A time apart...

  We learned on Wednesday that Johnny will be leaving for Loja (a southern province of Ecuador) on Sunday (today). He will be gone for 20 days. I, Amber, am not thrilled about being alone for so long here in Quito. As you may know, we don't have a computer, television or any real form of entertainment at our house. Also, I don't really know how to use the stove because it is gas. So what does this mean? I will be going to bed around 7 pm out of boredom and I will be eating anything that doesn't need to be warmed up (we don't have a microwave either, just in case you were wondering).
   As for John, his dog bite is healing nicely. It doesn't bother him at all and nothing much ever came of it... not even a big bruise. Down in Loja he will be working on a GIS/GPS project for the research program at Catholic University and Ohio University. He is flying down there alone and will not have anyone to translate for him. He is however bringing the Spanish-English dictionary. Who knows..he may come back completely fluent. While down there he will go to different communities and take points of where all the houses are in the area. He literally has to time his walk to and from each house so that in the summer we will know how long to spend in each village.  From past experience we know that some houses are as much as a two hour walk from the center of town and Loja is a fairly mountainous province. Sometimes he will be with some Ecuadorian workers and sometimes he will be alone.
   On a happier note, we bought a blanket at the market... FINALLY! It is a very nice two sided (one black and one white) Alpaca hair blanket. It will be my best friend while John is gone... along with my books of course. The lady at the market wanted $35 for it but we walked away paying only $25. Not too bad. Also, the other day I found a nickle on the side walk. That officially brings up the amount of money we have found here to $1.56.

Interesting Fact: The roads in Ecuador leave something to be desired...especially when you are outside a major city. For example, John is flying to Loja. The flight will take 50 minutes. If I wanted to take a bus to Loja, it would take over 13 hours. (The bus isn't like a greyhound... it doesn't make other stops.) The time difference is due to the fact that the roads are dangerous and they zig-zag across mountains...not to mention that sometimes there are potholes so big that can swallow cars. The total distance from Quito to Loja is around 250 miles... only slightly bigger than the width of Ohio (which can be driven in roughly 4 hours). The one nice thing about the roads in the country... the views : )