Milagro or bust

Life Tip: Just because it's cloudy doesn't mean you can't get burnt

This morning 17 of us packed like sardines into a 17 person van.  8 o'clock in the morning is too early to get that friendly with your neighbors, but after some great jugo and with the excitement of the day planned ahead, we all managed for the hour long car ride.  Today we got invited by our Ecuadorian amigo, Daniel, to travel to his hometown, Milagro, to spend the day playing futbol and swimming.  Then after the morning festivities, his uncle agreed to cook lunch for us all at his restaurant.

We pretty much had the whole sports complex to ourselves which was pretty awesome.  We split into equal teams of 5 on 5 (ours had 6 but we subbed) with each team representing their campus.  ESPOL vs. UG....El Classico Junior.  After slipping, sliding, arguing, and laughing for an hour or so, UG pulled the upset 3-2 victory.  And yes...I meant upset...because let's be honest, ESPOL is the far superior team :) or maybe I am just biased.  But in all seriousness, it was a fun and evenly matched game.

Sweaty and covered in mud, we all changed into swimsuits to join the rest of the team in the pool.  The pool felt so nice after having spent the last week and a half adjusting to the hot and humid climate of Ecuador.  We spent the next few hours, playing water games, synchronized diving and just splashing around.  This is where the life tip mentioned previously comes in to play.  Today was cooler than it has been this past week and had cloud coverage as usual.  It even sprinkled on and off throughout the day.  The majority of the team and I, thinking because it was cloudy and not that hot out, failed to put on sun screen, and now our faces have to pay the consequences of rosey cheeks.

Lunch was amazing!! I was not really sure what to expect after not having seafood for the duration of the trip thus far.  Also I am not that big of a seafood fan in general.  But when they dropped that family (family meaning enough to feed a small army of Ecuadorians) platter of shrimp and fried rice in front of the 4 of us sharing, I had to dig in.  And dig in I did.  I was smart in sharing with 3 girls because that meant bigger portions for me, but they didn't mind as the urged me to eat more and more.  We finished the plate, a proud accomplishment for the day, leaving no desire for dinner.

I did end up passing on dinner....but I couldn't resist going out for ice cream tonight.  Let's be honest, ice cream definitely counts as a meal.

Church tomorrow bright and early so time for bed! Goodnight everyone :)