Hey everyone!!

This weekend has been the craziest I´ve had in a long time. The Ecuadorian people really know how to have a great time. We left the foundation for a weekend trip at 10:00 on Friday night. Here in Ecuador, when co-workers go out together, they don´t just take their significatn others with them, they take their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and even their friends. There were 8 staff members, and almost 50 people went on this trip.

Obviously there wasn´t enough room on the bus for me, so they gave me a mattress and I sat on the floor with two kids. It was a loooooooooooong 8 hour bus ride to the PARTY beach in Ecuador, Atacames!!

When we stopped for gas five hours into our trip, we stopped in the middle of no where. This place looked like somewhere out of a horror movie! I got out of the bus to use the rest room, looked up at the bright floresent lights shinning from the buliding, and saw what must have been thousands of moths!!!!! From tiny ones to ones as big as my head. I´ve never felt chills up and down my spine quite like this. What was even funnier was that everyone looked at me like I was stupid for being scared of these things!! It was a normal site for everyone else. As I entered the bathroom, moths were all around me, I sucked it up, and just used the bathroom!! I RAN back to the bus.

The rest of the trip was pretty mellow, I slept most of it!! When we got to the house we were staying at, I layed on the top bunk (my bed) and heard a rustling noise over me. Three lizards were playing tag a foot away from my head!! I walked down to the beach to watch the sun rise with three of the ´tias´ here. There I saw the fisherman with their small boats catching the fish of the day.

We sat at the beach for a while, and this old man pushing a cart came up to us. He was selling seviche!!!!! I was in heaven. At this very moment began a weekend full of the freshest, tastiest, and cheapest sea food I´ve ever tasted!! I spent the entire day on the beach. The beach was full of people selling fresh coconut juice, seviche, and oods and ends. At the end of the day, let´s just say I was as red as a tomatoe! (even with sunscreen!)

That night, about 30 of us went out to the clubs/bars of Atacames. Now I know why this place is considered the party town of the coast! I spent all night dancing and having a blast with my co-workers and people from Ecuador. I spent half an hour sitting on the beach at night watching the waves….it was BEAUTIFUL!

The next day we pretty much did the same thing and lfet at 3:00pm. The ride back was sooooooooooooo crazy! It was pretty malow until we stopped for dinner. There was a KFC that the kids wanted to eat at, I was somewhat releaved to have a small piece of the states here! We got back on the bus, and everyone started drinking!! Everyone got up on the isle of the bus, and started to dance. I was laughing my butt off!!! Only the folks from Latin America know how to really party in any situation!! We got back at midnight and went straight to bed!!

I think this e-mail is long enough, don’t you?

Anyways…..I hope everone is doing great, and that I miss you guys soooooooooooooooo much!!!

Love,
Heidi