First of all I would like to point out that today is April 3rd. What does that mean?

I officially have exactly one month left in Ecuador!!

On May 3^rd I will be soaring in to Greensborough, North Carolina on an American Airlines flight. What does that mean? That means returning to real life and responsibility… and maybe having to do more on the weekend than go to the beach…

This past week was midterms so I spent most of it either at the gym working off stress, locked in my room reading, or sitting in a class room until 1030 at night trying not to fall asleep. By the time Thursday rolled around I was about  ready to rip my hair out. Im not accustomed to this kind of hard work anymore. I went out salsa dancing on Thursday night at a local bar that we have been to a few times before.

Friday I spent the whole morning doing homework and then spent the afternoon swimming at a friends pool. We worked up an appetite swimming so a big group of us headed over to a buffet called Little Chef. It was $12 and had more food than I have seen in a long time. They had everything from Ecuadorian specialties such as maduro con queso and ceviche, to stir fry to flan. The most exciting part? They had a full salad bar! Granted most of the salads had choclo or corn and tons of mayonnaise but it was still pretty exciting. And there was all you can eat sushi and crab legs! We were in heaven. I think we ended up staying there for over two hours before we finally worked up the energy and motivation to walk out.

We left early Saturday morning for a trip to a little beach town called Puerto el Morro. We went on a 3 hour boat ride where we saw tons of dolphins. They were swimming right up to the boat and playing everywhere in the water.

In the middle of the boat ride we stopped at an island to get off and see some birds… The island was swampy and turned out to be a breeding ground for starving mosquitos. I was one of the first ones off the boat and within a few seconds I had about 20 of them just on one leg… and I was wearing bug spray. I thought I was in a horror movie. I tried to get back on the boat and refuse to go see the stupid birds but the way back was blocked off by everyone else getting off so I had no option but to proceed. By the time we reached the platform to where you were supposed to watch the birds I looked like I had the chicken pocks and I was about ready to murder the tour guide for taking us to Mosquito Land.

I very loudly made sure the director knew I was not amused and that if I got dengue or Malaria because of him he was going to have it coming… Anyway the birds that we got off the boat to see were the same ones we had been watching all day from the boat and it was definitely not worth the marks or the bites. Before heading back I applied two more coats of repellant but still managed to almost double the amount of bites on the trek back. Everyone else was pretty much eaten alive as well but apparently I was their favorite snack of the day because I won the award for the most bites. By the end of it I was so covered in bumps and bites that they had to give me some pill for the swelling and some mosquito aftercare and have me lay down during lunch… I really wanted to throw my water bottle at the director but I refrained… barely.

But what made the trip worthwhile was some special guests we brought along with us this weekend. My friend Megan works with a foundation in the middle of Guayaquil that shelters young girls who have family problems. The girls come from a large variety of backgrounds. Some of them have been physically or sexually abused, others were neglected, others are orphans, and some just come from such large families that there isn’t enough to go around. The girls are taken in by the foundation and given food, sheleter, and education. However they don’t have a lot of freedom since the shelter doesn’t have the resources or safety regulations that would allow the older girls to go out.

As such a lot of the girls are 15 and have never gone out with friends, been to the movies, gone to the beach, etc… let alone talked to boys. Every time Megan went on a trip with us for the weekend they would crowd around her on Monday and want to know every detail of what we did. It was obvious that they were hungry to see a little bit of the outside world. So Megan talked to the school about it for ideas to help the girls get out for a weekend and do something fun. As a solution we had five of the girls and one of the Tías (a chaperone from the foundation) come with us on our trip to Puerto El Morro!

The girls were ecstatic and had a great time! They were all very open and happy and extremely patient with all of our broken Spanish! After just an hour and a half bus ride to the beach they were already holding my hand, hugging me, and telling me all about their lives. They were squealing and chasing dolphins around the boat! And  taking turns taking pictures with the boys and stealing all of the guys sunglasses and hats! It was really cool to hang out with them and get to know them all.

At the same time it was heart breaking to see how desperate they are for interaction with kids and people besides the 20 some girls that live at the foundation with them.  A few of them had Facebook and made sure to get my name so hopefully I will be able to keep in touch with them! I talked to Megan and I am hoping to surprise them and go visit them one morning this week or next week that I have free.

After the tour I said goodbye to my new friends and they dropped us off in a beach town called Playas to spend the night and part of the day on Sunday.

We are building a house next weekend as a volunteer project in Guayaquil and then we only have one more weekend free before school ends and everyone heads off in their separate directions to travel!!! I cant believe it!!!