POST 2

!Hola!

Thanks to all of you who have read our first blogs, if you want to leave comments on them then please do, so we can keep track of you as well!

We´ve been studying at the Spanish school every day here and I think we´re getting there slowly, although I find myself saying ´no entiendo´and staring at people blankly quite a lot. Luckily, everyone is very friendly and they don´t mind repeating themselves. On Friday afternoon our teachers took us to a strange Ecuadorian rock concert on one of the hills overlooking the city, and then we spent 2 hours trying to find a museum that was closed when we fnally got there. Yesterday we took a day off from studying and went up into the mountains to the east of Quito, to a place called Papallacta, which has loads of outdoor thermal springs. Getting in was ok but getting out wasn´t- it was about 15 C and cloudy. From what people we have met have told us, the place where we are going to spend 3 months volunteering (zumbahua) is even higher up and probably even colder, and probably doesn´t have hot water (!). We´re leaving to make the journey up there on Tuesday, and they´ve told us to bring bread and marmalade which are apparently unobtainable there...

Speaking of which, we´ve also had some fun culinary experiences so far- such as a nice soup with blanched, flobbly chicken´s feet and livers floating in it. But most of the food is really nice, although odd- today for lunch we had a sort of stew of sea bass, popcorn and roast potatoes, and we've got no idea what some of the vegetables and fruits are (there are about 20 different types of banana for a start). The last few days has also been a big national holiday to celebrate the Ecuadorian independence day, so there´s a nice party atmosphere.

No llamas as of yet, although I´m sure that'll change next week

Hope everybody is well, more to follow soon!

Love Ross (and Adele)


Anche io sto imparando lo spagnolo!!!a.