Happy Women's Day!

What a wonderful holiday I discovered Ecuador has today - National Women's Day. This morning at work, I got a flower (a rose, and apparently removing the thorns hasn't reached the equator yet) and a little card thing that was shaped in a heart that had "kind" on one side "respect" on the other. So wishing all of the women in the world a Happy Women's Day! Take advantage of it! :)

In the new house that I live in, I've recently discovered that I have a maid. A MAID. I came home from school one day, and all of my dirty laundry had been washed, dried, and was folded neatly on my bed. The next day, all of my dress pants and shirts were hanging ironed in my closet. I LOVE IT. But, yes, MOM, I feel guilty about it. I never felt guilty when my own dear mother did those things for me, but this is different. Because Olga (what a name) is not my mother. She is a short and stout old woman who makes me feel as if God put her on this earth to do things for me. Happy Women's Day, Olga. You make my life so much better! The construction workers are the same way. Everyday when I get home from school, they ask me if there is anything they can do for me.

On Saturday, I decided to TRY to give a little back to them - I would make banana bread or chocolate chip cookies - whichever dessert I could find the ingredients for first. I went to the grocery store near my house. Huh. No Crisco shortening, chocolate chips, or baking soda. So I went to another grocery store. Found the shortening. So I went to another, and another, and ANOTHER. Turns out that NO ONE sells baking soda in this country. They told me it's prohibited. What? Do I have the right translation? Yes, I did. It's this new thing the country is trying, apparently. What doesn't make sense, is that there are bakeries EVERYWHERE. Literally, on almost every corner. How do they bake all of these pastries if they don't use baking soda? This afternoon, I'm going to ask dear Olga is they have any, and then I'll call my host mom, who bakes cakes, and ask her. This is ridiculous.

On Sunday, one of the people who works at my school, Eduardo, took me to the historic downtown. I'm not quite sure what his job is at the school, but everyone calls him "Inspector". Ok... So he asks me if I'm afraid of heights. Ummmm kind of? Are we talking about a free-fall here, or an enclosed building? He tells me that we are going to climb (oh God) to the top of the Basilica, a HUGE gothic church. Great. We get there, and already my stomach is in knots.

When we enter, he asks me if I want to take the stairs of the elevator. Because I'm an IDIOT, I said, "Oh whichever is fine with me!!!!" Stairs it is. We climbed. And climbed. And CLIMBED. And I was dying. We finally get to what I think is the top, and it's a pretty view, and I wasn't scared because all of the climbing we did was up normal stairs that were ENCLOSED. At what I thought was the top, I see a set of narrow green SPIRAL stairs. Up we go! I was SWEATING. And kind of starting to shake.

At the top of THESE stairs, we walk through this hallway thing, and I can't believe what I'm seeing. We're legit in the roof of the Basilica (think Hunchback of Notre Dame), and to get to the VERY tippy-top, I have to cross a - not kidding - WOODEN BRIDGE that HANGS through the roof. There was the rope handle and everything (Think Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but there were no gaps between the planks). "Eduardo, *nervous laugh* I CAN'T do this". He pushes me onto the bridge. I'm ready to die. All I can think is that there are shooters on the other side that are going to shoot down the bridge. Good thing that I've watched Indiana Jones a million times - I know what to do in this situation.

At the end of the bridge, there is a ladder. I climb up. Is this the top? NO. My face is red, I'm sweating so bad I need a fan for my face, and I am THIRSTY. Oh, and I'm dizzy, nauseous, and am afraid I'll pass out. Before now, all of the climbing was indoors. Well, now we're outside. There is a ladder going straight up (think climbing a silo, but with NO cage around you). Oh my God. OhmyGOD. I can't do this. Icantdothis. I need to sit down. I'm going to die. I look down. I look up. I tell Eduardo, "Hey, I am going to pass out. I can NOT do this." He feels my forehead, sees that I'm in this disgusting cold sweat and says "Yes, I don't want to have to call a doctor. Next time we will go all the way up."

So, I shamefully went all the way back down without seeing the very tippy-top of the Basilica. Do I regret it? Not at all. My GOD, what if something would have happened to me up there? At least I didn't start to cry, like the woman who was behind me. So, I've got that going for me.

We went to a few other places around the city (all with our feet safely planted on the EARTH), and it was overall a good day. Eduardo told me that when I decided that I would go all the way up, we would go again. Will I? I don't know. I get nervous just THINKING about it...

Until next time,
Scare-dy Cat Sara