If I die here, though, it will almost certainly be automobile-related. Crossing the street is an adrenaline rush every time and the drivers here seem to think that lanes and sidewalks-being-for-pedestrians-only are kind of just loose guidelines and not real rules.
Other than that, South America is pretty bitchin so far. This week is just chill touristing in the Quito area before we head to Cuenca where we'll be studying for the rest of the semester. We are staying at a hotel called Cafe Cultura, and it is the most charming and adorable thing I have ever seen.
Yesterday we got to relax and sleep in before we went to a museum and talked for a bit about Ecuadorian history. That bit was pretty exciting for me - I haven't taken a history class since senior year of high school and I do miss it sometimes. Afterwards we just got to walk around and explore the neighborhood by our hotel - there was a handicraft market that everyone misheard as a "handicapped market" when one of our trip leaders was telling us to check it out. Beyond that, an excellent park with a bunch of awesome playground equipment that would be way too dangerous for wussy American children. It was all splintery wood and slightly rusty metal but I got my tetanus booster and we were able to join the Ecuadorian children in their playtime before the afternoon rainstorms rolled it. After siesta and dinner we just had some group bonding time where we played a game of picture telephone in Spanish and realized how much work we all have to do. Lastly, we ended the night with a group of us girls just sitting drinking tea and gossiping about our love lives. I didn't know most of the people on the trip coming into it, and I was pretty nervous about that, so it's nice how quickly we're getting comfortable with each other.
Today we actually had to get up and do things, so I dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 with my body still on pacific standard time thinking it was 4:30. We went on a full city tour, which excitingly enough involved a LOT of cathedrals. I'm not a spiritual person, at all, but I never tire of cathedrals (as any of you who went to Europe with me after graduation remember). The ones here were built more recently than most of the European cathedrals, but they're done in mostly the same style. One of them on the outside instead of having carvings of religious figures had carvings of animals native to Ecuador - it was pretty cute.
Tomorrow we head out of the city for an overnight trip to Mindo, the "cloud forest". It's supposedly one of the most biodiversity places in the world, with 63 species of hummingbirds alone. Rumor has it, there may be an opportunity to go zip lining. We'll see if that pans out.
And yes, Mom, the food is fine.
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