9.6.10

Mo Money Mo Problems

For the next two years, I am here in Ecuador as a volunteer. Volunteer: somebody who works without being paid. Now, that’s not exactly the case with the Peace Corps. PC volunteers receive a monthly stipend to cover the cost of our housing, food and daily transportation that is based on the economic levels of the communities we’re placed in.

One thing I love about Ecuador is that I can buy fresh vegetables, meat, bread etc. that will last me all week for less than $20. On the other hand, things like appliances and large electronics seem outrageously expensive. I realized how quickly my views about money had changed when my sister came for a visit a few weeks ago. Now, my sister currently lives in Chicago and is probably accustomed to a slightly higher standard of living than Tena, Ecuador. I spent a lot of her visit apologizing for not having much money to spend and trying to budget what was left in my bank account here. My spending habits are a lot different here- I was concerned for my sister when I told her it would be easiest to take a cab from the bus station to the airport for her flight home because I knew it would be around $15. To me, that seems outrageous now. Let me explain why with a quick list of common items to give you an idea of what sort of money I’m spending regularly:

bananas 12 for $1

bus fare from my house to the office where I work .$20 each way

taxi to anywhere in Tena $1

2 lbs of tomatoes $. 70

1 golden retriever puppy $80

lunch at a restaurant $2.50

my rent each month $85

small, refrigerator (like for dorm rooms) $250

the latest Blockbuster on DVD $1

10 eggs $1

Last week I was doing some mental math while riding my bike to the office. (I don’t really enjoy arriving at the office covered in sweat after biking for 15 minutes in extreme heat, so I stared considering the costs of taking the bus): $.20 each way from my house to the office- once in the morning, once to arrive home for lunch, again back to the office for the afternoon and finally home for the evening= .$80 each day. $4.00 each week spent on bus fare could instead get me a nice dinner, almost 4 beers, 48 bananas! When I think of money in this way, I just can’t seem to justify giving up all those bananas when I have a transportation option that is free.

8.25.10

As I haven’t written here in a long time, an obvious topic to update you all on my life is: Michael Jackson.

We’re all aware that MJ has been dead for more than a year now, but it’s surprising how much a part of my life he is here. Let me tell you the ways the musical genius of Michael Jackson has helped me bridge cultural divides multiple times here.

In almost all my conversations with children 10 and under here in Ecuador, we arrive at Michael Jackson as a topic of discussion. They usually start this discussion with the question, “do you know Micheal Jackson?” I reply, “sure, of course I know his music, his videos but no, we weren’t friends. Yes, he did live in the United States, but very far away from me, on the other side of the country.” Of course they’re disappointed to hear this but we can continue discussing which videos are best, who’s friend can dance just like Michael Jackson or what song titles mean in Spanish.

I’ve recently become good friends with the 3 neighbor boys a few doors down from me. They’re 10, 7 and 5 years old and I let them come over to color and make crafts with me. The other day, a few drawings in, our conversation turned to Michael Jackson and our coloring session turned into a Michael Jackson video viewing session (I have a few DVDs of MJ’s videos, best $2.50 ever spent…). I like that Ecuadorians appreciate the Michael talent. And never in my discussions with kids do the weird things about MJ come up. More like: “my friend won a dancing competition, he can dance just like Michael!” or “how about that video where he turns into a puma, what’s that one?” Or ok, maybe a little weirdness: “when do you think MJ was better looking- when he was white or black?”

All of these discussions led me to the conclusion that Micheal Jackson is probably the most famous musician worldwide. Few kids here know about the Beatles or Elvis but Micheal’s legacy lives on and apart from his revolutionary dancing, and music we all continue to enjoy, thanks MJ, for helping me relate to Ecuadorians better and for bridging that cultural divide that stands in my way everyday here.

ps photos from the trip to Mindo with my sister.

7.28.10 Agua Fria

This week I moved into my very own apartment and for the first time in my life I’m living completely solo. It’s fun shopping for plates and towels and things but also expensive (ok, not relatively, but on a Peace Corps salary- yes expensive) and lots of work. But as I’m settling in at the new place, I realized some things I take for granted, and especially in the last few days- water.

At my host family’s house, they have hot water in the showers. There’s some sort of dangerous looking device with electrical wires that heats up the water and it allows for pleasant, warm showers anytime you want. At my new house, showers go something like this: I avoid them in the mornings when it’s cooler (Ecuadorians are firm believers that if you bathe in cold water when there’s also cool weather, you’ll get instantly sick), after working all day, biking, walking around and sweating, afternoons are the perfect time for showers. Lately though I’ve been busy up until night time so am forced to take a shower at night when it’s also cooler. This leads to dreading turning on the water, standing as far away from it as possible in the shower for a good few minutes, mentally preparing myself and finally just going for it while thinking a string of curse words and washing very quickly. BUT I figure this is all for the best, I am a natural resources conservation volunteer after all. Cold showers lead to short showers, (or heck, skipping showering altogether- the best form of water conservation) and my hair has never been softer or shinier!

Water is definitely on my mind more frequently here than in the U.S. Water outages are common in Tena for a day, half-day at a time so it’s important to have buckets always collecting rain water or reserve stocks of water for washing dishes, laundry etc. when the tap water is out. Lately every water source in my house gets me thinking, how can I collect this extra water that’s going down the drain? because I never know when I’m going to need it. Some communities here rely completely on rain water for their source of potable water. Rain collection tanks with simple filter systems are common and an excellent alternative to drinking water from contaminated sources. So why not seek out those extra buckets you have lying around, line them up under your rain spouts and wash your car or water your plants or start taking bucket baths, how practical! (my bucket is collecting the water dripping from my new sink as I write this…)

7.13.10
A Lesson on Ecuadorian Amor

Inspired by a conversation with a man about three times my age yesterday, here’s a little insight for you all about love here in Ecuador.

I find it interesting that there are varying degrees of “singleness” here. When Americans say “single” it means they’re single- no spouse, no boyfriend/girlfriend, nada. Here there are three main words to describe your relationship status: soltero which means unmarried, comprometido means engaged and casado means married. There’s no word for “taken” as we say; no word for “in a relationship.” I find this interesting, paired with the fact that there’s a lot of infidelity here in Ecuador. It seems to leave a lot of gray area for when you’re first meeting a potential love interest. If you’re not married or engaged, you’re not really committed yet, so no need to mention a boyfriend or girlfriend right? I can’t tell if people are joking or not when they say, “no importa” if you have a boyfriend or girlfriend or “no importa” that there’s a huge age difference between the pursuer and the pursued.

While there are good Ecuadorian men here, I receive a lot of warnings to be careful. Young men especially have the reputation for being womanizers and weekly I hear stories about “committed” men being seen with other women. (To be fair, I also hear stories about women doing the same). My whole time here, I’ve been surrounded and living with single mothers. I’ve heard plenty of sad stories about fathers abandoning their kids (again to be fair, some about women too) but these women are strong, generous, caring women for it.

During Peace Corps training, one whole day was devoted to seminars about inter-cultural relationships. We were told that friendships only are very rare between males and females. Unless you’re hanging out in a large group, it’s very rare that males and female (of the same age mas o menos) hang out together. I learned quickly that this is true. If a male friend from the U.S. invited me to hang out, go on a day trip or out to eat, I would think nothing of it, happens all the time. Here you’re committing to something more if you agree to that first meeting (especially if it’s dancing- you might as well start picking out some baby names). This was a tough adjustment for me and it’s hard to explain to Ecuadorians that it’s different in the U.S. between male and female friends, they don’t really understand. While I feel these cultural boundaries are a little limiting in who I can and can’t be friends with, my new amigas are great and I often find myself part of fun, inter-generational groups of people rather than the homogenous group of twenty-somethings I’m used to, which is a change it seems I have no other choice than to get used to.

7.7.10 Planes, Trains & Automobiles (but really just automobiles…)

Generally, I’m not a big fan of cars. And other than the occasional taxi, I’m glad that they’re not an everday part of my life but I want to share some observations about driving here in Ecuador.

In America, using your horn is usually reserved for serious infractions or the occasional friendly greeting. Here horns are used constantly. The most common uses are to say: get out of the way! Or hello amigo! But cabs also honk at people loitering to ask if they need a cab, cars hundreds of feet behind me while biking honk to say “there’s a car very far behind you, watch out.” Honking is also of course, used for pretty girls, to get dogs and chickens out of the road, to wave to kids or to signal the arrival of the water tank delivery truck.

I found it highly ironic that as Peace Corps volunteers we were given all kinds of vaccines and preventative medicines but I am only able to fasten a seatbelt when riding in cars about 1% of the time. They simply are not used. I have not seen one child car seat yet in this country either. Babies and little kids are held on laps (I think most love the front seat view) and I’ve witnessed multiple women nursing babies while riding in the back of pick up trucks. Now while illegal in the United States, most volunteers will readily admit that riding in the back of pickups is one of their favorite things here (mine too). The best seat is on the outside edge of the truck bed while going fast on the highway, hopefully you can try it sometime in your life, just watch out for bugs and small pebbles in the eyes.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that traffic signals and signs are really just more of a suggestion than the law. Speed limits are up to the drivers really and rolling stops at stop signs are just fine. No passing zones don’t really apply when you have a slow bus in front of you and here you can make left turns on red. Cars also definitely do not yield to pedestrians or bikers. Looking both ways before crossing is a must.

Despite all this, I don’t see traffic accidents everyday, or hear about them all that often on the news. Drivers here also talk on their cell phones much less frequently than Americans, and they don’t eat while driving or apply their lipstick and other than big cities, roads are generally much less crowded. I’ve become much more relaxed about the seemingly lack of safety concerns while traveling in automobiles but still, anyday I’d prefer my bike…

6.10.10 Bugs

As the insects here are a daily presence, I feel it’s time they deserve a blog entry.
First, the fruit flies are incredible here. They seem to be able to multiply within seconds. I can prepare a salad and in the time it takes to eat it, fruit flies seemingly have hatched, reproduced (maybe multiple times, probably have gone through a few generations even) and have covered the dirty cutting board. They seem to be everywhere there is a bit of moisture and never seem to leave. I have a cloud (ok very small cloud…) of fruit flies around my head as I brush my teeth in the bathroom and usually everytime I move a plate in the kitchen another cloud flies up.

The other constant inhabitants are ants. But the ants here are about half the size of the little ants you have crawling around your kitchen counters in the US. However, what they lack in size, they make up in numbers. Again, anywhere there’s a bit of moisture, or food of course, there is a line of ants marching. Their speed in seeking out a bit of something sweet that has spilled is impressive. They also always somehow find a way to crawl around my hands and arms even when I think I have had no contact with their marching line.

While these cohabitants are relatively benign, and are easy roommates to have, the mosquitos and biting flies are definitely not welcome. My host family recently forced me to put up my mosquito net around my bed, they thought I was really crazy for waiting so long to use it. We’ve taken pretty serious measures to control the mosquitos in the house nowadays- all the windows stay closed (not as stifling hot as you would imagine surprisingly) and bedroom doors are to be closed at all times too. The mosquitoes haven’t really been bothering me much, before the net there were one or two buzzing in my ears at night but nothing to drive me crazy. I realized last night, the only problem is if there’s one stuck in your net for the night…

The biting flies however are the worst by far. They’re tiny- about the size of fruit flies but completely vicious and relentless. Luckily, they’re really only a problem for me when I travel to remote villages in the jungle for my job (not very often). I learned the hard way the importance of wearing protective clothing last week. I went to a community meeting in shorts thinking it’s ok, I have my DEET bugspray. They seemed to be more attracted to the DEET…my legs look like I have some sort of horrible disease and the kids in this community thought it was pretty funny that I was being eaten alive. I’ve been told the longer I’m here the less the bugs will bite or maybe the more accustomed I’ll be to their venom. I look forward to that day.

I am often awed by the beauty and rarity of other insects here daily. One of my favorites is the Blue Morph butterfly. It’s a giant bright blue butterfly that I’ve seen a few times and everyone stops what they’re doing to point it out everytime (go look it up, but really more impressive in real life). Other impressive but not so beautiful nor pleasant insects include the spider that lives in the corner of my friend’s room that’s about the size of my palm. He says he doesn’t mind it, however because it eats the other insects flying around (perhaps he’s also a little afraid to remove it). The past few nights he’s also had giant cicada/moth-like insects enter through the window. They come in and make a whole lot of noise with their giant wings (I’m talking about the size of a sparrow) untll they settle near the light and wait to be removed. While they’re a big nuisance and cause angry awakenings in the middle of the night for my friend, it was great amusement for me to watch him catch them, throw them out the window and have them fly right back in seconds later.

My mother will be surprised to hear that I’ve changed my attitude a bit since living here surrounded by insects. It drove her crazy that I never killed the spiders living in my bathroom at home (we lived in peaceful harmony, there was no need to kill them unnecessarily) and I preferred to bat away mosquitos rather than kill them. But here I don’t have much of a problem turning on the shower even if there’s a small family of ants in it and smacking mosquitos. There’s definitely enough to go around here, a few won’t be missed.

6.2.10 Kids & Dogs

The kids here are great, the dogs here are not. Most of you who know me well would know I would normally think of that sentence in the reverse order; I’m not great with kids, dogs are the greatest things in the world. In this country I have developed (a valid) fear of dogs and cross the street whenever a unfamiliar one is closeby. But the kids here flock to me.
My goal by the time I leave my host family’s home is to know the names of all the kids on the street who greet me on my way home everyday. So far, I have about 3 out of 15 or so. One of my favorite things here is random conversations with curious kids, they usually go something like this: what’s your name? (which I repeat multiple times, Grace is difficult to pronounce here). Where are you from? How old are you? Do you have brothers and sisters? Then I usually explain what I’m doing here, where I’m living, how long I’ll be here etc. Then the more fun questions start: “do you know Michael Jackson?” (at first I thought sure, I know of Michael Jackson, he’s a world renowned musician, who doesn’t?) but they mean do I personally know Michael Jackson. I have to explain, no I didn’t know him, he lived very far from me, no, I never even saw him. The conversation usually continues from there with them asking me how to say lots of words in Spanish. It’s great, sometimes I learn some new words or else I leave feeling like I actually taught something or did something that I was able to actually do correctly (not a feeling I have often here…). The kids also love to ask about TV shows and movies and are greatly surprised to hear that we watch the same shows on the Disney channel as them. Although, I need to brush up on my American teen idols and Disney channel shows to really have better conversations with them.

I recently started running a few times a week here and it’s often that I have a whole entourage of kids join me. It’s great fun and at the beginning they would hold me to running appointments with them. They usually run in their flip flops (there’s one kid who never wears shoes at all) and show me good new routes in the neighborhood. I also feel better running with kids because they know how to handle the dogs around here.
Let me explain that the dogs here are not really at all like dogs in the U.S. They’re more wild animals than pets. Most roam the streets freely (I could probably count on one hand the number I’ve seen on leashes) and are not terribly friendly, although here in Tena, they’re much calmer than in more rural places. I have found a good running route and I say it’s good because there are no mean dogs who will chase me. During Peace Corps training however, we were taught the universal trick to ward off scary dogs- find a rock and only threaten to throw it, they’ve been hit enough times to know what will happen when you reach down to pick up a rock. I haven’t used this trick yet although I definitely should have one day when a pack of dogs made a nice bite hole in the bottom of my pants when running. Generally, so far, it works if I simply slow down or cross the street when a dog looks threatening.
I decided early on when I first moved here, it would be a sign that I’m integrating well when the dogs in my neighborhood don’t bark at me when I walk past at night. For the past few weeks, they sit calmly in the middle of the road when I walk past at night- integration complete.

5.17.10

The past week here in Tena I have been helping with an event put on by a non-partisan civil society from Quito. The event was a forum about communities’ rights in relation to petroleum companies. Oil extraction is a major industry in Ecuador and also a controversial issue here. Our organization mostly helped by handing out invitations to the event to important community leaders but this week I did a lot of reflecting on the differences between the U.S. and Ecuador regarding environmental issues. I learned a lot listening to many different Ecuadorians’ opinions on the issue of petroleum. As an American, I also can’t help but feel like a hypocrite as I’m listening to what Ecuadorians have to say about it. While I’m here to do work to benefit the environment, I’m completely aware that our American lifestyles back home are a huge part of the world’s environmental problems.
The region of El Oriente is very rich in petroleum and about a third of Ecuador’s petroleum is exported. Oil extraction does in fact bring money into a community and provides jobs but also comes with great risks. While a lot of communities benefit from this money, it’s not a long term, sustainable solution to poverty in rural communities. With oil extraction comes contaminated water, rivers, soil, deforestation and sickness. And after this, communities are left with nothing but a little bit of money to sustain them for a little while.
Ecuador is one of the world’s greatest biodiversity hotspots. Environmental protection is actually written into their constitution. I learned today that everyone has the right to “transparency and knowledge” regarding any environmental issues. This means they have to right to know about any oil production activity in their community- who’s doing it, for how long, what sort of damages it will bring, who will benefit etc. So while this information is by law available, the problem is that it is rarely communicated; roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined- including the role of the government. Information about risks and potential environmental damages are rarely conveyed before oil companies enter a region. And I think it’s highly unlikely oil companies would be willing to tell the whole truth about these things too.
A major difference here is that Ecuadorians are greatly aware of the importance of the natural resources they have. And most Ecuadorians I have met are highly in favor of protecting their biodiversity and natural resources. In America I think it’s much harder for people to make the connection that protecting natural resources now will ensure money and health for the future. Here, everyone I have talked to so far about my work or environmental issues agrees it’s important work- protecting forests, rivers, wildlife and other resources. The government program “Sociobosque” is a great example of that. Landowners who enroll in “Sociobosque” receive money to not cut down forest on their land for farming or development. This provides a steady (while small) income but opposed to one lump sum landowners could get from lumber, it’s definitely more sustainable.
Learning more about oil extraction here in Ecuador, puts environmental issues into a more obvious global perspective for me. While countries like the U.S. are creating much of the demand for oil and resources, communities here are the ones who pay for it in many ways.

5.10.10

After living in Latin America for 3 months, I think a good topic to write about is dancing. I have developed a theory that if you’re Latino, you can dance. And dance well. It has not been disproved yet. A common question I receive is “what do you like to dance?” At first, I didn’t know how to answer this question, my response was “what do you mean, as Americans, we just dance…anyway you want- move your feet a little, maybe clap once in a while...” Here they want to know, do you dance Salsa? Merengue? Reggaeton? During my time here, I’ve received a couple dance lessons in a formal setting but have learned a lot more by dancing at the discotecas with Latinos.
Here are some things I’ve learned:
If a Latino asks you to dance, you’re pretty much stuck dancing with him all night, choose wisely.
Latinos can move their hips in ways north Americans are physically incapable of.
Most North Americans insist they will only dance after some some social lubrication in their system aka alcohol. Here, alcohol is unnecessary for good dance moves. Even the people who say they can’t dance well, really can according to North American standards.
If you need to escape from the Latino who first asked you to dance, a perfect escape route is to say you have to go to the bathroom and never return, they’ll move on quickly.
You’re much luckier to be a girl when going to the discotecas- they rarely have to pay the entrance fee nor do they get frisked at the door.
There is a very wide range of levels of dancing here. From what I’ve seen it can be generalized by region: in the Sierras, I think the people are more serious. The dancing I witnessed there was a simple 2 step shuffle. Occasionally the party breaks into everyone moving in a big circle of shuffling dancing. In El Oriente, dancing is mostly done in pairs to Salsa or Reggaeton music at clubs. It’s generally socially unacceptable to dance solo especially if you’re a girl. Also no matter where you go in Ecuador, no eye contact is necessary when dancing with a partner. Also the noise level of the music is not going to allow for any sort of normal conversation. I feel like it’s necessary here to give whoever I’m dancing with a warning beforehand that I’m not a very good dancer. I don’t want them to be appalled. Recently I had a few different people tell me while I was dancing that it’s a good thing I’ll have plenty of time here to learn how to dance. While I took some offense to these statements, they are right, my white girl dance moves don’t compare at all to Latino standards.

5.3.10

As I’m settling in here in Tena, I want to give all you readers an idea of what it’s like here. Tena is a city of 22,000 people in ‘el Oriente’ region of Ecuador. It’s in the Napo province and the next largest city is Puyo, about 2 hours south. I’ve been here permanently for about a week now and everything is going pretty well.

I will live with a host family for the first 3 months and can then look for a place of my own if I want. My host family is really great here, I’ve been very lucky that I’ve had 2 great families to live with in Ecuador so far. Now I live with a woman and her 11 year old daughter who are happy to have me and excited to learn how to make things like lasagna and good salads from me. The 11 year old likes to talk a lot (she especially loves to tell me all about plot lines of horror movies). My host mother is very patient with my Spanish and has made me feel very much at home in her house. She also has a lot of good advice like which men to stay away from in town, and has introduced me to a lot of her nice friends.

I’ve been going to the office on weekdays but am feeling a little lost about what sort of work I should be doing (it appears this is a common theme among my other Peace Corps colleagues as well). I know there is a lot of investigation to be done into the environmental education curriculum here and a lot of potential work to do. Right now, i feel like my lack of spanish skills are holding me back from being able to do meaningful work but i’m supposed to be solely “integrating” these first few months anyway.

My leisure time here usually consists of reading, writing e-mails (I should do more of that though…), cooking and eating with my family, sitting around and talking to people or watching telenovelas. Life here is very tranquilo.

I’m happy to have a regular schedule now and have come up with a good way to respond to e-mails. So please keep them coming! Sending love from Ecuador to you all. 

Due to a lack of updates, I now have much to write about-- read on if you have a lot of time.

All us trainees are now together in Quito for one final week. We’ll be sworn in as real Peace Corps volunteers at the end of this week and then will move to our final sites.

Since my last update, we have left our first host families and have been living out of suitcases for a few weeks. I was sad to leave my family of very generous women I lived with in Puruhantag. My last few days there were during Semana Santa (the holy week leading up to Easter) and during my free days my host family included me in the holiday festivities. One day we made fanesca- a traditional soup Ecuadorians eat for Easter, which includes 12 grains and dried fish. It usually takes all day to prepare (with many peoples’ help) my host mother also took me to see las banderas (dancing with flags, see photo), and on a quick tour of the rose nursery where she works. They were a great family to spend 2 months with- great guides, patient with my Spanish and the two toddlers provided a lot of entertainment and were even good playmates.

After leaving our host families we spent the next 2 weeks on technical training trips split up by program and regions where we’ll be living. Highlights of the trip were days spent in Cuenca, which feels like a very European city. Here we had a lot of good meals, ran a 15km race through the city (which I definitely should have trained more for…) Another fun day was spent hiking in Cajas National Park- a paramo (Ecuadorian grassland) ecosystem. From Cuenca, 7 of us who will be living in el Oriente went to Macas where we spent a fun day hiking through dense jungle and learning about GPS, gave a “charla” (a lesson) at a school with the 7^th graders, saw a presentation of traditional dancing and spent a lot of time eating ice cream.

This week in Quito we had a free day on Sunday so we walked around the historic district and saw beautiful churches. The rest of the week we have full days of interviews, and other logistical presentations. Thursday is swearing in day and Friday we’re off to our lives for the next 2 years!

I am nearing the end of my site visit in Tena. Saturday I´ll be traveling back to Cayambe for a week more. I already love Tena and may never need to leave. It´s been super hot here but other than that I have no complaints. The people here seem to be always happy and very friendly, I feel totally safe and it´s small enough that a bike will be perfect transportation. There are two beautiful rivers in town, lots of nice places to eat outside (this is important) and sections of jungle here and there. This week I´ve been doing a lot of observing of the work at the organization I´ll be working with: The Amazon Partnerships Foundation/Tarpuna Causay. My work will be pretty unique in that I´ll be living in a city but will be traveling to remote Kichwa communities often. This week I got a small preview of life in these kind of communities. Here´s a brief description of The Amazon Partnerships Foundation: They aim to both preserve the environment and Kichwa culture by giving funds to community projects that uphold these ideals. However, these projects are unique in that the actual community decides what kinds of projects they need or want rather than the Foundation organizing and managing them. Some examples are water collection/purification tanks, dry composting toilets and reforestion. Other than getting the word out about their organization, the Foundation has a relatively hands off approach to ensure that projects are responsibly upheld and that they´re actually necessary and desired.

In other news, here´s a quick synopsis about what it´s like to be a ¨gringa¨in Tena. Even though Tena is known to be a touristy city, I definitely stand out as a foreigner and get a lot of stares on the street. I´ve found conversations with strangers in Ecuador are all pretty similar; they usually go like this: 1) Where are you from? 2) What are you doing in Ecuador?/how long have you been here?/do you like Ecuador? 3) How old are you? 4) Are you married? (here´s where they would ask for my phone number if applicable) 5) how many siblings do you have?
So far this repetitive conversation hasn´t gotten tiring yet and I´ve found people are naturally curious about gringos in their towns. All are very welcoming of Americans too. I have talked to a few older men who have told me, after I say I´m from Wisconsin that they too have traveled there. I find this hard to believe but I go along with it.

Ok here´s some exciting news from today:
We found out our final site placements and jobs this morning. I´ll be living in el Oriente region in a city called Tena. It´s on the edge of el Oriente and according to some info. from my brother "a portal city" into el Oriente. I´ll be working with an organization that is working on spreading awareness about global warming to a lot of indigineous Quichua communities. I still don´t know a whole lot about the specific job description and know little about Tena (I do know it´s a town of about 22,000 people and is known to be kind of touristy). Ecuadorians have said good things about it so far though. I´m very happy with my site and job placement and am excited to travel to see some really cool birds.

Here´s what we have planned for the rest of our training:
On Sunday we´re all traveling to our sites for a week solo there. We´ll be meeting or staying with our "counterparts" (the person or organization we´re assigned to work with) and will be gathering some information about the community. After that we have another week with our current host families and then leave for about 2 weeks of technical training in our regions with other volunteers who will be nearby. For the first 3 months at our site after moving there, we will live with a host family and then will find our own housing for the rest of our service.

It was an exciting day here in Cayambe. Tomorrow we have another fun day with our host family appreciation party, complete with 2 roast pigs!

A quick blog update for everyone:
Next Friday we´ll find out our final living sites! Things are happening quickly as we´ll have one week with our host families, a week long visit to our sites, regional technical training and then moving into our sites (about a month from now).
Yesterday we had a day of fun including a futbol tournament, a picnic with current volunteers in Ecuador and a Miss Deportista pageant. The futbol tournament was between community groups and our group of all volunteers had some pretty cool uniforms with skorts and lots of pink. Even though we lost in our first game, it was pretty fun. Our representative in the Miss Deportista pageant won the Miss Simpatica sash also; a pretty good showing from the girls of Puruhantag.
It´s been wonderful to be able to talk to family and friends from home this week (thanks to new cell phones from the Peace Corps! and the magic of Skype). Here´s a good topic of conversation people are asking about: food here.
The food has been pretty normal here so far. I eat a lot of chicken and rice (often with other carbohydrates like potatoes and pasta too). Most meals start with a soup of potatoes or pasta followed by a main meal of meat, vegetables and rice. I´ve eaten a lot of delicous avacadoes recently and really good fruit juice. I love that new, exotic fruits and fresh vegetables are very cheap and easy to get here all year round. I have tried some of the typical Ecuadorian foods like empanadas and humitas but have yet to try cuye (guinea pig) or the friend intestines that are sold on the corners in our town. My host family has had a lot of American volunteers stay with them before so they know that I probably won´t want to eat tons of rice nor chicken feet in my soup. My host mother makes me delicious tea from plants in the garden and I have been throughly been enjoying the Ecuadorian ice cream daily.

I can´t wait to tell you all about my site when I learn where it is. Until then, please keep the updates from home coming. I love seeing a full inbox of e-mails!

Hello everyone!
I´m having a relaxing Sunday here in Purhuantag today so thought I would come write an update. The plans for the day are: cooking lunch for the family, washing my clothes (by hand) and doing some spanish work, maybe a nice walk to explore the city and hopefully receiving some phone calls.
We just got back from a cultural trip to a little town called Salinas de Ibarra, which is mostly a community of Afroecuadorians. We learned about their heritage of mining salt (although now sugarcane and tourism are the major sources of livlihood for them), some community projects they have going like recycling paper and a women´s sewing group and a composting project. I also played in my first Ecuadorian futbol game (soccer for all you Americans).
Salinas is in the northern part of Ecuador, we took a beautiful slow train ride through the countryside to get there. It was hot and there were a lot of mosquitos but all the people were very friendly. We stayed with a host family for the night who fed us more good meals of chicken and rice (for dinner and breakfast). All that was missing from the city was a nice beach or a pool to swim in. Their plan in developing a tourism industry is to hold on to their Afroecuadorian heritage- something that not many people know about including the citizens of Salinas.
Now we´re back at our host families again and have more Spanish everyday. Thursdays we meet up will all the other trainees for security, health and technical training in a town called Ayorra. In a couple weeks we´ll have our first site visit, which means we´ll spend a few days in the community where we´ll be living for the next 2 years. Exciting things in the next few weeks!
Ok I´m off to the market to buy things for lunch!

Welcome to my new blog about my Peace Corps adventure in Ecuador. Only a few days until departure now- early Wednesday morning. Other new volunteers and I will have one day of "staging" in D.C. and then we're off to Ecuador! We'll have an arrival event at the Peace Corps office in Quito for a few days and then the rest of pre-service training will be in Cayambe for about two months.
I'll try to write as much as I can about where I am and what I'm doing. Please send me updates about your lives also!