I had to take 2 busses for an hour to get to a computer to write this blog; enjoy ;)

"Change starts with the man in the mirror" Lil Wayne

I have left the comforts of home for the unknowns of Peace Corps. Peace Corps is in 78 countries out of those countries I was given the assignment of Ecuador. Once I arrived in Ecuador I was told that I would be going to Los Caras, Manabi. A very poor and dry town. Why was I put here of all places? I am not sure but its what I am trying to figure out. My reasons for joining Peace Corps were simple. The first was to experience the world before I got held down by a mortgage, a baby mama and crying children. The second was to do some good in the world. I have looked at my community and see that there is a lot of need there. There are no jobs, there is no water and on some days it is an inferno of heat. I looked around talked to the people and figured out that there are 3 areas I can work on to improve my community.

The first is water. A life with out water is very difficult. In the states I took it for granted just open the tap and clean potable water came out. Here water comes every 2 weeks and the quality is not fit for human consumption. I have not started but I would like to implement more storage tanks in my community. I would also like to promote the use of drip irigation in my community for small scale gardens. I am currently in the process of building such a garden in my own backyard to serve as an example. A small vegetable garden with this system can provide food for a family of four.

 An example of the type of drip irigation system that I am planning to start in my community

My second goal is to provide jobs in my community. In order to do so I started a soymilk and soymeat business. I currently have 7 women on board the project, a factory (in my basement), soy processing machinery and a market in Bahia de Caraquez a turisty beach town. I am also in the process of finding a couple of sales people to market the product. This is what I have been the most involved with at my site. Sometimes it is frustrating because the women have never started a business before. They are very good at the manual labor part of it but lack in the other aspects of running a business. They dont have much self initiative and expect me to do most of the work. It is a constant battle but I think we are doing very good for the short time that we have been producing.

Besides the soymilk project I am in the works of starting another project. The drip irigation systems that I mentioned earlier. I would like to start a business marketing these systems. Create a local economy of selling these systems to others in the community. I would first make my own system see how it goes and then train a couple of local men on how to install and market the system. This would create a couple of jobs, promote familly garden which would improve nutrition and be an effective way to use water. I think these systems would be very popular in my area. I want to start an industry out of it because if people see that this would be a viable business then they would promote it themselves and would become a sustainable project long after I am gone.

My third goal would be to teach the local children about environmental conservation. In order to do so I have been teaching at the local school once a week. I talk to them about the ecosystem and have been taking them to a tree nursery to make things such as compost, fertilizers and making gardens. I also have a couple of field trips planned out so they can see some natural parks and learn about the environment. In the rainy season I would like to reforest with the kids. I am not an expert in this area but would like to learn more so I can pass on some knowledge. There are very few positive role models in my community and I would like to be one of them. Once a week I do math and english tutoring.

Other future plans include starting a community bank and making a school cafeteria.

I will admit that I am not always happy at my site. The poverty can be overwhelming, alcoholism is high, water is scarce, the heat is intense, the mountains around me are deforested instead they have been replaced with rows of corn. The corn is brown and for the most part has failed because of a poor rainy season. The people are extremely critical of each other and there is much to be desired in terms of community unity. It will not rain untill December and the roads are very dusty. Flys are sometimes a major problem. Sometimes you have to swoosh flys with one hand and eat with the other. I have had desires to run away sometimes go back to the comforts of home. Or try to move to one of the nicer places in Ecuador where the pastures are much greener literally. I have been to other sites of Peace Corps volunteers and they are paradise compared to my site. I constantly have an internal struggle with this. However I believe that it was my destiny to come to this community and I have to serve my term here. If I quit on my community I believe that it will haunt me for a very long time. My community can use somebody like me. I feel like I am needed here. I would probably be much happier somewhere else but I need to be true to myself and face challenges head on.

Not every thing is bad at my site there are a lot of good things and there are some very good people there. I love the fact that I get to set my own pace, have no boss and get to work on whatever project interest me.  I do get to explore other parts of Ecuador pretty often. I have made some great friends and have a beautifull novia that keeps me sane. I miss my family dearly and am extremely excited that my mom and little brother will be visiting me in September.

One love

Luis Olguin (cuerpo de paz)
Casilla 13-02-19
Bahia de Caraquez,
Manabi Ecuador





If you send a package
- Keep under 4 pounds
-Don't declare a value (NDV or "No Declared Value") and if the post officer won´t let you, write no more than $1. very important

Dam its been 6 months in Ecuador and I still dont love rice

Wow August 1, 2011 that means I have been here in Ecuador for about 6 months now. It has been quite an experience. The first 3 months were Peace Corps training and the rest have been at my site. I work in my community and try to start projects. Doing anything here is of a different mentality. I am Spanish by heritage but have been raised all of my life inside the USA. There is some culture shock and it makes me realize how similar but different we really are. For example in sports, in America we are used to playing sports for fun. We work out for exercise and mental health. In this country sports are for gambling. All sports from the national soccer team to children’s soccer games. The bets range from 300 dollars to buying the next bottle of soda. But they always bet. There is no sportsmanship when there is always money on the line. Sports lose their pureness. If you are not playing for money then what is the point. The custom starts from very young I see 7 year old betting on soccer games even if it’s only for the 25 cents in their pockets. If I want to play soccer in my game I have to put in a dollar for the privilege no matter the game. If I win I get 2 dollars. I miss sports in the states.

So what do I miss from the states? The biggest one is of course my family but the small stuff. Food variety is not common here. There is only Ecuadorian food. In America we are spoiled we can go out on a Friday and find a wide variety of foods from Greek, Mexican, Thai, fast food, Italian, Indian. Here today you will be served Ecuadorian food and tomorrow as well. For the most part that consists of rice, plantains and chicken or fish. It has been growing on me but it’s hard to eat tons of rice every single day. I try to eat as much vegetables as I can but it’s not easy. I have to go a 45 minutes on a bus to the next town in order to buy groceries. I am limited by the amount I can carry in my backpack. It is quite cheap though. You can get 15 oranges for a dollar, bananas are .5 a piece, a head of broccoli is .50 cents, and tomatoes are 10 for a dollar. Food is amazingly cheap but some things are ridiculously expensive photos processing is .50 cents a photo, a fax is .60 cents a page. Everything electronic is really expensive. If a camera costs 100 dollars in the states here it is 220. Blenders can cost 65 dollars. These articles must be really hard to acquire for somebody from my area. The average salary is 7 dollars a day for a field worker in my community. Life is hard here.

I am somewhat living a hard life but it’s not that bad. The walls in my house are made out of bamboo and my roof is nothing but a piece of zinc tied with some wires. The frame was made from local trees in the area. I have a light bulb, a portable stove and most impresingly a really good refrigerator. It is hot as hell here and I don’t have any air conditioning. Not that a bamboo house can with hold air conditioning. I have a bed the mattress sucks it’s pretty old and has very little padding. I have to sleep with a mosquito net of course. I don’t get paid much at all, it’s just a little stipend for rent, food, bus fare, etc., but I’m really well of compared to my neighbors. I at least have a steady income every month. Even if they work they probably make about as much as I do but they have to support a pretty big family. I on the hand only have to support myself. This gives me the luxury of being able to leave my site and get to see the wonders of Ecuador. Ecuador is amazing country there is everything here. Mountains, jungles and beaches are part of the terrain. The biodiversity is amazing. This past weekend I was able to visit this city called Puerto Lopez. There I went on a boat ride to this island and on the way we saw humpback whales. I saw a whole bunch of whales at least 10 of them. The male whales were doing their courtship by jumping out of the water, waving their fins and smacking their tails on the water. It was an amazing display. I also witnessed a huge seal, 4 green sea turtles and amazing sea birds.  I would have enjoyed it more if I did not get super sea sick. I think I threw up like 4 times. The funniest thing is on the way back I was quite happy that I had not thrown up yet but when we were right about to reach land I could not hold it and yakked my lunch in to the sea for the fishies to eat.

There are tons of beautiful places to explore in Ecuador. I usually try to leave my site on the weekends to go see different places. Well in order to integrate into your community you are recommended to stay there as much as possible, so I try to balance it out but it can be hard though. The site that I live at does not have much to do so I get restless to leave on the weekends. I make it a goal to only leave on the weekends and not every weekend.

Being in Peace Corps for me is an emotional roller coaster for sure. Sometimes I feel really happy and other times I am really low. At times I have told myself that I want to quit or move somewhere else but I have not. Life can be frustrating here at times. Even though Ecuador has some amazing places I would not consider my site to be one of them. There is no water here so everything is pretty dry. I am surrounded by deforested hills covered with dead corn. I am ambitious and would like to do many things but progress can be very slow. There are lots of frustrations. I expect a lot out of myself and of those around me. I am a perseverant person and am always striving to do my best and help others. I am one of the few here that have that mentality. Many people here are very self interested and do not care about doing community projects or helping others. Sometimes there is not much to do and I miss a lot from home. I am pretty disconnected from the world there is no internet where I live, there is barely cell phone reception.  Boredom and loneliness are a bad combination. It’s funny how you can have some of the worst days of your life followed by some of the best days of your life. I feel myself growing as a person haha or maybe I’m just growing old.

What would make my stay here better? I think stayng more in contact with people would make it better for me. I try to write letters to people back home. In fact I am trying to write more letters so if you send me your address I will write you a letter from Ecuador or send a postcard. We can become penpalls. Happiness is getting a letter in the mail.  I would love to get in touch with old friends especially those I have not talked to in a while. 

My address is:

Luis Olguin (Cuerpo de Paz)

Casilla 13-02-19

Bahía de Caraquez,

Manabí Ecuador

Well good night to my followers

Sincerely,

Luis

2 months in peace corps and all i have to show for it is amaebas

Hello my Americanos back home,

wow it has been 2 months already since I first arrived in Ecuador. Im sorry for those out there that have been asking me to update my blog more often, I have been pretty busy but I will make a greater effort to keep my blog more updated.

The question I get so far is what is it like beign in the Peace Corps. So far its been good. I am still in training so im learning cool things like how to install an irrigation system,  how to design a tilapia farm, and other technical subjects. The other part of training is pretty bland, learning PC regulations, safety/security, medical, how to integrate into my community, culture. The engineer in me can not stand some of these fluff classes and the problem is most of it is fluff classes. My one complaint is that I wish I had more technical training. A lot of the training I believe is about feeling us out to see how we are going to do living on our own in poverty in a diffrent country. My schedule is Monday through Saturday training and ill usually go out on saturday night followed by spending time with my host families on sunday. Usually it involves going to a family members house and doing a big food with everibody reunited.

I am currently in the capital city Quito but I finnally found out where I am going to be serving the next 2 years. The community is called Los Caras it is located on the coastal part of Ecuador. (Ecuador is devided into 3 parts Coast, Sierra and the Orient aka the jungle). My site is located 30 minutes from Bahia de Caraquez a turisty beach town I would describe it like a little Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Bahia is super beautifull nice beaches, surfing, fine restaurants, very nice infrastructure. My site Los Caras is very diffrent from that it is really small town that is almost 100% based on agriculture. It is really beautifull there im sorrounded by nature and it is a really calm place there is virtually no crime there, very little or no drug use maybe a little bit of alcoholism but not to bad. The people are really nice and everibody knows each other, people are very social there and they wave at every car that passes bye. They also spend a lot of time socializing with each other its a major diffrence from the States where many times neighbors do not even know each others names. I really like the people there it had a very good community vibe.

So what will I be doing at this site for the next 2 years? The area where Los Caras is located is very dry it only rains about 3 to 4 months a year. Which means that the farmers can only grow crops during this short window of time. The rest of the year there is not much employment so people have to migrate to other parts in order to find employment. What my community is requesting is to build an irrigation channel that would come from 15 km away over hilly terrain. This channel would serve four communities approximately 1300 people and would greatly improve the agricultural output of the area. The project is very costly and would cost approximately $4,000,000 dollars to construct. My role would be to organize these communities in order to get the project passed I would also be doing a lot of networking among engineers, government officials and community leaders. I would also promote water saving irrigation practices, water conservation and the use of organic fertilizers. It should be a very interesting, exciting and challenging project.

 I will be moving to Los Caras on April 21st after my graduation from training. Lets see what the future brings.

Buenas Noches

Reflections of my first week here

Wow it has been a week since I have been in Ecuador. Right now I am currently going through my training which will encompass 3 months. This training focuses on safety, training, health and technical. Our group is divided into two group the Natural Resource Conservation and Agriculture. I am in the Agriculture sector and will likely be working in irrigation system design or possibly rain water harvesting since I have a background in water. The way that peace corps works is that you are placed into a poor community and you use your knowledge to aid in the development of the region. You try to focus your project on education or if money is involved make sure that the community has a stake in it. This will guarantee that your community will embrace more of your ideas. It is important that your development not be categorized as welfare. You want to give them the knowledge, leadership and motivation on how they can improve their lives. It can be damaging to a community to simply receive hand outs from an outside government.

The highlight of this week was visiting an organic farm. I had never really been interested in the organic label but after visiting this farm the practices had a deep impact on me. I now now feel that traditional farming has been going in the wrong direction. The farm focused on symbiotic relationships or a relationship between two distinct species that work in unison for their mutual benefit. For example traditional farming focuses on killing all insects regardless of type with chemicals, making the soil richer with the use of chemical fertilizers, and also killing all the weeds. The organic farming practices looked as weeds and insects as a useful tool in the growing of crops. Weeds left next to your crop will serve to put carbon back in to your crops. Trees left on the perimeter of your field will attract birds that will eat insects. Wildflowers near your crops will attract bees and other types of fliying insects that attack larvae on crops. Planting basil on the foot of a tomato plant will ward away many pest. The main focus was on how the most important element in organic farming was keeping the microorganism's happy so they can do the work of breaking down organic matter. It was very basic the happier your microorganism's are the more fertile your soil will be.The importance of microorganism's reminded me of their roll in waste water treatment and how maintaining their health was crucial for effective treatment. Here are some pictures:

Otro dia

Another day of training. I think I'm going to make some leg muscles pretty quick because I have to walk everywhere. Here are some pics:

 This cute little critter is getting fatened up so he can be the next meal: guinea pigs are a delicacy in Ecuador

 Translated: I hire alcoholics for parties

 Simon the family pet bull

 Aguacates these are every where

 This is my host family's dog. The thing is a beast and it constantly wants to jump on me. Down boy down

Translated: I will make babies and even come to your house.

Arrival

Hello world,

i am writing this blog to share my experience in the Peace Corps. It seems  like a very common thing to do for Peace Corps volunteers and I have been getting many request from girls to start a blog, well not many girls, ok its just one girl, fine its just my mom. I will try my best to keep you updated on my life out here in Ecuador.

I have been here a little less than a week and am currently living in Tumbaco a province of the capital Quito. It is probably a 45 minute bus ride to the capital. Hereis the location on google map, Tumbaco. It is kind of a small town in the middle of the mountains, actually it is really high up in the mountains. I am staying with a great host family that have treated me very good and will be with them for 3 months at least till my training is over. From there I will be given a project and will be moved out to another site. Ecuador is a really beutifull country and I am really glad to be here. Ive been trying all sorts of new foods and fruits. The fruits here are truly amazing none of that crappy over priced fruits you get at you local publix. Everything is so cheap and incredibly good. Pics to come up soon.