Notes on community life from Jayshawn and Olivia:<\/p>\n
For the last week we have become \u00a0a part of the community \u00a8Las Juntas”, a beautiful small town nestled in tree covered mountains. \u00a0Las Juntas has happily welcomed us into their homes. The first night\u00a0we were thrown a party involving dancing and delicious food. The very\u00a0next morning we were up at 8 am ready to begin working on the\u00a0bleechers and bathrooms. Every day we spend 8 hours shoveling\u00a0cement, carrying rocks, and digging dirt. our long days at the worksite have been punctuated with visits to the nearby town, San Luis de Pambil, to swim in the river.<\/p>\n
Last saturday we went to Moraspungo to shop at the market. Many of us\u00a0bought fresh ingredients to cook dinner for our homestay families. People attempted to make speggeti and tomato sauce, pizza, rice krispy\u00a0treats, etc.<\/p>\n
As a group we have encountered a number of memorable individuals. \u00a0The\u00a0locals here call us \u00a8pollitos\u00a8, or \u00a8little chickens\u00a8, and we have in\u00a0turn created a variety of nicknames for them as well. For example, one\u00a0homestay father is called \u00a8the sargent\u00a8. \u00a0He used to be in the
military and has a very set way of doing things. There is also a woman\u00a0here called \u00a8the tank, her name is actually marjorie, and she is the\u00a0a hardest worker at the construction site. There is nothing she can\u00b4t\u00a0do.<\/p>\n
For the past few days a few group members have been working at the\u00a0local school teaching English classes. \u00a0After attempting to coordinate\u00a0games and plan lessons with excitable children we all developed a\u00a0greater appreciation for our teachers back at home.<\/p>\n
This has been one of the most unique weeks in the majority of our\u00a0lives. \u00a0The climate in Las Juntas is so different than anything we\u00a0have every experienced. \u00a0we have been blessed with gorgous sunsets and\u00a0breathtaking night skies…as well as plagued with many stomachaches. \u00a0For better or worse we are all looking forward to what the next two
weeks will bring.
-Olivia<\/p>\n
With a name like \u00a8Las Juntas\u00a8 it was no surprise that I felt so\u00a0comfortable here. I have enjoyed my time with my host family which\u00a0consists of two parents and one son. Immediately I felt welcomed here\u00a0in the town and I appreciate everyone\u00b4s genuine hospitality.<\/p>\n
Some events that stick out when I reflect on the week I have spent\u00a0here are the trips to the river, the work days, and the exciting time I\u00a0spent getting to know my family. I was fortunate enough to have a\u00a0mom willing to cook cui (guinneapig), a brother who dances, and a dad
who is a par-t time comedian and radio host and a helper who is the\u00a0rock of the household. I was also blessed with a beautiful home that\u00a0has made my transition here a lot easier.<\/p>\n
-Jayshawn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Notes on community life from Jayshawn and Olivia: For the last week we have become \u00a0a part of the community \u00a8Las Juntas”, a beautiful small town nestled in tree covered mountains. \u00a0Las Juntas has happily welcomed us into their homes. The first night\u00a0we were thrown a party involving dancing and delicious food. The very\u00a0next morning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecuador-2011"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1150\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalroutes.org\/staging\/8011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}