Ecuador!!!

Hi Everyone,
I am in Quito tonight and finally able to get internet access.  We have long days and I am feeling the altitude here at 9,000 ft above sea level.  Thanks so much for all of your messages.  To my 6th grade math class: Mr. Schmitt can't buy the class because it's not for sale!  I hope you are being really good and learning a lot about proportions.  I miss you all, but I am having a great time. The teachers here are the funniest, smartest, and craziest people.  Yesterday we went to the Everglades National Park in FL.  I lost count of how many alligators we saw, but it was a lot.  I started to hike down a trail and there were two large alligators sprawled across the trail.  They looked like they were smiling at me!  I know they were hoping I'd get closer, but I took pictures and turned around.  So much for hiking that trail!   I tried to get a picture of a mother alligator with two little babies on her back, but the sawgrass was in the way.  The babies are kind of cute.  They have yellow stripes to camouflage them in the sawgrass.  We also a lot of birds: bitterns, wood storks, egrets, herons, kingfishers, hawks, vultures, and others.  Today we had a presentation on the life cycle of things we use everyday.  We did a very in-depth look at beverage containers including cans, glass bottles, and plastic bottles.  There is a lot to analyze such as the mining of the raw materials, distance traveled from the mine, production, toxicity of materials, use, reuse, recycling (and whether people actually recycle it), or throwing away.  The professor is really interesting and, as you all know, I really like learning about that stuff.  He and one of the other teachers are from Germany, so I get to practice my German and Spanish on this trip.  I'll post some pictures from the Everglades.  I can't wait to hear back.  Maybe you could send a few questions (some serious ones would be nice) and I'll try to get the answers while I'm on the islands.
Ms. Gerharz
PS. Uploading pictures is taking a long time so I'll try again tomorrow morning.