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Mountain Biking Cotapaxi Volcano
Blog: GoBackpacking - 7 September 2011
Mountain biking Cotopaxi Volcano in Ecuador was one of the most exciting, and beautiful, day trips I've ever taken.--------- Join Travel Blog Success today and learn to build a better travel blog. Membership includes 27 tutorials, 12 expert audio interviews, private support forum, and much more.
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Mitad del Mundo: Visiting the Equator in Quito
Blog: GoBackpacking - 6 September 2011
A visit to the Mitad del Mundo, a monument erected to the Equator outside Quito.--------- Join Travel Blog Success today and learn to build a better travel blog. Membership includes 27 tutorials, 12 expert audio interviews, private support forum, and much more.
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Walking the Historic Center of Quito, Ecuador
Blog: GoBackpacking - 2 September 2011
Visiting the historic center of Quito, Ecuador which is one of the best preserved in all of Latin America.--------- Join Travel Blog Success today and learn to build a better travel blog. Membership includes 27 tutorials, 12 expert audio interviews, private support forum, and much more.
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AeroGal – Flying Aerolineas Galapagos
Blog: GoBackpacking - 31 August 2011
A review of my first flights on the Ecuadorian carrier AeroGal, short for Aerolineas Galapagos.--------- Join Travel Blog Success today and learn to build a better travel blog. Membership includes 27 tutorials, 12 expert audio interviews, private support forum, and much more.
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Updates from the Field: Loan Sharks, Snapshots + “the Country with a Smile”
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 29 August 2011
Each Kiva borrower enjoys his or her own borrower profile page. We've all seen these pages: they acquaint us with the borrower's story, plans for the future, country, and a photo in their business or home. Borrower profiles present us with a clear snapshot of the ebbs and flows of a borrower's life.
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Loan Sharks, Microloans and the Highest Interest Rates Around (they aren’t on Kiva)
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 24 August 2011
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Out of Office: I’m Cruising Around the Galapagos Islands
Blog: GoBackpacking - 22 August 2011
Cruising the Galapagos Islands aboard the Eden.---------Join Travel Blog Success today and learn to build a better travel blog. Membership includes 27 tutorials, 12 expert audio interviews, private support forum, and much more.
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Update from the Field: Cooking Classes, Autarky + Social Performance
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 15 August 2011
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo This week on the Kiva fellows blog, take a cooking class with a Kiva borrower in Ecuador and learn how to make two mouthwatering local specialties: quimbalitos and tamales. Continue on to Sierra Leone to see how autarky is the goal of Kiva fellowships as well as micro loans. Then return to Ecuador to watch a video about traditional dances, find out about the feeling of "saudade" and reflect on the juxtaposition of poverty and prosperity. Finally, learn how a social performance study can be constructed in Chile.
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Saudades
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 14 August 2011
Yesterday, as I left the office of FODEMI for the final time I felt as if I could not find the words to describe what I was feeling. Both the English and the Spanish languages had failed to provide me with a word that could capture the feeling of happiness and sadness that coexisted rather uncomfortably. There have been some serious ups-and-downs in my summer as a Kiva Fellow in Ecuador. I felt inspired and happy when I met some incredible Kiva borrowers, including an entrepreneur that I had helped fund.
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Video Blog: For the Love of Fiestas
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 12 August 2011
By Megan Bond, KF15, Ecuador Music, parades, disguises, fabulous street vendors, dancing in the streets, dancing in the fields, dancing wherever you feel like it - the Ecuadorians I've met love a good party and there's nothing like a traditional fiesta to generate the right mood for all of the above. Fiestas have been a great opportunity for me to join in and have fun with the locals.
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Daily Travel Snapshot: The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Blog: WildJunket - 12 August 2011
A giant land lizard in North Seymour, the Galapagos Islands.
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Ana’s Kitchen: How to Make a Tamale (or a Hundred)
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 10 August 2011
“The stove, the gas, the vegetables, the meat, the pots, and tools, clean water… I have a lot of expenses in my business.” Not to mention the considerable time and energy that Doña Ana Victoria expends making a batch of her deli
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Rodeo Time in Loreto, Pedregal
Blog: Lost World Expedition - 10 August 2011
During our stay at Secret Garden, there was a rodeo in the local village that we had the opportunity to attend. Now you have to understand that the local village basically consists of a few houses in the middle of nowhere, so it wasn’t a huge event. It was, however, THE EVENT for the locals. [...]
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Ana’s Kitchen: A Cooking Lesson in Quimbolitos
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 9 August 2011
Meet Ana Victoria, a Kiva borrower that lives outside of Cuenca, Ecuador. Ana is a member of the community bank "Nueva Ilusi
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Livin the Life in the Highlands of Ecuador
Blog: Lost World Expedition - 7 August 2011
After two weeks in the Galapagos and nearly two years on the road, we decided it was time to take a break and save some money. Our friend Dan Grec had volunteered at a hostel in the mountains of Ecuador and had really enjoyed the experience, so we contacted the hostel looking to volunteer and [...]
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Travel Photo – A Lounge of Marine Iguanas Galapagos Islands
Blog: Landlopers - 27 July 2011
The marine iguana is endemic to the Galapagos Islands and exists no where else in the world. This prehistoric looking creature can be found throughout the archipelago and feeds exclusively underwater on seaweed and algae. It’s not uncommon for snorkelers and divers to meet a...Copyright LandLopers All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use prohibited.
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Meeting “My” Borrower
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 21 July 2011
By Megan Bond, KF15, Ecuador Kiva provides a new lens through which we can view global problems and solutions. Just contemplating a concept like “world poverty” seems like an insurmountable task. It is overwhelming. It is daunting. Kiva helps us focus our concerns for the problems presented by poverty on a global level by allowing us to connect with entrepreneurs in need of a hand up around the world on a more personal level. A loan through Kiva is an investment in an individual or group, a business, and a community.
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Update from the Field: Dangerous Streets, New Vocabulary + A Senegalese Spring
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 11 July 2011
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo This week, the Kiva fellows invite you to accompany them across Africa and South and Central America: Take a walk in the streets of San Salvador. Improve your language skills by adding a few words in three of South Africa's most widely spoken languages to your vocabulary. Look poverty in the face in Cameroon. Continue by learning more about the latest riots in Senegal. Find out how money helps to provide dignity in Ecuador. And finish by learning about the importance of family unity in El Salvador.
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Mud Walls to Mechanical Looms: Borrowers’ Stories
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 8 July 2011
By Megan Bond, KF15, Ecuador Eight years ago, Manuel told me, their house was very different from the one I was standing in. The walls were made of compressed earth and the roof was constructed out of dried straw. Manuel, his wife Cristiana, and their six children struggled on a daily basis to make ends meet. Looking for a change, they sought their first loan from FODEMI. Eight years and eleven loans later, I stood in their new house/factory. The floors and walls were solidly constructed out of cement and the roof was metal.
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Update from the Field: Zulu Weddings, More Country-Specific Microfinance + Fighting Crime
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 4 July 2011
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo Learn about the tradition of Zulu weddings in South Africa. Find out how Kiva's partners adapt the concept of microfinance to fit their country's specific needs: from loans targeting borrowers affected by emigration in Ecuador, over a preference for group loans in El Salvador, to lending coupled with various training programs in Rwanda. Finish off your weekly reading by learning about crime-fighting Kivans in Nicaragua.
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5 Safety Tips for Taking Taxis in Latin America
Blog: GoBackpacking - 23 June 2011
5 universal safety tips for taking taxis in Latin America.---------Join Travel Blog Success today and learn to build a better travel blog. Membership includes 27 tutorials, 12 expert audio interviews, private support forum, and much more.
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Update from the Field: New Partners, Country-Specific Microfinance + Stories of a Kiva Fellowship
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 20 June 2011
Compiled by Kathrin Gerner, KF15, Togo This week, fellows located on three different continents were busy writing blogs to share their experiences. Learn what it takes to become a new Kiva partner in Ecuador, experience family-style microfinance in Lebanon, find out about a unique pig loan product in Indonesia, and get the inside scoop about being a Kiva fellow in Senegal.
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New Partnerships in the Middle of the World, Part II
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 14 June 2011
By Megan Bond, KF15 Ecuador I arrived in Ecuador at night, took a two-and-a-half hour taxi ride to my hotel, and fell asleep in unfamiliar surroundings. It was dark and I saw nearly nothing of the country I would be living and working in for the next several months except for streetlights, headlights, and the [...]
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What Does it Take to be Kiva Field Partner: New Partnerships in the Middle of the World, Part I
Blog: Kiva Stories from the Field - 13 June 2011
This is the first post in a series. Stay tuned for Megan Bond (KF15)’s post tomorrow: “New Partnerships in the Middle of the World, Part II.” Of the seven-step process to becoming a Kiva Field Partner, the last step is easily the most exciting. It signifies a new opportunity for Kiva lenders and borrowers, a [...]
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The Party Beaches of Ecuador: Montañita and Canoa
Blog: The Brink of Something Else - 12 June 2011
Montañita Take several surfers, a bundle of slow-travelling South American musicians and artisans, mix in a heavy dose of rum and a little sex, sun and sand. Pour it all out by the side of a beautiful Ecuadorian beach and you’ve got something that looks a lot like Montañita. I spent a lot of time [...]
