Monday, June 18, 2007

Have not forgotten






Dan got was interested in the pig feet at the market. A couple of days later we got invited to lunch and he got a chance to eat one. He only made it through one bite (but I was still proud of him, he ate the rest of the soup).


This is my ¨grandma¨. Her name is Marina and she is AMAZING!




This is from the backside of the mountain that is right behind my town.


I am not sure how many people still check in on my through this, since I have not had the chance to write anything down here in a long time. However, I have not forgotten, I have just been quite busy.

Work things- I am now in the middle of organizing a project (everything here is called a project, but for some reason I don`t feel like anything in the states is called a ¨project¨... someone can let me know how I should refer to this) to teach people from 3 small communities how to manage bee hives in order to produce honey and other derivative products. It has gone fantastically well so far (100% participation and lots of enthusiasm). The first phase will finish in two weeks on June 30, and the second starts on July 13th right before I take a trip back to the US.

I am also busy organizing a big meeting between about 5 or 6 local organizations and some local government representatives in order to talk about a regional literacy program. I am taking the iniciative after encouragement by a few friends to try and jumpstart some dialogue and see if we can get some interinstitutional cooperation and resolve to address illiteracy.

Like always, there are a few other smaller things on my plate right now, but I don`t feel the need to mention everything. Suffice it to say that I am keeping busy.

LIFE -
Dan (my bro) came and visited last month. It was AMAZING! We made it to the three major regions of the country (mountains, coastal... mainly the beach, and the Amazon jungle). I had a blast showing him my town, my friends, my mountains and a little bit of my day-to-day (he get tired out from the hours of walking and hiking). Then we went and hung out on the beach and relaxed before adventuring out to a part of Ecaudor I had yet to explore - the jungle. We went white water rafting on the Napo (the main tributary to the Amazon), we saw some crazy animals at a reserve-zoo thing, and learned how to tell male turtles from females ones. Then, we went back into the mountains and relaxed in some natural hot springs at about 12,000ft.

Just this weekend, I hung out with a bunch of friends here (some Ecuadorian and some people from the States... PC and non-PC) at a local community fiesta. We watched the fireworks (crazy and dangerous... but we were far enough away to avoid being hit by anything) and then danced until 5am. Ecuadorians know how to get down. Then I took my hour bus ride home and walked the hour down my driveway (although I get a lift for about 30min of the journey) and arrived home by 7;30am.

Hopefully this pictures download:

posted by Steve @ 8:41 AM