So not that great at putting up updates, but no news is good news on this end. I would say life is settling down and I´m finally getting into a routine, but random rain storms, landslides, rundown buses, strangely early busses, and other strange surprises keep me constantly on my toes...but I love it!

This month we have four volunteers from New Zealand which means my Spanish improvement is slow but my English slang has greatly improved (that´s ush! means that´s cool...who woulda thought?). But they are a great group and really into hitting the hardest trails right away, which means Paramo! Paramo is the high elevation grasslands (like tundra) and they are stunning. From one of our trails that starts at 3,000m and ends at 4,200m (about 12,600 ft) on a clear day you can see four snowcapped volcanos and the capital city of Quito (a 4.5 hour bus ride away). Hiking at this altitude is incredibly tough, but so worth it when you make it to the top. And pics can´t capture it, so if anyone wants to visit?? Hehe...

We have 7 trails in all that cover everthing from just a dirt road to intense jungle action that requires a machete. Which means I´ve actually gotten quite good at the machete, I can walk the trail and hack up the trees at the same time! And I can peel sugarcane without chopping off my finger...so I¨m happy. The trails are all great and keep the work varied. Rainy season is slowing down now and the avocados are coming into season. We picked about 46 a few weeks ago and figured they would all ripen at different times and we would have a constant selection...instead they all ripened at once and we had a week FULL of avocados, and there is a lot you can do with avocados: Tuesday (in honor or Taco Tues) we had quacamole, Wednesday we had avocado salad, Thursday we had avocado soup, and Friday we had lemon avocado milkshakes. I´m just really glad this volunteer group loves avocados as much as me!! And we still have some left if anyone has any ideas :D

The other day after doing a trail with Armando (my boss) and the volunteers we did a mini-minga. Minga´s are community events where everyone comes together to work on a large project that a single family couldn´t do without help. It´s a really great idea and fosters such a good attitude of working together. Whoever is benefiting from the Minga provides lunch (and alcohol after it´s done) for everyone and so it´s kinda like a great party, except you also get something done. Examples have been tree planting along the main road to prevent errosion, landscaping at the local school, building a retaining wall, ect. We helped plant grass in a weedy field so that the owner could buy a cow and have somewhere to graze it. Really fun and such a great idea to get everyone together!

So life has been busy and always filled with exciting new things. Not a dull day here! (Relaxing and reading in the afternoon? Ha!) Now off to the fruit market and then back to the supermarket...then struggle back to the bus with tons of food and back to the Casa de Osos just in time for dinner! Life is good. As always, I love getting updates from all my friends and family back at home :D Happy St. Pattie´s day!!!