New casa in Quito!

Two days before I left for Guayaquil to meet up with the Ohio State kids, I moved houses. No, I did not trash Suzy´s house as you all are thinking (!), she found out about an exchange student who was coming to stay with her for six months and her daughter is moving back into the house so there was no longer any room for me. Luckily, Ximena, my co-worker, had a room in her house that she shares with her two sisters, brother-in-law, mom, grandma and dog... so I moved in and am so much happier! Suzy´s house was amazing; very quiet and I had a lot of privacy but it was a little boring to be by myself all the time. Now I´m with a loud, noisy family and I'm not getting as much sleep as I was before, but I´m loving it!

Their house is near the Plaza de Toros (bullfighting ring) and is in a much more residential neighborhood, with little stores and cafes along the main street. The house is two stories and I live on the ground floor with Ximena and her sister Christina. Ximena´s mom and grandmother live above us and her sister, Maria Augosta, lives in an apartment connected to the house with her husband. There´s always someone around, especially since Christina´s boyfriend and Augosta´s husband are brothers and Augosta has a twin sister, Maria Lourdes, who is married to Suzy´s son and they have an adorably rambunctious little 2-year-old named Ramina. (All the family connections get a little complicated...)

Here´s our living room and my pretty pink princess bedroom:

My first weekend living there, Ximena, Christina, Christina´s boyfriend Rodrigo, and I went into the historical center to see an Andy Warhol exhibition. Here´s Ximena (left), me and Christina in the city center and with the classic soup can.

Rodrigo is the drummer in a local band, ¨Miss Goulash¨ that has had three gigs in the two weekends I´ve spent with them in Quito. One was part of a music festival in the Parque Carolina (close to my first homestay) and the other two were in local bars.

Rodi is on the left in the middle picture. They´ve been playing together for four years and he says its just a hobby for them, but I´ve been telling them they need to put out an album. They have gigs in Quito almost every weekend and they travel a lot.

Here´s Ximena and Christina and me with Claudia and Manola. Right after this pic was taken, an Ecuadorian guy came to our table and started speaking English to Claudia (the blonde, who is actually Colombian), thinking that she was the gringa!

The next morning, I got up bright and early and went walking in the park with Nancy (Ximena´s mom), Maria Augosta and her husband, Paul. The Parque Metropolitano is huge and most of it is natural forestland with hiking and biking trails throughout. Paul and Augosta rode their mountain bikes and Nancy and I walked and talked while Ramon ran back and forth between us. Nancy´s family has roots in Quito´s political history and a few branches are quite wealthy so she entertained me with the history and scandal from the last hundred years or so.

I´ve told them I´m going to try to go with them every Sunday morning (despite the late nights with Ximena!) and Im looking for a place to rent a mountain bike. I really can´t believe how lucky I´ve been in finding such great families to live with. I´ve heard so many horror stories about bad homestays and terrible roommates that I´m so glad to come home to a place where I´m called ¨hermanita¨ (little sister). Honestly, if anyone is reading this to get insight on volunteering abroad, I seriously suggest living with a family- I don´t think you can get the full experience any other way!