Tim Høiland

I am sitting at a small table beside a window in Casa Shalom, home of the Doziers and office for ADE. Outside, rain and fog; lots of it. On a clear day the window offers a vista of lush green rainforest, sprawling down into the valley and up the next volcanic ridge. The slope below me, I’m told, morphs brilliantly into an improvised tennis-golf course. Believe me when I say the trash talking has begun.

ADE’s education center isn’t too far from here; a ten or twenty minute walk depending on which direction you’re going. To get there you walk a few minutes along the main road, then down a pretty steep driveway of red volcanic rock, across a river in the rainforest that will take your breath away, and eventually to a small clearing in the valley. The original owner of the place brought in the building supplies by ox cart. That is where I’ll be sleeping.

The past couple of days have been a chance to relax a bit, so all I’ve been able to do is meet the priest, attend Ash Wednesday mass, eat a potato-filled ‘enchilada’ from the local panadería, meet the students from our school, participate in a couple of ADE team meetings, attend a meeting with the town council, go to an evening service at the local evangelical church, and translate the remaining parts of the ADE website into Spanish.

Once the skies clear a bit I’ll get out there with a camera, and as the days progress I trust I’ll have taller tales to tell.