Rollercoaster...

We have finished the week in training and get the next four days off for Easter...yay! A break!! We will be attending cultural Easter activities with our families, before we have to say good bye on Monday morning. Sad...my family has been wonderful to me and have taught me a lot. I will miss them tons.

A group of friends and I are planning a trip to Otavalo this weekend and maybe some hiking or a visit to an archeological site...if the museums are open.

To finish off the dramatic story of last weeks site visit, the National Police raided the town next to mine because gun manufacturers in the town had not been complying with the new laws put in place restricting their sales. So last Wednesday when I was trying to make my way to an ATM (with my host sister) I managed to get caught up in a bit of this. The people were revolting against the National Police and were blocking roads and starting fires everywhere and the police were spraying tear gas. My first South American road block...





Here is the link to the newscast of it all. The pink arch is how I get to my town, it is up the hill and is very peaceful. Many people in La Asuncion weren´t even aware of what was going on in Chimbo that day.

We also had a bit of an earthquake on Thursday night... it was only a 4.6 to a 4.9 depending on what sources you refer too. And was about 80 km away, so we probably only felt it in the 3-4 range.

They weren´t kidding when they said that the site visit could be one of the hardest weeks of Peace Corps. It was tough...dificult to communicate and I was so far from the people who have become my support system. This new place was supposed to be my new home, but I had just started getting used to my town and people around Cayambe.

Sunday we had a nice break. Six of us took an hour bus ride and then rode in the back of a truck to high up in the mountains and hung out in some hot springs. We had fresh fruit and had some amazing vistas in the mountains. I really needed this day!





We now have two weeks of technical training where we will be in the region where we work going to other volunteer sites or other successful development sites. This should be a fun time, we will get to travel a bit and see some cool sites.

I don´t know about my internet access for the next two weeks so I will try and update as I go...

¡Adios!