Gringa

It's funny how quickly you get used to things: standing out. Being stared out. Not understanding basic sentences. Horrible spanish skills making you sound incompetent. But also good things: Cloud covered mountains. Green quilted fields. Bright colors and strikingly beautiful people.

We were down in Latacunga (the other orphanage site) for the past couple days, without any internet, hence the lack of blogging. We worked on floors and played with babies and enjoyed some local culture. These kids, they steal your heart.

Friday morning found me clinging to the rim of a toilet praying for deliverance... I can't remember the last time I was sick, and I hope it's a long time until it happens again! Yesterday was a long, feverish day. Ecuador didn't seem so awesome at the time.

But this morning, everything was better :) Today we spent at a massive market in the town of Otavalo. We tramped around in the rain, bartering in our broken spanish, exchanging smiles with strangers. Somehow, more than the jewelry and blankets and clothes, I treasure the smell of frying foods, the swirl of spanish, and the captured moments of a world not my own. These are the things I want to carry home...