Pick me up, I´ve landed

Spanish, so it turns out, is exhausting. ¿Who knew?

I landed in Ecuador last night, received by Byron and Monica Salvatierra, the managers of our partner organization here in Quito. After a perfect night´s sleep, I woke up to the light padding of Milena, the Salvatierra´s almost-two-year-old daughter. Milena and I aren´t friends quite yet, but her mother said that her gift of a naked barbie was a step in the right direction. Their other daughter, Najat, seems likely to be my new eight-year-old Spanish professor, given that she speaks more than the rest of the family combined.

Tomorrow I head into Santa Isabel, the rural area where we will be living and working for the next year. I like Quito, the two million-strong city where the Salvatierras live, but am eager to breathe carbon monoxide-free air.

Hasta entonces,

Mark