So, things are really starting to pick up here in the office. We are planning an Environment Day for Puyo where all the Environmental NGOs and the high schools will be putting together presentations/info booths. It is a big undertaking since we only have 3 weeks to pull it off and we just thought of the idea yesterday afternoon. The idea will be a competition for the high schools, of which there are 9. Each school must select a class or group to represent them. Then each group picks an environmental topic or theme to present at the Environment Festival. They [View Full Entry]

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So, many of you have asked what types of things you can send to Sue and I in a care pack. Here is what we could use: vegetable seeds - tomato, peppers, squash, carrot, cucumber, you name it we´ll take it. We want to plant a small garden on the roof of our building - how we are going to do that is still an interesting question that I have yet to conquer. Any extra seeds, I will donate to the FRATES communities that I work with. Seeds here are expensive and of low quality in terms of germination rate. We [View Full Entry]

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So, I survived a weekend of the Feria in Puyo. This is the equivalent of a country fair/state fair in the U.S. without the games and rides. Yes, I know you are all thinking to yourselves, what is the point of having a fair without rides or games? To be fair to Ecuador and Puyo the fair didn´t need games or rides. There were dancing exhibitions, bull fights, naked women walking around with painted bodies - this was most interesting. It reminded me a little of Comfest (Community Festival) back in Columbus, Ohio where woman often walk around topless with painted [View Full Entry]

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Again, the link to new pictures that Sue posted: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbOHLhy0cNGf8 My brother, Bryan informed me today the ¨Eternal Flame¨was sung by the Bangles and not Debbie Gibson, so it looks like my manhood is still in tact, I couldn´t ID the artist. Thank god for that!!! So, I had the opportunity to go out and do some field work with the German intern at CODEAMA. She is collecting GPS data on the farms within a group of three watersheds. My counterpart agency, along with the municipal government, and a couple other agency is beginning a campai [View Full Entry]

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Here is a link to new pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AbOHLhy0cNGf8 Más español por todos. Es necesario que yo practique mi español. Entonces, esta carta será de español. Algunos de ustedes no podrán leer mi carta, pero los otras podrán. La ciudad de Puyo va a tenir una fiesta esta fin de semana. Hace cinco días, hubo un desfile en Puyo y las candidatas para Reina de Puyo estuvieron en el desfile. El desfile era interesante y muy divertido. Durante el desfile, muchas personas bailaban y vitoreaban. Mi esposa, Susan, tomó muchos fotos de los niños y los [View Full Entry]

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Puyo is gearing up for the big week long Fair. I have to admit, the place is hoping and interesting. I just walked to the hardware store to buy some screws and hooks for the apartment and walked by a huge stage that is set-up in the center of town. I listened to some local band for a few minutes until it started to rain - again. I am now declaring Puyo the ¨City of Rain¨. I think it true that it does rain at least once everyday here in Puyo. It is hard to let it get your spirits down [View Full Entry]

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So, the trip to FRATES was not too bad. Sue came with me, she decided to take the day off work. We got to the bus stop at 6:10am and hopped on the bus. It took an hour to get there. Sitting in front of us was some drunk 20 year-old who kept turning to talk to us, slurring his words, but thankfully he passed out. Also in front of us was the school teacher that I was supposed to meet with. We got off the bus, and they had to slap awake the drunk guy to get him off the [View Full Entry]

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Hola mi familia y mis amigos. Este mensaje va a ser en español. Mi vida en Ecuador es bueno. La gente en Puyo son tranquila, divertida, y simpática. Mi trabajo es difícil, pero yo peudo manejar. Español es difícil y pienso que mi español es basura. Nuestro apartamento es grande. Nuestro vecinos que viven en el piso de arriba son fuerte. Ellos hacen ruido cada noche. El clima de Puyo es interesante. Cada día llueve por los menos dos veces. La humedad es entre noventa y noventa y cinco cada día. Pero, en la noche, hace más frío. Por eso, me [View Full Entry]

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So today, as I was walking to work, the distinct music of Debbie Gibson´s Eternal Flame was blaring behind me. I pondered for a minute about what I was hearing and whether it was really true or whether I was simply dreaming. I then tried to justify why I was hearing this music - was it being played by some U.S. missionary? Perhaps some Ecuadorian truly in love who wanted to broadcast to his or her sweetheart the true nature of his love, maybe it was just some teenager ¨cruising¨ the streets (yes they do that in Ecuador too) in his [View Full Entry]

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Well, we finally made it to Puyo. We arrived Sunday afternoon around 4:00. We met up with our landlord and got the keys to our new apartment. There was a lot dust and dirt in the apartment from construction and the bathroom was extremely dirty. We decided to head into town to get a few supplies and look for a small refrigerator, cooking stove, and a bed. Much to our dismay, most of the stores were closed so we ended up only going to the local grocery store called TIA. Amazingly, this store not only sells food, but it also sells [View Full Entry]

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