Asi Es La Vida...

My new home

I have been in my new place for about a week and a half now, and every day I feel more and more comfortable. Each day, more people say, ¨Buenas dias, Esteven¨... instead of greeting me with the unspoken question of ¨What are you doing here?¨

Although, that question, voiced or not, is quite valid in a community of about 50 Afro-Ecuatorian families living way off ¨the trail.¨ At the same time, everyone is super friendly and the majority are at least somewhat accustomed to a foreigner in their midst, as they have had 2 previous Peace Corps volunteers (one left about 4 years ago).




Here is a view of my little house from the front. I hang a hammock around the corner and mainly plan to use it during the night to look at the millions of stars that are visible here. During the day, I get a constant stream of kids that come asking to play in the hammock :)



Beautiful, huh? You all know how much I like sunsets, but this is actually a sunrise! I have to get up before six to catch the bus if I am going to go anywhere... and every Monday morning I get up at 5:00 to catch it at 5:20am. (This was a Monday morning). But don´t be decieved, today I got up at 9:30 because I didn´t have anything specific to do.

Now we go into the house. I really love it... it is nice and cozy and just the right size for me. Four small rooms: Bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom... it actually feels HUGE! This is my living room, which has a sofa, a chair, and a checker board all left behind by the family who moved to Quito!! I play (and beat) everyone at checkers who visits me. Normally I am the kernals of corn and they are the black beans.

My bedroom... it´s nice.


Well, I guess that I can´t put any more pictures up, so I will just make a couple more comments.

Bathroom... not as nice, but it works. The water in my town only runs about 1/3 of the day, so I use a big bucket to hold water in the bathroom and in the kitchen. It is not that big of an inconveniance. It is much more of a hastle that I don´t have a frig (but I´m going to share my neighbors´... they´re awesome!).

Starting to get my schedule straightened out, so things are starting to calm down and make some sense.

Love the emails and the notes. Oh, my address here is still the same.

Steve Gisel
Peace Corps
Casilla 10-03-10
Ibarra, Imbabura, Ecuador

posted by Steve @ 2:55 PM