Dogs!
And more…
If you know me, you know I’m lukewarm on dogs, but come on—how can you not love a dog in a shirt? It’s funny that people think the dogs will be cold. It never drops below 50 degrees, and the day can be 70 degrees.
You’ll notice that most of these dogs are just wandering around on the street. I’m only taking pictures of the ones appropriately dressed, but there are SO MANY STREET DOGS! Apparently, most of them have homes they go to at night, but their owners just let them out during the day to have at it—dodging cars, playing with their friends…seems like a good life.
The problem is that all the untended dogs do their business EVERYWHERE—especially on the sidewalks! So humans need to be constantly vigilant not to step in it. I see it as a problem, but Ecuadorians seem to roll with it. The only real solutions would be to keep the dogs under control, or have the municipality clean the streets, neither of which seem to be happening.
This, of course, is Apollo, our dog. He’s twice that size now. He stays home and is not allowed to go out into the street.
This is a brave little guy.
This guy is giving me the evil eye.
This one is sporting the team jersey for the Ecuadorian football team.
He had two shirts on.
Beyond taking photos of all the dogs, we’ve been super busy. We’re in training from 8–4 every day. The Peace Corps office is only about 2.5 miles away, but the bus commute takes about 45–50 minutes and costs 35¢. So why not walk? You have to climb a mountain and the road has no sidewalk, so it’s really not an option.
Ecuador adopted the U.S. dollar in 2000 to combat inflation that had reached 96% the year before. German told me stories of prices rising every week, one week you would get 8 pieces of bread for 1,000 Ecuadorian sucre, next week you would only get 7 for the same price. It was terrible. “Dollarization” has been very effective at curbing the inflation rate. The current rate is less than 1%.
Our Peace Corps training is a daily mix of personal safety, health care, SPANISH!, Ecuadorian culture, theories of sustainable development, workshop design methods, role plays, acronyms on top of acronyms, etc. Honestly, it feels like we’ve enrolled in a master’s program in international development. We get home exhausted every night. I’m currently freaking out because in a week I have to present a 40-minute self-esteem workshop to a class of 15-year-olds. It has to be 100% in Spanish, and I have to create all the content. Trial by fire, I guess.
We made a flank steak dinner for the fam. It was delicious, but the cut of beef was super tough. And, by the way, this is not their real kitchen, just an extra stove in a storage space behind the house. The house is pretty nice and very comfortable. Jenny and I have a queen-sized bed and our own bathroom. Some other volunteers came by and were envious of our comfortable environs.
One of our young friends has a rooftop deck where we gathered one night. It’s crazy that you can see 20,000 foot peaks from our houses.
The PC issued all the volunteers a fire extinguisher. I put it to good use by showing Zander how to open a beer bottle when you don’t have an opener. These kids have so much to learn…
This is Zander and Marlee earlier that day learning how to put out a kitchen fire should one occur.
The family took us out on an excursion to see a bit of Quito. From left: Dyana (22 and a bio-tech student), Pamala (25 and working as a clinical psychologist), sweet Jenny, German (65 and a retired architect), and Marcia (56 and our “Host Mom”). We are the 14th volunteers they have hosted.
A view of Quito which is the second highest big city in the world, behind LaPaz, Bolivia. We are almost twice as high as Denver, Co, known as the “Mile High City.”
Some of the volunteers gathered for a yoga class after sessions ended. Marlee (next to Jenny) is a certified instructor and led us all in a wonderful practice.
And finally, I took this picture to demonstrate that this country is not designed for gringos. If I stand up straight in the bathroom, this is what I see. I guess I’m not missing much…
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. Much love from Ecuador!
