Baños

The last weekend we went to Baños, which is a place about 6hours away from Guayaquil and not the bathroom what you might think... It is a really nice area an a lot of mainly national people were there since it was on the Easter weekend.

On the first day we went biking and checked out the beautiful area with its waterfalls, mountains, flowers and animals. Unfortunately there was no Bungee Jump :-( But we had a lot of fun anyways and enjoyed a really great weekend.

What I need to tell you is about the eating of Guineepigs (Meerschweinchen). It is a delicatess over here and therefore quite expensive. Cultural sensitive as I am I just had to try it. And guys, I must say, the little meet there is tastes really nice. Raul even went for eating the head and their nails - it's better than chips he said - which to me is a lie!
But definitely a great experience! Thank you Oli for the book about this beautiful animals ;-)

Beside that I'm doing just great here!
It's always something going on, I'm getting to know a lot of new people and almost daily I find out something new about this culture and the way of live here.
As an active learner (and totally @brainwashed) I got used to showering with cold water every day, got to know the bus "system" (or whatever you wanna call it) and must say that jumping off still driving buses if you want to get off is something I enjoy doing by now.

Photo Photo

After facing some problems with the internet connection (ADSL I miss you) I finally made it to upload some pictures of me here in Ecuador.

Klick on the link below. You don't have to sign in or become a member in the new window. Just klick on the picture and you get to see the slideshow.
Have fun

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=1sed448x.79otom7d&Uy=-2e7l5g&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=791479940133_799641235305

Ecuador here I am

After 16 hours of travelling I finally arrived in Bogota (Colombia) where some AIESECers picked me up. In a kind of funky bus we travelled to Melgar, the place where AXLDS 06 was taking place.

Getting to know the Ecuadorian Delegation was just the best to me. They welcomed me warmly and hearty and integrated me in their team immediately.

On the picture we see (from the left): me (MCVP PD 06/07), Piret (MCVP CD 05/06), Chiripa (MCVP Learning & Project 06/07), Jaime (LCP), Franchesca (MCP 06/07), Oriana (SSGN Director), Christina (MCVP PD 05/06) and Diana (LCVP X). They are all great individuals and I'm sure the MC 06/07 is going to be a strong team that is able to have an impact on AIESEC Ecuador!!

The conference itself was really intense and a lot of knowledge and useful information has been passed. Overall we had a lot of fun as well and some of the sessions took place in the pool, which helped dealing with the hot weather. Of course we followed the AIESEC motto of working hard, playing hard ;-)

I must committ, that this conference has challenged my worldview as nothing else ever before. The culture and how they deal with differnt issues was a first and great experience that I'm glad of having gathered. I did learn a lot and figured, that this was the best possible preparation of my upcoming term towards which I'm so much looking forward to.

The way back to Bogota took us 9 hours instead of the 3 that it normally takes. That was due to the fact, that our bus sort of broke apart and the driver unsuccessfully tried to fix it. No probs, such things happen here ;-) Taking it form the perspective that I have an adventur to tell now... ;-)
On the Study Tours we got to see Bogota which is such an impressive city!! With its 7 mio. citizens as big as the whole population of Switzerland!!

Yesterday I caught my flight to Ecuador...
So here I am now!! It's amazing being here!! I'm really really excited about it. Guayaquil seems to be a great spot to live. The people are incredible, so friendly and open hearted that I feel very well about being here.
For sure I'm going to face a lot of different challenges but that's what I'm here for. It's all about the experience... and I'm closing with a nice quote which's soure I don't know:

"I saw many problems, I asked why somebody didn't do anything about them. Then I realized, I WAS SOMEBODY."

Catch u later guys
stay tuned for more...
giovanni

Heading off...

Leaving home is never easy I guess, especially if it is for such a long time.
But I'm not saying good bye to you my friends, it's always a catch you later. Than I strongly believe in strong friendships which don't know distance or time boundaries.
I carry you in my heart... No matter where and when, we can always be together!!