Ladies Free!

I´ll start with my adventure last night. So I took my first salsa class and it was so fun! Like 20 of us did it and I definitely was the only dancer out of the group. Katie picked up on it really quickly and we joked about choreographing a routine and then doing it when we walked into the salsa club. I freaken love Katie. She´s just like me and we like all the same things. Today she was complaining about not being able to talk to her boyfriend and I said I know what you mean because my texts wont go through to Cody. And she was like, "Oh mine will but he says he cant talk. And I just need something to complain about." I love her. Anway, so last night after salsa a bunch of us decided we NEEDED to go out. Honestly I have had the same schedule for the past few days which includes, eating, sleeping, SPANISH, and medicine. I needed to feel like a real person again and how does one do that while in Ecuador?? You all should know the answer: alcohol. So we met on the corner of Villalengua (like a block away from my house) and Ave. America. There was ten of us and we took the Trole downtown to the Mariscal. We were all talking on the Trole and decided we just wanted to go to a chill bar, have a few beers and come back. Wellll as soon as we turned the corner into the bar district the music was bumping and we all got the urge to dance. In front of all the bars are like PR people who are handing you flyers and trying to convince you to come to their bar. We kept saying, "No gracias" but then a guy yelled "LADIES NIGHT. LADIES FREE!" And I said, "That one!" So we thought we were going to this bar called The Boot which is a place Karen´s host mom told her was good but somehow we got confused and ended up in the line for the "YES" bar. So we got in for free, even though we had guys with us because we told them we wouldn´t come in unless they got in free too, and all the girls´first drink was free. It was SO fun! Ecuadorians LOVE to dance. We met a few Ecuadorian guys who were around our age and we were all dancing when my and Eleanor decided to take a break and they were like, "What are you doing? DANCE DANCE!" They dont understand the we needed to take a break! Serioulsy I bet we danced for 2 straight hours. AND my favorite part of the night was when they played my favorite ZUMBA song, DROP IT! Kendle, I definitely busted out the moves, you would have been so proud! :) We left around 11 because we all had clinic in the morning. I love Ecuador!

This morning I was back at the hospital and this time I actually got there early! I met the resident, Euro-Hey as I was walking the OPPOSITE direction of where I was supposed to go. She just smiled and said, "Venga" which means COME. I followed her downstairs to the clinic area. We were doing consults today only. We saw about 8 patients, one woman with TWINS a boy and a girl and I got a picture of her that I can show when I return home. Also, there is NO privacy. There would be three patients in the room sometimes, one would be getting interviewed by the doctor, the other the nurse was getting vitals and the other was behind a thin, narrow wall waiting for an exam. The doctor would literally interview a patient and then walk behind the wall and check a lady´s cervix. It was crazy. I am allowed to take pictures in the hospital but I decided that it doesn´t matter who you are or where you live, everyone deserves respect and not to be exploited to the entire world. I am trying to get some pictures to show my experiences while also respecting that this is a person and they deserve privacy, even if their healthcare system doesn´t practice it. I get to be in surgery tomorrow and I am going to try to take pictures there too! This way, you dont see the patients face just the really cool stuff surgery entails. BJ, I will write a warning if it is too graphic for you :) We were done with consults by 10 AM so I got to leave 2 hours early today. I was a little bummed but the doctor said he didnt have anything else to do. I got a little lost trying to find the exit but a very nice man, who told me his life story in 50 feet, showed me the exit. I came back to my neighborhood and skyped Mom. I´m sure she loved it as much as I did! I then went back home and took a nap for about an hour before I had to go to the school. Today in class we each brought a different tropical fruit grown in Ecuador to try. Becky brought a TAXO which was yellow on the outside but looked like fish eggs on the inside. I could barely try it but it was suprisingly good. The guayaba was really good! It looks like watermelon but the inside is a lot softer. We were also reviewing adverbs today and Elfarin told us one time, this girl asked him if he would travel to the United States. His response sounded like "Kiss Ass" but he was really saying, "QUIZAS." We were all dying lauging. He also thought I had a "CHUCHAQUI" (hangover) because I told him I went out last night but I said no, I only had DOS BEBIDAS. And he was like, "Ya ya ya." I love him. After class I went with Katie to the Alegro store (our ghetto cell phone provider) to fix her phone because it wasn´t working. We spent like a half hour there and they finally told her that her inbox was full of text messages. We did get to see the CENTRO COMMERICIAL which is a HUGE shopping area. Complete with McDOnalds and Burger Kind on the corners. I am definitely going to need to come back before I leave. I can not believe tomorrow is Friday! I probably won´t write again until Monday because a group of us are leaving for Baños tomorrow for the weekend. Its about 3 hours south of Quito by bus and a popular tourist spot with waterfalls, hot springs and oh, the volcano that erupted four months ago. Apparently its safe to go now! On Saturday morning we are planning on going white water rafting and then Sunday I think we are doing horseback riding and going to the waterfalls. Have a good weekend and I´ll update again on Monday :)

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!

-Hilary