Quito, the Coast, and ISP

Its been FOREVER since I have written and I apologize! Ive been all over Ecuador so I have a lot of stories.

Life with my new family has been a little dull, so Ive had to attept to spice it up by exploring Quito, though I definitely still dont feel like I know it very well. I have been doing some pilates (our teacher is the only woman Ive seen who wears cute workout clothes... seriously. they need some lulu lemon here for sure). October 8th was Audrys birthday so we had a delicious cake at school and learned the "Ecuadorian way" to cute cake. You make a circle in the middle (thats the part the birthday girl/boy gets) and then cut the rest in pieces. Then there are no points so the cake cant fall over. I still found it to be very difficult on my birthday. Anyways, that night her family have a really cute party for her. It was just Audrys fam, Eva, Liz, Marcello and me and we had dinner and cake and then talked for awhile. Thursday night we actually went out to celebrate and went to a really cool restaurant called "La Boca de Lobo" ie the mouth of the wolf. It was really funky and I definitely want to bring Mom and Dad there. We went out dancing afterwards and it was super fun but it definitely catered to gringos. They played the YMCA song haha. it was GREAT. The only problem to that night is for the first time since senior year of high school, I had a CURFEW. A CURFEW! Do you hear these words? I hope not because they are terrible. Olga first told me to be home at midnight (let me just remind you we didnt even have school on friday) and I pushed it back to one. (I know Im such a rebel haha). Anyways the dancing was still fun even though I had a curfew.

Saturday night of that weekend I wanted to go out but it seemed like nobody was so when Olga told me the "primos" were coming, I was down. Now lets just imagine what we think of when people say the "cousins" are coming. I think of people my age coming to hang out. NO! I WAS TRICKED. My 18 year old sister went out with her boyfriend and I stayed home with Olga and her friends/family to play 31, a card game and I had to put in money. It wasnt very MUCH money, but thats not the point at all! Ugh i was so angry. tricky lady. anyways, the Sunday before we left for the coast, we went to a soccer game (Ecuador vs. Chile-- it was for the eliminary round to go to south africa for the world cup) and that made up for it. It was a DAY LONG event but it was fun. We got there around noon and I bought a THREE DOLAR jersey. so cheap LOVE IT! We went into the stadium and hung around cheering and chanting with all the locals all afternoon long. Faba got us the tickets and I definitely think he purposely put us in the section with the rowdy fans. It was great! The game started at 4:50pm. It had rained the whole time we were waiting so we were all cold and wet, but it was still awesome! Ecuador won (i forget the score... woops) and afterwards I met up with my old host family. I miss them so much!
Monday was my birthday and my awesome directors brought cake for the group. It was delicious! We had class all day, went over ISP topics, and had a test... lovely birthday present NOT lol). Everyone said happy birthday to me yay and that afternoon, for the fourth time, I went to get my cense and ACTUALLY got it (thats the national ID card... its just like in the US going to get your license. A ROYAL PAIN IN THE BUTT) Anyways for my birthday, someone wanted to be nice to me and let me get it. That night, my family and I celebrated my sister and my birthday. She got a really cute rabbit from her boyfriend (Olga wasnt so keen on the idea but thats okay) and they gave me a cute bag! It was very useful for my trip to the coast too! We had pizza and cake and Eva came over too. Not the 21st birthday most people are used to but thats okay. Ive decided Im recelebrating when I get home. :)
We left for the coast Tuesday morning on a 10 am flight to Guayaquil. It was only 35 minutes which was MUCH better than taking a 10 hour bus ride. We went to lunch and to a museum and then to a talk on recycling that lasted almost 3 hours. I think we all learned the information from that talk in the third grade, but thats okay. We went to dinner in some neighborhood and then went back to the hotel to hang out. Little did we know that after the bus dropped us off for dinner, our directors headed to Leonores daugthers birthday dinner. They took an unmarked cab and were held up at gunpoint and the robbers stole $1000 (think about that value in American and multiply in by ten... thats the worth here because the economy is much lower). Anyways, we found out the next morning and Faba had a shiner and it was not a fun situation.
Wednesday afternoon we headed up the coast and were dropped off at our villages. Eva and I went to Cadeate. Our family was amazing and I think we had one of the wealthier families. Our 28 year old mom, Nancy, had her own perfumeria, and our 32 year old dad, Jugo, worked in a panaderia. Cadeate is known for bread so we (well Eva mostly) ate a LOT of bread. She didnt like a lot fo the food, so I was forced to eat some of it because leaving food on your plate while staying in a poor town isnt really acceptable. anyways we went running there, went to the beach a lot, talked to the town people and watched a lot of soccer. We had three younger sisters and they were so cute. It was a little weird though to see Nancy looking through my youngest sisters hair, FOR LICE. She acted like nothing was wrong. I told Eva and we both FREAKED OUT. I forgot to mention this: Thursday afternoon we went swimming and I was the only one in the water. I dove under a wave because I thought it was huge, but it definitely was NOT. I pretty much got in a fight with the sand. It was sad and a broke my face... or rather skinned my nose and forehead and my sisters and eva were afraid to look at me for a day. I think im better now though haha.
We left on Sunday afternoon and took a bus an hour and a half north to Alandaluz, and ecological resort that was on the beach and gorgeous! We hung out there while each one of use had ISP interviews trying to decide what we would do. I think I am headed south to Loja for the month to do community outreach with disabled people. I guess I would work with a therapist and go to peoples houses (they dont have transportation to get to a clinic so we go to them) to work with them. It should be interesting and hopefully help me decide about physical therapy or nursing. Well see.
Anywho, we made it back after a very carsick bus ride to Manta airport and then a bumpy flight back to Quito. I have the day off to write two essays and do whatever else I want. Its nice to be back in a city where I can eat as little as I want and have a real place to stay (without roosters and trucks blaring in my ears in the morning) but I definitely miss the coast. Hopefully I didnt forget to mention too many things. I now have SKYPE at my HOUSE YESSS!!! So people should skype me. its much much cheaper than calling. my sn is mecua13. miss you all!
maddie