Arrivo en Ecuador

Hello everyone. I am in Ecuador! I know such little Spanish that there is probably something grammatically incorrect with the title of this entry, but hey, I've got to start trying. It's been a great two days so far. The group arrived late on Saturday night and were picked up by our host families. My host family lives on the fifth floor of an apartment building with a great view of Quito. Quito is surrounded by beautiful mountains. I've been keeping a pretty good record of living in gorgeous places. My host mom and dad work in a cafeteria and my host brother, Pablo, is an adventure sports tour guide. He is two years older than me. My host sisters are twins who are my age. One of them, Sofi, just finished culinary school. I have not met the other one yet. Her name is Pamela. There is also another American staying with the family. She comes from Idaho. It's nice to have another gringa in the house. I have been trying so hard to speak Spanish and am probably sounding ridiculous but I don't really care. It's amazing how much Italian is coming back to me. The problem is the words are not always the same, so I'm trying to learn. I feel like I'm pretty lucky because all of my Latin/Italian is helping me pick up words quickly.

Today we had our first day of class. Aislinn and I are together with one teacher for four hours. It's intense but is going to be really great I think. I'm trying to learn and ask questions as much as I can. Today we played hangman in Spanish! The school organizes activities each afternoon. Some activities we have this week include salsa dancing lessons, a walking tour of churches, and a visit to an internet cafe. Wouldn't you all like to be flies on the wall while I try to salsa!

The food here has been great so far. So fresh and lots of fruits and vegetables. The portion sizes are way smaller, which is probably a good thing.

Aislinn and I went on an adventure today to a local park to go for a run. We took a taxi since it was our first time and of course neither of us thought ahead to remember the cross streets we needed to return to. Nevertheless, we figured it out and came home safely. The altitude will definitely get you here. I am going to be in tip top shape by the time I leave, or so I hope.

This weekend we are all going on a weekend trip to la playa! Apparently this beach is beautiful and you can whale watch. It is going to be an 8-11 hour bus ride, so it should be an experience.

I am going to stop talking now! If you made it this far congratulations. I will try to be more brief so as not to bore you all.

Chao