Rusty's Visit

As I've mentioned before, I'm a bit behind on the blogging, but here's another update (which now gets me caught up through the end of September...).  These pictures are all from a week-long visit from a good college friend of mine, Rusty.

My friend Jairo jumping off a big cliff right before I made the plunge.

Rusty and I at the top of the cliff.

Rusty, looking elegant in front of the cathedral in Licto.

A few street dogs in Riobamba taking a nap.

Cute monkey in the "zoo" (it was actually out in the open at the zoo)

Rusty, being scared of an ostrich.  I can't balme him, its feet were bigger than my head.

An afternoon snack at the zoo.

This is the mean little monkey that was loose at the zoo last time I was there and chased us around the zoo, scaring the crap out of us. 

Rusty, looking cool in my kitchen.

Rusty and I, in front of the cathedral in Riobamba.

The majestic Chimborazo over some field outside Licto.

Again.  Majestic.

Me, on a street in Quito.

Rusty, in a plaza in Quito.

A church in Quito.  Sunday.

Another church in Quito.

The huge Virgin of Who-Knows-What in Quito.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the 2-minute tour of Ecuador.  Come visit any time!

Licto Living

From time to time I like to put a little stuff on my blog from my day to day life, so here goes...

One day I actually went out to the fields with one of my neighbors and the clouds on the mountains were really beautiful.

Another... notice one of those figures carrying like 70 pounds of manure is a 4 foot-something 50-something-year-old woman.

Cool picture of the sunset over the mountains. Calendar quality, eh?

Killu looking over a balcony at a friend's house...

The girl on the left is one of my favorite to work with (with one of her friends). Adorable!

A parents' meeting where I gave an impromptu inspirational speech.

Parents signing a contract saying they won't make their kids do 'hard' labor jobs or send them off to do street work without parental supervision.

Lastly, to top it all off, me, eating raw pigskin (they just run a blow-torch over it so it'll peel of easily), a delicacy in my town. (A sincere apology to all my Jewish and Muslim friends)

Well, there's another peek into my daily life. A reminder to anyone who cares, I'm swinging through the states for a few weeks for the end of December and beginning of January...Let me know if you'll be around Chicago or Purdue so we can hang out.

My Mom in Ecuador

So, yeah, I'm EXTREMELY behind on this whole blog deal, but I promise I'm not giving up, I'm working to get caught up. So the reason I've gotten really behind is because I've had so much stuff going on (more work, more visits from home, more visits from other PC Volunteers, etc) that I haven't been spending much time on the internet lately. But here's the next edition in Urqu Kinraypi...speaking of the name of my blog...it means something to the effect of 'on the hillside' in Kichwa...it's interesting that I picked that name because I am the only Y&F volunteer from my group to get a Kichwa site. Plus, I'm living in the hills (mountains, actually) and not on the coast or in the jungle or whatever.
Well, here's the blog...

So, the first week of September I got my first visit from the States, and it just happened to be my very own mother. Everything went well and she was surprisingly flexible in terms of all of the frustrations of visiting foreign countries. With no further ado, here are the photos.

My mom and I at the Laguna Cuicocha, a big beautiful lake with two huge islands in the middle of it.
The huge waterfall Pailon del Diablo (probably seen it before in some of my pictures and you'll likely see it again, since I have taken a bunch of my visitors there).

Again...my mom, looking tiny at the bottom.

In case any of you didn't believe that I really eat Guinea Pig down here, now I have pictures and an eyewitness who speaks English. My mom even tried a tiny bit of it.

Pailon del Diablo waterfall from another view.

Laguna Cuicocha again (I've hiked the circumference of this lake!)

Three of the kids I work with in Licto, wearing the Chicago T-Shirts my mom had made for 40-some kinds in my town. (Thanks to CFG and anyone else who helped make the donation of these shirts possible!)

My mom and I with the professors at one of the schools I work at in Licto. (sorry it's off center...the picture taker was inexperienced and I forgot to crop it)

My mom and I at Cuicocha, Again.

The 'fast food' stand that my neighbors/adoptive family opened in August.

Pailon del Diablo from above

My dog, my house, me.

The bakery in Licto.

Some nieghbors having a mom-cooked dinner in my kitchen

My mom at one of the nice views in Licto

One of the parks in Riobamba (Sucre).

The Basilica in Quito at night.

Killu, obeying my command to sit.

Another Riobamba park and a monastery in the back (La Libertad)

Another park in Riobamba and the 400-some-year-old Cathedral

Me, at a typical street market, buying passion fruit (if I recall)

At the Plaza Grande in Quito (outside the picture is the presidential palace)

People selling stuff outside a church in Quito...passed out street dog

Quito's Basilica during the day.

Dinner with Mom.

View of the Quito's historical district at night.

So, those were the basic highlights of my mom's trip to Ecuador (out of order, I know...). If any of you are thinking of coming down to visit me and want a balanced perspective, feel free to get in touch with my mom and ask...

Til next time (I get time to update)...