Scenes from Paraíso and Pueblo

I have a lot to say about my first week of teaching, but first, some overdue photos of my temporary home:

As I mentioned before, my host family lives in a rural area about 5 miles away from Peñaherrera proper. The community is called El Paraíso ("Paradise"), which is appropriate-- small, family farms are nestled in the green mountains, which extend as far as you can see. Raising animals seems to be the dominant revenue-generating activity on the farms in this area, but some families also grow fields of beans on the steep slopes.


There is a single dirt road that twists its way through the mountains. It makes for a good hike when I want to travel between home and town when the camioneta is not available (it makes its route only once a day, and not at all on Saturdays).



My family lives in a small, comfortable house surrounded by plantain, lemon, orange, and coffee trees.



People who live in town also run family farms with chickens, cuyes, plantains, yucca, coffee, and more. There's not much other business to be had, other than a few general stores that are tiny grocery-pharmacy combinations that also sell some clothing, shoes, and stationary items. One of the stores has a copy machine (currently broken, so no help to me in my classes) and a couple pay phones that can make pricey international calls. The students at my colegio mainly use the town stores as ice-cream suppliers.


There are two town centers in Peñaherrera: a stone plaza in front of the Catholic church and this park, which is near the town government office and the clinic. The wireless internet signal is broadcast from the government office, so I often sit in the park with my laptop to plan classes and communicate with people from home.