Quick News Update

Things are getting busier, and I’m starting to feel settled in Amaguaña. The chance to start a project is also becoming more of a reality as I continue to meet more and more people in various communities. I have a couple of dates down to work with several small-scale farmers in San Antonio de Pasachoa (up on the mountain), and I was able to get a meeting for tomorrow with some folks from the municipal government who, like me, want to get some bee projects going in Recinto de Pasachoa (also on the mountain). So, more or less things are moving along, slowly but steadily. Patience and humility are important virtues for the volunteer. Also, if you smile a lot and make fun of yourself, man, people warm up real fast.

On the 28^th my supervisor from the PC Office in Quito comes down the Pan-American highway to visit my site and to make sure everything’s kosher in Amaguaña. Since all is well here, the visit will be more of a formality than anything else. But it’s also my chance to get housing approved so I can move into my own apartment. I started looking for a spot yesterday and found a really promising house in a family compound next to the house of an elderly couple. It’s in the center of town and doesn’t have a space for gardening, but other than that it’s really nice – clean, big, safe, quiet. Also, I got the monthly rent dropped significantly. I didn’t know it, but apparently I’m a good negotiator. Or, maybe it’s just that I’m not allowed to pay more than $80 per month in rent, so the fact that I couldn’t go above that helped me get the landlady, Anita, down to $80 from $120. She said it was because I’m in Peace Corps. Cool.

Things like finding an apartment are helping me see myself here over the next 22 months (no worries, I’m not counting down). It’s part of the place-making, sending-out-roots process. I’m like a plantula (¨seedling¨ – a maple or oak, maybe? Definitively not eucalyptus) who’s been transplanted and whose roots are getting used to the new soil. It’s an uncomfortable process, but it’s starting to feel better, little by little.