This is hot, frustrating and tiring work, but I wouldn’t prefer it any other way. Monday morning finds our team heading out to El Poste, an indigenous Tsatchila community about an hour outside of Santo Domingo. As we arrive to our worksite we find ourselves once again facing some difficulties, but we’ve gotten used to things not being ideal so coming up with solutions to unusual dilemmas is now the norm. Of the three permanent structures in the area, one is being used as a school-room leaving us with a four walled structure for the examination rooms and an open aired [View Full Entry]

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Neither rain, nor sleet, nor mid-construction road-block will keep us from reaching our destination. We may not have been carrying mail, but our cargo of vitamins, medications and dental equipment were just as important to the communities we intended to reach. After breakfast, I broke from the group to take a more private walk through the city before we departed. Thinking ahead (or just being a morning person) I’d packed early and was afforded some extra time and was well rewarded for my foresight. Being a Sunday and Dia de Madre (Mothers Day) ensured that every beauty parlor and flower [View Full Entry]

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The fumes of disel fuel and cigarette smoke asault my senses and I walk through the terminal. The surrounding landscape is blotted out my the darkness of night, and illuminated only briefly as the lightening sillouettes the mountains against the sky. I am in Quito. It would be unfair to characterize a visit to Ecuador as a step back in time. Ecuador is a land of contrast and change. Old traditions coexist with imported vehicals and internet cafes. The high altitudes of the Andes fall down towards the sealevel of the coast. A land rife with continuous political upheavel and yet [View Full Entry]

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One of the great joys of travelling to new places is foregoing all the convenience and vices of internet, television, and telephone and exploring the unknown. One of the great barriers to boredom when relaxing in familiar places is doing without all those vices without having the unknown the explore. While we would have never expected this to be one of our pursuits this summer, we soon became very engaged in birding and informally began to recreate Audubons Guide to Birds of Central and Southern Kentucky (and if that's not a current title of a book, we'll have enough photos to [View Full Entry]

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The head must bow and the back will have to bend, Wherever the people may go; A few more days and the trouble all will end In the field where sugar-canes may grow; A few more days for to tote the weary load, No matter, 'twill never be light, A few more days till we totter on the road, Then my old Kentucky home, good night! Our last day here in Lexington before we offically become homeless citizens of the states. Amid the endless rush to pack, we broke ourselves away long enough to walk through campus one more time so [View Full Entry]

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Miles Traveled: 0 Miles Hiked: 4 With little more than two weeks before our move, we’ve decided to experience all we could of Lexington before we leave. Not only will this allow us to depart without any regrets of missed adventure, but our local excursions give us plenty of fodder for blogging practice before the real journey begins. After waking up early to enjoy the farmers market downtown, we cleaned out the car and drove south to Raven’s Run, a nature sanctuary dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of the Kentucky River Palisades with nearly 10 miles of hiking [View Full Entry]

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