Hello everyone!
Well I wanted to give some updates on events of the last few weeks. Two weekends ago I went on a girls' weekend trip with 8 other teachers. We headed north to a town about 2 hours from here that has what is, I think, Ecuador's largest indigenous market. There's also a town 10 minutes from there that sells all leather goods (jackets, shoes, bags, etc.) ~ it seems like the towns here like to have a theme and sell all the same things.... leather, woodworking, livestock, etc. Anyway, we had a great time shopping, eating and drinking and there was even a little hiking. Here's a picture of the group at dinner.














And here's a picture of the market in Otavalo. It's really huge on Saturdays and you have to do a lot of bargaining (in Spanish, of course) because they always start by quoting you the gringo price. There are a ton of ponchos ~ I've actually bought three ponchos because they're more than just a fashionable item here, they really keep you warm in the mornings before the sun heats everything up. I tried to get chris to wear one but he's sticking to his fleece, for now anyway. They have alpaca blankets and sweaters, bags, rugs, jewelry and lots of other fun stuff (lots of great gifts....)