So unfortunately I didnt get to go on the boat ride on the Malecón this weekend... but were going on Thursday so I guess I can wait. We walked past it and checked it out but didnt have time to actually sail. Its modeled after Captain Morgans pirate ship since he is one of the famous English pirates who used to plunder the port of Guayaquil back in the old days. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday the ship opens up as a beer and discotech as it sails around. They even have a special today for Valentines day where they serve a romantic dinner as you sail!! We spent Friday afternoon walking around downtown Guayaquil completely discombobulated and lost. We were hoping to go to the artisan market but never quite found our way there... Its very confusing to get around a city where the buses never stop in the same place...

 Needless to say we attracted a lot of attention and probably looked like fools. One the plus side we did manage to find our way down to the Malecón so we walked around there for a while and then went over to an area called Las Peñas and had a great dinner. We climbed on top of a huge look out tower and took pictures of the Board Walk. There was a ten year old up there who was amazed by my friend Megan, who is extremely pale and thin with short cut brown hair... He ran up to her and just stared at her for about five minutes without saying anything and then ran off to get his Moms cameras and take pictures of her. It was all quite funny. Below is another view of the Malecón looking in the other direction from the look out tower.

This is Josh and I standing on top of our tower The picture in front of the statue is Megan and I.The statue is ofcourse of Simon Bolivar... just like half the statues in Ecuador. But its a pretty cool little monument in the middle of the boardwalk.

The next morning we headed back to the city bus again to catch a ride to the Terminal for an exciting beach adventure. True to form, I was squashed in between a large crowd of sweaty people, elbowed continuously, serenaded by someone playing instruments for money that cant even sing , and almost ran over by the crazy honking taxi drivers that are constantly circling the bust station. The line to buy bus tickets to Salinas was really long so we spent an extra dollar each and bought tickets through another company. Its crazy in South America you can even buy time with money. We were lucky enough to have an Ecuadorian DJ friend with us that we met a few weeks back. He speaks absolutely no English but thinks were entertaining because were foreign and I think he likes that the international kids are always up to some kind of adventure. He has taken us under his wing as our tour guide and spent the whole morning herding us around like a mother hen. We were quite the sight... we had an Ecuadorian DJ skipping, dancing, and singing in Spanish being followed by a spattering of Australians attempting to speak Spanish, a few Americans, and a South Korean that walks around like he just got pinched all the time. But eventually we made it to the beach... 

 On the right is Eryka who refused to take that hat off all day... and then I bought a whole coconut for a dollar from one of the stands on the beach and had them chop it open with a machete right in front of me. I was in heaven. I really did feel like a little beach Princesita right about then. The beach we went to was called Salinas, its a much more industrialized beach than any of the other ones that I went to. In some parts it looks just like any other beach in Myrtle Beach or somewhere with tons of high rises and restaurants. It was a nice change but I much prefer the little local Ecuadorian beaches that dont have any buildings higher than a few floors and all the food is home made and unique. The seafood at Salinas was still very good though.

These glasses were passed around during the entire trip... Im not even really sure where they came from. I think maybe from Jonathan, our "tour guide."As if we already didnt stick out enough... they ran around putting the sun glasses on all the mannequins we passed in stores. haha. The guy on the right is my friend Sangwoo, our Korean friend. He was the highlight of the weekend. His English is getting slightly better but the poor kid still has no idea what is going on most of the time. We were all sitting in the hostel waiting to go out for dinner and he was sitting on the bunk bed above me... I asked him a question and he swung down just like this and all I could think of was the scene from 16 Candles with Long Duk Dong... "Whats happenin hot stuff?" I laughed so hard I almost started crying. Sang Woo later graced us with a passionate full on martial arts dance impression in the middle of the discoteca. He has become fast friends with one of the Australians who has fondly nicknamed him "Sanga" (Ive found that the Australians insist upon shortening EVERYTHING). He had to leave at 430 in the morning from Salinas to get back to Guayaquil in time for church... We walked him to the bus station and tried to make sure he knew how to get home... He cant even call a taxi on his own because no one understands him. We were terrified he wouldnt make it home and we would never see him again... but somehow he made it.

To the left is my friend Josh and I at dinner. And to the right are the girls, me, and our DJ friend- tour guide sitting up by the beach. I wish I could explain how much of a character he was. His pants were so tight that they ripped when he bent down to tie his shoe... and he still walked around with them all night.

This is the nicest bus I have been on in Ecuador to date so I had to take a picture of it. It was 3.30 for a ticket back to Guayaquil but it was air conditioned and played a movie! It was heaven!!

And this is a picture of the little neighborhood or ciudadela where I live. I will take more pictures of the outside of my particular villa later this week. Things are pretty good around the house. We just had a new girl move in last night. I havent had a whole lot of time to talk to her because I  had a big paper to write but she seems nice enough. She is blond too! She speaks fluent Spanish and goes to the same University as me. My host Mom is planning on taking some trips sometime soon so she said she will probably be gone a lot but she has hired some lady to keep track of everything while she is gone... on top of the maid... Im not sure exactly when shes leaving yet but I guess I will find out eventually! My little brat of a friend Rafaela left for Brazil this morning for the next few weeks. The house is already strangely quiet. Her mom is hoping that while they are in Brazil she will be able to convince her own mother, the grand mother, to move back to Ecuador to help her to look after Rafaela since she is a little wild and wont eat anything... Rafaela was in my room yesterday and was going through my stuff and found my electric tooth brush... I have never seen someone so mesmerized before. It took a long time to explain to her why the toothbrush was so heavy and why it made noise. She then took it and insisted on showing it to everyone in the house. Then she came back again and asked me some more questions about it. She has decided that for her next birthday she wants her own... but she wants a smaller one so it can be little like her. But I suppose that is about it for now! Happy Valentine day to all!!