Let´s get some guinea pig

¡Hola todos!

I am in Ayora, my training site, and it is absolutely gorgeous. I am surrounded completely by mountains, the largest being Cayambe, where on a clear day you can see the snow-capped top. It is incredible. I still can´t believe I am here!

My host family is amazing and I feel very fortunate to have landed with them. They are actually the only family out of the whole group to have not hosted a PCV before. The parents, Sonia and Juan, own a flower shop in Cayambe. Both are incredibly hard-working people who love each other very much and it´s awesome to see that. They have two daughters, Jazmin, 12, and Ginger, 10. The girls are awesome and love talking to me and playing Uno with me. They just finished school on Tuesday and are on vacation until the middle of September. Jazmin taught me some dances last night and we watched some of her Reggeaton DVDs, too.

So far the food had been great and I haven´t gotten sick (knock on wood). Last night was my padre´s fiesta del santo (Saint´s Day) and so we had a little party. The girls and I were watching the music DVD and heard them coming so we were running throughout their house turning off lights and getting ready to surprise him. It was so adorable how excited they were! Then we surprised him with poppers and it was the start of an interesting night. The main dish, as it was a special occasion, was cuy (kwee) which is guinea pig. It was crazy because you could totally see the head of the guinea pig (which is considered the best part along with the toes). I got a leg....very interesting taste. It was like chicken but a lot tougher and a lot saltier. Don´t know if I would order it again....

As far as training goes, we have been in classes most of the day. Monday, Wednesday, Friday being with just the two other girls in my community and that consists of language and culture sessions. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays, all 32 of us meet in my town of Ayora for general and technical sessions. It was great seeing everyone yesterday and comparing stories about our families and towns. Some people are as far as 1-1.5 hour away by bus.

Last night some of us walked the others home to the neighboring town of Paquistancia and that was an incredible walk. The mountains were gorgeous and it had rained all day so everything was so green. Took a lot of pictures and talked with locals along the way. We are definitely in the campo (fields/farms)! Even though it took us an hour, it was well worth the time and exercise.

So far we´ve tried to make ourselves known throughout the community by talking with officials, touring schools, and touring hospitals/clinics. It´s really interesting to see how these organizations function and to try figure how we are going to implement programs into our own communities. I feel like I have learned so much and it´s only been the first week. Ay yi yi!