ISP Goodness....

Hey guys
long time no talk
i´m in Loja right now doing my ISP. Well actually I´m doing my ISP in Catamayo and commuting there everyday. It´s not that bad and DEFINITELY worth it. My host mom, Haydee, is nice, but I don´t spend that much time with her. Veronica is awesome and I love their entire family so much! Yay! Today is Loja´s independence day but everyone celebrated last night with a concert at Plaza San Sebastian. IT WAS JAM PACKED and AWESOME! It was so embarassing though because I went with Juan and María (Juan is Veronica´s cousin and María is his friend) and we met his friends there and they were like "don´t you know how to dance all these spanish dances like salsa marangue and blah blah blah" and the answer is NO i don´t. I only know how to dance to bad american music (which i LOVE) and I´m perfectly fine with staying that way. But, they wanted to try to teach me. Let´s just say I failed haha.
Anyways to try to fill you in on my ISP, here´s how it goes: The first week (well half week) was warm-up. I went around with Veronica and Olmedo to inform families about meetings, to meet some families and then Friday I went with them to the promotor´s meeting.
Last week, Monday and Tuesday I was sick as a DOG. I went to the family "finca" (that literally translates to farm, but it was definitely a country club with a beach-house type feel). On the way we stopped in Malacatas (I think that´s the name) to get lunch. I didn´t eat much because I had already been stuffed from breakfast, but I did eat FRITADO. EVIL EVIL EVIL FRITADA (fried pork). YUCK. At these kinds of restaurants you don´t really have a choice of what you eat because the menu is set and because I was with the family, I did what they did. Anyways, Sunday night I felt a little sick but not bad. Sunday night around midnight, I wanted to yank my stomach out with a wrench, LITERALLY. The only way I didn´t scream in pain was my lying on my side with my legs curled up. It was the worst thing ever. I was sick all night long and the next day had a horrible fever and felt as weak as ever. I was in bed all day and around 2pm I came out and Veronica´s sister, Paulina, was over. I guess Haydee sells PURE alcohol from her home (she has bins of it and then people bring empty bottles... i have no idea...) so she put alcohol, disgusting horrid smelling alcohol, all over my head in my hair. and then I wasn´t allowed to shower because apparently showering is bad for you when you are sick and have a fever. Haydee was worried about me so she called her nephew who´s a doctor, and he came to the rescue. Apparently I had a 102 degree fever (as he said, if I had waited any longer, I might have started convulsing. WHO SAYS THAT TO A PATIENT?? EVER HEARD OF BEDSIDE-MANNERS???) and my stomach sounded like a waterfall, so he gave me antibiotics to fix the stomach infection and some other medicine to cut the fever. Yesterday (Monday) i finally finished the antibiotics! As jack told me before I came, Ecuador is the only place you will get that sick and be throwing up and pooing at the same time lol from food poisoning.
Anyways I did a 180 degree turn from feeling HORRID to feeling pretty good on tuesday. The doc said I couldn´t go to my ISP so i stayed home and hung out with Haydee ALL DAY LONG. It was um a long day lol. Wednesday I went for the first time with a promotor. It was crazy! For example: I saw two boys of similar ages and both had paralysis but one had a family who cared and he could walk on his own and talk a little. The other boys family didn´t care at all. He couldn´t even sit up on his own and couldn´t talk at all. It was SO SAD. Thursday was the first day in awhile I went running and actually felt safe. In quito I was scared to run around my house because the guys would whistle and then in Catamayo the guys would chase me in their big construction trucks. here i go to a track at a high school near by. I have it all to myself, can listen to my ipod without being scared, and can sing as loud as I want (i have a feeling people might be able to hear me and probably laugh histerically but that´s okay). I´ve decided I need to get back in shape before I go back to the states or I´m going to get my but whipped by Tyler.
This weekend I just hung out at home and Sunday randomly got my hair cut. It wasn´t anything drastic and cost a whole $3 ( YESS!! SCOREE!!!) and it was definitely needed. Yesterday I went to Catamayo and spent the day with one of the promotors, Charlito. I had a two hour break for lunch (can i just say WASTE OF TIME lol) and spent most of it in the shade but the 20 minutes I stood in the sun waiting for Charlito as also spent BURNING MY SKIN. Therefore I have a nice tan line of my tank top and its gonna be there for a long time. Just think beautiful farmers tan yaya. Last night was awesome and I had a great time celebrating independence day here. It was a make-up for all the years I´ve been out of the country for the 4th of july (I think its been 3 or 4 times ahh). Anyways, I need to head home to start working on my actual ISP. Apparently this weekend I´m going to Haydee´s farm and we are going to sell tickets to people so they can watch cock fights. Why they are not illegal here, i do not know. I told her i´m not watching though. We´ll see how this goes. The bus ride is 5 hours and I´m praying to god that I don´t see any more donkeys being pushed off cliffs. MISS YOU ALL. And let me just add that "Low" by lo Rida is on ALL the time! (In case you don´t know what I´m talking about, I´ll jog your memory: "Shawty had them apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur" etc...)

T minus 16 days til mama and papa come!