Again it has been a long winter between posts, but this entry should be full of excitement and (GASP!) pictures.
After three weeks of having the runs I am quite contently constipated... but there has been a lot more going on than changes in bowel movements.
I hung out in Ibarra for a few more days past my last entry. I caught the fútbol game with Liga, the national team, that Thursday and partied in the streets with the whole city when they won the championship. You have never participated in a sporting event until you have been to a ¨soccer¨ game in South America I think. People were singing and dancing in the streets, spraying beer everywhere, and celebrating until well past three in the morning.... and this was in the smaller city. I heard Quito was insane.
From Ibarra I caught a bus to Latacunga, where I ate and slept. About two hours after I awoke the next morning I realized that there was no reason had to stay in this town, and so I left. I didn´t really like Latacunga. From there I caught a ride to Chuchilán, which is a small village of no more than a few hundred residents, mostly indigenous. There I saw more gringos than I had seen since Quito, thanks to the beautiful scenery and the three hostels that call Chuchilán home. Lots of talking in English... lots of people from all over the world.
I befriended a 42 year old Irish man named Dave (or Steve... or Patrick)... who was absolutely crazy. We rode horses through the valley to Lake Kilatowa a few miles away. The ride was about 5 or 6 hours. Dave doesn´t speak any Spanish and so the guide felt at liberty to spend the whole trip telling me that I could use a boyfriend for the nights I was in Chuchilán and that he was up for the job... I made sure not to see him again after we made it back to the hostel.
Views from horseback.
Lake Kilatowa
Crazy Dave.
My dog bite post horseride.
When the time came to leave Chuchilán I hopped on the back of a milktruck with some new friends and enjoyed the bumping, nail biting, beautiful six hour ride to Latacunga.
Se Amo Milktrucks. Did I mention it started raining?
Traffic!
We got to Latacunga and Dave decided to tag along with me for a while to utilize my Spanish skills... we were to take the first bus out of Latacunga (I told you I didn´t like the city) and thus we ended up heading to Ambato, where we ate the best banana bread I´ve had in my life on the bus, and caught another bus to Riobamba.
On the road to Riobamba I remembered that I had some offers from Couchsurfing for a place to crash, so we hit up an internet cafe and I got the numbers for two surfers in the city. I called Francisco and within ten minutes he met me to take me to his house and introduce his family during his work break, and thus I had a home in Riobamba. Because the family only had room for one we dropped Dave off at a hostel. At this point I lost Dave... I still haven´t seen him, a week later.
As fun as the milktruck ride was... during that time my camera also broke, thanks to the jostling. And so... the rest of the pictures were taken on the new camera that I bought for the equivalent of one week´s lodging, food, and entertainment. Gah!
Francisco´s family is simply amazing. When I arrived, unannounced, they greeted me warmly and were excited to have me. He lives with his parents (his father 82 years old!), two sisters, brother, and nephew.
That night we met Wladamir, another Couchsurfer in Riobamba, and watched Borat... a great cultural representation of the U.S. Also, Wlad invited me to go for a weekened beach trip with him and some other surfers.
Two days later Francisco and I went to Guano, a small town just outside of Riobamba. He took off work that day just for this... by that afternoon we were talking and he told me ¨This is really scaring me... I don´t know how you got into my heart so fast... but I think I love you.¨ And crazy as it is- the statement didn´t surprise me because I had felt the same connection, an immediate deep friendship... and thus, within three days of meeting, I had a boyfriend. 
Enter- Francisco Javier... or, as I and his family call him, ¨Pancho´. I could go on for days about this one... but truly he is the type of guy that my family would wish for me, and I for myself. He loves his family, is super intelligent (speaks English), stops and plays with street children and buys them food, dreams of starting a foundation to help people in his country who cannot afford healthcare, has faith, tells me all of the time that he wishes for me the best of my dreams, and buys me white flowers because he says he is looking for something past passion, something that can endure. And he is not at all the typical Latin man... no expectaions of a housewife, no whistling at women in the streets- he might just be a keeper. And his family is enough reason to stick around in themselves.
The bandaids protect us from sad thoughts.
So with that... we are holding out to see what the future holds. I am currently in Cuenca, about six hours south of Riobamba by bus, but will return to Riobamba next week and we will travel together for a while into the jungle.
The day after I acquired my boyfriend I left him in Riobamba to go for a long weekend to the beach with the Couchsurfing crew. We left at midnight on Thursday and drove twelve hours to Puerto Lopez. From there we went to the most amazing beach I have ever seen, sort of secluded in between two cliffs. The next day we took a boat in the morning for Isla de la Plata, about an hour and a half off coast. On the way out we did some whale watching, but it was less than exciting.
At the island we did a four hour hike and saw a bunch of birds like the blue footed boobie and albatross. The hike was beautiful!
We headed back towards the mainland close to 5. The sun started setting, the sky was pinks and oranges, and we were in between the island and the mainland so that we couldn´t see land on any side... and the whales started jumping! It was one of the most amazing and beautiful things I have ever seen. There was a family, mother, father, and child (which our guide said was about three days old), and our boat got so incredibly close. It was ideallic. (Unfortunately I didn´t catch any shots of the whales).
Beachfront fisherman in the morning.
Team Couchsurf! to the far right is Wlad... a walking encyclopedia on Ecuador, his country that he loves.
That night was a party and a fire on the beach. While I lay by the fire a dog came up and lay its head on my shoulder and I had a pet for a few hours. Oh yes... and I took my shoes off to dance in the sand, and they were stolen. :( I miss my Chaco´s!
Beautiful. Beautiful it was. We got back into Riobamba close to 11 on Sunday and I returned to Pancho´s house.
Monday night I took his family out for dinner and just enjoyed their company. Pancho is the only one in the family that speaks English, and so I have been practicing my Spanish hardcore in my relationship with them.
My mother knows me so well... when I called to tell her I had two pieces of news (Pancho being one) she completely knew the other...
I got another tattoo.
from sweetheart...
to hardcore... in .3 seconds.
Work in progress. I have been planning this one for a long while.
¨Time held me green and dying, though I sang in my chains like the sea.¨
It´s quite alright-- you are free to cringe. :) Love you family!
Also, I uploaded more fotos than are here. You can look at them under the Photo thing. One more month left!
Feet in a hammock, where they belong.
