You know that life is good when you walk outside and are perplexed as to whether you should pull a fresh mandarin, grapefruit or chirimoya off the tree for your breakfast. I’m in the land of bananas and so much more.

I was just beginning to be proud of myself for keeping a weekly update on my blog and I guess it went to my head because as of late, it seems impossible. Things have been going well which I am happy to report; despite the general sadness that Brooke (the other volunteer) has officially moved out and left. She is now traveling through Peru, Chile and Argentina until the end of September. But I am now the proud owner of a beautiful refrigerator, a full sized bed and a well-stocked kitchen. I am still lacking a table though but the few times I actually eat in my home, I don’t mind eating on the floor.

Brooke left last Saturday which was a day packed full of moving, dread, sadness and a delicious shrimp lunch provided by Brooke for all of our help. On Sunday I made it to Guayaquil on little sleep in order to meet up with some friends and run a 10k. It went well, I finished the race needless to say. Afterwards my friends and I decided to reward ourselves with a quick trip to the beach to visit another volunteer whose site is actually on the beach (jealous). We spent the afternoon lying on the glorious sand, playing in the water, enjoying the plentiful beers that were being brought to us (waiters, on the beach, incredible) and I even came home with a sand dollar! I asked about 7 other beachcombers what they call a sand dollar in Spanish and no one knew.

This past week has been a little different because my counterpart has recently been voted into a local governmental position of Cumanda so now he spends most of his days working in the Government building. Ha which basically means the one thing that I actually did on a daily basis (walking to his house for “work”) is now no longer existent. So I’ve found other ways to fill my time, like working in Melita’s store or spending an afternoon in customs trying to get out a package sent to me. I’ve been dying to start up a garden because right now is the perfect growing season but you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find seeds here. I went to three different stores here and all of them only had seeds for cilantro and peppers, which obviously grow in surplus here because that's all you can buy. Is it really that hard to grow some carrots??

I just recently finished reading the book Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver which I’m sure most have heard about as it is a very popular book. Despite its slow start, I felt obligated to read it, it defiantly picked up and now I can’t get the characters out of my mind. Anyways, it's a fiction book about a Southern Baptist family that moves to the Congo in the ‘60s as missionaries. One of the main premises discusses how the family is viewed merely because of there white skin and how it effects their potential capabilities. A quote I really enjoyed: “The children who hounded us daily for money and food weren’t dim-witted beggars; they were accustomed to the distribution of excess, and couldn’t fathom why we held ourselves apart.” Not that I am at all comparing Ecuador to the 50-year-old indigenous tribes of the Congo for there are inarguable differences; but with all of the Ecuadorians I have met, they have all left in awe of how willing they are to share. And with my own personal things, I have acted just as the quote says and held what I have apart because it is mine. I have mentally critiqued the culture here for not taking pride and care for their things but maybe that’s where I’m in the wrong for coveting the few things that I do have. However, it also does stretch to other extremes where as it breaks my heart to hear them talk about how incredible, rare and beautiful their Ecuador is but yet don’t think twice about throwing diapers in the rivers, burning everything plastic and not caring for their earth. How do you find a balance of having pride for the things you don’t own without sacrificing the ability to share the things that you do own?

Melita and I made our bi-weekly trip to Guayaquil on Friday to re-stock her store (which is still full, she’s addicted to shopping). I actually gave her some input this trip; I can’t remember what she was buying but it was something I felt that was unnecessary so I asked, “Do you really need these in the store?” She looked at me and said, “Yes.” And then I said no more. Maybe I’ll try again next trip.

I spent this following weekend in Cumanda. It was the festival weekend of another little town close by so I went to the bull fighting and dancing on Saturday evening. Like all the others, these festivals failed to leave me intrigued and in shock that certain events are actually acceptable. Sunday I was invited by a neighbor who raises pigs to go view the pigs in the market and then treated me to roasted pig afterwards. I’ve eaten the roasted pig before and it’s pretty delicious, but I guess after viewing all the other pigs still alive it’s hard to eat roasted pig (with its head still intact) at 8:30 in the morning.

This morning I amazed my boss with my abilities to create a powerpoint presentation. I think I am going to be disappointed in two years and I lose all of these special powers, so I try not to think about it. Today (August 10th) is also Ecuador’s Independence Day so it's a national holiday where no one works. I’m shocked that my boss was working this morning. And also all the schools have vacation for a week. I’m pretty sure they had vacation for a week two weeks ago.

On Thursday of this upcoming week, I’m going to another friend’s site who is a natural resources volunteer and he does a lot with a local natural reserve forest. One of his jobs is training tour guides in English so he needs English-speaking people to come test them out. I gladly signed up for a free tour in a canoe through the mangroves.

Welp, that's about it from here. I hope all is well and I hope you all enjoyed your Ecuadorian Independence Day!!