The old cliché tells us that a picture is worth a thousand words. As painful as it is to hear this trite little expression, I think that it holds true. As such, I thought that for my last blog post of the program cycle I would throw together a little gallery of some of my…

01 July, 2014

“Today, we’re going closer to heaven” Those were the words my friend Adela greeted me with yesterday. She and her husband had invited me to dig up the potatoes we planted together in some of my first weeks on their farm in the neighboring town of Susutul. Together with an army of in-laws we embarked…

09 May, 2014

For the past three months I have been living in La Victoria de Pusuca, a town of thirteen families about an hour outside of the city of Riobamba. In this tiny town, I’ve come to make up exactly one half of one tiny family. I spend almost every waking hour of my life with my host mom, Charito….

14 February, 2014

Like any major city in the states, Riobamba is crawling with public transport. The fleet of big blue busses spewing out clouds of black smoke, a smattering of less than reputable gypsy cabs, and of course, the omnipresent yellow taxi. It was a crisp Riobamba evening when I flagged one down to bear me to…

11 January, 2014

I could see my breath as I began the descent. Hand, hand, foot, foot, I cautiously lowered myself down, seeking out holds as if my life depended on it. This was the Pass of Death after all. About forty minutes prior, a fellow Fellow and I had ran into a group of Quito (the capital…

29 October, 2013

I am a born procrastinator. Projects are saved for the last minute, homework left untouched until sunday night, even this post was pushed back until mere hours before fall training. That is not however, how I feel about my upcoming bridge year. This isn’t some elaborate plot to escape the threat of summer reading, nor…

29 August, 2013