June/July Update

Hello!
Well, life is back to "normal" after a nice visit with my mom. She was here for two weeks and we went traveling to the beach for a few days. If you ever get the chance to come to Ecuador, make sure you check out Ayampe---absolutely beautiful! We stayed in an eco-lodge there--it was up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the trees, with sounds of the ocean in the distance. A great place to relax! While there, we also went to the city of Puerto Lopez, where we did some whale watching. Life is rather crazy right now (and the internet connection isn't great), so I can't post pics yet, but no worries, I will!

After the beach, we headed back to Cuenca-area. Went to see some Incan ruins, a bunch of orchards and walked and walked and walked around Cuenca! It was most special for me that she could meet the friends that I've made here, though.

Other than that, here's what I've been up to:
Mid June I had some time off, so I headed down to Guayaquil for a week. My "little brother", Steven, who is normally the clown of the family, was sick, though. His eyes and mouth were swollen and he was developing lesions all over his arms and legs. He ended up going to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnsons' syndrome--basically his body reacted negatively to some meds he was taking for an infection. Looking at the pics of more advanced stages of this syndrome, it's really horrible and painful--thankfully Steven's hadn't progressed that much. So anyways, that week was spent helping out the family, as the mom had to basically live at the hospital. He's doing better now (was in the hospital for a week) but he's had some flare ups (he went for allergy tests this week--not sure what the results are yet, though).

Two weeks after I got back to Cuenca, my friend Eli's mom, who had had cancer for a little over a year, died. Thankfully Monica and I were able to head down for the funeral. Hard to see a friend suffer, though......

I tried Cui (guinea pig)! My old students took me out to try it.....and it wasn't bad! Of course, we went to a ritzy place that's famous for their cui, so I'm still wary of it (not planning on buying "cui on a stick" in the market)....but it actually....well, tasted like chicken :) And I didn't look at the head until after I ate it (the restaurant served the cui chopped up, not whole with the twisted scowl like you see in the tour guide books).

What's up for this month: work, work, work....and then the jungle in September!