Yo dudes.

Hola todos:

This is my first attempt at 'blogging'. Hmm. What to say? If you don't know already, I'm here in Ecuador on a Fulbright Scholarship for about 10 months. Today completes my first week here, and let me tell you, it has been an adventure. I arrived last Sunday with a massive headache, probably due to the altitude. It took me a good 3 or 4 days to acclimate to the thin air here (Quito is the 2nd highest capital in the world, next to La Paz, at almost 10,000 ft above sea level). I decided against taking a sulfa diuretic called Diamox; instead, I drank a *ton* of water and nearly overdosed on Advil. Fun times.

I've been in sensory overload for the past week. There is *so* much to take in at once--the scenery, the people, the food, the pollution-- it is overwhelming at times. The scenery is OOC ('out of control' for non-texters). Sometimes when I'm walking on the street I'll step aside from the foot traffic and stop to look over at the mountains for some time. I don't think the pictures do it a lick o' justice.

Besides the $5 pick pocket incident and the overly friendly doorman, the people here have been very warm and welcoming. The other day I went exploring Old Town Quito and decided to stop for a juice (more about the juices later) at an outdoor market. Juice Lady was probably one of the nicest people I've met in a long time There weren't a ton of people around, so she sat with me while I drank my juice and we chatted. She gave me the 411 on Quito--where to go, where not to go, what to do, what not to do. It rocked. So did the juice.

The pollution takes some getting used to. Alot of the buses and cars here are really old, so they drive by and leave you in a plume of exhaust. Combine that with the altitude and the steep hills and you've got a recipe for good times. I'm sure I'll miss it all when I leave.

One thing that I will really miss are the amazing juices! Although, I'm almost certain they will have juices on the coast. I drink at least 4 a day. They are amazing--no added sugar or added anything--only pure pulp from the fruit. My favorite so far is probably papaya, although the guanabana comes in at a close 2nd. Juice Lady taught me all about the different fruits that they have here, some of which I'd never heard of, including but not limited to: Guanabana, taxo, tree tomato, mango, papaya, coconut, blackberry, watermelon, orange, limon, and pear. So far I've tried guanabana, papaya, tree tomato, blackberry, and watermelon. I could drink the juice here all day every day for the rest o' my life. Word.

My ADD is kickin' in so I'll have to write more later. Pictures will be posted sometime in the near future, I hope. I leave for Machala, which is on the Pacific Coast, on Wednesday. From then on I plan to be uber busy starting up my project, which is a study on the food security levels of banana farm workers on Fair Trade farms. I'm hoping to have regular internet access down there, but who knows.

Until then. :-)