Hiking in Quito and the Middle of the WORLD!

Hola Todos,

I didn't really do anything substantial up until this past weekend so I haven't had anything really cool to blog about until now! This past weekend was adventured filled and exciting! Saturday morning, some friends from the school and I went on a hike up into the mountains that surround Quito. There really isn't a good way to get up there, so we took a cable car up to the top of the mountain and began out hike. The pictures speak for themselves, I told my friends that they are so real they look fake! We hiked for about 2 hours, had lunch at one of the peaks and then hiked to the waterfall that you see in the picture. I want to go back up there later on in my stay and do the 2.5 hour hike to one of the volcano basins that overlooks the city. Overall, it was a great hike even though it was a tad cold up there I'm from Michigan so I can handle cold :p

Sunday morning Abby and I had lunch with our host family and then they took us to their country club (yes they are members to a country club) it was amazing! They have like a thousand tennis courts, 3 pools, a full 18 hole golf course, a huge horse arena, a huge clubhouse, a full gym, several restaurants, a church, squash, volleyball courts, several soccer pitches and a ton of other stuff! It was really neat, I can't wait to go back there. The family said that when we have a nice day we could go back and spend the whole day there, I'm game!

Later, we then traveled a bit further to the middle of the world AKA the Equator. There is a hugh monument build there on the imaginary line that divides the planet into 2 hemispheres. I posted several pics of Abby and I standing in "separate" parts of the world. It was really neat, although a huge tourist trap. How many times will you have the chance to say that you were in the middle of the world! The monument was emblazoned with the cardinal points of the compass rose (in Spanish of course), so the pic of us standing on the "O" means East. They say that there are certain things that you can only do on the Equator like stand an egg on one end without any help or watch water drain from a buckets in different directions above and below the Equator. You had to pay to see these things and we didn't so I guess I'll just have to take their word for it.

Overall I had a great weekend with my friend Abby and my host family. We do "family" activities every Sunday and I like that. It's a great way to get to know the country. I'm not sure what we are doing next weekend, possbily another hike to another nearby volcano where we can ride horses, donkeys and do some more hiking. If you love the outdoors like I do that Ecuador is a great place to travel.  Stayed tuned and I'll keep you updated!

Chao for now,

~ Jon

First Day of School

Today was my first day as a Student in Ecuador! The day began bright and early, a crisp 6:30AM with breakfast waiting for me on the table from my host mom. It was also the 1st day of school for my host-sister Andrea so my host family took her to school 1st and then they dropped me off at the academy. Every Monday new students arrive and Patty the director introduced all of us "new people" to the students and then we moved on to orientation. They took us to the front of the building and snapped this quick picture before we went on the city tour. After, we went on a tour of the city and watched the changing of the guard at the Presidential Palace. It's a pretty big event that takes place every Monday. I didn't take my camera with me today, but since I'll be here for 4 months I think that I can probably find time to go back again :p Tomorrow I start my classes for real this time and they told me today that I can expect at least an hour of homework each day. While this sounds like a lot, I'm out of classes everyday by like 1pm so I guess that is works out in the end. I also rode the bus for the first time today. It only costs 25 cents and you can go anywhere in the city! It's really packed and you have to watch your stuff at all time to make sure you don't get robbed, but for the price I guess I can't complain too much. When I get more settled I'm going to start doing some volunteer work at a local center for underprivileged youth in the city. Well thats all for now, stay tuned for more adventures from Latin America :) Chao!

Buen Viaje

Hola Chicos,

This evening I'm setting off on my four month adventure to Quito, Ecuador to continue studying Spanish. I made this blog at the request of many as so everyone can keep tabs on me while I'm hanging out with the Ecuatorianos. I have many fun and educational experiences planned so you guys will have to stay tuned! I plan on doing a lot of traveling and hiking like I did when I went to Peru. I will be staying with a host- family while I'm there, so lets hope they have internet at their house! The quickest and easiest way to keep updated is to "follow" this blog at the right side of the page, and you will receive updates when I make a new post etc. Well that's all for now! Stay Classy!

~ Jon :)