First impressions of Guayaquil!

Its been an intersting week so far trying to get settled in to life in Guayaquil! Its been slightly chaotic trying to figure out the bus system, where everything is on campus, how much youre expected to be home for meals, ect. But its been good all the same! So far my classes are really easy. Im only taking two! We go to each class every day here so we only take them for half a semester. I will sign up for three next bimester in order to end up with five credits for the whole time Im here. Its been extremely hot here! Some friends and I have been taking advantage of the pool on campus!
So far the food has been amazing! The lady that owns the house Im living in is still in New York somewhere.... so its just me and the housekeeper. There is another lady in her 20s that lives with us but she owns a restaurant and is at work a lot so Ive only ever seen her once. She has a five year old daughter who Ive seen a few times. The five year old girl is crazy, she came in my room the other day because she wanted to color and she got very mad at me because I was American and I didnt know how to draw Snow White just right! But everyone should know that Im starting to eat sea food while Im here! Guayaquil has some of the freshest seafood in the world. I told my maid that I hadnt tried seafood since I was a little kid so now she is cooking little sample sized portions of all sorts of different types for lunch every day! So far I have had two different types of fish and even shrimp! Breakfast in Guayaquil consists of lots of fresh fruit, like pineapple, papaya, banana, apple, etc., with some type of fresh squeezed juice, coffee, and usually some sort of starch and cheese, like bread or cereal. Lunch is practically a five course gourmet affair. When I get home from class the maid usually has home made soup ready followed by some sort of protein or vegatables with rice and a side salad. And most of the time there is some kind of fruit dessert and fresh squeezed juice again as well!
We went on a tour of the city of Guayaquil when we first got here and it was HUGE! I still have so much to see down there I feel like I cant even begin to start to describe it yet! All any of the locals talk about is how much the city has improved in the last ten years... Here are a few pictures!

This is the whole group in front of Las Peñas in downtow in Guayaquil! Its one of the areas of the city that has been recently renovated and transformed from a not so good area to a great tourist attraction! 

This was taken at a park in the middle of downtown. Its known to people from Guayaquil as park of the Iguanas. These iguanas just chill out in the park all day long. In reality, these iguanas are all over the city though, we have a few in our backyard sometimes, just not as big.

This is my kitchen and the bar where I eat breakfast and dinner!

This is the backyard of my house and where I usually eat my lunch!!!

 

This is the living room where Ive never actually sat... but its pretty!

This is the marble stair case you see as soon as you walk in the door to my house!

This is the up stairs living room, outside of the door to my room! I have my own bathroom and study area in my area of the house!!

This is a bunch of us sitting on the balcony last night before going downtown!