So many bruises

So yeah, I have this wonderful massage therapist. He told me that I'm really internal and need to be more aware of my surroundings and where I'm at in them. I already agreed with him but I'm going to actively work on it even more.

As everyone knows, I feel down the stairs last week. I bruised the top part of my left forearm and scraped the lower. I discovered yesterday in the shower that I have a really red bruise on my left buttock. Wow. I do not think I have ever had a bruise there. In the jungle, I got more bruises. I played futbol with some people and I was the keeper. There was five people, so two people to a team and one keeper. My job was basically not to let either team score. This guy named Tobias had a open shot to the goal and took it. I guarded the goal with my right thigh. It hurt like a bitch and I got a wonderfully odd bruise in the shape of a circle. I'm okay with that bruise. I accepted the job of keeper and I could have blocked differently.

I do not like the other bruises I got. I was being a bit prideful and walking confidently. The first time I confidently walked into a hole in the pier. The boards gaped in that spot and my foot went in. It was dark but I should have been using my flashlight. Reto (Switerland dude I met the first week) grabbed ahold of my boot because my foot could come free but not with the boot. I got two bruises on each side of my left calf. Go Shilo. I think two nights later, I was walking behind this girl when she stopped and pointed at the fact that it suddenly went to one board. I confidently almost walked into the river. That would have sucked. I like to believe if the girl had kept on walking I could have stabilized myself but I must have been walking to close. She went to grab me but instead hit me under the chin. I went down on one knee but somehow bruised my right leg right around my knee on the left side. I got to be more careful and I will keep on working on the whole not hurting myself.

Okay! I got this whole uploading thing down. It is not that hard. It just was incredibly slow with the CD I had. I was having problems with loading the pictures and was not even getting to the important stage. I have loaded all the photos on the computer I'm using now. Upload speeds are incredibly slow and I'm going in order but here is the link. http://picasaweb.google.com/kimkipling It starts with Arizona so people might see some Ecuadorian photos in a week because I'm leaving this joint in a half hour.

I was going to start in detail about my journeys but I do not feel like it so later. Here are some things I have noticed and I might repeat myself.

Traffic here is pretty crazy. I'm pretty sure I have said this before but all road rules are only guidelines. Walkers do not have the right away. I do alright because I assume everything will be alright or I will die. I do not worry about it.

I am tall! I argued about this my teacher but realized that I was comparing myself mostly to men. I'm about the same height as most men and I'm taller than the woman. It is a pretty heady thing to be tall when you are use to be short all your life. I fit in more than most tourist but I'm still very different from the normal phenotype. It feels slightly weird to now that I stick out like at all times. I could have blonde hair, but reddish brown hair is not popular either. My skin is much lighter and no one has blue eyes that lives here.

This easily follows the last paragraph. I love the physical type of men here in Ecuador. There are short and so fit. Yes this is because most are really poor so walk alot, have physical jobs, and play sports but ye gods their bodies are nice. I think I will have a hard time when I go back to the States and I see so many men that are out of shape. I'm attracted to the indeginous men the most. They are short, fit, have white teeth, nice smiles, but they are also really hard working, nice, and respectful to women. Or at least tourist women. They are not pushy like the hispanic men. They also have a certain accent that I like. Maybe it is just because I have had met two really nice indigenous men.

I have touched my own urine more than I have ever expected or wanted to. All toliet paper is thrown into the trash because paper will clog the drains. I'm not use to this. I rarely forget now but when I do, I think "Dammit!", and fish it out. Sometimes, I just flush the toliet because it is not worth it.

I'm actually uploading pictures of Quito right at this moment. I realize now that I wish I had taken more photos. I wish I had taken more photos of the school, students, and hot salsa teacher. When I look back, it makes me realize what I think is important. I need to take more pictures of people.

Change is fucking annoying in Ecuador. I took about 100 dollars in ones and fives and it disappeared quick. Having a 20 to break is like impossible to do. Sometimes 5 are too high depending on the place. I once bought juice because the bakery could not give me change for my 30 cent purchase out of five dollars. It turns into a giant game to find out where you can get change and get change as often as possible. Money wise I love the Bank Pinchancha. I never have problems withdrawing money and never get charged a fee.

The women here really like their butts. I respect that. I love my butt but I do not wear the tighest pants I can find just to make my butt look as big as possible. The problem with doing that is then your belly falls over the edge of your pants. Also, why where white pants! I just do not like them that much. Also, the women wear heels a lot! Their feet have to hurt. I think I made some of these points as well.

Whenever you get a group of people together who are from the same place, they speak their mother tongue. Which is rather annoying when you are in the jungle with a group of 6 girls from Germany, 4 people from Switerland, and two people who are from Denmark and Sweden but like to talk to each other in their respective languages because the languages are close. I had one distant Canadian man to talk to and I was willing to talk Spanish the whole time!

I think there is more in my head but I have to go to Couchsurfing to find places to stay for free hopefully.
Ciao