I am from eight thirty bedtimes and rising with the sun. From devious little cousins and younger siblings. From fresh fruit juice, ecua-shoes, and a new system of time. From seemingly shy women and overtly forward men. From fried yucca, comidas tipicas and yogoso sabor…

30 March, 2012

My one week site visit to San Ramon De Kuyaloma got off to a slow start. The first day I sat in the office, chatted in broken Spanish to the director of the school, Fredy, and ate lunch at 10:45 am. Day two seemed it…

27 March, 2012

The house sits on wooden stilts, sunken down below the road. When we arrived it was already full of people. I didn’t know our destination until we arrived; I didn’t know our purpose until I saw the small wooden coffin. It sat atop a table…

25 January, 2012

It’s a quiet Sunday in the Andi-Cerda household. We’ve just finished lunch when I notice my host-dad Juan cutting up something brown outside.   “It’s tobacco, we’re going to mix it with water,” Irene, my host-mom, explains.   “Its part of our culture,” Juan interjects,…

02 January, 2012

11 November, 2011

The last thing I expected was bagels. I never imagined the heaven of a brunch of Jewish comfort food. But indeed I had the opportunity, along with two other Jewish fellows, to celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with the Jewish community in Quito. To…

09 November, 2011

The second week with my Napo host family has begun. My family consists of parents, Irene and Juan, and two younger siblings: one boy, Kambic, age nine, and one girl, Nina, age three. They are both rather adorable if I do say so myself.  Kambic acted…

18 October, 2011

Hello, my name is Lily Ellenberg. I have lived in Portland, Oregon my entire life (so far), and I just graduated from the Catlin Gabel School. I went to Catlin for fifteen years, the vast majority of my life thus far. Both my parents work…

28 July, 2011