Hey everyone!

Well, it's been an interesting week. I spent 5 days touring around Quito and the mainland while living with a local host family in the city. The first two days, we walked around town looking at the churches, parks and statues. The Basilica was spectacular, and probably rivals any church in the US in size, but the most incredible one was named Iglesia de la Compañia de Jesus. The entire inside was decorated with gold, in incredibly intricate patterns, but they didn't allow pictures to be taken. The next day we visited the cascades in a smaller town called Otavalo, which was incredible. Even though it was really cold and raining, you couldn't see the rest of the waterfalls without walking upstream through the canyon. We ended up having to climb up several wet and slippery rock faces that were about 20-30 feet tall, but it was well worth it. Afterwards, we went down to the town to check out the local market, which was filled with people selling alpaca wool and various arts and crafts. The next day, we went on a tour of equator, at a museum called El Mitat del Mundo (The center of the Earth), which was really neat. The tour included a demonstration of water draining one way on one side of the line, and the opposite way on the other side. They also had us try and balance an egg on the head of a nail, which was tough, but still possible because of the opposing coriolis forces being equal directly at the equator. Of our group of around 10, only one other girl in our group, Emily, and I were able to do it. I've got a certificate to prove it and everything :P

I arrived in the Galapagos Islands yesterday with another volunteer named Aaron, and it has been really incredible. Yesterday, we went on a quick walk to the beach, and on the way we say a ton of iguanas and pelicans, but while on the boat-cab (yeah, that's a thing here) we saw two sea turtles, which was really awesome for me. While swimming at the beach, I came within 5 feet of a spotted eagle ray. It was only about a foot across, and they don't sting, so it was fine, but it was still intimidating to see. I haven't seen any sharks yet, but we met a nice couple from Australia who said that a tourist had recently been bitten at a beach on the other side of the island. Later, we walked to the Charles Darwin Research Station where they house the giant tortoises. Despite the name, I was still shocked to see just how big they really are. I think I could fit inside one of their massive shells pretty easily.

Aaron left for Isla Isabella this morning, where he'll be spending the next 2 months filming for the government, leaving me as the only volunteer on the island (as far as I know). I visited both of the schools I'll be working at this morning and met the principles. Everyone was very nice, but they spoke very rapid Spanish, and a lot of it went right over my head. I already feel a lot more confident in my Spanish, but there's just so much to learn. I start working tomorrow. I don't really feel ready, but luckily I'll be following another teacher for the first couple of days, so that should help. Well, that's all for now. Hopefully my next few posts won't be quite so drawn out, now that I'm going to start falling into a routine. I also have regular, daily access to facebook, so if you want to talk, feel free to send me a message!

Hasta Luego,
Kyce