Jungle cat

My 2nd cat, who was a gift for Valentines day and who became Courtney's little sweetheart while she was here, has become quite a wild one lately climbing trees, hunting GIANT grasshoppers, trapping birds, getting into mini-cat fights and EVEN sneaking through the window of my NEIGHBOR'S house to explore their family store.

Si que me da guerra este gato.....what a trouble maker. However, when he gets back from all his little adventures, he turns into a lap cat and is such a little snuggler...it's hard to get mad at him.

Wouldn't you know, he is curled up on my lap right now. haha

PS. Anali, my other cat, is much more tranquila, and she lovingly takes care of the little one like her own.

I'm being replaced

One of my Peace Corps bosses, Angelica, came to visit me last week to discuss site development....planning projects and making arrangements for the volunteer that will be REPLACING me after my service. Great news for my communities but this visit made me realize how little time I have left here....less than 3 months. The best form of transportation to get to know my site....hello Angelica

We even convinced Cecilia to take a ride in the canoe, which she says she hasn't done in over 20 years. Cecilia almost had a heart attack when our young canoe driver almost tipped the canoe. I told her we would just swim back, and she laughingly said she would sink. haha I think swimming lessons are in order. Saying that I'm REALLY gonna miss my friends here is an understatement. I want to let myself be excited for my return home but it's hard when I know I have some heart wrenching goodbyes. This place has made such an impression on me....I know I will make it back though.

I am genuinely looking forward to seeing all my dear friends and family back home. Most likely if you are reading this....I cant wait to see you! However, the transition is gonna be tough. I have a feeling I'm going to be a water works.

Hope you are all doing well! Sending my love <3

Making movies

Recent medical brigade in one of my far away communities....lots of teeth pulling, eye exams and deparisiting kids.

(Disclaimer: my English and spelling are failing me lately...I've been known to make-up words...so please excuse the nonsense :) )

This is the hardest station to help at.....usually everyone walks away with a couple of less teeth.

My awesome Christmas present from my family has allowed me to become a novice film maker. I've been working on several environmental health projects and decided to petition to the mayor for his help through video.

My friend Sarah and I are also making a Happy Heart video to promote the 6 month heart disease prevention program across Ecuador. Hopefully other PC volunteers will take interest and implement the project in their own towns and reduce the high number of cases of one of the biggest health problems in Ecuador right now.

Earth day we launched a trash project that will hopefully get a trash collector to travel to my far away communites and keep people from throwing their trash in the river, which just makes me cringe. We are also making trash bins and placing them in key places in the communities while giving workshops on how to seperate trash and make compost piles.

In my English class, we made flower candle holders out of old plastic bottles and painted the other half of the bottle to make planters.

Although Ecuadorians carbon footprint is significantly less than most Americas, this GREEN campaign will hopefully help community members to value their land and have VIVIENDAS SALUDABLES.

We are finally at the tail end of rainy season=super muddy, busses getting stuck, bugs, bugs and more BUGS....but on a more positive note, rainy season also means hikes to GORGEOUS waterfalls.

Delia and I at one of the many waterfalls in my site.

haha, and then I rode off into the hilltops

Celebrity Collage look alikes

This website seems to be a bit generous....but interesting none the less. :) whadaya think??

MyHeritage: Árbol genealógico - Genealogía - Celebridad - Collage - Morph

My town is drowning

We have had an incredible amount of rain lately. My town has begun to flood. It hasn't caused too serious of damage yet but come another big rain and I will have to canoe out of my house.

The boys next door decided to aprovechar and go fishing.

Making headlines.....

Last week, I traveled with Delia, BFF and counterpart from my site, to Guayaquil to a HIV/AIDS prevention conference coordinated by Peace Corps and Non-profit organization VIHDA. We spent 3 days learning about "Cuanto Sabes," a 2 month long educational program that is designed to teach about HIV/AIDS in high school settings. Vihda does tremendous work, and we left the workshops feeling pumped and ready to replicate the program in our town.

On the last day, the U.S. Ambassador made a showing at our event and brought the press right along with her.After her big formal speech and taking hundreds of photos with the Ambassador for the papers, I was sought out to give an interview...the camera and bright lights shined in my face as I rambled on for a few minutes. My face turned all different shades of red until the Embassy staff finally cut the interview off....I was so thankful. I'm much more use to being on the other side of the camera, asking the questions and playing the reporter. :)

This is the article and photo that came out in EL UNIVERSO the following day.

Jovenes marcan el 50% de nuevos casos de SIDA

La embajadora de EE.UU., Heather Hodeges, visito a voluntarios de la mision Cuerpo de Paz, que ayer recibian un taller sobre VIH.

La problematica de la expansion del virus del VIH/SIDA reunio ayer a unos 50 voluntarios de la mision estadounidense Cuerpo de Paz en un taller sobre consejeria y medidas de prevencion contra el mal, con el fin de replicar la ensenaza en communidades ecuatorianas donde realizan labor social.

La capacitacion estuvo a cargo de la fundacion Vihda, que trabaja en este campo, y se desarrollo en el Grand Hotel Guayaquil. Alli fue invitada la embajadora de EE.UU., Heather Hodges, quien resalto el trabajo de los jovenes estadounidenses en el desarrollo de programas relacionados al nucleo familiar, salud communitaria, juventud y agricultura sustentable.

Hodges indico que en los acutales momentos el 50% de nuevos casos de SIDA en Ecuador corresponde a jovenes.

Anuncio que en junio proximo llegaran al pais quince voluntarios del Cuerpo de Paz para trabajar en un plan de insercion de infectados con VIH en la sociedad. Se centrara en las provincias de Guayas y Santa Elena.

Los voluntarios extranjeros laboran durante dos anos en el pais en asociacion con dirigentes de las comunidades. La norteamericana Andrea Martinez, por ejemplo, ejecuta un plan disenado para jovenes en Alausi (Chimborazo). "Hay que identificar sus intereses para de ese modo llegar a ellos," senalo.

La capacitacion tambien la recibieron voluntarios ecuatorianos que colaboran con el Cuerpo de Paz y la fundacion Vihda, como Paola Llamuca, de esta ultima entidad, de 16 anos, y con experiencia en talleres de orientacion juvenil.

-El Universo

*****Gives you a chance to practice your Spanish :)

surrounded by eggs

Sharing some of the American Easter traditions with my English classesDying eggs...proven to be a little more difficult when your eggs are brown.

Egg toss and later an egg hunt...I was eating hard boiled eggs for almost every meal for a week. Deviled eggs were hit! Teacher Delia and Teacher Talia

Happy (late) Easter!