Hola mi familia y mis amigos,
I know these are few and far between but I’m trying and I will try harder. Our last excursion was to the Amazon outside the town of Tena in the province of Napo. We did all typical things you do in the Amazon like take motorized canoe rides up and down the Napo river (aka the head waters of the Amazon), played with the pet monkey of the owner of the lodge, listened to several speakers about shamanism, conservation, pottery, and did a visit to a local indigenous community. We went to an eco-lodge that was owned by a former Peace Core worker. He has pools of turtles and fish on his land because he is trying to reintroduce sources of protein into the local people’s diets. They have depleted their sources of protein by using dynamite that is sold under the table at hardware stores to “fish.” He provides the pools and the first year of stock in the communities agree to stop dynamite fishing. Muy interasante no?\ I moved in with my new family in Quito and all of them are really nice, my host mother hugs me every time she sees me or I’m leave to go somewhere. My father is a civil engineer who works a lot. My 22 year old sister Daniellita has a one year old and I also live with the 6 year old grandson of their son who I have yet to meet. Every thing in this family has –ito/a added to the end meaning little. Augacita, Cafecita, everything. Classes started and we listen to 2 speakers talk about various topics from indigenous communities, women’s movements, economy, the poor, the U.S. embassy, etc. My Spanish is getting better but it is really frustrating at times because I really can’t convey my personality with my limited Spanish vocabulary. Last night I went to a synagogue with the Jewish people in the program, quite the mixture of cultures and languages. Hebrew, Spanish, English, Quiteno culture, and this jewish-ecuadorian sub-culture. When we arrived they needed a copy of our passports, check us with metal detectors, and they have 24/7 security. After, we were invited to a Shabbat dinner at this really old woman’s house and there were Jewish travelers from all over the world. Been taking a few salsa lessons, found another place to take painting classes if I have time, been going to this little market that is a co-op of all sorts of strange products from Ecuador. Write you all again when I get back from the coast, I leave this Wednesday (if I didn’t already mention that). I’m going to get my identification card to day and hopefully later go to a place with micro-brews, all they drink down here is Pilsner. Love you all.
Mere

Dear Family and Friends,
Thanks for following my blog. A lot has been happening here. I don’t know if I mentioned before but I am staying in a suburban valley just outside of Quito and this is where I take my intensive Spanish course. The first 4 hours are communication and the last hour is history. Other than that life hasn’t been too academic… Week days I go hangout with my classmates and go to the market to buy things that I need or random fruits. I am pretty exhausted because I have homework every night and constantly thinking and interacting in Spanish really beats you up. Last weekend I went to a celebration for the Immaculate Conception. The women there dressed me up in indigenous clothing, went to mass, and later went to a hacienda. The food was quite interesting I ate pig skin that still had hair on it and was pretty good and yaguarlocro a traditional soup that has dried cows blood and cow intestines in it. I have been going out with my host brother and his friends and I bring some of my friends from school. His friend has his own bar/coffee shop where we can just hang out. Juan Pablo is a good singer and all his friends are musicians to some extent. I hiked a small mountain close to town after school with some of my friends. The past couple of days the group and I went to Intag a cloud forest north of Quito in the Imbabura province. It was awesome, but it was a pretty rough ride because the rain has been causing a bunch of landslides. We hiked about an hour into the place where we were staying. It is owned by a couple trying to protect the forest from foreign mining investors. The cloud forest is a biological hotspot that contains several dozen varieties or orchids, epiphytes which are plants that can absorb nutrients from the air using their roots, and high fern diversity. They have their own organic garden with pineapples, bananas, plantains, carrots, radishes, varieties of fruits, tomatoes, etc. They also grow their own shade-grown coffee, process it, and roast it on this little reserve. I bought some at only $4 per lb to bring home for tasting and such. We listened to several groups speak about the mining companies and their effects on the local community, the history of Ecuador, and a women’s group spoke. The women have created a group that weaves bags and other goods out of a type of agave and sells them to support their families so they don’t have to move to the city to look for jobs. We also were able to go on hikes in our free time and also had a guide Roberto that taught us local flora and fauna and their medicinal uses. The cabins we stayed in had no electricity but had running water and it was about 10 people per cabin. On the way home we stopped in Otavalo, an outdoor market that sells textiles and many other amazing hand-crafted goods. I have a paper do this week and am planning on going camping with my host sister and her friends. I love you all very much, keep in touch. Xoxox.