Ok super sorry for the lack of updates…fail, I know. Well the last update was right before I was about to go home to the states in the end of May. Well I made it home and had a blast! It was a whirlwind of traveling but I managed to see tons of my family and friends. The first weekend I went out to Ohio to see most of the May family. From there I went back to my sister and brother-in-law´s house to hang out with my adorable nephew, Will. We had lots of Will time and ate lots of delicious food that I cannot get here. I also made my way to Great Clips to cut my obnoxiously, long, crack-lady hair. I donated to Locks of Love and got my hair cut for free…sweet. After Indy I took my first (and probably last) MegaBus ride back to Chicago, was there for about a day and then got on a flight to New Orleans to see my other sister and brother-in-law. I was greeted by an abundance of oysters, crawfish, and PoBoys. We also got our fill of Abita Beer at the brewery. After New Orleans, it was back to Chicago to hang out with my parents, brother and sister-in-law, and see friends that came in to visit. Thanks to everyone that I saw and that visited and for everything…it was a great trip home!
I got back to Guayaquil and was greeted by three friends that had come 2 hours by bus to meet me at the airport…it was a super nice greeting. All but one of my animals in my menagerie survived during my time back in the States. Before I left I had, three bunnies, two geese, and a cat. The baby bunny was apparently ´gifted´ to a neighbor while I was home in the states…turns out his wife was sick with something random and the only cure was baby bunny soup. Other than that though, they were all healthy and happy. The geese now are looking more and more like ducks…pretty sure that I got swindled on that one.
I made my way to Mompiche Beach in Esmeraldas for the 4th of July where a group of volunteers met up to celebrate the holiday. The night of the 4th we partied like true Americans with some Beer Olympics. We also went to a really pretty black sand beach and played in the waves.
A few weekends after that I went back to the beach at Puerto Lopez (where I went with my parents) to see the whales. I went to Isla de la Plata again and saw some more boobies, blue footed and Nazca, and saw albatross. The albatross were absolutely amazing. The was one nesting right in the middle of the trail and two more were doing a mating dance that you would only see on National Geographic. The guide told us that only about 6 of these endangered birds come to nest on the island every year…I saw three of them! Since the albatross was sitting on an egg in the middle of the trail we tried to take a different way around, but failed, so I ended up basically jumping over this huge bird. I heard that the next week when some other volunteers went to the island that the trail was closed because of the nesting albatross…I got lucky! On the boat ride back from the island we saw a ton of whales. I saw a mom with a calf, whales jumping, others that almost hit the boat, others waving, and a whole lot of blowhole spouting. The next day we decided to go on another whale watching tour. So I saw lots more, including two males that were fighting over a female, and others that were jumping and playing. They are pretty amazing creatures.
When I got back to BA things got a little shady. So Jefferson and Lopez, my old counterparts who I had a lot of trust in, are apparently upset and jealous that I am working with the water company outside of town and that I don’t spend every waking moment with them. So because of that they decided that they would create some problems for me. Nice guys right? Well the house in BA where I lived was a government house. Basically the government gifts houses to the people that are poor but that have a chunk of land to build a house. So I kept it a secret that I was renting the house from my landlady. However, Jefferson and Lopez knew that I was paying because they had helped me find the house. Well my landlady comes over one afternoon and tells me that the government people know that I am renting the house and are going to take it away from her. She said that it was written down that I was paying $60 a month for this house. Well I was only paying $40 so clearly somebody had lied and made things up….Jefferson or Lopez. Well long story short, I had to leave the house and there was nowhere else in Buenos Aires so I had to leave and move to Cumanda (the bigger town where I work at the water company about 5 km from BA). I found a super nice apartment with two bedrooms, a bathroom inside, tile floors, no cockroaches, no bats, no concrete dust, no asbestos, no ants, and no snakes. It was definitely a bummer having to leave BA and the countryside to be in the ´big´city but that’s life. The toughest thing I had to leave were all the kids that were always in and out of my house and my papaya tree! But I still go to BA about 3-4 times a week for recycling, English, and just to hang out. I have only been in this apartment for a week and a half so I don’t have too many friends yet, but I hope to wrangle up some children to play soccer and Frisbee with soon.
Other than that I have just been working at the water company. Things are actually going pretty well. I was doing a lot of mini-project proposals for replacement sewage pipes and was helping with routes for a database project that we are starting. But now I have also started a project for BA. They want to make a large bypass for their drinking water piping so I went out and took some GPS coordinates and will start drawing up the plans, calculations, and projected cost for that.
I also went to the jungle this past weekend with a fellow volunteer and engineer to visit another volunteer and to help her with her town´s water system. They have a pretty sweet setup but are lacking a sedimentation basin, have some break-pressure tank issues, and need a chlorine drip system. So we went out, were treated like real engineers, took measurements, talked with the guy in charge, and are now in the process of doing the plans and report to turn into the water board by the beginning of September. It was mostly just a work trip, but her site is super beautiful and I plan to go back in a month or so to stay for a lot longer.
That is about it…sorry more informative than funny or interesting but here are some PICTURES:
Random Thoughts:
· I stepped on a coral snake walking up to my house in BA one night…I had teeth indents but no actually bite…it was a close call.
· I have been swimming in the river a lot lately. It is extremely polluted so I go on treasure hunts with the kids to find fun things in the trash. I have found some useful things but normal items to find include: plastic bottles, diapers, cow carcasses, chicken parts, tomatoes and onions, and Styrofoam plates. Recently, I found an injured dog that I rescued by forging the river with him on my shoulders (he was at least 40 pounds) and then the next day I found a dead dog stuck between some rocks. I also have a weird skin fungus that I am pretty sure came from the river.
· I bought two hamsters after all my bunnies died. I made a make-shift cage out of wire that I had at the house. Apparently I didn’t do a very good job because they escaped in the middle of the night. I woke up to some rustling, and a squeak. I turned on the light to see my cat sprinting out the window, hamster in tow. The cat came back about five minutes later like nothing had happened and proceeded to clean his mouth. I found the other hamster about a week later under my dresser. He had made a nest out of concrete dust and hair and was hoarding cat food.
· Most days I feel like I am living in a Telenovela.
· I now have my geese/ducks living on the roof of my apartment building. I bought them a nice big tub to bathe in and fenced in a corner where they can roam.
· My cat gave me ring worm…again.
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