Aubreigh's Ecuador Trip... Day One!

Hello! For those of you who don't know, I, Aubreigh, am in Ecuador while my sweetheart, Matt, waits at home. I will be posting as much as possible so you can all keep up with my adventures. I am switching from Spanish to English in between... so don't critique my writing!!! Just enjoy!

We got in last night at about 11:00 and didn't get to the hotel until 12:00. It sure is humid and hot here! The city of Guayaquil is amazing! I love the people! They are so friendly and eager to talk. This morning we had church at 9:00. It was so hard to wake up because of the time change and traveling. The plane ride over from Atlanta was incredibly TURBULENT! A few of us got sick including myself. Thankfully, I didn't puke... although I thought I would. Thank goodness for Meclizine and air sick bands.

I am so glad to finally be here and I have already taken some cool pictures. It is amazing some of the poverty. Overall, the city is not as bad as I thought it would be, but noticeably poor. There are barrios we don't walk through and stay on main streets... most of the time. Today very few people from our group went out, but my roomies and I couldn't stand to waste valuble time. We spend the day out on the town, exploring as much as our legs could handle.

We made friends today with one of the officers. She flagged me down and kept saying "foto, foto." I figured she wanted to take a picture for us. She took us to a prominent statue near the Naval Academy and then when I gave her my camera she said, "No, first you take one with me... and then I will take one of you." Hahaha! The people are sure bold here!

We (My two roomies Laura and Candace and I) spend most of the time on the Malecon today which is like a board walk next to a huge, dirty river. It runs for about a mile and has tons of things to see. There were some dancers we watched. It was workers holiday so very little was open. So, we were "cowardly rebels" and ate at McDonald's for lunch. Tastes just the same.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel and crashed for about and hour or so. When we woke up we decided n the way to dinner we ran into the same officer. She greeted us with a kiss on the cheek again and walked us to the Malecon. We decided to be more daring and found a little hole to eat at which seemed popular. I got Carne Lomo y Fritas (cow back with french fries) I took a picture of the food. It was decent, but I sure enjoy my twinkies and fruit snacks I brought.

So far it feels pretty safe here other than the drivers. Man, you really have to look three times before you cross the road. There is no respect for pedestrians, even though they are all over the place! I don't know what I would do if I didn't speak Spanish. I understand about 1/2 of what they say, but can communicate to them whatever I want. Hopefully my comprehension improves. Tomorrow is my first day at the general hospital (the poor one). It is very, very busy so it will be a new experience.

I see this blog is getting quite long. I will check it every day or so. Email me lots at aubreighparks@yahoo.com! I haven't found a phone card yet and so far no where will take credit cards or some of the bills. It should be interesting :)

I love you guys and miss you already!