So it?s week three at spanish school and all is going well. My powers of communication are definitely improving, just need to master the art of tenses now so it?s obvious whether I?m talking about something I?m doing or something I?ve already done!I went into the old part of Quito one afternoon this week?as I hadn?t yet managed to get any pictures of the beautiful old buildings and churches, the Plaza Grande, Santo Domingo and San Fransisco?plazas by day. I wande...

After much indecision about what to do this particular weekend four of us eventually decided that Riobamba was to be our destination. I met one of other students at our spanish school on the Saturday morning and we took a taxi to the bus station in the old part of Quito. We had all arranged to meet there as we thought it was a good central place because we were all coming from different parts of the city - but that was a big mistake...In Quito it is not generally...

So it?s week 2 and my spanish is definitely getting better. Instead of just saying ?si? and smiling when I think it?s appropriate I actually started to understand things my family were saying to me.Feeling brave and adventurous I made my first steps out alone into the metropolis that is Quito. I caught the bus all by myself to one of the shopping centres and even managed to ask someone where the toilet was?! It was quite a long bus journey to the main shopping ce...

My first trip out of Quito was to the town of Banos, about 4 hours south of the capital. It was organised by my spanish school so was a gerat opportunity for me to get to know some of the other students better as well as having someone else organise the transport and accommodation etc for a change. We left Quito on Friday night and I had my first experience of the madness of Quito traffic. It must have taken us nearly an hour just to get outside the city before w...

Thankfully I managed to find my way to school easily on the first day?and no sooner had I been introduced to my teacher than I was immediately whisked away to begin my first lesson.?At all times my teacher speaks to me in Spanish so at first it was pretty difficult to understand anything but once it?s all broken down into smaller chunks it makes the understanding much easier. If you?re forced to listen to something then eventually you start to recognise certain w...