the safari press: the san luis valley

i've been in colorado for about two and a half weeks now but it feels like i've been here forever. i am very settled into my new home and my new jobs. i spend half my time making sandwiches, coffee and doing dishes at milagros coffee house which is owned and operated by la puente home. all the proceeds go to la puente's shelter and such. the other half of the time i work in the volunteer coordination office assisting with the various groups that come to la puente to volunteer for a week, a couple days or just an evening. last night a church youth group came and helped weed and harvest one of our community gardens. it was a lot of fun, getting dirty and seeing the final product: a weed free garden. i also got to bring home some onions, cucumbers and lettuce. ive also had a chance to work at some of the other programs of la puente. last week i assisted cooking lunch at the shelter and tuesday i helped out at the food bank. the work here is always good, always hard and always gratifying.
so far everything in alamosa is great. i've got a new bike i've been riding around (although i just got a flat tire. working on that) and have been spending a lot of time just hanging out with the other volunteers. we spend a good bit of our weensy stipend on good beer and tofu fixings. i've gotten real good at stir fry to the point that it's practically all i cook. im slowly working on my spanish and my banjo skills and am always making the time to draw, collage and write letters. if i dont have your address hit me and i'll send you something lovely.
below are some more polaroids from the past couple of weeks in the valley. they aren't too different, content wise, from the digital fotoz i posted before. but you know im partial to the 'roids.
more to come as i continue to explore this beautiful place.