First of all, we got our Spanish midterms back today and I GOT AN A!!!!! I really have no idea how that happened. None. But I'm soooooooo happy.

So. After the Galapagos.... We got back on a Wednesday and I had a test the next day so I slept/studied that afternoon. The next day Lily, Liz, Milton and I went out for Thai food and margaritas. I have been eating so much ethnic food here. I guess it's just because Etown is in the middle of nowhere but I'm mad I don't eat it more. Friday Liz, Lily, and I went to Mr. Bagel to do homework. I think I watched youtube links for a few hours. But, they have THE best tomate de arbol juice in all of Quito. I love it there. Oh wait also one of these days I tried a frozen coffee drink from El Espanol and really liked it. I feel a change in the air. Anyways that night we went to CoffeeTree in La Plaza Foch but I only had one margarita because I don't know I guess they actually put alcohol in theirs or something because it was disgusting. So basically we just sat and talked until 2am.

Saturday night Liz, Lily, Milton, Andres, and I went to a Liga game in Andres' suite. It was a lot of fun and they won! Afterwards we went to Milton's house to watch the Hangover because Milton has never seen it but the disc skipped like a full hour in the middle so it sucked. Sunday the BCA group went to Bomboli, an eco-friendly farm in the cloud forest. This adorable old man took us on this hike and just talked about nature and his life and everything. He was awesome. Also he taught me how to take this moss and put an orchid on it in the Y of a tree and then the orchid will grow and wrap all around the tree. But I had to kiss it first because it only grows with amor. Ahhh. They also make their own cheese and manjar de leche so we watched that- I bought some for my parents and supervisor at my internship, had an amazing dinner, and came home.

Monday! I left my internship with 5 other people to go on Manuela Espejo visits. Manuela Espejo was the first female nurse in Ecuador. The vice-president (who is a paraplegic) started this project under her name, after Cuba and Bolivia performed similar ones, where over a year ago people went door-to-door finding where every person with physical and/or mental disabilities live in Ecuador. Then they started this part where teams of social workers, therapists, nurses, etc. go to these homes with a pretty extensive questionnaire to figure out all the services they may need- therapy, wheelchairs, special beds, etc. It's actually been super successful and in 2 of the 6 homes I went to they had already received special beds and chairs.

The director, social worker, language therapist, occupational therapist, gym teacher, and me were chosen to separate into 3 teams of 2. The gym teacher, Santiago, is in his late 20s I think and obsessed with me because I'm a gringa and the only person under 50 at the school. So when we were separating he kept trying to say we should go together but finally I was just like I think a gym teacher and a girl who can't speak Spanish would be a pretty shitty team. I think he's still mad at me. I ended up going with Ruth, the occupational therapist. We went to 6 homes- 4 were kids 3 and under, a 19 year old boy, and a 69 year old man. It was so sad/interesting. The stories were amazing. I'm going to pretend like I'm just following confidentiality protocol but really I'm too lazy to elaborate right now. It was a really awesome experience for me though, in a social work aspect. Really awesome.

Tuesday Milton and I went to Clancy's this Irish Sports bar place. Oh and I had my midterm this day. And a leadership paper due. Stressful. Wednesday night I went to another Liga game with friends from my leadership class. This one was so amazing! The vibe was crazy. It was a win or die situation for the South American Cup. They won thank god but it was so intense. No one scored until like 70 minutes or something and there were a couple fights. FIGHTS! in soccer... It was a really fun night. Oh before the game I went to Nikki's place for a couple hours because her mom was throwing a surprise party for her birthday. It was nice. Almost everyone was there and we played typical Ecuadorian birthday games.

Thursday during my break, Anggelo and I bought over 100 popsicles and went to his mom's work. She runs a daycare for low-income families. Then we just hung out with about 90 kids 5 and under for a couple of hours. It was such a cool idea. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, but he knows about my social work, etc.... I was really confused when we were buying the popsicles. That night Liz, Lily, Milton, and I went for sushi but they had a buy 3 get 1 drink free deal going on so we stayed there all night. (I got a roll call Fuji, it's flambé... delicious.) I can't remember what I did all day Friday... there was something. Oh well. That night Lily, Milton, and I saw Due Date. There were some pretty funny parts I guess. Also- I have a tendency of reading the Spanish subtitles while I watch it and I learned that hijodeputa is one word. Interesting.

Saturday Liz, Lily, and I went to this convention in an arena in Parque Carolina where there were over 100 agencies serving people with disabilities. All the agencies set-up stands selling handmade crafts, foods, information, etc. I was so impressed by the organization and dedication. We also signed up for a sign language course. I really hope it happens before we leave. We were there for a few hours and then I went to Milton's and made him watch Amelie. He said he loved it, but maybe he's just saying that because I would punch him if he didn't. Afterwards Lily, Milton, and I saw Eat, Pray, Love... I don't really have any reaction to it. Sunday morning Liz and I went out for breakfast with Milton and his little brother. TGIFridays has breakfast here.... does it in the states? It was really good either way. Later Liz and I watched Agent Salt on my laptop and I pretended to do work. Per usual

Oh I just remembered last Wednesday at my internship one of the teachers didn't show up so I had to take over a class all over myself and there is SUCH a big difference in the behaviors of the "lower-functioning" vs "higher-functioning" groups. They were TERRORS. And by the end of the day I was just turning into one of those evil substitute teachers no one likes and making some of them do ridiculous busy-work because they were being so rude. However, 2 of the boys who sort of listened to me were rewarded by me teaching (or trying to) them to cross their eyes. Really productive day. Now whenever they see me they run up and hug and kiss me and alkdfjlds I love kids.

Monday after my internship Liz, Lily, and I went out to a Mongolian restaurant to celebrate Lily and Chris's (in absentia) 1 year anniversary. It was pretty good but it was a $10 buffet which is a lot here so I forced myself to eat soooo much to get my money's worth. But I STILL feel fat from it. Tuesday I don't think anything really happened at school but the night before, after we were out to eat, Lily dropped and shattered the screen of her mac. So she came over from like 6-11 to use my computer and stayed for dinner. I also informed my parents of all the plans I'm forcing them into next week when Johnnie and my mom are here... ahhh I'm so nervous. I'm making Liz and Lily come to everything to help bridge the enormous communication gap. Oh well... a smile is a smile the world around. That was really corny. But hopefully true.

Yesterday (Johnnie's birthday!) Liz, Lily, Milton and I went to the mall. Hmmm that's it. The rainy season has officially begun.. it's wet and freezing :( I'm sort of bummed because I can only assume it'll be like this next week too for mom and Johnnie but oh well. THEY GET HERE IN 2 DAYS!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. Ok I have a meeting in a couple minutes and I'm not proofreading, so my apologies.

I guess it's been long enough..

So... We ended up going to that Halloween party at Epica. We were futbol players because nobody felt like being creative or spending money on costumes. It was fine though- about half the people there dressed up and the other half were lame. There was a competition for best costume and the winner was.... drumroll...... a guy dressed up as a Chilean miner with 2 girls in wedding dresses.> I don't know if this story was as popular in the U.S. since we're a bit closer here, but after the mining accident 2 wives came forward for one of the guys and it was totally out of Law & Order. He had two families, kids about the same ages, etc. I wonder if that's all he was thinking about for those couple months. He must've known they found out about each other.< We stayed there until 1am and then went to Penthouse, another club, to meet up with Andres and Milton for a couple hours. The whole night was so much fun! Even though, as a consequence, I had to suffer from about 3 hours of sleep and a hangover on the way to the Galapagos.

On to the Galapagos... I'm going to try to remember everything (Liz was supposed to email me the list she was making... lying little...). The first day we landed on Baltra around 1pm. Right away we took a ferry and crossed over to Santa Cruz, another island. It's probably the most touristy of all the islands. We checked into our rooms, ate lunch, and split into 2 groups. One group went to Tortuga beach (which I'm actually really sad we couldn't go to both because it's supposedly one of the prettiest beaches in the world) and the other group went on this hike over volcanic grounds, a salt mine (which was so pretty) and to this channel where we could snorkel and cliff jump. Per usual, my pride got in the way. There were several different levels you could jump from but I insisted on having to jump from the highest one, even though Daniel warned me that the previous semester only 1 person jumped from there, etc. When I got to the top I really do think I peed a little. It was terrifying! Right under the surface of the water were these 2 enormous rocks you had to clear. Well apparently when I finally did jump I long-jumped it or something because everyone watching said they were afraid I was going to hit the other side. Then because it was so high up you really start flailing and can't really control your body so I went in at a bad angle and literally physically bruised my butt and thighs. I thought I died.

2nd Day! We spent the morning on Santa Cruz before taking a two-hour boat ride to San Isabela, the most gorgeous place in the world. After breakfast we went through these ENORMOUS lava tunnels left over from when the gases after an eruption disappear. I don't know what I expected but they were big enough to fit houses in, underground. The designs in the rocks leftover were so amazing. After walking through them for about an hour we went to a tortoise farm. I know they're the "image" of the Galapagos but I'm far more impressed by the sea lions. (They call them sea wolves) We took pictures and walked around but they're sort of... slow. After the tortoises we had lunch and got on the boat for San Isabela. I barely made it off alive. I never thought I got sea sick but maybe it was just because it was such a small boat really in the middle of the ocean. Plus we were SO crammed. But for probably the last half hour I was sweating (even though it was wet and windy) and salivating in my mouth... terrible. By the time we settled into our hostels (we were split up) we just had a little bit of free time before dinner. This is when the gorging began. This is the last time I'll mention it (maybe) but I have never eaten so much as I did in the following 4 days. They stuffed us so full of food, a great idea for days spent in bikinis. It was disgusting.

3rd Day! Right after breakfast we took a boat ride to Tortuga Island (looks like a tortoise... supposedly). We drove around the whole island bird-watching and then got out to snorkel. All of the Galapagos are leftover volcanoes but you could really see it on Tortuga Island. The stratifications and the way the rock broke off was so cool looking! I still can't get over it. While we were snorkeling we saw a huge sting ray! (does that make it a manta ray?) I swam down to try to take a picture but it's sort of impossible to see through the eye holes in disposable water cameras. Also it expired 3 years ago so I have no idea if these pictures are going to come out. After that we went snorkeling at this other place and I saw a few sea turtles and sea lions. I was also body slammed by a sea lion that was "playing" with me. One of the girls in our group got swept away into some rocks and ended up getting stitches in her knee. It was free too!(socialized healthcare, ya know Dad?) After (an enormous) lunch we walked around this little island and saw tons of iguanas, reef sharks, and SEA LIONS. They're my new obsession. There were so many and they're so cute and I love watching how they play with each other. They're such a physically loving animal. Ahhhh. Iguanas- disgusting. I hate them. They scare me. Ok wow. We really did a lot this day. AFTER that we went to see the Wall of Tears- a monument leftover from an old prison, the original Alcatraz. It's also in the middle of a super deserty part of the island so they just assumed if anyone DID escape, they'd die anyway.

I really wish I could remember/had the energy to relay all the facts we learned and stuff because some of it really was SO interesting, but I'm too lazy.

4th Day! Despite being close to death on several occasions, this day was AMAZING! If I'm not exaggerating, we probably only hiked for about 6 hours, after breaks. First we saw la Sierra Negra, the 2nd largest active caldera in the world (after the one in Yellowstone that kills the world in that bad John Cusack movie). It was so weird. It was probably around 10-11 when we got there and it was covered in clouds so we were all super bummed and then within like 2 minutes it just COMPLETELY cleared up. It was the weirdest thing I ever saw. It was... awesome. After pictures our hike continued. We ate lunch under this awesome tree. Maybe 7 or 8 on an awesome scale, but when you're that hungry it just seemed all the more magical. Then the hardest part.... we crossed over first into a desert, then into like I don't know an effing lava field. We were walking on old lava rocks in an active area. The soles of my sneakers seriously started to smudge/melt like tar. I drank 4 bottles of water and a gatorade. No joke. I just kept thinking about being stranded in a desert like the Atacama. I would just lay down and die I guess. In the end we summited Volcan Chico, the most active volcano on San Isabela. The view.... I guess just add it to the list of things a photo will never be able to capture and I will never be able to describe to people who will have stopped really listening or caring an hour earlier.

5th Day! This day we had a long boat ride in the morning (we were separated into smaller boats) and it was so awesome. It was like flying... with turbulence. We saw a whole island FULL of boobies, blue-footed and Nazca, about 20 sea turtles and a school(?) of eagle rays, a type of sting ray. We went snorkeling a couple different places. I REALLY hope my underwater pictures came out, ugh. And this one sea lion swam with me for like an hour. It was so scary the first time it went by though because when you're snorkeling you're just in your own little world... everything is so quiet and then it just darted underneath me. Ahh I thought it was a shark.

Last Day :( We woke up at 4:30 to take that godforsaken boat back to Santa Cruz. I took two pills for seasickness though (1 is recommended and I NEVER take medicine) so I passed out on the floor of the boat using my life vest as a pillow. I think everyone else- sick and miserable, crammed in their bouncing seats sort of hated me. It was glorious. We got to the Charles Darwin research center around 8am and ran through it. We saw Solitary George and Diego, the two most famous tortoises in the world. Diego is from San Diego but they brought him to the Galapagos to mate so this one type of tortoise didn't go extinct and I guess it was a success because he has over 10,000 babies. Freak. Also, the whole Solitary George thing really disturbs me. Scientists apparently have tried masturbating him by hand and imitating female tortoises to "turn him on." Just leave him alone. There is only one flight out of Baltra per day so we had to be at the airport by 11:30 but we were late so guess what!!!! I got upgraded to first class :) Such a wonderful trip.

There really just is something so magical about the Galapagos. I don't know what it is and I don't know how to put it in words, but everything amazes you. For example, when we first saw the penguins Lily and I were just like isn't is so crazy how they rode the Humboldt the whole way here and just evolved, etc. And then we'd just realize that this is where that WHOLE theory came together. WE were on such a freaking big part of scientific discovery and its evidence was everywhere. It's almost pathetic the number of times I got goosebumps or started tearing up. When we went snorkeling on Tortuga Island we were literally IN a volcanic crater and it was alskdfjdsf beautiful. Siiiigggggghhhhhhh. The other really weird thing is how much the climate and geography changes within such a small area... you hit jungle, desert, lava, forest, and beach within 100 meters. It was crazy.

Okay I've decided that tomorrow (hopefully!) I'm going to write about everything since the Galapagos. I'm tired.