I hope everyone is doing well! I am certainly exhausted from a long weekend! I have lots to fill you all in on...and I tend to write way too much so feel free to skim!

Thursday
Thursday after classes in the morning, my teacher took me and two other students (one is another Rotary Scholar) to visit the home of Eduardo Kingman, one of the most famous artists of Ecuador who passed away in 1998. His home is located in the Valley of the Chillos, outside the city limits of Quito. He is known for his paintings about the suffering of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador in the hands of the Spaniards. Much of his art focuses on the use of color and the emphasis on hands...many paintings display the figure of a mother and child with little detail except on the oversized hands of the mother to emphasize the security of a child in his mothers arms. his art was beautiful (google his name to see examples), and his home....even more so! It is on the side of a cliff over looking a river and a rustic church in the distance. He won numerous prizes in the US, Ecuador, and throughout SA for his art. Today his home is a museum with an art school for children attached.

After visiting his home, we went to a nearby market in a town called San Guayil. It was so interesting...raw fish and chicken sitting in the hot sun all day....fresh fruit and vegetables....clothes (like jeans for $10) and a street where animals are sold. I almost died to see the puppies sitting in the hot sun without any water! There are tons of dogs here, and many people have them as pets...but they don't care for them the way we do...they are animals that hang out around your house, not really pets. I laughed at one cage though...it had a puppy, two small turtles, and two small chicks all in the same cage! how cute (or que lindo in Spanish). In a nearby cage, there were some huge rabbits and guinea pigs...but these were for sale to become dinner, not pets!

Friday, we spent the day in the school. After classes, we learned out to cook Encellobado (I hope I spelled that right)...a soup of fish, tomatoes, salt, onion, and potatoes, topped off with chifles (fried plantane) and conguil (pop corn). Our teachers said it is a very typical Ecuadorian dish...especially after a long night of drinking. however, it tasted extremely fishy..not something I would want to cure a hangover! They even refer to it as levanta los muertos (raise the dead)....no gracias!

Satuday, I spent the day travelling with another student, Alison. We hired a guide who picked us up bright and early to see a few sites outside of Quito. First we drove to Tabacunda...which was basically a ghost town around 9:30 am when we arrived. It was really interesting though....outside of Quito, it is still located high in the mountains. In this small town, you can really observe the mixture of indigenous and Christian culture and religion. The basic structure of the church there has been there for over 400 years. There is a baptismal fountain that dates back to the 1500s just a few meters away from the plaza del sol (sun) which reflects the indigenous peoples' worship of the sun. In the plaza, there is a pin that sticks up to mark the passing of the sun. On March 21, the first day of the new year for the indigenous people, the sun casts no shadow. Around the pin, there is a path in the shape of a circle that is laid with rocks. You remove your shoes and slowly walk the circle concentrating on where you feel pain. Then, on the wall there are two pictures of feet marked with numbers. The numbers correspond to a part of the body where you have pain or will have problems in the future. Alison and I both felt pain in our heals which corresponded to the ovaries...go figure! We had a guide at the church who also took us to his place of work...he cooks pigs and guinea pigs to sell. It was pretty gross...we walked in to a room whose walls were all stone. On the center table, there was a bucket of skinned yet uncooked guinea pigs next to a whole pig (luckily it had been cooked). Then we peered into his giant old fashioned oven (think brick oven pizza restaurant style oven). Inside, five more pigs were happily roasting away (this little piggy went to the market....)

After there, we went to Otovalo to do what women do best....shop. It is the largest indigenous market in South America. We practiced our regetear (bargaining) skills and purchased souvenirs and gifts for our families and friends...the market was full of food, jewlry, clothes, scarfs made from alpaca fur, and hand crafted knicknacks. THe women dress in traditional attire...long braids, frilly white shirts, long dark skirts, lots of necklaces, and either scarfs or panama hats to shade the sun. After this market, we went to a nearby town, Cotacachi, for lunch and to shop some more. This town is known for its leather goods...but I didn't buy anything. I can totally understand why leather is so popular though...during our three hour journey from Quito and between these locations, I saw about a million cows, often being paraded through town on a leash! There are also tons of pigs and sheep.

Finally, we arrived at the destination I was most looking for to...Laguna de Cuicocha...which is hands down one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. This lake was formed centuries ago when the existing volcanoe collapsed within itself. It continued to errupt and formed three dome-shaped islands in the center. If you pull up close to the islands, as we did in our boat tour, you can see little bubbles come up from the ground beneath the water as the volcanoe continues to be "active" today. The lake is nestled in the mountains over 2,000 feet high...behind it is the Volcano Cotocachi--the most obvious looking volcanoe I have seen yet. It stands tall with a rugged black top. the clouds around look like smoke. In the distance, the even more remarkable Volcano Cumbaya stands covered in snow. It was absolutely breath taking. The boat ride around the lake began in the nice warm sunshine and then passed into the shade where the temperature dropped dramatically.

Today, I traveled alone to Lumbisi to volunteer with FEVI, an organization that works in this rural, mostly indigenous town, to provide improve the literacy and education of children and to promote eco friendly farming techniques to adults. I took to buses to the main bus statino to wait for the bus that goes outside the city to outlying towns. After waiting 30 minutes, I asked about my bus. It doesn't run on Sundays...so I took a bus to a town called Cumbaya and waiting 10 more minutes for the bus to Lumbisi. I ended up a little lost (big surprise?!)because I was told FEVI was near the main church....but there were two. I got off on the stop in between the two and asked a nice couple who were walking home with their child for help. the man ended up walking with me to the first church, only to find out it was the wrong one, and then back to the second. finally I found FEVI! There, I met a group of 7 or 8 other volunteers, all of whom are members of a volunteer group of young professionals. We spent the day pulling up weeds and planting 19 trees in the hot sun! After, I went to lunch with my new friends in Cumbaya, where many wealthy people live (there is a nice mall and shopping center, lots of VW's, BMWs, and the like...). There restaurant was one of typical Ecaudorian fare...the small menu was mostly full of pork and sheep items (neither of which I eat...normally) so I orded a potato and cheese soup. Three of my new friends ordered a soup made from cooked sheep intestines and potatos, served with a side of onion, tomato, and fried sheeps blood. I actually was brave enough to try a bite of one of the girls's soup...I am happy to say I tried it, but I will never NEVER eat it again! the good news is, I found FEVI and made some new friends who are around my age (23-30) who have invited me to volunteer with them again next city at the main church in the center of the old city. I also plan on returning to FEVI soon and helping this group construct a library for the community. I am still awaiting the three boxes of books I shipped the day before I left...

now, I am back home relaxing a bit! I apologize that this email is so long, but hey--I warned you at the beginning. I am trying to put pictures up on facebook but it keeps freezing up! I will post some on my blog soon too! I miss you all!