February Report Well, I started off my month with my new host family in Guayaquil. I drove 3 hours with my host family to Guayaquil (a city actually hotter than Portoviejo where I live). We left at 11am because my elder host brother had to purchase his airplane ticket before the Travel Agency had closed that day (on Fridays it closes earlier than any other weekday). That was my first actual visit to Guayaquil (the first time was when I arrived and I left immediately to travel to Portoviejo). My host family took me to visit the Municipal, Malecón 2000 & an Iguana Park. The visit to the Municipal was very brief..my host father only told me that it was a very ancient building and that it was renovated a few years back (it has roman numerals inscripted in the walls) and he took a picture of me in front of the building. The Malecón 2000 is a 2.5km long jetty which was constructed in the year 2000 (hence its name) as a tourist attraction. Also in the area are many restaurants and souvenir shops. Parque Seminario: A park located one block from the Malecón 2000. The inhabitants have become accustomed to calling this park - The Iguana Park because of the immense population of iguanas. I also got a brief view of "La Previsora" - which is said to be the tallest building in South America. That same weekend we had a picnic on the beach (La Boca) which is where the Ocean meets the River. We spent the whole day on the beach and ate about 3 times. My guitar lessons are going EXTRA well!! I have learned 5 songs in 1 month. Mercedita, El Rey (the King), Amigo (Friend), A la sombra a mi madre (To my mother´s amazement), El ramo de flores (The bouquet of flowers). I am very impressed in how quickly I have learned the hand positions and how wonderful I am going in the lessons. I also have TENNIS NEWS. Well, I had been on "delay" for almost 1 year so it was really hard to get back into shape. I participated in a tennis tournament 2 or 3 Saturdays ago and I placed 3rd out of the girls. The good thing was that I got some play with two International Champions (the two girls that defeated me). Once again, I visited my family farm and swam a while with my younger host brother. I had forgotten my bathing suit so I went in wholesale. It was kinda fun actually. Anyway, I am falling in love...with one of the horses on my farm. It was pearly white with a bushy mane and a long tail. It´s very lovely. I might just start riding horses...might! My host father participated in a soccer championship and here in Portoviejo everything has a Queen (if you understand what I mean). There was a candidate for each team and a vote for the best candidate. I won!!! But the way they chose was by a random drawing. eg. A gentleman came around with three pieces of paper (there were only 3 candidates) and each candidate had to pick a piece of paper. Two of the pieces said SI and the other said NO. I picked the piece of paper that said SI by SURPRISE!! WOW!! And I won.. WATER SEASON..the 22nd-24th February was the season of Carnival in Ecuador. People started wetting one another even before Carnival had begun. The tradition during this time is for you and your family to go to the beach. My host family and I drove by "La Ruta del Sol" (the Sun route). All along this route you are able to see the most beautiful beaches in Ecuador and a lot of the Pacific Ocean. We stayed at the Hotel Pacifico for the full three days with a view of the beach Puerto López. If you saw the amount of people that visited that beach during Carnival from about 2 metres away you would think that they were all colourful ants. The last day my host family took me to La Isla de Plata (Treasure Island) - a National Park where I got to see Blue-footed, masked boobies; Albatrosses, etc. We should have seen seals but we didn´t. I guess it was bad luck. The last thing that I have done this month was my participation in a Project Fair in Quito (the capital). My Club President invited me to Quito to translate for him because some Rotarians from different parts of the United States were flying down to get information on different projects (e.g. Clean water in Rural towns, etc.) Our two projects (which I found out about one day before I had to leave for Quito) were "Rehabilitate a Handicapped" and "Better Communications for firemen". Our final client (from California) assisted us with both projects. The first, he told us that we could check out the website for the Johnson Foundation and that he could donate us some equipment for the firemen because he has an Emergency Rescue Foundation which is the best and biggest in North California. The project turned out really well..I should develop the picture from the Fair next week. Until then you all can share in my more recently developed pictures. Peace and Love