Mixto is a man, arguably ‘the’ man, yet so much more that the three letter word does not do him justice. Mixto is honesty. It all started the day he, Ravi, and I first tried to install a sink onto our first Sanitation unit without Connor (our mentor, aka “Professor Plumb”). To install this sink, we must drill holes in the concrete wall for the bolts. Naturally the holes in the wall must line up with the holes in the sink, so there is a bit of plumber eyeing involved (plumber eyeing - to use one’s plumber eye in order [View Full Entry]

---

---

I’m going to do this one backwards: before I tell you the story, I’m just going to go ahead and tell you the morals. 1. Life is awesome - smile along the way. 2. Lying is useless - besides, the truth is funnier. 3. You get what you give - so give away positivity. So, because I had an interview at 2:00 pm in Charlottesville yesterday, I was a little behind schedule. Not that I have a schedule, but mentally I wasn’t as far along as I expected to be. After the interview, I literally changed clothes, said good-bye to Jamie [View Full Entry]

---

---

(note: This entry is all about run-on sentences and captions for the photos.) It was Tuesday the 15th at about 8:15 am at our regular morning organizational meeting. Forty plus volunteers are sitting in an outdoor area of a place known as Base Camp, where at least half of the volunteers have slept the previous night in two dorm rooms. The de facto leader, Jimmy, an under-30, thin-framed, scraggly-bearded mix between a hippie and a guy who used to write grant proposals for a non-profit in America, calls on Connor, a 26-year old Irish computer-science engineer who quit his job to [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Smaller Picture Friday the Fourth - woke up at 7:30 am to sit through an 8:00 am meeting - literally picked up a person’s house with 8 others and moved it a meter East and a meter South - tossed about 2 tons worth of heavy stones from one pile into another pile 3 meters away - hacked at stone with a pick axe and steel pole for several hours - dug a 12 meter long ditch with a depth progressing from 20 cm to 90 cm - wheel-barrowed massive amounts of dirt and stone Saturday the Fifth - woke [View Full Entry]

---

---

It is ten until 6:00 pm and I'm eating at what must be a Peruvian Diner. I just ordered an "hamburguesa clasico con huevo y papas." Loosely translated that would be a classic hamburger with egg and fries. It feels so very White Spot for those of you who have been to Charlottesville. On the counter are homemade dessert cakes and glass jars of cereal. The whole place has to be no bigger than 15 feet wide by 35 feet deep, including the kitchen, sink, microwave, grille, dessert display case, a full-sized refrigerator and seating for 14 at 18-inch deep counter [View Full Entry]

---

---

Honestly, if you found something good, I mean really really good, would you want to share it with others at your own expense? I've debated on whether to write this article. Until now, I have felt as though my favorite restaurant in the world is busy enough without me recommending it to others. I mean, this place is packed with locals during dinner eating hours just about every day of the week. There has been no need for me to augment this rush thus causing my waits to eat there to be longer and more frequent. Think about it for a [View Full Entry]

---

---

A return to the States is like a regression in time where buildings, roads, and store names have changed while people and old habits haven't. There's a new building on the corner, the highway is a little wider, a little longer before the familiar construction, and that one restaurant where you used to go has closed shop while three chain restaurants have opened in its stead. People have matured slightly with the passing of another year, but most of them look the same, act the same, and surely think the same as they did when you knew them in what seems [View Full Entry]

---

---

This is New Zealand: a country where 200 kilometers will reveal such a varying degree of Nature that you may pass through a rust-colored desert where the only moisture in the vicinity is the sweat on your brow, while on the other side of the mountain you cut through vegetation so think that if you didn't know better, you'd mistake the forest for a wall. In New Zealand you will find volcanoes with crystal clear sulphuric lakes resting in the craters near the top just as frequently as you will find million year old glaciers advancing and retreating in a dance [View Full Entry]

---

---

(continued...) You don't have to think about it to define it: it's the "grass is always greener" phenomenon. What you have to think about is how to change this phenomenon into one that's going to make you a happier, better person. Isn't that what everyone wants: to be happy? Ask anybody what the secret of life is and they'll either say "to be happy," to something that basically means "to be happy." So why are so many people just not happy with their lives? Sure some are, but many people are wishing or dreaming for something else, and usually blaming something [View Full Entry]

---

---

From about 2:30 to 4:30 pm on my brother's birthday, I hung around the pool reading my book and swimming. I then headed off to the beach to do some sunset surfing with the goal in mind of not spending a lot of money for a board. I succeeded on my third guy who was willing to charge me less than half of the other two's original prices. So I borrowed his rash guard (wet suit) and paddled out into the Balinese sunset on Kuta Beach. Totally worth it. I felt so at peace out on the waves. There were only [View Full Entry]

---

---