Cock Fighting

What's next?

Based on past studies and previous international trainings and experiences I applied for and was offered an internship position with a non-profit humanitarian organization. Since being in Portland finishing my studies I have also been preparing and training for the position, which will take me to Peru with the organization MEJORC. I am being sent with another intern to a small village in rural Peru for the next six months. We will be working with a team of middle/high school age kids. The idea is to support the youth team in projects that they want to implement, projects that are designed to benefit their community.

I feel like this trip will be very different from other previous trips. Over the past two years at PSU I have focused on international development, I have taken courses that relate to Latin America, global water issues, peace and conflict studies, international policy and many other applicable social sciences. My hope is that I will be able to apply my formal classroom learning to humanitarian aid work in the field.

Over the next 6 months I will have limited access to the internet however I will be posting the progress of the projects that I will be involved on this blog as well as more detailed posts on the MEJORC blog. Please share thoughts and ideas about this and any future posts over the next few months.



Much Love
Brent

A quick look back

After leaving my good friend Jon Begin in Mexico (as described in my last post)at the end of April I headed to the Island of Oahu, Hawaii where I spent the better part of the month of May surfing and exploring beaches and jungles while deepening my relationship with my newly wed sister Alyssa, and her husband Jed. Then I returned to Portland where I finished up all of my degree requirements at PSU. That’s right after 8 years of travel, work, play, volunteering, and study I am now a University Graduate. Someone told me “don’t worry about it there are plenty of people who go to 8 or more years of university” the only difference is those people are usually called doctors and lawyers.

Alyssa and I share a rich and beautiful sibling connection. When we spend time together there are always dynamic, funny, and adventurous experiences as well as challenging and insightful conversations.


I was very grateful to have some quality time with the newest member of my family. Jed is heading to Iraq for the next year while Alyssa will continue to dive into her community in Hawaii

Snorkeling on the North Shore

Just after this photo was taken a huge pod of dolphins came into the bay, not more then a few hundred feet off shore from where we were swimming

While in Portland I spent some quality time in Hood River Connecting with my soul mates Colin Franger and Kristin Hamilton. The two are living life to it's fullest, they just returned from 8 months of sailing, kiting, and surfing in Mexico. Colin and I started a tasty batch of home brew.

I also headed up to Olympia to celebrate my good friend Steve Fisher's Graduation. Jon Begin also made it up back up to the northwest from his time in Mexico

Keep'n it Scrappy

Beegs and I are keeping it super scrappy and having a great time at it. We just spent the last three days on the coast. We hitchhiked to the coast then hiked overland to a sweet surfer destination, found someone who let us borrow boards for free, had about $6 worth of beans rice and vegetables, ate fresh fish given to us by fisherman, drank fresh water from a nearby spring, harvested coconuts for eating and drinking and we camped under a tarp that I brought. For three days we ate well, surfed a couple times a day, hung out on the beach all for about $6 total. Then we hiked back into town and went to a little market to buys some beers to drink on the beach before hitchhiking back to Beegs’s family’s house. We were about to pay for the beers and this guy walked in and said “hey guys let me buy those beers for you”. No kidding this guy said we reminded him of his sons and wanted to hook us up. That’s the joy of hanging out with Begin.

The waves were breaking right off of the point in the distance, apparently one of the best places to surf int he area.


Jungle trek to get to the surf spot Jon wound up with about 75 ticks all over his legs (and higher if you no what I mean). I wore pants and still had about 20.


Shelter tarp jimmy rigged with the surf boards


Fruit picking is pretty standard lately. Mango season is approaching quickly.

Jon is getting a fire ready for a fish dinner

Thanks for keeping up,

Much Love from Brent and Jon

The Latest

It’s been a while since my last post nearly 4 months in fact. From Ecuador Cassie and I headed back to Portland to continue our educations at Portland State. I took a term in Portland but got antsy pretty quick and decided to head south again. I am currently taking classes online to finish out my degree focused on International Development. After 8 years of on and off university study I graduate in June!

I am currently writing from Guadalajara, Mexico. I have been in Mexico for a couple of weeks so far. I've been hanging out with my good friends Jon Begin and Stephen Fisher. I am taking classes online and will finish my degree in June.

I flew into Puerto Vallarta, with the following instructions from Steve. “Get on a bus or hitch to a little town north of Puerto called San Pancho. When you get to the town go to the beach and take a left. Go past a lagoon watch out for the alligators (literally) and just past a small-forested area, look for a gray tent near some coconut trees.”

So that’s what I did and this is what I found:



Within a couple of hours our good friend Jon Begin followed the same instructions and found us sipping on coconut milk. Then We went fishing.


And collected more coconuts via Jon Begin



After a few days surfing and chill’n on the beach we headed to Guadalajara to check out what Steve has been doing the last few months.


It worked out for me to be here on Steve’s birthday so naturally we threw a steller rooftop party complete with a Pinata, Salsa music and mixed drinks from fresh coconuts, pinapples, mangos and limes.


I tried my hand at Salsa, apparently it was more humorous then anything
I was a little smoother as the night went on


I have been very happy to get a bit more insight into the work that Steve has been doing addressing water pollution issues here in Mexico. I have shadowed him on a couple of different interviews and workshops. We have been to a few areas in which sewage and chemically polluted water canals and rivers flow right through neighborhoods. This is an intense issue that will not go away without concentrated efforts by people like the ones that Steve has introduced me to.

Much Love thanks for taking the time to here my update.

Brent James

Last Hours

Well our time is up. We´re eating as much mangos and avocados as possible before heading back state side. We fly out in a few hours. Here are a few shots from the past week.

We hiked to a 300ft waterfall


This one is for our friends Colin and Kristin. The monument in the background marks the equator, so we are literally jumping on the middle of the world.


Cassie is finding herself in the jungle


Its important to be ready for the wildest of afternoon rain storms




See you soon,
Brent and Cassie

Finca Vida

We found another farm to spend the remainder of our time at, and this one actually lives up to its name. There are a number of things going on here and projects happening. We have been learning about exotic fruit production, coffee harvesting, chocolate making, fish farming, and even guinea pig raising. We look forward to sharing more details in person.

For now we are headed back to the farm to process cocoa beans into chocolate for the local school kids for a Christmas gift from the farm.

Coffee Production


It's a lot easier to drink then to grow, harvest, husk, ferment, roast,and then process.



Today we hitched a ride into town with the daily milk truck. These little boys were having a good time dodging the milk jugs as we bounced along the dirt road.



We are experiencing the Ecuadorean countryside first hand, the other way we get in and out of the farm is on a Ranchero.



We spent about 4 days on the coast so I could finish up his final papers and exams. Not a bad way to spend finals week, with fresh exotic fruit on hand and swimming in the ocean for breaks. I'd say it was the most chill finals week of my university career.


We'll see many of you very soon,

Love,
Brent and Cassie