Ola! I´ve been in Quito for almost a week now, so I guess it´s time for an update. My arrival here was somewhat shocking and rather frustrating, considering that I´m living in a house where nobody speaks a word of English. But my Spanish is improving at an incredible rate. My family is very nice and patient with me and they´ve been great with helping me practice Spanish.
The day after I arrived I left for Baños with two other volunteers from my program. It´s a small town outside of Quito, known for ¨eco-adventures¨, so we went canyoning down waterfalls and horseback riding in the mountains, which was a great time. We stayed in a fantastic hostel, where I met a lot of people who are travelling in the area. We came back Sunday night, but, unfortunately, not in time for Col Nidray (sp?).
On Monday, another volunteer (Katie) came with me on a mission to find Quito´s Jewish Community Centre. It is in a very shady area of town, but the centre itself is pretty amazing. Security was tight, and the guy who frisked me and checked my passport scoffed after asking me the name of my Rabbi in Toronto and discovering that she is a woman.
That afternoon, Katie and I met up with a few other volunteers and spent some time in the Mariscal, which is an area of Quito´s new city. It´s where most of the backpackers stay and it´s also encompasses the bar district. For Louis, I know how much you like streets, so I found a street that can be your Ecuadorian equivalent to Shenken Street in Tel Aviv. I also discovered, after speaking to the British proprietor of a bookstore, that the neighbourhood where I live (El Recreo) is the most dangerous part of Quito. But try not to worry, I just don´t go outside after sundown, which, incidentally, is at 6 pm. In all seriousness, it´s kind of ghetto and I don´t walk around at night, but it´s really not too bad because all the volunteers live in the neighbourhood.
Yesterday was my first day of volunteer work. I went to a market just outside the city and did activities with the kids whose parents work there. The kids are a blast, but I can´t help feeling that what we´re doing won´t make a lasting impact on them...we will see. Either way, it´s fun and it´s good Spanish practice. The markets themselves are insane. People work there 15 hours per day and the conditions are terrible. I was fairly freaked out by the beheading of chickens, which was taking place every few feet. In the afternoon I had Spanish class, which was great. I discovered that if you occasionally use French words, people will probably understand what you´re trying to say.
This morning, all the volunteers had a meeting to discuss improvements that can be made to the program. A big focus this month will be hygiene in the markets, because they´ve had some cases of H1N1, so we will be teaching some basic hygiene lessons and whatnot to the families who work in the markets.
Well, that is the long and short of it so far. I´m having a great adventure and most of the other volunteers are awsome. Please send me an email and pass this blog along to anyone who I may have forgotten. But no randoms.
Lots of love!
