I'm back!

Bahia

Church on hill in Bahia

triceleta

Santiago en tienda de computadora

I'm back! The internet has been in and out, so I haven't had a chance to write as much, BUT I have a lot to say!

Time is endless here. It's so easy to loose track of it. No clocks except on your phone and no reason to keep track anyways. No important stressful deadlines, just living day to day in paradise. I am truly grateful to have such an amazing opportunity. In the little time I have been here my outlook on life has changed to being very stressed always on the run, to enjoying life's little moments. Like last night for instance, the stars finally came out, they were beautiful reflecting on the water. Also, the sunsets here are absolutely breath taking (I will post pictures soon).

The people I have met here, the ones that come to visit for a long period of time from other countries all have one common bond. The attraction of peace and harmony into their lives. They want to live blissfully and be surrounded by people who feel the same way. San Clemente offers this to anyone who comes here. I have met people from California, Canada, Arizona, Germany, Italy, Norway, and other countries too. Its fascinating talking with them to understand just why they came all over the world to a little fisherman town, San Clemente.

The first night I hung out with the local "kids" was quite an experience. A few of them spoke English and the rest told me solamente Espanol (only Spanish). I have been picking up the dialect here and there, even had a dream in Spanish the other night. I am hoping to have it down pretty well by the time I leave! haha It was midnight after we finished watching a movie and we all decided to go to the center of town. It was completely dead. Even the dogs were asleep. I was wondering how they were planning on getting some alcohol, but sure enough, where there's a will, there's a way! One of the girls whistled and Nayos the liquor man takes down a few boards that opened up to a window on the 2nd floor of his store. Then she said a few words in Spanish and a plastic beach bucket attached to a rope was lowered with the alcohol in it. What a great idea! Then she placed the money in the bucket and we were on our way to the beach. Everything here is an adventure! Everyone taught me this new drinking game too! Its called "My Ship." This game is played in a circle and one person is "it" and says My ship comes to port with....then they proceed to name a category for instance cars. Then everyone in the circle has to name a brand of car and if it takes you more than 3 seconds to think of one then you drink and you're it! It was really fun, cause even though I didn't know a lot of Spanish I could still play!

A few days ago, Santiago, Carmen, my dad and I took a trip to Bahia. Santiago showed us around the city a bit and then took us to the escuela (school). He asked if we wanted to see Miguel. Well sure we said, but who is Miguel??? Miguel is the 180 year old turtle who lives at the school, there are only 25 left of him in the world. Miguel is very taken care of by the students, he even gets to hang out in the classroom!! Santiago is making it his goal to turn this school into a technical school. He works at a computer repair shop and will also be teaching computer classes at the school soon. That night we went to an American style restaurant and then headed to the local discotecha (aka club). The news people were there with cameras taping a promotional advertisement for Bahia and guess who was in it?! ME! haha Fun times... It just proves you can have a fun time anywhere!

Last night was another disco night! I met up with a few of the locals to go to a fiesta and then to the discotecha. The locals are great here! They love to have fun and the whole night was full of dancing and hanging out!

Well the past few days have been a blast...and to top it all off Espana won!!!

Hasta Luego,

Portoviejo triceleta con frutas!

The girls!!