Dear America, Sugar Cane is amazing.

I (Pete) bought some sugar cane at the grocery store after seeing Ecuadorians walking around munching on it and it is my new favorite thing. It's refreshingly quenching and it seems like a good compromise between mothers and children- kinda like Kix cereal, only for after lunch dessert. Mothers can feel like their child is getting apple-like nutrition, while the kids think they are eating sweets.

It's Holy Week (Semana Santa), so there is a lot going on in the historical part of Quito this week. I read in Quito's newspaper that the city is trying to become more known for Semana Santa activities, like other South American capitals. (You may have learned about some of the Hispanic Holy Week traditions, such as the parades (the ones with the tall pointy hats), in high school). On Palm Sunday we walked around the historical center, which was packed with Ecuadorians. We saw about 5 other American (maybe Canadian) couples or groups, and after the first two we decided not to make eye contact with any other Whities to avoid the "hey-we're-both-caucasion" smile.

We've met pretty much all of the children at the orpanage now (I'm still afraid of the babies). We can really tell that all of the children are craving love. A lot of times children we hadn't yet met would run right up to us and hug our legs. A 5-year-old girl, Jessica, who had just woken up from a nap, walked right up to me when I was sitting down on a couch, climbed on to my lap and wrapped herself in my arms.
Also, for some of the kids, we're the first white people they've ever been in close contact with. Today when I was playing with two 4-year-old boys, they poked me all over my face and asked me "te duele" ("does this hurt").

Tesha and I are adjusting well to the altitude (9,300 ft.). We've been doing mini-workouts in our living room. Our health has been really good so far.

-Pete