The end is near

Wow. I has almost been a year since I posted. I now doubt that anyone actually reads my blog, because they have had nothing to read since August. But just in case, I'll do a little update.

I officially only have 14 days left in Peace Corps Nicaragua. I will stay in Nicaragua until March 28th, in order to attend our going away party on the beach, but I ring the infamous end of service bell on Friday, March 25. Since August, my service has been going really well. For some reason, a whole lot of youth, 30+, have decided to start showing up for my weekly youth group meetings. We have been passing the time talking about various issues that adolescents face, the risks of teenage pregnancy, HIV prevention, playing sports, putting on plays and throwing the occasional party. I think that I am going to miss my youth the most when I leave Nicaragua. Hopefully I can come back early next December and see some of my more proactive youth graduate high school.

I have also continued my work with community health volunteers, brigadistas. It is refreshing to work with this group that consist of Nicaraguans ages 19 to late 70s. They are always very excited for out training sessions and are extremely participative. At our last meeting we talked about STIs, and even the most rural old women took and interest and asked some very specific questions. This group gives me hope that I have actually reached out to some people who will try to help their communities live healthier lives.

Other than the brigadistas, I have worked extensively with men over the last few months. Although I expected it to be difficult to earn their respect, the groups of men I have worked with have been nothing but attentive, eager students. They seem genuinely concerned with the health risks in their communities and if I can believe what they tell me, they see the need for behavior change and for fighting against machismo. The most interesting activity I've done with these men are billiard tournaments. These are 3 round tournaments with 16 participants. Only men participate because in Nicaragua it is pretty taboo for a woman to enter a billiards hall. Between each round, the men receive an information session about HIV and for the final round, every ball that is made in a hole only stays in the hole if the player can correctly answer a question about HIV.

Updates!

I have finally discovered how to feel busy in Nicaragua…just start applying to grad schools. It seems I never quite have enough internet time to get all the necessary school research done. I am currently looking into programs for Public Health or Public Health Policy (if anyone knows people in these fields or has any advice, please please please let me know). I am not completely sold on grad school; I’m still keeping the option open of working for a bit before more schooling.

"Pigs" in a small skit I helped with

I am also finding a lot more opportunities for working. It is nice having a work related activity or meeting just about every day. Recently I have been focusing on sex education. Since MINSA (the Health Ministry of Nicaragua) is instituting mandatory sex education in the schools I have been designing a series of classes that I hope to teach the teachers to give. The hardest part with that will be helping them overcome their embarrassment in talking about topics surrounding sex. I also have been giving a lot more HIV/AIDS sessions. I had a really successful workshop with the brigadistas (local health volunteers) in June and July discussing how we can prevent the appearance of HIV in Morrito. We stressed condom use and behavior change when it comes to choosing your partner and remaining faithful. I must say, it is a bit entertaining to watch an older very rural man giggle his way through a condom demonstration. It was very encouraging to see how interested the brigadistas were and how excited they were to work with their communities on the education about and prevention of HIV. They have also all invited me to come out to their communities to work with the youth. I hope I can find time for that.

HIV training on a scenic little island

My youth groups went through a bit of a lull during the months of May and June. But have started to pick up. With my older youth group, we are now planning to present a play on HIV and 2 shorter skits that revolve around the work of Nicaraguan poet, Ruben Dario. My younger youth group is working on a theatre competition that will take place in the month of August. Three groups will compete and will present short skits on HIV/AIDS, family abuse and personal hygiene. The groups are writing and preparing their own skits…fingers crossed that it all works out. The winner will win a nice trophy my parents brought down to me when they visited. (More on their visit in my next post, which will be soon, I promise!!)

Some of my youth group girls after an HIV class that they gave

So, life is moving along quite nicely down here. I am enjoying my work, making connections and finding some time to have fun with my Peace Corps friends. It is really hard to believe that I only have 8 months left. That is more than enough time for any of you all to come and visit!!

Waiting

Morrito is my waiting room. It doesn’t particularly matter what the planned activity of the day is, but I am always found waiting. Take today for instance; we, Darling, one of the nurses in Morrito, and I said we would go vaccinate in La Cruz, the closest community to Morrito that is about a 20 minute walk away, at 5:30 am in order to beat the heat. So I thought that because we actually have a valid reason, the heat, we might actually leave on time. I got up at 4:30—and we all know I’m not a morning person—in order to have ample time to make coffee and have some cereal, and then stress about being 5 minutes late. Yet there I was, at 6:30, sitting alone in the Health Center, waiting. I was lucky, I only waited 1 hour for Darling to show up. Usually the wait is over 2 hours, or half the day, especially if I am trying to leave Morrito with a group of people.
But, I never really learn my lesson. Nothing has ever really started “on time” in the year that I’ve been in Morrito. And I know late showing up an hour after the determined time is pretty much the custom here. Yet I remain hopeful, if not a little delusional, and arrive with punctuality, if not a little late by US standards. I’m always worried I’ll miss something. I guess the fluidness of time here will never be something I fully adapt to and when I return to the States I’ll probably be fashionably late to everything. But, you know, worse things could happen. And all this waiting has certainly given me a lot of time for reflection. :-)

Speed Bumps

I recently learned how to say “speed bump” in Spanish. It is policia acostada, at least in Nicaragua. This means police officer laying down. I found this definition very funny. First just picturing one of the blue clad officers from my town lying on the road to slow traffic provides an interesting vision and secondly the police don’t seem to do a whole lot, especially in my small town of Morrito. But who can blame them, when they really don’t know when or if their next pay check is coming and whether or not their job with be secure when a new government takes over? At least the police force is working in the aptly named speed bumps.

Thinking of speed bumps and the cleverness of their Spanish names also got me thinking about the speed bumps in my service over the past year. My work has definitely been moving slowly thanks to numerous obstacles that are decreasing the speed of my effectiveness here. First and foremost the rainy season (April-early December) provides a challenge because the time of the rainstorms is unpredictable and it will inevitably rain during a meeting I have scheduled, preventing anyone from coming. Some days, right in the middle of wet season it rains all day and I sit in my hammock reading or spend hours chatting or watching TV in a neighbors living room. I guess the later of the two is work, since cultural exchange is usually taking place throughout our discussions. The pace of life is also much slower down here, creating a cultural speed bump. If things aren’t completed in the most time efficient manner, nobody worries. People don’t stress about getting things done immediately, they just sort of mosey into projects. At first I found this frustrating, but now I’m afraid I won’t be able to readapt to the fast pace, production driven arena of the States. Finally, parasites have proven to slow my work down. Somehow even the most obscure forms of parasites have found their way into my stomach and intestines. I won’t go into detail of the results of my little friends, but while they don’t completely incapacitate me, they do drain my motivation to get out and get work done. And the more resistant ones require a trip to Managua to see the doctor (and get put up in a hotel with air-conditioning, wireless, and cable…so who’s complaining?). These are rather gross speed bumps.

My work is trucking along down here, regardless of the policia acostadas. I have 3 very active youth groups. Two of them are in Morrito and use theatre to teach health themes. My youth are very excited to start using the sociodramas they have been working on to teach their peers in the school. My other group is in a community, and those kids think I’m great at soccer. They are almost a self-sufficient group, but still value my presence, especially all the fun icebreakers I can provide them with. I’m am now trying to form an new group of youth health promoters in yet another community…fingers crossed. `

These are just some thoughts on speed bumps.

Starry Night

Last night I traveled to Granada, a rather touristy town in Nicaragua, by boat. The boat leaves my town around 8:30 pm and arrives in Granada at 5:30 am. It is actually a very relaxing way to travel when compared to the unpaved highways of my bus ride. I felt a moment of aww around 10 pm last night while looking up from my hammock, which I strung up on the deck of the boat next to 2 friends. The sky was cloudless and the stars were AMAZING! I really don't think I've seen such a bright starry night in my life. I just thought I would share that with you, along with pictures, 1 of the bus that goes to my site and the others of previous boat trips.

View of Ometepe from the boat by day

The brown you see are cushions from other chairs that fell off due to the

bumpy ride...it is a converted school bus

Sporting it in Morrito

In Morrito, we are currently about 4 weeks into our female volleyball season. I am playing on the oldest team in the league of 3 teams, and unlike my soccer team, I am almost the youngest person. Even though the women on my team may be way closer to my age than I think, but since most of them have kids and/or are married, I think of them as much older women. I am also about half a foot taller than any other player. We play volleyball on the concrete basketball court, across the street from the town park. Unfortunately most of the women and girls don’t have sneakers, but play in their close-toed flats without complaint. An evening of volleyball usually starts with the first 2 teams sweeping water off the court (remember, I live in the rainiest department of Nicaragua). This is a much more difficult task than it initially seams because somehow the concrete of the court has started to sink in the center, thus collecting all of the rain water. Today was a nice change of court preparation, instead of sweeping water we had to sweep off the remains of rice stalks that were left out to dry by some townsfolk in the midday sun. While the type of volleyball played in Morrito isn’t quite like the sport my intramural team played at Villanova, it is really great to see the town rallying around the young women and cheering them on.

Thankfully, soccer season has now ended. For a while some of my teammates and I were playing both sports in 1 day, and the hot sun did not make this so fun. My soccer team, Real Morrito, won the female league. The girls on my team -and they were girls, the oldest besides me having just turned 18- we very proud about the win and I am going to open my house up for our celebration party. And they all want to thank Maryanne, my sister, for helping us buy our uniforms. The nice light blue color was a nice reminder of my alma mater.

I have already been recruited to a softball team for next January. So if anyone has an extra mitt lying around, mail it to my parents J. I’ll be home for Christmas to get it.

Bad Blogger

I really must be one of the worst bloggers. I always have such good intentions and then when inspiration for a post hits me I am nowhere near a computer. And since I went and left my power plug in the Orlando airport, I am even less likely to write. But today I have free internet, although I am lacking a bit in the ideas section.

I guess I'll just do a quick update then. Since my last post I have go back to the States and returned to Nicaragua again. I went for my cousin's wedding and it was a blast! Jess was beautiful, as was the wedding. I also had the opportunity to meet the most gorgeous boy ever...my nephew, Finn! He is going to be a heartbreaker one day. (Go to http://www.sewliberated.typepad.com/ to see pics and check out my sister-in-law's new book)

I have also been in service 5 months, which means I have been in Morrito for that long. We had a 5 month training so I got to see all my friends from the Health sector. We also brought out Nicaraguan counterparts, which was a little awkward but a good bonding experience with someone from my site.

That is really all for now. Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of autumn...I definitely miss the changing leaves here!

Fiestas in Morrito

Morrito isn’t all work. During my 3 months on site—where has the time gone?—I have been getting to know how Morritians party. I’ve had the privilege of seeing how both ends of the spectrum celebrate being alive. One popular celebration is the quinceañero. Some people have big celebrations complete with a whole procession through town to the church, a mass, and a procession to wherever the party is being held; and then they dance all night. Here’s a photo of Dainella, the 5 year old daughter of the women (Areyles) who I stayed with my first 6 weeks, all ready to be part of one of the processions.

Other quinceañeros, generally the evangelical, are centered around a mass and dinner, generally held in the home. I had attended, helped set up, and took photos at Geysel’s celebration. Geysel is the daughter of Marisol, one of the most welcoming women in town and my neighbor. Hardly a day goes by without me visiting her house. Geysel’s dinner, not a party because of religious restrictions, started with a mass and ended with everyone sitting around waiting to be served dinner of chop suey in their seats. Man do evangelicals like to sing! The mass was filled with very high spirited energy, with one of the most charismatic preachers I’ve ever seen. There is nothing passive about an evangelical service. The service ended with everyone congratulating Geysel and handing over their presents, to be opened later.

The kids also have piñatas. They have to dance while hitting it. It is very cute

The other type of party I have experienced in Morrito was a bit more dangerous. On July 19th all of Nicaragua celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. In my town, they pulled out all the stops to celebrate a long weekend. A 2 day bull riding tournament was the highlight of the party. There is usually a big bull riding event in May for Morrito’s fiestas patronales (Patron Saint Day party), but this year the party in May was cancelled due to threats of spreading the swine flu. So my fellow towns folk were more than ready for a party this weekend. A big circular pen was set up on the coast of the lake and bulls from farms all around the town were gathered. Only about 4 or 5 men actually road on Sunday, more time was spent taunting one bull at a time to run wild through the pen. Men—most likely inebriated—took turns waving black and red FSLN, the Sandinista party, flags in front of the bulls’ faces and quickly running away. Unfortunately a few people were injured, but nothing fatal. It was interesting to see one bull riding event, but I’m not sure it is for me. The party ended with dancing til midnight in one of the local bars. Untrue to form, I passed on the dancing in order to rest up after a long day of hitch-hiking and rodeo watching.

A day in the life

I have now been on my site 2 months and 2 weeks. It feels like I have been here both forever and no time at all. I have moments when I feel as though I can accomplish all the goals of the health sector (HIV/AIDS education, Rooting out adolescent pregnancy, and working to decrease numbers of maternal and infant deaths), and there are times when I question the productivity of my position. The reality is that I am still adjusting and as much as I want to help promote mountains of change in Morrito, I am more likely to affect individual lives in less tangible ways—hopefully for the better. I can give people charlas and information until I am blue in the face; it is their decision what they do with it.
The newest challenge I am facing right now is getting settled into a new house. Yes, even in Nicaragua, moving is a huge pain in the neck. That seems to be a universal phenomenon. I am renting a nice sized house for $35 dollars a month. It consists of a kitchen (and I use that word very loosely), living room and bedroom that is divided into 2 parts, with 2 beds—so there is a space waiting for all of you to come and visit! I share a flimsy latrine with my next-door neighbor and have to carry a 5 gallon bucket of water about 100 yards everyday (don’t worry, I wont’ subject my visitors to this task—unless they are willing). It is more what I would term a “fixer-upper” than a glorious place to live, but it is my space and I am growing attached. I still have no idea where I am going find places to store all my stuff, nor do I know where all this stuff came from. I pass my free time (that is the few hours I’m not wondering the streets looking desperate in hopes more people will befriend me or invite me in for a meal…joking, sort of) relaxing in my newly installed hammock with the fan blowing directly in my face.
As for the work I am doing at the moment, it is sporadic. A usual day consists of a 7 am wake up call in order to clean my house or go and wash some clothes in the river. Somehow neither of these tasks is ever completed. I mosey over to the health center around 9 where I either give a charla, if there are patients, or hang out with the secretary and nurses as we wait around for people to come. Sometimes I fill this time with planning for my next class or youth group meeting. So far I have gone to the schools about 3 times to give classes, which include creative new ways to use plantains…don’t ask. I am hoping to start a series of classes entitled “Life Skills” in the high school, but I can’t decide the best way to get that project started. Luckily I have time, 1 year and 9.5 months to be exact, but who’s counting? After lunch and an unavoidable nap, I pass the time with various activities and end my day with soccer practice and visits to friends’ houses. I’m glad to report these visits have gotten less awkward and I am becoming a fan of the Nicaraguan custom of just getting up whenever you are ready to leave and saying goodbye, without the need to give an excuse for your departure.

Finally...Photos!

Our delicious swearing in cake


Craig and Jill!...how I strangely miss those trying days of training



Mama Anita, Johanna and me with the US Ambassader Robert Callahan (maybe I'll go into that field some day, it doesn't seem like such a bad life)

Last days and Papa Fernando's Birthday

Welcome to the World Finn!!

Here is a picture of my darling newborn nephew, Finnian Patrick, more lovingly known as Finn. He appropriately joined our ranks on Mother´s day, my lucky sister-in-law. I promptly welcomed him into the world by getting food poisoning and failing to call the new parents (but still attempting to go out with some friends) until the next day, sorry Pat and Meg. So bienvenidos to our family Finn, I can´t wait to meet you! Love your tía Ely.

So this is Peace Corps

Oh man, did I have a typical Peace Corps experience yesterday. After coming back from the ´city´ on a much needed break from my small town—we didn´t have lights for coming on 4 days and our well was dried out—our bus broke down! Of course I was slightly oblivious to what was happening and thought it was just a scheduled stop, in the middle of nowhere, but my seatmate and the lady I am living with, Areyles, informed me that the bus could have flipped over and we were lucky not to die. Don´t worry Mom, she was exaggerating; we just had a bent axel. True for of a PC experience, about 5 minutes after everyone got off the bus so they could jack it up, it started pouring! And I´m talking cats and dogs. So we all slowly trickled back into the bus, guiltily preventing the men from fixing it, which it turned out was a lost cause anyways. The bus driver and guy who collects the money ended up sleeping in the bus in the middle of the highway (and I use that term loosely) and Areyles and I hitched a ride with 2 German priests and their blond surfer friend. Instead of getting back to Morrito at 6pm as intended, I arrived just before 11pm…and guess what; the power was out once again.

But now I am back in my site, powered up on pizza and way too much ice cream from the city. The health center is mainly focused on swine flu and we are giving charlas on prevention techniques...aka hand washing. I am also finally going to go see one of the communities around Morrito for the first time. I´m currently waiting for the truck to head out. It was supposed to leave at 9:00 and it is currently 10:15, but so is life in Nicaragua. But I am very happy here and constantly having a conversation with someone, and even understanding about 60% of what he or she is saying. I´ll work on getting pics up soon, so you can all see how lovely Morrito is.

Settling into Morrito

I finally arrived to my home for the next 2 years, Morrito, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua, last Thursday at midnight. I enjoyed a nice breezy, if not a little rocky, boat ride from the lovely town of Granada. Highlights from the Granada trip include the 60 cent hotdogs, staying out til 3:30 am (a huge change from my self-inflicted 9 pm curfew), and a teenager playing My Heart Will Go On on his recorder to our table outside an Irish pub, owned by a legit Irishman named William.
My first day on site was very slow. It was a Friday and nobody at the Health Center was too gung ho about working since the director wasn´t around. So I took the opportunity to unpack my stuff and organize my small room. I set up my mosquito net, swept and mopped and decided which items I should hang on the numerous nails in the wall and which would be find just on the bench, the only storage space in my room. I´d like to say I had a spectacular first Friday night, but I went to bed early in order to be somewhat coherent for my 4 am wake up call.
The early wakeup call was in preparation to go to what I understood was going to be a cow slaughtering with my counterpart, Silvio. It turned out that I didn´t even realize when they killed the cow, around 5:30 in the morning. I thought they were just brushing it down around it´s throat until I noticed the blood spilling out of its throat. Thank goodness I fell asleep in a hammock while the majority of the butchering took place. The cow slaughtering actually turned out to be a very nice community event. The owners of the farm gathered a bunch of people from the community to help vaccinate their cows for the day in return for food for the day. The men did about 4 rounds of vaccinations which seemed pretty strenuous, while the women prepped breakfast (cow liver and rice), lunch (soup) and an early dinner (carne asada, which is very like beef jerky). The kids ran around enjoying themselves and running errands, like fetching water, and I sat around trying to find a way to help, without success. Although I felt useless throughout the day, it was a heartwarming experience to see the relaxed way the community came together to help each other out.
Sunday was chuck full with an early morning of errands, spending all day at a baseball tournament and making my debut as the new server at the pseudo restaurant by the ball field. After a full day of baseball and food, I came back to my house to find a mini carnival set up in the park, which is right next to my house. Children and adults alike were very excited about the diversion. They have Nicaraguan version of a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round, both of which are hand operated and the giant swings, which is run by a car engine. I got to eat some cotton candy that a drunken friend insisted on buying me and had a good time sitting around and talking to some new young people I met. So far I am really happy here, and aside from a few moments of loneliness and boredom, I think I am being accepted by my new Nicaraguan neighbors.

Lazy Sunday on the Beach

Giving a charla in the Health Center with Jill...we rocked it!

A bunch of us at the beach in Chinandega.

Sorry, I`ve been so bad about keeping up with my posts. Training has been so busy that I hardly even get to the internet once a week. I just got back from a relaxing trip to the beach with my training town mates, Jill and Craig. This was the first weekend that we were allowed to travel on our own. Todays small vacations was a much needed break after our HIV/AIDS week.

Last week, all 20 trainees went to Chinandega, a very hot province in the north west with a close beach access, for an intese week of learning all about HIV/AIDS. I learned a lot about the deseases and am really excited to work on lessening it´s impact in Nicaragua, which will hopefully be one of the main focusses on the site I am given tomorrow. (That´s right, after weeks of anxiety, we finally find out where we will be for 2 years) During the week we did a lot of work with men`s groups in billard halls, firehouses, and a navel base. The men were all very respectful and willing to participate in all of our charlas. Men`s groups are also an area I would like to focus on and work with during my 2 years.

The trip to La Dalhia that I talked about in my last entree was lots of fun. I stayed with a vegatarian couple and learned how to cook with soy! I can`t wait to get out on my own and practice lots of cooking.

Teaching Health through Theater

One month has come and gone! I can´t believe this time last month I was shoving last minute tidbits into my suitcase and saying goodbye to my folks. Time really is flying. Training has been very intense and yet very fun so far. Craig and Jill and I have managed to form a very devoted youth group. We have about 20 teens who we meet with once a week, 1 day to play soccer and the other day to have health related presentations and prepare our final practice. The youth group chose a small project we will be working on with them, and they chose to put on a play! I was very excited when they choose that. They will be writing their own scripts and we have broken them up into 3 groups to work on skits based on the themes of drugs, love and trust, and teen pregnancy. They started writing during our meeting yesterday and their ideas are looking great!! We have also gotten some of the high school students involved and those groups are working on the skits about family violence and HIV_AIDS. They are going to present their plays during the end of March or beginning of April. I´ll be sure to include pics of those performances.
Other than working with the youth group we have been preparing small presentations (charlas) to give in the Health Center and classes to give to the middle schoolers. I have given charlas on the Importance of hand washing and Nutrition. They actually went a lot better than I expected. The 3 of use in my group also gave a class on STIs to a sixth grade class. That was interesting, and the vocab was extremely hard. Next week I´ll be giving a class on self esteem to fifth graders. They ages in the grades are pretty close to those in the US, except people only have to go to 9th grade to get a HS diploma and 2 more years if they want a specialty, in areas like teaching or computers.
On sunday I will be leaving for the Northern part of Nicaragua to visit a volunteer and see was life in the Peace Corps is like outside of the bubble our training has produced for us. I´m heading to La Dalhia, Maltagapa. I´m excited to see up close examples of what health volunteers are working on.
Finally: Happy 60th Birthday Dad!!! I wish I could celebrate with you. And congrats to Zach and Carrie Anne for their wedding tomorrow!

Pictures!

Here are some pictures. Enjoy these because it takes forever to upload them. I might just set up a shutterfly account and include a link, but we´ll see.

Ferany on her first day of school

Jill (far right) and Kerry with Jill´s host siblings
At our super bowl party! (Nico, Hazel, Lorna, Liz and Amanda)

Me, Jessie and Adam in Managua

Kerri (my roomie the first 4 days) andI with a Sandista monument

One week down and many more to come...

So I am finally getting around to blogging...it only took me a week and a half. I gues that shows you how busy Peace Corps is keeping me here in Nicaragua.
Now, how do I begin my first blog that will chronicle the next 2 years of my life?
I arrived in Managua with a group of 20 other volunteers last Thursday, January 22. We were the first Peace Corps group to be sent off after Obama was elected and that fact has been mentioned over, and over and over again, so I thought I´d share it. My group is really great. Everyone is passionate, driven and they all have great senses of humor, which helps ALOT! The come from all over the US, but a surprising number come from the Midwest. So I am finally being exposed to what life is like in the US away from the East Coast and California. After a 3 day orientation retreat we were broken up into 5 groups of 4 and 5 and bussed off to 5 towns that are within a half hour drive of each other. It was sad breaking up but we all see each other at least 3 times a week.
I am now living in a small town named Dolores and have Spanish class all week with Craig (from Oklahoma) and Jill(from Seattle). We had one more in our group, a Tim who was also dating a Liz, but he decided he can´t devote 2 years to the Peace Corps and is leaving Nicaragua today. It´s sad, because even though we haven´t even known each other a week, our group has grown close pretty quickly. And he was our only musician.
My host family is really great! I live with 2 parents who are in their 60s, Ana and Fernando, their 30 year old daughter Johanna, her 3 year old daughter Ferany and another 14 year old daughter named Maria Fernanda. Fernando drives an old yellow school bus all day, it´s one of Nicaraguas forms of public transportation and the girls started school today. It was Ferany´s very first day and she was so excited and very cute in her little uniform. I'll post pictures later. Johanna talks with me the most and regales me with stories of other Peace Corps trainees they have hosted in the past, I´m their 8th. Her husband lives in Ft. Lauderdale.
So now I have 10 weeks left in Dolores. While here we have to form a youth group, our fisrt meeting is tomorrow, do a project in the community with them and give charlas (chats) in the health center, elementry and high schools in Dolores. It´s all part of the training, I just hope my Spanish is good enough to run our first meeting tomorrow. Craig and Jill will be there as well, so no worries really. I keep you all posted as to how it went. And I promise to post pictures next time. I miss you all!

Bad Blogger

So I am now in Chile (Valparaíso to be exact)and only have one week left of my trip...very sad! I´m sorry I have been so terrible with the whole blogging thing. I had the intention of blogging very regularly and including lots of pictures, but the internet is sooo slow down here and the computers are generally very old and without USB ports, so downloading pictures in a pain. Anyways the trip has been amazing!!! and I will provide full updates on my blog once I get home, on Aug. 11. I´ll even change the dates so it looks like I was an avid travel blogger. Hasta luego.

Back in Bolivia!!

I made it back to Bolivia:-D Our itinerary is: Copacabana with Lake Titicaca; La Paz during their 200th anniversary of their freedom, lots of parades and road blocks; Cochabamba with my host family and lots of icecream; then to Uyuni and their beautiful salt flats. More to come...

Machu Picchu...Bike Hike

Machu Picchu was more incredible than I imagined it would be, and I was expecting great things. Maryanne and I went on a 4 day tour with a really great group made of of 2 New Zealanders, 1 Aussie (named Kas, Fro and Becca respectively and we kept traveling with them through Copacabana and La Paz), an Irish guy, 2 Brits and 2 Germans. You´ll have to wait for photos because like the worst sister ever, I left my sister´s camera in a taxi with all of our pics :-( Hopefully we will get some from our friends.

Peruvian 4th of July

I hope everyone had a great time yesterday celebrating Independence Day. Maryanne and I celebrated by going to the ruins at Chan Chan with our Irish friend, Ashling (that probably isn´t how you spell it). They were very impressive and I kindly acted as our tour guide. Unfortunately, most of my predictions were incorrect and as you can see by following the link, the city was not destroyed by gigantic ants. Other than that we enjoyed some Peruvian styled Mexican food and played some pool with Californians, and lost twice.

Bussing it...again :-/

So I officially hate traveling by bus. Unfortunately we have many more hours of bus rides ahead of us into going into Bolivia and Chile. Maryanne and I arrived in Trujillo, Peru today after a 26 hour bus ride on 3 different buses, all equally uncomfortable.

These pics show the inside of one of the buses: (There not great but better than nothing)

Read on for a reflection on what it is like being on a bus in South America.

Forgive my grammar, I wrote this on the bus

First you must enter a terminal, sometimes vast and organized, sometimes small and dirty, with men surrounding you calling out names of cities and persistently asking you where you are going, if they have not already grabbed hold of your bags. After going with one of the men or approaching a ticket counter you are ready to board. You climb the steps of the bus and are affronted with various smells: air freshener, pine sol, gasoline, the occasional urine or fresh peeled orange. The vehicle appears to be a second hand tour bus or even a nice plush long distance bus with TVs and a bathroom. With a lurch you start on you way and almost immediately a young man from 12-26 years old is standing at the front asking for your attention. He is there to sell candy that whitens your skin, homemade coconut cakes and sometimes beauty products; or he is an older man who is blind, in need of surgery (one even lifts his shirt to show you scars and a precariously taped on bandage, which you hope doesn´t fall off to reveal the wound or lack there of) or representing the deaf community. The give their speech, loudly and with lots of informality calling everyone friend, queen, or even cousin. After their affronting speech, too loud to be ignored, is over they walk up and down the aisles collecting money and handing out goods.

Then there is a peaceful quiet, broken by a few coughs or the cry of an infant...but only for a moment. Music that is look loud or a poorly made action film, chuck full of violent scenes, is put on and you are bombarded with theses grating sounds, unable to think or read, let alone sleep. Eventually either the volume is lowered or you grow accustomed to the sound so you can read for a but, until the bumping of the bus lulls you to sleep.

As the bus pulls to a bus stop, is stopping at a toll, or is refuelling, the lack of motion wakes you up in time to see a handful of men, women and children sprinting towards your bus. "Potato chips! Ice cream! Cold drinks! Sweets!" all sung out in Spanish from the throats of boys as young as 8 and women well into their 60s. In a whirlwind they are gone, but not before a small pool of guilt has been tapped inside of you to question your privilege that allows you to travel and obtain a steady job. So as you gaze out the window, staring at the beautiful green or snow-capped mountains, rushing rivers and bright sunsets; you can´t help but notice the mud huts with metal roofs, the crumbling brick developments or the makeshift shops crammed around the highway. You think about the economic conditions that have brought all of this about; government mandates, policy decisions made by the local governments and--more worryingly-- by your own country´s government. And while your mind is thus engaged, you are lulled by to sleep as the country side of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, passes you by.

Straddling the Ecuator

Maryanne and I have now stood in two hemispheres at once. After a very hectic and crowded bus ride, which was well over an hour in a bus filled to the brim due to shut down trolley services in order to honor a workers´ strike, we arrived safely with our new British friend Ollie. Unfortunately I didn´t get any pictures of him, but for those of you who know Dan McFadden, he was his identical twin. Here are some pictures of our day:

The initial straddle

The forces of the Hemispheres seems to be stronger on Maryanne´s side

Leaping over the line on the West side

Maryanne also jumping the line

The idea of that picture looked cuter in my mind

Quito: Taxi rides, churches and craft fairs

Maryanne and I are thoroughly enjoying Quito. Thanks to Amy Knops suggestion, we found a really interesting Basilica to explore today in the Old Section of town. We were first reminded of our mortality by entering the underground catacombs of the church. They were eery and filled with tombs and reminders of the dead, so we didn't quite muster up the nerve to take photos. Next, for just $3 we got to climb up the bell towers of the church, exploring all the nooks and crannies to our hearts' content. Hope the photo below give you an idea of how that was.

After being turned away from entering the interior of the cathedral, where it seemed a confirmation was happening, we headed off to a large craft fair in Parque El Ejido. Only $1 for the 20 minute taxi ride...nice!

We had a great time haggling down the prices on jewelry that were already pretty low.
A general exchange went like this:
"How much is this necklace?"
"Six dollars. It's a handmade original."...although it looks just like the one I was admiring 2 stalls down.
"Oh, well I can get it for $3 at the other stall." vaguely point"
No, $6. (pause) Ok, $5, but that is it."
"Not $3.50?" Start to look at other items.
"No, $4.50" Start to walk away.
"Ok! $3." the women shouts after you.
Deal!...This all takes place in Spanish and in a crowd of other shoppers. I know it seems kind of pointless to haggle down just $3, but once you start bargaining, it becomes addictive. Plus the vendors generally up the price once they see you are a foreigner...which is quite obvious, especially once I open my mouth.
After the haggling and shopping we walked around a bit and caught a taxi back to the hostel, since we really have no idea where we are. It turns out we are just a minute away, but we already agreed to the $5 cab ride!...I guess it is a good thing we haggled the jewelry prices down.

At the top!

In an Ecuadorian jail

I'm a gargoyle

Cruising the Galapagos: "I love Boobies"

We had a great time on our cruise!! and are back on land, but still in the Galapagos until Tuesday, then onto Quito. Here are a bunch of photos depicting a day on our cruise and showing most of the interesting animals we saw! Enjoy
...and by Boobies I mean blue footed boobies, a very colorfully footed bird on the islands


Sleeping in our cabin

Sunrise off the boat

Sea lions playing around

Land Iguanas

The scary male sea lion and some babies

Me attempting to get the sea lions to play with me

The coolest cactus I've ever seen

A bird (I don't remember what kind) and a lava lizard

Curios mocking birds

Dancing blue footed Boobies

Land iguanas

Galapagos Hawk

Rainbow

Albatross

In a lava cave

Beach with my sis

Land tortoise

Sending mail the sailors' way (I'm bringing 2 cards to hand deliver)

If I were a turtle...sort of reminds me of you Kris ;-)

Nap time

Mother and baby sea lion shortly after a birth

Penguin

Nice view from our last island...windy much?

Same view but a bit higher up

Mother sea lion nursing her baby

Sea lion that just gave birth! the baby is by her head

Baby heron, what a neck

Male sea lion on red beach...I'm too lazy to rotate it

Blue footed boobies on their nest

Male Friggot, his red balloon neck in all puffed up for mating season

So ends a great day on the Galapagos