Not Just Boob Sweat

Big news! For the next 2 years i am going to be living next to the beach! Sweating! Last sunday i got on my first bus and then a taxi and then another bus and then another bus and then in a truck and i arrived at my new site, 12 hours later and boy it was hot. Apparently it is the hotest months right now, what i good time to meet new people. I felt so bad as i introduced myself as this eager new volunteer with beads of sweat rolling down my face, pools of wet spots creating themselves underneath my boobs aparent from the outside and whats even worse is pools of sweat between my legs and my butt giving me the apperance that i had just wet my pants.

i wish i was exaggerating but i am not :(
I cant even imagine what they thought of me, not only am i sasquatch height but an extensivley sweating sasquatch at that. And then they started to talk to me which made me even more nervous and if you can believe it i starting sweating more. I pretty much was a human slip and slide, but its ok, take a sigh of relief becuase aparently i am cool enough to make friends even when dripping on people! SO yeah my town is hot.

Now less about me and more about this new town. I have two counterparts who requested me they are a married couple, the wife Aleida is 61 and the becon of femonizim i have always wanted to be. She says that there are only 2 things men have advantage over women, that is one, they can physically lift heavier things and secondly they can pee wherever they want (which really comes in handy in a third world country) i love her! Anyway her husband, Gonzalo, is 71 and originally from ecuador but spent many years in NYC where he met Alieda. Alieda is Cuban American and escaped the Castro situation with her parents when she was 12. She has probably the coolest story, which i can understand, becuase she speaks ENGLISH!!! BUt yeah so fast forward a bunch of years after college and kids and careers, Gonzalo and Alieda end up on the coast of ecuador having very successful lives and wanting to do more. They realized the nearby town has like 3 families for every single unit house so they decided, with the help of a rotary club and volunteers, to build a community of 50 houses. Now they help run this little town with no name of 250 people by setting up a sponshership program in the US to give the `kids school shoes, uniforms, materials, and breakfast. They also remade a local high school that was in shambles and really outstreach everything they can to help. They asked for me to come and aid them in this by living in the community and educating in hygiene, nutrition, environment and sexual health.

Here comes the pit fall.... this ridiculously poor little community was built in the desert about 2 km from the beach. With no resorces and ground that feels like cement. I am a natural resource volunteer and am supposed to be helping in such areas but this town has NOTHING!!! So if anyone knows anything about the dessert and what can be grown or how to make compost in a hot dry environment my ears are open. I was sure handed an awesome town, with the nicest people and the cutest kids who hug and kiss sweaty old me, but i dont know how to help with the lack of resources.

i have hope though. At least i can start with the sex ed and hygiene while i am trying to conjur a way for this town to make more money. But anywho i am at the BEACH!!! And i get to play Oprah, like give kids new shoes, Oprah. Pretty sweet.

So while i was at this town,which they call the village, i made some friends between the ages of 13 and 19. We played volleyball, soccer, went swimming and DANCED! Well actually, they brought me into the community center and put on rhianna "Umbrella" and as i started to sing to the tune they all looked at me, stared at me.. i was like yeah lets dance, but their idea was more like, let watch the gringa dance.... so i did. I just started to bust my moves with rhianna as my inspiration as i whaled my arms and snapped and grooved all by myself. Surprisingly THEY LOVED IT! They think i am a great dancer and told me all the other americans just jump and its silly. I was kinda hoping to give the other impression so i would not have to dance again but i dont think i will be in luck. SO then they next night they wanted to hear me sing some more and sat in a circle around me, gave me an ipod, put on umbrella again, and just waited for me to start belting it out.... so i did. Surprised once again they LOVED IT, gave me an ovation and just wanted to hear more. so pretty much i am brittany spears.

I would just like all of you right now and try to imagine yourself on a pourch, surrounded by 10 kids ranging in ages, a mom and a dad in the house who dont know you and then singing, as loud and stupid as you can, and them appreciating it.... i really do like this country, if only as a way to raise my self esteem hahaha. I was laughing so hard and of course sweating.

Thats my town, in all it glory, and maybe one day if you visit i will have them all sing you umbrella with a coreographed dance by me!