Allergic to Mangos?????,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Hello world!

I hope all is well in North America! I'm living it up down here in Sur America, doin' my thing, you know. I just got back from Reconnect in Quito a couple days ago. It was a week long conference type thing at the PC Training Center for the purpose of "reconnecting" with us after our first 3 months of service. It was really nice to see the other fantastic volunteers from my Omnibus (106, baby!!!), to hang with the awesome host family I lived with during my first 3 months here, eat the amazing Sierra food again, etc, etc.

My host family in Tumbaco is incredible! They wanted to decorate for Christmas with me so we did that on Thursday. I have tons of pics that I'll be sharing on my photobucket (www.photobucket.com/sheburnsbright) ASAP. They are just so sweet. Mama made me a little Christmas decoration to put in my new apt where I'll be moving ya mismo (I hope!). They let me put the Christmas tree-topper on. They made my favorite Ecuadorian meals. Mayrita made me a really pretty pair of earrings. We laughed and reminisced for hours. It was just what I needed. I really feel like a part of their family which is such a wonderful feeling. It really is. Thanks, Mora family!!! I love you! I'll send pics soon!

Of course being back in Tumbaco was also awesome! I ate cevichochos daily (I'm going to make them here in Guayaquil soon!!!), went to the delish panaderias, walked the Ciclovia, remembered how hard it is to keep my feet clean there (hello, dusty roads!!!), and drank too much at Bodegon (now called Donde John's???!!!...what???). Yeah. All of those things really reminded me of training and how my first impressions of Ecuador compare to my daily life here. Tumbaco and Guayaquil are like 2 different lives, really. And my life back home is much different than both of my lives here. It's really fascinating.

Funny story. After my lips swelled, itched, pussed, and irritated me beyond belief, I talked to one of the PC Doctors about my concern...she told he I have herpes!!! OMG EW. HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE??? Gross. She gave me some cream and told me to talk to her in a few days. A few days later I just got worse...and more worried...what is wrong with me???? Talked to her again & she wrote me a prescription for allergy tablets and cream. Allergies??? I never have allergies...??? AHHH! I went to get the prescriptions and the pharmacist wanted to charge me $25. But I'm broke! Called the Doc to ask if they're trying to over charge me. She then asked me a very random question..."Sarah, I have a question for you...have you been eating mangos lately??" OMG, YES!!!!!!!! I HAVE been eating mangos lately because during one of my runs last week, I ran by this man who was picking mangos from a tree near his tienda and he threw one to me (yes, just like Rocky in Rocky I!!! It was SO cool...)...then after my run he gave me an entire bag of them...which I ate all of them in like 3 days before my trip to Quito. I am SO allergic to mangos, it's not even funny. Gross!!!! At least it's not herpes though, right? LOL What a life I lead...

Anyway, I still feel gross from my trip and my mango reaction, so I think I'm gonna head to my bed for a nap. I need to go to the Mercado Caraguay but I'm just faltaring on energy right now. I'm uploading some new pics to my photobucket, so please check them out!!! Feel free to comment and whatnot!!!! And it's a public page so share with your friends!!!!!     www.photobucket.com/sheburnsbright

Much love. And watch out for the mangos...apparently us Ohioans don't have bodily resistance to their crazy acidity!!!!

Newssssss!!!

This is going to be a super short post because I've been on this computer more today than I have in my entire 5 months living here. I've been working on my Reconnect presentation for next week in Tumbaco and have been browsing around online which I never EVER do. It was nice for a while but now my eyes are just killing me and I need to shut this machine off and store it away in my closet for it to collect dust for a few weeks. Ugh.

Anyway, things have been good for the most part. I went to Chone and Bahia last week for the feriado (national holiday). The holiday here was El Dia de los Difuntos (it's like Day of the Dead, I'm sure most of you have heard of that...) and the whole country basically shuts down and travels/parties/celebrates for 3 week days and then, of course, the weekend. That left 5 wonderful days for me to travel all over tarnation and spend time with Anna, my bestest friend!!! We had SOOO many adventures but I'm too exhausted to recount all of them. I do have a super detailed journal that I'm keeping, though, also, so maybe someday when I'm looking for things to talk about I can retell all of our adventures. Well at least some of them...hehehe. Heheehe...ok...moving on...

Anyway, the point of this post (It does have a point! I promise!) is to let all of you know that I have a PHOTO PAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since I don't have facebook anymore I've decided to start a photo-sharing website since no one knows what's going on in my life, where I live, where I go, what I do, etc. That is, in fact, one thing I miss about facebook. The sharing of photos and experiences. But, trust me, facebook-less life has been beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful. I've decided to use photobucket.com to share my pics because it has few restrictions and limits of album size, amounts of photos, etc.

The link to my page is: www.photobucket.com/sheburnsbright

(Yes, it's like my name for this blog!!! I'm so clever...have I ever told you guys what that means, anyway? Maybe some other time I'll contar the story...hehe)

I have only uploaded 1 album to the site but it's pretty cool. It's pics from my first weeks in Ecuador and although I already uploaded some of them onto facebook I wanted to add them to the photobucket to "start from scratch" and whatnot. I'll SLOWLY but SURELY be uploading pics to new albums and whatnot. I have TONS AND LOAD of pics to add, but please be patient. I don't get online a lot and when I do the internet is slow which doesn't make for good photo uploading situations. The photo page is public so share it with your friends (okay, maybe when I get cooler pics on it??...)...you can also comment on the pics sort of like facebook so please do!!!...oh, and Peace Corps Omni 10ers...please share this page with our fellow PCV's, would you? There are some great pics of you guys in the album and, as I said, more pics will be coming eventually. Keep your eyes peeled.

I hope you enjoy the pics! Please e-mail me (everlys1561@gmail.com) with questions, comments, encouragement, etc.

MUCH love from Ecuador.

Besos xoxo

Sarita