first ecua haircut!

i finally did it. i cut my hair after ten months. it was absolutely necessary---any day now an animal was going to start nesting in it. so i got up the nerve to have francisca cut it, one of our neighbors. now its not that i´m picky about my hair, but i just had these horrific visions of someone getting a little too cut crazy and chopping off far more than i wanted, and then having to come home with a mullet or something. which let´s face it, no one would have said "your hair looks like shitt", but they all would´ve wondered what the heck happened down there in that country. so i asked francisca to do it, and now ya know what, i´m actually considering coming back to ecuador everytime i need a haircut, so simple, so easy. not like having to go to a salon and having to make small talk with a hairdressor you don´t know, while listening to middle aged women gossip and complain about ridiculous things. here i just sat in francisca´s house as she cut off about three inches and angled the front in a matter of 10 minutes---so easy! and i didn´t have to pay an arm and a leg to get it done!

the funny thing too was that after i was done, her daughter, genesis was like okay well now you can cut my hair-----HA! if anyone has ever seen genesis´s hair, it´s absolutely ridiculous, i´ll have to post a picture of something----long, long black, curly hair all the way down to her butt----and she goes to me, just take off like 2 or 3 inches! i´m like uhhhh, i´m not sure if you want me to do this......but i did! francisca walked me through the whole thing, and while there was a little bit of unevenness here and there, it didn´t turn out half bad ha----although i did have to deal with all the commentary from the peanut gallery---lupita, fix that part, cut more there, that sides uneven, that side you need to wet more, yadda yaddda-- from her 3 other children who were sitting there watching me. the pressure was definitely on, but i think it all turned out okay. just another ecua memory to stash away. another example of how easy going people are here, and how little stress can be involved in activities that we sometimes overanalyze. within a half an hour two of us had new haircuts, and were feeling much better! and that was that.

i may even have her do it again before i leave.

alright, gotta run peeps---sending you a big hug and lots of love,
jamie