Did reflexive verbs (like como se llama? Equivalent to "what do you call yourself?" - reflexive verbs act on yourself, as opposed to someone else) today in Spanish class - again, it's just like doing French class, when I was in school - I remember doing reflexive verbs, which always seemed to involve cleaning and washing yourself!

I feel like I'm learning, not just Spanish, but about grammar in general, that's if I can apply it to the English language, when I have time. I never had to learn about what the different tenses were at school, and it never seemed to matter whether something happened in the distant past or just happened recently (or is routine) or had to think whether an action is active or passive, and therefore, how you conjugate the verb you want. It just looks and sounds right! No, in Spanish (and probably French!), you have to decide whether you are describing passively, actively, whether something happened that is not connected to the present, such as yesterday (ayer) - i.e, a specific time period ago (pretérito indefinado), before you can conjugate the appropriate verb. Plus there are all those genders and singular or plurals to take into account to, plus the appropriate Spanish to, at, and by, etc words (the en, a, por, al, del, etc) which I still occasionally get wrong - perhaps I need to work on it a bit more!).

After the class, Fiona, Anya and I wandered around the street Colon (shortened) and 6 de Diciembre to try and find more clothes, and supplies such wellies and insect repellent (a must after having been bitten by insects in Mindo!). I managed to find a couple of extra items of clothing (a T-shirt, and nylon gym-type leggings, which if they don't breathe that well, will dry very quickly, I think) but no willies at the hardware store (el ferreteria). Clothes aren't as cheap as I'd been led to expect. The hardware store had kids wellies that were too tight but adult sizes (36 upwards) that were way too large both lengthways and across the width, even if I were to wear three pairs of thick socks! And let's face it, I haven't brought enough pairs of socks to wear three pairs at a time so I can stuff my feet into a pair of wellies and still get them washed and dried on time. I also bought a massive fabric zipped bag to carry my sleeping bag in later so that the extra supplies I keep buying will fit into my large rucksack-cum-suitcase! (It's also to be less conspicuously a backpacker around Quito during the daytime, according to my hostess Monika). The rest of the day was pretty well washed out (pun intended!) as there was a big thunderstorm, where lightning apparently hit next door (don't know if there was any damage) but which was so close it also set off Monika's car alarm. New houses, such as Monika's, seem to be built with some sort of lightning rod, from what Monika's son was telling me, so we were fine, although as my room is in the basement, the housekeeper had to keep sweeping away the rain in the corridor outside.

Tomorrow, it's salsa in the early evening!