Maya Mountain Research Farm - 12/12/09

Well life on the farm for the past month and a half has been wonderful. The MMRF farm is accessible by hiking an hour, climbing down a steep slippery hill, then crossing the river, or you can get a very enjoyable dorry (dugout canoe) ride, which is how I arrived there. It is an agroforestry farm which basically means that the trees are planted out to resemble the functions and design of a forest, but the species planted are chosen for their various attributes, to make the forest system as productive as possible. The trees planted here produce food for animals and people, firewood, lumber, medincinal use, and ornamentals. Chris is the guy who runs it an he's super knowledgeable but I'm convinced he has adult ADD (no offense Chris). Rachel is the farm coordinator an she's amazing. She deals with crazy shit every day with such grace it's incredible. Hannah is the kitchen intern from SF and is a little rasta lady. She's so chill and wonderful to talk to, not to mention a stellar cook. The three of us form a little trio which works out well. While on the farm I cleared out and started to plant in this big terrace garden that hasn't ben touched for over a year because it was his ex wifes domain which means it was really overgrown. We also cleared out another completely overgrown herb garden near the kitchen, cleared out and planted inthe bega with lots of veggies, transplanted countless plants and trees, and harvested from the agroforestry system nearly every day. We also did lots of work in the kitchen, including harvesting cacao, making ginger beer, and hot sauce. THe kitchen is powered by a seriously tricky and at times frustrating wood stove. The property is lined by a glacier blue river which is a freakin godsend after working a seriously hot and sweaty day. On most Thursdays we go into PG to work with the Red Cross onthe elderly feeing program which I love. The old people are so sweet. My home was an open air thatch hut with a hammock onthe porch. It got some getting used to, being alone and far away from anyone else at times, with no walls to protect me, but I came to really love it. From time to time there was unexpected excitement. Chris sliced his ankle with the chainsaw and bled a bunch. It was seriously gross but Rachael and Hannah took over and bandaged him up. A couple of white trash weirdos also came to the farm; one was supposed to be the garden intern for 6 months and his girlfriend was coming along for the ride. Chris has a strict no smoking on the property rule which the intern repeatedly broke and one morning Chris sent them packing, which would have been eventful in itself but the reaction that it got from this guy was totally bizarre. He was screaming about how they should be allies and brothers in permaculture because permaculture is a minority. He was arguing about money stuff and just kept on ranting. This guy seemed a little off, like developmentally off, neandrathal - esque if you will. So the whole scene, which was appauling, was also a big source of entertainment because it was just so strange. Ah the people you meet travelling, never dull. Another interesting development on the farm was the fact that the farm was trying to kill me. I know that's a rather strange statement, but I think it's true. When Rachael and I went to the source of the river I fell, punctured my hand in two spots, and bruised a nerve that left me without the use of my hand for at least a week. I had a really ba fever that left me bedridden for a couple of days followed by back pains and a rib that popped out of place and made it difficult to breath for a day and night. And for the grand finale, on my last day of work I got bit by a bullet ant on my eyelid, which feels like a bee sting, and it made my eye completely swell shut and I looked like Quasimoto. Whatever. On my last day I went to Saul Garcia's farm, another agroforestry farm, which was beautiful and amazing. I really loved MMRF and I was sad to go, but I will be stopping back on my way up from Guatemala to Belize City to fly home.

It's just madness - 11/23/2009

Finally I am at the Maya Mountain Research Farm in Belize. It was a ridiculously bumpy path getting here, to say the very least. My last week at Neverland actually included working with vegetables, FARMING! Which was really nice. Tina has still not graced us with her presence which not only annoyed all of us but Silvia and Andres (the workers) as well. The woman apparently doesn't have her shit together, oh well. Eventually Rebecca and Andrea, my dear friends and only companions in the valley's wilderness, took off for Guayquil, which was sad. I was left with this new guy who had arrived with two other girls but they only stayed one night and then left which was weird but, whatever. He was super nice but a bit scatterbrained and lost which led to "really deep," soul searching, figuring out the world man kind of conversations that interested me very little. However, this week included zero drama or natural disasters, so I can't really complain. Eventually I made it back to Vilcabamba and stayed there a day or two longer than I had planned, but the weather was nice, it was so relaxing, and my hostel had a wonderfully clean pool. I went to Cuenca for the night and then headed up the long road to Quito. I was really ready to leave Ecuador, which is not to say that my six months there wasn't incredible, because it was. But I was a bit lonely, ready for another volunteering site, and I felt that I had seen essentially everything I wanted to see in Ecuador. So on the day of my departure I got my tickets and checked at the airport, headed for migration when they told me I couldn't leave the country. Homicidal is probably the best adjective to describe how I was feeling at this point. Apparently Ecuadors dumb ass embassy was supposed to tell me to register my visa within 30 days of my arrival in Ecuador and that I needed to get this ID card thing called a censo in order to legally be in the country and to leave. But they didn't tell me any of this, and without it I couldn't board the plane. (insert numerous expletives here) So I left, fuming. Honestly, I just wanted to get the hell out of Quito, but first I had to take care of all this bullshit. Stupid stupid embassy! Well, I would have been more than happy to take care of all this stuff that day but, as fate would have it, it was a freaking national holiday and all of the government buildings were closed for not one but the next TWO WHOLE DAYS! So I had to just sit around in Quito some more; I hate Quito. That night, just to add to my misery and anger, I went to go get some Indian food where they served me glass in my food that broke one of my teeth. Awesome. I really just couldn't believe I had to deal with all this. But I did. Two days later I ha to get up early to go to the bank and deposit a $200 fine into the account of the Migracion Policia, then go to the migracion building, figure out what I needed. Oh, BIG SURPRISE, I didn't even need the damn censo because my visa was four days over the expiration and I could have just paid the fine at the airport. (insert numerous expletives here, again) Fuming once more. I had to change my flight which of course wasn't without difficulty, I had to argue my way out of paying a $250 change fee, but ended up paying $150 to make up the difference in my flight. Then i had to run back to the Policia de Migracion. Finally, everything was resolved and I was leaving the next morning. I threatened the Migracion officer that if I couldn't board the plane tomorrow I was coming to find him and he was going to fix it. Luckily that wasn't necessary. The next day went smoothly, even though I was super nervous that something was going to happen again. I enjoyed numerous magazines in the Miami airport and a bagel, then made it to my hotel in Belize City where everyone was super nice and empathized with the madness that I had been through. Early the next morning I hopped on a bus to Punta Gorda which was my jump off point to get to Maya Mountain Research Farm.

Lucky me, I got to experience a once in a year event - 10/17/09

I can´t believe we´ve experienced more excitement to tell about, but it´s true. There´s only three of us left (and still no Tina) so every night we are doing our best not to creep ourselves out about being in the dark, in the forest, an hours hike from help, and with these obnoxsious dogs that do not stop barking at nothing all night. This is no small feat and usually unsuccessful. Nature decided to make it even harder. I went into my room with no wall and Andrea and Rebecca went into their´s. I was laying in bed, trying to relax, when all of a sudden it soudned like giant boulders were rolling down into the valley, then it was dead silence, not even the bugs were making noise, and then my bed started shaking. It lasted like 20-30 second which maybe doesn´t seem like a lot, but I challenge you to experience the smae thing under our circumstances. After the rumbling and shaking I was so terrified I couldn´t move. I yelled outto the girls and asked them if they had felt that too, and they had. I ran into their room where we all freaked the hell out and vented our frustrations that we were left alone, in the middle of the woods, to deal with one natural disaster after another. I eventually built up the courage to go back to my room, but I had a terrible sleep. The past few days we have been working on constructing an extension to the table. Right now there are benches on all four sides, but the actual table only reaches three of the benches which is not only just a poor design, its also super annoying. So us three ladies have been putting our carpentry skills to work and it´s been really enjoyable. We also found this part of the river that has a tiny little waterfall that falls into a calmer pool area with giant rocks all around and purple flowers floating everywhere. I´ve been bathing there every day and I feel like I have my own private spa; it´s gorgeous.

Fire, Fire on the Mountain - 10/13/09

Yet another unwelcomed exciting day in Neverland. No one could ever say this place is boring. We were all hanging around, enjoying our Sunday morning with some breakfast and relaxation. Chloe and Bruno came up from the path and told us, quite exasperated, that the mountain was on fire. Oh god. It is dry season and covering the mountain is just dry grasses. We ran out to get a better view of what was going on and literally an entire mountain, on our side of the valley, was ablaze and racing down the mountain, burning up everything, and in a hurry. We were all alone. Tina is still in the US and Andres (dude that comes during the week to tell us what to do) doesn´t come in on the weekends. So literally we were running the farm all by ourselves. On the one hand, I love this. It´s like we were just given an entire farm, with a fully stocked kitchen, and animals to boot, and we are just set free to do what we please. On the other hand, we have little idea of what the hell we are doing and there is nothing in the way of an emergency instructions manual. So we see the mountain burning up and we decide that, rather than take chances with our lives, it might be a good idea to pack up and go into Tumianuma. I was real unenthusiastic, to underexagerate, to undertake the voyage of hell for the third time in two days, but, it was a better option than burning alive. I packed up my beast of a bag in record time. We decided to take the three dogs, the donkey , and the horse. I was doing everything I could to get the kittens to stay in one of the donkey´s saddle bags, but they would have none of it; they were just breaking my heart. So we were all packed up, ready to go , and we managed to walk up to the spot where we were checking ou the fire before, and it started to rain a bit. We decided to wait and see if the rain would do the trick. Chloe and Bruno decided to take a horse into town and ask Andres what we should do. While they were gone we ate our emergency supply of cheese and banana bread. Always prepared! By the time they returned, the fire was non-existant, the donkey was angry, and we were all laughing at oursleves for overreacting. Andres sent word that we had nothing to worry about which was entirely apparent by then. We were doubled over laughing thinking about what the people of Tumianumba would say if we arrived, fully packed up, with all the animals in tow, freaking out about a nonexistant fire. To be fair, the mountain is completely scorched, but it defintiely didn´t reach the farm. Disaster averted. Today we chopped down a bunch of fica trees to make space for cows on the property. Fica trees have massive thorns, about two inches long, covering every branch, and the thorns have these awful microbes that stinch like a son of a bitch when they stab your, oh lets say, shin, hand, hip, arm, or really any other body part. And the little microbes don´t stop stinging for hours. I was not pleased at all but I have made it clear to Andres that I will no longer be working with the fica during my stay at Never land. He was very understanding.

Never Thought I´d Find Never Land- 10/10/09

After being booted from the Rhiannon Community (I still can´t believe it, evil bitches) I decided to try my luck at another WWOOFing farm called the Never Land farm which I had heard really wonderful things about. Also, I don´t think they kick out their volunteers... However, my coming to the farm was about as dramatic as it gets. I took the ridiculously long journey down to Vilcabamba, stretched over two days filled with incredibly uncomfortable bus rides and really crappy hostals. FInally the day arrived to venture onto the farm which required an hour long hike through the woods. In Tina´s email (Tina owns the farm, she´s a midwife from the US) she said that taking the 4:30 pm bus to the village where the path starts would be adequate time to arrive while there´s still light. Wrong, so totally wrong. The bus was ever-so-slightly late which in Ecuadorian terms basically qualifies it for being on time. I arrive to the jump off point, Tumianuma, with my (at least) 60 lbs back pack, another small backpack, and another small bag. Upon starting my trek I passed a very old man who asked me if I was going to Tina´s place. When I said yes he seemed concerned and said I was starting out quite late. It doesn´t take a genius to figure out I should have taken that as a sign to turn back immediately, but of course I didn´t. At first I was more or less enjoying my hike although I was sweating like a pig and gasping for air on the uphill bits, my bags weighing me down. This part of the country is so beautiful, my absolute favorite; so I really welcomed the exercise and views of the valley. The directiosn I had ben given were on the vague side but I was assuming it would become clear where I should go, so I continued on the path. So wrong again. I was walking for like 20 minutes when I took a wrong turn. At the time I obviously didn´t know it was a wrong turn, but it was. The path started getting a bit hairy and I realized that it was getting darker and quickly. I knew that the farm was by the river so I decided even if this wasn´t exactly the right way it would get me there. I´m walking and walking and it´s getting quite dark now and I come to a metal gate. The directions specifically say not to go through an metal gates and if I come to a metal gate I´ve gone the wrong way. Shit. NOw I started to panic. I had passed some houses on the way so I fugred I could just yell for help, but no one answered. I started freaking out a bit because now its getting really dark and I´m 15 minutes in the wrong direction. In Ecuador it gets dark crazy fast. I decided to high tail it back to the main path. I arrive and it´s night time, I mean it is really really dark. There´s a house so I go up to the gate and screamed as loud as i could, hoping someone will hear me. No one was there. NOw I´m absolutely panicked, sweating, with a million pounds on my back of crap I have to carry, alone, in the wilderness, hyperventilating, choking out tears every few seconds, and I have no tent. Oh, and my flashlight batteries are nearly dead. I considered the possibility of just setting up my mostquitoe net and sleeping bag for the night but that´s a freakin joke. I´ve just barely resolved my issues with being afraid of the dark. And, literally, there are poinsonous snakes and tarantulas common to the area. So I decided since I have no idea how to get where I´m going, I´m just going to have to take the path back which I know, and try it all over again in the morning. So I´m walking, again with all of my stuff, at break neck speed (for the situation), still sweating, still screaming for help, and I actually cannot see more than three feet ahead of me. All I needed was a camcorder and foundtains of snot coming out of my nose and I could have been in the Blair Witch project, but I pushed those thoughts out of my head. I fell twice over rocks I couldn´t see. The first time my adrenaline was at an all time high so I shot right back up. The second time I was so tired and closer to getting back, so a tad more relaxed, and the weight from my pack pinned me to the ground for a while. That sucked. I also skinned my knee and shin pretty badly and the bruises that are still forming are sure to be nothing short of impressive. Finally, exhausted and sweaty, I arrived back in Tumianuma and went to an old couple sitting on their porch. In one sentence I told them I got lost I need a place to stay is there a hostal please help. These people were so nice, brought me water, and offered me a bed in their home. I relaxed on their porch, helped them fix their DVD player (press the power button), and we watched a DVD of music videos by indigenous Ecuadorian musicians. It was god awful, that DVD. The next morning they gave me coffee and crackers which I wolfed down after not having any dinner the night before. One of their daughters offered to take me up to the farm for $5, as long as I took the heavy bag and she took the two light bags. Not exactly the most altruistic move I´ve ever witnessed, but my whole body hurt, my knee was throbbing, I was tired, and scared of getting lost, and I really didn´t want to carry all those bags, so I agreed. She was moving a hell of a lot faster than I was but she delivered me to where I needed to go. There was only the one small obstacle of crossing a super sketchy rope bridge before I arrived and was greted by the breying of a donkey. It´s the most excitement I´ve had in a long time and I hope for some really comparatively dull moments in the future. When I arrived I was told TIna is actually in the US, that they havn´t really been doing much work and we have the weekend off (I arrived on Friday). The guy in charge barely gies us any direction, so a bunch of us went raspberry picking for half the day and thenjust kind of hung out and cooked meals. I think this is one of those places where if you tell them exactly what you want to do, you can do it. This works for me but I get the feeling that some of the other people are frustrated. Oh well. There´s a lot of fruit and avocado trees, lots of animals. We´re basically in a valley with a beautiful river right next to the site. I have my own room in a rather odd, open air building, that looks like it´s either unfinished or been destroyed. It´s a little creepy because I don´t really have a wall on one side, just sheets, but with my mosquitoe net I think I´ll be okay.

Rhiannon Commune-ity - 9/4/09

My first few days at the Rhiannon Community have been lovely. When you´re driving through the country roads and towering mountains, all you can smell is the eucalyptus trees. Never mind the fact that they are completely sucking the life out of the soil, they smell damn good. The house is pretty huge and so beautiful, including a yoga studio, wood floors, and killer views. They´ve only been here a year, but they´ve managed to get some changes done with a giant chicken tractor/vegetable garden, a greenhouse, composting toilet and shower house, greywater system, and a laguna for some inexplicable reason... literally nobody gives me an answer as to why it is there. There´s also a tipi, a sweatlodge, and a yurt that are pretty cool. We do four hours of work a day and our afternoons our free. We also have extra chores outside of work and mine are putting out the goats and donkeys in the morning and evening which is quite strenuous compared to taking one bag of trash to a trashcan 30 paces away, but the animals are pretty awesome, and bags of trash are not. So I guess it´s a pretty good job. We have no electricity and alll vegetarian meals. It´s at about the same elevation as Quito, right near the equator, usually sunny, and obscenely windy. So far I really enjoy the work. The people who own the place, Helen and Nicky, don´t really know any better what they are doing so you basically get to do whatever you think might work for situations like worm composting and wind fencing, which clearly I am no expert on but it´s awesome to have a place to experiment. I also love the word burning stove that we use every night and bake cakes in, delish!

Adios Rio Muchacho - 9/1/09

Finished up our last week at Rio Muchacho, it was really sad to leave everyone, we´d become a pretty tight knit group. But I´m excited to move onto new things. One of the days we took a hike through a nearby village. The hike itself was really pretty, passing through river beds and farms, however, the first part of the trip we were walking through a bunch of brush and got absolutely covered in tiny tiny ticks. You would look down at your pants and there would literally be thousands of them. When you tried to brush them off you could only get some of them; the ohters would be all over you hands,socks, legs, shoes, stomach, face... god it was disgusting. And they don´t brush off all that easily so you really have to scrape them off your skin. It was so gross and resulted in a lot of us looking like we had the chicken pox. Another cool thing we did was learn all about bees and harvesting honey. An apiculturalist (I think that´s what their called) came to the farm and then we all put on these big white bee suits and went to the bee boxes to pull out the boards that had huge collections of honey comb. There were thousands of bees everywhere and the buzzing was unnervingly loud. It´s a little (a lot) scary at first because its really difficult to believe that the suit you´re wearing could actually fully protect you. Also, the bees are africanized so they´re really aggressive and Nicola told us that when she got stung it was the most painful thing ever. Not so encouraging. But no one got stung, and we all ate delicious honey. We got a really strange volunteer our last week. She was supposed to stay at least 3 weeks but then deicded that she was only going to stay for 3 days so that she could go be with her boyfriend who lives in the States. She thought it would be a great idea to just go to Quito from Canoa right away, go straight to the airport, and hop on an earlier flight. It never occurred to her that she might not be able to just hop on a flight right away because she´s always seen at least one empty seat on all the planes she´s been on... dumbass. She was also shameless in just asking for peoples stuff like someone´s full pack of cigarettes, or their last bite of food, or, and this is the weirdest, if I had any extra underwear to give her... No I don´t have any extra underwear and why in gods name would she want it!? Freak. I also had to tell her not to smoke in our room and then explain to her why it might not be the best idea to smoke in a house made of dry bamboo and thatch. Then there was her painfully annoying habit of constantly asking questions and especially when she would sit in on our class and ask for an explanation for everything - things we had already covered, things that had no relevance, things that were painfully obvious - which was so irritating to the rest of us that had paid for and attended the entire class. Unanimously decided, she sucked. After we all left, Steve, Tania, Jo and I went to Mompiche. Mompiche is paradise; it´s a small and minimally touristy beach in the north that has lush, jungley vegetation up until a white sand beach that stretches for miles. We got there at 7 pm which is when they turn all the power out for an hour each evening,which was really disorienting. Immediately we found a hostal which ended up being a filthy dump. They led us through a kitchen that smelled like everything was rotting, up a creepy staircase, to a hallway where a fat old man in tiny underpants was leering at us from the doorway. The room looked like a crack house - no windows and a bathroom that had no door and was not really separated from the rest of the room. I hated it so much. I slept on a towel all night too, ugh. We spent one night there then Jo and I moved to a super chill, clean, nearly empty hostal in which the sleeping area and the toilet were two distinct areas. Major upgrade. On the last night Jo and I wandered into a surfers bar and had so much fun, the guys there were hilarious. We also ditched these two obnoxious guys who were trying to guilt trip us into hanging out with them by telling us that we would be liars if we didn´t have one drink with them because we told them that we might earlier. I yelled at him and told him that we would not be having a drink with them. I guess I´m a liar now. Funny enough, the guy I yelled at ended up being on my bus to Quito and we shared a ride in the cab from the terminal to the city... in silence... guess he´s still unhappy about that drink. Now I´m onto the super hippy farm in Malchingui called the Rhiannon community (you can google it) where there is no electricity and no internet for miles, so i´ll be a bit out of touch, but hopefully it´ll be great!

Pig poop - 8/22/09

Rio Muchacho is still incredible. It´s unbeliebable that this will be my last week; time seems to be blowing by faster and faster as my trip progresses. The course is still so fascinating to me. We´ve been talking a lot about compost and permaculture. For my morning jobs I first worked with the horses and cows and then with the pigs. I was a little nerbous about the horses; they get a little worked up when they´re hungry and I would imagine that getting kicked by one would really hurt. HOwever, there´s a donkey in with the horeses and cows that I think is awesome. First, the noises donkeys make is the funniest thing I´ve ever heard come out of an animal. This donkey is also super friendly; it will come up to you and nudge your arm so you´ll pet it. I´m a big fan and he kind of reminds me of Mackenzie. So that weeks job wasn´t so awful. Then, this past week I had the pigs. The pigs are serious pooping machines. I was pretty comfortable with animal poo and even human poo after working in the composting toilets during the first two weeks, but the pigs are completely different. There are 7 small pens, some with two smaller pigs, one with a huge mom pig and her adorable babies, and four massive pigs, thne there are two more giant pigs that hang out in the horse/cow/donkey section that are gross and I don´t like, and then there is the absolutely evil Isidoro. Isidoro is a male pig that is the size of a cow who hasn´t been castrated and is so agressive that he pushed one of hte volunteers to the ground when she was trying to get into his pen to feed him. I hate him, I refuse to go in there and feed him, he can starve or turn into breakfast sausages as far as I´m considered. So the first part of hte job is mixing about a liter of molasses (sp?) with a bucket of water and dish that out before someone starts shovelling; this keeps them at least a bit occupied. THen yo uhave to shovel four of the pens of the poo and put sawdust down. The other three pens you shovel into a different bucket to use the poo for the biodigester which turns poop into usable gas energy. While that´s going on someone mixes up and dishes out the pig food. The pigs sole thought is on being fed so they are unleashing blood curdling screams while waiting for the food. Sometimes they try to nibble on your boots or the shovel or knock over the poo bucket. Sometimes they just have temper tantrumbs, stomping around, squealing like toddlers, which is actually the funniest thing I´ve seen an animal do. The sawdust poo goes to the compost. With the biodigester you have what I consider to be the most disgusting job on the farm. You mix the poo with water and have to pull out the sticks and straw you find in it and then CAREFULLY pour it into the tube that feeds it into the biodigester. If the biodigester is clogged, as it was a couple of day ago, you have to feed a hose through the poopy tube, pull out the now shit covered hose, then turn the tube (about 7 feet long) so it´s standing up right and hit it on the ground until about three liters of smelly pig shit comes flowing out and you are trying not to thing about the droplets falling on your head from the other end of the tube hovering right about you. This was so damn gross. On the last day I got to partake in that as well as poo collecting to make a certain kind of compost called bocashi. We went down the road a bit to an area that was filled with cows and horses. The ground was 100% dried up poop. I had to use this tool which is like a pole with a board perpendicular to it and you drag it on the ground to make mounds so its easier to shovel into bags. One of the workers, Jinsin, was pulling the pole while I was on the ground pushing the board and getting poo dust all over and in my mouht/eyes/nose. I was absolutely exhausted after doing this for like thirty minutes, sweating, and Jinsin was really encouraging by telling me "Tu cara es pura mierda", your face is pure shit, when I stood up. There was a little boy there playing around who was hilarious and "helping" us. He had completely peed his pants and as he was running down a hill, yelling at all of us to watch him jump, he tripped and fell face first into a pile of shit. I was crying I laughed so hard.

Its All About the Poop - 8/10/09

My first week at Rio Muchacho has been incredible. The actual farm itself is so beautiful. There´s lots of thatched roofs, bamboo constructions, incredible gardens with so many flowers and food, a meditation garden, and even the animal section isn´t too bad. On the farm they row a million kinds of fruits and veggies, basically whatever the climate will allow. They have cows, donkeys, chickens, ducks, pigs, horses, guinea pigs, and lots of cats and dogs running around. Our days begin at 6 AM with either preparing breakfast, watering the gardens, or taking care of the animals. My monring chore for the first week was taking care of the cuyes (guinea pigs). On the coast they don´t eat them so on the farm there just a source of organic material (aka poo). The cuye cages are situated on top of the worm composting beds, the cuyes eat lots of grass and other grains, then poop it all out into the worm beds, which the worms then eat and poop out to create nutrient rich humus which is then used to fertilize the plants. So what I actually do is dump the poo from the litle cuye hiding places in the cage into the worm beds and give them food and grass. Then I water the worm beds and the compost. Breakfast is around 730 which is always fruit, muesli, bread and tea. This is probably my favorite meal. Then at 830 am we start the real work. This can be a whole variety of jobs such as weeding, planting, harvesting crops, or, today I shoveled out the contents of one of the composting toilets for about 2 1/2 hours. At 12 we have lunch which is usualy suop with yucca or beans or carrots or peantus or a million different things from the garden. After we have a heap of white rice which is always excessive and then some sort of hot dish, salad, and sometimes more bread and juice. We start working again at 130 where we work on a whole variety of projects from preparing bamboo with machetes for construction to clearing out a plot of land to start a new garden or making chocolate from the coca plant to make a delicious chocolatey spread. We finish at 4, I usually shower unless the electricity is out and we have no water, and then we have dinner between 6 and 7 which is usually similar to lunch without soup. On Wednesday afternoons we have a cultural activity instead of work. So last Wednesday we went to go see an enormous palm that has been taken over by a parasite and has grown these crazy roots and vines so you can no longer see the actual palm. Later we made rings out of seeds. The other part of my time here is psent in my permaculture and organic farming course. I love this course! THus far we´ve learned the theory and pricniples of organic farming and a little about composting. We have class instead of after breakfast work, 3 times a week. We also watch movies the nights we have classes and some of them have been so interesting. THe firs one we saw was called"Peak Oil" and it was about how Cuba had to basicallly change everything to become completely self suficient and more sustainable after the USSR fell. THey changed everything to organic farming, solar power, huge public transport, bikes, an urban farming. It´s really impressive and of course appeals to my mild obsession for Cuba. THe second movie was called "The Future of Food" which was mildly frightening about GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Basically, Monsanto created these GMO sees and patened the gene in the seed, the seed is only showing its good attributes for one season and then they have to rebuy the seed. They started asking o test farmers crops and found that certain crobs were exhibiting the genes of their seed, sue them, an won with the judges saying that the farmers were responsible for making sure these seeds did not get into their fields, even if these seeds were blown in by the wind or pooped in by a bird. It alo talked about the agro and food industry. So frightening and interesting. Al the volunteers are great and I´ve been able to practice my spanish a lot.

Whales and Boobies - 8/2/09

How in the hell do these months keep flying by? Since leaving Salasaka I´ve been indulging in some touristy fun. I started my trip off by heading to Puerto Lopez. It was by far the worst bus ride yet. I took a night bus hoping to sleep through and literally did not get a minute of rest. It was so bumpy I was constantly being bumped off my seat and the night before I only got 4 hours of sleep. It was a rough one! FInally I made it to Puerto Lopez and got into my hostal. I fell asleep for a couple hours. When I woke up I kept having seriously painful stomach pains. These lasted a few hours and then I decided to pay a visit to the oh-so-convenient hostal doctor. Apparently I have amoebas and something else. Excellent. I got loaded up with some meds and crawled back into bed. First day in PL, kind of sucked. The next day I was feeling a lot better and went to the Los Frailes beach in the national park nearby. It has a beautiful white sand beach with turqouise blue water, and I spent the whole day relaxing there. The next day I fially went to go see the whales! During July and August you get to see the whales migrating from Antarctica to Puerto Lopez; they go there to mate ad have their babies in the warmer waters. TO get to where the whales hang out you have to take a really rough boat ride out into the ocean for about an hour and a half. I´ve never concentrated so hard on not vomitting. However, it was well worth it. They were jumping out of the water and crashing back down a couple of times. It was incredible! They are so huge, it´s super overwhelming. After seeing the hwales for wahile we headed to Isla de la Plata. This island is home to many birds but most importantly, the blue footed booby. So many people had said that this part of the tour wasn´t worht it, but I thought it was incredible. I mean, unless you have blue footed boobies running around your backyard, I don´t know how you couldn´t have been impressed. We hiked around the island for a few hours and then headed back tothe boat for lunch and snorkeling. Honestly the snorkeling wasn´t that great but there were a few really pretty fish; the coral was totally dead though. Then we made a long and nauseating voyage back to the port. The next day I headed out to Bahia de Caraquez to get everything settled for my next volunteering stint at the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm. It turne out that none of the volunteers were really goig to start until Monday so I decided I would follow suit and just hang out until then. Luckily there were two sisters from the US staying at my hostal who were great, Keera and Ana. They were there to volunteer at an organization called Planet drum. I was thinking about volunteering there for a bit but after seeing where the volunteers live I am pretty sure that I will not be volunteering there. It´s defining characteristics include a serious bug infestation with no flushing toilets or running water for that matter. Anyways, I spent the weekend with the girls going to the beach, taing the tour of some mangroves, and eating a lot of foods. They were so fun and really made the weekend. And now I´m just relaxing before I start my new volunteer gig.

Last Bit of Salasaka Living - 7/26/09

No surprises, I stayed in Salasaka. I just couldn´t leave! I also got rid of my cold, so I think it was for the best. The last week of teaching was actually the most annoying week ever. 2 twelve year old boys joined my 2 tweleve year old girls and I´ve ever seen such annoying results. Bad 12 year old hormones, bad! THey would hit eachother, say bad words in Quichua and then the others would tattle, they refused to pay attention, or I guess they were just too distracted. Clearly I never produced such a ridiculous scene at that age. So it was a frustrating last week but we got through it. The time outside of class though became more and more fun. We all got into the habit of cooking ridiculously delicious treats, from soufles to salsas. I have made my mark on Pacha Mama cuisine with the peanut butter cookie. I also made some kick ass zucchini bread muffins. Saturday we went to a reggae/metal concert and save the Amazon festival all day. We ran into a girl that I volunteered with at Arutam as well, which was fun. THere was one reggae group called Rasta Alma that was so fun. Later that night a group of us went to Baños for dinner and then a last all night party at the Leperchaun bar. We ended up leaving at 5 am and made like an hour trip back to Salasaka which resulted in a really rough morning. Now I´m packing up all my things to leave Salasaka, for real, and making my way to Puerto Lopez to see the whales!

Back to home base - 7/21/09

I´m getting pretty bad at writing regularly which, at the moment, is a sing that I have been pleasantly busy. The Friday since I last worote, we went to a club in Ibarra called Mojito where they were playing a wildly eclectic mashup of classic rock, spanish tunes, techno, and, of course, copius amounts of Michael Jackson. Definitely a good time. The next day we brought obscene amoutns of food ( everything from red velvet cake to chilli cheese covered hot dogs and hamburgers) and spent the day celebrating the homelands´independence. We fnished up the night with an array of really crappy fireworks. The highlight was when on of the fireworks turned on us and shot this little rocked directly at our heads; it was the most exciting one by far. The next day I embarked on a long journey towards Cuenca. I spent one night in a hostal called Casa Blanca in Baños which I do not think I would recommend to anyone who is not enthusiastic about other peoples´pubic hair in your bed and on various areas of the bathroom. I got out of there the next morning and finished up my journey to Cuenca. I stayed at a weird hostal, but it was lacking the hairy decor and so I couldn´t complain too much. The hostal, called El Cafecito, was more of a bar with rooms right off the sides which allowed for some loud tunes and even louder talking to fill the room until the wee hours every night. But I did meet some fun people, such as a crazy Chilean man who spoke a mile a minute, and, incidentally, I met a man named Phil who came to volunteer in Salasaka after. Cuenca is pretty and quite tranquilo; it looks like a city in Spain and has a lovely river, but other than that there wasn´t a whole lot to do. For the weekend I headed to Vilcabamba, the Valley of Longevity. It was so gorgeous, with rolling hills, jungle, forest, and everything in between. You can do hikes or just relax. I met a ton of the rahter sizable expat population and they took me around to their friends houses and their favorite spots. The people I met there seemd to want nothing but to make everyone feel welcome, comfortable, and happy. It was a very lovely weekend. Although, one night I went to bed, feeling fine, read a bit, and all of a sudden I was thought, oh god I am going to throw up, and had to run to the bathroom to up chuck my previously delicious meal. But other than that, I really loved Vilcabamba; so much so that I might only stay at Rio Muchacho for two months and then go back to Vilcabamba for a month to volunteer at an ecolodge there. After Vilcabamba I made my way back to Salasaka, my home away from home. On the way I had to stay at a scary ass hostal near the bus station in Loja that was tended to by a drunk, verbally abusive, psycho (verbally abusive to his girlfriend not to me). The next night I finally made it into Salasaka. I was so ready to pull up to the front door of Pacha Mama (the hostal), however, there was obscene amounts of construction blocking my way. I told the cab driver to just let me out somewhere and I¨d trek the rest of the way. Easier said than done! Every path I knew to take, there was a tne food ditch in my way and it was pitch black out. Finally I decided I was just going to blaze my own freakin trail. So I busted out the headlamp and started walking in the general direction of Pacha Mama. It was going okay until a pack of angry, inbred, weiner dog, mutts came growling and barking at me. Weiner dog mutts may not seem so scary, however, all I could think of wasif I had to get those massive rabies shots in my stomach, it´s really going to suck. Luckily the owner of the rabid mob came out to save me. I frantically explained to her my plight and she escourted me back to Pacha Mama. This is why I love Salasaka! I was definitely shocked by the amount of people there; some old faces, some new, and a couple who had also skipped out on Arutam early and made their way here. The next day I felt a tad out of my element because we were now running semi private lessons instead of holding regular class, but I have found that I actually prefer it. THe kids actually want to learn and there´s way less of them, so it´s easier to teach and more personaly attention for the kids. Personally, I think I´m an awful English teacher; I don´t understand the rules in English and explaining them in Spanish is just that much more complex. However, I found a copy of Frog and Toad are Friends in the library and I¨m pretty excited to make the kids read it. I also teach math whic I pretty much love. Takes me back to when I was ontop of my arithmatic game in middle and high school (Shout out to Russ Pline!). Any who, the week went relatively smoothly and I became fast firnes with everyone here; it´s very much so a brady bunch family. Friday night we did a bit of indulging which included meat (MEAT!) and potatoes, I made riquisimas chocolate chip cookies, a banana and blackberry sauce cake, a freshly squeezed juice bar with rum, and to top it off, we roasted bananas in tin foil in the fireplace (camp style), and had a contest of who could create the best filling the the naners. My personal favorite was Gretta´s campo fresco cheese and cinamon. A lovely evening indeed. The next day was the confirmation of twenty kids in Salasaka. Gretta, Bill and Justine were all padrinos, godparents. That morning I did my first ever souveneir shopping (it was great) and then went to the church to watch confirmation. Later that night, we were invited to help celebrate at the house of Bill and Justine´s newest godson. Well, first we had to find the house, and in the campo, it´s just not that easy. THey told us to listen for the loud music which is like telling someone in the US suburbs to look for the SUV. So we headed in the right direction and, low and behold, there was a house with enormous speakers, blaring music. So we went up to ask if this was the right house, and of course it wasn´t, so we said sorry for barging in and turned to go find the party we had originally set out for. Then, the little girl who had been confirmed, and it was her quinceniera (15th bday), asked me ¿Pues, porque no estan entrando? Why aren´t you guys coming in? And, as with any food, beverage, or party invite, we could not decline. So we thanked her profusely and entered the party. THere was an enormous chicken, veggies, cuye, a homemade three tiered cake, fruit, cookies, and candy. And as soon as we sat down we were handed a giant bowl of chicken soup and some of the strongest chicha I¨ve ever had. Everyone treated us like royalty, but it was still a bit awkward, being that we accidentally crashed the party. We stayed for awhile; some of the girl´s relatives made extremely heartfelt speaches and everyone of them welcomed us and thanked us for joining their party in the celebration. I mean personally, I didn´t feel to burdened crashing a party and getting free food, but your welcome random Salasakan family! These people give a new definition to hospitable. More chicha was followed by dancing with the family. After a while we excused ourselves to go find the party we hadinitially set out for. Eventually, we got to the right party. Again, we were greeted with copius amounts of food and drink and followed it up with some wild Salasakan dancing (not wild at all, we were two-stepping). After that we decided to head back to the first party we were at. THere were even more people now, all of whom were plastered. The dancing continued and more speeches were made. One of the volunteers had a bit too much to drink and started vomitting in the corner of the room while an incredibly drunk relative made a speech. I looked over in utter disbelief, ¨was she really just puking in someones living room during a toast?¨ Not many people noticed, thank god, and the drunk ass relative making the speech fell over. A distraction! With all the attention on him a couple of guys escourted the volunteer out of the house and back to the hostal. But disaster striked again when another volunteer attempted to remove the box that contained the contents of the volunteers sotmach; the bottom fell out. Luckily I did not have to witness that part, but I felt the shame nonethless. Apparently no one was too offended by the display; we continued to be served drinks, asked to dance, and Phil was asked to be a godfather. At the end of the night we all managed to stumble out way back home. The next morning was a rough one for everybody. I was supposed to leave Sunday night to go to the coast but I changed my plans, a couple times actually. Now I´m supposed to leave tomorrow to go to the coast but I have a bad cold and it just doesn´t seem like a good idea to hit up a beach party while I´m sick then go onto my next volunteer site. It´s also really very sad for me to leave here, and it´s really easy to stay. So we´ll see how I feel tomorrow I suppose.

It´s already July???!!! - 7/1/09

June came to a close crazy fast. My last week in Salasaka was pretty good. We kept practicing for Intiraymi at the school which was painfully boring, however, some familiar faces have shown up at Katitawa. These two hippie dippy South African girls, Tansy and Amy, and the wonderful Londoner, Eden, all came to work from Arutam. The two SA girls were still as strange as I remembered them, but they have definitely toned down the craziness a bit since I last saw them so they were quite nice to have around. And having Eden there was wonderful; she´s just so down to Earth it´s refreshing. The day of Initiraymi finally arrived and the kids did well, there was a large turnout, the local news station covered it, and I think everyone was pretty satisfied with the results. Lambchop was butchered and made into both a soup, which was uber foul including intestines, and also made into a roast with habas (beans) and potatoes. It was roasted on hot rocks in the ground and covered with a piece of metal and some branches. The roast was pretty good, but many volunteers, suspiciously, got diarrhea in the following days... so I don´t know if I would recommend following in these footsteps. After the performances, speeches, and food, the booze obviously followed; it wouldn´t be a Salasakan community gathering without a couple crates of Pilsener, some puro, and whiskey. We were all enjoying ourselves and apparently so were our very young students. I looked over at this seven year old kid downing a beer and others were lining up for their share. I asked the adults if this was normal and they just kind of smiled and shrugged. Such is life in Ecuador. Later that night we were invited to a friend of a teacher´s house for some coca leaves, coca alcohol, and chicha. Coca is used to keep people awake and suppress appetite as well as cure altitude sickness. If combined in huge huge quantities it makes cocaine which is why it´s so controversial (an illegal in Ecuador, oops), but it has to be something like 30 kilos of coca leaves to make one gram of cocaine powder, so its not anything to worry about. Chicha is a traditional Quichua drink made from chewed up fruit or corn that ferments. I prefer chicha over the other stuff which tastes like an anise plant just lit a fire in your GI tract. The next day we went to Salasaka´s town celebration of Intiraymi. I was told that there would be music, dancing, and a large bonfire - somethings were left out of the explanation. It started out really lovely. We were walking down towards the plaza and people were singing and carrying large tree branches; it literally felt like you were walking through a moving dancing forest. When we arrived at the plaza we joined in the enormous group of people surrounding the dance floor/stage area. This is when "the shit hit the fan". So we are standing in the crowd waiting for something to start (not sure what) when a group of men, wearing monkey masks and boxing gloves, started running through the crowd punching - and I mean really punching - random people in the head if they didn´t run out of the way fast enough. My friend Eden got boxed. It shocked the hell out of us, and yet, none of the Salasakans seemed the least bit surprised. That was kind of my "oh shit" moment and realization that the celebrations Ecua-style didn´t follow the regulations that would be the norm in the States, such as, don´t punch people in the face. So I was already tense; we literally had to keep on the lookout so we wouldn´t be punched. Then the monkey boxers got on horseback, rode their horses carelessly through the crowd, and continued their boxing brigade from there, adding a new level of danger, and for me, anxiety. Then, they let loose a couple of bulls to run through the crowd and people just had to clear a pathway or be trampled. But, my least favorite part was when they picked up a flaming object and tossed it into the crowd. Literally, not gauging where it was going to land or plan for anything, just chucking a fireball at a group of people like it was a piece of candy. was thinking that if I see a child running out of the crowd with his or her head on fire, I´m really going to need some therapy. Again, the Salasakans were unphased, laughed, and then continued on like nothing happened. I think I said "I´m not comfortable with this", at least 20 times. The next big event was the fire which was made up of the tons of lovely dancing tree branches we had marched toward the plaza with earlier. The fire was enormous; about two stories high and just blazing. Compared to what had been happening earlier, this put me at ease. As the fire died down a bit I got to crank my anxiety levels back up watching children running through the 8-10 foot flames of the fire; luckily no one got hurt. Finally, the music and dancing commenced, but I was so worn out from the stress of the prior activities that I didn´t last all night. In the end, I´m happy I went and experienced the Intiraymi celebration in Salasaka; if I hadn´t seen it for myself there is no way in hell I would have believed it. After I left Salasaka I went and met up with Sam, and Andrea, and many other Peace Corps friends which was so much fun. We spent the night in Wuito at the Secret Garden Hostal which was stellar and had an incredible dinner at a place I think called Cafe Mosaico, or something to that effect. The next day, Sam, Andrea and I went to Sam´s site in Pacto where we got to see where she lives and meet all the people she interacts with on a daily basis, and even take part in the aerobics class she leads every day. Her best friend and surrogate family member, Mary Lou, cooked us a phenomenal dinner and told us about her time with Sam thus far. The next day we met up with ten other PC volunteers at another site near Santo Domingo. We all went to an area in the jungle where the indigenous Tsachila group lives and they showed us some important aspects of their culture and a shaman cleansed us. It was pretty interesting and I liked being able to compare aspects of that indigenous culture to others that I have come to know. That night we all went back to the PCVs apartment, broke out a lot of drinks and food, danced, sang, and played games that Sam facilitated. It was a wonderful time. The next day Sam, Andrea, and Roberto (another PCV), and I took a long bus ride to Canoa on the coast. We stayed at a chill hostal on the beach, ate delicious foods, and mourned Michael Jackson´s death. The next day the weather was not particularly gorgeous. We hung out for about half the day then decided to make a move. Roberto and I went to Bahia de Caraquez to spend the day and then take a night bus to Ibarra where his site is and he has a 3 story house (so not peacecorps!). Sam and Andrea made their way towards Manta where they were flying back to Quito the next day. Our night bus to Ibarra was absolutely terrifying. I was knocked out on sedative-heavy motion sickness pills, but I would wake up every so often to the bus rocking dangerously back and forth and the clutch making a terrible grinding noise. But we eventually made it back alive. That afternnon Roberto and I took a hike down to a river and then later that afternoon, Thea, a friend of another PCV, came to join us for the night because she was in Otavalo and sick of being on the bus. Thea is wonderful; she´s crazy positive and down for anyhting. That night we went to a PCV couples´ house for dinner (Erin and Jacob) who were hilarious and just awesome company. The next day we went to meet up with more PCVs in a town called Tapacundo for another Intiraymi celebration. This one was a hell of a lot tamer than the one in Salasaka. This celebration consists of different groups of people dressing alike, singing a song over and over again, drinking lots, and dancing, doing what is called "the campo shuffle" to us gringos, all over town. The group I danced with was wearing traditional Ecua hats, goatskin chaps, and black leather jackets. I thought they looked pretty great. It was really fun dancing and then we also hung out by the little bonfires made of eucalyptus branches that dotted the main road. That was all very fun. Then a PCV who was a notorious drinker showed up and was just bouncing off the walls. People started to head home, but not this guy, and because Roberto promised to take care of him and make sure he didn´t et into trouble, I was forced to stay out later than desired. We tried getting this guy to go home which resulted in him crying, shoving Roberto a bit, yelling, and his eventual abandonment. He ended up not going to jail, sleeping on the street, or dying, so I guess it was okay. I headed back to Ibarra, went to some hot springs in Chichimbiru, and continued the role as Peace Corps groupie for a couple days. Now I´m in Quito enjoying some alone time and delicious oods for a couple days. I always thought I would just deal with traveling alone, but I¨m finding it really enjoyable. Friday afternoon I am returning to Ibarra to resume my groupie role. Friday night I believe there is dancing and clubbing in the works and then Saturday is a big ole, American style, 4th of July day at the lake, complete with fireworks and grilling out. Have a happy 4th of July everyone!

Quilatoa is beauuuutiful! - 6/15/09

Well this past week hasn´t been epic or anything, but there certainly has been some highlights. We have been preparing the kids at the school for an open day that will be ocurring on the 18th. People from all over the community, surrounding areas, and a local news team will be coming to Katitawa. The kids will be performing traditional dances, explaining the dry toilets, compost, recycling, and solar panels, talking about the volunteers who come from all over the world, the teachers will be talking about the school, and finally there will be a celebration of the holiday, Intiraymi. Initraymi is the local celebration of the Earth and I think the Sun which comes complete with a traditional ceremony and a sheep roast. THe sheep arrived today and I´m doing my best not to get attached. We were thinking its name should be either cena (spanish for dinner) or lambchop. So practicing for the opening day has bee taking up most of school time. It´s important that it goes well not only to show the community that Katitawa´s more experimental ways are beneficial to the kids, but also, to attract new students. This past weekend 2 volunteers and I went to Quilatoa for the weekend which is a tiny town that has one of the most beautiful lakes situated in the center of an old volcano. It is incredible gorgeous with turquoise blue water and an amazing hike. We hiked down to the lake, hung out for the afternoon, then hiked all the way back up. The altitude kicked my ass, to put it mildly. We stayed at this lovely little hostal right at the park entrance that had wonderful, big, family style meals, a big warm fireplace, and copious amounts of hot chocolate. No one slept well because the altitude is so high up you literally can´t breathe, but it allowed a group of us to get up and watch the sun rise over the crater which was phenomenal. Also, I´ve changed my plans slightly to meet up with my friends Sam and Andrea a little earlier than I planned to leave Salasaka, but what are the chances of a South American rendezvous? It will be really great to see some familiar faces, so for now I´m just going to enjoy the rest of my last week in Salasaka!

Bored in the library... let the facebook stalking commence!

so i´m working in my library in salasaca, ecuador amongst the quechua speaking folk and i am bored because i have to sit here 3 hours and i cannot be on a computer that long. so what do i do, i facebook stalk. i stumbled upon laurens wall and start reading. clearly i was going to pass over a comment made by max huston, but then i thought, three wolf moon t-shirt? must check it out.

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=89993759146&h=cHTsL&u=7rUtc&ref=mf

so i started by checking out the other items people bought along with this one: whole milk,"zubaz pants" whatever they are, a joe the plumber book, and a badonkadonk land cruiser are only on the first page. that provoked a smile. but then when i proceeded to the customer review by B. Govern (Bee dot Govern), that´s when the magic happened. I was trying to stifle my laughter because i was at that moment playing the role of librarian and there was no way i could explain why it was so funny to my Quechua friends. That clearly didn´t happen. I burst out laughing, scaring the silent members of the library, and had tears running down my face. this man is brilliant and basically summed up the non white trash and non uber annoying hipster populations´opinion on wolf tshirts. i would also like to give a nod to the customer review by T. Guymon "Son of Spam" who is also amusing. If you continue on, as I have, to the other 1300+ reviews of the Three Wolf Moon tshirt, you will find that there are a lot of hilarious sarcastic people who are more than willing to take the time to write a really funny review of this ridiculous item. I say props to them because they have amused me thoroughly in my last hour of library duty. Thanks Max Huston for enlightening us all!

Here is a copy of the review by B. Govern:

This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark.

Field Trip! and I turned 23 - 6/1/09

Well I wasnt entirely healthy by my birthday. It is amazing how much of my time traveling is occupied by pondering my stomach problems; I would estimate about 30% of it. First there was constipation, followed by one night of vomiting, then constant unfortunate trips to the toilet, and finally, obscene amounts of bloating and gas. I literally woke up and belched one morning. Im starting to understand "a day in the life of David Norman" a little more every day. And now Im getting a cold, but Im pretty sure I prefer that to the tummy troubles. Anyways, my birthday was nice but not so eventful. We went on a field trip to Ambato with the students. To be honest it was a bit strange. We came to a provincial building and were ushered into a large parking lot where the kids performed a traditional dance along with another group and then there was a group of children from a special needs school whom I guess was the audience, but we were never filled in on the details (minor or significant). THen teh children went to go watch a clown which they really enjoyed. I forgot to write before about the clown that came to the school for the kids about a week or two before; most likely because it was such a revolting experience. So this clown, who looks like one of those satirical drunken bum clowns, comes to the school and starts off by doing some sort of a skit where he is constantly hitting the kids, kind of hard, with something that looks like a large rubber whoopie cushion. This was about a third of his entire act which none of the volunteers appreciated because 1. he shouldnt be hitting children, 2. hitting should not be presented as something comical, and 3. we already have enough problems trying to keep the children form hitting eachother. Another thing he did was tuck this string of bandanas into a childs pants and then magically pull out a pair of underpants on the line of bandanas. Now, the kids reaction - "oh my god did he just pull my underpants out in front of the entire school" expression - was hilarious. But, almost all the volunteers nearly lept out of their seats when he was putting his hand in the kids pants to tuck in the bandanas. It wasnt as inappropriate as Im probably making it seem, but enough so that Ive written him off my list to invite to birthday parties involving children, or adults for that matter. The clicher though was when he had a couple of the girls "walk sexy," waving at the audience, then stop to blow a kiss. I dont know what the hell that was meant for, but it was not okay. We have all agreed that this clown will not be invited back to Escuela Katitawa and that if he happens to get mowed down by a car that he should just understand that karma is a bitch. What a freak! But, the clown on Monday was nothing like this clown and was enjoyed by all. Later that night Kristina made me a lovely birthday cake but she forgot to add the eggs so it ended up being not so fluffy. And it was kind of burnt at the bottom. So she salvaged it as much as she could; it was not beautiful but we had zero problems finishing it. Then yesterday (Friday) we had another field trip. We had little details; just a time and place where we were to show up. So as we are waiting in this rented shuttle, some of the sutdents are showing up, but adults from the community, some school parents some not, were showing up in droves. There were 39 of us and I would say about two thirds were not students. I was a little weirded out by this. So we were driving for a couple of hours and then Chimborazo (a large mountain, active volcano, and at the summit, the closes place on Earth to the Sun) came into sight. We stopped at one point to take pictures, and some of the Salasacan people went and collected "pura aguas minerales" from a place near the side of the road where the water came up. I decided to stay away from it considering the amount of stomach problems I hade been experiencing lately. Then we kept driving and arrived at the base of Chimborazo and climbed up to the first refuge. It was so incredibly beautiful and we were literally standing in the clouds. After the climb we piled back into the shuttle and drove to some hot springs. First we all sat down and ate the lunch that was assembled from the various corn, potatoe, bean, and rice dishes that people brought. It was all piled on a big bag and people just grabbed handfulls of food over and over again until it was gone. It kind of grossed me out considering there was not hand washing and, in addition to the many other sources of germs, I had defintiely seen some nose picking before hand, and not just from the children. But, it was either that or not eat lunch. I guess its no surprise that Im getting a cold. Then we went in the hot springs which were a little dodgy but nice and warm. Most of the kids dont know how to swim so it was fun trying to teach them. One mom dunked her 3 year old kid, who is in my kindergarden class and my favorite student at the school (super adorable and in the picture with a red hat and a tire), into some freezing waterso that she could pass him off to me in the hot water and he wouldnt object. Once we got playing and splashing he was all gigles and smiles; it was very cute. After the hot springs we were driving through these picturesque mountains and arrived at a tiny little house shack thing where we were going to cook dinner. So we first walked down a couple of hills that opened up to this huge view with llamas climbing the hills across from us, thatched roof farm houses, and a slope full of pretty little yellow flowers, under which we dug up our potatoes. All the volunteers kind of chimed in at the same time with, "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" We brought the potatoes back and started splitting open the bean pods. Our host, Cesar, started passing out the aguardiente which is a liquor made from sugar cane and at first it doesnt taste awful, but then feels like what I would imgaine a fireblowers act gone wrong might feel like. Then I noticed they had startede making a fire in the house so I wandered in to find the guinea pigs being prepared. Talk about graphic, holy hell! So Im not sure the exact process, but what I saw was not dead rodents being dunked in a boiling pot of water, pulled out, stretched up, put into a pile where they were still moving and squeaking, and then further dunked where I think and hope they were finally killed, de-furred, de-organed, then roasted on a stick shoved through the whole of their body. At step one I went running out of the kitchen, holding back the dry heaves. But I did go back in a couple of times to take pictures; I mean, its definitely a once in a lifetime experience. So for dinner we had soup made of the beans, portatoes, guinea pig meat, and SURPRISE guinea pig intestine! I did not eat the intestine; they looked like soggy worms. However, I did eat the meat; I was happy I tried it but its just not very tasty. Ill stick to chicken. The whole night was full of great conversation, dancing, beers and aguardiente, and ended it off with some really heartfelt and lovely speeches fromthe community and school leaders. It was one of those days that you know is incredibly special and you wont get to do anything similar again.

Salasaca! - 5/30/09

I forgot to note down three very interesting people i met last weekend. 2 climbers from AZ who went to school in Cali named Andre and Steven, they were very nice and I hope to meet them again. Another guy from Munich named Flo who has the German patent on the beer bong, which I think is hilarious, AND he is climbing the highest peak in every country from Alaska to Antartica; I think it´s amazing. He´s another person I hope to meet again, if only to hear about how his trip went. SO, I made it to Salasaca which is so so beautiful. Its on a mountain with farms including numerous aloe plants, donkeys, cows, sheep, chickens, and pigs. Kristina and I, for some really dumb reason, decided not to get a pickup truck to take us from the bus station to the hostal with an unknown location. Instead we walked a really far way, in high altitude, with all of our heavy stuff. We honestly had no idea where we were going or what the hostal looked like, but people kept pointing us in the right direction along the way. So while we are heading in the direction that we were pointed we came upon this beautiful brick and wood cottage on a picturesque part of the hillside, overlooking the farms and towns below. Inside there was a large room with a fire place and it looks so cozy. We went around back and there was a large, two level terrace with insane views. We had no idea what this place was but we wanted to stay there. No one was around so we kept walking in search of our hostal and we asked the next person we saw, again where the hostal was. And this man told us that the amazing cottage was our hostal! I think we may have literally skipped back there. The whole project consists of the hostal which is rented out for the volunteers, a library with computers, and the Katitawa school with about 30 Quechua students from ages 2 to 12. The man in charge is Robert who is so kind and crazy generous. He is 77 and has lived in Arizona, Mexico for 30 years, and now in Salasaca for about 7 years. He uses his pension and savings to fund the school, pay for a teacher in addition to the one paid by the government, for the library, hostal, the cook Faviola, and whatever other expenses not covered by the one dollar a day paid by the volunteers. He only wishes that he can find someone to do what he has done after he´s gone and keep the project running. At the school I am working in the kindergarden, the lower level math class, and the higher level english class. The philosophy at the school is that kids can learn if they want to but they cannot be forced; thus, if a student stands on their desk or runs out of the classroom and refuses to return when asked, there is nothing else you can do. It is definitely frustrating at times and can make it difficult to get anything done, but the alternative is having the school like the surounding ones that have 50 students with one government paid teacher and thats it. In the long run everyone feels that the kids are definitely benefitting. There are also computer classes and homework help before and after school. It´s a huge step in learning when compared with one generation before. There are also plans to expand the library and create a reading corner for kids to be read to and hopefully develop a love for books. It has been amazing just in this week and if I continue to enjoy it I will probably stay until the end of the school year which is in late June. Since Thursday I have been having some serious stomach problems but am recovering slowly and I am relaxing today in Baños again with a couple of the Salasaca volunteers. Also, Monday is my birthday; the big 23. Hopefully I´ll be better by then. We also have two filed trips for this week to a cultural event and museum and then to someones farm and lake near a volcano which should be fun for everyone! Thus far I´m content just to look out the back door and see a volcano erupting in one direction, a snow capped mountain in another, and miles of fields in the next.

Baños, the land of bathrooms - 5/23/09

I have left Arutam for some fun in a town called Baños. I love it here; it is so adorable! I am staying at the oh so popular hostal Plantas y Blancos with all the other Arutam volunteers. The town is in a valley with green mountains and waterfalls surrounding and towering. There are a ton of nice little shops and restaurants. THe day we arrived we met this Chicago-ite who was working at the school in Salasaca for a month where I want to volunteer at. He said it was incredible and to just show up without talking to anyone because they can always use more volunteers. So Kristina and I are going to venture there on Monday. That afternoon we all went with this Chicago guy to a nice outdoor restaurant called El Jardin for Happy Hour and then back to the hostal roof terrace for some drinking games and chatting. Jacob (Chicago) ended up being pretty much the loudest psycho ever; he also insisted on putting his stellar dance moves on display no matter what location we were in. I´m okay with not hanging out with him again. Later we went to a relaxed pool bar and we met up with this big group of tourists that had visited Arutam which was fun. I also met this Brit named Carl who knows all about the school in Salamanca and told me absolutely to just go and that the guy who runs it is really a wonderfull guy. I´m so excited! Then we went to the Leperchau bar which has one part for dancing and then in the back has a huge bonfire going all night. I got some Ecuadorian guy, who wasn´t creepy (big plus!), to teach me how to salsa. It was such a nice night! The next day some of the people we met went bridge jumping which is sort of like a bungee but you swing out; i thought it looked terrifying and did not take part. You have to jump head first; there was just no way. That afternoon we went to a really cozy restaurant called Casa Hood that shows movies every day and has amazing food. Later Kristina and I just walked around for hours and eventually wandered into this church that dominates the center of town. It was super ornate and had some really terrifying paintings, one of which looked like a zipline gone bad - strange... ALSO, in the Casa Hood Restaurant there was a wall with a Michigan license plate that said Yooper on it and all sorts of post cards and wall hangings having to do with the UP. So random! The next day we hung around for awhile and then went on a nice hike up one of the mountain sides so we could see the entire valley. A very good weekend and tomorrow I am off to Salasaca!

To the equator! - 5/17/09

THe last day in San Jose was an amazing time. It was one girls birthday and we went out salsa dancing. Everyone took part and those who were more equipped with salsa moves were able to guide us; I loved it! The Ticos danced like they were in the 1950s, I was so jealous and must learn how they do it. Then I was off to Ecuador. By the way, everyone wearing face masks on the plane was hilarious; there was like whole families with little baby masks and child masks and mom and dad masks. I did not wear a mask but I dont believe I have swine flu. My hostal in Quito was really adorable but one street away from where it is impossible to escape getting robbed although I have dodged it thus far. We dont want a repeat performance from Barcelona, ha ha... right dad? I meant to go do something my first night but instaed I took a 12 hour nap. The next day I met 2 Americans staying in the hostal and they were traveling around with an Ecuadorian friend who was taking them to all the sites so they told me to tag along. We went to the Teleferico and walked up to look over the entire city which was amazing and shocking how big the city really is. Then we went to the Panecillo, a giant statue of the Virgen and then later drove through the old city past the Basilica and back to the hostal. It was an unexpectedly good first day in Quito. That night I made an Israeli friend at the hostal and we went out for drinks and fun. The first place we went to was this little hole in the wall with a couple tables and drank what i think are called calzados which is basically really sweet hot juice with alcohol - good but i dont think i need another. Then we went to a couple other bars; one of which featured a live band that was seriously lacking in the vocal abilities. All in all it was a good night. The next day I did some more venturing around the city and then a couple of us went out for pizza where the Israeli dude ran into SIX people he knew - I swear to god these Israelis are all out travelling at the same time. So we all hung out in the pizzeria for the night and then I went back to the hostal to wake up super early the next morning. The next day I left for Arutam and arrived to a completely empty camp. Apparantly all the volunteers had left for a celebration of indigenous cultures in Puyo. It was a little sketchy. Later the 5 other volunteers came back, thank god. So far in my stay here at Arutam we{ve gone on walks in the jungle and planted seeds, learned about medicinal plants, and used blow darts. I would like it to be known that I was the only volunteer in the group to hit the lemon we were using as a target with the blow gun, it is very exciting! The problem that I have found with being here at Arutam is that it is much more of an ecotourism site than a volunteer program; we do activities every day as opposed to projects or any real meaningful work. I am only going to stay for 2 weeks instead of a month which is disappointing but I am sure that there are other amazing things I can do. I am looking into another program at a school in a town called Salasaca so hopefully that will pan out and the change will be great.

Party Peninsula - 5/7/09

I have just returned from an amazing little ¨vacation¨on my vacation. Eleven of us volunteers left the island on the 30th for the outside world. We left on a boatride through a torrential downpour followed by a long bus ride to San Jose. That night our plan was to see Gentlemen, a blond goofy reggae singer from Germany. Most of us went at around 830 but no one told us that in Costa Rica they have about 8 opening acts, all of which were singing the same song by Gentlemen, which was constantly and abruptly cut off before they finished the song. It was fairly annoying. By the tie Gnetlemen came on it was almost 1am and none of us were able to maintina any enthusiasm. Two of my friends, Gernot and Jenny, were sleeping on chairs in the back, my feet felt like they were on fire, and Im pretty sure everyone was on the verge of collapsing right there. Probably not the best idea to go to an all night concert right after a very exhausing day; it was quite the disaster. The next day six of us went to the mountain town of Monteverde. We stayed in a nice smal hostal and had amazing family meals (with protein!!). THe next morning we went on the Extremo canopy tour which consisted of numerous ziplines, the longest of which was 1km, and two surprises! The ziplines were incredible; you are so high up and flying so fast and you can see out for miles. However, the two surprises were probably the most memorable parts. Surprise 1: drop striaght down the length of a tall jungle tree; fun and exciting with medium adrenaline. Surprise 2: we wlk up to a platform about 50 ft up from anothe larger platform which is like a million feet up from the jungle floor. Jenny is the first one to go and i dont think anyone expected what was about to come. The guides loop you into a rope, tell you to hold on and inch you up to the edge of the platform. Then you would think there would be a countdown but instead the guide literally shoves you off the platform. You then plummet straight down (mini bungee) and then swing out across the jungle flor and up into the tops of the trees. The swinging part was amazing but the drop was terrifying. I now know i never need to go bungee jumping. THe next day as we were leaving Monteverde at sunrise we were able to see all the clouds rolling around in the hills below us; it was so cool and incredibly beautiful. We then arrived at the beachtown/ tourist haven of Montezuma on the Nicoya Peninsula. The weather was good, the beaches were amazing and the hostal was very nice (minus the owner who is a Billy Bob Thorton look alike, surfer/hipie poser, who tried to cheat us out of our money), but it wasnt the most exciting town. Although we did meet a super sketchy possibly male prostitute wearing a gold lamë tube dress and heels. S/he tried to strike up a conversation with my friend Vanessa who was very confused by it all, as were the rest of us. THe next day was another beach day followed by the parting of our group for the first time when Vanessa and Raf left us. ALSO, ou first meal was a salad made in a shopping bag and served with a dixie cup because we werent allowed to cok at the hostal due to a water shortage. So, then the rest of us made our way to the other side of the peninsula to Santa Teresa, surfers paradise. We figured we didnt need to reserve a hostal but we were very mistaken. We walked in the blazing heat down a dusty dirt road with all our packs (mine weighing in at 50 lbs and yes i know that is excessive) searching we came upon an Israeli man who offered to give us a ride and hook us up with a place to stay. So he started making phone calls and then took us to another Israeli owned hotel where the entire staff was Israeli. It was super nice, right on the beach, with a pool and AC! We immediately went to the beach and watched the surfers all afternoon. We did the same thing the next day and also rented surfboards. Gernot got scraped up and Jenny got a concussion; but before that they both stood up, Jenny with the help of an Israeli surf instructor. Israeli mafia perhaps? We spent the nights watching the amazing sunsets and it was a perfect end to our time together. NOw Im back in San JOse and very excited to make my way to Ecuador tomorrow. Also, I am swine flu free, in case anyone was concerned.

Crabs and the girl who wears no clothes - 4/26/09

This morning our cabin came under attack from many many crabs. Once a year they make a mass migration from the jungles and mountains all the way down to the ocean to lay their eggs. They came in droves by the hundreds. Most are quite large and very blue. Under my bed there happens to be a hole in the wall, connected to the bodega, which happens to be just large enough for the crabs to crawl through. At around 6 am, 3 crabs made their way through the hole and as they walked across the tile thier loud shuffling noises woke me up out of a dead, benedryl-induced sleep. At first I was only nervous, but then they climbed up my pack which was vulnerably laid open. I thought they might climb onto my bed while i was stuck in my mosquito net and I freaked out and went running out of the cabin screaming in my underwear. Eventually Roel and Vanessa came to the rescue and slapshot them out of the cabin with brooms. Finally i settled back into bed and right after the paranoia subsided and I was about to fall asleep I heard shuffle shuffle. More crabs! We repeated the process and blocked up the hole under my bed. Oh the drama. Also, new people arrived today. One girl in particular seems to be a bit out of place. She came attired in giant plastic playboy earings, a mini shirt that did not cover the bottom of her bra, and a skirt that did not cover her bum. I´m not exactly sure what she was thinking when she packed her bag, but the guides certainly enjoy it.

The guides need some guidance - 4/22/09

The rains have started and apparantly I have no reason to believe they will be ending soon. It adds an interesting dynamic to the walks, especially when the waves start crashing above my waist while walking with 100 turtle eggs. All you can do is laugh because it really is ridiculous. The other night a few of us girls went to the guide Culebra´s house for lunch. It was really good, especially considering the alternative was barf smelling/tasting soup at the camp. However, most of us are quite sure his alternative intentions were to spend more time with Kira, one of the volunteers, to whom he has confessed his undying love. Call me a skeptic, but I´m not sure it´s true love. I´m pretty sure Kira feels the same way. I had a similar problem with one of the guides named Hernan whose favorite activities include smoking marijuana and hitting on the female volunteers. This isn´t an observation; he will tell you himself. I had to tell him, during our second conversation, one day after we had met, that we were only going to be friends. He then mumbled something about me not knowing spanish, told me not to tell anyone about the conversation, and promptly left. I´m pretty sure he then told the entire island that I was a lesbian which is why I would not accept his advances; which, quite frankly, is fine by me.

Best day ever - 4/16/09

A few days ago we had an amazing beach day. Right in front of the camp there was an normous snadbar that went out really far. We stayed out there all day. Vanessa came running out into the water towards us but before the snad bar there was a large dip in the floor. Just as Morgan and I yelled to her ¨watch out for the...¨Vanessa fell face forward in a complete state of shock and utter confusion. I´ve never laughed so hard. We´ve been working on building a new part of the hatchery because the nests are coming in so fast we are running out of room. This consists of digging a pit of about 3-4 feet deep and then refilling the pit with sand that is closer to the water because that sand has been cleaned by the sea water. It´s about zero amounts of fun carrying sandbags back and forth in the blazing sun, especially when your back in sun burnt. HOWEVER, we finished that today which is amazing because I seriously don´t think I could carry another sandbag if I tried. My sandfly bites have reached an all time awful point. I look like a I have the bubonic plague and new volunteers look at our legs in terror wondering, ¨will that happen to me?¨ Yes, yes it will. I´m so itchy I´ve been waking up my cabin mates with late night scratching fits. But I´m not the only one; pretty much everyone´s legs look vile and nothing heals because of the humidity, so I don´t feel like a complete weirdo.

If I ate a turtle egg - 4/9/09

Yesterday we were talking about eating eggs and someone made a joke about eating turtle eggs (big no-no) and how well that would go over with la Tortuga Feliz. This led to a comment that we would turn into turtles which soon brought us to a conversation about impressions of turtles when they are laying their eggs. When turtles are preparing their nests they have to furiously flap their flippers to find the perfect spot. During this process they are making these groaning/huffing sounds followed by enormous sighs. I know I should probably be amazed by the whole egg laying process but I generally find myself bursting our laughing because these noises just shouldn't be coming out of gentle turtles. Anyways, the turtle impressions left me doubled over laughing. This week is Semana Santa and during this week the families and friends of the people who live on the island (mostly poachers) come out in full force. During the walks the poachers and their entire families are everywhere, making it nearly impossible to collect nests and kind of ruins the calm atmosphere of the walks. It's also really uncomfortable watching a turtle be accosted by 10 people at a time. The problem is, there is a law of nonconfrontation between volunteers and poachers to avoid violence or problems so when we see a poached turtle we look the other way and vice versa. Even though poaching is illegal (punishable up to 2 years in jail) nothing ever happens. It's both good and bad.

Funny and fun - 4/8/09

Last night my friends Brett, Vanessa, and I sat around sharing stories and I don't think I could have laughed more; it felt good like I finally found a group of people that will understand me like my friends at home. The volunteer coordinator, Daniela (very German) fueled the laughter by swearing up a storm about falling on the kitchen step-up which has boards that are too far apart. Later a full out dance party commenced in the kitchen with an abundance of candy, techno at a medium volume (crappy speakers), flashing head lamps, and of course stellar dance moves. You get creative when there's not much else to do.

She has arrived - 4/5/09

So the turtle project is on a nearly deserted island, on the caribbean coast of Costa Rica. To get there I first drove through a banana plantation and then got on a boat to cruise through a river surrounded by intense plants. Just on the boat ride in we saw howler monkeys and caiman; very cool! The project itself is pretty cool and has an interesting dynamic. The problem of egg poaching has existed for years; the eggs have been collected by the Ticos (Costa Ricans) for years and are apparently not only really delicious but also an aphrodisiac. They can be sold on the black market for about a dollar an egg which doesn't seem like a lot but in each nest there is anywhere from 60 to 100+ eggs so they can make some money off of it. The way the project works is volunteers go out with guides who are ex-poachers but trained to collect the eggs properly and spot turtles. Some of them have been poaching for their entire lives but the consistent work is a real incentive, and some feel the moral responsibility, but mostly it's just the money. So between 8 pm and 12 am a shift goes out every hour for four hours walking up and down the beach looking for turtles. When a turtle is spotted you go over and watch it until it lays eggs and then you collect the eggs which are brought back to a hatchery, or vivero, where they are reburied and then guarded day and night to ensure no poachers or dogs or crabs or ants get to the babies before they hatch. On my first walk on the beach we found a turtle; it was enormous (160 cm shell). It was shocking; I had no idea turtles could actually get so big and I actually was at a loss for words when I got up close. My guide, CJ who was sixteen and had been poaching since he was 9 before he was working at the project, was so great and explained everything really well. He also told me that "los juevos son muy ricos" with a big smirk. The walks are a little weird because you can't use a flashlight and it is pitch black out with the exception of the stars and the moon; the light confuses the turtles and makes them think they are seeing the waves on the land and they won't come out of the sea. At the end my legs and knees were killing me; not so used to walking on sand for four hours. Because the shifts are sometimes super late at night, or rather early in the morning, the sleeping schedule is nuts and requires many naps in the hammocks. The food is petty terrible consisting of gallo pinto or bread in the morning, barf soup for lunch, and either rice or pasta for dinner - lack of protein and an overabundance of carbs, awesome. The people are all really great and I'm actually leaving the same day as two girls, Vanessa and Morgan, and we may travel together afterward which will be nice. Thus far, I couldn't be happier with my decision to come here!

I'm Alive

Hello all. just updating before I take off to the turtle island and lose all communication for a month. i made it to costa rica via an insanely turbulent plane ride. zero fun. and a child kicking the back of my seat for about three hours. but finally made it to the warm and wonderful weather. I took a crazy cab ride to the hostel and I've just been hanging out, enjoying the sun, and hammocks.
Mom and Dad stop worrying I am both happy and excited and well fed.
I will write again and put up some pictures after I get to another hostel.
Hope everyone's well! Love you!

GAME PLAN

Hello all! I'm just putting up my schedule for the trip so you guys can know a bit about what I'm doing... or maybe plan a trip to come visit me!

April 1 - May 8 Costa Rica

I'll be volunteering at La Tortuga Feliz ( http://www.latortugafeliz.com ) until April 30 and then staying at Rockin' Js Hostel in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca near the famous surfing spot Salsa Brava. While at La Tortuga Feliz I will have zero communication because I'll be on an island in the middle of nowhere, but as soon as I get to the hostel I will be eager to email and phone.

May 8 - November 2 Ecuador

First I will be spending two nights in Quito at the Secret Garden Hostel. Then I will be heading down the the Amazon.

From May 10 - July 7 I will be volunteering with the Shuar tribe through an organization called Fundecoipa (http://www.fundecoipa.com ) at the Arutam Forest Reserve. The site is close to a town called Puyo. While there I will be doing everything from trail maintenance to gardening to building houses to teaching english. I won't have direct access to internet or phone but I will be able to go to nearby towns on some weekends and there I'll email and phone you guys. If there is a serious and urgent message that you need to get to me contact Soren via the email addresses on the website and he'll be able to pass along the message quicker (no gossip or lovely anecdotes, por favor).

From July 7 - August 1 I have no concrete plans. I will still be in Ecuador but I'm not sure what I will be doing..... keep checking for an update on these plans.... this would be a great time to coordinate a visit.... hint hint.

From August 1 - November 2 I will be volunteering at the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm ( http://www.riomuchacho.com ). The farm is in an area called Bahia de Caraquez on the Pacific Coast. The city was destroyed by various natural disasters and rebuilt as an ecocity; so, the area is incredibly involved in community development and environment. At the farm I will be working on the daily operations of the farm, working in the community with other farmers, and working with the school that has adapted some sort of environmental studies into their curriculum. On the actual farm I won't have access to email or phone but volunteers usually leave on the weekends and so I'll stop at an internet cafe then.

November 2 - Mid January Belize

In Belize I will be volunteering at the Maya Mountain Research Farm ( http://www.mmrfbz.org ). The farm is literally in the middle of the jungle and only reachable by canoe. I'm not sure how long I will be here or if I'll be traveling after volunteering. While I'm at the farm I will only be reachable by email on a regular basis but as my plans become more concrete and I know if I'll be traveling, that may change. If anyone wants to meet up for some fun in Belize, I'd love it!

Then I'll be home! Keep in touch! My email is Jordanesilverman@gmail.com. I love you all!!