Traveling and First Impressions

I am safe and sound in Montanita! I didn´t have any trouble in the airports and was very relieved to see my airport pickup waiting for me with my name written on his clipboard. He immediatley asked me a string of questions however, that I had no idea how to answer!! He was very patient though, and broke it down for me. Domingo, Lunes...days of the week! Ah, how many weeks am I staying! That´s pretty much how the entire two hour drive went. He would say something and I would struggle to figure it out from his clues. I took some pictures along the drive that I will try to post of few of for you. There don´t seem to be many traffic laws here, and if there are no one seems to care. Many sections of the road have no painted lines, so the cars just squeeze around eachother like you would walking down a busy hallway in highschool. Instead of turn signals, people just honk to say ¨"hey there big bus, I´m passing you, don´t run us over!" There are also lots of people riding in the backs of trucks just waiting to hit a big bump and go flying...which doesn´t seem like it would be hard due to unfinished roads, especially once you get out of Guyaquil.

It was a bit interesting when I was dropped off at the house, because no one was home at first. A neighbor came out to answer my driver´s honking and said for me to go ahead inside. She then disappeared and a few minutes later the daughter, Veronica, came in. She gave me a tour, which I will post some pics of now and some more later. I was pleased with the room, although it´s very different from home! I panicked though when I saw the shower...it´s pretty much upstairs, four cement walls with a pipe, no visible drain, and no ceiling or door. Thankfully about 5 minutes later Julie, another girl staying at this house, came home and for the first time in several hours I had someone I could talk to. She was very friendly and helpful, and after my comment about "the room is great, the shower will be interesting" she offered to let me share the shower connected to her room. Phew!! It is enclosed, with tile, a sink, a drain, all the things you would expect in a bathroom!! She has been here two weeks and is leaving tomorrow to travel to Lima, then will be back for one more week. I think they might move me into that room when she is gone, because when Veronica was showing me the shower she was definitely trying to explain something and I think (and pray) that it was "only two days because there is two people". We´ll see, I guess!

The family has been very kind and helpful. I´m glad I brought the library book of Spanish phrases and English-Spanish dictionary though! It has been very helpful. The food has been really delicious so far also. Last night we had rice, lentils, chicken, and plantains, and this morning eggs and bread. The Cabanos, a kind of hotel where many of the students are staying, has a nice pool, finished walls, etc, but there are 4 to a room and no meals included, so I still think I am better off overall. Plus I can hang out over there like we did last night playing cards, and walk back into town with all the other students who have homestays.

The town of Montanita is very small, so in only one day I feel comfortable finding my way around. I could probably walk the entire perimeter of the town in about 20 min at a comfortable pace. It takes about 2 minutes to walk from my homestay to the school, or The Cabanas, or the beach, etc. Since it is such a quick journey I will probably videotape the walk for you one of these days. That´ll say a lot more than explaining the dirt roads, chickens and dogs everywhere, no glass in the windows, etc. (Or did I just give you a good visual?)

I could say lots more, but I also have many more days ahead to post, and I am pretty tired after a successful day of classes. Two hours of class (8-10) in the morning, then me and two girls from my class successfully ordered, in Spanish, lunch at a resturant! We were quite proud of ourselves! We had two more hours of class in the afternoon (1-3) and we have surfing tonight (5-7). That will be my schedule for all of this week.

Lots of love to all of you! And a BIG shout out to the boy sitting next to me who is helping me upload my pics because all the directions are in Spanish! :)

This is a driving down a fast highway in town. Also notice the blue car is not quite far enough over to be in a different lane, but is not directly in front of us either!

Okay...it is now several hours later because the internet here is so spotty...so I am posting this asap before I get disconnected again, and then I will try for an update on today!