Bob Esponga (Sponge Bob)

I finally got a horse!!! I am soo excited about this. In Ecuador the going rate for a mountin pony is around 200 dollars. I will be quick to explain this is not the type of horse we are used to in the States. It is a little smidgeon of a thing - but is very strong. The horses in Ecuador are used mainly as pack horses and can carry surprising amounts of rice and corn - in this way they are similiar to ants. The name of my horse is Sponge Bob or Bob Esponga. I will put up pictures in two weeks - the next time I will be coming into town.

Everything is going great. My main project this week will be planting a garden. This garden is actually for me, but my hope is to use all organic practices and use it as a template garden for others in the area. My counterpart´s papa thought I was crazy for not wanting to kill the weeds and pests with wonderful chemicals! In training we learned some really cool ways to plant different crops together to minimize bugs as well as different home remedy´s we can make using chili and soap to kill the pest- who knew?

Now I will tell you all the story of the Riobamban Train.

This weekend I was in Riobamba for a meeting. And since we were up there Chandi, another volunteer, and I decided to take the Gringo train in Riobamba, which is a site seeing train the runs towards Cuenca, where I needed to end up anyways. Well we are chugging along, I will take this moment to mention everyone rides on top of the trian to better view the scenerey and wave to indigenous children as the train meanders through the sierran mountain range. So, we were sitting on top all of us a little grey, from the wind blowing up ash that was deposited on the ground from the recent volcano eruption, we were all having a great time in spite of the cold and the ash. When we were crossing a road and whack a nice Honda SUV smacks the train. Thank goodness both the people in the car were fine. The train had no damage, but the car was totalled. I still can´t understand what happened and how the guy driving didn´t see the train. Well, in the choas after the accident the driver of the train takes off. Rumors swarmed amongst the passengers, some of the better ones were that the driver of the train was drunk, a very unsettling thought and also that he had been arrested 4 months before for a similar accident. Nevertheless whatever the truth was the driver was scared about being arrested and se fue (he took off)! We sat at the spot of the accident for about 3 hours and finally they called another train conductor from the nearest city and we finished our train excursion. I finally arrived in Cuenca, after transferring to a bus 12 hours after getting on the train. It was a very long day.

If anyone is wondering what daft really means! I choose definition number 1 when choosing the name for my blog. Allthough the commoner definition might be number 2.

daft (dft) adj. daft·er, daft·est
1. Mad; crazy.
2. Foolish; stupid.
3. Scots Frolicsome

Hello All,

As I sit here, I try to think of some interesting stories or antidotes to make those of you living in the developed world smile and wistfully wonder what it would be like to be living the simple life of a Peace Corps Volunteer, nothing comes to mind. I would like to regale you with stories of eating strange things in the jungle or hiking mountains. But, right now the interesting thing that has happened in the last week is:

I ate a Chiremoya yesterday, it is a green fruit that is sort of custardy on the inside - it is really good and one of my favorite fruits, well the inside is white and so are the tinsy tiny worms that like to make their home in the fruit of the Chiremoya. Only after eating about half the fruit did I realize the tickling sensations on my tongue is not the normal texture of the chiremoya and yes, upon further inspection I became slightly horrified and nauseous.

Yes, this is kinda disgusting, but all in all it was a healthy meal as I do feel my diet is lacking in protien. Whatever this blog just keeps getting worse and worse. I promise to do better for those of you that are actually following my postings. For now Ciao.