Ecuador: Mosquitoes should die

Team Ecuador is here safe, and loving life.

Our brains hurt from trying to understand and speak in Spanish todo el tiempo.

We are like old ladies because we go to bed at 9 o'clock. Last night we stayed up till 11; we are so wild!

We have been sent to different families for Tuesday through Thursday each week. We help with dishes, sweeping, making the bed; we are just here to help :)

Erica had to cut up dead animals. Ha.

We live in the church, and it is always freezing. When we meet people and tell them we live in the church, they always ask us if we are freezing. Our immediate response is yes. Si, muy frio.

We need keys for the church, but unfortunately a few days ago we went into town, locked the gate to our church, and forgot the keys. People were not supposed to meet us at the church for a while, and it had started to pour. Kellie decided to break into our house; the only problem is there is barbed wire and spikes all around our gate. Did that deter her? Nope. She found a place where there was just chain link fence, and began to climb. It wasn't until she swung her leg over the chain link that she realized the chain link in Ecuador is NOT like the chain link in the US. It was sharp, and her pants got caught. So Kellie was stuck, up on the fence, which her pantalones ripped and stuck to the chain link, not able to move. Jamie was helping while Kellie screamed and laughed. Quite humorous. By this point she was soaked. Awesome.

She made it over, and she broke into the house, and she got the keys. She is a hero. Her pants are destroyed.

We´ve had a few aventuras (adventures) with the bugs here as well. Mandi´s family actually convinced her to try a fried grub of some kind. She won´t eat meat, but she´ll try insects. Go figure. We also found a giant centipede in our bathroom. Jamie was the only one brave enough to catch it and take it outside.

One night a very nice church member brought us a pitcher of some kind of fermented milk beverage. After we figured out that he was offering us a gift and not begging we took the pitcher and thanked him. Allyssa was the only one brave enough to try it. Everyone else was scared off by the curds floating in it. It tasted kind of like cheese. (Allyssa is still perfectly healthy by the way.)

Yesterday we went to Otavalo, which has a huge market. So fun.

We love empanadas here.

We tried to go to a waterfall, but it started pouring rain... and 11 of us were in one sedan, with two children in the trunk.

That is just how we do.

The mosquitoes? Too painful to remember the horror of their

More to come :)