Hola, cola.

One of the rivers... Tomebama? I think.


Cow head


Yo, el Reed, y la Molly


El Valle


Mi cuartito

Hello everyone, things are going well. We´ve done a lot since my last post. We went out on the town Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Thursday was just me, Reed and Zander. It was just a relaxing night out to get a feel for the city at night. Thursday night is definitely the huge party night here. Friday night the whole group went out (minus Scott) and we went to a discotec! We danced for quite a long time... very hot, sweaty, and fun. Especially since I knew most of the songs (Lots of reggaeton, some molotov, mana, and other Mexican bands). I danced with one Ecuadorian boy. He was staring at me the entire time I was there. I would look up and see one unmoving head just staring at me... and he very slowly made his way over to where we all were dancing and then he finally asked to dance. It took him at least an hour. He tried to talk to me but it was just too loud and I can´t read lips in spanish, so I pretty much said a whole lot of no entiendo´s. It was really fun though. And I was in bed by 2,30 am, which is really early for young Ecuadorian standards. Saturday night, the group went out again and we went to a small lounge that the previous Lewis & Clark group frequented called "She". This place is really nice and calm and good for some cheap food (chips and guac, calzones, pizza, etc). The beer of choice here in Ecuador is Pilsener, which is a pilsner. Jajaja. It´s not too bad... James, you would probably love it. It´s better than Old German...

Anyways, Saturday was an early night, because I wanted to go to Mass the next morning with my host mom, Olga. She told me mass in the Cathedral started at 10am, and I got up nice and early, all showered and ready, and then I got to the kitchen and Olga and her daughter Silvana were both still in their pjs. Mass didn´t start until 11. I ate breakfast and then went back to my room to nap. Silvana woke me up and asked if I wanted to go with her to pick up her grandparents. I said sure, and off we went. The grandparents live in a little pueblito called El Valle, and it´s nothing but dirt roads going up and down really steep hills. There are a lot of scattered homes there in various stages of completion, and Silvana told me that many of the immigrants (to the US foremost, and Spain secondly) live there, and the homes are being built with remittances. This is mostly what we´re going to be learning about in our anthropology class... Anyways, mass was fine. We were really far, so if there were any food offerings or a shaman I didn´t see it. Pretty much a normal mass. Haha. I was hoping for something more spectacular.

What else, what else... I´m writing in my journal everyday. I´m sorry I´m not able to update this with everything that is going on, but it´s at least being recorded somewhere. I´m spending my weekday evenings at home watching Pequeños Brillantes (Ecuadorian kid verison of American Idol. It´s great.), America´s Next Top Model en español, and reading my english/spanish dictionary... Dictionaries are amazing.

Well, everyone else has already left home for lunch. I´m going to head home too. Today is our first day of Salsa classes. I´m excited. Hopefully I haven´t forgotten too much from when I took classes a year ago.

Oh! And Nana, yes I understand your email and comment in spanish, and please feel free to continue writing me in spanish, however I don´t have the most time to respond to individual emails which is why I have this blog.

love love love love