Sunday August 6, 2006, 5:15 PM

I made it to Otavalo and I’m now in my room at my host family’s house. I was pretty nervous on the drive over here, as this will be my home away from home for the next 4 months. But I should back up, as this is not the only thing I did today.

We started off today (and by we I mean Suzanna, another volunteer from Kent, England, Caroline who is from the UK but has been traveling around the world for nearly a year and who will be in Otavalo for a week learning some Spanish before heading off into the jungle for five weeks, and Chrissie, the GVI coordinator here in Ecuador) with breakfast and then a trip to La Mitad del Mundo – the museum set up at the equator. Today I straddled the northern and southern hemispheres. It was cool because we didn’t go to the big monument where most tourists go because it’s actually not at the Equator – GPS proved it to be off by about 200 ft. There was also a tiny museum of the local indigenous peoples, and that was interesting – especially the shrunken head.

Our day continued with lunch that specialized in local cuisine. I had a wonderful trout grilled with garlic, yummmm, accompanied by black currant juice. Juice is a big thing here, and it’s all freshly squeezed and served in beer steins. And then after lunch we were off to Otavalo.

So here I am. Everyone but the father of the house is out, so I’ve only met him. He seems nice, and thankfully speaks slowly enough for me to follow him. My Spanish is getting better everyday, but I have such a long way to go. Good thing I’m starting Spanish school tomorrow.