Future Plans

Alright people...everyone is a buzz right now. At least if you're Omnibus 102. It's April going on May and May means COS Conference.

What does COS stand for? Close of Service. That's right this adventure that started for me, what, September 2008, is coming to a close. For the Omnibus 102 we have our Close of Service conference in May and then our official COS date is August 19th! We have started getting emails about and we are all freaking out pretty much.

You have several options.

Early COS: We have an option of leaving our sites early if we feel we have completed our projects. The Early COS date we have been given is July 21st. That's just 3 months away! Freaking out. One must write a compelling letter to the Country Director explaining why they should be granted an Early COS. We find out if it's been granted I believe sometime in May.

COS: That is the August 19th date. You wrap up your service. You've served your 27 months and you go on about your way. Usually meaning going back to the States and finding a job or going to school for most. People who applied to go to Grad school are receiving their acceptance letters around this time. That means if you were planning on getting into school but having and you haven't been applying for jobs, then COSing and going back to the states can seem a bit scary. THAT and all the news we get is about how hard the job market is still. So, from what I hear a lot of us are considering two other options.

Extension of Service: This is where you can ask to stay for a longer amount of time. I think the shortest time you can request is 3 months and the most is 1 year. After talking to my boss and him telling me all the things I could do at the Orfanato if I stay another year I have become increasingly interested in this option. We have to submit our projected year work plan month by month in time for our COS conference in May, so that means I'll be working on that pretty much up until the deadline. I am trying to get my head right because am I really ready to stay Another year!?!?! I miss my fam, I miss what I consider "normal" but I'm also doing the work that I love. That's what people look for their whole lives and I'm doing it. I just don't want to be writing my work plan with a nervous energy. I have to be solid on my decision so that that comes through in anything I write. Which brings me to another option.

PCVL: This very clever acronym stands for Peace Corps Volunteer Leader. Every since I had great experiences with my PCVL in Guayaquil I always considered apply for the position when my time came. The PCVL supports the volunteers in the field and serves as a liaison between volunteers and the office staff in Quito. Before the PCVL position was regional, meaning there were several spread out through Ecuador ready to travel and assist the volunteers in anyway they could. Now the position is going to be out of Quito only. I really like the staff that are associated with my program and the staff member who is over the PCVLs so I'm still good living in Quito. However, it would be a Huge change from what I'm used to now. Living in Quito means big city again. Office PCVLs go to an Office everyday and that is not what volunteers are accustomed to. The PCVLs are going to be trusted with site development and program ideas and that just sounds groovy to me. So I'm still also interested in that position.

I'm also hearing there are several people in my group that are applying for normal jobs here in Ecuador! The point is WE LOVE IT HERE!! Groups before us were So eager to COS early and almost no one applied for the PCVL position. In contrast we are pretty much all asking for extensions or applying for PCVL or looking for work in Ecuador. I think that's great, that shows how happy we are with our current situations. It also means that our sites are being well served with happy content and passionate volunteers and who ever gets chosen for PCVL will be a great asset to the newer volunteers in the field as Peace Corps will have a great lot to choose the very best for the job. I'm super eager to see my compeneros at the COS conference and I'm way stoked to see where we all end up!

The end is near...or is it just the beginning...stay tuned!

Viva Semana Santa!

My first up to date post in forever. I don't know if it will be content rich and I'm going to have to postpone the post until I get some pics to go with it, but I'm writing this Easter Sunday!

That means this day concludes Semana Santa. Semana Santa (Holy Week) for me meant the kids were out of school and in Esmeraldas which means no work for me. Just as well because I got word that some friends that I met at Carnaval are planning on coming to hang out in Sua and Atacames and my attendance was mandatory.

Super!

Indeed it was. Fiestas started Thursday I believe. We hung out at night at some of the tiki huts that line the beach. I don't usually do that because I liver here and I rather be in bed, but it was a GREAT time. We actually did that two nights in a row. We played cards, shared stories, had cocktails and even started some salsa dance offs. Those girls may have turned Sua out. Now the people that were nameless permanent fixtures at those tiki's are now my friends that wave to me as I pass by on the bus. It seems like they are looking at me anxiously waiting for the next salsa off, but once the feriada is over I'm back to work and back on the grind.

The next two days we spend in Atacames. We laid on the beautiful beach aaaaalll day long. It was SO hot and sunny, making them the most perfect beach days ever. Again, I hang out in Sua because that's where I live. The Pacific Ocean is my front yard. When I think of Atacames, I think party beach, lots of people who needs it. Well, it is all of those things, but a) when you're hosting it's a great place to take people b) sometimes it's fun being around all of those people and music c) The beach is FABULOUS Blue waters, fun waves and a huge sprawling beach front. I still love my little Sua beach, from time to time Atacames is definitely in a class of it's own.

I went home to change for the night scene the first night and the second night I just stayed in my beach clothes and tried to make an outfit out of my headband and take top. Both nights SOOO much fun. Hard to describe what made it so fun.

Caipirinhas (4x$5 habla serio).
mas salsa!! (have I mentioned how much I MISS salsa dancing? I so got it in this weekend).
Belly laughs.
Lots of pictures.
New friends.

New found love/appreciation for where I live.
International family bond increased and strengthened.
Dancing on the Beach.
Barefeet&Souls.
Tiki Mansions.
Fried Shrimp.
Cerviche.
Spades.
Sunsets.
Amor.
Amistad.
Semana Santa.Atacames.

Do it!


If you find yourself in Ecuador Holy Week, the week before Easter, Get thee to Esmeraldas quick! Go straight to Atacames and have the time of your life.

Optional Packing List:
Shoes
After 5 wear
Lots of Money
Shampoo (it's no use the sand in your hair will never come out)

Must haves:
Deck of Cards
Huge Appetite
Swimsuit (or several)
Sunscreen
Sueltos (change) for all the cheap caipirinhas
In the Mood for a Fun time
Salsa riddim in ya heels!

I really appreciate the girls coming here and giving me a new found appreciation for living in Sua and near Atacames. Don't get me wrong I am beat down tired and have a big week next with at the Orfanto but it's always great to "get away" and it feels really good when that get away is 20 minutes down the street!

Loving Life! Until next time...

Que Bonita es Carnaval! *graphic photo warning*

I knew I should have written about my Carnaval experience way sooner, but the recovery time is like a week and then life happened, so here I am writing about it now.

Carnaval was SO much fun. We went to the Capital of Carnaval in Ecuador which is Guaranda. It was my second time there and I had breezed through once before.

Guaranda is a quaint Sierrian city with great weather (well if you don't mind the cold), nice people and safe streets :)


We went to visit the volunteer that lives there and she certainly was the hostess with the mostess!

I can't remember the order of operations but I'll tell you in general how it went down.

I feel like we rolled up off the bus and immediately were out the door for the first desfile (parade). I had heard that Carnaval was about water, flour, eggs...wait...it sounds like I'm giving you all a recipe...ahaha...well this is how they celebrate. People were throwing ice cold water from the balconies or just running up to people with buckets and getting you at close range. Que Frio!! Eggs were cracked over the head (hey it's a good for your hair), wiping flour all over our faces, and most importantly the cans of spray foam! It was an all out love war :)

I guess there are no friends at Carnaval. Definitely the people I went with ended up being the people giving me face fulls of foam and directing anyone with a bucket of ice cold water to run in MY direction. The first day we went hard. Laughing, "playing" Carnaval and being introduced to the enemy of my life....Pajaro Azul!


Pajaro Azul, which means "Blue Bird" in English is the drink of Guaranda. It's a hard hitting clear colored blue hued caña drink. When we asked how it was made one lady told us that dissolved cow hooves are in it. Crazy. If you tried it you'd believe it. It has a black licorice flavor and is one big fiery punch to the gut every sip you take! You can buy a recycled water bottle full of this stuff for .75! That's how you KNOW it's the street drink! The people of Guaranda were loving it and were so proud of there Blue Bird. It's rude to pass it up so while I did a couple of the fake out, just put it to your lips and don't drink, sometimes people know and you just have to take it.

Whew, I went off on a tangent thinking about that stuff....

Anyway, full fiesta and parade and that night was more fiesta, more water even though now it was night and FREEZING but still pretty fun.


I believe it was the next day where we met up with even more volunteers from Peace Corps and made friends with the lovely people of World Teach! We were such a great blend of friends. We were calling our self World Peace Teach Corps, how cute, no?
Some of them were wise and wore full on rain coats! However, we later found that ponchos and rain coats only made you a target for the bucket! People were take off the hoods and pour the water right down there backs! I was having fun with the spray foam myself. I was nailing kids, the elderly, anyone who had one in their hand and looked at me too long was fair game. As you can see from the pics I was getting my fair share of foam and flour too!!




Another morning we got up bright and early after a day of super fiestas for the roasting of the Chancho. Chancho = Pig and Pig = a living creature that must be killed in order to make the all the Chancho treats. Being a soft core vegetarian I was quite woozy about the whole idea, but Chad was SO game to help and I'm ALWAYS down for a cultural experience.

The host fam of the volunteer we stayed with said that Chad could help kill the pig and he was stoked. Guess who got nominated to Film and take pics of the whole experience? You guessed it. I stood in the corner, held the camera covered my eyes and tried not to cry...too much as the big screamed and cried. I won't go into details and man it was hard even finding a pic that was not soooooooooooooooo graphic. I will say that the next pic is a dead animal if you're sensative.



Chad was a straight up surgeon though. He handled it wonderfully and after that the family was OBSESSED with him lol. It just goes to show you how far integration well get you. If you want to join the Peace Corps, but you're stuck on being a vegetarian and you like things this way and you only want to do things that way, that's fine, but you will miss out on an enriching experience being stuck in your ways. Sometimes it is really rewarding just diving in all the way and really experiencing the lives of other people. EYE personally wouldn't have been able to kill no pig though lol, but I'm glad that I was with someone that could and I got to still be apart of the celebration. Talk about romantic. Chad also scraped our names in the hide of the pig, to my horror and to the families delight. The teenage girl next to me longingly added "necesito un novio pronto" I guess she TOO would love a man that would carve her and his name in the charred skin of a recently slaughtered pig. I'm only lucky lady! (no seriously I am.)


Later we went back to the house and they had prepared the chancho 100 different ways. I pretty much stuck to eating the mote (boiled corn) but I did have a bit of some fritada (fried pig fat) but just cause it was Chad's conquest. As we ate an impromptu fiesta erupted in the kitchen. The abuelo of the family came in with a drum and we danced and sang..and oh yes the Pajaro Azul made it's rounds one again.

After that I believe was the concert, we partied in the cold but we still had fun. I had been thrown in a fountain earlier so I was soaked to the bone. When it was time to go we were more than ready. The volunteers from both Peace Corps and World Teach came streaming in all weekend into the week. I had to go back to work but the fiesta went well into the week. I have no idea how the volunteers that live there made it happen but they were oh so hospitable and great!


I would definitely suggest Guaranda for Canaval if you are going to be in Ecuador at the end of February/beginning of March. It's a jumping good time but also a cultural experience. The best of both worlds. Be ready to let go and dive deep into the moment. Bring a raincoat...maybe, don't get your hair done before you go and if you have some extra flour and eggs laying around, pack those too, cause at Carnaval those are no longer grocery items...they are ammo!

Hasta el proximo!!!

*Gracias DD for la su hospitalidad y los fotos!

Peru Part II - Activities Edition

The Highly Anticipated Activities Version of the Peru Trip :)
http://beautifulworldwonderfullpeople.blogspot.com/2011/04/peru-activities-blog.html

Peru- Part I Travel & Lodging

http://beautifulworldwonderfullpeople.blogspot.com/2011/04/peru-travellodging-edition.html

Check out the link to read a bit about my travel adventures in Peru!

updates to come...

Stay tuned for Carnival and Machu Picchu updates!!!