The goal of the panela project was to improve the quality of life for those in the community that depend on panela production. By providing them with the machines necessary to increase production and package their own product, Cumbres de Ingapi has been able to become more independent from intermediaries, and has received an increase of 100,000 pounds of panela from one of their main buyers. All this in the first few months following the arrival of the machines.

After project approval Alirio and I dedicated a great amount of time to planning and organizing. Our main goal was to ensure that the factory and members of Cumbres de Ingapi, were well prepared for the arrival of the machines and that buyers would be informed of the new potential of this small business. This process required several meetings with the “directiva” and delegating various responsibilities, and as a result by April 1st we were well prepared to receive the machines. During this period, the artesian making the final machine offered to add bigger features that would expand production and decrease manual labor on the current machine. After a meeting with the entire group, it was decided that Cumbres de Ingapi would incur the remaining fees for the more advanced machine.

When the three machines arrived from Agroimportadora we arranged for a technician to train members on the functions of each machine. For this important workshop, we required that a representative from each family be present and planned to issue a fee to those unable to make it. Fortunately all were in attendance and all members including their spouses were in attendance.

Since the arrival of the three machines orders of panela we have organized workshops on topics of organizations and good communication within a company and will continue with similar topics until I COS. We have also help various mingas and better organization of the factory itself.

Currently the price of panela is at an all time high, Cumbres de Ingapi has been able to optimize its profits as it has nearly tripled the ability to produce and provide panela to their various buyers. Their plan in the next couple of years is to continue to sell to small towns and parroquias to eventually advance to national and eventually international markets. However, at the current moment, members are projected to receive an increased of earnings, despite investments to purchasing packages and saved money that will be put towards maintenance and possible purchase of more machines in the future.

Working with the package design experts.

Packaging Design. These are the plates that make the packages.

La fabrica of Cumbres de Ingapi.

The scale. Testing out the new machinery.

The cosedora to sew up the coastales de panela.

The product. Now with the bags and sealer, Cumbres de Ingapi can cut out their intermediary.

The selladora to seal the packages.

Panela in a bag!

Cumbres de Ingapi.

Pay Day. Paying for all 3 new machines.

Alirio. The key to making this project a reality.

The artesian made machine.

What a beauty.

As always the people in Pacto never cease to amaze me with their thoughtfulness. This year for my birthday, my friend Marilu threw a “small birthday party,” which consisted of all her relatives across the country and my PCV friend Joy.

My aerobics class also surprised me with cake, games, and several embarrassing “penitencias” primarily performed by yours truly.

Here are some of the highlights. Family photo. Please note Marilu with the confetti she is trying to blow up at me.

QUE RICO!! Ceviche…so good.

Anabel and the kiddos anxiously awaiting their piece of cake.

Yeray! Such a cutie!

SURPRISE!

Penetencia time- Reading my fate on the piece of paper.

Baile! Ladies dancing in circles…a universal phenomenon.

MáS ABAJO! (Get low) One of the games we played putting a pen into the beer bottle, not nearly as easy as it looks.

Here are some photos of the work of been up to the past couple months… Workshops with INFA facilitators covering: nutrition, hygiene, sexual education, HIV/ AIDS prevention, leadership, human rights, environmental education, non-formal education and the importance of physical and mental health. Basically my job from before, but after I leave the plan is to have them continue with the workshops in over 15 communities.

Mom Scholars. These are two of the three Mom’s that I was able to help obtain GAD Peace Corps scholarships that will help them finish their high school degrees. Apart from tutoring and computer classes, we also make cookies.

English/ Science with Rubi and Michelle. They generally come with a couple of their other friends to hang out, which more or less has turned into my teen crew.

Michelle, rice and ice.

The homework.

Rubi and Michelle.

Papi Lucho and Clarita my adoptive grandparents…not sure what I would do without all of their help and delicious empanadas.

Family trip in the camioneta. Not sure why everyone is so bravo in the photo I promise we were having fun!

Naomi showing off her Hello Kitty tshirt.

Muerde pastel! (Eat Cake!) It wasn’t Naomi’s birthday but I told her she could do it anyway.

Marilu, Leti and Yeray decorating Easter Eggs.

Por fin! All the centers are painted, all the kids have new story books, puzzles, dolls, toys, decorations on the wall, and most importantly each center has a variety of resources for the Community Moms to use for activities concerning linguistic and motor development, health awareness and Montessori techniques to practice with each child.

So how has everything improved since your kind donations….All 6 centers are fully decorated3 centers have been painted, and for the others we’ve gotten the paint donated from the local government.Filters have been purchased to help purify the water80 fabric boards were made so kids can learn to dress themselves with buttons, zippers, shoe laces, and snaps. (13 per center)240 linguistic cards with themes of numbers, letters, colors, fruits, vegetables, hygiene, transportation, and modes of communication. (40 in each center)4 manuals for Moms to uses as guides in each center (that 24 books in total) **Actividades de aprendizaje para los infantes y los niños hasta los 3 anos-Betsy Squibb, Desarrollo del Nino y Actividades de Estimulación- Prudence Ingerman, El Increíble Libro de Inventos- John and Danita Thomas, Somos Sanitos- Samantha Mills**Collections of story books, short stories, coloring books, puzzles, puppets and toys for each center. Finally…a bunch of happy Moms and kids that really appreciate all of your support!

Here are a few before and after shots, as well as some of the new goodies kids have to play with…. These are the fabric boards for kids to practice on. Every time I visit a center one kid is always playing with these.

CDI Ingapi. Area de medianos. Really in bad condition. Marks all over the wall. Poor organizations.

CDI Ingapi. New paint, activities posted on the walls and even an area to highlight all the kids works of art.

Various games, puzzles, and some puppets we made through out several workshops.

CDI Ingapi. Hardley any decorations and often nothing in the room to place or look at.

CDI Ingapi. New walls paint, decorations, and a place to put toys and backpacks.

Before. The kitchen, super dark all the time and with an unkept bodega in the back.

After. We painted and created more lighting in this space so that it doesn't look like the kids are eating in the dark.

CDI Pacto Area de los Grandes. Pretty bare and feo.

CDI Pacto Area de Grandes. Now they have all kinds of decorations, letters, numbers, and they each get their own cubby hole.

The Library in CDI Paraiso made possible with all of your help!

CDI Pacto Before.

CDI Pacto After. Totally different with the paint, decorations, but more importantly the activities the Mom’s are doing with the kids. There are even 5 new kids going to the center.

One of our painting mingas. The “tall” people had to get the parts above.

Parents helping out with the painting process.

Linguistic cards that have all types of themes.

Alea Richmond, a good PC buddy, and I hosted a women’s retreat focused on issues related to women’s health. While the main focus of this conference was to share experiences working with each program, Corazon Sano and Corazon Feliz, it provided the women with an opportunity to share their personal stories as women from the Coast and from the Sierra, two very different lives culturally.

Thanks to funds provided by Peace Corps grant, I was able to travel with 5 of my group members to Alea’s site, where we were able to stay at a Finca away from husbands, children, and other responsibilities of the home. Being the first time many of my women had traveled to the coastal region it was really special being able to see them in that environment for the first time.

While several of our workshops focused on the importance of maintaining a healthy diet and exercise, we tried to focus on the importance of having a positive self image and high self esteem. One of the workshops that had a lasting impact was given by a health promoter of SOLCA. Her main focus was discussing the connection between machismo and women’s health. All of the participants were greatly affected by the images she showed and her honest portrayal of the situation. Following this theme, Alea and I continued to discuss gender issues related to Ecuadorian women and women within each of their regions. It was truly amazing seeing them work together and have a space to share their experience. Most I think were surprised by the numerous obstacles they both face as women.

After taking a look at machismo’s role in health, Alea and I focused on personal growth, women’s empowerment, the importance of setting and realizing goals, and other topics, many of which most of the women had never considered.

Arriving back to site, one women told me that she had a “sex talk” with her 10 year old daughter when she got back, because she didn’t want her daughter to suffer from things she hadn’t been told as a child.

Truly an amazing experience for all people involved, especially Alea and me.

Rocio, Janeth, Pati and Imelda my most dedicated Corazon Sano aerobicettes (? that a word) that traveled the 13 hours from Pacto to Tamarindo. Role of machismo in women's health, told through images from the media and personal experience.

Mental Health. Identifying factors stress, the effects, and creating solutions to decrease it. Laughter definitely worked.

Fuerza Feminina 2010. Exchange between two groups, to explore ways of creating a stronger and more sustainable health programs for women.

Learning how to take and read blood pressure results and calculate BMI.

Although the first time my parents came was really great, the second was truly incredible. They got to see people they met before and see me as the true Pactena I have become. Also, it was great being able to show off projects that had only been ideas or barely started when they first came, to now, a year later, completed projects. It caused a lot of reflection on my service over the past year and a half and made me realize how the people here have become part of my family as they did everything in their power to make my parents comfortable, because as I am family, that means they are as well. It made leaving a real reality, which in the beginning, I felt I would be looking forward too, but becoming so close with so many people and seeing them interact with my parents, made me realize just how hard and sad it will be to say good-bye. The best part about this experience has no doubt been the people and the relationships I’ve formed and being able to share that with my parents was really something special.

Apart from a week in my site which included trips to fincas, fruit picking, lots and lots of eating, chicken sacrificing, ziplining, and touring “La vida de Samy” my wonderful parents took me on a trip to the Galapagos where I got to see some of the most unique creatures in the world. Pictures speak better than words… so here is a brief review of the trip. Grandpa Lucho climbing in the trees to make fresh orange juice and a few empanadas, meaning 20.

Covered in guaguas or little kids. The kids adored them!

Demonstrating my new knowledge…"this is where pineapples come from.”

My wonderful friends that cooked us about 6 different meals over lena, just so that my parents could have a little taste of all the different specialties.

Charlie, Mom, and me before zip lining the day away in Mindo.

LOBO MARINERO. Pretty much the best part about the Galapagos, except that they wouldn’t except any of my invitations to swim with me. :)

Truly amazing landscapes.

Boobies, penguins, pelicans oh my!

Great view from Isabella with some new friends, Colin and Joann.

Iguana, who I’m certain was posing for this photo.

Charlie and Mom with one tired GIANT turtle. This is one of Damon’s harems. Lonely George was too popular to come to the party.

This was not easy to get into.

No better way than to end and Ecua Trip. Charlie and a cooked furry friend. “Salud y mucho mas” (Health and much more)- Charlie’s favorites Spanish phrase.

As time is coming to a close, I have essentially finished off my work with the Mom’s in the nursery schools. Thanks to all of you, mingas have been organized to paint, decorations are being made for the walls, and most importantly each center has books for the kids and resources full of activities for the Moms.

All the coordinators have been trained in nutrition, first aide, and other topics, so that when I leave they will be able to continue teaching the workshops themselves. To make things a little easier, I created a manual Somos Sanitos, as a reference for them and the Community Moms that includes activities, songs, theater, and interactive games for young children to learn about the importance of good hygiene, brushing your teeth, parasites, the environment, nutrition, and other health issues. Although it took me a long time, considering my computer crashed twice, I think it will be a good resource for them as well as other Peace Corps volunteers, as this manual is the first of its kind.

However, I still have some time left and am continuing to work with the Moms in various activities concerning health and decorations, so there will definitely be more to come yet. Here are some photos of some workshops and randomly (because there was nowhere else to put it) photos of my PE teacher position at the colegio. More aeeerobics. Whoop whoop.

Me and THE MANUAL, Somos Sanitos.

Doing aerobics with this many people is no doubt awkward, but I think they have a good time.

Busting moves with the Doctor of the Subcentro and the colegio kids.

First Aid Workshop.

Sociodramas, gotta love them.

The Moms really got into the acting, so much that one of their kids started to cry because they thought it was real.

Making fabric boards with Evelyn.

Marisela painting some broccoli. The idea is that the Mom's in the kitchen can also use the veggies and fruits to talk about nutrition with the kids.

Fomex or craft foam workshop. One of many to start decorating the walls in the centros. This one is for the kitchen.

Helping Flor make some apples and pears.

Here are some photos of me bringing in the New Year with some other volunteers in Canoa. Rebecca’s bday present. Customary “Ano Viejo” shaped like a cuy to torch at midnight.

Alea and I getting ready to dance like Lobas.

Hardcore boogie boarders.

Ladies of Omnibus 100. Falta algunas.

Torched Cuy. Ecuadorian New Year’s tradition.

Christmas is a time in Pacto when you realize the true meaning of community. Every year, every organization, institution, and group that works in the area, puts on a program that involves theater, dance numbers, song, and everything in between. The focus is not about presents or Santa, but about celebrating culture and spending quality time together. After the program is over, everyone shares food together and spends the rest of the day playing and hanging around in the park. The food, arroz colorado, is provided by groups within the community, as each of them are responsible for providing 10 pounds of rice each. This, as you can imagine, ends up being several hundred pound of rice, and even for not being a fan of rice, I must admit, it was definitely tasty.

Here are some of the highlights from the event, including my old folks and the dance I helped them prepare.

One of the kids groups striking a pose after their “pose” performance from Daddy Yankee.

A group of Mom’s that performed a traditional coastal dance.

Traditional Serrano dance complete with devil and whip. Dona Ines is one of the sweetest people in real life, but that definitely did not stop her from getting into character for the baile.

My friend took this shot of me. This is what I typically look like at all functions, normally just a couple more little ones.

The Dinamicos post dance off.

More dance moves, to none other than Daddy Yankee. They even managed to get some techno cumbia in there.

Arroz colorado for the whole community. Truly an awesome tradition.

I recently started working with a group of panaleros or people that make panela (brown sugar). The panela is not only certified organic, but due to the climate here, probably the best tasting and richest in all of Ecuador. However, due to lack or economic resources this group of panaleros has been using intermediaries, which more often than not, take advantage of the producer, by offering them very little for their product and then selling it to the market at almost triple the price. Last year, for example, the panaleros were isolated during the landslide season, and the intermediary was unable to come in and pick up the panela. Even though the heavy rains continued and the intermediary was unable to bypass the landslide, workers remained in the fields to complete the order. On arrival this particular intermediary decided they were not going to pay the panaleros full price seeing as they were unable to pick up the product, and decided that they would buy it at a reduced rate, knowing they had no other buyers.

Processing panela. It takes a lot of hardwork and dedication to make panela, but is something that the majority of these panaleros have been doing since the age of 4. Tuesday through Thursday, these workers wake up at the crack of dawn to machete sugar cane. After its been cut, which believe me is not the easiest thing to do, they load it onto a donkey to transport it to the molienda, where they spend Friday’s and Saturday’s taking out the juice and boiling it until they turn it into the powder . The process is quite complicated and looks and feels like more of a science experiment than anything else. The sugar cane is first placed in a “trapiche” which crushes out the juice and sends it to the first of many large vats. In this vat, the juice is heated for a certain time period and then passed along to another vat where it turns into a honey. From here its moved to the last and final vat where after 20 minutes its moved to a trough, where its sits and goes through this crazy transformation from a liquid to an almost chili looking like substance. After this step, the paste is placed in a large grader where it is shaken between two people until the powder that we all know in love is formed. All of this just for that one teaspoon of sugar you put in your coffee.

PL 480. So where do I fit into all of this? Peace Corps has an agricultural grant that focuses on fostering small business growth. Seeing as the small business already exists and includes the majority of the community of Ingapi, I decided to discuss this possibility with “Cumbres de Ingapi,” the name of the association of panaleros. Working with one of the dirigentes from the group we spent hours and more hours collecting and typing up data, for packaging machines, that in the end with hopefully cut out the big bad middle man. So far the proposal has been reviewed by a committee and we are awaiting the results to hear what needs to be changed. Everyone has said it looks pretty promising, but keeping my fingers crossed. Be sure to keep you updated! After the cana, or sugar cane, has been cut they load it onto this burro and take it to the molienda where it will be turned into the panela. This burro's name is La Bestia, which is funny for numerous reason, but means beast.

Cutting the cana with a machete. Not nearly as easy as it looks, and it doesn't even look easy. This is the majority of people from Pacto do Monday through Thursday, every week of the year. Definitely admirable, that is for sure.

The trapiche where juice is squezzed out of the sugar cane. Careful with your hands, this machine is no joke.

Looking like a pro. This is the part where its sits for 30 minutes to be transfered to the trough.

This is the final product. If your lucky, you can eat the little sugar nuggets that don't make it through the grater. Delicious but addicting snack!

Transferring the liquid to the trough in order to head to grater. These troughs are incredible heavy and as you can tell from the steam- really hot.

Malena, one of my nursery school kids, showing some panela from its honey stage.

Even though you wouldn’t know it by the humidity and banana trees outside, Christmas starts in Pacto around December 14, or at least it did for me. From this date, there was almost a program, fiesta, or dance to go every day. Not to mention TONS of rice, bags of candy, and all kinds of other food to be eaten. Thanks to the kindness of pactenos, while away from my own family and friends, they made sure to include me and make me feel at home. The old folks made me sing countless English Christmas songs to make it feel like Christmas back home, or maybe just for their own personal entertainment. Still sweet and caring gestures were all around. Anyway, here are a couple highlights from my favorite Christmas celebrations…

INFA Fiesta with Madres Comunitarias No party is a party without a massive pig. Law enforcement had to come in and help take down this pig, note the giant police boot on the pigs neck.

Cleaning the tripas or intestines, just look how happy she is!

Mari and I separating chicken parts… turned out pretty tasty too. Only slightly over cooked.Whoops.

Christmas thank you’s and best wishes for the New Year.

Guitar, Christmas songs, and great company. What more could you want?

Ecuadorians know how to do parties. Hilarious egg dropping game with the mayorcitos. I think I almost fell over from laughing at this one.

Cutest under the sea/ Christmas special I have ever seen.

Marilu and my adopted brothers and sisters.

For the past few months I’ve been given the unique opportunity to work with an old folks group. The “Dinamicos” are incredibly dynamic and fun loving group. Although they tend to want me to do some sort of American gig before a meeting, we generally do exercise that are followed by a workshop related to health and nutrition issues. Recently we’ve started working on different self esteem projects, and are trying to create more opportunities for them to get together and share their experiences. One of our hopes is to write down some of the myths and stories they remember as children in hopes to pass it on to the younger generations in the community.

Due to migration to larger cities and other countries, most of these abuelitos (grandparents), have been left with little to no family in the area. While it takes me over an hour to catch a chicken or any wild animal, these abuelitos still maintain the special touch as most of them continue to work in the fields and raise animals.

Unfortunately, they are a forgotten population within the community, as most organizations focus their efforts on children and youth. The aim of this organization is to bring the elderly together and provide them with support as many of them live alone and don’t have anyone to converse with, and also gives them a reason to get out of the house and do something active.

Pretty much the perfect fit for me.

Here are some pictures with me and my golden oldies…

Reina Competition for the Adulto Mayor. Cutest thing ever.

The crew, me, and our candidate for Reina.

Doing a nutrition charla, what you should eat a lot, a little, and not at all.

Incorporating some stretching, balance, and strength into exercise and even busting out the mash potato. Watch out.

It has been an absurdly long time since I last updated my blog, but here is more or less a summary of the past couple month. Each of these could have their own individual blogs, but then again it would probably take me to the time I leave to get them all posted.

Workshop. Planning and realizing all kinds of activities focusing on language and motor skills for Mom’s working in the centers to practice with the kids.

My second fam. Still spending quite a lot of time watching telenovelas, eating, and just hanging out with Marilu and her family.

BROTHER!! Kris and his friend Bob came to visit and tour around Ecuador for a week. I can’t remember the last time Kris and I got to spend so much time together, it is definitely something I won’t ever forget. Thanks again from coming Kris! This is us before going ziplining- just check out that fear in their eyes.

Soccer is my life. Not because I choose it to be, but because my wonderful teammates wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve only scored one goal and am pretty bad, but it doesn’t seem to bother them all that much.

Home sweet home. While I wanted to put up pictures of me visiting everyone, this slow connection would take a year to upload all those photos. Thanks again to everyone that made the time to see me, it really meant a lot. Your support is the real reason I’m able to be here.

Halloween. Spent it in Cuenca, one of the prettiest cities in all of Ecuador, with a bunch of volunteers. The clown trying to eat me in my Dora costume is actually my very in costume friend Darci.

Neighbors. These are my neighbors that I spend quite a lot of time with. Teaching me to make tofu and saving me from rat invasions, they are pretty much the best. David, Malena and little David at the little ones bday celebration.

Centros. Still working hard with the little ones and the teaching the Mom’s all sorts of different learning activities to do with the kids.

CUCA. My cat was supposed to be a boy, but surprise it’s a lady. After a giant rat incident and having to call in back up from me neighbor David, I decided it was time to get a cat, seeing as I, unlike him could not catch a rat let alone beat it to death with a broom. A skill achieved by much practice, practice I am not willing to start.

Here's a couple photos of what I've been up to the past couple months.... Teaching sex ed in the schools. Just look how excited they are!

Judging and crowning Reinas. This one was for the high school.

Teaching montossori techniques to Moms working in the INFA Centers.

Making games and activities for increased vocabulary for kids in the nursery schools.

Making rounds, checking up on the nutrition and health of the ninos in the nursery schools.

Evaluating each Mom's activities and lesson plans and throwing in a few games afterward with the kids.

Busting moves in aerobics class with my Corazon Sano Senoras and Senoritas!

Esteven's first fish. Not to mention the biggest catch of the day.

Marilu and me. Obviously very hungry.

Cleaning off the fish after beating it with a rock.

Abigail got one! Just look at that proud face.

Naomiiiiiii. Cutest little thing ever.

I was hoping I would look like I was flying above the trees or something. Didn't really turn out that way.

Look from above, this is when the little girls started screaming.

The crew at the top of the teleferico.

A few weeks ago, Marilu and her family invited me to go trout fishing at the “Paraiso del Pescador” or paradise for the fisherman. A bunch of her family was in town with their cars so we loaded up and packed about 30 people into 4 cars. The kids (and me) were all really excited for the mini vacation. We managed to make a few stops along the way to check out artesian goods, part of a project the area has going to build more tourism, and picked up some tostado for the road.

When we got there, the “paradise” turned out to be a pool with plenty of eager trout waiting to eat your hook regardless if there was anything on it. It wasn’t all that fair but I did end up catching a 2 ½ kilo trout which is a pretty big deal. The kids were by far the best part, screaming and jumping around each time they pulled a giant trout out of the water. After packing up my prize, we headed for the teleferico which is sort of like an open air gondola ride where you literally get to feel like you’re flying in the jungle. There I got to see all the way down the hill towards Pacto and got to check out all kinds of exotic birds and get a few good laughs from the little cousins behind me.

It was definitely an experience to remember and once again great to have a family so far from home.

Foundacion Nahuel and Club Kiwanis have been working in the Pacto for nearly two years. Their main focus is providing health care and services to those living in some of the most isolated communities in the region. In attempts to provide dental and basic medical care to all of the children in the parroquia of Pacto (about 1200), these organizations teamed up with my counterpart organization INFA, to organize la gente and get everyone to centralized locations. While brigades were taking place in 4 different barrios, I was put in charge of Guayabillas.

Guayabillas is a small community of about 150 people found smack dab in the middle of the jungle. Almost everyone works in agriculture and while some have motos, the majority only leave the community to buy goods in Pacto about twice a month. People are incredibly isolated, and some community members haven’t even seen Quito. Here, everyone helps their neighbor, kids are raised by the community, and people are constantly in the park playing cards and spending time together. Having spent some time in Guayabillas for a previous brigade, I was eager to take on the task, as it’s one of my favorite communities. Not only is the landscape breath taking but the people are amazing. From the happy go lucky kids, to the little old people that want to tell you all kinds of crazy jungle stories, entering this community truly makes you feel at home and gives you a chance to see human kindness at its best.

Primarily I served as a gopher, planning lunch breaks, managing the lines, and ensuring doctors, dentists, and patients were all taken care of and had all the materials they needed. I was even able to throw in a few sessions about brushing your teeth and washing your hands.

While the brigade was a lot of work, I was amazed by the resilience of the team of doctors and dentists as they attended over 500 patients. People came from all over, even arriving before sunrise. No one was turned away and all medications and treatment were free. These groups come twice annually and the local health clinic also performs two brigades in this region, totaling four times in a year. What was most surprising is that this isolated community receives more medical care than most American’s. While the level of care can be debated, from what I was able to see, doctors and dentist were able to prevent and address numerous minor and major health issues, that otherwise would have gone untreated. I was truly in awe of the whole process as the only requirement was that they show up and wait for awhile. Maybe something to take back to the states… One boy had to get 6 teeth removed, the crowd was very interested as you can see.

One little girl with her diploma and new tooth brush to go with her pearly white smile.

Meeting new friends Sarai and Diana.

All of this appartatus amazingly fits in one box thats not only easy to transport but can reach even the most isolated communities.

People started arriving at 5 AM and the brigade didn't even begin until 10 AM. Needless to say these doctors definitely put in a full days work.

Here is just a little montage of interesting things I’ve seen in or around my house the past month.

Pigs trying to achieve freedom before being eaten- sadly I couldn't get the picture of my neighbor chasing them.

My neighbor deciding to burn the trees outside my window.

A snake "gifted" to my counterpart Raffa. Currently this little creature is in a jar on his desk.

Freak bug outside my house.

Cool looking butterfly.

As part of my work with INFA and in the INFA nursery schools, I’ve started giving a classes with games, songs, and other activities the community Moms can use with the kids. As part of this workshop series, we talk about import issues concerning childcare like child abuse, common illnesses, children with special needs, teaching children about the environment through gardens, first aid, etc. While I don’t have pictures from the other classes, here is our most recent making flowers, cards, singing songs, and the biggest hit, making playdoh. Group shot of dedicated Moms after a day of hard work and play.

One of the cutest playdoh makers I've seen.

Making roses for the kids to make for Mom or Dad at home.

Can you tell which ones are masks?

Each table consisted of 3 songs, an activity, and a story. This group actually sang the song with their masks, sadly the camera decided not to work.

Stretching and getting ready to bust some serious moves.

These women throw serious punches...watch out.

About to do some serious kick boxing moves.

Thanks to my wonderful sister Erin, I essentially have almost all of the major workout dvd programs known to man. Without her help sending me these dvds, I would probably appear like an amateur, but getting to know my new friends Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser), Amy Dixon, and Tracy Anderson I have become Pacto finest aerobics instructor to date. I have about 20 women in my class that are part of our club, Corazon Sano. Aside from busting a sweat, we talk about nutrition, the importance of a balanced diet, make various healthy (and delicious) food, and overall just promote a healthy life style. Pre-obesity is a huge problem here as well as nutrient deficiencies. This group helps Moms (amas de la casa) learn the basics about nutrition and the tools of how to have a long lasting and healthy life, for themselves and their kids. It also provides them with an opportunity to get out of the house and get together with other women, where more often than not, the conversation strays from carrots and peas to more serious issues they or the community is facing.

Anyway, for all of you that know my previous anti-exercise self, here’s the evidence.

World Cup Qualifying Round: Ecuador vs. Argentina......

Who knew it could hail on the equator and that plastic baggies could make the perfect (almost) umbrella. Definitely have never been more painfully cold while having the time of my life. Going to a soccer game in Latin America is where culture lives and thrives.

Fourth of July.....

Burgers, brats, and bros, what more could you want? Teaching "Como planear mi vida" in the colegio. A class that touches on several life skills like; good communication, self esteem, values, gender, sexuality, STIs, HIV and AIDS.........

My kids slightly nervous to be presenting.

This was a really interesting charla about values where each group was given several different examples of various values and then asked to rank them in order of importance in their personal life......

The results were different everytime and aside from a few cultural differences, teenagers here are pretty similiar to those in the states.

Amazing traditional dance troupe from Quito. When I can learn to dance with wool as well as that little girl, I will consider myself integrated. Celebrating San Pedro in traditional indigenous garb with the locals (and a few gringos)….

Officially outfitted and prepared for some intense shuffle dancing. Omnibus 100 goodness. "Como planear mi vida" workshop with the new Omnibus 102 in Cayambe....

Its COOOLD in Cayambe.

Markers for everyone, everyone always goes for the smelly kind.

Yay for dinamicas!

Decorating their personal shields.

Looking pretty professional with my over used charla paper.

You know you’ve got good friends when they are willing to travel to the next hemisphere to come see you. Andrea came to visit in mid June, and even though it was for a short time, managed to squeeze in quite the ecua life/ adventure. Aside from filling her suitcase with all sorts of American goodness for me, Andrea came ready for anything, even guinea pig eating. It was pretty incredible having her here to see what my day to day in Pacto is like, but more than anything just be able to hang out and catch up. Considering all the weird food she had to eat, random people she had to kiss on the cheek, and the number of people that tried to speak Spanish to her (even though they knew she didn’t understand) , she just kept smiling and having a blast and was the most incredible trooper I have ever seen.

Here are some photo highlights from her visit… Andrea and me hanging out with my little ones of Pacto.

Cruising around a finca (someones land) showing off inhuman strength. These things are shockingly very heavy.

Get that fruit girl!

Ceviche de Palmito. QUUUUE RICO.

Meeting my Ecua fam.

Cruising the Pacto's main strip.

Camioneta ride!

Not just a cute pet.... I used to be a vegetarian. Used to be.

Looks just like chicken!

We even got to pick out dinner. Well not really, but for photo sake, we can pretend.

Heading to the market to take food to take back to Pacto.

James Madison Reunion. Jordan and I introducing Andrea to Quito and Ecuador along with great food, and of course political chats.

Revamping phase 1: Looking good. Alexander really got into painting the bodega here.

Painting fun!

I just wanted to send out a HUUUGE thank you for all of your support in the INFA centers. As a result of this revamping project, we have been in contact with other local organizations and have been able to paint one center, have three more approved for to receive money for paint, and are currently talking to CCF to get us clean drinking water for the center in Pacto. This project has definitely got the ball rolling on all kinds of great activities. In theory, I’d like to have all of the centers looking fabulous by this January if all goes well with these meetings and dedicated parents. None of this would even be feasible without all of your help. Thanks again!

Aimee Valeski

Allison Horowski

Andrea Enders

Angela Huesgen

Allan and Diane Booze

Beth Boughner

Brandie Bertsch and family

Caroline Bodnar

Casey Forquer

Cecilia Murdock

Dina Tashjian

Ellen Deuparo

Erin Mills

Frank Cuccia

Gayle and Charlie Dodson

Greg Talik

Kappa Alpha Theta

Kristen Smigelski

Lauren Hammer

Lily McNamara

Lisa Ochs

Miggon and Brent Wilson

Nancy Wall and friends

Samantha Rinke

Sarah Kunst

Sidney Smith

Southward International, LCC

Ward Kable

While most birthday’s generally only last a day mine went on for about a week. I still haven’t quite figured out how the word got out, but seeing as news of any kind ignites like wild fire around here, I am not too surprised that my English class found out about it. Each week we meet twice a week, once in the library and the other day in my house where we generally make some sort of cookie, cake, or combination of the two and play cards while learning English vocab. On this particular day, as usual the kids came over and we started getting all the ingredients and vocab words out, but almost as soon as we started someone an adult came to my door asking some questions about this new class I’m teaching up at the colegio. While the conversation, went on, and on, the kids stayed inside, I thought just listening to music and chatting it up. After he finally left, I came back into my house only to find my house totally decorated with posters and balloons, realizing the whole time I’d been talking to the guy, it was just distraction to keep me from coming back into the house. Sneaky and smart.. So rather than practicing English we ate the Cheetos and other snacks they brought along and when it was ready, the cake we had started to make. The best part.... they actually made the cake with the instructions in English, talk about a good b-day present ( even if dictionaries may have been involved.) Over all I felt all kinds of love on my bday, here and from all of you back home. A serious thanks for all of the birthday wishes, calls, emails, cards and packages. Even though I did all sorts of celebrating here, its nice to know I still have all of you thoughtful peeps back home too. Not really much else a girl can wish or ask for, thank again! Surprise!

Finishing the final touches.

My crew.... Michell, Rubi, Jose and Maria Jose.

Being away from family and friends on your birthday can really be a depressing unless you are lucky enough to have friends that throw a giant surprise party for you with all sorts of new friends and family.Marilu and Armandi, with the help of Marilu’s sisters and Mom, threw on of the best birthday’s I have ever had. There was confetti, balloons, streamers, not to mention, pastries, and other delicious treats. All of Marilu’s family and my other amigos from Pacto made for a pretty large fiesta of about 40 people or so. The best part was learning all sorts of new games and penetencias (things you have to do when you lose), most of which involved me doing some sort of embarrassing task in the middle of the room. It was pretty incredible and I have to say I couldn’t have felt more loved or cared about especially being so far from home.Marilu and her family are some of the most kind hearted and generous people I have ever met. I definitely lucked out being adopted into this family and I don’t think I could ever forget a birthday this sweet with such special people. Marilu, Amandi and the little ladies.

Providing entertainment as I embarrass myself in the center of the room.

Pass the pencil Ecua game. Needless to say it looked pretty ridiculous.

Everyone loves aerobics sooo much, I was forced to teach the out of towners my moves.

Penitencia, Pio pio chicken dancing for Jose.

Even the little ones started busting moves.

Ceviche del mar and Arroz marinero because they are well aware for my love of the coast and its delicousness. YUM!

Feliz Cunpleaños Samy!

MUERDE EL PASTEL. Basically face in the cake!

After having it shoved in my face a little bit more. This will definitely be brought back to the states.

Sadly I haven’t taken or am not in the majority of my work photos, but here are a couple things I’ve been up to the past month. Hands on cooking classes in English. Ricky proud of his choloate chip cookies!

Stadium painting with some kids from the high school.

Interviews for scholarships in all of the surrounding communities (even the ones over 2 hours away).

Aerobics, aerobics, and more aerobics. These women are the early birds the other half generally show up about 5 minutes into the class.I have about 20 regulars in Pacto and 17 in Ingapi. Someone even taped me once so they could do them at home, that or sell them bootleg DVD. *On a side note, that little one in front actually does all the work out too, defintely lots more pictures to come

When each new group of volunteers officially become volunteers there is a picnic and fiesta. Its really relaxed and casual and gives them a chance to meet current volunteers from all over the country they might not otherwise get to meet . Our swear in was pretty memorable, but I this one definitely did not disappoint. Anyway, here are some pics from the pizza place we went to after the picnic... enjoy! Ladieeeess. Laura, Rebecca, Alea and Darci.

Sun burrrrrn.

Striking our best vogue poses.

Omnibus 97 finishing up their service with a bang.

Rubi, one of my English students, invited me to her quincinera. If that MTV show, Sweet 16 had an Ecua version, I’m pretty sure her party would have made the cut. Everything was decked out in pink and white, her favorite color combo and even the damas and caballeros (sort of like bridesmaids and grooms sort of, well not really) were fully decked out in matching outfits and colors. Games were played, massive amounts of food consumed and even mariachis made an appearance. Pretty much all of Pacto was there (on the guest list of course), and with cameras filming all over the place, I’m still not convinced it won’t be on TV. The biggest difference though is that she wasn’t a diva about any of it, and there was no new BMW for her to drive, but she did get to spend the while night dancing with friends and family, which she told me later was the only thing she really wanted for her birthday anyway. Guess that probably wouldn’t make the cut for MTV, but it was definitely fun to take part.Rubi with her padrino and princess dress.

This is a game where the guys have to put agarter around the girls legs while all of the parents scream mas arriba, or higher. Its pretty mortifying for the teenages seeing as they get really embarrassed, but entertaining for everyone else when their faces turn bright red.

My girls, Rubi and Michell.

Easter in Ecuador is generally celebrated with a giant family Reunion and large bowls of fanesa soup. I sort of think eating fanesca is like eating Turkey on Thanksgiving in that everyone looks forward to it for months and when its finally here, its eaten so fast that no one is able to move afterward. After eating the soup I wondered when the giant bunny costume would come out with a bunch of chocolate eggs, but he never came. Even though the whole bunny bit can get a little bit commercial, I figured there would be no harm in decorating a couple eggs just in case the rabbit decided to make a visit. Most people thought that it was a pretty cute custom, and no sooner had i mentioned that the bunny hides eggs and brings chocolate than Naomi ran to the counter and said HUEVOS TOMA or “eggs, take them”. Needless to say she was pretty excited about it, so her, Justin and I spent that night decorating eggs to leave for the morning. The bunny woke up at 5:00 AM, hid the eggs, left some baskets with candies, and vanished. The two little girls were up at 6:00 AM ready to look for the eggs and once they found all the eggs were over joyed (just check out their faces) at the stuffed animals and goodies the bunny’s Mom had sent them. The best part was being able to bring a little bit of home to my new home and help start what I think is now a new tradition for the Recalde Nunez family. Naomi and Justin excited about their eggs.

Found one!!

The two little ones with their home crafted baskets.

Naomi was really happy, really happy!

Each year before the kids go back to school, INFA organizes a day camp that lasts for about a week and ends with Olympics. During the week each team or community is resonsibly for creating a flag, t-shirt ensambles, signs, cheers, songs, and electing a King and Queen. This year 9 communities participated and each community had one facilitator and two monitors. The monitors were student leaders from the community and were responsible for making sure each goal task was completed. I was lucky enough to get placed in Paraiso with a bunch of really great and super energetic kids. Paraiso really wanted to win, so much that I am pretty sure they started practicing and having try outs the same day school let out. Although we had a mini charla each day about various topics, we generally ended up playing games, painting, and eating several plates of rice after a hard days work. The last day before the BIG day we went on a little trip to a river. It turned out to be a tiny little stream but the kids didn’t seem to mind as they all splashed and jumped in basically at the same time. Although it took several months to plan it was definitely worth it all, especially as not onely the kids, but parents and other communtiy leaders also took a big role in getting ready for the excitmenet.

Charla led by student leaders.

Little girls getting ready to hit the water.

Andy attempting to look like a dead fish in the water.

And here comes the Pacto prosessional complete even with a giant rabbit!

Rey and Reina of Paraguas.

Flags, parents, kids tshirts, and all sorts of screaming in a good days work.

The official Rey and Reina of the olympics.

The current Reina of ceremonies Mother gave me this flower after we picked her daughter. Maybe it was a bribe, but with a cute outfit like that she couldn´t have lost.

Basically, I need your help. I’m currently working with INFA, which provides numerous social services to small communities like Pacto. Here in the parrorquia (which is like a county, I work in 6 different INFA centers or nursery schools. Formerly INFA was a private organization but is now run by the government which has resulted in numerous problems including lack of funds. Each center has 4 “community Moms” that teach and take care of the kids. I have workshops with them about nutrition, hygiene, first aid, and have started teaching pre-kinder education. I’m also making a manual with activities and games for them as they do not receive any training or reference guides. Because there are no funds, the walls in the centers are bare, and between all 6 centers there are 30 books, 30 books for 156 kids. Just try and imagine nursery school without story time. So what I am doing is trying to “revamp” the centers inside and out. However to do this, I need some financial support. Even if you could give $5 or anything, it would make a huge difference. I am hoping to raise $600, $100 for each center minimum and have already tried to contact numerous organizations about book donations. Any help would be sweet and TOTALLY appreciated! So if you’re interested in helping out. Send a check in my name to: Samantha Mills

1628 Johnny Cake Ridgeway

Eagan, MI 55122 My Mom is going to put it into my account so I’ll be able to access it right away and get these centers looking good! Thanks for all of your support and helping out the little wawas (translated like tikes) of Pacto!

Pacto Center. Here are some cubbies for toys and what not.

The wawas of Pacto Center. Notice the one on my lap picking her nose :)

Shelves where toys and books normally go.

I´m hoping to replace some of the mattresses, like this one, that kids use for nap time.

Some of the liddle ladies of Ingapi.

Hola from Pacto Centro!

This center is one of the most decorated areas of all the centers.

Area 2-3 year old in La Delicia.

This is the room for the smallest of kids, babies from 0-12 months in Ingapi.

The only decoration in the area for 4- 5 year olds.

The only art in this room was done by the 4-5 year olds on the back wall.

At the beginning of each month, the Moms of each center plan their activities. Right before they get down to business, I do a charla that covers all sorts of topics and is generally based on information they request, like nutrition, first aide, discipline... you get the idea.

This month the charla was about nutrition. While INFA gives a book about nutrition to each center, they don’t receive any kind of instruction about portions or how to ensure the kids are receiving a balanced diet. Usually during charlas I always try to make things interactive and exciting, so we played a food pyramid game where each table of received various foods and then were responsible for identifying their food group. Fats, dairy, proteins, fruits, veggies, and carbs never looked so exciting. The Moms definitely got into it and I was really impressed because one of the members of Corazon Sano was there and actually corrected all the random bits of food. I couldn’t believe how much she’d actually remembered from my other charla.

Afterward we played another game about portion sizes. Things actually got pretty crazy as the Mom’s were running around trying to collect the right food and portion. After the winners collected 6 pairs of portion and food, I gave them some delicious candy from the states. Whether it was for the candy or just to gain the knowledge I was incredibly happy with the participation and how things went. Hopefully I have such luck with the next charlas.

Food pyramid goodness.

Racing to get match portions and food.

Things got pretty intense at one point as one team tried to steal all the pairs.

I have been spending a lot of my time working with the INFA Centers which are basically nurse schools. Each month I visit all six different centers sometimes taking the milk truck and other times trekking and hour an half, I actually prefer the milk truck. Normally when I visit, I do an evaluation of the menu, the appearance and attitude of the kids, how the Mom interact with the children, and how the building itself looks. After doing a small report, I try to do an activity with the kids, whether it be about washing your hands, brushing your teeth, or even trying to play duck, duck, goose, which I translated to pato, pato, pollo, or duck, duck, chicken. For some reason the kids love it. Right now I am actually working with the parents of the children in the centers to decorate and do a little reorganization. Some are in better conditions than others, but almost all are lacking decorations, color, and just need some revamping. I’m hoping to have a friend come in and do some paitings on the walls, but if any of you have any decorations for little kids or even posters to put on the wall, PLEASE feel free to send them to Ecuador!

Anyway, the kids are adorable even though they can be a little rebellious at times. Here are some photos that I thought were really cute.

Example of one of the areas, hence why I am desperately seeking decorations and paint.

Josue wanting me to take pictures of his lost tooth.

Had to put this up, they´re just so cute!

Making little name cards with beans and rice at the CDI or Centro de Desarrollo Infantil in Pacto.

In emails or phone calls, I have probably mentioned Marilu, Armandi (her husband), and the little ones Naomi and Yeray. Basically, Marilu takes care of me when I’m sick, helps me navigate around the community, gives great advice, helps with my projects, and overall is an incredible friend. I can’t begin to thank her and her family for adopting me and always making sure I’m apart of family gatherings, even if that means I have to get up dance and embarrass myself from time to time.I can’t imagine what Pacto would be like without them and am so appreciative of all they do. So without further ado, here are the people that have taken me in and made a permanent seat at their dinner table for me. Marilu and Armando working out at the finca.

Little Yeray.

Naomi and Dora.

It is true, you really can’t die from boredom. Last week I managed to make it out of one of the hardest and most boring experiences of my life. The other week “se fue la luz” and “no hay paso todavia” became part of every conversation and was probably said over 1,000 times in the parroquia of Pacto (I may be exaggerating a little bit). Sadly, “se fue la luz” means the electricity went out and “no hay paso todavia” basically means that you are trapped and can’t get out of the mudslides. During this week of being miserable, I didn’t have electricity, cell phone signal, and couldn’t get out. Between my site and Quito which is about a 2 hour drive there had been 48 mudslides and the only other way out, the road to Santo Domingo, actually feel down the hill. I mean the road itself is completely gone, and now there is a giant hole which will take a minimum of 3 months to fix. So no electricity, water that came on and off, no cell phone signal, and not nearly enough books to keep me busy. While I sat moping around and feeling sorry for myself, I thought about all these conditions and suddenly realized that that is generally the day to day life of my other Peace Corps volunteer friends and the life I actually thought I would be living.So after realizing I was being a wimp, I got out of my bed and went around to all of the organizations in Pacto, literally all of them, asking if they needed help with paperwork, filing, stapling whatever. Unfortunately the rain had created quite the funk with everyone else in town and no one had anything for me. Basically the rain everyone made everyone stay in their houses and start their vacation for carnival early.Even the tienda ladies weren’t up for their daily dish of gossip. I have to admit it made me feel a lot better knowing that everyone in Pacto was depressed and not just me. While I would like to say I came up with an incredible solution for this boredom, I basically decorated every calendar I own, made up some new incredible new dance moves, thought too much about life, prepared a ton of workshops and sessions, did lots of crafting, lots of staring at the wall, bug killing brigades, and kept trying to remember that I better appreciate this because I am going to be crazy busy in a couple of weeks (well hopefully). So boredom didn’t kill me but I am certainly glad to done with all of that nonsense. Even though I know it won’t be last time, I now have a giant “Bored List” and all sorts of craft materials. So depending on what this last month of winter brings you guys might be receiving some pretty incredible crafts.

I have paired up with the subcentro de salud, or clinic, on a project called Corazon Sano, which basically means healthy heart. When I first arrived in Pacto I noticed that several people were sporting panzitos or large stomachs. After being here awhile, I have realized, personally, how this high carbs diet lacks nutrients and creates the unwanted llantas or rolls. So to help people lose weight, decrease obesity, and prevent anemia, diabetes and other common diseases in Pacto, we started this group encouraging people to have a balanced diet, exercise, and maintain healthy habits and of course a healthy heart. We meet each Wednesday and have a mini-workshop about nutrition, cholesterol, sodium, recipes or other exciting topics and afterward do some aerobics. Shockingly enough I am the instructor of the class. The class itself meets Wednesday to Saturday and each member is “encouraged” to come 2-3 times a week. Despite the entertainment of watching me attempt to teach aerobics, and in Spanish, attendance has been a little lacking lately, but considering that exercise is not part of everyday life for Pacteños I get pretty excited when two or three show up. Due to festivals and vacations we are taking a few weeks off, but will be back in action in April and with about 8 new members that have signed up. So while I never thought I’d ever be teaching aerobics, I actually really enjoy it. It’s just too bad I can’t post videos on here for all you guys to check it out.

The official group photo. They normally look a lot happier than this, promise.

Eating delicious carrot cake.

Apparently I am saying some funny here?

After about 4 months of being in your site, PC has Reconect where your whole group (that came here at the same time) gets together to discuss currents projects, present our diagnostics of the communtiy, and basically talk about how things are going in our sites. It was really great being able to see everyone again, especially to be able to hear that people were experiencing the same awkwardness and frustrations that I had felt over the past couple months. As far as work and workshops go, we had a couple of really great charlas about poverty,learned about environmental education and classroom management, something I definitely needed. Aside from indulging in my Mexican and Indian food cravings we got to go out a little bit and I was lucky enough to have Alea and Chris visit me right after. Being close to Quito is a pretty nice gig, especially considering they normally are 17 and 28 hours from me. Chris at the top of La Casada de la Peña about 20 miniute walk from my casa.

Apparently this is a flower that only the female tagua trees produce so Alea and I decided to take some photos.

Alea and Chris crossing the ¨bridge.¨

Casey and Darci, we are really happy to be together.

So I finally updated up until January. I sadly forget to bring pictures of the different events I’ve been working on and what not, but I have been doing some pretty exiting stuff, that you will have to check out. Be expecting a big update in the next two weeks. Thanks again for all the support and I will keep trying to get better at updating my blog and emailing! Besos, Sam

These are just some random photos I thought you all should check out.

Backs that aren’t just for babies and backpacks. (Thats a goat by the way.)

Spiders that are no joke. Found this lovely specimen in my house right before I killed it then went on a bug killing spree.

Realizing and enjoying the true beauty of a box spiral Mac n Cheese.

Peeping toms.

Frogs in bathrooms. This little guy was actually really cute.

Imitating your favorite dinosaur at a dinasuar, underwater, space, themed prom party Delicious fruits that look like fish eggs.

Neighbors torching pigs hoofs. Amphibious motos that can drive through water and on land.

Guinea pigs roasting on sticks.

After a wonderful visit from my Mom and Charlie I made my first trip out to the coast and met up with some other volunteers in Puerto Lopez. Basically here are a couple of the highlights of an amazing weekend. I didn´t learn to surf but I did set Barney on fire.

Some of the lovely ladies of Omnibus 100. We pretty much always look like this.

Attempting to take some sweet action shots on the beach. Not sure why this turned out so small.

For New Years Ecuadorians put together dolls or ´Años Viejos.` A lot of times they resemble people, politicians, or cartoons like Barney. These ones were super elaborate. They are all over the place and at midnight everyone puts all the things they’d like to leave in the old year inside the doll before lighting it on fire. It’s a little dangerous put super fun to watch especially as all the adults, kids, and teenagers all participate.

Also while this is going on men dress up as widows crying through the streets. It sounds pretty morbid but it’s actually pretty hilarious and generally the best widow wins an award or prize.

Alea, Darci, and Jess just relaxing and watching the sunset.

Here is our Barney Año Viejo. We each stuff him with bad things from the past year then torched him on the beach with all the other Ecuadorians at12:00 AM or at least what we assumed was midnight because no one seemed to have the same time.

Sadly Charlie left the trip a little early, but Mom and I headed to Santo Domingo to a Tsachila community where one of my friends lives. Sorry I don´t have a whole lot of descriptions here, but these are long overdue.

Found this little guy in a tree on our way out.

Mom playing some musical intruments. I think everybody was pretty impressed when she actually was able to play the beat of the music. Way to go Mom!

Mom getting busy with the loom. The women hand weave purses and scarfs with the loom. Although it would have taken us months to even finish one small scarf, generally it takes about a week or so a purse or skirt.

Dinner!

Attempting to make some verde and providing entertainment for everyone while trying.

Grubs... yum. Even though they look really gross they were actually pretty good! They are actually incredibly good for you and if you buy them in a market cost about $10 for half a pound.

Roberto explaining how the paint (which actually comes from a fruit) was believed to have protected the Tsachilas against yellow fever and other diseases. Although, there isn´t yellow fever anymore the Tsachilas continue to paint themselves in order to preserve their culture.

After a great time in Cotacachi, we headed to Pacto for the grand tour where my parents got to check out my hang outs.

Typical architecture of Pacto.

Door to get to my house….and I used to think I was a short person…..

PAAACCCTOO.

This is Bacha. She’s only there on the weekends but I basically stock up on all I can get and she generally gives me a new fruit to try, first because she is incredibly nice and because she wants to watch and see how I attempt to eat it.

After talking to Erin I decided it was probably more important to just get these pictures and blogs up rather than attempt to write something genius and entertaining. So basically here are the highlights of my Mom and Charlie’s visit.

We started off in Cotacachi, where we went on a “sustainable tour” where we were able to check out four indigenous communities that specialize in artesian goods and check out some shaman goodness.

My Mom looking incredibly confident as she is about to get cleansed by the Shaman. The women read her tarot cards, which were freakishly accurate and then used three different cleansing technique, liquor spitting, cuy shaking, and egg passing to cure her of all of the bad energy.

Attempting to play one of the artisanal flutes and failing miserably.

Here is the fam in front of Cuicocha, or lake of the Cuy (guinea pig). Unfortuntely it was pretty cloudy out, but its a gorgeous sight.

Here Mom is working hard crafting a paja rug. This takes an entire day to make (I think my Mom’s would have taken longer) and costs $2, crazy right?

As part of gettting the census ready in every community, we had to travel to and to the communities and to several that are near impossible to reach. A group of four of us went out one day to about 7 communities. We had just finished up about all of them and were headed to Santa Rosa where we came to a pretty good sized river. There was no bridge, and in fact several men were beginning to contruct one where my counterpart, Raffa decided we must past. Raffa asked one of the kids working on the contstruton to stand in the river to see just how deep the river was. The kid was decent sized even though it went up his waist they still decided they were going to pass. At this point I was convinced there was no way our car was going to cross that river and make it to the other side. Raffa and the other boys had other plans. After debating how to cover the exhaust for a good 5 minutes Raffa and Fercho decided to speed across the river as quickly as possible and make it to the otherside, in theory anyway.

Inevitably the car got stuck. One thing nice about the Machisto culture is that I was not expected to strip down and help push the vehicle out of the water. The other guy standing next to me was not so fortunate. So while all of them stripped down to their undies, I sat on the side of the bank playing with some random dog and taking pictures as to not get pulled into the whole fiasco. The guy I had been standing next too,had been hesitant about getting in the water and got yelled at several times to apurate (hurry up). Turns out he was sporting some fancy leopard man undies although I attempted to get a picture of him he kept dodging the camera and trying to stay out of site. After feeling the fury of his collegues for a bit, him and the rest of the men were able to push the car to the otherside, where shockingly it started running and was good as new.

In conclusion I learned an imporant lesson that day. Don’t under estimate the will power of Ecuadorians and their cars and always wear appropriate underwear cause you never know when you may need to get naked.

So here is a brief overview of what I was up to until December. I will hopefully be putting up the rest soon, but this is long over due! CENTROS. This is one of the nursery schools I work at. I work in about five different centros in the parroquia (county) of Pacto. The best part is the ways I get to these sites which often involve riding a milk truck at 6:30 AM, dump trucks, hitch hiking, or walking 2 ½ hours it takes to get there. I am trying to put together a manual for the Moms that work in the nursey schools because they don’t actually receive any kind of specific training or instruction manuals. As a result, I’ve been trying to pull together all sorts of resources so they can make better lesson plans, activities, and menus that way the kids are healthy and much more prepared for elementary school.

HIKING. This is a view over by the Macipacuna Reserve. I went with another volunteer and a couple of her friends. We were going through a bunch of old Incan tunnels in primary forest, which basically means it has never been cut down. When you enter the primary forest, it gets really humid and thick, which can be pretty cool if its not also raining and full of mud.. It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, especially because it took us 9 HOURS to get back and not to mention I slipped down the tunnels about 10 tens, no joke. It was worth it, just not sure I need to do it again, at least anytime soon. MEDICAL BRIGADES. Although my main counterpart is INNFA I also do a lot of work with the subcentro or clinic. The government has been making great strides about getting medical care out to the communities that are super isolated. The medical professionals make a trip to a community on a scheduled date about every 6-9 months and see all of the patients that need care. Its all paid by the government and each person can receive a dental check up, medical exam, or gyno check up. Generally during the brigades I take names, give charlas, or even act like a dental assistant mixing all sorts of pastes and goodies. I have to say that teeth cleaning supplies are universally untasty. I can only imagine how nasty the paste I made tasted to the poor souls objected to it. (sorry about the picture, for some reason I can´t get it to look normal. For full affect just turn your head to the left.)

RIVER. This is one of my favorite spots to visit when I have visitors or just need to break out for awhile. The rock that is to the left of Darci and I has all sorts of hieroglyphics on it left by the Yumbos about two thousands years ago. Its really hidden and incredible peaceful. Its sort of crazy how there are so many of this hidden treasures in Ecuador. I definitely try to take advantage of them when I can!

HALLOWEEN. For Halloween we all headed to El Chaco, where with the help of my friend Marilu from Pacto, I was able to display my Ninja Turtle Costume, Rafael of course. There was a white water rafting race going on at the time. I was feeling pretty adventurous but not so much to go on the boats so instead I floated down the rapids with some friends on a bunch of tubes. Although I as pretty content with my Turtle Costume I have to say Darci pretty much stole the show as a fully functioning dance machine. It of course included buttons that inspired dance moves like the Bill Cosby, fist pumping, and a heel toe snap move that remains unrivaled.

THANKSGIVING. For Thanksgiving, PC set us up with various diplomat families. Not only was my family incredibly sweet, but we were able to stuff ourselves sick with stuffing, green bean casserole, applie pie and other delicious treats. It was a pretty interesting combination of Marines and Peace Corps volunteers, needless to say the conversations were pretty funny to say the least. In traditional Thanksgiving style we all went out to bar afterwards where we essentially took control of the dance floor and belted out to quality American music, and by quality I do mean Britney Spears.

CENSO: From the results of my CAT TOOLS, my counterpart and I decided to propose to the junta (the leaders of this sector), that we do a census, seeing as no one knows or is exactly sure how many people live in the parroquia. While this census has numerous benefits, it consumed almost all of my time in the month of November. I helped design the census itself which in total ended up being 9 pages. It included information about health, migration, education, infrastructure, security, social issues, and economics. I was truly amazed at the support and efforts given by all the institutions within the area. For example, because each organization works in different communities (20 in total) they were responsible for letting the communities know when the students (which the high school provided) would be coming. The communities in turn offered to feed the students and the police and camioneta cooperative offered to provide the transportation. I think it really demonstrates something that I have learned about the Ecuadorian culture, and that is how supportive, helpful, and unified they can be. It was truly incredible to see it all come together. Here was is the break down of what all was down: Had a meeting with all community leaders, they spoke with the communties, we visited the communities to remind them the days we were coming, then we taught high school kids how to manage the surveys, then I put them in groups based on the communities where they lived, then we sent them out in the communities, and over about 5 Mondays we were able to get all of the results from all of the communities surrounding Pacto. Now that we have all the encuestas, we just have to tabulate the data, which I can imagine is going to be another month of hard work, but as they say “vale la pena”

PARASITES. Working with my counterpart organization, INFFA, I helped give a bunch of charlas (chats) to kids in the surrounding communities about hygiene and parasites and why its good to wash your hands, boil your water, and basically avoid getting parasites. This community is Guayabillas and is about an hour and a half “más adentro” or further out in the sticks from Pacto. Most kids and adults lack a lot of education about parasites mainly because they have lived with them all there life. After the charlas each kid is given a parasite killer pill to clear out their system. These are a couple of the adorable kids who after taking the picture told me pooped out lots of tallerin (spagetti) or more correctly worms. Nastyness. At least they were excited about it. Just a quick view of Pacto that got included while I was loading these up.

CAT TOOLS. As one of our requirements for Peace Corps we have to do a community analysis that includes health, education, infastrucutre and other themes. I got pretty lucky and was able to do all of mine at once at a meeting of over a hundred people. It was pretty shocking the number of people that weren’t able to read the surveys. I had somewhat anticipated that and had some helpers but that still wasn’t enough. I think it helped that the survey was anonymous because I ended up with some pretty interesting answers.

I feel like I am giving you all a virtual tour of my house here, but atleast you’ll be able to see where I live, not to mention all the handy work I did from the before and after pictures!

This is my room, orange and yellow walls.

This is where I my Martha Stewart side comes out.

This is the living room, please note the amazing llamas on the wall.

This would be the cock fighting ring I pass through to get to my house.

The outside of my house now, Charlie normally doesn't stand there all the time.

This was the outside of my house, before. Still doesn´t look that much different though.

The kitchen, pre hours of intense painting.

At this point I had some interesting ¨critters¨to kill, not to mention some intense cleaning.

Hey everyone!

I still haven’t gotten quite used to waking up yet and realizing I’m in Ecuador, but things are slowly starting to feel like home here thanks to my great host family and great peeps I’ve met. Even though I’ve only gotten one week of training out of the way, it feels like I’ve done so much in that short time period its pretty hard to know where to start.

Last week we went into the school and played some “matamoscas.” Its that cool fly swatter game you got to play in elementary school. We used some pretty sweet health vocab in the game and the kids totally got into it. This was most noted by the fact that members of the same team started punching each other for not slapping the word fast enough. All went really well after the fighting nonsense was over and we had a blast with all the little kids. I’m hoping this photo shows up but seeing as it is incredibly difficult to upload any photo of any kind here, you may not be able to see it.

So after the games and fun at the school, we continued our normal routine, eating entirely too much rice and potatoes and going to language class and tech training. Next week we are taking a little tech vacay, not sure where yet, but should be pretty exciting.

During the weekend I was able to get the full cultural experience taking in the fiestas of San Pedro. The fiestas here were definitely the highlight. For anyone who has the privilege of seeing my dancing skills would know this place was made for me. Basically I spent the entire night jumping up and down, tossing the hair, and kicking my legs in a circle. It may not sound like much but everyone was doing about the same thing to a remix of the same song for about two hours. The other night my house mom, Rita, took me up the street to a random room (slightly bigger than the 428 living room) where these guys were playing drums and flutes and everyone was just walking around them in a circle. Little did I know that I too would be spending the next few hours and the majority of the next day walking in the same circle for hours on end. In all seriousness it was really fun. Basically one person stands in the middle of the musicians or just the middle of the circle and hands out beer. Yes, I had to drink beer, yes it was horrible, and yes the cup was most definitely used, but it’s oddly a huge part of the cultural festivities and considered very discourteous to refuse. Today was the last day of the bailes (dances) so everyone came dressed to impress around 1:00 PM and literally danced until the early hours of the morning. Same circle, same dance, in the hot sun. It was really impressive. The vivid and bright colors of the clothes match the personalities of the people here. They were also so welcoming and wanted to make sure that me and all the other gringos were included in the festivities not to mention their great sense of humor and laughter that kept us wanting to dance around in a circle for hours.

Some other highlights from the week… I’ve learned how to carry a baby on my back. There are rarely any strollers in sight here and if there are its only in the big city. I told my house mom that I thought it was really neat so she taught me but said I need a little more practice and a real baby to practice on, so the search begins. On another note, apparently my cute dog has lots of cute fleas that somehow managed to eat up one of my legs but thankfully I was able to exterminate them fairly quickly with the exception of my one leg. The food here is phenomenal and I can’t get enough of the wide variety of fruits and juices unfortunately this often means upsets stomach which has been a pretty common thing around here. No serious problems yet which has been phenomenal!

Other than that and some odds and ends, that’s what going on around these parts. I’ll be sure to keep you guys posted and hope all is going well back in the states!

Hey Everyone!

I arrived yesterday at my site for training. It’s a small town called Cangahua which is north of Quito and MUCH HIGHER elevation. I think I´m sitting at about 3300 meters above sea level. So essentially the Michigan weather has decided to follow my every move and has found me here in these mountains as today it was only about 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Besides the weather I really can’t complain. My family is phenomenal. I have a brother that’s 22, and three sisters 21,17, and 10. My madre has helped me out a lot with the Spanish but unfortunately I somehow got involved in a long conversation about Native Americans in the U.S. and how they compare the the indigenas aqui. Im not exactly sure what all I said, but I seemed to hold own for a good majority of it. I still need a looot of work though.

I have two dogs, a cat, cuyes (guinea pigs), and turkeys that I am supposed to kick when they bite me because it is inevitable. I live down the street from burro, which I actually thought of you Mom when I first saw it. Apparently its pretty easy to get animals back to the states, so if your interested I think it is for sale.

Important things I have learned…Everyone calls you gringita (little gringo)Que Chevere (how cool) goes with everythingJust because you live on the equator does not mean you are going to be warmEcuadorians love rice and bananasI´m going to get a machete , which is sweeet.

Those are just a couple things for now though. I have a phone now and I guess it apparently only works some of the time but its 011-593-8- 4448269. You can still send letters to Quito and what not still and if you have a package make sure its less than 4 pounds.

My little sister just came to get me for dinner, but hopefully you are all doing well and I hope to get lots of emails out to you guys soon so keep a look out.

Que les pasen bien!

Sam

Will Smith was not kidding about this place. For the most part we've been treated like rockstars getting put up in a penthouse style Westin with a balcony and amazing bathrooms. They probably want us to get really clean considering from here on out we are going to probably going to lack a little freshness. I don't have a whole lot of time at the moment but just wanted to give you all a shout out before I left the states.

Staging went really well. I met a lot of amazing people here all having the same nervous/ excited feeling which was extremely comforting. I was pretty worried that everyone was going to be hardcore campers and outdoors people, which for all of you that know me, know I'm not all that nature savvy.

All and all staging went really well. We get into Ecuador around 6:00 PM today. I'll actually be on the same timezone as Michigan and the flight is surprisingly only four hours from Miami. Looks like I'll be in Quito for the next few days then onto Cayambe for training. Cayambe is a smaller town about an hour north of Quito. We will all be dispersed around the city, but I'll have about 5 other health volunteers in the area with me.

I'm pretty excited though. Our staging director lived in Ecuador for 16 years so he was able to give us the low down on guinea pig eating, jungle critters, and all the mosquitos, which apparently are waaaay more abundant in Michigan, except in Michigan they don't have malaria.

Sorry I haven't been able to call a lot of you guys, they've had us pretty busy the past couple days. They've had us insanley busy these past couple days.

Anyway, time to catch the bus..... guinea pigs here I come!

Hola a Todos!I’m hoping to figure out this blog thing pretty quick in order to keep you updated on the latest and greatest of my new life in Ecuador. I seriously can’t believe it’s already here! I would like to thank all of you for your support and encouragement throughout this entire process. To everyone that drove in for a quick visit, took me out for a night on the town or a favorite meal your kindness could not be forgotten. From the beginning stages to these past couple hours before leaving, your calls, cards, gifts, emails, and gestures have meant so much to me. You guys are the best!You all are the reason I’m able to do any of this. I promise the majority of these blogs will have a little bit more spunk and probably some sass, but I really want to thank everyone for all you have done. While I don’t know what these next couple years will bring, I do know there will be a lot of great stories, awkward exchanges, and interesting creepy crawly critters to talk about so be sure to stay tuned….

Besitos, Sam