Champions of the World!

of bowling that is. I was in a tournament with Antonio for his work and we made it in the finals! Of course there was only four teams so not that hard but today was the day. The number 1 team (Team Manager, I like to call it) versus number 2 team (Team Antonio). There had been a total of three games where all the points had been added up. We were only 20 points behind Team Manager. Found out that Ruth's team (no I do not know her either) blew the other team out of the water. They had 5 players and a combined score of 588. Wow.

The excitement was high. I started out with a strike and so did Nivel! Antonio scored 1 and Rosa scored 0. The other team did about the same. I followed up with a spare while Nivel did a double! We were so giddy and we could tell that we were kicking Team Manager's butt. The only thing that made me kinda sad (but not really) was that I ended with a great score of 121. Not highest score but good for the level we were playing at. Antonio beat me with 124! He came out of the blew at the end. I was just consistent. Grrrrr. I then beat him at air hockey 6-7. So close which put the final score of games at 3-3. Cool to end in a tie and I'm excited that Antonio got his highest score of his life today. We actually went to practice last Friday which was a beat expensive for Ecuador (8 dollars for the 2 of us). To put that price in perspective, Antonio gets 200 dollars a month plus tips. He has a pretty good job as a waiter in Cuenca as well.

I leave tomorrow. Wow. I do not want to leave at least for Peru. I almost wish I was going directly home but I paid for the tickets. I have them and I questioned the wisdom of buying tickets that I have to have in paper. I hope I do not lose them or get them stolen. If anything bad happens, I will just buy new tickets. Expensive but whatever. I plan on leaving tomorrow at 3pm for Loja. That has taken 6 and 1/2 hours twice in the past. I plan on arriving at 9:30pm and then hopefully can buy a ticket to Piura, Peru that leaves at 10:30 or 11pm (whichever is open). Another 8 hour bus ride later and I will be on the coast of Peru around 6am.

I do not know past that at this moment. I will spend probably a day or two in Piura to recover and see the sights. Then another 7 hour bus ride to Trujillo. Same system and arrive in Huraz a couple days later. No one has told me great stories about northern Peru. Scratch that, one did, but he was excited because a girl and him did not know Spanish but yet found their way by catching random buses. Woot. That seems fun. Probably was but I know Spanish and will use it. Antonio has visited Peru twice and highly recommends southern Peru like everyone else. I looked into flights from Cuenca to Cusco and other options. All are to expensive. If I make it to Cusco, I will probably fly from there to Lima. It is only 250 dollars and I can afford that. Oh well it is traveling which for me means I have no clue what will happen. I know I did not plan on spending three months in Ecuador especially one of them in Cuenca.

No regrets. I was a bit lonely in Cuenca and I did fight with Antonio but it was great. Still is. After this blog, I will head back to Antonio's and pack my things. I have not had to pack in like two weeks. That was really nice. Part of me does not want to deal with the dangers of Peru (actually having a bit of travel nerves similiar before my trip to Ecuador) but the other part is pumped. Running into random people and seeing beautiful or just new sites.

I get back Dec 15. That night is planned with family and I get back around 9pm so will be tired. The next night I hope is a small get together with close friends (still in the works) and the night after that is a different party not associated with me coming back at all. Crazy. I will get social overload. My days will be playing bass and looking for a job. My life in the States is more planned than my life at this moment.

I have been celebrating Thansgiving everyday this week by eating at a nice restaurant for lunch with Antonio. Tomorrow I will be traveling a lot.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!