The End of the Journey... well, this journey anyway

I arrived back in my St. Louis apartment today, after a grueling 7 hour drive without air conditioning in the heat wave hitting the midwest. I spent several hours catching up with my roommates and several more watching bootleg DVDs with them. Now that I'm back here and ready to start the school year, it finally feels like my summer journey is over.

I felt a million miles away from St. Louis for the majority of the summer, and I think a part of me felt that I wouldn't end up back here. But here I am. I guess I feel like I should be able to encapsulate my summer into a few pithy lessons learned or something to that effect. Unfortunately, that isn't quite the case.

I think the best I can come up with is a list of some of the things that I'm glad to have back and some of the things that I'm really missing...

It's always the small things that seem to be the most important. I'm really excited to be able to really unpack for the first time in three months. To be honest, I've been looking forward to putting my clothes in a closet for weeks now. And to be able to leave my shampoo in the shower, now that's really something. Just generally settling down again is going to be really amazing. Having internet and cell phone service is nice I guess, but I kind of learned to enjoy going days without communication.... but I guess now it's back to the race against my inbox.

It pretty much goes without saying that I miss the people in Ecuador. After two tours of duty, I've amassed a pretty significant list of friends and colleagues... and of course a boyfriend. As always, leaving the people is the hardest part. I miss the sound of Spanish all around me, and the volcano Pichincha looking over my shoulder. And I never thought I'd say this, but I miss la hora Ecuatoriana. The idea of rushing to beat a clock for the next 9 months makes me almost physically ill.

So I guess that's that... back in St. Louis for the self-flaggelation that is a dual degree program. An experience only made bearable (and even occasionally enjoyable) by the people who go through it with you.

Until my next trip down south...

Cipro: My new best friend

When I decided to resurrect my blog, I didn't really consider the lack of internet access. So here I am again, trying to fit a month of activities and news into one post.

I walked into my last three weeks in Estero with the responsibility of everything on my shoulders. The person responsible for the projects in Estero left the foundation the week before I went back, so for my week in the office I was desperately trying to soak up all of the knowledge that I could about everything going on there... and failing for the most part. So I came back with a three page work plan and the knowledge that in the office, I am now the person who knows the most about this community. For those of you who know me well, you know that I was a mixture of nerves and ambition.

As far as work goes, the three weeks passed pretty much as normal. Successes, setbacks, and plenty of time conversando and relajando. The new volunteers arrived for my last weekend in Estero so I was playing hostess and trying to cram 2 months of knowledge into their poor heads in two days. Luckily for them, I mixed in catching pulpo and a killer despedida.

We ended up leaving Estero at a dead run trying to catch the last bus that would leave for the day. It was leaving about and hour earlier than we had expected, so after begging the driver to wait for 15 minutes, I found myself running through town to get everyone together and onto the bus. We all made it, by some miracle, and that was the end of my time in Estero de Plátano.

I arrived in Quito with a disgusting cough and plenty of body aches and the like. After watching me hack up a lung for the weekend, one of the new volunteers, Allie, gave me some cipro to knock out whatever I had. After a few days of popping pills, I finally started to feel like myself again.

I was supposed to finish my practicum on August 2nd or 3rd, but I'm still here in the office. Since I'm the one who knows the most about Estero at this point, I feel a lot of responsibility to leave people well-informed. Luckily, I have complete confidence in the abilities of the new volunteers. It's always hard to know if the work you've done will have any sustainability when you leave, but leaving it in good hands does a lot for peace of mind.