When in Ecuador....

First of all I want to appologize for spelling and grammer errors...I tend to type fast and not read back through.  Second, sorry it's been awhile Mom.  Okay, Wednesday was a good day!  We were suppose to have a presentation on Galapagos for my bio class but the guy didn't show.  Instead we watched a movie and enjoyed cupcakes the teacher's daughter made!  After we I had a test in Spanish that was very easy.  After class Kim came home with me to have lunch and do homework.  Her family talks to her mostly in English, so she got a little spanish practice in.  My mom made her favorite, Lasagna, it was delicious, I want her recipes!  We also had dessert!  The rest of the day was pretty relaxing.  Thursday was an easy day one class at 8am!  After class I went to the chocolate store finally with a friend and it turned out interesting.  Haha, I told the lady we wanted chocolates obviously and that I was allergic to all nuts.  I then told her I like caramels and just plain chocolate.  She informed me of the risks with nuts and I said okay.  Then she hands us a chocolate to try, that happens to have a giant almond in!  My friend ate the rest.  Well the chocolate I got were so good I went back on Friday for more.  Friday I bought 6 caramels, 6 meltaway things, and 6 moras.  Mora is like raspberry!  Friday night meant dance class!  At dance this week we learned the carnaval dance and was invited to dance in the streets with our instructor during Carnaval!  So exciting, it's a hard dance but I love it!  That was proven when I was put in the front row!  After dance class we bought a cake for one of the girls birthdays!  Then we went to a mexican restaurant for her birthday!  I split enchiladas with her and ordered a pina colada, very strong drinks in ecuador!  We finished and went to the old cathedral to look inside.  There was an orchestra playing and it was free so some girls stayed and of course I went with others.  We bought a bottle of alcohol and went to play a card game because it was too early to go dancing.  The other girls came over and we were going to go to a bar to sing but then ended up seeing another group from CEDEI at a different discotecca so we joined them.  We were seriously the only people there, so leave it up to me to yell out the balcony Mas Hombres and smiling and waving them inside.  Well it worked because it didn't take long for guys to start arriving.  I was dancing the whole time while others were doing shots and chatting.  I heard many stories of how I was dancing though and probably a good thing my man didn't arrive until later.  So I was chatting with the crazy girls who barely dance, when Antonio asked me to dance.  Wow, he was good looking, smelled really nice, amazing muscles, and a good dancer!  We danced for the next two hours.  For some reason the guys that choose me only know Spanish!  I think thats good because then I am forced to learn and I love spanish!  We chatted on the balcony for awhile and had to leave because one of the other girls were passed out and puking on the couch.  Two girls ended up being really sick and we had to get them out of there.  In the meantime Antonio is still by my side wanting to help.  He stayed with us until we had her in a cab going to one of the girls houses.  He asked for my number, gave it to him, and had to get the other girl home.  We got the girls home and taken care of, in the meantime I'm getting home at 3am and have to be up at 6 to shower, pack, and walk to CEDEI by 7:15.  That was a struggle, I walked halfway and ended up getting a cab because I wasn't going to make it in time.  We had a three hour bus ride to Saraguro to sleep.  We arrived at our hostal and were off on this open door, bench, hay riding, truck.  And these roads we took were not paved, it was a little bumpy and cold but beautiful!  We toured a museum/ school of a little community outside Saraguro who is trying to save their traditions.  The houses are adobe and we learned all about the different medicinal plants and the purposes.  We also learned about the animals and tools for cooking.  We were going to go on a two hour hike up the side of the mountain, but it was too cloudy and if someone would slip you would fall down the mountain.  So we went back most people slept at the hostal.  I had randomly checked my phone and Antonio had texted me and called me!  That's something different then in the states.  Maybe I will have my private spanish tutor;)  A few girls and I went for a walk through town and took pictures!  I missed out on enough already!  Then we went to a place and were shown how they hand weave these alpaca scarfs, table cloths, etc.  Then we had our dinner!  First we had corn and soup.  Then we were all served a trout and Yuka and salad!  There was no way I was going to eat something with a head, eyes, a tail and scales.  Well I wasn't going to miss out either so one of the girls took mine and picked it apart for me.  In the meantime the other girls are filleting their fish and one of the girls ate the whole fish head eyes and everything!  Yuck I don't know why that would be good?  Our dessert was cheese with honey, talk about a weird pairing.  I just ate the honey.  After they played music and we danced.  Sunday morning came way to fast we woke up and had our breakfast of eggs and bread and hot chocolate.  Then we went to another community to participate in a Shamatism?  It was a ritual ceremony to the sun gods, they used different medicinal plants and freed all our evil spirits.  We had to drink this stuff they had for us and it was not good and probably why they evil would get out.  My stomach was starting to get sick again because I had bread at breakfast.  After we went to the town and bought tones of jewelry, all hand beaded and $1 for like everything!  I put a dent in my budget.  Good thing I only took $40.  After shopping we were off to lunch.  A traditional meal for weddings etc.  It was a grain with a piece of pollo and cuy, cheese, bread, and you add ahi, corn, and a boiled egg to the dish.  It was good I ate it all.  I tried the cuy, it was very rough and tough.  After our meal we were back home for the night.  Chau!