tech trip

Well, what a week! Ha it really wasn’t that exciting but it was really nice to have a change of scenery and activities. Although now I only have one week left here with my family and in Cayambe and I am getting really sad. I don’t want to have to say goodbye…

Anyways about this week, we left Cayambe early Sunday morning and arrived to our resort/hotel in Puertoquito in the early afternoon and had the day free. The resort was nice and had a pool, river, vball court and was basically like summer camp all over again. All of the girls slept in a cabin together with like 40 bunk beds. We stayed in Puerto Quito until Wed morning and had training/visited a local organic farm in the mornings and mostly free afternoons which we filled with more exciting things like playing in the pool, soccer, vball, basketball and dancing. You would not believe how much people dance here. It’s like a pastime. Instead of playing cards or reading a book, they dance. But anyways it was a lot of fun being with everyone and being able to hang out and relax. We had a talent show on Tuesday evening; we have quite a few talented singers and guitarists so it was really entertaining. One of the better talents was when one of the guys got up and snapped his fingers.

Wednesday morning we all split up into different groups and headed our separate ways. My group went to the armpit of Ecuador where two of the girls have their sites. It was hot, muggy, full of insects and no breeze. I took two showers everyday, it was so intense. On Thursday we visited an agricultural university where they showed us around and told us how to raise animals, make feed and what not. Friday we went to a government funded agricultural/crop research center. The facility itself was almost 2000 hectares so probably around 4500 acres, it was huge and they had everything. But we focused mainly on coffee beans and cacao. On Saturday we went to another farm (really tired of farms by this point) and it was a farm where a volunteer had been before and so we admired his previous projects that were a success, such as animal pens, hatching chickens/quail and how to make and package yogurt! After the farm, we jumped on a bus that took us to Santo Domingo de los Colorados where we were supposed to spend Saturday and Sunday night but we there was a change in plans due to an outbreak of Dengue in the area that we were supposed to visit. The outbreak happened in an indigenous region which is supposed to have a really unique culture and we were going to have a tour, lunch, and have a fun day in the community with the current volunteer there but we were banned from the region so our trip was cut a day short. But the highlight was that in Santo Domingo, there’s a huge mall so we got to spend Saturday evening at the mall (still dressed in the same dirty clothes from the farm and which I’d been wearing all week) and were treated to multiple fast food options. I had burger king, pizza and real scooped ice cream. And I’m shocked as to why I’ve gained weight… but after dinner, a group of us went and saw the movie shop-alcoholic. Not a great movie but I loved every second of it.

And then today we spent the entire day in a bus traveling back to cayambe, it was so nice to return to the Sierra to a temperature that is actually enjoyable and doesn’t make me angry. Ha my site is going to be difficult because it has about the same climate as what we were just in this past week.

Last Saturday, I had a chance to video chat with my mom (Debbie, actual mom) and at the end, she asked me if I’d had any problems with the food and diarrhea and what not. I said no and made some joke about how I eat everything and nothing has affected me. Well silly me, I forgot to knock on wood because I have no had diarrhea three times during this past week. I got really sick last Saturday night, sweating, fever chills and what not and had diarrhea all the next day. Then on Wednesday night we ate seafood and I guess I had some kinda of allergic reaction because that gave me a diarrhea and made my eyes swollen the next day. And now as I write this lovely re-cap of my week, I have had to take a bathroom break/sprint three times! Thanks DJ.

But that’s about it from me. Tomorrow my group has a free day because all the other groups are still traveling so I’m excited to just relax in Cayambe. Use the Internet, wash my clothes, and hang out with my mom. She was really sick while I was gone and told me she was really lonely without me. I can’t believe I have to leave in a week! Sunday is Election Day in Ecuador, which is a big thing, and I can’t wait for it to be over because the amount of propaganda here is ridiculous. This week I also have my final language test, which I have to reach intermediate middle and at the last test I was one under that level so I hope I’ve learned enough to move up a notch. But having a week off of classes has not helped any…so keep your fingers crossed for me!