We lucked out!

Oh my god, our host family is awesome!! This place is nothing like Guyana and I love it. We have not seen a cockroach, I haven't had to wait in a long line for the one phone in the village while famished cows pass by, I didn't fall in any dirty nasty drain ditches, and I don't have braids in my hair! So sweet. Oh and Joan, I have only seen a couple of polyester suits. Our family has been great so far, except the parents don't speak a lick of English. Our mom (Jeey) keeps speaking to me like I understand and I pretend like I do to make her happy because she really likes to talk. They have one son (Andres) who speaks English very well and he has been a huge help but wants us to learn Spanish so doesn't speak a lot of English, only when it is necessary. He is 25 and will be moving to Texas next week to work in a hotel. He seems very excited and just went out and bought a new suitcase today for his trip. Our meals have been very good. For desayunos we had granola, yogurt, fruit and cafe con leche. Lunch was a little more sketchy because we had salad that they washed with tap water (my stomach has held up so far!), chicken, hot dogs, potatoes, mushrooms, cheese and juice. It doesn't sound sketchy but Patricio (the father) kept stirring the raw chicken with his fork and then eating with the same fork. And for dinner we had soup with noodles, cheese and potatoes. They live in a gated apartment in a safe neighborhood. Casey and I went out walking around several times today and felt completely safe. It was fun. We walked down to a park where WorldTeach was hosting a picnic. We played some soccer but I only lasted a couple of minutes because I was sucking wind. There is no oxygen at 10,000 feet! It was a very fun day. Casey and I have just spent the last two hours speaking with Patricio and trying to learn Spanish. I don't know if I am ever going to get the hang of this and if I don't soon my brain might not be able to take it. We shall see. Buenes Noches.

It´s my birthday!!

And I am stuck in meetings all day. It sucks, but we are going to our host family tonight which should be interesting. I can´t believe that it is my last birthday in my 20´s AHHHHH I am old!

We´re Back in Quito

We left for honeymoon on Monday after meeting with the ¨organization¨ coordinators. We have decided to visit the coast instead of going to Jima, as we will be doing a site visit at the end of the first week of orientation. We headed off on a bus towards Guayaquil, which only took 10 hours. The scenery on the bus was absolutely incredible. We dropped 8,000+ feet in the span of an hour on one of the scariest roads we've ever been on. Beautiful views of the Andes! After spending the night in Guayaquil, we headed out for Puerto Lopez a small fishing village known for the mating area of humpback whales.

Once in Puerto Lopez, we splurged on our accommodations and stayed at a beautiful place called Hosteria La Terraza for $26/night, where we stayed in our own cabin with sweeping views of the town and bay. It was owned by a very nice German couple who have decided to retire in paradise. We took a whale-watching boat, which while a great experience is probably not one we'd do again, as we felt horrible at how close the boat would get to the whales, almost harassing them. We got to go snorkeling, however the visibility of the water was probably only a few feet. We capped the trip off with an amazing Italian dinner! The next morning we embarked on a 12 hour bus trip directly back to Quito.

Oh the altitude

Today we were humbled by the altitude. After another amazing sleep of 14 hours we headed off with high ambitions of walking all around town. After about 2 hours, we both were very light headed, luckily we found rest in the basement of Cathedral San Francisco, which was built back in the 1500s. We had lunch, and cafÈ con leche, both our favorite and rested enough to walk to Plaza Santo Domingo, where a live Salsa band entertained well-dressed crowd on their way home from Sunday mass. I was so happy to see kids playing soccer in the square. We have some errands to run tomorrow and are hopefully headed off to see the breeching humpback whales, which happens only once a year during this time. We are very excited and loving our trip so far!

Quito

Our flight from Seattle to Quito was great as soon as we were out of the States. Delta sucks and LACSA was awesome. We managed to fit everything we need for the year in two backpacks and one duffle bag. We were jumping up and down in the airport when we put them on the scale and none of them were over fifty pounds. We didn’t have to pay any money for our bags. LACSA had a full bar that wouldn’t give Casey just orange juice they insisted he have a screwdriver and I passed out the entire flight and normally I can’t sleep on planes. It was sweet! They didn’t lose our luggage which allowed me to win the bet with Casey. The landing into Quito was amazing because it is in such a deep valley that the pilot really had to twist and turn the plane for a safe landing. Everyone on the plane was clapping when we landed. It scared the shit out us. Casey and I slept for about twenty hours upon arrival in Quito. We couldn’t manage to get enough sleep in the States leading up to our departure so we are catching up here. Quito so far has been a great city to us. I remember more Spanish than I thought I would and I have managed to get our room in the hostel (agua caliente!!) and order breakfast. We have met a lot of people that we can’t seem to get rid of. Casey and I keep implying that we are on our honeymoon but there is always at least one person who wants to walk to city with us. Oh well! At least we know the Israelis and British don’t totally hate Americans.

The Wedding Day

Well the day is over and went absolutely as planned. It was the best day for numerous reasons and Casey and I keep reliving all of the great memories that occurred throughout the weekend. It was truly a great day and that is why we decided to have a wedding. All great memories that we will never forget. Thank you all for being a part of it.