week 1 (a little old, i know)

in the mariscal at papayanet, the biggest cafenet i've found in the city
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well, i´ve been in quito for a week and so far i´m really enjoying it. don´t get me wrong; i certainly have my moments of homesickness, but overall i´m going quite well. my family here is really great. my parents´names are elman and myriam. myriam is perhaps the nicest woman i´ve met in my entire life. she introduces me as her "nueva hija" (new daughter, for those of you who couldn´t figure that one out). i also have three sisters. pati is 28, and i´ve spent the most time with her. vero is 27 and gabi is 25. i don´t really know them because they spend all day at class and at work. right now the hardest thing to get used to is kissing all of the new people that i meet...hello and goodbye.

artistic prepresentation of the last inca being quartered
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i got here last tuesday with no luggage because the airline left in in miami. so my first day here i got to go shopping for some pajamas.

saturday night the beloit group found our way to the mariscal, which is lovingly called "gringolandia"

day two i went to an amazing art museum with pati. it´s all art by a mestizo painter from quito and it was so beautiful. the artists´name is guayasamin. (if anybody comes to visit, i´ll take you to it). wednesday night pati and i also went out with her friends.

the city from the cafe at night
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thursday the group from beloit had its first reunion with our director. we discusses a lot of stuff, but the most exciting were definitely our viajes to the selva, to the galapagos, and three other weekend trips north and south of quito. i´m also pretty excited about my volunteer work. i think i´m going to work in a school for indigenous children where they learn both qechua and spanish and learn how to maintain their identities while living in the city. how cool is that...?!

friday we went to old quito, walked around for a while, and saw two amazingly beautiful (and old) iglesias. the jesuit church had a painting of hell, and i must admit that i never realized how many sins there are...or how terrible the punishments can be. after that we went to a cafe on a hill that overlooks the city, and it was so beautiful. unfortunately i didn´t have a camera...but manuel and emily took pictures.

beloit grou in front of the san franciscan church, where we walked in on mass and a baby wanted to touch my face
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saturday night the beloit group found our way to the mariscal, which is lovingly called "gringolandia" because it´s where all the white people go. we ate, drank a bit (it was pretty cool to be able to legally order a drink) and then went our separate ways around 11.

today was our first day of orientation, and it was terribly boring. they spoke to us in english for the entire 6 hours. tomorrow we choose classes and then maggie and i are going to take a ride up the mountain in the cable car to see the city from the mountain. this weekend we´re planning a trip to mitad del mundo (the real one, not the tourist one) and otavalos for the open market. i´m pretty excited...hopefully it´ll all work out.