Arrival in Ecuador

Hola!  Though this is late in being truly started, we hope we can post a few things about what we have been up to the last few months, as well as some photos.

We arrived by plane in Ecuador on the 22nd of January, and went directly from the airport in semi-tropical Guayaquil to a van that took us up into the Andes Mountains.  It was a spectacular view, as after about an hour of driving through flat lands covered with banana, cacao and coffee felds, we abrubtly started travelling up steep and windy roads that eventually brought us to our home for the first month, Cuenca. 

Cuenca is one of the larger cities in Ecuador, with remnants of colonial times prevalent in the architecture.  There are artisan markets and supermarkets, coffeehouses and two dollar lunch spots.  Here we studied Spanish four hours a day for four weeks and gradually acclimatized to the altitude.  We spent two weeks in a guesthouse, and two weeks living with a family, which forced us to use the Spanish we were learning. 

We really enjoyed our time in this city- we were able to attend church services in Spanish, find running routes, and Seth had the opportunity to go trout fishing in Cajas National Park with some other guys.  It was a good start to our time here in Ecuador, but by the end of the four weeks, we were ready to start doing our work!