After what seemed like an age on the plane I have finally arrived here- met 5 others on the plane, got off and we were met by Yolanda who speaks no English! I was the only one who spoke much Spanish and just about managed to work out where we were to wait until Gaby, our coordinator arrived! From there we were taken to Gringoland (where all the tourist hostels and internet cafes are) where we spent our first night feeling dizzy from the journey and the altitude (2900m) and trying to remember everyones names! The next morning we headed to the office to get our itineries for the trip and have our first spanish lesson- 4 hours, pretty hardcore as my class is with 4 others, 3 of whom are fluentish and the other speaks portugese so has a pretty good head start on the spanish! I'm finding it hard going, but I'm hoping it will improve my spanish! Yesterday we went on an outing to the Mital del Mundo- middle of the world- amongst other things I stood with one foot in each hemisphere, saw an egg stood on a nail, had a dead tarantula in a glass case on my hand (and yes I have the photos to prove it!) and saw shrunken heads of jungle tribes! After that we headed to the Old Town at dusk, it was really pretty with loads of lovely buildings and convents, although I failed to see any nuns! All this week we are staying with our Ecuadorean 'parents' ours is lovely, she has a huge apartment with various members of the family living, plus 6 of us scattered between her apartment and that of her sister.. we are spoiled completely, waited on hand and foot by her servant (!) and I have a double bedroom complete with an ensuite with furry covered everything! We are getting to sample proper local food- Chris, you'll be pleased to hear last night we ate our first helping of rice'n'beans- bring it on!! So, thats what I've been up to so far, tonight is one of the girls 21st birthdays so we're going to sample Quitos nightlife.. theres about 20 of us here so should be a good laugh! Am off to my first project on Saturday, so will try and let you know how I'm getting on soon... maybe I'll work out how to download photos too.. watch this space!!