A List of Things About Ecuador

1. I bought 5 bras for 14$ yesterday.  Not only did i replenish my thieved supply worth upwards of $300, I did it for less than fifteen bucks.  Not bad Ecuador.

2. Today I purchased 4 textbooks for 21$.  WTF American bookstores that exploit poor college students.  Take a hint from USFQ. Thx. (For any middle aged women reading this --my university bookstore sells 'Life is Good' paraphernalia in case you're interested).

3. It only costs 20 cents to ride the busses around here. Nice. But seriously, I've never been so careful with my change before.  Anything upwards of $5 is pretty much out of the picture and assumed to be counterfeit.

4.  The teacher of my translation class, who gave us an exam on the first day and kicked everyone out who didn't get a certain score, is the spitting image Marlon Brando as the Godfather, cotton ball cheeks and all.  He kind of scares me.

5. A text message I just sent to Kelsey:

“I have no freaking clue what I just ate.  It looked like raw chicken skin or raw fish. I tried a tiny bit and it didn’t taste like either which freaked me out more. Then I thought it might be some type of innard like tongue or intestine and I gagged.”

 

Don’t worry, I ended up piling rice on top of the raw looking innards in hopes of making my family think that I ate them. I’m sure you’re worried that I’ll go hungry. Well don’t, I’m eating Ritz Bitz galletas (crackers) as I type! I have a secret drawer with snacks for when dinner is, um, less than palatable. Holler Kraft ®.

6. Today I walked to the ecological park just ten minutes up the mountain from Lumbisí with my dad, my 9 year old neighbor Erica and Alexis.  Despite intermittent mounds of animal poop, potentially a product of las vacas (cows) that wander around, the evening walk was quite nice. When we got to the park, my dad had us run around the “track” a few times and do some push ups. I’m pretty sure I pulled some sort of muscle.  He decided he’s going to train us for a 10k in April.  I guess I forgot to mention that my dad is a champion runner and has like 5 billion trophies all over the house.  I’m assuming that at this high altitude I’ll be running circles around you fools when I get home in June!

7.  My mom washed my sheets to day. Holler! She also washed some shirts that came back, um, different? A pink shirt now has white bleach stains and another has holes.  Oh well I guess its not much diff than doing laundry at school.

8. Windows here don’t have screens.  I like to leave mine open though to get a breeze but last night I went to bed with 5 flies on my ceiling. They were too high to kill so I just had to fall asleep knowing that flies would probably land on my face at some point without me knowing.  It was unsettling but I washed my face pretty good this morning.

9.  There was a prob with my computer battery so today I dropped it off at the “Apple” store, or the store impersonating an Apple store, and they said they’d have a new one sent from Miami in 2 weeks.  I have a weird feeling I will never get another battery for my comp. We shall see.

10.  It’s 9 and I’m pretty much two blinks away from falling asleep.  I go to bed so early here I can’t even imagine staying up past 930 so Ima go read some Other Boleyn Girl and hit the hay.

Buenas Noches!

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