Viva Ecuador!

Soo....HELLO!
It's been a long long...looong time since my last blog post.
Pardon me for traveling the world and changing lives and being changed myself.
For those of you who know...I was in Ecuador for 2 weeks,
With my second family.
Doing service.
Performing my brains out.
Puking my brains out.
Playing with children.
Changing my life.
This year's tour was something else.
It's hard to put into words how incredible it was.
I decided to put a list together of things that I learned throughout these past 2 weeks.

1). Chicken is not known as a meat. It's either "chicken or meat?" for lunch/dinner.
2). Ecuadorians will hear that a show starts at 7... and will show up at 8:30-9.
3). They don't care about waking you up at 4:00 in the AM with a marching band coming down the street.
4). DRINK LOTS OF WATER!!....nuff said.
5). The doctors there like to give you hugs and kisses after treating you with meds. Made me feel a little better.
6). After being told not to perform for 2 shows because of illness is miserable...BUT performing after missing 2 shows is the most incredible and overwhelming feeling.
7). The children there love the hold hands, kiss your cheek and have you hold them.
8). It doesn't rain in Limone...it POURS.
9). There aren't a lot of monkeys in Ecuadors...in fact...I didn't see one....but there are llamas!
10.) In Guayaquil, there is a hillside that takes you up to the lighthouse. There are not 268 steps....there are 444. Thanks Jose.
11). The Ecuadorian people are the most gracious, loving, humble and incredible people I have ever met. I've never felt so much love from a group of people than I felt with the Ecuadorians.
12). I WANT TO GO BACK!!

I've never had such a hard time leaving a country.
I've never hugged someone so hard than I hugged our wonderful guide Jose.
I've never been so close with the people in my performing group.
I've never been so sick in my life as I was sick for those 4 days.
I've never experienced such love from children.
I've never not missed my phone. I didn't want to turn it on when I got home.
I've never been so homesick.....but then again...I felt like I was home being over there.
I've never held a child so tightly as I did with them over there.
I've never been the same since I've been home.
....and I don't plan on going back to my old ways.