A new adventure.

Hola todos:

It's been a while since I've blogged. Lately I haven't been inspired--hard to believe with all of Ecuador's natural beauty around me--but a combination of homesickness, stomach ailments, and oppressive machismo left me stuck in a rut. Now I think I'm finally climbing out!

I'm posting some pics from my most recent trip to Quito for Fulbright orientation. It was actually a pretty good program. The first day was all lecture. Boring at times, I admit, however some of the lectures were very interesting. I talked at length with a dude from University of Quito San Francisco (I think that's the name) about how the current President's plan to redistribute land will end up failing miserably-- destroying habitats and decreasing productivity. We'll see.

The 2nd day was *awesome* to the power of awesomeness. We went ziplining! It rocked. I'd done it once before but this time was so much more fun because there were tons of people and it gave me a chance to really get to know the other Fulbrighters. Each one of them has really interesting projects and they are all friendly and intelligent and awesome. I'm glad I got to meet them. Unfortunately that's the only formal time we will have to spend together, so we are all trying to keep in touch with email and Facebook.

So, to catch ya'll up a bit, I recently moved to Guayaquil. While the family in Machala was really nice and nurturing (a little too much at times), I felt like I had to get out of there to stay sane. In all of my two months living in Machala, the Host Parents refused to give me a pair of keys to the house. I wasn't even allowed to cook for myself. I had very little freedom and I think that's what really got to me. So, I moved. And that's that.

My new family is awesome, so far. Host Mother is a little wacky, I admit, but very cool. In fact, we just finished conversing about how she completely rejects the concept of machismo. I love that. She is definitely the head of the household and it's awesome. Host Father is an artist--*quite* good actually--and Italian. He came here to Ecuador when he was 30, met Host Mother, and hasn't left since. He speaks perfect Spanish with a tiny hint of Italian accent--I love it. His art is scattered all over the house--it's really beautiful. Actually I was a bit in shock when I first saw this house--it's bigger and nicer than my house at home! Couldn't believe it. Marble floors, artwork everywhere, a pool, an outside patio with a mango tree--everything anyone would ever want in a house. It's quite a stark contrast to Machala and in fact, it's taking some getting used to, but hey, I ain't complaining. I'll have to see if they have a card reader so that I can upload some pictures of the house.

Yesterday we were eating lunch outside on the patio when a GIANT iguana came to meet us. He was just chillin'. I think he might've wanted some lunch, too. Host Parents thought it necessary to scare him away, but if it were my choice, I would've chilled with the dude. He was way cool.

Other than that, things are pretty good. I'm finally meeting up with my professor at ESPOL to discuss how the heck we are going to make contacts with cacao and banana farmers. Oh, btw, I expanded my study to include Fair Trade cacao as well. I'm tempted to *only* look at cacao, since I think there will be a stark difference between FT and non FT, but professor dude wants to still look at banana too. I suppose that's cool, since that's what I set out to study originally.

So that's about it. Will try to write again soon.

Ciao ciao! :-)