Vistas under volcanos

I am enchanted with settled life, the lovely monotony of getting to know the landscape of a certain place so well that your eyes can expect what they will see every morning. At first glance this place is spectacular; when I first arrived I had difficulty telling the difference between the vista I saw out of my eyes and a professional photo you´d see on a postcard. But seeing these views everyday, these mountains that tower over the valley, has given me the time to investigate it´s beauty up close. I see the verdant, dusty green valley that tumbles beneath the volunteer house and know that almost every house I see bellow has a donkey or cow lounging behind it in the shade and a large garden that the wife works on while the husband is at work in the city or selling his crafts at the market. I notice how the frequent, small eruptions of Tungurawa, the active volcano near us, effect the weather the following day, usually leaving us with little sun and thick cloud covering. And I count the number of home made kites that swim in the air overhead, hanging on tightly to the string their creator, usually a young child, uses to steer it.

The longer I stay here the closer I get with the volunteers I live, work, and spend most of my day with. There are about 12 of us in total, and we have come to live pretty communally together, a welcomed relief from the solitary lifestyle I am accustomed to from traveling solo. A herd of us are from the States, we have a strong Australian and New Zealand representation, a few Europeans and two South Americans whose patience I test daily with my efforts to communicate in Spanish. We cook dinner together every night, always giving me time to sweetly reminisce of living in Slade (the coop I lived in in college). We have actually instituted a small competition to increase the quality of the meals -- who ever wins the vote of best meal at the end of the week gets a free beer. So, to that end, I have been eating very well the past couple of days. Pasta with thick, creamy tomato sauce, burritos packed with all sorts of ingredients; I enjoy having a welcomed reminder of food from home.