the women bought traditional necklaces in otovalo to wear at swearing in. with necklaces - ann, lisa (in front) aquila, mo, sarah, shelley, katie s., gabby, erin. april 5th, 08
jacob and kate h. at chris g.'s bday party. april 12. cayambe, ec.
katie s. and lesley
bridget, clay and chris g (bday boy)
matt r and arden. lesley and andy in back.
a lot of katie j.
matt b, chris g and jason
gabby with chris g's ecua-parents.
clay, arden, katie j and lesley
chris g. posing like dad in front of tacky cartoon poster that decorated his room in cayambe.
katie j and arden - singing
matt b and jota
matt r, kate h, bridget and katie s
gabby and matt r
after the party we went to an all night baptism party in matt b's hometown of ayora. matt's here with an aunt (i think) and gramma.
grampa and grandson.
april 13th was the 'thank you' party for all the trainees' parents and family. lots of people and food.
my table with mom (sñra lucia) and nieces. roasted pig and hominee (white corn) were the menu.
ryan dances
craig and ryan dance
we went to quito for a couple days to finalize the training and april 17th was swearing in. kate h and matt r at swearing in at the ambassador's home.
marcie and kelly. marcie wrote and sang a song about our training class (omnibus 99!) http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=660085920447&oid=9079547086. hope u can see it from the link
lesley and me at swearing in
marcie, kelly, bridget, mo and sarah
me at ambassador's home with sprawling, manicured lawn that overlooked a valley and mt. cayambe
quito roommates lesley and lisa
night of swearing in we rented a big party bus that roams the city of quito for 2hrs. it comes complete with live band and chicha (hot totty). lesley, sax player, jota
lesley and the band. they played 1 loop the whole night
lauren, katie j and ryan
kelly in front, shelley, chris g, clay, andy
ryan, me, katie j and lauren
ryan, katie j and lauren
mike c, and matt b. mike c was a volunteer in honduras a few years ago. he's back for more volunteer fun in ecuador with his wife mary.
kate a and mike c
matt r
marcie and kelly
ryan and lauren
bikers in quito
fred
me and sarah
cymbalist
quito streets
plaza san francisco - http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/06-08/if-these-walls-could-talk-iglesia-de-san-francisco-witness-to-history-quito-ecuador.html
we also rented a bar for the night. they went all out on the signage
chris c. yow-zah
chris c and kenji
marcie, aquila, kelly and chris g
andy
andy shooting. marcy and chris c in background
andy and shelley
a happy ryan. for family back home - he looks and acts a bit like gary drake.
ryan and matt b
i arrived to riobamba on april 19th. happy 30th to me. the city celebrated my birthday and arrival with a 5-hr long parade.
spectators
traditional masks, though i don't know from what tradition or if they are from ecuador...
my new bff, lauren. she's another volunteer in the area (community - capulispungo). capulispungo is about 100 people strong and freezing, so riobamba is often her weekend reprieve
i live with 1 guy in a big house in riobamba. he HAD a rabbit that lived in the small courtyard outside my room and 'bunny' would visit my window, but as of a week ago bunny passed away :(
