Le Doy $0.50

So it´s been about 5 months…so instead of writing a novel, I´ll just bullet point the main things that have happened and then show you a ton of pictures.

Interesting Events since the Last Post in Chronological Order:

·         I ran a 5k in Bucay with two other volunteers that live close by.  The race was started by firing a real pistol and off went about 200 people…only about 15 girls.  I ended up tying for second with one of the other volunteers.  We got a sweet trophy that I currently have on display in the pizza restaurant.

·         At the water company, I got a new, big project.  It is a farmer´s association that wants to move onto their farm land to live, and to create a town center with houses on one of the acreages.  The future population will be about 1,500 and they want me to design their whole potable water system; from the mountain stream where they get their water, all the way down to the faucets in their houses.  It is a big project, and before I leave I plan on having the report, AutoCAD designs, and all cost estimates done so that they can present it to the provincial government to apply for funding.  I teamed up with a local Ecuadorian engineer so that we could get a survey of the land completed and he will actually be the one revising and signing off on my final plans.  The community will have to pay for his services but in the end I am saving them about half of what they would have had to pay.  The survey took us three ten hour days trudging and bushwhacking our way through the jungle to map out the route of the water line.  In total the water will have to travel about 8 kilometers from the capture point down to the reservoir with an elevation difference of about 500 meters.  So it is a pretty long distance and a pretty steep slope.  I have completed quite a bit of the project, but still have a lot left and only about two months to finish it…it´s crunch time.

·         A married couple that live in Bucay, the community across the river from me, are business/tourism volunteers and they invited me to go visit the Bucay waterfalls one day.  It was a day full of sugar cane juice, hikes through the jungle, caves, and lots of waterfalls.  I had no idea that I had so many cool things so close to where I live.  And I saw a pretty cool toucan.

·         I went to Guayaquil for Thanksgiving.  A bunch of volunteers got together to celebrate and make some delicious food.  The day after a group of us walked around Guayaquil and I finally made it up to barrio de Las Peñas…it’s the neighborhood with all the colorful houses.

·         The volunteer that used to live in Cumanda came back to visit in early December.  She and I and two other volunteers went up to Riobamba and to hike El Altar.  To get there we had to walk across a sinking bridge that was closed to cars and buses for repairs.  We hung out in Riobamba to afternoon before the hike to get acclimated.  The next morning we put on our rubber boots and started the hike up to El Altar (a volcano) and the lake.  After a really long and pretty difficult hike, we made it to the refuge about midday.  We rested and froze that night, and then hiked up to the lake the next morning.  It was beautiful.  Pictures do not do it justice.

·         I went home to Chicago for Christmas.  I saw my new nephew Owen, who was tiny and super cute.  And I saw my other nephew Will who was so much bigger than the last time I saw him.  It was a nice, relaxing two weeks with family and friends.

·         I made it back to Ecuador for New Year´s.  We made a doll and burned it and then celebrated down in Buenos Aires.

·         I took in a sickly little street kitty.  His name is Sylvester and he was pretty ugly when I got him but is growing up to be quite the handsome little kitty.

·         I had my Close of Service conference in Quito the second week in January.  On the way up, I went to Devil´s Nose outside of Riobamba with a few other volunteers.  It is a train ride that takes you through the mountains, and then there are a series of switchbacks in order to descend down the side of a mountain.  It was quite the engineering feat.  After Riobamba, we headed up to Quito to hang out for the day before going to Tumbaco for the conference.  It was nice to see everyone again and to celebrate the fact that we all made it two years.  We are the champions!  I also ended up extended my service for an extra month to ensure that I can complete my water project on time.

·         I went repelling down a 60 meter waterfall over my birthday weekend.  A group of volunteers from another Omnibus had come into town to visit the couple in Bucay and we all went to repel down the waterfall.  It was super slippery but really fun and I plan on going back to do it again, but go down face first this time…it´s called Australian Style apparently.

·         I went to hike around Cajas and to visit a volunteer in Cuenca over Super Bowl Weekend.  Cajas was super pretty and I´m glad I finally got to see it.  In Cuenca, a group of volunteers got together and made delicious appetizers.

·         Over Carnaval weekend I was actually trudging through the jungle to complete the survey for the water project, but the last day of celebrating I had free.  I went with some friends to a river nearby to celebrate Carnaval Ecua-style.  This means tons of spray foam, purple dye, colored flour, and water balloons.

·         Over the past couple of months I have been traveling to a few volunteers´ sites near mine to teach their communities recycled art.  And at one kids summer camp I also helped the kids plant tire gardens.

·         I had to go up to Quito again toward the end of March for my final medical checkup.  Turns out I had some fun little intestinal bugs.  I went to visit my old host family in Tumbaco and got to see Julian…he is huge now and talks a bunch.  They cooked me a really nice lunch and it was great to visit with them.  I also headed up to Otalvalo with another volunteer to buy paintings that I had seen when I was there with my parents over a year earlier.  It was quite the wild goose chase but I finally tracked down the paintings and bought two really pretty ones.

·         I went to the beach with some Ecuadorian friends a couple weeks ago.  I found a ton of sand dollars and got pretty good at body surfing.

·         I celebrated Easter (well the Thursday before) in Buenos Aires eating Fanesca (the typical Easter soup…basically any and everything you can imagine in a soup is in this soup) and visiting a little waterfall/spring back in the campo.

·         Over Easter weekend I went up to Santo Domingo to see the Tsachila culture.  They are one of the indigenous cultures of Ecuador best known by the men with paint their hair red with the achiote seed. 

·         A couple days ago I bought my ticket home…June 11. 

Ok, that´s all the key points….here are the pictures!

https://picasaweb.google.com/100931733724063278429/April32013?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbf_qSrtZmHgAE