February Update

Hello! It's been a little while since the last update. Things are going well here in Tixan and at the moment, everyone is gearing up for Carnival, which kicks off tomorrow with the crowning of the King. Ecuadorians take their parties very, very seriously, so it should be a good time!

We're also in the middle of 2 weeks of school vacations, so I've mostly been hanging out at the clinic. It seems strange now that I used to go there all day every day, because while theres stuff to do... theres not THAT much to do. I'm also becoming very conscious of the fact that I'm leaving in 6 months, so I'm trying to back off a bit in terms of the free labor. There are some things I do at the clinic that are mostly outside of their work area (nutrition counseling, organizing/reorganizing the files), things that wouldn't otherwise get done if I wasn't there. However, there are other things that I sometimes do because theres nothing else to do... but I probably shouldn't. Sometimes I help take vitals, do some filing and help clean, because I'm bored. The problem is that these are things that are explicitly in the job description of other people, so to some extent, I'm enabling their inefficient work habits by doing part of their job.

Occasionally, I help out because theres just no one else to do it (like the days when all the nurses leave to do vaccines, and the doctors are left without anyone to take vitals), but this is also problematic. The doctors are perfectly capable of pulling files and taking vitals themselves... it's just that it takes so goddam long to do, people will end up waiting for literally 5-6 hours. My conscious always sides with the patients, so when I help out its always to make things more efficient and pleasurable (as much as possible) for the sick people. I think that people appreciate and like me for this, which is great for me... but what happens when I leave? Will things just go back to the way it was before? When everyone yelled and treated the patients (and each other) like crap?

I don't know. It's impossible to know now. I worry about it though, and I wonder if there are any measures I can put in place to help prevent things from reverting back to the inefficient, unhelpful status quo. To some extent, I think that my presence sort of shames people into acting better. I don't yell, I say please and thank you, I don't give people a hard time about stupid, random things. I'm always mystified on the days when the occasionally enforced "rule" is that people can only get one appointment per family. What if 2 kids are sick with fever? What if the family comes with 5 people because they live really far away and can't make it more often? What if the mom needs to get her birth control TODAY and her child is sick? (All of which happened the other day).

I should point out that I don't think its not like this everywhere. Other clinics and hospitals have a better system, more management oversight, and more doctors. The major problem with my clinic can be summarized in one word: burnout. People are jaded and don't even try to have patience anymore. Burnout exists in every field, in every area of the world, but its especially harmful in this sort of first-tier dealing with the public situation. Tixan is a difficult area to work in, FOR SURE, but it doesn't excuse the behavior of some health workers. I've had days where I just have to leave after a few hours because I can't believe how horrible people are being and I feel like continuing to work condones their behavior. Could I say something? Maybe, if the perfect opportunity came up. Otherwise, I keep my mouth shut, because after all I'm just a random, privelleged gringa. There are some moments when I put in my 2 cents, moments that are more suited to my areas of expertise, but when it comes to basic human behavior... nope. I'm no one's mother. The way most Ecuadorians avoid taking the blame for anything (even in situations when it was clearly their fault), it would be suicidal to give a name to the obvious problems.

I've thought about possibly bringing up some of my issues right before I leave, but if I ever want to come back to visit and actually be welcomed, I can't do it. Be smart, Chloe! When has burning bridges ever been beneficial in the long run??? Never ever ever.

Anyway! In terms of other work... the health classes I teach at the two schools have been going really well. The kids are finally calming down, so classroom management hasn't been as big of a headache as at the beginning. I also finally got the 6th and 7th grade teachers at Escuela Luz Elisa Borja to pay attention to me and help me out with behavior issues, so my last classes in January were very pleasant and productive. It took nearly 2 months of complaining, walking out of a couple classes, and finally complaining to the other teachers to get them to change, but better late than never! For the first time, the kids listen, participate appropriately, and are (mostly) respectful for the entire 40 minutes I have with them. Imagine! Its a small miracle.

In my spare time, I'm also working on compiling my lessons into a manual for the teachers to have once I leave. Probably no one will use it, but hey, you never know! I mentioned this project to a woman who works at World Vision (the largest NGO in the world. You know, "for only pennies a day you can sponsor a child...") who is in charge of a national effort called Escuelas Promotores de Salud or Health Promoting Schools or something. Last year, I presented at a conference for the schools in my area, but they haven't asked me to do anything else. Anyway, I mentioned that I'm putting together this manual of lessons for health classes and Veronica seemed interested in possibly using it for this network of healthy schools. I'm going to try and get it done in the next month or two, because it would be awesome to promote it at the participating schools before the year ends in June. The Health Promoting Schools project is a great idea, but its also really vague. At the conference I went to, they didn't exactly teach the teachers how to incorporate health lessons into their curriculum. They mostly just told them stuff they should already know, about hygiene, sexual health and nutrition. To me, taking that information and translating it to the classroom is the real challenge! Luckily, I've got a bunch of tried and true lessons that do just that.

There are a few others projects in the works, such as a women's jewelry cooperative, a girl's club, baking/cooking classes, and English lessons, to name a few, but I'll return to talk about those another day. It's funny that with 6 months left, all these opportunities suddenly fall in my lap. I wish I'd had these bright ideas a year ago, but what can you do?

Lastly, I applied to the Portland State University Master's in Social Work program for entrance this fall, so fingers crossed they let me in and give me lots of money! This means that I'll be heading back to Portland after Peace Corps ends in July or August, which is pretty exciting. It feels really good to have something of a plan and a place to be for the next couple years... which is a big reason I signed up for PC in the first place. I can't seem to settle down in one place on my own, so I have to force myself to do it using other means! Restlessness is really a big problem.

Anyway, I hope you're all doing well! I'd love to get an email update when you get a chance. Seriously! I'll leave you with a picture of me and some of the health workers after our Christmas program at the clinic. The ladies helped me buy my outfit and get all dressed up, which was a lot of fun!

It's November!

I accidentally skipped an October update, I hope you'll forgive me. Fortunately, while I wasn't writing on the blog, a lot of awesome stuff was happening in October, so here's the rundown...

I went to COLOMBIA!!! It was super cool and a perfectly timed vacation. I didn't even realize how much I needed to get away from work and life here. When I got back to Ecuador, I felt totally refreshed and ready to jump back in. Vacation time is NOT overrated people.

I started the trip in Bogota where I met up with a friend from home. I never ever ever would have considered visiting Colombia alone, although now I don't think its quite the crisis situation that we all imagine. All developing countries have their safety issues and as long as you're not straying too far off the beaten path, its safe.

After Bogota we visited Villa de Leyva and San Gil.

"Pozo azul" or a little blue pond outside of Villa de Leyva.

Riverside botanical park in San Gil.

Then we headed up to the Carribean coast and an absolutely beautiful national park on the beach called Tayrona. To get to the beach, you have to hike a ways through the jungle (like an hour or more) which was obviously super hot and sticky.

And once you get to the beach? You can rent out a cabaña for $80 (no thanks), camp (no tent) or sleep in hammocks. No joke, the hammock was the best sleep I got the whole trip. All 10 hours of it.

After that we went to Cartagena, which is as awesome as it looks in the movies. Despite the oppressive heat and humidity, I really enjoyed the city and the many channels of American crime shows in English on the tv in our room. Don't judge me!

Colorful colonial buildings in Cartagena.

The last full day was spent at a mud volcano, which is pretty much exactly how it sounds. You climb to the top of a little hill and then jump into a mud pit with about 50 other strangers. It you want to bond with someone or many strangers, go to the mud volcano. It was super super weird and amazing.

Andrew and I and our 50 closest stranger-friends enjoy the mud.

At the end of the month I made a trip down to the jungle in the province of Zamora-Chichinpe. It was my first time that far south, and I kept having to remind myself that I was still in Ecuador because it was  so different from my chilly little mountain oasis.

The jungle is really awesome! We stayed at some cabañas about 4 hours from the capital of the province in the parrish of Nangaritza.


We played in waterfalls...


and took a river boat ride...


We swung on every vine that looked strong enough to hold a person...


and entered the Labrinyth of a Thousand Illusions... which is made up of ancient coral covered in jungle. The coral apparently comes from the period of time when Ecuador was ocean, but now sits in the middle of the Amazon. We were also warned to not stray off the path because there are landmines still buried around from the 1995 border war with Peru. Awesome.


After the labrinyth we were treated to this lovely view...


All in all, it was a great trip and I can't wait to visit again. It was only my second time visiting the "Oriente" as they call it here, but I really love it. I plan on using my extra vacation days to go play for more time before I leave next summer!

As far as my normal life is going... things are pretty good at the moment! I'm working a lot more in the schools doing health classes which is fun. I'm also getting involved with the founding of a women's jewelry collective in Chalaguan, which has a lot of potential, but we'll see what happens. Unlike the dry latrine project, this idea came from the women themselves so I'm hoping that they will be more motivated to see it through. Next week we're going to meet with them to figure out the logistics and how they should organize themselves. I've made my logistical and possibly financial support contingent on my getting to do a series of child development classes with them in January and February, so hopefully we can get a lot of stuff done at once! An adult educator with the Ministry of Education (Cecilia) is the one heading up the effort, and so far we work pretty well together, so I think this project might actually happen! Keep your fingers crossed.

I'm also heading home for a visit December 17 through the 28!! I really can't wait. I really do love Ecuador now, a love which took a full year and a half to blossom, but I'm extremely excited to see family and friends and eat cheese and watch TV. I can't tell you how much I've missed delicious cheeses.

Ok thanks for reading! Hope this finds you well. I'll leave you with this picture of me and some of the basketball team at the awards ceremony a couple weeks ago...

September update

Hello friends! Happy Fall! Here in the Sierra of Ecuador, we're officially entering winter soon, which means many, many months of rain and fog. The rain is much needed because everything has pretty much dried up, including some of the streams used for water. By the time January rolls around, I'm sure I'll be sick of the constant rain, but for now its necessary.

The big news of the past month is that I moved to Tixan! I said adios to Alausi and paying too much for rent, and moved to the small town of Tixan (population 700ish) to complete my service. I was pretty nervous about it before, but after a few weeks here it feels like the right decision. Its significantly colder than Alausi, mostly because its about 200 meters higher in altitude (2940 meters) but its nothing a couple sweatshirts and a few blankets can't handle.

I'm living in one of my co-worker's houses, but the family primarily lives in Riobamba, so they're not around much, just the occasional weekend. It turns out that this is the perfect situation because I get a good amount of alone time yet the nurse stays at the house occasionally during the week, so we'll make dinner and chat a bit in the evening. She's also pretty health conscious and open to trying new foods, which means we eat lots of veggies, which I love. Fiber is not underrated people, particularly when you have amoebas.

Work is going well and I've changed up my schedule quite a bit to keep myself busier. I'll be working at both the elementary schools in Tixan this year doing health classes. At one school I'll work with each grade once a month, and at the other I'll work with the kids twice a month for a shorter time. Its incredibly tiring to teach 90 minute classes with 35 kids, but I enjoy it. At the end of the day I feel like I actually accomplished something. The curriculum for my health classes is completely open as well, so I plan on doing a bit of everything, from hygiene to nutrition to environment stuff. This month I did a handwashing class with everyone, switching up the activities a bit depending on the age, and they were (almost) all successful. I'll also be starting sexual and reproductive health classes with 8th-10th graders and I'm really looking forward to that. I think it's going to be good.

This Friday begins my second annual "inter-area" sports tournament. If you'll think back to last year for a moment, this is the tournament for which I was "madrina", aka I was in a beauty contest. Luckily, I'm not doing it again this year. All I have to do is show up in my uniform and play. The tournament is spread out over three weekends and we're going to be competing in basketball, indoor soccer and Ecua-volley. I refuse to play Ecua-volley, but if they need me for soccer, I'll be happy to run around for awhile. Obviously I'll be playing basketball, and I suspect that we'll do well this year.

Unfortunately I'll have to miss the second weekend of the tournament because I'll be on vacation in Colombia for 10 days! I'm extremely excited. I'm meeting my friend Andrew in Bogota and we'll head northeast through the country up to the coast. It'll be my first time out of Ecuador in 15 months and my first time to Colombia. I don't really know all the much about the country (besides cocaine and FARQ), but I plan on learning a lot. I'm particularly interested in the Carribean beaches we'll be visiting the last half of the trip :)

Lastly, I thought I'd just throw out the fact that I really enjoy getting mail... hint hint. The last time I went to the "post office" to check if I had any mail, the mail guy said "Nope, your boyfriend and family have forgotten about you." Is that supposed to be a joke? Yikes. Please send me mail. Every postcard counts.

The address again is:

Chloe Pete, PCV
Correo Central
Alausi, Chimborazo
Ecuador

No, you're not missing anything, there are no numbers. Just words. It's not perfect, but it works in 2-4 weeks.

Ok thanks for reading! Hope this finds everyone well. I'll be visiting Portland for a few days over Christmas, so definitely let me know if you're interested in catching up and hearing more weird stories from my time in Ecuador.  

Link to Ecological Dry Toilets info

In April, I attended a workshop on constructing dry latrines, or ecological dry toilets. Overall they're pretty similar to pit latrines, but there are some key differences that make them more awesome and nice to use. A couple days ago the resident expert on these toilets, Chris Cannaday, posted some pictures and information on his blog from the Peace Corps workshop, and I thought some of you might like to check it out!

The frame of the Arbor Loo... plus a sliver of my backside!

This weekend, the plan is to make the official move to Tixan. I feel good and also horrified by the idea. Then next week school starts again! Supposedly they don't do much the first few days (weeks?) so I'm drawing up the plans for some more involved classes and projects with the kids in the two schools in Tixan, and possibly the high school. The clinic has been stressing me out a lot recently, so I'm looking to find some other things to do for part of the time.

Then in two weeks is our Mid Service conference! Gahhhhh how times flies! I'm not sure what we'll be doing for 5 days and 5 nights, but I think it'll be nice to see the other volunteers in my group who I haven't kept in touch with... which is everyone minus 3. We've also lost four volunteers in the last month or so (as in, they decided to end their service and go home... they didn't die or anything), which puts the group at around 50 I think. It'll definitely be interesting!

Last weekend I also took a quick trip to the northern beaches, so I'll try and post some pictures here soonsies. The Pacific Ocean seems to maintain its beauty no matter which hemisphere you're in :)

One Year in Alausi!

The view from Chalaguan south down the valley at sunset, August 9, 2012

Can you believe a little over a year ago I moved to Alausi? Neither can I. Time FLIES!! There have been so many ups and downs and funny/crazy/weird things that have happened, its pretty amazing to think back to the last 12 months. Let's reflect a little...

TRABAJO/WORK
This is the most challenging part of being here. Work typically consists of days and weeks of endless frustrations (with intermittent periods of boredom) only to be broken up spontaneously by tiny yet awesome achievements. I want to be clear on this: I'm not changing the World here. I'm barely influencing the lives of a few people. I didn't have any grandiose ideas of eradicating malnutrition and eliminating poverty when I got here, but even so, my ambition has shrunk even further once I came to terms with the reality of life in my little corner of Ecuador. The poverty, unemployment, lack of investment in education, and overall (dare I say it?) failure to provide basic medical services combines to create a black hole of sickness and ignorance. Throw in crushing sexism and a very strange yet very prevalent culture of "gimme gimme", that I think has been cultivated over many decades by NGOs, missionaries and government welfare programs... and you've got one hell of a situation. Sure, people say they'll change their hygiene habits... but only if you pay for and build the toilets yourself. And then they won't actually use them because thats not how behavior change works.

To be clear, I haven't built or paid for any toilets yet. I've summarized the attempted dry latrine project with the community of Chalaguan here in recent months, and there is nothing new to report. I'm going to give it another try here in the next couple months, but I'm currently formulating my cautious second attempt. I'm not even close to giving up yet, but I've realized that the approach was all wrong the first time (just add it to the list of failed Volunteer projects, which I'm sure counts in the thousands). In this second year, I really really really hope to make some head way with the dry latrines, if not in Chalaguan, then somewhere else. It feels like a giant waste of time and energy and knowledge to have attended the five-day Peace Corps workshop and then do absolutely nothing. We'll see how things go in the next 12 months, but I'll be very disappointed if I can't impart any toilet-building knowledge.

PEACE CORPS, PART 2
Year Two will also be entirely different because I'm moving to Tixan. I've had enough of living in Alausi, not knowing many people, not being able to hold meetings in the late afternoon/evening, watching too many movies at home alone, etc. In Tixan, I'll be living with a family again. Or, technically I'll be living in their house, but they aren't always around because they spend most of their time in Riobamba. This isn't totally ideal for me, but I'm a lot more confident in expressing my needs in Spanish so I'm going to work hard to be proactive and assertive. I won't have internet in the house like I do now either, so be patient with my email response time! The good news is that they have a couch! And my adoptive host mom, Vilma, who I work with at the clinic, is a great cook and eager to learn more! I'm excited to show her some salad recipes... raw vegetables WHAT??? It's going to be ground breaking.

Honestly I'm nervous about the change, because moving is the worst and I always dread that period of adjustment. Fortunately, I think I'm much more capable of coping with the change now than I was a year ago. I understand Spanish! People know me! I'm slowly but surely picking up Kichwa! For example: Haku nuka wasima lechita ubiyangi = Let's go to my house to drink milk. So useful!

I have to get ready for bed now, but I'll leave you with a song from Prince Royce. I hope you enjoy this style of music, called bachata, because it will be playing in my car and house nonstop once I return to the USA. Get excited!

Cuidense mucho! Hasta luego!

Basket update

Jump ball when the Hospital played Iglesia Matriz... and got their butts handed to them by the priests. Why oh why didn't I realize what we were up against?

For all you sports fans out there, on the edge of your seat waiting for an update from the annual Alausi tournament... well here it is.

We (Team Hospital) ended the tournament with two losses. TWO. The artesanas were always going to win because the team is basically seleccionado, as in the "artesanas" are sort of a bullshit organization and they just get the best players in Alausi to play for them. So, one loss was to the artesanas, which I honestly didn't mind because it was a really close game, and we only lost by 4. After them, we played the municipal government and won, but it was a difficult game and really close the whole time.

Our second loss came at the very end of the tournament, against Iglesia Matriz, or the big church here in Alausi. What the hell. They totally came out of no where. Who even works at Ecuadorian churches? I don't understand Catholicism whatsoever.

I played like crap, mostly because I was sick with a cold and couldn't breath through my nose. I wasn't even going to go to the game, but at the last minute I thought "I should at least go and support them." Unfortunately, we only had 6 players, so I had to play the entire game... which was excruciating, particularly after one of the better players on our team fouled out in the 3rd quarter, pissing me off to no end. Who does that?!

So, we lost by 5. It was the worst. The referees also decided to stop paying attention half way through the game and I got the crap beat out of me. Those middle aged Catholic women have got quite a bit of weight to throw around, and throw they did. They objectively sucked at basketball, but the fact is, it is impossible to make a basket if someone knocks you down every time you get the ball. I'll give them that.

Now, we wait to see how the final few games play out to see how we place. The highest we could get is 2nd, although I'd say its more likely we place 3rd. I'm not really sure why it even matters at this point... Will there be an awards ceremony? Trophies? I have no idea. One thing you can count on is that it whatever programa ends the tournament, it will last 5 hours, be freezing in the coliseum, and be boring as hell. You bring the blankets, I'll bring the canelazo!

June Update

Well hello there! How are you? Great to see you. I'm fine, by the way. Sorry I skipped posting in the month of May. For awhile there I was doing pretty well with the monthly posts, but that ended. Last month had a lot of ups and downs and I think most of my time was spent trying to process it all, before I wrote some rambling post and instantly regretted it.



In order to hit the highlights, here are the following topics I'll be covering: 1) Community Integration, 2) Dry latrines project, 3) General frustrations, 4) The Future.

1) Community Integration
According to Peace Corps philosophy, integrating into your adopted community is the crucial first step to accomplishing anything during your service.
    a) What exactly does integration mean?

    I'm glad you asked. The straightforward definition of integration means getting to know the people in your community, sharing experiences, learning about their way of life, needs and wants, and slowly becoming part of the community. Integration is something that we discussed a lot during training, but the reality was mostly lost on me because it's impossible to imagine the actual situation without ever having experienced it. We talked about what would happen if someone who liked to run a lot for exercise wasn't able to safely run at site, and stuff like that. Can you maintain your identity while modifying your behavior to conform to social norms? Yeah, you can, and although it depends on the person, its not really that hard.

    b) And the million dollar question: Is it even possible for a gringa like me with blonde hair, blue eyes and crazy ideas about life to actually become a part of the community?

    The jury is still out on this one. In my mind, the answer is simply no. If I lived here 20 years, married an Ecuadorian and had lots of half-Ecuadorian babies... maybe. But the reality is that I am a United States citizen, I have a valid passport, and I can go home whenever I want (and probably will be going home in 15 months). I have access to a wealthy country that people are literally dying (and being jailed) to get into. The fact that the United States has it's own laundry list of problems, and in some ways is worse off than Ecuador, is completely lost on people here. The math is simple: USA = work and money, which = clothes, food, electronics, cool stuff, and happiness. Ecuadorians can be extremely envious of my opportunities, which makes integration impossible if they're always focused on our differences.
    Not everyone is jealous of course, but other misconceptions about gringas come into play too. Namely, that we are all extremely promiscuous and will have sex with anyone. This is a particularly vicious rumor that almost all people (educated or not) have about white women. This translates to men asking lots of inappropriate questions about my personal life, and women more or less ignoring me (or giving me the stink eye). It's not always that way, but a couple times a week, I'll have a weird encounter with someone that seems totally random and unnecessary and leaves me feeling like crap. It's definitely difficult to make friends and integrate when everyone thinks you're a slut.

The good news is that I do actually feel like I'm integrating pretty well, but in Tixan, not in Alausi. For that reason, I'm planning on moving to Tixan in the next couple months. I think moving will make everything (work, life, integration) easier. Tixan is a much smaller community, and although I'll have to leave behind some comforts (my very own kitchen, a market right down the street, internet in the house, lots of privacy), I think that ultimately it'll be for the best. I'm only planning on doing Peace Corps once in my life, so I might as well go all out and try my hardest to make things work. I've encountered a number of naysayers who don't think I'll be able to live in Tixan, but really, I doubt it's going to be much of a problem. Different, yes, impossible, hardly.

2) Dry latrines project
I wish I had better news, but this dry latrines project is just not going very well. The community of Chalaguan could use some better sanitation, but there has been a lot of disagreement about how to go about doing it. Some people don't want a dry latrine at all; they want a flushing toilet. I told them good luck, but I'm not going to help them with that. Other people want a latrine, but don't appear to want to do any work whatsoever. Many of those same people say that they don't want to do a pilot project (where we build 2-3 toilets in the community), but that they want a toilet for every family, or none at all. My response has been and always will be, "Do you have $15,000 to give everyone a toilet? No? Yeah, me either."

Starting with a few toilets is the only way to begin this project, but only a few men truly understand that (and I can name them on one hand). There are a few families that are interested in continuing with the project (which, as of now, is still in its theoretical stages... we've done nothing in terms of construction or applying for funding), but we have yet to organize them. My counterparts are all over the place, are poorly organized, and don't appear motivated to do much. There are a couple other guys in the community that seem to have it more together, but I'm not sure exactly how to get everyone together to have a productive discussion. A few people who want flush toilets always show up to the meetings and complain. Annoying!

I was and still am excited about the potential of this project, but I feel like I've gone about it the wrong way. I've been too cautious and wanted to give the community a chance to step up and take the reigns. Although, at the same time, with the exception of one meeting that went horribly, I'm not totally sure how I could have acted differently. I'm very aware than I'm an outsider, and I'm not going to obligate people to particpate in this project. I want them to want to do it. That being said, I think that I should work more on the motivation side of things and be more of a cheerleader/organizer to get this thing off the ground.

3) General frustrations
Well, I think I've already talked about a few of these, thats probably good for now. So... nevermind.

4) The Future
As I already mentioned, the plan is to move to Tixan in the next couple months. I've got some ideas in mind for starting a healthy living club in conjunction with the clinic and possibly doing a dance class or something. I must admit the motivation for this is not purely altruistic... I'm either gaining or losing weight here in Ecuador, and currently the weight is on the rise. Yesterday, the obstetrician at the clinic said I looked "gordita". Lovely.


A month or so ago, I finished drawing a big poster on complimentary feeding for babies/kids 0-2 years old (picture below), and my counterpart at the hospital wants to use it to make a few big, fancy, laminated posters for the county, which is pretty cool. I guess the Ministery of Health will fund it. We'll see how they turn out. We talked the other day about doing other ones with recipes or something, but I'm already thinking about doing one on suggestions for getting kids to eat healthy foods. In doing the nutrition counseling at the clinic, the most frequent thing I hear from moms is that their kids don't want to eat or don't eat very much. With malnutrition rampant in this area, it's becoming apparent that its partly because people don't have enough to eat, and partly because kids don't eat all they are given. I don't totally understand why, but I suspect its a combination of parasites causing a lack of hunger, and parents not being patient or creative in their attempts to feed their kids. So! If anyone reading this has any suggestions or creative ways you've seen or used to get kids to clean their plates, LET ME KNOW!!! The more ideas the better, I think.

As for the immediate future, my parents are coming to visit in 16 days!!! I think its going to be good. We've got an exciting itinerary lined up, including time in the mountains, the jungle, a few days in Alausi to celebrate the annual celebrations, and a quick trip to the Galapagos with Deb. I'm very excited, in desperate need of a vacation (in the last 6 weeks, I've spent one night out of site), and I hope they're brushing up on their Spanish (hint, hint).

Welp, thats all for now! I've been trying to keep up with the picture posting over at My Flickr, so check it out. I'll leave you now with a short performance of a song in Kichwa by some 4 and 5 year old girls I know. Yes, that actually is Kichwa and not just nonsense (although it's really hard to tell). Enjoy!