Well, I suppose it's high time for another update! I just got my 3rd cold in 4 weeks today. Argh! I'm not prone to catching colds or feeling under the weather, but the weather here hasn't been too helpful--and with Carnaval this past weekend, I was walking around soaking wet for a few hours. Anyways, other than that, things have been going really well.
Friday I didn't have to work--instead I spent all day baking cookies! It was nice to have a total break from "English." In the evening, the young people at the church had an all-night vigil. There was stuff like worship music, a neat Christian video, some time for prayer, as well as some get-to-know-you kind of group activities. For one of those, each group had to act out a section of the book of Acts--with improvisation as we so desired.
I was with a bunch of guys (before you start to get too excited, all of the ones even close to my age are happily dating girls from the church!). Our drama (the conversion of Saul) ended up being pretty hilarious--think bad-boy James Bond meets Jesus.
On Sunday, I headed off to Loja, a bit further south, with my roommate Monica. She knows some friends of the family there, so they let us stay with them. Talk about hospitable! We just phoned them on Sat. evening, arrived the next day, then all Monday they acted as our tour guides.
There's a park in Loja with a zoo--and the only giraffe in Ecuador (his name is Chelito) so we went there--and I got to feed him :) Loja is a very beautiful city--and surprisingly clean (in general, not littering does not seem to be something that's emphasized here). On Monday afternoon, we went to the nearby village of Vilcabamba, which is known for it's abundance of people who live to a healthy, old age. Supposedly there's something in the water of the two rivers that run through it. I stuck my hand in one of them....we'll see how it ages! :)
Normally Vilcabamba is a quiet town, but it seemed like every adolescent from Loja was there, taking in the Carnaval festivities. For those of you who don't know, Carnaval is a big Latin American holiday, usually the first weekend of February. I think it's their equivalent of Mardi Gras. Anyways, the big thing is to throw water at other people--why, exactly, I don't know (and I don't think the majority of the people here do, either).
