Much needed post

I feel like I start all my posts out saying sorry for not posting.  So I am just going to leave that out on this one.  We are in Mancora, Peru currently, have been for 3 or 4 days now.  It is this gorgeous beach town where all of the buildings have straw or bamboo roofs.  It is the kind of place where you lose track of the time of day and the day of the week.  We lived the high life earlier and our trip, so it really did not come as a surprise when we got here and found our bank accounts dwindling down.  The lack of money led us to look for ways to save.  Amy loves to cook and picked up a job in the kitchen at a local vegan restaurant.  In exchange for teaching the other employees english she gets free cooking lessons and food.  Everyone knows that cooking is not really my style :) I picked up a bartending position at our hostel in exchange for a free bed and discounted food..not a bad trade off at all.
For everyone I have not kept in touch with I will give you an update.  We met a couple of friends while in Cusco and completely changed our travel plans.  We decided to backtrack across Peru and go into Ecuador rather than heading across the border to Boivia.  I just recently found out that the miners in Bolivia had gone on strike during the presidential election  (the time we were supposed to be going into the country) and the border was closed off..lucky us.  Anyway, we followed our friends to Montañita, Ecuador.  This beautiful, hippie, beach town was exactly what we all needed after the cool nights we spent in Cusco.  Our hostels were not what we were used to, but we didnt spend much time in them.  Our days were spent at the beach, walking the streets being entertained by hippies doing fire or juggling tricks (except for our friend Roddy who was appaled by the sight of so many jobless, un-showered people in one town ha).  At night we danced and listened to music.  We experienced the best calamari and mashed potato meal any of us had ever had, and ate it 3 days in a row for every meal.  We eventually got bored with the town and the little there was to see and do so we decided to head further into Ecuador, completely ignoring the warnings and pleas of my parents who had read about how dangerous the city is.  We took a bus toQuito, Ecuador where we went to the center of the Earth and straddled the equator.  Unfortunately, after the sun sets at 5pm, the city is not safe, as mom and dad had warned me.  We were stuck entertaining ourselves in our hostel for the rest of the evening..not our idea of an ideal vacation, we decided to head back into Peru.
So that is how we have arrived in Mancora, and I couldnt think of a better place to spend two weeks.  Along with bartending at the hostel, I met another girl working here who is also volunteering with a program that helps handicap and at risk children through special schools and programs.  On Wed. I am going with her and will also be helping out there for the remainder of my time in Mancora.  I am having the time of my life, and making a lot of friends along the way.
On the other side of things I am very home sick and, while I have enjoyed my traveling, I am counting down the days till I get back home.  The fourth of July in Michigan with my family is the best homecoming party I could ask for!  Not to mention that soon after I will be on the lawn at Verizon with my cousin singing our hearts out and dancing to Rascal Flats!!!  Then in Nashville visiting my best friend in her new apartment with her crazy, but wonderful boyfriend.  See everyone soon!  Love