Estoy en Ecuador!!!

Hello from Quito!  While the entire United States is engulfed in a polar vortex (dude. That doesn't even sound good), I'm blissfully enjoying a typical daily temp of 70 F, sometimes cloudy or raining, but beautiful none-the-less.  I get to see mountains upon mountains that seem to rise up from no where and I have met so many people, indigenous, mestizo, Afro-Ecuadorians. So many.

I love my host sister's friends.  Parts of Quito can be a little etch-a-sketch (yes? no? I appreciate feedback when trying out new words or phrases.) but the environment that she and her friends create is one of comfort, safety, and a helluva lot of fun.  It probably doesn't hurt that they all speak English (in fact, one of her friends was a guy who moved to Ecuador from Indiana to teach.  How amazing is that?!) and can translate for me when my meager Spanish, mostly forgotten in the 3 years I've been absent from it, fails me.

I also love my host family, of course.  My mom speaks no English what-so-ever, so communicating is sometimes hard.  I love the challenge, though.  And my host sister is simply gorgeous.  So far, I don't have any good pictures of us, but maybe I'll get one up soon. :)

I'm also staying with a girl from my program.  Her name is Faith and she speaks Punjabi and Hindu fluently.  Her Spanish, however, is a little rusty.  Enter my..."talents", for lack of better word, as a translator.  Clearly, I chose the right career path in biology and literature.  Languages are hard!

Anyway, I hope to update this blog a little bit more often, now that I'm actually doing stuff and not just waiting around for the next news article to rub me the wrong way. Expect maybe 3 or 4 posts this January. On Wednesday, I'm headed to the Galapagos Island! Super psyched!

The view from my window. Que bonita!

One last thing of note: I'm here with a class from my school doing a January term (basically 3 weeks of intensive classes...for those who don't get to travel!!!!), and part of our grade is a collaborative blog.  You can follow our class blog at andestoislands.com.