Arrival and Day One

Phew, the past 24 hours have been crazy.

I arrived at the Atlanta airport at 10:30 and the plane was supposed to leave at 10:55, fortunately the flight was delayed till 12 so I made it. I got to Miami airport around 3 and met up with my travel buddy Chisara. We left at 5:40 for our four hour flight to Quito...needless to say it was the longest four hours of my life. When they began to serve the microwaved chicken and beef we ran into a ton of turbulence and it got a little scary for about 20 min and nobody could eat. Eventually we made it to Quito though safe and sound.

I had never been through customs before and don´t ever wanna go back. The line was superlong and we waited for 30min in line!! After getting through customs Chisara and I searched for our luggage for 20min before realizing that it was behind the American Airlines stand! From there we exited to the lobby of the airport where the scene was just like the movies with tons of people everywhere holding up signs with names on them. Sure enough there were to signs with Chisara and Theodore on them.

I met and introduced myself to my host father Ernesto Ribadeneira. From there we proceeded through the expected awkward ride to his family´s apartment. However, it was a little less awkward than I had imagined, he was very nice and spoke VERY slow which was VERY helpful. The apartment is a very nice three story space in which his wife Lorena and three kids, Lorena, Juan Pablo and Andres live. They are all 16 or older so the gifts I got them, UAB keychains and hats, are perfect. The parents gave me a shake made of tomates de arbol, it tasted like a strong strawberry shake without all the sugar.

My room is small and so is the bathroom but I have them both to myself so I´m not complaining. There´s a picture above of my bed and all my clothes that I packed in special ziplock bags that vacuum the air to conserve space. I didn´t realize it until the morning but the view from my window is phenomenal. To the right you can see a mountain by the name of Pinchincha which is also the name of the province in which Quito is located. We had a late Sunday breakfast at 11:00 with eggs,ham and toast. And to drink we had more tomate de arbol. Then Andres showed me the upstairs terrace...again phenomenal views of the city. From there mis padres, Ernesto y Lorena, took me to their Sunday getaway about 15 min away that was further in the mountains. It was gorgeous and every Sunday Ernesto and the families of his 3 brothers and sisters and their kids go there to eat and have fun. There we ate a lot of food. It was similar to a cookout or BBQ, minus the BBQ and plus Ecuadorian food.

We began with chaves which looked like very large boiled lima beans that they salted and ate with and without the skin. Then they offered vino(red wine). I don´t drink wine but didn´t want to be rude and suffered through two glasses. I didn´t catch the name of the next course of food but they were hotdogs chopped into 3 pieces and served with rolls. We then had some pasty potato soup that was pretty good. In Ecuador, stews and soups are important parts of their meals. Next was arroz con maiz(rice and corn), steak(steak), ensalada(self explanatory) and baked potato. All the food was very good.

Well tomorrow my host mom Lorena will be taking me to USFQ(Universidad de San Fransisco de Quito) for orientation at 8:15 so I´m definitely gonna get some good sleep tonite.

BUENA NOCHE!

ps

Everybody down here says Ciao and not Adios or Hasta Luego/Manana. Also when greeting a woman a kiss on the cheek is kosher...intersante