happy new year

At Becca´s pressuring, I am finally updating my blog. She says I no longer have an excuse since she has now updated three times since she arrived on the 24th. My family is leaving soon, My mom and brother on Thursday and everyone else on Wednesday. I have dragged them all over Ecuador, riding overnight busses to the coast to see Isla de la Plata, trekking through the jungle in botas de caucho (rubber boots) and finally back into the sierra for a ´hike´ around a volcanic lake in the sierra that involved several close calls of falling off cliffs and a shopping spree in Otavalo. It will be very sad when they all leave. Other than that I leave on the 9th to spend three weeks at a biological research station in the jungle. I have been trying to come to terms with the fact that I will not be able to spend much more time with my host family since I will be travelling so much these last few months. Finally, thank you to everyone who sent me chocolates and other treats with Becca. They are really yummy and I am sure my friends will thank you as well when they share them with me in the jungle.