YES WE DID!

I have to say, yesterday I was EXTREMELY proud to be an American. I don´t know what everyone´s political stances are, but I am VERY VERY happy that Obama won. I watched the elections with two friends in Loja and we were all nervous about how America would actually vote... (don´t tell but I definitely doubted the US a little bit). Anywho, hopefully some actually change will come from President Obama ... we will just have to see! (January 20 seems so far away)
I am currently in Loja, Ecuador, in the southern part of the country. We went to dinner on Monday night at a cute tapas restaurant that had different food from all around the world. It was delicious... it definitely took like three hours (I´ve decided any time you eat out in foreign countries it takes much much longer... they aren´t on the eat-and-go schedule like we are) but it was great! Monday morning we had bfast and caught a cab to the bus station. The trip to Loja was super duper long. It was supposed to take five hours but took more than six. AND (this is horrible) near the end of the ride we were on the edge of a mountain and megan was sitting in the window seat and she saw people push a donkey off the edge of a cliff! We don´t know why but think they did it on accident but I looked back and the people didn´t look like they cared that much so who knows. It was freakin weird though. We asked locals if that was normal and even they said it wasn´t. so strange!
We got to Loja around 4:20pm on Tuesday night and went to a random hostal called Hostal La Riviera. For $27 for a 3 person room, we thought it was perfectly fine. We went to mexican food (the only mexican restaurant in Loja) for dinner, and then to an internet café so i could try to register. That´s when i realized, there´s a thing called daylight savings and we are now TWO hours ahead of Colorado... so we left. The elections are like sports. seriously. you watch and listen to the commentators talk and debate, but in reality nobody except the players have any effect on what happens. That´s what it felt like Tuesday night at least. We watched as CNN (such a biased channel btw) as they predicted who would win and then told us who did win. but YAY for OBAMA. yay yay yay. That night was fabuloous cuz I also registered for classes and got exactly what I wanted! YAY!
Anyways now I am doing my ISP. Olmedo picked me up on Wednesday morning around 8:30am and we went to Catamayo. I am doing community rehabilitation with disabled people in a tiny town about 40 minutes (by CAR, and hour by bus) outside of Loja. Olmedo is a great advisor and Verónica, the woman who along with him, is really nice too. The families we go to seem very interesting as well. The problem is that once I am by myself (after work) there is NOTHING to do in Catamayo. I am staying in El Hotel La Reina del Cisne which is a decent hotel (especially for $8 a night) but I am alone and when I walk outside people stare at me because I am a foreigner and NO foreigners go to Catamayo, Ecuador. I went running but some strange man in a huge construction truck started driving next to me whistling and creepily smiling at me so I got really really angry and started sprinting and he just sped up. Pretty much, I hate machista guys (ie almost all guys in Ecuador) and i am now very afraid to go running because everyone whistles and stares and i hate that. So, I am now thinking about staying in a hostel or with a homestay in Loja and commuting because I can´t stand staying in Catamayo. I will inform you all of my decision (hopefully it will be a great one). Whatever I do, it won´t take place until Sunday evening because this weekend I´m staying in Loja and going hiking in Podocarpus National Park with Megan and maybe Jake and I´m SOOO excited! Apparently it´s a mix of jungle and mountainous terrain so it should be gorgeous and great to exercise. I miss you all so much ( I feel like a lonely, emotional freshman lol... I know it will pass with a good movie or book or a great joke hint hint haha) chao chao for now!
btw PRAY FOR SNOW!