Mr. Turtle is my father

(Sorry, aside from mentioning sea turtles, the title of this post is unrelated.)

Yesterday we found out that this weekend (starting Thursday evening) we're going to la Isla de la Plata, otherwise known as the poor man's Galapagos. It's perfect, because I am a poor man.... well, woman... and I love me some sea turtles. That being said, you probably won't hear from me until next week.

The last two days have been really wonderful. Number one: I love the people I'm here with. I have this incredible good fortune of time and time again being placed in situations where I meet people who awe me, and I can tell already that this experience will be no different. B of all: I'm actually able to tell that my Spanish is improving. That may be hard to believe, but I was able to hold a conversation with my host mom all the way through dinner. Granted, everything I say is in the present tense, but, heck, that's progress. Additionally: we've started exploring the city a little bit more, and it's been fascinating. I've spent my entire life in small towns in Nebraska, and I've truly loved every second of it, but I can tell that this experience is going to change the way I look at the rest of my life.

Yesterday, during class, we went to el mercado. Basically, it was this giant building full of fruit and vegetable stands with an area that serves all types of food. We're talking pigs, head and all. To put it in the words of one of my classmates, it was baller. Today we walked to a giant park in Quito called el Parque de Carolina. It's gigantic. I only played Frisbee in a very small portion of it, but I'm excited to do more exploring.

My life is pretty awesome.