Moving on: from Quito to Ibarra

So, I´ve been in Ecuador for just over 2 weeks now and plenty has happened. I am here with Tom who is also keeping a wonderful and comprehensive blog, here:

ecuador-tom2010.blogspot.com

In Quito I was at the Simon Bolivar spanish school to consolidate my learning. The school is brilliant because they organise a lot of activities outside of classes. The first weekend I went on a trip to Mindo and met many of the people who have since become good friends. The only trouble being that they´re mostly German so we don´t practice our Spanish together much...

In Mindo, a community within the cloud forest of the same name, huts are nestled within dense greenery and the air is filled with the call of exotic birds. It was on this weekend that I first saw a Hummingbird, though the Toucans, which apparently also live here in large numbers, eluded me.

My colleague Tom Russel and I in Mindo, feeling very pleased with the beautiful surroundings in which we found ourselves!

Back at the Spanish school we discovered they also run salsa classes twice a week. Salsa is a big force here and it helps to know how to dance when going out in the evening! I remember my first night out, in Mindo, everyone stood around the edge of the dancefloor until salsa music was put on, at which point the dancefloor came alive.

So, Quito has had it´s ups and downs. During the first few days I was bowled over by how much I was learning and how new everything felt. Then one evening towards the end of the first week Tom and I were struck simultaneously by sickness- we didn´t go back to the place where we had had lunch, and I have since learned to ask whether the juice is made with purified water! Unfortunately I don't have photographs of the first two weeks in Quito, as I think the best prevention from robbery is not to carry anything of value. My colleague Tom learnt the hard way about Quito robbers as he had his SLR camera stolen while exploring the old town. Fortunately the insurance money allowed him to replace it.

Relaxing on the beach in Puerto Lopez!

We decided to spend the second weekend at the beach at Puerto Lopez and it was the perfect cure for illness. It is a 10 hour bus ride from Quito but there are very comfortable night buses that cost around $10 - a dollar an hour! The buses are just one of the things that work fantastically well here. So much about Ecuador is very developed, the people are very friendly, Quito has fantastic parks, an amazing skate park and beautiful grafiti pieces throughout the city that indicate the community and organisation of the city. But at the same time, in this country where it rains almost every day you can´t drink the tap water and even the main Basilica in Quito has big gaps in the walls.

With the first two weeks behind us it's time to leave the holiday atmosphere and beach excursions behind and get to work in Ibarra, our home for the next six months.