So this is work in the Peace Corps...

Adam and I had a lot of ideas of what our work would be like in the Peace Corps. Adam envisioned computer labs, setting up internet in rural communities, community gardens, and trash and recycling programs. I imagined making artisan crafts with women's groups, talking with jovenes about other cultures (maybe doing a world map project), developing service projects for the university students, and setting up community library or reading programs. These projects might be possibilities for the future, but until then, we have been keeping busy with other types of work in the Peace Corps, such as:

1. Visiting a family and doing a talk about hygiene, showing the kids how to brush their teeth, and then doing a minga "work party" to wash all 14 kids' hair with anti-lice shampoo (one of the kids had picked up lice at school and when they came home, spread it to everyone else since they all lived in such tight quarters).

Walking up muddy hills with bags of donated clothes

The kids excited about the new clothes

Learning proper brushing techniques

Alvania teaching the tongue brushing technique

Starting the hair washing process

Little babies do not like this at all

Pobrecita (poor thing) shivering after the cold water bucket bath

Alvania and Carmita with some of the family after they were all cleaned up and in their new clothes!

2. Driving all day dropping off letters to schools in the middle of the mountains to share information about INFA and how the Centro de Proteccion de Derechos can provide support and assistance. Since they are so far out, but still within our canton, we are trying to make sure that they know we can offer workshops, activities, etc. for parents, children and families. And while we're out in the middle of the mountains, we might as well take a break to catch some trucha (trout).

Swiss volunteer Philippe with Juanito, our INFA driver

Taking the hook out... Alvania and Carmita wouldn't touch it

Carmita with her fishing pole and her prize trout

Juanito preventing his fish from getting away

All the fish we caught

3. Playing bingo for a community fundraiser using corn kernels (and for snacks you could buy salchipapas...which are french fries covered in mayonaise with a hot dog on top!). CASMUL works with communities and often they will do fundraisers like bingo or selling comida tipica. We had fun but it was rough on our sleep schedule since it started at 9pm and we finished up close to 2am.

The woman above is Gloria, Adam's counterpart and our host mom that we lived with for the first month in Loja

4. Learning how to make our very own puppets so that we could use them to teach lessons to smaller children (it's much more interactive and more fun for kids than listening to adults share messages about childrens' rights). I have to say, I was really impressed with how our homemade puppets turned out, and some of my colleagues are awesome with their puppet voices and acting!! Plus, I have never sewed in my life so it was great practice!

Carmita and Julisa with their puppets...check out their clothes!

Cecibel with her puppet

And my puppet "Andres"! He has good headbanging yarn hair! And to think that he started out as just pieces of felt, cotton stuffing and yarn! I was impressed!


Video of some of my coworkers doing a skit about a kid trying to make some money on the bus by singing some songs. Unfortunately a fairly common thing here in Ecuador.

5. Hosting an open house in the Plaza de la Independencia (aka San Sebastian) and making origami with tons of unruly kids. And passing out "bookmarks" that took Eri, Philippe and I over 5 hours to make. We had to cut out almost 150 shapes from "fomex" and then write MIES INFA CPD on each one, and then glue them to popscicle sticks. Originally they were supposed to be buttons to pin on, but we had no supplies for that. So bookmarks they were! Though kids here don't read for fun so not sure what they will use them for.

Philippe cutting out the stars

So this is what 3 volunteers can accomplish in 5 hours

Our bulletin board with information about CPD

Elizabeth showing how to make a talking bird

I think facepainting Spiderman is universal

Philippe trying to teach origami to all these kids...kinda tough!

6. Making bats (murcielagos) out of egg cartons with the kids at the orphanage and explaining to them about Halloween and the cultures and customs that we have in the US (dressing up in costume, knocking door to door, saying "Trick or Treat" and getting candy). They don't celebrate Halloween here so it was an interesting concept for them. (no pix)

And just for kicks, this is how Mickey looks in Ecuador. Something just isn't right:

Getting our eat on!

It seems that one of our favorite hobbies is eating, so why would that change in the Peace Corps? Although we don't have access to all the same foods as back home and we miss out on some old favorites (like breakfast sausage, baked beans, Indian food, and good sandwiches), we still manage to get our eat on.

Recently we had a pot luck gathering at Eri's apartment (she is the JICA volunteer in my office). Each of us brought a dish to share. Eri made a sweet Japanese chicken & potato dish as well as something she called "rice ball", her fellow JICA volunteer from Saraguro (I can't remember his name) made gyoza, Adam and I made thai beef and basil, Ximena made Ecuadorian ceviche & guata (tripe in a peanut sauce...no me gusta) and Phillipe made a Swiss apple pie. We were supposed to bring a dish from our native country...but Adam and I were really wanting to make beef and basil because we had encountered albahaca (basil) at the local market, and it only shows up once every few weeks. Next time we will make something like meatloaf and mashed potatoes, baked mac 'n' cheese, or burgers and potato salad.

Eri cooking her potato and chicken dish

Rice balls wrapped in seaweed

Eri's friend and Ximena with all the food

Eri offered beer, Pepsi, tequila and sangria as beverages! I had Pepsi and it was great!

Table full of good eats

Eri and Phillipe (the Swiss volunteer in my office) cutting the Swiss apple pie...yum!

Adam and I spend a good chunk of our monthly living allowance on food. Surprisingly, we have still been under budget. Aside from cooking thai beef & basil (with help from the bottle of fish sauce Susan sent us), we have also cooked bbq pulled pork (thank you pressure cooker!), picadillo, tacos, steak sandwiches, and various stir frys, among other things. This week on the menu is chicken and steak fajitas, beef stew in the pressure cooker, and maifun (from the noodles my parents sent me). I'm afraid we don't make a lot of Ecuadorian food, as we have found it to be a bit on the bland side (the main seasoning used in Ecuadorian food is salt). Plus we can get it for cheap during lunch so why would we make that at home?

Picadillo with black beans, rice and tostones

We also recently splurged on a blender and Adam made good use of it by making fruit smoothies (fresh pineapple, bananas, oranges and strawberries!). From what I hear, fruit in the sierra is way more expensive than it is in the coast (apparently folks on the coast have mangos and bananas falling from the trees in their yards so they never pay for them). We spend about 50 cents to $1 on a pineapple, 4 cents for each banana, and practically the same price as in the US for strawberries. So it can be a little pricey but it is worth it for the amazing smoothies Adam can whip up.


I also found a recipe online for making our own dumpling (guizhi?) wrappers so today I gave it a try. It was fairly easy to make the wrappers, it just takes time to roll them out and flour them so they don't stick together. Ground pork, green onions, and Napa cabbage are easy to find in Loja, and with our new bottle of sesame oil from Ambato...I was set. Adam really enjoyed them and I was super happy. That was one thing that I have been really craving...and this just brings a little taste of home for us!!

Preparing the dough (2 cups flour, 3/4 cup boiling water, 1/4 tsp salt)

Filling (ground pork, green onions, napa cabbage, sesame oil, soy sauce, salt, pepper)

Don't my wrappers look so "rustic"?

Adam enjoying the finished product with some sriracha sauce from the US

Our visit to Guaranda!

A few weekends ago Adam and I took a few Peace Corps "personal days" to visit other volunteers and see their sites. We traveled many hours to see Nancy and Deanna in their site in Guaranda and we met another volunteer whose site is close by in Salinas de Guaranda. We had a great time wandering around Guaranda and eating some FABULOUS pizza with Nancy, Mary and Deanna.

Salinas was also a neat little town to visit. They have a bunch of cooperativas that support the people in the community, where they make sweaters, cheese, chocolate, dried mushrooms, etc. We ate lots of cheese and chocolate during our visit (well, Adam ate chocolate...no cheese!). We also got to visit another volunteer, Julie, in her site of Ambato on our way back to Loja. We met up at this massive mall where we bought sesame oil at the Megamaxi, and splurged on a blender so that we could make smoothies.

It was nice to get out of town, but the 12 hour bus ride to and from was TORTURE. Especially the day bus that we took to get back home. Imagine traveling on a city bus with all of its constant stops...but the destination is a city that is hundreds of miles away. It stopped what felt like every kilometer to pick people up and drop people off. So much for riding the Sucre "Express"!

Nancy in her site in Guaranda

View of the city of Guaranda...looking big for a town of 20,000


View of Salinas de Guaranda...that town is all hills. You don't notice when you are walking downhill, but phew...watch out when you turn back!

Textile cooperativa where you can buy knitted sweaters and scarves


Visited the quesera where we tasted and bought cheese...yum!

We didn't get to see how they made the cheese, but they let us into the rooms where the cheeses were...not sure the word...waiting?

Random photo in Salinas...nice bus huh? Don't worry, that isn't what we took for 12 hours to get to and from Loja!

Cheddar cheese and crackers? Don't mind if I do!

Trying out the pressure cooker for the first time.

Mary and Nancy on the bus to Ambato


Volcan Chimborazo

A few weekends ago, Adam and I decided to check out one of the parks in Loja that is right next to the university (about 10 minutes from our apartment). We discovered fabulous trails with great views of Loja. There was hardly anyone around (just another couple) and it was a great way to spend the afternoon. The trails were short but fairly steep, so they do a number on the knees! Eventually we want to go visit Parque Podocarpus, which is a national park between Loja and Zamora. A couple of the volunteers from our area went to Parque Podocarpus a few weekends ago and their photos were absolutely amazing. Though the videos of them fighting the crazy winds, rain, and fast moving clouds were a bit intimidating! 

This upcoming weekend, Adam and I are making our first trip out of the Loja province since we moved to site. We'll be visiting our friend Nancy up in her site in Guaranda. It should be fun because we'll get to see a couple other volunteers too!

Other than that, the biggest news is that we just moved into our own apartment. After 3 months of living with a family, it is nice to have our own space to spread everything out. It is a much nicer apartment than we were expecting to be living in when we joined the Peace Corps...and we certainly can't complain. Photos to come once we are more settled in (who wants to see pix of a messy apartment anyway??). Oh...and the weather tool that is on the side bar is a little off. It says it is sunny...but all I see are rain clouds outside!

Music to our ears, whether we want to hear it or not!

The trash trucks here play music when they pass. It's kind of like the ice cream trucks back home...they alert you to when they are coming by so you can quickly run out of the house. In our case, it is to drag the trash to the curb, not to grab a delightful orangesicle. It seems that they come by every day, and at all hours. We have heard the truck go by at 6am and at 11pm. We haven't figured the schedule out yet, or if there even is on.

So this week has crept by slowly but surely. Over the weekend we went to San Pedro and Vilcabamba to visit one of the volunteers, Andy. He actually resembles a little bit my brother-in-law Paul, and I keep forgetting to tell Susan and Paul that. We went to an Ecuadorian baile during the night and the next morning we made breakfast and had lunch at this hostel that has spectacular views of Vilcabamba. It was a nice way to just get out of town for a little bit, though we missed the Sunday morning market in Loja. 

Coffee sock- the poor volunteer's way of brewing fresh coffee

Adam and Andy walking through the main part of San Pedro

Andy in his sweet campo pad with land

Capucho, Andy's gargantuan puppy

He had a long night at the baile...

Other than that, not much is going on. We have just been going into work each day, fumbling through our Spanish, visiting barrios and families, and trying to identify projects that we can work on. Adam and I have also been thinking a LOT about food. I think we are a little homesick. I so want to eat one of the following things:

Sushi! All you can eat sushi! Salmon. Tuna tataki. Crunchy rolls. 

A bento box!

Jamba juice!

Costco chocolate cake

Corn dog from Disneyland

Sunday morning dim sum!

Chicken korma, naan and samosas!!!

Sophys!

Korean BBQ...mmmmm....and banchans! Yummmy!