Some older pics and newer stories

July 20th, 2010

This morning we finished up the bus ride to Cuenca around 730am in a city none of us knew. So we just wondered around for awhile in search of Banco Guayaquil. We all needed to withdrawal cash for the week and since the PC banks with them, we do not get surcharged. After asking 6 different people, getting different answers each time, we finally arrived.
Then it was time to part ways and go to our sites. Curlee simply hopped in a cab and gave an address, her site is in Cuenca. Clint and I went to a tourism center to inquire on where to find the buses to head to Paute and Baños, respectively. The lady behind the counter was very helpful and showed us where to go on the map. And with that Clint and I parted ways and headed to our stops.
The bus ride to the center of Baños took about 25 minutes. There was lots of enjoyable scenery and some surprisingly nice houses, not quite what I was expecting. The bus headed out of town and then came to a big hill and the driver dropped down into a lower gear to make it up. I saw the big blue church come into view and figured that is probably the best place to get off.
When I got I off I noticed the incredible view the church has of Cuenca (I will post some pictures soon). I called Isabel, my new host mom, and she told me to wait at the church for her. The mid day sun was starting to come out and it was hot, not like Philly, it’s a dry heat here. After a few minutes she arrived and walked me back to the house. Isabel speaks a mile minute, I feel like I am missing a lot of valuable information when she speaks.
When we approach the house on the dirt road, I am very surprised how nice it looks, and then we got inside. Inside was spacious and nice. Upstairs we went until the last floor, the third, my floor. My room is spacious and has windows that look outside! It gets even better. I have my own bathroom, with a hot shower and the tap water is potable! Wait there is more, I find out later in the day that the house has wireless internet. I landed the Posh Corps. Copy and paste the link below to see what is next door to our house and where one of the sons works.

http://www.piedradeagua.com.ec/esp.html
My room!

This is less of the “survival” Peace Corps. So hopefully I can spend more time on helping the community rather than building new latrines and running from dangerous animals.
After a dinner which consisted of rice and beans, I was invited to attend a bible class. Sure, probably a good way to learn more Spanish, culture and give myself a good reputation. My grandfather, after hearing this said “after all the good lord has done for [me], [I] should probably go to bible class three times a day.” He has a valid point; I will make an effort to go to it every week.

July 21, 2010

Wake up, ate breakfast alone. Then did some of the assigned work we had for the week. Example, locate important things in your community on a map that you draw. Afterwards, unsure on what to do, I decided to just hope on bus and ride it until it got back to Baños. The whole process took about two and half hours.
The first part of the trip is all downhill, and a very steep downhill. Did the driver drive carefully and slow? Nope, he drove that bus like a formula one race car down that hill. It was like being on roller coaster with no seatbelt or foam around the metal bars. Guess I could have skipped the coffee this morning. I think in another life I was a dog. Not for my love of peeing on trees, but because I love going for rides in cars and looking at the scenery. I started to recognized places as we zoomed around Cuenca and a few other barrios. The city has a very European feel to it.
For dinner I helped make empanadas. But not the kind you are probably thinking of. The innards of these were solely rice and bananas. After frying them, we coated them with sugar. Absolutely delicious, but they are definitely a cause of severe diabetes if you eat more than two of them. Which, I did.

Here are some pictures from when we found out our sites!
All of us waiting to find out our sites!

Our language teachers!