la vida en quito

Time has been moving along quite quickly in Quito.  Thank goodness, because I am running out of things to do here.  I hate to say that I am bored, but it´s been difficult to find things to do to entertain myself.  My days are spent going to class, hanging out with my host family, and surfing the internet.  Because I get home at around 17h30 everyday, I haven´t really had time to explore the city.  This will change after today when I finish my Spanish class.  From today on, I will be done with classes at noon and I will have time to poke around the city.  I´m looking forward to it.

Since I´ve been here, I´ve been on a neverending search for a decent bar of dark chocolate.  I´ve gotten some recommendations from my professor, but the brand he recommend can be purchased in the United States.  I want some legit Ecuadorian chocolate, but it seems that most chocolate is exported as pure cacao, so there´s a lack of actual chocolate here...I still have some chocolate left from the U.S., but I´m going to need more soon...

 About half of the family went away last weekend because Mario was in a triathalon and Paula was in a swim race across Lago San Pablo.  I think Mario did well, but he said something about how the water was really cold and that he had some trouble swimming.  Paula got second place in her race, and brought home a really impressive trophy!  Mario brought some cuy back, and I got to try it!  Oh, cuy is guinea pig if you were wondering.  This cuy was fried, but it is also prepared grilled.  I ate one of its little legs, and it tasted like chicken/duck, and was quite tasty!

Juancho went back to school last week, so he comes to the house after school every day.  On Monday, I corrected his English homework on present and past simple tenses.  It made me wish I had paid more attention in grammar class in middle school.  I had so much trouble trying to explain why the past tense of leave is left.  English really doesn´t make any sense now that I think about it...

Orlando´s birthday was yesterday!  On Monday, I tried to find his favorite brand of coffee at SuperMaxi (grocery store), but could not.  I asked MaríaElena where I might be able to find it because it´s his favorite.  She told me to buy Aguardiente Antioqueño instead, a Colombian liquor.  So I bought my host father a bottle of hard alcohol for his birthday.  He was so happy when I gave it to him.  Only in Ecuador!

The other night, MaríaElena asked me a for what she described as un gran favor.  This is how our conversation went:

María Elena:  Sarah, can I ask you for a big favor?
Sarah: Sure, what´s up?
ME:  Will you tell Juancho that you will give him a prize if he stops biting his nails by the time you leave?
S:  Um, what?

ME:  He bites his nails, and we have always asked him to stop, but he never has.

S: I don´t know if I can do that.  what do you want me to do?

ME:  well, don´t let him know that I told you to.  just say that he should stop and that you´ll give him a prize if he stops by the time you go back to the U.S

S: ok, i´ll see what i can do

So it seems I have some scheming to get to... I´ll let you know if he takes the bait.

The bulk of my travels begin next week!  The class just finished the montane portion of the ecology course.  Next up is coastal ecology, with trips to los Piqueros and los Galápagos.  I´m sure there will be lots of news and pictures in the next few weeks.

I´ll leave you with some views of Quito from my bedroom window: