Book News

So, in case you've been waiting on the edge of your seat, here's my books news. I finished 'Seeing' by Saramago and I hated it. I started and finished 'La Aventura del Tocador de Señoras' by the Catalan author Eduardo Mendoza, and I loved it. I'm now reading a collection of travel essays called 'The Best American Travel Writing' edited by Bill Bryson, which seems good so far. In case you're keeping track, I've made it to somewhere around 30 books read during my Peace Corps service (in addition to the 20-some Newsweeks that I've read cover-to-cover). The only sad thing is that this whole 'work' business is starting to slow down my reading pace. Anyone have an electronic speed-reading course they could send me?

In other news, I had a 'Reconnect' conference in the jungle last week and was able to get a couple days of Kichwa classes in there. That was exciting and has inspired me to keep studying my Kichwa materials. Sumakmi! (loose translation of 'cool' in Kichwa) I'll get some pictures of the Reconnect talent show on here one of the days.

Just so that none of you worry if my blog posts start to slow down, I thought I'd let you know that my ability to come to Riobamba to check email and such has been resticted by a new (temporary) policy in which I have to ask permission from Peace Corps every time I leave my site (in other words, any time I walk more than 3 blocks in any direction from my house). Grounded!