Fotos

Pictures! It´s about time, eh? This is my house - a slice of the first-world amidst Arbolito´s poverty. On one hand, I am very uncomfortable living in this palace while my neighbors live in cane shacks. This hand is very heavy. On the other, much less believable hand, I understand Rostro´s philosophy that we´ll be no good out there if we´re not taking care of ourselves in here. It´s not exactly what I wanted, and was very hard to adjust after visiting the vol house at the Finca. Nonetheless, it´s my home so let´s run with it.




And my street. This is taken while standing in front of the gate (yes, it´s gated, and also guarded) around my house. If you follow this street down to the dead end that you see in the distance and turn left, you will see...

...the church, La Virgen del Perpetuo Socorro (look it up) where I sing on Sundays. You can also see the beginning of pavement in Arboito (exciting!). There are currently four-ish paved streets in our 5,000 person world. The rest are dirt and rocks. Rough on tires, but it creates amazing soccer players at a very young age.







The Arbolito community - my housemates. Another 5 live in a separate house a few miles away, but these are my Ecuadorian family. Top row: Christine Donovan (obvio), Santiago Bunce (my platonic Ecuadorian life partner and soccer star), Nate Radomski (Logistics Coordinator and surprisingly resilient victim of ambiguity), Marie Miano (gentle friend, biggest challenge, and probably our best cook), Scott Winkelmann (resident musican and reminder that life is a gift). Front row: Andrea Readhimer (house accountant and lover of lime), Patrick Cashio (Community Member Emeritus - he left on Tuesday to return to the States). I love them.




A tanquero (water truck). I´ve written about the water that gets trucked in to Arbolito. Trucks like these carry it in. In the foreground is Elkin, Nate´s adopted son who is chock full of personality, and Sonia, his mom.






The aformentioned Iris (the one who can´t do math) and me.










Some of our Semillas kids participating in a minga - a big cleaning party where we get them to pick up all the trash and give the winners bananas. Sound familiar, parents?








More to come - I love you!