My first day...

So, for those of you interested in studying Spanish...if the first day is any indication, this is the place for you. I have not spoken a complete English sentence in 30 hours. My morning was dictated by an instructor named Norma. She has been teaching for a long time at the language school and this puts her in the upper middle class at the minimum.

OK...some things are crazy here. The gasoline is less than $2.00 per gallon. The bread items that I got for lunch were $0.40 and $0.15 cents respectively. The bottled water was little more. AND the bread was SO good. AND I spoke to the vender to buy it.... in Spanish.
My hiking friends will definitely appreciate the pcitures that I hope to post tomorrow. THis city of 2 million people is nestled in between both sides of the Andes mountains in a valley....the valley is at an elevation of 9000 ft!!!

I spent the afternoon with Norda, a different instructor, at an art museum, bought a picture/poster (future spanish class), and walked. Oh...did I mention that I walked...A LOT! I promise that if I weigh more when I return than when I left, you have my full consent to kick the snot out of me. I probably put in 4 miles today at least....and this was up...and down...doging cars...

NEW TOPIC: Ecuadorian roads are like a crack induced version of Frogger. Every care decides that two lanes are better than one and continuously sway between them...dodging people, cars, dogs, busses, and me (yea I realize that I am a person, but it is more dramatic this way). Seriously strange is the fact that 1) there are stoplights and 2) rarely are they obeyed. I was in my host family´s car tongiht and we decided that the red was an irudescent color of green....zoom....straight on through.

In spite of the weather declaring rain, the sun came out and I think that I am a little pink. It heated up into the mid 80s for sure and I felt toasty. But the sun went down and the temp dropped about 20 degrees. Very strange but very cool... (yea...pardon the pun)

A last note: to those that have sent e-mails and posts, funny or interesting, THANK YOU. It makes home easier to remember and helps me enjoy my down time. Hasta manana.