Hola Chicos y chicas,

Well we have now finished our first week of classes and well...im still learning the alphabet, whilst Alex is on the subjunctive (Ok i know a little more than the alphabet now but not that much!). Im hoping next week will clarify all for me and with some miracle I will be fluent.

We are going to spend this afternoon getting ready for a weekend away at ´La Isla de la Plata´, its called the poor peoples Galapagos, as its not so far out from the Ecuadorian coast and is much cheaper to visit but its supposed to be just as beautiful, so we will see.

Ok so what have we been upto this week, well on tuesday we visited a fruit market with our school and tasted every kind of fruit you could imagine- luckily none of us got upset bellies. When we were leaving Alex slipped the fruit lady some money on the sly- was so funny, think he thought he was some kind of Del Boy.

Tuesday afternoon we went off to visit ´La Virgen del Panecillo´. a statue that sits on the Pancillo mountain and looks out over the city. To locals she represents protection as she watches over them. We were able to climb right to the top, the views of the city were beautiful but the height was not so good for my head!!! Dinner was interesting - decided to make rice with vegetables but I added in a couple of Ecuadorian chillies having no idea how spicy they would be- and yes it was slightly on the hot side- Nic and Alex were crying over dinner. It wasn´t all bad though as Bobby (an american guy that lives with us) enjoyed it and even had seconds.

Wednesday I think was our busiest day so far. We went from School to the Mitad del Mundo- ´The middle of the world´which is the line of the equator which passes just north of Quito. Was really interesting, we found out that on the Equator water pours vertically with no spin (you know when you let plug out at home the water spirals, well on the equator this doesnt happen) and that you wigh 1 kilo less (I was very happy with this) and that its so difficult to walk in a straight line. On the way home Nic and I sat in the middle of 3 very Ecuadorian men at the back of the bus- trying to integrate and fitted in well i think, just wish we had a photo. Got back to the city in time for our historical tour which was led by one of our teachers- cant say it was much of a tour though but we did have a lovely meal on the roof of a building that looked out over Quito at night- beautiful.

Had our first salsa lesson yesterday- which was really fun- think Alex enjoyed it too. There was quite a big group of us and there was an equal number of guys and girls which was good. The guys were mainly a group of American mountaineering guys that were, well, trying hard.

Ok well we are off to pack for the weekend now and will message again when we get back.

Lots of love to you all, xx