tarea stallin, jungle ferverin

first things first, this is the track im currently spinnin (you know the drill sorry still cant hyperlink) let us listen together http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbq13bLylCY and then check this out and tell me your hips dont sway http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js0rKmv-0Iw

the last few weeks have been a beautiful blur of all-night cuban music, day-sleeping, spanish classin, jungle walking, etc. dios mio.

friday night met up with some new friends and happened upon a tiny bar where a cuban band was playing. turns out a friend of mine is a friends with the trumpet player who apparently played with buena vista social club, be impressed riiight NOW! their band is called ácha and they grooved allll night long. luckily it only took a few songs for the entire room to be on their feet and moving to the tunes. imagine this; lights down low, ecuadorian beer in hands and crowding small tables, cuban beats vibrating in your chest, moving. the band broke off around 2, but the trumpet player was going to a smaller bar near by to play in a latin jazz trio. que riiico. so a crew of us migrated a few blocks to continue dancing the night away. saturday i slept and that night was mas o menos a glorious repeat of the night before.

last week we had our class trip to tena, a city just on the cusp of the amazon. the highlights include; hiking through the jungle and learning about all the indigenous medicinal plants, laying in a hammock watching, visiting a local community and learning about all the things you can do with yuca.

also animals i saw that were pretty incredible include an anacanda, a tarantula that was hiding in kims boots, the largest rodent on the planet (whose name eludes ahorita, but it sounds like capibery...i think), a white ant that will send you to the hospital in two bites, leaf-cutter ants, and finally the great spider monkey (years ago someone accused me of being one and i had no idea what that meant).
overall, let me just say i sacrificed my own flesh to feed the mosquito population of tena. i just hope they are grateful because even now i still itch.

yesterday we went to my first real fútbol game, probably the best $4.5 i have spent here in ecuador. it was a college game and somehow we ended up in what seemed to be the rowdiest section of the whole stadium. before the game even started i thought there was going to be a riot--some guys had hung up the liga team flag on the fence and the police wanted them to take it down. for some reason this was something of great importance and in an instant the whole crowd was looking at the argument, making hissing noises, clearly wanting to start somethin. luckily there was an adorable 3 year old sitting in front of me, and i didnt feel it was too dangerous. at the start of the game, and random intervals, people threw blank receipt rolls onto the field, waved giant flags, and sing chants about drinking lots of cervezas and other things i couldnt make out. in any case, the game was great fun.

its currently finals week, one week break, and then MINDO! im pretty sure i told you before about mindo, but the internship is set up for sure. i think i will spend most of my days working on the farm in the mornings and perhaps volunteering at the school in the afternoons. the main goal of this project is to spread knowledge about organic agriculture and provide greater food security to the community. i have never been involved in such a grassroots social justice project, let alone at the very beginnings, and i am VERY excited to be a part of such an incredible alternative development project. i know i will learn so much.

lovin you,
lala