From Guayaquil to Salinas, Ecuador

those first couple days in Ecuador killed (linguistically). I had to translate anything coming out of my mouth to arabic and THEN spanish, letting a good many Arabic words slip out in the process. i´m still working on it, but i´m getting better.

Tomorrow my 3 cronies and i leave guayaquil (biggest city in ecuador) to move into our 6-bedroom house near the beach in Salinas (a couple hours from here). It´s 300 bucks a month for our rent HA. and its less than a 10 minute walk to the beach? life is good. if anyone wants to come visit, there are a wopping 21 beds in our house. please do come visit! we didnt mean to get such a huge place, but location was perfect and the price was good. now we will be spreading flyers around to advertize private tutoring, and classes too if enough people come in groups to lower the amount they pay individually. The demand is apparently high in Salinas for English because it is a tourist beach town, and it's the off season now so workers do want to learn English -for cheap. the colegios there are too expensive so we offer the best deal. We heard there is a whole slew of workers near the beach that would be interested, which could cover us right there. i can just imagine it: "ok today we'll take our lesson outside to the beach where we´ll walk around and describe the things we see in English. We´ll focus on conjugating the verbs to swim, run, eat ice cream, and giggle like a schoolgirl."

So far in guayaquil we´ve been eating big combo meals that include a plate of chicken and a plate of rice and beans, all for about $1.40. Lots of gut-happy food for practically nothing. food near the beach is more expensive but i think i´m willing to pay a little more for living on the beach.

today we went to the iguana park, Parque Seminario. The iguanas are literally everywhere: on paths, under benches, up in trees, next to the pond where the fish and turtles are, sprawled out on the steps of the monument at the center of the park. although we liked touching and petting them, after hearing andy comment about salmonella being found on iguana skin we all pumped that sacred squeeze of sanitizer at least twice each to ensure our safety upon leaving the park.

SO. i love being here. It´s humid. i AM a little less starry-eyed at being on a new continent just because i´ve been living out of suitcases and sitting on public transportation buses/taxis for months already. the thing is, i LIKE that... but my week in utah with my baby james dean (my saturn ion) was too short. i will be glad to get back to my own car. and loud music IN my car. with no blackberry slushy spilled across the dashboard (hi mom). :)

welp, may go dancing tonight with new friends. love you all. hasta luego!