TravelStream™ news feed for member jeanja on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jeanja en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:33:18 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1158280080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1158280080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1158280080/tpod.html Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:33:18 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Around Ecuador, Ecuador

Peace Corps Goal #2:
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1157934240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1157934240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1157934240/tpod.html Sun, 10 Sep 2006 23:03:09 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador

In the states hard workers are commercial fisherman, carpenters, slave laborers... here, hard workers are old men with machetes and Parkinsons disease. We were riding and the man who monkey's around on the ranchero(a covered flat bed truck with wood benches to sit on) to get paid reached out his hand for the old mans's pasaje... The old man took out his trembling hand with a smile and shook the monkey's hand with a slight smile. The monkey shook his head no. The man who is undoubtedly subsisting on the jungle food he chopped down with that machete in his dirt-stained white nylon bag at his feet reached in and paid the man ten cents. I will never forget this after I finished my uncomfortable comments in my notepad on the bumpy ranchero just minutes before he got on beside me; I scrapped those five pages as I realized I don't know uncomfort. I still don't know anything. I have included pictures of this man and of other people who know much more than myself in this photo log.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1156345740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1156345740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1156345740/tpod.html Wed, 06 Sep 2006 12:37:11 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Bahía de Caráquez, Ecuador

I am in a chipper mood today as I had my first non-official sick day where instead of not doing anything for no real reason other than that I am a Peace Corps Volunteer and tend to not do much for much of my time but also because my body decided to take on it's first legitimate non-food-poisoning sickness here in Ecuador, known where English is primarily read as the common-cold.Early in the morning I didn't think much of the head-ache and overwhelming chilliness that I felt as I finished my morning hand-bucket bath (where, as the name implies I pour water over my head from a little yellow Tupperware in which I put it into a larger 10 gallon bucket in which water is strenuously hauled in from the street which causes a huge flood across my living room and through my house and into this could-be-larger-and-auto-fillable-aqua-colored-just-for-ten-gallons-bucket) after this morning basketball game with a bunch of teenagers who enjoy showing me how old I am getting as they run past me, dunk over my head and hurt this quickly aging 24 year-old. [I love run-on sentences, just ask my college professor with whom tried to correct my fabulous run-on sentences, in many cases couldn't, and thus gave me an "A" for the course.]So on my way out of the door (remember the head-ache and chilliness part above) I decided to put on a fleece to help my body fight the cool Ecuadorian winter weather of 78 degrees. Usually, my defiant Alaskan blood maintains well-defined sweat lines around my arm-pits and down the back-side of my shirt and I was prepared to make this day no different with the all-insulating technology of North Face that I pulled out from box of stuff that I never need to wear under my bed. On my way to use email I stopped at the busy office of Doctor Pepe Intriago to say "hi" to Maria Elisa where she has a real job as a secretarinurse. She does a great job at greeting sick people as they enter the door all day, answers the phone, documents stuff in the computer, takes blood pressure and temperature, copies papers, does random errands, and recently as yesterday diagnosing a patient herself and caring for him when the doctor was gone (they have less laws here). Immediately, as I entered the office she could tell something was wrong with my appearance. I am not sure how she could tell but like I said, she is great at what she does. I sit here and ponder if it was the redness in the face or the inarticulate sounds of my already bad Spanish that was coming out of my mout. Perhaps, it may have been the Japanese sick-eyes that genetics pull out when I am less alert; however, what I really think may have sent the red-flag was the never-before-seen North Face fleece that can put on an additional 30 pounds to the untrained warm-weathered eyes of a Manabian Senorita as I entered the office.Before I knew it I was lying on my back with a thermometer in my mouth and a blood pressure thingy on my arm. I enjoyed all of this attention and was prepared to relax and try to talk awaiting the arrival of the real patients until she freaked out and said that my fever was way to high (what is 39 degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit). I still don't know but apparently that was all it took to be given even more attention, as only the Latinas know how. Before I knew it I was swallowing pills and drinking fizzly stuff; all of it semi-normal until the rubbing alcohol came. Yes, rubbing alcohol. I must say that by the time the rubbing alcohol came there were real patients in the office and Maria Elisa was in the front doing stuff... but oohh boy, the rubbing alcohol indeed arrived. Before I knew it was being poured on my forehead with the help of a cotton swab and was being rubbed into each of the 2,432,089 pores with efficacy. I felt each one of those pores simultaneously and I may be the first person in history to be able to say so (or it makes this horrible experience better to think I am). It not only burned but it uh, it was flaming for a few long seconds. In the states and even after my first year abroad I attribute rubbing alcohol to things such as cuts and open-stuff you should disinfect... here they attribute it to cooling off your fever. I suspiciously asked her later how the rubbing alcohol remedies the cold and she said it is supposed to "cool things off". I think she may have been talking about my bad-jokes and my salsa-dancing ego, not my cold. I will respect all of that but will respectfully request a Peace Corps helicopter for my next 39 C degree fever; that or staying home alone in my own North Face fleece.After a full lunch and a nap I felt good enough to teach my English class... so I was preparing to leave the house when the mother, Ana Julia called (future immigrants whose father works in Florida) called in a sick day and therefore went my one hour of work for the day. Buu-hummm... just another day in the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1156282860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1156282860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1156282860/tpod.html Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:58:15 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Bahía de Caráquez, Ecuador

I had a great birthday. Going away at 11 a.m. to Canoa to pick up a package from a fellow volunteer was enough reason to spend the day there and relax, for it was my birthday and I felt fully justified to buy myself a beer for an early seafood lunch. My 2-hour beach-nap that ensued on that satiated stomach felt like a 5-day siesta. All of my worries and anxieties about how I will treat my last year and what projects I will conclude with seemed to seep through the sand into the ocean through the sweat that was running off my tanning body. It was a beautiful start to a memorable 24 hours.The rest of the day I was either finishing Ernersto Guevara's "The Motorcycle Diaries", watching the 30 aspiring surfers do their thing against the back drop of huge pacific cliffs, playing with Vaquita or cooling off in the ocean. There was a quick singing competition of five "beach-kids" who take a couple shells and sing their songs with their best tone while using the beat of the clattering of these shells for "gringo" beach goers in hopes of a nickel, or a quarter if they are really good. As usual I make it hard on these kids and try to talk with them. Most of the time they move on and play their odds like a good salesman for the less-talkative, more-annoyed tourists who will throw dinero at them, but for those who allow me to practice my Spanish or entertain me with their insights, I like to reward them with a little extra. So this time since there were so many kids attacking me for change, I told them that a quarter would go to the singer who I thought had the best voice. Only three ended up singing, I gave my quarter to the first singer and immediately he passed it on to the kid who I thought needs a few voice lessons from my brother's $50 voice teacher in Alaska; perhaps it was the kids birthday like mine and the stars were aligned for him on this day.While doing such activities, I ran into a few friends from Bahía and they found the site of me in this surfers town a little awkward as I admittedly don't take as much time away from Bahía, even for a short 30 minute excursion to this half-paradise as much as I am beginning to think I should. I told them it was my cumpleaños before I could bite my tongue; off we went to happy hour for a couple hours of conversation at Ecuador's famous Bamboo Bar with an older couple from Italy, a brother and sister from France, a lady from Germany, and my amigos Marcello and Ricardo from Bahía about everything from the unique species of the head-piercing mosquitoes, to astrologic signs, and the history/evolution of modern language from what started from Rome's Latin... I still have much to learn but they encouraged me that English to Spanish is the hardest and that French, Italian, or Portuguese can be learned in weeks after a solid foundation of Spanish is earned. That is where I want to be.During this time the older Italian man quipped "so you have the other birthday?" I immediately asked him, "Does someone else at this table have a birthday" and he replied with a typical Italian grin and accent, "No, but everyday there are other's".At 7:00 p.m. after the uneventful sunset but beautiful cool breeze that seem to swap out, one for the other during the two seasons in the Mumbai Province, I then hitched a ride with my friend Ricardito, or Little Richard, and his niece. It was a quiet ride without the busted speakers blaring reggaeton or Shakira, or the words "Rompe", "Papi", etc. over and over again. Ricardo had an interesting mix of Latin folk music maybe. I never heard anything like it in Spanish but it reminded a bit of Ben Harper's slow lyrics and calm beat; it immediately allowed for a quiet return to San Vicente and a relaxing contemplative boat ride across the bay to the lighted skyline of Bahía de Caráquez. It gave me time to really think about this last year; from the beautifully difficult times in the Amazon to the more organized life I have now. That contemplative spirit ended quickly as got off the boat in Bahía. María Elisa had a surprise party for me. I was going to have something this Friday but apparently she pulled a quick one on me and a small group of people were at my decorated apartment to celebrate my night with chicken, rice, pasta, and cake; all of which is customary with the Ecuadorian soft drink, Inca Cola, (it has about 6 times as much sugar as Pepsi and Coke combined) to wash it down. We enjoyed a little salsa dancing to mix things up a bit. It was all very pleasant until she customarily attempted to push my face into the half eaten cake. She succeeded. However I eventually succeeded in spreading the white and orange icing off my face to where I felt it really belonged, on hers and her black Manabían hair.And so this morning ran up on me a little quickly after the late night. I had an "early" wake up call for a meeting at 9:30 to work on a website. As I was leaving the library at eleven o'clock, fumbling around my indigenous-handmade, sturdy and dependable, my favorite and very manly handbag (that is necessary to safely handle my agenda, phone, and things everywhere I go), I felt the abundant of sand solidifying at the bottom. I immediately smiled with the memory of an unforgettable birthday that ended just a few hours earlier. As I was walking through the abundant of elated thoughts of yesterday, I very quickly, almost naturally turned over my bag to try to empty the foreign contents out of my bag with one hand holding my precious items inside before I decided that I would deal with the issue later. I continued on my way.I went to the post office a block from the library on the same side of the street. I enthusiastically saluted the always-friendly desk attendant and picked up my bi-weekly packet of Newsweek's and other mailings from the headquarters. On my way out, a boy runs up to me, "Senor, Senor, esto es suya?" It was my billfold with 18 dollars in it, more importantly for me, containing with a few bankcards that would be unusable for the kid but would have made for a huge annoyance to get replaced for me. I was dumbfounded. It dawned on me in all of the great memories of philanthropic actions and conversations by beautiful people from many corners of this world in which I was able to enjoy on my 24th birthday, perhaps the greatest gift continued onto the 22nd day of August when a breathless 15 year-old named Jorge, who could have taken that huge wad of cash, just big change to me (I am a volunteer); but he returned it with vigor and more character then perhaps I would have done as a spoiled 15-year old in Alaska... if you could have seen his shoes. I stood in my spot for a couple minutes seemingly, caught back up to him and took him to eat some encobollado (onion-fish soup wouldn't do justice) and a coke. Jorge said he found it lying on the sidewalk and he could tell the ID-less billfold was mine by some form of Ecuadorian-Gringo inference... or angelic grace.Happy Birthday Jeff
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1155744780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1155744780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1155744780/tpod.html Wed, 16 Aug 2006 12:15:42 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Los Bancos, United States

I just had to post this email as it is just too funny, and too true not to post in such a travelblog.... this is from Eddie Anderson, a volunteer who just closed his service from the Peace Corps in Ecuador. Familia y amigos -I intended to send out a mass email the week after arriving home, but I'vebeen living a life of comfort-induced decadence for the past three weeks and I couldn't seem to bring myself to write.I thought I'd answer some general questions that people have asked me in thepast three weeks.- Do I in any way feel sorry for Ecuadorians? Hell no. If Americans really knew how Ecuadorians lived, they'd feel sorry for themselves. Americansreally have no reason to complain about their living conditions and yet, asa whole, they are such an unhappy people. Desgraciados!- Is the Peace Corps doing good work? I never quite know what people meanwhen they ask me this question. Yes, the Peace Corps does "good" work, butif we truly cared about helping other people as a country there are much more effective national policies that could be pursued. I guess you couldalmost say the Peace Corps is something of a front.- Best part of past two and a half years? Drinking with my Ecuadorianfriends in Los Bancos. That and going out to the Galapagos islands which, if you have the money, is amazing. There is no way I can even come close todescribing such an experience. Words and pictures can't do it. The closestthing to a religious experience that most people will ever have. So quit what you're doing and book a flight down there, the sooner the better asEcuador owns the islands after all. Somewhat miraculous that the islandseven exist in their present state once you consider the corruption and incompetence of the Ecuadorian "government".- Worst part of past two and a half years? Leaving Ecuador and my amigos.- The biggest differences? The cities here are so clean, everyone driveseverywhere, there are no bars on the windows, no one is mestizo, I haven'theard a single car alarm go off (!!!), my bed is so comfortable, everyonehas a yard, American society is much more impersonal, chuchamadre no one understands Spanish, I now eat rice about once a week instead of everyday,no reggaeton blasting in the streets, no corner tiendas, no street food,everyone has the airconditioning cranked to Arctic temperatures, I have yet to see an attractive woman, there are no random assault-rifle wieldingguards, guinea pigs are pets and not tasty food, the sidewalks aren'tclogged with people, there are no buses, hissing at people is notappropriate, it is so quiet here, black people are not from Esmeraldas, no free-range mangy dogs, no garbage in the streets, I have not crapped mypants, the fruit here is so bland and boring, and I have not seen a singledrunk person passed out on the sidewalk.But the most noticeable difference to me is the sheer number and variety of choices available here. I realized this when I went into a gas station tolook for some Reece's Peanut Butter cups. First off, there were not justpeanut butter cups. I had to choose between white chocolate peanut butter cups, the Big Cup peanut butter cup, peanut butter cups with caramel, orjust the classic peanut butter cup. Additionally, all of these flavors camein multiple sizes. So many choices that I forgot just what the heck a peanut butter cup was in the first place. I decided to get a Butterfinger instead.Hmm, the regular or the "crisp" butterfinger? What the hell? Maybe aSnickers. With peanuts or almonds? Enough! A Milky Way! But the regular or the midnight flavor? There were so many choices I couldn't decide, and Iwalked out empty handed.And the food is so good and full of flavor, which is almost a bad thing. Onthe way home from Minneapolis we stopped at a Dairy Queen so I could indulge in a blizzard milkshake. I counted over twenty different flavors on theblizzard menu. Twenty! Luckily I had prepared myself for such overwhelmingchoices (this was after the gas station), and I quickly ordered a chocolate chip cookie dough blizzard. The first bite was amazing, as well as thesecond. By the tenth spoonful it was still good, but somewhere around thefifteenth or twentieth bite I'd had enough. Unfortunately, I still had half of the cup filled with ice cream, and I was in a car over two hours from ourfreezer. No one wanted to eat my blizzard and my mom told me I could NOTthrow it out the window like everyone does with their trash in Ecuador (for the record I never did that in Ecuador). So I resolved to eat the rest ofthe blizzard. Spoonful after agonizing spoonful. By the time I had finished,I wanted to throw up, crap my pants, take a shower, and brush my teeth all at the same time.So now on to everyone's big question: how does it feel to be back in theUSA? Eh. It's great to see my family and friends. I just wish they lived ina different country.Paz y amor, Eddie
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1150926660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1150926660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1150926660/tpod.html Mon, 17 Jul 2006 13:22:23 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Houston, Texas, United States

So I never would have thought that I would be experiencing a little bit of Ecuador in Houston, Texas. Everyone who was supposed to fly into Guayaquil tonight has been put into a hotel on Continental Airlines tab. We all really don't know why. The few representatives say that it is because of the volcanic eruptions have caused the Guayaquil airport to close; however, the word is going around that there are other planes flying in just fine into that airport... strange. While we were going through the process of hearing about the news from the attendant over the loud speakers, some culture differences arose during the process of being informed that our plans must be moved back a full day and a half, blurring the borders and making me feel a little confused as to what country I really stood in. For example, customarily in Ecuador when a "line" of 200 people would be formed to pick up a refund voucher for food and hotel (as what happened at the airport), really what happens as did today is a big mosh pit of people trying to grab that voucher. Or, when the representative shared the bad news, I swear I heard a few hardy stadium boos and loud complaints, kinda like the ones I receive during my banking workshops with the ladies. ;-) When I was in the bus heading to the hotel with those Ecuadorian speakers, I was in the bus with all Spanish speakers!!! for the first time in the U.S. - really quite strange first-time for this side of the equator.This has caused me to write a quick-list of differences between the two with my spare time in the middle of the night here with the last few hours of free computer time for the next year or so...1) Soiled toilet paper in the north does not go in the trash can by the toilet as in the south.2) $5 Starbucks = 3 course seafood lunch, 1 hour of internet, a coca cola, 30 minute bus ride to Canoa, 4 happy-hour drinks, and a night sleeping under the stars on the beach in my tent.3) 1 car lane = 2 lanes in Ecuador4) Most taxi driver's in Alaska don't' have opened six packs of beers in their cars while asking if you want a ride.5) My 2 minute, 1 gallon ecua-bucket baths in which gets my skin cool make me just as clean as my 10 minute warm showers that get my blood flowing from the Alaska's coolness.6) In Alaska there are these boxes that fill up with water... You can seemingly add whatever you would like, whether it is clothes or dirty dishes, and after a few minutes you can take them out and whooppeee, they are clean and dry... So much for doing things by hand.7) The same Coca Cola that sells for 50 cents goes for $1.50 in Alaska.8) The hills and mountains of Alaska have untouched beautiful forests, not the beautiful farms with hundreds of years of subsistence history.9) The sun will always rise and set at 6:30 in Ecuador. In Alaska the sun can stay and leave for days on end.10) As big as the draw was to come back home and visit, re-charge myself, and share some stories, to leave and continue this lesson is an enduring mixture of humble frusteration and appreciation of how fortunate I am to have these escapes: this balance of opportunity in America and the experiential learning in an entirely different part of the world.11) In the United States, ignorance on how the majority lives in the world is bliss; in the World, ignorance on how the majority live in the United States doesn't exist.Enjoy the photos.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1151573220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1151573220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1151573220/tpod.html Thu, 29 Jun 2006 06:09:14 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Kenai, Alaska, United States

Living abroad is messing with me. It is really messing with me. I thought after 15 days home I may be able to relax a little and get back in the swing of things but I still find myself paralyzed. Admittedly it is hard from me to think about how to show a girl who I love, how I live. Will she understand all of the excess in our lives. The extravagant houses. The nice roads. The pleasantries of toilet-paper flushing toilets. The T.V.'s in all corners of the extravagant houses. The tile floors. Computers. Machines that wash things... And people who are numb to all of these so-called fortunes.Yet, I want to go back where there is none of that. My life is more fulfilling there. It is simpler. I have time to read without distractions. I have my life, my schedule, my own peace. Here in the states, most of us can find a job if we choose not to be picky. They can't. We have the tv's, new cars, new computers, stuff. There they have a few prized possessions... and they tend not to take them for granted a few weeks later. Here I have few friends who I love but hate to describe the differences. It is something that is just really to hard to talk about. I break down so easy. I am so fortunate and it aggravates me. There, many live with their neighbors, taking them as family, and not affraid to share their human side.I then try to relax with a book on my couch, but find the phone that goes off every few minutes just impossible to maneuver around. I could go on the beach just off the bluff and relax, but it just isn't the same. It is cold. It is lonely. It is less home for me on this visit to the Kenai Peninsula. So I turn on the T.V. I go to stations that I could have just vegged on for hours before I left, that alone is a sad-memory. MTV has The Hills which showcases the worst of what US promotes. We have Sweet 16 birthday where people dish out 300,000 bucks for a 16th birthday. How happier are those girls who get a BMW, throw a fashion show in light of themselves, than the Quintereros (customary 15 year old parties) where family and friends pass around Orange Soda, share a slice of cake if the father found a few hours of work this week, and dance amongst themselves... how happier are we with the big houses, nice cars, high-stress jobs, life-less lives where we are scared of the neighbors next door, or annoyed at the non-functioning appliances.I considered myself a sports guy before I left. Now I go to those stations, I log onto ESPN.com in my excess of time here in my old home... And it is just like, whatever. I can't make it sound more profound. It is all really whatever. I remember the sights of the bambu houses, houses of my friends; I remember the groups of ladies who meet to save, try to save, 50 cents weekly for their childs highschool education, they are my friends; I remember the bone and flesh eating infection of a child's leg due to insufficent funds for something you get in a small tube at your next door pharmacy, a simple antibiotic.Mick, a top manager at a Safeway Store asked me a few nights ago who is truly happier, us or them. I didn't know then and I don't think I will know after another year, but I just wish that we could all find a little more happiness in understanding how lucky the annoyances of our daily lives makes us.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1150775220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1150775220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1150775220/tpod.html Tue, 20 Jun 2006 03:42:51 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Kenai, Alaska, United States

It has been a while since I have last updated my travels... I have despised the bad combination of expensive cafe-nets, slow connection. I thought that now I am home for 30 days I would upload some new and old videos, along with a bunch of pictures to showcase my "work" as a Peace Corps volunteer. Don't get mad at me tax-payers, call your representative.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1147979820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1147979820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1147979820/tpod.html Thu, 18 May 2006 15:32:14 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Mt. Everest, Ecuador

I just think this is a pretty sweet picture of the boyfriend of my Boss who is representing PC-Ecuador on Mt. Everest. Check out the photo! Dear PCVs, I wanted to share with you the amazing news about Edison Oña on Mt.Everest! He made it to 8,300 meters (500 mts from the summit) without supplemental oxygen! He felt strong yet there were complications on the mountain (as usual) and he made the wise decision to turn around. Attached is a picture of Edison and a Peace Corps Ecuador flag, he was proud to represent PC/Ecuador and all the amazing work you are doing for his country!!! Saludos,DanaDirector of Youth and FamiliesPeace Corps. Ecuador
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1145232300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1145232300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jeanja/pc_ecuador/1145232300/tpod.html Tue, 18 Apr 2006 11:30:48 -0400 To Ecuador and beyond...

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Monpiche - North Coast, Ecuador

So I decided to take a vacation Bahía de Caraquez and my business project and community banking meetings and meet up with a seven other volunteers for the Easter Weekend at Monpiche, a beach town known for their beautiful beaches and quiet waters surrounded by a cool cove. Thursday I took off at six in the morning with a weekend pack lugging my tent and sleeping bag along with my shirts and shorts that I didn´t end up wearing because I never changed out of my swimming trunks! My dog Vaquita was also following along and my six foot surf board was also wearing on my nerves as I stook out like a sore thumb to the ecuadorians after switching buses, once in the poorest town in Ecuador of Chamanga. After nearly 7 hours of traveling north, I arrived at Monpiche.I spent a total of three days there and each was filled with reading, floating on my surfboard (not quite surfing yet), sun bathing, napping, eating sandy-burned hotdogs around bonfires, laying in the hammocks, a few cervezas, fraternizing with seven other volunteers from group 94 and my own thoughts. Friday we took off to Playa Negra for the afternoon, where the black sandy beach is only accessible during the low tide, but where you can leave the small crowds of Monpiche for your own part of the Pacific Ocean. I was finally able to get into my new book ¨Endurance¨, a gift from someone who sent it to me a about 5 months ago. I just received it.Yesterday we went off to an Island which has been voted as having the most beautiful beach in Ecuador by Peace Corps Volunteers... We played a thrilling game of four-on-four American rules football. We lost 2 to 1. I feel as though time really will start to fly and after meeting up with 7 other volunteers it seems as though we are all a lot more confident on what lies ahead... 16 months and stuff...
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