right after i wrote my last post i got a phone call from one of my friends who lives in salinas-a beach town two hours aways from guayaquil-asking me if i wanted to go there for the night. so tuesday afternoon i got my things together and hopped on a bus and headed there. when i got there i met my friend patricia-who lives in salinas, jack, his host brother, caterina-my friend from italy, and some of patricias friends. we ended up hanging out at patis house that night. her house is a really cool place. salinas is a really cool place. but anyway patis house is this really old wood house (contrary to all the concrete houses here) that is surrounded by tropical trees and right next to the beach. salinas is a very affluent town because it export a lot of ecuadors oil. parts of salinas look like miami beach with high rise apartments and hotels, water front bars and lots of really white sand. anyway tuesday night was really fun and really early wednesday morning we all decided to take a swim at patis beach. the next day we went to salinass water front to hang out at the beach and eat sea food. then in the afternoon jack, his brother and i headed back to guayaquil. later wednesday night pepe and i put on a party at our house for caterina because she was leaving the next day. it was a good time because so many people showed up, many of whom didnt know caterina, but whatever. thursday i went to see caterina off at the airport but saying good-bye was an anticlimatic experience. i rested much of yesterday and then last night pepe, a friend and i went to club to hear some "jazz" music. it wasnt a good concert and we left early. today i am going to the andes with pepe and sonja-my friend from austria. hopefully we will get there before it gets dark but if we dont o well. i am really looking forward to some cold air.
-mark