you are what love is to me.

this weekend i got lost on a horse in paradise.

check out http://www.termaleslaquinta.net/

it turns out that my friend luismiguel's family owns it. and we got to go this w/e for a small retreat. and it was wondrous. we rode horses, sat in the hotsprings, cooked potatos at the fuente, milked cows, watched the sunset over the waterfall, played cards and mandolin, etc.

we also listened a lot to bluegrass chris thile, punchbrothers and nickel creek. you should check these groups out, i am kind of in love.

in other news on thursday i got a little cyst cut out of my face! it was tiny and nobigdeal. i asked the dermatologist if i could keep it. she thought i was crazy. then i wrapped it up and brought it to school to look at under the microscope. my kids and colleagues were sufficiently wierded/grossed out. it was all in all a great success.

now i have to wear some micropore tape on my face for awhile so i don't get a scar. it's kind of hardcore.

it has been interesting to observe this border and sovereignty conflict from the inside. maybe it is my surroundings and social groups but it really seems that uribe was diplomatic - in making a mistake by crossing into ecuadorian territory to attack the FARC camp but apologizing for it - what seems way more problematic is the fact that there were (or are) FARC camps in ecuador, and how defensive both countries became. some of the information found on reyes' computer is really suspect, and it is becoming more and more evident that chavez is funding the FARC and also likely hiding their leader, marulanda, inside venezuela.

despite not being an uribista in any way, i do applaud the way he acted during this uproar. it has won him a lot of points in colombia. something like 84% of voters are behind him? that is huge.

next week is semana santa and i am driving up to the coast with sofi and family.

my 9s just finished watching outbreAK! and now they are swearing in english, saying they learnt it from the movie. gawd.

i am only taking 19 kids to the amazon because of a trick that one of the grade 10 classes played on their new english teacher. it has been tough dealing with that for the past while in my class, since i was not part of this situation and i am now enforcing the consequence and i don't necessarily agree with it, however, you do what you gotta do. it is definitely less stressful taking less kids.

that's all.
will post pictures, because i'm into that.