Alausi!

45 First look at Alausi, a photo by chelopate on Flickr.

Hey everyone! I got my site assignment last week and I am delighted to report that I will be spending the next two years in Alausi!

Located in the central province of Chimborazo, Alausi is the beautiful home to 6500 residents (a number which I have yet to confirm, so please do not hold me to it) and an enormous statute of Saint Peter.

You all must visit. It is so lovely you will cry. Promise!

More to come very soon.

Tech Trip!

Our group!, a photo by chelopate on Flickr.

Here´s a pic from our first tech trip. This is immediately post-banana harvest. Yep, we cut down all those bunches from the trees! Pretty awesome.

The tech trips are a chance for us to visit different parts of Ecuador and practice some of the skills we´ll be using at our sites. This trip we went to Santo Domingo, Pedro Vicente and Puerto Quito, which are about 3.5-4 hours west of Quito. We gave 4 charlas, or talks, about nutrition and hygiene to school children, mothers and young people at an evening high school. The trip ended at a finca, or farm, which is where we did the banana thing. I swam in the lovely, clean river and got attacked by a variety of strange bugs and mosquitoes. I didn´t want to leave!

Next week we´ll be finding out where we´re going to be stationed in Ecuador for the next 2 years. Wednesday we´ll know our sites and Thursday we´ll take off on our own for a week-long site visit. I´m so anxious to find out where I´ll be!

More stories to come, ya mismo.

Siga, no mas :)