http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/scienceking/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from scienceking en-us Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:40:07 +0000 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:40:07 +0000 Here's where the story ends....Susan and I are home in Granville. We scrapped plans to travel through Argentina we will go there in the near future though and decided to return sooner to our friends and family. This journey that we call Peace Corps has been incredible and I thank all of you for following the blog and providing support during our service.I will continue to post blogs related to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Ohio/Granville/blog-384176.html PHOTOS COMING Just didnt have time to download them today.So my service is winding down rapidly. Peace Corps just recently approved our March 20th Close of Service date which means that we will be leaving country soon after that. The last month or so has gone exceptionally well some of the best experiences of my Peace Corps service. To start a few weeks ago I was in the community of Sa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-381108.html Greetings to all blog readers. As many of you know I have written about fellow Puyo Volunteer Matt in a few of my blogs. He is working on a project along the same lines as my Env. Education guide. My project was to train teachers his project is to provide workbooks to actual students who lack any real materials. It is a worthy project that was started by former Volunteer Katie Wallace an http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-372342.html Sorry no pictures this time this is a long blog I warn you but definitely worth the read.Our Close of Service Conference COS came and went in Quito this week. Each Omnibus has a COS conference to talk about the paperwork that needs to be filled out how to prepare resumes and describe your service and to provide feedback to Peace Corps. Normally the standard for this conference is 3 days http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-369063.html So Susan and I have celebrated another Christmas in Puyo as well as ushered in another New Year. Just like last year we invited friends down to Puyo to spend Christmas with us. Last year there were 8 of us this year we numbered 20. Somehow Susan and I have become social chairs of our Omnibus or so we have been told. People heard about the great Puyo Christmas of 2007 and thus more want http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-360442.html Susans parents arrived in Quito on Thursday night December 4th. Their flight was a little delayed and one of their bags was missing but they were herehellipin Ecuador. I never thought I would see the day but it came. Of course after a full day of traveling they were very tired so when we got back to the hotel we got them into their room and Tom Hannah Sue and I visited for a few min http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/blog-356665.html Honestly where does one begin when trying to describe trips to both Machu Picchu and the Galpagos Islands The last 4 weeks have been simply amazing. There is no possible way for me to do any justice in my description of the trip however I will do my best to at least give you the basics.So the trip began on November 21 at 1100pm. Sue and I boarded an overnight bus from Puyo to Guayaquil. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-355636.html Sue and I are about to begin our travel adventure to Peru. We leave Puyo tonight Friday on an overnight bus to Guayaquil the largest city in Ecuador. From there we are going to attempt to find a place to watch the OSUMichigan game. Susans brother Tom and his wife Hannah fly in later that night. The next day we head to Lima Peru and from there to Cusco and the Inca Trail. We will spend http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-347211.html Well I am having one of those weeks. On Sunday I was shaving with new razor on my upperlip and managed to slice the hell out of my nose. It bled and bled I am still trying to figure out how I did that. On Tuesday I woke up with an incredible pain in my right eye as though I had a piece of glass in it. I must have scratched it with something and after multiple flushings and standing under http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-344396.html So I put my baking skills to the real challenge yesterday morning. I finally got around to baking the two cakes that my brother and his wife sent me for the toaster oven. Of course they were easy bake mixes for a childs easy bake oven which pretty much meant that I would screw them up. The more simple a job is the more difficult it is for me. The recipe called for the addition of only water http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-343799.html I had one of those moments where you realize that what you are saying or doing is absolutely absurd or incomprehensible to those around you. I was out in the community of Libertad to give a couple of presentations and then to take GPS data points for a project. As I wandered from house to house to take data points I had to introduce myself to those who did not know me and then ask if I could tak http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-342587.html A thousand pardons for taking so long between blog entries. I have no excuses other than those that you have already heard. After Ohio States crushing defeat I vowed to buttondown the hatches and show that I am no fairweather fan. None of us are in Ohio. Sure Ohio may be a state with a lot of hillbillies we may not be the most educated we may not have the best economy and we may have pu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Otavalo/blog-332289.html So this week in Ecualand not much exciting happened. I made a kids page for the local paper I only am going to do one more so that project is winding down I attending a planning meeting for the water fund and discovered that I have to give 50 some presentations for that project on top of the stuff I am doing in other projects not going to happen I got sick on Wednesday with some intestinal http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-323506.html Since my last entry both the Republican and Democratic Conventions have occurred and the NCAA college football season has started how exciting Life here hasnrsquot been quite as interesting however it has been filled with activity. I do apologize for taking so much time between blog entries these days it is just that the blog has moved down on the priority list for a number of reason http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/West/Canoa/blog-320578.html Well this is not going to be the blog entry you were all waiting for but that is ok. A friend of mine Mary just tagged me. Now I know what you are thinking....what kind of kinky things is Jeremy getting into down there in Ecualand Rest assured this is just a game bloggers play why I dont have the foggiest idea but I am game to give it a whirl.So I have to link to the person http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-314392.html Holy cow I have been crazy busy but it has been a very good busy if such a thing exists. Three volunteers two from Spain and one from Bulgaria came to FRATES a couple of weeks ago to volunteer there and help out with the summer camps I am doing with the kids in the communities. Umberto is here as well. Ah yes the summer camp. The idea for the camp came to me as I was planning out the en http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-310144.html The weeks seem to be flying right now. I by the time I start one week and figure out what the heck I am doing that week is over and it is time to start the next. This never bodes well for those who have a lot to do. I am managing however to finally stay on top of everything I have to do. Perhaps that is because I am getting a better grasp of Spanish and thus I do things a little quicker http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Puyo/blog-301859.html The past week was one of the better Peace Corps weeks that I have had. I spoke with my counterpart Bolvar about the amount of work that I have been doing and that I am not really performing the role of PC volunteer. My experience the last few months has been more like an employee of CODEAMA. I also told him that Sue and I have worked very hard during our first year of service and that we hav http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/West/Puerto-Lopez/blog-297153.html Wellhellipwellhellipwell those are the words I am well. I returned from Quito with Susan on Monday the 16th. We had ended up taking care of a few errands and stuff like that in the PC office. I did my best to completely avoid the Directorrsquos office. From here on out I think I am going to take the approach of speak only when spoken to. Normally I would not back down in a situatio http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/South/Loja/blog-294527.html Since I put my note on my blog soliciting funds for my project I thought that maybe I should do the same for one of my wife's projects. So here is some info about a raffle that her group is sponsoring. Donate if you can it is for an EXCELLENT cause.Dear friends and family I am writing to ask for your support for two very important Peace Corps Volunteer priorities providing scholarships to http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-287655.html