mano de obra

We´re back from our tech trip to the transition zone...which was fascinating and a bit exhausting. The bus ride from the Sierra´s toward the coast was absolutely stunning...and a stark contrast in climates. We went from warm days and chilly nights in the Sierra...to hot and humid, but beautiful cloud forests... We awoke each morning to the cacophany of birds...and the sounds of other creatures we could not quite identify. It was very lush green with beautiful tropical plants and orchids all over the place. We stayed at a place which felt like a camp...big bink houses...but with a nice pool and futbol field, ping pong, fusball, etc. We worked for a couple of days on a nearby integrated farm in this ´transitional zone´ and learned how to build a ¨level A¨ with bamboo in order to calculate the slope of hills and build terraces and infiltration zones in order to prevent erosion on the steep hillsides where people farm. We built a cute little raised seedbed with bamboo sides, we learned about pruning and grafting techniques, analog forestry, different organic composts and we identified different fruit and other crops that thrive in this area, such as cacao, coffee, jackfruit, and lots of other exotic and yummy tropical fruit. We also learned how to build fish ponds that can provide food and income sources to communities in the Oriente and the Coast (as an alternative to dynamite or cyanide fishing in the rivers). One of the more interesting sessions was making and mixing organic pesticides from local plants and soap and other interesting ingredients such as coal, sugar, and other things. It was all really interesting and practical and hands-on. It was VERY hot, though...and the bugs had a field day with us gringos. Despite the heat, I wore long pants and sleeves to protect against the bugs. This was a successful strategy were it not for the fact that I needed to sometimes use my hands for such things as...oh, to take notes, eat, etc. I have no less than 15 bug bites on my left hand alone. I woke up yesterday morning digging at the bites with my fingernails... I feel like I just took a nice chemical bath of sunscreen, bug repellant, and calamine lotion. Sweet! Actually, one of the highlights of this trip was after a long, hot day of working and learning, I went with a couple other volunteers to take a dip in the local river. It was absolutely stunning!!!! The water was crystal clear and cool and refreshing with a brisk current...that we were able to just jump in and float downstream for a while. There were brilliant multi-colored rocks and stones along the banks and in the riverbed...which were perfect for skipping. Beautiful birds were cruising around...and there were huge stands of bamboo and sandy trails nearby. It was truly awesome. It was the perfect way to end a hot day.

Even though I haven´t been able to upload any of my photos, one of the other volunteers in the Habitat Conservation Program, Jeanette, is a photojournalist and has taken some FANTASTIC photos which she has successfully uploaded to Flicker. Check out her site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanettewarner/page4/

She´s in the same internet cafe as I type undoubtedly uploading more photos, so be sure to check back later, too.

technophobe

Well today wasn´t as great of a day...mostly because we´re super bumming about our computer. It just doesn´t seem to want to work...we don´t know why...and it just frustrates me thinking about it (that and the fact we somehow forgot to bring the cord to hook our camera up directly to any internet cafe computer...) I really, really, want to upload photos to share with everyone...and well, I´m just really bummed...and don´t want to talk about it anymore.

On to better news...I hear the Buckeyes are kicking butt in Basketball. We have been talking some smack to some Badgers here in the group...and we´re hoping to find a place to watch the big game on Sunday... I doubt it will happen, but if not, please send email updates (but only if the Buckeyes win).

We leave for a 4 day technical trip to a transitional zone tomorrow where we hope to see lots of new bird and plant species. We´ll be visiting a nursery and giving our first big presentation about our communities in Spanish. Our group has our materials well prepared...we think.... We´re supposed to bring our swimsuit, because the place we are staying has a pool. Sweet...except that means I have to shave my legs...!

Today we had a presentation from a couple current volunteers. One has a cool project working with indigenous groups marketing jewelry made from seeds found in the rainforest. They have some really beautiful materials to work with and nice, simple designs. This is a project I have a lot of interest in, and if I have an opportunity to work with such groups (it sounds like there are several in the country) then I will definitely be tapping into my sis-in-law´s designs for inspiration. EastSide Design ---South of the Border style!

Keep up the emails and comments, my friends! ciao for now.

¡Que Sol!

Jer and I are sneaking in a few minutes of Internet time after our first ¨technical training" today. It was in a beautiful community north of us. For us, it was a long and dusty bus ride but the views once we got there were incredible. The afternoon sky was clear and we saw Volcan Cayambe more clearly than ever before. We visited a nursery and then our Habitat Conservation group worked to build some seedbeds, a compost area for worms, and an area to put the seedlings in the nursery. When we got to town, it was super chilly, but the sun came out and baked us. Despite using sunscreen and a hat, I got quite a bit of sun... I just checked the mirror and saw my rosy cheeks... ouch.

Let´s see, other highlights from the past week include: enjoying our first Ecuadorian beer on Saturday, a Pilsener. Warm, but still refreshing. Comparable to any cheap domestic beer in the states. We went to a suprise 3rd anniversary party at the house of one of our companeros. It was in his room! (which I think normally serves as the house´s living room). It was a trip. They had an absolutely beautiful cake...and although it looked good, it tasted pretty dry...and well tasteless. I miss my desserts! That´s something that we just haven´t had in our house. What else?...oh, the Ecuadorians totally get into Carnival... not quite like the Brazilians, but they have big parades in some parts of the country. In our area, the big thing to do is throw water balloons and spray fun foam on everyone. Jeremy totally got drenched last week...and got sprayed with the carioca foam pretty good, too, as we were waiting for a bus.

For Valentines Day, our family killed & ate two of their rabbits for dinner---which they evidentally do every valentines day. Very romantic. I declined to participate in the cleaning of the rabbits. I know we´re supposed to get involved in the family festivities and all...but I just couldn´t do it... Then, two days later, our lil´bro, Santiago, has one of the baby rabbits in the house playing with it....until it pissed on him. Then he took it outside.

On Monday, we helped our family make homemade wheat bread in their wood fired oven---not unlike a pizza oven... it was a LONG process. Jeremy helped knead the dough...and quickly got winded (we gringos joke about the stupid things we do that make us winded... I think the funniest was someone saying they got winded chugging some water...or maybe it was beer...dunno). But we definitely feel the altitude. When we were making our little nursery today, I kept getting dizzy from bending over and picking up rocks and carrying them to the nursery area and putting them down. Yikes! Anywho...back to the breadmaking process. We helped with the fun part of shaping the bread into fun things. (These are small, single serving breads, mind you, that are served at every meal.) The women made beautiful flowers and birds with their dough. I made a pig (chanchito) and a heart, and some other entertaining shapes. The best were our "cousin´s" Bob Esponga con pantalones cuadradas. Yes, sponge bob is big here with the kiddos. They kept talking to Bob Esponga and couldn´t wait for him to come out of the oven to eat him. Funny stuff. They made someting like 500 peices of bread. They worked into the night...we retired around 10:30 or so fatigued. We are usually pretty drained by the end of the day and go to bed crazy early...there´s a lot to absorb and think about and remember and translate and contemplate. Its all good stuff so far...but just a lot to take in.

On Sunday we went on a ¨walk¨ with our host mom, her sister, neice and grandson ( our lil´bro) which turned into a 3 hour hike up and down a mountain. It was a slow pace, a beautiful day and an educational experience. We picked berries, checked out medicinal plants and wildflowers...including several species of orchids (including one that makes a cool popping sound when you smash it!) Don´t worry, these aren´t the endangered kind. These little yellow orchids were all over the hillside!!!

Thanks to everyone that has emailed me!!! I laughed a lot at all your stories and the news of the weird (about Anna Nicole and Britney...keep the trash talk coming, I love it!) I am sorry I can´t reply to each one, but we just don´t have time today. We have to catch the bus back to our town...before dark.

We have a training-technical trip over the weekend and through the first part of next week, so I won´t be able to email for a while...or receive calls. The word on the street is that once we are sworn in as offical volunteers (on Earth Day!) we will receive cell phones...and we´ll be able to receive international calls...but not place them... (this is all contingent upon us being in an area that receives service, of course). We will find out where we will be placed in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned!!!

Sorry we haven´t been able to upload pictures yet. I know many are anxious to see photos of Ecuador, our town, and us. I promise to try it when I have more time to play on the computer. Gotta run! ¡hasta luego!

We made it!

To all my faithful blog readers...my apologies for not posting before now, but we have had limited access to the internet. It is not a bad thing, I guess. It is just an adjustment going from checking my email 4 times a day, to once a week... many thanks to all who have sent me personal emails. I regret that I am unable to respond to each and every one....I just dont have time ....btw, these keypads have lots of extra keys and it in order to type the at symbol, you have to do some crazy combination of letters with alt. Sadly i dont remember how to already...much less how to type a stupid apostrophe. I digres...

Anyhow, all is well here. It feels like we have been gone a month...even though we have been in country less than a week. It is not a bad thing. It is just that every day feels like 4 because we are doing so much each day. We are staying with our host family who are all really wonderful. We are living in a small town with the most fantastic view of mountains and when it is not cloudy, you can see a couple snow capped volcanoes. we keep having to pinch ourselves that we are actually in Ecuador. The views are just breathtaking! The weather has been really nice. Although it is technically the rainy season, they are having a drought of sorts. It has only rained once in the last month (conveniently just minutes after we finished hanging our clothes on the clothesline!!!) It is warm, borderline hot, during midday...and it is cool in the evenings. Very comfortable. Much more comfortable than Ohio weather. I hear that it is super cold and snowy...and that Anna Nicole died. Thanks to all of you for keeping us up on the news!!! PLEASE keep sending us messages and updates...even though we may not be able to reply promptly!!!

The food has been fantastic. Our host mom is an awesome cook...all the meals have tons of fresh vegetables and fruits. A lot of the other volunteers meals are heavy on the rice and other carbs, but so far we have lucked out with lots of fresh veggies. We had some meetings today in a bigger town, and we had lunch in a restaurant ---our lunch included fresh juice, soup, a big plate of food and a dessert for the grand total of 2 bucks!!!

I am trying to anticipate the many questions you undoubtedly have about our accomodations... we have our own private room in a house with a family of three: our host mom, her 15 year old son, and her 8 year old grandson. Her sister lives next door and so there are lots of cousins and neices running around. They are a lot of fun and are super patient with our Spanish. Jeremy reads the same Dr. Suess book with our lil brother every night. It is really cute. He is picking up on the Spanish pretty quickly and is not afraid to ask questions or practice it, which is good. My spanish is coming back to me, thankfully! I was very worried, having not used it in over 10 years. I still have a long way to go, though, to have more in depth conversations about more complicated topics... Anyway, our family has hot water, tv, dvd, and a computer (to play video games!). The first night we were at our family{s house, we watched the movie Garfield in spanish. It was a trip!!! The town is super small, though, and there is no bar, restaurant or any stores besides tiny corner stores that sell ice cream, junk food and a few staples. I haven{t had a drink since we{ve been in country...which is fine, because I think I needed to detox after a month of successive going away lunches, dinners, happy hours, parties, and the grand finale farewell fiesta of the century!!! MANY THANKS to all for the warm wishes, kind words of encouragement and thoughtful gifts. Thanks especially to the entire Thomas family who so generously helped pull off the party...and put us up at the hotel...and fed us on Sunday. Thanks also to the Dick{s Den crew for hosting the fiesta and cleaning up the mess we made...and thanks to our families for supporting us on this grand adventure and new chapter in our lives. I will try to keep this blog as up to date as possible, but please be patient. The pace of life in Ecuador is different. Tranquilo. And so far, it is treating us quite well. Hasta pronto!

The Farewell Fiesta

Dick's Den was the scene of the crime. I'm still a little hazy from it all. I can't think of anything witty to write right now. It's all a little overwhelming. I'll just let the photos speak for themselves. To Ecuador!!!