The Early Canoa Days

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I am at a little town in Ecuador called Canoa taking Spanish lessons.  What follows is mainly a repeat of an email I sent, but it summarizes quite well. The school/hostel is run by Juan Carlos, an affable Ecuadorian and his wife Mariellana.  Mariellena is my teacher for my classes and she is an okay teacher.  She went a little fast with grammar the first few days so Thursday and Friday we just did conversation.  I am able to made myself understood pretty well but I am only speaking in simple present tenses and one future tense.  For example I´ll say "I sleep well" instead of a slept well.  The two of them have a little daughter Lindsey, who just celebrated her 7th birthday and the end of school this week.  She can be sweet but I think will be pretty spoiled.  She knows how to get her way with most people, which includes using my light up Frisbee. Juan Carlos´brother, Jayme David, is the general manager of KFC in the Guayaquil area of Ecuador.  Guayaquil is the largest city and the biz hub of Ecuador.  Jayme David is one of the most fun people I have ever met, period. Add in the fact that when I party with him I speak a lot of Spanish and he is a very enjoyable guy. El Dueno de la Fiesta, as we have rechristened him, is allowed to reward some of his employees with a few days off work here.  Of course he has only chosen young good looking girls.  Seriously, no male employees invited.  He has three of his sons here.  One is about nine but the other two are roughly my age.  They function as the cooks, when they're not surfing.  There is a Canadian couple, in their mid to late 20s, that have just bought land and got residency here.  They are going to build a hostel next door and are renting out bikes and surfboards to try to make some money. Overall Canoa is nice and a good way to start my travels.  I don´t think I am going to stay here the full month.  Ill probably be here another two weeks and then hit the open road as there are some places I would like to see in Ecuador before I head further south.  I am really excited for the Galapagos and somewhat unsure of what I am going to do in the 7 weeks proceeding it.  I am thinking head south through Peru to northern Chile with some crisscrossing into Argentina.  I am very good at forgetting to bring my Lonely Planet guidebook to town with me which means that I never research the volunteer opportunities online.