Only In Ecuador

Friday's Spanish moment of the day:

Brit and I were flying solo doing exams - and totally rocking! In the middle of one of Brit's physical exams, a man walks in the room, with one of the clinic volunteers and Dr. Montero close behind. (Being interrupted in the middle of an exam is pretty normal here). The man is holding a black plastic bag. I am frantically scribbling prescriptions and Brit is listening to lungs when suddelnly the man pulls out of the bag.... a human skull of a 20-something yr old. WTF? He was trying to sell it to Dr. Montero to study or for a collection for $300. A human skull!! Can you believe it? Craziness!! As you can imagine Brit and I were flabbergasted, jaws on the floor, beet red and laughing. The volunteer grabs the skull and comes to sit by me asking me if I want it and is trying to hand it to me. I slowly inched away in my rollie chair. After the man left (Dr. M told the guy $300 was way too much) Dr. M told us it's common for people to bring bones of all types to the clinic to sell. It was craziness!!

Spent yesterday afternoon (Guayaquil'sindependence day) with Brit's family at her house. How fun!! Way more fun than my family. We ate almuerzo, had cake and ice cream, sang a little birhtday song and some spanish karaoke and all the festivities nearly ended their dear 90yr old grandmother as she was frightened of all the noises and party-popper suprises. Then last night we went to the Malecon with her host family parents and just walked around. We missed the fireworks, but it was neat to see some of the festivities for 25 Julio! Her dad bought us a hot dog and on the way home a McDonald's ice cream cone. Today when Brit swung my house to walk to the mall, she brought me a slice of cake her host mom had sent... since she said I told her I really enjoyed it - which I did!
2 weeks left and Shawn will be here on Friday! He is in need of a big break from all the work he's been doing. He has been working his tail off (as usual) I don't know how he does it sometimes working 7 or 8 day straight with the patient load they have. ALl I know is how proud I am of him for hanging in there, taking care of the house this whole time and the pups. He's done an amazing job!!