Buenos Tardes (Good afternoon)

Not much to tell. Spanish classes in the morning and afternoons to myself. It's slowly, slowly with the spanish. Lots of verbs to learn and how to conjugate them and how to use them in sentences, etc, etc. I keep getting my question words, ie 'Who, Which, What, When, etc' mixed up. Will take time. Have a little homework each night and try to read over my notes for about an hour aswell. The practical stuff in the house and class is the best though. Mariana is a great teacher, very patient and teaches the way I like to learn - she writes stuff down, we go over it, I write it down in my book and then we ask questions back and forth. Can only get better.

Yesterday afternoon I caught the bus into town myself. Wanted to make sure I could do it with no problems and orientate myself in the city. I visited the South American Explorers Club which is a club that foreigners can join up. They have a clubhouse in a few different cities in South America and you can visit and hang out there. They have lots of info and also activities for members. I had already joined and wanted to see what was on offer. Then walked around the city and found a supermarket to buy a few things.

I always enjoy wandering thru supermarkets in new countries. Like to see what brands are familiar. Plenty of familiar brands here. Made my way back home for a lovely dinner. Frank's cooking is so good. Plenty of it and all freshly cooked.

The area I'm in is known as the Valle de los Chillos. Where I am living used to be a big hacienda (farm) until the owner died and the land was distributed. It's sort of middle class now, although there is still some people living the traditional way. Across the street is one of these families. The other night I was sitting upstairs doing my homework and writing in my journal when I happened to glance across. The lady was cleaning a chicken, obviously freshly killed from their yards. No problem with that. The dogs and chickens were hanging around, hoping for scraps. A little while later, I noticed another family member was out and handwashing their clothes, on the same cement slab that the chicken had just been cleaned on. It gave me a bit of a start and I realised how different life here can be.

Ok, that's it for now. A little more time on the computer and then time for a walk.