30/3/2008
Cuenca!!!!!!
Hello to all!
We are half way through our two weeks of techinical training and we thought we should send out a quick saludo...
Hola.
We have lots of pictures to share with you all, but we will not be able to post them for another week or so as we are away from our home computer (and camera cord). As such you will just have to form a mental picture (for now) and then compare that to the pics we post sometime within the next 7-10 days. For now, here is a quick summary as to what we have been up to since we left La Esperanza one week ago....
-bus ride down the western slope of the Andes to an educational farm/conference center(that resembled a tropical resort more than an educational center) located in the coastal/transitional region of the country.
-lots of sweating and scratching (it was hot, humid, and at times buggy)
-lots of bird watching
-classes on all sorts of things natural resource and agriculture related
-river swimming
-soccer playing
-playing Carcuson (a totally addictive game, that I´m not sure how to spell correctly, that someone should send us the home edition because as stated we are totally addicted...I guess that´s our first please send us line...but you can wait until we send you our new mailing address...)
-a day long hike in a nearby cloud forest (Maquipukuna Reserve) during which we were forunate enough to spot an endangered Andean Spectacled Bear (and also a ridiculous number of hummingbirds)
-a talent show (which was hilarious!)
- mary learned lot´s of ways to use the imperfect subjunctive while mike had a cold beer
-a tour of an organic chocolate proccessing plant(including free chocolate!!)
-awesome ceviche at a street vendor´s booth, don´t worry we were there with three other volunteers who have been in country for over two years and they all swear by it.
-a four hour bus ride back up into the Andes (Quito) followed by a ten hour bus ride to Cuenca that had an additional 2 hours added onto it due to a landslide that blocked the road...several miles ahead from where we were stopped...it was a good oppurtunity for a nap as it was from 4am-6am.
...and now we are finally in Cuenca. Everyone who reads this should try to come and visit us sometime during the next two years. The climate is perfect, the city is beautiful, the people are friendly, the food is delicious, and we will be living 16km outside of the city! This afternoon we will be taking a bus to Sayausi to walk around our site for the first time!
Check our last post to see the itinerary as to what we will be up to this week.
Happy Spring to all!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Good Friday and the Equinox celebration
March 22, 2008
11:23 AM
Tabacundo
Internet Cafe
Since we are leaving for two weeks later this afternoon we figured we should post the rest of the photos that we had taken yesterday before we left.
So, in this post we have pictures of Good Friday. There were tons of people walking the stations of the cross during the day in Tabacundo. The stations were set up all around town and there was a procession of at least a thousand people led by the priest with a megaphone. It was quite an impressive sight.
During the day we went to a Kichwa festival but arrived early so we went on a hike to nearby waterfalls and then returned to the festival and ate some super yummy empanadas.
We have pictures of the traditional soup (fanesca)that everybody eats during Semana Santa, we described it in the last post if you want more details. We also ate delicious homemade humitas (there were sweet and salty varieties), which are really tamales if you´re more familiar with Mexican food. The humitas and fanesca were cooked in a super old lena (firewood) stove that they have, I think it made everything taste even more delicious. Check out the ´modern´ equipment used to grind everything up.
Finally, we have pictures of events in La Esperanza. First, there are pictures of the altar which yesterday was covered in branches but today will be replaced by thousands of white roses (we won´t have pictures of that). Then we have pictures of the procession after the final mass of the day yesterday (there was a total of 5 hours of mass). The people dressed in purple with hoods are called Cucuruchus. We were told their main jobs were to poke people with sticks if they are sleeping during mass and to carry the cross after the mass. I could´ve used them when we were teaching :)
That pretty much sums up Good Friday. Hope you enjoy!
Below is a brief overview of where we will be the remainder of training:
Saturday March 22 - Sunday March 30: Puerto Quito
Monday March 31 - Saturday April 5: Cuenca, Canar, and Rio Bamba
Sunday April 6 - Sunday April 13: La Esperanza
Monday April 14 - Friday April 18: Quito
Of course these may change a little and some days are spent traveling on a bus so we´ll really be in between places but that´s the general idea!
For more details, check out the post we put up yesterday titled ¨Semana Santa¨
Love to you all and Happy Easter, tomorrow.
11:23 AM
Tabacundo
Internet Cafe
Since we are leaving for two weeks later this afternoon we figured we should post the rest of the photos that we had taken yesterday before we left.
So, in this post we have pictures of Good Friday. There were tons of people walking the stations of the cross during the day in Tabacundo. The stations were set up all around town and there was a procession of at least a thousand people led by the priest with a megaphone. It was quite an impressive sight.
During the day we went to a Kichwa festival but arrived early so we went on a hike to nearby waterfalls and then returned to the festival and ate some super yummy empanadas.
We have pictures of the traditional soup (fanesca)that everybody eats during Semana Santa, we described it in the last post if you want more details. We also ate delicious homemade humitas (there were sweet and salty varieties), which are really tamales if you´re more familiar with Mexican food. The humitas and fanesca were cooked in a super old lena (firewood) stove that they have, I think it made everything taste even more delicious. Check out the ´modern´ equipment used to grind everything up.
Finally, we have pictures of events in La Esperanza. First, there are pictures of the altar which yesterday was covered in branches but today will be replaced by thousands of white roses (we won´t have pictures of that). Then we have pictures of the procession after the final mass of the day yesterday (there was a total of 5 hours of mass). The people dressed in purple with hoods are called Cucuruchus. We were told their main jobs were to poke people with sticks if they are sleeping during mass and to carry the cross after the mass. I could´ve used them when we were teaching :)
That pretty much sums up Good Friday. Hope you enjoy!
Below is a brief overview of where we will be the remainder of training:
Saturday March 22 - Sunday March 30: Puerto Quito
Monday March 31 - Saturday April 5: Cuenca, Canar, and Rio Bamba
Sunday April 6 - Sunday April 13: La Esperanza
Monday April 14 - Friday April 18: Quito
Of course these may change a little and some days are spent traveling on a bus so we´ll really be in between places but that´s the general idea!
For more details, check out the post we put up yesterday titled ¨Semana Santa¨
Love to you all and Happy Easter, tomorrow.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Semana Santa
March 20, 2008
3:00 PM (Ecuador Standard Time)
La Esperanza
Our Room
This Saturday we are finally departing from La Esperanza for two weeks of technical training. We will leave early Saturday afternoon for Puerto Quito, a small town four hours northwest of Quito. We are going to spend a week there with our entire group of aspirantes learning about conflict resolution, organizational behavior (hopefully I’ve already picked up some secondhand knowledge on this via being raised by two doctors of organizational behavior, afterwards we’ll compare notes), farming, natural resource conservation (including a visit to a cloud forest), and of course more spanish and kichwa.
After a week in Puerto Quito we’re going to split up into five different groups to begin a week of region specific training. Our group (6 of us from Natural Resources) will be heading to the southern Sierra area. It looks like we will be spending a few days in Cuenca and Parque Nacional Cajas (hopefully we will be able to stop in Sayausi and see our future home), followed by a visit to an alpaca farm, and then some time learning how to grow organic quinoa in the sierra (near Riobamba). Once our week of regional specific training is complete we will return to La Esperanza for one final week with Dona Fabiola and the kids and then it’s off to Quito for our final week of training and a swearing in ceremony at the ambassador’s house. Then of course we are off to our sites for a short 24 months.
As for the past week, we’ve done and seen a few interesting things because this week is Semana Santa, and in Ecuador Semana Santa is a major league holiday. On Palm Sunday there was a feria in La Esperanza that people from all over came to visit. A burro led a procession into the church carrying a statue of Jesus, everyone was carrying tons of rosemary (which we were told is saved for the year to come for “emergencies”…we don’t really know what that means either) and laurel with palm (the town smelled great), offerings of squash and eggs were made during the Sunday service, guinea pigs were roasted, we tried a strange fermented drink and a traditional soup with about 12 grains, 8 types of beans, hard boiled egg, and cheese, and Mike showed our family how to make crosses from the palm (which we hear is going extinct from overuse). On a somewhat unrelated note, there are flower plantations everywhere so we’ve included a few pictures of them, they look like big white tents and they are the reason why roses (in some places) and carnations are so cheap in Los Estados Unidos.
Tuesday we went on a beautiful hike around Lake Cuicocha (a volcanic crater), which coincidentally we had visited the last time we were in Ecuador (during which Mike’s horse bit Mary on the knee). The hike took about five hours and it only rained for the last fifteen minutes, so it was a pretty great day. On the bus ride home from the hike we saw two unique events and ate three really tasty emapanadas. Event one was that la gente de Tabacundo were sacando el alcalde (kicking out the mayor because he was “mala gente” a.k.a. a bad person and the people had had enough). Event two was the townspeople of La Esperanza were walking the stations of the cross with a megaphone around the community, through the Parque Central, and to the church (they did all 14 stations Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday sometimes walking over an hour and half).
Wednesday we had class, and today I made pizza with my Spanish class while Mike went to the market in Cayambe to practice speaking Kichwa with the vendadoras (sellers in the market)…don’t worry Mike was back in time to have the incredibly delicious pizza and nudos de ajo (garlic knots). At the church in La Esperanza 12 apostles were selected from the crowd and had their feet washed for them.
Tomorrow we are thinking about going to a Kichwa festival in the foothills of Cayambe called Mushuk Nina (New Fire) which is essentially a celebration of the solstice with “only a little distortion and imposition from Catholicism” (direct quote from the flier about the festival). There is also another procession in La Esperanza por la evening followed by a three hour mass but we’ll probably be packing our bags during that time.
Then, we’re off for our two-week trip, assuming there are no more weather problems. As always we will let you know if plans change, so don’t worry!
We hope everyone one has a Feliz Pascua…and don’t forget to eat lots of googala, chocolate bunnies, Easter salad, and Cadbury cream eggs for us!
P.S. We are not actually in Bayville, we posted a few pictures from last Easter just for fun and to demonstrate how quickly a year passes…Enjoy!
Also, the church bells have been ringing for the last five minutes…. sounds like yet another Semana Santa mass is about to begin.
3:00 PM (Ecuador Standard Time)
La Esperanza
Our Room
This Saturday we are finally departing from La Esperanza for two weeks of technical training. We will leave early Saturday afternoon for Puerto Quito, a small town four hours northwest of Quito. We are going to spend a week there with our entire group of aspirantes learning about conflict resolution, organizational behavior (hopefully I’ve already picked up some secondhand knowledge on this via being raised by two doctors of organizational behavior, afterwards we’ll compare notes), farming, natural resource conservation (including a visit to a cloud forest), and of course more spanish and kichwa.
After a week in Puerto Quito we’re going to split up into five different groups to begin a week of region specific training. Our group (6 of us from Natural Resources) will be heading to the southern Sierra area. It looks like we will be spending a few days in Cuenca and Parque Nacional Cajas (hopefully we will be able to stop in Sayausi and see our future home), followed by a visit to an alpaca farm, and then some time learning how to grow organic quinoa in the sierra (near Riobamba). Once our week of regional specific training is complete we will return to La Esperanza for one final week with Dona Fabiola and the kids and then it’s off to Quito for our final week of training and a swearing in ceremony at the ambassador’s house. Then of course we are off to our sites for a short 24 months.
As for the past week, we’ve done and seen a few interesting things because this week is Semana Santa, and in Ecuador Semana Santa is a major league holiday. On Palm Sunday there was a feria in La Esperanza that people from all over came to visit. A burro led a procession into the church carrying a statue of Jesus, everyone was carrying tons of rosemary (which we were told is saved for the year to come for “emergencies”…we don’t really know what that means either) and laurel with palm (the town smelled great), offerings of squash and eggs were made during the Sunday service, guinea pigs were roasted, we tried a strange fermented drink and a traditional soup with about 12 grains, 8 types of beans, hard boiled egg, and cheese, and Mike showed our family how to make crosses from the palm (which we hear is going extinct from overuse). On a somewhat unrelated note, there are flower plantations everywhere so we’ve included a few pictures of them, they look like big white tents and they are the reason why roses (in some places) and carnations are so cheap in Los Estados Unidos.
Tuesday we went on a beautiful hike around Lake Cuicocha (a volcanic crater), which coincidentally we had visited the last time we were in Ecuador (during which Mike’s horse bit Mary on the knee). The hike took about five hours and it only rained for the last fifteen minutes, so it was a pretty great day. On the bus ride home from the hike we saw two unique events and ate three really tasty emapanadas. Event one was that la gente de Tabacundo were sacando el alcalde (kicking out the mayor because he was “mala gente” a.k.a. a bad person and the people had had enough). Event two was the townspeople of La Esperanza were walking the stations of the cross with a megaphone around the community, through the Parque Central, and to the church (they did all 14 stations Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday sometimes walking over an hour and half).
Wednesday we had class, and today I made pizza with my Spanish class while Mike went to the market in Cayambe to practice speaking Kichwa with the vendadoras (sellers in the market)…don’t worry Mike was back in time to have the incredibly delicious pizza and nudos de ajo (garlic knots). At the church in La Esperanza 12 apostles were selected from the crowd and had their feet washed for them.
Tomorrow we are thinking about going to a Kichwa festival in the foothills of Cayambe called Mushuk Nina (New Fire) which is essentially a celebration of the solstice with “only a little distortion and imposition from Catholicism” (direct quote from the flier about the festival). There is also another procession in La Esperanza por la evening followed by a three hour mass but we’ll probably be packing our bags during that time.
Then, we’re off for our two-week trip, assuming there are no more weather problems. As always we will let you know if plans change, so don’t worry!
We hope everyone one has a Feliz Pascua…and don’t forget to eat lots of googala, chocolate bunnies, Easter salad, and Cadbury cream eggs for us!
P.S. We are not actually in Bayville, we posted a few pictures from last Easter just for fun and to demonstrate how quickly a year passes…Enjoy!
Also, the church bells have been ringing for the last five minutes…. sounds like yet another Semana Santa mass is about to begin.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Pescado Entero
March 15, 2008
2:41 PM
In our room
The big news for this week is that we will still be in La Esperanza next week. For those of you who have been following this blog closely know, we were supposed to leave for our site on Sunday for a week. However, because of the all the rain, flooding, and subsequent mudslides the Peace Corps thought it best that we remain where we are. So here we stay for another week to enjoy Semana Santa with our family here.
We are still tentatively going to be traveling the following two weeks but don’t be surprised if those plans change as well. We’ll let you know as soon as we do.
This past week we had language interviews again, I moved up a level and Mike didn’t…he also didn’t take the interview because his Spanish is already so good, but I’d rather focus on how great I am
I also gave an environmental education lesson at a school in town with a group of two other aspirantes. I’d say it went OK all things considered but certainly had room for improvement seeing as how we thought we were going to be teaching a class of ten year olds and they turned out to be four year olds. Needless to say they were a little young for what we had planned. But on a positive note we gave an entire lesson in Spanish and that’s still something.
We also received mail this week, from Mike’s grandma, which was very exciting. And our family absolutely adored the cards and little toy that she sent along for them (check out the photos of Christmas morning-like joy on Santiago’s face. Direct quote: La abuelita de Miguel me quiere mucho porque me ha mandado un jugete tan lindo. To which Dona Fabiola replied: Ahora tienes tres abuelas). A little Spanish homework for all you loyal subscribers.
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and word on the street is that a burro with a statue of some sort attached to it is going to lead a procession through town ending by entering the church. During this procession all of the towns people carry palms and rosemary. However, we’ve been told that there might not be as much rosemary as usual because here people burn rosemary to keep rains away…and what with the floods and all people are burning a lot of rosemary.
So all in all it was a great week (pescado entero is delicious!) and we are looking forward to more great weeks to come. Oh, and it just started to hail like crazy here!
Happy Semana Santa to all, eat lots of chocolate bunnies for us!
(grandma, thank you for explaining how to look at the slideshow in spanish (see the comments section from last week´s post). We´re very proud of your technical skills.)
oh...based on the counter at the bottom of this page it looks like lots of you are looking at our blog which is great, however only a couple of you are leaving comments. We would love to hear from you all, even if it is only to say a quick hello. Try it out. Not only is is really easy, it is also kind of fun.
2:41 PM
In our room
The big news for this week is that we will still be in La Esperanza next week. For those of you who have been following this blog closely know, we were supposed to leave for our site on Sunday for a week. However, because of the all the rain, flooding, and subsequent mudslides the Peace Corps thought it best that we remain where we are. So here we stay for another week to enjoy Semana Santa with our family here.
We are still tentatively going to be traveling the following two weeks but don’t be surprised if those plans change as well. We’ll let you know as soon as we do.
This past week we had language interviews again, I moved up a level and Mike didn’t…he also didn’t take the interview because his Spanish is already so good, but I’d rather focus on how great I am
I also gave an environmental education lesson at a school in town with a group of two other aspirantes. I’d say it went OK all things considered but certainly had room for improvement seeing as how we thought we were going to be teaching a class of ten year olds and they turned out to be four year olds. Needless to say they were a little young for what we had planned. But on a positive note we gave an entire lesson in Spanish and that’s still something.
We also received mail this week, from Mike’s grandma, which was very exciting. And our family absolutely adored the cards and little toy that she sent along for them (check out the photos of Christmas morning-like joy on Santiago’s face. Direct quote: La abuelita de Miguel me quiere mucho porque me ha mandado un jugete tan lindo. To which Dona Fabiola replied: Ahora tienes tres abuelas). A little Spanish homework for all you loyal subscribers.
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and word on the street is that a burro with a statue of some sort attached to it is going to lead a procession through town ending by entering the church. During this procession all of the towns people carry palms and rosemary. However, we’ve been told that there might not be as much rosemary as usual because here people burn rosemary to keep rains away…and what with the floods and all people are burning a lot of rosemary.
So all in all it was a great week (pescado entero is delicious!) and we are looking forward to more great weeks to come. Oh, and it just started to hail like crazy here!
Happy Semana Santa to all, eat lots of chocolate bunnies for us!
(grandma, thank you for explaining how to look at the slideshow in spanish (see the comments section from last week´s post). We´re very proud of your technical skills.)
oh...based on the counter at the bottom of this page it looks like lots of you are looking at our blog which is great, however only a couple of you are leaving comments. We would love to hear from you all, even if it is only to say a quick hello. Try it out. Not only is is really easy, it is also kind of fun.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Inti Raymi
March 9, 2008
Sunday
La Esperanza
Nuestro Cuarto
Hello from Ecuador!
We just finished our fourth week of training, which leaves us with only six short weeks more. However, as we mentioned earlier this week, week five, will be our last in La Esperanza for un rato (a bit of time). After this week we will be traveling for three weeks. Thus, this may be one of our last posts for a while. But don’t worry we will return with lots of pictures and stories to tell.
For now we will tell you all about this past week and all the fun we had and all the things we did and learned.
The first and probably the most culturally interesting we found out about are the Fiestas of San Pedro during the months of June and July. Now just to be clear what I’m about to write about happens in June and July, we did not attend this fiesta we were only told about them and given some pictures to share with all of you.
The Fiestas of San Pedro originate from a Kichwa festival called Inti Raymi (Mike says that Inti means “sun” and Raymi is “fiesta” in Kichwa). During the fiestas one of the major events involves a baile. Before the baile begins some people purchase live roosters and hang them from the ceiling by their feet. During the baile, as people toma mucho cerveza, people dance with the roosters and swing them around as they do so. As the night goes on eventually the neck of the rooster breaks. The person who was dancing with the rooster when its neck broke is then responsible for bringing the owner of the rooster twelve live chickens in the year to come. When the person who broke the rooster’s neck brings the chickens to the owner of the rooster, the owner of the rooster must give that person a basket with four types of prepared meat: several cuyes (guinea pigs), conejos (rabbits), chancho (pork), and ironically pollo (chicken). After that exchange everyone is even and then gets excited for the festival again!
So we have a few pictures of our family all dressed up for the fiestas of San Pedro. These pictures are from a previous year and unfortunately do not include any photos of dangling roosters. Enjoy!
Now for the more mundane, yet still totally interesting and fun so keep reading, events of the past week.
Mike visited a yogurt factory in Cayambe (the largest city nearby, about 25 minutes from where we live and located directly on the equator). The yogurt factory is run by the military so don’t be alarmed by all the pictures of soldiers in the slideshow.
We took an afternoon trip to Cayambe after tutoring last Saturday and ate gigantic cookies in the park. The Parque Central in Cayambe, where we were eating said cookies, has tons of lilies not to mention lots of other really beautiful flowers!
Of course, we still had language classes and so we have a few pictures of those. For anyone that is interested in learning Kichwa you can get a few words off one of the pictures that we posted.
Then there are all of the random life moments we documented this week, including: more delicious food, me keeping warm both on the couch and before bed, vistas of Volcan Cotapaxi (where hace dos years I got altitude sickness at 16,000 feet), Santiago shining his shoes for school, Mike crouching on the bus because there were no seats and he’s really tall for Ecuador, me feeding the mama dog, me sharing photos with our family on the computer, laundry, Mike on the phone with his Grandma, Mike studying Kichwa, Mike standing next to a poster he won and then gave to our Ecuadorian family, waiting for the bus, riding the bus, Mike almost getting impaled by barbed wire while waiting for the bus, the clock the bus driver has to clock-in with at each bus stop to make sure the buses run on time, our classmates in Spanish class, a demo on how to make compost, and me and Dona Fabiola with a cake on El Dia de la Mujer (The Day of the Woman).
So that sums up this week. We’d love to hear you thoughts, inquietudes, and cualquier cosa that you have to say about any of it, so keep commenting! (Mike´s granmda loves to hear all of your comments!!)
Next week everyone finds out about there sites. There will be volunteers all over Ecuador near both borders North and South, right on the coast, in the mountains (like us) and in the jungle as far as the roads go, which isn’t very far. Some volunteers will be living with indigenous communities like the Tsachila, Awa, Huarani, Shuar, and of course Kichwa! This means a few (including us) may pick up a third language! (just click the name to see the link)
On a positive political note, Columbia has officially apologized and things have calmed down. All that is left to worry about now is the continual flooding on the coast. Hopefully the rains will stop sometime soon. (being at 9,000 feet above sea level, there is still no need to worry about us)
Hope all is well stateside and we still miss you all!
March 11, 2008
Tuesday
Tabacundo
Computer Place
After several days of technical difficulties, it looks like we can finally send some more photos your way! Enjoy!! Also, the skies today were unusually clear and we were able to see 13 different snow capped peaks from our front doorstep and the training center. It was quite a treat (although we don,t have any pictures of it)(check some of our fellow trainees pages to see if they were able to get any). Today was also the day when everyone else found out where they will be stationed for the next two years. Pretty exciting (even though the married couples have known for awhile).
Mary will be giving an environmental education presentation (El Lorax) in a primary school tomorrow, so send your positive thoughts this way....and any spanish vocabulary, too!
enjoy the pics!!
(and as always, click on the image to see a larger version or to save it to your computer)
Sunday
La Esperanza
Nuestro Cuarto
Hello from Ecuador!
We just finished our fourth week of training, which leaves us with only six short weeks more. However, as we mentioned earlier this week, week five, will be our last in La Esperanza for un rato (a bit of time). After this week we will be traveling for three weeks. Thus, this may be one of our last posts for a while. But don’t worry we will return with lots of pictures and stories to tell.
For now we will tell you all about this past week and all the fun we had and all the things we did and learned.
The first and probably the most culturally interesting we found out about are the Fiestas of San Pedro during the months of June and July. Now just to be clear what I’m about to write about happens in June and July, we did not attend this fiesta we were only told about them and given some pictures to share with all of you.
The Fiestas of San Pedro originate from a Kichwa festival called Inti Raymi (Mike says that Inti means “sun” and Raymi is “fiesta” in Kichwa). During the fiestas one of the major events involves a baile. Before the baile begins some people purchase live roosters and hang them from the ceiling by their feet. During the baile, as people toma mucho cerveza, people dance with the roosters and swing them around as they do so. As the night goes on eventually the neck of the rooster breaks. The person who was dancing with the rooster when its neck broke is then responsible for bringing the owner of the rooster twelve live chickens in the year to come. When the person who broke the rooster’s neck brings the chickens to the owner of the rooster, the owner of the rooster must give that person a basket with four types of prepared meat: several cuyes (guinea pigs), conejos (rabbits), chancho (pork), and ironically pollo (chicken). After that exchange everyone is even and then gets excited for the festival again!
So we have a few pictures of our family all dressed up for the fiestas of San Pedro. These pictures are from a previous year and unfortunately do not include any photos of dangling roosters. Enjoy!
Now for the more mundane, yet still totally interesting and fun so keep reading, events of the past week.
Mike visited a yogurt factory in Cayambe (the largest city nearby, about 25 minutes from where we live and located directly on the equator). The yogurt factory is run by the military so don’t be alarmed by all the pictures of soldiers in the slideshow.
We took an afternoon trip to Cayambe after tutoring last Saturday and ate gigantic cookies in the park. The Parque Central in Cayambe, where we were eating said cookies, has tons of lilies not to mention lots of other really beautiful flowers!
Of course, we still had language classes and so we have a few pictures of those. For anyone that is interested in learning Kichwa you can get a few words off one of the pictures that we posted.
Then there are all of the random life moments we documented this week, including: more delicious food, me keeping warm both on the couch and before bed, vistas of Volcan Cotapaxi (where hace dos years I got altitude sickness at 16,000 feet), Santiago shining his shoes for school, Mike crouching on the bus because there were no seats and he’s really tall for Ecuador, me feeding the mama dog, me sharing photos with our family on the computer, laundry, Mike on the phone with his Grandma, Mike studying Kichwa, Mike standing next to a poster he won and then gave to our Ecuadorian family, waiting for the bus, riding the bus, Mike almost getting impaled by barbed wire while waiting for the bus, the clock the bus driver has to clock-in with at each bus stop to make sure the buses run on time, our classmates in Spanish class, a demo on how to make compost, and me and Dona Fabiola with a cake on El Dia de la Mujer (The Day of the Woman).
So that sums up this week. We’d love to hear you thoughts, inquietudes, and cualquier cosa that you have to say about any of it, so keep commenting! (Mike´s granmda loves to hear all of your comments!!)
Next week everyone finds out about there sites. There will be volunteers all over Ecuador near both borders North and South, right on the coast, in the mountains (like us) and in the jungle as far as the roads go, which isn’t very far. Some volunteers will be living with indigenous communities like the Tsachila, Awa, Huarani, Shuar, and of course Kichwa! This means a few (including us) may pick up a third language! (just click the name to see the link)
On a positive political note, Columbia has officially apologized and things have calmed down. All that is left to worry about now is the continual flooding on the coast. Hopefully the rains will stop sometime soon. (being at 9,000 feet above sea level, there is still no need to worry about us)
Hope all is well stateside and we still miss you all!
March 11, 2008
Tuesday
Tabacundo
Computer Place
After several days of technical difficulties, it looks like we can finally send some more photos your way! Enjoy!! Also, the skies today were unusually clear and we were able to see 13 different snow capped peaks from our front doorstep and the training center. It was quite a treat (although we don,t have any pictures of it)(check some of our fellow trainees pages to see if they were able to get any). Today was also the day when everyone else found out where they will be stationed for the next two years. Pretty exciting (even though the married couples have known for awhile).
Mary will be giving an environmental education presentation (El Lorax) in a primary school tomorrow, so send your positive thoughts this way....and any spanish vocabulary, too!
enjoy the pics!!
(and as always, click on the image to see a larger version or to save it to your computer)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
¡¡Sayausi!!
March 3, 2008
Friday 6:00PM
The Patio
Big news!! We know where we will be spending the next two years….Sayausi!
From Sayusi Mike will be working with nearby Parque Nacional Cajas and I will be working with the sacerdote of Sayausi developing things related to environmental education, womens groups, and probably several other things. We met with a volunteer who has been working with the park for the past year and she was incredible and the park and Sayausi sound wonderful!
Sayausi is located way south of Quito in the province of Azuay, of which, Cuenca is the capitol. First, Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador (although supposedly New York City has more Ecuadorians than Cuenca) and is known for being the home of a three time Olympic champion speed walker and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Second, Parque Nacional Cajas has over 200 lakes, ranges from 3,000 meters to 4,500 meters in elevation, has150 bird species (including 20 different types of hummingbirds), the Inca trail passes through running East/West, and has four distinct ecosystems (including high Andean Paramo). Third, Sayausi is 8 miles from Cuenca and under 3 miles from the park entrance. We are totally and completely pysched!!
For more information on Sayausi, Cuenca, and Parque Nacional Cajas click on the following links:
Parque Nacional Cajas
Cajas again
Cuenca
Cuenca again
Azuay Province
Other than that fantastic bit of great news, this past week included lectures on avian flu (there’s never been a case in Ecuador and we have the treatment for it in our med kits, so again, don’t worry), lectures on using pesticides safely (hence the picture of Jose wrapped in toilet paper to emphasize that the pesticide gets all over you), lots of wonderful meals with our Ecuadorian family, lots of wonderful lunches with other aspirantes at panaderias (places that sell all sorts of delicious breads), more classes in Kichwa, a baile (dance) demonstrating to all the aspirantes the most common dances in Ecuador, lectures on all things technical for natural resources, hanging around El Centro Mensaje (our training center), aspirantes saying hello to their moms who have discovered this site, me trying to unwrap a lollipop, the place where we send our emails, finally a clear view of Volcan Cayambe from our front door, more beautiful pictures around our house, and us composing our email message to all of you on our patio.
Love to you all! We miss you and hope all is well!
oh.... Thanks to those of you who have called us. Our family really gets a kick out of hearing all of you speak such beautiful Spanish. Unfortunately, you will only be able to contact us by phone for another 2 weeks. After that we will be traveling to other parts of the country for a week long site visit (Holy week) followed by two weeks of technical training in different parts of the country. After that we will be back in La Esperanza for a week (early April) before swearing in as volunteers on April 18th. After that though you should be able to call us again on our cell phones! (assuming that we have reception in Sayausi). So for those of you who havent figured out how to make an international call yet, eventually you will have to!!!
enjoy the pictures....
Friday 6:00PM
The Patio
Big news!! We know where we will be spending the next two years….Sayausi!
From Sayusi Mike will be working with nearby Parque Nacional Cajas and I will be working with the sacerdote of Sayausi developing things related to environmental education, womens groups, and probably several other things. We met with a volunteer who has been working with the park for the past year and she was incredible and the park and Sayausi sound wonderful!
Sayausi is located way south of Quito in the province of Azuay, of which, Cuenca is the capitol. First, Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador (although supposedly New York City has more Ecuadorians than Cuenca) and is known for being the home of a three time Olympic champion speed walker and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Second, Parque Nacional Cajas has over 200 lakes, ranges from 3,000 meters to 4,500 meters in elevation, has150 bird species (including 20 different types of hummingbirds), the Inca trail passes through running East/West, and has four distinct ecosystems (including high Andean Paramo). Third, Sayausi is 8 miles from Cuenca and under 3 miles from the park entrance. We are totally and completely pysched!!
For more information on Sayausi, Cuenca, and Parque Nacional Cajas click on the following links:
Parque Nacional Cajas
Cajas again
Cuenca
Cuenca again
Azuay Province
Other than that fantastic bit of great news, this past week included lectures on avian flu (there’s never been a case in Ecuador and we have the treatment for it in our med kits, so again, don’t worry), lectures on using pesticides safely (hence the picture of Jose wrapped in toilet paper to emphasize that the pesticide gets all over you), lots of wonderful meals with our Ecuadorian family, lots of wonderful lunches with other aspirantes at panaderias (places that sell all sorts of delicious breads), more classes in Kichwa, a baile (dance) demonstrating to all the aspirantes the most common dances in Ecuador, lectures on all things technical for natural resources, hanging around El Centro Mensaje (our training center), aspirantes saying hello to their moms who have discovered this site, me trying to unwrap a lollipop, the place where we send our emails, finally a clear view of Volcan Cayambe from our front door, more beautiful pictures around our house, and us composing our email message to all of you on our patio.
Love to you all! We miss you and hope all is well!
oh.... Thanks to those of you who have called us. Our family really gets a kick out of hearing all of you speak such beautiful Spanish. Unfortunately, you will only be able to contact us by phone for another 2 weeks. After that we will be traveling to other parts of the country for a week long site visit (Holy week) followed by two weeks of technical training in different parts of the country. After that we will be back in La Esperanza for a week (early April) before swearing in as volunteers on April 18th. After that though you should be able to call us again on our cell phones! (assuming that we have reception in Sayausi). So for those of you who havent figured out how to make an international call yet, eventually you will have to!!!
enjoy the pictures....
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