Ya estamos en Quito!

Quito and Volcan Cotopaxi from our school

Briana and I en el parque Carolina

My head was full of a foggy dramamine fuzz as I sat in the theater, only an hour or so after arriving in Quito, and watched my first Car's movie - dubbed in Spanish. I let all the conversation of my host sister and her boyfriend's friends slide over me, only coming in to focus when asked a direct question. Just hanging on until Monday morning arrives, full of Spanish class.

Luckily for me, Spanish class here in Ecuador has a much easier meaning than it did last summer in my Spanish "immersion" language program, where you could be kicked out for uttering a word of English to someone affectionate for the rules. Here I am in a Spanish class with just one other student, the lovely blonde, Briana, that you see in the photo above. Our maestra Lucia is like the other native Spanish teachers I have encountered: cute, small, and gracious beyond belief, with elegant composure. However, by the second day, she had ME teaching in Spanish on the board!

Lucia and me with my Spanish lesson on display

I felt much more at ease as soon as I entered the EIL Ecuador center -- it was the reason I was here, in Ecuador, where all the work would be done -- the structure that I had figured in to this trip, which gave me some security as a solo traveler. Plus, my Spanish - astonishingly - was the best of any student's!

The homework hit a bit heavy the first few days, but I still found a way to have some fun :) Work hard, play harder.

Everything here is like a new experience! Yet, there are many similarities: the streets and shops are similar to Mexico - broken sidewalks and cars and buses throwing up so much dirt and dust that I walk - like many other ecuatorianos - to school with a scarf over my nose and mouth. The markets, which we discovered today in the Mariscal district (also known as gringolandia for it's many tourists attracted to the fun cafes, clubs, and tiendas), remind me of the indoor walkway markets in Israel with a plethora of colorful scarves, jewelry, and leather sandals. But the ones here are cheaper!

In la Mariscal (gringolandia)

Oops, I think we went too far ;)

Quito Park

I had my first batido en la Mariscal today, finalmente! It's a fruit smoothie, in essence, made with exotic Ecuadorian fruits whipped with egg whites. For my first experience I chose matacuya', which is passionfruit - REAL passionfruit. Que sabroso!

I've had full three-course meals here for less than $2. One of my peers, un muy buen gente de Kurdish Iraq, bought a dish called Seco de Gallina (dry chicken) on his way home the other day. Aqui esta:

Raed's Seco de Gallina

There were only four of us to begin: Briana, myself, Raed and un hombre de California, John. On Wednesday two more chichos arrived, Carl and Jakob, one from each of the Carolinas. Funny, I was just there. We went exploring around the mall (el Jardin), which was like a different world from the streets of Quito. Actually, it was just like OUR world back at home, except that McDonald's is more expensive here! Next we went to the giant park behind the mall, el parque Carolina - the parks aren't safe after dusk, but they're beautiful in the daytime. There were paddle boats and I thought, row row row, but we passed. Us mujeres were interested in the famed botanical gardens, but the boys not so much. With plenty of daylight (MOM), we hung behind and toured AWESOME-smelling roses, orchids, and giant, harry fern trees with fronds as big as us.

Disculpas, this entry is long - the quiteno world is different, and computers - internet, rather - don't always function perfectly, like last night, when I was trying to give you all a little more flavor from Ecuador! My night isn't over, I'm off to visit the host family of some other students - my "mami" is in Guayaquil on business until tomorrow and my sister is out celebrating her anniversary with her boyfriend. Hey, I heard ladies get in free everywhere on Thursday nights in Quito! Just kidding, Mom. Kind of. No te preocupes.

I'll leave y'all tonight with some pictures of Pichincha, the mountain peak right next to us that gives our neighborhood it's name, and with some dichos - words of wisdom - from my host mom:

Lo que paso', paso'.

No hay que preocuparse, hay que ocuparse.

Tu vida continua, no se retiene una sombra. Si fuera para ti, estara' aqui. Este no esta' en tu vida, no fue para ti.

Enjoy and have a wonderful night, mis queridos! 

Pichincha en la nubia (clouds)

Enjoy!