Back to Bloggin'

I think the last time I posted it was maybe two weeks ago --- but I have good excuses for the writing lapse. For one, my brother, John, visited me in Ecuador on his spring break from law school and we traveled around together for the week. We spent a couple days in Quito (seeing the sights...churches, miradores, markets, etc.), then continued on to Mindo (a beautiful little town in the cloud forest where we stayed at a beautiful eco-lodge...unfortunately we got VERY sick...I am not going to go into details, trust me, it is for your best interest). After a seven hour bus journey on "recovering" stomachs (to say the least) we made it to my "hometown" of Baños (gracias a dios) and enjoyed having some time to regain our energies...we ended up doing a go-kart tour of the waterfalls around the area, going on a hike, visiting the mountain town where I teach, and much more! Overall we had a great trip and I was so glad to have had a miembro de mi fam to share my new home with! John and I traveled back to the U.S. together (or rather we left the airport the same night), which leads me to my second excuse for not blogging recently -- I have been at home for the past week and a half! And believe me, as much as I love Grand Rapids, I can't say that it inspires me to write/reflect. Regardless, it has been great to recharge my energies, think about how I want to spend my last couple months in Ecuador (I will still be living in El Triunfo and teaching at the elementary school), and relax. I almost could not get over the fact that in the U.S you can actually throw toilet paper down the toilet...as John said when he arrived back home "God Bless the U.S.A!"

And now for an additional "pitch" to all readers....I also spent a lot of my time at home working on stationary (made from the paintings done by los niños from El Triunfo) which I am selling for a minimum donation of $10. The proceeds of the stationary will go 100% towards the founding of a library in the elementary school in El Triunfo! If you are interested in buying some stationary please contact me at mmishler@middlebury.edu, and I will hook you up! (See attached letter).

For now, enjoy the pictures (including John milking his first cow) and I will be back to blogging via Ecuador sometime later this week as I head back Thursday morning....just in time for Semana Santa!