Trip to Ecuador- Quito 2

Hola!

Still in Quito. Over halfway done with the spanish lessons portion of this excursion. My spanish is getting much better, in that I understand almost all of what people here are saying and can make myself understood. I continue to use the wrong form of the verb, despite how I try, I propbably sound like a kindergardener, but at least I can order what I want.

Speaking of food... still bananas with every meal. Fried bananas are by far the best. We get banana soup tonight, so that should be interesting. With spanish classes today we went to a local market with all local growers, etc. Basically like a huge farmer's market that happens everyday. We got to try lots of new fruits and veggies. Despite me having travelled to tropical areas before I has still not had a lot of these fruits. They were pretty delicious though. There was also a meat market there, and oh man! there is no way that place would pass a health inspection. There was no refrigeration and meat all over the place. It was also really cheap. The flower market was cool too, $1.50 for a dozen roses. Seriously. We got some for out host mom. 

It's been raining pretty much constantly since we got here, which we are told is not normal for this time of year. They say 'global warming' a lot when discussing the weather. Which I don't know if it is true or not, but is certainly interesting. Despite the weather we went into the old town yesterday, which where the conquitadores and colonials set up the city. We visited the Basilica and a couple other churches as well as the government buildings. It was pouring rain. The streets were basically rivers and because its so steep it looks like a waterfall coming down the street towards you. We were wet and a little cold, but it was still really fun.

There are currently more Canadians in the group than Americans. It's really funny to hear their slang. I learned that a "soaker" is when you step into a puddle and your foot gets completely wet. So "I got soakers today" means that I got more than one soaker. This caused a lot of confusion and laughter. 

Most of the people going to the same volunteer project as me are here already. We are headed to the middle of the Amazon jungle (in Ecuador, not the middle middle) where it is much warmer than here and Quito and has a lot of mosquitos. The monkeys there are apparently pretty intense and will steal your food, cameras, whatever else if you leave it out. There is a 7 hours bus ride there from Quito, which we will undertake on Saturday. I am really looking forward to going. 

Interesting facts:
Guinea pigs are not only a delicacy to eat, but are also used by indigenous people for medicine when then are alive. They rub them all over the sick person (It's really weird).
Being gay was outlawed until 10 years ago.
It is cheaper to call the US than an Ecuadorian cell phone. 

Adios!