First blog: late.  Regardless, Ecuador has been fantastic.  I have no idea where to start…

My family is wonderful—they have great senses of humor, they’re patient with me and my Spanish, and they never ever stop giving me food.  I have a younger brother, Luiggy, who is 9, and an older sister Andrea, who is 20.  It’s great to have a sister who’s my age, and she’s been a huge help by introducing me to her friends and showing me around Portoviejo (and the fact that she speaks English helps…).  Luiggy is adorable and hilarious, and never misses a chance to joke around or correct me when I call cangrejos (crabs) cajones (drawers).  Portoviejo itself is really different from what I pictured.  Guayaquil and Quito are much more along the lines of what I think of as cities—high rise buildings, bridges, and plenty of technology.  Portoviejo is more like a huge, spread out, tropical town. There are palm trees, pavilions covered in banana leaves, tons of motorcycles, and a huge mix of poverty and wealth in a very small area. The food is great—although the people here don’t have specific foods for specific meals like we do in the US.  On my first day, my parents gave me ceviche (fish soup with cilantro and lime) for breakfast, which didn’t sit too well.  BUT, the fruit is amazing, and I never miss a chance to drink the orange juice because it is truly made by squeezing oranges. Not your average Tropicana.   At school, I can buy orange juice at recess (yup… recess) and I also usually pig out on cookies and potato chips to hold me over until lunch.  School ends at 12:45, so lunch is always eaten at home instead of during school.  I could probably write loads more, but for now, just one more experience I wont forget—riding through the streets of Portoviejo on a motorcycle.  Here, its absolutely acceptable to pack 3, maybe 4 people on a motorcycle, but this time it was just 2.  The whole time I was thinking to myself—‘How many people get to experience this?? How lucky am I?’