Presentation - Retirement age

Good afternoon,

As you know my name is Nestor and I am a secondary school teacher. My speciality is technology.

I am going to talk about retirement age. Well, I am forty years old, and most of you will be wondering why I have chosen this subject. The answer to this question is very easy. Last week I was in the teacher's room and even though most teachers of my school are younger than me, they were talking about the new age retirement proposal made by government and business organizations. They want to fix seventy years old as the new retirement age for everyone.

But before going on with my presentation, I would like to ask a question. As you know Japanese people are considered to be very hardworking. Taking this into account, which do you think that is the official retirement age in Japan?. I'll give you three options:

A.- 60, B.- 65, C.- 70.

What do you think is the right answer? At the end I'll give you the reply.

Going ahead with my presentation, I have to say the discussion was very intense. There were mainly two positions. Some of my colleagues thought that teaching is vocational and for this reason they would like to be teaching until the age of seventy old or later, if they felt in good condition. The rest thought they would be very old at that age and they would like to enjoy life before dying. 

From my point of view this issue is very complex and it depends on the type of person you are and your circumstances. That is, the appropiate age retirement is influenced by many factors, unfortunately most of them can't be controlled.  

The most important factors are (at least for me):

1.- Financial situation. If you want to retire, you should have enough money to do that, a pension or savings.

2.- Job satisfaction. If you don't enjoy your work, you will have to think about retirement.

3.- The type of work you do. It's not the same to be a footballer that to be a politician, your work requirements are very different.

4.- Your physical and mental health. As you get older you’re not guaranteed your health.

In conclusion before retiring you have to evaluate many things and make the best decision for you.

To end, the correct answer to the question I have asked at the beginning is that retirement age for japanese people is settled in 60 years old.

Thanks for your attention. I'll be glad of answering all your questions.

Monologue: Eating habits of young people.

I've been asked to talk about food habits of young people.

The nutritional habits of younger people are raising the concern due to increasing rates of obesity and the extension  of eating disorders. Besides that, a bad eating has consequences in health, studies and diseases.

As a secondary school teacher I can see in my daily work that young don't eat properly:

-  Most students don't get enough food at breakfast and the rest don't even take breakfast.
- They don't take enough water. In fact in my school we are promoting the increase of water consumption among students.
- They love sweets and bakery. During recess these are the favourite food.
- When they go out with friends they usually go to fast food restaurants. They consider this type of food very tasty and delicious.
- In general, they don't like fruits and vegetables, and for this reason, they only take this food if their parents oblige them.

Fighting against these bad habits is very difficult. Young are very influenced by tv and friends and in many cases their parents don't have good habits regard to food.

Some actions which can be done:

- Banning on tv advertises of fast food, soda drinks and so on.
- Educating parents about the importance of good eating habits for their children.
- Doing workshops at school to promote good eating habits, and doing it on a regular basis each course.
- Providing, where possible, fruits to students during recess.

- Banning on vending machines in schools.

I can think in other possibilities, but it would be very long.

To conclude, it is important to remind young people that healthy food can reduce diseases and it also can provide them better quality of life. If they acquire healthy habits as healthy food and regular exercise they will be better both  physically and mentally.

Monologue: Healthy life

I've been asked to talk about healthy life.

To start with, it is important to define what we understand for healthy life. A healthy life is a way of living which improves your health and so, it can help you to extent your life and also it can improve its quality.

And having good health means being in good physical and mental condition. Therefore if you are leading a healthy life, you will be doing things in order to improve your physical and mental condition.

Some things you can do to lead a healthy life are:

- Reducing or even removing consumption of alcohol and cigarettes. Alcohol and tobacco are the cause of many health problems.
- Choosing a diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and grain products. This type of feeding provides needed vitamins, minerals, fiber, and carbohydrates, and it is generally lower in fat to help you maintain a healthy weight.
- Using sugar in moderation, sugar has many calories and few nutrients and it can contribute to tooth decay.
- Using salt in moderation too, this helps lower your risk of high blood pressure.
- Doing exercise on a regular basis. It can help you maintain a healthy weight, and it lowers cholesterol and blood pressure. Also you can include exercises to raise your flexibility, it will give you greater range of motion in your joints and it will reduce your chances of injury.
- Reducing stress. Your body responds to everyday stress with a release of hormones that prepares you to react. If you don't relieve this state through relaxation, the effects build up and they can create muscular pain, headaches, sleep disturbances and other symptoms.
- Sleeping seven to nine hours. The body's self-repair takes place when you are asleep.

In conclusion, healthy living is a combination of many things, including good feeding, regular exercise and a positive attitude. For a longer and more comfortable life, design your plan for a healthy lifestyle and live according to it.

Monologue: Organizing a trip to an english speaking country

I´ve been asked to talk about how organizing a trip to an english-speaking country.

We can travel to an english-speaking country  for different reasons. We could want to visit our family (that is my own case, I travel often to USA to visit my wife's family),  for the pleasure of knowing new countries and new cultures, with the aim to improve skills in a language, a combination of the previous reasons and so on.

In any case we can take advantage to learn or to improve our English. The best way to do that is to travel by ourselves, without a tour guide. This has other advantages, it is usually more fun, you can go wherever you want and you avoid the contact with people of your own country. Moreover, this increases the options to interact with locals.

The steps to organize the trip would be:

- Taking into account your budget and if you have friends there, you should choose which places to visit within the country.
- Planning in which order you will visit the chosen places. In this timetable is important to spare time to rest and to visit new places that we will discover during the trip.
- Thinking where we are going to stay. If we are going to stay in a hotel, then we must make the bookings.
- Buying tickets to travel to the english-speaking country.
- Getting currency of the new country.
- And eventually, you have to include a bilingual dictionary in your luggage.

Also it would be interesting for you to learn something of the customs of the country you are going to visit. Locals will appreciate your attitude, and you will avoid gaffes and awkward situations.

To conclude, my recommendation is that we should consider one trip as a very important opportunity to enjoy our lives.

Monologue: Stereotypes

I've been asked to talk about stereotypes.

Before starting the monologue, I think that it is important to define what we understand for stereotypes. Stereotypes are generalizations or assumptions that people make about the characteristics of a group, based on an image about what people in that group are like. They are often wrong. 

Next I am going to examine different stereotypes assigned to different nationalities:

- Spaniards always take a nap in the afternoon, they wear bullfighter outfit and they are lazy people. As Spaniard who has lived in different cities of Spain, I can assure you that these stereotypes are wrong. 

I've never taken a nap, and neither my family nor friends. Moreover I've seen people dressing bullfighter outfit only on tv and in carnival. And eventually Spanish people can't be considered lazy, in fact Spain is one of the western countries where it is worked more hours annually. In that area it is likely that Spaniards need to be more efficient.

On the other hand Spanish people are accused of speaking loud and being impolite. That is probably true.  

- English people are hooligans and they drink a lot. In my opinion we have this image of english people due to english football fans and english tourists. 

When football fans come to Spain, they are always in the news, because they are used to making vandalism when the football game is over. On the other hand, when english young tourists visit Spain, they drink a lot. In Spain we are used to seeing on tv drunken english tourists.

In both cases, I think english people come to Spain and they do things they wouldn't do in UK. They are aware they are in a foreign country out of sight of their parents, neighbors and so on.  For this reason, they take advantage.   

- French people are said to be arrogant and chauvinist. I don't know many french people, but they aren't arrogant nor chauvinist, on the contrary, they are very friendly and gentle people. 

However, like a country is likely they are arrogant and chauvinist. For instance I can remember when they celebrated their national holiday last year, an important French actress was dressed with French flag and she was singing the marseillaise in champs elysses in Paris.    

Another example, when their politicians make a speech, they are always remembering they are the best country in the world, they have contributed to the social and moral progress of humanity, and so on.

I could continue with other european countries, but it would be very boring.

To conclude with the monologue, stereotypes can be true or false, but they are important because they help define your group identity against other groups.

Monologue: Diet.

I've been asked to talk about Diets.

The word diet can mean two different things:

- The first one. In this case diet is when someone eats a small or limited quantity of food in order to become thinner. This can be combined with miracle products whose goal is to help reduce the weight.

Fortunately I've never been on a diet. I consider this type of diet is very dangerous for your health. If you go on a diet, you have to seek the advice of a specialized doctor. The problem in our society is that many people are on a diet that they have heard on tv or they have seen in a gossip magazine.  

- The second one. In this case diet is the food that a person usually eats. From this point of view, everybody follows a diet, the ingredients of this depend on your living style and your culture.

The diet has consequences in your life. For instance, the diet combined with a specific lifestyle is causing obesity in developed countries, even children are becoming obese.

Accordingly, the right issue should be healthy diets. What we understand for healthy diets is one which helps maintain or improve health.

Medical institutions consider that a health diet must include all type of food. Also, It has to be based in fruit, vegetables and legumes. On the contrary, it has to reduce salt and sugar consumption and it has to limit the calories intake from saturate fat.

On the other hand, the diet has to be combined with:

- Achieving an energy balance and a healthy weight.
- Physical activity.
- Breakfast properly.
- Resting 8 or 9 hours a day.

To conclude, every culture has its own diet. For instance we have Mediterranean diet, Americans have fast food, and so on. So we are lucky people, Mediterranean feeding is considered to be one of the best diets in the world.

Monologue: How to choose a roommate.

I've been asked to talk about choosing a good flatmate.

I have some experience in this issue and I can assure that it is a really complex problem. I used to live with roommates when I studied in university and when I worked in big cities. It is impossible to know someone until she or he is sharing a flat with you.

Before choosing a roommate, you have to contact with potential candidates. Nowadays there are three different ways:

- Announcing that you are looking for flatmate in specialized websites, newspapers, bulletin board and so on. Then, candidates get in touch with you and you show them the spare room.

-  Speed flatmating. It is very similar to speed dating. In this case you have to attend to a meeting where there are people who have a spare room and other people who are looking for accommodation. If you select someone, you can make an interview before showing your spare room.

- Using your personal network of contacts. This is likely the best way to find a roommate. Your family, friends, or work's contacts will feel responsible if they are recommending someone.

In any case, after a brief meeting, you have to decide which the best candidate is. Therefore it is important to decide in advance what kind of person you are looking for. And to do that, you have to analyze which are your personal needs and then, you will be able to prepare a good interview.

There can be many different situations: you can be a people person or on the contrary you keeps yourself to yourself, you may be a computer geek, you can be very particular about order, you like to study at nights, you get into talking about politics, you are not at your best early in the day, you are vegetarian and so on.

Regardless of the chosen person, there will always be an adjusting process. You may find that the other person is very different in character. Anyway you have to be positive, and you have to try to adapt. Sharing can be a good chance to learn new interest or to explore new activities.

In conclusion, trying to find a good roommate is something you have to do, but you will never know the result until the lodger lives with you.

Monologue: Past and present of leisure, transport, education

I've been asked to compare the past and the present of the transport, leisure and education.

- Transport. It is likely that if our grandparents could see the current transport means, they would be amazed. In the past, transportation was tough. It was either train or walking because only rich people owned cars. Besides that, infrastructures were very poor and transportation was very slow, for instance, it could take several days crossing Spain.

Today the situation has changed a lot. The infrastructures have improved much with the construction of highways and better roads, and not only that, everyone has a car and the cars are better. Moreover it has been built an amazing network of high speed trains. For instance you can travel by train from Madrid to Sevilla in less than three hours.

In addition to this, a new mean of transport has appeared: the airplane. In the beginning it only was accessible for rich people, but now everybody can travel by plane. It is likely the fastest way to travel.

- Education. This is a very sensitive issue for me, I am secondary school teacher. In this area the situation has changed widely. In the past, people couldn't afford to attend to school, they had to help their family. As a result, many people couldn't neither read nor write. Education was only for rich people.

Fortunately,  nowadays everybody (at least in Spain) must attend to the school until they are 16 years old. After that, there are high school and university with scholarship  what means that everyone can continue studying, even being a member of a family without financial resources.

From my point of view, this has allowed to build a fairer society.

- Leisure.  There are two main differences nowadays respect to the past. First, today workers have four paid vacation weeks. That is a great advance. And second, tv has changed the way of enjoying free time. Even though I am not sure if tv has meant progress for our society.

In conclusion, it is not true that past is better than the future.

Monologue: How do you think the life will be in the future?

I've been asked to talk about how I think life will be in 25 years.

The first thing I have to say is that it's very difficult for me to answer this question. I am not a fortune teller and I am not sure about what will happen next year, therefore much less how it will be in 25 years. 

Moreover, the world is very complex, and for this reason I'll focus on exploring  trends in only a few aspects:

- Energy: Life in current world is based in oil consumption. Transport, food and everything in we can think in our advanced civilization depends on the use we make of oil. This situation will have to change because oil reserves are running low. One chance is to try to replace energy obtained from oil by alternative energies such as wind power or solar power. As an engineer I can see a problem, what we get from alternative energies is electricity and I am not sure it can replace all uses we give to oil.

- Transport. Current means of transport besides relying on oil are very polluting. It is likely in the next years the current car will be replaced by electric car. The Electric car doesn't pollute if electric energy derives from alternative energies. The main problem we have to solve is how we can store electricity in large quantities. On the other hand there is no solution for air transport.  

- Technology. From my point of view trends is this area are two: smaller devices and concentrated functionality in a single device. The best example of these trends are mobile phones, today they are smaller and smaller and they can be used for more things like Internet, GPS, and so on.

- Population. We are suffering a overpopulation today, and this problem will be worst in the future. There are more people every day to share finite resource like water, materials and so on. This situation can generate stress between countries. 


To conclude, I have to say that I am optimistic about our future. Despite challenges humanity has always managed to make progress. 

Monologue: My life within 25 years.

I've been asked to talk about how I think my life will be within 25 years.

The first thing I have to say is that it's very difficult for me to answer this question. I am not a fortune teller and I am not sure about what will happen next year, therefore much less how it will be in 25 years. The key is that it is likely I will express below how I want my life to be. 

The only thing I am sure about is if I am alive I will be older.

As for my personal life, I hope I will continue married with my lovely wife. My two children will be in the university, but I am not sure about they will be doing. But before that, it is important to make sure I spend enough time with them, because they will be child only once.

I would like my children to be bilingual. In order to get this in the next years I would like to spend two or three academic courses in the USA. I am a secondary school teacher and there is a program, in which I want to take part, between Spain and USA to exchange teachers. The best way to learn english is to live in an english-speaking country. 

Also I want to keep my current friends. For this reason I have to remember to keep in touch with them, so as to have people around me who know what I am like, and it doesn't matter.

Only one more thing in this aspect, I wish I could travel around the world.

With respect to work, I am now a teacher and it is likely I'll be a teacher in the future. Also I will continue helping to my brother Luis who is an architect. My desire is to have always work and enough incomes to support my family. Moreover, I hope to enjoy  the work as I do now and I don't want to work all hours of the day in order to make money. 

And finally, I hope the world will be more respectful with the environment and there won't be people without food. 

Monologue: sport pictures.

I've been asked to talk about three different sport pictures.

In the first picture we can see a man who is practising skiing. In the second one there is a group of people making preparations to jump, the sport's name is bungee jumping. In the third one there are two people playing paddle.

I have to confess that I am not practising any sport at this moment. I have two little children and I dedicate to them all my free time. On the other hand I have never done sports which appear in pictures.

There are different reasons:

-Paddle is a nice sport but it needs specific facilities which have never existed until few years ago in my town. Besides that, it is a team sport, you need to join with other people if you want to play and it is always not possible.

- Skiing is not easy to practice in El Ejido, I can´t remember now when was the last time it  snowed here. People from El Ejido who loves this sport, can go to Sierra Nevada which has a ski resort. This place is two hours driving distance from El Ejido.

-Eventually, even though bungee jumping is a fashion sport, I consider that it is very dangerous. You have to trust your life to a rope. Moreover I consider that bungee jumping is not a sport, it is something you do for pleasure, such as taking a beer. You don't train any muscle.

On the other hand my favourite sports are cycling and basketball. When I was younger I used to spend weekends and spare time practicing these sports. Usually I played basketball in winter and I took the bike in summer.

From my point of view it is very important doing sport. When you practice sports your health improves a lot, and what is more important, you'll enjoy better quality of life in the future. Also, doing sports is a good chance of improving your relationships with friends.

In conclusion, I hope to have more time in the future for sports. Furthermore I want to teach my children that doing sports is very important and fun.

Monologue: ¿Criminal is born or made? ¿Have you ever been muggued?

I've been asked to talk about if a criminal is born or made. It's a very difficult question because scientists (including psychologists) don't agree on this controversial issue.

To start with, an understanding of criminal behaviour has been attempted by psychologists mainly through three different theories, from this point of view the right question should be: Are criminals born, made or both?

The first theory suggests that it is very likely that genetic factors play a significant role in criminality due to the fact that criminal behaviour tends to run in individuals with a chromosomal abnormality associated with aggressive, antisocial and criminal behaviour. If we accept this theory, it makes no sense try to help criminals to reintegrate to society.

The second theory suggests that  individual's environment is the most important factor. Children with criminal parents or who have other surrounding negative models are very likely to be motivated to copy criminal behaviour. It means, for instance, if the children watch lots of violence on tv  they may show violent behaviour in the future.

The third theory is a combination of the two previous. Some experts believe that criminality has a multifactorial causation. They think that environment acts like a switch, depending on circumstances in your life this switch turns on one chromosome or another.

I agree with the last theory. I am a teacher and I can see that a good environment acts as a deterrent of criminality. On the other hand there are children who are very lucky in their lives and they end in the wrong way.

In conclusion, beyond the genetic predisposition it's a parental responsibility to show their children what is right and what is wrong. Also parents must provide a good environment to their children.

Monologue: Claim

I've been asked to talk about a claim that I would have had to make.

I've chosen one which happened a long time ago. It took place in my first travel to London. A group of friends and myself took a flight to London. We were very thrilled, and I can remember now that I could hardly asleep the night before.

We had a great flight, we spent all time speaking about what we would do when our plane landed in Heathrow. I was very surprised when we got off the plane and the day was cloudy and a little bit rainy, two hours before we were enjoying a sunny day in Almería.

We headed quickly to pick up our suitcases. All of us managed to collect luggage, except me. I was waiting at the baggage claim long to see that my luggage didn´t appear.

After that,  I went to the Iberia counter and I explained to the clerk what had just happened. Fortunately he was a spaniard, and I could communicate with him in a very easy way (my english was in that time as bad as now).

The clerk was very polite and he helped me fill out a form claim. I explained him that I would be in London for four days and he told me that he would be watchful about my luggage. If my luggage arrived before, he would send me the luggage to my hotel and if not,  then he would send me the luggage to my home in Almería.

Besides that, he gave me 50 pounds to buy some clothes. This money was given by a secure I had paid included in the price of the ticket. It was a very small quantity, but at least it was something.

We spent the afternoon buying basic clothes and my friends lent me something (not underwear). Despite this problem I spent four amazing days in London.

Eventually one week later I received my luggage in my home. Iberia also sent me an apology letter.

Monologue: Environment - What to do.

I have been asked to talk about environment and what to do.

This is a very complicated question because environment is a problem with lots of different aspects. In everything you do, you are affecting to the environment. Besides that, the humanity needs a clean environment to survive, it is evident that as humans we have a long way until we get to live in other planets.

In other words, it is very important to take care of our environment.

The problems we cope with respect this issue are very different depending on the country we are living.  In Spain, the main environmental problems (at least from my point of view) we face are:

1.-  Drought. Spain is a mediterranean country and it suffers frequent drought which makes  forest disappear. Sometimes people can suffer cut water.

2.- Air pollution. This is one of the most important problems in developed countries and it's caused mainly by cars, industries and heating systems. Air pollution is in the origin of climatic change and many respiratory diseases.

3.- Climatic change. This issue is related to the other two I have mentioned before. The point is that it is a very serious problem because it can cause extreme weather and what is more important it can reduce our capacity of producing food.

There are three different levels in which can be acted in order to solve these problems: government, community and individual. In my opinion this three levels would have to work together.

My proposals are the following:

1.- Drought. As individuals we can make different things to reduce our water consumption: using less the bathroom, turning off taps when we aren't using it and so on. As a community, we can plant trees because they keep humidity. And finally the government can force industries to investigate and to use new technologies in order to reduce water consumption.

2.- Air pollution. As individuals we have to reduce the use of the private car. The community has to support the use of alternative technologies to produce energy like wind power, solar power and so on.  The government has to promote public transport and also they have to force the industry to use cleaner  and more efficient technologies.

3.- Climatic change. The best way to prevent climatic change (It doesn't mind if you are a citizen, a community or the govern) is to lower energy consumption and products consumption. Any action taken in this way will help to reduce the effects of climatic change. Other way is to use alternative energies (they are non polluting energies) to generate electric current.

In conclusion, there are lots of things we can do in order to avoid environmental damages. For this reason and even though challenges are spectacular, I am optimistic and I believe that we have the tools to prevent an environmental disaster.

Monologue: a book's review - Mecanoscrit del segon origen.

I've been asked to talk about a book. I've chosen a book titled "Mecanoscrit del segon origen". It is a science fiction book originally written in catalan by Manuel de Pedrolo.

I read this book  when I was studying catalan in the Benidorm official languages school. In that time I was living in Benidorm and I was working as a secondary school teacher and it was necessary  to study catalan.

The english title for this book would be "typescript of the second origin". The novel is set in catalonia and there are two main characters: Alba, who is a 14 years old girl and Didac who is a 10 years old black boy.

The story starts when Alba and Didac manage to survive to an alien attack. They flee to the forest because everybody is dead and they want to begin a new life without getting sick. After that, they both move to Barcelona where they retrieve books to build a library with knowledge it is needed to start a new society.

Further on, looking for live people, they both begin a travel across the Mediterranean sea. During this trip they fall in love  and in one summer night they start to have sex. Then they come back to Catalonia where Mar, name of the daughter of the new couple, is born.

Eventually and unfortunately Didac dies in an accident. Then Alba writes the book we are reading. In this book she says that she wants Mar to have children in order to start a new mankind.

The last chapter of the book is an article newspaper written seven thousand years later of the alien invasion. The article wonders if the text is authentic and if Alba is really the mankind's mother.

From my point of view it is a very interesting book because, even though it is a science fiction novel, the plot is innovative. It is difficult for me to judge how it is written, because I read it in catalan. You can read the spanish translation and I definitely recommend you.

Monologue: Movie's review - Django unchained

I've been asked to talk about a film. I've choosen a film I like a lot, "Django unchained". It is an old movie but it is the last one I've seen, I have two children and  I haven´t been in a cinema a long time ago.

The film is set in america in the previous years of the american civil war. There are two main characters in the film:

1. A german dentist and a bounty hunter at once, I don't remember now who stars this character, even though the actor is brilliant in his performance.
2. A black slave whose name is Django. Jamie Foxx is the actor who plays this character in a spectacular way. 

The story starts when the german dentist frees Django. The bounty hunter wants Django to help him find killers he is looking for. After finding them, Django wants to find Broomhilda. Broomhilda is Django's wife and they both were sold separately by their former owner after they tried to scape. The bounty hunter offers to help him if Django chooses to stay with him and be his partner.

They find out that Broomhilda was sold to a plantation in Missisippi whose name is Candyland, but the problem is they simply can´t go there and try to buy Broomhilda. For this reason, they come up with a plan and in that way they manage to be received by the Candyland's owner into his house.

The candyland's butler (who is played by Samuel L. Jackson) suspects of them and eventually he stops their plan of buying Broomhilda. In that moment there is a lot of violence and the film ends with many people dead, even the dentist,  but at least Django manages to free Broomhilda.

From my point of view this is a spectacular film of Quentin Tarantino. The film is a little bit violent, but if you go to see a Tarantino's film you have to be prepared for this. Also it is a little bit long, but this is offset with an intense plot.

In conclusion, I love it and I recommend it, it is a very thrilling and not predictable film.

Monologue: Travel

Do you mind me talking about a monologue?

That is the first question I made to my english conversation teacher,  yesterday. He, a very polite person, answered that it would be nice to hear it from me.

Next, I'll try to reproduce the monologue as I told my professor.

I have been asked to talk about a trip, and how it was, and anecdote, if I would recommend it, and so on.

I have chosen a trip I made with my wife to Ecuador. It was very special for me because I met my wife's family for the first time.

We took a flight in Almería which made a scale in Madrid and we landed in Guayaquil fifteen hours later. It is a very long journey.

When we arrived to Guayaquil my wife's family was waiting for us. My first impression was pleasant, Ecuadorians are a very polite people. On the other hand I suffered a lot with hot weather, even though I am from Almería which is a sunny city located in the south of Spain. Other thing I enjoyed a lot was the food, they have many different types of tasteful fruits.

We spent three weeks in Ecuador. We travelled around the country, I can remember now that we visited Quito (this city is the Ecuador's capital), Cuenca, Ambato and Baños. We stayed two or three days in each city.

But the most special was to visit Galapagos Islands. We took a flight from Guayaquil to Galapagos which lasted two hours. I really love Galapagos, the wildlife in these islands is simply amazing. I had the chance of swimming with sea lions, I saw the most big turtles I've ever seen, birds with blue legs, whales which were raising ...I really enjoyed this part of the trip.

An anecdote was that we could see a turtle unique, its name was "old George". It was living in the Darwin Center to help turtles. Old George was very special because it was different from other common turtles, it had a very long neck and its eyes were positioned in a different way, but for me it had a gentle look in its eyes. One or two months later this turtle died.

It is likely that I would commit lots of cultural gaffes, but as I said before Ecuadorians are a very kind people and they made me feel very comfortable. My main cultural gaffe was that I always tried to kiss women twice, and they didn't like it.

In conclusion, as you will suppose, I will come back to Ecuador because part of my wife's family lives there.

But the point is that Ecuador is a worth place to visit, it has lots of attractions, if you like beach you can find much in Ecuador, if you like wildlife, that is the best place in  the world, if you like cultural tourism, you can find many interesting cities, and so on.