January 15 - 19, 2007 -- Family Time

Ok, so not much has been going on around here since I got back from the galapagos. Since everyone works, I´m kind of left to fend for myself... So here is my week in review....

Monday morning we took Mark to the Airport for his flight home. Since I got no sleep the night before due to the wonderful altitude, I decided to take a nap which didn´t last long. I had breakfast and then headed to, what has become my morning home, the cybercafe. Let me tell you, the speed and the price is so much better here than it was in San Cristobal. I started my entries for the dive trip and I think I spent like 4 hours here (yeah i know i´m sick..) and it was less than 4 dollars, what a bargin. I found my way back home and just rested a little more before Roxy (my cousin) came home and we had lunch with her mom, Chani. Ok, so one thing you should know about this place... For us, you can say that our big meal of the day is Dinner... not here, it´s lunch. So usually after lunch I just want to pass out cuz I´m FULL!!! Monday also happened to be the changing of the presidents here, so there was nothing to watch on tv so my time spent at the cafe was a good thing. I did manage to crash after lunch and was woken up about 2 hrs after I passed out because my aunt came to visit me. This is my dad´s youngest sister... OMG i was so out of it. She brought me chocolates and a HUGE floral arrangement. After talking a bit and then having some coffee, she had to go. Roxy looked at me and asked if was up to going out and i was like... OK!! 2 of her friends were waiting for us to go out so we piled into her car and went back to Gaupulo. There we ordered a couple of drinks and one of the guys had food. It was really kewl to watch the fog rise over the side of the mountains. We then took off from there, drove down the Iglesia de Guapulo (church of Guapulo) and kept on going down these winding roads. In the end we went to Plaza Fuc, this is an intersection where there are several outdoor bars and restaurants. We heading in to one place and had yet more to drink. It was getting close to midnight so we decided to head back. i´m the only one here that doesn´t work so they all needed to get some sleep...

Tuesday didn´t start as good as i wanted it to. I had a minor sore throat on Monday and now I had a major cough. I knew it, I´m gonna get sick. Last time I was here I had gotten sick and I remember my mom taking me to one of the pharmacy´s here and they gave me a shot and i passed out... So now when my cousin was asking me if i wanted to get a shot i was like NOPE!!! Anyways, today I went to see my aunt Melidita. It´s been so long since I´ve seen her and it was nice, my cousin Eduardo was also there, and that was a shocker to me... All in all it was a good visit. We waited around for Roxy to get out of work for her to pick us up and bring us back home, or as she put it, to save me from the inquisition from her mom and grandmother (my aunt)... Did I mention I have 20 million relatives here and it can get confusing at times. Anyways, after being persuaded to have some coffee, we finally left and Roxy and I were already planning on going out. This time around we went to a local movie mall and went to the coffee shop there. Ok, so almost everything is way expensive here compared to the states, but I did notice that a movie is only $3.99... WOW, and that night in particular i think it was 2 for 1. What a deal!!! After that we went back to Plaza Fuc and hit a little restaurant called Arabia for some food and tea.

Wednesday started out even worse... My cold is progressing, nothing i do is helping, so now my cousin is making me all these teas and I´m trying to just sweat it out. After updating my blog and chatting with friends, i headed back home and Chani decided we were going to go to the Malls in the area and just bum around. Not a big deal on any normal day, but my cough was bad and can i tell you , there is no pollution control here... UGH... After gettng back we waited for Roxy to get back from work, went to pick up my aunt and we were off to my other cousin´s house. Now one of these cousins, the last time i saw him, he just turned a year old... he´s now 21... yeah, like he would remember me... hehe... anyways, we all sat around, drank some wine and they pulled out the old photo album and we started laughing at the old pictures. I never laughed so hard, and it was scary to see what we looked like 20 yrs ago... OUCH!!! They my cousin Pricilia and Gaby had us all sit down for dinner and we ate like crazy... It was a good time. Since we left there way after 10, i just looked at Roxy and was like, guess we´re not going out tonight, huh? Regardless, we were still wired when we got home so we stayed up watching tv.

Thursday was the worst ever... My cold was at full swing... I slept in late, had a small breakfast and then spent a short time at the cafe. I got back home and passed out again. I don´t think i´ve slept this much in ages. I got up around 3 and had lunch, then Roxy got home and we went to do some groceries. Granted I was still feeling MISERABLE, I couldn´t say no to going out. We were going to hit a bar, Flashback, to catch some band, but when we got there they said it wasn´t going to start until almost 11:30. So we decided to drive around and ended up at a coffee shop called Mosaiac. This place was kewl. it was right on the mountain side overlooking the center of quito. The fog was cooperative and stayed hi so we could enjoy the sights. I had my hot chocolate with a shot of baileys and i was starting to feel a little better. But then a group sat by us and when they started to smoke, it was all down hill for me... That was my clue to go home and get some rest. ´

Friday, today, the plan of attack is to go to Cris, Roxy´s sister´s house, for lunch and the go see my mom´s other sister. After that it´s up in the air. We may go out, but it may have to wait, as tomorrow I leave quito for Riobamba and Baños. It looks like I will be MIA until we return which will be on Tuesday, January 23rd. Then I´ll be spending one day here again before heading to the northern part of ecuador to spend time with my dad´s side of the family..

So this looks like it will be my last entry for a few days, and i´m sure many of you are happy about that... But I´ll let you know what happens this weekend on Wednesday morning...

Ciao for now