Photos, stories, and experiences of a Peace Corps Natural Resources Conservation Volunteer in Ecuador.

"There is no way to peace, peace is the way."

Life of a Peace Corps Trainee

Well, I’ve been in Ecuador for almost a month and this is my first post. I am so predictable. It also doesn’t help that every free minute I have, I’ve been devoting to reading The Hunger Games series. Addicted, seriously. But anyway, life here is going good! Adjusting slowly but surely. I’ll try to give the best recap I can of what’s been going on and what my life is like here in Ecuador!

There are 37 trainees in my group, including 3 married couples. We’re a pretty diverse group, coming from all over the country (and one person from France and one from Mexico!), all different ages and all sorts of interesting backgrounds. We’re pretty evenly split into two different groups: Natural Resources Conservation (me!) and a TEFL group.

Week 1: Arrived in Quito and was quickly whisked away on bus to Tumbaco, which is about 45 minutes outside the capital and my home until April. The first two days we spent at the training center which is really nice and used to be a high school. Then we were introduced to our host families and went home to spent the entire weekend with them. There was a lot of nodding and smiling. I somehow got placed as Advanced Low for my Spanish level though, so yipee!

Week 2: Training classes from 8am-5pm everyday consisting of language, culture, technical training and various safety and security talks designed to scare the shit out of us. Oh, the medical talks are fun too. I can name some pretty scary diseases and about 50 different types of worms and amoebas now, about half of which I’m told I’ll be sure to get at some point while I’m down here. Also, switched host families, but will not go into the reasons here but I now have WIFI! So yes, no excuse for neglecting to blog. Ooops.

Week 3: More training classes and now a 20 minute bus ride from hell every morning to the training center from my new homestay. Sometimes Peace Corps takes us on little adventures too. Got pick-pocketed on a trip to Quito for a transportation safety and security lecture. Irony. Well, to be more exact, I wasn’t just pick pocketed. The thief slashed my new Columbia rain jacket and stole my cell phone and wallet (with only $5 though!) from the inside pocket I thought was so safe. Thankfully I didn’t stash my camera in there too! I didn’t feel anything and didn’t even realize what happened until I got off the bus. Sneaky, sneaky. My host mom fixed it up and now I’m the person in Ecuador walking around with a slashed pink raincoat patched up with some white lace. So stylish.

Also, gave my first charla, which is basically just a little lecture, to a group of Ecuadorian high school students and then another right after to a group of elementary school kids. My group had the topic of climate change and I have to say, it went better than I imagined. Forty-five minutes. All in Spanish, too! We were also out hoeing and digging and planting our very own organic garden in the back of the training center this week. Can’t wait to harvest our broccoli, carrots, radishes and cilantro!

This past weekend, I went to my first Ecuadorian social gathering with my host mom and sister. We drove about 3 hours into the Amazon for her niece’s wedding. Not too different from weddings in the US except: WAY longer mass, the tackier the better, lots more dancing, lots more food and lots more booze! We had to stay overnight so on the way back to Tumbaco today, we stopped at the hot springs in Papallacta! Natural, steamy hot mineral water and only an hour away. Definitely planning on going back with some trainees sometime.

Week 4: Well, week 4 will be this week and tomorrow I’m headed back to the Oriente (aka Amazon) for a week-long technical training trip with Peace Corps. They split our NRC group in two so there’s only 10 of us going to Tena. They also said where we’re going for our tech trip could be some prediction of where our site will be, so maybe I’ll end up in the jungle! The other group is going to Esmereldas province on the coast. We’re going to visit some communities focusing on eco-tourism and learning about small businesses in Ecuador so I’m very excited! Be on the lookout for some pictures!

Random tidbits of life in Ecuador:

  • My life flashes before my eyes on every bus ride back and forth from the training center. Imagine a clown car stuffed to max capacity, but in bus form and speeding down dirt roads, sometimes with the doors open. It’s the ab/arm workout of a lifetime to hold on the whole time and not fall over.
  • Camel toes and visible panty lines are not fashion faux pas for Ecuadorian women.
  • Rice is served with every meal, no questions asked. Usually with one or two other carbs. Mostly potatoes.
  • Bread is super cheap and very delicious.
  • There are about 50 different kinds of fruit that I didn’t even know existed. They all taste delicious in juice form.
  • Answering your phone no matter where you are is socially acceptable. This includes meetings, church, weddings, etc.
  • Alcohol is mandatory at every social gathering. Yes, of course you need whiskey at children’s birthday parties and baptisms! It’s usually poured from the bottle into one tiny shared cup and it gets passed around as everyone at the party takes turns taking a shot of whiskey/moonshine/beer out of this same plastic cup.
  1. hannahrae- reblogged this from sarahreichle and added:
    GOD I’d love this.
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