It´s been a really full week, so I´ll try to stick to the highlights. First off, I have a new housemate, Julia, who is 18 and from Boston (like Alli). And I´ve started guitar lessons with a musician friend of Marianna´s. My second lesson is in three hours and I haven´t practiced at all, so I´m off to a bad start. I´ve also found a new home away from home: the South American Explorers clubhouse. It´s in between work and school and has a great resource center, weekly presentations, and a lending library. On Thursday, Alli, Julia and I went to [View Full Entry]

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DAutres photos mais cette fois ci de Ayampe. Petit pueblito localisé à environ 30 minutes de Montanita. Havre de paix et de relaxation, souhaitons que les touristes de MOntanita nY débordent pas un jour pour envahir la plage. [View Full Entry]

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Salut tout le monde, désolé de ne pas avoir donné de nouvelles plus tôt, mais lÉquateur étant ce quIl est, internet nEst pas toujours disponible et parfois ridiculement lent. Alors, après notre périple de SanVicente et mes troubles intestinaux, nous nous sommes rendus sur la côte ouest direction pacifique. Premier arrêt, Montanita. Petit village sur le bord de lEau, royaume du surf, du kayak de mer, de la fiesta et de la vie nocturne. Disons simplement que moi et Jack avons entretenus notre champion durant 4 nuits consécutives et en avons profité pour entraîner avec nous un tchèque du n [View Full Entry]

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Holá!!!! Avant tout nous souhaitons vous dire que nous avons illustres les journaux precedents... Nous sommes toujours aussi tranquillos et presentement á Bahia Caraquez une petite ville trés relaxe situee un peu plus au nord sur la cote ouest ecuadorienne. Suite au dernier message, nous sommes alles faire du snorkelling á ile salango pres de puerto lopez... Ce fut assez impressionnant malgre la mauvaise visibilite... il y a avait une assez bonne diversite de specimens...Nous avons eu la chance de voir une bonne quantite de specimens que nous avons pu repertories dans un guide par la su [View Full Entry]

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Unfortunately this site has a limited amount of places to choose from in Ecuador. Weekend just past I went to Atacames which is on the North West coast of Ecuador, it´s about a 7 hour coach journey for 4 quid from quito. We stayed at a hostel owned by italian people and it was clean and right on the coast for $5 a night which was nice. We got there on thrusday in the evening and went out to one of the numerous bars along the coast. There are too many bars on the coast there are about 50 bars with [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday was my roommate Alli´s 19th birthday and Marianna planned a surprise party in a local dico. The six of us (Me, Alli, Chrissy, Javier, Jose and Sebastian) danced to salsa, merengue, and reggaeton for hours. Reggaeton is definitely my favorite for dancing. The next night, Alli and I were ready for something more relaxing, so we went to the movies at the Cinemark multiplex. There are a bunch of restaraunts in with the movie theater, so we grabbed sushi before the show ( a welcome treat). At the theater, we decided split one of the combos (cokes, popcorn, candy, etc.) [View Full Entry]

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Bon dimanche á tous... Nous sommes presentement a puerto lopez un petit village domine par la peche et le tourisme... Nous revenons d;un periple memorial a montanita et Ayampe, la premiere etant la capitale de la fiesta et du surf tandis que la seconde est celle du repos, de la tranquillite et de Cuatro notre nouvelle ami aubergiste qui nous a recu dans son paradis. C;est fou ce que la plage fait du bien a son homme( le masculin est employe ici pour simplifier la chose). Donc nous avons savoure ces journees comme il se doit... Plage, Plage et replage... Moi [View Full Entry]

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While the trip to Otovalo was postponed for another weekend, I spent Saturday in beautiful Mindo. We had stayed out until almost five a.m. the night before, but the trip was to beautiful to sleep in the car, as I had intended. At one point, we had to wait at the side of the road while they cleared a landslide. When we arrived it was raining (as it does every day in Mindo) so we went to a somewhat sad little aquarium (one room with tanks mostly filled with goldfish), the highlight of which was a lone piranha. The aquarium was [View Full Entry]

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Today is my fourth day in Quito and my first day teaching in the orphanage here. When I got to work this morning I realized that rather than being their English teacher, I´m the only teacher for eight children ranging in age from 6 to 12. I´m really not sure how classes are divided, but it doesn´t seem to be by age or ability level. They are adorable, affectionate children, but discipline is lacking, and I don´t have a lesson plan. They just said teach them to read and write and their numbers! I brought in a few pictures and my [View Full Entry]

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Bonjour a tous... Je me permets de vous ecrire un mot un mot en l absence de ma bien aimee. Nous sommes a guyaquil la plus grosse ville de l;ecuateur. Ici contrairement a Quito c est bourre de gratte-ciel. Quito etant donne l;activite volcanesque qui y sevit ne peut avoir d edifices ayant plus de 11 etages(si je me rappelle bien!!!). Donc c est la grosse jungle urbaine avec les gens tout partout des polices armees de .12 pompeux et de vendeurs de toutes sortes. Nous espérions y trouver la cle qui nous menerait dans les paradisiaques iles des Galapagos, mais [View Full Entry]

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