At the age of 48, Moritz Thomsen sold his pig farm and joined the Peace Corps. As he tells the story, his awareness of the comic elements in the human situation―including his own―and his ability to convey it in fast-moving, earthy prose have made Living Poor a classic. "Moritz Thomsen's Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle was one of the first published accounts by a Peace Corps volunteer; it remains one of the best. And if you're going to just read one book on the topic, make it this one. It's realistic, painful, and somehow ennobling in its descriptions of Peace Corps life in Ecuador."―Nancy Pearl, Book Lust to Go "Hilariously funny at times, grimly sad at others and elavened with perceptive insights into the ways of the people and with breathtaking descriptions of the Ecuadorian landscape."― St. Louis Post―Dispatch