Pictures from Quito

My name when I am in Ecuador is Rosa!

     I have not found an equivalent to Daryl in Spanish. Therefore, my name when I am in Ecuador is Rosa.
I hope you all had a joy filled Christmas and are thinking about all your accomplishments in 2010. I like to reflect on the year in this last week and see where I am, where I've been, and think about where I am going.


     A year ago, if you had told me I would go to teach English in Ecuador this year, I would have been skeptical. After I took a prosperity class at my church last winter, I got more clear about my goals for 2010. I got $1100 back from my tax return and while doing dishes at my church, a friend said to me, "There is a 3 weekend class at the U of O we can take that will give us an ESL certificate." I said, "How much is it?" She said, "It's $1100." We agreed to do it and in May we took the Oxford Seminar. I had researched ESL certificates in the past and it sounded like a good way to go, so off we went.

     The class was loads of fun and my 10 classmates were all very interesting folks. We all got a chance to practice teaching and learned much from our fabulous teacher, Doug Grimsly.

     Oxford Seminar helped my get my assignment in Quito with Inlingua. They have language schools in 40 other countries. I am very impressed with the Inlinqua method of teaching adults, English.

It is so nice not to have to think about teaching!

12 more days of vacation.

Back in the US and baby it's cold outside!

   I forgot what winter felt like. I have grown accustomed to 50 to 56 degree weather for the past six weeks. I am enjoying my vacation. Teaching can be so all consuming. It is such a relief to not think about it. Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. To all you teachers out there, enjoy your break and I hope you pamper yourself during the holidays.

It is a rainy day here in Quito.

     Weather is Quito is 54 degrees and a slight drizzle.

Most days in Quito are in the 50 to 56 degree range.

It seems that if it rains, it happens after 4:00pm. Today is an exception. It was drizzling when I left for work at 6:45 am. It is 11:30am now and it is still drizzling. It averages 3 or 4 days a week with some rain. Not anything like the amount of rain we receive in my town of Eugene, OR. however.


I feel relieved to be done with teaching this year. As I told my sister on Skype today, I am looking forward to a few weeks where I do not constantly have to be figuring things out.

i.e. How to tell the taxi driver where I want to go and to say it with a voice and accent that they can understand. I usually begin the conversation with "No hablo Espanol." This means I do not speak English.

My driver this morning took a wrong turn because he thought I said a different street. I said no, no, no and got him turned around and pulled over to the side of the road. I then showed him the business card for the Inlinqua Language School and he understood completely where to go. 6 weeks I have been here. I will not go out without the business card of the address I need after my experience today.

After the first of the year, I plan to take Spanish lessons at Inlingua for $3.00 / hr. Special rate for teachers. I get paid $7.38 an hour to teach. I spend about $3.00 to $6.00 a day in cab fair for my 2 and 1/2 hours of teaching each day. Bottom line....The last two weeks, I have spent more than I made. I calculated that the last two weeks I have spent about $100 more a week than I have made. January is a new year and I will make some contacts to get more work, then.

My last week of teaching this year.

     Just 3 more days of teaching and I am headed back to the states for Christmas. It does not feel like Christmas because I am missing family and friends. I look forward to bringing back some items from the states that I forgot. I will be back here for my class on Jan. 3rd. I willing be staying until the end of Feb.

Inlingua Language School Card Party

     As part of the Viva Quito Celebration, the game of quarenta is played during the 6 day festival. Inlingua teachers got together on a Friday afternoon for this fun party.

Weekend with Wifi

What a great place to spend the weekend. A hostle where they speak English and I have Wifi. Here it is pronounced "WeeFee." I have such fun creating collages on Google's Picassa 3. Here is one I just made showing my students at Nestle. I find I am really liking teaching adults.

To market, to market to buy a fat pig (guinea pig that is.)

Yes, that's right guinea pig. They eat them here in Otavalo, Ecuador. A fellow traveler tells me he heard from the hostel owner that the ones they sell here are not plump enough.

She has cuy, as it is called, on the menu, by special request.

Otavalo, Ecuador 2 hours outside of Quito

I am on vacation. I left Quito today after my morning class at Nestle and took a $2 bus ride (in Ecuador you can ride a bus for about $1/hr. and you can go all over the country.) It took 2 hours to get here. I am staying at a quaint hostel and the owners speak English. I found it via Lonely Planet guide to Ecuador.

It only cost me 25 cents to get a bus ride to the bus terminal in Quito. The longer I am here, the more I am willing to venture out of my routine and try the public transportation system. I hopped on a bus that was headed North. I saw a sign in the window that said, "Terminal." Since I was looking for the Quito Main bus terminal, I took a chance. It turned out perfectly.

Otavalo has been a marketplace for Ecuadorian handicrafts for hundreds of years. Many of the women wear the traditional Ecuadorian clothing. I will post a picture later this weekend, after I take pictures of the marketplace.

My hostel room was $10 a night. I have a shared bathroom. They have Wifi here and I forgot to bring my adapter from Quito, so I am working off my battery on my computer. With any luck, I will buy an adapter and have internet all weekend. It is great to be out of the city of 2 million people and here in the little town (45,000) of Otavalo.

I still have a sore throat and the remnants of my cold. I went to the pharmacy and got more medicine. Unfortunately, I got the dosing instructions switched on the 2 sets of meds. I am back to using my meds from 2 weeks ago for my respiratory symptoms. I plan to get lots of rest this weekend. (and do some shopping as well.)

Viva Quito!

The founding of Quito by the Spaniards in 1500 was celebrated for the last 5 days. I especially enjoyed getting together with my fellow Inlingua teachers and playing a traditional card game called cuarenta.

I am thinking of going to Otavalo this weekend for 2 nights. It is a couple of hours from Quito by bus. There is a really good bus system running throughout the country. It only costs about a $ an hour to ride it.

OR vs, OR State Civil War Game

I am wishing I could see this game live. I went to the tourist area(Mariscal) and all I could find was soccer and the Auburn vs. S. Carolina game. Bummer. The best I can do is Oregonlive.com. I did just find a new restaurant in my neighborhood that is very elegant and they have Wifi. They are not even bugging me to order something. It is Ducks 16 and Beavers 7 at the half. Gotta get back to the game.