one month

Yesterday JUCONI had a graduation for 13 families that have been in the program for between 3 and 5 years. The differences in the families is very positive. The adolescents better know their self worth and have a determination to continue improving life for their families and communities...at least I´m pretty sure that´s what they were saying. At the end, the staff passed out glasses of sparkling cyder...so I thought. Then I remembered-"I´m not in Utah!" I skipped the champagne. This is a picture with some little friends. ¡Te amo!

lets go to the mountains!

Friday I got to go out of the city for my first time: so beautiful! There are farms on the steep mountainsides and cows grazing that think they are mountain goats. The funny part was that my traveling companions were 4 old women. The oldest was about 85. What do you do with old Ecuadorian women in the mountains? ...ride in the back of a truck soaking wet and shivering for 2 hours!

isla trinitaria

One of the areas that I make visits in is called Isla Trinitaria. A unique thing about this area is that for lack of land many people live in houses on stilts above the river water/mud. I wanted to take some pictures of the sketcy wooden bridges that are built connecting the houses, but my co-worker said no way...except in Spanish. I had to wait until I was inside before taking my camera out of my bag because it wouldn´t be safe for us if people saw it.

vamos a la playa...

hi! i will be your kitchen for the next 4 months....what the heck were you thinking! Yep! i´ve been here in Guayaquil, Ecuador for 3 weeks now, what a different world! i´m really grateful for all of the support people have given me in coming here; wow!


no playa...well, the holy santos will protect me!