El Centro

Hello everyone! Many apologies for not posting for a little while, I have been consumed in getting my censo and what a terrible process it was. First of all, "el censo" in English means "the census" and it is an identification card that every international student and tourist staying more than 90 days in the country must get within 30 days of arriving in the country, or it is very difficult to leave (I strongly considered not even going to get it...haha just kidding!!). So anyway, the government of Ecuador requires this ID card to keep track of how many people and exactly who is in the country, plus it is a good thing to have in case of an emergency and it keeps me from having to carry around my passport (or a copy of it) when I am out and about. So on Monday morning at 9am, Sandy and I walked towards the census office because the car is having some issues (we couldn't go over the weekend because the office was closed). But before we could go, we had to take care of a few things that were requited in order to get the censo: we had to make a 10 dollar deposit at the Banco International, make copies of all my papers and of my passport and buy a manilla envelope in which to put all of my papers (they were very picky about the size and color of the folder). Then we arrived at the office and as soon as we arrived there was a line out the door. We got a number and waited waited waited waited waited and when it was our turn, we were told that even though someone who worked at the office told us to wait in line number 4, we were in the wrong line, so we had to jump into another and wait wait wait wait wait wait WAIT. Finally someone attended to us, and after scribbling down a couple things on a piece of paper said that he was going to keep my passport and all of my papers and I had to return the next day to finally get my censo. And by this time it was 3pm and I had missed all of my classes for the day. So the next day Sandy and I walked yet again to the censo office, got a couple passport size photos taken and then waited yet again in 500 lines until finally we were seen by the man who was actually going to make and print my ID card. But as soon as we stepped into his office he said that he had to go on his lunch break and would return in an hour...so Sandy and I, frustrated as you can imagine, mosied on over to the nearest convenience store and bought a giant beer to share. After an hour of chatting we returned to the censo office and there the man was, waiting for us to be seen (the jerk). We were probably in his office speaking with him, signing papers and mamo-dolling to speed up the process for about an hour and finally, the censo was printed!!!! AAAAAAAAnd it was 2pm, meaning that I had missed my classes for this stupid censo for the second day in a row. But not to worry, Sandy to the rescue!! She wrote a note to every single one of my professors (one of which she knows personally) and I have been excused from each class I missed. I will say one thing about the system of government here though...DISORGANIZED!!!! I have never waited in so many lines before in my entire life, and I have never been directed in the wrong direction by people who supposedly "know what they are talking about"  so many times in my life either. You think going to the DMV is terrible, psshhh come to Ecuador. But everything is taken care of now, and I was able to spend a lot of time with Sandy who was more than helpful with everything I had to do.

  Now let me back track a bit and tell you all about my weekend! I decided to stay in Quito last weekend so that I could spend time with my host family, investigate more the nightlife and relax a little bit after an awesome weekend in Otavalo. So I went out with my friends Thursday, Friday and Saturday night to a couple of really cool bars and nightclubs..I drank a couple of beers, was taught (but did not retain) how to dance salsa and met a lot of nice people. What I like the most about bars and nightclubs here is that very few people are out to find someone to take home or with whom to have a one-night-stand like in the US; the majority of the people who go out are looking for a good time and only care about spending time with their friends. So we had an awesome few nights just drinking a bit and experiencing the culture. On Saturday, I went to a place in Quito, the title of this post, called El Centro. El Centro means "the center" and it is an area of Quito which is literally in the center of the city and has everything you can imagine, from restaurants to bars to malls to little shops and more! But the best part of el centro is that it is packed full of history and old historic sites and monuments. As I was feeling a little sluggish that day, Tyler (my friend from NC State) and I left around 3pm from our houses, so we did not have much time to explore...but what we did explore truly was awesome, as you will see from the pictures below. Since Tyler and I are both disorganized college students who fly by the seat of our pants, we had no map and no plan as to what we were going to do once in el centro. But we took a trolley bus to el centro and as soon as we arrive we see a huge tower with stairs spiraling up it and of course, we decide to climb up and see what there was to see. From the top of the tower, we had a gorgeous view of the city and the mountains surrounding it, but the largest most prominent thing we saw was a giant church, which later we found out was the Basilica, that very much resembled Notre Dame in Paris. So we decided to walk over and check it out. As soon as we were standing in front of this massive church, I felt like a tiny ant; the Basilica was a gothic style church from I believe the 1700s that truly was a site to be beheld. We walked up to the entrance of the church and realized that there was a mass being held (on a Saturday?!) but a tour guide approached us and said for 2 dollars we could climb all the way to the top of the church! So we paid the fee and and started our climb to the top...sooo many stairs! But we finally reached (what I thought at the time was the top) when we realized that after climbing up more "stairs," which were more ladders to me because of how steep they were, we would reach the actual top top. Well as most of you know, I am absolutely terrified of heights and outright refused to climb any stairs that were that steep and not to mention quite unsafe with only a railing to hold on to and nothing to catch you if you fell except for the ground below. But after a 10 minute carpe diem speech from Tyler, I decided "screw it I am in Ecuador" and began the terrifying climb to the very top of the church. And honestly I am so glad that I chose to set my fears aside because as you will see from the pictures the view was breathtaking. I was still shaking and very uneasy once at the top, but it was totally worth it.
   Once we left the Basilica we walked a couple miles probably around el centro looking for a restaurant where we could grab dinner and a nice, cold and much needed beer. We ended up eating at a place called Cafeto where I had a delicous pasta with chicken and herbs, and Tyler had a ham and cheese sandwich (what an American haha). We topped it off with a delightful hot chocolate, paid our bill and called the cab to take us home. Because we started the day off pretty late, we didn't get to see half of what is actually in el centro; there are monuments, museums, even more churches and other cool cafes and restaurants. I plan on going again sometime soon to get the full experience...we just have to get there a bit earlier next time :) Below, as usual, you will find some pictures from this weekend. Enjoy!
  

This is the the tower on top of which we climbed when we first arrived in el centro, and where we caught our first glimpse of the Basilica. On top of the tower we found a dog taking a sun bath. What a life huh?

On the way to the cathedral, we saw a nice park where people were napping, fishing and riding around in paddle boats...remind you of anything Mom and Dad? ;)

This massive structure you see before you is the Basilica...Ecuador's Notre Dame.

The entrance of the Basilica with the two huge clock towers.

A set of stairs we climbed beside the church to get a better view of it from the outside.

One of the towers of the cathedral.

Moi!

A long and terrifying walk to reach one of the three sets of terrifying "stairs" we had to climb to reach the top.

The view from the top (but not yet the top top).

Yet again, the top with the clouds rolling down the mountains.

View of the city with all the colorful stacked-on-top-of-each-other buildings. Welcome to Quito :)

And finally the top top...

Me holding on for dear life at the top top...glad you can't see my legs shaking!

Our walk to the restaurant on the tiny and very hilly streets of el centro.

And finally, the restaurant.

  So I leave you with a bit of good news...Adrien's parents have been planning a trip to the Galapagos for about a year now and will be flying into the Quito airport on the evening of the 11th of February. They will be spending the whole day on the 12th with me as their tour guide in Quito and will depart for their trip to the islands the morning of the 13th. I look forward to showing them around, taking them to the Quito artisan market as well as to a local restaurant en La Ronda to eat Ecuadorian food. Unfortunately Adrien will not be able to join his parents in February, but he just surprised me today with the news that he bought his plane ticket this afternoon to come visit me for 2 whole weeks after my exams in May!!!! I am so excited to be able to share this experience with him and show him where I have been spending my time this semester. And anyone else who would like to join you are more than welcome, come on down, there's room for everyone haha! I hope this news from Ecuador finds everybody well and thank you for all of your emails and skype chats. I miss you all very much and will be writing very soon about my trip this coming weekend to Mindo!

Love, Powers

Otavalo

Hello all! I returned from Otavalo yesterday afternoon and what an awesome trip it was!! But before I get into everything, let me answer a couple questions from those of you who posted comments on this blog or emailed me. First of all dad, there are many people here in Ecuador who are bilingual especially in the big city of Quito in which I live. Some of them speak Spanish and English fluently, but the majority of Ecuadorians speak just enough English to get by, and some speak none at all. I have met a couple people through my host mother's circle of friends who speak Spanish, English and French, but people like that are few and far between here. As for the cars they drive, they are all manual and most are pretty tiny and do not pollute the air as much as the huge cars in the US, but you have the buses that run on diesel fuel which produce a giant cloud of smoke each time they press on the gas. The goverment here realizes that pollution is a huge problem but they don't do much about it because it costs money and they honestly are too lazy to change anything. And on top of that, the president of Ecuador, Correa, has raised taxes like crazy since he became president, but instead of using that money to help the country he pretty much uses it for himself. Nooooo bueno. Also Barbara, I do have a bunch of free time because I only have 4 classes, 2 each day starting at 12:00pm...I am usually back home by 5pm with the commute. I have a lot of reading to do for my literature classes but during the week if I want to go out I definitely can, and my weekends are always free to do whatever kind of traveling or exploring that I would like. I would certainly consider this a free semester :) And finally, dearest mother: yes I brought PJ's, no we don't have a fireplace at home, yes I bought my books for classes, yes I have started to boil water for myself so that I can drink clean water, yes Sandy has just as many kitchen appliances as we do if not more, yes I have been to other host family's houses but mine is by far the best, no the homes here are not all alike, the neighboorhoods differ depending on where one lives just like in Charlotte, most have gardens but not many have yards because land is expensive here and all the houses are stacked on top of each other, the streets are tiny and some don't even have lines dictating in which lane you should be driving, most of the cars here are American but all very small, hardly anyone jogs or rides bikes here because it is better to be a little bigger here so that you have "more to love", and yes I have shown my host family and their friends plenty of pictures of our family. Whew! Haha. Also, I took my altitude pills before and during the first couple of days I was here so I never experienced the nausea and headaches that come with getting used to living at a higher altitude. I have also been drinking plenty of water, I don't ever drink coffee and rarely sodas and I definitely have been watching my salt intake because the food here is pretty salty. Speaking of food, most Ecuadorians have a different schedule for meals than we do in the US: breakfast is simply a piece of bread with butter and jam, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and dinner is no more than something to tie you over so that you are not hungry before you go to bed. In my house with my host family, I usually drink a big class of water along with a cup of  yogurt or a spoonful of peanut butter for breakfast, usually because I am in a hurry but mostly because here I am rarely hungry in the morning. For lunch, instead of buying it at the university (which has 5 little cafes/mini restaurants) or going out to eat at a restaurant and spending 3 or 4 dollars a day, I went to the local "Harris Teeter" called Supermaxi and bought a loaf of bread, cheese and turkey along with juice boxes and I take my lunch every day. Sometimes I will go to a restaurant near school with my friends and drink a beer in between classes simply because I can :) But for dinner, Sandy or Coli usually make rice with meat or soup or lentils or pretty much anything we have on hand, so dinner is still my biggest meal of the day. And lucky for me, I live in a house with chocoholics, so there is always something sweet for dessert!

And now that I have written a couple thousand words answering everyone's questions, it is now time to tell y'all about my trip to Otavalo!! All six of us gringos (5 girls and one 6'6" guy) headed to the bus station after classes on Friday and the trip took us about 2 hours (only 2 dollars to get there, 1 dollar per hour!!). When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hostel called Rose Cottage where we were greated by a crazy lady with bright red hair (and eyebrows) who spoke broken English and sounded Asian while doing so haha. We were shown around the grounds of the hostel and we took our stuff to our rooms to freshen up. We stayed in a coed room with 8 beds total that was nicely decorated, equipped with hot water (thank goodness) and a great view of the mountains surrounding us. From there we took a taxi back into town and headed to a restaurant called Restaurante Otavalito, recommended to us by the taxi drivers and the owner of the hostel. There was a band there that played lively folk music using drums and small guitars while we ate. I feasted on a meal of chicken (my safest bet) with a mushroom and wine sauce and roasted potatoes and a beer called Pilsener (a local Ecuadorian beer) the size of my head. I also met a man from Belgium at the restaurant who thoroughly enjoyed speaking French with me. After our meal we tipped the band and headed to a local bar where there was yet another band playing Ecuadorian folk music and even more beer in bottles the size of my head. We had loads of fun chatting and dancing to the music but we had to retire early so that we could get up early the next morning to check out the local market that is held every Saturday. So after a good night's rest we woke up at 7am, ate breakfast and headed to the local market which was by far one of the coolest experiences I have ever had! There were three different sections of the market: animals, food (local fruits and veggies) and my favorite, the random anything-you-could-ever-want-to-buy-EVER section. First we went to the animal section where we saw piglets, huge hogs, cows, chickens, goats, ducks and horses. I have never stepped in so much feces nor been rubbed up against by so many nasty animals NOR been pushed around by so many tiny Ecuadorians in my entire life. But it was awesome :) Then we went to the food section where I saw some fruits and veggies I had never seen before. I did not purchase any though because we have a simular market here in Quito every Saturday morning and I will be going either this coming weekend or the next with my host mother. So after passing through the food section we headed to the miscellaneous items section where I bought a few really really cool things, most of them hand made here in Ecuador. I had to bargain with the people selling the items so it was a great test of my Spanish skills. They were selling everything from sweaters made from alpaca to paintings to jewelry to pottery to bags and even  nike shoes! I took pictures of all the things I purchased as you will see below. It was so cool to walk through the  market and check out what everyone was selling...but seriously these people are such good salesmen that they could probably sell a dirty rock for 20 bucks. They would try to reel you in and make it seem as though you had to buy what they were selling...you had to be strong and just say no while walking away. Bargaining was by far the most fun buy also the most difficult because you could knock down prices really easily using techniques like walking away or telling them that you bought something simular at another stand for a lower price. But you had to be careful because you had to keep in mind that knocking down the price too low would be insulting to the person not only selling the item but who also took the time to make it. Also, these people make their living this way and are proud of what they do so you kind of had to have an idea of what the price of each item should be (and I did thanks to a pep talk from Sandy and Coli before the trip). So after spending at least 4 or 5 hours at the market, we headed to the Peguche waterfall which was a 10 minute bus ride from the market. Everything was so green and beautiful and the water was so clear and cool...it was a great idea after being out in the sun all morning. We hiked to the top of the waterfall and took pictures, and there we encountered a couple of thieves who were trying to get us gringos to follow them into a cave to "go swimming" so that they could rob us of all our belongings...but they didn't realize that they were messing with some pretty inteligent gringos, and we chose not to follow them. We chilled at the waterfall for a couple hours, took some great pictures and then headed back to the bus station in Otavalo to get on home. On the bus ride back to Quito, we encounter a few more thieves who made a big operation out of stealing from this poor American man sitting a couple seats in front of me and right next to my friend Juliana. Initially, one of the robbers sat right next to me for 20 minutes on the bus until another man got on the bus and he gave him his seat (in order to survey the isles to make sure no one was looking as they stole from the American). But the robber wasn't able to steal from me because I had all of my belongings in my lap with my arms wrapped tightly around them. The other two robbers were sitting across the isle from me and right behidn the American man and Juliana...one guy was holding a newspaper up to hide what they were doing and the other man was bent down under the seat, cutting open the poor man's bag and stealing all of his belongings. But honestly it was the American man's fault because he placed his bag at his feet which is something one should never do here because people will steal from you exactly like these three men stole from him. And probably the worst thing about the whole situation was the fact that the man working on the bus whose job it is to collect money from the passengers was being paid off by these robbers so that he would keep his mouth shut. How awful right? And I am guessing you are thinking "Why in the world didn't you do anything about it Powers?!" Well, the entire time this was going on (a couple of my friends kinda saw what was happening but didn't realize it until the 3 men exited the bus), I was talking to the man who sat down next to me after the robber gave him his seat. We spoke for 2 whole hours in the bus about anything and everything from Ecuador to the US to politics to religion and finally, he told me that he was an artist and was in Otavalo at the market selling his art! He pulled out many of his paintings from his bookbag and was showing me everything that he had done and explained to me how he but the texture and colors into his works and what the significance was of each paiting. Finally, when we were about 10 minutes away from Quito the man looked at me and said (in Spanish because he didn't speak a word of English) "you know, I really have enjoyed talking with you on this bus ride...would you like to choose between a couple of my artworks? I would like to give you one as a gift." Can you imagine how thrilled and touched I was when he said that?? So I chose a painting that I loved and I can't wait to bring it home and put it in my room or in my apartment at State. I have a picture of the painting below. But I think the most amazing thing he said to me when he gave me the painting (after signing the back of it with his email address) was this: "Powers, tu tienes otro amigo en Ecuador" which translates to "Powers, you have another friend in Ecuador." The people here are so kind I cannot even explain what great men and women there are in Ecuador. I love, love, love, LOVE it here :)))

  Alright, now that I have talked y'all's ears off, here are some pictures that I took on the trip along with captions as usual...just by the way, you can click on each picture to enlarge it. And again, any comments, questions or concerns please email me or comment on the blog. Talk to you all soon, love you!

Rose Cottage hostel...this is where the crazy owner lives on the property. And you can see her along with my friend Lauren standing in front of the house. Gah was she strange!

All six of us! Tall boy Joe is in the back, and from left to right there is Lauren, me, Juliana, Cynthia and Julie. The house that you see to the right is where we slept. Look at that view!

Inside of our little house. There were 8 beds all nicely made up ready for us when we arrived...we were all very comfortable.

THE VIEW FROM THE HOSTEL!

THE VIEW FROM THE HOSTEL 2

Mr. Alpaca who lives at the hostel.

 Me with the view.

 The restaurant in Otavalo where we ate like royalty.

 The cool band in the restaurant who played while we ate. Great folk music.

 The other band we saw that night at the bar. Again, fantastic Ecuadorian folk music.

 The animal section of the market. Eww.

  A native Ecuadorian lady from Otavalo in her typical dress.

 The miscellaneous section of the market.

 Me drinking coconut water straight from the coconut itself. Yummm!

 "Welcome to the Peguche Waterfall"

 The Peguche Waterfall in all its glory.

 Yahooooo!!!

 All of us on a bridge near the waterfall...about to hike up to the top.

 The view from the top of the waterfall.

 You see those two men inside the cave? Those were the thieves trying to rob us by telling us to follow them into the cave. Nice try robbers but you were messing with the wrong gringos.

  A little owl figurine I purchased made out of a gourd. Hand crafted, and if you shake it you can hear some leftover seeds rattling around on up in there!

 On my finger you can see the ring I purchased made from silver and a metal called alpaca. The man who sold it to me made it by forming a mold out of a leaf, pouring the hot metal into the mold and just before cooling he bent it to make a ring. Each one is different, which is why it was so intriguing to me. And around my wrist you can see the bracelets I bought 5 for 1dollar. Oh how I love Ecuador.

Here is a hand made tapestry made of alpaca wool that is about 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide depicting a little Ecuadorian town. I plan on hanging this up on my wall :)

And finally, this is the painting given to me by the artist sitting next to me on the bus. The animal is a lizard and the composition is made up of many different materials and textures.

First week of classes

Well, the school week is finally over and all I can say is wow!! It was pretty hectic at first because I had to rearrange my schedule a couple times but it is finally all set. This semester I will be taking Feminine Literature, which is pretty self explanatory, Latinamerican Boom, which is all about the literature written in latinamerica after Cuba achieved its independence, Philosphy and Understanding the Self, which is my most difficult course, and finally Advanced French II, which is the highest level French course available at the University. I love each and every one of my classes although it is really tough to learn about ideas and concepts taught in Spanish, especially philosophy and most certainly French. My philosophy professor has been the most kind out of all my professors here, telling me to sit in the front so that if I give him a "huh?" face he can rephrase what he said, and he allows me to walk with him after class to his next class and ask one-on-one questions about material that I do not understand. And he also said that my Spanish was so good that he thought I had studied abroad before!! And my French class, as backwords as it may seem, is probably my favorite class because the first day the professor asked the class what exactly we wanted to do during the semester...apparently it is all up to us what we want to learn and how we want to learn it. My French professor is from Romania so she has one of the strangest accents I have ever heard in my life but I enjoy every second of it. The only problem is though that when she says a word in French that neither the class nor I know the meaning of, she gives the class the definition in.......Spanish! Now you tell me you wouldn't be confused as all get out haha. The bus system has required a lot of getting used to, as there are no signs to point you in the right direction, and as I am not used to public transportation it is even more difficult, but I have learned to "get off my high horse" and ask questions when I get turned around. Every day I have to walk to the bus station which takes about 10 or 15 mins (depending on how late I am to class), and then I have to take the red trolley bus to another bus station at which I get on the green bus that takes me to Cumbaya (where the University is located). And each time I am walking around I get whistled at or "cat called" (sorry Dad) which at first seemed to me a bit degrading, but as I am living in a very macho culture, I have realized that it is a compliment...I just cannot respond to the whistling because if I look in their general direction and act as though I am not interested, the men in the Ecuadorian culture just think you are playing hard to get. Anyways, I have finally learned the bus system and have met some really cool people from Ecuador and the United States (but mostly from the United States). It is very hard to socialize with the Ecuadorians, especially at my university, because they already have found their group of friends and they are not usually very interested in talking to a gringa such as myself. But I try to be friendly and if they don't respond in a positive manner than I guess that's their loss right? The people I have met from the States are all incredibly nice people though and fun to hang out with in between classes. It is also good that I am meeting Americans because they are more inclined to want to travel and experience new things in which the Ecuadorians either have no interest or have already seen. I did meet up with an Ecuadorian girl though who studied at NC State last semester and coincidentally she lives right down the street from me! She said that she is more than happy to introduce me to her friends, let me tag along when she goes out and give me suggestions on what to do in Ecuador. I also have my host sister Nicole, or better know as Coli, to hang out with as well so that I have the opportunity to speak Spanish and not English with my fellow gringos all the time. I am planning on going out tonight to some sort of discoteca or bar with cool music with my friends from the States tonight and then tomorrow after class we will leave to go to Otavalo. Otavalo is about an hour and a half north of Quito taking the bus, and it has the coolest textile market in Ecuador. There are handmade crafts, clothing, shoes and just about any kind of trinket you can imagine for very little money. We will arrive in Otavalo tomorrow afternoon, sleep in a hostel and wake up early the next morning to go to the market and bargain with the natives. What an experience that will be! I will definintely be taking photos and blogging about my trip when I return. And speaking of photos, here are a few that I took of my neighborhood, my university and my friends, all with captions underneath for a bit of explanation:

 This is a photo of our condo...we are on the first floor of 4. The picture doesn't show too much because it is impossible to get a good angle when there is a giant fence behind you :) but hey I tried!

 This is the front door of the complex and right inside the glass door is how you get into our condo! The man in the picture is named Rojelio...he takes care of everything in the complex, acting as a Mr. Fix-it as well as a security guard.

This is the garden in little "front yard" and you can also see the gate through which I leave for school every morning and where the cars come into the complex.

 

This is the Ecovia Trolley Bus I take from Estacion Norte to Rio Coca...it is the bus that determines how late or early I will be to class, depending on how long I have to wait for it at the terminal. A lot of pushing and shoving goes on in this bus, especially when the conductor says that those who are exiting the bus have the right-a-way...noooooooobody listens, and I mean nobody.

 

Maxwell is the name of this building on campus where I would have had my International Relations class...beautiful building but awful class.

 

Pictured here is the courtyard at the university where all the students hang out in between classes. Definitely the place to be.

 

This is me at school sitting in one of the outside hallways...all the buildings on campus have breezeways such as this and the ground is covered in tile or marble. I can't count how many times I have almost taken a tumble especially on the days that it rains :) 



 From left to right: Cynthia, Lauren and Juliana...these three gals are a few of my gringo friends who attend Franklin Street Community College, a.k.a. UNC Chapel Hill ;) We hang out in between classes and are planning on making the voyage to Otavalo together this weekend. Great girls.

 This is the one of the long, steep and brutal hills that I must tackle on my way home from school every day...great workout huh?

And finally, this is the street on which I live called Marianoecheverria. Try telling that tongue twister of a street to a taxi driver.

Like I said, I will be posting another blog about my trip to Otavalo...apparently it is a beautiful place which has very nicely preserved its deep rooted history. I look forward to sharing my experiences and thanks again to everyone who has been following my blog. Talk to you all soon!

First few days...

As all of you know, I have arrived in Quito, Ecuador and what a beautiful place it is! I will be living with the Beraha family for these next 4 months: Sandy is my host mother, Nicole is my host sister who lives at home and works in a vet clinic and Lauren is my other host sister who does not live at home but lives very close to our neighborhood. Sandy is a well known artist in Quito and has connections with tons of people in Ecuador and all over the world! The friends who live in Quito are constantly at the house, eating, drinking and talking about life. I also live with 4 dogs, Lulu, Candy, Huma and Max, a rabbit named Olivia and a turtle named Tortuga. The house is always full of fun and laughter and there is a lot of positive energy as well. So far in Quito, I have spoken Spanish all day, every day, I have met some very cool and interesting people, I have been getting ready for classes that start on Monday and I have been out on the town checking out what Quito has to offer. The neighborhood in which I live is very nice and very safe, but out on the streets I must be careful as the economy in Ecuador is not doing very well and the people here are fighting to survive, willing to steal from you or sell food to you that has been washed/cooked in sewage water. But there is no need to live in fear of what could happen, so I am taking risks and putting myself out there but I am being safe while doing so. I live in Quito but my university is located in Cumbaya which means I must take a couple buses in order to get there...the bus system is quite disorganized with only a few signs pointing one in the right direction and sometimes they don't even lead one in the right direction so I must always ask the bus driver before getting on the bus to where they are planning on driving. I also have to boil the water that I drink and wash the fruits and vegetables that I plan to eat in a chlorine solution so that I do not consume a bacteria that can keep me on the toilet for weeks haha. But this is what happens when one lives in another country...the culture is different, the customs are different, the food is different...everything that I am used to is completely different but it is something I have embraced and have grown to love. I am incredibly happy with everything so far, my host family is very helpful and they always have their arms wide open, ready to teach me what I need to know. Most things here are pretty inexpensive except for minutes on one's cell phone, imported goods, taxes and peanut butter which is about 10 dollars a jar...crazy!! The rest is quite cheap...it costs 25 cents to take a bus, 3 dollars to get across town in a taxi, 2 dollars for a beer in a bar and 4-6 dollars for a quality meal in a restaurant. My university is the most beautiful place I have every seen, decorated with bright colors, flowing fountains and green foliage everywhere! I start my classes tomorrow and will be taking the bus by myself for the first time but I am so excited to get started and make cool Ecuadorian friends with whom I can travel and experience life in Quito. I really could not be any happier with my choice of studying in Ecuador and I look forward to everything I will be experiencing in these next 4 months.

  Below I have attached 3 photos...the first is the loooooooong line in which I had to wait in order to go through customs, the second is a photo from the top of a building in Quito that shows the mountains that surround the city and the third is a picture taken at a bar called Strawberry Fields Forever in the Mariscal area of Quito where we celebrated the news that Lauren is going to have a baby!! From left to right there is my host mother Sandy, Lauren my biggest sister, me and Nicole my other sister closest to my age. And just by the way Lauren is holding my beer in her hand in the photo as a joke...she is not consuming alcohol as a pregnant woman :)

  I want to thank everyone who has and will be supporting me on this incredible adventure...it means a lot to me that so many of you have expressed such love and kindness. I will be using this blog from now on to share my experiences, display some photos that I have taken and keep up with everyone on my journey in Ecuador. I am new to this so please bare with me...I believe if you would like to make a comment on the blog you have to be a member for which you can sign up but my email is listed on the blog (powers.gatlin@gmail.com) so I would love to read your comments and answer any questions that you might have. I hope everyone is well and I look forward to hearing from everyone soon!