Graduation

Spanish school is over and we are all exhausted from studying verbs and grammar from morning til night.  Ecuadorians love their ceremonies and certificates so here's me being awarded "Intermedio 4 Leccion 1", and the three of us (Stephy and Steph are girls 3 and 5) with our Spanish teachers.

Yesterday we helped out in the evening with 'Pan de Vida' - a local project to give out meals to about 100-150 people twice a week.  We dished out rice, vegetables and maduro (boiled banana) into little pots and served them out.  For some people this is likely to be the only food they get.  Loads of the helpers go to the local american school and so spoke amazing English (but with very strong american accents).  It was good to only be a part of it - no grand ideas about our own generosity!

We've been seeing round a bit of Quito - it's only about 3 miles wide but is about 20 miles long so it takes a while to get to the other end.  We had dinner in a restaurant above the Old Town (full of colonial buildings from the spanish rule) which is the must-see area - so here it is at dusk.

Tomorrow is a fiesta celebrating the independence of Guayaquil - it's a city on the coast but the whole country has a holiday.  We have various tourist-y plans as yet unconfirmed.  On Saturday we travel to Shell and the main work begins.