A New Life in Guayaquil

T his is my second week in Ecuador and I am starting to get the hang of things. My Spanish has definitely improved since I have been here and I am starting to become more open about speaking with strangers in Spanish.  The internship This week at the internship we met the other nurse that works at the clinic. His name is Juan and he is awesome. Me and Keke found him very easy to talk to because he speaks slowly for us (all in Spanish of course) and makes sure that when he explains anything we understand him. He taught us an easier way to take blood pressure manually, how to put information into the clinic database, what all of the medicines do and how they are used, and how to prepare syringes and give injections! I gave my first injection to a patient on Friday and I was nervous, but I will be more relaxed after a few more times. This week at the internship was great and I learned a lot! School My daily schedule is the internship from 8:30 am-1 pm, a lunch break from 1-2, ...

This weekend, Carlos took Keke and I to Cuenca. Cuenca is a small city in the Highlands of Ecuador that is inhabited by 276,000 people. It is known for being a major destination that many expats and elderly people move to and retire in. Before arriving, everyone told me their favorite city in Ecuador is Cuenca and now I understand why. To me, it is almost perfect. Because of it´s location in the mountains, the climate is spring-like and the weather is very cool. The locals sometimes call the weather loco because you can get all types of weather in one day, rainy, cold, sunny, etc. When we went, the weather was chilly at night but warmer in the day. Additionally, the city is very calm and quiet, unlike Guayaquil where you hear a horn beeping every 30 seconds. The traffic is light and pedestrians have rights here, the opposite of Guayaquil where there is a strong possibility you may get hit by a bus if you don't look twice. Moreover, the city has a lot of European and Colonial influ...