totally organic--using soil fertilized by guinea pig waste.

It was a hit that somehow finished on my last day there. It couldn't have been accomplished without everyone involved who played a key role in it whether it be donating the soil, driving the truck, lending the shovel, constructing signs, giving the charla, picking rocks out of the ground. Hopefully, I will be greeted by veggies when I return home!

I am officially signing off--my brain is mush at this moment. Have a great weekend/Christmas.

P.S. I saw the blizzard that hit CO yesterday! I definitely don't miss the cold that much. I cannot get over the fact that it is December--I still have a flip flop tan on my feet.

Hello there! Stuck in Quito indefinitely--there is a paro (strike) that has blocked off all traffic leaving south of Quito. This form of protest is common in Ecuador, especially among indigenous groups because its effectiveness in gaining nationwide attention. Also, because the country's citizens and shipment of goods rely heavily on the roadways, conflicts are quickly resolved. Hopefully this will be over today or tomorrow, but it doesn't look too good at the moment.

A lot has happened since I last wrote. First of all, Thanksgiving at the Ambassadors was great. Twelve volunteers where present, two men from the state department, as well as the Ambassador's family. My friend and arrived early. So, we took advantage of the privacy by taking pictures of us reading the coffee table books and sipping our drinks brought to us by the staff. After everyone arrived, we were sitting in a circle in the living room when the servant (I don´t even know the "pc" term for him) made laps around the circle with a vegetable tray and dip! It was a huge contrast to my lifestyle in Santo Domingo (but I still love it)!

The dinner was served buffet style--turkey, stuffing, a spinach cheese dish, asparagus, brussle sprouts, cranberry sauce, pumpkin, cherry, and strawberry rhubarb pie. It was my first Thanksgiving turkey dinner in eight years! I just got access to the photos from out swearing in, so here they are.

I had my first mother's group the following Saturday. We met in one of the mothers´ home. Six mothers ended up showing up, most of which are related in some way or another. After waiting for an hour for everyone to show, we began with an ice breaker and then jumped into the discussion of family relationships. Little kids were swarming the modest cement home--trying to cut the dog with scissors, look through my bag, steal my markers, all the while screaming. Every ten minutes it seemed, one of the mom's would take her little daughter into a back room. A few minutes later, they would emerge, the girl crying and the mom scolding her.

The greatest struggle that the all of the mom's agreed to be was discipline in the home. They explained that no matter how much they yell, the children do not change or improve their behavior. I was a little overwhelmed and intimidated as the mother's asked me what to do (because I am pscicologa). After acknowledging to them that I do not have my own children, but that a major reason for forming the group was to tap into the resources of the group by communicating among each other what works and what doesn't. I tried to explain in my broken Spanish, the idea of rewarding good behavior. It was neat to watch it click and registered to them that their children may have learned that the simplest and quickest way for them to obtain their mother's attention is by acting out.

We continued by discussing strengths of each woman's family. The final aspect of the workshop was to identify strengths of each of their children on folded paper, as well as their own. It was upsetting to watch the woman struggle through this activity. One of the young mother's proclaimed that there was nothing positive about her, so I asked the women to identify what aspects of her that they saw. Her eyes modestly lit up as the group began to speak out. I concluded the group by assigning the women to tell their children what they wrote about them this week because of its importance in their development. Regardless of the fact that Latino culture is extremely social, I witnessed how important this group could be. Having a set time to talk about family problems in a structured, solution-based atmosphere is completely new to them.

The following evening, the remaining five of my youth-group and I met in the dirt field on the steps of a cement stage. In preparation for World AIDS Day, I did an activity with the group explaining the process of HIV developing into AIDS. Cutouts representing white blood cells, bacteria, and HIV were taped on my volunteer´s body to demonstrate the evolution of the disease. We then discussed how it is transmitted. We concluded with one of the group members using a stopwatch to tell of another AIDS related death every ten seconds while another group member read a list of statistics about HIV/AIDS. It was extremely powerful and really motivated the kids to want to do work helping others.

Following that, we went to a group member's house and watched a video on HIV tests and made flyers to hang around the barrio about whatever the kids felt was necessary to inform other community leaders. Afterwards, we hung them outside of the little stores (which are people's houses) in the barrio. Unfortunately, nearly all of them have been removed.

Moving on, I have an Ecuadorian friend who is involved in grassroots activism. He has been working with the indigenous community, the Tsachila. Since the rapid growth of Santo Domingo (which is only 50 years old), they have lost much of their culture as well as rights. There are seven comunas (subcultures), who live outside of the city. My friend has formed a group of young people interested in starting a radio show to educate people while retaining properties of their culture. He and I will be team traing them in leadership during their weekly meetings to prepare them for the show. I was able to individually work with a few of them last week. I am really excited about this opportunity. The Tsachila unfortunately face open discrimination as well as lack adequate economic resources to finance basic education and health needs. So, collaboration with this group is very important at this time as they face the loss of their culture and basic rights as a community.

World AIDS day was on Friday. I invited the youth from my barrio to participate in organized activities in the downtown. Three youth showed up at my house (ON TIME!) at 6:45 in the morning to catch a bus for downtown. We arrived at the Red Cross center downtown and found about 30 other young people from around the area to participate in the events. There were several marches, face painting and open houses in the central park to raise awareness.

Afterwards, I headed to Quito with my Ecua friend. We went to the colonial sector of Quito for the afternoon to catch the festivals of Quito for December. There are at least fifteen museums in Quito, and the majority of them have free admission for the time. We went to the opening of an exhibit on the geographical planning of Quito, which featured maps dating all the way to the 1600's. The growth was tracked up until present, and included modern studies on the area. We also saw an exhibit on the religious influence/control over people in Ecuador (particularly the indigenous) since the arrival of the Spanish. Other activities included climbing the steeples of a basilica located in the historical district. It was so dangerous--imagine climbing up a ladder with no protection onto a thin piece of sheet metal floor that creeks walking across it. We also saw a percussion band at the opening of a cultural arts museum.

I went to the Shakira concert on Saturday. I will just say that I didn't get my money's worth. It was a fun experience though, but definitely had more fun dancing afterwards. I will be practicing her dance moves in my house for sure though!

My ups and downs have been just that. The week of Thanksgiving, my counterpart had come out to my barrio to do a two hour workshop of contraceptives and HIV/AIDS. Not one of the 15 kids that signed up to attend came. I fell into my pity party for a while after that. Thankfully, the two woman who have become more or less like spiritual mentors to me called me out on it. They reminded me that I was putting my trust in people and not God. I had forgotten God in the grand scheme of things, and had tried to take over. My expectations and self-criticism shaded the path as well. They reminded me how important it is that I not do the work on my own and seek God's will. I got a little carried away with things, and needed someone to flash a sign in front of my face. It's amazing how much smoother life is when you are not trying to run the show (as I know some of the readers know exactly what I am talking about). One thing too that I am also learning is to celebrate the small milestones. Maybe things don´t go exactly the way as planned, and they can always be better; but accepting that everything is the way it is supposed to be and being grateful for the things that are going well makes such a difference.

Future work plans: My friend, with whom I am working with the Tsachila and I are constructing plans to plant community gardens in my barrio with interested families, as well as put in a cultural/tourism center in the Tsachila government office. Also, hoping to begin giving charlas in the high school with two of my youth group kids on sex education and values. I have also found a youth group of volunteers at the Red Cross who have ongoing projects. My hope is that my youth group will form a network with other active youth groups in the area.

My parents are coming out in just under three weeks and I am getting really excited. We will be spending X-mas with my Cayambe family. There is an X-mas song that Cheech and Chong sang-- Cheech starts it out saying "¿momacita, donde esta Santa Clause?" During training, I sang that line to my her every time that I entered the room. After two weeks of it, she would sing it. So, when she answered the phone, I sang it to her. After it registered that it was me, shsquealeded from excitement! I also talked to my sister, who informed me that she´ll need a week to catch me up on all the girl talk. I am really looking forward to return with improved Spanish!

P.S. Homesickness crept up on me for a bit yesterday when I heard X-mas music and missed the frigid cold, wet cuffs on my pants after walking in the snow, the sound of it crunching under my shoes. If you know me, you know I was the one of the six people that anxiously waited for the day after Thanksgiving because of the two radio stations that played non-stop X-mas music.

Well, I definitely just had one of the strangest moments of my Peace Corps service thus far. It all happened early this afternoon as I found myself sipping my Diet Coke waiting for the arrival of the Ambassador to come to lunch. The second floor of a very elegant (perhaps the only) restaurant in Santo Domingo. Another volunteer and I were anxiously waiting, wandering and hoping that it wouldn't be full of akward silence.

Suddenly, a motorcycle with its lights and sirens pulls up follwed by two suburbuns. The men in suits jumped out of the car and ran along side it untill in screeched to a hault. At this moment, the other volunteer and I burst out laughing. I never thought when I was filling out my application to the PC that I would see this. And here I was cargo pants and flip flops.

Lunch was really good and the conversation was interesting. The other volunteer and I shared our experiences of living in poverty and at the grassroots level of change, while the Ambassador and the NAS Deputy Director shared theirs at the high class as well as political level.

I brought my bag for Quito with me. My plan was to hop onto two buses from their to the terminal for another bus to Quito. During lunch, the other volunteer and I were telling about how terrifying the public transportation is in this country. Just after the Ambassador invited me to ride back to Quito with them. Let me tell you what a difference it was. Everytime I climb into a bus, the thought remains in the back of my head that I may be robbed or get into an accident on the trip ahead (plus I always end up sitting next to some creapazoid). The last of the weirdness is that the Deputy Director invited me to stay at her place. Unfortunately, I passed to stay with my best friend from training who lives in Quito.

Tomorrow is the big Thanksgiving feast. My friend and I were joking that I can say, "ha ha ha, remember yesterday..." to the Ambassador tomorrow and have inside jokes with her. Anyway, I just had to let you know of the unpredictibility of my life in Ecuador. You never know what's going to happen.

Have a GREAT Thanksgiving (fill your bellies with some tofurkey for me)!

Hello there! I have a few free minutes, so I thought that I would write a little. First of all, look how freaking beautiful my dog is! This is outside the community center in my barrio. I bring him to my classes every Sunday.

Work is finally starting to really get going . I am finding myself working on the health side to to the lack of what we call common knowledge in everyday health care. For example, there is a woman in my barrio that treats an upset stomach through the consumption of urine of the sick person, or that of an infant. Another example, yesterday I gave a charla on HIV/AIDS. When I asked the group what they have heard about the disease and its transmission, a woman in her late twenties began telling a story about people that inject chickens with AIDS in order to spread it to humans. The last thing I can recall is in my sex ed class today, I asked the class if a woman should bathe herself during her menstruation--the answer was "no." I also have not met one young girl who knew what her menstruation was the first time she had her period.

So, starting the first of December, I will be giving weekly educational talks in the waiting room of the local clinic about everything from nutrition to pregnancy. I am also going to bring the charlas to the invasion at the end of the week. This group of people are the most at risk. They use the run off of water that I have no idea where it comes from to bathe, wash clothes, as well as carry to their homes made of sugar cane. No sanitary condition exists for the disposal of human waste here as well.

After my English class a week ago, I was approached by two young mothers that asked about forming a group of mothers to learn about family relations and so forth. We have decided to meet every week, and I will be using a manual provided by Peace Corps for working with parents. I am really excited about this group. There is also a group of mothers in the invasion that I will be doing the same with.

Last week, I gratefully was set up with the Health Clinic of Santo Domingo. A group from Quito that's primary focus is youth and HIV/AIDS education will be giving us seven workshops every two weeks on themes surrounding these issues. Afterwards, we will begin plans to train youth to educate other youth. Also, the organization similar to Planned Parenthood (and actually funds it as well) will be coming to my Barrio tomorrow, as well as four other times to give a two hour workshop on HIV/AIDS, condom use and the two most common STDs in Santo Domingo--syphilis and genital herpes. I am working with a young guy from this organization trying to form groups from my barrio to perform the same sort of education.

As for my youth group, eight of the members showed up at my house last night to tell me that they formed a plan to make money--have a sleep over at my house and charge an entrance fee! Supposedly, the group will continue but only of youth 18 or older. I told them that I wanted to see them work before we do something like this.

My greatest struggle thus far has been finding people who want to collaborate and work. Many will say what they would like to do, or verbally offer their support in something. But, when it comes time to get down to business, most fail to show. This type of predicament is the iceberg of the majority of PCVs here in Ecuador. First of all, the mentality that we are raised with in America to "be all that you can be," or "you can do anything if you put your mind to it" is virtually nonexistent. Therefore, motivation isn´t always there, or is present in talking about a project but dies out once things are put into motion. Following through with organization and careful planning are what also lack. This is not meant as ajudgmentt, but honestly another cultural barrier that seems to exist between my community and me. I have been working to train leaders, but question myself as to whether I am teaching my American way of thinking--punctuality, organization, etc. My lifestyle, experiences and beliefs are what lead me here, and shape the way that I see and relate with the world here. Regardless, I constantly attempt to be conscious of these issues before they become a problem.

At the same time, there are aspects of Latino culture that I am falling in love with more and more everyday. I love how alive the streets are, the slow pace of life that enables people to enjoy what their experiencing regardless of their current situation, the constant dance party, the fact that people do the majority of the labor in their lives. The idea of paying people to do things or relying on machinery ( like a washer/dryer, running water) rests in the hands of the group (it is not an individualistic society). In the little time that I have been here, I have been able to be a part of the process of things that I never had an idea about their origin (for example, agriculture). In America, the focus is the product, and we shell out the money for it.

Alright, enough of my vomiting from the head ( I really needed to speak English)! This Wednesday, I am havinglunchh with the Ambassador after meetings with my bosses who are coming to visit me. I was invited to the Ambassador´s home for Thanksgiving on Thursday (really excited about the food). Lastly, guess who is going to Shakira on December 2. That´s right! The pictures are of kids that I teach. The last picture is of a typical Ecuadorian classroom, and is one of the classes I teach sex ed to every week. Enjoy your day!

I just arrived to the internet cafe after rock climbing up the main road of Santo Domingo. They are working on the pipe lines, and tore up the road as well as sidewalk. What remains are mounds of dirt, and bridges made of wood scraps to cross over the four foot deep holes dug along the road. I thought that was pretty funny.

I arrived back from my trip safe and sound, but followed with both a head cold and yet another episode of stomach illness. I cannot wait for my body to adjust to the environment! I have been sick off and on since I came.

I competed in a rafting competition with five other volunteers in the oriente put on by a rafting/kayakeing group there. Apparently, the world rafting competition was held there last year. Another volunteer also lives there. My team won second place--30 bucks a person (in Ecuador, that is a nice amount of money). I can´t wait to go back out there. I also found myself at yet another bullfight. Another hilight of the trip was the dancing and karaoke, in which I belted out Ace of Base.

Unfortunately, when I came back I was greeted with news that my youth group is no longer in existence. Too much chisme (gossip) has been floating around the barrio and parents don´t want their children participating any longer. There is word that a group of young people over the age of 18 want to form. If this happens, I hope to be able to work with them. Tomorrow, I am going with the presidentet of the barrio to the government office to ask them to complete their plans of building a psychiatric hospital that also assists epileptics. Apparently it was the city's idea, and everything is set, they just have to find the engineer to construct it. We will also be asking them to fulfill their promise to put a tin roof on top of the community theatre. Persistence is the key word here. If the theatre is completed, the government pays to send people out to give workshops ocrafstmanshipps, sewing, etc., which are all future income generation projects.

In other news, I found out that I will be having lunch with the ambassador at the end of this month. They asked me if I was vegetarian and what I will and won´t eat--fancy! I was then asked if a grilled eggplant/veggie plate with peppers, and yucca avocado salad was OK! Definitely looking forward to this lunch.

I also have two new editions to my Ecuadorian family--2 birds. A friend showed up at my house lasnight to give them to me. I was outside washing laundry on the rock today, watching my cat frolic in the grass, my dog sleep on the porch, and listening to my birds sing askinging myself where am I? Later, I went over to a community member´s house to see their organic garden planted in cane containers; they had some 40 ducks and chickens and offered to regalarme (give me) a few to add onto my family. I really hope that I dodged that bullet! P.S. I watched them feed chicken intestines to the ducks and chickens.

Off for now, hoping that you are all doing exactly what you want to be doing, and know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be.