Hola a todos!

The last few days have been pretty intersting but nothing too spectacular. The other day I went on a tour of the historical center of Quito. Usually this is the type of thing I hate because it is touristy. I would have like to walk around the streets more but of what we saw it was nice. First we went to el Parque Itchimbia. It was really nice because we were able to see all the mountains around us. The main mountain/volcano is Chichincha. There are actually two Chichincha´s. The first is Ruco Chichincha because it is bigger and the second is guagua Chichincha because it is like the baby to the first. The word guagua in Ecuador is child not van like in Puerto Rica jajja. There are a lot of new words and slang here that I will get into in a bit. There was also a small art exhibit at the park too with the strangest art I´ve ever seen. I will have pictures later but it´s a pain to load them so I am going to load them all at once when I have more. At the park we learned a little bit about an indigenous ceremony... I think it is called Yacu. What happens is you become a Chasqui. A chasqui is supposed to tell his or her story. We got little bracelets made of a few peices of string. I really like it. during the ceremony we stood in a circle because the sun is round like a circle. The sun is really imortant here, they call it ¨la carita de dios¨ because the sun is the face of god. Also they use diminuatives like woaahh. After the park we went into the historical part of the city. It was really nice and still had indigenous buildings. The style in Quito is much more indigenous than other latin american cities which are much more European. We went to the top of a tower it was sooo high up. Then we went to a huge church which I can´t remember the name of right now it just left my head. I want to say santo domingo but I dont think that is it. Since it was Sunday a service was taking place. It was really nice and a ton of people where there. Then we went to this restuarant called El Venteral. It was really nice and had windows all the way around to see the view.

some facts about quito: There are 17 active volcanos around me right now. Most likely there will not be a big eruption but it´s possible. The day of independence is 24 of May.

Today I had my school orientation. It is a really pretty school and small so it should be easy to find my way around. But it was strange when my group met there we were the only ones speaking spanish... One girl from another group came up to me and said ¨I have those same shoes at home¨I looked at her and said ok and walked away and started talking to a girl in my group Sarah.

We learned some Ecuadorian slang today too. So fun. Some of my favorites are...

Qué shonshu is like what a fool, chuta madre or anything chuta is like damn.

They say chevere for everything... nothing is bueno... qué chevere or bacan

Oh and gringo is usually only considered for someone who is blonde here jajaj so I´m not necesarily considered gringa... which is good cuz I hate more than anything to be called gringa.

There is a lot more slang but I have like two pages of it so if you want to know (ughhgh Jacquie) I will tell you :)

Tomorrow I have a day off before classes start on Thursday... ay dioooosss

I am taking:

Sociology: Problemas sociales de El Ecuador

Anthropology: Antropología cultural

Anthropology: Introducción a la arqueología

Spanish: Traducción

I am also taking Portugués but it is just for fun cuz it isnt worth credits but it doesnt matter because salem doesnt have it anyway and I had a huge space in my schedule. Jacquie don´t be mad we will fighht for it when I get back :)

I am supposed to be taking a Service Learning class as well but we don´t know when that is going to start yet or where we are going to be doing our service. I have a lot of time after my classes though so I should have time to fit it in. Hopefully cuz that is the one class I want to take here more than anything else.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I also have a big space but hopefully I will find something to do... they have a salsa dancing club so I might do that to continue with my awesome ballroom dancing skills. haha.

Anywayyyys sorry I still have no pictures up yet but I will soon I promise.

Oh and the people here are really nice!!

chaaauu

q dios te bendiga
Elena