Te amo, Quito

Hey all,

Sorry it has taken me so long to update you on my life. I have been internet free for about 6 days and i know this is a critical time for people to know what is up in my life.

Alright, lets start from the beginning. I was supposed to get into Quito on Wednesday night of last week. I think that was the 8th.. anyways, we couldn't fly in because there was a ton of fog.. Which is not uncommon for Quito. It is hard to see the surrounding mountains or volcanos here because there is so much fog all the time but on a clear day we are supposed to be able to see four. I wish I could tell you all the names but there are all in Chichua and hard to remember. Thus I had to fly into Guyaquil a costal city. Everyone speaks soooooooo fast there it was really hard to understand them. I didn't see much of the city but from what I could see I didn't really like it.

As many of you may know I was really scared to meet my host family but they are amazing. I live with Gladys (my host mom) and Vanessa (my host sister). I was supposed to be living with Gustavo whom on the paper said he was 25 but it turns out he is like 39 and has two kids. He lives in La Mitad del Mundo which is where the equater cross Equador. That is how Equador got it's name:) Anyways, they took me and Jose there. It was really awesome. They had an amazing exhibit about Ecuador's bugs where there is a ton of live bugs. The bugs here are not small by any means. Since we are so close to the Amazon there are a ton of gigantic beatles, spiders, butterflies, and moths. They were all really cool to look at.

Oh yeah, Jose is now staying with me and my host family. He asked me if I wouldn't mind. Its been a little tough having him here. I want to discover things on my own and its hard to when you have someone else there who is fluent in Spanish.

Gladys is really sweet, she likes to talk alot about the world, people, basically life in general. She is a painter, a mother, a realtor, a race car driver (or co-pilot as she likes to call it), and farmer. She owns a lot of property all over Ecuador and knows a lot about her country. Vanessa is a law student who is basically a all around sweet girl. I have met the whole extended family and couldn't say one bad thing about them. They are both really proud of their country and have a lot to offer me. Sometimes I feel like Gladys likes to exagerate a bit but it just adds to her character.

They live right across from CIMAS where I go to school so it is really nice that I don't have to take the bus or anything like that. My room is small but cozy. There is a really big window that over looks the volcano Pichincha.

So far school looks good. I know I'm going to learn a lot of Spanish and get to know a lot of cool people. We get to take day trips around Ecuador. It looks really interesting.

On Saturday I went out for the first time to a place called Gingolandia which basically means American land. There is a bunch of bars and places to eat. It was fun. The drinks here are way too stronge and way too cheap. For a Cuba Libre it only costs $1.50.

The next day we went to a place called Papaillarta which are a bunch of hot springs from the volcanos around here. They were beautiful. I had to wake up at 5AM to go and the elevation was really hard on me. It was also really hard to wake up cause I went out the night before but it was all worth it.

I miss you guys so much. All of you. The people that I go to school with here are not the same! Sometimes I get teary eyed looking at facebook pictures. Anyways, I love you all!

I'll post again ASAP