Escuela

Second day in Quito and its going great. At first I was feeling pretty full of myself due to the fact that I was having no trouble adapting to the high altitude (~9000ft). Hitting the gym was a humbling experience. Initially I had no intention to go the gym while i'm here but its one block from my house so I couldn't resist. Needless to say the altitude has an immense effect on me. It is a humbling experience feeling like i've never worked out in my life. Two minutes into a stationary bike warmup I was already struggling. After pushing it a little bit I struggled to finish each set without feeling like I was going to pass out!!! But enough about the gym!!

My second full day of spanish call was great. My teacher's name is Betty which is an ironic name for una ecuadoriana. Seven hours of speaking nothing but spanish one definitely sees immediate improvement. With interest in both medicine and spanish, the combination of the two makes it that much better. One more day of full classes and its on to a three day weekend. The group is going to start the weekend right with a celebration of one of the girl's birthday at a place called "tapas y vino". Tapas is a Spanish style dinner where you eat several small dishes and well you can guess the second part of the name and I hear they're generous with the vino! Speaking of vino i've caught word of a place in the city which is a nunnery where the nuns have devoted their lives to producing fine wines... so I imagine they're exceptional!!

On to the weather. It reminds me of Costa Rica yet again. The mornings are warm, sunny and beautiful. The humidity combined with the the sunny weather feels like a nice extension to my summer. Then, just like clockwork, four o'clock hits and the thunder, lightning, and rain hits. I haven't seen it rain here nearly as hard as in Costa Rica but i'm sure it does. The rain only lasts for a couple hours and then it just stays cloudy for the rest of the day. The consistency in temperature is a nice touch too. At night it tends to clear off a bit and the cycle starts all over again. I've only been here two days but word is this is the trend for Ecuadorian weather for this time of year.

As fore-mentioned, its off to the coast this weekend. We're going to grab a bust to Chone, which is the town where i'll be spending three weeks. From Chone, its a short bus ride to a mellow costal town called Canoa. In all its about a five hour bus ride that costs... well five dollars.... not bad if you ask me. Which reminds that i'd like to comment on the prices here. My favorite place to eat is (at a loss for the name) a little place about three blocks from the school. They have a different meal every day but in Ecuador every meal starts with soup. Today it was chicken soup with beef, rice, and orange juice. All homemade of course and for the price of $2. While i'm on the prices of food, bottled water is 50 cents and a cup of coffee is 80 cents... again, not bad.

Thats all I have for now. I'm ready for clinics next week and i'm sure i'll have some great stories next week... still working on the pictures, I try not carry anything of value with me when i'm around the city.