my poor mom

It has been a while, almost two months, so sorry kids, a lot has happened, so here is the condensed version.




I found my house, and was working everyday… now that’s a lie, my host dad Vicente worked on it everyday and I showed up for some gringo support. He was a savior. My family was coming about 3 weeks after I signed up for the house, with the plans that they were going to stay with me here for 3 nights or so. That meant we had to attach the side walls to the roof, build two doors, put a kitchen sink in and connect water, connect water to the bathroom sink, and make a drain for the shower. Also change the faucets, buy an oven and gas tank, and somehow find all those other house necessities, like a bed, dishes, pots, seats, maybe a dresser and so on. So I gave all that I could meaning money, and Vicente and my landlord got it ready. I lucked out hard core on my host family, they almost fully furnished my house and lent me three extra beds for my family that they borrowed from friends and neighbors. Oh, the biggest project of all this was to re do the bathroom, by laying tile, painting, finally buying a mirror, and I must say I cant stop looking at it :) Anyway during all this mess I found out I had an UTI, yeah I know lovely, and the same day also figured out I had head lice, it was an awesome day. I got some medications no problem, but head lice in Ecuador are like roaches, they can live through everything. I daily shampooed with the killing shampoo for like two weeks, and had my host sister pick through my hair two different times, two hours each sitting. I think they finally might be gone…

In my last two weeks at my host families house I was served guinea pig, deer, and multiple whole fish about the size of my man hand which I ate all with a spoon. Guinea pig is traditionally from the mountains of Ecuador but my host mom had two growing and one day the pet dog crunched them, so after many tears marina cooked them up, lets just say not horrible tasting but really not worth the work. There is nothing on those little shits. The deer my host brother watched die somewhere and by bringing it to a vendor he got some to take home and 30 bucks. I was not so pumped to have eaten a deer that died of an infected wound but what can you do. Then the fish, there are at least 500 bones in a fish the size of your hand, I am now an expert and probably can filet any size with my new found knowledge of their internal structures.

Highlight of the past two months was the visit of my parents. Super freaking cool. We built a roof on a gazebo in my park. Planted a garden, danced in the town square, in proto lopez we went whale watching and saw blue footed boobies, plus red footed boobies, and another not every colorful boobie. In mindo we went zip lining over the canopy of a cloud forest through a course of 8 lines, we went partners, upside down, superman style, all while I got to interpret the safety directions to my non Spanish speaking family, you can really get them to believe anything. We then went horseback riding, with my mom that is terrified of horses, my brother and matt that are about the same size of an Ecuadorian horse, and my sister and I who really have no prior experience. While the 15 year old guide was jamming out to his ipod, my brother legs were almost dragging on the ground, my mom could not get hers to move, and my sister and my horse were playing follow the leader, until they decided to race. And yes I mean full gallop race down a path with no care of who was on their back. I actually thought this was the end of my life, as I was bouncing up and down holding on for dear life and screaming, my sister was laughing while also peeing her pants a little, until finally they got tired or something and stopped. About 20 minutes later the guide caught up and brought us back to base camp. Only to find out that matts horse tried to not only brush him off on a tree but also tried to launch him off by jumping with the front two legs. I could not sit right for a couple days, but really “only in Ecuador.” We then went to the tena and got to see the jungle, with monkeys and a huge snake, and beautiful butterflies. Oh and I got to eat some really tastey filet mignons. Really awesome trip, next time any of you see my mom tell her you are proud, cause we kinda made her go through hell in Ecuador in all of our adventures. Did I mention we climbed vertically up a mountain side and repelled down the other side of shear rock wall. Mom your awesome.

So now I am back in my house, its great. One downfall, I have to learn how to cook from scratch, has not gone so well so far, but hey I will either come out of this skinny or the next Julie Childs. Tonight is potatoes, shrimp, and string beans :)