Classes Begin

Previous day hike through Parque Metropolitano

Yesterday we began classes here in Quito, needless to say there is a lot to learn. It made us think back to our high school Spanish classes (A - 2 years/Z - 4 years), and how little we remember. Even more so, why didn't our teachers only speak Spanish to us? Sure, the first year would have been rough, but how else are you really going to learn. Looking back, our teachers probably spoke as much English, if not more, as Spanish during class.

All that said, between a month of classes, interacting with people as we explore Quito, and living with our host family we feel that we are well on our way to becoming functional speakers (and of the high school Spanish does help, albeit a weak foundation). After class yesterday, we walked around La Mariscal neighborhood for lunch and to speak with Galapagos tour agencies. Sofia, our teacher and host, told us on our first day that La Mariscal is known as "gringoland" because of all the hostels, bars, and international restaurant that attract tourists. As gringos, within five minutes we saw more gringos in that small neighborhood than we have seen in the past five days.

We ate at a delicious vegetarian restaurant, called El Maple. The daily lunch special included a fresh juice (orange), small appetizer (roasted eggplant), soup (potato and greens), main dish (falafel/rice/salads), and a dessert (yogurt/fresh fruit/nuts). The restaurant itself was beautiful and had an attached cafe as well for coffee and deserts, many of which are vegan. A was real happy!

Following lunch we visited a few different travel agencies in search of last minute Galapagos deals. On first impression we would say do not go to travel agencies that book all types of trips, rather go directly to the boat tour company offices. There are numerous websites that aggregate last minute boat tours, which works just as well as speaking with a travel agent. However, our visit to one agency provided the highlight of the day. Using our little Spanish we asked the incredibly nice travel agent about boat tours and explained what we wanted
. As she started searching on her computer we continued speaking and we told her about where we are from, how long we have been in Quito, and that we are taking Spanish classes for one month. We then told her that we had our first class (four hours) earlier in the morning. After we said this, she almost jumped up and said, "you have only had one four hour Spanish class and you are speaking like this?!?!". Granted we were not having a difficult conversation, but still if we had no background and were speaking like we were then it would be a miracle and our teacher would deserve a medal. After a bit of laughter we explained that we both took some Spanish in high school and we all went back to the business at hand.

More to come...