Almost One Month!!!!

Yes, it's true. I've been in Ecuador for almost a month. How does that saying go? Time flies when you're in a foreign country? So true. Hehehe. I don't really have many new pictures, but I will update a little and put in some older photos. I started classes last Monday the 18th. I'm taking two classes at PUCE (Pontificia Universidad Catolica. They are Antropologia Social del Ecuador (Social Anthropology of Ecuador), and Lenguaje: Teoria y Practica (Language: Theory and Practice). The latter is a pretty technical course focusing a lot on spelling and punctuation and such. It will be very helpful. I'm the only gringa in the Language class and there is one other white girl in the Anthropology class. I can understand the professors pretty well, although Pato, my Anthropology seems to use a lot of slang. But he is pretty amusing.

I'm also taking 3 classes with IES. They are: Artes Populares de los Andes (Popular Art in the Andes), Diversidad Ambiental del Ecuador (Environmental Diversity of Ecuador), and Literatura (Literature). They should be pretty interesting. I went on a field trip with the art class already, which was fun. I'm very excited to learn more about Ecuador's environment. It is one of the most environmentally diverse places in the world, and it is only the size of Colorado!!

I'm sure you want to look at some pictures now, so here they are:











Remember Banos? Here is our Chiva. We took the tour of the waterfalls in this. Notice there are no doors. We rode in that little basket on the top for a while too. It was slightly terrifying but totally worth it!
When we returned to the Government Palace, I went for back for a better picture with the guard, (just for you, Jan!) Here I am almost poking the serious Ecuadorian guard.




















Last Friday we had a cocktail party with all of the international students at PUCE. It was a blast. The people who know how to salsa salsa-ed (?) and the rest of us just danced. People danced with their host moms and brothers and with the IES staff members. It was super amusing. They played music in Spanish and also some U.S. classics like Greased Lightning and YMCA. Here I am with my friend Caitlin at the shindig: