My first week in Quito has been chilly believe it or not. I know I'm in the middle of the earth and it’s windy and cold at night, crazy hum? I am getting used to this since I am used to 100 degree weather from Funky Town Fort Worth, Texas. I am currently living with a host family, a lady named Jet from Lake Whitney, Texas and a girl named Francisca from Germany. I have my own room and restroom as you can see in the pictures. The family is really nice and is really different from my family in Madrid, [View Full Entry]

---

---

. . . more than half of whom live in poverty. And in the big city Quito, landed or dispossessed, life is tough. Quito like many other societies stands laced with classism and racism. The migrant indigenous compete with the blacks in the lowest stations of Quiteno life. Many of the city’s indigenous are relegated to roles of busy intersection produce sellers, sunglass hawkers, and at very best-street level artisans. Just as with the Mexican “Marias,” (Mayan descendents who have been forced to migrate to the cities to survive). Many Ecuatoriana indigenous women are relegat [View Full Entry]

---

---

Juchhu - wir haben es geschafft! Wir sind unterwegs. Seit ueber einer Woche sind wir nun in Quito und uns geht es blendend (na, heute hat mein Zahn mich zum ersten Mal sehr geaergert, aber das geht hoffentlich bald vorbei - die Zahnarztpraxen sehen weniger vertrauenswuerdig aus). Wir fuehlen uns absolut wohl, so koennte es weiter gehen. Quito ist fuer eine suedamerikanische Grossstadt mit einem Flughafen mitten in der Stadt wirklich noch recht gruen und ertraeglich. Die Leute sind sehr freundlich und man kann sich frei bewegen, auch wenn es passieren kann, dass man ausgeraubt wird. Aber im [View Full Entry]

---

---

Don’t cry Americanos, Ecuador is trying. So I’m in Quito for a while on a budget, without influential allies, and bearing limited language skills so I have to put forth a little personal effort to transcend the my cultural differences that I brought to Ecuador. Better to ideate similarities than differences. Then I was enjoying the privilege of a fine meal at a superb moderately priced restaurant, Adam’s Rib at Calama near Reina Victoria and I’m listening to the expats that hang out there whine because their custom deluxe extended cable package threatens to not carr [View Full Entry]

---

---

So the first picture is of some words from a very famous artist in Ecuador, and sums up the struggle of the poor. It also explains very well why I wanted so much to come and volunteer here and why it was just so dam hard for me to leave. I really felt guilty and still do about now enjoying a holiday, while my kids and many others need so much love and affection... Ok on to the rest of the story. Firstly I celebraed big time with my Ecuadorian friends and had a huge night filled with salsatechs and beer. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Finally.... here are some images and words about the school that I work at here in Quito (key-toe, pronounciation). The school is a project supported by the government for poor children. In order to be accepted to the school the family needs to supply three things: Certificate of Nationality; Certificate of Income; and Certifacte stating amount paid in rent. Sounds relatively simple I know but with many people here without a real job it can be difficult to obtain some of these things. But things are never simple in South America. I started this entry while I was work [View Full Entry]

---

---

Day 26: Friday 25th July - Goodbye to the Northern Hemisphere I've got to get up in the middle of the night (4am) for a transfer to Guatemala City airport. My flight isn't until 8am but Antigua is an hour from the airport. I have to catch a connecting flight in San Jose, Costa Rica to Quito, Ecuador. All goes smootly as the flights are on time. On the flight from San Jose I get talking to a guy from Los Angeles whose family are from Ecuador, and who is travelling to Quito for his cousin's wedding. He ends up inviting [View Full Entry]

---

---

Okay so i just want to make this clear, the reason that Ryan and I have been on the internet so much lately is cuz we have free WIFI in our room and there is only 4 channels on the tv in english. I know listen to me complaining. Well today was an interesting day we finally made it to the immigration office today side note: yesterday we went to the canadian embassy registered there and got a few names of legitimate real estate agents, then we went to the ecuadorian immigration office and waited for 2 hrs only to find [View Full Entry]

---

---

Quito is a city of 2 million people. Admittedly, it is in a developing country. However, typically you don't realize it and there is plenty of whatever one might need. The fruit shelves are abundant with the most incredible exotic fruit you may ever have dreamt about. The supermarkets have literally everything you can buy back home. And there is beautiful artesania, medicinal plants, stolen cameras, heaps of cheap pirate copies of whatever CD or DVD you might dream about and loads of other things. But then, every once in a while the whole city all of a sudden runs out [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hola Well as you may or may not know, Ryan and I made it here safely as well as our luggage. Which we really werent expecting, so that was a pleasant surprise. We are staying at a really nice hostal a bit out of the way of the main plazas but it just forces us to get out and walk. Today we walked around and just tried to get back into the groove. I have a bit of elevation sickness so we had to take it easy. Which is okay because we are both still a bit tired from the 24 [View Full Entry]

---

---