First Post From Ecuador

Hola! I am in Ecuador! I am here, and in one piece, more or less. I was feeling terribly sick the day of my flight (probably because of a medicine I was taking for the altitude) and so the flight was miserable. I ended up throwing up when we landed - luckily into a paper bag that I was able to throw away, but still terrible. We had to wear masks over our noses and mouths because of the swine flu - it looked like a scene from the news. Apparently they are very afraid of outsiders bringing the flu in and some volunteers were told they couldn´t come because they might be sick.

I am in the smack dab center of the city - the traffic is terrible like Austin and the drivers honk ENDLESSLY! I am living on the 4th floor of an apartment and it is SO noisy! It sounds like you are living in the middle of IH35. Apparently they do not have double paned glass or any other barrier to keep the sound out. I went to the store today and bought some more ear plugs (sorry Sarah - yours weren´t super strength). I live with an older woman - maybe early 60s who lives by herself. She has kids, but they live far away. There is another volunteer living with her now whose name is Sam, but he is leaving tomorrow. Maria is trying to help me learn Spanish but I realize now that I basically know NOTHING!! It is terrible trying to communicate and I have never felt so stupid or helpless in my life. I am trying to learn as fast as possible, and hopefully I will feel more confident soon.

I start at the orphanage tomorrow. Hakan (a coordinator) and I went today to introduce myself. We were on the bus for an hour! He said that isn´t normal - usually at most it will take 50 minutes. It cost 25 cents a ride, no matter how far you go. I will leave my house at 7:55 to get to the bus stop at 8:10 to get to the orphanage at 9:00. I will stay all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but if I want, I can stay half a day on Thursday and Friday so I can travel or see other volunteers.

There is hot water, though no water pressure, so it is basically a trickle. I am glad, though, because Sam says on the coast they don´t have any hot water. Maria has a TV, which she watches endlessly. I have a room to myself, though there is another bed, and I am hoping another volunteer will come soon. The food is interesting. Some is good, some is bad. It is very repetitive for sure. For breakfast, there is egg (sort of scrambled-ish), plain bread (like a tiny french loaf shape, but plain tasting and hard), freshly squeezed juice of some sort (some are very tasty, some need some sugar ;) ), and something similar to chocolate milk. I am trying to tell Maria I don´t eat that much. She is used to Sam. For lunch and dinner, there have been assorted things. We had pan-fried fish which was good and usually plain rice. Sometimes there is salad, which is good. Everything is very fresh and Maria buys food at least twice or three times a week.

Well, I am paying to use the computer, so I guess I´ll stop writing for now. Excuse any mistakes as I am trying to type quickly and the keyboards here are different.

Hasta luego!