Mitad del Mundo

Wow! A second post! I am already exceeding expectations...


I'm at an internet cafe only for a few minutes since people are looking to leave (and, the street-smart girl that I am, I will not stay without them!) We are in San Antonio, home of Mitad del Mundo. I took some pictures that I will put up shortly of myself on the fake equator line, and then later on the real equator line. We had a little tour at the real equator, and saw how being in the center of the hemispheres messes with gravity and centrifical forces...balanced an egg on a nail, watched leaves go down a drain clockwise, counterclockwise, and straight down between the north, south, and center. Also you cant walk ina straight line with your eyes closed. Crazy.

To back up a little, we are in San Antonio for orientation. It's a little ways outside of Quito, and we're at what they call a hostel, but it's way nicer. We have the place to ourselves (all 23 of us), and we are being fed like you would not believe. Breakfast, snacktime, lunch, snacktime, dinner, snacktime. Lots of tea and cookies. Best ever. I'm officially eating meat in Ecuador, so I have yet to face any dietary concerns except for sheer portion size! For those who thought I wouldnt eat well in Ecuador...you were quite wrong!

Everyone in my group is getting along really well--it's sort of at the point where you sit down with whoever, you go exploring with whoever happens to want to go, etc. I expect we will eventually get closer to certain people but for now it's a very cohesive group with a great sense of humor. We laugh a lot together, even as we face orientation sessions about how easy it will be to get devastating diseases, different ploys that will be used to mug us, how we (women) are not relaly allowed to drink, lest we send messages of being the "loose" gringas we are already assumed to be, etc. We basically cry during orientation sessions, and then go laugh off our discomfort. I'm really unhappy about the session we just had about gender relations and relationships...I knew that Ecuador was a very machista culture, but I didn't realize quite the extent. Or, I ignored the extent. It seems there is no middle ground here....

Anyway, I need to head off but I wanted to give a quick update. I{m still trying to figure out where I am and what's going on.. but I think I'm going to like it here. I will move in with my homestay family on friday. I still dont have any information about who i'll be living with or who isinthe family, but iot sounds like they all have siblings my age who will befriend me, so that's good. Also, salsa lesson tomorrow night! My summer lives on!

Ciao ciao.