An update that is looooonnngggg overdue!

This is long over due!! I must apologize for my lack of updates but I've been fairly busy and lazy out here in the jungle and a lot of crazy/hilarious things have happened to me since my arrival here most of which I can't write about on this blog but if you really really want to hear some ridiculous stories come visit me; we'll drink a beer and I'll regale you with my adventures....
So where to begin?....Where did I leave off?...Well as of now I'm just trying to stay busy and trying to figure out what sort of work I can do here in my community. So far I've accomplished a few things. I started three gardens (small vegetable gardens) in my community. One and a half of which has failed miserably due to too much rain and not enough sunshine (fungus has killed my tomatoes) but the biggest and, in my opinion, most important garden at the women's association is doing really well. I've got over 20 tomato plants (red and yellow), cucumber plants, watermelon, and chili pepper plants (which are sooo pretty by the way!)...I'm trying to look at this as a learning experience, I have absolutely no experience growing things out here in this type of climate so most everything is an experiement but so far I'm really excited with the results. My hope is that I can begin a seed bank with the women's association so they can continue the garden if they so desire. I'm trying to stay open minded and neutral to this idea, I'm not sure if it's something they would be interested in.

One of my gardens in the Rukullacta Vivero

One of the other gardens at the Women's Association

Teresa, my host mom, is on the far right with some of the other women from the Association; cleaning this area for the garden

With Runa I've been working with their interns doing community development assessments in the communities affiliated with Runa. I helped, by helped I mean gave my opinion, develop an interview format; went out to communities to conduct interviews with presidents and community members; data collection, and collaborate ideas for future projects with the communities we are working with. It's been an interesting experience and we had some really awesome days and some really horrible days I feel like we can make some real strides with the information that we collected it's just a matter of accepting that it's going to be a slow process unlike in the States when things get finished right away, here it's more like..."ya mismo"....or I'll get to it. My hope here is to continue this work with Cassandra, the intern coordinator, after the first round of interns leave. I also hope to work on agroforestry development/projects at the Runa factory when they start to construct the tree nursery there.
Future goals in my community: Well I've been doing my encuestas (interviews) within the community and I've learned some interesting things so far and gotten a few good ideas for projects. The encuestas have been exhausting mentally in some ways. It's really difficult to listen to people here talk about how poor they are, the health problems they have, how badly they need help, etc. I feel so horribly guilty some days and I just don't know what to say in most cases. I want so badly to just run around the community like Santa Clause with a huge bag of food and money for everyone. But that's not sustainable and I don't have those kind of resources. Like they say "give a man a fish and he can eat for a day, teach a man how to fish and he can eat for the rest of his life"...or something like that. I have had this idea about using this abandoned field near my house to start a garden and/or chicken farm for the youth in my community and within that add charlas about whatever topics parents think their children should learn about. It would be AMAZING if I could get that working but there is an issue with the land. It's owned by the commuity (plus) but many people in the community don't want to share or let others use it (minus)...I could just be running my head into a brick wall with this. I suppose we will see. I'll keep you updated....Maybe.... :)
I got a puppy!!! I've had him for about a month now. He is an absolute terror! Yet I can't help but love him all the same. I have a feeling I jinxed him with his name. I call him "Supay Oso" which means "devil bear"! Supay means 'devil' in Kichwa and oso means 'bear' in spanish. He really lives up to his name. He's constantly getting into things and chewing things and pooping/peeing everywhere! Its all part of puppy parenthood right?? He's been a great help to my integration though...now when I see people they are like "hey!...where's Supay?"....They greet the dog before they greet me....Oh well.....Anyway heres a photo of my little devil....

Don't let the face fool you...He's a monster.... :)

Love the head cocking....

I got a house and I'm moving in two weeks! Pictures to follow when they finish constructing the bathroom, shower, and lavadora (clothes washing area). It's ballin! It's two rooms with an open area for my 'livingroom/hammock area' It over looks the soccer fields so I can watch the kids play in the evenings and its an awesome view of the mountains...I really lucked out...there's not too much to choose from here in terms of housing. I'm so excited to have my own space and privacy. I love my family here, they are absolutely amazing but it's vacation time right now and that means EVERYONE is home...that's 10 people in the house and that does not include cousins that come to visit frequently....Plus I can't stand the constant rap music coming from Wilfridos room....among so many other things...Privacy does not exsist here. I literally have someone watching me at all times and relaying to everyone else just what I'm doing. It's not personal it's just how it is here and I'm a source of gossip and interest here in my family and the commuity....Now I know how Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie feel...I don't envy them.