On Friday I left my house at 5:50a to catch a bus to Otavalo for my interview and to meet my placement family. Besides being way too early for anything, the trip was uneventful. Transporter 3, followed by Transporter 2, were on the bus television in Spanish. Judging by the action, I wouldn't have understood even in English. As requested, the driver dropped our early bird group of four off at a gas station where we called Nate's host parents, Marcela and Carlos, to come pick us up and drive us to our interviews. Nothing says "good morning" like being picked up in a big white van at a gas station by complete strangers.

I was first to my interview at CEMOPLAF (Centro Médico de Orientación y Planificación Familiar [Medical Center for Family Orientation and Planning]): it's going to be great. Dra. Quelal et al are going to have me working in the clinic as well as sending me to talk to high schools.

After the other interviews I got to meet my host mother, Tania. Her husband, Mario, is the mayor of Otavalo. Nice. She showed me Peguche, the village where they live (98% indigenous, mostly artisans - I can hear looms working from my house) and then showed me the house, pictures of the kids, and the dogs, Pancho and Laika. She was going back to Quito anyway so no bus for that afternoon.

Saturday morning I headed to the bus station with Brittany and Francisco to Mindo, a tourist town two hours northwest of Quito. When we arrived, we checked in at Hostal Rubby...

Pronounced "Ruby"

...and got ready for lunch and adventure. We spent the afternoon on a canopy zip line across the forest. Fun, but a greater lesson was learned: bug repellant, even "Deep Woods," only lasts for about two hours. Mindo bugs are not normal. I don't know if they were tiny biting flies or a terrible crossbreed between mosquitoes and lesser demons, but wherever they bit began to bleed. Currently I have eleven bites in two square inches plus others all along my legs and back.

We got back to town in time for relaxing and showers, then had dinner at a Venezuelan restaurant. Although good, Mindo is yet another town that sees no need to keep streetlights on for longer than fifteen minutes after sundown. We got back to the hostel with time to sit on the porch and enjoy not doing homework.

Sunday morning, we went to wade in the river to soothe our bites and enjoy nature before heading back into the smog of Quito. Once we checked out and had lunch we got on the worst bus back to Quito. Everyone felt sick to some extent, but we made it back within an hour and a half. Sleep-deprived, I did my Spanish homework and was in bed by nine.