Settling in...updated!

Greetings! I (Heather) am finally in Quito and LOVIN´it. After a week in the car driving from KY to AZ, stopping to see the White Sands National Park in New Mexico and the Grand Canyon, and hopping from one plane to the next, I feel more at ease than I have in a while. The nerves are settled and the feasting has begun! I haven´t tried guinea pig yet, but I´ve been scowering the street vendors carts. I´ll let you know when it happens.
Katie and Hallye were waiting at the airport, along with TV cameras, flowers and balloons. I only got the girls, the rest was for the minor league Ecuadorian national soccer team with whom I shared a flight. Apparently they lost but you´d never guess it by the air guitar jam session they had on the plane...a very lively bunch!
My companions have had only a week to get to know the city but they learn FAST. I´ve been trailing them along the streets of Quito the past two days, from one plaza to the next park. (Before long I will have to venture out, map in tote, and suffer the stares that all tourists draw. Some sort of rite of passage is in order I think.) The first plaza we visited is the busiest, as it is surrounded by government buidings and armed policia. Before I´d snapped 5 photos the streets began to rumble with the shouts and drums of protestors. The gov cut education funding and so professors and students from all over the country have been marching in protest. I would approximate 500 or so people were there, and it certainly made an impression on me. I hope the government listens too.
Our first run in with the breathtaking altitude in Quito was, beleive it or not, in the basilica. It´s listed as the most deadly view of the city, and upon climbing what we thought would be the highest point, we continued exploring and eventually climbed higher than the clocks we use as a reference point every day. AMAZING views, and most definitely deadly. We scaled many a slippery medal ladder, with the thinnest of rungs supporting our pastry filled bodies. You probably would have heard our sighs of relief upon arriving at the ground floor if we hadn´t been greeted by dark hallways and locked gates. Apparently the basilica closes at 5, which we were not informed of. Luckily, after waving at church goers in the distance, a kind soul carrying keys set us free.
We´d worked up an appetite after climbing stairs and staring, mesmerized by symmetry and craftmanship, and so stopped for a snack at the plaza san blas, around the corner from our newest home, Hostal Belmont. Mauricio and Lucia run the hostal and do a superb job of accomdating everyone and making us feel welcome. We all chatted for a couple of hours, before relaxing on the terrace with a 76 cent 40oz pilsner, aptly named `Pilsener´ and found all over the city. We retired early in preparation for the big second day.
¨Second¨ only for me, but ¨big¨ for all of us, as Mauricio set us up with a part time teaching gig at a small elementary school in the valley. A 40 minute bus ride away, the trip was well worth it as we stepped of the bus and noted immediately how much more tranquil, warm, green and clear it is 2,000 feet below the mountains of Quito. There was some resistance from the director of the school, strangely, about how we could help. Apparently she has been requesting English teachers from the government to no avail, and if they find she has volunteers there, they are far less likely to send anyone. Since we are not permanent teachers, and cannot commit to becoming so, she was hesitant to accept us. Eventually though, after negotiating with Mauricio, they agreed on our coming Tuesdays and Thursdays for as long as we are here. Katie will teach educacion fisica, and Hallye and I will teach inglés. Despite the cool welcome, we were provided with lunch, bus money, and a plethora of hugs and kisses from the sweetest little niñitos. It was exhausting and invigorating all at once. This is what we´re here for, so bring on the discomfort. It´s always worth it in the end.