Dear Emily

I know it has been some time since I have written you. An unexcusable and rude period has passed. You´re probably wondering if we´re even still friends. If i remember your brother´s name. If I appreciate the amount of donuts that were consumed one late summer night.

Well, the sun beats down on my typing shoulder and I wonder some of the same types of things. I really do amiga. i wonder if copa air will ever fly to cuenca. I wonder if Ecuadorians are burning George Bush masks tonight because they think he is a great hero. And I wonder why so many midwesterners spend their winter vacations in Mexico.

It is natural to have questions. We all do. And some of us even have answers. But as we creep into the 7th year of the century I think it is important that we keep one thing in mind. We must be concious of the idea that the future is only undeveloped history.

So I write this letter from Quito, Ecuador not knowing much about the world other than that it is small and it is vast. And I know there are a lot of good people who fill it and I am fortunate to know many of these good people. So to you friend and to you friend and to you friend, Happy New Year.

See you in 2006!

Asi es, Asi sea

Since it has been weeks, almost an entire month since I have last recorded in this spotty compilation of my life´s occurences, and since I just ran into Miles,(half of the famed British couple who I just found out are postponing there trip to Chile to surprise mom and pop in Barbados)I feel that I owe something of value in this entry. And since value can be difficult to define and like most things is completely relative, I will not attempt to aknowledge how much or what kind of value I am presenting.

So with out further a do I must go ahead and reveal today´s confession, which is that I may or may not be in South America. What I´m saying is that I may not have ever left my country of citizenship. My work as a psychologist in Cajamarca may as well have been an intership at St. John´s Mental Health in Portland, Oregon. Perhaps my neighbors pet monkey Valentina was really just a black lab. And my conversations reffering to god punishing us with hurricanes could just as well been your typical neoconservative jesus freak from the midwest. I know this is not news to every one. There are many rumors floating about as there always are. And since I consider truth to be another one of those things that is relative, I prefer not to distinguish between rumor and validity as I consider this an impossible act. I cannot prove I am neither here nor there, so like the movie Gossip, every one will decide for themselves what story they want to beleive. Myself included.

In effort of not being too philosophical I will go ahead and tell some stories.

Story #1
About two weeks ago I woke up with red dots all over my body. They covered every single spot of skin except for where I was wearing underwear(on my head). The next day I woke up drenched in my own urine. The next day I woke up and my red spots were completely gone. The next day I woke up and took my pissed soaked underwear out of a tightly tied plastic bag and breathed in the humiliating yet fresh odor.

Story #2
I got on an airplane in Cuenca, Ecuador. The flight attendent said the flight would last 30 minutes. My watch read 8:33am and 17 seconds when we took off. My watch read 9:03am and 49 seconds when we landed in Quito. It was a good flight, although it lasted more than 30 minutes.

Story #3
My shower happened not to get hot one day so I tiptoed into a middle aged woman´s apartment and used her shower. I pulled a little from her soap, but only read the labels of her shampoo and conditioner.