To Riobamba is the answer…Cora got spayed in Riobamba 2 weeks ago and is still there ¨recovering¨ (vacationing…) at my counterpart´s house. My counterpart and her husband were fantastic about helping with getting her spayed and really did all of it: they scheduled the appointment at the cheapest but most trusted vet they could find, they brought me and Cora from Chibuleo to Riobamba in their car, they took Cora to the actual operation while I was at a workshop, and when I got home she was sleeping on a sheet bandaged in pantyhose so she couldn´t get at the stitches, fully medicated and fed. They told me they want to keep her at the house where it is a cleaner and more controlled environment until the stitches are out, which is another week or two. I miss having her around, but I know she is in good hands with lots of company from their husky pup. All I hear is how well behaved she is, how much she likes it there, how much they like having her there, etc, so I ´m a little worried that they want to keep her now, but I know they´ll bring her back when she´s healthy. In the meantime, she is very missed here in Chibuleo with the kids asking daily where she is and when she´s coming back. Even the grandpa was asking me about her the other day, so I think he misses his snuggly little pal too. Peace Corps should consider contracting Cora to teach the trainees about community integration because she seems to be a rock star at it!
In other news, things are still going incredibly well here in Chibuleo! We are finishing up the final preparations for our Mother´s Day celebration on Friday where all of the mothers of the project will come for lunch with their kids, then we are doing some poetry reading, presenting our dance again, and giving them the gifts that we have been working hard on over the last few weeks. The gifts are little homemade boxes with a pair of earrings inside made from the paper beads I taught the kids to do. We made over 100 pairs of earrings in 1.5 weeks…whew, glad it´s done! I think they turned out well though, and the mothers will hopefully like them!
I am finished with my work at the high school for the school year, so all we have left to do is have a little ending party. The kids have been great and I had a lot of fun with it, so hopefully I will do more with them again next year. Since I´m done there, I am going to start going to the subcentro again in a few weeks and probably work there more in the mornings. Once the kids are out of school here, however, our schedule changes at the foundation. The kids will only come Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, but they will be able to come at 10am onwards, so full days with them.
I just heard from Peace Corps and they want to bring the new group of trainees to my site during one of their tech trips, which I´m really excited about! They will be able to help us with tire gardens and practice giving charlas to the kids at the foundation. I will also be able to just meet the new health group and hopefully some of the people who will be moving to communities around Ambato and Riobamba!
That´s about it for now. I´m going on a little vacation next week to see some friends and am really excited to escape the cold of Chibuleo for a bit because it has been horrible lately! The combination of rain, fog, and falling ash from the erupting Tungurahua is not pretty. My computer is broken, which is why I haven´t blogged lately, but hopefully in the next few weeks that will be fixed. Until then, I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the sunshine and warm weather in the States!
Abrazos,
Kerry
