Projects

The last week and a half have been interesting because it seems that everyone now wants to start a project with me. As I mentioned before, the bank group wanted to do something with me. We had another meeting (this time with only 12 people) and it went better. We settled on doing a chicken project. A lot of people already have chickens here, but they are mixed or creole breeds that don´t produce much. The creole breeds are very hearty though and are able to live outside people´s houses off bugs, worms, and a little grain given them by their owners. Our project idea is to build a large

building with space for the chickens, coops, and storage for the feed that we will need to give the ore delicate "Pure-Breed" chickens. Our next step is to find a location that works for everyone and then begin writing the proposal in Spanish.

Also, at the High School, two teachers asked me last week why I wasn´t working with them on their project. They made it sound like I was being lazy. This pissed me off, so I told them that they had all the paperwork that we need to complete on the school´s computer for months, but they hadn´t even read it. They claimed that they didn´t know that the files were there, but I explained that two other teachers were with me when I downloaded it. I also, told them that another teacher had told me that they didn´t want to start the project, because they didn´t know what was going to happen to the school after the new constitution was finished (apparently there is some talk of school closing and combination). The teachers acted surprised about this and said that they´d talk to the teacher who told me that. Then, another teacher came in and said that I spent more time at the grade school and that I liked them better. I then told the , sarcastically, "When you spend three weeks practicing for programs, what am I supposed to do?". They then dropped the subject and haven´t asked again about the project. I´ve pretty much given up on working with them.

Finally, one of the police officers who started working in La Libertad about three months ago asked me if I could help him and the Grower´s Association he is a part of with a project. I asked, what is the project? He said that they didn´t know, but they wanted to do a project with me. I knew what they really wanted...free money. I told him I´d see what I could do. Since he lives about an hour away from me, I told him later that my boss said I couldn´t help. (I never actually talked to my boss, but I imagine that´s what he would say, and it is always better to put the blame on someone in Quito. Especially when your dealing with your town´s cop.) Instead, I´m going to get them and help them complete the paperwork to request and PCV to live and work there. I actually think that it would me a good site because it is a bigger and warmer town with an existing agricultural organization.

Last week, one of my friend stayed in La Libertad for a night. He had a friend flying into Quito and didn´t want to pay for a hotel. I was glad for the company, and the weather was clear, so I got to show him around town for a look at the mountains. I don´t know why, but every time somebody comes to visit, the weather gets better.

This week I was also able to get some work done on my garden (I´m growing Brocolli now) and do some more computer work. Next week, my neighbors are Baptizing their two youngest daughters. I helped Carlos print out the invitations on his computer. He wanted to put a picture of his middel daughter on the invitation, but in the background of the picture there were other kids. He didn´t like that, so I spent an hour or so "PhotoShopping" out the offending kids. It turned out nice, and Carlos and Sara were impressed. Unfortunately, when we printed out the invitations, after two or three, the print cartridge ran out of yellow ink. The invitations looked crappy, but they needed to go out the next day. So much for my work.

I hear that Ecuador has been getting some press over the Ecuador/Columbia border situation. If you don´t know, basically Columbian forces probbed 1 mile into Ecuadorian teritory last weekend to kill some members of FARC (Columbian Armed Revolutionary Forces - A marxist guerrilla group) who were hiding in Ecuador. Columbia almost immediately apoligized and said that the forces didn´t know that they were in Ecuador (yeah, right). Ecuador and Venezuela then started to mobolize their forces to the Columbian border to defend against Columbian agression. Some people were saying that it could lead to war, but I didn´t think that it would amount to much. Peace Corps HQ didn´t even issue a warning, and they warn us about everything. Last Friday, at a big meeting of Latin American Presidents, everything got worked out and the "crisis" is over. In the end, all that happened is that a handfull of drug-running communist terrorists were killed by Columbia while somehow living safely in Ecuador.

Soccer update: We´ve played two more games since my last post and we are 1-0-1. I played both second halves and gave up one more goal (a high arcing shot of my defenseman´s head that I didn´t even see because of the sun...excuses, excuses)