Since we have been enjoying all the benefits of being students (ie discounted airfare etc.) we decided it was time to actually live up to our billing. So we have enrolled in a Spanish School to polish up our skills. We figure it is a worthwhile investment since we will be amongst predominantly spanish speaking people for the next four months. The School is called Acadamia Guayasamin (check out their website at www.guayasaminschool.com). It is right in the middle of "New Town" Quito, also known affectionately as "gringolandia."

Speaking of good investments for the coming months we also joined the South American Explorers, a group set up to help travellers access information about South America. Among the benefits are:
1. full use of the clubhouses (they have three locations in South America and a homebase in Ithica, NY)
2. Access to their HUGE amount of information on South America including reviews of tours, schools, volunteer and work opportunities.
3. Discounts on a variety of things - in fact the small membership fee should easily pay for itself. We found our school through them and we got discounted rates at our hostal and the school.

Hasta,
Jim