Local Celebrity.

And this past Sunday's paper means that I have now been in the Ecuadorian news in some form 4 times. Yup. I'm kind of a big deal.

Different times in the News:

1. First time was when we ended up in the small Afro-Ecuadorian town of Salinas and were waiting at the bus stop on the side of the highway for our bus back to Ibarra. Apparently, three gringas on the side of the road in Salinas is a strange sight. We attracted a news crew, which began to film us and ask us questions (why we were there, what we were doing, and of course, what we thought of Ecuador) without ever giving an explanation or asking for permission. They said we would be on the news that night. I never got to see it. And it's probably better that way. They closed in on my face and asked me questions in rapid fire Spanish which I actually tried to answer back in Spanish.
2. El Norte, the major newspaper for the northern region of Ecuador, came to Caribou Bar (Canadian bar in Ibarra) where we went to watch the U.S. election in English on their TV. They asked to take pictures of us, which we thought was for an article on the election. It turned out that when I got the paper, there were big color photos of us in the social section, but that it was all about the bar.
   
3. CECAMI our school took pictures of Debby and I, bien guapa as we are, to make an advertisement. They then put that in the El Norte.
   
4. Another Ibarra newspaper, La Verdad, came to Cafe Arte where we were celebrating my host sister's birthday on Friday night. They asked to take our picture again. Lo and behold, we were in the social pages again on Sunday.
   

I live a glamorous life. Hahaha. That's four times so far. I'll keep counting!