"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do...

...So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Thanks Mark for that. Last night was an adventure which started in the Mariscal as I'm sure many more will, next to the club owned by the host family of our friend Matt. Ridiculous. In Ecuador instead of buying drinks you buy an entire liter of alcohol to split with your friends, so people are constantly walking around the bar with fifths of liquor just shooting it straight- it is crazy. Sarah and I got some off the record salsa lessons from a few friendly Ecuadorians, Addison proved he does not kid around with fist pumping and Walt got a chance to show off his inner Chippendale. Needless to say after arriving home at 330 and waking up at 630 to leave for Cotopaxi, my morning wasn't very pleasant. After 3 million hours on the worlds bumpiest road we arrived at a rainy Cotopaxi. I let the rest of the group hike for me while I enjoyed the great view from the bus. Hey you can't do it all and I got a tshirt so people will never know the difference. Afterwards we got the best meal of the trip at a family owned restaurant outside the national park- popcorn, potato soup with cheese and avacado, beef, fresh tomatoes, rice, coke in a glass bottle and strawberries and cream for desert- all for 6 dollars!!

I really felt the need to give a more serious plug of the effects of being here thus far. Every day I think about how dang lucky I am, and all of us for that matter, to live in the US, in Mississippi, in Oxford/Jackson, to go to Ole Miss, to have families, dogs, clean water, good food, big houses, great friends, ect. Its so sad to see so many kids and older people begging on the street, to hear stories about good people not being able to visit a dying relative in the US because they can't get a visa, and just in general to recognize the blatant injustices occurring all the time and knowing at the same time that for some reason you are an exception to the rule. There are so many problems and issues with the world that are so easy to ignore when you are laying on a green comfy couch in the KD house and life is perfect. With this I will say that I have come to appreciate my friends more than anything, I miss all of them so much and I now know how much I take for granted being with them all the time, eating, hanging out, just simple everyday things. I can barely even think about Stephanie with out crying! All of this has been said before obviously, and we've all heard the speech but I think I can really appreciate the genuine understanding of really not knowing how good you have it, until you dont. So there is my serious plug no. 1 for the trip.

Tomorrow marks week number 3! We have school until Thursday and then we are packing up for Riobamba. We're all staying in different hotels for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night and then for week 4 we are staying with a new host family in Riobamba. Luckily Amporito our fantastic spanish teacher is coming with us! After the week in Riobamba we have a farewell dinner and then Hunter, Sarah, Walt, Charles, Davis and I pack up for our trip to the Galapagos! When we return from that all the fun July people come in and we start our second month of class!