Thank goodness for drugs and trees.

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Oh man, what a difference some drugs and a stroll through some shade makes! The girls give me a hard tine about carying a small supply of nose-headache drugs, but they seemed to have worked.

Flowers seem to be sprouting, and being planted around the park. In front of the Centro church people get there shoes shined under the protection from the sun. I assure you I went out and bought some sunblock after burning my ears...at 8,000 ft it´s more intense than you think.

I also got out to do a good bit of hiking around the city and found the Parque de Zoologico to be lacking but there was a large amount of shade provided by some trees. The facility was rather run down, but used heavily and the children seemed to all be having a good time. The animals also looked in very good health, so someone must be looking after them.

On the walk back I came across a great little cafe, where the owner and daughter were very helpful and instructional. I stopped just to have one of the local beers, Gallo´s Cabro extra and had such a good time learning espanol from them that I stayed had a few more beers and a great sandwich.

As it turned out the trip up the volcano may not have been the best for me. They decided to take a short cut, which you can imagine was much steeper. It got colder than they expected and the sleeping bags provided were not sufficient, so everyone was pretty cold. The sunset and sunrise made it worth while for everyone, tho.

I started my second week of classes and am trying to explain to the instructors that I am will to work out my communications with all the verbos I already have been trying to learn. Seems like they are saving the most important and irregulares until this week. I thought ingles was know for all the irregularities and inconsistencies. The schools director gives us a hard time when we use spanglish, but there are a lot of words that sound just like that.

The school has great outings planned for each daay this week, and hope I can get coordinated to participate.

At Caitlin´s suggestion I sought out a cafe for lunch, Deli Crepe, doesn´t sound local but I just had the biggest and best Caldo de Marisco in my life for about three dollars. The joke around here is how proud the gringos are to just be able to figure out, order and pay for their lunch, well anyway I feel like I may figure this out yet.

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Comments

[Martin]

Buenas Noches
Querido Amigo: It does sound like you are having a great time, all away from the daily pressures of life in the big city. It is still kind of strange not to hear from you nor see you at CCA, I am sure this is the last thing you need to hear about. The photos look great and I am always looking forward to you posting new ones and letting us know how you are doing. How large is your class? All gringos or some europeans? How is the weather in general......hot or cold. How about a photo of the bike you have been riding.

[Berb]

Buenos Dias
Actually the instruction is one on one. Five hours 8-1 seventy five percent are european, from what I can tell cool at nights and hot sunny days, really it is too dust for me. I´ll get a photo of the bike, which is actually a reall good one, and myself for the next entry