How do I describe the last year of my life?

It would be impossible to answer that question so I won't even really try. Instead I will give anyone who cares a few highlights and where I am going from here:

I survived 27 months in the Peace Corps and am very proud to say I am now officially an Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV!) Some days I loved it, some days I didn't but it made me a stronger person. Overall it is was an amazing experience I will never forget. I made some great friends and ones I will cheerish forever. I also believe that I made lots of small changes in people's lives. I now have RPCV and war veteran (funny how life takes you places you never thought you would go) to my name. I wonder what is next? Returning home to the US and back to Colorado has not been as rough as I thought it was going to be, thanks to my family and especially my older sister and her family who let me crash her extra bedroom for several months! I recently landed a great job working from home and one that will (I think/I hope) allow me to get back in shape and start my road back to Iron(wo)man. This, for me, has been my hardest post PC struggle. Going from being a pretty hard core endurance athlete to doing none of that (nada, zippo, zero) in the PC and now trying to start from ground zero is not going to be easy. (well, I did learn to surf and I attempted to and almost summited a 19,000 ft snowcapped volcano) I have a looong way to go but know that I have it in me to begin again. soo.. what now? Well, I made the big move that every recent PC volunteer strives to do sooner than later. I moved out of my sister's basement. I have my own digs in Denver, signed up for IM Lake Placid 2011 and will be working with my old coach again to chase a few dreams.. Stay tuned if you care to...

Greetings.

i am still alive but just have not been blogging. I am in my final 5 months of service and have been busy thinking and planning my post PC life. I hope to go to grad school. I am actually currently in Colorado to interview and check out grad programs, campus jobs, etc. I fly back to Ecuador in a few days...

Things are going well in Ecuador but I am looking forward to moving on..

Quick update...

I had my first surf lesson today and it was AWESOME... and the instustor made it all that much better......

In my first 2 hour lesson I was able to get up on the board and ride a few small waves for a minute or so.. The super amazing (pro surfer) said I am strong and will learn...

i now have a new sport.... a beach sport!

stay tuned for more updates

My town

My beach

view of the big tourist trap beach 5 mintues down the road

Here are some cool pics of a view (from a hill) of my beach town and the big tourist beach town 5 mintues down the road.

One of my 2nd year goals and projects was to start a garden and create a compost pile. Shortly after I got back from my trip to the states I did just that. With the help of a friend and a little research on the internet I created the compost pile. Picture shown below. This compost pile is conveniently located right outside my kitchen door. I have reduced my trash waste by more than half. Ideally, from what I read on the internet, my compost pile should be a bit more enclosed and even a hole in the ground. It will decompose faster that way. For now, my wire contraption is going to have to work. I don’t have a good shovel to dig a hole and I already had the wire left over from the previous PC volunteers that were in my house. This compost pile, eventually, will also be a good fertilizer for my garden.... which is my current in-the-works project number 2! A fellow PC volunteer and his Ecuadorian wife came to visit me over New Years and they helped me with this garden. Some of the things we planted include onions, radishes, pineapple, water melon, cantaloupe, lettuce, cilantro, green pepper, carrots and green pepper. I end my PC service August 2010 and am hoping to get at least one good harvest out of my efforts. If I only get a few of the above things I will be happy. My little garden will be a fun project. I have high hopes for my garden.

Even though I was not with my family in the US over the holidays I had a nice time with my adopted Ecuadorian family. In order to spend the holidays with Betty and Leo, their kids and Betty’s six siblings and parents I traveled nearly 20 hours on a bus. I went from my little beach town to Cuenca on an overnight bus. I stayed in Cuenca for a day and visited some fellow PC volunteers. Christmas Eve I had a wonderful turkey dinner with a good Ecuadorian friend of mine and his family in Cuenca. After dinner I boarded yet another overnight bus from Cuenca to Macas (about 6 hours from where I used to live in the jungle and where everyone was meeting for Christmas). I arrived in Macas early Christmas morning. Christmas was pretty uneventful as I just recovered from all my time spent on a bus and waited for the family to trickle into town. On the 26th over 20 people ate a feast of a meal in the town of Macas. I, however, lost my appetite when I saw my dinner hanging (head and all) from a post. Ecuadorians don’t waste any of the pig parts. The head is used for soup and the skin is torched off the pig and eaten (The skin seems to be everyone’s favorite part and is treasured. Needless to say, everyone was fighting over my piece of skin). The part of the whole process that disturbed me the most was seeing the women take all the insides (intestines) and stuff it with cabbage, carrots, onion and pig fat and cook it to make sausage.

One would think this whole pig process would have not phased me by now. I have been in Ecuador for about a year and a half now and I have seen my fair share of dead hanging pigs, chickens being killed, etc but for some reason this particular pig make me lose my appetite to eat meat for several days. Maybe it is because I am also in the process of reading the book Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall. I am only a few chapters into the book but I am really enjoying it. The book is a guide to mindful eating and addresses issues such as the mistreatment of animals, dangerous chemicals/pesticides used on food products, the history of farming/farming today, the importance of buying organic and local, how eating affects the environment, etc. Some of chapters names are the following: Animals to Us, How We Lost Commonsense Farming, Helping Farm Animals Live Better Lives, Obesity, Fast Food and Waste and The Looming Water Crisis. I have not read the Becoming a Vegetarian or Farming Animals: Hazards to Our Health chapters. I have often considered a vegetarian lifestyle and am wondering if maybe these chapters will provide me with more information and insight to make the decision. The back of the book contains a very compressive list of websites and other resources relating to food, composting, gardening, the environment, etc. Several years ago while I was living in Germany I saw Jane Goodall speak. She addressed global warning issues and I remember really enjoying her speech.

Ok.. going back to my holiday…

At the end of the day all that was left of the pig was the hanging head and everyone was stuffed full, minus my belly. Despite the whole pig eating I had a really good time. It was nice to see the family that I lived with and catch up on the town gossip. I got to see the people from my old town I wanted to see without having to actually go there and have to answer to everyone on why I left, something that is even difficult to explain to my fellow PC friends.

I had to make my way back to my beach house on the 27th but instead I stayed in Macas another day with the family. Leftover pig was eaten and more chickens were killed for family that was still in town. The evening of the 27th I made my way back to my town via a different route-Macas to Puyo and then Puyo to Atacames/Sua (where I live) on a very nice overnight bus called Coche Cama (bus bed) that reclines almost into a full on sleep position! There are only a few of these Coche Cama buses in Ecuador but true heaven. I slept very well on this bus and arrived home feeling refreshed and not like a total zombie.

The old PC volunteer site mate and his Ecuadorian wife (who is the sister of my Ecuadorian mother from my old site) who also were in Macas for Christmas came back to Sua with me to celebrate the New Year! We had a wonderful time. Dave helped me with my garden (provided that little push I needed to get started) and his wife cooked some amazing sea food dishes! We rang in the year 2010 together on the beach with a bottle of wine, some of my Ecuadorian friends, a view of Atacames fireworks and people burning paper dolls at midnight. The burning of these hand made human size paper dolls is a tradition celebrated throughout Ecuador. The idea is that you are burning away all your sins and wrong doings and starting over with a new year. Just about every family burns one of these things so there are hundreds of small fires in the streets but no sign of a single firefighter.

That was how I spend my holiday. I did miss the snow but I had a nice time and tried to soak up the unique experiences because next year I will be in the rat race which I am very looking forward to and not at all looking forward to at the same time.

p.s.. pictures of the dead hanging pig are to be posted when I have a better internet connection

I thought it would be difficult to return to Ecuador and it was. However, now that I have been back almost two weeks I feel right at home again... Things I miss about being home and the US of A Sam, Jen, Brian, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Granddad, Jiggy, Kat and the dog (even though the last three live in Switzerland) Disclosure. this is in no particular orderBeing cold and running in my favorite gear of tights, long sleeve shirt and a hatThe mountainsMy friends. I had some great conversations with some of my amigos in Boulder and over the phone with friends who are elsewhere.

Running water and electricity 24 hours a day (though I have grown to actually like my boiled water and bucket baths. I play this little game with myself to see if I can use less and less water to bath myself-don’t worry folks, I still get the job done so that I come out smelling decent)My six bikes collecting dust in my sister’s basement in Denver. (though I did not ride when I was home this WILL be one of the first things I do when I step foot back on American soil in August when I end my PC service)No one bothers me when I exercise and/or make rude commentsProcessed junk food Things I DON’T miss about the US of AProcessed junk foodDriving (it was totally stressful). I wish I could have just walked everywhere. The expense of useless material thingsUseless material things (oh, did I say that already)The price of fruit (can’t get 20 mangos for a buck at King Soopers)What I came back to:An open window in my house but my stuff was untouched. (this is still and will always remain a mystery to me) How did the window get opened and why did no one try to break in? I suppose there is a small chance that I left the window open but it is very unlikley. I am about 99.9 percent sure I secured everything reall well. I am kind of ridiclous about making sure my house is secure when i am gone. And the window was open in a way in which i never open it. Plus, it is is a window i hardly ever open.

HeatHeatHeatNo electricity (I did not pay my bill before I left so I got shut off) It only took the electric company three days and two of my visits and complaints for them to turn it back toLots of dust and dead cockroaches in my houseRunning water 4 days a week ( I used to get running water till noon five days a week now I only get it 4 days a week)

Things I have done in my first two weeks back. I started the bed to my garden and planted cilantro seeds!!! I love cilantro. Tasty! Very tasty!finally connected with the only other person that runs in my town. He has become my new running partner and we are training for a race in Quito! Come to find out this older, retired police office is a REAL athlete and looks it! (a rare find in a small coastal city in Ecuador). Back in 1975 he was a top Ecuadorian athlete, was selected to travel internationally and represent Ecuador and was a 2:25 marathoner! He has also done a few Ultra running events (50 plus miles) in Ecuador. My kind of individual! He can no longer do long running events but for a brief moment I had the idea that maybe I might see if he will help me train for a marathon or 50 miler by riding his bike alongside of me. He gives me running and form tips as we run so I think he would be into helping/coaching me. This man is a huge moral booster for me. Now I can run with him up in the hills and off trail (where as before I did not feel safe) No more boring 10 min laps around my town and on the beach. Plus, he is a good motivator for me to get out of bed at 5:30am!the kids and adults at the foster home where I worked seemed happy to see me.A yard full of totally out of control weeds! I spent a half of a day hacking them away with a machete.I went back to my gym. Before I left a new gym opened in town. The owner is a buff, body building, creatine eating, police officer type. He is super nice and has a sweet wife (also buff and is a bodybuilder) and kids. I am the only female that goes to the gym consistently and actually works out so I think this guy is using me as his little body-building project. I don’t want to be a bodybuilder but lifting weights (the right way or well the Ecuadorian way) and covering all muscle groups is a good evening activity. The gym also has a REAL spin bike so I can get back into some sort of cycling shape though it sucks to sit on a spin bike in the heat with blaring music.I went back to my pool and nice pool lady!After three previous trips to the town 10 minutes from me to look for a guy that I was told has a surf school and gives surf lessons we finally connected. Surf’s up and I am looking for to some lessons! And I am told by this guy that the best place to learn is right here at my own beach! (2 min walk from my house)Work at the foster home (yes, i did go back to work) oh and I am dealing with a boy issue (an Ecuadorian boy issue) Mainly I am just over it and want him to go away... I don´t see the poing seeing how I am going back to the states in August and although I do really love Ecuador I dont plan to stay nor want to live here forever.

River that my friend and his family use to bath, wash clothes, etc

A friend's house out in the middle of now where. He has no electricity, no running water, no phone, etc. He lives on a beautiful farm and grows chocolate beans. I have spent the night there several times. So i don't have to walk down the ladder and out to the outhouse I pee in a bucket near the bed and throw it out the window. Everyone does it and the men just pee out the window.. it is totally normal

random Ecuadorian kids

These are some of the products that my friend makes out of his choclate beans that he grows on his farm.

A fellow PC volunteer's site/home a few hours from me

kids at the orphanage where I work

Camping on the beach for a friend's birthday

Camping on the beach for a friends birthday

Tomorrow I am headed back to Ecuador. My little vacation went well and I have mixed feelings about going back to Ecuador. My time in the states included:

Spending time with my entire family. Everyone flew in from various parts of the world to spend Thanksgiving in the mountains!SkiingCatching up with friends A birthday party in Boulder (Thanks again, Scott, for the use of your house!) and too much wineA visit to DU and CSUFinishing grad school applicationsSide trip to Boston to visit my grandparents who are 91 and still going strong!Catching up with PC friends from Ecuador who have finished their service and trying to adjust to life in the USBeing very lazy will try to post pictures soon.. Happy Holidays!

I will be on US soil in less than 24 hours!!! Flight leaves in 6 hours!!!

See you all soon!

A fellow PCV who lived about 2 hours raised money to buy these girls from her Miramba dancing group these dresses.. Nice work Cynthia! the girls are still dancing and look good!

A sandcastle a guy built on the beach. He makes a living doing this so i donated to his box.

A random BLOG entry (ok, maybe not so random and the idea stolen from my little sister’s recent entry)

Ecuador is a fairly inexpensive place to live. (Electronics and American name brand goods are pretty expensive) Here is a list of how much things cost:

1 pound of strawberries- $1.50 (they went up 50 cents in the last week so I now buy them sparingly)20 mangos- I can get 20 mangos for a buck!!!!My daily commute to work- 25 cents one way (during low tide I walk the beach to save my 25 cents)A swim at the pool- 1 dollar (the lady charges everyone else 2 dollars a visit but I talked her down to 1 dollar a visit because well.. she likes me and I swim almost everyday. Some days she won’t even accept my money)6-8 hour bus ride to Quito from where I live- 8 bucks (long bus rides average about a dollar and hour)My rent- 70 bucks a monthMonthly water bill- $8.00 An illegal copied movie- $1.50A complete season of LOST (illegally copied of course)- $7.50A flight from Cuenca (in the south of the country) to Quito (the north)- $70 (not in a PC budget but totally worth the splurge every now and then)15 minutes of internet- 25 cents

A plane ticket home to spend Thanksiving with your family-PRICELESS! (that line was also a bit stolen from my older sister)

I managed to find soy beans but not wheat flour. The wheat flour is going to have to wait till I come back to Esmeraldes on my way through Quito when I return from the states. With my soy beans I made toasted soy nuts (super yummy) soy milk, and these amazing soy and oat bars! I could have made tofu but I don’t really look tofu and from the recipe it looked that it would be mess up. Most likely if it even appears that way most likely I would mess it up. Maybe I will make some of my soy miracles for my party that I am going to have when I am back in the states (The evite is coming out soon)

ok that is all for now..

a bit lame but at least i have updated

A few quick random thoughts and updates..

My arms are tired and my swimsuit tan lines very well defined. I have been swimming almost every day. It is the one thing I can do (exercise wise) where people don´t bother me and make comments. So far the guys who work at the pool have not made any rude comments. I hope to keep it that way. I have the entire pool to myself. The nice lady who always feeds me and owns the pool has been out of town (in Quito getting some kind of surgery. I miss her and am a bit worried about her. I don´t have her number though and can´t call her. The guys that work at the pool don´t have her number either.. ) I am still running though I can´t zone out as much because I have to be on the lookout for packs of dogs, rocks, cars and scarry looking men.

I am starting to exploring cooking.. just a little bit.. (shhh.. don´t tell too many people). My beer bread rocks and is servable. My hummus needs some serious work. I think I went wrong making the tahini (can´t find it anywhere so i have to make it). My pizza dough never cooked. I think the yeast here is different. When I added it to hot water it never boiled like the reciepe said it was suppose to. I made (well, my friend made it but I watched and can do it again.. super easy) AWESOME home made jam. I am NEVER going to buy that junk you buy in the stores again with all those chemicals, sugar that high frutose corn suyup. Next, on the list is to try soy milk (if i can find soy beans). I am also in search of whole wheat flour so I can make my own breads.

Looking forward to my trip home. I have lots planned. A party on Nov 21st at my friend Scott´s house in Boulder (thanks, man), a week in Frisco hanging with the family, skiing, snowshoeing, etc. A visit to DU (school I got into and deferred) and CSU in Ft. Collins. A trip to Boston to visit the grandparents and a visit to another school, www.sit.edu. 2 hours from away in VT.Still trying to find someone to teach me to surf. The surf season starts mid November so I may have to wait till I get back from my vacation home.

I now understand why people are so addicted to TV. I inherited the seasons 1-4 of LOST from a PCV. I am hooked. I wonder if it is going to break out into a full on war between the others and the plane survivors. And what is the deal with the hatch?? Who is going to die next? Very strange...

I have continued a reading group that the previous PCV´s (nice work Kat and Damon!) in my site starting with kids. I never imagined that kids in this country would actually want to read.. Good stuff. Every Tuesday they come knocking on my door to make sure we are going to have reading club.My sister is moving to Switzerland (from London) today.. Nice, huh? I am planning a visit to Europe summer 2011. I want to do a race in Europe, visit my friends in Spain and Germany and see my sister in Geneva. I might even do the epic bike ride Paris Brest Paris (only comes around every 4 years) if I can manage to go to grad school and train at the same timeThere is a guy that owns a hardware store that lives near me. He has a wireless network the pops up on my laptop that I have been trying to get into. So far, no luck. He however, wants me to give him English classes.. sounds like a fair exchange.. English classes for the wireless password. I am tired of ants.. I have lots of them in my house. If I leave the littlest crumb in my kitchen I will come home to a line of ants leading outside under the door to the crumb... I have not started my garden yet but plan to when I get back from the states. The rainy season starts in Janurary and a friend promised he would help me.

That is all for now.. more later...

Here is a picture of the World Map that my fellow PC amigos and I painted on a wall at the Aldea where I work.

Ok Jen this one is for you...

Here is a quick wrap up of the last few weeks...

Currently updating this BLOG from a hotel room with wireless internet (otherwise known as PC heaven!). I am spending the week in the city of Esmeraldes working very hard as a translator for a group of medical professionals who are doing free surgeries (hand, feet and cleft lip and palate) to locals, a truly amazing experience. I will try to post some before and after pics! I am in the middle of all the action hanging out in scrubs, in and out of the operating room, etc. Spend a week in Cayambe for a mid-service conference with all the PC volunteers from my group. At our mid service conference we lost two people (one girl just was ready to go home and one guy got kicked out). Mid service was two full days of workshops but the majority of the presentations were acutually quite interesting... Two PC friends came to my site to help me paint a map of the world on a wall at the Aldea where I work. It turned out very nicely and will probably be the only map of the world that many of these kids will ever see..(will try to get a pic up soon!)Bought a ticket home for Nov 17th- Dec 6th!!!! Will be going to Colorado for a little over two weeks and then to Boston to visit the grandparents!!!

My first month and a half in my new site has flown by. Most PC volunteers I have talked to have told me that the second year will fly by and I think this will be the case with me, especially since I changed sites. I feel nicely settled in my new community. I am beginning to make some friends and learning who are the people in town I can trust. Thanks to the previous volunteers that lived in my house (a very sweet couple who was loved by everyone!) when I moved in I had a nice network of quality people who I can trust and have immediately befriended me. K and D, I hope things are going well for you as you are settling back into life in the US. I will write you a personal email soon! Everyone her says hi! I will be home in November and if you want to write some letters to people and mail them to my sisters house in Denver I can bring them back for you) I am also slowly branching out and making my own friends. One of the individuals I met is a super nice lady who lives 10 minutes away and is the owner of a hotel and a 25 meter pool! The pool has no lane lanes but is nice and big and I don’t have to go all the way to Esmeraldes to swim! The lady has a daughter who is married to an American and lives in the US. She normally charges two dollars for use of the pool but is willing to give me a discount of only a dollar a visit! I managed to find a kickboard and pull buoy in Esmeraldes and when I go home in November I am going to bring back my swim paddles. Toys are the only thing that keep me going for an hour in the pool without a masters swim class. The first time I went swimming I walked away from the nice lady’s house with a big bag of fruit that she picked for me from her yard. The second time I went swimming (today) I stayed for lunch and was fed a nice Ecuadorian meal.

Hopefully, the next group of friends I make are surfers. I did meet and have the contacts of a few guys who said they can teach me to surf. Until next time…

Life is good. I am busy, meeting lots of people and running and swimming regularly again. The pool is expensive to join and is 1.5 hours (one way) on a crowded bus but it feels oh so good to swim laps and totally worth it. I have never enjoyed swimming more!! Just the other day however, someone told me there is a 25 meter pool 10 minutes away from where I live. I would be in true heaven if it is true and available of use to me!

This past weekend I went back to my friend Lenin’s coco farm. I made chocolate chip cookies with the family (big hit and an easy way straight to an Ecuadorian’s heart) and just did lots of relaxing and lying in a hammock. Since their generator was broken and there is no electricity there was not much to do after the sun went down so I just relaxed while getting bit by bugs!

I am looking forward to the next few months. Here is what I have in store for myself…

End of August: I am off to a little town called Mindo for a few days to help facilitate a Leadership Conference where over 70 girls who received a scholarship to attend HS from PC’s Gender and Development working group will be in attendance. It will be fun but lots of work.

September: A few days in Cayambe to reunite with the 30 people from my PC group to attend a mid service conference. After that I have to go to Quito to attend a GAD (Gender and Development) meetingTwo fellow PC volunteer friends are coming to visit me. One of them is going to help me draw and paint (along with the kids) a World Map on a wall at the Aldea where I work! It might be the only world map that the kids will ever see.A week in the city of Esmeraldes, sleeping in a nice hotel and eating good food all paid for by a volunteer organization of doctors from the states who will be performing various surgeries on the lips and face. I am going to be a translator. I am very much looking forward to participating in this Medical Brigade.

Octoberhalf marathon in Guayaquil that I still have my heard set on doingGRE test in Guayaquil. I have not opened the book to study so I am not sure if this is going to happen.

November

Home, Sweet, Home (at least for a few weeks).

Other things are keeping me busy:I am helping Lenin write a grant proposal for a Grant Competition through the World Bank. http://www. lac-developmentmarketplace.org The Development Marketplace (DM) is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank in collaboration with committed sponsors (see back cover) that identifies and funds innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact. The DM is a unique opportunity for organizations to be involved with the development community to make a difference in the lives of the most vulnerable. This year, the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Region DM is focusing on young people based on feedback from our development partners. The theme of this year’s DM is “Youth and Entrepreneurship”

Lenin (along with his brother) is going to hand write the proposal, I am going to transfer it to the computer and then find someone (hopefully from the PC office) to translate it into English. I could do it myself but since this it is going to be submitted to a very competitive grant program I would like someone else who can do a bit more of a professional job than I could do. It is unclear to me if the proposal needs to be in English or Spanish but I plan to submit it in both languages along with a few pictures. Hopefully, these additional things will make his submission more competitive.

It is a long shot that he will win or even be selected as a finalist but is worth a shot. Finalists are announced October 22nd and are invited to Washington DC in January to attend a networking conference, present their project proposal and be interviewed. All expenses for the trip to Washington, DC are paid for by the World Bank for one individual to attend. If, by some miracle, Lenin’s project proposal was a finalist I would try to raise money for his brother to go with him. I would then have to go myself to translate or hook them up with a friend or someone from PC in DC to be their guide and provide support while in DC.

you have to read the post below to understand the above title Got Dirt.

I was walking to the internet cafe and saw this guy that has a farm (well, his family has a farm) so I asked him for dirt.

We have a dirt date tomorrow at 2:00pm. I did not really want to ask this particular guy for dirt because I think he wants more than just a dirt date. He is a nice guy ( Damon and Kat.. yeah youknow who I am talking about...) and suprisingly my age without a million kids and wife (at least that I know of). I am just not interested in anything else than a dirt and friend date.

People seem to like the BLOG (though I am not why.. my mom just complains that the things i do or don´t do scare her and Brian thinks that I overshare) so I will try to keep updating it on a more regular basis

Here is the latest and greatest:10 of the newest group of trainees came to visit me. They swear in as volunteers in two weeks. They were on their Technical Trip (while I was in training a year ago our Tech Trip got canceled for budget reasons). I walked around my town and rounded up 15 kids so the trainees could play games with them. Afterward we had lunch, I showed them my house and then I spent the rest of the day and evening hanging out with the new crew on the beach in their hotel a few miles down the road. I enjoyed meeting some of the folks from the new group and offering advice

I finished the book Marley and Me-the Worlds Worst Dog. Now I am even more confused on if I should get a dog or not. Though I think I might end up with one anyway. A lady in my town (who was good friends with the previous volunteers) has a bunch of stray dogs who keep reproducing in and around her house (not uncommon in Ecuador) She mentioned to me that she would give me a puppy to keep me company. (Everyone is worried about me living alone). The other day when I went to visit her, she said that her son has stopped by my house several times to drop off a puppy but I have not been home. This time next year (when I will be leaving) I can not bring an animal on the plane because it will be too hot in Miami. There is some kind of temperature rule for bringing animals on planes. Maybe I could leave it with another PC volunteer and my dog could be a PC volunteer pass-me-down dog. If I left it here, it would end up a stray on the street and I could never do that to my dog

I have been looking into ways that my coco farmer friend can receive loans/grants, etc to get started with his big ideas of tourism, product export, etc. With the suggestion of my sister I have been looking into an organization called Kiva (http://www.kiva.org/) but I have to find a field partnership in Ecuador that would be work with my friend. Check out Kiva. It is very interesting and seems like a good model to help people in developing countries receive the capital they need to get started. I also (mostly just out of curiosity) went to the Whole Foods website to see what I could find regarding new products, etc. There is an organization called the Whole Planet Foundation that offers micro credit loans to people in developing countries. With a bit of website reading I discovered that one of executives that works for The Whole Planet Foundation is a returned PC Ecuador (2001-2003) volunteer! I tried to find his email address so I could email him directly but all I could find was the link to send an email to the company. Not expecting to get any kind of personal response I gave it a try and mentioned that I was a PC Ecuador volunteer (just in case the executive might read it). Yesterday the guy, Evan, emailed me! He said that they did not have any current micro credit projects in Ecuador but have been looking into options and that he would be willing to call me for further discussion. I emailed him back with more detail on my friend’s coco operation and set a date to talk on the phone next week. The Whole Planet Foundation only offers small micro credit loans of around $200. I doubt Evan can help my friend but maybe he as some other ideas and/or contacts. In the meantime, hopefully I will see my coco farming friend again so I can discuss with him further his ideas, etc. I might also mention that I have been doing some research for him regarding grants/loans he can receive and see what is says. The problem is that my friend is hard to get a hold of. He does not have cell signal where he lives (unless he climbs a big hill) or a conventional phone line. He does not even have electricity though I think it is being installed but it could take a year. I just have to wait for him to call me when he comes into town or I could take the long trip down the dirt road in the moto taxi and go find him

I have been trying to find good interactive how-to-use MS Word software programs in Spanish to purchase for the kids and mothers at the Aldea where I work. (Does anyone know of any learning software in Spanish?) PC Ecuador has some money from a fund called The Peace Corps Partnership Program that can be used for any kind of train the trainer type of project. It is a long application process, lots of paperwork and there are lots of submissions among volunteers but if I can find some software I might fill it out and see what happens. There is also a kid at the Aldea who really likes computers and wants to learn. I might also try to find a computer course to send him to and submit that idea along with the software proposal. This might be harder because the kid is only 13, has regular school to attend and so far I have had no luck in finding any kind of computer course nearby, not to mention one that is designed for a kid I have started to run consistently again and am hoping to do a half marathon in Guayaquil in October. I will not be breaking any speed records but it will be nice to enter a race (race being a relative word here) again I am starting to plan and think about my trip home in November. I plan to spend 2 weeks in Colorado and a few days in Boston to visit my grandparents. My time in Colorado will be busy. I plan to visit The University of Denver and meet faculty and students of the grad program that I deferred. I also want to make a trip to Ft. Collins and talk to folks from their MA in Higher Ed/Student Affairs program. The majority of my Colorado time will be spent in the mountains with my family for the Thanksgiving holiday and my 34th birthday! The whole family plans to rent a place in the mountains and everyone plans to be there; my sister, Kathryn and her husband who live in London, (but soon will be moving to Switzerland), my sister Jennifer, her hubby, my niece Sam and my parents. I am very much looking forward to it. Hopefully there will be snow and I can hit the slopes and/or some snowshoe trails. I am enjoying the beach but I really need to see some snow, curl up to a nice fire and have a reason to drink hot chocolate! I am not sure when I am going to have time to see my friends in Boulder but I will plan something. I am tempted to stretch my trip out to a month but I my fellow PC friends tell me that a month is just too long. Plus, I still have to hit the Inca Trial and see the Galapagos Islands before I leave Ecuador I just have a few chapters left of the book Spark Your Dram about a couple from Argentina who set out to travel from Argentina to Alaska in an old 1962 antique car. They planned to be on the road 6 months but nearly 3 years later (and giving birth to their first child on the road) they reach Alaska. It is actually a very good travel book. I am amazed at the many people that take them in as family along the wayI created some much needed stucture and a work schedule for myself at the Aldea. I showed my August calendar of activities to the director and he liked it but said it seemed a bit ambitious. It included a wide variety of activities for everyone like movie nights, art projects, a minga, homework help, computer classes and walks on the beach for the “mothers. My ambitious schedule included no more than a few hours a work a day. With the suggestion of the director I took off some of the activities keeping in mind August would be my first month at the Aldea. I also want to do other things like a few projects in the community where I live, learn to surf and build a garden. Not to mention I can only wash my clothes and do running water like activities (like washing my dirty underwear) 5 days a week and only till noon.Speaking of surfing, I went back to the famous surf beach Mompiche (2 hours away on a hot, crowded bus) to try to get my first surf lesson. I had no luck, again. The surf was not up! L I think I am going to have to wait till November, the beginning of surf season, to go back to Mompiche to learn to kill myself on a surf board. I am also told there is a local guy who gives surf lessons so I am trying to track him down. Even though the guy in Mompiche that I want to take lessons from is know in the town for surfing (not to mention he is adorable) I think I am better off trying to find the local guy. That way he can call me on any given morning when the surf is up and I can play hooky to surf. As far as my garden goes- I am currently trying to find someone to give me a few bags of good dirt so I can start making the bed. I also need some dirt with crap it in for my compost pile. In the meantime, I am going to attempt to build a fence for my garden to keep out the chickens that frequent my yard. It is going to be interesting because I have never really been good at building anything. I think I have enough old wood and junk in my yard that I can use for the fence. The problem is that I have no tools and don’t really feel like buying any. I think I will hit up the neighbors who have been very friendly I signed up for Couch Surfing and might be hosting my first couch surfer in the next few days. Mom-just pretend you did just read that. Don’t worry, I doubt he will show up. I also make sure I do a full internet search and google stalking of the individual before they surf my couch.

Being forced to read more (because of my broken DVD situation) has been nice but I have decided to break the PC living allowance bank and buy an external DVD here in Ecuador. I have a very large stack of DVD’s that departing volunteers have given me and sadly no way to watch them. I simply can not wait till I go home in November. I can only knit so many scarves (that I can’t wear here anyway) and read so many books.

Well, that is all the updates for now. Until next time…

I have always seemed to do things a bit out of the norms of society. Going back to school at age 35 should not surprise anyone….

I got into graduate school at the University of Denver-MA in Higher Education with a concentration in Leadership and Organizational Change!!! I am going to defer till fall 2010. The program seems like a perfect fit for me. It is designed for people who have at least 5 years of professional work experience. There are a few core classes that have to be taken but I am also free to take classes in other colleges within the university. Going back to school after so many years is going to be a challenge but I am looking forward to it. Eventually, I want to work on a university campus (in the US or abroad) in career counseling, residence life or study abroad working my way up to director of one of these areas. To be competitive and successful working on a university campus and with students I need a MA in Higher Education. The Leadership and Organizational Change concentration will make me marketable if I decide to go back to corporate America or work in the non-profit sector.

Just to keep my options open I am also going to apply to CSU in Ft Collins-MA in Student Affairs and maybe the School of International Training in Brattleboro, VT- MA in International Education. I am leaning toward the University of Denver however (I like the program the best, is the most diverse and an added bonus is that I will be close to my sister and niece!) but it also depends on which school will give me the most financial help through the Post 911 GI Bill and/or where I can get an assistanceship. The School of International Training has a tuition reduction program for RPCV’s (Returned PC Volunteers) and I would be 2 hours from my grandparents!

It is exciting to know that I already have a good solid plan post Peace Corps and I am 99.9% sure this is the best next step for me.

In the meantime, I am going to be busy at my new site and with my new job at the Aldea Infantil SOS (basically a home for kids who don’t have families or have families but for various reasons can not live at home.) I don’t like to use the word orphanage because many of the kids have known biological parents and the ones that don’t have a dedicated mother at the Aldea that takes good care of them. Aldea means “small village.” The organization was founded years ago by an Austrian man. There are several other Aldeas in Ecuador as well as other Aldeas in the world. I am still unsure exactly where the money comes from but I imagine it is private donors and businesses. Several times a year donors and people from the European foundation come to visit. I am told that in November there will be a big party as many donors and foreigners will be visiting. It should be a fun event and I am going to schedule my vacation home around it. I also hope to be involved in the planning of the activities.

The Aldea where I will be working is a very nice facility, the people caring and the director is very personable and open to just about anything that I want to do. I have lots of ideas! 5-8 kids ages newborn to 15 years old live in individual houses with a mother and a aunt who comes in one day a week to give the mothers a day of rest. (8 days ago the Ecuadorian foundation INFA dropped a 2 month year old baby off; no one knows anything about the parents. I don’t want to event think about where the baby was found) At the age of 16, if the person does not have anywhere else to go (a family, etc) they live in the city of Esmeraldes in an apartment style condition with other youth and an adult that is there a few days a week. This program is also part of the Aldea but is designed to prepare the youth for life on their own, finding a job, etc. I would like to work with these “transitioning youth” as well but I think I will have my hands full working with the other kids.

I showed up to work Monday at 9am and was introduced to everyone in a meeting. I spent my first week just hanging out at the different houses getting to know people and talking over ideas with the kids and adults. As a result of my first week and the many conversations I have had with the kids, mothers and aunts I have created a monthly schedule (much needed structure!) for myself including teaching English/computer classes, games, art projects, movie nights, workshops on subjects that are centered around Planning for the Future and relaxation and de-stress activities for the mothers. I also planned an Aldea minga (community work event) to dust off the many donated books that have been sitting around for quite awhile and creating a usable and appealing looking library/space where kids can hang out and hopefully read. In the future I hope to start a “Book It” (remember the Pizza Hut Book It Program????) type program to encourage reading, something kids here just don’t and not encouraged to do. Hopefully, the director will approve and like my August list of activities. My September schedule will be based on my lessons learned from August and any new ideas, events or activities that the kids and adults want. I really feel like the possibilities are endless. Everyone seems very interested in collaborating with me; something that I struggled with in my old site. And with 90 kids running around with nothing else to do I should be able to get at least a small group to show up to any given activity.

When am I going to have time to learn to surf???? When surf season rolls around in November I will have to be sure to take a little more ME time.

I will try to get post some pictures soon of the Aldea.

Since my DVD drive on my laptop broke. INSERT BIG BIG sad face here! (I plan to get an external drive when I go home for Thanksgiving) I have been reading lots of books. I suppose it is not a bad thing that my DVD drive broke but I really do miss my movies! I have collected lots of movies and a few TV series (like WEEDS) from volunteers who are ending their service but they are sadly collecting dust in my concrete floor house. For someone who has not owned a TV in years I am actually looking forward to watching a TV series. A friend of mine told me that he did not think I had the patience to watch LOST but I am determined to buy or acquire the series from a departing volunteer (once I get a new DVD player) and prove my friend wrong.

My most recent books read should be on everyone’s reading list.

The Zahir by Paulo Coelho- author of the famed The Alchemist (well maybe not so much this one) I think this book takes a much more spiritual person than myself to really appreciate it.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell- a MUST read for aspiring business folks, parents and really just about anyone! How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

Living Poor by Mortiz Thomsen- the only book (from what I have found) written by a former Ecuador PCV. There are lots of PC books but not about Ecaudor. Mortiz was a volunteer in the 60’s in a town not too far from my new site. A very interesting read of Peace Corps way back in the beginning. I have nothing to complain about as a PC volunteer in 2009.

In the cue but not necessarily in this order: (oh dear..Kathryn did I just say cue?)

Bridges Out of Poverty- a fellow PC volunteer gave a talk about this book and is very insightful on poverty, social classes, etc.

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Mafisi- a memoir about secretly teaching reading and literature to females in Iran

Spark Your Dream by Candelaria and Herman Zapp- True life travel story of driving to Alaska and the events along the way

Oliver Twist (in Spanish!)

No Picnic On Mount Kenya- yeah.. it is another one of those daring escape mountaineering books but at least it is not about Everest

Marley and Me by John Grogan- I probably should not read this. I REALLY want a puppy but just don’t want to have to deal with bringing it back to the states plus here in Ecuador you just never know what you are going to get. (and that can be said for just about anything!) Best to wait till I get home and I can do my research, get a puppy from a good breeder and sign the mother and dog up for proper potty and behavior training classes! Plus I still don’t have the lifestyle (even though now I have more free time than ever before) to properly take care of and train the little thing. The cute little thing might prevent me from Surfing it Up at the last minute when the Surf is Up! One day, one day.. I will finally have the puppy owner lifestyle.

Guests of the Sheik- an ethnography of an Iraqi Village -Figured it would be interesting to someone like me who has actually stepped foot on Iraqi soil

The Te of Piglet by Bengamin Hoff. I think once I tried reading the Tao of Pooh and never finished it. I heard good things about this author though and these Te and Tao books so I am going to try again. After all, it is the new and improved (more) patient Lauren as a result of Peace Corps!!

A few books on Organic Gardening-I think I probably won’t bother reading these books though and just plant some seeds, build a fence around my garden to keep the chickens out and see what happens. Or better yet I am really just hoping my new found organic coco farming friend will soon show up to my house with a few sacks of crap, some plants and seeds from his farm and tools to help me.

GRE Study Guide-although I already got into my preferred program and the two programs at CSU and The School of International Training don’t require the GRE I might study and take the GRE anyway (just in case I see something else I like) Again.. just keeping the options open. I can take the paper based version in October in Quito and the computer version when I go home for vacation in November. I am not a great standardized test taker and don’t really want to take the test so I might take this book off the reading cue list.

Hopefully in a month or so, minus GRE and gardening books (which I realistically will probably not bother with) I will have a report back on the above books and a new cue list

This BLOG post is dedicated to my mother who seems to be concerned that I only have running water for a few hours in the morning, only 5 days a week. And mom, not to worry, the floors are NOT made of dirt though they do get very dirty and dusty very easily.

Q. What makes a PC volunteers house (aka: my house) with running water only 5 days a week and only until noon a 3 star hotel instead of a 1.5 star hotel?

A. Two very powerful circulating fans A nice fresh and bright paint job A mosquito net over the guest sofa Hostel been personally inspected and Peace Corps approved for safety and security by the bad ass PC security officer. Boiled water to drink available 24 hours a day/7 days a week Your choice of two hammocks to relax in A refrigerator stocked with fresh fruit and veggies from the home grown garden A home gym complete with an exercise mat, jump rope, one pair of 5 pound dumbbells and exercising options complete with pictures from your favorite fitness magazine taped on the wall to choose from. And yoga cards! A beach reading book exchange library Movies and a DVD player to view them A less than 5 minute walk from the beach During your stay a guaranteed knock on the door from the cute neighbor kid A Firefly solar powered bed time reading lamp- a hotel that is combating the energy crisis one kilowatt at a time! A good supply of much needed medicine when you forget and drink the tap water (provided by your tax dollars) FREE STAY! The owner of the hotel however might require you to bring a short or long list of goodies with you from home The opportunity to experience a bucket bath On days with running water a HOT shower. This is nearly unheard of on the coast. Thanks to Kat and Damon, the previous hotel owners, for installing this nice feature A very diverse music collection played by ITUNES as well as the loud Latin music that the neighbors might occasionally add to the collection at 10:30 pm when you are trying to sleep The option to buy fruit (or even sometimes things like sheets) from the guy who will walk by your house or drive by in a moto announcing his goods for sale on a loud speaker You don’t have to remember what day of the week is garbage day. Just put your trash outside and the garbage collector will show up whenever he feels like it Setting an alarm clock is not necessary. The sound of barking dogs, roosters and animals on your roof will wake you up at 6am to start your day At the time of this advertisement there have been no sightings of rats! A nice little kitchen sink to wash your clothes in Privacy. There are no side neighbors; just an overgrown empty lot, lots of trash and a house that is under construction but will most likely never see any progress or construction men to bother you and make rude comments about your light skin and blue eyes A collection of old Newsweek magazines and Economists to read The opportunity to bake in the most interesting oven you will ever see-a PC campo oven; a big pot over a gas flame with a good seal lid and a brick between the bottom of the pot and the item you are baking A free tour guide who can translate when the people make annoying comments on your blue eyes, light skin and bug bites (Disclosure: tour guide has the right not to translate things that she determines will make your stay less enjoyable and to shut down when her brain is tired) If you are a single, on the lookout for a Latin Lover and are attracted to Rasta looking types there is a man waiting for you!!! He loves and really wants a “gringa” and most likely will knock on the door to invite you to his farm during your stay. He is an artist, designs jewelry and builds unique furniture so if you are nice to him he may give you a free piece of jewelry as a souvenir. The only drawback is that you have to look through his Rasta hair hanging in his face to see his eyes. He is a nice guy, not bad looking but the hotel owner is just not into him. There are accommodations for the single traveler as well as the couple. In the case of the couple option there is no need to strain yourself while getting into bed. The mattress is conveniently located floor level! A nice AIR CONDITIONED internet café just a quick 5 minute bus ride away. Another not-as-nice internet café is less than a 2 minute walk but beware; they will make you pay for the plastic chair if you sit in it and it breaks. An early AM beach run and a buddy to go with. A variety of different size knitting needles and yarn to choose from if you want to knit a project instead of read If guests do not mind bunking up Ecuadorian family style (lots of people co-existing in a small space and/or house) the hotel can sleep 6 people (actually 8 if two guests want to sleep in the hammocks) at a time. If this option is practiced the home gym will have to be relocated and dismantled in order to make floor space and use the exercise matt as a bed. Every guest will get his/her own individual foam type thing to put between them and the not dirt floor. Two guests (weather practicing couple like activities) will have to bunk up matrimonial style. If you really don’t feel like experience this part of Ecuadorian culture the lady across the street (the cute neighbor kids parents) has nice basic rooms in her house (private bath) that she rents for 5 bucks a night and (mom!) she has water 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Mom- you might just find yourself across the street. Guaranteed to go back darker (though most likely burnt) than you showed up except maybe my dad who always wears MORE clothes than anyone I know while he is in the sun. If you book your stay at least 24 hours in advance the toilet will be clean, water clear and the Pee let it be, Brown Flush It Down policy WILL NOT be in effect! If you do not book 24 hours in advance the toilet water is not guaranteed to be clear and clean but the Pee Let It Be, Brown Flush It Down Policy will still NOT BE in effect. On non-water days (Tuesdays and Thursdays) flushing it down has to be performed via a bucked of water. Eat a good typical seafood dish called Ceviche for 5 bucks or buy your own fish from straight from the fishermen in the morning and cook it yourself. Mompiche, the famous surf beach that attracts surfers from all over the world, is less than 2 hours away COME VISIT!! The majority of these 3 star accommodations are currently in practice! However, due to the nature of living and the way things work around these parts any or all of the above items mentioned above can be inoperable or non existent at the time of your stay. I suppose that is one reason why the Beach Lauren Hostel can never be more than 3 stars. (The Pee Let it Be, Brown Flush it Down policy just might also have something to do with the 3 star rating)

I just got back from a trip to a small town called Santiago located very close to the border with Peru. I went with the hiking club in Cuenca. It was the third trip that I went on with the club and I really enjoy the trips. We went on two good hikes, one to local caves and another to an amazing waterfall.

During my trip a few things that I already knew about the jungle (minus bullet number two and the last bullet) where I live were reinforced:ALWAYS wear jungle boots when hiking in the jungle, even if your Ecuadorian guide tells you not to.It is possible that an Ecuadorian can get bite by more mosquitoes than a glowing white American with very sensitive and bug-loving skin (aka: ME)Always carry an extra set of dry clothes in your backpack. There is a 99.9% chance it will rain. At the end of the hike I was giving the dry clothes that I did not need to people in exchange for favors. (no, not those kinds of favors)Carry enough food and water for yourself and the entire rest of the group. You will be sharing ALL of it with EVERYONE. This is a matter of culture; you never eat something in front of an Ecuadorian without offering them food. Nine times out of ten your Ecuadorian amigo will take the offered goods. Nothing ever really dries in the jungle. If the item or piece of clothing does dry it will only get wet again after you use or wear it.On the coast and in the jungle regions of Ecuador you will be taking a cold shower which is not so pleasant on cold, rainy days like today. You might get a hot shower if you live with the mayor. That is, until the hot water heater dies and no one ever bothers to fix it. (aka: my current situation). If you want a hot “shower” you will have to boil a big pot of water and settle for a more of a pits and parts type “shower”No one cares if you eat and/or take big bags of bananas from the natural growing banana trees on your jungle hike. Bananas cost 5 cents each here or they are free if you take them off your jungle tree. It is muggy, muggy, muggy in the jungle and things will mildew, especially if you are a basement dweller, and there is not a whole lot you can do about. If you get a bite that causes the surrounding area on your skin to turn red the size larger than your hand don’t be as alarmed as I was. According to the Peace Corps doctor you only need to be alarmed if the redness is followed by a headache, fever or sore muscles.The snake that your Ecuadorian dad and town mayor told you was super poisonous and deadly is not. Those snakes, according to the local Shuar who lives in the jungle says the X snakes lives in dark places and is rarely found on a trail. Always if its tail is wrapped around a branch that does NOT mean it is ready to attack rather it is sleeping! (Mom, I bet you are glad to hear that!)

Oh, one more thing, if you go on a jungle hike to the town of Santiago with the Cuenca hiking club you might meet a nice, male, cute, single, 35 year old Ecuadorian. I will let you know if there are any developments (pretty doubtful) aside from anything that I will most likely have in my Malaria medicine dreams.

Also, it appears that in my last posting people seem to thing that I am actually getting married. That was very much a sarcastic posting. In September 2010 I do want to take Christian back to the US with me but only cause he is a good friend and wants to go to grad school and I want to help him get there. I DO HAVE PICTURES BUT THIS INTERNET CONNECTION IS WAY TOO SLOW TO UPLAOD THEM... COMING SOON.. THIS TIME I PROMISE...

I am thinking about only making my BLOG available to family and friends. Email me if you want access.

26 March 2009

Yes, I am still alive.

Here is my lame monthly list of updates because I have been doing such a horrible job of updating my BLOGAs of March 25th at 10:30pm I am an aunt to an 8 pound baby girl named Samantha; which, by the way is my favorite girl name!!!!!!!! The girl is going to be smart and tall (both parents are tall cardiologists) so she should be ready to learn to ride a bike at 1.5 years when I get back! Hopefully learning how to ride a bike relates to smarts as well as athletic ability and motor skills. Chuck- can you help me out on this one? My parents are now (finally!) happy old grandparents. Sam (yes I am calling you Sam already) I promise to make up for missing the first 1.5 years of your life. (not sure how but I will)Will try to do a better job of keeping my BLOG up to date. (I know, I know, I have said this before) My camera is now fixed (I just need to go to Cuenca to pick it up) so this BLOG will soon be more entertaining to my readers. The pictures will also serve as a literary tool for people like Chuckie V who needs pictures to help understand the context of a text. I added a nice round of bruises to my bug bites after a 3 day very remote jungle trek and mountain climb (all in my backyard). I will post pictures of this because it was amazing. Less than 50 people (and only 10 tourists) have even been to the top of this mountain in my backyard. The use of a machete was needed to get out alive and hack the trail. For fear of chopping off a finger or two I left the machete hacking up to the local Ecuadorian and my fellow PC friend. A wonderful visit from a good college friend (Cooley, I miss you already) who I am trying to convince to come to Ecuador over the summer to teach English, lean Spanish and keep me company in the jungle on the weekends. A ride up the Quito cable car for a beautiful view of the cityA visit to the American International School in QuitoA visit to the Scout office in Quito to get some ideas and materials for our community Scout program.Some lazy time on the beach in the hot, hot, hot town of Manta Spoiling myself by taking two flights. I was in heaven being on an airplane for the first time in 9 months. Over 50 kids showed up to our first community Scout meeting! Miracles do happen!!!! The real test however, is how many kids and so called committed adults show up to meeting number 2. The completion of my first knitting project, a scarf which I gave to my visiting friend for her 33rd birthday. More miracles!! Project numbers 3 and 4 should be in the mail in a few weeks for two lucky family members. However, depending on if you like less than perfect knitted garments you may consider yourselves unlucky. Project 5 is for lucky or unlucky baby Samantha. Luckily for her, she won’t notice the difference and lucky, lucky, lucky me. I can keep knitting without feeling guilty about continuing through all the mistakes instead of tearing the project out and starting over. The re-arrival of the amigos (aka…rats) that want to share my downstairs apartment with me. Don’t let this small detail discourage you from visiting me. The rats only come out at night and won’t bother you. All they ever do is come out from their hole, run around for less than a minute then run back to their hole. No rat has ever jumped in bed with me. My friend came bearing some great gifts such as an IPOD Shuffle (oh so small so I can run with it), rock climbing equipment that my sister gave me, a Nalgene cap to replace the one that fell in a crevasse while attempting to climb Cotopaxi and a pillow case (if you don’t know what I use this for it is might be better not to ask.)For the first time ever when I updated my antivirus and did a virus scan I did NOT have a bunch of nasty Trojans on my computer. Yet another miracle!Slowly getting used to people asking me if I am coming from or going somewhere when I walk down the street with my Timbuk2 laptop bag while going to the municipal building to use internet. It almost does not bother me anymore.Small town rumors of the date of my wedding with my friend Christian. Christian is a good friend of mine who also lives in the mayor’s house and is an engineer who works for the local government. I am helping him learn English and choose a mechanical engineering grad program in the US. He wants to begin his graduate degree in the US, the same time I am scheduled to finish my PC service, September 2010. Yesterday I had two separate people ask me about the wedding. My response was the same to both people “the wedding will be in Cuenca August 2010 before we both leave to go to the US together.” One guy even asked when we are going to have kids and my response was the following, “We are not going to have kids till Christian finishes his graduate degree.” In small town Ecuador if you are seen walking down the street with someone of the opposite sex more than once you are more than just friends. Still trying to adjust to living in the town’s unofficial hotel. The house where I am the basement dweller is like a free hotel. People are always coming and going, spending the night, knocking on the windows/doors at all hours of the night looking for the mayor and/or his wife. The other day a woman with a baby on her back knocked on the window at 9pm asking the mayor for 30 dollars to feed her kid. Additionally, we recently had 5 new permanent (at least till the end of the school year) additions to our hotel. A month ago two teenagers who are from remote Shuar villages that go to school in the center of town moved into the shack out back. (They lost the room they were renting elsewhere in town). This thing is really a shack; a simple wood structure with no electricity. It was previously used to store junk. Moreover, when I came back from my little tour de Ecuador with my friend from the states, three more kids had moved into the extra room next to me in the basement. It was previously used as a library/ extra room where random people would randomly spend random nights. The kids set up their TV and study desks in the (my) hallway. My (now our) bathroom is in the hallway and I can now longer walk from the bathroom to my basement dweller space (only a few steps) in my towel and/or underwear. I have lost count of how many people actually live in our house/hotel. I have discovered a new place (other than my bra) to put my money while walking around Cuenca and going back and forth to my site on the bus. The new spot is in my shoes under the inserts. The secret bra location was getting too itchy. Since I don’t have a bank or ATM where I live, when I go to Cuenca I take out a large (well, large to a PC volunteer…) amount of money to hold me over for the month and in case of any emergencies.

The following dream had to be a result of the malaria medicine I have been taking.

I was living with a bunch of roommates (location unknown) and all of them were athletes, thus we had a lot of very expensive bicycles in our garage. One evening someone came into our garage and stole all our bicycles, a total value of over 30,000 dollars. We got all our bikes back (I am not really sure how this happened) but the thief continued to steal others people’s stuff. I was the only person who could identify the thief. The thief was a well connected and very dangerous man. I was given the choice to turn the guy in and go into the Witness Protection Agency or I could ignore the situation and the thief would continue stealing and committing violent crimes against people.

Luckily, I woke up before I had to make a decision.

I wonder what I would have done. Would I choose to go into the witness protection agency to protect others or would I have been selfish? (after all, my roommates and I did get our precious bikes back)

I am still alive..

There is an update coming very soon but the best new news is that I am an aunt! Go here for a pic of little one!

I am already looking forward to moving back to Colorado to take Samantha (my favorite girl name!) on many Colorado (and beyond!) adventures!!!

Congratulations to Jennifer and Brian! They will make wonderful parents!!

February 27h, 2009

I have officially reached my “hours I can spend on a bus” limit especially after the dream I had the other night. I thought my weird dreams were because of the malaria meds I am taking but this dream had to be because of bus overload. Last night while I was on an overnight bus to Macas I had a very strange dream. This is what I remember about my dream.

I was on the bus with a guy and in the last week he also had spend many, many hours on a bus. The bus stopped to let people go to the bathroom and he could not go. It had been days and he could not even pee. He tried and tried and tried but could not get it out. He could not go pee because he had spent too much time on the bus! He was in pain and very worried about that one thing that guys touch all the time (someone pleeeease tell me why this is?) He convinced the bus driver to take him to the nearest hospital to get “it” checked out. We went to several hospitals and no one could help him. We were on our way to another hospital and I suddenly woke up. Poor guy, I have no idea if he got help.

Normally, I have no problem going to the bathroom (matter of fact I have the opposite problem) but I do not want this to happen to me. As a result I have decided I am going to fly from Cuenca to Quito this coming weekend to pick up a friend of mine who will be visiting for two weeks (insert BIG smile here)! After 16 hours one way on a bus to Peru, plus the 5 hours it takes to get from my site to civilization, plus my 48 hour trip to Macas (more than half of it spent on a bus) I just can’t sit my butt on any more busses.

I imagine all you BLOG stalking people think I do is play. Well, that is not entirely true. Yes, I do admit work and starting projects has been slow but I think (hope) things will pick up. I really want to be busy but the first few months have been YA MISMO slow.

As far as work goes I have had some frustrations. My town is small (almost too small for me) people are busy and finding folks with the time and motivation to collaborate with me on projects has not been easy. I have lots of ideas but am just waiting to find the right people to help me out.

Last week I tried to show a movie at the municipal for youth in the community. Only two kids showed up for my 5pm movie and no one showed up for my movie at 7pm, In Pursuit of Happiness. I really wanted the teenagers to see In Pursuit of Happiness because the theme is very fitting for kids and families in my community who have little money. I think I picked a bad date/time because after I had made the announcement about the movie I found out the same night all the kids had catholic CCD and there was a big community sports event. I am not going to give up and will try again soon.

In the next few months I hope to start a program working with parents of youth as well as starting after school clubs to give the bored kids in my community something to do. This weekend I am going to the city of Macas with some youth and the priest of my town to attend a workshop on how to start boy and girls scouts in my community. This could potentially be a very big project and a lot of fun. I clearly remember my years of girl scouts and selling all those cookies!

Hopefully, I will have more work updates in the very near future

I know I know, I need to do a better job of updating my BLOG. I do have a somewhat valid excuse.

I can not longer get a wireless connection ( I don’t like to update my BLOG at the internet café for many reasons which I won’t bore you with) at the police station anymore, plus all my police officer friends left and got assigned to other communities. (insert very big sad face here) I tried to introduce myself to the new group of police officers but they are not all that friendly. Even if I did still get my wireless connection at the police station I would not feel all that comfortable sitting on their porch every night surfing the net.

Needless to say it was not a good day when I came back from to my site a few weeks ago and I had no internet and my friend Pedro the police officer/my running buddy was gone.

On the upside of things, I just got back from Peru. I went to Peru for Carnival (though they don’t really celebrate Carnival in Peru). I went with a hiking club in Cuenca. It was the second trip I went on with the club.

My trip to Peru was very last minute; typical Lauren style. I got a phone call the night before the trip was scheduled to leave from a guy in the club (person I met on the first trip I went on with them) and he personally invited me to go. I was not going to go but decided I could use the break and thought I should take advantage of the opportunity to speak more Spanish and meet more Ecuadorians. Since I was leaving the country I had to take vacation. At 9pm I was scrambling to pack and calling my Peace Corps program manager at home to request vacation. She was great and helped me get all my vacation paperwork in and approved while I had to board a bus first thing in the morning to get to Cuenca. I also had to have my Ecuadorian friend who invited me on the trip buy my ticket for me at a hiking store in Cuenca. I got the last ticket sold! In total we were 33 people. I was the only American/foreigner on the trip.

I signed up for the trip having no idea where we were going or what we would be doing. Since the club is a hiking club I naturally thought we would be hiking. When I arrived to board the bus I found out we were going to a big city, spending some time at the beach (I don’t love beaches) and visiting some ancient tombs of Senor of Sigpan. Apparently, the hiking club goes on non hiking trips and this was one of them. Despite being prepared to hike and having to sit on a bus for 16 hours one way, I had a great time. I knew there was a reason I went and after the trip I discovered the reason.

I met some amazing people. When we got back to Cuenca I was invited to a soccer game and a guys house (just a friend… don’t get any ideas people) to spend the night before I had to get on another bus (5 more hours) to go back to my site. He and his family took me in like I was one of their own. I felt totally comfortable there. They fed me some typical Carnival food, gave me a bed to take a much needed nap before the soccer game and let me sleep in till 10am the next morning. I have a feeling the family is going to turn out to be good friends. I already have plans to make chocolate chip cookies with the kids the next time I am in Cuenca. (I have discovered that the best way into an Ecuadorians heart is through home made chocolate chip cookies. Though I confirm, again that I am NOT trying to get into this guys heart. Mostly I just really like this family and the kids are awesome!) About half of the 15 people at the family dinner table were US citizens and speak excellent English. We had some great conversations about the US, Ecuador and politics. For breakfast they fed me good ole American CornFlakes and I was in heaven!

Oh, and I also got myself invited to a wedding in Guayaquil in August!

I am currently using the internet at the municipal building where my Ecuadorian dad, the mayor, works. I can not however come here everyday and steals someone’s connection. Actually, I suppose I could and probably no one would mind but I would feed bad.

Sorry, I don’t have any pictures of my trip to Peru, the crazy fans at the soccer game, getting hit by a water balloon at the soccer game for Carnival, this guy, his family and his heart that I am NOT trying to get into. My camera is on the fritz and I need to get it looked at. I am told by a friend that it can be fixed.

I just got back from being out of my site for a little over a week. I spent a week in Quito for my group’s Reconnect conference. (after 4 months in out sites, every group gets back together for a week in Quito to process the first few months). For the first few days all the Ecuadorian counterparts attended the conference as well. It was nice to see everyone again but difficult to sit through workshops and power point presentations. Most of the stuff we talked about however was useful. I felt like I was going through PC training/boot camp all over again.

After reconnect I, along with 7 other volunteers, took off to attempt to climb Cotopaxi. I must have been smoking something when I rounded everyone up and organized this trip a month ago. The world of mountaineering has always fascinated me and when I found out I was going to Ecuador (know for its high altitude, technical, volcanoes) I was psyched and determined to take advantage. Since I live at a fairly low elevation in the jungle I knew that I needed to attempt one of these snow-capped, high altitude volcanoes after spending some time at altitude.

My accumulation plan for attempting Cotopaxi was spending a week in Quito, sleeping at almost 9,000ft and walking up and down the steps to my 4th floor hotel room! It was not much of a plan but it was all I could manage.

The day began at 8am Saturday morning with a trip to the guide office to get fitted with all our rental gear. Around 11am 8 clueless PC volunteers and 4 Ecuadorian guides headed to Cotopaxi National Park. We parked the cars at 14,000 ft of elevation and hiked 1 hour to the refugio (lodge where all the climbers stay). After a quick bit to eat we received a less than 10 minute crash course on how to use our ice axes and walk in our crampons and on the snow. I was starting to develop a headache so I drank a ton of water and popped some Tylenol. We ate a big dinner and then attempted to get a few hours of sleep before our 1am start time and summit attempt. Because I drank so much water, I spent the majority of those few hours going outside to the use the bathroom.

On the glacier we broke up into smaller groups of 2 clueless volunteers and one guide. It is a good thing our guide tied us all together to break our falls or I might have ended up in a crevasse like the top to my Nalgene bottle did.

For the first few hours I was feeling pretty good. We were moving slow but at least we were moving. We stopped a few times to rest, eat and drink. We also stopped because nature called. I went to the bathroom “Lauren style” (dug a hole, squatted in place, took care of business, covered the hole back up and moved on). I did all this while my two male counterparts were an arms length away. The bathroom stop was about halfway. Post poop stop, I was starting to get a bit tired but we kept moving, though a bit slower. It started to get fairly cold and windy and there was not much visibility.

Around 7:30am we reached the base of the summit. The last pitch to the top was steep and the snow was very soft. I was having a pretty hard time climbing the steep, soft snow. Plus, at this point I was pretty tired. My buddy was also tired and we were both cold. We had about 45 minutes left to the summit. According to our guide, it was getting a bit late to summit (soft snow on the way down is not good) and we were just about the last ones left on the mountain. We made the decision to turn around. After a few good falls (don’t worry mom the deep crevasse was no where in sight) and our guide having to catch us we finally got the hang of how to walk down slope.

We reached the refugio at 11am. Out of the rest of the groups, two teams made it to the top and one group of three had to turn around halfway because of a bit of altitude sickness. I guess going from sea level to 19,000 in less than week will do that do you. The two people that had to turn around halfway both live on the coast.

Surprisingly, I was not that disappointed that I did not make it to the top. I know I was not in the kind of shape I should have been to attempt this and I was just happy to be on the mountain and kissing snow instead of mud in the jungle.

The day (night) felt much like an Iron(wo)man and I have the black and blue toe nails blisters to prove it. I loved the feeling of a long endurance day and being exhausted. (I really miss my epic endurance adventures) I also loved the experience and being on the mountain but I did not enjoy not knowing what I was doing.

I think I might have found a new outdoor activity/addiction-mountaineering!! I am seriously considering dropping a few grand on a mountaineering course here in Ecuador. I found a 12 and 24 day course with that begins in October or November! I did not take any of my own picutres. (my hands were too cold to pull the camera out of my pocket plus I did not want to loose my camera in a caravess like my Nalgene top). So, I will post pictures if my friends ever get around to sending me they ones they took.

January 10th 2009

Not So Pretty in Pink

With the help of Lucho, an amazing 19 year old who works in our house, I (we) spent the weekend painting my downstairs living space. My friend Christian helped me pick out the pant and according to the sample paper of colors in the store the color Coral was a very nice maroon/light red. When we got the paint can home and opened it, the color was more of a pink. I didn’t want to waste 7 dollars and 50 cents and so I just went with it. At first I really hated the color but it is slowly starting to grow on me. (the color Sky Blue for my bedroom turned out very nice!)

Now, the red hammock that I bought and want to hang up is not going to match but there are worse things in life.

Tomorrow, I am going to get the curtains hung so I have some privacy from the 50 kids that eat lunch and dinner right outside my windows.

Now, all I need is a refrigerator. I found a cheap, small fridge in Cuenca. I gave a friend with a car who often travels back and forth the money, name of the store, and fridge I wanted. It has been two weeks and I have not seen my fridge or money. !YA MISMO!

I could also use some furniture because my kitchen/living space is huge but for now the 9 dollar hammock will have to do. Furniture (coaches, futons, etc) is too expensive and I rather save my dinero for traveling and entertaining visitors (if I ever get any!)

Potential visitors, despite the rat problem I live in a really nice house with an amazing family and there is plenty of extra room, beds, etc. The 5 hour bus ride alone out to my site is an experience (and beautiful!)

Off to the police station to post….

I will try to post some pictures but my camera is not functioning properly….

P.S. Despite the almost pink walls in my kitchen, the un matching red hammock and rats I do live in a pretty nice place. Visitors don't be scared away....After all, I do live in the mayor's house and it is one of the nicest places in town!

January 12, 2009

Where are all the dead rats?

I bought these little pink rat poison pellets. Every night I put them out in three different places where the rats like to linger. Every morning all the pink little pills are gone. So the question is where are all the dead rats?

I have a bad feeling that the rats eat the pellets and then go back into their home (the wall/ceiling) to face their fate. I am not looking forward to the day that I am going to start smelling the dead rats and Lucho (he is going to have to help me) and I are going to have to open up the ceiling/wall to collect the dead little guys.

January 14th, 2009

Miracles do happen!

I woke up this morning, walked upstairs to eat breakfast and on my way I had to step over my fridge!!! My fridge contact and friend finally came through for me!

Sunday (the only day I can really buy fruit and veggies) I am going to stock it full!

On a side note… it appears that I have lost my wireless signal at the police station. I am back to the internet café with the loud kids playing games and zillion of viruses that I get every time I put my flash drive in public computers.

I have another contact in town who set up his own wireless network and hooked the other PC volunteer in my site up (in his house) so hopefully he can hook me up too. !YA MISMO!

I have been offline for the last few weeks due to a little New Years trip I took to the coast (Machala, the banana capital of the world) via Cuenca to visit a few fellow PC volunteers.

Here are some highlights:a few good runs in the banana fields. Most likely the banana you ate this week came from the fields I was running through in Machala watching hundreds of stuffed life size dolls being burned at midnight on New Years Eve in the streets of Cuenca. The idea is that you burn away all the bad things that happened that year. (side note: I only saw one fire truck) I guess the fire department was also burning and celebrating.Visiting fellow PC volunteers in MachalaBeing stranded in Cuenca (not a bad place to be stranded) on the way back from Machala because of a strike on the dirt road to my site being blocked by locals who are not happy about the new mining law. (there is going to be a large national strike on Feb 20th) The area, environment and people where I live will be greatly affected by this new law.Continuing to get rid of the rat problem in my basement living spaceAttempting to plan a trip to climb Cotopaxi (a 19,000ft snow capped mtn) the end of Jan!!!!!!!!!Busy preparing a presentation about my community and future projects with my community counterpart (who is actually my host mother) for a meeting in Quito in Jan with the PC volunteers (and their counterparts) from my group. Having a big smile on my face after receiving the following from family and friends: A package from my older sister which included a picture calendar of my family (thanks mom and dad!), magazines and newspapers from my parents and Christmas cards from my friends Abigail, Jerry, Heather, Theresa, my cousin Denise, my little sister in London and my grandparents. (Thanks everyone!!!) All the cards, pictures and letters are hanging in my room! Meeting (while standing 3.5 hours on a bus! Uggh!) a super nice guy who is a paragliding instructor (and owns a nice mtn bike!) and is friends with the president of the mtn climbing/adventure club in Cuenca that I plan to join. (a new years resolution is to make more Ecuadorian friends and go on at least a trip a month with this climbing club) Busy making my downstairs living space more my own (painting, decorating, hanging my newly bought hammock, etc!) Will post pictures as soon as I get it all fixed up.Learning to knit (yes, miracles do happen!!!) I am working on several projects. One of the projects just might be for you since I can not knit anything for myself because it is too warm here in the jungle to wear anything that has to be knitted. I am taking requests (beginner patterns only please!)Continuing to try to get the wireless signal to reach my house with a router that the other PC volunteer in my site and I bought so I (we) do not have to sit outside the police station to use the internet. (so far, no luck) YA MISMO!Hoping in the year 2009 I will see some visitors (Abigail, Irene, Sonya, Ellen, Renuka, some family?????) Anyone who wants to come visit, of course, is welcome! I promise to get rid of the rat problem before your arrival! Visiting a privately funded home for young boys (who are recovering drug and alcohol addicts and used to live on the streets) near Cuenca and making a new Ecuadorian friend/contact (person who volunteers at the home) Looking forward to another trip out to the jungle in a few weeks (this time I am bringing my snake bite kit) with the mayor to visit another rural Shuar community.

That is all for now folks. Until next time!

When my American family gets together we are 7 (soon to be 8 with my niece on the way!) When an Ecuadorian family (or at least mine) gets together we are 30 (and that is just one side of the family)

The day after Christmas I went to Cuenca with my Ecuadorian family. My mother’s family (her 7 siblings and their families) all got together for a holiday celebration. There were more than 30 people camped out in every corner of the house. It was crazy but kind of fun. The best part of the two days was the dinner and TURKEY that we cooked. Turkey is not grown or eaten very often here so this was a rare treat. Another PC volunteer, who is married into the family, cooked the turkey! Thanks to my fellow PC volunteer we had a full American meal (stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, apple dessert, etc!) The stuffing was a huge hit among the Ecuadorians. Some of the other dishes were not so much of a hit.

Before the meal the entire family participated in their own Pase del Nino followed by a private church service. Everyone dressed up. We had all the religious figures represented (angels, the three kings, etc, etc, etc)

This day with my Ecuadorian family, American style meal and too many glasses of wine that left me asleep on the couch for 2 hours felt more like Christmas to me than the 25th when I was picking up dead rats off my floor and cleaning my room.

Though I was not with my real family for this gathering I really enjoyed myself (maybe it was the 5 glasses of wine that I had). The day also made up for my not-so-great Christmas day that I spend cleaning and picking up dead rats off my floor.

The family reunion ended in style with a 3.5 hour ride huddled with my host dad and brother in the back of a pick-up truck on the dirt road back to my site; taking in the beautiful peaceful night view and stars the entire way

Christmas just came and went this year; like it never happened. Other than the few religious events I attended with my host family (and gave out candy to kids) I did not do anything this year that reminded me of the way I typically celebrate Christmas. No snow or snow skiing. No listening of holiday songs (or at least any that I understood). No card games with my family. No sign of Santa Claus. No opening of any gifts. No Christmas tree. No lights. No once a year mass attendance. No awarding of the dunce hat ceremony (award given to the person in the family who does the stupidest thing in the year). I think my mom got the hat this year for cooking a spoon in a loaf of bread during Thanksgiving dinner at my older sister’s house! She received it from my older sister’s husband, Brian, who last year fell asleep at the gate at the airport and missed his flight as he was on his way to join the family at my parents lake house in TN for Christmas.

Instead of the above activities this is what I did:

Christmas Eve was spent with my host mother, her dad, 2 engineers, and a handful of local indigenous Shaur’s. Everyone was gathered for a small minga to fix a cable and basket system (see above picture) that transports people and supplies over a large river and deep valley to avoid a 3 hour plus hike to get to their community in the jungle.

A few months before I left for Ecuador a co-worker sent me a UTUBE video (I wish I still had it) of kids living deep in the Columbian jungle who had to cross a cable everyday, like the one I saw yesterday, to get to school. I remember watching the video and being completely amazed. Yesterday, I was not just a witness to this primitive way of transportation but I was a contributor.

A few days ago a man almost died while crossing because a cable broke so everyone decided it was time to fix the transport system. One of the engineers gave up his Christmas Eve family of 40 gathering/holiday dinner in Cuenca to help out. The minga lasted nearly till dark and I did not get home till almost 8pm. I ate dinner with my host family, hunted down a dead and horribly smelling rat that was in my kitchen, watched the movie Painted Veil on my laptop with the guy who rents a room in the house and was in bed by midnight. I briefly thought about attending midnight mass with one of the woman who works in our house but I after the movie I was fast asleep. I would have gone to mass if my family went but they also stayed home.

Christmas Day I woke up at 8am and went upstairs to wish everyone a Merry Christmas as I ate breakfast. Everyone was getting ready to attend another small minga. I did not feel like working and roasting in the hot sun on Christmas so I elected to stay home.

Instead of working outside I worked inside. My room and kitchen were in desperate need of some TLC and I had a huge pile of clothes to wash (a process that always takes forever) from my little jungle trek a few days ago. I also had to deal with the rat problem that I have in my downstairs living space. It appears that the rat poison that I put out is working because this morning I picked up two dead rats.

After lunch there was a community parade called El Pase del Nino. It is kind of like a walking Christmas Pageant. People dress up as all kind of religious figures and parade around town. Here, it is a small event that only lasts about an hour (followed by mass). In Cuenca, however the El Pase del Nino is an ALL day (6 hour plus) event, shuts down the entire city and everyone is either in the parade or on the streets watching. I was actually enjoying my day of cleaning (I was just in one of those moods) so I elected not to attend the parade. In my wanderings with the mayor and his wife over the past few days I has seen smaller versions of the Paseo del Nino and felt like I would not be missing much if I stayed home. Also the school where I work had its own Pase del Nino a few days ago and I was actually in that parade dressed in typical Ecuadorian dress. No one in my house went to the parade today. My dad was working at the minga and my mother was exhausted from her past few weeks of traveling and parties. If the mayor did not go, I figured it would be ok for me to also skip out.

In the afternoon I made a few phone calls and took my laptop to the police station to SKYPE my family. It was nice to talk to and see my family! I was not feeling homesick until I saw my sister, her husband and my parents all together in London.

As I am typing this BLOG entry Christmas Day 2008 is almost over. After a few chapters of the book Devil In the White City that I have been trying to finish for several weeks, I will be ready for bed.

Tomorrow early AM I have a running date with Pedro the police officer. (running dates are the only ones I am getting these days)

A view from the farm out somewhere towards where we started hiking.

I just returned from an overnight trip to a large “finca” (farm) a good 5 mile marginal trail hike out into the jungle. A fellow PC volunteer is working on an eco-tourism project and I tagged along.

Myself, my fellow PC amigo, one Ecuadorian, one Peruvian, three farm dogs, one horse, one mule (for the initial purpose of carrying supplies and the later purpose of carrying out virgin jungle “gringas” with bad blisters) headed out early morning in the pouring rain. After a 2 hour hike knee deep in mud we arrived soaking wet to the farm house. After a “campo” lunch of rice and meat we headed out another hour and a half (again in the pouring rain) to the other side of the farm where we set up camp. Dinner consisted of left over rice and meat bones. We crashed early (too early) and I did not sleep a wink. The following day while the guys worked I relaxed and did some exploring. After lunch of more rice, late afternoon we packed it in and headed back to civilization in the dark. Because my jungle boots gave me some nasty blisters I rode the mule back to town.

Despite my not yet approved jungle boots and bad blisters that leave me unable to run for a few days I had a good time. The best part about this trip was I did not get eaten by one mosquito. I am looking forward to many, many more nights camping out in the jungle.

Tips for walking in Ecuadorian jungle boots:

Test them out before setting out into the jungle (wear them around the house/town first). Don’t put the boots on for the first time 2 minutes before walking out the door

Wear thin socks

Will most likely serve you better than your $200 REI hiking boots

If worn properly and tested before your trip you should not get blisters

When walking down hill in the knee deep mud walk heel to toe

If you and your boots get stuck in the deep mud a very adorable Peruvian man will rescue you (if you are lucky!)

If you choose to wear your $200 REI boots instead of the $6 jungle boots you will be the only one

Everyone is doing it, so you should do (or at least think about it)

08 Sept 2007

I seem to be getting closer to witnessing the actual moment in an Ecuadorian chickens life when he takes his final breath.

Today when I walked in the door there were two very freshly killed chickens in the sink. This time the chickens still had its feathers. I took a quick picture (for your viewing pleasure) and ran fast before the next steps which includes the part I just can’t stomach, removing of the guts.

Today (and everyday from here on) 40 plus kids from the school are going to be eating lunch and dinner in our basement kitchen. (I thought about moving down there for more privacy but upon this news I have just quickly changed my mind)

This is a new program that my counterpart and the local municipal started this year (today!). Free lunch and dinner will be provided to the less fortunate kids who live in the “campo” and walk daily to and from school (30 to 1.5 hours away).

These chickens from our backyard will provide over 40 kids a good meal and I will be helping supervise this free meal program.

Dearest Mother: (and any other PC worry wart mothers who may be reading this BLOG)

You will be extremely happy to know that my first Peace Corps homework is to complete a document called a Site Locator Form. This is an EIGHT page form that I have to fill out is for my own safety and security. The form (I imagine) is also for worried mother’s peace of mind who may freak out and call PC Washington when they have not heard from their son or daughter in a few weeks. I am not saying that this will be you but I bet it happens fairly often.

Everything imaginable has to be included in this report: GPS data/info (Latitude/Longitude of my site) Multiple different community contacts (community counterpart, store own down the street, neighbor)Car and bus directions to my house (including the bus schedules/bus fairs, etc) Provide community contact who has a vehicle and can get me out ASAP if need be/my self evacuation plan Radio Station information Nearest PC approved medical facility information How often do you check your email? What is the best way to reach you during the day? At night? On the weekends?3 different maps (one map of my 2 town street is simply not enough) 1- map of Helicopter landing zone 2-map of my community/to my house 3-map from the PC office in QUITO to my house 15 hours awayDirections on how to get to my Emergency Action Plan Consolidation Point (a hotel in Cuenca)A million questions about my house:

Do I have a lock on my door?

If you live on the ground floor, do you windows have bars?

What are the doors made of?

What are the windows made of?

Is there any type of lock on the inside bedroom doors?

Is there reliable water service?

Are there stores nearby for basic needs?

If you called for help, who would hear you and in your opinion would they help?

Is the proposed residence at-risk for a man-made or natural disaster?

Who are closest neighbors? Is there a telephone nearby?

Is there an indoor bathroom?

Is there electricity? An additional Appendix-Checklist of Personal Safety Plan

Does the local community phone of office have you name, location and PC emergency number?

Who has copies of PC emergency numbers?

Who/What agencies have radios?

Have you introduced yourself the local police or military outpost?

Are your community resources aware of the need for quick response when and if they are contacted by PC?

What is your consolidation point? How do you get there? Where does the nearest volunteer live?

Do you have extra cash on hand?

Are you ready to go? What would you take with you in case of an evalacuation?

Have you identified other ways to send a message to PC other than conventional cell or cell phone? How?

And the list goes on……

I am also required to notify the PC office AND a fellow PC volunteer in Cuenca (my Emergency Cluster Coordinator) when I am going to be out of my site for the night/more than 24 hours. If I leave for the day I have to notify my community contact. Many volunteers have been kicked out of PC and sent home for not following this simple yet extremely important rule.

If GPS data chips (like the ones they now put in dogs) were in the PC budget I think PC might require us to have them on in our bodies.

I hope you will sleep better now knowing that in any given emergency or evaluation (which has never had to be done in Ecuador) I will be found and able to get out quickly.

Sleep well.

Lots of love,

Your PC daughter in safe Ecuador

P.S. Please pass this information and letter on to grandma too!

September 6, 2008

Today I was headed out the door for my evening run. My host dad was in the street talking to a man (maybe a few years younger than me). He (wish I could remember his name) was dressed in shorts, T-shirts, SANDALS and with house keys in hand.

I waved to my dad and told him I was off for a run. Before I could take off however my dad said “do you want company?” Being the good trying to integrate into my community PC volunteer I responded with “si.”

So this stranger and I took off running. I was in my full running attire and my buddy in SANDALS and everyday clothes. Our route was hilly, not easy and off road. We ran for a good 40 minutes. He faired extremely well in his sandals (better than me in my $130 running shoes) and pushed me up the hills.

Too bad, this guy lives in 4 hours away in a bus up and down a dirt road and was only here visiting family. He would be a good running buddy.

Sometimes it is just better with a buddy. Today was one of those days.

GOOD LUCK to all my friends today who are racing hilly Ironman Wisconsin. Every year on this day of IM Wisconsin I STILL (after 4 years) get goose bumps and reflect back on my best and most enjoyable but slowest Iron(wo)man to date.

A favorite Ecuadorian food

Chifles=chips. Green bananas sliced up and fried!

I always have had a weakness for potato chips. These chifles are almost as good as the Kettle Honey Dijon Potato chips that can be found at my favorite grocery store, Whole Foods in the People´s Republic Boulder, where rich people are willing to pay WAY too much money for food.

¿Que va a hacer Lauren en el colegio?

When one of the teachers asked my community counterpart “What is Lauren going to be doing at the school?, her response was “muchas cosas”

The question I have been asking myself is what are those“many things”

I already have some ideas but for the first month or so I plan to just lay low (aka: attempt not to say or do anything too damaging) observe and make friends, even if I have to paint the entire school to find those amigos.

Peace Corps Ecuador really wants (and requires) volunteers to spend the first 3 months of service in our communities, getting to know people, making friends and “integrating.” The whole “integration” first (before doing any “work”) is a key PC concept. The idea is that in order to get things accomplished and for people to accept crazy “gringo” (American) like ideas/change the locals have to first trust (and like) the volunteer. This concept makes perfect sense, and my challenge now is to accomplish it. (integrate, that is!)

And yes, a challenge it will be. My “work” for the next few months will be wondering the community talking to people, hanging out on peoples porches, accepting all invitations offered to me, etc, etc, etc. This means spending less time on my computer watching movies, journaling, emailing all of you and more time visible in my community. (playing soccer, sitting in the park hoping someone will talk to me, etc) Perhaps it is a small blessing that the wireless internet is currently not working (though it does exist and I am told someone is working on it). When I inquired about the wireless network I was told “ya mismo!” (this can mean 1 minute, 1 hour, 100 days or never)

Another PC Ecuador concept/requirement is something called CAT. (Community Assessment Tools) Taken from published information I received “the purpose of the Community Assessment Tool is to help the PCV better understand the needs and resources of his or her community, as well as to identify opportunities for project activities.”

CAT can be carried out through observation, interviewing (random sampling) and with the use of already existing studies done by host agencies/ municipalities or other PCV’s. We (the PCV) were given a long list of questions and are expected to interview 30-50 people/families to access community needs. We are not expected to go at this alone (thankfully!) and our counterparts should be involved.

In a few months during a re-connect conference my group (Omnibus 100) of 29 volunteers (hopefully everyone will still be here) and our community counterparts will meet in Quito to discuss and present our findings. Then it is time to use the results and get down to “work.”

Currently my CAT is locked away in a closet in my room. In the next few weeks I suppose I should start thinking about bringing him out, feeding him and introducing him to my counterpart/community. It looks like I am going to have to get over my dislike of CATs.

Until then (when I decide to start giving CATs some TLC) I will continue looking lost and sitting on benches waiting for someone to talk to the weird looking “gringa.”

September 1, 2008

First Day of School

Sunday, August 31st, I arrived at my new home, for what I intend to be the next two years of my life, after an overnight bus and then another 5 hour bus ride out to the jungle. (I am still a bit hesitant to disclose my exact location; if you are indeed a friend and not a BLOG stocker email me and I will relieve this and other top secret information not fit for BLOG stockers) The actual distance of the road/second bus from what I am told is less than 100 miles but the road is unpaved, very hilly and the bus stops for lunch, people to pee and every village person and their bags of …????? along the way.

The bus dropped me and my FOUR heavy bags off on one of the two streets in my town in the pouring rain. I called the town mayor for help (also my new host family/dad) on my new PC cell phone which I can receive calls from the US. I am told that if you buy a international calling card it is not too expensive.. (HINT, HINT, HINT) Within 5 minutes a truck showed up for me and my junk. (I could not have walked three steps with my stuff if I tried)

After unpacking my junk and a nice dinner with my family I fell asleep early in preparation for my first day of school! (Every PC Ecuador volunteer is assigned a community counterpart (person) and organization. Since my community counterpart is the director of the local school and my community organization IS the school I will be spending lots of time in school or at least until I access the needs of the community and find secondary projects to work on)

The first day of school in the middle of the nowhere Ecuador is quite different from the first day of school where I am from (where that “home” is I have no idea; I have lived in more places than I have fingers AND toes plus my family is spread from the east to west coast of the United States AND across an ocean)

Betty, my community counterpart/school director/host mother and I arrived at the school at 8:30am. Every classroom was locked up and there was no one in site. School started, or so I thought, at 9:00am. We then walked to the center of town where all the school kids were wondering the streets in their uniforms. At 8:45am I followed Betty to the town’s stadium (used for ceremonies, community events, soccer games, etc). I then realized that classes were not going to start at 9:00am but there was going to be a ceremony instead. The ceremony started at 9:15am Ecuadorian time (9:00am American time) and lasted about an hour. It was simply a formality to mark the beginning of the school year. Following the ceremony all the kids were free to go and teachers were told to report to the school. Betty and I went home, I changed into “work” clothes (because I overheard a teaching talking about painting) and we went to the school to meet up with the teachers.

For the first hour or so I wondered into classrooms and introduced myself to random people asking if anyone needed help fixing up their classrooms. Finally, the art and music teacher put me to work and I painted (picture above)… all day!

That was how I spent my first day in Ecuadorian school… painting! We were just about the last people to leave the school and the teacher said something to me that sorts of translates into Spanish as “I owe you bigtime.’

Hopefully, today I made my first friend.

I am now officially a PC volunteer and officially tired (very tired) of packing, re-packing and moving both my body and junk (and I have lots of it).

Yesterday, 29 people from Omnibus 100 became official PC volunteers at the US ambassador's residence in Quito.

In a few days I will be settled into my new home (at least for the next few months before I might move again) in the jungle region of Ecuador.

A friend from high school, Bobby, emailed me and asked me the following questions once I told him I was moving to the jungle in Ecuador.

"So what is your site like in the jungle? Are you living in a tent or hut? Do you have running water? I assume no electricity, phone, Internet, etc."

Bob... much to your surprise; (and mine), I will be living in a beautiful, modern home (at least for the first few months as I am required to live with a family before I get my own place) I will have all the creature comforts of home; hot water, electricity, and wireless internet. Wireless is nearly unheard of in Ecuador but thanks to a local youth and a current PC volunteer my town is hooked up (in!). My site is out in the middle of nowhere and small but it is beautiful. We have no bank or grocery store and we get fruit once a week from Cuenca but we have wireless, hot water and a mountain in my back yard that I can climb every week if I want! Asi es mi vida en Ecuador!!!

I have a new mailing address (the old one still works though this one is much better)

My name

Cuerpo de Paz

Casilla 01-01-1916

Cuenca, Azuay

Ecuador

Tips to send packages to your favorite PC volunteer (me!)

IT MUST be under 4 poundsDO NOT declare a value!!! (wirte $0 on the little customs forms) and just write "gift"

Good Luck to all my friends and Boulderites on my favorite Ironman Triathlon race course today, Ironman Canada!

My days in Cayambe will soon be no longer. Next Friday myself and the 28 other people in my PC class (we have lost 4 people already) will sear in as official PC volunteers at the Ambassadors residence in Quito. Following a big party that evening we will all go our separate ways to our sites all over the country. Honestly, I am very much looking forward to the end of PC boot camp and starting my 2 years of service in the jungle region of Ecuador.

Stay tuned for more stories of humor, hardships, challenges, successes and failures in small town, very small town, Ecuador.