Gringo Blogo

We have moved again, we´re now in an apartment complex that is a bit weird, run by devout Catholics and could be the set of a horror film. On the plus side its spotlessly clean and really quiet so all in all we like it. Our Spanish lessons have started and Marianne knows loads more than me already, but thats not cos Im stupid I just need to apply myself (story of my life)………
Im trying to do a deal with the owner of the Spanish school - ill do some web design in return for lessons so I have to negotitate with him tomorrow. Im so shit when it comes to talking about money, forget Spanish thats what I really need classes in.
It was the election here at the weekend. It was a bit strange, all bars were closed for 3 days beforehand. Cant have anyone being drunk in the polling booth and voting is compulsory. There was a military curfew apparently after dark but we werent out anyway. The election was inconclusive and will now go to a second round between Chavista Rafael Correa and the man who buys popularity, Alvaro Noboa (hes a billionaire banana magnet that goes round giving out money and wheelchairs at his rallies in return for promises of a vote - you couldnt make that up)

Since Ive been in Ecuador I have unfortunately been forced to use Microsoft Internet Explorer to browse the internet (internet cafes rarely have anything else). I can´t tell you how annoying this is after a long time on the vastly superior Mozilla Firefox or Safari (for Mac Users). Anyway one of the things I discovered is that this blog design dosnt work brilliantly on Internet Explorer and to see it as intended I suggest you use Mozilla Firefox. Like I said you should be using it anyway cos its so much better and easier to use.

After a trip to the Internet on Sunday me and Marianne realised how shit our school was and how much we were being ripped off so we hatched a plan to escape our personal hell and are now soldiers of fortune on the run from the authorities for a crime we didn´t commit. It was pretty stressful leaving Fajarado and one of the German girls now hates me with a passion, she thinks I was leading Marianne up the wrong path, she even said that in front of me, lucky for her my German isn´t good enough and I just smiled at her.
We did a runner early the next morning to Quito and shaqed up in a cheap B&B until the dust settled. It´s not really that bad but we did send an email to the School organisers threatening to sue them. Today we left hiding and signed up for a new school - it seems way nicer and despite Marianne´s initial hesitation we´re now way happier. I also contacted the Irish Consulate, they seem really nice.
I´ll have some pictures up soon.

So we have landed and we´re settling in, we both felt a bit dizzy from the altitiude the first day and the journey was hateful (Iberia are a shit airline). To my surpirise we´re not in Quito but a small town on the outskirts called Fajardo near a bigger town called Sanconquil. We live in a house with 2 other girls from Germany and the house whilst a bit bare is liveable. The poverty is pretty shocking here though, stray dogs everywhere and its so dusty and dirty. The Spanish lessons are great, the guys come to our house and give us a 4 hour lesson each day but before that we are supposed to volunteer for 4 hours at a local school. Marianne is at a different school than me but we´re not far apart. I think the volunteering could certainly rival anything I have ever done before for the Paris Hilton Pointless Award so I told them I´m not doing it and I have cut my hours. The school no hate me but I don´t care. Anyway we´re both safe and well and we´re going for a tour of Quito tomorrow

The last few days have been pretty crazy, trying to prepare everything and sayin bye to everyone, on top of that I think a few vacines in quick sucession, a few drinks and lack of sleep have conspired to rob me of my health. After takin it easy for the last few days in Germany though I’m now better and ready to go.

The journey looks like it will be shit, all together I think it will take 19 hours. We leave tomorrow at around 7:30 German time.

Heya!
Ciarán hat gerade diesen Blog eingerichtet. Glaube, dass es ne ziemlich coole Idee is, um alle Leute auf dem Laufenden zu halten und mit allen in Kontakt zu bleiben.
Jetzt haben wir nur noch einen Tag vor der Abreise und ich bin immer noch nicht wirklich aufgeregt, frag mich wirklich, wie lange des wohl noch dauert…..
Das nächste Mal, wenn ich was schreiben werde, werden wir schon in Quito sein und dann wird es bestimmt viel Interessanteres zu berichten geben.
Bis denn