Hi ya

Well as I was saying in my last entry I had a nightmare getting to CENIT last Friday. The first day I had got there the i to i coordnator had took me. But Maritoni suggested a different route to the one I had took the previous day as this would mean I would only have to take one bus rather than 2. Anyway I thought I was doing really well as I´d followed the directions correct to where you get the bus which tkaes 30 mins(there isn´t a bus stop as such you just hail one down on the road) Anyway I got off the last stop as told but realized I was in a completely different place to where CENIT is. So I had to ask several people did they know where CENIT was...this was really difficult as my Spanish is so bad! In the end I kept saying Ninos (which means children) and used a bit of body lanuage and they directed me to this kindergarden school which wasn´t CENIT but the lady there let me use her phone and I called the CENIT coordinator who told me that I was really far from CENIT. By this time it was far too late so I had to go home. I´d left the house at 8 and didn´t get back till 12..very frustrating! Anyway it turned out that I´d got on the correct bus but in the wrong direction! So atleast I know now where to go on Monday but it really showed me how much of a struggle it is to get by without Spanish! Anyway that afternoon I went on the cable car with Twyla and Vicki 2 people who are staying with Maritoni for one week..they are from the states and are mother and daughter. The cable car went 14,000 ft high over Quito and the view was amazing! Then that evening me and Twyla went to a cuban club which had a live cuban band and salsa dancing. We had some moijtos there and tried (try being the operative word) to dance a bit of salsa. All good fun!

Yesterday Maritoni´s friends drove us to the markets which are a couple of hours away from Quito, they had lots of jewellery, cloths, wooden items all the usual sort of stuff you get at them type of markets. I bought a couple of bits but not much as I will have to carry it all around with me for the rest of my trip. It was handy being with people who could speak Spanish as I was able to barter better. Then on the way back we stopped for a lovely lunch which the starter was served in a jewellery box. Then we went to Maritoni´s friends house and they took us out for dinner in a chinese resturant. I think I am learning more about the Philippine culture than the Ecuadorian culture as Maritoni knows so many Philippine people!

Anyway going to go now. Please email me back with all your news.

Julia x