A Night on the Town :)

Hi Everyone! So, the good news first.. Last night was a lot of fun! There are a group of 5 volunteers here from Canada for a few weeks, and one from North Carolina that will be here until August. It's been nice having other "gringos" to converse and hang out with. The Canadians invited us Americans out to dinner with them. They taught me how to ride the buses and which ones take me to the orphanage, center of town, etc. They're staying in a nice hotel downtown for $8.99 a night per person. Anyone want to come visit me?!? :) We were walking to catch a bus and it started to POUR! We were soaked within 5 minutes and we hadn't even begun to find a place to eat or run the errands we needed to do, nevermind finding the right bus!!

Anyway...we decided we wanted to go out for street food. We've heard all the warnings about eating street food, but decided to take the risk anyway. (In case you're wondering, we're all feeling fine today. :) As we walked along the road a guy started clearing a table for us and was very persistent, as well as rather funny and amusing so we decided to eat there. 3 of them ordered "Guatitas" which is a potato and cow stomach soupy-ish thing over rice. They said it was good! *shrug* I stayed safe with fried chicken. We also had DELICIOUS cheese empanadas. :) Interestingly, I noticed a guy faking a disability to beg for money on the streets. He was standing around talking to his friends one minute, and the next was on a special bike for someone who can't use their legs. It has three wheels and has handlebars so that you crank with your hands instead of your legs to move. He hopped onto that, letting his legs dangle and went off to beg. It was an eye opener to me, as I often feel very compassionate toward people who I see on the street begging, especially when they're handicapped in that sort of way. Anyway..we finished the night by getting ice cream, and then headed home.

Unfortunately, one of the little boys here is very, very sick. In fact, the doctor gave hime 15 days to live. He's been sick his whole life and was severely malnourished as a baby. He was in the hospital as a baby and the nurses would give him food, but his mother would go in the room and eat it instead. The Allans daughter has been taking good care of him since they got him, but on Monday he was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis which means that he has really thick mucous in his lungs, making it hard to breathe. Right now he also has pneumonia, so it wasn't looking good. Everyone here has been praying for him, and he's starting to look much better! You can keep him on your prayer list too!

The Canadian team here wants to climb the volcano Chimborazo next week, so I think I might do that with them. They're going out to eat lunch today...an Ecuadorian delicacy...cow testicles. yuuuuuuuuuck. I'm not that crazy!! Anyway.. I miss you guys all like crazy! Write to me! I hope to hear from you! I love getting e mails from home!! :) Hasta Luego!