What I love about this Peace Corps experience is that there is absolutely no routine. These past two weeks certainly have been all but ordinary. I started off heading to the Peace Corps training place next to Tabacundo to co-facilitate the GANE business workshop. The new omnibus is the same size as mine used to be with 43 of them so we had to split the group in two, me taking half and a co-trainer takeing care of the other. We briefed them on the rules and objectives of modules 1 and 2 and debriefed in plenary. We only had two hours for this workshop so we just accelerated the process skipping two weeks of the business cycle in both modules. It was meant to be a training-of-trainer type workshop but the limited time did not allow us to give justice to the game. I hope that some of these new volunteers got something out of it but given the very busy day they were having (value chain, community bank and their language test in addition to GANE), I wonder if they’ll remember anything at all.
Anyways this gave me the opportunity to hang out with my dear Ecua-family in Puruhuantag on Edwin & Magaly’s farm. It stayed four full days with them and felt the same love and attention as they always gave me. They’re going through difficult times right now, barely making ends meet despite their relentless work. That said, they never lack food and I found all the family in perfect health. Money matters didn’t seem to stress them out that much, they’ve already been through so much. The Sunday I left for Quito with the rest of the new omnibus who were wrapping up their training and getting ready for swear-in. We were in stand-fast due to the elections and theoretically not allowed to travel but they gave me a special permission to head down to Cuenca. I am thankful that the PC office knows how to be flexible sometimes.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) funded my trip to participate in an environmental education workshop based on the Enseñanza de Ecología en el Patio de a Escuela (EEPE) methodology that uses the scientific approach of indagation. There was an EEPE conference the previous week I couldn’t atted becase of my commitment with the PC trainees. The second week was to be a practical or applied workshop. To be honest I realy didn’t know what I was getting myself into and got my flight info less that 12 hours before take off and absolutely no info about the workshop. The WCS training coordinator picked me up at the airport and took me to the hotel everyone was staying at. It turned out that we weren’t staying in Cuenca and that the workshop would take place in a small rural community called San Geraldo about an hour outside Cuenca, next to Girón.
I met the group of facilitators as we packed ourselves in two vehicles. In mine I met one of the Ecuadorian coordinator (they were three in total) who worked for a Canadian mining company called IMGOLD. I realy didn’t know what to feel about that. Mining companies are equal to evil where I work with the Awá especially in the Esmeraldas province. The coordinator brought her brilliant 11 year old girl along, there was an Argentinian and Cuban profesor as well in the ride. They all gave me a good impression right from the start. Bright young people with an amazing energy. The rest of the group consited of a Bolivian and a Brazilian guy (we were 3 males for 10 women, a golden ratio), a Venezuelan, Chilean, 
another Argentinian and three other Ecuadorians. I felt I was heading to an alternative Summit of the Americas. They all knew each other through the EEPE network for some years now and certaily loved to party. Most of them were university professor in Biology and seemed to welcome the having an ecological economist from France/USA join the team.
We worked late the first night preparing the guided indagations for the next day. I participated and helped as well as I could with my limited knowledge of the methodology (I only had one EEPE workshop back in December). There were about 40 participants, all campezinos with a small group of local teachers. The team of facilitators composed of so much knowledge and exprience with EEPE did an amazing jb facilitating the sessions explaining the indagation cycles and making the workshop 100% participative. They all intervened punctually, nobody trying to get more attention and run the show. Their humility earned them the love and respect from the community. We all created an increcdible bonding during the three day training among facilitators and with the community.
We all slept in a house rented by the mining company and I ened up in the party room with the Brazilian guy, the crazy Cuban girl and two of the local Ecuadorian coordinators. The first night we only had about 3 hours of sleep as they kept on messing around and I got absorbed into the passion of “Surubão”. How can one explain this very Brazilian term or concept? What they usually do is gather around one person jumping around and squeesing him/her screaming 
“Surubão! Surubão! Surubão!” in unision. Add to that the “Sandwich” squeek and the “Fece” trick of grabbing ones butt. All very childish it seems, they are incredible bonding games. The Braziian tried to explain the Surubão concept in plenary saying that there is no equivalent word in Spanish but that it can described as “communal love” completely unselfish and egoless. This is the best word to describe my experience with these amazing individuals.
The last night we headed back to Cuenca where we had a birthday party waiting for us. There were only about six people when we got there so we quickly filled in the dance floor and controled the music and vibe of the place. We danced like crazy until 4am. We were starving as nobody ate before going there but we got fed around 1:30am which gave us a new life and we partied on. The ratio was incredibly advantageous for males so I literally rested bout 10 minutes during the 6 hours on site. The Cuban girl is histerical and can move her butt at 200 km/hr. I learned so much that week, not just the wonderfull EEPE methodology that will help me in my work with the Awá and beyond but most of all the incredible generosity, intelligence and love I felt flowing with this group of Latin Americans. Like one of the Argentinian women told me at the end: “there is n way you’re going back to France after that”. To visit my family of course I will, but to live I doubt it.
