A day in the life..

Thursday afternoon after I last wrote, I walked with Bibi, Jackie, and Sonia to the biblioteca.  Yes, you might be reading Spanglish from here on out.  Anyway, I got to participate in Krysta and Jackie's clase de ciencias naturales about the different ecosystems in Ecuador, as well as take Haley and Sarah's women's exercise class.  It was aerobics and it was hard to squat the next day, so good job girls.

Friday I spent some time writing interview questions for my Guatemalan contacts until it was time to go to the library again.  I keep calling them interviews, but they're going to be more like friendly, informational sessions.  Also, if any of you have any suggestions, feel free to pass them along.

La clase de arte in the library was a lot of fun with Chet and Sonia, who cleverly saved cloth flour bags and had the kids fill them with discarded clothing scraps to make pillows!  They came out really great and I think the kids had a lot of fun.  Thursday and Friday also gave me some time to talk about Guatemala with Bibi (the Ecuador country director) and some of the PDs-- suggestions, room for improvement, ideas, etc.  The more perspectives, the better, and I am hoping to hear everyone's before I leave.

Friday and Saturday also brought a reunion with the one and only Michael Seager while roaming around Quito! It was short but sweet, and his Spanish fluency gives me high hopes.

A super exciting Michael Seager reunion!

Some real Manna love in Quito with PDs Sonia, Shawn, Sarah, Krysta, and Jackie

And finally today.. Que magnifico, but man am I tired.  Chet, Jackie, Mike, Sonia, and I just returned from hiking for seven hours up Volcan Pasochoa!  Yes, after only four days of acclimatizing, I thought it would be a good idea to climb up another 900 meters (or about 3,000 feet of pure altitude).

Eagle spotting!

Diving off into the clouds after reaching the peak

Our hike leaders jumping for joy

Well, it's time to rest my bones.  Looking forward to our Monday morning meeting for some more pearls of wisdom from the Ecuador team.

Hasta luego,

Dana