Pity Party, Table for One

This has not been my week, and I am unfortunately wearing my cranky pants.
Wednesday evenings we teach an adult english class in El Triunfo, the town closest to our house. Oftentimes we then stay in town for a bit, to have a beer or watch the boys play soccer with some locals. So this week we were there until about 10pm, and when we got home, I noticed that a lot of my things were missing. While we were out, someone came into my room, probably through the window, and stole lots of my things...including my camera, my ipod, some shoes and clothes, and then a bit more randomly, my new big bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. This, remember, is the body wash that I traveled 5 hours to Quito to buy, since they dont really use it in this country, and I could only find it in the city. I also think that they got my small bag of jewelry, and who knows what else. I lost all of my pictures on the camera too, since I planned to back them up at the end of every month...ie this weekend. Of course. So all of the silly pictures of me standing at the equator, and pictures that I took with volunteers who have already left Ecuador...all gone. SO im really really mad, and I have to travel to a city so I can buy a new camera, and I'm just angry about the whole situation. Our house is in the middle of nowhere, it feels so safe and nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the project. My friends had valuable stuff lying all around and nothing else was touched...they were obviously only in my room. The only other person who has stuff missing is Jess, and we share a room. They took one pair of her pants, and again, her shampoo and conditioner. I guess they really wanted a shower?
Anyway, i'm safe, I have my passport and wallet, and my peanut butter, thank god, and no one was home when they came. All good things. It sucks but could have been a lot worse.
I was also pretty sick last week with a wicked cold and cough. We went to Baños last weekend, a town about 1.5 hours from Puyo. It has hot springs, gorgeous mountain scenery, and lots of adventure activities. I wasnt able to go on the bike ride that my friends did since I was dying in bed hacking up a lung, but at night I went to the hot springs, and just walked around town and enjoyed the sun and beautifulness. The town is also known for its spas...I figure that its waaayyyy too early in the game for me to be spoiling myself, but the $20 one hour full body massages, $25 hour hot stone massages, and other volcanic mud wraps and other delicious activities will definitely happen at some point while im here. I know I said that i'll be fundraising for the organization soon, but I'm also fundraising for the 'buy rachel a new camera and ipod' and 'buy rachel massages' campaigns.

There have been some highlights and interesting moments this week too. On the way home from our weekend in Banos on Sunday night we stopped to see what the crowd of people were doing in El Triunfo. Turns out that they have cockfights a couple times a month. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have officially witnessed my first cockfight. It was quite the experience and I did not care for it...although neither chicken died, and apparently it was a relatively mild fight. We apparently missed the much more exciting fight right before it, where a chicken lost his eye and then was killed. So thank god for that...such a horrible 'sport.' Its interesting though, I saw more money passed around during the fight--for bets--then ive ever seen in that community before.

Also, as many of you probably know, yesterday there was some crazy government showdowns in Quito and Guayaquil. Thanks for all of the messages and concerns, I am perefectly safe in the jungle and far from any big cities. I wont get into all of the politics here, but its really interesting...definitely check it out online and read up about whats going on. I think that I have a crazy effect on Latin American politics (coup in Honduras last year, anyone?), but im safe and its all very interesting. I was going to go to a city to buy a new camera this weekend but decided to wait until I know that everything is safe. Otherwise i'm not really affected by the riots or protests that were taking place, other than a few stores being closed in Puyo yesterday. Due to the strikes of the police and military, people in quito and guayaquil were looting stores and going crazy since there was no one to keep control. None of that in the towns near me, but some stores closed anyway just to be safe. Actually, then the police station in Puyo closed, so I couldnt file a police report about the robbery.

Never a dull moment in Latin America, theres always something.
Spending the weekend hanging at the house, getting work stuff organized, and maybe hunting down a thief with a machete. There was no class today so we have a 3 day weekend, which is really nice and greatly appreciated.
I realized that I have no idea whats happening at home...the only time ive had any news is this week, but just to check on whats going on here in Ecuador. If there are ever any interesting news stories pass them on to me, I would love to know whats happeneing.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy.
Happy October :)