The first ten days...

¡Hola todos!

I´m having an incredible time in South America - I am continually impressed at how diferent, yet similar everything is!

Our first week was spend in the magnificent capital of Ecuador, Quito. Quito is an ancient ciudad with an altitidue of 9000 feet. When I arrived at the hotel and lugged our suitcases up the stairs, I was extremely out of breath (yes, more than normal!). I haven´t had any serious altitude sickness, but I did definitely feel a difference in breathing at first.

The traffic here is absolutely nuts! Let´s just say it was impossible to enjoy the scenery the first time I took a taxi! The streets here are much smaller than what we´re used to in the States. In addition, the buildings (and therefore, people walking on sidewalks) are extremely close to the cars and buses whizzing by. Quito is a sprawling city in the valley between & and continuing onto the surrounding mountains. It is breathtaking to see the the incredible moutains with houses in the mountainside. When we flew in at night, it was absolutely incredible - like something from a dream it was so beautiful with all the lights. The population is around 1.5 million, so it seems as though the city never ends.

While we were in Quito, we had a brief meeting with the Vice President of Ecuador (El senor Alejandro Cerrando, el Vicepresidencia del repulica de Ecuador). He spoke to us about his responsibilities as VP and the ways in which his office is trying to modernize the country in the areas of identification cards, the postal system and de-centralization of Ecuador in general. He wasn´t fluent in English so our director translated everything for the group(there are 68 students). It was nice to have it translated, but I´m finding out that I can pick up most of what is said to me in Spanish and I´ve loved having the practice of using my spanish. This has been really exciting for me!

We took a day trip to Otavalo, Ecuador, which is famous for their Alpaca wool and Otavaleno weavings. The people there are much more indigenous as a whole than in the capital, so it was interesting to see up close, what I had only seen in books, etc. The market in Otavalo was great. It´s incredible to see people both young and old sellng and bartering for the handicrafts they spend their lives making. I bought some great jewelry and other necessities of course!

Now we are in Cuenca, Ecaudor, and we are with our host families. I lucked out big time, because my host family is absolutely DELIGHTFUL! Esthela and Antonio (my host parents) are both retired, but the first night I stayed with them, their entire family came over for dinner. It was exciting to meet their family and to experience an Ecaudorian family meal. My family has a full-time maid, Rosa, who does the cooking and such. It´s awkward for me to have her present in that role, but she´s practically part of the family. Esthela and Antonio have been wonderfully kind and gracious to me, and I´ve had great conversations with them about Ecaudor, politics and life in general! So far my spanish is holding up...and when I´m completely clueless, I pull out my handy pocket dictionary - oh, good times!

I hope all is well for you & I´ll write again soon.

Much love,

ck