Day 6-8: Las Peñas and Mercado Artesanal

Maybe in a few weeks I will try to do one or  two post a week rather than 5, but for now because things are so new, I have a lot to post.

On Wednesday, Keke and I climbed all 444 steps of the famous Las Peñas. Throughout the climb, we saw restaurants, art galleries, stores, tables with hand-crafted goods, and bars. Although the walk was tiring and left me out of breath, the view at the top of Las Penas was amazing. At the top, there was a lighthouse and an old chapel. You could also see the Guayas River and the entire city of Guayaquil. I never realized how huge Guayaquil was until I saw it from that view, but it was larger than I thought and extremely beautiful.  It was a workout, but the hike was definitely worth it.

At the bottom of Las Peñas



444 Steps is a tiring workout, but at least there was a lot of scenery!


Made it to the top! 


The lighthouse at the top of Las Peñas
Capilla del Cerro Santa Ana (Santa Ana Hill Chapel)
From the bottom
From the top





Juan Pueblo

Later in the day we visited Mercado Artesanal, a market filled with handmade clothes, jewelry, bags, souvenirs, art and much more. The prices were very cheap and you could bargain and lower prices with almost anyone inside. This is where I plan to buy souvenirs and trinkets for my friends and family.












On Thursday, Keke and I started our medical internship. We met the head nurse and the doctor and got started right away. The internship is at a medical consultation office where they take vital signs and do small procedures and injections. Right now, Keke and I are new so we only can record weight, height, and take blood pressure, which we both are really bad at now, but hey it's a process. We were also told that we are only allowed to speak in Spanish there, so I will be learning a lot.


Friday was relaxing. At the internship we practiced taking blood pressure manually and learned how to fold and wrap gauze. Fun.



Words of the week:

chévere- cool, awesome
Super  chévere/ chéverísimo -cooler than cool
bacán- cool but a bad cool. This word came from prison and is not supposed to be used in a formal setting, but it somehow still means cool.

(I will be bringing these words back to the US and using them)

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