First Impressions

The plane landed in Quito with a less than smooth landing in the pouring rain. I made it to my host mother, Rosita’s house just after 11 pm and was shown to my room which is a little cottage detached from the main house. I have a room mate and we share the bathroom. There are 5 other students from this program living with Rosita and 1 other student in another home. 4 of these students are finishing up their month in Quito this week and will be leaving on the first weekend I am here.

The first 3 days in Quito consisted of breakfast at Rosita’s with the other students. We have been having pancakes with fruit and café con leche and water. Then 4 hours of Spanish class with my instructor Juan Carlos. For lunch, me, my class mate and Juan Carlos have gone to various restaurants for typical Ecuadorian food. There are countless restaurants that offer almuerzo (lunch) every day which consists of soup, juice and a meat and rice plate usually for $1.50 to $2.50. The types of juice, soup and meat change every day but each place just makes one almuerzo a day. Here is a picture of my first meal in Ecuador (this actually isn't a typical almuerzo because the first day we went to lunch at the mall. So you can see that there is no juice):

The soup is called Locro and it is a potato soup that tastes very cheesy. On the right is a plate with hominy, sausage, avocado, fried plantain, potato pancakes and a fried egg.

Lunch is followed by another 4 hours of Spanish classes. I think that my Spanish is getting better.

Funny story, I initiated a class break so that I could try to find some to go coffee to get my coffee fix. After waiting for about 15 minutes in a restaurant, this is what I ended up getting. A giant Styrofoam bowl of what tasted like sweetened milk. I guess I will have to give up my coffee addiction for the rest of the time here and also it is refreshing to know that starbucks hasn't infiltrated everything.

At dinner, all the students gather with Rosita for the meal. We are supposed to only speak Spanish at the dining table.

One surprise that I discovered shortly after arriving is that the coming weekend is Carnaval! So the whole country has a four day weekend and I will not be having Spanish class or clinic.