Pictures Update...Gone for a Week

Since I am leaving SUPER early in the morning for the Amazon and will not return for a week. I am sorry that I cannot post while I am there but the Anaconda´s rule everything, even the internet and they are quite selfish with it. Therefore, I will be taking pictures and writing my thoughts so that I can pass them on to you when I return.

Here is a picture of me and Alexito.

Alex can wear on me some days but I think that he is a good kid over all. He and I got to be friends over the pictures in my computer of me and my family and then we played the hide the object game while riding in the car the other day. So...I guess we became friends and he gave me a cold. What a trade! :) The good news is that I am like 95% healthy I think and hope that a decent night´s sleep will cure the rest.

To give you an idea of the snake skin on the wall...the little one is the Boa and the big one that will not fit in the frame is the Anaconda. Please believe me when I tell you that it extended at least another 3-5 feet on either side of the frame. This was at the Mitad del Mundo, the Ecuador location, and I unfortunately had too little time to really enjoy everything about the place. I guess it is normal to want to spend more time in a place like this, but as always we want to see everything and simply go...go...GO!

So, for those of you that think that I have a poor taste in clothing, I give you this guy...he is a character in their fesitval of the Sun, which begins tomorrow on the Solstice. He represents the devil, but something else as well. There is a syncritism of the indian religions and Catholicism. The former gods of the sun, moon, and other natural things, have found a connection to a certain Catholic saint and therefore, both are kind of celebrated at the same time.

Anyway, this guy really wanted me to take his picture and his girlfriend tried to get out of the picture. How would you like to date the devil? :)

The next picture is the from the top of that mountain the day I got really cold and really sick. As you can see the weather was not good, but the mural was kinda cool and is fairly normal for the Ecuadorian artists that I have seen (non-indian artists that is). There is a strong connection in their culture between the pre-Spanish peoples and the repression that has occurred in different ways ever since. The two hands are breaking the chains of repression and you have the sun, which represents the importance of the sun now and before with their chief god being, Inti - the sun god. You can see the intermingling of the two religions with the cross and the church on the right. This whole thing was painted on a huge wall about 20´ by 60´ if not more.

The final picture is of a huge head....NOT MINE! :) and me. This was in the church/school/nunnery that I visited and in which the guide didn´t really want to help me much. I really do not know what it means, but there are little faces on the head in different colors and the chain with the rock coming out of the mouth. Any ideas?

So I hope that you all keep me in your prayers as I don´t think that I am in good enough shape to win against the anacondas, and I didn´t buy the blowgun that I saw today...

Back in a week! Hasta luego.