Thanks all! In Rosetta Stone the sentence was actually displayed without the "a". They just missed it.
I'm well aware of the "sinalefa" thing. It is a major problem when trying to learn. I lived in Puerto Rico for 6 months and I think they are really good, or bad, at it. Makes it impossible to go from "book learning" to actually understanding native speakers.
I'll keep plugging and hope to spend a few months taking lessons in Equador or Guatemala later this year or early next.
Thanks again for all your help. Bob Ritter
brcr11@yahoo.com