¡Adios Wisconsin, Hola Ecuador!

Hi friends!


For those of you who are bored enough, I'm going to try to keep you updated on my trip across Ecuador. I've been in here for less than 24 hours now, and I have lots to tell y'all.  


I flew out of Chicago yesterday around 8 a.m. after staying the night at the Aloft hotel with Dad and Andrew near the airport (sweet place, by the way). After saying our (moderately tearful) goodbyes, I flew to Panama City, Panama to wait for my connecting flight. For those of you who haven't flown over the Caribbean or Panama, it is an amazing view. After a 6 hour layover, I arrived in Ecuador around 11:00 p.m., and after a smooth trip through immigration, I met my host mom and dad Cecilia y Rodrigo.   They are unbelievably sweet, patient, and kind.  I've discovered my Spanish is as rusty as I thought it would be, but I'm able to communicate pretty efficiently.  Hooray for my Spanish education thus far.


Cecilia and Rodrigo were gracious enough to put me up in a flat below theirs in the 3-4 story complex that they own. It is gorgeous, spacious, and pretty incredible. Cecilia, Rodrigo (who is an architect), and Cecilia's mother live on the 2nd flat. Their son, Santiago (who is 29 and going to school to be an architect), lives on the 3rd flat. Rodrigo and Cecilia's daughter and granddaughter also live upstairs. A girl about my age, Lourdes, and her sister, have lived with Cecilia and Rodrigo for 4 years now and they live in the 4th flat. Oh, and there are two other family members--Samuel, the family golden retriever, and Perú, the three-legged cat. They're all pretty great.

This morning, I woke up and had breakfast with Lourdes. El pan (bread) y marmellada de piña (pineapple marmelade), y café. After breakfast I went with Cecilia and Rodrigo to the bank so they could take care of some personal business. People-watching in Quito is just as interesting as in the States, as you might imagine.  We walked up and down the streets a little bit, and I learned about some random places. The city is 2 or so million people, so it has quite the variety of people, places, and things.  The city is in/at the base of some beautiful mountains, and the architecture and colors are pretty breathtaking.  After returning from the bank, I watched Cecilia make lunch. It was crazy that this lunch was "typical." We had fried eggs, guineos (bananas), rice, fried tortillas (made of mashed potato, cheese, and butter), avocado, a tomato/onion/lemon/cilantro mix similar to pico de gallo, and salchichas (sausages).  Seriously amazing food. Once I get this blog thing figured out, I'll hopefully have some pictures up. Until then,  ¡ciao!