More recent posts about Ecuador
Articles from Ecuador
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Bag it!
Coffee fruit, freshly picked and ready to be processed.
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Developing.
Handicraft producer in a small indigenous (Kichwa) community called Chaguamango anticipates the sale of her art to the first group tourists to visit the community. We continue to develop and refine our tourism product to cater to international travelers who want to help conserve the Amazon.
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Coffee
is fruit. Picked from the tree, the coffee fruit is a welcome change from the everyday lollipop.
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Break Time.
During a "Sustainable Tourism Workshop" (nine hours away from her neck of the woods) we got the chance to tour a site and swim in the river where a community has had many successes developing their tourism product.
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In the Shadows
Throughout time, many of the most creative and intellectual minds have done their best in the shadows. Some never garner recognition for their talents. This handicraft workshop is hardly known outside of its own community, but the artists there make the most exquisite works!
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A hand, please.
Locals at a prospective tourism site are eager to point out the unique flora and fauna there.
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Workhorses in Green
The workhorses here delightfully swim in a sea of good-for-them leafy greens.
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Still.
The water in the high-altitude 'Paramo' ecosystem is so still it acts like a mirror beneath a dazzling tree.
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Jungle Calories
Most of what we eat in the jungle grows right outside. Take this breakfast, for instance: a delectable tea of Guayusa (a tree. support Guayusa growers from Ecuador by shopping for RUNA tea at Whole Foods..), a smashed plantain and a tree bean that only produces edibles one month of each year.
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Bad Fruit
Actually, the Guayaba is delicious! And there is nothing wrong with these particular fruits. I do not understand why the breathing subjects in the photo are running away from them.
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Early Morning, Before the Hike
Nothing says "Thanks for helping!" better than "Help yourself!" MMM
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What!? Foooosball
Peace Corps Volunteers love to run into classic games like these when they're perusing the annual festivals.
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Youth
Preschoolers at the Centro de Infantil in Paquiestancia - Ecuador.
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Milking at Sunset
Milking cows with my host family in Paquiestancia - Ecuador as the sun sets over the green hills.
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Group Hug
Hanging out with the preschoolers at the Centro de Infantil after a health charla in Paquiestancia - Ecuador
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Bailarinas de Ecuador
Our traditional Ecuadorian dance group of PCVs at family celebration day in Ayora - Ecuador.
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Cuy Cuy Cuy
Yes, I ate a guinea pig.
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Earth Day
To celebrate Earth Day with my kid's art class, we decorated little plastic cups filled with small plants. Many of the kids kept their plants alive at home for several weeks!
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Mi Lindo Ecuador
Parades happen in Ecuador almost every week, they are always celebrating one holiday or another! Here is a woman enjoying the festivities.
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Kids in the Barrio
These are some of the many wonderful and beautiful children that changed my life in Ecuador.
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Ecuador Artesania
The artisan market in Otovalo, Ecuador is a major attraction in Ecuador, and one of my favorite places to visit.
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Niños & Ovejas
Delivering sheep to the children of Pinjuma
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Top Grads
The Spanish introduced sheep to Ecuador in the early 16th century. Nearly 500 years later, the animals there now look nothing like their ancestors. The Andean Criollo sheep are tough yet small. They produce very little meat and the quality of their wool is poor. I was able to get a grant and purchased 40 purebred Merino from New Zealand. I gave five to each of the eight schools in the Parroqia. I then did a number of classes on small animal husbandry. At the end of the year, the top graduat...
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Kids & Cuyes
Cuyes or guinea pigs make for great pets. In Ecuador though, they're also considered a delicacy. Buen provecho!
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Equipo de Sueños
As a Peace Corps volunteer you often end up taking on “other” assignments. One of mine was coaching the local girl’s basketball team. Here we are with a few younger sibling fans and our mascot, my dog Iko. Note: I named my dog after the famous New Orleans song by The Dixie Cups. As it turns out, it sounds a lot like the Quechua word for dog, allcu. The locals found this funny.
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PC Map Making
When I visited schools surrounding my site, I was surprised to discover that few of them had maps. (I LOVE geography!) So, we ended up painting them on all the buildings in the parroquia. As a young cartographer though, I am embarrassed to say that I wasn’t always PC. On this particular map of Ecuador for example, I gave back the territory taken by Peru in 1941. I would point out that Ecuador didn’t official recognize Peru’s sovereignty until long after my Peace Corps stint.
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Cooking with Vesinos
As a fresh-out-of-college volunteer, I wasn’t much of a chef. Fortunately, I had neighbors who were. They would periodically come over and give me lessons. They taught me how to prepare guinea pigs, quinoa, locro soup, seco de pollo, lomo salteado and other popular Andean dishes. As you can tell from this picture taken in my kitchen, I was extremely grateful!
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Amazon Trek
“¡Dos días, pura bajada, y sequísimo!” The campesinos assured us that our Amazonian trek would take no more than two days. It would be downhill the entire way and, even though it was the rainy season, completely dry. (If only I could have conjured up that telltale chorus from the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song?!) Well, apparently, either 1) they had never taken the trip themselves or 2) they were giddily seeking Atahualpa’s revenge! It took Mike Wooly and me five long, painful days to rea...
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¡El Gringo Va a Morir!
It was the last race I ever ran. I had only been at my site for a few months when I decided to enter a 10K in Cuenca, Ecuador. In retrospect, it was a huge mistake. I hadn’t trained since college; my New Orleans lungs were still ill-equipped to extract oxygen from the thin mountain air; and my flatlander muscles could hardly summit a curb less clamber up steep cobblestone mountain roads. Nonetheless, I was, well, Peace Corps confident. Like so many new volunteers, I had set my sights on sav...
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Ya Mismo with Mingas
I felt like I had woken up a half an hour before I had gone to sleep. The sun was still slowly drifting across the Atlantic, and stars from both hemispheres illuminated the Andean sky. I crawled off my paja (straw) mattress, threw on a few layers and began my trek. I had come up with this elaborate (and somewhat loco) scheme to stock a mountain lake with trucha de arco iris or rainbow trout. It would involve transporting delicate fry from a nursery near Cuenca, Ecuador to a little cloud fore...
