No photos, but all is well!

That´s not entirely true -- I do have photos, but am unable to get them off the camera the places I´ve been so far!

But all is well. It was an easy trip here, just long. And my quiet weekend to acclimate turned out to be anything but! One friend moved to Quito on Friday and the other was in town temporarily. They are both working for the same indigenous organization, so of course we had to have a meeting on Saturday morning! Between the work they want to do and some pro bono work that I´ll probably do for them while I´m here, and the shopping I need to do for the new activity center, it´s a bit of a busman´s holiday. But still.

So what to say in a quick post? Classes are really good -- so far I love the school. They are four hours of intensive one-on-one each day, and I´m also doing the cultural program, with is another two to four hours in the afternoon, but visiting cultural sites. It´s great fun, but I´m exhausted! I think the best part so far is that my Spanish seems to be better than I think. I don´t understand every word, but do get concepts. When I tried to tell my professor that I only speak a little Spanish, he admonished me, saying that people who can say hello, goodbye, thank you and please only speak a little Spanish. I, however, speak, but yes, the road is bumpy.

Otherwise, the mountains are stunning. It´s rained every afternoon, which everyone tells me is very surprising just now, but that in Quito, you just never know. It´s cooler in the evenings that I expected. The people are generally wonderful. I´m learning tons each day -- today we had a fruit tasting at the school which was fabulous, and then salsa lessons in the evening. That was a blast! And I´ll get to practice, since the lessons are every Tuesday and there are all kinds of clubs. Didn´t hurt that tonight my partners were the tall Dutchman and the instructor.

The cultural excursions have been great too, focused on the indigenous cultures of Ecuador so far. Twice now I´ve been to the Middle of the World and stood on the equator. My friends are wonderful, and it´s been great fun seeing them and spending time. I´ve been invited to the Amazon and need to figure out if/how I can make that work, because I think the dates will impact my study sessions and ability to do one of the travel weeks. And I´m sure I don´t have the gear I need. But I´m also sure all of that will become clear in time.

For now, I´m tired and a bit overwhelmed. But I´m super excited and having a blast. I´ll try to get some photos up the next few days. Time now to go do some verb homework.