Lets play catch-up!

 Hey everyone!  Rumor has it that some of you are getting sick of reading about my machete and are anxious for something new.  Sorry for the wait!

As many of you know, I got my first visit from Mom and Dad last month.  We had an amazing time and packed an unbelievable amount of action into their 9 days here.  Oso and I picked them up at the airport in the costal city of Guayaquil where we spent 2 nights.  We spent the next 4 nights in my home of Santa Ana. Next we headed north for 2 nights in Otavalo, one night in Quito, and finally one last night back in Guayaquil before they headed home.  I could go on and on with the details of the visit but since many of you are just reading this blog to procrastonate or distract yourself from things you really should be getting back to, I will condense the trip to highlights.

GUAYAQUIL HIGHLIGHTS:

• Hotel Andaluz... a less-than-spacious "mid-grade" hotel that offers guests soap, water, a bed, and an overwhelming scent of cleaning products.
• The roof-top of Hotel Andaluz.  Where dad enjoyed his cubans and "Soaked it all in".   People watching from the roof, we learned that a family of 5 does in fact fit on a motorcycle.
• Dad and I learned that it is nearly impossible to find coffee at 7:30am on a Sunday... sorry, Mom.

CUENCA-SANTA ANA HIGHLIGHTS:

• Cuy dinner hosted by my community...  Mom and Dad roasted their own guinna pigs over the coals.  A chicken fell out of a tree and landed on the tin roof above us giving us all heart attacks.  Mom and I took shots of cheap liquor. Host family met real family.  It was really an amazing night.
• Tour of the highschool... Here, Mom and Dad got to meet some of the people I work with.  Everyone told them how jovencito (young) they look.  We also akwardly sat in on a woman´s interview with the director.  Not sure what (or if) she studied, but she was offered a position as an English teacher, librarian, school psychologist, or math teacher.  Her pick.
• Dinner in Cuenca with Peace Corps friends, Mike and Mary.  Afterwards, we went out for ice cream where Mike ran into a group of US Air Force people here to do medical services.  Dad bought ice cream for 20ish people for $15.00.
• Mom learned how to take care of 100 chickens.  Who saw THAT coming!?
• Lunch with my previous host family.  This meal was much more laid-back where mom was presented with a cross-stiched table cloth from my host mother.  Whitney... you just wait to see what beautiful thing she is working on for the bride!! 
• Dinner with my landlord´s family.  Ok, seriously, if we had stayed in Santa Ana any longer we would have been invited to EVERY PERSONS home.  My landlord has a truck so he took us on a driving tour of Cuenca which was actually really interesting.  He also took us to Turi, where you get an amazing view of the city with the mountains in the background.

OTAVALO-QUITO HIGHLIGHTS:

• Casa Mojanda.  Much nicer than Guayaquils Hotel Andaluz, this place is nestled in the mountains and has private cabins with fireplaces.  The food was delicious and the setting breathtaking.
• Saturday market in Otavalo.  The market here in a Saturday is famous here in Ecuador.  The streets are lined with tents selling everything from clothing to musical instruments.  We got up early to take a walk through the animal market where cats, cuys, cows, and chickens are sold by the dozen.
• Mom and I went horseback riding through the mountains.  Our first attempt at the horse ride fell through as is began POURING as soon as we mounted.  Take two the next morning was a blast and even Mom admits that she loved it!  Dad thinks he is too good to ride horses.
• Dad is not however, too good to eat goat stew.  That was his dinner option at a nice restaurant in Quito.  ick!  We also lived it up for a night in Quito and stayed at the Marriott.  It has been quite a long time since I have even seen a place so fancy... it was great.

That about sums up Mom and Dad´s visit 2008.  Next time they come they have to say for a month.  Well, thats what everyone here told them anyway... we´ll see.  Unfortunately I do not have pictures of their trip because my camera was stolen on the bus ride home after they left.  Luckily we printed them out before the camera was stolen so we have hard copies just not digital.

After the visit it was time to get back to work.  I incubated another batch of chicken eggs which were supposed to hatch this past wednesday.  When they didn´t hatch, I opened them out of curiosity and found live chickens!  not strong enough to break out of their eggs but living none the less.  I see this as progress and hopefully the third time will be a charm.  The gardens at school are going well and the labor intensive part is mostly behind us.  I am teaching a ton of english classes as well. 

Last weekend Oso and I went away for halloween.  A big group of volunteers met up in El Chaco which is a small town in the northern jungle.  Dressing up and having a halloween party was just a bonus.  The main attraction of the trip was a rafting competition.  There were 18 teams of 6 that battled it out for the winning title.  My team ended up in 4th place which was good enough to win t-shirts but seconds away from prize money. 

I´m sure I am forgetting a lot of funny things that have happened in the past month but I´ll just have to tell you about them when I come home in 6 weeks!!  I am really looking forward to it! 

Sr. Pat... I got your second package! thank you soooo much!!

hasta pronto!

Kelly