I decided to take a break from my paper outline and write to y’all back at home – it is Friday afternoon after all. I don’t feel much like working on a paper!

All is still well in Ecuador. We leave for the Galapagos Islands a week from today!! I am so, so excited (environmental concerns in the Galapagos – specifically with tourism – is actually the paper that I’m working on right now… it’s pretty interesting, and making the tree hugger in me a little angry). Anyway, we leave next Friday morning and we’re going to be traveling between the different islands for five days. It’s going to be so great! I’m really looking forward to the trip, I’m sure when I get back home it will be one of the highlights from my time in Ecuador.

I feel like this past week has been really good for me in the way of learning about the lifestyle and culture of Ecuadorians. There is a lot going on in the country right now (socially and politically) and my time in the classroom over these past few days was also really helpful in understanding life down here.

Elections for the National Assembly are on Sunday. My entire time in Ecuador so far has been filled with observations about the upcoming elections. In the past couple of weeks it has gotten to be pretty intense. There are soooo many candidates!! Ecuador is going to elect 130 representatives to this assembly from all over the country; 24 of the members will be national representatives, 6 will be from outside the country (two who are currently living in Europe, two from North America, and two from other countries in South/Central America), and the remaining 100 will be from the different providences of Ecuador. There are 22 providences in Ecuador and each one will have the correct number of representatives to equally represent the population living within the providence – so, Quito is in the providence of Pichincha, which will elect 14 representatives. This part is pretty similar to the U.S. The crazy part is looking at the newspapers and all the representatives that there are to choose from. There isn’t so much of a primary process down here – Sunday is the big (and only) day. Quito has been very alive with political campaigns and demonstrations. I’m sure Sunday will be interesting.

It’s a law in Ecuador that you cannot consume anything alcoholic for two days before or two days after elections. So from this morning until Tuesday at midnight it is illegal to drink. This isn’t anything that matters at all to me (I didn’t even know about the law until I overheard a bunch of people upset about it) but it has also been kind of interesting to watch – in a very different way. If I had to pick the thing that I like least about being in Ecuador it would be all the drinking. I don’t really fit into this aspect of lifestyle down here and it can make it tough at times (or lonely, really) when everyone goes out and parities and drinks all the time. I’ve been out to events with some of the other students, but I find myself getting tired of always being the sober one and always being asked over and over why I don’t drink. So I just stay home a lot. But, because of the elections this weekend, no one can party. I kind of think its funny because no one knows what to do. I do have a few friends that I have made who also don’t drink and we spend a lot of time together. Tonight we’re going out – accompanied by a bunch of unhappy people who have to remain sober. Maybe they can see that there is more to life in Quito than only partying…? They’re all great people and I like them a lot, we just have different lifestyles. Anyway, all of Ecuador is prohibited to drink for the next few days. A lot of places that are usually loud and partying by this time on Friday afternoons are dead quiet right now.

Yesterday in my Andean Religion class we ended up on the topic of modern-day (and recent historical, within the last 100 years) Catholicism in Ecuador – how in many places if you’re not Catholic when you pass away you’ll have to go though tons of trouble just to get a burial plot in a cemetery… stuff like that. This is a topic that I’ve had some trouble with since my arrival in Quito. My host mom is Catholic… along with the rest of my host family, although my host mom is the only one who goes to mass on a regular basis. One of the first things she asked me about when I got here was if I was Catholic. I told her no, I’m Episcopalian… which is similar but a different denomination with some different practices. She didn’t know what the denomination was at all so I tried my best to explain it to her (it’s a little tough in Spanish) but she almost seemed disappointed in me. The topic has come up more than once since then and every time the conversation goes about the same way as the first time. It seems like she thinks I’ll convert to Catholicism while I’m here if we keep talking about it and I keep experiencing things in Ecuador. The thing is, I’m really happy with my faith and I don’t want anything to change. So nothing will. I just think it’s funny that so many people down here declare themselves to be Catholic – but never attend mass and then behave in ways that they later turn around and criticize – and then also turn around and criticize my faith and me just because I don’t declare myself to be Catholic. It kind of bothers me sometimes. But then in class yesterday our professor (who is Catholic) was talking about this aspect of Catholicism and life in Ecuador. It helped to have him acknowledge it and explain it to us. I understand better now that it’s more a way of life and practice… and just something to observe while I’m here more than anything else.

This weekend my other host sister is coming home. She has been studying in Chicago for the past year. My host mom is so excited! It’s really sweet to see her getting everything ready. On Sunday (after they all go and vote) we’re having a birthday party for my host cousin. That should be fun too.

Tonight we’re going to a concert – it’s supposed to be something like movie music and soundtracks by this brass ensemble or something like that. I’m excited. There are a bunch of people coming with us and we’re going to have supper before the concert. It’s going to be a nice break from work because it was a pretty intense week academically (and there is another one to come). I like spending nights out because it really helps me with my Spanish. I can tell that I’ve really improved a lot (with speaking and comprehension) since I got here. I’m also getting to know the city fairly well. That’s nice, too.

I need to walk home and see my family before tonight. Have fun on reading days SBC!!!