It's been a while!

It's been way too long since my last post, I know... But we've been really busy! Spanish classes are rolling right along and all of the exchange students have bonded really wonderfully. This weekend, all of us except 3 traveled to a city called Quevedo in a neighboring providence, about 3 hours away. I was really happy about it because it meant I got to leave the coastal area and see more of the greenery, plus the homes of the people who lived there. It's easier to appreciate them if you can picture looking out your own window and seeing them.









We arrived in Quevedo on Saturday at around 2:30, got some really yummy chinese food, and rigged up our flags for the Quevedo Festival parade. The rotary there asked us to march with them in the parade because this year is their first exchange year and while they had outbounds, they didn't have any inbounds. We had a blast!



After the parade the 6 girls stayed in a vacation house of one of the rotarians while the 2 boys stayed with another rotarian. We were lucky to have a pool and plenty of room and I an two other girls had a slumber party on the balcony. A really fun evening!

The following morning we went to a restaurant for breakfast and watched out the window as the school parade passed outside. Once we were on our way we got the chance to check out a hospital owned and operated by the Quevedo rotary club. It services about 2,000 patients every month, averaging out to 100 patients a day.










One of the nicest things I've found about being in Ecuador is that there's always something lying ahead, a new place to see or new people to meet, something to keep the future bright and exciting. It'd be hard to put in to words how much I appreciate being here and seeing all of this firsthand. THANK YOU to everyone who helped me and everyone who checks this blog, you're all really important to my success here and I'm grateful.