And So THIS is the Peace Corps!

Hola a Todos!

I have now officially been in Chibuleo for two weeks, although it doesn’t feel all that new with how comfortable things are and how much work there is! It is hard to believe that I have now been in Ecuador for 10 months and have finished over a third of my service. Time is truly flying, even more so here in Chibuleo. When I got here, I jumped right into work, so I haven’t even had any time to worry about adjusting to life here, it all just happened!

Work is still in the process of starting, but so far it is great! My first week I helped a lot with paperwork at the foundation, which made for some long 12-hour days, but I was happy to help get things organized. I gave one hygiene charla to the group of little kids, which went well and they were excited to learn to do the “mariposa” and “serpiente” when washing their hands. I went out to watch them before lunch the next day, and sure enough they were all washing their hands how we had practiced the day before, which was encouraging. I will be giving the charla to the older kids this week as well, so pretty soon their should be lots of clean hands around the foundation!

I talked with the two educators about the groups I want to work with at the foundation and they sounded both excited and supportive. I have to talk with my counterpart this week to propose them to her, but I think she will also approve. If all goes according to plan, I will be meeting with three groups a week. The groups will include environmental awareness, handicrafts, tire gardens, cooking and dance. The last three will all be able to focus on food security, nutrition and healthy lifestyles, so will all work towards my Peace Corps goals, but be fun for the kids! My counterpart was really excited about the tire gardens (the only one I have proposed to her so far…), so we should be ready to go with that by the end of this week. There is always the issue of getting consistent attendance, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to find a small group of kids really interested in the activity they’re part of, so they’ll actually come to the meetings. We’ll see, of course, how it actually works out, but I’m very optimistic.

Very, very exciting work has turned up to occupy my mornings. Lila, a third-year volunteer who works in the Quito office comes to the community near me once a month to give a taller (workshop) to a group of teenagers at the high school. The goal is that she will give the taller to the group of 20, then they will replicate the session in all of the classrooms at the large high school. So far she has given them two talleres, but they have yet to replicate any. Since Lila lives in Quito, she can’t come more than once a month, so she isn’t able to support them with the replications. Luckily, that’s where I come in! I am now working with the group to help them prepare and replicate the tallers in their high school and two other nearby high schools. So far I have had several meetings with the sub-director of the high school, he is very supportive of the program and working with me to make it happen. I had one organizational meeting with the group of jovenes and they all seemed dedicated and ready to work. This Tuesday, the sub-director blocked out two hours in the morning for me to work with them and hopefully have the first taller fully prepared, so they may be able to start replications by the end of this week! If not, they will definitely complete them the week after Semana Santa. I wasn’t at Lila’s first two tallers, but she gave me the outlines and the activities are from the same manual I was working on with the girls in Zhoray, so I’m familiar with them. The themes so far include self-esteem, values, culture, and goals for the future. This is what I had been trying to start for a long time, so I’m excited to be working with a group that is interested in putting in the time and effort to work with me. It will be challenging for them to start, but it’s great leadership and public speaking practice, which will only improve over time. I can’t wait to see how our first few sessions together go!

While the work at the subcentro isn’t necessarily working towards my Peace Corps goals of starting projects, it is interesting at times and I will continue in the mornings when I’m not at the high school. One of the nurses let’s me help with all the patients, so last week I got to take height, weight, temperature, pulse and respiration and she is teaching me how to take blood pressure. I also got to go on a house visit last week with another one of the doctors, which was very sad. We went to see an old woman with terminal cancer and a tumor on her lower-leg that more than doubled the size of her leg. While it is awful that she has terminal cancer, equally (or more) disheartening are the conditions she’s living in during her final time. The house is in complete disrepair and the roof does nothing to keep the wind out, so it is very cold. Her family abandoned her when they found out about the cancer, and the woman has no money, so she usually only eats when the doctors bring her food they make in the subcentro. The good thing that came from it was to see what a committed, caring staff there is at the subcentro!

In other news, a little more about my community! Lila came to do my housing approval last week and the GPS coordinates taken from my house gave an elevation of 11,260 ft – that’s why it’s so cold here! I knew I was high up, but didn’t know it was quite that high. Other than the cold, however, I haven’t had any issues with adjusting to the elevation. I’m not quite sure what the population of my community is, but it’s not very big. Most of the houses are along the one main road that runs up from the highway. My house is right on the plaza, so it surrounded by the school and the soccer/basketball court is five steps out the front door. The high school and subcentro are both in the next community over, down the mountain from me. It is 4 kilometers to them from my house, so I get to walk it twice a day. It is nice for a little exercise, enjoying the fresh air and some quiet time to myself and think and plan. After work I play a lot of soccer and basketball with Flavio and Pauli (host brother and sister), two little cousins, and whoever else from the neighborhood comes out. I usually either play sports outside or hang out with my host mom, Dalila, and whoever else in the family is around and watching TV in the afternoons/evenings.

My host family continues to be incredible and I can feel what a difference it makes for me. I feel much, much stronger and it is so nice to know that however work may go on any given day, I have this wonderful family to go home to. I frequent the kitchen at the foundation as much as I can during the day, so I get to talk with my host mom a lot, help with the cooking, and stay warm! It is easy to talk with anyone in the family, and it’s always a fun, lively atmosphere in the house. Cora is equally as happy with the host family and has made two best friends/partners in crime: Precioso, the family’s dog, and the family duck. Cora and Precioso are almost always together, only fighting when it comes to food (although they are getting better, and there aren’t any issues when they each have a plate!). The wrestle around the backyard and schoolyard together, follow the grandpa out to the fields, and nap together. Precioso is Cora’s favorite new pillow, so she always tries to sleep fully on top of him, which he usually humors her for a bit before shaking her off. The duck also benefits from Cora’s food dish and water, eating the dog food and drinking/stepping in her water. This evening, the two rascals both broke into the house. Cora is sneaky, but unfortunately for her the duck’s quacking gave them both away. They got chase out once, but someone left the door open so they had to be chased out twice in one night. She loves her freedom and comes and goes as she pleases, but always manages to be around during meal time. She has only been to the foundation with me once more (even though the kids ask for her everyday!) because she is off playing with the kids in the school, wrestling with Precioso, or exploring who-knows-where on her own and doesn’t want to come to the foundation!

That’s about it for now. I am so very, very happy here in Chibuleo and am living the Peace Corps experience I always dreamed about. I am living and working with unbelievably kind and dedicated people, I am working towards increasing health education and improving the health of the people here in Chibuleo, and I am strengthening lifelong friendships with other PCVs now that I can communicate with them more regularly. I am excited to get up and work each day, and I can’t wait to continue discovering everything that will be my life for the next 1.5 years here in Chibuleo!

Abrazos,

Kerry

A New Beginning

Hola a Todos!

Well, here I am in my new community of Chibuleo, about 30 minutes outside the large city of Ambato and 45 minutes from Riobamba. While I didn’t think it could happen, it is MUCH colder here than it was in Zhoray…ay chai chai! What’s really scary is that we’re in summer, so come July I might be an icicle.

The best news about the move is that little Cora came with me! It was stressful for a while because she was at the vet in Cuenca and I didn’t think I could bring her, so I tried to find a home among other PCV’s, looked into leaving her at the vet for long-term boarding, and looked into finding her a home in Cuenca. When the driver came to get my stuff with me, he asked about her because Rebecca, the health Program Manager, had told him I had a dog at the vet. He said I should just call my counterpart and see what she thought, so I did. My new counterpart, Teresita, was very kind and told me to absolutely bring the dog. She said my host family had a back yard she could stay in with another dog, and that she could go to the foundation with me. Miguel (the driver) and I went and picked her up last-minute from the vet in Cuenca Saturday night and she came to Chibuleo with me on Sunday!

I think the host family was a bit hesitant at first, but now have no problem with her, and seem to like her a lot! They always ask if she’s had enough food, if she’s too cold, etc. Similarly, she instantly became a star at the project. There is a lot of room for her to run around and she was very good on her first day about not running away (even though the door was open!). She is an energetic, but very sweet puppy, so when the kids came in the afternoon she played and played and played with them. By the time classes came around, I went up to one of the classrooms and peeked down on her and she was sound asleep among the pile of backpacks strewn across the playground.

At home, I was nervous to let her loose, but there really is no option because I can’t keep her leashed all the time. I think she knows well where she lives and there is hardly any traffic around here, so I’m not too worried about her. Tuesday I went to give her some breakfast and she had left the yard, but one of my host sisters came out to say she had gone out the front to the school, which is the next building over. I went to the front porch and called her and she came running in for food.She walked with me and my host mom and sister to the foundation, but then continued on with my host sister up to the sheep.  I ended up working until late that night and hadn’t seen her at all during the day, but she was asleep with the family’s dog waiting for me at home! I think she is going to live a very nice, free life here in the campo of Chibuleo, and she seems to be very, very happy here, like me!

My host family is incredible. I already feel so welcomed into the family and they are both sweet and fun. My host mom is absolutely adorable. She is the cook at the foundation, so she makes lunch for 100 kids each day. I went with her my first two days and helped around the kitchen a bit, but mostly just hung out with her. It’s nice because she’s a very good cook, and there is also a nutritionist who decides the lunch menu at the foundation, so I am eating well. There are 3 girls in my host family, probably between the ages of 18-25, so it is a lot of fun to be around girls my age! One of them has a 1.5 year-old daughter, Dalila, who is absolutely adorable and very loved by all, so she is the focus of most of our time together, which is great! There is also a teenage son who is very nice and they are a very kind family who loves spending time together. My room is right in the middle of it all, so I feel like I am part of the household.  While it has only been a few days, I love being here in the house and spending time with the family. It is also nice because when I am in my room, I can still here the family and it’s nice knowing there are others nearby. I also love the surprise visits from Dalila, although she usually just opens the door, looks in, and toddles away. She isn’t too sure about me yet, but I’m definitely growing on her, indicated by the two pats she gave me on the leg yesterday! I think we’ll be very good friends.

The foundation I’m working for is called Kinder Not Hilfer (KNH), a German foundation. My counterpart is the directora of the foundation, and only 5 women work there – my counterpart, the accountant, the two educators and my host mom. It is basically an after-school program for kids where they come for a nutritional lunch, then do their homework and can get help with it. There is a huge playground for those who don’t want to work, as well as a computer lab (WITH INTERNET!), and a few classrooms. I’m going to get my own classroom to be able to continue and start new groups with different kids, as well as give all my charlas. I will be starting with hygiene charlas and charlas about personal values, splitting the kids to work with 3 different age groups. The kids at the foundation rage in age from 4-17 years old, so there is a wide range to work with, which will be great! I will also be working with some nutrition charlas leading into my tire gardens, which should be a lot of fun. The foundation doesn’t have space for me to start a regular garden, but they have a ton of old tires on the roof, so I’m going to use those to begin tire gardens and identify the kids most interested in them. From there I hope to work with those kids and their parents in starting family gardens on their own plots of land. It is nice to work with the foundation because they have some funding for different things, which will help with projects I want to do! Aside from the foundation, I’ll go to the subcentro in the mornings (at least that’s the plan for now…) to help there and maybe start some projects with them too. I’m not sure they have anything for me to do, so I’ll see how that goes.

The community is very indigenous where I live and the majority speakKichwa, so I’m hoping to learn some too. I was talking to Martha, one of the two educators at the foundation, about it today and she said that the adults almost all speak Kichwa and the kids understand, although some can’t speak it. I am around it enough because both Martha and Maria Eugenio speak Kichwa, so that is their natural language when they’re together. My host mom also understands it, although I’ve only heard her respond in Spanish. While I’m sure I won’t be able to get great at it, I should be able to learn at least some of the basics!

That’s about it for now. It is only 8:30pm, but I have to go to bed to shake the cold. I’m sitting here on the computer and can see my breath (yes, inside my bedroom) and my fingers can hardly function anymore. Luckily I have sheets, 6 wool blankets and a big comforter, so nighttime is the only time I feel like I can actually get warm! Things are all very new here still, but the transition has been smooth and I’m excited to see how things play at. I came into this community with many more skills and ideas about how to enter a community than when I was in Zhoray, so things are coming much more easily. While I know there will still be plenty of roadblocks and hard times, I have a wonderful feeling about my new life her in Chibuleo J

I miss you all very much and am happy that I will now be able to be in closer contact with many of you! I will be sure to share my new mailing address once I get it assigned from Peace Corps. While it’s the heart of winter there, I at least hope you are all able to stay warmer than me here!

All my love,

Kerry

A New Beginning

Hola a Todos!

It has been a long time since I have posted a blog, but so much has happened that I haven't had much time. Things are still very rushed, so I am not able to write much now, but I just wanted to check in and give a quick update!

Early this week, Peace Corps decided that I was to leave my community and begin working in another community in Ecuador. Everything happened very quickly, so I had less than 24 hours to pack up all of my things in Zhoray, say a few quick goodbyes, and get on the road to Riobamba. There was a big rush because a march/protest began in Ecuador on Thursday, so beginning Wednesday we have been in standfast mode, which means no volunteer is allowed to leave their site. In my case, it meant that I had to get to Riobamba by Tuesday night to "standfast" here.

I made it into Riobamba late Tuesday and have been staying with a Peace Corps friend, relaxing, talking with people at home and with my bosses in Peace Corps, and just taking a little break. I was lucky that my Program Manager happened to be in Riobamba at the time, so I was able to have lunch with her on Wednesday and figure things out in person. She presented me my new site information, but was not able to give me any details about when I would be moving because of the standfast.

Everything has gone smoothly with the protests so far, and there have not been any violent clashes as Peace Corps feared. Since things have gone well, I got a call today saying that I would be going to collect my things tomorrow from Brittney's house and leaving on Sunday for my new site. A Peace Corps car will come get me in the morning, bring me to Azogues to pick up my things, and bring up to Ambato on Sunday.

I got a call today from my new counterpart who is very, very excited to meet me on Sunday and bring me from Ambato to my new site, which I have heard is about 45 minutes outside of Ambato. Ambato is the 4th largest city in the country, so I will be near a big city. It is also close to Riobamba and close to a lot of Peace Corps volunteers! There are a lot of projects already started and waiting for me in the new town, so I'm excited to get there and get working.

I have been told a little about the new site. It sounds like it is even higher and colder - somewhere between 9,000-12,500 feet at any given point. It is a small, Indigenous community of about 2,500 and I will be working primarily with a foundation that does after school programs for the kids. I will be working a lot on hygiene and nutrition charlas, sex ed programs in the high school, nutrition and gardens with the mothers, and recycling crafts with the "green brigades" and little kids who are in recycling teams :). It will be a challenge to start again, but I'm looking forward to all the potential work and what sounds to be an incredible community.

That's all for now - I'm still exhausted and overwhelmed with all that's happening, so I'm just taking it day by day. I will try to write again in about a week to let you know how everything is going in the new site :)

Happy Spring Break to all the girls at CC, and I hope everyone is doing well in the States. I miss you all, but am excited to continue sharing my adventures here!

All my love,

Kerry

The Craziness of Carnaval

Hola a Todos!

This past week flew by with all of the Carnaval celebrations. Although things have been happening for the past 5 or 6 weeks, this last week leading up to Carnaval was the craziest. Everyone was out and about throwing water balloons and buckets of water at any and all passersby. I stayed dry in Azogues last Saturday, although when walking around I went from awning to awning staying up against the buildings to avoid having water balloons dropped on me.  The bus ride home was hot because the bus had been waiting in the sun all day and we couldn’t open any windows for the first half hour or so because people along the side of the street were throwing buckets full of water at the buses trying to catch an open window.

Sunday was the big fiesta in Zhoray that was for all three of the “Amazonian  Parroquias” in the area. People came from all the communities of the parroquia of Zhoray, as well as many other cities and parroquias. There was a big parade into the center market with everyone dressed in elaborate costumes. All day there was a dance competition in the market with all traditional dances in traditional dress. In the afternoon there was the election of the “Carnaval Queen,” of course, and then there were live artists for dancing into the night. The fiesta went from about 9am until midnight, so I was exhausted by the end. Throughout the day, there were water and foam spray (carioca) wars, which I participated in occasionally. It’s a really fun, but also funny holiday because all the adults act like kids, playing in a giant water fight. I stayed around Suca’s store most of the day, helping with sales and enjoying the fiesta from inside. It was a great fiesta!

On Monday I went to Monay with Zoila and the huge extended family that came into town from Guayaquil. We had two cars packed full of people, and I was in the back of the pickup with several of the cousins/nieces. It was a cold, windy ride there as we were at the mercy of people staked out on the side of the road waiting to soak us with buckets of water as we passed by. We all made it alive, and had a great hike up to the waterfall. A few of us went into the freezing water and we all hung out for a while before the slippery, muddy descent back to the cars. The ride back home was even colder now that we were all wet and it was pelting rain, but it was a really fun trip. Once back at the house, we had a big cookout with even more family and fresh grilled lamb.

Tuesday was the actual day of Carnaval, but much more laid back for me. I went into Azogues and Cuenca trying to find internet to skype home, but EVERYTHING was closed. I think it might be the biggest holiday of the year here. Luckily it was a beautiful day so I just wandered around avoiding being hit by water. I went home with Zoila and had a nice dinner with Suca, Zoila and Nayeli for my birthday.

Everyone seems to be in recovery mode right now, so things are pretty quiet. As soon as they’re recovered, though, preparations begin for Zhoray’s week-long fiestas in the beginning of April. Hopefully I will be able to do some work before then, when everything shuts down again.

As far as work goes, Lucy is a proposing a big project that looks like it will go through. Right now, the president of the Junta is going to give us the room in the Junta Parroquial in the center and $10,000 to be equipment for a physical therapy/rehabilitation center for the disabled community members. There only option right now is to go for treatment in Azogues, but it isn’t possible for any of them, so Lucy and the subcentro staff is going to offer PT twice a week. If it goes through, I will also have access to the room to work with other groups and give charlas, etc. While I already have permission to use the space, if it is revamped into a rehab center, it will have more credibility and hopefully people will attend more of my meetings and charlas. I, of course, am also suggesting they get a horse for hippotherapy, but that one might take a while for them to be convinced. It sounds like a great project for the community, so hopefully it is all approved, financed, and actually started!

Living at the subcentro has been going really well and I’m very happy here. Lucy, Martha and Carmita all live here during the week now, so I’m only alone on the weekends. We split cooking days, which is working out, but I also have a lot of time to make my own food, which has been going great. This week I made pizza, veggie soup, corn salad (thanks Zoe!) and bagels. Next week there is quiche, spinach chicken, lentil burgers and cobbler on the menu. It’s fun to try all these new recipes, and to be eating healthy foods again. We hang out in the afternoons and evenings, chatting or playing games. Lucy and Martha have learned Bannanagrams and Set, both of which they love, and Phase 10 will be next thanks to Natalie! While I get to spend a lot more time with them, I’m still spending a lot of time in the town and with Suca, Zoila and Nayeli. I usually go down a few times a day to chat and see what they’re up to, and other times to collect Cora. She is in a new habit of running away if the subcentro gate is open and she isn’t tied up, but luckily I now know that she goes straight to Zoila’s terrace in search for Oscarito, the puppy who lived there for a few about a month. Oscarito has moved to Guayaquil with the family, but a new puppy, Shakira, was gifted to them today, so Cora still has a friend to run to.

The biggest news is that Internet has come to Zhoray! There is the big company here to build a dam, and they have an office set up in a house on the market with internet. They came to me the other day asking for English classes because the engineers in charge are coming from China and speak English, not Spanish. In return for giving them classes, hopefully they will share their internet and I’ll be a little bit more connected!!

That’s about it for now. Things are going well here and I’m feeling settled back in. I hope everyone had a happy Mardi Gras and that it was a little dryer and warmer than Carnaval here. Hello to all!

All my love,

Kerry

Flying Water Balloons....

It has been a bit of a lonely 10 days since Mom and Dad left. It was so great to have someone to talk to 24/7, access to internet to talk to my friends, etc. When they left I was thrown back into the isolation of Zhoray, but now a little more isolated since I’m living in the subcentro and I got back just in time for the weekend when the subcentro staff leaves for Azogues. Luckily I get to keep the subcentro phone with me whenever they leave, so while I can’t call anyone, I can receive calls and got to talk to my parents a lot.

Last Saturday, two kids came up to bake bread with me. It’s nice because since I’m not in somebody else’s house, I can invite anybody I want to come up, so it was different kids than usual. I was sad that Nayeli wasn’t allowed to come up and that she has to suffer/be punished for the situation. Hopefully with a little time they’ll be over it and let her hang out with me again. Until then, I will hopefully make other friends in the community and broaden the group of people I hang out with.

While it is a little lonely at times, I really do like living here at the subcentro. The privacy is great and I was ready for it, and the conversations with the subcentro staff are much different than those in town. Instead of petty gossip about people, we have conversations about traditions, religion, consciences, and more. I didn’t realize how much I missed that until I was around it again.

The other thing I really love about the subcentro is my food independence. I have been baking and cooking again and am so much happier. Not only does it make me happy because it’s something I love to do, but just in the last week I feel so much healthier and stronger from having reasonably portioned meals full of veggies and steering clear of mountains of rice. I made pasta with chicken and fresh marinara and veggie sauce, learning that you actually have to COOK the tomatoes, not just blend them J. Once that happened, it was quite tasty! I also made chicken and black bean burritos on fresh, homemade flour tortillas. That with veggies cooked in mole powder and fresh mozzarella, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm! Almost like real Mexican food! As far as baking goes, I made a ton of banana bread, which is always a hit. I also tried an orange cake, which turned out well, and Pilsener (beer) bread, which was very good. The Pilsener bread was an even bigger hit when I made it into French Toast for the subcentro staff. While I’m making most of my own food, Lucy, Martha and I each cook one day for the others. That means I’m still at the liberty of some food, like the pig liver I had the other day, but overall it is working well and they are getting to try a lot of new foods.

It is Carnaval now, as it has been for the last 5 or so weeks. During Carnaval, people throw water balloons at each other, dump buckets of water, spray Carioca (a foamy spray), and all sorts of things. Thursday was the last day of work for the subcentro staff before the ferriado for Carnaval, so they won’t be back until Wednesday. Since it was there last day, we played Carnaval for most of the day. By the end, we were all dripping wet, covered with egg, flour, tapioca and yogurt. It was a sticky, fun mess!

After the subcentro staff left, Nayeli came up and got to try some of the French Toast, which she also loved. We then went down into town to hang out for a few minutes with Cora and the kids before mass. There has been mass twice a day all week for the Holy week here, so I went to a few of them. It was nice to go on Thursday to be around so many people instead of just being alone in the subcentro. Thursday was the procession through town, stopping for prayers at all of the houses that set out altars. It was a very nice mass, and the church was beautifully decorated.

Since the subcentro staff won’t be back until Wednesday, I have made a few goals to keep myself busy and not get lonely. There is a lot of baking planned with different kids from town, Cora is in need of some more strict training, and there are different Carnaval activities happening. Tomorrow is the huge Carnaval fiesta in Zhoray, so it should be a lot of cold, wet, fun! It supposedly starts early and goes well into the night. I’m still unclear about what else happens surrounding Carnaval, but I’m guessing there are more events because Tuesday is the actual day of Carnaval.

Hopefully after Carnaval, I will be able to be more productive with work. The holidays are definitely something I’m not used to and while some are fun, it is very frustrating as far as work goes. It seems like every other week there is another holiday or fiesta, so nobody is working, everything shuts down to celebrate, and all organization is gone. It makes it very difficult to have anything consistent happen, so I think I will have more success with individual charlas rather than any long-term groups. I’m still hopeful that a group with kids will be more successful than the older community members, but again, I have to wait until after Carnaval to be able to start anything.

There is a company coming into to town to build a new hydro-electric dam, so 300 men are supposed to be coming to live and work here for 3 years. That will significantly increase the population of the community and should be interesting. The good news with that (although I still am not holding my breath) is that Lucy said we are supposed to be getting Internet because the company is bringing Internet for the men. We’ll see if it actually happens, but it sure would make staying in touch a lot easier!

I miss everyone very much, but things are still going well here overall. My computer weather update for C Springs is stuck at 20 degrees and snow from when I last had wireless, so I can’t say I’m missing the cold, but I hope it’s warming up a bit for all of you! A very, very happy Carnaval birthday to Mary and hello to everyone there!

All my love,

Kerry

Mom and Dad visit the middle of the world!

I hardly know where to begin because these last few weeks have been so trying, busy, and exciting! I certainly continue to feel the roller coaster of emotions, as the training staff guaranteed us in training.

Two weeks ago there was a little incident and I ended up moving out of my house and into the subcentro. Sadly, Pablo accepted a job at a different subcentro, but it is lucky for me because there was then an open room I could move into. It was a tough few days because my family didn’t want me to move, it was difficult to explain to them the move, and I had to readjust to a new place. My room in the subcentro is very quaint and cute, now nicely organized and ready to live in. I have a bathroom right next door, and there is a communal kitchen that I can now cook my own food in. Thanks to Mom and Dad, I have a toaster oven I am bringing back with me, so there are a lot of plans for baking and cooking delicious food that I miss! Little Cora is SO happy at the subcentro because we keep the gate closed and she can ran around the fenced in area all day. There is also another dog that likes to hang about, so they play and frolic together for hours on end! Everything happened just a few days before Mom and Dad came, so I haven’t gotten used to it yet, but I’m ready to go back to Zhoray, settle in, and live peacefully with my pup at the subcentro.

Mom and Dad just left after a fantastic 10 day visit in Ecuador. I met them in Cuenca last Monday, where we explored a little of the gorgeous city, hiked in Cajas National Park, went to some surrounding little towns, and hung out with some of the other PCVs. The weather was beautiful and I think they loved being around all the brilliant flowers and hummingbirds, especially when we saw that Boulder got 24 inches of snow!

From Cuenca we ventured into the campo of Zhoray, which was quite the experience for them. It was so great to finally show them everything I try to explain during phone calls and emails. It can never fully be explained until it is experienced in person, so now they have a good sense of what my life is like in Zhoray. We spent a lot of time with my host family, ate way too much food (resulting in stomach sickness…), hiked around the area, went to a waterfall, and had some quality dog training time J. It was a great 3 nights, but I think we were all ready to head to Quito come Sunday.

In Quito we stayed at a lovely old hotel in the historic district that was more like a museum with so many old paintings and artifact type things. The historic district has nice old buildings and incredible churches. On Monday we went to the Presidential Palace where we got to see the changing of the guards ceremony, which was very elaborate, patriotic and fun to see. The president and VP were both there that day, so they came out onto the balcony to greet the crowd, which was a neat tradition. After the changing of the guards, we went and climbed the Basilica, which I have now done 3 times and don’t get sick of! There is a great view of the entire city from the top of the towers, and the inside stonework is amazing. That night we got to meet up with Mercy to visit the Panecillo, statue of the virgin, then go for a delicious dinner.

On Tuesday, my Mom gave a talk on public health and the environment at a university just outside of Quito. A lot of people attended (including several Peace Corps staff/volunteers), and the overall presentation was great! We got to have lunch with Mercy before she had another meeting, then we went to the Peace Corps office. They got to see the office, meet much of the staff, and we got a lot of things worked out.

We got up early on Wednesday to go to “Mitad del Mundo” with Katrina, which is the site of the equator, the “middle of the world.” It was a fun little touristy activity and we took lots of pics before bussing back into Quito. Mom and I explored the artisan market, avoiding the torrential downpour, then we were able to have dinner with Mercy once more.

I am now in the Cuenca airport using a little internet before I go pick up Cora and head back to Zhoray. Mom and Dad left at 5:30am this morning, which was hard. I already miss them, but it was an incredible time with them here and I feel ready to go back to the campo and continue working. Work began picking up the week before they came, so I think I will start being more productive now.

We are in Carnaval season so I will be trying to stay warm by avoiding water balloons, but I guess it still isn’t as cold as in CO! I hope you are all surviving and enjoying the snow!

Ciao,

Kerry

 Lake at Cajas National Park

 Waterfall at Monay in Sangay National Park

 Walking the grand-baby Cora in Zhoray

 Basilica in Quito

 Cora definitely isn't spoiled or well loved....

 Panecillo in Quito

The Mitad Del Mundo

Viva Zhoray!

The last few weeks have been very busy, fun and exciting! The fiestas in Zhoray to celebrate the parroquialization were even more fun than I hoped for. They lasted from a Saturday evening through that Tuesday afternoon and included many sports tournaments between communities within the parroquia and teams from other parroquias, a horse race, a singing competition, live music, lots of dancing, and of course the crowning of the Queen of Zhoray from the high school. Everyone was out in the streets all day and night for the few days, and there was a festive atmosphere in the whole town, helped by the streamers flying everywhere and constant music. Sunday and Monday nights had live artists down in the market, performing well into the night. I spent Sunday hanging out in Suca’s store (which is right on the market), helping with sales and avoiding a few bothersome drunk men. On Monday, the subcentro staff stayed and came down into town for the fiestas, so I hung out with them and the family and we danced until about 2am, having a great time!

After the fiestas, everyone was worn out and there were a few days of downtime before life began to get back to normal. Last week I gave charlas in the school – handwashing to the little kids and sex ed to the older kids. The charlas went really well overall, helped by the fact that all the teachers stayed in the room to help maintain order, answer questions, and be a support in general. The 8-hour training of how to wash your hands during reconnect came in handy because the kids had a lot of fun with the different activities during the charla. The older kids learned from the puberty charla, but had a lot of questions about where babies come from, etc, so there is definitely a need for continued sex ed charlas. It was a good start for my charlas, and next week I have 3 more in the schools in other communities where we will be doing hand washing again.

Nobody showed up for the nutrition charla that I had planned with the women health volunteers, which was a little disappointing, but there is another meeting scheduled for next Thursday with the Ministry of Agriculture, so hopefully they all come to prepare for our garden. The girls group had much more success. About 10 girls came to the first taller, which was about effective communication, and had a great time. The next meeting was with Katrina to teach them how to make wallets out of bottle wrappers and other recycled materials, which most of them came to. Last Thursday wasn’t as successful, but I think the group will continue to be successful now that we will be meeting only on Tuesdays – many of the girls have to help their families get ready for the Friday market, so Thursdays are not a very realistic day for them to meet.  Many of the women are growing interested in the crafts I’m teaching, so I’ve been spending a lot of time sharing with them. The paper beads have been a huge hit, and there is still a lot of interest in the wallets, so I think that will be something I work on a lot in the next few weeks.

It is still very difficult getting much else started, but I’m continuing to try. I think I might try to start a group with kids from the school to meet once a week, and I will be talking with the woman who is in charge of CNH for the kids under 5-yrs-old to see if I can work on health topics with her and the kids during their classes. The garden is a lot of work, especially since the women have yet to show up and Zoila and I are doing everything. There is still a lot to be done before we’re even ready to plant, and we got the bad news from the Ministry of Agriculture that they can’t give us the fencing we need to keep stray chickens out, so we are still looking around for other sources for the fencing. Little by little, however, it’s coming along, and I think it will be great once it’s ready!

Katrina, a Peace Corps friend, came for a tech-exchange visit for a few days this past week, which went really well! We spent a lot of time just sharing ideas and projects, teaching each other various crafts for our youth groups, and just hanging out. She loved the gorgeous view here (hard not to…), and the town loved having her visit, especially my family! They were chattier than I’ve ever seen when she was here and devastated when she left, after just 2 days of knowing her. They are still talking about her, when she’ll be back, if we can go visit her on the coast, etc, so I’d say it was a successful visit. The only part she wasn’t psyched about was the heaping plate of intestines that we got served for both lunch and dinner one day. By now I have learned to eat pretty much anything set in front of me, so I even let her sneak a little bit of extra intestine on my plate when the family wasn’t looking…mmmmm, mmmm, mmmmm. I also got to have the leche colostro from the cow this week because she gave birth to a darling little calf named Catalina. The milk was the first milk from the cow, but then left for 5 days before cooked and sweetened. It was…interesting. Not too bad, but I’m glad that it’s only immediately after the cow gives birth because I won’t be having more any time soon.

Cora is growing quickly, but is still adorable and I am so happy having her. I try to only go to town on Saturdays because Nayeli doesn’t have class and can watch her so she isn’t stuck in the room alone all day. Last time I went and came back Cora barely got up to greet me, so I’d say she had a great time playing with Nayeli and will hopefully be the same way today! I found out that a large company is coming into town soon – potentially this week – to do some sort of electric work. That means that all the workers will be staying in town, and my house is highly sought after. Since they will be renting out the other rooms in my hallway, I will be moving out of my room in Napo’s house and down into another room in Zoila and Suca’s house. The move didn’t happen earlier because the dog isn’t too welcome in the other room, but Zoila has assured me that it will be fine. The new arrangements will have Cora tied out on the terrace during the day when I’m not home, and she can still sleep in my room with me at night. It will probably end up better for her because she’ll have more time outside where she can see what’s happening and have more company from passing kids. I’m happy to move down into their house, the only downside being that I’ll lose my own bathroom, but I’ll be able to deal with that.

Everything is going really well with the family. I work in the garden with Zoila whenever I can, and we recently made a fenced enclosure for all her chickens and our new ducks. I have two little ducklings, a little yellow one and a little grey one. Zoila is very, very handy and can construct almost anything, so the enclosure is really neat and has a perfect little concrete pool she made for our ducklings. If I have a lot of work to do for Peace Corps or the subcentro, I still try to go up to the land with her in the mornings and do my work up there, keeping her company and letting Cora run free. I spend a lot of time in the later afternoons and evenings with Suca and Nayeli chatting, playing Uno, helping with the store and cooking, and just generally hanging out. I really enjoy spending time with them and rarely lock myself in my room anymore – I still laugh when I think of what a big change it has been in the 5 months since I first got here to Zhoray. While I like spending time with my family here, they certainly aren’t my family from home and I can’t wait for my parents to visit! Just 9 days now (not that I’m counting…) before I meet them in Cuenca and get to share my new life with them!  This week will be full of charlas, Peace Corps reports, and everyone’s growing excitement for their visit J.

I hope everyone at home is doing well. Thanks for all the continued support – I love hearing from everyone! I miss you all and hope you’re doing well.

All my love,

Kerry