It´s over

Hey, so it has been a super long time since i have posted anything on here. Don´t worry I have excuses for doing so. I went on a two week tech trip on the coast and didn´t have any access to the internet and then i spent a week in Quito being super busy. So, my tech trip was pretty awesome. First, we went to Cotacachi to see a botanical garden. The garden was cool, but what was even cooler. We saw three ecuadorian kids playing with a cross in the park. It seemed harmless at first, but then they tied one of the kids to the cross and tried to lift him up in the air. I know it sounds pretty awful, but they were just kids and I couldn´t stop laughing. It was by far the funniest thing I have ever seen. We spent the first two nights with the entire Natural Resources Conservation group in a monestary just outside of Quito. It was pretty weird, but I think we made the best of it. We learned about an environmental education program called esculas verdes. This would not have been so bad, but we went over about an hours worth of info stretched into 2 days. It was so repetetive i wanted to strangle a small animal. After two days of being there the sierra and oriente groups (I am in the coastal group) went to Quenca to do god knows what. My group was lucky enough to spend an extra night in the monestary and we were supposed to board a bus to San Vicente at 7am.

Well we got up early even though we stayed up until about 2 and headed to the bus station. Guess what, our bus was delayed for 3 hours and we could not leave until 10am. Talk about bummer. We screwed around quito and did about as much stuff you can do early in the morning and went back to our bus. As soon as I got on the bus I passed out. I woke up about an hour later to the sounds of the movie Human Trafficing. We got to witness the trilogy of this movie on the bus ride and we finally arrived in San Vicente around 6 am. Finally, the beach. Immediately we did what any gringo would do in this situation, we bought a jaba (12 pack of giant beers). We spent the next two days going on hikes and chilling by the pool and going on a canoe trip through mangroves.

Next, we went to a small town near Pedernales. We stayed in a giant hippy house in the middle of a dry forest. We even had composting toilets fully equipped with giant spiders. It was quite the treat to see these spiders on a late night trip to the bathroom. Here we learned about permaculture and socio-bosques. Every night we were there around 4am we would here the craziest howling noises in the middle of the night. It was just howler monkeys, you know, the usual. It was so hot at this site and thought I was going to melt. I sweated for 2 full days.

Finally, we went to Same, Esmereldas. This is a beach resort near Atacames. I spent four days chilling at the beach and eating fried shrimp dinners for 4 dollars. Talk about an awesome time. The waves were strong and were constantly knocking me around. This was by far my favorite part of the trip. We learned alot about conservation and different types of schools. It was a real awesome time.

We came back to Quito after our tech trip and spent 4 days doing paperwork and last minute lectures. Then came the best part, we got to swear in. I am finally a volunteer. We had swear in at the ambassadors house. It was pretty formal, at first, then I was supposed to give a speach. I kinda changed the course of things for about 5 minutes. Luckily another volunteer prepared a much more serious speech for the Ag program. After swear in we went back to the Peace Corps office and ate giant American Cheeseburgers. Oh, we also through ourselves a little party that night.

Now, I am at my site in the northern part of Guayas. It is a little weird being the only American around. I feel somewhat lost. As soon as I got to my site I called my counterpart and he came and met me. He took my to my house, I live at a center for youths and adolescents. We walked into my room and realized that it lacked everything. There was no bed, no nothing. Well they took me to a store and bought me a bed. We took it back to my room and realized that nothing fit together. In the states I would have taken the bed back to the store. Here, they just pulled out a hack saw and started cutting things until it sort of fit. Well I mostly unpacked and sat around for the remainer of the evening. My new family made me dinner and then I slept for like 10 hours. The next few weeks, months, years are going to be interesting. I look forward to sharing everything with the readers of my blog. Anyway, talk to everyone later. Chao chao.

Holy Canoli its Holy Thursday

So I have the next four days off until I go on a technical trip. I was at my Site last week. It was pretty awesome. There are a few Volunteers close to me and its really hot. Everyday is like houston during the summer. I am gonna be working on a reforestation project near a river in town. It should be very interesting. Not much has been going on since I got back. One cool thing, guns n roses are playing in quito tonight. It would be really sweet to go. I won´t have internet for like 2 weeks because of my trip, so there will be some hiatus from this blog. I gotta go though. Later.

Site Visit!!!

Ok, so whats the deal. Last week was pretty awesome I think. Let me see if I can recap it. Oh now I remember. I got my site assignment. I got assigned to the province of Guayas in a small town about 3 hours northwest of Guayaquil. I can´t write my city on my blog due to some awesome Peace Corps policies. If you want to know what it is you can either ask my mom or hit me up on facebook. Last week I went to a farm with my language group and one other and we spent six hours making some special kind of soup that you are only allowed to eat one time a year according to Ecuadorian culture. The soup had every type of vegetable you can think of and a hardboiled egg and fish. It was served with apple boxed wine. Before we ate this meal, however, i had the opportunity to feast on some fresh organic peaches. Well me and another volunteer, Tio Jose, decided we were gonna see who could eat the most. We each ate ten and were sick for about two days. It was awesome. Even though I was sick I got to drink a few beers for St. Patricks day and watch some Karaoke. On Friday we got our site assignments and on Saturday we had a fiesta for all the host families. Somehow I got tricked into participating in some native dance as entertainment. We had to practice for two afternoons before the actual event. There was about 14 of us that participated. It was quite funny. Immediately following the native dance, I was then tricked into dancing with my host mom. Funny, I know. After the fiesta we went to our favorite bar....ok its not a bar. It is a bakery that has outside seating that occasionaly will serve you a beer. It was fun anyway. I spent all day Sunday getting to my site. I had to use like 6 busses. It was awesome. As soon as my bus got to the coastal atmosphere, the lifestyle was completely different. Everything on the coast is more awesome. People wear shorts and cutoff t-shirts with sandals. I like it. Everyone also listens to regaton. Today was my first day at my new job. I am working for the Department of the Environment in my city. I live in one of the larger sites and I think they are expecting a lot out of me. Today they told me that they were going to get me a bike so I could ride 8 kilometers to the river everyday. This is pretty awesome. It is hot as crap here, but I don´t care. I am helping with reforestation and water quality. It is kind of like a dream come true. I work with 3 engineers and they all think I am an engineer even though I have told them that I am not. It is funny when they give me the water treatment plant plans, that are in spanish, and think that I know what is going on. I also currently don´t have a host family and am staying in a hotel. Cool, I know. There is also another volunteer that is about 40 minutes from my site. I met her today. This is cool because some volunteers don´t have anyone around them for 3 or so hours. I think I am going to the river tomorrow, but I will have to wait and see. This week is going to be interesting. I will return to my host family in the mountains this weekend for my last week with them. Then, I am off on my tech trip.

Over and over

This past week has been pretty cool. We have had the usual spanish/security/health/technical classes everyday. The highlight was definitely on Sunday. 4 companeros y yo went to a hot spring in a town called Oyacachi. I probably buchered the spelling of that town. It was really awesome. The setting of the town was similar to Jurrasic Park and we happened to be the only gringos in sight. The bus ride there and back was scary because there is no guard rail and we were about 4 inches from a 100 foot drop. I am alive, so all is good. Oh, last week on Friday we had a futbol tournament. My team was called Equipo Superchevre. We lost the only game we played 1-0. It is all good though because i played goalie and lost the game for my team. I tried to score from goalie, but it is real tough to do so. On Saturday we were on a mission to eat as much food as possible. I spent about 3 bucks at a chinese restaurant and got two plates piled with food. I had to make my beef and peppers hotter with hot sauce. It was really hot, i sweated like i was in Texas heat. Other than all that awesome stuff, everything has been pretty normal. I don´t think I have had to eat anything to weird. Tomorrow my group has to give a presentation on transplanting to a bunch of little kids. We will see how my spanish holds up. Well, I have to go check US sports scores, so I will talk to yall later. Peace.

Palabra

Ok, so wutsup. I have been living with a host family for almost two weeks now. I can´t tell anyone the town I live in on a blog post because of awesome Peace Corps policies, but if you want to know, just email me or hit me up on facebook. My days have been consisting of waking up super early and eating either a massive breakfast or a peice of bread and then heading to class. Class can range from spanish class, to security class, to technical class, and if we are lucking we all just wait in line and get vaccinations. I honestly have no idea what I have been vaccinated for anymore. I have a cell phone number now, so if anyone wants to call me, they should give me a shout. Here is the number, dial 0059394405185. 593 is my country code. I think that is all you have to do to call me. So here are some awesome things that have happened so far. I have been shocked by my electric showerhead only once. I ate bloody chicken on accident for dinner one night. The next day was real fun. I found a mouse in my room. I found a beatle in my beard. I accidently ate a chicken intestine. I saw a dog get milked. Yeah, a dog it was hilarious. I was in a parade full of gringos in a town called Nono and everyone in the town was there, but they just watched us act crazy. On one awesome night, I had to help my host brother pull a bunch of sheep out of the back of a truck and then pull them into the back yard. Well, I think I pulled to hard and one of the sheep passed out. All in all, Ecuador has been awesome so far. I find out where my site will be next week. It seems really soon, but it is also exciting. Anyway, I hope all is good and I wil update everyone soon.

Work Work Work

Hola everyone. I feel like all I do is go to class and play soccer. Oh, we eat like 5 meals a day. Breakfast, a snack an hour later, lunch, a snack an hour later, and then dinner. At every meal we have a different juice that I have never once had in my entire life. Some are pretty awesome and some are pretty iffy. So I think I am one of the tallest people in ecuador and that makes some people afraid of me. Maybe it is just the fact that I am a gringo, because everytime I say hi, they just look really nervous. My dorm room window looks at this awesome volcano that is covered in snow. I will post a picture once I get one on a clear day and once i figure out how to use these crazy computers. Well, I gotta go and will post again soon. hasta luego.

Arrival

I just got to Ecuador a few hours ago. It has been quite a trip, I must say. I flew to DC on the 16th and have spent the last two days either in a hotel or an airplane. I am excited to be sitting here in a hostal somewhere in Quito. It's funny, because I actually have no idea where I am, but I do have free internet in my room. The Peace Corps folks have been taking great care of us. They even have been providing us with opportunities to eat food and drink water.....crazy I know. Tomorrow we are getting picked up at 8 am on a bus, but I am really not too sure what is going on. I am sure we will learn a lot and have an awesome time. Mawmaw, I bet your the first person to read this. Anyway I miss everyone and as soon as I get to a store I will buy a phone card and make some phone calls.