san antonio and drop-off

I´ve spent the last four days in San Antonio, a small town about 40 minutes north of Quito, at Rancho Alegre, which is a hostal that my directors of SIT, Leonore and Faba, have been coming to for years. The place was really cool. We stayed in rooms of three people and although the beds were ROCK HARD, like literally rock hard, I slept very well. We left Monday morning and drove there and then had lots and lots of scary, fun, and boring orientation sessions. The scariest was the one on male/female stereotypes and how to stay safe walking around and at parties. Some of the stories we heard were INTENSE. I know the leaders are just trying to prepare us, but they made it seem like going out would be more scary and more dangerous than just staying at home. Geez. I guess they guys constantly hit on women and drunk men are allowed to do anything they want...this shall be interesting. I guess that´s how some people see it in the states too though. Anyways, after that orientation session the girls decided the three boys are going to be our american pimps so that we do not get harassed or anything haha. We also watched an Ecuadorian film on drugs and crime in Ecuador. I guess if you get caught with drugs here you are put in jail for like THREE weeks. It´s intense. So those orientation sessions were super fun.
I did like being outside of Quito during orientation. Although it didn´t really feel like we were in Ecuador, it was nice just to be with the group, who I LOVE by the way. Everyone gets along really well and nobody is forming cliques too badly.
Today we did a ¨drop-off¨where groups of three people were assigned a town they had to go to, check out the town, and then find their way back to the Hotel Alston (where we are staying in Quito), without the help of our directors. It wasn´t too bad, especially because my group got it really easy. We had to go to Calacali, which was 25 minutes away on a direct bus. Other people had to go to quito and then go back to their towns and then come back to Quito. My town was small, but much cleaner and prettier and less dangerous than San Antonio. I swear San Antonio felt like it was constantly under construction... very odd. I have to run because we are talking to a bunch of Ecuadorian people our age to ask them questions. I have a lot too!! chao!