slack days in quito

So whats been going on recently then...not much really in the way of adventures but lots of random "only in ecuador" happenings. Spent most of the rest of last week studying spanish, playing with small children and searching quito for somewhere that offers slightly more in the way of evening entertainment than either bad euro pop or salsa with a heavy side order of lecherous men and ecuadorean women who may or may not be prostitutes! Unfortunately failed to find anywhere really good but still managed to keep smiling. Did go to a club that was meant to be really good for salsa but, after managing to steer rachel into the right club, realised that we prob should have gone on a friday or saturday when there would be a higher local : gringo ratio! Still danced some salsa and didn´t hopelessly embarrass myself so there is hope that i may be improving at something over here (my spanish is definately still at a stalled level, despite my lovely teacher giving me a certificate to say i am now advanced, ha ha!!!)

So what else. Managed to get out of Quito this weekend, for which my lungs are thanking me although very nearly didnt after a confusion with my friends and me thinking on saturday that they had abandoned me and didnt love me anymore! However, Quito being Quito, I ran into another friend on the street who told me where Rachel and Ava were so off i went running to track them down! So all said and done, we finally set off for Otovalo at 1pm and thanks to a helpful taxi driver, were bundled onto a bus on some random stretch of road somewhere vaguely near the bus terminal and off we went.....Stayed in the same hotel again in the middle of lovely scenery, did lots of walking, realised that when giving directions, ecuadorians will say straight on when they mean anything but, ate great fruit pie and juice, and had random night out at a bar where the owners thought it would be a really good idea to interrupt fun music with a mariachi band! Unfortunately a quick tour of the other "nite spots" of Otovalo revealed little else of interest and after a scary incident in another club where a group of 12 yr olds found it strange that we wouldnt dance with them ("but there are three of us and three of you" was their major selling point!) we bid a hasty farewell and escaped back to our hostel. Such was our weekend......

So now back in Quito for another week and have made the shockingly slack decision that even though my spanish lessons have now finished, I am still going to work part time at the centre as the afternoons are so disorganised they drive me crazy! Am also going to look into another centre this week which seems more organised and where I might be able to be more use....Would miss my new found little buddies at Salesian though....a couple of the little kids have the cutest laughs! Its just the older kids i find slightly intimidating.....especially as most of them seem to think its hilarious that i cant speak brilliant spanish and as such speak faster and use more slang than i would think strictly necessary!