Hello all, here's another update from Amazonia. I did try the local hallucenagenic, hayawasca, but so afraid of barfing, i took it in small little doses, so i didn't throw up, but i also didn't have any efffects from it. oh well. Last sunday our volunteer coordinator arranged a local visit to a community living right across the river. We entertained the kids while the locals prepared lunch for us. The kids were so sweet. one little boy adopted me. he came and sat on my lap, holding my hand. he loved my bracelet that i'd been wearing, so i put it around his ankle. he was tickled. the kids all loved to see themselves on the digital camera. lunch was amazing, and all in all, it was a really fun day. We also went on ... read more

Well since i´ve been here almost 3 weeks, i thought i´d share some of my reflections on South America, namely Ecuador. Quite a different world down here, so i thought i´d give everyone back home a little taste of it: -TP and hot showers are like gold here. They have one dispenser for toilet paper for all the stalls, or none at all. Showers are mostly electric with no controls for the water. Hot water is a luxury, not a usual occurance. -They have super cool keys on the computer keyboard like, ñ, ¿, Ç , and all the punctuation marks are in different places (took me a week to find the ?) To make the @, you have to type alt and 64 -No one has heard of wheat products or vegetables here. We tried ... read more

Hey all, I made it to South America!!! (note-photos are very large and will load slowly-gotta work on that) I flew into Guayaquil, Ecuador on June 17th. Doing pretty well on my spanish pretty far and am adjusting to the backpacker lifestyle, altho i haven´t yet mastered the art of taking one thing out of my pak without exploding the entire contents onto my bed. Guayaquil was a bit scary i must admit, but the hostal was wonderful, except for the enourmous roach who greeted me in my room (see pic below). After freaking out in a decidedly girl way, i went to the receptionist.... "um...yeah... there´s a bug the size of texas in my room". she responds apathetically " yeah, there´s one in the pool too." "well, if this one wants to stay in my ... read more

"I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still, or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey who's conclusion is uncertain..." - Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption 12 hours and i'm off to Miami to start my whirlind adventure!!! A few days of very welcome sunny, warm beaches and then i'm off to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. it's finally here. A year and a half of scrimpin' and savin' and findin' creative ways to raise money. I got a very sweet send off from the Sierra Club at Saturday's beach party, complete with a 'bon voyage' cake! I'm soo gonna miss my baby (see pics!!!). See you on the flipside! ... read more