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An Ecuadorian holiday equivalent to our independence day was celebrated this weekend. As a result, no hospitals or institutuions were open for us to meet with. So, ‘vamos a la playa.’’ We get a little R&R. And we bring a laptop and get a little work done.
Checking out of the Rizzo was an experiment in patience. The customer never seems to be right around here, and reasoning with the manager about the bad service we received was a futile endeavor. More futile was the attempt to explain the desk lacky how to calculate the promised 10% discount. Once Cathy came to pick us up for the bus terminal, we just wanted to shake the joint, but everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Finally we headed to the bus station. The bus ride to Montanita took 4 hours. Not a bad ride.
 Anat at work in our wonderful Guayaquil hotel room.
-Anat
Water, money, sports, and music. Things are just a few of the things seem to hold true in the states and Ecuador.(1) Only drink clean water.(2) Cash can get you out of almost any problem. Our car crash on the 4th day is an excellent example.(3) Football. At any given time you can find football on 2-15 channels. This includes almost continuous broadcasting on ESPN deportes and FoxSportsNet.(4) Shakira, J. Lo and Christina Agulerra are “universial”: In Ecuador the authenticity of the restaurant/bar is directly correlated to the number of times 3 artists are played in a 30 minute window. If they are not played, you are in a place owned by Europeans or Americans. Played 1-3 times per half hour you are in a pretty authentic Ecuadorian locale. Played non-stop (oh it happens, believe me) you are in a locally owned establishment that is catering to Americans and this is the extent of their US knowledge. I now know why J. Lo, gets $10 million for her presence, not acting in a B movie after B movie (Gina, Moneyball, Anaconda, Wedding planner, seriously this is a never ending list)…she truly is global. We have determined that “Hips don’t lie” is the biggest thing down here since Ricky Martin.
 Nick in his 'que bueno' pose.
-Nick
One notable development, we learned how to order a ‘monton de carne,’ which equates to a pile of meat. Nick and I enjoyed a ‘monton de carne para dos’ at a restaurant appropriately named, the ‘Happy Donkey.’  The bus ride back to Guayaquil took 2.5 hours. A bad ride. Notice that it took 1.5 hours less to get back, and we can assure that it wasn't due to traffic. The bus driver made the taxi driver mentioned earlier look like a blue-haired granny. 'Are you afraid to die?' was the driver's reply when Susie asked him to slow down. Having been in a bus that flipped when she was younger, she had the credence to ask him to slow down.
Splurged for a nice hotel when we got back to Guayaquil and acted like Americans. Ate pizza, drank beer, watched TV, and left a big mess for the maids. Checked out a local casino. Susie gets sick from the ice. If she goes down, the rest of the team will probably never make it out alive. Thankfully, the Cipro seems to help. From now on, she is only allowed Coke and beer.
-Tanner
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