"Que linda!!"

Hola amigos!

I just returned from my first full day in Quito and I think a good blog entry is in order. But I just have so much to write about!

First of all, mi familia. Wow! My living situation is better than I ever could have imagined it. I had some concerns about living with a family, given my independent nature, but this familia is really incredible. It consists of mi mama, se llama Lolita, mi padre, se llama Manuel, mi hermano... shoot, this is embarrassing. I think his name is Fabi. and su esposa se llama Mati (short for Matilda) and sus hijo (which for a couple hours there I was convinced was their hijA) Christian. Technically, Mati and Fabi (?) live up stairs in a separate house, but Lolita takes care of Christian during the day and they're around most of the times for meals etc... Oh, and another brother returned home to visit today, se llama Diego. Their greatest virtue that I have yet to be privy to (besides their remarkable ability to make someone feel at home) is their patience. Dios mio! No hablan ingles!! For whatever reason (wishful thinking, I suppose) I expected them to speak some English. Nope. Ninguna. Mierda... But it's turned out to be really great, and yes, really challenging. Fabi is the easiest to talk to and he asks me tons of questions, which is super nice because that way I have time to think of the answer while he's asking it and then I know exactly how to respond. Whereas in normal conversation, I have to pay intense attention to what is being said, if I am expected to answer and if so, what and how I'm going to say it. Meals are the best because it is mostly one big question/ answer session. And I've really surprised myself with how much Spanish I can pull out and they graciously compliment me on my ability to butcher their beautiful language. Such grace. But then sometimes when I'm in the car or in a group of people with them and they start speaking, I find myself surprised that they're speaking Spanish, not English... what? hahaha I don't know what that's about.
This is my with Manuel y Lolita earlier today :)


Anyway, today began with some pan y jugo followed by a trip to the airport to retrieve my bag (with all my clothing in it) that came in on a later flight than I did last night. This involved Manuel and I running all around the airport talking to about 15 different people (well he talked, I stood there nodding, pretending to understand), me signing some papers that I also didn't really understand and then us running frantically back through the crowd, following the magical airport elf who took us to my luggage. Whew. Later on, Manuel's sister came over with her host daughter and I got to speak in English for the first time in what felt like eternity. Then, Manuel said a lot of things in Spanish, which fortunately ended with "vamos!" (or else we probably would have just sat there, still nodding while everyone else left) so Caitlin and I looked at each other, shrugged, got our stuff and vamosed! Turns out we were vamosing (with another amiga, Laura and her parents, who live next door) to see the Virgin Monument on El Panechillo Hill. Now this was one big virgin on one big hill. I hadn't even noticed the altitude until we go on top of the hill, but it was worth it for the absolutely breathtaking 360 degree view we got of Quito.



After that, we went on a driving tour of the city, which is so so big, btw. We spent the afternoon seeing all the sights from Manuel's truck (and I got the front seat while all the tiny girls/ women smooshed in the back, sometimes it pays to be giant ;) ). Manuel knows that I like taking pictures so he asked if I wanted to get out and snap some shots of one of the cities many cathedrals. Of course I did. I can't remember what this one is called, but it's really old ("mas que cien anos!" he kept telling me) and really pretty.


And then tonight we went out, the three girls and our families again, to Old Town Quito. It was pretty cool walking around as a big group of family (aging from 6 months to probably about 60). We got some traditional Ecuadorian drink that tasted like apple cider, but all I caught of the description was "con liquor!". It was pretty tasty, and costing only 50 cents, even the 10 and 15 year old could enjoy it ;).

In summary, today I spent a total of $1 on one drink and one bag of traditional Ecuadorian candy, got to see the entire city, spoke more Spanish than I've ever spoken in my entire life, made a bunch of new friends and said the phrase "que linda!!" probably an embarrassing number of times (but in my defense, it was all just so pretty! and my vocabulary is still pretty limited). I also was told about a hundred times that I was "muy alta!" and asked even more "tienes frio??" (no, I'm not cold, it's freaking 55 degrees here! this is like summer!). I'm looking forward to tomorrow even more because I kept hearing this word "descansar" (to rest) being thrown around. While I enjoyed all of our little outings today, I could really use a day to sleep in and descansar before classes start on lunes.

Well, I don't actually know if anyone besides my parents (and Laina ;) ) even see this, but I still love and miss you guys and find myself wishing various people from home were with me to share certain experiences (and speak to in English). Hope all is well stateside ( ;) )!

xoxooxoxxoxoxo