With Emma & Damir having left Salasaca, the position of “House Manager of Hostel Pachamama” (which used to belong to Emma) was now empty, and I gladly stepped up to shoulder the responsibility. Part of my eagerness stemmed from the fact that the House Manager could move into the best room in the hostel, aptly named by the volunteers as The Presidential suite. It was located on the ground floor just opposite the kitchen, had a large double bed (although terribly creaky) and best of all, a private bathroom.

On my very first day in The Presidential Suite, I managed to lock myself out of the room. To be fair, I was used to sharing my room with several other people, so I hadn’t really gotten into the habit of always carrying my keys with me. After a careful study of my current predicament, I concluded that the only way to get back into the room would be to either break one of the glasses of the window, or break the lock itself. Both options were less than ideal, and I was wondering how I would explain the damage to Robert.

I was in the middle of simultaneously getting pissed with myself and having a panic attack when Abe said that he could try to pick the lock. Now Abe is a really smart guy, who usually knows what he’s doing. So I was strangely confident that he would indeed be able to pick it. After about 20 minutes of Abe’s picking and prodding at it, the lock had still not shown any sign of relenting. By now, my initial confidence had waned and I had all but lost hope. As a final parting blow, I gave the latch one last half-hearted turn; and lo and behold, it actually turned. Abe had somehow managed to pick it, and saved the new House Manager a truckload of embarrassment.

Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of The Presidential Suite itself, so I’ll just share a few pictures from the school.

With the super-shy Jessica, and Pedro

Colada time

The chicken coop

With little Yanik during Friday recycling

Pedro does the 'Ambato, Ambato, Ambato' with Chinchana & Adrian

Taking a break with Blacky... (the others insisted her real name was 'Blaze', but come on, everyone can see that 'Blacky' suits her so much better)

Alex tries in vain to check the lightning-fast Maradona, as Diego & Fabiola look on (also note the spectators in the stands going crazy with excitement)