Pictures!

Pictures!! If you click on any of them, a much bigger version will open in another tab/window.

Here is the view from outside my house:

These gorgeous pictures are from USFQ. The building across the lake is where I’ll be taking yoga.

Here are some pictures I snapped on the drive back from USFQ:

More pictures to come, just wanted to get some up to give an idea of the scenery here. Everything looks very, very different.

As for orientation, they of course lectured us to death about culture, safety, etc. Here are some facts I learned.
*The reason that Ecuadorians consume yogurt in gallon quantities is that yogurt helps build the bacteria needed in the stomach to avoid getting sick from the water and food here.
*An American passport is worth $25,000-50,000 in the black market
*In order to reduce traffic, every car is restricted from driving one day of the week. This is determined by the license plate number. License plates starting with 0-1 cannot drive Monday, 2-3 cannot drive Tuesday, etc. And the police really do enforce it.
*Ecuador is one of the most active earthquake regions
*A city south of Quito, in Ecuador, was recognized as the best place to retire
*Rent is as low as $20 a month outside of Quito (but don’t expect hot water)
*In order to get into the house, I have to use five keys (four doors)

One of the speakers actually did give an excellent talk on political history of Ecuador, particularly regarding its presidents. He was completely politically incorrect and hilarious. Honestly, I wanted to take one of his classes just so I could have him. This narration of the presidency of Abdala Bucaram, el loco. If you would like to see this former president dancing in a music video, dancing with scantly clad performers, here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgePnGHpA5s&feature=related

Tomorrow is my first day of classes. I have an 8am, and it takes an hour to get there by bus. Wooo!

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