Stephanie lived in Latacunga, Ecuador from 2006-2007. Here is a map of Ecuador: http://www.ulyssesguides.com/bev/ecuador/72dpi/map_ecuador.gif

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August 26, 2006

Dear Family and friends,

I haven't met the other two exchange students, Carla from Germany or Ryosuko from Japan yet. I will be going to Colegio Hermano Miguel with Ryo however.

Last night Lia Pau and I made an origami cup, the 3D shape made out of the cube units and a crane. I also made a frog for a number of friends and a couple of roses on
the airplane.

My papi, Jose Alberto, has four sisters and my mama, Lia, has three sisters and one brother. Therefore I have a bunche of tias and tios and primos. My one cousin, Erwin, who is twelve loves to talk with me about all of the American movies and music he knows.

My Spanish is improving, at least my vocabulary. Hopefully by November I'll have it down without even an English accent. This is what Ana Maria Paz told me at the Rotary meeting Thursday night. She returned on Sunday from Arkansas doing a three week exchange after a girl from that district spent one month here with her. The meeting was more like a social gathering, no bell. It was held an old farm house of one of the Rotarians. Once a month the wives are invited to join in the meeting, this is the one that I attended. Renato Lanas, the YEP chairman along with his brother, Eduardo Lanas (Tio Negro), are both Rotarians and because they are family, I had already been introduced to them.

Each morning my parents go to work. I've been waking up at nine-o-clock having breakfast consisting of orange juice and some combination of french bread, blackberry marmalade, cheese, yogurt with fruit loops, and scrambled eggs. After that Lia and I will watch a movie, take showers, and play with the cocker spaniel, Dugi. my parents come home for lunch and it's always great starting with a soup and rice is usually part of the main course. For desert we have some fruit with sugar. In the afternoons we will run some errands and then have milk with chocolate or coffee and bread for dinner. I've met a lot of Jose Luis's friends by his cousins or girl friend taking me out to the central park. Exchange students in Ecuador stay only with families who send a student out that year.

I'm having a great time, everyone so far has been so kind, willing to help me, and just happy! I love you all and hope that all is well back at home!

Yours,
Stephanie

August 30, 2006

August 31, 2006

Hello From Ecuador,

This morning my papi, sisters and I found out that the cheerleading team here practices just a block away from my house across from the laguna. Practices start next Monday with the school year and hopefully that will be great fun.

I gave Nancy, the sweet 16 year old lady who lives here with our family and does the cooking and cleaning some Mexican candy, the watermelon lollipop covered in chili, and she really liked it. Here we have something called aji which is like a red orange sauce with onions and it's picante and delicious. My mom asked Nancy to put it out at all of our lunches for me.

Last night I went to a soccer game played on an outside cement court with bleachers with my cousin Pam and good friend friend Rita, the girlfriend of Jose Luis, the brother who I'm exchanging with. A bunch of other friends were there cheering on the team. We lost 8-7 but it wasn't a big deal.

Today my twin cousin as we like to say is coming over. Erwin is 12 and we have fun taking about American movies and music groups from the States that he's more familiar with than I am!

My leg is healing and there haven't been any other accidents since the last time I wrote. The streets here are narrow and mostly one way, still people drive fast and as you come up to an intersection people just honk or flash their head lights. On the smooth larger streets it's clear that my father used to race cars and still has a motorcycle because he drives his manual car smoothly but with speed.

The food here isn't like Mexican food. When we asked Ryosuko, the exchange student from Japan, what he liked to eat at home he said: Japanese food! So sure you could say that here we eat Ecuadorian food. That's a lot of flavored rice, fruit juices, chicken or beef, bread, cheese, dulce de leche, milk with chocolate, and soup: potato, vegetable, carrot, and chicken soup.

Spanish is coming more fluently, and I'm understanding more each day! Mariangela, my littlest sister who's four, loves to play the game where one of us hides an object and the other one tries to find it. We're playing right now for the second time today!

Thank you for writing and praying for me! It's wonderful to hear that school, church and business is well at home! I love you, my family and friends!

Stephanie

September 4, 2006

Hi Family and Friends,

It is great to hear from you! The University of Arizona life sounds like a blast! Congrats on the Wildcat's first win! Go Falcons, I hear we one the first Varsity Football game!

Yesterday I returned with my family from a trip down the Andes mountains to La Mana, a warm coastal city with a lot of humidity. In the mountains we saw cows, llamas, horses, pigs, roosters and dogs on the roads. We stopped halfway through the mountains to visit Quilotoa, a volcano with a lake inside of it: www.paisverde.com/galleries/quilotoa.html.
On the journey we reached a height of 4000 meters and then began ascending the mountain. At one point we could look out and see that we were driving above the clouds.

Last night my father took me to a clinic to have a doctor look at my injury from rubbing against the tire of the quad. I have a second degree burn from the friction, therefore he gave me a special cream to apply which removes the old tissue and replenishes the new. I will visit him once a week for three weeks and in six months I shouldn't have a scar.

Today was the first day of classes. My parents took me to school at 7 o'clock and there was a big assembly in which the national and school anthem were sung. There are 23 friendly students in my class and 5 of us are exchange students. Everyone in my family here calls me Estephi and now so does everyone at school. We will have nine periods and the teachers will change classes. Some of the materials take up two periods. There are two breaks during the day and we leave at 1:50. This way we have lunch with our family and are able to work on our homework. My sisters, Lia Paulina and Mari began high school and primary school today, so it was something new for the three of us.

I'll let you know what other exciting things there are here in Ecuador, but until then, please continue to write and let me know what you are up to!

Love,
Stephanie

September 12, 2006

Hi family and friends,

Today I visited the most active volcano in the world! I live in the province of Cotopaxi and the volcano Cotopaxi is an hour's drive away. With my immediate family, two aunts, one uncle, and four cousins, I was at such a high altitude, 5,897 meters, that that my cousins and I were able to have a snow fight with the snow up there!

Saturday I went with two cousins and bunch of friends to Sky Way, the coolest discoteca in Latacunga! We danced until 1:30 in the morning and then my aunts came and picked us up. Earlier in the night they helped us get dressed up to go out and they wanted to hear all about the night. The music was regeton, cumbia, salsa and merengue, and my friends taught me how to dance to those sorts of music that I don't listen to in the United States. We all had so much fun and I'm sure that my friends and I will go out dancing again!

Have a great week my family and friends!

A bunch of love from your exchange student in Ecuador,
Stephanie

September 16, 2006

I had a terrific second week of school and my leg is healing wonderfully from the burn. The doctor removed the gauze and now I'm using a lotion three times a day.

Last night my mother and I went to our rumba dance class and exercised for that hour.

This morning I went with my mother to the fruit market, this outside warehouse-sized marketplace, and bought 100 oranges for $5!

Today I am 18 years and 7 months old! Well, I'm off to Salcedo, a city 15 minutes from Latacunga for some fiestas with my Rotary Counselor. His son is the president of the Interact Club here.

Love you lots,
Stephanie

September 21, 2006

Reports: My first month here in Latacunga, Ecuador was amazing! Both
my immediate and extended family have made me feel like I've always been part of the Semanante Gonzalez family.

I've been attending classes at Colegio Hermano Miguel for 2 1/2 weeks now. My first night/week in Latacunga I met half of the friends that I have now through the girlfriend of Jose Luis. The other half attends my high school. There are five exchange students in my class including myself, all three Rotary YEP living in Latacunga and two others. We are gradually learning more Spanish in order to participate however our classmates include us in the class room and at breaks they make sure to have us join them. In English class we all help our classmates with pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Last week I taught the class the Hokey Pokey and today I lea the class at the end of Literature in singing ¨I just called to say I love you¨ because we had a microphone and were reciting poems in Spanish. Each of the exchange students are going to present our countries (USA, Japan, Belgium and Germany-twice) in March for the entire school on a day which celebrates nationalities.

I've attended one Rotary meeting. Each month the exchange students will go to the meeting in which the wives are invited to attend as well. The first two days of this week Ryo from Japan, Carla from Germany and Angela, a short term exchange student from Switzerland living in Guayaqil for 3 months, and I went out to eat. The first night we went with Renato Lanas to eat pizza. Ryo´s family and my own are good friends so we've traveled together and for Carla's birthday we went out together with the YEP chairman Renato Lanas, he and Danilo are brothers. My counselor gave me the $55 stiepens. I´ve gone to dinner with his family in their cafeteria and I see his two sons, Francisco, 15, the president of the Interact Club, and Danilo, 12, at breaks in my school.

I've traveled to a number of other cities and some beautiful natural sites including Quito, La Mana, Pujili, Cotopaxi and Quilotoa with my family.

Questions, Concerns, or problems: My third week here, during the first week of school, I had the most homesickness. Now the home is like my own; I go into my parents room on nights after I've been out with my friends and we sit in bed and talk. I'm used to the food now, and while my parents love that I try and like most of the food, they understand when I don't like some things. Mariangela demands more attention as she is only four years old and I spend a large amount of my time at home with her after school. As Lia Paul and I were used to watching movies together during the vacations, our relationship wasn't the greatest until we sat down one day and did each other's nails.

The Rotary host families here in Latacunga have true exchanges. The three families that send their son or daughter out host all three inbound students during the year. The Semanante family has 3 children: Jose Luis, 17, Lia Paul, 12, and Mariangela, 4. Jose and Cecilia Calero: Andres, 20, (exchange to Minnesota two years ago) and Paulina, 17, (06-07 Canada). Doctors Acosta have Stephania, 16, Sebastian, 14, and Anessa, 10. I've been to each house and I think that it's perfect that I started out in this family because with younger sisters, not only can we do each other's hair, make bracelets, and play with dolls together, but as I watch my parents as they teach their littlest one especially, it's like I'm learning Spanish and about life here in Ecuador from a young age.

Lia seemed to understand why I Mari and I played more together after I explained this to her. Lia also had more homework and I can see why one would rather play with their little sister that do that.

My leg is healing well from the quad accident when the friction of the tire gave me a 2nd degree burn. I've been to a clinic two times now and use a healing lotion three time a day. My family agrees that it is looking much better.

When asked to be the girlfriend of two of my friends I said no and explained the rule to them. My classmate from school is the only one that I actually like but we won't be going on any dates.

This weekend is the smaller of two famous Mama Negra parades. The other is in November, is put on by the city, and people from all over Ecuador come to Latacunga to celebrate. The second passes by my home!

I've heard wonderful things from both of you and from my other friends and family back home. Whenever I get homesick I think about all that I have here in Ecuador and how, while I hopefully will get the chance to come back after this year, it will never be the same. Thank you for this chance to live as a teenager, student, daughter, ambassador, teacher, sister and friend in the passionate, welcoming, culturally rich country of Ecuador.

Gratefully yours,
Stephanie

October 2, 2006

Hi family and friends,

Thank you for your emails and please continue to write!

I started cheerleading this weekend. The cheerleaders here in Latacunga practice hard like in the US. In my former teams there were only girls and I was a base. Here there are guys on the team and I'm a flyer! Now I know how both positions feel and they're both fun and challenging. The team is very hardworking, skillful and welcoming. All of the guys have their back tucks! We practice right down the street from my house and my parents are glad that I'm involved in this sport.

School at Colegio Hermano Miguel is going well. My parents purchased my books and last week I worked on a some homework with a group of my classmates after school. On Friday I ate lunch with Maria Belen, a friend from school in Pujili, her small town fifteen minutes from mine, and in the evening we went to the motorcycle, quad, and car races in the streets of Pujili. My friends and family from Latacunga were there. Maria Belen´s uncle used to be my father´s navigator when he raced cars.

Things here in are great! Take care!

Love,
Stephanie Craig

October 23, 2006

Greetings from Ecuador!

Along with 100 exchange students I visited Manabí, the coast and beaches of Ecuador! It was the first Rotary trip of the year and it was awesome! The students of Portoviejo along with the San Gregorio Rotary Club gave us a warm welcome. It was a rather humid along the coast but there weren't any mosquitoes and that was great!

I met 15 through 19 year olds from Holland (1), Belgium (7), Finland (2), Hungary (1), Austria (2), Australia (1), Taiwan (2), Japan (1), Brazil (7), France (5), the Bahamas (1), Canada (7), Switzerland (3), Denmark (4), Germany (15), and the United States (40).

I met a girl named Emily from New York whose host exchange brother Juan from Cuenca, Ecuador is living in Tucson. If she doesn't wait in Ecuador through mid July to meet him, she'll have to return with me to Tucson to get the chance before he returns.

We went to two beautiful beaches. The water was the perfect temperature but really salty, however we had a blast. I got my hair cornrowed the first day on the beach for $4. Donnae from the Bahamas told me that to do the same would have cost $2 maybe $5 per row in the Bahamas...whew, 30 big ones!

In Canoa the girls stayed in bungalows in a hotel with a pool and a private beach 200 meters away. We had a bonfire in the evening the only night we were there.

Soccer, volleyball and potato sack races determined who got a metal the final evening. Every night's banquet location was more elegant than the night before. The first two were ballrooms and the last had kind of a Roman look to the walls, however it had no ceiling so we were outside too, and the exchange student at my table saw a shooting star. The tables were always set up in a big circle for dancing in the middle.

The first evening all of the exchange student presented themselves with their name, age, country and hosting club. The second night was the presentation of the flags, exchanging of cards and pins, and the election of the queen. From there the queen, Ling of Taiwan, chose her king, Justin of the US, based on his dancing abilities and charm. Swimming in the pool and the bonfire occupied the third evening. The last night there were awards, thank you speeches from the queen and king and a girl from Brazil who is now fluent because she arrived in January and will be heading back in three months, and presentations from each country. Most sang their national anthem, the Brazilians danced, the French students sang about Champs Elyse, Donnea sang a beautiful a cappella love song, and the 40 of us from the US sang ¨Take me out to the ball game.¨

During the days we participated in the Portoviejo parade with our blazers (yes, it was HOT), went to the beach, visited artesian shops, ate lunch, went to a zoo where there was a talking parrot, some fish, a cow, a donkey, a sloth, and some ostriches, and we rode on a boat.

Unbelievable and paid for by the Rotarians! I wore my "Lead the Way" tie from the Rotary International Conference and shared the meaning of it with everyone. It is Rotary's theme for this year.

I'm tanner but not burnt because I reapplied sun screen every hour!

On the 12-hour bus ride home (we stopped for rests for part of that) I talked with my friends Gono from France and Andrea from Switzerland and they told me how they don't really talk with their host siblings much and how one sister who's in the same grade doesn't like to have Andrea around with her and her friends. Life as an exchange student can be hard sometimes, so I asked for business cards from the other exchange students on the bus, and I showed them both how to make origami jumping frogs to share with their host families. Andrea said that she would NEVER forget me! I hope I helped. I'm really grateful to have a friendly, welcoming and inclusive family here.

This was only our first trip but we developed wonderful friendships. In December we'll reunite in Quito! There were about seventy girls so the week seemed like a Miss Universe pageant. Carla from Latacunga/ Germany kept quoting me saying, ¨This is so cool!¨ And it was

Please keep me in your prayers, and I'd love to hear about what you've been up to!

Yours recently back from the shores of Ecuador,
Stephanie Craig
Rotary Exchange Student from Tucson, Arizona

November 5, 2006

Happy November!

This has been the most festive week yet here in Latacunga! Yesterday was the famous Mama Negra parade. The five key figures (The Mama Negra, the Angel of the Star, the King Moro, the Captain and the Flag bearer), the bands, and the dancers all pass through the street in front of my house, so there we were, all of my cousins, aunts, and friends packed on either side of the street as the music blared and the liquor was downed. After this two hour celebration which draws tourists from all over Ecuador ended, the dancing began in the street and when my sisters and grandma called me in we still heard the music for a good two hours more. My father and mother returned exhausted from marching in the parade, we ate some fried rice and soda, and then barricaded ourselves in for the remaining part of the afternoon and early evening.

At eight o clock I went to the fair with my good friend Gabby as I had gone the previous two nights, this time more carefully because of the great amount of alcohol that was consumed during the day, and saw my friends as the music from the stage played. The night before last Gabby and I were the only two fans allowed up on stage when the music artist AU-D performed. My Uncle Pablo let us go back stage with some of our friends for photos and autographs and then we listened and watched from above the crowd. Never having heard this New York native's songs before, I became an instant fan!

Today was a very enriching day as well. I visited one of the flower plantations for which Ecuador is famous! The weather and soil here produce the most beautiful roses in the world, and my family had lunch at the ranch of Patricio Sanchez, a diplomat friend of my father, for his 51st birthday. The fajita-spiced meat, potatoes, salad, corn and cake with ice cream were delicious. We danced afterwards to merengue music, my parents, Ryo from Japan, and his parents, his brother and I. They said I was the queen of the dance party; we can pretend! I do like all of the spins and twirls that we do.

Before this wonderful time I was in the arena of the bulls. Two toreros and six bulls were to be presented today. It was the first time that I had seen a bull killed and my father told me to see it as an art. We stayed to see three of the six toros, and by the end it wasn't as gruesome as it was at the start, but it was somewhat hard to watch. There are three parts to the bull fighting. During the first part the bull is supposed to take note of the pink capes which are presented along the walls of the arena and charge them. The second part is when a man on a horse stabs the back of the bull towards his neck to infuriate him, and the third and final part is when the red cape is used. "Olé!" yells the crowd, and the bull is expected to follow the red cape without hesitation. Once the toro is in full submission, the torero reaches for the sword and pierces its heart. The bull falls to the ground, the torero receives one of the bulls ears as a present and stands proud and salutes the crowd!

Some weekend I've had! Thursday and Friday were free from school, but tomorrow we're back to studying. There will be another celebration really soon so until then, I will be speaking Spanish, teaching English and enjoying the culture and life of Latacunga!

Lots of love and hugs!
Stephanie

December 15, 2006

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

How are you? I am only three days short of being here in Ecuador for four months now, and my exchange is still going great! To catch you up on the other part of the exchange, Jose Luis, my first host family's son, is doing well in Connecticut, just finished his soccer season, and has had a few family members visit him on vacations to the United States.

As one of Rotary's 103 exchange students in Ecuador I had the chance to visit the northern, mountainous region of the country during the beginning of December. I left in a bus after school on Wednesday with the other two Rotary exchange students here in Latacunga, Ryo from Japan and Carla from Germany. (There must be around 15 exchange students in total in my city of 55,000, some with other programs). We arrived in Quito after one short hour of travel while others from the coast and south had to travel up to eleven hours. We met up with all of the friends that we first got to know in Manabi on the shores of Ecuador during the first of our five trips around the country.

Starting with the first dinner all of the meals that were served to us were delicious, Ecuadorian dishes, typical to the mountains. For example we usually had rice, potatoes, and a type of meat like beef, pork or chicken where as in the coast we ate more fish and shrimp. A diced fruit with sugar or a pudding was a typical, delightful desert.

On Thursday we rode in three tour buses around the capital of Quito stopping at numerous important sites including the city's Angel, the Independence Circle, a golden church, and a historical museum. In the afternoon the close to ninety of us, some students from Quito chose to miss the trip to attend the Shakira concert on Saturday night, went up on the Teleferico, a ski lift built only two years ago, from which one can look out over the long city. Quito stretches out in a valley of the Pichinca mountains in the Andes, and although it is the capital, it is the second largest city population wise with close to 1,900,000 people after Guayaquil with nearly 2 million inhabitants. It was windy at the top of the Teleferico, however the view on this clear day was incredible. I saw the airport that first received me here in the country and some tried out the Oxygen Bar that had energizing and fruity scents.

Friday was a day that took us to the Middle of the World, two in fact. We didn't get much sleep the night before as we celebrated the seventeenth birthday of Jonas, a boy from Germany, but we only had until Sunday together so we stayed up to be with our friends who this year bring together 17 countries in 1. The Incas have almost always known, based on the alignment of the stars, where the true middle of the world lies. At this location we did tests to see that the gravitational pull was more direct on the equator. One test was balancing an egg on a flat head nail and watching it stay. Another was keeping equilibrium while walking in a straight path along the equator and not being pulled either north or south. The most visible was following water as it drained clockwise north of the line, counter on the southern side and without any spin directly above the equator. The guide informed us that others perform similar tests in Kenya, and I would imagine other countries, through which where this 0 latitudinal line also runs.

The Middle of the World monument and souvenir shops lie a bit off of this location due to miscalculation. Here we came together with the sun beating on us down to take group pictures and pose on the Middle of the World. Margoux and I, fellow US cheerleaders, organized a stunt group on the ¨equator.¨ Visiting La Mitad del Mundo was a marvelous and unforgettable experience which only cost me $100 as the Latacunga Rotary Club paid the other half!

The ¨one and only¨ Rotary Club of the capital, Ibarra, of the province of Imbabara, north of Quito gave us a warm welcoming lunch as we moved about the country. Everywhere I've visited so far serves soda here in glass bottles with a straw like traditional Coca-Cola. They reuse the bottles, and I suppose that makes it more economical. We usually have the options of Coke, orange Fanta, Sprite or water with or without gas. Chicken is served in a similar manner; whichever part of the chicken comes is what you get. It's the usual, but varied way, and it's Ecuador!

The market in Otovalo that we shopped in on Saturday morning is what the city is known for. I bought a wool jacket, some finger puppets, two shirts and a pink hammock. As the exchange students all gathered on the bus we shared our purchases and joked about how we'll return to our countries trying to barter with the merchants in the stores offering no more than our price!

The volcano in Cotocachi is also a breathtaking site to behold, especially looking down on it from above and seeing the lake which surrounds it.

Rafael Ramirez, the Rotary Youth Exchange Program District 4400 Chairman, was with us throughout the paseo and so was the District Governer.

Holiday Blessings from your exchange student in Ecuador,
Stephanie Estefy Craig

December 26, 2006

Dear my precious family and friends!

I hope that your 2006 Christmas was as marvelous as could be!

Mine was terrific! I went to Guayas with my Ecuadorian family on Friday to spend the weekend with aunts, uncles and cousin. It was the hottest December 25th of my life! While at the coast in a city called Milagro (Miracle) we visited with family, toured the city and malls of the grand city of Guayaquil with my newly wed cousin, went swimming, ate shrimp in a gumbo flavored stew and mangos, and slept with the windows open and the music playing through the night outside.

The uncle who we visited is the brother of my mother's father who passed away. Galo and his wife Suzi live in a house below which is the home and liquor store of their son Herman, daughter in law Caroline and grandson Herman David. Lia, my twelve year old sister, and I enjoyed working on Friday and Saturday night with Herman, Herman David and Suzi until midnight, making change and serving beers. Pouring them without foam is a task, but I had it down, literally, by the end. Herman also let us get whatever we wanted from the chips, gum or soft drinks that we desired.

On Sunday night more cousins gathered and everyone stayed up until midnight in the streets to open presents and then eat turkey. I receive Tommy Hilfiger socks with flowers and a bag of sweets from my grandma before we left, cool jeans and a black, red and white striped shirt from my parents, a pair of earrings from my Aunt Suzi although she doesn't know that my ears aren't pierced, and a beautiful bracelet with purple beads and silver butterflies decorating it from cousins Herman and Caroline. It was a totally humbling experience because while I never felt excluded from the family, it was the first time that I met any member of the family in Milagro and they treated me as their own, inviting us to stay for more time and to come back and visit! All of the little cousins and my sisters played with their musical instruments, basketballs, make-up and Barbies until we had to get ready for bed. Truly a Christmas that I'll always remember!

Hugs and kisses and Merry Christmas!
Stephanie Craig

January 1, 2007

HAPPY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcoming in the new year in Ecuador is so fun! Yesterday there were donkey races in the streets, ¨old year¨ dolls that represented different people were burned at midnight to say goodbye to 2006, with my Ecuadorian cousins I lit fireworks, and bunches of gutsy guys dressed up as women and danced in front of cars asking for money! We ate twelve grapes before midnight and made a wish with each one. If that's just not quite enough superstitious celebrating, at midnight we put on yellow underwear to have good luck this new year! My family asked me what we do in the US and I had almost nothing to say, since we watch Dick Clark and go to parties with our friends! I went to sleep at 6 this morning, because there was dancing all night in the family's house and in the clubs are open until 7 in the morning! I wasn't in the night club last night, however we stayed up celebrating my uncle's birthday too!

2007 Greetings,
Stephanie

February 4, 2007

Hello Family and Friends!

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend!

Yesterday I watched ¨Littleman¨ with my host brother. It was so funny! My brother Andres is totally protective and likes to bug me too. We played cards last night, and before dropping me off at cheer practice we soaked innocent people walking in the street with a squirt gun from inside his car, playing Carnaval. This countrywide game comes around in February of every year, and eggs, silly string, water and flower leave the streets and people white and messy.

This week American doctors are here performing plastic surgeries, free of charge, for the poor people here in the cities of and close to Latacunga. I helped translate at the burn victim table and saw horrible scars from unfortunate and careless accidents like kitchen gas explosions and hot water scalds. Some people return year after year for repeated treatments, and the doctors are very kind and generous in their work on this mission sponsored by my Rotary club.

This week my high school was in a time of celebrations. We had a day of games where students and teachers could climb something like a 25 foot tree trunk which was adorned with prizes at the top such as soccer balls and t-shirts that could be redeemed. On Friday the entire school went to the bull plaza and watched four classmate bull fight. And then anyone brave enough was invited into the ring to do the same. These are not the kind of bulls which they kill, one only leads them with the cape and/or runs for protection behind the walls of the ring.

The time is passing rather quickly here. I'm awaiting the arrival for one week of my mom, sister and best friend in March! Please don't forget to write if you would like!

I'm so grateful for the health and happiness which you have been blessed with and for the friendship that I love sharing with you!

February 8, 2007

Hi Family!

How are you all doing?

What a week I've had helping translate for the American doctors! Carla, Ryo and I helped to unpack some of the sixty boxes that made up the medical supplies that the doctors used to perform reconstructive plastic surgery. The next day we spent with the patients folding origami. I then took the place of the lady who was in charge of calling the names of the patients, taking their weight and giving them gowns to change into.

Yesterday after eating a sandwich at lunch, I felt nauseous however had a good afternoon taking three doctors around Latacunga as they were finished working and wanted to know something outside of Salcedo. Ryo and my friend Rodrigo toured around with us and the doctors went back in taxi after two hours. Ryo and I walked through the park on our way to my home. Our school mates soaked us in the spirit of Carnaval, the festival that takes place during the 40 days and a little more before the resurrection of Christ. We got home, I went to change my shirt and threw up. I felt much better and decided to return to Salcedo in the evening to accompany the group of physicians during their pizza dinner. I felt poorly, so Carla, Ryo and I went into the car of our chairman Renato Lanas with whom we came and I rested on Carla´s lap while Ryo made sure that the previous smell of pizza and the sound of the radio wasn't bothering me. Ceci made me chamomile tea, I went to the restroom, slept and in the morning I felt much better. The American doctors told me to take the malaria medicine which we bought on August 17th for the trip to the Amazon. As there are possible side effects I chose not to return to help the doctors in case I felt like lying down again. I had lunch with my mom and feel great right now. The Rotarians suggested that I see a doctor, but as they always give out painful antibiotic injections I chose not to, especially while on another medicine. should take malaria medicine.

Tomorrow we'll be flying on a small plane from Quito to Coca, the three of us from Latacunga I believe with those from Cuenca. I'll be back on Thursday!

Love you lots!
Stephie

February 20, 2007

In the jungle, the mighty jungle!!!!!!

My trip to the Amazon was extreme! The thirty minute plane ride was especially smooth, and the two hour drive in was pleasant. We saw monkeys, toucans and parrots before we even went on the bus from El Coca farther into the jungle to the Yachana Lodge. We took a canoe five minutes up the Napo river to the lodge. The founder of the Yachana lodge, high school, and chocolate company, Douglas, is from Kentucky, studied Cultural Geography at none other but the University of Arizona, and has lived in the Amazon for twenty years.

The twenty-two exchange students (7 boys and 15 girls) stayed in habitations apart from the other tourists. We had bunk beds, screens for windows, four showers, three bathrooms, a place to wash clothes, a balcony and an outdoor roofed area where we all enjoyed hanging out.

Every day we woke up at 6:30 and ate at 7 a full breakfast with juice, two types of fruit, bread, jam, chocolate sauce, and our choice of granola, oatmeal with raisins, or eggs and bacon. A few days we were offered pancakes or the traditional jungle breakfast consisting of fried egg, with smashed green plantain, peanut sauce and tomatoes.

From there we put on our rubber boots and went to work with the kids at the high school picking and shelling peanuts, shucking corn, bringing sand up from the beach, using the machetes to clear a close area of the jungle to watch for snakes and create a safe zone, digging five foot fish ponds, picking the little plants growing on the side of the unfilled fish ponds, hand drilling holes in beads and burning designs into bamboo bits to make beads. Whenever I knew some task would be too much for my back I asked for another job and the time passed well. We finished at 11, returned to camp, played Carnival with squirt guns, water balloons and water bottles, bathed in the river and at 1 ate a hot soup with rice and beans, potato or yucca, a vegetable lunch with lemonade or grapefruit juice and fruit for desert.

We could then play cards, wash clothes and chill with for an hour and twenty minutes until a jungle walk at three. We trekked all over and saw immense and diverse trees whose leaves were of every large design imaginable it seemed. The ground, which I studied more as I watched my step, was crossed with tree roots and covered with fallen leaves. Sometimes tree trunks sliced in half made paths. We definitely were able to swing on vines and pretend to be Tarzan and Jane too!

Repeated applications of sun screen and insect repellant each day helped us jungle explorers stay protected. I was on malorone, a malaria medication, and vitamin B to keep mosquitoes away. The malorone might not have been necessary, however American doctors told me to take it. The vitamin B worked like magic. I was bit by ants a bunch but by mosquitoes maybe three times.

The second night, with our flash lights, we went for a jungle walk, and I was alarmed as a medium size cockroach landed on my stomach. Another night we made a bonfire and a conga, a fire attracted bug, stung four of my friends on the beach. It can leave one crying with a fever for 24 hours and it did leave our tour guide's thumb without motion through the morning.

Sitting in the outside conversation area we saw the two tarantulas that made their home in the palm tree roof, a few bats which flew above us during the evening and left us their bat guano at night, a black scorpion on the sandal of a German friend, and a three foot, inch in diameter earth worm, nasty! In the bathroom was a tiny frog, butterflies swooped in the scene, and grasshoppers weren't shy either. At the end of the week we tried saving some of the critters, for instance if by chance they landed in water.

The dinners were similar to the lunches and we would exchange experiences with the other, mostly American, tourists that stayed at the lodge. While most were retired adventurers there was also a family with seven blonde-haired, blue-eyed, children that, after being on a six week mission helping in a Catholic orphanage in Cuenca, wanted to go to the jungle. They all were troopers as well.

One notable afternoon activity was the tubing trip. In a canoe we went up steam before returning downstream in inner tubes and live vests. It was awfully fun, however due to a recent drought the water was low and we took to lying flat on our bellies to avoid the rocks on the bottom of the river. The week like this tubing excursion was a bit uncomfortable, however shared with friends and safely guided though the depths of the jungle, an unforgettable experience of a lifetime!

Love,
Stephanie Craig

April 10, 2007

Spring Greetings my Family and Friends!

Happy belated Easter or Resurrection Day! I spent this holiday weekend on the coast in Atacames located in the northern part of Ecuador with my host mother, father and brother Andres. This part of the country is known for its black population as well as for its beautiful beaches. Each morning we dove into waves and tanned on the beach and after wards went for a dip in the pool. We took a boat out to an island inhabited with blue footed booby birds. We drank coconut juice along with a lot of orange juice and had some of the best seafood ranging from shrimp, to squid and lobsters and to clams! Only 5 hours from our home in the mountains, this vacation was the ultimate in relaxation and diversion! I would surely recommend it!