Dying summer

Frenzy of climbing workouts this week; twice today, as a friend I hadn't seen in ages called me. She recently returned from Ecuador, and no more of the kids on the climbing team, including her daughter, came down with the hanta virus. The US older teenaged girls did very well in the world competition, finishing second, third and twelfth. My friend and her family were pretty adventurous in eating, trying street foods and beverages, and felt no ill effects until they got home. (One meat they were curious about but never tried was alpaca. Those are an animal with lovely big eyes and eyelashes, and terribly cute babies.) They didn't get around the country as much as they'd wanted to, but driving was problematic; in Quito it was insane, and out in the countryside, not much better, with worse roads. They saw lots of street kids, from very young on up, rushing out into traffic when it was snarled, and hustling for money, via juggling, smearing black gooey "polish" on people's shoes if they could get at them, and other assorted enterprises. My friend's eighth grade son evidently had his eyes opened to the relative cushiness of his existence. Maybe services like the Peace Corps should offer programs for middle schoolers...