Foto Friday: The Circus!

The one-ring circus came to Santa Clara! And was a bit disappointing... We listened to two and a half hours of very humorless payasos (clowns) and decided to call it a night before we had a chance to see Sharon the Dancing Donkey dance (we saw her outside eating earlier in the week--beautiful girl!). We did get to see a very impressive contortionist and this acrobat, and we wish the best of luck to them!

We were so scared that she would fall to her death...

Making Chocolate

Earlier this year I went to go to a workshop at the Río Muchacho Organic Farm on the coast of Ecuador. Most of the workshop was review for me, but we did get to MAKE CHOCOLATE! Here's a little info about how to make chocolate - old school style.

1. Get the pods off of the tree.You can chop 'em off with a machete or whack them down with a stick.

This is a cacao tree (from Indonesia - can you believe we haven't taken one in Ecuador yet?). These are unripe pods.

Foto Friday: Baby Chicks!

In honor of the Sara setting her chicks off on their own earlier this week, we thought we'd show you some pictures of the things when they were just little fuzz-balls.

Sara and one of her babies. Not only did she incubate and hatch this little cutie, but it's also her actual offspring. Previous clutches were bought from friends in town.

Isaac and fuzziness.

Kirstie wanted to hold them, too.

Water Conservation Education

One of the main projects I worked on from about November through February was teaching environmental education to preschool through sixth graders at the Spanish/Kichwa bilingual school in town (ages 4 through 13ish). We had ten lessons that focused mainly on water: where does it come from, who uses it, why it's important, and how we can conserve it.

Some of my students. TOTALLY paying attention to what I'm saying...

Foto Friday: This is Where Milk Comes From

Foto Friday: Door Frog

Fatty and the Bulgers 2: Ready to Fly!

Well, it's that time again. The kittens have grown to monstrous proportions, are eating us out of house and home, and are ready for new adventures.

UPDATE: Thanks to our friends Bertha and Nancy for helping us find good homes for all the kittens! Humpty's getting cuddled to death by Nancy's kids, and the girls are in their new jungle homes looking for tasty rats to eat!

The Bulgers are watching... UP YOUR NOSE!!!

Foto Friday: Clowns are Scary...

...even if they look as ridiculous as this guy.

Foto Friday: Horses

It's not just us! It seems like everyone in town has caught horse fever!

Germán takes part in the town's celebration.

Carlos and Joesi also take to the ring. They're fast!

Here's Joesi again, getting some help from Isaac during a training day. The high school kids learned some basics of dressage, which is like dancing.

Robinson ("Copy") and Estrella working on some moves. (We should mention that Copy's attire--shirt up over the belly and pants in danger of slipping off--is the style here, for both young and old men.)

 This post is part of the Forest and Farm series.

Foto Friday: Recycled Art Workshop

Last week Isaac took two teenagers from Santa Clara to the Peace Corps training center in Tumbaco for a recycled art workshop. We learned how to make many things functional and beautiful using mainly recycled materials.

Leticia with her new purse (made from a blown innertube) and Leandro.

Leandro and Leticia would like to work with us to organize a youth group in Santa Clara.