It's been over two months.

It's been over two months since I've spoken Spanish for more than two hours. It's been over two months since I've ridden public transportation. It's been over two months since I've been kissed.

My life has completely changed within these past two months.

A few of you called me out on not writing since my integration back into the States. Part of why I haven't written is because I've been busy...partially because I have been lazy...but this blog post has been brewing in my head recently.

Well it's pretty nice being back. Other than the obvious material things, I have really enjoyed being with my family. They are just a good group of people that I feel I have missed out on the past six years of my life. My parents are funky...definitely gotten "older" in a sense. And my sister is this funny enigma...I can't put my finger on it but she's such an awesome person and I'm starting to realize that with the little adventures we have. So living at home is not nearly as bad as I had anticipated.

What has been the hardest for me, however, has been the realization that my Peace Corps experience is over. These past two years changed my life in so many ways, I still have trouble fathoming that my life will never be like that again. A day does not past where I drift into a daydream of me riding on a moto through Yantzaza or a trip to the pool with my ninas.

I try my hardest to keep in contact. When Ecuador was in their "coup" fits a little bit ago, I called a couple families to get the real gossip of what was going on down there. I've sent two rounds of packages, I text message, I facebook. I do what I can...but it still feels like I should do more. How can I just drop these people that I spent two years of my life with?

I still struggle with that because it seems that if I call too much it's not only expensive, but hard to talk about a lot of things. I also don't want to become that "gringa that lived her for two years but we've never heard from her since."

But Ecuador taught me a lot of things that I never thought I could do. Like speak Spanish to Hispanics in America and have them understand me. My patience is also an incredible difference. Things don't set me off like they used to. My passion for Spanish and Latino culture is even stronger. I feel more at ease in new situations, especially those that I am not used to. At least here I am a native speaker of the language...

So sorry for the delay. I needed these few months to digest everything that's happened. I've taken a couple of trips...hoping to take more. It's been nice just being in one place though. My "basement dwelling" is quite nice and I get utter silence at night--a huge improvement from my loud Colombian vecinos (I'm told a Colombian family is now living in my apartment...good thing I got out when I did).

Luckily upon my return, I was able to land a part-time job. I'm the Hispanic Outreach Specialist for a local non-profit. Linda, the woman who hired me, is a RPCV from Ecuador, ironically enough. She served about 20 years ago, so it's really neat to talk to her about readjustment and her experiences, as well. She really gets me, and that's refreshing. I really believe this job was meant to be.

I get to speak Spanish everyday, which is the best thing about this job. The population I deal with is mostly Mexican and Guatemalan, so I've had to learn some new words and get rid of some of the stuff I say (ya mismo...doesn't exist :-( but I've had to learn to say platicar for "chat") These people I deal with are so awesome though and I feel that talking with them, I am, in a way, talking to my gente in Ecuador. I see little Madgy in a few of the little girls I see. And I hope that by talking to some women, my friend Sindy hears me or thinks of me at that moment. I miss talking to her more than she will ever know.

Well this has been a lot harder to write than I thought. Lately I get into these intense memory jogs and my mind can't stop running from the memories. They flood back at the sound of a song from my Ecua Mix CDs, or the sight of a photo, or a card I find hidden in a book.

I am hopeful that I will be reunited with some of my friends in the future. It was funny because the other day I was sitting on my front stoop watching as mini-van after mini-van passed by our house. Sitting on my bench outside my house was a daily ritual for me in Ecuador. Lines of laundry would clutter my scenery, forcing me to look up to see the jungle. The sun would be baking the patio and Tortilla would be prancing between eaves, looking for a cucaracha to catch. Little Adrian would scurry by with a dirty face and two other barely walking babies would be in tow.

Now I was staring out at orange leaves littering our front lawn, two women walking their golden retrievers on leashes, meanwhile a Mercedes Benz zips by. Am I living on the same planet? Are we in the same year? Same decade? Life is easier here, but I still feel like I left my true life behind in Ecuador.

Woo. Deep breath, Corrie.

Well everyone, it's been a magical two years. I am in Quito right now, doing all the paperwork and running around to get my shit finalized. It's been like a scavenger hunt: one signature means I can advance to another person's signature, etc. Today Darci and I took four different taxis to just find the right bank to close our bank accounts...it's been wild.

Last week was ridiculous. Probably the hardest week of my entire life. It started off slow but towards the end, everyone wanted me over for dinner or a beer or to come visit my empty apartment. It was so overwhelming. Saturday I left mid-morning, with tears streaming down my face as I said goodbye to a blazing hot Yantzaza. My heart was so heavy, I never really thought the day would come.

I got in to Loja and visited with Sindy and my goddaughter, Madgy, since they are now living in Loja. It was so nice to see them and play and hang out. My last meal was cow foot soup (ew) but the company trumped the meal. We took pictures in this wacky park, Parque Jipiro, in Loja and then I said my goodbyes, yet again. This time it wasn't as hard, I think I'm just really tired of saying adios to people...the first time I've really had to use adios (it's permanent).

Then Jason, my best buddy in Loja, made me pizzas with a bunch of other volunteers and I hopped on the 9:30 bus to Quito. Made it in actually 11 and a half hours, a record compared to the original 17-hour trip Chris and I made when we first got to Loja and the bus trip ended with us crashing into a hill just outside of the city.

Quito's been decent though. Just trying to get this all done! I can't believe tomorrow I will be in the US of A. My stomach has butterflies! All sorts of emotions are flying through me.

Thanks a TON to all of those who have supported me in my last two years. I really couldn't have done it without you guys. It's been so much fun writing this blog and I'm glad I got to share my adventures with all of you. I might do some Post-PC response blogs...so stay tuned.

VIVA ECUADOR! Gracias por compartir su belleza conmigo, nunca te voy a olvidar!

Last weekend a bunch of the volunteers from the cluster came down to have a despedida with us in Guayzimi. We did a great jungle hike up a waterfall and through the jungle to a tire swing and see some awesome trees and wildlife.

We had to cross this river to get to the Pailas waterfall, or pails. It was cool because there were two pools up on the waterfall and the water would come rushing down, like pails full of water.

I made the 10 km walk to Zumbi the other day to visit Grigs and snapped this sepia photo on the way. Man, I will miss these mountains.

This is Mario, Chris´s CRAZY host brother. This kid has made me laugh more than anybody here. Here he is bathing himself with the hose, acting like a wildthing. Last night we made S´mores after the AMAZING cookout they made for us, as a final dinner. Mario ate practically the whole bag of marshmallows (or besos de novia kisses of the bride) and was so hyper. He was acting ridiculous. Chris is definitely going to be down a sidekick when he goes to the States. Those two were like long lost brothers.

Here is Chris with the amazing Castillo family. You can see the little grill they set up in front. Such amazing food...it was criollo chicken (organic chicken) but this tasted way better than the criollos I´ve normally had. Lip smacking good. We also made shish kabobs with pork and veggies. Those were amazing and Mercy, his sister, was gobbling those up.

Me with Chris and Mario and then Joey, the volunteer that is replacing Chris. He was here this week for a site visit and then comes back in the middle of August. It was cool to meet him and show him around...crazy that he is replacing Chris! Time has seriously flown by. (sorry about the laundry lines in the faces)

Well I am hoping to put up at least one more post before I leave. As always, thanks for reading guys...it´s been so much fun doing this blog!

Well now that I have more or less Quince Días left in Ecuador, I have started to go into Despedida Mode. Despedidas, or goodbye parties, are a big deal here, especially since I´ve made so many friends and worked with so many people.

The last day of school is tomorrow, however today was the last day of classes. Last week the girls went on paseos or end of the year field trips, and I accompanied three classes.

Friday I went with one of my favorite classes, 5to A, to the pool in Zumbi. They have a great slide and I even called up Grigs to come swim with us. It´s been super hot these past few days and it was a perfect day to spend at the pool.

Me and the girls. They love my big sunglasses....

Saturday I had a paseo with the girls of 6to A and we went to the pools in Yantzaza. Here´s a dad making fritada, or fried pork, and sippin´ a beer. It was hot hot hot that day.

Me and two girls, Dani and Linsy, and the Profesora Teresa.

One of my favorite girls here, Belén, the chica with the short hair, threw me a goodbye party that same afternoon. She invited all the neighborhood kids and they all did a dance for me, made a lunch and served me cake (pronounced kay-e). It was so adorable and really made me feel loved. Passing out of a candy while waiting is tradition (as shown by Banesa).

One of the games was dancing with a tomato on the forehead. Here one of the moms is showing us youngsters how to do it. And did that Mama dance!

Amazing way to end the day! That rainbow was awesome! I told the kids to dance Waka Waka under it while I took the picture.

These are the girls from 7to B and we went to Gualaquiza yesterday. It´s about 2 hours north of Yantzaza. They hired a bus to take us to the military base in Gualaquiza. They gave us a tour, let us swim in the army pool (best pool in Ecuador! SO CLEAN!) and then they served us lunch.

Army boys cutting up yuca for our lunch...

We then went to this tourist spot where two rivers meet. They wouldn´t let the girls swim there but they had a bunch of jungle gym (literally JUNGLE) stuff to play on. Me and a niña.

It was quite an eventful weekend and I´m so grateful for all the niñas and their families for their appreciation and kindness they have shown to me. Today the despedidas at school involved two classes. The first class gave me a set of juice glasses (not sure how I´m going to take those home...) and a very ¨breathtaking¨ statuette. Overall, it´s awesome but very bittersweet. VIVA YANTZAZA!

Now that I have officially reached my last month in Yantzaza, I am starting to relish more and more of what has made this jungle town my home, one that I will miss greatly.

Walking around during the day, you notice taxis running around, dust flying, giant dump trucks filled with mud, kids yelling, a man selling 50 brooms on his back, a woman on a bench with her left breast hanging out as a hungry child suckles it and plays with her long black hair...everything is going on. It´s a sort of Amazon chaos... a steady movement.

However when night time reaches, it´s like a plug is pulled. Things move just a tad slower. There is no dust flying in the air, the streets are quite silent, high school kids hide in the dark corners making out with just their cell phones playing bachatas as an indication that they are there. The stars literally twinkle, as if Dios sneezed glitter on the midnight blue sky. The air is crisp and fresh. I take deep breaths and get a sort of high off the tranquilidad. It is so damn refreshing.

In the park, the only lights are those of the stores still open for business and an occasionally street lamp. One side of the park is lined with food trucks, selling their typical dishes of chicken, meat, or guata, cow intenstines made with potatoes in a peanut sauce. I´m sick of seeing rice, totally knowing what it´s going to taste like. I want a surprise!

But then I remember, my surprise is that my two years have flown by faster than those taxis and it´s time for me to start saying goodbye.

Today I went to visit my good friend Rosario and her three sons. They used to be my next door neighbors but a year ago they moved to another part of town. Rosario is a great friend and has an amazing spirit. She is nine months pregnant, looks like she´s going to pop any minute. But she still moves around as if she weren´t pregnant. She was giving her youngest, two-years-old, a bath of chamomille tea because he has a cold. But the way she moved around, I was stunned. This woman is pilas. She then proceeded to make dinner for five and make me my favorite empanadas that she makes, all in an hour. She is incredible. I did help peel the yuca...after she explained to me how to do it of course. It took me about three times longer than she probably could have done it, but I was glad to help just the same.

I gave the boys my DVD player and some books and cards. Rosario started to cry. When I saw her, the strongest woman I have ever met in my life, do that, I knew that I had made an impact on somebody. And it made me realize how special and amazing this experience has been and I wouldn´t change anything I´ve done.

Leaving her house, I am walking back in the night, breathing the fresh air and feeling the rush of my jungle town like never before.

So I guess I made the grand mistake of loaning my camera to my friend, Marco. He borrowed it for a cumpleaños or soemthing and DELETED ALL OF MY PHOTOS! OMG I was pissed. This is the second time this has happened to me (the first being my Macchu Picchu pictures...thanks a lot, Brown Sugar). With the deletion went all my world map pictures and baptism photos. I feel worse for the family because the only other picture was taken by a cousin from his cell phone. Anyway...here are some replacement photos. Yesterday we finished painting the map! And tomorrow, since we don´t have classes...surprise surprise, I´m going to finish labeling and touch-ups. Way to go niñas!

More or less finished...

Painting...and painting...and painting. It actually didn´t take as long as I thought it would to paint. The most time consuming was sanding the wall (three days) and then making the grid system was a whole afternoon, followed by a day of drawing a three afternoons of painting. There were about 4 girls who consistently came and then the periodic drifters who would come in, paint a country, and then peace out. I was really impressed with their dedication and determination, however.

¨La Gata¨ or cat girl (what they refer to all light-eyed people as) in front of Africa. This has been a huge thing for me, actually starting and SEEING the finish of a project. it may not seem like a big deal, but I was super excited to do this and I think little by little people are appreciating what we´ve done.

Ah El Elastico. Ecuador´s version of Skip-It...kind of. It was popular but is now back by popular demand. All it is is a long piece of elastic (like what you put in the waistband of your 7th grade home ec pajama pants) and you have to do a series of jumps. It´s kind of silly but the girls at my school ARE CRAZY for it. Any spare moment, you see then jumping elastico. Today I had to take away three elasticos because they wouldn´t stop playing in class. Here´s my attempt at it last night in my pajamas...can´t see the elastic but the idea is there.

Sorry it´s been a coon´s age since I wrote....a lot of ¨not¨ going on. Mostly people pestering me about my stuff, like what I´m going to sell, give away, etc. Surprisingly enough, EVERYONE wants my gas tank! Like I´ve had literally 8 people ask to buy my tank (I guess when their gas in the kitchen runs out they like to have another since the gas truck doesn´t come around everyday...they are $60 new!). But I hav pretty much have all accounted for except for my stove....anyone? anyone? (kinda hard to sell since I don´t have the gas tank to go with it...)

In addition to hawking my stuff, I´ve been super busy with the World Map my girls and I are doing at school. I decided to do this as a big sendoff project, a physical memory of ¨La Cori.¨ It´s been more than I expected but a lot of fun. I had to measure it out (3 meters x 3 meters) and then paint the ocean. Then Grigs came over and helped me draw out the grid system (thank god because I was off like 20 centimeters on one side and it was all crooked....oy). I chose two girls from each classroom to help draw and paint the map. We drew it in one afternoon and we should finish painting tomorrow, making it three afternoons of painting. It´s been a lot of fun....Western Europe and the Middle East have been a pain in the butt to map out, however. Damn you, Turkey!! I can´t seem to get it right...they might be a little off but in the end, it´ll look great. World Map is a famous Peace Corps project and almost every volunteer does it. It´s easy and a great way to teach people about the world (like how BIG Russia is or how small Ecuador is in comparison to the rest of Latin America!) Pictures to come...

Then last but not least, I got the privelige of being a Madrina...again. There is this one mother I know from the school, I teach two of her daughters, and she has been bugging me the past few months to be the madrina for her seven-year-old Keiko Cyan (as in the whale from Sea World I told her...)I kept delaying it because I don´t really know the family and the girl I had seen once before. Finally we figured it out and I had to go to a meeting at the church about it...ugh. But Saturday we had the baptism here in Yantzaza, I wore my multi-purpose dress good for Funerals/Bapitsms/Weddings/Swearing-In Ceremonies at the US Embassy. But Keiko looked cute and all done up.

There were about 7 other kids getting baptized, I guess they do baptisms every 15 days (cada 15 días....the magical number here in Ecuador) simply because there are so many children they gotta pop ´em out fast enough or the baptisms would take forever.

Afterwards we went back to their abuelita´s house and had an apple cake I made (kids even took seconds!) and then chicken and rice. It was fun talking with the mom and her seven kids (I think she asked me because she is running out of madrinas and padrinos...they are all under the age of 17). But it´s a nice family and the girls danced....very low key. So now I´m double Madrina. I think I need a cape...

Actually my friend Miriam up north is madrina to six kids so she´s got me beat.

Next weekend cock fights in Guaysimi!

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind of events and I am absolutely pooped (literally....will divulge more on that later).

My friend, Miriam, had asked me to come up to her site to do a technical exchange and teach cooking classes to a few groups of mothers. She lives in possibly the coldest site in Ecuador, in Salinas de Guaranda. It is at an elevation of over 3500 meters, looking out onto the biggest mountain in Ecuador, Chimborazo. It's beautiful there. Very indigenous and very different from where I live, but it was fun to see.

We gave two cooking sessions to mothers of the FODI daycare centers, the same organization I used to work for in Zumbi a while back. Miriam, Nancy (a volunteer nearby) and I taught the women how to make quinoa salad, fried zucchini, and Spanish omlettes. These communities grow a lot of vegetables, but never use them so we tried to teach them how to use these vegetables without using a lot of oil or salt. It was a lot of fun because we mostly went to Indigenous Kichwa communities. The second community we went to was wayyy up in the mountains, 4000 meters. In the Sierra, people are generally more reserved and shy and aren't nearly as open as the people where I live. It must be the cold...

But the women in this community were hilarious. I would ask them to cut up tomatoes or onions and they would all whisper to each other like " how do I cut this? what did she ask us? we have to cut the tomatoes!" But in strong whispers. I couldn't really understand, but they all seemed to understand each other and the room was loud, but with the sound of them whispering to each other.

They really enjoyed the recipes and it was fun teaching them new things with the products they already had. My Spanish omlette was a huge success (pretty much one of three things I've mastered while being down here).

After that Miriam and I snuck off to the beach for a few days. It was great and super relaxing. We met some boys and danced AMAZING salsa until 4 in the morning. These guys told us they were the salsa champions of the coast....I was like whatever you just want us to go with you. But they were absolutely INCREDIBLE dancers. I never even knew one could spin in so many different ways.

While at the beach we got a call that Tungurahua, the active volcano, had erupted. Apparently there was just ash everywhere, but we had to modify our plans a little since the roads were closed in that area. WEIRD!

We managed to get out safely and arrive in Quito for our COS (close of service) conference. I was kind of dreading it, just because Peace Corps training sessions have been pretty lame in the past. But it has been a blast. This is the last time we are all going to see each other together and it's been great sharing stories and seeing how much we've all grown.

There's a TON of paperwork we have to do, but a necessary evil in order to leave. Tuesday night the staff took us all to a really nice, fancy dinner. I definitely cried during a toast a fellow volunteer made. It's been very emotional, but I think it's a good thing because it shows how much I've come to love this country and my community.

Then last night we all went out for wine and tapas and it was so much fun. Everyone gave a little speech about each other, sharing funny stories or thanking people for support. Chris and I had a little "Jungle Babies" moment...admitting we wouldn't have been able to do it without each other. Everyone was just a full with love. We then went dancing and it was just so great to be all together one last time.

Just finishing up some medical stuff (have had to give three poop samples...eww). Good news: I don't have parasites!

After a crazy two weeks, I'm getting ready to go back to site and finish up with a bang. However, I have a feeling this is going to be the hardest part of my two years of service...

Peace Corps decided it was a good idea to send volunteers from three clusters (the Loja, Cuenca and Riobamba clusters) to a Resiliency conference in Cuenca for three days. The idea was to get volunteers together to talk about this, and as I have been working on PCV Resiliency as a side project the other months, I was interested to see what they had to say. However, on the other hand, I was not so anxious as many of these conferences result in me doing many a crossword puzzle...

It was a good trip, in the end. We had two days, when all was said and done, of sessions on how to manage stress, deal with problems in your community, talk to other volunteers, etc. There have been three new groups come in since ours, so A LOT of faces were new to me. And when I introduced myself and said I was from Omnibus 100, almost all the responses were ¨ Wow! You´re almost out of here...¨. It was weird to have people look on us as the veterans, because I remember like it was yesterday getting to site and thinking, wow these people have been here for TWO WHOLE YEARS?! And now I´m that person.

But the groups have a whole new gammet of characters, some mid-career volunteers, Masters International vols, even a transgender volunteer who I got to chat up with. Although I didn´t learn anything, really, about resiliency...I mean, come on...I´ve made it this far, I think I kinda know what I´m doing now. But I did learn a lot about myself and my service which really made me reflect on my past two years. For example, everyone pretty much reaches the same highs and lows throughout their service, but learning how to talk about them and deal with the situations is a real key to resiliency. I was also feeling bad about getting out of here; like maybe I should have signed up for that third year. Every volunteer from my group said they are getting out ASAP so that was reassuring, and interesting because it seems that no one from out group is extending a third year.

After relaxing a little and getting some stuff done in Cuenca (the second hand on my watch fell off and got it fixed for free! along with a zipper on my favorite wallet...I love this country!) I took the bus back through Gualaquiza to get home. Normally I take the bus through Loja, but I decided to go east this time. I wanted to see the drive and there is a new volunteer, Peggy, in Gualaquiza and figured I´d give her some company.

We got to Gualaquiza at 10:30 (only six and a half hour trip) and found out I had just missed the Yantzaza bus by half an hour and the next was at 2 am. So Peggy let me crash on her floor at her host family´s house. We trekked up this hill and as soon as we walked inside, this smell hit me. It was the same smell of the house I had lived in when I first got to Yantzaza, with Dra. Monica. I was instantly flooded with meories and sounds...it honestly gave me the chills. The light of a forgotten TV flooded the living room as we stumbled over toys and cups and clothes to Peggy´s room. She had a room pretty much the same size as I did; and there was just a bed and armoire. I said she had to blog about her experience with her family...there was just WAY too much material, especially after having been in the bathroom. Inside they had about 7 pairs of ladies underwear hanging alongside the toilet, with baby socks scattered throughout the bathroom. One was on the shower head, so as to prevent the water from going everywhere, one on the sink keeping the bar of soap from flying all over the place. There was even a sign on the back of the door with a list of things you should do to be polite: say good morning, smile, always thank people, etc.

Being at Peggy´s house was a total full circle experience for me. The humidity made it hard for me to sleep, reminding me of those stifling nights below the Barbie-pink mosquito net in Barrio Gran Colombia. The family Peggy lives with owns the building, but on the third floor is one of the local radio stations. So at 3 am last night, I was up to BUENOS DIAS GUALAQUIZA! in the typical latino announcer voice, loud and confident. They also play a song and play/pause it while they are talking, hard to describe but it is extremely annoying and I can never imagine a US radio station doing this. Anyway, that was going on all night. Peggy said she´s getting used to it, but is having family send her earplugs from the States. This is very much like the guy who always decided to sing karaoke at 5 am every Saturday at my old house. But I think she wins me with the radio.

Her host family was nice enough to let me catch a ride with them back to Yantzaza, again making me appreciate how kind and welcoming people are in this country.

Sunday I am departing for Salinas de Guaranda for a tech exchange with my friend Miriam and then we go to our Close of Service conference in Quito! Only two months left!

WOOO WEEE! It´s FUNKY in Yantzaza! No, we aren´t jamming beats here in the jungle. We are now running on Day 3 of Life Sin Agua. No water. It has been raining like cats and dogs down here...

Friday night the Rain from Above started. I have never seen so much rain in my life. It continued until last night. Four. Days. Straight. The lack of rain has become an ¨event¨ in the sense that it´s a new reason to sit outside and watch people, gossip about what´s happening, tell people what the should do to catch water, etc.

As we learn in ECUA 101, heavy rains always lead to landslides. We got pegged and now there is no pass to Loja. Three people died yesterday trying to cross. They went by foot since the buses and cars couldn´t pass and got stuck. It´s pretty serious, but today the rain finally ceased and this is the first time in a while I´ve seen the sky. The only major casualties here are three piggies trying to cross a landslide. RIP Chanchitos.

There have been little derrumbos all around the area. Our water got knocked out the mountain above me, and we have been living in Funkytown for three days. Which means no shower, no food, no washing dishes, no flushing toilets. Ughhh. There is a lot I have accustomated to but, sorry, I hate not having water. Waa waa. (The school was rank today because they haven´t been able to clean the bathrooms...)

Anyway, people are walking all over the place today carrying buckets of water. And mud is EVERYWHERE.

I´m not sure if I´ve mentioned Adrian a lot and he´s definitely a character worthwhile mentioning. In the house I live in and across the street, there´s about 6-8 kids that always hang out and play. Delia and Estefany are the ringleaders (the oldest...) and the other kids just run around all the time. Adrian is the son of my landlady. He is a Shuar; his mom left him with her teenage sisters who didn´t take care of him. So Doña Anita took him in, adding to their comfortable family of 4. And what a task he is!

He used to be absolutely horrible. He would run into my apartment, take my stuff, torture Tortilla. Doña Anita started wacking him with a reed, so he got better. But he´s older and isn´t quite as troublesome now.

However these past few months he and I have come to understand each other and I no longer want to catapult him to the other side of Yantzaza. With no water, the kids came over to play and they were all ridiculous. I think cabin fever was really starting to get everybody.

And then Andrian decided to join the party. Woooo...that boy was flipping off of my stump chairs, running and sliding on the floor, rolling all over the ground. Kid was crazy. He´s like a little Mighty Mouse but not so much a doo-gooder.

I accidentally conditioned him to ask for a candy so he´ll leave. He now knows when I don´t want him in my house and asks me for a chocolate and leaves automatically. It´s awesome...but at the same time I have to give him candy now. Little devil.

Ah I´ve been lazy with posting, sorry guys. It´s just nothing is happening around here. Literally nothing.

It´s been raining the past three days straight. I thought about going to Zamora, but opted not to due to the rain. Hey, if kids don´t go to school because it´s raining too hard, then why can´t I? They´ve also built a new bus terminal (FYI for Andres...) and it´s all the way at the end of Yantzaza. You can´t hop on wherever like you used to. They want people to use the new terminal, so when the buses leave, they put a sticker on the door and about 5 km out, the police take the sticker off. If it´s broken, because the door was opened, it´s a $50 fine. So I have to walk 30 minutes or take a taxi or local bus. Just a hassle.

This morning, as I was brushing my teeth, I was refreshed with water dripping on my head. I looked up and there was a GIANT crack running from one wall to the other. I was really surprised as I had never noted it before, and there was water dripping down my walls in my kitchen area as well. I told Doña Anita, thinking it of great importance, but she said not to pay any mind to it, that that always happens when it rains a lot. She laughed at me, do you think it´s going to crack open and collapse? Um...yea...that´s why I told you, Doña Anita. Ah silly girl, she said to me.

I´m still learnin´, people!

Easter Egg dying! Thanks Mom for the dying kit...the kids loved them! They had no idea that we did this, or why we would color eggs...but they had a blast! We boiled a few, but then I realized we didn´t need to boil all of the eggs, because they could eat them the next day anyway (why do we always boil the eggs? for refrigeration or just good egg salads the next day??)

My landlady, Doña Anita, and her daughter, Magaly. They invited Grigs and I to Magaly´s 16th birthday, just upstairs. It was quite the party with blacklights, a big dinner, little shots...they even had cigarettes in candy dishes! The teenage boys were smoking away the whole night...just ridiculous. The dad got up and made a big speech on how it was a bittersweet day since he was saying goodbye to her 15 years, as now she is a ¨full fledged woman.¨

Birthday tradition: Shoving your face in the cake. We then proceeded to dance until 4 am...luckily I just had to hop downstairs to go to bed and they kindly turned down the music....a little.

Ah the infamous ¨dance pictures¨. These are from when the teachers did their little baile in front of, um, the whole town. It was incredibly embarassing and no one remembered their steps except for yours truly. We had to wear wigs and ridiculously high cut skirts...ughh. Which leads to the group photo.....

TADA! Omg this is so embarassing. I refuse to show close-ups to anyone...simply for the fact that I look like a taller Dolly Parton reincarnate. And everyone noticed how my ¨top¨ was more or less made poorly and didn´t support anything the good Lord gave me. Oh well...that´s show business!

Earth Day! I took my girls to the park and we drew Earth Day salutations and facts with chalk. It was awesome because everyone was stopping to look at what we were writing.

This was the area we basically covered. Unfortunately, three hours later there was a horendous downpour and it all got washed away. But as my mom always says, it´s the thought that counts.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and packages! You guys are amazing...still remembering me from so far away! It feels great to be 24...I´m in my mid-twenties now!

Just realized, my last post was my 100th post! Thanks to everyone for your comments and support on this blog, by the way. It´s been quite a journey and even more enjoyable with you guys reading about it and joining in on my ridiculous stories.

Some might have heard, pretty much just my parents since I´ve been complaining about it, but the school garden I was in the process of building was bulldozed this week. I get to school, already with a brand new shovel and a bag full of seeds, and I see a GINORMOUS MOUND OF MUD in the exact spot where Grigs and I had been digging last week. Like it seriously came out of nowhere. The Directora of the school claims she had no idea that the municipio decided to dump all their mud there, but they did. Thanks, Señor Alcalde. Just adds to icing on the cake. After some talks with my program director, I might proceed but in the form of a tire garden....less possibility of bulldoze-ment, and if they are going to plow over it, at least they might stop and look at it first...maybe.

Four more months guys....America´s so close I can almost taste it.

So instead of people being worried about, oh I don´t know, girls not passing their grades, or attendance issues, or general school issues...the teachers are worried about what they are going to perform for Día del Maestro, or Teacher´s Day. As if there weren´t enough days we need to celebrate here. Classes ended early the other day solely to discuss our ¨game plan¨ for Tuesday. Thursday is the big performance day and we need to do a dance in front of the other teachers from the other schools. I´m included since I´m a teacher, fair enough. However, I like my anonymity and ¨half-time¨ status at the school. Not participating in some of these things (which gets real old, real fast) is nice and I get to use the Gringa Card as an excuse.

But this time, since it´s my last Teacher´s Day, I figured I´d participate. Last night was our first ¨practice¨ and I showed up with the English teacher (my next door neighbor), and three other teachers. The English teacher, Deysi, was Reina of her parish and Vice Reina of Zamora Chinchipe...and she still acts/dances/poses as if she still were the Reina.

The Directora was glad I was there, so I felt like I earned some Brownie Points on that one. Then we meet Chivo/Ochiv/Chito I don´t remember his name, but he was the cutest little dance instructor. Clad in camo cargo pants, a white wife beater and white Nike hat, our little man was ready to rock and roll! He put on traditional Ecuadorian music and we just danced away. This guy was incredible...he was shaking his butt like he was an Ecuadorian Beyonce, none of us could keep up with him. I was shvitzing like crazy and he just kept moving that booty like nobody´s biz-nass. I seriously thought he was a 17-year-old girl trapped into a 30-year-olds body. And he wasn´t gay, no offense, which I totally thought he was. Especially since he´s trained almost all of the reinas in the province, not to mention is organizing the biggest Quinciñera in the province (which I want to try to get a ticket to but looks doubtful...). When he bust out his Michael Jackson moves (which they want an installment of in our ¨number¨) I almost died. Not only because he was good at it, but also because people still can´t get over the fact that Michael Jackson is dead and so maybe we should stop dancing as if he were still alive (let´s just tone it down a little, hmm?).

Definitely an amusing night. I just hope I don´t make a fool out of myself come Thursday. Why we have to dance, I don´t know. But this country is all about the dancing.

A very Happy Easter (and/or Passover) to all! Here the Easter season is very different, as Easter isn´t really celebrated whereas Good Friday is the major holiday.

We were off from work Thursday and Friday. Grigs and I started digging a garden I am making for the school on Thursday and Friday I got an inviation for the traditional lunch. Sindy and Madgy invited me to join them and both sides of the family (the same Baptism crew I chummied with last weekend). We got there around 10, helped them prepare a salad (you´re gringa! you know how to make salad then!) and then helped them fry the fish. As with all Ecuadorian lunches, there is a soup to start. On Good Friday, they eat Fanesca, a soup made of pumpkin, 12 grains (for the 12 disciples I´m just told), and fish. It´s ok....a LOT of soup, but a big deal to make and eat down here. We then had fried tilapia and rice...that was really, really good.

Afterwards, we just sat, rubbing our bellies. The men of course lifted their shirts over their potbellies and complained of the heat. It was super hot that day...they invited me to go to the river, but I didn´t want to risk a possible horrible sunburn. Even in the shade I could feel my skin bubble.

Yesterday there was mass, but no special dinners or lunches. Everyone was surprised when I told them we don´t eat Fanesca....what do you mean you don´t have fanesca? It´s still surprising to them that people have other traditions in other parts of the world. I told them how that even in America, not all Easters are celebrated the same. For example, what I always remember from our Polish Easters is the butter lamb...Ecuadorians didn´t seem to think that was as cool as I do. That was the highlight of Easter, not to mention Easter egg hunts! Eggs and the butter lamb. I also explained that Greeks celebrate Easter at a different time from Catholics, because they use a different calendar...it made for quite an interesting discussion.

But I am also learning too that not all ¨Catholic nations¨ celebrate the same way. When I was studying in Mexico, I noticed that it was a much more religious country than Ecuador. And Spain celebrated their religion in a totally different manner. For them, Catholicism was more of a tradition, something they had to do since they had been practicing it for so long. Whereas in Mexico, Catholicism was a way of life, a way of being. Here, it´s half and half of the two. For some it´s the most important thing in one´s life, God is everything. However, at the same time, they only go to mass when it´s required. They do mention ¨God¨ in a lot of their sayings: Dios le pague--may God repay you; Si Dios quiere--If God wills it. I feel that most here are god-fearing people, but the actually practice of a truly catholic life (i.e. sex before marriage, adultery) is non-existent. Once again, I am learning it is hard to generalize over one culture (Latinos) as the intricacies that make up that culture, really separate it from the rest.

This weekend really proved to me my integration into this little world I am living in. My absolute favorite person here, my 7-year-old best friend Madynley, asked me to be her godmother or madrina. So on Saturday a baptism was held for Madgy and her two younger sisters, María Angelica and Camila. It was in Loja, since the family of Fabricio (the father of the two youngest girls)is from Loja. We had the baptism in the afternoon, followed by a dance and dinner at their house. It was just lovely meeting both families and I really felt welcomed in their hearts and home.

Me with the little ones before the bautizo. Camila is on the left, a cousin Miriam in the middle and Angelica on the end. I had to get my hair did and was not too happy with the outcome...I looked like My Pretty Pony...and you all know how I feel about horses....

Camila, Angelica and Madgy after the ceremony. It´s common to have older children baptized here, not everyone baptizes at birth. It´s a big deal, people like to get really dressed up and have a party afterwards, so in a way most have to save up for a baptism.

Angelica during mass.

Me with my hijada (goddaughter) and her padrino, Fernando. He is Sindy´s (Madgy´s mom) brother.

Proud Papa Fabricio.

It was an amazing weekend. I had so much fun with them and it was beautiful to see this ceremony and the love this family has for each other.

While I´ve got the camera up and running, here are some photos from the medical brigade.

This is the center of the first town we stayed at, Valladolid.

Chris atop a house in the village Chito. The mornings there were so nice and cool...how I miss those.

Mountainside. These mountains were a lot bigger than where I live, it was really impressive seeing them almost like the Sierra mountains but with rainforest vegetation.

Coffee is the major crop in Zumba, as its warm but not too hot. (We only harvest cacao and bananas, it´s too hot for coffee where I live). All over the place you would see coffee laying out on the street, drying out in the sun.

Last year, Chris and I translated for a group of nurses and nurse practitioners who came to Zamora Chinchipe to ¨help heal¨ those underserved. It was a great experience, so when they called us to help them again, we jumped at the opportunity.

This year, however, we traveled all the way down to the provinces of Chinchipe and Palanda, right along the Peruvian border. We were excited because these are two places we both had never been to before, yet had wanted to see for some time. The capital of Chinchipe is the town of Zumba, where there is a hospital and army base. The only way to get to these towns was by going through Loja, and then south through our province of Zamora Chinchipe...where the roads are absolutely horrible.

We met up with a group of about 15 nurses and nurse practitioners from the state of Washington (and one nurse practitioner from Canada). Everyone squished into the back of a cattle truck, situated with benches and we prayed for a safe and fast journey. It took us about 6 hours to get to our first destination, with the potholes being the size of small ponds and curves comparable to a saucy latina dancer, we managed to get there with ¨sore bums¨(as the Canadaian kept saying).

It was a beautiful town, Valladolid. The priest greeted us, gave us lunch, and then split us up as some were staying in town and the rest had to go to a town out in the campo. Yours truly was part of that group (since I know how this place works....whatever that is supposed to mean). So we hopped back in to the cattle truck and bumped our way for TWO HOURS to a town so far removed, I still don´t understand how or why people live there. It was so incredibly far, but it had the most beautiful scenery I have seen while in Ecuador. This part is actually part of the Andes range, where I live I am part of the Condor range. So the mountains are a lot larger, almost like Loja, but with rainforest on them. Absolutely spectacular. Landslides are also a big issue, some of the roads being blocked for months at a time during rainy season (this town, Porvenir del Carmen, was blocked in for six months last year...)

We made it to the one town, and we jumped right into work. Half way through, Chris had to sit out because he was battling strep throat and could barely talk. But we saw a lot of extremely poor people, many of whom had not seen a doctor in years.

At 10 we had to leave, it was just so late and we were all exhausted from the journey. Got to be around 1 am.

Then we ventured off to other smaller communities the next day, going to Palanda in the afternoon. We generally saw about 30 to 70 patients (that was my high) in a day. That is just nurse and translator. Over the whole week we saw about 1700 people between the 17 of us.

Palanda was cute, very typical Ecuadorian town. Chris and I noticed that they all look exactly the same...no joke. One group went out to a community and got stuck in a mudslide on the way back, so they had to portage all the duffle bags of medicine over the landslide.

After Palanda, we opted for a bus ride to Zumba, which was about 4 hours. Zumba was very similar to Zamora, hilly, pretty houses, fairly developed. In the morning we were woken to the church bells and army men singing during their morning run.

Chris and I got to go with a group of nurses to these three towns, Chito, Chonta and Chorro. It was a lot of fun. These places were also really far away, so we saw a ton of people in each place. The local governments took care of us; giving us food and a place to lay our sleeping bags.

We did see a number of interesting cases, such as epilepsy, a weird case of warts, dengue, malnutrition, STDs. However, the majority just suffered from bone/joint aches, headaches, and a need for parasite medication. Chris and I could tell what they were wanting before they even sat down.

It was a lot of fun though. I learned so much from these nurses and their expertise. Almost all of them had been on at least one mission before, so they were cool to talk to about that. The Canadian nurse had worked many years in Inuit communities, so we talked about that and compared the Inuits to Shuar.

I had a great time. They tipped us in Easy Mac and Snickers bars, not to mention anything they didn´t want to take home. It was great to get out of Yantzaza for a little while and see something new. Zumba was an incredible place, we were saying they should put volunteers down there. It´s far, but absolutely gorgeous and the people down there need the help more than others.

We finished off the week in Vilcabamba, as it is our buddy, Andy´s, last week in Ecuador. He goes back next week. It´s hard to believe his service is over already...but what is harder to believe is that ours will be over in less than five months!

FINALLY fiestas are over. Someone said to me yesterday, no wonder our country is poor--all we do is party. That couldn´t be truer. It´s not always a bad thing...they just need to do it in moderation.

Anyway, after a really nice baile Friday night, I decided to decompress in Guayzimi, Chris´s site.

Guayzimi is two hours away, at the end of the line where after that, all communities can only be reached by boat. It´s a sleepy town, one where you can lay in the middle of the road and wait for a car, or moto, all day before having to get up.

But I love going there.

There are a number of reasons. Some don´t like it because it´s so far. But I find that it´s incredibly relaxing, I feel so rejuvenated after going.

Chris still lives with a family, but esentially has his own wing to their house. When I got there, Chris was making some delicious pressure-cooked meat, and chatting it up with his two host sisters. Maria and Mercy are great. They always seem to perk up when I am there, Chris says. The female influence is a nice change for them. We gossip, they´ll braid my hair or do my nails.

We dined deliciously, Chris being one of the best cooks I know here. Being well fed always makes me feel better.

We took a nice walk to the river in the afternoon. We couldn´t swim in it because there is a large amount of Mercury they dump from the mining. So we just strolled and slowly baked in the hot, Amazon sun. I did get a bitchin´ flip flop tan. One of my most impressive to date.

Getting back to the house, we showered and cleaned up. I was seriously sweating non-stop on Saturday...so much sol. Chris has this awesome shower, though. His host family noticed how tall he is, so they extended his shower and now the water basically falls from the ceiling...it´s awesome. The tallest shower I´ve seen in Ecuador.

The family then invited us to dinner, which is always a treat. I love eating with them, because I never realized this before, but I love family dinners. We always eat as a family in my house, and I always took for granted that family time together. We talk, joke around. They asked me about my trip to the States. They are just a really good family...super buena gente. That also rejuvenates me.

We got to watch the coverage of the Chile earthquake. I can´t believe it happened...so much bigger than Haiti too. They sent us warnings on our cell phones to stay away from the beaches for big waves were coming. That shouldn´t be a problem for me. However, it got me and Chris talking about how we would hold up if there was an earthquake here in Ecuador. He could get out, but my cement bunker would be probably the unsafest. I would be fine if there was an atomic bomb and I would be safe from the aftermath, but an earthquake...I don´t think so. Oh well, let´s cross our fingers that nothing like that happens.

Mario is always a treat too. Mario is 10 and the little baby of the family. He´s one of the funniest kids I´ve seen. He is either incredibly smart or incredibly not. But still, he´s always entertaining. When Chris and Mario get together, it´s even funnier. Watching them jump rope had me rolling on the ground.

The weather in Guayzimi is also incredible. The nights and mornings are so fresquito...its awesome. It´s so smothering in Yantzaza, but in Guayzimi, it´s just refreshing I love it.

Well we finished our weekend with a great chicken lunch and then I hopped on the bus home. Chris and I have been through so much together, it´s great to have him so close to me to enjoy each other´s company and each other´s communities. Our lives are going to be so different in a mere five months, but we will always have these moments to look back on.

The three day mayhem that is Carnaval just ended. And thank the Lord. I don´t think my liver could take anymore Pilsener. Here are some bullet points to sum up quite an eventful (and sadly, last) Carnaval 2010.

- Friday: The school decided it would be an excellent idea to have all the girls go up to this little tourist spot and play carnaval (shoot foam and throw water balloons, generally soak as many as fast as you can). I went up on a whim, opting not to go to the basketball game the other girls were playing in. Good thing, as there were about 5 adults to 40 kids...only two of which were actually WATCHING the water. It was at this place called Las Burbujas (The Bubbles) and it´s a break in the river, so there are little streams and mini waterfalls...geez, I can´t even describe it in English. Anyway...there´s water. And they had the scooper trucks out digging the stream deeper. Bad idea. I basically had to save three people from drowning since no one can swim here. I was like a very untoned, pasty Pam Anderson running to save a little boy and then a PROFESSOR! who was trying to save a girl. The girl was in the worst shape, I couldn´t find her dark little head that was barely bobbing above the surface. All the while, other girls were yelling at me that my sandals were floating away. A girl is drowning people! My $3 sandals don´t make a difference! Gracias a Dios, everyone was fine. And I made everyone GET OUT OF THE POOL! If only I had brought my whistle...

-Sunday: Valentine´s Day. I decided to go to Zumbi and meet up with Grigs. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day...strong sun, perfect blue skies, great pool weather. We took a dip in the pool, went down the waterslide. Then headed over to a nice table and got beers served to us all afternoon. Even got some empanadas thrown in! As the sun was setting we had enough beer flowing through our veins to dance a dance or two. Then I decided to get up and participate in a ¨women´s contest.¨ I jumped up on stage...turns out I was a candidate for Miss San Valentín! I was representing the good ol´ US of A. Out of nine women, I made it to the top two!!! Basically had to shake my butt the whole time and blow kisses in the crowd. Unfortunately, I lost. It was a close race...the girl beat me in salsa...which was totally unfair since they are basically BORN to dance salsa here. Oh well. I got two beers and a chance to dance with the single mayor (which was brought to my attention several times).

-Monday: A moto cross race was down the road, so Grigs and I went with my friend Rumi and then Jason from Loja met up with us. We then decided to go to Chicaña, the most well known place around here for Carnaval. It was fun...a LOT of people. And very trashy, we noted. It was weird, like it´s hard to describe but it was just gross the people that were there. Everyone was like super mis-matched, all wet and stinky and drunk. Like state fair type times 10. And all playing¨cholo music (hick-like). We danced around...watched one of my STUDENTS participate in the wet t-shirt contest. Thank god she didn´t win....

-Tuesday: Tried to sleep in, but the music and hot air made it impossible. So Jason and his friend Oswaldo and I went to Zumbi to get one last whiff of Carnaval. It was really cloudy and a little chilly, so we tried not to get wet (basically impossible...). Didn´t spend a lot of time there, saw the rain clouds coming so we skadaddled. Made sure to get some empanadas de verde from the black folk before we peaced out. Then as I got back to Yantzaza around 8 or so, all nice and dry, two guys carried me into the fountain in the parque. Just great.

Well, it´s all over. But today start the fiestas in Yantzaza! Need to rest up this weekend. I slept 12 hours last night and I still need to catch up.

Yesterday I was invited to my very first Quinciñera. ¨Quinces¨ as they are sometimes called, are coming out parties for Latina girls when they turn 15. Here they are somewhat popular, but you usually have to have money for them. I kept thinking of My Sweet 16 the whole time...but this was really nothing like that.

I asked around and found out I needed to a) dress-up b) wear high heels (grr) and c) get a gift. So I did all of that, had my English lesson with this guy who works in the Municipio. He is ¨dating¨ this Ukranian woman online, and needs help with his english so that when he goes out to the Ukraine this spring, he can communicate with the translator (she doesn´t even speak english...). Weird, but he´s a really nice guy and the lessons I feel are actually productive.

Anyway, after the lesson I headed over the party. I asked Enith, the mom of the quinciñera, what time I should really come, because they always say 7 but no one shows up until 10 pm. She said they´d actually be punctual, so I had to be there by 8 since they were serving the dinner then. I got there at 7:45.....and things didn´t start until 10 pm. Oh Ecuas...

I actually only know the mother, the daughter I had never met. I guess it was some sort of big deal, this dinner. Because three of the nuns showed up, the director of the radio in town, and yours truly. All important representatives of the greater Yantzaza area. Ha.

The dad, I got to meet, which was really interesting. He has been living in the US for the past nine years and came back a month ago. He told me that he had made a promise to the family he´d be back for his daughter´s quince and sure enough he made it. However, the family was definitely not used to dad being back. The parents are getting divorced and the daughter didn´t seem too thrilled papi was back in town. I mean she doesn´t even really know him after being away for so long, and it was very obvious too.

They had a microphone and major speaker system set up in this empty apartment they have in their building. It was weird because there were about a total of 25 people, so I don´t know why they needed a microphone. But it was done in very Ecua style, where appearance and show is everything. The dad got up and said a few words, then presented his daughter with her present. She didn´t want to open it in front of everyone, but he insisted. She unwrapped it and it was a laptop. She kinda flopped it around, showing it to people...didn´t seem too thrilled. Again, I´m not sure if this is the girl or the dad...but I think it was a combination of both. Not your typical gift of a BMW SUV or what they show on tv. But it was still kind of a big deal.

We had a toast and then a nice dinner. I tried to sneak away, but got to sharing some cervezas with one of the cousins outside, dancing on the patio. It turned out to be a lot of fun. It definitely demonstrated to me that teenagers are awkward no matter what part of the world you are in, the dance floor and dinner etiquette definitely showed that. She looked beautiful, though, and it was really cool to be a part of this experience.

When I came back from the States, I brought a bunch of t-shirts that my Aunt Sharon donated for my little rascals. Here are some of the pictures I promised. Thank you so much, Aunt Sheshie! The kids love them and they were really excited to get ¨EHigh Eschool Musical¨ wear!

My buddy Andy. He won second place in the Michael Jackson dance-off the night before.

La Estefany. One of my favorite girls. She is so cool. Her and Delia always come over to my house to play. The girls are just starting to get ¨novios¨ so they have been busy writing and passing secret notes back and forth to each other´s brothers. It´s hilarious. And EVERYONE knows who they are writing to, so it´s not like a huge secret anymore. Takes me back to my days when I´d stick in a note in a guy´s locker and wait for him to circle yes or no. They do that here too..Indica: Si o No.

My niñas before playing in their first basketball game. They are in the county tournament. We won 20-6 on Friday! I told them it was because I was wearing my lucky Superman calzones...

Heaven forbid there be a tournament or ocasion without a parade. I marched along the road...very awkward because we just did a vuelta. I think a total of 10 people saw us marching around. At least I got to snack on some mango (30 cents!!)

The famous Iglesia of Los Encuentros. This is the last stop before leaving the cantón of Yantzaza.

It has started.

Carnaval season has arrived. Which means the random corners crowded with 8-13 year-old-boys, looking as suspicious as Tom and Jerry, are now popping up all over Yantzaza. Carnaval is not until February 14-17 but that doesn´t stop the youth from dousing every person walking down the street with water balloons. Especially hitting targets well known or easily visible (me meeting BOTH of those requirements...)

I was walking with a group of school girls the other day and there were about 10 boys huddled behind a pile of bricks at a construction site. I thought, how cute, they are waiting for their little novias! And then BAM! About 10 water balloons came shooting at us. Kind of reminds me of my American Girl Doll days, in the book about Molly and she wore a Hawaiian grass skirt to a Halloween party and her brother and friends soaked her with a hose. Her grass skirt ran green all over her legs....poor Molly. Poor niñas from Paulína Solís!

That´s ok. We´ll get those Rumiñauhui boys back soon (the all-boys school).

Last week my friend Diego, a dentist who lives next door, invited his other doctor friends over for dinner. He invited me and Grigs, as well. Diego and the other doctors are in their rural year here in Zamora Chinchipe. After graduating from medical school, every doctor has to serve a rural year in ¨the campo¨. These doctors are all from Cuenca (or Loja) so this is really out in the boonies for them. It was fascinating to listen to them talk about Yantzaza and Guaysimi, very much like how us volunteers talk about where we are living. What´s funnier is how much they gripe about things, and this is their own country! They should be used to the water and power outages, and the way things ¨run¨ down here. It´s kind of like a Peace Corps for Ecuadorians.

Went to Vilcabamba this weekend to hang out and watch some football. We were lucky to watch the Jets-Colts game and got half of the Saints-Vikings game when there was a lightning storm that knocked out the satellite. Looks like a good Super Bowl!

Gotta get back to super soaking...

Random moments throughout the past couple of week have given me reason to just shake my head and mumble Oh Ecuador...

1) I went running the other day, past a construction site. Now that a lot of families from Spain are coming back, houses and businesses are springing up like crazy all over Yantzaza. On the second floor of a house someone was building were a group of construction workers, I didn´t really pay too much attention to them. But then as I looked up, one guy just strips down to his tighty whities! Like wasn´t trying to hide it at all! And then he saw me, so I tried to run away faster...I looked back and he started waving at me, like trying to get me to come back! I was like No gracias, señor! Just because I saw you in your drawers doesn´t mean I want to strike up a conversation with you.

2) Grr. My bed bugs have come back. I really missed not having them in the US. It was so nice to sleep through the night without scratching. Ay dios. But this time they have come back and BAD. I have one on my buttock and I can´t sit down! My little cohorts in crime, Delia and Estefany, say they are these bugs called Tepas or something and they bite and leave giant bites. After 7 times of biting you they never bite you again. I have no idea if this is true but they said it with such authority I figured why not trust the 10 year olds? So we spent a good half hour last night trying to soak my bite in hot water and salt...it was hilarious. Hopefully it´ll pop soon....

3) Running in the rain. It never gets old. And I love the smell of the rain on the hot asphalt. This was and always is a great moment.

Everything else has been super tranquilo, have a great weekend!

Happy 2010 everyone! I think this is going to be a great year and I am so excited to get things started. My finish date with Peace Corps is in August of this year, and it is sort of looking like I will be returning to the US...but I am still not sure. Anyway, knowing that the end is somewhat near, I have a lot I want to get done before I leave Ecuador- Mi País.

Christmas at home was amazing. I had so much fun! It was great seeing everyone, the cold was the only thing I didn´t enjoy. But it´s definitely hot down here, so it feels great to be back.

After I landed in Quito at midnight on the 30th, I went directly to the bus station to try and catch a bus to the beach. Sidenote: I switched seats with this one man so he could be with his wife, not realizing that her seat was THE LAST SEAT on the plane next to two very hefty girls...so I was hoping that Karma would be on my side and I could have an easy travel to the beach.

Yea right.

I get to the bus terminal and it is FREEZING and the bus never showed up at 3 am so I had to wait until 7 am. Long story short, I finall got a bus without my karma (maybe it will kick in some day...I feel like I´ve been banking up on it the past year and a half). It took FOR EV ER to get to Canoa, the beach town but I finally made it, even making a new friend along the way. And it was totally worth it. All my friends were there, even some PCVs that left and came back to visit, so it was great. We dined on some great fish, drank some wine out of a box, and then proceeded to dance around paper mache dolls on fire (the New Year´s tradition down here). It was great.

We nursed our hangovers on the beach all day Friday and then Chris and I ventured back to Zamora Chinchipe. Efficiency and quick trips are two things I very quickly adjusted to in the US, and realized how much I hate the lack of them here in Ecuador.

Finally getting to my house, like 20 hours later, I was reunited with Tortilla and her four kittens. I really missed her, and the kittens have sprouted up! They are so big! I can´t believe how quickly they grew because now they are walking around, eating food. I swear I feel like a cat lady because my apartment is pretty small and these cats just surround me wherever I walk. I got a glimpse of my future in like 30 years....single, with a bunch of cats and in a third world country. Oh well...I´ll take whatever comes my way!

It has also been great seeing my fellow Yantzazenses (people from Yantzaza). I have been getting really hardy, warm welcomes and people seem genuinely happy to see me! I have been handing out presents to a bunch of people, who all love their American knick knacks and toys. I even brought pictures of snow and they all are like ¨ayyyyyyy!!¨, not believing that I was the one shoveling out the car or up to my shins in snow. It´s hilarious. But retelling all the stories and spending time with everyone has made me appreciate more my trip home and even more so, my return. I had really missed Yantzaza and am so glad to be back. I almost feel a different air about it here. Kinda like when you come back to campus after a summer of being home from college, there is a different feeling, almost as if you are more seasoned, know more of what is going on. I am a ¨junior¨ in the sense that pretty soon I´ll be ¨graduating¨ from Peace Corps. All the more reason for me to make my mark and really do what I came to do in the first place.

Well, being home has been quite the experience. I have eaten so much delicious food (including TWO visits to Chipotle mmmm), seen so many family members (holla to all the aunts and cousins and grandma!), and walked through some REALLY REALLY cold snow(Many asked if I was experiencing culture shock...more shock because of the cold temperatures, not the culture necessarily). But it was all worth the two day travel to humble little Cincinnati, Ohio.

I feel so blessed and thankful for all of my incredibly supportive family members. Thanks to Aunt Sheshie for the awesome clothes you donated to those in my town, they will be so excited to get those cool Disney shirts! My mom bought me a ton of fun little prizes and crafts for my girls; and my parents were nice enough to give me a gift card to Target to get all kinds of cool " American stuff" to give to my friends and family back in Yantzaza.

Seeing Greg and Gracie was a blast, I missed goofing around with them.

The hot showers were INCREDIBLE, the Diet Coke with ice was AMAZING, and the home cooked meals were even better than how I remembered them.

Now I feel energized and ready to get back to Yanzatza to finish up all my projects I have started. I can't WAIT to see my girls and of course my Tortilla and kittens. Also, the hot weather is going to be a very nice change to this cold, dry, snowy season.

I am flying back to Quito and then heading straight to the beach for a New Year's celebration with the other PCVs! Have a great, happy, safe new year! See you in 2010!!

Once again (however it seems like ALWAYS down here), fiestas are in full swing for the holidays. This weekend my barrio, Jesus del Gran Poder, was in fiestas and I was able to witness a full baile and hoochie dancing...TWO DAYS IN A ROW! More on that later...

Yesterday, Grigs and I managed to finaggle (although it wasn´t hard...) Brown Sugar in to taking us to these cock fights the next town over. They were held at this huge arena, meant for cock fighting, which is owned by a Spanish couple. They came here 5 years ago and built this ¨Wal Mart¨ looking facility, with amazing food, a dirt bike race track, ponies, everything. But their real claim to fame is their cock fighting arena. It is a circular arena that goes into the ground, probably 5-6 layers of seating with the cock fighting ring at the bottom of this cone. It was quite amazing and I have never seen anything like it.

For as much traveling as I have done through South America, I have never witnessed a cock fight. But this was probably the best way to `pop my cherry.´

Brown Sugar´s dad used to raise cocks, so he was familiar with the betting system, how to call out bets and pick cocks. In the end, it´s pure luck as to which gallo is going to win. So we got some beers and Grigs was all ready to go. He had saved up some money this week, so he whipped out some crisp bills out of his fanny pack (true ecua style) to place his bet. Brown Sugar knew one of the guys fighting and said his gallos were the best, so Grigs bet $10. Brown Sugar yelled out some names, held up 10 fingers and basically made our bet.

The two roosters were carried down to the center of the arena, red tape on one, green on the other. The tape was holding in needles that help stab the other rooster as the fight goes on. Each fight is about 12 minutes, and it is possible for a tie, where neither one goes down. They spit liquor on the roosters to get them all riled up and then a man with a whistle starts the fight. This guy with the whistle reminded me a lot of the wrestling judges back in the day when my brother used to wrestle chunky middle schoolers on stinky, ringworm infested mats. But this is Ecuador, so it was a LOT more hygienic...

Grigs lost the first fight.

But then we bet on the next rooster, which was white (like us) so we thought he might have a chance. And he won! It was very exhilarating. There were about 20-30 minutes in between each fight, because they have to weigh and measure them so they are equal.

At times it was kind of sad because these roosters are just pecking the shit out of each other, all for sport. The drunken cheers, money exchanged, cigarettes hanging loosely out of mouths...I kinda felt like I was in Snatch, but I was with Ecuas and not Pikeys.

We stayed until about 9 pm (after I won $5 off of Grigs!) and then we headed back because I needed to dance at my barrio´s baile! It was a lot of fun because I knew so many more people in comparison to last year. At 11 pm, no one had started dancing. The soccer court was full of people, at least 300, and not a soul was dancing. So I got up and danced with the neighborhood´s crazy lady...still no one danced. Oh well, after the hoochie girls came on to sing in their thigh high skirts and overdone makeup, people started to shake their groove thing.

They even did a fireworks show, where they set fireworks off of a giant bamboo tower; sparks fly WAY too close, but what do you expect from a country with no fire codes?! Good fiestas, in my book.

In other news, I´m HOME THIS WEEK!! I might do a Peace Corrie America post, but if not, have an extremely Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah and Happy New Year!!

I might have mentioned a few entries ago that I was helping a young aspiring Yantzazense how to speak English so that he can continue with his dreams of being the next Daddy Yankee. Well, last night was his first concert.

Well I was told that is started at 4 pm yesterday. Being Ecuador, I showed up early at 4:15 and they were still putting together the stage...I was like wow this is SUPER late...even for Ecuador! Marco (the rapero) told me to come back at 5:30....came back then and it wasn´t ready. Went home to take a shower....still wasn´t playing. Then I went and did some rounds around the neighborhood, come back at 8:30 and they are playing. With 6 people in the audience. Marco was so excited to see me though, that he have me a shout out! He was like I´d like to thank my gringa friend for coming, you are great blah blah blah. He kept throwing around ¨baby girl¨, one of the phrases he picked up from 50 cent, it was great entertainment. It was sad though because he kept counting the number of people in the audience...it stayed the same 6 people, but he rapped on like it wasn´t a big deal. I was really happy for him though, that he didn´t seem to care about how little people showed up, he was up there doing his thang and that´s all he cared about. AY dios.

On another note, this week I had a tech exchange with a girl from my group, Kawshy. She lives near Ambato, which is in the north, very cold. She came down to help teach me and my girls how to make piggy banks out of recycled items. It was a lot of fun and the girls really loved her. Kawshy is from California, originally from Sri Lanka, so actually looks Ecuadorian. However they knew she wasn´t from here when she started speaking Spanish (didn´t have the accent...) It was hilarious though, people kept asking if she was my sister....one little boy asked if she was my daughter! I was like, do we even look REMOTELY alike??? Oh Ecuadorians...

Tortilla and the kittens are good by the way. They opened their eyes a few days ago and are starting to learn how to play.

But the best news so far: I COME HOME IN 11 DAYS!!! I will be home for Christmas, I am so excited to see everyone, to see my family, sleep in a clean bed withouth roosters crowing, drink DIET COKE WITH ICE CUBES, drink out of water fountains, hot showers, CHIPOTLE, possbily snow???, but best of all it will be great to see everyone!

Here are some pictures of Tortilla and her four little gatitos.

She had the kittens behind my gas tank, next to the fridge where I think some heat was radiating. This picture is from the morning after...but its amazing how big the kittens got in one day. They look bigger already!

Here are the boys on our jungle trip this weekend. We climbed up this waterfall and bathed in the frigid selva water.

Crazy man Chris showing off his machete skills.

Me and one of my estudiantes at the fiestas.

This week were the fiestas for the school that I work at, Paulina Solís. It was the 25th anniversary of it´s opening. Thursday night there was a parade around town, which I participated in by screaming VIVA LA PAULINA SOLÍS the whole time. Girls made torches to carry candles around, some even used their flowers we made in class a few weeks ago! It was a blast to be a part of this special time for the school, especially marching around with the girls.

Two of my girls with their ¨antorchas¨, ready to march in the parade.

GRRR! This internet is taking FOR-EV-ER to load these pictures!! Basically, the parade was a lot of fun.

Then this weekend me and a couple of other volunteers that came down to visit, went to Guaysimi to visit Chris. We went on this jungle hike, up to a couple of waterfalls, climbed in some trees, ate some freshly caught fish. It was a great day!

Yesterday when I got back to my house, my Tortilla was super brava and very antsy. Then at like 9 pm, she starts screeching and I see a little tail pop out of her behind!! She started to give birth on my bed!! I quickly ran her to this box I set up with old t-shirts. And she gave birth! It was incredible to see. I´ve never seen anything like it. Then once one popped it, she grabbed it by its neck and jumped behind the gas tank for my stove, where she had pulled some old posters together to create a little nest. Then she birthed 3 more kittens! Two are white and two are grey and white. Adorable little rats right now...but people are already calling dibs on the gringo kitties...good thing! I am so proud of Tortilla!

Ay dios mio.

My cat got knocked up. I know, I know...how can a little kitty get pregnant so early? But apparently her cattin´ around was for real and those late night escapades to the adobe roof proved to be dangerous.

I told her to be careful...but no...didn´t listen to me.

I got back from Cuenca and noticed that her stomach was swollen. I thought that maybe the girls taking care of her had just given her one too many eggs, but the swelling hasn´t gone down. And she´s only getting bigger. Delia, my neighbor, thought she ate a rat. Too bad it was HER cat that impregnated mine!

Not much other news. Just Tortilla is a little hoochie.

Oh there is some news with the electricity. Apparently there isn´t enough water for the hydroelectric plants and they are trying to conserve energy. So they are shutting down entire grids at planned moments. This week we haven´t had electricity in the morning and then from 7 to 8 pm at night. It´s weird knowing when you´re NOT going to have electricity. But it helps make things easier. So we´ve been making do by constructing our major puzzle by candlelight (me and my neighbors). It´s like we are pioneers...but Shuar....or something like that.

This has been a trying week, and I have never realized the power of family and community until now.

As most of you probably know, I have been ¨dating¨ an Ecua, Panelita (aka Little Brown Sugar), off and on for the past eight months or so. His father was diagnosed with liver cancer a mere two months ago and then Tuesday night, his father passed away. I had known he had been battling this and Panelita was by his side the whole time. Going to other cities to buy medicines that might help him, taking him to doctors appointments in Loja... Panela was really stepping up to the plate to help his father.

There are seven kids in the family, and Panela is the only male here in the country, the rest are in Spain. Therefore, Panela had to basically take care of everything. His one sister Silvia came back from Spain and was helping out too. It was bizarre because his mother was helping but was definitely in the background, demonstrating the machismo culture that is still strong here.

Tuesday night he called me to tell me that they took him to the hospital, that he was having trouble breathing. And then later that night he passed away. I never thought this would really affect me, but I have been almost haunted by the funeral events.

I attended everything, because not only am I his girlfriend, but I am very good friends with the family, especially his neice Belén who I give classes to in the school.

So that next day, they did the traditional viewing, however it was at their house. They had taken down the door to his room and had put his coffin along with the plastic flower arrangements and fans, to keep the body from decomposing. The heat was unbearable, and normally they have a viewing for three days but had to bury him the next day because it wouldn´t withstand the heat. With the viewing, they set up tents in front of the house and people come to just sit and watch the coffin. I think the idea is to be with the family and comemorate the dead. I went and stayed four hours, just sitting there. It was pretty creepy because the body was just about 10 feet away from me. Belén asked me if I wanted to see the body, as people were arriving, opening the casket and looking inside, and then moving on. I politely declined.

I got to know his dad, he was a surly fellow and had his ¨vices¨ as you could say. Apparently he was a heavy drinker and gambled a lot, especially on roosters which he raised for cock fights. But he was always polite to me, slightly hitting on me everytime I saw him....like father like son.

So after sitting with the family Wednesday night, Thursday they had the mass and burial. I rushed to the mass after giving classes, which was said without any microphones since there wasn´t any electricity. Once it was over, everyone marched with the body to the mosoleum in Yantzaza. Very few are buried in the ground, most are placed in these brick walls they construct. Belén was so distraught, I carried her up the hill. I felt so helpless, I wanted to do something but there was nothing I could do. The whole family was a wreck.

We got to the spot where they were going to put him, and everyone gave one last look. There were tears everywhere; it was really, really difficult for me to be there. I have only been to one funeral, of my grandfather, and this was just as hard if not harder for me to witness. It was harder in the sense that this cancer had gotten to him so quickly, I think many were surprised at what had just happened. Also what really hurt me, was that they tried so hard to keep him alive, only for him to die a mere two months later. They had given him so many remedies, even snake soup which one señora had said cured cancer.

The heat was so great, many people were huddling under what little shade was there. One thing that was mildly amusing, however, was amongst all this grief, the Bon Ice man managed to sneak up and sell his popsicles. Bon Ice are these ice pops sold for 10 cents and you see a Bon Ice man everywhere, in these silly blue jumpsuits. But they had followed the funeral procession and proceeded to sell popsicles at the burial! I was like this is unbelievable.

After the burial, they invited me back to their house for lunch. When someone dies, people give bread and rice to the grieving family. They had received so much food, and had hired a señora to cook for them that day. But there was definitely a lighter air to the house when we got back. It was still really sad and depressing, but in a way I think all were relieved. Relieved that these 36 hours had come and gone, relieved that the dad is no longer suffering and is at peace. But the best part was that we had not even been home two hours, and they were giving away the roosters his dad raised for the cock fights. Those things were SO annoying, constantly crowing and making whole lotta racket. A couple people had come to the house and were taking the roosters away in rice sacks and some in the special cases he used to carry them. Some of the sisters were mad that they weren´t selling them, but Panela said that his dad asked they give them away. Papi wasn´t even buried three hours and they were already giving away the roosters.

I was incredibly exhausted after all that had happened. It was just so much for me to handle, and most of the time I had no idea what to do or how I could help. But in the end I think just being there really helped.

Panela and I are a lot closer now. We spent the day together, went to a motorbike race in Zamora and then the farm animal competition, because the province is in fiestas (56 years of provincialization). But yesterday we were driving around and he just stopped the car and started crying. I realized how much I love this community and its people and in a way, don´t know how I am going to leave them.

It was an experience I would never wish on anyone, and one that I am definitely going to remember for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for the friendships I have, both here and in the US, and most of all for my family that is constantly supporting me.

Halloween was great this year! A bunch of us traveled up to Cuenca to experience a crazy night of costumes and well....craziness.

It was a decent turn-out. We got screwed by the original hotel that was going to host us. They canceled on us last minute, and later we found out they stole our idea of a Halloween party and ended up hosting their own party to the public. Some were nervous about trampsing around Cuenca in our costumes, but it turned out to be a lot of fun and luckily Cuenca is a big enough city some people were dressed up too.

It was great seeing everyone and Cuenca is a great city. This was my first time there (it´s a 5-hour trip from Loja). Definitely want to make my way back. Got to see a Panama Hat factory, which Panama hats are originally FROM Ecuador. A bunch of churches as well; there are 52 churches, one for every Sunday of the year. Also got to see the Jefferson Perez statue. He is Ecuador´s claim to fame, their only Olympic athlete, won the gold medal in ´96 I believe, for speed walking...of all things. But the statue is actually really poorly made...poor guy did all this for his country and they made a really shitty memorial of him.

Here are some pictures!

Here we are as Clan MacGregor, a popular whisky brand here. It´s me, Grigs, Chris and Andy who lives in Vilcabamba. We were quite the sight walking around. I was the wench of the group.

Me and Alea, who is from my group. She lives in the province of Manabi, so she dressed up a a Manabita, wearing their traditional dress and a big flower in her hair.

Day of the Dead breads. They make these for the 2nd of November, representing little people. I´m not sure why they make them little people, but they eat them this time of year. I got gifted some yesterday, quite yummy! The tradition is that on the Day of the Dead, everyone goes to the cemetary to visit family members. They paint the tombs over and clean up the cemetaries.

Shakira has hit Yantzaza and has hit it hard. We are now in She Wolf mode.

I realize that this ridiculously addicting song has probably been in the States for a while now, but us down in the jungle are feeling that She Wolf in the armario and letting it out so it can breathe (check out the song if you don´t know what I´m talking about).

Grigs got back last weekend from Quito, where he got a taste of the real world and reality and was able to snatch up the new Shakira CD. I totally underestimated this kid´s ¨great obsession¨ for Shakira. I mean, I´m a great fan...but whoa! Grigs could definitely compete on a MTV quiz show. ANYWAY, he brings this little cd to my attention and it just BLEW ME AWAY! Ha. It´s been a while since I´ve been introduced to new beats...but it´s amazing the ripple effect it has had.

So while we were listening to the new cd in my house, my nosy but adorable little neighbor, Delia, and her friend Stefany, got a hold of it and we just jammed out. They come over two days later, Grigs happened to be there as well, and they had bought the Shakira DVD so we were experiencing the video too! It was a horrible bootleg but great to see the moves Shakira makes, which we quickly imitated, all in hopes of someday being a quarter as sexy as Shakira is.

Side note: Grigs was over in Yantzaza with his guitar, helping me out with a rising rap star. This guy Marco found me on the street and wanted me to help him out with his English, as he is a rapper/reggeaton artist. Normally I say no, because I HATE teaching English, but his story was pretty good and I figured he might have had a good start with English since he knows all the songs by 50 Cent and Eminem. Well, he´s really bad. But Grigs came to jam out and they had a little freestyle session in my apartment which was AWESOME! He also tried to play for lunch money in the park, but people didn´t seem convinced that two gringoes needed lunch money...

So after numerous dance sessions in the cave of Jesús del Gran Poder that is my apartment, I decided to bust out Loba for the girls at my school. On Fridays, I am doing dance and aerobics classes. Friday was my first day, I was kinda nervous but it was so much fun! I was EXHAUSTED after dancing and yelling for 4 hours....it was a great workout. But they all got movin and groovin to Shakira, as well as Daddy Yankee. I need to stock up on more reggaeton...apparently I am missing out on some clutch songs, but I was fairly proud of my collection so far. I am hoping to choreograph a dance, preferrably to She Wolf, for the fiestas of the school in November. Cross your fingers!

And then to top off my She Wolf week, I danced my pompis off to it while at a karaoke with my best friend Sindy.

As Grigs likes to say, we were accomplishing goals 2 & 3 this week (Peace Corps goals of bringing US culture to locals and local culture to the US).

Have a very Happy Halloween everyone! We are off to Cuenca to celebrate, so tune in next week.

Finally the teacher strike is over and things are getting back to normal. Classes started this week and today was my first day back at Paulina Solis. I was honestly a little nervous, worried I would have ¨lost my touch¨ so to speak as I haven´t given a charla in a while. But as soon as I entered that classroom, it was game time and I was ready to rock and Rizz-oll.

I decided to show some Ecuadorian pride and wore my yellow Ecuadorian soccer jersey to school (there´s a game tonight). As soon as I walked in, all the teachers started hooting and hollering it was so funny. They were all like look at La Cori, she´s Ecuadorian now! Then this one teacher was like, heck she´s been ecuadorian for a while now, she even has a boyfriend! I nervously giggled and shook my head, trying to change the subject. Literally I was saved by the bell (more like tornado siren) and they all scurried off to stand with their classes during ¨morning exercises¨(more like those exercises and calenstetics that really, really old guy does I can´t remember his name...he makes juicers now? anyone? anyone? I know my dad will know who I am talking about).

So I see the Directora, the firey little pitbull of woman, and she barks at me to go to 4th grade B because the teacher´s mother-in-law died so I was going to be ¨subbing today.¨ Are you serious? Since when does being a Peace Corps volunteer qualify me to teach a classroom? Oh wait...that hasn´t stopped them from thinking I know everything before...

I mean, it´s not like it hasn´t happened before but I was so stoked to see all my girls again, and I had a fun lesson planned for today, as well. Plus, the girls from 4th grade don´t know me because I didn´t teach them last year. As all the girls filed up to their classrooms, they all hugged me with their little bejewled arms and white ponytail holders whacking my face. It was really cool because practically every single girl knew me and called out my name.

I get up the stairs and walk into the room. These girls are between 8 and 9-years-old so they aren´t too malcriadas yet. I did my charla, which I think was a little over their heads, and then I was like shit--it´s only 8:45 and I have to occupy them until 1 pm. So we played my token games, which luckily none of them knew so they were all new. And then thank god it was recess so that killed about an hour. In between we drew pictures, I gave out A LOT of stickers, talked about modern physics and why Obama should/should not have won the Nobel Peace Prize. Syke. I wondered what that conversation might be like, considering all their books are covered with Disney Princesses and Winnie the Pooh.

I did do multiplication with them, taught them how to multiply by 11...that was an accomplishment! No way was I going to touch division, that´s just too hard. Then we went on to calligraphy, and I guess they really love writing in cursive, so I gave them a bunch of words to write out like piedra (practice ¨p¨), Lola (practice ¨l¨), etc. As for homework, this was a real curve ball because I didn´t think they were expecting it, I told them to draw a picture with the following five things: a princess, castle, frog, crown, and horse. And apparently I am grading them on that tomorrow. HA!

So that was my first day back to school. The directora wants me to ¨teach¨ them tomorrow...so I´m thinking field trip to the pool. We shall see.

Tonight Ecuador plays Chile, this is our last shot at World Cup qualification. Cross your fingers, it´s supposed to be a good/tough game. Hope all goes well in Santiago!

Well it has been quite the exciting 24 hours here in my neck of the selva. Yesterday, Grigs and I ventured out with my Zamora crew to check out some medicinal plants at Acibal´s finca. Acibal works with my friend Rumi in the Intercultural Health department, where I spend most of my time while in Zamora. Acibal lives in a little shuar village, El Kiim, which is about an hour from Yantzaza. It is up in the campo, we had to cross a wooden bridge to get to the other side of the river and up a giant amount of stairs to get on top of this mountain. It was absolutely gorgeous and really fun walking around checking out his finca, or farm.

We were looking for medicinal plants and taking pictures so we can compose a book of recipes for medicinal use. Most of the plants are familiar and used by the Shuar. I had no idea how to differentiate what from what, but it was really cool seeing all the plants and their fruits, as well. I also had no idea there were so many different varieties of bananas! Grigs and I were saying that in the US we think all bananas are made with a Chiquita sticker, but we saw at least 4 different types yesterday (honestly, they all looked the same to me...).

It was a great day, we had lunch at Acibal´s house, and it was really cool to see this Shuar village. It was a lot more developed then other Shuar villages I´ve seen, too, a lot more production and hard work in the town.

As we were leaving and entering cell phone service, we had received about 7 messages from Peace Corps. They were looking for us because they were performing an ¨emergency evacuation¨ drill. We had to leave immediately from our sites and meet at a hotel in Loja, where we are supposed to meet in case of an emergency evacuation. I was kinda freaking out because I had more stuff to do, but I was the last to arrive, after they had called everyone in my town because I was out of cell phone range. They were all like Corrie! Cuerpo de Paz called you...you need to leave!!! Ay dios. But my whole cluster got to spend a nice night in a hotel, with a great dinner and awesome breakfast. And I got a hot shower!!

Well here are some pictures from the finca:

View from El Kiim (pronounced Kim). It´s a Shuar community of about 17 families, located in the cantón of Yacuambi.

Rumi and Acibal before going to the finca. (Acibal is so cute!!! I love the Shuar! The guys were all joking that I was getting to know my future finca...)

Nelson, another one of the health team. His bandana says Arutam, which means God in Shuar. They refer to the waterfalls here as Arutam, since they hold so much power and are considered very holy in Shuar culture.

Nelson showing Grigs how to plant yucca...the Shuar way. Apparently it is different than the ¨mestizo way¨ which involves putting in the roots differently. It was really interesting because they tilled the ground a little, stuck the shoots in the ground, and YA! They were ready to grow. The ground is SO fertile here.

Grigs taught Rumi and Nelson how to arm wrestle. Not sure why they needed to arm wrestle, but Grigs was proud of himself for teaching THEM something...

Nelson, Grigs, Acibal and me. It was great day in the campo, got to eat some caña on the way back, too. Oh and I dyed my hair, if you hadn´t noticed. I´m looking a little shvitzy but it´s a new look. Not sure if I like it, but I think it´s growing on me. I thought if I maybe went darker, people wouldn´t notice me as much, but it hasn´t worked as well as I thought it would...Let me know what you think!

Things are (sort of) settling down with the strikes of the teachers and indigenous. Yesterday the indigenous met with President Correa, for the first time they noted, to iniciate talks. Nothing has been resolved yet, of course, but they are starting to clear up the road blocks and us volunteers are no longer under house arrest anymore.

Anyway, carrying on, yesterday was a health fair in Zamora, and I had the honor of cooking for it! The nutritionist at the Ministry of Health had to go to Quito, so she had me and the other two guys get everything together (but I was more or in less encargada of it all).

So I woke up at 5:30 am to start cooking. Since I was doing it, and I´m not all that friendly with cooking Ecuadorian cuisine, we made a pasta salad (my favorite), a bean salad and a fruit salad (typical). It was a lot of fun, I was pretty stressed out just because I didn´t want to screw anything up.

But the pasta salad turned out alright, my friend Rumi said my onions were too grueso or too big. Hater. But the bean salad turned out great! It was beans with green peppers, onions and steamed broccoli. The majority of people that came were students from the colegio (they have classes in Zamora) so they got to hear our shpeals on iron and eating lots of fruit and vegetables. I really had to push the pasta and bean salads, they only wanted the fruit. Some kids gave me some really smart answers as to why they didn´t want them....malcriados!

Anywy, here´s a couple pics (sorry, I´d like to put up more but this internet is slower than an old Ecuadorian woman walking...GRRR)!

Fruit salad with yogurt

Luis giving a charla to the anxious and hungry youth. Hold your caballos! You need to hear about the health benefits first!!!

After an incredible trip to Peru, I was confronted with reality as I stepped off the frigid plane into sticky, humid Ecuadorian air. Trust me, it was something I was definitely looking forward to, as I found that I had missed ¨Mi País¨ and was ready to get back to work.

However, that has become almost impossible as practically the whole country is on strike!

Before I left, all teachers had gone on strike, protesting their rights and pay among other things. It seemed pretty peaceful and something that was likely to blow over. As of October 1, the strike is still on, indefinitely, and the students have gone a month without classes. So I haven´t been able to start any of my lesson plans with the students, and it doesn´t look likely for a while still. Chris, who´s work totally relies on schools, has managed to help 2 people paint their houses and is accumlating other paint jobs as we speak.

Yesterday I heard that the teachers have until October 14th to straighten things out or they are going to fire everyone and hire new teachers.(My neighbor said they will be on strike until January....that I highly doubt). How they are going to fire A WHOLE COUNTRY of teachers and find new ones, I have no idea. Today the teachers were parading around Yantzaza, banging pots and pans, yelling in protest. I am still not totally clear as to what they are fighting for, but they even have their students involved. On Tuesday I was in Zamora and high school students were throwing rocks at the police barracade that was in the street. For a country that is not too keen with their education, they are sure passionate about it.

In addition to the teachers, the Indigenous are also protesting, what is mining and water laws. President Correa has agreed to talk to them, but things have gotten kind of violent with them, too. So I am just staying put in Yantzaza for a little bit.

It´s amazing to me how passionate people get here about their rights. For the most part they seem pretty passive and easy-going, not necessarily too abreast of the issues or their own rights. But as soon as some movers and shakers start talking, they get the whole country in a frenzy. It´s interesting to see these strikes and see how angry and upset people are getting. Someone told me that with these strikes, he smells a revolution. I sure hope he´s wrong.

Hola a todos! I am in Cuzco, Peru right now, with my Dad. So far we have had an AMAZING trip. Spending a day in Lima, we got to tour the old cathedrals and coastal lookout. Then we jet off in an hour-long plane ride to Cuzco, where we have spent 2-3 days touring the old Incan ruins and historic city. Last night we got back from a day and a half at Machu Picchu. We had to take a four hour train through beautiful Peruvian countryside, ending up at the tourist town of Aguas Calientes where we got to explore the ruins of Machu Picchu. Dad was nice enough to do this trip ¨to the nines¨ so I´ve had star treatment everywhere we´ve gone--from amazing food to luxorious beds. Definitely a change from my little Yantzaza!

I am posting pictures, that more describes what we have done...but nothing compares to seeing what it is like in real person!

Downtown Lima. This is the center of town, with the historic fountain and yellow government buildings. Apparently, at Peru´s Indenpendence Day, they put Pisco, the native brandy drink, in the fountain and it runs like that all day! Salud!

Lover´s Park on the coast. Awesome statue that they put up about 10 years ago. They said it was a lovers hangout and then decided to make it official with the statue and mosaic benches with romantic quotes all over the park. I think it might have been better ´escondido´...but that´s just me.

Dad taking a shot of the ceramic figures at a museum in Lima. A rich land owner started a collection of these, which were found in Incan tombs throughout the country. They all represent something different, from animals to diseases, to farming, to erotic ceramics which we saw in the other room. As Dad liked to say, Those Incans were a Randy bunch!

Update: Due to an EXTREMELY unfortunate occurance, my photos from Machu Picchu and Cuzco were erased. Lo siento, but I won´t be able to post any of those pictures. At least I have really great memories and thanks to my Dad for taking me and being part of it.

Well the date has finally arrived, and FODI is no longer the FODI I met a mere year ago. As some of you may know, the organization I worked with in Zumbi, the child care project, has now ended thanks to the new municipal administration. Apparently, that is how politics are here; when one guy leaves, all of his current team leaves with him too. For me, this is has been a very surprising and confusing process. I can understand changing some of the higher up positions, however firing ALL mid-to low-level positions does not make much sense to me. With FODI, the organization and process of everything is very complex. There is a TON of paperwork, not to mention the years of relationships these people have built with the communities, now the new group of FODI has to start from square one.

Everyone did not seemed surprised to know that they were all losing their jobs (not a single person was asked to come back). However, upon this notice none seemed to pressed to find other jobs, either. Most of the personnel are going to stay at home, finish their degrees, or find other avenues within Zumbi. Yeni, the director, did apply for the same position but in Guaysimi, where Chris lives, however was not able to accept it because the new mayor of Zumbi would not let her leave a WEEK EARLY!....needless to say, I think you know how my feelings are towards the new Zumbi administration...

However, despite the tristeza they all found it within themselves to celebrate the end of a great career with the community members they have grown to love. Monday night we trekked up to Natenza, a small community about an hour away, and danced until the wee hours in the centro. It was funny because there were about 15 people in the playroom of this centro, and we were dancing so hard, the CD player kept skipping. If you stopped and listened, you could hear the steady beat of everyone´s feet pounding on the wooden slats that is the floor. It was great seeing everyone celebrate their past years, sad at the same time, too.

Last night was their last official day, so I joined them as they finished their last reports, scrambling to print out pages and pages of statistics and numbers on god knows what. Then the centro in Zumbi invited us for ´the last supper´ of chicken soup. The president, Julia, gave me my bowl and said with great pride, ´es criollo´, which means it´s criollo chicken. It´s a different type of chicken, I´m not too fond of it, but apparently it´s a big deal when they serve you criollo, mostly because it´s more expensive.

Overall, this was a blast to spend the past year with these people. I will never forget them nor what I have learned from them. I am definitely going to miss going into the campo and visiting families, just talking to the moms and learning about Ecuadorian life. Now, it is time for me to pursue other avenues. I am planning on working more with the school and more in Zamora. With wet eyes, it was hard saying goodbye to everyone.

But life must go on.

On an upnote, I leave for Peru tomorrow! My Dad and I are going down to Lima and Cuzco to explore Machu Pichu! Can´t wait! Get excited for some AMAZING pictures!!!

I´ve noticed that throughout the past year, my entries have gotten to be less frequent. Sorry if this is somewhat boring for some of you, but lately things have been pretty normal, so the weird stories are just everyday life now. Also, I want to clear something up. I realize that the majority of my entries talk about me going out, partying, drinking, etc. However, I want to stress that this is NOT that frequent. There are more parties than ever in the US, but they are completely social and they don´t get out of hand. This is a very ¨fiesta-oriented¨ culture, and that´s where most of my ¨culture watching¨ happens. It´s where I learn the most about people and hence why I write so much about them. I apologize if I offended anyone or caused any unnecessary worry...this is not something that should cause grief.

Anyway, on that note. I have some pictures. They are a random bunch, but better than nothin´ right?

Here Chris and I are giving a charla in Vilcabamba on Swine Flu. I am SO SICK OF SWINE FLU....but apparently they can´t get enough info on it down here. Which is good I guess. We are demonstrating how easily germs can be spread, if you are on a bus, for example. Chris ¨sneezed¨ then threw the balloons at everyone, representing the germs that can get ya.

Brown Sugar and his neice Bélen. I teach her classes at the school, one of my favorite girls. She also helps out with the Tortilla every now and then.

La Tortilla...yapping at me before I left for work. She´s a chatter box!

Last night was the FODI graduation for 4 girls that have ¨grown up¨ and now have to go to ¨Kinder¨. They all dressed in the blue dresses and then draped the cloak and red hat....each girl got to wear it. It was really cute. The cape and hat is typical graduation wear here--from kinder to medical school all wear the capes.

Here are Grigs and I at the graduation. It would be TOTALLY framable if it weren´t for my killer sweaty pits, but hey...it was hot. Eh...it´s nothing a little photoshop can´t handle.

Me with the lovely educators of San Pablo. In addition to the graduation, it was also like a despedida, or farewell party. All of the FODI workers did not get their contracts renewed, so they are all done September 15. They had a little baile for them to celebrate their work. It was ended by a heartbreaking speech by the community president. It´s really sad to watch all these people go, considering how much they have done for these communities. This was an amazing organization, aside from some flaws, I would totally want to work with them again. We shall see how it goes with the new Mayor...talk is that he might not even continue FODI, but I´m not counting on anything at this point. Oh, and the lady to my left, Doña Rosa, is my Avon lady....

Well that´s about it. I´ll be missing most of the farewell parties because next week I have to go to Cayambe up near Quito for our Mid-Service conference. It will be great to see everyone from my Omnibus again...I´m anxious to see how everyone is holding up!

Ahh the Colombians...the black (literally) sheep of Ecuador. They are loved yet feared and loathed at the same time (sound like a minority population in the US?)

Yantzaza´s Colombian population, however, is probably the biggest in the area. With the allure of mining in Zamora Chinchipe, and a large number of foreign companies setting up shop in this little nook of Ecuador, a bunch of Colombians have come to live here. They mostly stay for a week or so, leave for the mines for a month, and then come back to rest up for a week before leaving again.

There are a lot of Colombians in my neighborhood, so I´ve gotten to know some of them. Two dashing young lads happen to live in the apartment above me. Duber and Diner, no joke....they are cousins, are really cool little Colombians that have been here about 3 years. After hanging out on the front bench the last few days, they invited me for Duber´s birthday celebration. I was a little nervous because they said they were going to the Billars, which is the Colombian Billard hall hangout.

Now, I have no beef with the Colombians...they have all been really nice to me. Here, people are just really skeptical of their actions, whether or not they are dangerous, etc. Colombia is a lot more dangerous than the comparative comatose Ecuador, but that doesn´t always mean the country breeds bad people. Ecuadorians tend to give a second look when the two minority groups of the town are hanging out together, especially because we are both so noticable.

So I get a little dolled up and we walk, the three of us, down to the pool hall. I was nervous because I didn´t want a lot of people saying stuff about me...like oh the gringa is with the colombians, etc. We reached the swinging doors, and I coyly stepped in, wondering what these dark faces were going to think about the whitest face in Yantzaza stepping onto their turf. No one said anything, it was like those movies where you hear background music, one sole pool ball hitting the table, and everyone just looking up at the one foreign object that entered the door. I was like AY DIOS, and my stomach did 10 flips. Duber and Diner were leading me in with big smiles, telling me it´s ok...I guess they could tell I was nervous. And then this girl Lydia came over and started talking to me, the owner of the bar. She was really cool and I was able to whip out my ¨Cori¨ Spanish personality (as most say I act differently in Spanish...). She was super cool and chatted me up.

Felt a little looser as some came over and shook my hand, wanting to get to know me. Duber and Diner taught me how to play their pool (shooting the number 7-15 in order). But it was funny because as we were playing Diner turns to me and is like, wow look at this, this is the ¨extranjero bar¨ or bar for foreigners. Once he said that I chuckled to myself and thought, wow he´s really right. In a sense, I felt a lot more comfortable because we were all away from our homelands, here in Ecuador on a mission.

As the night went on, more Colombianos trickled in and out. It was the first time in a while I have felt really out of my element. I feel more and more local everyday, yet this time I had to stretch myself again, just like I would have a year ago. But I was glad for this experience, another wake up call for me, and another way for me to appreciate how integrated I have become.

I am now accepted into the Colombian way; just add that one to the list...

Yesterday I had such a good day. It was my first real day back at work since being on vacation, and I have been getting antsy lately, so I was really excited to do something constructive. I´ve also been a little down about work, since the whole entire staff of FODI is pretty much getting fired in a month due to the new mayoral administration, so I have been in limbo as to what I want to do when September 1 rolls around. I took the toro by the horns and just decided to do more work with the school and my girls at Paulina Solis, as well as go to Zamora twice a week. However, when and if FODI needs me, they will let me know but I won´t be doing things for them on a daily basis (at least this is the tentative plan...).

Anyway, Grigs asked me to help out at one of the FODI centers yesterday so I hopped on a ranchera to get over there in the morning. The rancheras are the buses without doors or windows, just a truck with seats in it. I hopped in front with the driver since it looked like it was going to downpour (I´m good at calculating rain clouds now...) and we started chatting. Once I got to the center at San Pablo, I told him I got off here and handed him my 40 cent fare. He shook his head and said ¨Que te vaya bien¨ (May things go well with you). I was like HALA! Then I knew it was going to be a good day.

San Pablo, however, is one of my favorite centers. The moms are great, the educators are awesome, and the kids are a blast to play with. After picking up some Avon that I bought from the center´s cook (she´s an Avon Reina in these parts), I went out back and helped Grigs and the moms plant some seeds for this garden they´ve tried to revive. We both kinda didn´t know what we were doing, as far as what seeds should grow near each other, etc. But I think we estimated well enough. No one seemed to contest our guessing, so we figured it was good enough. We only planted seeds in two beds, if it doesn´t work out...meh. Hopefully it will, because I need to get in some green thumb practice.

Afterwards, Grigs and I played a little with the kids. Being bigger and considered Big Foot here, they tend to think I´m a jungle gym so they climbed on me for a little bit and then played Hide-N-Go Seek....my favorite. It mostly involves us just running around and yelling the whole time. And then, as my mom always used to (and still does) tell us, ¨laughter soon turns to tears¨ and wouldn´t ya know, two kids slam right into each other while turning a corner and the game stops. :-(

One of the best games though, involved a kid being ¨San Antonio¨ and the others sit on a bench, waiting for San Antonio to save them from ¨a demon¨ (yours truly). But the way San Antonio gets rid of this demon is by whacking them with a towel....it took me a bunch of tries to understand what they were doing, and I still don´t seem to get it. More than anything it was funny watching kids beat me with a towel...at least the educators got a real kick out of it.

Grigs and I gave a little charla to the moms later on on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, which was good. And of course, afterwards, the infamous ¨refrigerio¨ or snack. They labored all afternoon to make these Quimbolitos, or floury cupcakes with raisins and they are baked in banana leaves. They were pretty good. But of course had to send me home with a bunch. After catching the bus with my quimbolitos, I got off to pay the driver and he rushed over to me asking for one. I handed him my 40 cents, but he was like no I want a Quimbolito. Ok Señor! So I didn´t have to pay for any transportation yesterday!

Once again, the little things are making me appreciate my days here. Who would have thought free bus rides and tag with a towel could brighten up one´s day?

Now that Dan Weitz has experienced ¨The Ecua¨life that I live, he was nice enough to record his experiences and give his ¨dos centavos.¨ So let´s hear it for my first guest blogger!

Transportation: Local busses never come to a complete stop, people literally jump on and off the bus while it is still moving, and bathrooms on busses are for women only. Every car is at least 15 years old and honks about 3 to 5 times per minute. It’s also popular to ride in the back of pick-up trucks (the “Click It Or Ticket” rule clearly isn’t enforced here). There are no trains, no metro, no BMWs, no limos.

Vendors: You can buy everything from machetes to electric chords from people on the streets. One guy was walking around with a 3 liter bottle (yes, 3 liter) of Coke and selling little plastic cups of soda straight from the bottle. Also, there are legitimate stores with security guards that sell bootleg video games and DVDs for $1.50 (the quality is surprisingly good, too). There are little bodegas everywhere you turn, and if you need some bananas, no matter where you live, it will be at most a 15 second walk.

Cost of living: A three course meal with a chicken soup appetizer, grilled meat with rice, beans, and plantains, a small dessert, and delicious fruit drink costs $2 (includes tax, and you don’t tip here). For 6 tomatoes, 3 green peppers, a sack of potatoes, 3 limes, 1 pineapple, 2 avocados, 2 large carrots, 1 large head of broccoli, and cilantro is cost us $4.50. Monthly rent is $70. A 10 minute taxi ride or 1 hour bus ride each cost $1. Ice cream bars are 25 cents. A jumbo sized beer at a restaurant is $1. Nuff said.

Lifestyle: If you want someone’s attention, such as a waitress at a restaurant or a girl at a bar, you hiss at them. Every day is laundry day, there are always clothes hanging end to end on clotheslines. There’s no such thing as eggs and bacon for breakfast, instead it’s chicken and beans. At bars there are no gin and tonics or rum and cokes, but just beer that comes in half liter sized bottles with small plastic cups to pour in and share with everyone around you. Bugs like to bite you in the most random places such as your index finger knuckle or pinky toe. No matter how many times you take cold showers, it’s just as cold today as it was yesterday.

Walking the streets: Roads don’t have dotted white or double yellow lines (after all it’s pretty difficult to paint rocks and dirt). There are stray cats and dogs everywhere, and it’s common to be woken up by roosters in the morning (though something just doesn’t sound right with the way they cockle doodle do down here). There are beautiful mountains in the distance everywhere you look and the view just never gets old. People are very friendly and talkative and it is common to say Good Afternoon to just about every person you pass on the streets. Many buildings are only half finished and appear to be abandoned projects.

As poor as this country is, the people here seem very happy with their lives. While they may never watch the Super Bowl on a 50” plasma TV or talk to friends on their brand new iPhone, they are perfectly happy sitting outside their small cement apartments on plastic chairs watching cars drive by on a Saturday afternoon. Corrie loves it here and her Spanish is incredible. She was a great host and this was definitely a worthwhile experience that made me appreciate a new culture and admire even more Corrie’s devotion to this country.

I have been fortunate enough this week to receive my THIRD American visitor....Señor Daniel Brian Weitz. After our adventures together at Maryland, Dan decided he wanted to continue the good times and come on down South of the Border.

Last Sunday night he arrived late in to Guayaquil, which was nice as I had the day to rest up after the exhausting night bus. Guayaquil was in fiestas that weekend, surprise surprise, and I went out with my friend Kristin the night before to experience the sights. Tons of fireworks, open flames on the streets, and probably the most amount of people I have ever seen. Being the largest city in Ecuador, with almost 3 million people, Guayaquil grows even larger during fiestas.

Anyway, I managed to find this really cute, artsy hostel on the Malécon, or riverwalk, in Guayaquil. We stayed in the ¨Green Room¨ and now Dan remembers what verde means (he is slowly but surely picking up Spanish phrases....his favorite is chuchaki which is hungover, but never seems to get it right....)

We explored Guayaquil on Monday, the riverwalk, climbed 500 steps to a lighthouse that overlooks the whole city, and had a great grilled steak dinner. Guayaquil turned out to be quite delightful despite its somewhat notorious reputation.

Then we took a three hour bus ride to a sleepy beach town on the coast. It was cute, but unfortunately the weather really sucked so it was cold and cloudy the whole time. They did have a ton of restaurants and bars so we got to experience some nightlife.

Wednesday night we took a night bus to Loja and then took a bus to Vilcabamba. Vilca turned out to have really nice weather, with its rolling mountainsides and hippy mountain feel, Dan surely got a taste for the different lifestyles on the Coast and the Sierra. We decided to go for a hike up this mountain, Mondango. In order to get up, we had to pay a buck fifty to get into the property, yet no one was answering the bell. A neighbor was like just go on in, so we hopped the barbwire fence and hiked up this mountain. It was an incredible view, 1950 meters!

Staying at Izchalyuma, this sweet hostel, we got amazing massages and had a wunderbar dinner (it vas very german...) After Vilcabamba, we met up my friend Jason in Loja for lunch and then took a bus back to Yantzaza. When we got here, we met up with Chris and his girlfriend Emily, had some street meat with them and Grigs joined us later. It was a great little gringo get together, and we were definitely attracting attention. The highlight for Dan that night was hoping in the back of a pick-up and taking a spin around the block to this disco we went to. The disco was afull of screaming girls, waiting for Jhonatan Luna, some cover singer. The girls were screaming like when I saw Ricky Martin for the first time, but this chico was merely singing cover songs. Dan is now deaf in his right ear. But I got to show off some of my merengue moves :-)

Now we are just hanging out; took him to some local bars, we ate frog yesterday, and went to the pool and waterslide in Zumbi today. He is here until Wednesday and then we are heading back to Guayaquil so he can fly back to BORING USA. Hahahaha. So far, I think he likes it, says it is nothing like what he expected, but I said you really cannot expect anything when coming down here.

So far the things he has noticed:

1. Massive amounts of honking...everyone honks for no reason, but I say, why not?

2. Cold showers....I say, whats the big deal?

3. Tsss tsss tsss....the totally effective and PC way of calling to a hot girl...

Now I am hoping Dan will provide some insightful observations of his own that we can all reflect on. Slash...I hope more of you will decide to come visit now.

I´ve been a really bad blogger lately....sorry about that. Things have been coming up lately, so I haven´t had time to sit down and write, also I was waiting to post pictures that I have!!!

So the wedding, which was July 4th, was really cool. It was a great experience and I am really grateful to my friend Yesenia for inviting me. Here is a little summary of the weekend, as it was full of fiestas and gringo-ness, and wedding excitement.

I went to Vilcabamba with everyone Saturday, ate lunch there, then sped back up to Loja to get all dolled up for the wedding. It was the wedding of my friend from Zamora, who´s a dentist. She and her roommate threw me a birthday party, I´ve crashed at her house a couple of times...BUENA GENTE. Anyway, I was really excited to go to a wedding of a good friend. I took Little Brown Sugarwith me, he met up with me in Loja.

I got my hair done...like prom style (it cost $4!!!) and then my nails done. I got a pedicure too...thought why not. And it was great...my feet were disgusting though...with all the campo hiking and sandals; the poor woman was scrubbing away and cleaning my feet for almost an hour and a half! Pobrecita.Then I did my makeup (yea...I did it!) and we went to the wedding. My friend Lorena was there with her BF (Lorena is Yesenia´s roommate). I´m really glad she was there because I didn´t know anyone...i thought my friends from Zamora would go but they didn´t show up. The church was gorgeous...got to take a lot of pictures with them.Then they had the reception in this GORGEOUS building. It was like brand new, at the Civil Engineers Professional Association. Incredible...served an amazing dinner. Super fancy....I was glad I got my hair done and dressed up; the women were totally decked out. They all looked like Beauty Pagent contestants. But Brown Sugar and I danced (he was a little agua fiestas though...didn´t want to dance as much as I wanted too :-( I went to Chris´s house just the other night to visit him, and I was telling his family about him and the wedding. Then Chris´s host sister, Maria, pipes up and says Cori, hay más que un burro en la loma (lit: There is more than one donkey on the hill. HAHAH! I was laughing so hard, their version of ¨there are more fish in the sea¨ type of deal...)

At times, I felt a little awkward, but I´m getting more and more used to feeling that way. They called me up to get in line for the presentation of the garter...each girl single girl had to give a number, and they gave out three garters. I unfortunately didn´t get one. Oh well...I´m in no rush to get married.

Here are some pictures! I am also posting some of the infamous Tortilla. She is a great cat...I feel bad leaving her by herself during the day, but she is really starting to get to know me and recognizes me over strangers. So my little mija is becoming my own!

Oh, PS: I just got a bike! I found one in the back of my building and I asked the landlady if I could borrow it. It was missing a pedal and needed a new chain and seat and a new tire. So I took it down the street and a guy fixed it up for me for $37! So I got a bike for less than $40!! It´s great, especially at night when I don´t want to walk up to my apartment by myself.

The church, San Jose. It´s a little dark, but this place was gorgeous, very similar to an American church.Lorena, Yesenia, Mario and Me. I did have heels on...big mistake. Brown Sugar was not happy since I was towering over him, but whatever. Fashion overrides all here!

Las damas or bridesmaids. They all have to be single in order to be in the bridal party, hence the fact they all look/are 16-year-old. Orange (or the Ecua-orange as I like to call it) was her bridal color, in case you hadn´t noticed...

Me and Panelita....man, I am WHITE...or is he just really BROWN sugar???

The reception, with the same Ecua-orange. It was absolutely amazing this venue (and this picture is just about a quarter of the space it was in). I seriously felt like I was in the US. They had this fancy-shmancy dinner, nice white wine. And then for the after dinner drink: scotch.

My hair. Held up nicely for two days...I think she put enough hairspray...enough to make the movie ¨Hairspray¨ embarassed. Which does not equal the gel the guys use in their hair (Brown Sugar being one of them). It´s called Moco de Gorilla or Gorilla Snot...no joke. And the guys LOVE that stuff.

My little Tortilla! She´s about two months old, I think.

Me and the Tortilla. She loves to play fútbol.

Last but not least, Tommy the Weiner Dog. This little guy is always running around Zamora and finally I got to take a picture of him. He cracks me up, this pobrecito got his name painted to him! Well, at least we know which one is Tommy! (Tommy Scott, thought you might appreciate this one)

The time has come and Chris and I are officially able to welcome a new ¨jungle baby¨ to our little jungle family. Yes, we have received a new volunteer (sorry....that sounded like someone was really going to have a baby...). He comes to us from Omnibus 101, sworn-in just this past May. We lost our first volunteer prospect, guess she wasn´t down with the heat. But Grigs (his middle name is Grigsby but everyone calls him Grigs) was on the coast, in Manabí, but due to some safety and security issues he had to switch sites.

Grigs will be living in Zumbi working with FODI and the Municipio. He is a Natural Resources volunteer, so he´ll be our ¨nature guy.¨ Being a fellow DC alum (went to George Washington and graduated in ´08), we already had a lot to talk about. Basically he says Zumbi is like the Hilton compared to where he was living before.

So to inaugarate our new jungle baby, Chris, his girlfriend Emily, and I all took Grigs up to the Alto Nangaritza, or the river where Chris lives. It was an awesome trip. I have been meaning to get up there; it´s an ideal tourist spot, yet due to it´s far location and more or less difficult means of getting there, I was excited to finally have a good excuse to go.

One of Chris´s friends, Bolo, has a boat and was nice enough to take us up, only making us pay for gas ($40). The boat was a long, skinny aluminum canoe with a motor. It had high sides, because when the boat is full throttle, the water is all over the place. This river, the Nangaritza, is a really big river, with tons of Shuar folklore. We saw a lot of waterfalls, just emptying into the river (it had rained all morning). There were two waterfalls right next to each other, one wimpy one called El Bautismo (The Baptism) and then about 50 yards down another one but stronger called La Confirmación (The Confirmation). Normally, they take tourist under the waterfalls so they become ¨baptized¨ and ¨confirmed¨ in one day. Oh and Bolo swung Tarzan-style on some vines for us...pretty scary...I had to talk Chris down from doing it.

Then we boated down to this Shuar town, Shaime, which I have heard a lot about. It´s pretty much the only sizable town on the river, with a whopping population of 90. But it has a health center and a decent sized dock for the boats. It´s amazing how people live so far away from towns, but then again they have been living like this for generations, so living simply off yuca and papayas is normal.

As we left Shaime, there was a fork in the river and you could clearly see the division of the rivers that form to make the Nangaritza (we were going up-stream to get to Shaime). It was amazing because you could see one river was darker than the other and the water didn´t really mix....don´t know how to explain it but it boggled my mind!

The real point of the trip, however, was to hike up this mountain to see these natural labrintos, or labrynths. We got out of the boat and Bolo puts his 3-year-old toddler on his shoulders and just BOLTS off into the jungle. We were like whoa dude, slow down a little. The trail was PURE mud...luckily we all had our Ecua-boots on. It was a really tiring, but fulfilling hike. Once we explored some nature, fell up the mountain a couple of times, and slid down some craggy rocks, we reached the labrynths. It was amazing. There were these giant rock formations with about a 6-inch cut in the middle of all the rocks. Like a river had once passed through there or something. Bolo couldn´t explain what the rocks were, or why they were there. I asked them how did they ever find these places, and he said that his friend actually got lost one day and stumbled, literally, upon them. Crazy.

I can easily see how one would get lost. But it was just so cool to see all of this nature. I see plenty of it here, but we were REALLY in the jungle this time. And then he told us just beyond the rock formations was the Peru border. We couldn´t cross because they would shoot us....haha just kidding. But Chris said on the last trip he was on, their guide told them there were still landmines from the war in the 90s.

Overall, it was a GREAT day. I think Grigs is really going to like it here, and we gave him quite the welcome weekend.

We´re heading off to Loja for the 4th of July this weekend and I got invited to a wedding! Get ready for an exciting upcoming blogpost!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Well, I have been quite the busy little bee this past week. After my medical exam and exciting adventures in Quito, I went to Cayambe to visit my host family from training. As always, it was awesome because I felt like I was with ¨my family¨again. I feel like I really took family dinners for granted, especially now since I eat all alone. But it was great just being with the fam again, joking around, eating some good food. The afternoon before I left, they took me up to Ibarra (about an hour or so away) to eat at Fritada Amazonas, basically Fritada Castle. Fritada is a popular food here, fried pork...it´s so good but so bad at the same time. They bought they huge platters for us to share: a POUND of fritada (dios mio!), choclo (big ass corn), mote (more big ass corn), grilled bananas and fresh squeezed orange juice. It was great. Then I hopped on the bus back to Quito to start my 14 hour journey back to Loja.

Luckily Chris bought us our tickets the day before because the bus station was PACKED. Sunday was another round of elections so everyone was going back to their hometowns to vote.

When I arrived Sunday morning in Yantzaza, my friend Miriam had just gotten there as well. Miriam and I trained together and she lives in Salinas de Guaranda in the province of Bolívar, which is probably the coldest site there is here. Her site looks at Chimborazo, the tallest mountain in Ecuador, so you can get a good gist for what her weather/life is like. Ironically, during training I wanted her site and she wanted where I live, but we both agreed they did a good job of placing us in the end because we both wouldn´t change where we live.

She came down to help me give charlas on Nutrition in Children for FODI. Monday we had a big charla day for all of the educators, which was really good. Gave out some Humana stress relievers that my dad had sent (thanks Dad!) and they were such a hit. People were asking me for more at the end, some of the girls had stolen them from each other! They also kept asking me what they were called, I was like...um...estrés....best thing I could think of. If you put a Spanish accent on an English word, which a lot of times they do, it´ll pass as a legitimate palabra.

Then the rest of the week we traveled throughout the communities giving charlas. This week FODI was also celebrating Dia del Niño, so at every community, we gave cake, a cup of cola, and a FODI t-shirt/short set to every kid. It was a lot of fun, we had a great time seeing all of the communities, as well as talking to the parents. The last community, San Francisco, is a Saraguro (Kichwa) community and we showed Miriam how we party down here! It was great, they did the whole gifting cake thing and then as soon as that was over, a dad whips out this giant pitched of Leche de Tigre...and San Francisco is known for their Leche de Tigre (milk with homemade cane liquor) I got pretty happy (as they say down here for tipsy) on this stuff at Christmas. But this time around I was trying to pace myself. But this guy pouring the milk pours us FULL GLASSES! It was so hard trying to drink the whole thing...and we did that about 3 times in an hour. Woo wee....we were feeling it. But it was great time, as always...riding in the back of the pick up, playing with the kids, eating a TON of food (it´s bad custom to turn down food offered). So we were stuffed. But it was great.

Miriam left and I did another round of communities on my own, but that was still fun. It was great having her here; she is Latina so Spanish is her first language. It was nice having her around to talk to my friends, hang out with people because they could easily understand her.

As for other news, I got a cat! I got to my house on Sunday and someone had put a cat in a potato sack, dropped it through my window, and so now I have a cat I guess. Her name is Tortilla, it´s been almost a week, so I don´t think this one will run away. She´s a kitten, so is still yelping a lot, but buena gente none the less.

Some other news, my friend Doris, the Tuberculosis patient I have been visiting for pretty much the whole last year, finally went home. She had been bed ridden last June because only half of one of her lungs functions, so was put on oxygen. Since then she has been trying to get this electricity powered oxygen machine and FINALLY got it. I was so happy to hear that. She had been having a lot of problems at home and was getting really sick of being bed-ridden, so it´s great she is finally at home with her family. She called me right before she left simply said ME VOY (I´m going!) giggled and then was off to her home.

So a lot has been happening, needless to say. It´s nice taking care of my cat....something I´ve got to look forward to when I get home. Now if she will only use the Ecua-kitty litter box I made her...

Si se pueden! Si se pueden! These were the cheers we chanted yesterday as I attended the Ecuador-Argentina futbol game (soccer, for the Americans).

And let me tell you, it was quite the experience! It was like an American tailgate with a Latin American twist. Practically the whole city of Quito donned their florescent yellow jerseys, including yours truly. I looked even whiter, if that is possible. I think it is a plot for Ecuadorians to note a true Ecuadorian in the yellow---since only their cinnamon skin blends well with the blinding shade. But we really stood out as gringoes; a bunch of volunteers got together to show our " hometown pride", armed with papas, "water bottles" of the stiff stuff and mimosas in our nalgenes. Totally classy, but totally necessary.

We all arrived around 1 pm, and the game didn't start until 4. But it was totally worth it, because there were plenty of opportunities to people watch--men, women and children with their ecuadorian support; giant Ecuadorian flags flying over the crowds; and don't forget the giant inflatable Pilsener bottle flying over the center of the field.

The weather was beautiful when we got there, sunny and warm. And then all of a sudden, about an hour before kick off, these dark ominous clouds float over and just open up and POUR on everyone. Typical Quito/Ecuadorian weather, but not surprising nonetheless. People were running to the gates, trying to buy plastic ponchos. Me, as a Jungle Girl, I was used to the rain, however it was a much chillier rain that I am accustomed to. Whatever, bring on the mimosas! Syke...

But the game was amazing. We had really good seats, they were in front of a fence, but we could see the field pretty clearly. Ecuador was playing great, despite the weather, and Argentina was fightin' pretty hard. Argentina is a world ranked team, so this was a clutch game. The first half, it was nil-nil. Then the second half comes around (no half-time show...there isn't nearly as much glitz here as home games..they are actually all about the GAME, what a novel idea!!) and ECUADOR SCORES A GOAL! GOOOOOOOLLLL was flashing all over the big screen, and we went NUTS. It was awesome. I've never been as excited at a game before. And then a few minutes before the game ends, still on the high from goal one...WE SCORE AGAIN!!! WOOO!

And Ecuador took the win. It was amazing. They beat Peru on Sunday and now have beaten Argentina. They are on a roll, now placing 5th in South America with Argentina in 4th for the race towards the World Cup.

And I think I actually like soccer now. I know, I know...what kind of American am I...but let's just say every day I am becoming more and more Ecuatoriana.

So we came up to Quito originally for our mid-term health exams. They sent me on a little scavenger hunt, as I had to run around the city to go to the dentist and then another doctor. The dentist, Chris and I commented, was like an American dental office from the 70s. It was very nice, but the decor was totally outdated. But surprisingly all of the doctors spoke AMAZING English. So hopefully everything turns out ok...still haven't done the " poop in the cup" test...for some reason pooping on command is really difficult. Sorry, TMI but after a while this stuff is just natural PCV talk.

Oh and I did manage to get a kitten last weekend. A neighbor girl came by and said one had shown up at her house and she didn't want it. I've been looking for a cat, and was totally excited. I fed the little thing, even named it (Amazonia) and got her a little bed. And then the damn thing ran away! Jumped out of my window...have no idea how she did it. So I'm on the hunt again....and I definitely saw her lurking around right as I left. I think she was laughing at me, because I was silly enough to feed and care for her and then she left me.

Whatever...I'm going to find a new one more deserving...

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Well, just when I though rainy season was over....it has rained ALL DAY today. No joke.

Whoopee.

Hahaha...it´s ok. I kinda took a personal and have binged on The Shield, so it wasn´t a complete waste. But there have been some thoughts spinning in my head that I´ve been meaning to add to the good ol´blog.

I am pretty sure it´s Andres who is writing about Chicaña, but a while back you asked if your friend made the elections in Los Encuentros...unfortunately, he didn´t. Let`s hope for 2016!!Second order of business....ridiculous t-shirts. I love the t-shirts here. They all make NO sense whatsoever. What I love about them so much though, is that someone tried really, really hard to make them make sense, yet screwed up one word so they just turn out being RIDICULOUS. Like ¨Men hike up tees¨...uh, buddy, I think that´s supposed to say trees and men don´t really hike up trees to begin with. The real kicker was this one day I was walking down the street in Zamora, and this 80-year-old man was looking at me like I had five heads. Now, a lot of people have gotten to used to seeing me around, so when I see someone who is just baffled by my presence I tend to take a second look, too. So this guy was just staring me down and I look at his t-shirt...it has in big letters FLAME THROWER. I was like whooaaa...settle down there cowboy, cuidado with the fire. It was just a chuckle to myself moment, because A) he was looking at me like I was the crazy one and B) this guy looked like he could barely lift his sack of dead chickens let alone throw flames. Ay dios mioThe Director of the all girls school I work at, La Paulina, is a real fireball, as well. She reminds me a lot of Mrs. Trunchbull from Matilda...you know, the old Olympic shotput champion who puts bad kids in ´The Chokey`. Well the girls absolutely FEAR this woman. She reminds me a lot of a little pitbull. She`s this little round woman, but has the face of a lion and the lungs of a.....well a person that yells a lot. She is fiesty. And I love her. She knows how to control these malcriadas like nobody`s business but is about the same size as all of the students. She is great with real people, and somehow knows how to control these girls. When I tell them I have to talk to the Directora, girls gasp and look at me like `Dios Mio, I hope you get out alive...` If only I had that type of power....

This week has been great and really productive actually, so I guess taking a nice ¨vacay¨ was exactly what this little PCV needed. Friday I helped out in Zamora, with my Intercultural Health boys, on a charla they were presenting to health leaders of the communities throughout the province. I got to meet Shuar and Saraguro shamans, medicinal healers, and midwives. It was pretty cool, all I really did was help with a slide show and play a game with them, but I sported my Intercultural Health t-shirt (that I designed, thank you very much) and smiled and did the Gringa wave and I was good to go.

But I quickly left after my part to go to Loja to witness yet another Intercultural health event. This time, it was actually in Vilcabamba, an hour south of Loja, and my friend Andy had invited another volunteer, Clay, to come do a technical exchange and bring his Tsachila family with him. The Tsachilas live in the Santo Domingo region (about 3 hours west of Quito, in a transitional zone of sierra and coast) and they have a very distinct culture. Clay has the amazing opportunity of living with them, wearing the traditional garb, painting his body, etc. His host dad, Alejandro, is a traditional medicine curer, or shaman, and he performed cleansings on us. Alejandro is extremely proud of his culture, wearing the traditional red paint in his hair, a knee-length woven skirt, and body paint that comes from a dried fruit. I have seen pictures and heard a lot about this culture, but I have not witnessed it real live.

Alejandro brought his wife, Rosa, too. She wore this really beautiful multi colored skirt and had her face painted (just lines across her face), as well as her legs and feet. When I arrived, Rosa was making a traditional ¨sauna¨ which consisted of a giant pot of boiling leaves, about 30 different types she said. They dug a hole, about 2 feet deep, and then put a rock that had been sitting in the fire in the hole. Then someone sat on a stump, put their feet on a plank of wood that stretched across the hole and Rosa poured in the steaming water. Then you placed a sheet over your whole body, excluding the face, and just sat and enjoyed the instant steam bath. It looked awesome, I didn´t get to do it...I opted for the cleansing ceremony. But Katie, another volunteer, said she is looking forward to doing this in the US, in her manicured lawn and with neighbors looking out at her while she just chills with her mom´s 70s print bed sheet wrapped around her. Hey...I wouldn´t object.

But while most were doing the sauna, I wanted to watch Alejandro perform his cleansings. I was able to see him ¨cleanse¨ Andy´s host parents, and that was good because I got to see what it was like and I was able to see what he said, so as to verify he didn´t say the same stuff to me.

He started out by taking a swig of cane alcohol and blowing it on his hands, so as to clean them I guess. Then he blew all over the mom´s body: her arms, chest, patted down her head. Then he spit on these rocks he had. After that, he rubbed her with a candle for a few minutes and then lit the candle. While he was rubbing her with the candle, I noticed he kept rubbing his eye, like it was itching him. After the reading was over, he told her that she ate too much salt, and that his eye was burning, like a salty sensation, and that´s why he told her that! It was so cool.

He basically did the same thing to me. However, what he told me was really interesting. After rubbing me with the candle, he asked his wife if she brought these special leaves for a cold bath and had said she didn´t. He looked disappointed...and I started to freak out. Am I ok? Will I explode if I don´t get this bath? Are wild boars going to come eat me?

Tranquila, Corrie....it´s just sunburn. He told me that the sun is really affecting me where I live, that it is making me weak. This bath would help me, but unfortunately he didn´t have the leaves to do so. I couldn´t believe it, I told him I lived in Zamora...but by the sound of it, he didn´t really know too much about Zamora and that there is as much as there is. PLUS, I´m super sunburnt...freaky thing.

He also told me that I am missing my family (kinda general, but true) and that I will live a long life. He had a big smile when he said this, so I totally believe him and it made me feel really good to hear that.

After that, he cleansed me with an egg. Rubbed me all down with an egg, and then spit some perfume concotion on me. He was very happy with the egg cleansing because when you shook it, you could hear that it was pure yolk, there was no liquid inside. He smiled big again and said all the bad energy was trapped in the egg, he had gotten a lot out. Hallelujah!

So I mosied back inside after this reading (it was outside in the pitch dark, by the way) and I had the most intense amount of energy! Everyone was like Corrie, are you ok? I was like so ready to go. But it was cool hearing how other people´s readings turned out; one guy had a lot of friendship (amistad), another girl had stomach issues, etc. They were all like, oh, it´s so general, it´s like a horoscope. But I was totally into what he told me. That shaman ROCKED!

We all had to pay $5 for the readings, but it was totally worth it. It was great too, because they have never really left Santo Domingo, so for them to have this opportunity to come all the way down to Loja, was great. Clay was super excited to have exposed them to another part of the country and for others to witness what their culture was like. I definitely want to go to visit them again; they are trying to boost tourism in their site as means of income generation. So if you ever want a cleansing, I got your shaman.

Woo wee. I am pooped. This past week was one of my most memorable weeks so far, since Ms. Kristina Amelia Roberts came to visit me. Kristi and I were roommates in college for a mere semester, yet our ridiculous personalities and great sense of Wanderlust have helped us maintain a great bond.

I was super excited to meet up with her, mostly because this was going to be exciting to have a friend come visit me (one who knows me well) and I was anxious to see her perspective on things here in Ecuador. When she called me to come get at the airport, I was surprised at how fast she had de-boarded (is that a word??) and gone through customs. Dressed in her usual Kristi style---great bag, lioness hair and flowing scarf--I knew right away it was her. Yet, where was all her luggage? It hadn´t left the States... Great. Starting to sound a lot like my parents´ journey when they got here (took them five days to claim their luggage). But that didn´t stop us. Kristi had literally just gotten back from Italy, 24 hours before seeing me, so she was definitely in a go-with-the-flow attitude.

Perfect. Because that´s exactly what you need to enjoy Ecuador.

We took a nice tour of downtown Quito the next day: teleferico ride(gondola) up the Quito mountain side for an excellent view of the city (she left her battery charger up in the restaurant so we had to sweet talk the guy to let her back up...which we also found was one of my talents here: sweet talking), shopping at the local artesan market, lunch in historic Quito, and great cocktails in the Mariscal. All doing this in the same outfit, I was so far very impressed with Kristi´s traveling abilities. Finally the next day, after many calls to many different airlines, we claimed Kristi´s backpack (more thanks to our ¨investigative team¨ that we had put together...)

Then we headed off to Ibarra, about 3 hours north of Quito. It is known for its great weather and the weather was perfect. We actually lucked out with great weather the whole time. But met up and stayed with a married couple from my group, Jake and Erin. They were awesome hosts, got to walk around the city, sample some of their famous ice cream and then joined up with a bunch of other volunteers at a BBQ. That was a blast, getting to talk to the other volunteers, along with a local, and Kristi, I think, got a good sense of what Peace Corps and the people are all about.

After hitting up Ibarra, we had a long day of bus rides back to Quito to then go up to the coast to the province of Esmeraldas. I was super excited to see Esmeraldas because A) it is home to the majority of the Afro-Ecuadorian community B) it is, literally, on the opposite side of the country from where I live C) it´s the coast=BEACH

So we got to Quininde, which is inland, but is Geoff´s site, a youth and families volunteer that is also from my group. It was Saturday night, so we had a couple drinks and then went out on the town. We danced like crazy gringoes at this club, where everyone seemed to be around the ages of 12-15. But whatev...it´s the coast so I guess anything goes. The dancing was different from where I live. They played a lot more Reggaeton and they were gettin´all up in each other´s GRILLS so that was kinda like being back in the US, but with less clothes. It was hotter than the hinges of hell, but still a good time.

Sunday we headed up to the coastal town of Atacames (2.5 hours), which is pretty much a touristy beach town. Another volunteer, Chris, lives up there so we were able to crash at his place--which was a total ¨ideal Peace Corps¨ house: all wood, hammocks everywhere...it´s like what I thought my house was going to be down here. We walked to a couple beaches, hung out with some locals, drank giant batidos or fruit juices. It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted. Kristi and I got pretty burnt but that was basically the worst thing that happened to us the whole trip, so I´m not complaining.

We got to see some of Geoff´s work in his town the next day, the place where he does youth group activities and where he is growing a garden.

We traveled back to Quito Tuesday night so that Kristi could catch her 8 am flight back to the states. Overall, it was an amazing trip. Kristi was an excellent travel partner...I was surprised at how much faith she had in me, jumping in and out of buses and eating foods I told her was good. But I definitely needed this trip to re-center myself and I was anxious to get back to Yantzaza.

However, after Kristi left, I continued down to Riobamba to visit my other friend Darci and I got to check out her site. She lives an hour out of Riobamba, in a city called Guamote, and it was really cool to see because her site is about 90% indigenous. Thursdays are their market days so we got to walk around...it was a HUGE market, Darci telling me it´s one of the largest in Ecuador. I could tell...people were pushing through us, people were yelling, there were so many indigenous...it was a little overwhelming. But super cool.

Well I got back to Loja at 5 am this morning and I am spent. Luckily I have a weekend to recooperate.

But now I definitely know how much I can travel in a week and how to do it. It´s kind of exhilirating knowing how you can travel throughout a foreign country with ease.