I hate Spanish grammar.
Other than that (and a nasty throat thing that's going around), I´m having a great time here in Ecuador. I´ve been doing the studying thing for about three weeks and have actually been a good student (most of the time). I´ve got one more week of class and then ... well, I´m not quite sure. My original plan was to go to Peru for three weeks, but the tickets are expensive and sold out. Tickets are as much from Quito to Cuzco as they are from Atlanta to Quito. So, I´ll try and decide something this weekend. The only thing certain at the moment is that I´m going to spend far too much money to visit the Galapagos Islands. I won´t even say how much it is, only that it´s close to a full months salary.
The school that I´m going to is alright. My teacher loves grammar a bit too much and I´d actually prefer to have a class instead of one-on-one, but all the schools that I looked at here don´t offer classes unless you come in a group. After far too much grammar (from estar/ser (is), future and past tense verbs) I put my foot down on Tuesday and said no more grammar for the rest of the week. My teacher spent quite a while explaining (en español) why I needed to study even more, but finally relented and we spent the rest of the week practicing speaking, listening and reading. The school offers free extracurricular classes everyday, such as salsa, cooking and cocktail making. So far, I went to one salsa class (I suck and had some brute of a Ecuadorian woman tell me that I was muchos chicas - a big girl, as she was doing most of the leading), two cooking and one cocktail class. They also offer weekly tours of the old city at night and weekend trips. (Simon Bolivar Spanish schools - I´ll put in a link later, I´m on a crap computer)
Last weekend I went to Baños with a bunch of students. It was a blast - muchos divertido. We rode bicycles for about 3 hours (mostly downhill, thank god) and then hiked up to several waterfalls. One in particular was spectacular. I don´t remember the actual name of the waterfall but the bottom of it was called the cauldron of the devil. Once you got there, it was easy to understand why. The water was so powerful, it was like looking at a hurricane. Fantastico! At night, we went to the top of one of the mountains in the area and tried to spot the volcano. There´s an active volcano in Baños that has caused the town to be on alert and was even responsible for a mass evacuation a few years ago. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy and we could only spot a few sparks here and there. I was able to see it during the day (actually you can´t miss it) and got a few photos. Must be a bit ominous living there with such a threat leaning over you each day. (a bit like Taiwan?, but much more unpredictable) Anyway, after the volcano, a few of us went out for drinks and dancing (not salsa). The bar was quite fun and while there, an Ecuadorian chico gave me his girlfriend. A bit weird, but fun. I gave her back later.
I quite like Quito, or the small corner of it that I´ve come to know. The weather is close to perfect with warm days and (I think) cold nights. Perfect, of course, would be warm nights, as well. It´s actually nice to experience something akin to weather as opposed to the perpetually sunny days in Al Ain. I can get to most places I need to go on foot, but if not taxis and buses are very cheap, though (unlike what the Lonely Planet suggests) you must negotiate with taxis before getting in. The food here is extremely cheap. You can get a full meal for 2 USD. Unfortunately, it´s a little less than spectacular. They don´t think much of spices, so much of it is rather bland. I´ve only seen pepper on the table once since I´ve been here, though most restaurants do have salsa.
There´s a bit of a nightlife here and many of the kids in the school go out practically every night. I haven´t really found anywhere that knocks my socks off so don´t go out so much. One thing that I really don´t like about Quito is that it´s quite unsafe to walk around at night, even in a group. Since I´ve been here, a couple of people have been robbed, one group at knife point. It´s a shame as I think the atmosphere would be completely different if strolling the sidewalks at night were an option.
Last week I was really taking it easy as I got a nasty throat infection that affected serveral of the other students. I felt really crappy for a few days and still am not a hundred percent, but think I´ll recover enough to be a bit more active this week.
Tomorrow I´ll be traveling on volcano row on the way to another devil´s something or other. It´s the only train line in Ecuador and is way up there. Should be a fun trip, I´ll let you know.
I´ll try to post some pictures and write more a bit later, but for now I want to go and enjoy the day before it gets dark and the boogeymen come out.