The fact that I haven´t checked in for several months (I am sorry about that) doesn´t mean nothing of note has happened here south of the Equator. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the past five months.
I laughed when Seth experienced his first Ecuadorian fiesta.I knew he would be picked to participate from the moment the dancers sashayed past my house.
I nearly cried when after an evening of bad food and the following night spent in the bathroom,Susanna made me spend the day soaking in the thermal baths in Pappallacta with her family.
I forgave her pretty quickly. I laughed at the hats we had to wear.
I felt like crying when Samina rolled in something nasty for the fourth time in a week. She decided to roll during our morning walk, which made me late for my first class. As punishment I gave her a cold bath and didn´t dry her with my hair dryer. The final result was a dog burrito.
I laughed when Carlos gave me a face full of cake as a Happy Birthday present.
I almost cried at the thought of losing a finger to an overly friendly parrot I met while visiting the family of my friend Margoth.
I cried when the electricity went out when I was cooking two chickens and had a roomful of people to feed for Thanksgiving dinner. Thanks to my brother Will, and the fact that the electricity eventually came back, things did turn out ok.
I laughed when our three ¨ayudantes¨ turned the compost bins I built with a friend into a zoo, which brought me back to my younger days playing make-believe with my brothers.
I cried (literally) when my two cookie-baking helpers and neighborhood buddies emptied out their piggy bank to buy me a Christmas present. A week later they were gone, and I didn´t even get to say goodbye.So, there you have it. The last five (or so) months of my life in a nutshell. Here´s to a new year as full and interesting as the last!
