"I`d rahter be working for a paycheck...

kids in Paragachi daycare

...than waiting to win the lottery." This nice little song lyric has a few meanings in my life right now.  I feel as though I have repeated over and over again how lucky I am and how grateful I am for everyone I have met and everything that has happened to me during this journey.  What I have failed to mention is another way that I am fortunate.  It actually reminds me a line from the movie As Good as It Gets as well.  When Greg Kinnear says something to the effect of "you know where you`re lucky? You know what you want." I know what I want. I want the dream in Paragachi to come true. I want project Ser Viva to be a success.  In order for this to happen we need plata (around here that means money, dinero, moolah, coin, green, cash, you get the idea).  So this had led to the decision to return to the states for a few months to work as nurses (if I can remeber how) and earn some cha-ching.  Yes, this makes me sad in a lot of ways.  However, it will only be for a short time with a very direct purpose.  In the meantime, I need your help.  Yes, YOU!  Along with earning bread the good old fashion way, Jana and I will be working to raise plata as well through fundraisers, grants, donations, etc.  So, if you (YES, you) have any ideas or suggestions for me, please let me know. Muchas Gracias.

These last few weeks have been amazing.  After 15 million trips to Quito, 1,000 closed offices, 400 lies, and 25 different forms to fill out, I think we have our visas worked out.  We shall see this week when we hopefully return to Quito to pick them up. I hope my passport didn`t end up behind a trash can somewhere. I think it`s a definite possibility.  Larry came to see Pimampiro for a few days this past weekend. We showed him around to a few places.  We saw the place where the government gives lunch to the elderly five days per week. We went to Paragachi and saw the day care, Luis`s house, and our future home.  On Friday night we were invited to Sonia`s house in Paragachi for a double birthday/going away party celebration. It was amazing as usual. Sonia`s brother was in from Spain (he works as a chef there and brings some of that money home) and it was his last night in town. He made an excellent lasanga for dinner. Afterwards we danced to some wonderful music brought to us from a laptop rigged with a stage-sized speaker. Sonia`s godfather sang as well. It was a beautiful evening.  The next day we went to the community of San Francisco de Sigsipamba to see some gardens, the cheese factory, and to get a general feel for what the communities in the mountains are like. Sunday we spent most of the day relaxing and doing general living activities; laundry, cleaning, cooking... So that we could go back to, you guessed it, Quito, on Monday.  From here we went to see the Mitad del Mundo (middle of the world, equator monuments). We first went to the line that the indigenous "drew" and where their musuem was. They showed us how water goes directly down a sink when it is positioned directly on the equator, spirals counterclockwise north of the equator, and clockwise south of it.  It worked! Same sink, same everything. Pretty cool. All three of us also received diplomas for successfully balancing an egg on the head of a nail (this only works on the equator. do not try at home). We learned a lot on the hour or so long tour, including how to properly decapitate and shrink the head of your enemy or someone important.  I reccomend visiting here if you have a chance.  We then ran our happy selves over to the "official" equator marker made by the French. They had a big, cold, scary momument where they thought the middle of the world was. I checked the GPS on my phone and the indigenous marking was closer. Ha. And they didn`t have any cool ways to prove that their line was indeed the mitad. But we did wreak some havok by going to the top of the monument and staying until they were trying to close (lovely view by the way).  This led to us running down what seemed like never ending flights of stairs, in the pitch black darkness, Larry on the floor, me almost wetting myself, and Jana wondering where all the extra floors came from because when we went up the elevator, there seemed to be only two.

We stayed in Quito a few more days, saw Larry of to Guayaquil, received Stef from Guayaquil, the old switch-a-roo (she was one of the student`s from the Lima trip that wasn`t ready to go home, so she is now here in Pima with us), and met up with Paulito! Took our time driving back from Quito, saw some sights along the way and ate at this wonderful authentic Ecuadorian restaurant.  I then got sick and proceeded to sleep for the next 24 hours (again!!). Feeling much better now, thank you for asking. From here, Jana and I are working on fundraising, showing Stef around, and the general tasks of daily living. This may be the last entry for awhile. Depends what is happening and how my brain feels. Thanks for reading and I will leave you with this little diddy:

ps. here is our new website!!
Ser Viva