The last couple of days...

Thursday was a much better day than Wednesday. I had more energy and was also looking forward to seeing Amy again and meeting her friend Janette.

After school I had art club and some of the kids were intrigued by my webcam so we had some fun videoing and generally being silly.

Aims and Janette arrived at about 6pm (ish) and were very excited about going to the Halloween party. We had fun getting ready, listening to very loud music and getting our glad rags on. Amy was chief make up artist. Having had a couple of down days it was great to get caught up in their energy and enthusiasm. Once we all felt completely gorgeous, we went up on to my roof to take some pics!

Me being a bad fairy!

Aims and Janette looking gorgeous!

Leilani (the lovely new art teacher in Secondary), came to meet us and we made our way up to a Cuban bar in Quito. Once there we attracted quite a lot of attention! We salsaed to a live band until about midnight! I had a few problems with my wings as there wasn't a lot of room on the dance floor!!!

When we left the bar we started to walk to the Halloween party - I wasn't entirely sure where it was, but we made our way towards the Mariscal, again attracting the attention of many people that we passed.

A little way beyond the Mariscal, Janette asked some policemen for directions and managed to persuade them to escort us to the party! Both Janette and Amy were chatting away to them in Spanish - Leilani and me were left wishing we could speak Spanish too!

We eventually arrived at 'The South American Explorer's Club', which was suitably decorated for the event! Lots of people were in costumes. ( I was really glad about this, because the others were having such a good time at the Cuban bar, I didn't want the party to be crap - especially after the long walk to get there!)

We chatted to quite a lot of people, danced and had more fun. We left at about 1.30am and made our way home. (Leilani decided to stay at mine too).

I finally got to sleep around 3am. Unfortunately, Amy was ill during the night, so I looked after her and then went back to bed! (Hoping that she would be ok).

Just after 6am it was time to get up again for school...DOH! I prepared coffee for me and Leilani (the first of several we needed during the day) and we had croissants - yum!

At school, preparations were being made to have bread babies - this is part of the Ecuadorian tradition for the 'Day of the Dead'.
(http://south-american-customs-holidays.suite101.com/article.cfm/all_souls_day_traditions_ecuador).

Marisa (one of the lovely Ecuadorian teachers) asked me to take photos. I was mightily chuffed to do this - much easier than trying to teach a bunch of overtired, overexcited kids after about 3 hours of kip! The kids got to decorate the bread babies just before break, so that they could have them with the traditional drink - colada morada. Colada Morada is delicious - it's a hot fruit drink, I had two!

In the afternoon, I went with Marisa, Carolina and six kids to the PAE animal shelter in Quito. Here we were delivering donations of animal food that the children had brought to school. It was a really lovely trip to go on. We got to see lots of lovely dogs and cats that have been rescued by the shelter. I wanted to take them all home...particularly one dog who had really sad eyes. The kids were great and really enjoyed themselves. Quite a few were keen to take their parents back so that they could adopt a pet. A lot of the animals are strays that are rescued from the streets, also the shelter often finds cats or dogs just left by their gates. All the animals that are brought in are neutered and cared for until new homs can be found for them. The organisation doesn't have a lot of funds, but they really are doing an amazing job. Apparently in Guayquil they even have some lions that have been rescued from circuses.

We got back to school just in time for the Spanish assembly about 'Day of the Dead'. This was performed by year three kids and it was wonderful. I really like the fact that we learn about Ecuadorian traditions. (Although I couldn't understand it all!)

I came home quite early because I was shattered and also to start organising the things I would need to take to stay with Amy. However when I got home and switched on my computer I found a message from Aims saying that she'd been to the doctors and she really isn't very well and needs to rest up for the weekend. I rang her to reassure her that it was far more important for her to rest. Both of us were really gutted, but I'll get there another time.

Last night I went for a meal with the girlies and Claire. I wasn't really on form because I was so tired, but it was nice to mark the start of half term. We did dance briefly in the middle of La Esquina though which was really funny.

Today I'm not really sure what to do with myself. I might go for some pampering somewhere. I think it might be good to have a few quiet days, then I'm off to Mom Piche with Claire, Ben and Leilani on Tuesday.