No excuses. No, this is not my motto for life or anything while I am down here in Ecuador. No excuses is what I expect out of people when I ask them to come visit me down here in Ecuador. Why am I saying this? Well, today was the big day. Site Day. Now I know where I will be living for the next two years of my life. I must be driving you all mad with the suspense over the course of these few sentences. I guess I will leave you in suspense a bit more and give some backstory. Last week, the Agriculture trainees saw all of the potencial sites for future work. We were told to rank our top three spots. From what I have told people in e-mails, Vilcabamba (near Loja), Cotacachi (where that lake is in my pictures), and one other were my top three. Naturally, I did not get one of my top three choices.
It isn't all bad news, however. What would have probably been my number four choice got selected. Atacames. If you go pull out your pocket guide to Ecuador, you just saw that I am going to be living in one of the best beach towns (and allegedly amazing surf) in Ecuador. The project has something to do with coffee and business, but I won't go into details until after my site visit next week. I know, you are all very excited for me right now, but there's at least one catch with living in paradise, right? Of course. Looking through the packet of information I received today, I noticed one interesting tidbit. My shower. My three options- the river, the ocean or the community hose. Small price to pay for glory (hopefully).
So yeah, there is no excuse to not visit me in Ecuador if this site turns out to be as good as everyone says it is. Just a small note at the end here, I will be traveling for the next three weeks for training. Next week- Atacames. Week 2- Puerto Quito. Week 3- Santo Domingo. Internet should be accessible in most of these places, but how often I will get to update this in the next three weeks is questionable. Get those plane tickets ready in a few months!
Quick Update: The site visit for next week got cancelled due to the flooding around Ecuador. The area around my site is fine, but the majority of southern sites are relatively inaccessible.
8 comments:
i'm in mexi now, so close yet so far. sounds awesome though, i'll be there what's the official date so i can look into this i already requested time off at nirvana. remember don't pee in the river, unless you want some severe damage to your urinary tract system. pugs&kisses.
Oh man thanks for making my night by cracking me up with your shower options. I would like to come visit once I finally make some money again, but I don't know about that shower thing. Eh but I know you and Jeff would probably just throw me in the ocean and call it a day anyway....that might be better than the snow though.
soo im still waiting for a shout out in your blogs...but uh ill take the reference to San Diego in todays title for now. Also be sure to use environmentally safe soaps while you shower. if you dont have some, i will send them, or personally bring them down. in which case dont shower till i get there...k??
also if you could score me some fresh coffee beans, that'd be tiiight. and thank the farmer for me.
enjoy the day!
also reference to previous post- chris's theme song (with slight modification), courtesy of Juelz Santana.." damn shorty look good and im thinkin bout gettin at him, ok time whishtlin at him"
<3
So interesting fact, there is apparently only one Atacames in the world since I typed it into google maps without even a country and it came right to your nice little town. I will be down at some point, I even applied for my passport last week just for you. I second your sisters comment on not peeing in the river and will also suggest that you try and convince the farmer to grow Ecuadors real cash crop instead of these silly coffee beans. Which of course means you should get him to become a drug farmer. I fully expect to come down there and see you as the new drug czar. Cheers.
Good to hear everything is going well for you Gallup. I hope you enjoy the river (it sounds delightful) and if possible, I'll see what I can do about saving money to make a summer trip to visit your scrawny ass. Meanwhile, root for Liverpool in the Champions League! Adios and Godspeed!
Hi Son, Any special soaps that are made for washing in a river that I can send???? Sure glad you know how to swim. Love you mom
The shower situation won´t be permament (and may be grossly overstated in the packet of information I got). After 3 months of living with a host family I get to look for my own place. And from a recent chat with volunteers that are 5 minutes from me (in Sua), it´ll be easy to find a nice place in the Peace Corps budget (with a shower and since I´m in Atacames possibly internet).
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