heading west

things have not gone exactly as i had planned them here in ecuador. and because of that, i'm happy. after looking for a job at the catholic university didn't work out, i decided to start looking for a job or internship with an ngo here. i looked around for a while and stumbled upon an ngo that is based at the national university here. the ngo is called CATER: centro andino de tecnología rural (andean center of rural technology). they are doing a project in the western part of the province of loja in an area called zapotillo.

i haven't been to zapotillo yet but i'll be leaving on wednesday to head over there and see how everything is and figure out what i'll be doing specifically. this is a binational project (between ecuador and peru) that is working on a more sustainable usage of the dry forest in that area and also increasing the amount of organic products produced in the area. i will be focusing on the organic products side of things. they want to form groups of farmers who are interested in growing organic products that will be sold locally and regionally.

i'll try to keep updating the blog with information as it comes.