06 de Diciembre update!

Well, this is my (Vanessa´s) first blog posting! We have been in Ecuador just over a week and all is bueno! We have one teacher between the both of us for 4 hours every week day, plus we eat 3 meals a day with our host family who speaks solamente español, so our Spanish skills are coming along well! This is a relief because it´s so difficult and frustrating to NOT be able to communicate. As I believe Maxie stated, we are in the beautiful city of Cuenca after a few days in Baños. The city reminds me very much of a little Florence, Italy and the people are ´muy simpatica´. It is a bit larger than we anticipated, but it is a very walkable ciudad, as we were told before arriving. We have already made a few amigo here and tonight will be our 2nd night of salsa dancing clase at our school (very fun and funny). There are only about 8 students right now at the school, so it been fun getting to know everyone. It seems are though there are many Australians and Germans traveling in Ecuador. Both are wonderful people.
Being a vegetarian, we were a bit concerned with the selection I would be able to eat while traveling. This is NOT a problem. Every place has options just like in the states but proably more so. Baños especially. Out of 4 of us girls in the school, 3 of us are veggies and have had little if any problems. One things Max and I have found interesting about Cuenca and Baños is that the cities seem very wealthy - much more so than we anticipated. It will be interesting to travel outside cities and experiance a more rural Ecuador... we hope to do a few weekend trips.
Sounds like there is a lot going on in the states. Floading in Portland and shootings in the south (que triste). I hope everyone is well and we expect full updates from friends and family. _V_