Is it seriously nearly April already? wow, I can´t keep track of all these days!
Once again, this term has flown by in a whirl of teaching, salsa-ing and Zhumir (oh Cuenca I will miss you!).
Being the first part of the year in a Spanish country, the biggest highlight of the term would have to be Carnival - the celebration up to the start of lent. Before anyone gets too excited I should say that I was stuck in Cuenca, which, being a beautiful but not hip and happening town in the Andes, was the only place in Ecuador with special on accomodation. It was deader (English teachers are allowed to bend rules) than an excavated graveyard. Of course, this didn´t let me off the fun and games of getting soaked wherever I went for 2 weeks. Water balloons from every window in the street, kids with buckets on every corner and in between, cars with kids and hoses out the back. It was pretty amusing for the most part and Bec, my Welsh partner in crime, and I joined in the fun seeing how many people we could hit off our balcony and had an inter-class all out carnival war... if you think I look bad you should´ve seen the kids...

After 2 weeks though, the noverlty had worn off and the water balloons just stung. Having a particularly bad day of being soaked and horribly let down by a group I was supposed to climb Cotopaxi with (hence being stuck in Cuenca), I did the only thing one can do in such a situation and started playing with my hair... To anyone wondering if life would be easier with dread locks, think again. It´s terrible! That severely messy, "no need to care" look is actually very high maintenance. Maybe it´s just my hair. I did, afterall, manage not to brush my hair for the first 4 months of my trip (so I´m a forgetful packer) and not a single knot to show at the enf of it. I guess it´s a blessing in disguise really. Anyhoo, not too sure how long this dreads thing will last. My new favourite Spanish word (winning for appropriateness amd onomatopoeia) is "peinarse", which means to do one´s hair. For those who don´t know how to pronunce it in Spanish, to me it sounds like "pain in arse, eh?" Well, Carnival was still fun ad games, if not on a massively South American scale :) Apparently they used to throw pigs blood and not water so I can hardly complain, can I?
Valentine´s Day is another cause for celebration (hey, what day isn´t?). We were woken at the tiny hour of 3am to some very loud music. I lay in bed for a while thinking it actually wasn´t too bad and then my curiosity took over and I crept downstairs to see what was going on . Well, peeking round the front door, I was pleasently surprised to see a bakkie of boys beaming at the balcony of a beautiful bella... fully equipped with guitars, drums, microphones and BIG speakers, serenading "mi amor, Janet", our lucky neighbour. Wow, gotta get me a balcony...

I´ve managed to do a couple of really nice hikes this term. The latest one was when Muri came to visit all the way from home (yay!) and involved us all getting slightly off track and not to our destination at all. Still magnificent though, even if we didn´t get to the donkey beach, or beached donkey, whichever it was! I also managed a 2 day hike in Cajas, the nearby national park, with a hiking group I have found here. That was amazing, a happy wander at high altitude through loads of lakes and rainbows and beautiful cliffs. We even saw some condors. The night was freezing but completely rewarding with the heavens wide open for star gazing :)

This last week has been a very sad week of good byes. Most of the teachers I started with have left now, either to go home or to go travelling. I have become very attached to a lot of them and to this place and it´s hard to move on again. It doesn´t seem to get easier the more you say good bye. I was supposed to go up Cotopaxi this last week but once again my plans have been thwarted by a combination of illness, lack of bank card and all the roads being blocked in protest of the signing of the Free Trade Agreement this week with the States. At least my illness is better and my card is on it´s way as I type. As for the state of the world, we´ll have to see what happens.

Twas lovely seeing a friendly face from home again and I am looking forward to exploring the jungle in a couple of weeks with my folks. After that it´s anyone´s guess where I will be but I will try and keep you all posted. I am very excited that I will probably be travelling with a variety of friends from home and friends I have made here. In the words of a wise old bear, it´s always friendlier with two of you (or more!)

Well, that´s me, signing off for now. I hope all of you are well and enjoying all this year is bringing.
Big hugs all round,
Penny :)