By brightlightwarriornika

17 Dec 2008
Dear Journal,
The plane ride was smooth I got to sit next to two interesting men. One was an older man by the name Muhammad and the other guy was Emanuel. Emanuel was a member of the 1st Baptist Church he is here also to help finish building the school. He speaks fluent Spanish and works for a non profit organization that helps find homes for battered women. He is 30yrs old single with no attachments, heterosexual, and extremely handsome. I managed to store everything he told me about himself; he has two brothers his mom and dad have been married for almost 35yrs he was born and raised in Panama moved at 18 to attend Florida state university. Muhammad is an older man in his late 50’s works at Florida state university as a structural engineer. He is a very tall thin Spanish-Arabic looking man also extremely handsome. He was going down to Peru to visit some friends at a holistic resort. He has been married for 25yrs and has a daughter who encouraged him to take the trip to Peru. I managed to sleep for two hours out of the 6 hour flight. When I woke up I saw that Muhammad seat was empty he must have went to the bathroom in his seat was a small drawing pad. I opened it and saw an amazing drawing of me sleep at the bottom of the drawing was written “God is so omnipresent…God is an angel in an angel, and a stone in a stone, and a straw in a straw”. I flipped through the pad and found other beautiful pictures and passages. I closed it quickly as I saw Muhammad walking down the isle heading back to his seat. He looked at me and winked. I smiled back cheesing from ear to ear.  He told me its an hobby of his while flying it keeps his nerves calm.

The first day in Ecuador was amazing our group consisted of 15 people including our guide. We checked into a small hotel in Quito that night we all had a roommate, mine was a lady in her mid 50’s with the energy of an teenager. Her name is Rose; this was her second time coming to Ecuador to help with the building of the school. The first time she came she ended up staying for three month after the church had left to explore more parts of Ecuador. Our guide took us on a short tour through the city. There was so many beautiful churches and monasteries I was in complete awe. The energy was high and light I couldn’t believe that I was actually in South America. I still can’t believe it but it sure feels good to be here and not back in Florida sitting at some desk playing with numbers. I have already managed to fill up my camera’s memory with beautiful images of women walking around in traditional clothing and with their necks filled with beautiful array of beads with kids wrapped tightly around their backs. The weather is great getting low at night but it feels like spring time instead of winter. Not too hot not too cold just right.
During our tour around the city I walked with Emanuel and sat with him during lunch and dinner. His conversation was broad he was like one of those renaissance men that could hold a conversation with just about anyone and age didn’t matter. He spoke fluent Spanish along English and Portuguese. Every time he would talk to the waitress in Spanish I swear my panties kept getting damper and damper. At one point I even imagined him whispering something in my ear in Spanish on my hotel room bed. I had to quickly come out of that daydream back into reality.

31 December 08

Dear Diary
I haven’t been able to write, so much has happened during the past week. The school is looking great we have just about every class room together with furniture and school books. Just some small things that have to be done, on the 5th of January we will be holding the grand opening for the school welcoming all the kids and parents. After that I’ve decided to stick around for another two weeks and explore some of South America.
I’m on my way to a New Year’s Eve celebration with the cutie Emanuel. I’m not sure what we are going to do but Emanuel asked me (Jessica) to be his date for New Year’s Eve and I gladly accepted! Well, gotta go get cute for my date tonight.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
LOVE JESSICA.
That night Emanuel took Jessica out to dinner then out for drinks and dancing. When midnight hit they were walking down a cobble stone street holding hands talking they heard from a near discoteca the people counting down cinco, cuatro, tres, dos, uno
… Feliz Año Nuevo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Emanuel turned to Jessica and whispered in her ear “Feliz Año Nuevo mi bella dama. She put her hands on his face not having a clue of what he had just said and kissed him without any hesitation. Se hizo la noche Hermosa.

4 January 2009
Dear Diary,
I’m absolutely high off life right now. Tomorrow is the grand opening for the school. We met with all the teachers that have also been involved with making sure everything comes together, everyone is doing a remarkable job. I was put in charge of getting school supplies for the children and making sure all the classrooms were painted, I decided it would be nice to make each classroom creative with vibrant colors. With the chorus room I think I out did myself. We painted the ceiling in music notes and the back wall with kids singing music notes out of their mouths, it looked magnificent. We will have the cutting of the ribbon around 7am and after school there will be a small party for all the kids and parents along with the staff and volunteers.

So New Year’s Eve was beautiful, I am absolutely enjoying the time I have been spending with Emanuel; I know it’s crazy to say someone is perfect but Emanuel is perfecto in every way! Yes, every way. All the volunteers will depart on the 10th back to the states. I’m glad I made the decision to stay for a while its too bad that Emanuel will be returning back to Florida for work but the good thing is that he stays in the same city. We haven’t spoken about if we will continue to see each other or spend time with each other, I don’t want to seem like I’m trying to rush into something but he has my address back at home and my phone number and return day back to Florida so I will just have to wait and see what will happen.
Today is Sunday and the group has decided to do some touristic sightseeing outside the city. So I must hurry and get dressed and grab some desayuno before we leave for our adventure.
Ciao for now. Write in you later.
Peace out Jessica