Number One Rule of Travelling: Always remember your towel

I read in a very funny book once that no matter what you take with you when travelling, you must always have a towel. With this everything will go smoothly. Without it you leave yourself open to numerous perils. I, with all of my towel wisdom intact, managed to forget my trusty travelling towel at home. This did, however, lead me to venture out of the pequeña casa where I am staying and seek out the central commercial de jardin, aka: the mall. Although I am sure I could probably have found a cheaper one somewhere else, I am now the proud owner of a very soft, not too big not too small, blue towel. Perhaps I will be lucky and it will multiply. Don´t laugh, it has happened before.

I have also decided that no weather information for outside of N. America or Europe is ever correct. Or perhaps all of these beautiful places in the world misinform them of the weather in order to ward off the hordes of tourists that would inevitably follow the sunshine. The forecast of rain and more rain from the time of my arrival until some unknown point in the future could not have been more wrong. Again today I find myself under blue skys and fluffy white clouds. Already 24 degrees and not even noon.

Last night I went for supper with the regional coordinator and a British woman who is here setting up English schools. It is quite amazing how much work is being done here both by nationals and foreigners. There are huge projects going on in civil rights, environmental conservation, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy prevention, and many more. Just incredible. Quite amazing to be connecting with people who are doing this work - really in the trenches of community change.

So off I go to Ambato this afternoon and onto the next part of this adventure. It will be nice to have a place to unpack and hopefully give away all of the many many things I brought with me. I have decided to give some of the supplies to a near by clinic run by another woman I met yesterday. They are in a very poor rural area and will benefit greatly from this. The rest I am taking with me to distribute in Ambato and possibly one or two of the surrounding towns. It really seems like what I have brought will greatly benefit many people - which is all I could have ever asked for. Perhaps I too will be of some benefit in the next few weeks ;o)

Love to you all,
Emnlyn