The First 48 Hours

ANOTHER CRAZY LADY

Last night, I ate dinner with a woman who was absolutely nuts. She has been traveling for the past five years. She is currently on her third bout around the world and her ninetieth country. I do not think that she was crazy because of her globetrotting ways. I thought that she was crazy because of her ridiculous proclamations:

-The Indians should face most of the blame for South African apartheid. She proceeded to blatantly ignore me when I pointed out that Indians suffered during apartheid. Ghandi, for example, was kicked off of a train because of the color of his skin.
-People are poor and impoverished because their brains are less advanced than everyone else’s, not because of limited access to resources.

The list could go on, and on.


ECUADORIAN FIRSTS

During the past 48 hours I:

-Purchased my first Ecuadorian cell phone,
-Worked at CENIT for the first time, and
-Successfully used local public transportation for the first time (believe me, this is a big deal).

I am sure that many more firsts will come in the future.


I AM OKAY

I know that many of you are worried about me. I want you to know that so far, Ecuador has been much safer than I expected. People treat women more respectfully here than they do in most of the other foreign countries that I have visited recently.

You should also know that I will not be able to use the Internet or a telephone every single day. Please do not worry.