Settling In

Ok y'all, now things are getting rough.
Imagine yourself seated at a table with lots of Latin Americans eating very delicious bread and rice... yum. Everyone is smiling, laughing, telling jokes.
Now imagine doing that at every meal.
Now imagine your digestive tract.
Still yum?
I don't think so. And so I introduce the second week of Ecuador. The problems begin. Two of my close friends, have had digestive tract infections and one went to the hospital today. I've had my fair share of "dolor de estomago", tambien but so far so good. As my host mom has just said "Comer con cuidado". My stomach is acquiring little friends such as amoebas, and other microbes, and I'm so glad that I can provide them with a pleasant home.
On another note, last night was the welcome party for the foreign students en la plaza foche en la Mariscal. It was a gringo-fest but still quite fun. I managed to find the only ecuadorians there and play fusbol with them and also pick up a few good dance moves. I fiesta-ed until 1am and then Skyped until 2 and woke up a 6am that same morning for my first day of school. It's lucky that the first day of school here is taken so seriously...not!
My classes had a 50% chance of actually taking place since 2/4 of my classes were cancelled today: Advanced spanish and Tropical rainforest ecology.
However, my favorite class, ANDANISMO (mountain climbing) was excellent. In this class we will attend only fridays and excursions. On friday mornings we'll learn technical knot trying, watch movies to learn about the mountains here, and rappell in our gym. There will be 4 excursions that get increasingly more difficult finishing with ice climbing! I think this will be a great prep for my Cotopaxi climb in December.
Tomorrow, I have my elective classes which I find exciting...Political Science, Basic Design, and Human ecology.
Hasta!