This post includes a picture of a penguin.

Alrighty, people of the internet. I have a giant amount of content to fit into your tiny attention span. So let's get started.

GALAPAGOS!
Yes, ladies and gents. At the end of March I went to the birthplace of the Theory of Evolution, the land of giant tortoises, and otherwise really awesome place. Let me just start off by saying that my ridiculous "waterproof" camera decided to not be so waterproof after all, and so I don't have any photos from this point on. But do not fear! I stole some of my friends' photos off Facebook, which I'm pretty sure is less illegal because they're my friends. So, some highlights:

Arguably the awesomest parts of the Galapagos are the animals. Therefore, you just saw some pictures of animals.

 Other awesome part about Galapaos - the beaches. They have sand like this (it was like walking on flour):

and water like this:

So, yeah. We also jumped off some cliffs and walked through lava tunnels, from back when the islands were being formed from underwater volcanoes. Also, we did tons of snorkeling where there were AMAZING fish and sea turtles (that we rode) and sharks and sea lions and sea stars and sea urchins but to review: underwater camera = broken. So that's a ginormous bummer, but I guess it just means I'll have to go back some day to get pictures of the underwater wildlife :).

ECUATOUR!

The Ecuatour is the the tour of Ecuador, as you may have guessed. It went all around Ecuador, mostly in the mountains, but also a bit on the coast.  

Inca ruins!

                     On the equator(ish)                                              We went behind this waterfall. It's in Baños.

   

      These  >>  

are just some llamas and alpacas in their natural habitat. No biggie. 

  This guy is making textiles in an ultra-traditional way.

There was a country-wide Rotary conference at the end of our trip, and we blazer-clad exchange students loyally made our appearance. Pictured are those of us from the United States

So, it was the last Rotary trip, so it was really really sad. We had to say goodbye to all the exchange students who live in far away cities. I've got all sorts of plans now to visit nearby towns and, further in the future, to visit people all over the United States and Europe. Besides the goodbyes, it was generally an awesome trip, but let's be honest: ten days with a minimum of 3 hours in a bus each day is kind of rough. But we did do a good job of going to all the coolest places in Ecuador, so it was definitely worth the travel time it took to get between them.

New Family + School

Right after I got back from the Ecuatour (the very next day, in fact), I both changed families and started school again. I started in a different school than I was in in the fall. It's called La Inmaculada, and it's a Catholic school, which is kind of new and different and interesting, but it mostly just means that my uniform is a sailor outfit and we say some prayers every now and then. It's right right right by the beach, and my classroom has a balcony over the beach. The doors to the balcony are open all day and its all beautiful and stuff. 

As for my new family! They're wonderful. I have a brother who's 17 and a sister who's 14 or 15 but I'm an awful sister and don't know which one it is. I live really close to my school, and my house is also right across the street from the beach. I can see the ocean from my bedroom window and hear it when I sleep. Also, speaking of the ocean, since my city is a peninsula, when I walk home from school I can look to the left and see the ocean, and look to the right and see the ocean. If I still had a camera you could enjoy beautiful pictures of views of the ocean, but instead you get this drawing I made on MS paint, which is almost as pretty: 

So, those are all the big things that have happened. Little (in comparison) things include that my uncle visited, two new Brazilian exchange students came (below), I had surf classes during the summer (also below)... and I'm sure lots of stuff I just can't think of right now. So, yeah! Life is good!