Otavalo goodbyes

Yesterday we hugged goodbye two of our numbers, Dunc and Eliah. It should come as no surprise that the two cuarenta partners planned their Ecuadorian evacuation together; yes, they both claimed Graduate School as their individual reasons for leaving on the same day, but I'm not buying it. They just couldn't stand to be down here if the other was not :)

In anticipation of their departure, last weekend all eight of us oldies piled into a bus headed for Otavalo. I have to admit I was a little hesitant to go there; in our trusty Lonely Planet guide book Otavalo is written up as a "must see place for tourists of all kind, due to its enormous weekend market,". The last place I wanted to stay with my seven people was a touristy market town, surrounded by leather key chains and alpaca floor rugs and painted shot glasses...no thank you. So imagine my surprise when our camioneta drove out of the town, up the cobblestone street right into the mountains and just kept going. Up, up, up we drove, jostling around in the back of an old white truck, backpacks and knees and laughs jumbling around with us, until we came to La Luna, our hostel picked by Dunc.

It was perfect. Nestled into the side of a big old hill covered in golden grasses and swaying trees, the place had crisp white walls, fire places, colorful hammocks, homemade guacamole, and a ton of board games. But most importantly it had connecting rooms and one big dinner table for all of us to sit around and reminisce, eat, play and read.

Here's to our last hurrah together! It's been a great year, huh.
-Holly

Serena and Jos goof around while running back down to the hostel.

Serena and Eliah get ready for a serious game of Guess Who?

While Dana and Mark battle it out in Cuarenta.

View on the way to the waterfall.

Love that self timer.

Spot Serena.

Recreating a Quito statue we pass every time we bus into the city.

Trying to squeeze everyone onto a small rock. Why not.

Eliah and I share some rock space.

Rousing game of Clue next to the fireplace.


Mark tries to roast a marshmallow with a piece of burning paper...?

Dunc takes in the view on a Sunday hike.

The steep trek up to the summit begins.

View of Cayambe from the top of Fuya Fuya (my first Ecuadorian summit!)

Danabean and I channel our Colorado mountains.

The climbing crew.

A condor sighting from the summit. Rare and wonderful, as it's estimated there are only 65 in the whole country.

Old and New

(And now, a special weekend update from Dana Conway)

"So as you've heard, it is in fact true. The new Program Directors arrived late last week and have been through a whirlwind of events beginning with orientation in Miami, meeting the Nicaragua team along with MPI's staff, juggling their way through customs with the swine flew scare, waking up in home stays with Ecuadorian families, being shoveled into one-on-one language classes for four hours a day while also taking salsa lessons, visiting city parks and worrying about what Spanish homework they have due the following day . I'm afraid we've barely given them enough time breath, let alone to decide if this is at all what they had in mind as the beginning of a year long adventure.

I was lucky enough to get to spend the last few days with our new PD's in Quito, exploring the city and introducing them to all of our favorite hang outs we have discovered in the past year. Hearing all of their questions and inquiries, I was quickly reminded of my first days in Quito and my first impressions of what would be come my new home. While I had an experience different than most, spending my first three weeks in the city alone, seeing their wide eyes and exuberant stairs brought me right back to where I was nine months ago. The city felt unimaginably large, the buses were just as confusing as they were intimidating, and the way the metropolis tangled into every corner of these heaping mountains was more stunning than any city I had ever seen. While some of that has changed, (I now know my way around Quito and exactly how to get to the places I need to go), I still loose breath at the site of this massive capital tucked away into the Andes Mountains. Despite that I have been here for months, I blended right in with the all the new kids as we gazed in awe looking down into chaos from the western hills above.

Now it is beginning to sink in that these are the people I will get to spend my next four months with, living and working and learning with each of them. From the start of my time with Manna I have been the newbie, arriving late and consequently leaving late too. And here I am once again, the awkward newbie. Their four days in Miami and synchronized schedules for the next three weeks left me wondering if I would be set apart from the nine of them once we began our work in the valley. Fortunately, I'm confident we did one hell of a job selecting applicants and no longer fear forever being the newbie, but now instead dread the thought of only having four months with these guys, while they get to have thirteen with each other.

These next few weeks will prove to be quite the challenge sorting out how to let go of the people who first welcomed me. Together we formed a bond with each other that is not only stronger than anything I have ever experienced amongst so many unique people, but beyond irreplaceable; Its hard to imagine my daily life here without them. However change is often refreshing and usually for the better. Therefore I cant wait to see what kind of exciting things this change will bring.

-Dana"

10 reasons

You know the grand opening/concert is getting close when:

1. You take taxis into the community every day because you have so much stuff to bring with you that wouldn't survive on the bus (computer monitors! easels! desks!).

2. You find turquoise paint in all sorts of places when you finally get to shower at 10:30pm.

3. In the past 2 days, you've spent more money on floor wax than you have on food.

4. You have a medley of classic rock running on repeat in your brain, because "It's the only kind of music you can listen to while painting". I think I now know every lyric and guitar solo to the collected works of The Greatful Dead; my dad would be so proud.

5. If you never see or breath in sawdust ever again, it will be too soon.

6. Mopping has become a way to relax after a long day of work.

7. You wake up at 3am making lists of things to do, and decide you might as well get up and get started (that was for you, Seth).

8. The daily life blog has suffered tremendously, because the wireless internet has yet to be installed in the space.

9. Your packed lunch is both good and bad: good because it saves you from yet another almuerzo, but bad because that means you really didn't leave the space for 13 hours.

10. Thursday's art class will be dipping their hands in paint and helping decorate the children's corner, and probably each other as well.

Hopefully I'll have pictures soon; gotta grab one of the Duke spring breaker's memory cards before they head out. And I just have to say, without them, the library-teen center-art gallary-kids corner-office space would be in shambles. Literally. As if I needed another reason to like Duke.

Holly