Ecuador, Ama la vida!

What a joy it is to be in Ecuador. I can't believe that I'm here for work. It has been quite an adventure in so many regards. I'm back in Montanita after passing a week in Guayquil and Cuenca. Fausto and I ran around the city filling out paperwork and talking with government officials about becoming licensed exporters. It is a suprisingly streamlined affair, if you know what your doing. Thankfully Fausto is studying International Business so he's been the man of the week. We topped off all of our hard work by going to a natural hotspring off the beaten path in an area of mountains called Los Soldados (The soldiers) We drove our way up a windy dirt road in a valley following a river, until the vista opened up into mountains soaring above our heads with rocks jutting out like... soldiers. The paramo, the high altitude plains is ethereal. We didn't quite make it but the valley just disapeared into the endless vista of rolling hills. The hotspring was right next to the river, and our view held the mountains, rocks and paramo all with only the turn of our heads. We went with a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in four years, Inel, from France, she was an exchange student when I was and is now studying tourism in Cuenca. As well as a woman from Switzerland who is staying with Fausto and studying Spanish. We sat in the waters for ours talking and taking in the beautiful scenery, it was astounding. The speed of the clouds, passing in front of the sun and changing the light every so often kept the soldiers in constant motion. The owner of the hotsprings came down and asked us to pay the nominal fee of $1 each. He told us some tall talls about 16 meter anacondas, cows producing 70 liters of milk and other stories that were pretty interesting. 

Staying with Fausto and his family was great, living with a family is always interesting. His mother is so accomodating and was happy to see me.When Fausto was in class I wandered around Cuenca looking for tasty things to eat and interesting people to talk to. I had more flashbacks staying with his family, eating together and hanging out than I've had yet. Eating different foods that I used to love, like ripe plantain with a slice of cheese in it, or Morocho the drink made from corn. Has elicited waves of memories of my life back in Quito. I look forward to staying with my family in Quito before I come back to the states.

Today a woman told me that my accent still is from Quito. She's from Quito and couldn't get over how much I still had the accent. It's so funny that people know the city where I learned spanish because of my accent.

All is well and swell, I still can't believe I'm here "working!"