Updates, updates, updates

Hola! Como estas? Bien? Mal? Mas o menos?
I am well, though I´m starting to realize how long three months actually is.
I´ve had spanish lessons every morning this week and am improving greatly, though I now think in a weird mixture of Spanish and English with a British accent. Myriam, my teacher, is absolutely wonderful. Ella con paciencia. We spend about two hours in the morning learning new vocabulary and having conversations and after a short break we usually have a field trip around Quito. Yesterday we went to the local market, which is incredible. They have everything from whole roasted pigs (which let me tell you are about 5 ft long) to cow tongues and brains (lenguas y cessa de baca). They sell traditional Ecuadorian chocolate in the raw meat section (weird placement choice?). And my favorite, there is every kind of fruit you can possibly think of there. I tried a few new ones, one of which was one of the most delicious things I've ever tasted. Its similar to a kiwi, except grows from a rare cactus on the coast of Ecuador and has a thick, spiy skin. Myriam and I wandered the market and I was able to hold a full conversation with her. Very exciting.
In the afternoons I usually take everyone on an adventure I find in my guide book. Yesterday was exciting, we rode a sky tram to the top of a local volcano and hiked up to the top. We took tons of pictures, all involving us jumping from large rocks to make it look as if we were floating easily in the clouds. At the bottom of the sky tram is a very strange amusement park that was completely empty except for us. We rode go-carts. Simply so that we could say we did it on the side of a volcano.
Other than that, its Spanish, spanish, spanish, but we have a seriously exciting weekend ahead of us. We are climbing the tallest active volcano in the entire world. Its a tough climb, though and about four people have already opted out. Apparently we will be outfitted in full winter gear, including ice picks and crampons, and we start the hike at one in the morning. The plan is to arrive by sunrise because the top of the volcano is all glacier, and is difficult to climb once the ice starts to melt.
Thats all for now. Thanks for all the comments, you guys, its really wonderful to hear from you all!
Love and bugs,
Betty

PS. Abigail- if you read this, I went to the supermarket yesterday like you told me in my journal. It was fabulous and I´ve been there three times since.